--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0 Introduction to the FAQ Raves are, if anything, the ultimate subjective experience. Your perception of how well or how badly a rave "goes off" is based at least 70% on your state of mind (and depending on the circumstances, 100%). Therefore, it's impossible to create an FAQ which is entirely objective. I'll do my best. I am MORE than happy to incorporate others' suggestions into the FAQ, to include dissenting opinions and statements, within reason. This file is not the be-all and end-all of rave culture; many of the topics here will simply be introductions to the subject and point to the little rave FTP site I've created at techno.stanford.edu under /pub/raves. There's simply TONS of stuff there. And for the rest of the document, whenever I refer to "the ftp site", I mean techno.stanford.edu0. This document should also serve as an introduction to alt.rave. Alt.rave has been alive since early 1992, and has an extremely wide distribution. At last count an est. 20,000 people read it. As is usual on USENET, people often have strong opinions which clash with others' strong opinions. If everyone accepted the view that reality is subjective, and that on matters of taste there is no dispute, then flame wars become a thing of the past. Posts like "Orbital sucks, and the Orb can kiss my butt" are probably inappropriate flamebait. Rewording it to say, "I am disappointed by the new Orbital because..." is a lot better. Many people also complain about too many posts about a particular subject, or group, or country, etc... to which the standard response is, start talking about what you want to hear. Finally, there was a big debate about whether to create alt.music.techno, to "distinguish" the music from the scene, and the idea was backed away from, with the view that discussion about rave/techno music is completely appropriate on alt.rave. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 What is a "rave"? The term "rave" has been overused almost to the point of losing its meaning. The word has always meant (according to webster): >1. rave \'ra-v\ vb [ME raven] 1a: to talk irrationally in or as if in > delirium 1b: to declaim wildly 1c: to talk with extreme enthusiasm 2: to > move or advance violently : STORM : to utter in madness or frenzy - rav.er > >2. rave n often attrib 1: an act or instance or raving 2: an extravagantly > favorable criticism In general practice, a "rave" usually refers to a party, usually all night long, open to the general public, where loud "techno" music is mostly played and many people partake in a number of different chemicals, though the latter is far from necessary. The number of people at the event is unimportant; it can range from 50 people to 25,000 people. The cost of attendance is also unimportant - there have been good raves and bad raves at both ends of the cost spectrum (though in practice, the higher the price, the more commercial the event, and the lower the quality). At a rave, the DJ is a shaman, a priest, a channeller of energy - they control the psychic voyages of the dancers through his choice in hard-to-find music and their skill in manipulating that music, sometimes working with just a set of beats and samples, into a tapestry of mindbending music. A large part of the concept of raves is built upon sensory overload - a barrage of audio and very often visual stimuli are brought together to elevate people into an altered state of physical or psychological existence. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.5 The "Vibe" The actual concept of raves is not new - it is as old as time itself. As the base level, raves are very comparable to American Indian religious ceremonies, i.e. pow-wows, and also to the concept of the Shaman in Eskimo and Siberian society - where music is the key towards pulling oneself into a unique emotional and psychological state, a state in which one experiences washes of sensations and visions, not delusions, but visions. Sounds very hokey in print, but I'm sure MANY of you out there know what I'm talking about. The hypnotizing effect of techno music coupled with the seemless transitions and thematic progressions of rave DJ's as the night progresses can be QUITE intoxicating, resulting in what could be closely compared to a religious experience. Music in general has always been able to sweep people off their feet, but what distinguishes raves are the concept of the _shared_ experience; a feeling of unity often arises, and people are open and friendly to one another. There is a loss of that "attitude" that is omnipresent in normal clubs and even in life in general. People are celebrated for who they are, not what they aren't. There are many better ways to explain the above, and more than a few can be found at the FTP site. For a better, blow-by-blow description of what an actual rave is like, please check the FTP site under the media/ directory, and get "image" - it's an article that appeared in the SF Examiner in February 1992, and is perhaps one of the most comprehensive surveys of the rave scene ever to appear in print. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2 What is "techno music" Opinions on this vary greatly, but there are a few ways to distinguish techno from other types of music. Overall, techno is denoted by its slavish devotion to _the_beat_, the use of rhythm as a hypnotic tool. It is also distinguished by being primarily, and in most cases entirely, created by electronic means. It is also noted for its lack of vocals in most cases. Techno also usually falls in the realm of 115-160BPM. There are of course exceptions to every one of these rules, but these guidelines seem to survive the "what about..." test most of the time. There has also been a significant use of samples in techno songs, samples lifted in huge blocks and contributing a large share to a song's popularity. This can be both bad ("Theme to Sesame Street" in Smart E's "Sesame's Treet") or good (Star Trek transporters sampled in Eden Transmission's "I'm So High", giving YOU that transporting feeling) or great (Tears for Fears sampled in Orbital's "Moebius"). This sampling has generated much controversy, and it is the opinion of the author and many others that sampling is