TRANSMAT RECORDS 1986 - 1992 derrick may detroit techno

bonus poll: should i get transmat logo tat y/n

yes

gosh this is hard. "Nude Photo" is obv, but I fucking adore "I Believe". Don't know 4 or 5 of these, will check before voting.

btw go here for some scans of of alan oldham's gorgeous centre sticker art work for the label

http://funkdisco.com/ms000.html

http://funkdisco.com/assets/images/ms008_alan_oldham_a.jpg

noodle, they're pretty much all on youtube if you need to do some revision. don't sleep on some of those b-sides as well, for example "untitled" from the the x-ray single has to be one of the most perfect examples of "detroit techno" i've ever heard. hard to believe it's from 1986. derrick may was from another planet

lol I am already working thru Youtube.

Still think I'll end up voting for "I Believe" tho.

Already got files of all of "Let's Go" :)

short list

MS 002 Rythim Is Rythim - Nude Photo 1987
MS 6 Rhythim Is Rhythim - It Is What It Is 1988
MS10 Octave One Featuring Lisa Newberry - I Believe 1990
MS12 Psyche - Crack Down 1990
MS15 Rhythim Is Rhythim - The Beginning 1990
MS16 Beltram - Energy Flash 1990

i'm leaning strongly toward "crackdown" just because i think it has a lot more depth than the others. four tracks deep and all kill it. the others pretty much down to one side.

my impulse is to vote for "it is what it is" though

My knowledge of the stuff I know is too scattered to give a proper vote.

It Is What It Is is a good choice, partially because as of a few weeks ago I own a copy of it : D

Too bad the actual record is all worn out :(

i'd say that's moonship's is a fair assessment of the strongest records on this list, though i'd personally add r-tyme and maybe k-alexi

the one i keep coming back to though, is the art of stalking ep. there's something so heavy and relentless about those threatening bass stabs against the reverbed piano line and heavily compressed kick in "the worlds" (the track everybody thought was "art of stalking" due to a pressing mistake) that just typifies that dark heads down warehouse vibe that was emerging around the time. on the other side, "art of stalking" is equally as terrifying, with that spiraling bass line that seems to be breathing somehow, syncopated against the kick creating a kinda sleazey groove beneath the anxious synth lead. add some ever so slightly swung percussion, some neubauten esque metal-on-metal hits and you've got a perfect record. i can only imagine the kind of devastating "wtf is this" reactions it must've provoked on dancefloors when it came out

can only imagine the kind of devastating "wtf is this" reactions it must've provoked on dancefloors when it came out

which is the very reason i voted for it. i first heard derrick may play this at a huge tented rave in 1989 and my mind exploded along with 10000 others. i'd heard and adored all the other transmat records as they had come out but this was just so alien sounding, so powerful, so transcendental and instantly rendered 99% industrial music i'd long loved as horribly dated. he then played "the worlds" which i possibly love even more and i spent the next 6 months going into my local import store twice a week hoping it would arrive. when it did, i can't remember ever being so excited to have a record and to then get to play it out. this 12" went on to inspire a whole genre of german techno - not to take anything away from the genius of marc acardipane, but he based an entire movement on this 12".

oh, ad right up until reading r1o's post i have thought "the worlds" was "the art of stalking" and vice versa. will probably always be that way in my head.

that's a great story, thanks!

I Believe, but props to Ocean to Ocean for having Infoworld on it, another favorite track I discovered via Relics.

I voted for the R-Tyme 12" - joyful future music that it is/was - though picking just one Transmat release is insanity.

man "r theme" is so beautiful. love how the strings sound like they're copied from some old disco song or something

either R-Theme or Beyond The Dance (Cult Mix)

Energy flash >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> anything else ever.

Just a perfect, perfect piece of music that still sounds fresh after 20 ( gulp) years.

