CYBOTRON - ALLEYS OF YOUR MIND, 1981

“Alleys Of Your Mind” was the first single released by Cybotron in ‘81 and is arrgubly considered to be the very first techno track. Formed in Detroit in 1980 by Juan Atkins and Richard Davis,  Cybotron fused midwestern funk with elements from Kraftwerk, Italodisco, British new wave, and futurist literature such as Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock, giving rise to a dark dystopian imagery of their post-industrial steel city. They released a number of significant tracks which are generally linked to the electro genre, such as the uber classic “Clear” from 1983, but it was the group’s unique combination of musical influences, boldly experimental aesthetic, and futurist philosophy that basically established the foundation for what would become Detroit techno.