Thanksgiving is a good time to sit back and reflect on the good things in life with your family and friends. Music being our specialty, we want to reflect with our friends and family on the most influential man in techno, Juan Atkins. His health problems have been subject of rampant rumors over the years, and when I got to talk to him earlier this year he was not feeling well and almost cancelled the interview entirely. While his answers to my questions were short, the sparkle in his eyes when we talked about his music, the Model 500 live show, and his daughter showed that he was not going to give in. Under the guidance of Mad Mike, those Model 500 live sets have been blowing up all over the world and Richard Brophy’s recent interview with Juan shows his confidence growing. As he is one of the true believers in the transformational power of techno music, I asked Mad Mike to say a few things about Juan for this post:
Juan Atkins was essential to the widespread global creation of electronic computer based musics by turning exploratory musical ideas into physical reality via moderately priced Japanese technology. He spawned an avalanche of electronic music from all parts of the world. His approach and theories towards his music set him apart from any other electronic musicians before him due to the unique circumstances he encountered while creating his masterpieces in Detroit. If there ever evolves an electronic music hall of fame he should be in it.
Proving just how correct he is, we have a mix by Dean Feeney entitled “An Open Letter to Juan Atkins” which features music that wouldn’t have been possible without Juan’s influence. The man is a living legend who continues to live up to his reputation, even through any problems he might have. Juan is quite an inspiration to everybody involved in techno music, and for that we can all be thankful.
31 Comments
Nice piece tom. Good news that there’s plans for new M500 material too. So many of my all time favourite tracks come from Model 500 or Cybotron.
AMEN !
this mix really has heart and feeling. thanks.
fuck…………. finishing with ‘computerliebe’. much respect! for some reason, i’ve been listening to this record nonstop recently. the melody is amazing. perfect ending to the set. much respect.
nice one tom and dean, been looking forward to hearing what you’d do when you mentioned this during DEAF. I shall listen to this on my way home this evening, my Night DART Thru Dublin 😉
First of all best to Juan. Just take a bath with some dead see salt and after that rub your face in fine granular mud. Take it off before your face burns 🙂 The world will look a whole lot better after that. You might consider moving to a less demanding environment to save your beautiful art. All the best to you.
Metroplex T shirts where art thou??
quality stuff Dean, really enjoyed this mix.
Thanks a lot folks, this is just a small tribute to a man i feel we all owe a lot to.
Is there a tracklisiting for this please. Excellent stuff!!
Tracklisting:
Gerald Mitchell & DJ 3000 featuring Diametric – Geloshai 1862 (Motech limited)
Model 500 – I wanna be there (Juan Atkins Remix) (R&S)
The Oliverwho Factory – Better Days (Madd Chaise Inc)
The Other Poeple Place – Moonlight Rendezvous (Warp)
Donnacha Costello – Dialog (D1 Recordings)
The Other People Place – Lifestyles Of The Casual (Warp)
John Tejada – Mono on Mono (Plaid Marina Motel Remix) (Palette)
Underground Resistance – Swamp Thing (UR)
Mr. De – Shake it Baby (instrumental) (Electrofunk Records)
Model 600 – Update (Metroplex)
Donnacha Costello – Monolog (D1 Recordings)
Terry Brooks – Breaking Cycles (Deepart)
Scott Grooves – Moog Sensation (From the studio of Scott Grooves)
Syclops – Where’s Jason’s K (dfa)
T.O.M Project – Renaissance (Sound Signature)
Reggie Dokes – Black Thoughts (Prime Numbers)
The Other People Place – Let me be me (Warp)
Perception – Abandoned Building (In Mono) (UR)
Rob Rowland – Untitled (Freestate One)
Sebbo – Watamu Beach (Moritz Von Oswald Rework) (Desolat)
Eamonn Doyle – Allegro (D1 Mix) (Paradiddle)
The Martians – Sunchaser (Red Planet)
Kraftwerk – Computer Love (EMI)
Nice interview. I enjoyed reading that.
Cheers,
-JP
Real good shit on here, dog. You’re a talented disc jockey!
Carlow massive gots mad skillz 🙂
nice work!
Thanks guys, that means a lot coming from two people i have a lot of respect for..
It’s not bangin’ enough.
i’d forgotten how much i love that cyclops track!
i heard it so much earlier this year i thought i’d killed it but when it wriggled out of the mix during a really shitty bus journey last friday it actually made me punch the air (there was no-one else on the top deck thankfully).
both this and m50’s mix have that emotional punch that makes Juan and fellow travellers so special.
ISM has been spoiling us this year.
Great interview. This love for the music is so strong. Much… much love.
dean your my hero..
punk ass trick!
Oh yeah and give me back my 808 foo!
its mine now man you see i have a connection with it im sure you could use your old copy of techno ejay 🙂
Been listening to this mix all weekend..superb stuff.Many thanks.
and r&s is the label to release this new material ( and we heard already tunes, guys it is just amazing !
renaat r&s records ‘ welcome back Juan !
Instead of Bellevue 3, TR One = Athy Rd 3
This website is gold
this mix of dean’s is dope. a lot of love and feeling in this mix here. gonna have this one on repeat for a while
Many thanks man, glad you’re feelin it
man, i missed him at APT in NY a couple nights ago. FREE SHOW! oh well, can’t go to all of them. nice piece.
That mix by Dean is unreal! Is it mixed on deck or is it an ableton job. Not that it really matters!!
BRAVO!
Turntables all the way homes
Still listening to this classic mix in 2020. Legendary mixing. Quality tunes.