The last few years of the 70's signaled a huge explosion in music genres. One of them was the introduction of Techno, or Synthpop. Mostly relegated to Disco and soft-Jazz in the early 70's, Techno branched out and crossed paths with Experimental and turned what was formerly a dance genre into something new.

Human League were at the forefront of the movement. Along with bands like OMD and Ultravox!, Human League embraced a cool and detached approach - stripped down and basic. Initially their was more akin to the German techno of Kraftwerk, rather than Tangerine Dream and it eventually paved the way for the New Wave and New Romantic genres.

Tonight it's a session Human League did for the BBC, recorded on August 8, 1978 when they were relatively new and finding their musical voice.

Here's what they perform:

1. Being Boiled
2. No Time
3. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling (yes, THAT one).
4. Blind Youth

It's interesting, the inclusion of a song made famous by The Righteous Brothers and iconic in its production by Phil Spector. Done by Human League the warmth is stripped away and the message seems sinister in comparison, becoming almost an anti-love song. Which, considering the times, was probably the intention.

Further evidence the playing field was up for grabs and it was open season for everything.

(Pablo Bolivar - Techno/Ambient from Barcelona)

I had something else planned tonight and then I ran across this. Pablo Bolivar comes from Barcelona Spain and its wonderful. I admit I haven't posted very much (or at all) techno/ambient/electronica and I suspect this won't be the only post I'll do of this genre. It seems completely apropos on a Tuesday night.

There's not much I can add other than fall by his MySpace page - he has an ep just issued which you may want to check out.

But in the meantime, here is Memories Featuring Sistema.

(Can - perfected the fine art of having your mind blown)

Surprisingly, a lot of people I have run into lately have never heard of Can before. To say they spearheaded the Krautrock movement in the 1970's is a little disingenuous. They were heavily involved in electronic music in the 1960's - two of the band members studied under Karlheinz Stockhausen. Irmin Schmidt, the co-founder once told me, that, in addition to working with Stockhausen, as a student he had worked for the East Berlin Opera as a repetiteur (before bolting to the West). So the band came from a more hardcore place than just plunking around on synthesizers.

Anyway - Can have a long and celebrated career and have been influential in a lot of musical circles.

This track Come Sta, La Luna comes from their last album for United Artists "Soon Over Babaluma", recorded in 1974 and released just before they signed to Virgin.

The band went through a number of personnel changes over the years before finally packing it in around 2001. But they are still very much involved in a lot of solo projects as well as working with other bands.

They definitely put their mark on the 70s though.

(Making an indelible impression on a curious teenage mind.)

If there was one single thing, one defining moment that turned my life around as a teenager, it would be the first time I heard "The Dreams" in 1966.

No, The Dreams are not a band - nobody played guitar, you can't dance to them. The Dreams was the first part of a four part Electronic Music piece originally broadcast over the BBC in 1964 and released by the BBC Transcription Service to radio stations in the U.S. shortly after.

It was described as "an invention for radio" conceived and written by Barry Bermange and scored by The BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The result was haunting, hypnotic and totally overwhelming for these fifteen year old ears. It completely changed the way I listened and reacted to music.

Having only captured half of it on tape at the time, I waited years to find the complete recording, when a radio station tossed out their BBC Transcription library. We collectors are adept at being dumpster divers, even before it was fashionable.

For a long time I thought Barry Bermange (a talented writer on his own) was the one behind the whole concept. I didn't realize until much later that The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was actually the brainchild of Delia Derbyshire, and she was the one responsible for the incredible electronic sound that accompanied the voices.

Her work has been sadly neglected over the years (she died in 2001), but reading about her I came to realize she had a huge influence over a lot of people in the 60's, from Luciano Berio to The Beatles.

Hearing The Dreams today is just as fresh as when I first heard it that Saturday night in 1966.

Some things are just destined to stay with you.