detroit techno | Musicosity

detroit techno

Kirk Degiorgio

Kirk Degiorgio was born in Stepney, East London in the late 60's. Raised in a family who loved a wide range of music - and one which could claim a hugely famous pop-star cousin in Marc Bolan of T-Rex - Kirk got early exposure to music from artists such as Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, Sly Stone, Roxy Music, etc. His mother Janet Feld was a young 'mod' who devoutly followed The Kinks, The Who, etc around the venues of London.

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Seth Troxler

As a comparable youth on the scene, Seth Troxler's achievements far outweigh his tender age of 22. His Detroit roots are unmistakable and his recent relocation to Berlin has already earned him a place in the elite of the European techno scene. Seth's musical influences include the chirping of crickets, the whirring of space ships, and the sweet sounds of whistling voodoo magic. With much-hyped and played releases on revered labels such as Spectral, Wagon Repair and M_nus, each join the dots of his distinctive sexy techno sound.

Kevin Saunderson

Kevin Saunderson (born in Brooklyn, New York on May 9, 1964) is an American electronic music producer. At the age of nine he moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he attended Belleville High School and befriended two students, Derrick May and Juan Atkins. Saunderson, with Atkins and May, (often called the "Belleville Three"), is considered to be one of the originators of techno, specifically Detroit techno.

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Underground Resistance

Underground Resistance is the most militantly political outcropping of modern urban American techno. Combining a grubby, four-track aesthetic, an almost strictly DIY business philosophy, and an oppositional, militaristic ethos similar to Public Enemy without the drama (or the familiarity; the members refuse to be photographed without bandanas obscuring their identities), UR have redirected their portion of the Detroit techno legacy to social activist ends, trading mainstream popularity and financial success for independence and self-determination.

Theo Parrish

Theo Parrish grew up on Chicago house parties. He went to art school in Kansas City, and then moved to Detroit. His eclectic DJ sets in Detroit in the late '90s and early in this millennium are legendary. "Love of the music should be the driving force of any producer, performer or DJ. Everything else stems from that core, that love. With that love, sampling can become a tribute; An expansion on ideas long forgotten, reconstruction, collage.

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Derrick May

Derrick May, also known as Mayday and Rhythim Is Rhythim, is an electronic musician from Belleville, Michigan U.S.A. He was born an only child in Detroit in 1963 and began to explore electronic music early in his life. Along with his Belleville, Michigan high school friends Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, commonly known as the Belleville Three, May is credited with developing the futuristic variation on house music that would be dubbed "techno" by Atkins.

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Kenny Larkin

Profile: With the deluge of techno artists from all over the world making headlines, it's easy (although very wrong) to forget that techno was created in Detroit, Michigan by African-American visionaries like Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins and Derrick May. From there Kenny Larkin began his music career in 1990 after serving two years in the U.S. Air Force, where he was repairing computers. Hanging out at local Detroit clubs like The Music Institute and The Shelter, he soon hooked up with Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva records under a variety of monikers, including Dark Comedy, Pod and Yennek.

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Redshape

Trying to describe Redshape's sound is kind of a hard task, sitting somewhere between everything in dance music and his very own imagination. It's not minimal, not maximal and always historical respecting the vibe of Detroit. Repetition is something Redshape works hard to prevent, so his live shows - which brought him to nearly every known European club - morph and develop everytime to never play the same show a second time.

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Carl Craig

Carl Craig is a Detroit-based producer of techno music, and is considered to be one of the most important names in the Detroit second generation of techno producers and DJs. Like many of his peers, Carl Craig has approached techno using inspiration from a wide range of musical genres, including jazz and soul. Carl Craig has released many successful albums under a large number of aliases, such as BFC, Psyche, Paperclip People, 69, Designer Music and Innerzone Orchestra.

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