In this critical history, DeForrest Brown, Jr makes techno Black again by tracing the music's origins in Detroit and beyond

In Assembling a Black Counter Culture, writer and musician DeForrest Brown, Jr, provides a history and critical analysis of techno and adjacent electronic music such as house and electro, showing how the genre has been shaped over time by a Black American musical sensibility.

Brown revisits Detroit's 1980s techno scene to highlight pioneering groups like the Belleville Three before jumping into the origins of today's international club floor to draw important connections between industrialized labor systems and cultural production. Among the other musicians discussed are Underground Resistance (Mad Mike Banks, Cornelius Harris), Drexciya, Juan Atkins (Cybotron, Model 500), Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Robert Hood, Detroit Escalator Co. (Neil Ollivierra), DJ Stingray/Urban Tribe, Eddie Fowlkies, Terrence Dixon (Population One) and Carl Craig.

With references to Theodore Roszak's Making of a Counter Culture, writings by African American autoworker and political activist James Boggs, and the techno rebels of Alvin Toffler's Third Wave, Brown approaches techno's unique history from a Black theoretical perspective in an effort to evade and subvert the racist and classist status quo in the mainstream musical-historical record. The result is a compelling case to make techno Black again.

DeForrest Brown, Jr is a New York-based theorist, journalist and curator. He produces digital audio and extended media as Speaker Music and is a representative of the Make Techno Black Again campaign.

Techno: the art, the spaces, the culture and the legacy, with contributions by Ryoji Ikeda, Carsten Nicolai, DeForrest Brown, Jr, and more

As a global phenomenon, techno has left its mark not only on music history, but also on art, philosophy and pop culture at large. Techno Worlds looks at the variety of styles and subgenres within techno, also inquiring into the kinds of spaces associated with it, and the club as zone of liberation and experimentation for intersectionality and queer culture. The catalog documents works by a range of artists responding to techno in mediums spanning photography, film, video and installation, while also tracing the history of techno and club culture, and the relationship between techno and art. Broader themes addressed here include the body and time, drugs and the aesthetics of codes and sign systems. Techno Worlds features photography, film, video and installation works.

Artists and contributors include: Abdul Qadim Haaq, Aleksandra Domanovic, Carsten Nicolai, Chicks on Speed, Daniel Pflumm, DeForrest Brown, Jr., Dominique White, Henrike Naumann & Bastian Hagedorn, Jacqueline Caux, Jeremy Shaw, M+M, Mamba Negra, Maryam Jafri, Rangoato Hlasane, Robert Lippok, Romuald Karmakar, Ryoji Ikeda, Sarah Sch�nfeld, the Otolith Group, Tobias Zielony, Tony Cokes, Vinca Petersen and Zuzanna Czebatul.