House or Techno?

First off, I would like to apologize for the serious lack of paragraphage in my first post. As I have stated I am new at this whole blogging thing. Now, onto my next, and far more important, point of writing.

Upon arriving in Europe for an extended stay, one inevitable question comes up for every American; Is this House or Techno? A man like myself who takes pride in throwing on as many techno remixes as possible throughout late night dance sessions might feel this is an easy question to answer. However, after almost 2 months of being here, I am still struggling with grasping the differences between these so-called "genres" of music.

While walking into my first Euro club experience in Nuremberg, Germany, I had little to no doubt in one aspect of my life: there is techno, and there is everything else. I soon realized I was severely mistaken. As the large German bouncer let me in, I was quickly confronted with a haunting decision. To my left was a "House" room and to my right was a "Techno" room. "What the EFFFF?!?!" I was so flustered that the same German bouncer that let me in had to scream sweet German nothings into my ear to get me out of the doorway. Luckily, though, I remembered I had to pee. My normal bodily functions had gotten me out of another tight corner.

While walking to the bathroom with my German host-brother and his best friend, I quickly asked, "Simon, what the hell is the difference between House and Techno?" Both he and Jakob (his friend) looked at each other and giggled at the stupidity of my question. Simon quickly said something to the effect of "Well, house has words and techno doesn't." My world had been shattered. All this time, I had been listening to House instead of Techno. My favorite late night playlists were now all a farce and I began to have serious doubts in my musical knowledge. Damn you CASCADA! How could you do this to me after all the memories we had created?

After getting over my initial shock, I began to wonder what type of people would be in each room. To be honest, all I wanted to know was where people like this would be, so that I could stay the hell out of that room.

As we checked out the various rooms throughout the club, I realized that this question had no true answer. Some techno has words in it and large parts of House music have no words in it. Therefore, I did the one thing that anyone in my situation would have done, I consulted the Internet.

Later that night, I stumbled upon a truly informative site. The website http://www.innerrave.org/ describes the raving / techno experience to a feeling similar to this:

"Dance and meditation come together in the experience of absolute spontaneity! When we are completely in tune with the music, not a thought in our mind, and no idea where the next beat will take us, then we are in touch with our own spontaneous perfection. This is dance as a spiritual path to enlightenment."

I had found my answer. Now, I wouldn't exactly call good dancing spontaneous perfection, but, then again, who am I to judge? Many of you back at Amherst College know that spontaneous perfection can lead to some horrifying and awkward dance sessions, but maybe Amherst has scarred me. So, dancing to techno is a spiritual path to enlightenment, right?

Wrong! My naive mind needed more answers so I clicked onto the next page of innerrave.org only to read this:

"Any time that we have a moment of freshness is a moment of experiencing basic goodness!

Stepping in a puddle.
Recognizing an old friend.
Getting a groove on.
Anything at any time."

Now, keeping it fresh and getting a groove on sounds a whole lot like Keepin it Live. I never knew I could keep it live by stepping in a damn puddle. I guess it all depends on how you step and with how much authority you displace the water, but I will save that for another post.

In closing, I have come to the conclusion that the question of house or techno has no definitive answer. Both genres can Keep it Live at certain times and both genres can be as anti-live as it comes. But does it really matter? All you can do is be your live self and hope for the best. That's all these guys did.