10 artists carrying the torch for Detroit dance music, according to Dantiez Saunderson (Mixmag)

Detroit, a city synonymous with innovation in sound, has long been the beating heart of techno music — a genre born in its basements and warehouses during the 1980s. Pioneered by visionary artists like Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and my father, Kevin Saunderson, the ‘Belleville Three’, Detroit techno emerged as a futuristic antidote to the city’s post-industrial decline, blending mechanical rhythms with soulful undertones to mirror both its resilience and its scars. Alongside techno, Detroit’s house music scene — though often overshadowed by Chicago’s prominence — carved its own identity, infusing raw, gospel-tinged emotion with a grittier, synth-driven edge. Together, these genres became more than music; they were a cultural rebellion, a blueprint for underground movements worldwide, and a testament to Detroit’s ability to transform adversity into art.

Today, the city’s electronic music landscape remains as vital as ever, with a new generation of artists and collectives ensuring its legacy burns bright. Emerging talents like Kyle Hall, Jay Daniel, and Ash Lauryn weave the soul of classic Detroit sounds into fresh, boundary-pushing textures, while institutions like Movement Festival draw global crowds to celebrate the city’s sonic roots. Underground parties in reclaimed auto factories and DIY spaces echo the grassroots ethos of the ’80s, blending techno’s hypnotic precision with house’s warmth. This new wave isn’t merely replicating the past — it’s reimagining it, embracing experimental beats and inclusive communities while honoring Detroit’s history as a cradle of electronic innovation. In a world hungry for authenticity, Detroit’s music scene stands as a defiant reminder that its heartbeat, though decades old, still pulses with undiminished fire.

These artists embody Detroit’s ethos: innovation through adversity, community over ego, and reverence for roots. From warehouses to festival stages, they help ensure the city’s heartbeat remains a living, evolving force.

Kyle Hall is a DJ, producer, and founder of Wild Oats Music, whose sound is raw and improvisational across deep house and techno with a jazz vibe. He’s someone that I looked up to when I started DJing seven or eight years ago, he was the nu-skool, the new generation. He’s always making moves and really bridges Detroit’s past and future – touring across the world, putting out music, and always inspiring me. He mentors emerging talent through his label, and uses a lot of live instrumentation and analog gear.

I’ve seen some of Jay Daniel’s sets, and he’s got this really unique sound that connects live drumming with production. There’s a lot of jazz, motown, and Afrobeat influence that you can hear in his music, which I think is super dope and different. He’s reintroducing live musicianship to electronic music, which varies through organic, groove-heavy house and techno, and works a lot alongside Detroit artists like Kyle Hall.

Ash Lauryn is a really powerful voice in the Detroit dance music scene, a dope artist, and an advocate for the Black and LGBTQIA+ communities. She’s a writer, radio host, and founder of Underground & Black, a blog and podcast now based in Atlanta. She amplifies Black voice and educates on Detroit’s musical legacy by hosting workshops, talks, and inclusive events for women and queer communities, using her platform to document and preserve Detroit’s Black music history. Her sound is soulful, with gospel-tinged house and deep techno vibes.

Tashif ‘Sheefy McFly’ Turner isn’t just a DJ, he’s an artist – a visual painter, a muralist, a rapper. We recently played a couple of shows together and connected. He’s bridging the gap between music and visual art, spreading his message through both. His DJ sets span raw ghetto tech, hip hop, and eerie, bass-driven vibes that mirror the energy of his visual art, pulling from Detroit’s visual and musical underground while embodying the city’s DIY and counter-culture ethos. He also paints iconic murals in Detroit that celebrate Black culture and resilience.

Together with my brother as The Saunderson Brothers, we try to carry forward my father’s legacy as a techno pioneer – we have big shoes to fill. But from the bloodline, we automatically have some of his influence and sound engrained in us, we’re always trying to push that and the scene forward and add our flavour to the old skool sound while paying homage to our roots. We’re a DJ and producer duo, making bold, bass-heavy, melodic techno and house infused with Detroit’s soulful DNA, and modern production twists. We like to fuse a lot of different elements in our productions and sets, like melodic vocals and techno, innovating wherever we can. We actively contribute to labels like KMS Records and perform at global festivals like Movement Detroit and Awakenings, serving as mentors and collaborators in the local scene.

DJ Holographic, AKA Ariel Corley, is an emerging DJ and producer from Detroit. I know her personally, we came up together when we were both starting out, giving each other tips and playing shows together – it’s been awesome to see her rise throughout the years. Her sets are really unique and dynamic, she blends genres through disco, groove-driven house, techno, funk, and high-energy, vocal dance music. She advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community, and embodies Detroit’s spirit of reinvention.

Slimey is an honourable mention, he’s one of the hardest working DJs in Detroit, and anyone from the city can see that. He’s played a lot of sets with us, and he knows how to set the mood and open the room up by reading the crowd. He’s a great selector and DJ, and I’ve been mentoring him as he’s starting to produce. He delivers elevated, soulful tech house marked by deep grooves and hypnotic melodies, refining Detroit’s house legacy with modern sophistication and emotional depth. He holds residencies at key local venues, and collaborates with local collectives to nurture emerging talent.

JMT is a house and ghetto tech producer and DJ, and the youngest artist to be signed to my father’s label, KMS Records, at just 22-years-old. He puts out a high-energy, groove-driven hybrid of house, techno, and ghetto tech with punchy basslines and Detroit grit, bringing explosive energy to clubs and festivals that appeals to both the old-skool and Gen Z crowds. He represents the next generation of Detroit’s house and techno legacy, blending youthful vigour with reverence for the city’s roots.

Supply & Demand is a group I started with my buddy Mo Saaidi, who goes under the artist name King Saaidi. We started doing stuff in the pandemic, throwing livestream parties at first which got a lot of attention. Then we started throwing real grassroots events toeing the line between fashion, culture, and the underground dance music scene. We try to curate unique events with a raw, bass‑driven tech house and techno sound, with industrial textures that pay homage to Detroit’s warehouse roots while embracing modern club energy. We’ve only been going for about two or three years, but we’ve had a few releases on a few labels, including Gorgon City’s and Green Velvet’s.

Carmen Johnson, AKA sillygirlcarmen, is a DJ, producer, vocalist, and promoter making waves in Detroit. Her father is Todd Johnson, an early Detroit artist and a principal founder of the Charivari Detroit Music Festival, meaning Carmen was surrounded by legendary figures from the scene at an early age. She’s quickly become a fixture in local and international line-ups, and esteemed venues from LA to Paris, with a sound rooted in the soulful energy of house music with a disco-inspired flair. Carmen isn’t bound by old-skool purist rules – her philosophy is that it’s not about the gear, it’s about the vibe. She herself has said that she wants to prove “the legacy of this culture is in good hands” within the next generation, and importantly, is using her platform to push for inclusivity. In 2019 she helped inspire Charivari’s all-female stage showcasing women DJs, and continues to champion female talent through that initiative. On the community side, Carmen has spearheaded new inclusive movements with her Wonderful project, a platform for diversity and equality in the scene, introducing a novel model for festival programming.

Blackout Mixmag is an editorial series dedicated to Black artists, issues and stories, first launched in 2020. Our 2025 features are co-guest edited by Kevin Saunderson and Kwame Safo (AKA Funk Butcher). Read all of the previously published pieces here

Dantiez Saunderson is a DJ, producer and member of e-Dancer, Supply & Demand and The Saunderson Brothers. Follow him on Instagram