okay as long as the sample is not the whole song; "Seseme's Treet" might be an okay song, but if you take away the sample (which was lifted verbatim from the TV show), you don't have much of a song left. "Rave" music has several different forms: [and before we proceed, remember the words of God's personal DJ, Jon Drukman: "abolish labels."] a. (Chicago) House House music is where it all began, when Chicago DJ's started playing around with their Kraftwerk 12"'s with their soul records, and a brand new object called a DRUM MACHINE which they discovered they could use in their set. The steady and clean sound of the house rhythm coupled with uplifting soul vocals gave "house parties" an incredible energy. Please see "jackshouse" on the ftp site for a good example of the mindset of this time... House also uses more piano riffs and generally sounds "happier" than most other forms of music played at raves. Good Samplers: Best of House Music, Vol. 1, 2 (Gotta Have House), and 3 (House Music All Night Long) Aly-us "Follow Me" b. Acid-House Acid-house developed when the Roland 303 and similar drum machines/ synthesizers came out producing the "funky worm" - that VERY distinctive sound (see any "Acid Mix" of any song) that just *sounds* liquid (sorry, that's the best way I can describe it). The sound and the style is linked to use of LSD, but many people (myself included) claim to feel many of the same sensations while listening to acid-house music. Others claim this is wrong, that acid was a term derived in Chicago for stealing samples from other records, i.e. the "acid burn". Still others claim this was a rumor created by people defending the scene in Britain, trying to unlink the party scene from the drug scene. james@sol1.east-london.ac.uk writes: Idiotic musicians from a circa 86 uk go to the uk to tour. The uk at that point is in the grip of an 60s acid rock revival ( eg the shamen started off as a psyche-? band in this thang) and they GO TO DETRIOT! THeY buy records! Being a bit stupid and under the influence of vast quanities of LSD they just buy stuff at random out of the 'acid' section. When they get home they realise their mistake but think wow this is a bit nice. Good Samples: House Hallucinates Pump Up the World Vol. 1 (A&M CD 3928) Adamski - Liveanddirect (MCA MCAD-6454) Maurice - This is Acid and more recently, more in the vein of acid trance: Hardfloor - TB Rescusitation Anything on Labworks c. Techno It is probably best to split techno into three groups - proto-techno, Detroit techno, hardcore, and "techno-rave". c.1. Proto-Techno: Proto-Techno isn't really a style of music per se. It's merely a concatenation of the various artists and styles that had the biggest impact on the original creators of techno in Detroit. Hence, there isn't much stylistic homogeneity here. Proto-Techno can be anything from the minimal, assembly-line technopop of Kraftwerk (particularly the 'Trans-Europe Express' album) to the nonsense, party-time funk-taken-to-its-illogical- extreme of George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic to the early '80's hip-hop mongrelization of the two in the Electro genre. Examples: Kraftwerk: "Neon Lights" Parliament: "Flash Light" Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force: "Planet Rock" Cybotron: "Clear" Further Listening: Kraftwerk: 'Trans-Europe Express' (Capitol CDP 7 46473 2) Kraftwerk: 'Computer World' (Elektra 9 3549-2) Parliament: 'Parliament's Greatest Hits: Uncut Funk/The Bomb' (PolyGram 822 637-2) Various: 'Street Jams: Electric Funk Vol. 1' (Rhino R2 70575) c.2. Detroit Techno: The hallmarks of Detroit Techno are a stripped-down, aggressive funk sound, played mostly on analogue instruments (the Roland TR-808 is a favorite drum machine), and, most of all, a pounding, severe rhythm. Vocals are rare. It has no "soul" in the traditional Motown/Stax sense of the word, which is not to say that the music is devoid of feeling or emotion - it's just that the expression thereof is unconventional. "Magic" Juan Atkins, Kevin "Reese" Saunderson, and Derrick "Mayday" May are the names you need to know to fake your way through a conversation about Detroit Techno. Eric Iverson writes: For those not in the know, Cybotron released their first contributions to Detroit Techno in 1981--handily preceeding _Planet Rock_ and a host of other Electro Funk. They were also an active part of Detroit's radio and club scene. True, they didn't hit their stride until a couple years later when they would produce _Clear_ which finally sounds less like technopop and more like techno proper. By 1985, Atkins, May, and Saunderson had all firmly established themselves as recording artists. They will always credit Kraftwerk and Parliament as their inspiration. In fact Kraftwerk and Clinton have both, at times, claimed responsibility for the Detroit techno scene. Where was house? Could it have had an affect on Detroit techno? Sure! Was the affect as strong as late-70's Gary Numan or Ultravox's _Vienna_? Probably not! Kraftwerk's _Computer World_? Never! Cue 1987...House is happening in England and Derrick May arrives with his record _Strings of Life_. The stuff catches on. The Techno movement goes into full swing. Not only do the "Holy trinity" have techno for UK consumption, but so do a bevy of others...Blake Baxter, Eddie Fowlkes, Kenny Larkin, Carl Craig, and more. All from the Detroit scene with roots that are clearly delineated. They didn't just pop up from the house scene, though obviously they benefited from it. Would they have existed without house? I think so. Would it sound different? Well, it already does sound different! Examples: Inner City: "Big Fun" Rhythim Is Rhythim: "Nude Photo" Further Listening: Various: 'Retro Techno/Detroit Definitive: Emotions Electric' (Network UK RETROCD1) Various: 'Techno One and Two: Electronic Dance' (Ten UK DIXCD 123) Derrick May: "The Innovator" c.3. Hardcore Techno: Where Detroit stuff is mainly a hybrid of European technopop and funk, your average Hardcore song seems to be a speed-metal tune played on Detroit-type instruments (although the TR-909 is the drum machine of choice). Hardcore Techno is easier to get up and hyped to than its Detroit counterpart. Hardcore has brought much of the metal crowd into dance music, and