Since discovering the joyful news that the self-described “originator of techno” Juan Atkins is an Ears To The House reader, our small but loyal team have been trying to work out how to best pay homage to that fact. And we’ve concluded the approach we’ve opted for is to give him lots of extra coverage for the rest of this week – and probably beyond.
Now, let’s give Atkins some credit here. Like the duo Masters At Work, he appears to have noticed there’s money to be made out of nostalgia – hence why the two men did a few shows recently celebrating 25 years since their Nuyorican Soul project emerged. Incidentally, we don’t blame them for doing this – market forces hold much more sway in the dance music world than anyone ever cares to admit.
Atkins has therefore decided to do some more performances under the Cybotron alias. Naturally enough, the question of why Rik Davis isn’t involved – seeing it was also his project between 1980 and 1985 – is conveniently glossed over and never addressed. But the next Cybotron performance we can see in the diary is in London on 9th September – just over a week away now.
However, British audiences keen for another dose of Atkins need not despair if they missed out – because he’s doing another show in the city just weeks later. A new club is launching in east London in October called The Beams, and none other than the man himself is on the bill…
In a worrying sign of the state of dance music these days, we find ourselves more interested in his name than we do from many of the others booked. The Beams has decided to distinguish itself from all the other clubs in London… by booking exactly the same DJs as they do…
