Derrick May Essentials

Along with producers Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May is one of the Belleville Three, the undisputed architects of Detroit techno. In the late '80s May hit on a high-tech sound that mixed synth-driven funk, hard-driving house and futuristic electro, creating tracks that were simultaneously frenetic and beatific. Powered by swinging drums and spine-tingling melodies, May's grooves had transformed him into a floor-filling icon by the early '90s and though he focused more on his DJ career in the years that followed his techno classics remain spellbinding decades later.