Cybotron and Juan Atkins carried electro's machine aesthetic into the birth of Detroit techno

Detroit’s contribution to electro came through Juan Atkins’s group Cybotron, which then became a founding force in Detroit techno. Afrika Bambaataa and groups like Cybotron, Planet Patrol, Jonzun Crew, Mantronix, Newcleus and Warp 9 went on to influence Detroit techno, ghettotech, breakbeat, drum and bass and electroclash. The historical path runs electro (early-1980s New York) to Detroit electro (Cybotron) to Detroit techno (Juan Atkins, later Model 500). This genealogy explains why early Detroit techno retains electro’s machine precision, syncopated kick and synthetic bass — it is the same lineage moving from the TR-808 to the TR-909.

Examples

Cybotron — Clear (1983); Juan Atkins’s later Model 500 recordings as the bridge from electro into techno proper.

Assessment

Trace the lineage from early New York electro to Detroit techno, naming the transitional artist and the group he was in.