Label of the Month: Metroplex

When it comes to modern electronic music, there are very few labels that can lay claim to a legacy as deeply rooted and fundamental as Metroplex. The label, founded by techno pioneer Juan Atkins in 1985, was among the very first Detroit platforms to release the future-facing music that changed the world of music forever. Before that, it was Fantasy Records, where Juan’s Cybotron project (with Richard Davis) found a home, and their own Deep Space Records, too. But Metroplex is essentially Ground Zero for techno. It’s where the first Model 500 productions were released - ‘No UFOs’, ‘Time Space Transmat’ and ‘Night Drive (Thru-Babylon)’ in 1985, followed by ‘Play It Cool’ and ‘Testing 1-2’ in 1986 - over 40 years ago, when the roots of techno began to take shape. Seminal is a word that gets bandied around a lot in press-related material, but Metroplex is a label that is more than deserving of that title. 

“I only started Metroplex to put out the Model 500 music. I never intended it to be a fully fledged label,” Juan tells me. In true techno style, we’re communicating via the Internet on a video call - something that could only be dreamed about 40 years ago. Juan carries a kind of nonchalant energy that belies his contribution to the broad canon of electronic music. Not because he doesn’t care, it’s more that this is simply what he does - and what he would be doing regardless of the status given to him through his innovative musical output. When he talks about creating the music that has given birth to so many other genres and artists around the world, or the label that he started, it’s presented in a very matter-of-fact manner. No boasting, or ego-centred posturing. They were born out of necessity. Almost rudimentary solutions to creative problems, as opposed to an attempt at world domination. 

“The first artwork of the label, the logo, was hand-drawn by me. If you could find one of those… Man, that would be a collector’s item,” he adds. Juan has just finished a month-long residency at a small Detroit club called Cannons. It was his first residency for quite some time and, in the penultimate week, he was joined by fellow “Belleville Three” members Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. It was the first time all three had played together in a long time. When I tell him how exciting that would have been for countless techno fans, his response is typically humble - “I mean, we've been knowing each other since high school, so it ain't no big deal, but maybe it is to people across the world,” he says.

When you spend a while talking with Juan, it’s unsurprising that the now-iconic branding for Metroplex - clean, minimalist, timeless, Bauhaus-esque - was initially drawn by hand. He describes his approach to these things as “functional” - “I did in handwriting because we needed to put the record out, and I didn't have time to wait for some new designer to make the logo, make it all fancy and pretty,” he explains. “So I just took a ruler and made sure everything was kind of symmetrical, and drew it out. Derrick (May) introduced me to a guy that actually took it and designed a logo, and also designed the Transmat logo at the same time.”

Though they were projecting their collective vision into the future, neither Juan, nor Derrick, Kevin or Eddie, or any of those involved in those formative years of techno could have predicted that, forty years later, these labels would still be putting out music, or be held in such high esteem, with such far-reaching influence across electronic music. The beginnings were so humble, and DIY. In keeping with a pattern that is very much a 313-specific mode of operating, everyone created their own independent platforms to proliferate their art. Transmat was originally a subsidiary of Metroplex and Juan suggests that music on Derrick’s label, and Kevin Saunderson’s KMS Records, could have easily found a home on Metroplex too, but it made sense in the bigger picture for Derrick and Kevin to have their own outlets “so it would look like more of a movement, than everything coming out on one label”. 

That movement took shape in Detroit and eventually spread across the Atlantic to Europe. The history and impact are well documented across music media, mainstream media and academia. Techno has spawned a multitude of offshoot genres and styles, and the names of its originators and their labels are part of the fabric of electronic music heritage. Today, Metroplex is still active, and Juan’s daughter, Milan, has stepped up to head the A&R. Keeping the lineage entwined with his musical DNA, Juan’s natural affinity with music has been passed down to Milan. “It's something that I was born with, and I'm sure Milan feels the same way, that it’s just inherent,” he explains. “I would be doing this regardless of getting paid, and it’s something I'm going to take to my grave.” 

