I'm a little confused by the American focus of the article. Kraftwerk's Autobahne came out in 1974, and there was a well established electronic movement coming out of krautrock, which became techno. Americans were late to the scene.
I think you've got to pick one or the other. It became techno in America in a culturally deeply American way. I wish people would embrace the cultural exchange and parallel/convergent evolution at the core of musical evolution instead of holding on to laughably provincial notions of cosmogony.
I'm not holding onto laughably provincial notions of cosmogony- it is just strange to start a history of a subject several years after its development, and only make passing reference to its progenitors. Krautrock developed into electronic music, including Kraftwerk, who coined the term 'techno'
> I'm not holding onto laughably provincial notions of cosmogony
> it is just strange to ... only make passing reference to its progenitors
Which one is it?
Electronic music didn't begin with Krautrock, it began with avant garde composers pushing limits. Messiaen, Ives, Varése, Cage; all of this in the late 19th century to early 20th century. Krautrock itself is deeply indebted to its own stylistic progenitors in American minimalism, including artists like Terry Riley (as well as Germans like Karl Stockhausen). Assuming you're not trying to make proto-nationalistic strawmans in service of which scene was the "one true" progenitor, it's hard to do anything but to think globally -- otherwise, you'll miss the forest for the trees.
I always felt that part of the joy of Krautrock was in how it was able to rebel against American influence and conservative German mores while dialectically integrating its raw materials. But that's why I would caution against being too territorial about these things. It's why I warn against provinciality. Electronic music developed in parallel across the globe, much like all modern music.
You're being a bit too clever. The term 'techno' is attributed to Kraftwerk who were hugely influential for all forms of electronic music after them. It is strange to only mention them briefly later on, and present it as the history of techno.
I still wonder why Tesla doesn't use lithium ferrophosphate or another type of battery that won't catch fire. Shouldn't the safety risk of the batteries they use outweigh the slight increase in energy density?
There is a big difference. An open, democratic government can be peacefully corrected. A closed, totalitarian government cannot be. If the chinese and russian governments were open, then we could worry less about them.
The United Kingdom has more CCTV activity than any other European country, per capita. No-one bats an eyelid. They have also been using facial recognition to find people in the crowd with a really poor rate of success. No one seems to batter an eye lid, China does the same and everyone is going crazy.
The big difference is that you can say President USA is this and that and nothing will happen to you. But speak badly of the Chinese government and you would end up in a shithole for life. Or worst. Or say something bad about the N Korean leader for example. This is totally different.
Yeah, I hear and sympathize with you, but it's a bit of a truism and misses the point. If this was about lead poisoning, and not parental income, that leads to mental illness, wouldn't you want to fix the problem, rather than just say buck up?
Aikido does work as a physical activity to stay fit and bond socially, just like gardening and yoga. It's not useless; it's just useless for what most people think it's useful for.
Yes, Al-Ghazali made that point. I don't remember the specific passage but he made the comment that if he left a book in his library, he has no way to know that god did not turn it into a donkey, which was at that moment pissing on all his other books. I'll search for that quote, because it was pretty exciting for a medieval philosophy class.
