Excerpt from Martyn's blog, he nails exactly how I feel about music (specifically electronic music) growing out of and in response to an environment. So on a trip to Berlin I could hear the deep techno and electro occupying the geometric empty spaces between the city blocks. Here's Martyn on London...
In the mid 90s, I trooped to London to experience what drum 'n bass was all about. We stayed with friends in the Peckham area and on one night we drove to the Leisure Lounge. It was raining the way it only rains in London, a sort of "half-rain" and it was late so the only people I saw in the streets were of the 24hour kind. There was a scent of samosas and I observed the multiple layers of the metropolis, the cheap shops on ground level, the billboards of major companies above it, and the expensive apartments and offices at the very top - in true Blade Runner style. Dillinja's "Threshold" played on the car stereo and for me this was a defining moment, these rainy melancholic chords and haunting voices combined with the aggressive beats and enormous bassline were the soundtrack to this city. The music describes the environment, and the person in that environment.
Dillinja: Threshold
Ps Saw Blade Runner Re-cut in cinema on Monday night in Dublin. The (large) auditorium was rammed at 6 in the evening. The film just gets better and better. The vangelis tune in the nightclub scene is so ahead of its time; big warm electronic dub sound. will find and post later..