14. Sonic Destroyer

X-101: X-101 (Underground Resistance, 1991);
composer(s) uncredited, but includes “Mad” Mike Banks

One of the things I like most about techno is that its second Detroit iteration gave rise to the obsessives of the Underground Resistance collective. Except for Christian Marclay, no one took the idea of vinyl discs as fetish objects farther, and none farther than this twelve-inch. The B side has one track cut into a groove running from the center of the disc to the edge. The A side – which has no take-up grooves at all – comprises two tracks lasting less than a minute each purporting to be waveform tests, followed by a five-minute four-on-the-floor whomper called “Sonic Destroyer.” Techno is distinguished from other electronic forms sprouting in the mid 1980s, like house, in its dispensing with vocals, or anything that might give its creations any human-scale reference points. This served to give even its most minimal and abstract compositions – often very inexpensively assembled, with cheap electronic gadgets – an alarming “there-ness.” They became facts, the same way certain words – like “I accept your offer” or “This theater is on fire!” – can be legal acts. The hook refrain of “Sonic Destroyer” is what sounds like a Roland 303 imitating a swarm of furious bees. Dance to it? You already did.

Note: 25 secular essays about 25 songs, each one exactly 200 words long, appearing one per day during Advent (approximately).