Juan Atkins

Brandishing the title "godfather of Techno" like an all-access pass at a Kraftwerk show, this member of the Belleville Three towers over fellow Detroit classicists Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson in terms of commercial influence and critical acclaim. Poised at the onset of the history of electronica, Atkins produced essential releases under such names as Infiniti, Cybotron, and Model 500. Clinging to a carefully crafted Techno framework complicated with a delightful mass of buoying blips and bleeps, Atkins' curvy grooves are irresistibly funky and stoically melodic, like objects recovered from the deepest black holes in the Milky Way.