K-HAND

In its ’80s and ’90s origins, DJing was an overwhelmingly male profession, but Kelli Hand didn’t let that stop her from becoming one of Detroit’s most celebrated electronic musicians. Born in 1964, the Motor City native discovered house music as a college student in New York; in the early ’90s, back home in Detroit, she began turning out tough, no-nonsense club tracks that combined the wiry thrills and steely frequencies of minimal techno with the jacking grooves and playful samples of Chicago house. Though she recorded a handful of albums—her 1995 debut, On a Journey, was among the first records released on Berlin’s iconic !K7 Music—her exploratory style was best suited to 12-inch EPs, where she ranged between propulsive drum programming, juicy disco edits and even the occasional breakbeat. In 2017, the Detroit City Council passed a resolution honouring Hand as the “First Lady of Detroit techno”. Though she died of heart disease in 2021, her music and her pioneering vision live on.