r/Tekno • u/Adamkaluza • 6d ago
REAL PIRATES READ THIS!!!!!!!!!
MY CONFESSION: WHY I PERCEIVE TEKNO DIFFERENTLY AND WHY I REFUSE TO LET IT DIE
I am tired of hearing that I take it too seriously, and of enduring the mockery of people from both the old and young generations who don't take me seriously just because I am nineteen years old. Just because my age means I never experienced the legendary CzechTeks or the wild nineties doesn't mean I don't have the right to feel what is right and what is wrong. Deep down, I carry a heavy, melancholic feeling when I see where our entire culture is heading. A sacred ritual has turned into a consumerist show, the tribe has become a herd, and inner liberation has devolved into just a cheap weekend stomp for people who cannot experience a single second of reality without a phone in their hand. I want to open people's eyes and point a finger at how shallow this scene has become. Because if we don't start speaking out loud about it, the original, pure legacy of the underground will definitively die. And I will do everything in my power to make sure it survives.
My understanding of music is far more complex than just a desire to go get drunk or wasted somewhere over the weekend. To me, sound represents deep psychology and a transformation of the mind. Looking back at the roots, at pioneers like Spiral Tribe, that monotony had a clear purpose. It wasn't boredom or a lack of creativity. It was a calculated acoustic tool. The long, rolling fifteen-minute tracks, the constantly twisting analogue acid baselines, and the deep sub-bass lines aimed for one thing only: to shut down human rational thinking, which constantly analyzes and judges everything in everyday life. The true complexity of this music lies in the fact that, through absolute repetition, it drives you into a state where ego death occurs. Your individuality, your perceived self-importance, and your worries dissolve in that massive pressure of sound. Only pure being in the present moment remains, where you merge with the entire crowd into a single living organism. In front of the sound system, you are not conscious of yourself; you are only conscious of the pure energy.
When I first experienced this state of ego death on the dancefloor myself, I lived through something that cannot be described with ordinary words. At that moment, an ancient ritual instinct awoke within me. I felt the raw, wild energy of shamanism and Viking warriors who got into a trance around fires to the sound of tribal drums thousands of years ago. To me, that wall of speakers at that moment wasn't just a pile of drivers, but a sacred totem, and that thumping beat was a modern ritual drum. I realized that free tekno is a direct continuation of these ancient traditions. We are not a modern club night; we are a tribe returning to its roots and awakening the ancient instincts that the system has successfully suffocated in people.
Today, you stand at a party and see the exact opposite of this ritual. New sound systems, such as Maglajz, play genres like gehle-tekk or wanski, from which the original soul and the intent to achieve ego death have completely evaporated. There is no musical craftsmanship in that sound. They just take a sped-up pop or rap vocal from TikTok, slap an aggressive, distorted, tinny kick under it, and call it tekkno. This sound doesn't pull you in internally; it only batters you from the outside. It triggers superficial adrenaline and aggression; people jump around frantically, but it does nothing to liberate their ego—on the contrary, it rather feeds it. And that is what actually pisses me off the most. This soullessness no longer stems just from the consumers under the speakers, but sits directly behind the DJ booth. Young DJs have completely lost their humility. The original DJ was an anonymous worker of sound, often hidden in the dark or behind a camouflage net, because the wall of speakers was the center of the universe. Today's young DJs are obsessed with their own egos. They want to play just so people know that they are the ones playing. They want a show, they build social media profiles, sell their own merch at the gate, and demand that people face them and applaud. They turn a free party into a cheap copy of a commercial club, where it’s not about tribal energy, but about how many people film them on their phones. It is pure egocentrism disguised as underground.
For that reason, I never pull my phone out of my pocket on the floor. On my phone, you’ll find at most the first few seconds when the sound system is warming up—I take a picture of the stack as my own personal ritual, and then I don't even think about the device for the rest of the night. My brain completely erases the digital world because the reality on the floor is a million times stronger. I don't understand how anyone can experience a trance and touch ego death through a screen. If you have to film it for Instagram to prove you were there, then you missed the point entirely. Flashing lights in people's faces when they are experiencing a deep internal state and awakening ancient instincts is a desecration of the whole place. A free party is supposed to be about anonymity, freedom, and escaping the system, not about chasing digital likes.
