Shake is the alias of US techno producer Anthony Shakir, a Detroit-based artist associated with the early development of the Motor City sound. He begins working as a bedroom producer in 1981 and becomes part of the circle around artists such as Juan Atkins, Model 500 and Derrick May.

Career and role in Detroit techno

Shakir works with Derrick May and Carl Craig as a producer, writer and engineer on several early tracks on Metroplex. He also handles management and A&R work for the label during its formative years, and also serves in other practical roles there. His first solo release appears on Virgin’s Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit compilation with the track “Sequence 10”.

Style and reputation

Shake is known as a techno purist and keeps distance from the European scene that many of his contemporaries work with. His music is described as closer to second-wave Detroit artists such as “Mad Mike” Banks and Claude Young, with hard, stripped-down tracks drawing on techno, electro, hip-hop and funk.

Labels and later visibility

His profile grows through the Frictional and Puzzlebox labels. He forms Puzzlebox in 1996 with Keith Tucker, a Detroit electro and techno producer formerly of Aux 88. The label issues solo releases and collaborations, often under the name Da Sampla, and becomes known for straight-up Detroit techno alongside labels such as Underground Resistance and Guidance Recordings. Shakir’s work with Puzzlebox and Frictional helps increase his visibility and reputation.