The magic of Juan Atkins (1962 - 2026)

The techno pioneer passed away last week. We celebrate his legacy through eight defining tracks.

Juan Atkins, one of the founders of techno, passed away on October 31st, aged 64.

The Detroit artist, who was born in 1962, was already making game-changing music as a teenager, forming Cybotron with Richard Davis by the age of just 18. At school, he met friends Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May, and together they would later become The Belleville Three. He launched the essential Detroit label Metroplex in 1985 and went on to record under many names and projects, including Model 500, Infiniti and Borderland with Moritz von Oswald. He was making music and DJing prolifically throughout his life, and electronic music would look entirely different without him.

Reflecting on such a huge loss for electronic music compelled us to do something a little different this week, in the form of a music roundup. Juan Atkins’ legacy is impossible to sum up in a small handful of records, but we wanted to shine a light on his work and invite you to dive deeper beyond this list. There’s a lot of exploring to be done—his impact is immeasurable.

So here are eight tracks from Juan Atkins, AKA Magic Juan. RIP.

1981
Cybotron - “Alleys Of Your Mind”

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