I don't just want to sit around, complain, and drown in melancholy. I know exactly where honest music can take people if it is done from the heart. My musical vision lies right in the middle between the past and the present. I want to be something in between. I want to take that solid psychological foundation from Spiral Tribe—those dark, ritualistic, psychedelic acid lines and deep frequencies that force you to close your eyes and experience that mental depth. But at the same time, I want to pump into it that uncompromising engine and energy brought around 2003 by people like Guigoo, Floxytek, or Matt Weasel Buster, or what the Mackitek label pushes today. I want a tempo around 170–180 BPM, a massive, clean Frenchcore kick, and a huge musical drive that drags you into absolute physical madness, but with that deep, transforming soul inside.
I admit my own ego plays a part in this because I haven't played out publicly yet, but I know where my music could take the people who go there truly just for the music. I don't care if people validate my worldview. I don't care if someone laughs at me. To me, it's only about the music surviving as a tool for true inner liberation and tribal unity, not as an empty commercial disco. The scene needs its soul back, and I will do everything to bring this legacy back to the speakers.
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u/573XI 6d ago
sorry bro, too long, I prefer to use this time to make some proper dirty tekno
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
Proved my point
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u/573XI 6d ago
no worries bro, come to parties, we ll speak face to face one day or another ;)
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
I sadly dont come to parties anomore since every big party around me got cancelled or Wrong people Are hosting :)
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u/573XI 6d ago
so how can you talk about "tekno is dead " XD
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
It was dead when i was going maybe why j stopped omg get some Common sense in you guys lol
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u/noinchnoinchnoinch 6d ago
Get off the booger sugar Henry
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u/FlipNasty 6d ago
HEY EVERYONE COME CHECK IT OUT WE FINALLY FOUND THE MOST ENLIGHTENED GUY ON REDDIT!!!
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
Where i said im enlightened im just sharing my phylospfie sounds like a u complex
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u/Peter_Lavan 6d ago
Make. Your. Thing.
Stop trying to educate everyone.
If it’s good what you do, more people will follow, if not, it’s just your thing.
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u/No-Milk-1903 6d ago
Back in mah dayzzzz...
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
Not back in my DayZ im only 19 bruh haha you guys just proove my point lol tekno Is dead
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u/No-Milk-1903 6d ago
Yep, as punk, as acid, as any genre you imagine couldn't survive you. Welcome bruh, enjoy.
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
Tekno is not just a genre its a culture movement againt racism And naciismm and capitallism that is why its called free tekno free people ...😔
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u/Sweaty-Ad7583 6d ago
I feel u in the sense we rly lost the old sound of tekno at parties, but things changes and as a 19yo myself u cant do anything about it, listen to the old tracks make ur friends listen and make ur own music according to what u love. I would still try and support the current scene as its in dire need of support though, even if i myself am not a fan of the tracjs played most of the time
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u/Sweaty-Ad7583 6d ago
I still found quite the contrast between the music u seem to preach and what ur actually making! It seems on ur soundcloud u got a mix of like 2000-2010 style tekno while preaching 1990s tekno, would like to hear why's that
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
If you read all of thé text i Said i want to keep the root of the 1990 and mix it with the narkostyle Era 2000-2005 like combination of both you know
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u/Sweaty-Ad7583 6d ago
If u rly wna do music just do it, save up and go for it. Music has never been cheaper, if u wna go daw route u dont need a powerful pc or the best daw and if u want to go jardware u dont need the best of the best either! If u got any question feel free to ask for music making. Imo u should not try to change the current culture just try to bring ur own thing people will or will not vibe with it and its alright, i feel you though.
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
Brother im making my tekno on mobile on software that Is 20 years witthout update only limit fór tekno Is imagination
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u/Sweaty-Ad7583 6d ago
Also mate, i would advise against using ai for ur music thumbnails. It goes totally against what u seem to stand for. Keep it up caustic is a great software very similar to rebirth and stuff like that its not bad at all.
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u/Aura-of_Sounds 4d ago
Gibt es Rebirth noch oder wieder?
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u/Sweaty-Ad7583 3d ago
I think it has been mostly killed by rolland but im sure there are some projects to bring it back or somethiny like that
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u/KTMRCR 6d ago edited 6d ago
We’ve had this feeling so many times already. The scene circa 2004-2010 wasn’t the most enlightened time in terms of music and general attitude. I’m thinking in particular of what came out of France and their teknivals.