reconciled dance parties with the industrial crowd as well. Examples: Tresor Compilations Vol. 2 "Lock on Target" by Disintegrator [Industrial Strength] Industrial Strength Records Comp "Cosmic Trash" by DJ Dano [Mokum] Various: 'Turn Up the Bass: The House Party/The Ultimate Megamix 2' (Arcade Benelux 01 6720 61) (Weak mixing, but it contains one-to-two-minute sections of nearly 50 songs, giving perhaps the best overview of the hallmarks of the style available on a single disc) c.4. Techno/Rave: Techno as product. When people complain about "techno by the numbers," they usually mean Techno/Rave. This style is generally soft and accessible. You are much more likely to have a rap or other vocal in a Techno/Rave track than either a Detroit or Hardcore track. Examples include 2 Unlimited, the Smart E's, and recent efforts by the Shamen. What MC Hammer is to hip-hop, what Winger is to heavy metal, Techno/Rave is to Hardcore. Examples: The Shamen: "LSI" 2 Unlimited: "Twilight Zone" The Movement: "Jump" Further Listening: Various: 'The Ultimate Rave' (EMI/Virgin/PolyGram UK CDP 798641 2) Various: 'Rave 'til Dawn' (SBK K2-80070) d. Breakbeat Breakbeat is symbolized by the use of sped-up hip-hop beat samples. Very often reggae tunes and influence are brought in, to good effect too since most reggae is around 65-80bpm and most breakbeat techno about twice that. Breakbeat is very effective at getting the crowd moving, but its hypnotic effects are somewhat less. Eric Iverson wrote: If we were only going to rely upon sound as proof of descent then I would be ever so quick as to trace all minimal breakbeat to a song recorded in 1965 called _L.S.D_ by the Yardbirds ("Little Games Sessions & More" E2-98214, EMI). And I would trace all 4-measure repeating analog synth-riff rave tunes to an early '70s album, _The Wozard of Iz_ by Bernard Krause (out of print). Listen to either one and you'll hear the similarities. They will astound you! However, simply sounding alike is not enough. In the case of the Yardbirds, _L.S.D._ was not even released officially until 1992! It couldn't be the parent of breakbeat, despite its age! gsc1@Lehigh.EDU (geoffE) wrote: In regard to the heading on breakbeat...Two styles to breakbeat are emerging under the names, "Jungle" and "Darkside". Jungle breakbeat uses reggae samples on the tracks. Darkside is the brand new style of breakbeat that recently emerged out of the streets of London. It uses minor keys to create an erie feeling and horror/sci-fi samples or female vocal samples to add to its melodic feel. And now from London, Gus Lawrence, President of Reinforced Records, the most fluent and respected breakbeat label on the planet says, there is now the "breakbeat ballad". Again, it is dark sounding, but this time it uses vocals and is aimed at the audience around 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning, "when you start getting tired from all that dancing," said Lawrence. Now for some genre samples: Jungle: Johnny Jungle EP D.M.S. - "S.O.S." SL2 - "On A Ragga Tip" Phuture Assassins - "Roots N Future" DarK: Metalheads - "Terminator" Nasty Habits - "Here Come The Drums" Rufige Cru - "Darkrider" Ballad: Fabio - "Ghost In My Life" Acen - "Window In the Sky" e. Ambient The genre is very well described in Mike Brown's Ambient FAQ available from the ftp site. Basically ambient (or ambient house) is designed to lull your mind through more soothing rhythms and samples. Good Sample: The Orb: U.F.Orb (Big Life/Mercury 314 513 749-2) Amorphous Androgynous: Tales of Ephidrina (Astralwerks ASW 6101) Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works (R&S BE AMB CD 3922) f. Trance Very similar to both ambient and acid-house, trance is softer on the ears and body than most techno, but still keeps you dancing (unlike most ambient, where the effects are more profound if you SIT DOWN and listen). It's designed to try and take you, literally, into another world. Samples speak louder than words: Eden Transmission - "I'm So High" on Exist-Dance. GET IT NOW. "Stella" by Jam 'n Spoon (at least the non-ambient parts) Any of the "Trance" comps, or anything on Guerilla A variant (or sub-genre) of this is hardtrance, which is currently very popular in the underground all over Europe. Characteristics, higher beat (c. 150 bpm), compulsory 303 sounds and string layers. Good Examples: Almost anything on Harthouse label (Overboust, Progressive Attack, etc) Ramin: Vol III Sextant: Part of the Scene g. Tribal Tribal is denoted by exactly that - rhythm patterns and sounds which closely mimic Third-World and Native American and other "World Music" styles. The connection between modern-day raving and ancient musical and cultural rituals is thus established, and the dancer can be transported to a more primal self (in theory). Good samples: Studio X - Los Kings Del Mambo, 808 State - Reaper Repo h. Progressive This is the newest and least-well-defined genre; it's based less on sampling, less on wailing divas, and less on hip-hop culture, and more on authentic instruments, haunting melodies, and always around 120-125bpm. There's always a strong beat, and at times it resembles acid jazz. The appelation of "progressive" was given by a music magazine, so many people wouldn't call it that, but so far no other name has come to replace it, and it is fairly different from straight house. This is the most popular music at raves in San Francisco right now. : One could also say progressive house is "progressive" in that those who make it are trying to bring back more interesting musical arrangements with either more complex percussion or melody or both, whereas the trend in the last few years was to strip down the sound to a raw, minimal form. Good examples: "Cry Freedom" by Mombassa, "Mighty Ming" by Brother Love Dubs The Trance compilations vols. 1-3 Ritmo De Vidaa: Taboo Otaku: Percussion Obsession React 2 Rhythm: I Know you like it React 2 Rhythm: Intoxication D.O.P.: Groovy Beat Labels: Guerilla, Limbo, Soma, Hubba Hubba h. Deep House "Deep house is a style of house most prominently influenced by a combination of gospel and old chicago strictly house beats. Look for wailing divas (I love them!) spooky organs and that old chord progression that we know and love. Deep house never nods