But basically that entire list above is unimpeachable.

xpost, my thoughts *exactly*!

as with the metalheadz poll tho that's based on experience not expertise (don't know everything here but time to change that)

http://funkdisco.com/assets/images/ms004_purple_b.jpg

another excellent b-side

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OcDk5c1tGI

i just think pennington has done way better work than "art of stalking". not sure if i can say the same about "crackdown" or "it is what it is". need to re-listen to "the worlds" apparently tho.

As Mr May said: I begun to understand that I had a new thing going on. You can say that It Is What It Is forced dancemusic into a unknown area back in -88.
Together with Beyond the dance (on the b-side) he constructed his typically organic sound.
The track is meltdown of all of the the complex feelings of humanity.
The last 30 seconds of the track is frustating of life!
If you only can take one dancerecord with you to the stars, It Is What It Is will be the best choice. Enfore.

A linkfrom my Tumblr to interviews with May, Atkins, Saunderson c.1990. May especially breaks down how he got that sound.

Hell, scratch that. It's a 404 now. Apologies.

shit, i had no idea that 'energy flash' originally came out on transmat.

it didn't. it came out on R&S first and then on transmat.

Yay, an excuse to listen to all these (that is, if I can find them on YouTube)

Most of them seem to be there, but like r1o said, make sure you check out b-sides.

re the crack down ep, the two best tracks had better mixes else where imo - "crack down" on relics w/ sarah gregory, and the beatless version of "neurotic behaviour" that came out on art. i think as far as pure fire early carl craig four trackers go i'd take the bfc ep on fragile over the crack down (by a very slight margin)

speaking of the relics mix of "crack down", can anyone tell me where the strings in the intro are sampled from?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzco3UWEkS8

i swear it's from some 80s sci-fi flick, like i dunno endgame or something?

MS 004 Rhythim Is Rhythim - Strings Of Life 1987
MS16 Beltram - Energy Flash 1990
MS17 3 Phase Featuring Dr. Motte - Der Klang Der Familie 1992

one of these, I think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCwOxzrUSlk

^bomb

Ah dang, it's a shame you didn't go up to MS 21 Rhythim Is Rhythim - Icon / Kao-Tic Harmony...cause that would get my vote. It's an all time top ten record. Both sides masterpieces.

As it stands, maybe MS 9 R-Tyme - Illusion / R-Theme

"icon" is amazing, but a superior mix exists elsewhere on the virtualsex comp

though i probably should've included it since both tracks date back to the early 90s

For some reason I started really getting into "Energy Flash" about a year ago ... I never thought it was *that* great, now suddenly I'm hearing what everybody else heard 20 years ago.

So, either "Energy Flash" or "Beyond the Dance". I haven't heard a few of these though.

i'm going with 'r-theme'/'illusion'. doubt there's a better double-a in history. ps moodymann 'dem young sconies' and k alexi's 'vertigo' were meant for each other eh?

jay vee - where CAN we read those interviews?

bumpump

elan - I've been looking around online for them but no luck so far. The same intvws appear in a long-out-of-print paperback called The History Of House. If you see a copy pop up, grab it!

Here's the Juan Atkins interview.

I have never heard that origin story for the term "house music" before.

elan - I've been looking around online for them but no luck so far. The same intvws appear in a long-out-of-print paperback called The History Of House. If you see a copy pop up, grab it!

Yeah, you definitely want to buy this on sight if you come across a copy. I think I came out in 96 and I picked my copy up a year or two after it came out. Unlike vinyl, I'm super unattached to books as physical objects. That being said, HOH is one of the 5-10 books in my collection that would genuinely break my heart if I were to lose it in a house fire. I can't recommend it enough.

The history in it is fairly general, but it is really the only game in town until somebody writes a Techno Rebels for early house and acid. Reynolds would have been fucked without that book because he cribbed huge parts of it for the American sections of Generation Ecstasy.

I just peeked at Amazon for shits and giggles and there are several copies in the 10-20 dollar range in the US and UK. It is definitely worth ordering if you have a few extra dollars in your budget for the week.

