Free tekno

For the cultural movement, see Freetekno.

Type of DIY party
Free party / Squat Party	Teknival
Freetekno	Sound System
Music Played at the Parties Also see Rave music
free tekno - drum and bass - drumstep - hardstyle - dubstyle - gabba - moombahcore - raggacore - jungle - industrial hardcore - breakbeat hardcore - breakcore - speedcore - aggrotech - hardbag - goa trance - bouncy techno - mákina - techno and trance
Famous Parties
Castlemorton Common Festival - CzechTek - Windsor Free Festival - Stonehenge Free Festival - Reclaim the Streets

Free tekno is the name given to the music predominantly played at free parties in Europe. The spelling of the word tekno is made to deliberately differentiate the musical style from that of techno. The music is fast, normally 170 to 200 bpm and characterised by a pounding repetitive kick drum.

History

Tekno evolved in tandem with the teknival movement in the early 1990s since many of the teknival organisers and DJs were also making music. The music drew on influences such as hardcore, rave, jungle, gabber and techno, with the producers taking the sound in a darker direction. An emphasis is placed on samples from TV shows, films and popular culture which are placed at strategic moments in the tracks. The music was produced with whatever was available: drum machines, synthesisers and keyboards as well as computer programs such as audio/MIDI sequencers and Trackers, sometimes even hitting a random table with a pen. Starting from year 2001 there has been a trend using laptop and laptops for live performances, because the capabilities of both the hardware and software were improving very quick.

With the evolution of the genre it has come to be known by a number of names, including spiral tekno, hardtek, tribetek, tribe and lately evolved in many other subgenres like pumping tek, hardfloor and French core which is a sort of mixture between mainstream Hardcore and Hardtekno, with funny and pumping samples taken from different media supports.

Tekno producers come from different places including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Austria and the Czech Republic. Here a list of some of the most active artist who from the early 90's till today were and are still creating music for played in free parties: Spiral Tribe, Crystal Distortion, Lego, Liqitex, 69db, Ixy, Kaos, Jack Acid, Curley, Unit Moebius, Les Boucles Etranges, Yale, FKY, Babyon Joke, Arobass, Gotek, Floxytek, Suburbass, Zone-33, Mat Weasel Buster, Narkotek, Kernel Panik, Revolt99, Infrabass, Vinka, Banditos, Diablo (LSDF), Teknambul, Spiralheadz, Asphalt-Pirates, Aya Soundsystem, Puissance K, Guigoo, Billx, Maissouille, Key Gen, Psychospores.

Many record labels contributed spreading the sound mostly via underground distribution opereted mostly by record shops / labels such as Hokus Pokus (Paris) and Toolbox Records (Paris), and record labels such as Tek No Logique (TNL), Narkotek and Astrofonik. Here a list of some of the m ost active record labels Network 23 record label Spiral Tribe sound system, Hokus Pokus, Passe Muraille, Perce Oreille, Infrabass, KGB Records, OQP Crue Production, Tek No Logique, Narkotek, Astrofonik, Le Diable Au Corps.

Artists within this genre usually follow a very different ideology when compared to more modern and mainstream producers:

• Artists often use many pseudonyms, as they are not interested in mainstream success or recognition
• Most are not interested in profit
• They also support the free distribution of their works, as they do not see it as their own material, but as something that belongs to the fans and the community

Sound systems

• Spiral Tribe
• Network 23 (record label)

External links

• Free Party article at h2g2
• Freetekno.org website
• freetekno stable archive
• French tekno website (almost all in French)
• French free tekno website (in French)
• Czech freetekno website
• Barcelona freetekno website
• Milwaukee freetekno website