To producers such as Derrick May, the transference of spirit from the body to the machine is often a central preoccupation essentially an expression of technological spirituality. This unique blend of influences aligns techno with the aesthetic referred to as afrofuturism. Pioneering producer Juan Atkins cites Toffler's phrase 'techno rebels' as inspiring him to use the word techno to describe the musical style he helped to create. Added to this is the influence of futuristic and fictional themes relevant to life in American late capitalist society, with Alvin Toffler's book The Third Wave being a notable point of reference. In Detroit, techno resulted from the melding of African American music including disco, funk, electro, and jazz with synthesizer and electronic music by artists such as Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder, and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Along with the 'Technopolis' song by Yellow Magic Orchestra, the term 'technopop' was a very common term used both in Europe and Japan to denote the synthesizer pop music from the 70s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1979 through the introduction of the song 'Technopolis' by the synthesizer 'technopop' group 'Yellow Magic Orchestra'. The early wave of German and Detroit techno are considered as the foundation on which later techno styles were built on.

During the late 80s, Techno became associated strongly with the early work done in Detroit, Michigan in the United States, also known as Detroit techno. “The Blueprint of Techno” includes conversations with and footage of producer-DJs including Atkins, Hawtin, May, Saunderson, Craig, Mike Huckaby, DJ Rolando (Underground Resistance) and others.Techno is a form of electronic dance music (EDM) that emerged in Germany during the early to mid to late 1980s which possesses a purely synthetic sound (with the exception of occasional vocal samples) centered around a four-to-the-floor beat and mechanically precise rhythms.

Unfortunately, no one documentary fully captures the story of Detroit techno, but after watching “Detroit Techno City,” we suggest you turn to the 20-minute segment from the late 1990s called “Detroit: The Blueprint of Techno.” It features astounding footage of Atkins and others touring the neighborhood where many producers and techno labels had set up shop.

“We put a soul in the machine, and that’s how techno became what it is today,” Craig says in the doc. That difference, say producers in “Detroit Techno City,” is the direct result of long days spent working assembly-lines. Unlike Chicago house, whose style was defined in part by diva vocalists expressing exuberant emotions, the sound of Detroit was defined by the absence of human utterances in favor of synthetics, Vocoders, and controlled chaos.

Techno rebels book