High Tech Soul: The Creation of Techno Music

In the late 1980s, a new form of urban dance music—utilizing electronic equipment, including turntables manipulated by DJs to create a throbbing, pulsating sound—came to the fore in Detroit. Gary Bredow's documentary High Tech Soul attempts to define techno music and trace its origins back to unique circumstances prevailing in the Motor City at the time. Although the film serves up clips from nightlong underground dance parties, the lion's share of the running time is devoted to interviews with the original creators (including Derrick May, Juan Atkins, and Kevin Saunderson) and their successors, as well as promoters, fans, and commentators, including an academic who offers analysis on the socioeconomic singularities of Detroit that helped give rise to techno (the importance of which is taken for granted as the film rather freely tosses the word “genius” around, as well as repeating the phrase “taking it to a new level” ad infinitum). But even if you find High Tech Soul to have greater sociological than musical value, the film is still reasonably effective at integrating its appreciation for techno together with solid historical context. DVD extras include four brief featurettes, each consisting of interview snippets (most of which are already included in the film). A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)