Couples, Friends, Families, and Floorplan Tell Us How Techno Brought Them Together

This article originally appeared on THUMP UK. You may not think it these days, what with humanity seemingly intent on eating itself alive, but on the whole us homo-sapiens get along most of the time. We bond over a lot of things, from food, to clothing labels, to that rare Japanese anime you pretend to like to cover up for the fact that your favourite film is actually Predator. But nothing brings humans together more than music. In fact I think it was those great philosophers The Beloved who said "Let's come together, right now, oh yeah, in sweet harmony". Yes they may have been talking about sex—another classic bonding tool—but the sweet harmony part can certainly apply to your favorite music as well as your favorite position.

But what kinds of music are best for bonding over? Hip-hop, yes, smoke some weed and talk about how 90s were the golden era. Heavy metal, of course, dye your hair black and bask in the glory of being an angsty outsider alongside 600 people at The Underworld Camden. But what about techno? Some see the genre as somewhat alienating. I mean, most of the time you are face to the floor, fist in the air, in a close to blacked out chamber filled with tsunamis of overwhelming bass so loud you can barely breathe—so maybe people are right to think it's not the most social form of music.

But I like to think otherwise. Down through the years I've made some of the closest connections in my life over a chest heaving bass kick. It can't just be me who has bonded with people over techno. So, to find out if this was a real phenomenon and not just me having weird mates, I went to the beautifully sunny Movement Festival in Tisno, Croatia. While there I spoke to friends, couples and relatives about how techno has brought them closer. Not only that, but I did it while listening to the finest the genre has to offer—Nina Kraviz, Derrick May, Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock—as they played in front of the translucent, crystal blue waters of the Adriatic Sea.

THUMP: So how did techno bring you two together? Matt: We actually met in Germany a few years ago. We saw each other when we were out on Friday and were hanging out but then we were so fucked we lost each other and didn't find each other again that night. But on the same weekend we both went to the Berghain on the Saturday night and randomly bumped into each other and this time we managed to stay together and partied until the end.

I'm from Ireland and she is from Colombia so it's pretty random that we both ended up being together but I moved over to Colombia with her pretty soon after that time in Berlin and ended up staying there for a year. We've ended things amicably now but we still go to a lot of techno raves and festivals together as close friends.

If it wasn't for techno we would have never met each other and definitely wouldn't be here talking to you today!

Tucker: We've been together for about a year now. We met at Joseph's, which is this after-hours techno club in Hollywood. It's a spot where everyone is still up after the main party, pretty amazing place, anything goes kinda stuff. We had a mutual friend but when I first met her I immediately started taking selfies with her and she kept ducking out of the way. She was like "Who is this guy taking crackhead selfies?!"

We bonded over the music. It's our shared love and passion. I'm taking her to her first Burning Man this year, and we pretty much hit up raves every weekend in LA, as well as doing nights like CRSSD in San Diego, Space Terrace in Miami and of course Movement in Detroit. Before we got to Croatia obviously we went to Berlin together, hitting about eight or so places like Tresor, Club De Visionnare, Kater Blau and so on. We tried the Berghain but got rejected 'cos we were in the wrong line! We were sober and everything. Guess we'll have to go back.

I think Techno is a lot more melodic and emotional than people realise. It's definitely something that people can bond over, it's a beautiful and amazing music. Like I said, it's our shared passion and something that we both get to do with each other every weekend. Techno is one of the reasons we are together, for sure.

Tin: We met at college in Zagreb. We both really like House and Techno so that's why we thought we should come here together. We really like the more melodic stuff, that's why we are getting into Techno these days because I think it's getting a lot more melodic than it used to be.

One of the main reasons we are both here is Solomun, he is our favourite producer. It used to be that not so many Croatian people like us would come to Croatian festivals, because of the price and also because Techno wasn't so big over here before, but these days it is getting bigger and bigger and also more affordable to come.

We've only been together about three months now but are having a bit of a whirlwind summer time romance at the moment!

ROBERT ACTUAL HOOD: When Lyric was growing up she was into all kinds of genres, and I made sure she was always surrounded by all the music she wanted, I thought that was very important. But as she grew older and got to around 15 or 16 I started introducing her to music that I was playing and sounds that were in the scene at the time; EDM, House, Techno, y'know, different kinds of dance music that were popular and the classics.

Although she liked that stuff it wasn't until I showed her the Detroit sound that she really became interested and got into it in a big way, and wanted to become a DJ and follow me to the shows I played. Techno is now something we share in our lives, we release music together and play shows together too.

I guess you could say that the Detroit techno sound is in her blood.

Tom is on Twitter.