in techno's direction..ever.. Cuts to check out: Can't Trust Nobody - Sloppy Check out anything on Strictly Rhythm Records for a good taste of Deep house. The Shelter (The shelter club's theme song, I suppose?) Oh Oh Oh Oh ---- Ten City!!! Ten City is DEEP! Check out My Piece of Heaven!" And to close this "definitions" section: "My main point is that techno comes from somewhere. It was not invented in this scene, nor is it particularly new. One can easily get the impression from the omission of this fact that the contrary is true. Not only is it responsible to acknowledge origins/sources, but other people may want to explore the related types of music that they might not otherwise ever hear about." - Tahl Milburn, tahl@tfs.com You can get on the Twitch remix company mailing list - send mail to twitch@casa.stanford.edu. i. Sources You can also get DJ mix tapes from the following places: UK: Yaman Productions, PO Box 393 , Watford, Herts WD1 7JZ England USA: Ameba - 1732 Haight St. - 415-750-9368 Street Sounds - 7751 Melrose Ave. - (213) 651-0630 D.M.C. - 7621 1/2 Melrose Ave. - (213) 651-3520 Beat Non Stop - 7262 Melrose Ave. - (213) 930-2121 Prime Cuts - 7758 Santa Monica Blvd. - (213) 654-8251 Here are some addresses for record labels (more complete lists are available at the FTP site): Boy's Own Productions PO Box 1422, Chancellors House, Chancellors Road London W6 9SG, UK fax: + 44 81 968 8459 Djax Up records Po Box 2408, 5600 CK Eindhoven The Netherlands fax: 31 (0) 40 445 057 Eye Q Records / Harthouse Strahlenberger Str 125A, 6050 Offenbach/Main Germany fax: 069/800 33 36 Guerilla Records 130a Plough Road, London W10 6BL UK tel: + 44 81 964 1199 Hard Hands 32 Pall Mall Deposit, 124/128 Barblby Rd London W10 6BL Limbo / 23rd Precinct 23 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HU UK fax: + 44 41 353 3039 MFS Reichstagufer 4-5, 1080 Berlin Germany fax: 030 220 9218 Overdrive fax: frg (0) 6162 84918 Rephlex Records PO Box 2676 London N11 1AZ UK tel: + 44 81 361 0529 Rising High fax: +44 71 229 4061 Wonka St. Jacobsmarkt 75, 2000 Antwerpen Belgium fax: 03/226 20 30 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 DJing The art of DJing has come full swing in the world of the rave, where the DJ has replaced the live musician as the focal point for an event. The DJ is now regarded at the "conductor" of their "orchestra" of two turntables and a mixer (and maybe a sampler, but that's not necessary). The orchestra's "instruments" are the slabs of vinyl (or aluminum & plastic, in Pete Ashdown's case) that carry the basic grooves and melodies, and it's up to the DJ to ensure that the orchestra plays all their instruments in perfect sync and with a measure of continuity. The DJ must *know* their music, know where the breaks are, know the keys, know the BPM's, to make his/her set come out as perfect as possible. Anyone who says DJ'ing is just spinning records has never tried to do so. DJs often develop a following, and the level of devotion among some is something unseen since the Beatles. (Basically, if you have Garth playing at your event in San Francisco, you can ensure 2000 people will be there, even with VERY minimal flyering - the same holds for Barry Weaver or Doc Martin in LA, or Adam X on the East Coast) A file of collected net.wisdom w.r.t. mixing and such can be found on the FTP site at techno.stanford.edu under pub/raves/music/DJ/2.b.a.d.j. and the file pub/raves/music/DJ/djguide.laura (written by Laura La Gassa, laura@soda.berkeley.edu) If you are interested, check out the BPM mailing list, bpm-request@andrew.cmu.edu. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Drugs/Smart drinks ***Please note: no one involved in the creation of this FAQ advocates*** ***the consumption of illegal substances at any time.*** Preface: The subject of drugs at raves is very controversial. One wonders whether the rave scene would have been more easily accepted by the public had the presence of drugs not been so high. Of course, many other wonder how raves could have ever come about without them. Drugs, like anything else in the world, are dangerous when used improperly. Please use caution if you do decide to use mind-altering substances, both legal and illegal. You owe it to yourself to gather info before making a choice regarding drugs. You have access to an incredible amount of information on the networks here. USE IT! The reason I am including drug info in the FAQ is not because I think drugs are a necessary part of a rave nor even a significant part of it, but because questions arise on the newsgroup frequently enough to warrant its inclusion. There is a whole newsgroup devoted to drugs - alt.drugs, and any and all questions about drugs at raves are probably more appropriate there than at alt.rave. This information is presented for informational purposes only. Please, if you decide to dose, please read up on and know exactly what you are taking and what the expected affects are. a) Smart drinks Smart Drinks are drinks made with nutrients that supply needed precursors and cofactors that your body uses to manufacture neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers that carry impulses in the brain. These neurotransmitters can frequently be depleted by heavy excercise, stress, stimulant drugs, or lack of sleep, and many people report that amino acid/vitamin combo "smart drinks" seem to help. For more info see the "smartdrinks" file on the FTP site. b) Ecstasy There is a LOT of worthwhile info to be gleaned from the FTP site at techno.stanford.edu, ftp.u.washington.edu, and alt.drugs. Go get it. But to breifly talk about Ecstasy: 1) NO, it does not drain your spinal fluid and the verdict on permanent brain damage is still not in. 2) While dosed, you should drink LOTS of water to stay hydrated, especially if dancing hard. 3) Yes, it is illegal. There is LOTS more to be said so go read those files NOW before you even think of trying it. c) LSD: Many of the same precautions for MDMA (Ecstasy) hold for LSD. In addition: 1) Make sure you are in a comfortable location, and a comfortable headspace: "set and setting" 2) Try dosing for the first time somewhere other than a rave, like at home, and try going to a rave completely clean the first time. Other than that, check out the LSD-FAQ and other info files. Oh, and there's NO STRYCHNINE IN LSD. d) Other drugs currently talked about: Ketamine, 2CB (also referred to as "Cloud 9" or "Nexxus" or "Zenith"), and GHB. Again, PLEASE do research on something before you pop it into your mouth. