Infiniti ‎– Skynet

What a great album this is! Less on the electro tip than his more known Model 500 and Cybotron monikers, or any of the work under the Metroplex imprint, "Skynet" (wasn't that the name of the company in Terminator 2: Judgement Day?) opts for a more basic and true to the soul Detroit techno sound, and the outcome is great. Very scarse and limited amount of layers used throughout, giving it a relaxed, mid paced flow, so the tracks aren't that attention demanding or overloaded, yet they all maintain the mellow, lush Detroit trademark sound, with memorable synth sweeps, harmonic pads and soulful passages.
Among the standouts, I'd pick Postcard From The Future, with an underlying touching melody and the percussion sounding as though Juan took his drum sticks and gently played them against water pipelines - amazing! With demented vocals, like communication with a lost space vessel on an obscure channel, saying something being free and a postcard from the future.
Higher at places has a sound very similar to Kevin Saunderson's timeless classic Bassline, and a female voice going "take me higher", and that is precisely what this one will do. A very groovy slice of Detroit techno that could sneak into modern house sets due to its very light sound and positive feel. I like it a lot although it's far from being his most challenging piece of work.
Thought Process with its ticking, minimal beat and playful melody work could (and would) do just fine in present day techno sets. Very captivating and, for better or for worse, proves yet again how ahead of the game the old masters are. Atkins excels more at this stuff years before it became standard dance floor fodder, and still makes it sound better than many of today's hot shots...
The dub techno influenced Walking On Water, a hypnotic number with an endlessly deep and throbbing bass line is a fine dreamy contribution as well, and so is Coffee Shop (Connection), which samples exotic tambourine strings in a pretty original manner, along with some soulful vocals and light hearted melodies.
Raindrops imitates and recreates the sound of tiny water drops hitting the surface with the aid of electronic equipment, and it's really well done I must admit. After a while the initial sound of raindrops intermingles with other layers and it's not long before you have a collage of multiple well arranged sound patterns.
"Skynet" may not be a classic, and when discussions are held about Atkins' greatest contributions to electronic music, tracks off this album never make the cut, this is regardless a solid effort. It may not manifest a sound often associated with him, but for those wanting some more of that Detroit gravy alla Larkin, May and Craig, why not give this a try. It's like a less dense and layered version of the work done by those artists. Pure Detroit techno for the hungry ones!

This is a very good album overall, but I wouldn't call it Juan Atkin's best work. Then again, I think it would be very hard for anyone to top "Deep Space" under his Model 500 moniker. Here, Juan tries a completely different style than the Model 500 material. These tracks are basically icy, minimalistic 4/4 techno tracks with a few twists here and there. The tempo doesn't really rise above a mid paced zone most of the time and the melodies are often single note pings integrated into the percussion elements. There is also a distinct element of purposeful repetition on these songs to a greater degree than some of Juan's other work. In a way, it almost reminds me of Robert Hood, but not quite as minimal. I will say that the few tracks with vocals don't work quite as well as the instrumental songs. My favorites are probably "Skyway" (which is more uptempo), Body Oil, and Raindrops. Well worth checking out if you want to hear Juan's sound from a different angle.

skyway is one of my favourite tracks from the master Juan Atkins. traveler song!