Derrick May founded Transmat Records in 1986. The label was a deliberate offshoot of Juan Atkins's Metroplex — May had been releasing under the Mayday alias and wanted his own imprint. The first Transmat release, MS001, was Rhythim Is Rhythim's "Nude Photo," a track May co-produced with Thomas Barnett. The second, MS002, was "Strings of Life."
"Strings of Life" came out in 1987. The track is, by most accounts, the most-played piece of Detroit techno in the genre's history. Frankie Knuckles played it weekly at the Power Plant in Chicago. The UK acid house crowd took it as a foundational record. Larry Levan played it. Ron Hardy played it. The track has been continuously in print since release, with reissues on Transmat, R&S, and various comp series.
The Transmat catalog is small. Across 35 years the label has put out fewer than 80 releases. The model was the opposite of a roster-heavy operation. May releases his own material. He has released Suburban Knight (James Pennington), Carl Craig in his early Psyche/BFC era, K-Hand, and a handful of others. The slowness is a feature. May has said in interviews that he releases records when he has records to release, and that pretending to maintain a release schedule for industry reasons is what kills labels.
The 1990s saw May focused on touring and DJing rather than producing. Transmat continued to release but at a reduced pace. May became one of the highest-paid DJs in Europe in that decade, often appearing in the same Berlin and London bookings that were keeping Underground Resistance and Metroplex artists overseas. The Transmat catalog moved through R&S in Belgium and various European licensees during this period.
What the label did do, repeatedly, was anchor major reissue projects. The "Innovator" compilation, released by R&S in 1991, collected the Rhythim Is Rhythim catalog and remains the standard introduction to May's work. The 25th-anniversary Transmat reissues, the 30th-anniversary Detroit Love showcase, and the various festival retrospectives have all been built off the Transmat foundation.
May himself has been a complicated public figure. The 2020 sexual misconduct allegations from multiple women, reported by Resident Advisor and DJ Mag, prompted European cancellations and an extended period of reduced bookings. May denied the allegations. The festival circuit responded unevenly, with some venues quietly removing him from rosters and others continuing to book him. The conversation around the allegations remains open.
The Transmat business has continued to operate. The catalog remains in print. May still curates the Detroit Love showcases that travel internationally and have anchored Movement weekend in Detroit since 2009. The 2025 Movement edition included a Detroit Love stage that was, in essence, the Transmat lineup with affiliates added.
What the label produced in its first three years — "Nude Photo," "Strings of Life," "It Is What It Is," "The Beginning" — set the template for the symphonic, melodic strain of Detroit techno that runs through Carl Craig, Stacey Pullen, and the European producers who followed. The catalog is the catalog. Distribution runs through Submerge.