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5 The visuals Visual effects are one of the most important parts of the rave, but not always essential. Sometimes the best parties have only a strobe light, if even that much. On the other end of the spectrum are the 200-ft wide, screens drenched with projection, the 10-watt green lasers bouncing off the disco balls giving the effect of laser rain, the miles of fluorescent tubing, the computer graphics which can blow your mind away... it's a very large part of the "mindfuck" factor of raves. Live visuals have been used since the 60's at concerts, using overhead projectors and oil-and-water setups. Those are sometimes still used - and rotating color wheels in front of the projection beam can really add to the overall "trippyness". Strobes - $19.99 at yer local Radio Shack. Cheap, but effective. "Mind Machines" are seldom much more than small strobes with varying speeds that you wear inside glasses - but the effect of stroboscopic light near the refresh speed (or half your refresh speed, or a quarter, etc) of your eye can be quite hallucinatory. You could probably build your own Mind Machine for less than 10 dollars. For a brain machine buyers guyide ftp to asylum.sf.ca.us and look in the /mind-l/incoming directory for files tfebg*. Computer graphics - there are a couple of programs available as freeware over the net that would be right at home at a rave. MSDOS machines: Fractint - available as wuarchive.wustl.edu:/mirrors/msdos/graphics/frain*.zip This one is the premiere freeware fractal generation program. Get it at all costs. Acidwarp - available as techno.stanford.edu:/pub/raves/spirit/graphics/ aw406.zip. This is a fantastically trippy computer graphics program. Also available, somewhere out there, is dazzle.exe and o-my-god.exe, also in the trippy-oo-aah vein. Macintosh: Available via anonymous FTP at the site sumex-aim.stanford.edu in pub/info-mac/app size filename ---- -------- 99525 fractal-wizard-16.hqx 169237 ifs-fractal-movie.hqx (animated, apparently not very configurable) 78126 julias-dream-107.hqx (Julia sets only) 159806 mandel-zot-304.hqx (free) 624848 mandella-81.hqx (shareware $40) 98291 super-mandelzoom-106.hqx (public domain) 21453 wallpaper-for-the-mind-11.hqx The "big guys" all seem to really like Amigas - I see Digital Media truck them out at many raves I go to. "Video Toasters" and "Mindlights" are two additions for computers to fully integrate video. Various companies have sprung up developing "mindfuck" videos for raves - one amongst them being Hyperdelic Video. They combine everything from cartoons to computer graphics to video feedback, and edit them together in a frantic pace, often at 135 bpm so as to closely match the music. Sometimes they will bring in a live mixing board and edit the videos real-time. One other group, called Synergy Visuals (reachable through tgrant@netcom.com) simply bring a computer, a VCR, a Sharp projector, and a mixing board, and go wild combining custom-written and very trippy computer graphics with video of everything from old Batman TV episodes to Fred Astaire. Advances in projection technology have also helped bring the imagery to remote locations - a new single-tube projector from Sharp is extremely compact and lightweight and can be set up outside, just about anywhere. And Ikea and Sanyon reportedly make good models as well. If you are looking to arrange your own visuals for an event, I suggest you make ANOTHER trip to Radio Shack and pick up "The Mind's Eye", a fantastic collage of computer graphics, in the $25 range. Absolutely incredible looking. "Beyond the Mind's Eye" is also available. More videos: Media Magic - PO Box 598 Nicasio, CA. 94946 - fractal videos, posters, etc Dr. Devious/Prism - PO Box 1035, Endfield, Middlesex, UK 3Lux I, II & III - Stud!o K7, Kaisedamm 7, 1000 Berlin 15, GERMANY Also, some local contacts for lighting: Los Angeles - Ecstasy Effects (X-FX). Contact Brad Baker: (213) 467-3057 Milwaukee, WI - Ephex (poepping@miller.cs.uwm.edu) 414.225.9397 fax414.347.0648 San Francisco - Weird Blinking Lights - 415-252-9234 Digital Media - 2-1645 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95062 voxphone 408.476.8464 faxphone 408.479.4196 Books - "Cyberarts -- exploring art & technology" edited by Linda Jacobsen (Miller Freeman Inc, ISBN 0-87930-253-4) (other contacts from anywhere welcome) Fringaware: fringeware-request@wixer.bga.com "About building and modifying all kinds of stuff. And then some." Mind Machines: Send "SUBSCRIBE MIND-L " in the body of the message and nothing else to: LISTSERV@VM1.YORKU.CA Liquid Oil Projections - (thanks to Chris Beaumont, ) A widely available overhead projector may be used to project kinetic liquid projections.. :ambient effect.. Use a overhead projector with bottom lighting,preferably with a quartz-halogen lamp. Put a dimmer on the main power, and if you can, add a supplemetal fan to insure adequate ventilation. Mask off the edges of the stage, place the dishes (old glass clockfaces) on top (a small one in a larger one) and add the water and oil based dyes, usually just to the space between the two dishes. For oil dye, I use Keystone anilyne dyes, and for water, I use photo retouching colors.. 91% alcohol can be added to the water solutions to enable the water based liquids to become darker as they evaporate. For clear oil, of course clear mineral oil. With the colors,you'll learn less is more. Then you're ready to go, turn up the dimmer slightly and focus. Mask off the edges of the screen area, remembering to cover the edges of the screen-area as much as possible...Are your dyes ready? Then turn the overhead up and BLOB-O-RAMA!!!... Remember..easy does it... Good luck! