Metroplex US Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Inspired by the drone of automated factories, the sound is dark, mysterious and truly unique - nothing comes close. The perfect follow up to "No UFO's" and a blueprints for almost every electro record ever since. Juan Atkins in his prime. Don't sleep on this.

Review: The master returns! Digital Solutions sees Juan Atkins toast some 35 years as a Detroit techno visionary with the release of a new Model 500 album after some 16 years! The notion of a new Model 500 long player was first mooted by Atkins last summer and now arrives as the most high profile release from his own Metroplex label in some time. Whereas recent years have seen Atkins open up Model 500, working with Mike Banks, DJ Skurge and Mark Taylor both live and on the smattering of 12"s issued through R&S, Digital Solutions is largely the work of Juan alone. Nine tracks deep, Digital Solutions features a crisp array of electro and techno productions from Atkins with "Standing In Tomorrow" and "Storm" standing out upon first listen.

Review: The master returns! Digital Solutions sees Juan Atkins toast some 35 years as a Detroit techno visionary with the release of a new Model 500 album after some 16 years! The notion of a new Model 500 long player was first mooted by Atkins last summer and now arrives as the most high profile release from his own Metroplex label in some time. Whereas recent years have seen Atkins open up Model 500, working with Mike Banks, DJ Skurge and Mark Taylor both live and on the smattering of 12"s issued through R&S, Digital Solutions is largely the work of Juan alone. Nine tracks deep, Digital Solutions features a crisp array of electro and techno productions from Atkins with "Standing In Tomorrow" and "Storm" standing out upon first listen.

Review: Originally released in 1989, "The Chase" has long been one of the most in-demand Motor City techno classics. This desirable reissue includes all four mixes from the original 12", beginning with Juan Atkins' superb take - a rich, tuneful treat that cleverly combines trademark Motor City percussion with a string of contrasting - but complimentary - melody lines. Derrick May's rework still sounds intoxicating and addictive, benefitting from the great man's decision to emphasize the original's spacey melodies and a tougher, more percussively intense groove. Also worth checking is The Smooth Mix, whose sparkling melodies and springy bass work help create a surprisingly Balearic mood.

Review: Although the sound's roots can be traced back to 1985, it was in 1987 that techno really began to emerge, fully formed, from the Motor City of Detroit. One of the first examples of the sound could be found on the flipside of Model 500's Sound of Stereo EP. It was called "Off To Battle", and expertly fixed alien synthesizers, wonky acid lines and hushed vocal samples to a blistering rhythm track. It remains one of the finest cuts in the Detroit canon, as this essential reissue proves. Echoes of early techno's obsession with fizzing drum builds and bold string samples can also be heard on "Electric Entourage", while "Sound of Stereo" - available in remixed and instrumental flavours - still sounds like a futurist's take on Chicago house.

Review: Initially released back in 1993, M5003MB was an all-star collaboration between Detroit techno originator Juan Atkins, Rhythm & Sound man Moritz von Oswald and fellow Berlin techno stalwart Thomas Fehlmann. Predictably, the resultant three-tracker was rather special, as this timely reissue proves. Many Detroit techno enthusiasts cite A-side "Jazz is the Teacher" as one of the best examples of the style; an energy-packed Motor City romp full of jaunty, jazz-flecked drum machine hits, undulating synthesizer melodies and sci-fi intent. While superb, both of the B-side tracks - the acid-fired futurism of "Cosmic Courier" and post-bleep hustle of "Bassmental" are almost as good. In other words, it's an EP that every serious techno enthusiast should own.

Review: First dropped in 1985, over thirty years ago, "No UFO's" paved the way for Detroit to unleash the beast we know refer to as 'techno', to the rest of the planet. Merging everything the Juan Atkins had heard through his adolescent years, from electro to funk and krautrock, his first outing as Model 500 will never grow old. Thus new reissue drops both the vocal and the instrumental, which are equally powerful on the floor. The bonus points come from the remixes: Detroit's own Moodymann makes his debut for Metroplex with a wonky, broken tech-house stormer charged by the original's bass, and sexified with the help of some blazing new sub-vocals from the master of funk; Luciano makes a surprise addition to the pack, dropping an ultra-sleek, minimalistic house mix that will lead this record being in the hands of thousands of different DJs across the globe. Big-dawg business.

Review: Hands up, we admit it, you'll find no well-considered objective review of this one because it happens to be one of our favourite ever tracks. Model 500 aka Detroit's legendary Juan Atkins pretty much perfected deep techno with this one which is originally from back in 1995. The version of 'Starlight' on the A-side has fizzing synth layers, cavernous depths filled with echoing chords and a shuffling, shapeshifting bassline to die for, Berlin dub innovators Mortiz clean it up a little on the flip and drop in more pronounced kicks. Either side is an immediate escape into still-futuristic cosmic bliss.

Review: One of techno's genuinely foundational records, Juan Atkins' 1985 debut single as Model 500, has been treated to the remastered reissue treatment. Effectively an extension of the sci-fi-seeped Afro-futurism he explored with Rik Davis as Cybotron, 'No UFO's' is a Detroit electro classic that sounds every bit as far-sighted now as it did in the mid 1980s. As well as the vocal and instrumental versions, we also get similar takes on original B-side 'Future', an even more spacey-sounding electro jam whose lyrics confidently predict that "techno's here to stay". As he often is, Atkins was of course correct.

Review: In the annals of Detroit techno, there are few projects as vitally important or informative as Juan Atkins' Model 500. With tracks like 'No UFOs' and 'Off To Battle' the blueprint was laid out for the decades of music that were to come, both in the Motor City and internationally. This compilation has long served as an essential document of those breakthrough tracks and some of the deeper cuts from the Model 500 catalogue, and it's back in print across two 12"s to allow a new generation of techno students to learn about the fundamentals of the genre.