Terrence Dixon

Terrence Dixon has been a reliable practitioner and adherent of Detroit techno since 1994. Low in profile but held in high regard proven by strong connections with local figures such as Claude Young and Jeff Mills, as well as European institutions like Thomas Fehlmann and the Tresor label, he has quietly amassed a rich and progressive discography mixing lean, locomotive dancefloor tracks with evocative ambient pieces. In addition to dozens of 12" singles, Dixon has crafted numerous full-length projects. His first album, From the Far Future (2000), became a trilogy with subsequent parts released in 2012 and 2020. Additional projects such as Train of Thought (2007), Population One's Theater of a Confused Mind (2014), and the Fehlmann collaboration We Take It from Here (2018) have been followed by a spate of early-2020s LPs like Reporting from Detroit (2021) and Keep in Mind I'm Out of My Mind (2022).

Originally from the blue-collar Detroit suburb of Romulus, Dixon became a noteworthy addition to the Motor City's underground techno community during the mid-'90s. He debuted in 1994 on Claude Young's Utensil label with a pair of 12" releases under his own name and an album, Unknown Black Shapes, as Population One. During the latter half of the decade, he issued another 12" for Utensil and a pair of 12" releases for Juan Atkins' Metroplex. In 1998, Andy Vaz launched his Düsseldorf-based Background imprint with Dixon's Bionic Man EP. The same year, Dixon co-wrote and co-produced three tracks for Atkins' Skynet album (credited to Atkins' Infiniti alias). After his second album, From the Far Future -- issued on Berlin's Tresor in 2000 -- Dixon was relatively quiet for several years. During the late part of the 2000s, he was extremely active with material on several European labels. In 2007, Vaz's Yore label released third album Train of Thought, and Dixon returned to Tresor for 2012's From the Far Future, Pt. 2. As Dixon continued to refine his approach, his work naturally became less raw and more sophisticated, but he never curtailed the immediacy of his earliest music.

After the double-LP Badge of Honor appeared on Surface in late 2013, the year he founded the Reduction label, Dixon announced his retirement from music, but his busy release and performance schedule suggested otherwise. He soon appeared at the 2014 Movement Festival in Detroit, and shortly thereafter released an EP with Michael Zucker and two Population One records, namely the A Mind of His Own EP (through Metroplex) and the Theater of a Confused Mind LP (on Rush Hour). EPs credited to Dixon or Population One (or both) continued appearing on a regular basis, and by the end of 2015, there were five releases in the Reduction catalog, the entirety of which Dixon produced. During the next few years, Dixon's album discography expanded with a self-titled album as Minimal Detroit (self-released, 2016), the triple-LP 12,000 Miles of Twilight (Out-Er, 2017), and the Thomas Fehlmann collaboration We Take It from Here (Tresor, 2018).

More and more inclined to take make full-length statements, Dixon in the 2020s was especially prolific album-wise, starting the first year of the decade with Galactic Halo (Axis) and From the Far Future, Pt. 3 (Tresor), which were followed in 2021 by Reporting from Detroit (Rush Hour). In 2022, Dixon delivered Other Dimensions LP (30D) and then saw the release of a 2019 studio session with Netherlands native Jordan GCZ, one-half of Juju & Jordash. That album, Keep in Mind I'm Out of My Mind (Rush Hour), was based on improvisations recorded together over the course of five days in Amsterdam. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi