No genre has been more ripped off, watered down, and straight-up bastardized than techno.
To the layperson, say a classic-rock aficionado or maybe a jazz head, the mere mention of this Detroit-bred electronic music genre (and really, less a conventional genre than an unwieldy collection of variants, everything from minimal to psytrance) evokes images of greasy Guidos slithering up and down Washington Avenue while fist-pumping like soldiers drunkenly marching in a parade of shame.
But what the skeptics might not realize is that e-music isn't all Jersey Shore, LMFAO, and Ultra Music Festival. In fact, a quick survey of techno — and its warmer, gayer antecedent, house — reveals a rich history of compositional innovation and technological advancement that reaches much further than the uhntz-uhntz-ing masses could ever have you believe. And that inquiry into the history of electronic dance music lies at the core of No Name at the Electric Pickle, a newish monthly party celebrating "house, techno, and beyond" that draws its moniker from an Acid Horse track titled "No Name, No Slogan."
Referred to as the party's "den mother" by her co-DJs, Lorraine Sangre started No Name to fill a void. Put bluntly, she was "looking for a scene that appreciates true house and techno origins, and recognizes how that influences contemporary electronic music." A self-described "longtime partygoer" who made the transition to party-thrower while living in New York, Sangre wants this monthly to be "a place where friends from other cities can play [outside of] Winter Music Conference and Basel." And, of course, to "have a party where I can play whatever I want."