Industrial Techno

Industrial Techno
Stylistic origins	Techno Industrial Synthpop Electro Chiptune
Cultural origins	Late 1980s to early 1990s Tokyo (Japan) Detroit (United States) United Kingdom
Other topics
Industrial Music Electronics Ambient Techno

Industrial Techno is a subgenre of techno and industrial dance music. It combines a techno rhythm with the bleak, noisy sound and aesthetics of industrial music. The genre originated from Tokyo (Japan), Detroit (United States) and the United Kingdom during the late 1980s to early 1990s.

History

Tokyo

Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) was a Japanese electronic music group founded in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. The YMO trio were the first to use the Roland TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines along with heavy use of samples. They combined techno-kayō ("techno-pop") music with drum machine beats and industrial samples, laying the foundations for industrial techno.

The origins of industrial techno date back to the early 1980s with the work of Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, then a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra. According to Fact and Louder Than War, Sakamoto's solo album B-2 Unit (1980) anticipated the sounds of industrial techno.

Examples of industrial techno-kayō from Tokyo in the early 1980s:

• Ryuichi Sakamoto tracks
  • "Differencia", "Participation Mystique" and "E-3A" from B-2 Unit (1980)
  • "Iconic Storage" and "Riot in Lagos" from B-2 Unit (1980)
  • "Happy End" (1981)
• Haruomi Hosono productions
  • Sandii's "Hey Rock-A La La" (1980)
  • Haruomi Hosono's "Living Dining Kitchen" (1982)
• Yellow Magic Orchestra
  • "Ballet", "1000 Knives" and "Camouflage" from BGM (1981)
  • "Seoul Music", "Prologue" and "Epilogue" from Technodelic (1981)
  • "Light in Darkness", "Ballet", "Pure Jam", "Happy End" and "Key" from Winter Live 1981
• Akiko Yano's "Rose Garden" (1981) produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto
• Logic System's "Intro" and "XY?" (1981) produced by Hideki Matsutake
• Naomi Akimoto's Rolling 80's (1982) produced by Yasuaki Shimizu
  • "Singin' In The Rain", "Chicago" and "Somebody Loves Me"
• Sakata Sextet's "Tra" and "Uma" (1982)

Examples of industrial techno from Tokyo in the mid-1980s:

• Haruomi Hosono productions
  • "Xevious" (1984) and "Super Xevious" (1984)
  • "Non-Standard Mixture" and "Alternative 3" (1984)
  • "Mazinger H" (1985)
• Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Tabi no Kyokuhoku" (1984) and "Robot" (1985)
• Hajime Tachibana's "Taiyo Sun" (1985)
• Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Daikōkai Verso Lo Schermo" (1986)

Examples of industrial techno from Tokyo during the late 1980s to early 1990s:

• Seigen Ono's "Something to Hold on To" (1989)
• Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Chance" (1993) produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto

Video games

Examples of industrial techno from Japanese video games in the mid-1980s:

• Bega's Battle (1983), arcade laserdisc game developed by Data East
• Kenji Yoshida tracks in Nichibutsu arcade games
  • "Stage Theme A" in Cosmo Police Galivan (1985)
  • "Gallus" in UFO Robo Dangar and "Makai Sen" and "Tama Kikō" in Ninja Emaki (1986)
  • "Theme of the Escapee" in Soldier Girl Amazon (1986)
• "Ice Fortress" in Contra (1986), composed by Kazuki Muraoka (Konami)

Examples of industrial techno from Japanese video games in the late 1980s:

• "Creature From Outer Space" in Super Contra (1987) by Kazuki Muraoka and Motoaki Furukawa (Konami)
• "Kinin: Cyber Warrior" in Mirai Ninja (1988) composed by Etsuo Ishii (Namco)
• "Ninja Step" in The Revenge of Shinobi (1989) composed by Yuzo Koshiro (Sega)

Examples of industrial techno from Sega video games in the early 1990s:

• Streets of Rage series
  • "Beatnik On The Ship" in Streets of Rage (1991) composed by by Yuzo Koshiro
  • "Back to the Industry" in Streets of Rage 2 (1992) composed by by Yuzo Koshiro
  • "Expander" in Streets of Rage 2 (1992) composed by by Motohiro Kawashima
• Sonic the Hedgehog CD (1993)
  • "Palmtree Panic 'B' Mix" composed by Naofumi Hataya
  • "Collision Chaos" and "Tidal Tempest 'B' mix" composed by Masafumi Ogata

Detroit

Final Cut, formed by Jeff Mills and Anthony Srock in the late 1980s, was among the earliest industry techno bands. They released their debut industrial techno album Deep into the Cut in 1989.

Examples of Detroit industrial techno in the late 1980s:

• Final Cut's "She Destroys" (1989) produced by Jeff Mills
• Final Cut's "I Told You Not To Stop" (1989) produced by Jeff Mills

United Kingdom

Examples of UK industrial techno in the early 1990s:

• Traci Lord's "Control" (1994) produced by Juno Reactor
• Traci Lord's "Control (Juno Reactor Instrumental)" produced by Juno Reactor (1994)