Archive for June, 2009

June 29th, 2009

Weekend with not too much to review 6.26-6.28

by Alex Calhoun

Yeah, there was quite a bit going on this weekend, but neither myself nor Art Martial found our way to fields of electronica where we usually seem to be. It was a much more chiller weekend of beer, bonfires and disc golf. So apologies to our readers that there’s not anything to review here, I hope everyone made it out and had some crazy ass times bangin the beats in the D, and I’m curious how Funk night went off in it’s new venue. Check back soon this week for a new installment of Detroit Tracks, and I’m sure we’ll be all over town next weekend celebrating Independence Day proper. Until then, enjoy the summer, and I’ll see you soon in Detroit.

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June 26th, 2009

What's Poppin? 6/26/09-6/28/09

by Chris Macom

6/26/09
@Works
Terrence Parker
Collette



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June 22nd, 2009

Weekend In Review:6.19.09

by Alex Calhoun

So, I was really looking forward to another venue for my weekend shenanigans, but due to some weird cosmic alignment in the techno universe, the Elements Gallery never transpired, and I ended up at the Works again. But honestly, the promise of Dara, Bone and, potentially, Terry Mullan was quite tempting. Talk about a fucked up drive to Michigan and Rosa Parks, it was like a mid-summer monsoon. I swear there were crazy ass accidents the whole way there.
When we arrived there was a nice crowd packing the place out, and Dara was tearing it up in the back room. Normally, I’m not the biggest drum and bass fan, but damn, dude fucking killed that shit. It was nice to see that some extra sound was brought it to keep it pumped. I made it up front for pieces if Jesse James’ set, and I have to say it was great when they finally turned up the speakers for him, techno needs to be banged. I was impressed by Bone’s whole set, bangin techno and old school effects the whole time. The crowd really seemed to die out after 2:30, it started to look like a bunch of zombies as the night wore on. We didn’t make it as late as we could have, but I heard that Terry Mullan, the elusive Sasquatch of acid, actually showed up and played for a handful of people at the wee hours. Well, I’ll catch him eventually.

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June 19th, 2009

What's Poppin? 6/18/09-6/20/09

by Chris Macom



These two parties have actually been combined and will both be held at the Works. And I thought I would be going somewhere else this weekend. Ha!

Set times are as follows:

Back Room :
11-12 JOEY P.
12-1:30 DJ DARA
1:30-4am DJ BONE

Front Room :
10-11 DJ DALOUDA
11-12 SUTTER
12-1 JESSE JAMES
1-2:30 TERRY MULLAN

I am guessing that the rest of the DJs on the Terry Mullan flyer got the short end of the stick.

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June 14th, 2009

Weekend In Review: Donald Glaude, The Works 6.12.09

by Alex Calhoun

So I know, it seems like these reviews are always about the Works, but hell, it doesn’t seem like any other venue’s are getting used to bring in out of town DJs lately. Friday was a good time, but I have to give my respect to our local Detroit talent, that was who really impressed me. When we got there, Vinsanity was tearin‘ that shit up in the backroom, droppin some hot ass techno, I almost wish I would have gotten there a little earlier so I could have see his whole set, it was very impressive. Brian Scott was on the decks next, and he brought some awesome house. This dude gets the track selection award for the night, he had everyone moving for his whole set. I also got to check out Disciple in the front room a bit. Usually, I’m not much of a drum and bass head, but his set definitely had my attention while I was up there. Brian Scott definitely had the crowd warmed up for Donald Glaude, but this is where the evening fell off for me a bit. I was dancing for the first couple of tracks Mr. Glaude dropped, but I don’t know, from there he kind of lost me. The tracks were kind of consistently a little too electro-house. Maybe it’s just me, but is electro-house the new trance. It certainly sounds fucking corny enough to take that title. How the fuck do you affix the word “electro” to that genre of electronic placenta? I mean really, it’s not electro. Anyway, maybe you had to be really had to be high on drugs to get into it, but his set was a total miss for me.

