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Introducing Tektonik: What 'the kids' are listening to on the continent. 17 Years, 8 Months ago
Just back from a short junket to the continent and kids are doing this in parks everywhere.
They're listening to what sounds like rave-music played at the wrong (faster) speed, through the speakers in their mobile phones.
When I saw it first, I thought it was a joke.it was like they were dancing to a ringtone. But, after seeing it more than a few times in different cities...I realised it was a widespread craze.
It's dubbed/tagged as 'Techtonic' or 'Tektonik' and I googled it when I got back and found some videos.
Check it out..some of it was hilarious to an old git like me, but, the kids love it.
Re:Introducing Tektonik: What 'the kids' are listening to on the continent. 17 Years, 8 Months ago
I have this theory.
Children are packed with boundless energy that slowly dissipates as you get older (I now at 62 have none whatsoever).
So, just as little kids love speeded up voices (Chipmunks, Smurfs, gabba etc) so slightly older teenagers love frantic dancing and twitching - which covers this category (and the music that attracts them - how many teenagers like sloppy ballads?).
Re:Introducing Tektonik: What 'the kids' are listening to on the continent. 17 Years, 8 Months ago
I have this theory.
Children are packed with boundless energy that slowly dissipates as you get older (I now at 62 have none whatsoever).
So, just as little kids love speeded up voices (Chipmunks, Smurfs, gabba etc) so slightly older teenagers love frantic dancing and twitching - which covers this category (and the music that attracts them - how many teenagers like sloppy ballads?).
You have a good point about the energy thing, kids are sitting around all day faffing about with their bebo/myspace page building up a lot of pent up energy. So the techtonic thing is a great release for that.
However, I'm not so sure about the smurfs/chipmunks point. I would associate those novelty hits with toddlers rather than teenagers..although having said that, now and again 1 songs breaks through, like the birdy song where grown adults willingly make absolute eejits out of themelves doing the dance.
I have a slightly different theory..and that is music today, to many teenagers, is the audio equivalent of wallpaper.
In other words they listen to music while they are doing something else. Instead of switching off the lights and listening to an album, beginning to end, it's something they have on in the background while they're updating their bebo or myspace or facebook page..blogging..playing a game..on a tubue etc.
Traditionally, teenagers love nothing more than music that annoys their parents and with the exception of techtonic mixes, parents are more likely to shout up to the bedrooms turn that racket up...such is the general MOR blandness of popular music at the moment.
Someone mentioned on another message board that kids in the UK are playing tecktonik mixes on buses through their tinny mobile phone speakers. That would drive most adults crazy. So, Techtonic mixes ticks that "music that annoys your parents" box perfectly.
The American equivalent is less random, but, it brought back vague memories of the break-dancing craze in the late 80s where kids would carry around those large boom box cassette players and essentially busk in public. Check out the following track, "Watch My Feet", by the Chicago band Dude N Nem (TVT records)..
It starts off like a standard urban hip-hop track, but, the chorus speeds up and kicks into a techtonic style go-mental-mix that sounds like they're on fecking helium.
I'm not saying there's going to be a return to leg warmers and kitchen-lino, but, I do think there is more to this than just a passing fad.
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