OMMA Catalogue Number

OMMA-0126

Artist

Cybotron

Title

“Alleys Of Your Mind / Cosmic Raindance”

Release Details

Issued in 1981 by Deep Space Records as a 7-inch, 45 rpm stereo single. Pressed in the United States and issued as the original commercial release with red / white inner labels. The release contains “Alleys Of Your Mind” on Side A and “Cosmic Raindance” on Side B.

Edition & Variant Identification

Original Deep Space Records commercial 7-inch issue of Cybotron’s debut single. No printed catalogue number is documented.

Matrix & Pressing Data

Side A: 107043X A 3 QCA KM
Side B: 107043X B 2 QCA RS

Physical Description

7-inch black vinyl stereo single, 45 rpm, with red / white Deep Space Records inner labels. Labels are largely clean and sharp with slight chipping around the spindle, but vinyl shows numerous surface-level storage scuffs and hairlines that does not affect play. playback reveals crisp, clear sound.

Factory-Origin Characteristics

No factory-level anomalies are present in the current copy.

Condition Report

Numerous superficial sleeve scuffs and hairlines visible under strong light but clear, strong, stable playback with no clicks, crackle, skips, or other audible anomalies, with clean labels. OMMA grades this copy as VG+.

Provenance

Acquired by OMMA through eBay from seller beat_trooper / BeattrooperRecords on June 26, 2026.

Market Context & Historical Notes

Along with A Number of Names’ “Sharevari,” Cybotron’s “Alleys Of Your Mind” is widely considered to be the origin of Detroit techno. Juan Atkins and Richard “3070” Davis met through in Washtenaw Community College, where Davis, a Vietnam veteran and synthesizer experimenter, encountered Atkins, then a young musician already absorbing Kraftwerk, Funkadelic, futurist literature, drum machines, and the possibilities of Black electronic radio. Their first Cybotron single came out locally on Atkins’s self-financed label, Deep Space Records, which then moved through Detroit by underground radio, dance floors, and word of mouth.

The collision of Kraftwerk-like machine precision, P-Funk futurism, non-mainstream Detroit radio and post-industrial city space created a melange of electro and synth-funk into what would soon be called “techno.” The Electrifying Mojo’s airplay was central to the record’s local life; contemporary retrospective accounts describe “Alleys Of Your Mind” becoming a Detroit staple and selling in the ten-to-fifteen-thousand range locally across the early Deep Space singles.

After this record, the Juan Atkins story continues with Model 500, Metroplex, and “No UFO’s,” but this record gave Detroit electronic music one of its founding templates. “Cosmic Raindance,” on the reverse, is equally useful, revealing the group’s synthetic, space-oriented language that was central to the futurism that would infuse electronic music in the 80s and 90s.

Canonical Status in OMMA

OMMA recognizes “Alleys Of Your Mind / Cosmic Raindance” as a canonical Cybotron and Detroit techno origin object: the debut commercial single by Juan Atkins and Richard “3070” Davis as Cybotron, issued on Deep Space Records before Atkins’s Model 500/Metroplex period and before the wider Fantasy Records album cycle. Within OMMA, the object occupies the position of a foundational Detroit electro/techno release and a first-release artifact by one of electronic music’s central architects.

References and Source Documentation

Discogs. “Cybotron – Alleys Of Your Mind.”
https://www.discogs.com/release/1367297-Cybotron-Alleys-Of-Your-Mind

45cat. “Cybotron [USA] Discography – All Countries.”
https://www.45cat.com/artist/cybotron-us

WDET. Sam Beaubien, “Sam’s Jams: This Track from Detroit Techno Pioneers Changed Music History.”
https://wdet.org/2019/10/16/sams-jams-this-track-from-detroit-techno-pioneers-changed-music-history/

Red Bull Music Academy Daily. Mike Rubin, “Rik Davis: Alleys Of His Mind.”
https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2016/05/rik-davis-alleys-of-his-mind/

Afropop Worldwide. “Juan Atkins Interview.”
https://www.afropop.org/articles/juan-atkins-interview

WIRED. Dan Sicko, “The Roots of Techno.”
https://www.wired.com/1994/07/techno/

The Guardian. Lanre Bakare, “Techno godfather Juan Atkins: ‘There were 5,000 white kids going crazy to my music.’”
https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/aug/07/techno-godfather-juan-atkins-michigan-british-raves

The Guardian. Jon Savage, “Jon Savage on song: Cybotron – Techno City.”
https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/feb/15/cybotron-techno-city

The Guardian. Joe Muggs, “Cybotron review – a gloriously disreputable hi-tech rave.”
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/apr/14/cybotron-review-a-gloriously-disreputable-hi-tech-rave

Craft Recordings / Concord. “Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Cybotron’s Foundational Techno Classic Enter with a Deluxe Digital Reissue.”
https://craftrecordings.com/blogs/news/cybotron-enter-dlx