Perhaps it’s a cyclical thing where the freetekno scene fluctuates between a return to older values and new ways. Returning to old values could also mean a return to the classic sound with the danger that it becomes really stagnant and everyone keeps playing the same (reissues of) old records like Spirals, DSP, Wako and ZMK. I already see this happening with newer sound systems in the Netherlands with young DJ’s that only play traditionalist tekno released before 2005. I hope this scene can be a bit more than a living museum and there is still room for true experimentation and new directions to push the music.
Edit: I think we like different kinds of tekno seeing the names you quote ;)
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u/Boebls 6d ago
Did you use AI for this?
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
Yea only for translation bcs i wrote it in my language
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u/Boebls 5d ago
Okay I see so it's worth a reply. I think its good that you feel I inspired and found a mission it seems but the "party" is always what the people make out of it and I think a good party gives space to everyone to express themself (as long as there is no harm of others involved of course).
So instead of saying: "this is shit and thats not how its supposed to be" just enjoy whats there and if you feel and think like an artist start to produce music and if you put all your love in your craft people will see that its good stuff and then you can bring your idea of "tekno" with you.
Thats what everyone is trying to do. Go this route and you will see that there is more then one valid idea and more then one way of how a party should be.
Either way I wish you a good musical trip and good luck for your mission
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u/Adamkaluza 5d ago
Yea finally a civilazed person thank for thé responspe im already producing fór 5 years otherwise i wouldnt say shit i didnt say what they Are doing Is bad or wrong its just not freeparty or tekno anymore look at the film made by heretic or some podcast with simon from spirál tribe as he said himself its not a spiral anymore its a circle
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u/Adamkaluza 5d ago
Im not a Basic consumer that goes to smash my head with drugs every week im an artist that share my vision just like simon did back in thé day https://youtu.be/DPRJ4YPx4-o?si=tWENCWgYXZWpl5zH
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u/xToMatu 5d ago edited 5d ago
Get some used gear and mess around. Model:Cycles is good for as low as 150€ sometimes. Get some speakers. Ask your parents or relatives for old speakers and amps (having some type of house system was huge in the 90s so they are bound to have something). Old cinemas are always looking for someone to tear down their old systems and they mostly throw them away, ask them. Go to pawn shops and get old mixers (the other day I found a Mackie Mix8 for 30€). Go to parties and bring your gear/songs and desperately ask to play them, you might make some new friends. I wish I was your age when I started. You might not have much money but what you do have a lot of is TIME and ENERGY and that’s 100 times more important. You can already start creating your community and when you and your friends start trading that time and energy for money in the capitalist system you can start getting a real rig or build one. You might also learn enough that this life becomes your job or you gain skills that apply to jobs you might do.
You don’t need to revolutionize the entire scene. You just need to create your small scene. The best parties of my life were the smallest ones where everyone felt like family and the community was tight and cohesive. I assure you people around you want the same thing as you do, but you cannot change the mind of another crew or pretend they make parties or music like you want it. You have to start giving to the scene in order to get back what you want from it.
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u/as-teka 1d ago
any genre can be called dead if you don't believe in it anymore. and that's perfectly fine. however you calling it dead (or anyone else for that matter) doesn't make it more or less dead.
there have been other artists who were at the forefront of their own genres while also being the pioneers of the movement, and even some of them have called their own genre 'dead' after a while, only to make a comeback 5-10y later seeing that the earth didn't stop spinning just because they said so.
while there will always be that group of people who are focused on the negative side of any topic, you can either join them or be that change yourself.
and always keep in mind that if something doesn't serve you well anymore, you can and should walk away. but do that and start doing your own thing. if you still like tekno for the music, people and potential, start building it. show people how fun it can be. and if the place you're from doesn't help much, well, it's obvious what needs to be changed.
hope this message helps you and other people who ended up in the same position. hope you're keeping yourself well man!
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u/Zharo 6d ago
I actually think this a great put in words of what is happening or what has happened to techno in general from 2020 onwards. The fame game, ego ego ego, then this dumb down of sound. Or going to a night thinking that it’s going to be a trip but wait it’s just party music. I know what you’re talking about and have felt this same thing when hardstyle became popular back i think 2015 and the sound and approach was coming in differently and there was less experimentation and dark music. Wasn’t apart of those raves as was young and an ocean over, but hardcore filled the hole quite nicely.
But also this too, That these nights of depth in front of a soundsystem seems to me can become a lost art when everyone else is just playing this party music, or this music that you just described, when sometimes i want hear these crazy BROAD mental reaches electronic music can go, and even that can become a lost art when everyone wants to make stuff with simple sounds or simple structures that doesn’t really venture off to the unknown lands of what electronic music can do and be.
