Heather Heart | |
---|---|
Birth name | Heather Lotruglio |
Also known as | Heather Heather |
Born | 1971 (age 52–53) Brooklyn, New York, United States |
Origin | New York City |
Genres | Techno |
Occupation(s) | Disc jockey |
Instrument(s) | Turntable, Sampler, TB 303, TR 909 |
Years active | 1992–present |
Labels | Sonic Groove, Magnetic North, Communique |
Heather Lotruglio (born 1971), better known as Heather Heart, is an American (New York) based Techno DJ. [1]
In 1991, her zine called Under One Sky laid the foundation for a network of techno music fans across the US. In 1992, she began DJing, especially at the Storm raves. In 1995, she co-founded Groove records, the first techno record store in the United States.
Heather Heart was born in Brooklyn and grew up in the New York City area and started clubbing at the beginning of the underground dance music explosion influenced by the UK's "summer of love." [2]
In 1990 Heart, along with Frankie Bones and his brother, fellow DJ Adam X, co-founded the first all-techno record store, Groove Record Shop, in Brooklyn. [3] Shortly afterwards, Heart began an underground techno music zine Under One Sky (Archived PDF from 1992 available here http://ravearchive.com/zines/underonesky/underonesky6.pdf%5B%5D), founded in 1991, which created a forum wherein the US and global dance music undergrounds could share ideas and, increasingly cultural and spiritual messages. [4] This work drew together fans, DJs, and producers within and across the US [5] and helped create a flourishing music scene. [6] In 1992 Heart began Djing, first under the name "Heather Heather," later changing it to Heather Heart. She became famous especially for djing the Storm Raves founded by fellow DJ Frankie Bones. The three have been called "The forefathers (and foremother) of New York techno." [7] In 1995 they moved the store to Manhattan, and renamed it Sonic Groove. This became the center of the underground techno scene and a fixture in dance music, where Heart was a crucial, friendly and knowledgeable presence. [8] About that time X and Heart began to throw their own parties under the name Mental. [9]
These venues and parties were the backbone of the New York underground music scene, as well as becoming "the model for every city with an underground dance scene." [10] In 1999, Heart was featured in the movie "Better Living Through Circuitry" about the US rave scene. [11] In 2015, she was listed in Mixmag's "20 Women who shaped the History of Dance Music." [12]
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120-130 beat. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground club culture and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, House became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat.
A rave is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance music scene when DJs played at illegal events in musical styles dominated by electronic dance music from a wide range of sub-genres, including drum and bass, dubstep, trap, break, happy hardcore, trance, techno, hardcore, house, and alternative dance. Occasionally live musicians have been known to perform at raves, in addition to other types of performance artists such as go-go dancers and fire dancers. The music is amplified with a large, powerful sound reinforcement system, typically with large subwoofers to produce a deep bass sound. The music is often accompanied by laser light shows, projected coloured images, visual effects and fog machines.
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to refer to electronic music generally.
Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Kevin Saunderson, Blake Baxter, Drexciya, Mike Banks, James Pennington and Robert Hood. Artists like Terrence Parker and his lead vocalist, Nicole Gregory, set the tone for Detroit's piano techno house sound.
Laurent Garnier, also known as Choice, is a French electronic music producer and DJ. Garnier began DJing in Manchester during the late 1980s. He became a producer in the early 1990s and recorded several albums.
Progressive house is a subgenre of house music. The progressive house style emerged in the early 1990s. It initially developed in the United Kingdom as a natural progression of North American and European house music of the late 1980s.
Bouncy techno is a hardcore dance music rave style that developed in the early 1990s from Scotland and Northern England. Described as an accessible gabber-like form, it was popularised by Scottish DJ and music producer Scott Brown under numerous aliases.
Underground Resistance are an American musical collective from Detroit, Michigan. Producing primarily Detroit techno since 1990 with a grungy four-track musical aesthetic, they are also renowned for their militant political and anti-corporate ethos.