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6 Creating techno music a. E-quipment Roland produced a series of electronic instruments in the early 80's all with three character names. There's the 101 synth, the 303 bass line sequencer (popular for acid house), the 505 drum machine (the 505 is one of the first drum machines to use PWM samples for creation of drum sounds) there's a 707 drum machine and the 727 . the 727 features latin noises instead of the normal drum kit (miami sound machine uses a lot of 727 sounds. listen for them if you can stand it) the 808 drum machine has that big beautiful whooooommmmmm kick associated with early house (not to mention drippy sustained highhat noises and snares). the 909 is a midiable pounding drum machine, it kicks. it's used in hardcore techno; the majority of hardcore bands I've seen live have a simple 3 part setup, some sort of sampler workstation/sequencer hooked up to a 909 and then the 909 syncs the 303. some even bring a dat machine along for backing tracks. **** The Roland MC-202 is a microcomposer, which means that you can program songs into it. It saves to tape. It has sync and CV-gate but no MIDI. It makes some of the best bass sounds, comparable to nothing. It produces a rounder sound than the 303 (which is a bit squelchy) and the 101 (which is a bit noisy). N-Joi and The Prodigy have stuff use the 202. (N-Joi used it in their "Live in manchester" album. They say "marky on the bassline", and it goes, BBBommeee. And The Prodigy used it in the bassline of "Everybody's in the Place.") **** well the basic set-up is any computer that can be plugged into some drivers including keyboard, drum machine, sampler, sequencer, and fm modulators. NeXTS and Macs seem to be the choice, although the new atari falcon (believe it or not) is going to kick, largely because it has dedicated sound and video chips, so the cpu can be used for everything else. i could go on, and i will if you want - here's a list of products korg wave station yamaha sy77 and sy99 roland 808 (hence 808 state's name) the M-1 the prophet (going back to kraftwerk) hey - i'll just go check the midi studio i do my work in. software by opcode programming language for non graphic writing: lisp, and or c. **** cheap means: $14.99 at target. this can also be found at your favorite toy store. it is called a voice changer. it is like a megaphone, but you have three different switches on it: alien, ghost, and robot. the alien is a pitch up and down with robotic distortion the ghost is a pitch up with the robotic distortion the robot is a pitch down with the robotic distortion. resembles the cylon out of battlestar galatica. i am surprised i found this this cheap. >> LOADS OF FUN!!! i am taking all of the handles and the cheesy plastic case off and just utilizing the circuitry to make my mixer w/built in effects. with a robot effect on a 909, guess what pounds the fuck out of your head god, it is amazing.... sines **** > taylor and i are having fun devising new and fucked ways of wiring this to > that and applying this thing to that, etc\ Cool, maybe you two can come over to my place and figure out how to get my EPS to talk SCSI to my Macintosh. > we are interested to hear about what you are doing in your > bedroom too. I do most of my music stuff in my garage. What happens in my bedroom is my own business. As far as music equipment goes, the best investment I've made in the past year was in an Emu Procussion -- the ultimate drum machine. It has tons of drum sounds, from heavy metal to jazz to house to techno to tribal, with very flexible programming capabilities. (And it's midi too.) My second-best investment was in Alchemy, which has an incredibly useful constant-pitch time-shifting feature. i.e. You can take a 90 bpm drum loop and speed it up to 130 bpm without changing its pitch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7 Other rave-related mailing lists (for discussion about upcoming events, etc. Some lists can be VERY chatty) and resources. a. Regional lists: San Francisco and the Bay Area: majordomo@sfraves.stanford.edu Send mail with the words "subscribe sfraves" (list admin: bbehlen@soda.berkeley.edu) Weekly calendar-only version available North/East United States: majordomo@techno.stanford.edu Send mail with the words "subscribe ne-raves" (This location is temporary) (list admin: cutter@bronze.lcs.mit.edu) Weekly calendar-only version available Southern California: socal-raves-request@ucsd.edu include "add socal-raves" in your message. (list admin: jvance@einstein.oac.uci.edu) Weekly calendar-only version available United Kingdom - uk-dance@orbital.demon.co.uk (to get on, send mail to listserv@orbital.demon.co.uk, with the line 'subscribe uk-dance ', with your real name, not your e-mail address.) South-East Raves - send mail to listserv@american.edu, with the words SUB SERAVES (your name). District of Columbia Raves - send mail to listserv@american.edu, with the words SUB DCRAVES (your name). Australia Raves - owner-ausrave@ansto.gov.au Florida - mail flraves-request@cybernet.cse.fau.edu Mid-West US - mail mw-raves-request@engin.umich.edu Montreal - Raving Up North: cism@ere.umontreal.ca Northwest US - nw-raves-request@wimsey.bc.ca Pittsburgh/Cleveland raves - pb-cle-raves-request@telerama.pgh.pa.us University of Maryland-centric: mail cyberpun@wam.umd.edu KLF/Orb & related : klf-request@asylum.sf.ca.us (list admin: lazlo@triton.unm.edu) b. BPM list - for discussions about DJ'ing, mixing, music, etc. bpm-request@andrew.cmu.edu c. USENET newsgroups: alt.rave - for discussions about the rave scene ALL OVER THE WORLD rec.music.synth - more exact information about how to create electronic music d. Alt.rave Image Sites: There are rave-related images available via anonymous FTP at the following locations: archive for: alt.rave site: cs.uwp.edu (Dave Datta's Music Archives) directory: /pub/music/pictures/a/alt.rave archive for: alt.rave site: sfraves.stanford.edu directory: pub/raves/images Note: all .gif files will be converted to JPEG if it makes them smaller. Most files here are in .jpg format, but can be retreived from the site as .gif files if you wish. e. Australian rave FTP site: elecsun4.elec.uow.edu.au in /pub/ausrave in the /graphics and /audio. There's nothing really in there at the moment tho... f. KLF info archives are available at asylum.sf.ca.us, under pub/klf. g. If you are on a machine that supports outbound telnet, then do this: telnet sfraves.stanford.edu 7283 This should kick you into the online Virtual Rave (assuming