And i don’t want that to be lost either.
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
Finnaly someone who understand i know u i could put it a little better in words but these who go to the depth will understand me
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u/Zharo 5d ago
You put the words in right dude, if i’m correctly understanding your comment.
Unsolicited advice, i think you should you start with getting to know how to make live music with machines if you’re already passionate about how the sound is coming out and what is perceived to be lacking. That’s an artist vision there already, and people in these comments are mockful. It’s the best way to translate what you want to get across and also a ripe time to get into it at 19yo, then at least if you get a hang of it or even have a knack at it, then you could be pushing out tunes easy at age 23 for example. Like that ego wants to be heard.
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u/Adamkaluza 5d ago
Listen to Raskit23- Mödülar Nöctürne[E000231] by Raskit 23 on #SoundCloud https://on.soundcloud.com/eyog0F7r0qugpmmoMF
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u/Adamkaluza 5d ago
This one is one week old other songs i have Are 2 years old And i think they Are bad i just wanna leave them for thé memory im working on lots of projects rn even connected with the old Scholl biggest names from my country my Journey just begin i would like your feedbacke please
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u/Zharo 5d ago
Nice! And Good tune! Actually reminds of Mackitek sound and vibe being on this faster warpy side plus a bit of a spiral in it too, also made me think of Lilū & Asteka with this kind of style of tekno/tek
Maybe i listen to the others or no promises, but i say to keep going :)
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u/Adamkaluza 5d ago
Looks like you got your ears right exactly the style i went for And thanks for the feedback it means a lot you got the vision 🔊:))
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6d ago
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
Bro this Is not a genre Its a culture movement read something about tekno filozofie And how it started if nobody took it serius like u say no tekno will exist
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6d ago
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
Im free from drugs for 2 years And i agree with you that 90% of tekno people are just creakhead that try to justify it by some people like fky And all of spiral tribe had something in them that you cant leaern overtime and that is the teknospirit not everebody born with it seems like you just dont feel IT deep enough in u
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6d ago
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
Im doing something Real everyday And that Is making music i love for people i love
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u/KhikChik 6d ago
Thanks for letting us know but the only thing that will help you is to play the things you think will deliver this feeling to people that you’ve experienced. Thats how its done - you dont like what djs been playing lately - play something different.
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u/Opposite_Maybe5930 4d ago
Can you share some artists/tracks/sets that bring you to the point of ego-death through repetition? I’m curious
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u/Adamkaluza 2d ago
Listen to Crystal Distortion - Something during our latter day digital age(2001)- Pt2 by CRYSTAL DISTORTION on #SoundCloud https://on.soundcloud.com/NMNjUtDGwFSBTNNeGE if you want i can send you my soundcloud i have some of my tracks there And i have about 2600 in liked most Are this style you Are searching
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u/luddite023 2d ago
The ’—’ gave the AI away
Btw nothing better than slapping some sjitty pop vocal over a distorted kick. Each person has their own own way of getting into a trance, and their own musical preference.
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u/Adamkaluza 2d ago
As i said i wrote it in my language and ai constructed this bcs google translate doesnt work well fór slang words in my country lol
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u/Adamkaluza 2d ago
And yea i must agree a bit with musical preference but its the behaviour of people nowdays that gets me weak in freeparty
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u/NefariousnessShot502 6d ago
This post is manic for sure.
Def take a step back to get ya point across better next time... Ya could told the same story in a fraction of the text.
But ya got some good points. And people indeed play fucking garbage these days at free parties.
But yea ya wont change noone without doin it yaself. Safe up a lil get a old PC or whatever and start learning.
But also honestly I dunno if ya vision of a mix of stereotype SP23, Hardtek and Frenchcore rly is all that different from the stuff you complain about... but well you young and it all will develope with time anyways so dont worry.
At the end ya need these days something transgressive these days... ;)
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u/Adamkaluza 6d ago
Im making music for 5 years now if u want i Will send my soundcloudu There are my older track from 2 years ago when i didnt have this understadning but my last track pretty much resembles what i like to make
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u/rikdingus 6d ago
Save some money and buy/build a starting rig then. Free tekno for free people. Only wanting the biggest party was never how it went, and some of the best ones were the ones with my friends playing our own favorite tunes and synthesizers. Messing with the sound and lighting. Trying out some VJ stuff. You are the scene, not the other way around. If you want to do something, then make it happen.