This piece was originally published at THUMP in March 2016.
For as long as there's been techno, producers have pondered and imagined visions of the future. Enticed by the 1970s rise of science fiction films and the musical world-building of acts like Kraftwerk, Parliament, and Yellow Magic Orchestra, the pioneering works of Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson set the tone for a sound whose impact is still reverberating some three decades later. Despite existing in alternate versions of the future contemplated by Philip K. Dick and Detroit pioneers alike, there's still artists today adhering to a sort of digital samurai code that honors the sonic past of a genre born of forward-thinking.
Denver's Ryan McRyhew takes his futurist bushido very seriously, something his Thug Entrancer project conveys with its devoted use of tried-and-tested electronic music gear and thematic exploration of dystopian worlds.