the system is up, of course). The site has seen a LOT of action recently.... it's basically just a chat system, but you don't need a client to run it. The Vrave mailing list: to mail to the list, mail to: v-raves@gnu.ai.mit.edu to mail to the list owner, mail to: owner-v-raves@gnu.ai.mit.edu to request add or drop, mail to: v-raves-request@gnu.ai.mit.edu to help me use the list the way i designed it, mail to: gts@gnu.ai.mit.edu h. Discographies can be found at cs.uwp.edu. Of particlar interest to alt.rave readers are the Moby discography, the Aphex Twin discography, and the KLF/Orb discography. Also, there are many discographies for independent record labels on the FTP site on techno.stanford under pub/raves/music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8 Techno music stores thanks to mw@sybase.COM liquidx@cnexus.cts.com EIVERSO@cms.cc.wayne.edu mikes@eta.rice.edu jrice@atss.calstatela.edu Frederick.Wolf@um.cc.umich.edu bb2j+@andrew.cmu.edu dt25+@andrew.cmu.edu hogg@tapir.Caltech.EDU PLUI%IOSSVR.gm@hac2arpa.hac.com mjbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu wxw@sv020.torreypinesca.NCR.COM laura@usl.com bclevela@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Antwerp - USA Import, St Jacobsmarkt 75, 2000 Antwerp, (03) 232.04.29 Atlanta, GA - Let The Music Play - (404) 321-7746 Baltimore, Maryland - Modern Music (410) 523-1882 Boston, MA - Boston Beat - 80 Bennington St - (617) 561-4790 Boulder, Colorado - Wax Trax - 303.831.7246, 303.831.1402 or 303.939.8658 Brunswick, NJ - Planet X - (908) 249-0304 Brooklyn, NY - Groove Records - 64 Avenue U - (718)-714-5232 Brussels - City Records Vinyl Shop - (02) 428.52.03 USA Import - (02) 279.66.98 Cincinnati, OH - Culture 7 - (513) 821-7783 Chicago, IL - Gramaphone - (312) 477-5354 Columbus, Ohio - world record, 1980 n high st 2nd fl, 614.297.7900 Dallas, Texas - Autobahn Records - (214) 522-4674 Detroit, MI - Recordtime-Records and Tapes - 313-775-1550. Duluth, Georgia - The Remix Warehouse - 2180 Pleasant Hill Road, Suite A-5168 - 30136-4663 - (orders 1-800-241-MIXX) Holland - Black Beat - Niewendijk 104 - 1012 Mr Amsterda 31 20 638 4252 Houston, Texas - noo beat 713-526-6544 sound+ 713-520-7323 London, England - Zoom Records - 188 Camden High Street, London NW1 UK Black Market - 25 D'Arblay St, Soho, London W1 UK Catch-A-Groove - 94 Dean St, Soho, London W1V 5RB 44 71 494 0208 Fat Cat - 14 Monmouth St, Covent Garden, London WC2 44 71 497 1359 23rd Precint - 23 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 1HU, 44 41 332 4806 Unity Records - 47 Beak Street, London W1R 3LE 44 71 734 2746 Los Angeles, CA - Street Sounds - 7751 Melrose Ave. - (213) 651-0630 D.M.C. - 7621 1/2 Melrose Ave. - (213) 651-3520 Beat Non Stop - 7262 Melrose Ave. - (213) 930-2121 Prime Cuts - 7758 Santa Monica Blvd. - (213) 654-8251 Record Reaction - 3226 East Broadway, Long Beach - 1-800-362-3735 Milwaukee, WI - Innovative R. S. - poepping@miller.cs.uwm.edu - 414.225.9397 New Orleans, LA. - Spice Records (on Edenborn) New Brunswick, NJ - Planet X - 308 George Street 908-249-0304 Pittsburgh, PA - Turbo-Zen Records - 128 Oakland Ave - (412) 621-7759 Portland, Oregon - Turntable Mary's - (503) 227-3933 Roseville, MI - Record Time - 313-775-1550 "The 'official' +8 distributor." Sacramento - The Beat - (916) 736-0147 San Bruno, CA - ULTRASOUNZ records @ 482 san mateo ave. - 415-871-4170 San Diego, CA - AC&S Dance Music Center, 665 H Street Suite B Chula Vista, CA 91910 (619) 476-1212 Voice (619) 476-1303 FAX Off the Record - 3849 5th Ave. - (619) 298-4755 San Jose, CA - Underground Records - 408.286.8303 San Francisco, CA - BPM - 1141 Polk St., SF - 415-567-0276 Tweakin' - 593 Haight Street (@ Steiner) - 415-626-6995 Star Alley - 322 Linden Street - (415) 552-3017 Sydney, Australia - Central Station Records - 48 Oxford St - Darlinghurst 2010 Reach'n Records - Crown St - Darlinghurst 2010 Disco City - 314 Crown St - Darlinghurst 2010 Toronto, Ontario - The CD Bar - 281 Queen St. W. - (416) 977-6863 Play De Record - 357A Yonge Street - 416 586 0380 B's Wax, 539 Queen St. West, (416)504-0613 Starsound, 427 Yonge St., (416)977-0525 Vancouver, BC - Odyssey Imports - 534 Seymour St. - (604) 669-6644 Rhythm Zone - 537 W. Pender - (604) 682-8144 Washington, DC - Twelve Inch Dance - (202) 659-2010 Music Now - (202) 638-3272 Oh, and give Dave Steinhart of Ear/Rational a try, at ear-rational@xmission.com.. He can get *anything* it seems. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9 Rave/Techno print media Dance Music Report 636 Broadway, Suite 804, New York, NY 10012 (212)677-6770 Dataflow PO Box 187, London SW192JJ (Lee Newman & Michael Wells aka GTO) DJ 4th floor, Centro House, Mandela St London NW1 0DU 071-387 3848 DJ Times 25 Willowdale ave, Port Washington, NY 10050 DMA 7943 Paxton Ave, Tinley Park, IL 60477 eDEN 171 Rue Lafayette, 75010 Paris, France (In French.) Global Techno Power 2030 Grand River, Suite 303 Detroit MI 48226 313 963 0509 Matrix 600 River Place #6632 Detroit MI 48207-5026, semite@aol.com MixMag P.O. Box 89, Slough,Berks, SL18 NA, NY NY 10012 MixMag N.Y. 666 Broadway, Ste 3, NY NY 10012 MOVE 100 W. Livingston St, Orlando, FLA 32801 FAX(407)339-4507 Project X 37 West 20th Street Suite #1007, NYC, NY 10011 STOMP! Magazin Im Weidenbruch 3, 5000 Koln 80, Deutschland Streetsound 174 Spadina Ave, Lewiston, NY 14092 Tech 17 #101 - 1265 Dogwood Cres, North Vancouver BC V7P 1H2 CANADA Under One Sky 2249 E. 21 St., Apt. 4F, Brooklyn, NY 11229 URB magazine 1680 North Vine St #1012, Hollywood, CA 90028 213-993-0291 urbmag@netcom.