03/14/2018
The Music Appreciation Society presents Past Future Tense, a “liminal time machine” that engages the early phase of techno and its squelchy cousin acid house – music defined by a somewhat foreboding, if still forward-looking sense of the future that emerged out of 1980s Detroit and Chicago, respectively, at a time of pronounced deindustrialization, urban flight, and the fast mainstreaming of neoliberalism. The very first techno producers, most notably the so-called Belleville Three (Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson) who coined the term and defined its sound and style, we’re influenced by a unique mix of Alvin Toffler’s ‘Future Shock,’ the eclecticism of DJ Charles "Electrifyin' Mojo" Johnson on Detroit’s WGPR radio, the progressive American soul and funk continuum, and then-new electronic pop from Germany, Japan, and the UK. In the uncertainty of the here and now, the music of this past era still speaks to and moves us to the extent that its sense of futuricity is forever, perhaps unresolvably immanent.
The Music Appreciation Society (TMAS) is a make-believe secret society dedicated to the public appreciation of music. The primary activity of TMAS is to promote the discussion of music, especially popular music, in an art context. The Music Appreciation Society is an ongoing collaborative project of Vancouver-based artists Brady Cranfield and Kathy Slade.
