Techno is a form of electronic dance music.

The term "techno" is often mistakenly used in North America and mainland Europe as a generic term for all forms of electronic dance music.

Audiophiles will break down the techno sounds into many related categories, based on instrumental hardware, beats per minute (BPM) and any number of other popular segregrations. Techno features an abundance of percussive, synthetic sounds, studio effects used as principal instrumentation, and, usually, a regular, 4/4 beat usually in the 130–140 bpm range—sometimes faster, but rarely slower.

Some techno compositions have strong melodies and bass lines, but these features are not as essential to techno as they are to other dance genres, and it is not uncommon for techno compositions to deemphasize or omit them.

Techno is also very DJ-friendly, being mainly instrumental, and produced with the intention of being incorporated into continuous DJ sets wherein different compositions are played with very long, synchronized segues. Although several other dance music genres can be described in such terms, techno has a distinct sound that aficionados can pick out very easily.

The computer and synthesizers music started in Germany in mid of 1970s, and became popular with a Japanese band YMO "Yellow Magic Orchestra" that was established in 1978. In the late 1980s, different subgenres of techno music began to emerge, including hardcore techno, an intensified style typified by a fast tempo (160 bpm and up) and the rhythmic use of distorted and atonal industrial-like beats and samples, and ambient techno, with artists such as The Orb and Aphex Twin producing dub music and ambient influenced techno that later had an influence on artists dabbling in the minimal techno and what was originally techno's experimental, non-dance-oriented offshoot, IDM. Acid techno, influenced by the heavy use of the Roland TB-303 for bass and lead sounds in the style of acid house, enjoyed a surge of popularity in the mid-1980s and went on to influence acid trance. Tech house music came to prominence in the late 1990s and combines the basic structure of house music with elements from techno such as shorter, often distorted kicks, smaller hi-hats, noisier snares and more synthetic or acid sounding synth lines.

A free party is a party "free" from the restrictions of the legal club scene, which typically involves a sound system playing electronic dance music from late at night until the time when the organisers decide to go home. A free party can be composed of just one system or of many and when the party becomes a festival it is called a teknival. The parties can be thought of as autonomous zones where all the people present create and enforce the rules... This means that drugs are readily available and noise levels are usually illegally high.

The word free is not used, in this context, to describe the entry fee but is used to describe the atmosphere, as in free from external laws and restrictions. Having said this, most parties do not ask for money since these are not commercial ventures although some (most often indoor events) do ask for a donation on the door to cover costs (e.g. fuel). Motivations for organisers range from political protest, for example free parties were a big feature of the M11 link road protest, to those that are run by people who just want to have fun. Typically organisers make little profit and sometimes even lose money putting them on.

AZ 1 Sounds Hits London @ Mass in Brixton

AZ 1 Sounds e-mail

13 Dec 2008, 21:00

MASS NIGHTCLUB, ST. MATTHEWS CHURCH BRIXTON HILL LONDON,

SW2 1JF

United Kingdom

AZ 1 sounds are doing a Massive Acid Techno event featuring Dave the Drummer on 13th December 2008 at Mass in Brixton. Spread The Word...

Acid Techno + Live Pa's


Main Room. = Strictly techno.

Dave the Drummer ( Stay up forever )

Steve Dirty Bass ( Dirty Bass Recordings )

Squat Dom ( Semtex )

Matt Storm + Ryan ASBO B2B ( Project Storm )

Drymouth ( Az1 + Entity )

Sprokitt ( Level-one )

Destruction ( AZ 1 )

Eddy P Lil Pete ( AZ 1 )

Room 2 = Alternative

Kane ( Electro, Hard Trance )

Duton ( Psy, Hard Trance )

Ady Toytown ( Hard Tek )

Matt Storm + Ryan ASBO ( Psy, electro)

Klockwork ( Tech House, electro )

Safety Sam + Jezter (Breaks )

AJ ( Liquid Drum n Bass )

Kinesis ( Tribal)

2 Rooms of complete mayhem both hosted by AZ 1 Sounds. 1400 Capacity Venue!!! For those that has not attended one of our events before, come to this event, you will not be disappointed. We look forward to seeing you there!!!!