It's mostly a categorical problem - techno is a hard term to pin down. I've been thinking for the past few years that late 60s/early 70s prog-rock played a much

It's mostly a categorical problem - techno is a hard term to pin down. I've been thinking for the past few years that late 60s/early 70s prog-rock played a much more substantial role in it then I had initially assumed for the 20 years prior. Take say Tocatta from ELP's BSS album: https://youtu.be/Qk8jAuVzga8?t=494 https://youtu.be/Qk8jAuVzga8?t=494 ... that's 1973 - a careful ear will recognize many later standard patterns packed in that small clip. There's tons of these little 20-second or so clips that are 20 years ahead of their time in the prog-rock from the era. Along with that are space age and lounge jazz. Take Hugo Montenegro – Moog Power from 1969 for instance or the Mort Garson album under the name Atraxia from 1975. I used to think these weren't part of the story but I've been coming around on it and think of it as "technos" Xerox PARC era, the first attempt at the future world that electro and 80s disco took the lead on. We separate rock from techno categorically but I think it's a limitation and mistake if we're trying to figure out the influences and history. That's a modern distinction. E2-E4 came out of that, to put things back in to West Germany - an album heavily cited as influence regardless which originating American school you want to focus on (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ys0HyevZpQg https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ys0HyevZpQg). Of course put that guy back in 1975 and you get more Xerox PARC style prog rock inventions, this time for electric guitar https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=khejrbgdc4w https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=khejrbgdc4w * Let's call these things Techno v.0.1-0.8 or so. This stuff is complicated. It's like how Wes Craven said the opening chords of the Gary Wright's pop song "Dream Weaver" was his inspiration for Freddy Krueger. (those first 30 seconds ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZKuzwPOefs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZKuzwPOefs) Things are weird. * if you like that style check out Michael C Sharp such as https://michaelcsharp.bandcamp.com/album/trip-further https://michaelcsharp.bandcamp.com/album/trip-further which will combine some mid-era, (also called Berlin school) analog synths as well