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10 Throwing your own parties For those of you out there who have LOTS of spare time and energy, the idea of throwing your own parties has probably crept into your head. As a service to this, I have set up a directory on the techno.stanford.edu FTP site called "holdyourown", which I hope to fill with stories of people who throw or help throw parties, chock full of tips and advice. Please take the time to look through them. In particular I've put up a guide to finding renegade sites and throwing the parties, more a collection of advice I've added up in almost a year of throwing outdoor renegade events, including helping with the Full Moon raves in San Francisco. These are my *favorite* types of parties, and the thrill of throwing a successful party and making people's lives better even if only for a night is truely wonderful. THIS is what raving is about :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11 Appendix I - true Frequently-Asked-Questions - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - a. Who cut the disc with the samples: "Did I dream... you dreamed about me?" "Did I dream... you dreamed about me?" AND: Richard Dawson (from "the Running Man" '87 schwartzenegger flick) saying: "IT'S TIME TO START RUNNING!" ANSWER: "Temple of Dreams" by Messiah The vocal samples are from This Mortal Coil - Song to the Siren and there are also Bronski Beat samples. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - b. Question: I like The Orb, and I keep hearing about a band called Orbital. Are they related? Will I like Orbital's music? Answer: No and not neccessarily, respectively. Orbital are Paul and Phil Hartnoll (brothers), who have no connection whatsoever with The Orb. As far as I know, no collaborations or remix projects have taken place between the two. Should your local record store tell you that Orbital are The Orb's dance badge (I heard it said once) beat them around the head with a suitable record deck. Orbital's music is not ambient in The Orb sense, nor is it really techno or house. Some put them under the progressive-house label, but they seem to be one of those bands that don't fit in a pigeonhole. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - c. "I need CD compilation suggestions!" Please FTP over to techno.stanford.edu under /pub/raves/music. Enough there to bust H. Ross Perot's Gold Card, including Pete Ashdown's excellent XDZebra series. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - d. Guru (mei172@cch.cov.ac.uk) is NOT Guru Josh. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - e. QUESTION: What are the songs played in the club scene in 'Basic Instinct'? Answer: "Rave the Rhythm" by Channel X, Available on the following compilations: 'Techno Sonic Vol. 1,' Sonic Records 'The Second Chapter,' XL Recordings UK and "Blue" by LaTour, Available on their eponymous album, the "Cold" CD single, and the compilation 'Big Hard Disk vol. 1' - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - f. > Along those lines, does anybody have a track listing for > Analogue Bubblebath 3? I just got it today, and I love it, > but then again, the hard stuff turns me on just as much as > the ambient stuff.... AFX (Aphex Twin) - Analogue Bubblebath 3 CD tracks: 12" tracks: ========================== ============================= 1 4:16 .215061 1 4:16 .215061 2 5:43 .1993841 2 4:31 .000890569 3 3:45 .0180871a 3 0:38 .38 4 4:31 .942937 4L 3:45 .0180871a \____recorded as 1 track 5 4:10 .0180871b 4R 4:10 .0180871b / on separate channels 6 4:31 .000890569 7 4:18 .5527803773258 5 4:18 .55278037732581 8 Untitled (Fluted) 6 4:31 .942937 9 Untitled (SS) 7 5:43 .1993841 10 0:31 AFX 6/b 8 0:31 AFX 6/b 11 Untitled (BE) 12 Untitled (Shower beats) 13 Untitled (Spectrum beats) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ g. >I was at a rave 2 weeks ago when the dj played a rave version of the >Beatles' song HEY JUDE. I don't know if the dj was mixing or if this >rave version exits on CD somewhere. Does anyone know if this is >available anywhere on CD or cassette? The initial release, on black vinyl with a red label, was released initally to dance specialty stores, but Michael Jackson's music publishing business, which owns the rights to the Beatles catalog, heard about it and demanded they be pulled. These original 12"'s have garnered as much as $100 in trade. A bootleg was released a short time later, called "Jude on a Ragga Tip" (for the song is really just someone with a good sense of timing playing both "Hey Jude" and "On a Ragga Tip" by SL2, with MBM samples thrown in) and was backed with "How Does it Feel?" by Electroset (a song which eventually did get official permission for its sampling of "Blue Monday"). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ h. >whats that song that goes "i neeeeeeeed your lovin, like the sunshiiiine" "I Need Your Lovin'" by NRG. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ i. > Should restaurants provide free water? Yes, and so should raves. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ j. What's the difference between the single-CD US version of 'The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld' and the double-CD UK version? A. Kiyan Azarbar wrote: > I just asked a guy to order Adventures for me, and he said that he could > get it on UK import and it might be cheaper. Turns out it's $34 CDN, but > he said that was for the Adventures Double CD. I ordered it, but is there > really a double CD with more tracks than the Adventures that I've seen? > Is anything missing from it? How many tracks? (From the KLF/Orb FAQ:) The original UK release of the album has four tracks that don't appear on the American version: 14:15 Back Side Of The Moon 15:06 Spanish Castles In Space 9:30 Perpetual Dawn 8:10 Star 6 & 7 8 9 The first two tracks are deleted entirely on the US release, while the latter two appear in remixed versions (both of which also appear in slightly longer versions on the US CD5 for "Perpetual Dawn"): 3:48 Perpetual Dawn (solar youth mix - edit) 4:23 Star 6 & 7 8 9 (phase ii - edit) The changes in tracking for the album's US release were made by Alex Paterson under pressure from Mercury Records, who didn't believe that the full two-disc version was marketable in the United States. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ k. >The vocal to this song goes "high as a mountain... that's where I >wanna be... listen to the echo.." > >Anyone know what it's called. I used to a hear Garth play it a bunch. this is a very old song, all the way from 1987. my record says: colm iii - you take me high 12" ruby red records-uk (12 ltd 444) a1 mansion mix b1 (i guess the original version) -- (chris.hilker) cspot@cats.ucsc.edu "We feel affinities not only with the past, but also with the futures that didn't materialise, and with the other variations of the present that we suspect run parallel to the one we have agreed to live in." -Brian Eno