Milan agrees. “If you ask my mom, he couldn’t have done anything else. I definitely feel that I have some interesting musical DNA, and I can take that and do what I want with it. I just feel it. I was meant to do what I do.” Her connection to music really took hold in second grade, when she was always singing. Harmonics and the frequencies emitted in choir singing were particularly spellbinding for Milan and she joined a choir where the only requirement was being able to read words. She flourished and went on to establish her own lane as a recording artist. 

Under the artist name Milan Ariel, she has written and produced a range of styles, singing and DJing too. Elements of hip hop and nu-soul merge with techno, as she channels the energy of Detroit in her music. With Metroplex, her finely tuned ear, and deep connection to the label, has led to a new wave of artists being signed. One of her first signings was Augustus Williams, AKA Gusto, who landed on the label with his The Increaser EP in 2023. His effortless Motor City sound aligned with the label’s ethos immediately. 

“I kind of fell into this role of what other people have called “the Techno Princess”, where I have this responsibility to keep it underground and keep it fresh,” Milan explains. Though it was never the intention for Metroplex to be anything but a place for her father to release his music - and certainly not something he’d envisioned passing down to his only child - she’s enjoying taking charge of a crucial part of her family heritage. “I'm figuring things out, which have always been done on the fly, but at the heart of the situation, Metroplex is a very iconic label for techno music, and we're still here in Detroit. I do have a responsibility to continue to find what my dad would have put out on Metroplex records and keep the techno coming.”

Away from the label, Juan is readying a new Cybotron album, the first since he decided to relaunch the project with Berlin-based Laurens von Oswald and Detroit electro producer DJ Maaco (of Detroit In Effect). In another link with his daughter, the album is named 12, inspired by her own Twelve Moons project, initiated in 2017. Her idea was to create 12 pieces of music and produce an accompanying video for each - in order to learn how to make films herself. Juan jokes that he should pay more attention to what his daughter does, “I didn't really pay attention to it at the time, but I realised that this girl is deeper than I thought she was!” he quips. 

12 marks another technology-driven step into tomorrow for Juan and his creative output. In a similar vein to his beginnings - soundtracking an imagined future with audio technology - he’s employing new methods to create sounds we’ve never heard before. In this case, it’s AI. Controversial for some, but for Juan, a logical progression in his approach to music. The entire ethos of techno is based around projecting into the future through technology, and using it to produce innovative sounds and visions. “I'm into technology and synthesisers, because you can create stuff that didn't exist before. It's not like playing a regular string guitar or bass guitar where you’re locked into a certain sound or pattern,” he explains. “The way I look at it, AI is just a different instrument in creativity. So, it's going to be something that hasn't been done before, which is my motto.”

“When the digital sampler came out, it had the same effect. There was no such thing as a digital sampler when I started with Cybotron, they didn't come in until the mid-90s,” he adds. “That took music forward in quantum leaps and bounds. So it's the same thing, just different day.”

Some of the music from 12 got its debut at Glastonbury’s IICON stage at Block 9, where Juan performed for the very first time this past summer. The show merged his future music with visuals that were created by a team who (in their own words) “jammed with technology” - namely AI - to create the blueprint for a parallel Cybotron world. The 60-minute-long visual trip included a broad range of inspirations and themes, from typography and realistic imagery to fractal patterns, animated versions of Juan, and a whole computerised world. Each track was accompanied by a different piece of visual media. This included one track that was “basically all AI-generated”. Cybotron at Glastonbury was a showstopper, and plans are underway to take the live show to other venues around the world in 2026, when 12 is due to be released. 

Juan cites the album as a continuation of the relaunch of Cybotron. Again, his tone is one of necessity - “I'm just following through with what I should follow through on,” he states. “I even tried to convince people that wanted to bring Cybotron back. I was like, ‘Why don't we just do it as Model 500?’ But something about the word, something about the syllables… people wanted Cybotron, so I had to give it to ‘em.”

With Metroplex continuing to support new music, and his daughter at the helm, while Juan himself develops a closer creative relationship with the latest innovations in technology, techno is still evolving. Detroit’s originators remain dedicated to nurturing and developing their creation. The visionary ethos that was there at Ground Zero remains central to his outlook, combined with the powerful energy of hope and ambition. Juan’s innate drive to create is fuelling another chapter in the story - all the while he’s still there, simply doing what he was born to do…

Listen to Metroplex's 'Label of the Month' chart below: