Model 500 – The Passage

Model 500 – The Passage Taken from the album, Juan Atkins – 20 Years Metroplex: 1985 – 2005 (Tresor 2005) Originally released in 1992. | CLASSIC | Juan Atkins (Model 500, Infiniti, Cybotron)… A major electronic music pioneer from Detroit, Juan appeared behind aliases such as Cybotron, Model 500, and Infiniti releasing many classics of Detroit Techno. The 1982 electro track “Clear”, recorded by Atkins and Rick Davis as Cybotron, is often considered the first proto-techno track. Continuing to the experimentation by fusing the extra-terrestrial funk of Parliament Funkadelic with the futuristic rhythms and hard math of Kraftwerk and the progressive dance theorems proposed by Giorgio Moroder, the Model 500 12″s on his own label Metroplex laid the blueprint for Detroit Techno. Along with the tracks made by two schoolmates from the grade below, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, Detroit Techno quickly made its way across the atlantic and immediately sparked the emerging rave culture and soon after the entire global dance community. Moving through the later 1980’s as Model 500, Atkins continued as one of the most prolific and sought after producers of electronic music throughout the 1990’s, culminating in the use of an Atkins’ original as the musical bed for the 2000 launch of the Ford Focus ‘Detroit Techno’ automobile. Packing clubs nationally from Detroit to NYC, internationally from London to Venezuela, Juan has mastered the art of soaking up new rhythmic elements from