Good to know! I may pick up a second copy as mine is totally dogeared. That thing was a bible of tips and tricks when I first began making music.

fascinating article, nice one jay vee

i've always wondered where these guys got their string and choir sounds from, especially derrick may's stuff, the choir sound in "i believe" etc. was it all from juan's mirage? i know thats where the string sound in "big fun" came from. or were they using romplers of some sort?

Re: strings - here's an excerpt from "History Of House":

"The distinctive string sounds May has been using in his Rhythim Is Rhythim tracks since "It Is What It Is" have their origins in samples he took himself at Orchestra Hall in Detroit, where the city's symphony orchestra rehearses and performs...'For my music, I'm not looking for commercial, warm sounds. My string sounds are very cold, very callous...'"

The string sounds on I Believe came from a Roland U20 that the Burden brothers borrowed from Kevin Saunderson while he was on tour. Kevin was mad because he *just* bought it and had not had a chance to use it himself. Back in the day there was a lot of gear swapping in Detroit because the equipment was expensive and people didn't have the money for complete set ups then.

As far as the Mirage goes, I would take a lot of it what people tell you about it with a grain of salt. The Akai S900 was on the market by 1986, and the s950 was out in 1988 and they had way more features and were far easier to use. I know KS and DM had Akai samplers in their studios at the time.

As far as string sounds go, it really boils down to what you know rather than what you have. The hard part is actually writing a string part that's good, rather than getting a good sound. It's pretty much digital synth->delay->chorus->reverb->EQ->print to tape. Knowing the proper settings is more important that having a particular magic box.

Another little secret I will put you up on is that Derrick May's secret weapon wasn't the DX-100, it was the Casio CZ synths. A lot of his trademark sounds came out of the Casio. I am not saying he didn't use a DX100 a lot, it is just that a lot of sounds that people assume are DX are really a CZ1000.

actually it was the choir sound in "big fun" that is from one of the mirage factory sample disks, and not the strings. there's some dude on youtube who does a side by side comparison

i always thought those derrick may strings were just meat and potato rompler presets, the stabs in "beyond the dance" or "strings of life" for example. i had heard the story about him sampling an orchestra in detroit, and whether its true or not it's a really cool story either way

Energy flash >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> anything else ever.

Ecstasy...ecstasy

xpost Re: Rompler presets ... I doubt they were since in that same interview I quoted from May goes on about how he didn't believe in using presets/presets are taboo. Was he bullshitting? Who knows? I like to think the integrity was there back in the days and he actually programmed/sampled his own stuff : )

so much bullshit about presets...like Aphex saying he only used instruments he built, then I borrowed a DX-27 and lo-and-behold there's a certain sound from a certain record. Which one, I don't remember. It was in college. I remember the Kenny Larkin CD coming out and opening with a K2000 preset, where it says "hello" just using synthesis. I'll play some Derrick May and Aphex Twin and Octave One at Fac Off at Santos tuesday night, you should come Capitaine.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

There is no other label where this record would get zero votes.

MS15 Rhythim Is Rhythim - The Beginning 1990 0

Actually Steve, realize I prefer the "Bizarro" mix of "Beyond the Dance"...

Also, can't believe I'm the only person who voted for it!

History of House is indeed well worth reading; as a whole it has a rather messy 90s aesthetic, and there are some factual errors in the history bit, but the interviews (which take up most of the book) are super interesting.

but it is really the only game in town until somebody writes a Techno Rebels for early house and acid.

IMO Sean Bidder's Pump Up the Volume has a decent enough history of 80s house. When it gets to the 90s it becomes really UK centric, but the first part is okay. I'd love to read a proper history focusing only on house's birth and development in the US, though.

speaking of the relics mix of "crack down", can anyone tell me where the strings in the intro are sampled from?

i swear it's from some 80s sci-fi flick, like i dunno endgame or something?

― lao gan ma (r1o natsume), Tuesday, September 14, 2010 6:03 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

somebody must know this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Transmat-Record-Label-Aufkleber-40cm-Decal-Sticker-Heckscheibe-Haube-/121203113510?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_77&hash=item1c3844be26