Cybotron, the original Detroit techno act, is returning with a new album and tour

click to enlarge Juan Atkins. - Jeremy Deputat / Red Bull Content Pool
Jeremy Deputat / Red Bull Content Pool
Juan Atkins.

Cybotron — the groundbreaking electronic music group formed by Juan Atkins and Richard Davis in 1980 — is reportedly at work on a new studio album and audiovisual world tour set for 2020. According to DJ Mag, Atkins is in the studio collaborating with former Kraftwerk drummer Wolfgang Flür on the record. It's the first Cybotron release since 1995's Cyber Ghetto.

Cybotron's dystopian 1981 single "Alleys of Your Mind" is believed to be the first-ever Detroit techno record (with A Number of Names' "Sharevari" a close second). The group pioneered a bleak yet danceable sound that they further explored on 1983's Enter. Their track "Clear" was later sampled in Missy Elliott's "Lose Control."

Cybotron was set to headline a revived Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2014, but that show never materialized as the festival was eventually scrapped, which festival organizers blamed on QLine construction. The group played its first-ever live show in London last year, followed by a short world tour which excluded a Detroit date.

You can watch a trailer for the upcoming tour below.


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