Walter Gibbons was an American record producer, early disco DJ, and remixer. He helped pioneer the remix and 12" single in America, and was among the most influential New York DJs of the 1970s.
Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and festivals. It is generally produced for playback by DJs who create seamless selections of tracks, called a DJ mix, by segueing from one recording to another. EDM producers also perform their music live in a concert or festival setting in what is sometimes called a live PA. Since its inception EDM has expanded to include a wide range of subgenres.
Better Living Through Circuitry is a 1999 documentary directed by Jon Reiss about the electronic dance music cultural scene of the 1990s. This is considered to be the first full-length documentary film that goes behind the electronic dance scene and uncovers the culture it has spawned. The film presented aspects of rave culture such as: empowerment through advances in musical electronics technology, the DIY (do-it-yourself) ethic, and the flowering of a new spirituality embracing transcendence through sound and rhythm. A cross-section of the techno subculture is represented. In the documentary, ravers, DJs and musicians speak for themselves about their music and ideals. Produced by Cleopatra Pictures and Entertainment Group, presided by Cleopatra Records founder Brian Perera.
Stu Allan was a British dance music DJ and producer who worked for Piccadilly Radio and Key 103 in Manchester in the 1980s and 1990s. His hip hop, hardcore techno and house music mixes ranked him the world's No. 3 DJ by DJ Magazine in 1993 and his performances influenced significantly the music scene during this period. Allan continued to remain a major contributor within the UK hardcore scene..
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range of 120 to 150 beats per minute (BPM). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often characterized by a repetitive four on the floor beat. Artists may use electronic instruments such as drum machines, sequencers, and synthesizers, as well as digital audio workstations. Drum machines from the 1980s such as Roland's TR-808 and TR-909 are highly prized, and software emulations of such retro instruments are popular.
Chris Sheppard, also known as DJ Dogwhistle, is a Canadian DJ, record producer and musician.
Frankie ‘Bones’ Mitchell is a prominent figure in the development of dance music within the United States. Widely regarded as the "Godfather of American Rave Culture". Throughout the 80s & 90, Frankie played a major role in developing NYC's underground party scene. Bones began his career in the early 1980s, spinning at clubs and parties throughout New York & New Jersey. Bones gained widespread global recognition after organizing the first outdoor dance music party in the US. Storm Rave took place in Williamsburg, Coney Island, & Plumb Beach. Throughout his career, Frankie has produced, remixed, and officially released countless tracks, albums, EP's, and mixtapes. He has also performed at many large scale music festivals around the world such as Love Parade and Insomniac's Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC).Frankie continues to be an influential figure in the community and remains active as a performer, producer, and author represented globally by Southfirst (S1).
Joel Bevacqua is an American rave DJ, music producer, promoter, and writer known as DJ Deadly Buda. He is also known as the graffiti artist “Buda.” Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he is credited by authors Roger Gastman and Caleb Neelon in their "The History of American Graffiti" as being "Pittsburgh’s first graffiti superstar" and inventor of the “monster rock style” of graffiti lettering. He is also recognized for instigating Pittsburgh's rave scene in 1991. In 2005 part of his techno dance music collection was a notable acquisition of the US Library of Congress: Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.
DJing is the act of playing existing recorded music for a live audience.
Joseph Capriati, born as Giuseppe Capriati is an Italian DJ and music producer.
Charlotte de Witte is a Belgian DJ and record producer, best known for her "dark and stripped-back" brand of acid techno and minimal techno. She has previously performed under the alias Raving George. She is the founder of the labels KNTXT and Époque.
Belgian hardcore techno is an early style of hardcore techno that emerged from new beat as EBM and techno influences became more prevalent in this genre. This particular style has been described as an "apocalyptic, almost Wagnerian, bombastic techno", due to its use of dramatic orchestral stabs and menacing synth tones that set it apart from earlier forms of electronic dance music. It flourished in Belgium and influenced the sound of early hardcore from Netherlands, Germany, Italy, UK and North America during the early-1990s, as a part of the rave movement during that period.