Octave One

All Music Guide:

One of the more anachronistic teams in the Detroit techno underground, Octave One's rough-and-tumble production values gel with most Motor City crews but for Lawrence Burden and his two brothers, the focus is completely on music with little political or social aesthetics behind their tracks. Burden originally began DJing in 1987 in a collective named VLE Nu AGE, then recorded a single in 1989 with the help of brothers Lynell and Lenny plus Anthony Shakir, Jay Denham and Juan Atkins. Originally released on Derrick May's Transmat Records, "I Believe" made waves after being compiled onto the British Detroit compilation Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit, helping the Burdens form Direct Beat/430 West Records (originally located at 430 West 8 Mile Road in Detroit). The labels became favored names for hard-hitting electro-bass tracks from Aux 88, Alien FM and Underground Resistance mainman Mad Mike Banks. Besides later Octave One output like "The X Files," the Foundation EP and the Cymbolic mini-LP, 430 West released several volumes in the bass compilation Detroit: Techno City and Direct Beat obliged with the compilation Techno Bass: The Mission. In late 1997, Octave One released their debut album, The Living Key (To Images from Above). The following year brought The Collective, a look at the group's back catalogue. Releases from other Octave One incarnations have also appeared, including Never on Sunday, Random Noise Generation (RNG) and Metro D.

Wikipedia:

Octave One is a group of American Techno musicians composed of siblings Lenny Burden and Lawrence Burden, sometimes associated with their three other brothers, Lorne Burden, Lynell Burden and Lance Burden. In 1989, The band debuted on Derrick May's Transmat record label with the single "I Believe". In 1990, "I Believe" was included on the compilation Techno 2: The Next Generation (10 Records). Also In 1990, with their brother Lynell, they formed the record label 430 West Records to release the vinyl record Octave One "The Octivation EP". Octave One have remixed recordings for Massive Attack, Joey Negro, DJ Rolando, Steve Bug, John Thomas, The Trammps, Rhythm is Rhythm, and Inner City. In 2000, Octave One released their most commercially successful recording, "Blackwater". In 2002, "Blackwater" was remixed by the band with a reworked live string arrangement performed by the Urban Soul Orchestra in London, England. The single was re-released by Concept Music (United Kingdom), Ministry of Sound/Voidcom (Germany), Vendetta Records (Spain), and Tinted (Australia) in the same year. It peaked at #47 (February 2002) and #69 (September 2002) in the UK Singles Chart.

Octave One tour the world as live electronic musicians. They are included in the second generation of Detroit Techno artists.

Mainly known for their techno recordings, the Burden brothers have also produced many recordings of house music and other electronic genres using other pseudonyms, in particular Random Noise Generation, Metro D (with Terrell Langston) and Never One Sunday.