First, there were six.
The term “techno” is often evocative of its European emblems, like Germany’s Berghain and Sweden’s Drumcode. So much so that techno music is widely considered to be one of the continent’s exports.
But a new documentary seeks to firmly correct this history, tracing techno’s origins back to a cohort of six Black producers from Detroit: “the first cover boys of techno,” said Kristian Hill, a Detroit denizen and the director of God Said Give ‘Em Drum Machines, in an interview with EDM.com.
He’s referring to Juan Atkins, Blake Baxter, Santonio Echols, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, who were collectively featured on the cover of British music magazine Record Mirror in 1988. According to God Said Give ‘Em Drum Machines, which recently premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, it was these “Techno Six” who finally managed to connect techno—the sound of their underground—to the world.
“Nowadays, people put Detroit Techno on there, but really that was the first techno, the original techno,” DJ Pierre states in the film.
Back: Derrick May; Middle L-R: Blake Baxter, Kevin Saunderson, Santonio Echols; Front L-R: Eddie Fowlkes, Juan Atkins
Norman Anderson
It’s an origin story that Drum Machines tells with care, structured around interviews with the Techno Six and other influential musicians like Mike Huckaby, Paris Grey, Seth Troxler and Richie Hawtin. Their vibrant memories link together pinnacle songs all the way from 1981’s “Cosmic Raindance” (by Atkins and Richard Davis, better known together as Cybotron), to Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit, a 13-track compilation album released by Virgin Records’ U.K. arm in 1988.
Studio sessions, dance parties, trips to Chicago to hand out CDs on the street; it all comes to life in their words. Detroit itself is reinvigorated as not just a background but a character in its own right—a teacher, a creative hub, a home base.
“Detroit is a music capital of the world. I wanted to be deliberate and tell this story in a way that really gives it the recognition it deserves for creating all this amazing musical talent,” said Jennifer Washington, the film’s producer and a Detroit native. “It’s so important for me that it’s no longer a secret.”
It’s a process that ended up taking Hill and Washington 12 years. After all, they weren’t just painting a picture for those of us in the mainstream. They were writing a love letter to the place and the people they also call home.
Scroll to Continue
“We had to do our due diligence and sit here in this space to do it justice,” Washington explained.
One turning point was their discovery of the Record Mirror cover photo, which came to serve as the film’s narrative climax. Fowlkes, a childhood friend of Hill’s, was another valuable lead. He introduced the pair to Saunderson, Echols, Baxter and Thomas Barnett after watching an early …….
Source: https://edm.com/features/detroit-techno-six-documentary