MOVEMENT ELECTRONIC MUSIC FESTIVAL, DETROIT, USA Richie Hawtin
Paco Osana
showing why he’s held in such esteem and was one of the televised DJs for Fox’s Techno Tuesdays in the run-up to the festival. Mixing with white telephone receiver headphones, he cuts and scratches through classic tracks such as Cajmere’s ‘Brighter Days’, coaxing sounds from his CDJs that it’s difficult to even fathom.
At the back of the site by the Detroit River, which separates the city from neighboring Canada, the Beatport Stage is rocking to the sound of Paco Osana. Dropping maximal techno with huge builds, a group next to us drops down low to leap up for the drop again, only to be fooled by multiple false starts during an extended break that just builds and builds in intensity.
Closing the main stage is Richie Hawtin who once watched Detroit from Windsor, Ontario, perhaps techno’s greatest global ambassador. Surrounded by a light show that resembles the Eye of Sauran, his manipulation of digitally rendered sound somehow makes perfect sense with the GM Renaissance Center watching over us.
After a breakfast jaunt the next morning to Circoloco’s Arthur Russell-themed party in the sun-flushed garden of the suitably salubrious TV Bar, where we catch standout sets from Mass Prod, System Of Survival and Ryan Elliott, we manage to shake off a brief trip to Interzone in a nearby hotel room to arrive back at Movement.
Following Movement’s debut Boiler Room, with Hawtin again the main guest alongside Daniel Bell, Ben Sims, Magda and Stacey Pullen, we escape the beating sun, finding Ben Klock is in his element in Underground, firing out taut techno grooves from the likes of Jeff Mills — his proposed back to back with Marcel Dettmann derailed after Dettmann was allegedly not allowed into the country.
As evening begins to descend, we catch the end of Dubfire’s set on the main stage before Matthew Dear gets bleepy under his Audion moniker, warming up for
Stacey Pullen who rolls out some Detroit anthems including Rolando’s ‘Knights Of The Jaguar’, much to the delight of the masses thronging to hear him.
All talk, however, amongst our friends is about New York’s Masters At Work, who drop a slick set of old school-flavoured house as we stare out at Caesars Palace across the water and begin to feel the fatigue from our earlier inter-dimensional adventures.
It’s club breakfast time again on Monday, this time hitting Old Miami, a veteran’s bar decorated with military memorabilia and regalia, plus a few veterans enjoying some beers on the pavement in front of it. Out back, with the smell of BBQ wafting over, Soul Clap drop Reach and Spin’s speed garage classic ‘The Hype’ alongside an extended jazzy version of Masters At Work’s ‘To Be In Love’, before Tale Of Us break it down and rebuild with wonky tech grooves.
Judging by the early turnout the after-parties have taken their toll come Monday, but Nick Hook and Dabrye still have dancers in a circle at the main stage with their hip-hop-centric sets. By the time we hit the Beatport stage the heavens have opened, but Matt Tolfrey opens an aural umbrella with Jimmy Edgar’s remix of Jesse Perez’s lewd ‘Interracial Booty Call’. Later on, Cajmere provides one of the festival’s standout sets, opening with his own ‘Do Ya Thing’ and whipping up the floor with ecstatic acid and weird, twisted gems.
Migrating to Made In Detroit, we find a little shelter for Don Dada, DJ Godfather’s new project alongside like-minded Chicago spinner DJ Zebo. Mixing trap with ghetto-tech, they cut through tracks at an
Stacey Pullen
electric rate, two girls grinding next to us to the pumping booty bass.
Similarly impressive are First Nation DJ crew A Tribe Called Red over at the Electric Forest, reliving the quality of their eponymous recent debut album with a succession of politically-charged bass bangers that morph between tempos and styles for maximum cardiac work out.
Unfortunately, we seem to have been stomping out a rain dance, as the heavens fully open. DVS1 offers some respite in Underground, but up top to catch Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson closing the festival, we’re soaked to the skin. Many of those braving the elements have stripped off for the finale, while others watch the stage from undercover.
Heading around the back of the stage instead, we catch a glimpse of Kevin and Derrick’s family watching from the wings, the sound of ‘Strings Of Life’ lighting up the sodden air. Detroit techno may have reached middle age, but it still sounds as fresh as ever. JOE ROBERTS
djmag.com 061
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94