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June 12th, 2009

What's Poppin? 6/12/09-6/14/09

by Chris Macom


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June 7th, 2009

Weekend in Review: 6.7.09 The Works-The Martinez Brothers

by Alex Calhoun

It seems rare that we get an electronic artist to play in the D that absolutely bangs it and keeps it going the whole set. Last night at the Works with the Martinez Brothers was one of those rare nights. If you are not familiar with the Martinez Brothers, check out our older posts, or go here. These kids brought the fuckin fire last night. I can’t think of the last time I danced through some one’s whole set, but these dudes had me on my feet the whole night. Absolutely flawless mixing and layering of effects that just totally blew my mind. It’s always refreshing to hear someone who’s not afraid to use the hell out of their EQ’s, which seems to be lost on to many DJs today. The music varied from house to tech with that dope New York flavor to it. And when they dropped “Dark Water” toward the end of the set, the crowd went fuckin’ bonkers. It just amazes me that some kids this young have got this much skills behind the decks. I was surprised that the Works wasn’t packed out with house heads for this, but the people who were there were enjoying every second of it and giving the brothers some mad D town love. Really this wasn’t a very hyped event, I just heard about it on Wednesday, and I’m fairly sure there were no flyers going around. Of course, I forgot my camera, asked my cousin if we could use his, and then he forgot his also.Luckily, he’s got mad skills with the camera phone, and hooked us up with these pics. Mad love and respect to everyone who was at this last night, I can’t think of the last time I had such a good time on a Saturday night. Let’s bring these guy’s back again soon!

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June 5th, 2009

Damn! What Track Was Dat?

by Chris Macom

So if you were at the Movement festival this year you would have seen Dennis Ferrer and Kevin Saunderson drop a hot ass jackin House track with an old swing sample. With the age of Beatport and Youtube, it was actually much easier to figure out who made it and how to get it. I remember asking DJ’s back in the day hopeing they would reveal their secret, or let me get a peep of the vinyl cover. With the internet swallowing everything up instantly, it makes it much easier to find out what the “Big” DJs are playing. Hopefully this tune won’t get played out as soon as it hits the streets. Anyways, the artist is Gramaphonedzie and the track is “Why Don’t You”. It is released on Guesthouse Music and available for download on Beatport. This particular track was sampled from Peggy Lee’s 1942 release, “Get Me Some Money Too”. The artist has many jackin swing like tracks available that are also way hot. The swing sampled theme is nothing new to house, and I could have sworn this track was made by Mike Dixon but the hottness can not be denied. It must be from Chicago or something right? Nope, try Belgrade, Serbia.

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June 4th, 2009

What's Poppin?

by Chris Macom




@Times Square

Also this Saturday at the Works, Larry Miller and the Representatives of House present the Martinez Brothers with an after hours set by Mark Flash. If you read this blog regularly then you know we go fucking crazy for the Martinez Brothers. These kids are super dope. I believe this is there first time in Detroit. Funny thing that the best party this weekend has no flyer and not much hype. I hope cats show up for this ish.

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June 2nd, 2009

Detroit Tracks 2.0:Plastikman-Spastik

by Alex Calhoun

Alright, I know Ritchie Hawtin is from Windsor, but this is flat out a record that has Detroit just emanating from it. It’s kind of sad to say that a whole generation of kid’s who are just getting into techno might not know that Mr. Hawtin wasn’t always a super minimal, artsy-neo-fashionista Berliner, but at one time a fucking legend in the D. I will sadly say I was never privy to the infamous Packard parties, but I’ve talked to enough old school heads who have a Plastikman tattoo somewhere, to know these were an epic time for electronic music in Detroit. So, times has dragged on, and we all know what the general consensus of Ritchie in Detroit is, but gems like these still adorn our crates and remind us that not long ago, that dude knew how to bang that shit. Spastik is one of the most instantly recognizable tracks, but can be seamlessly mixed into almost any techno set. Overplayed? Perhaps, but DJ’s play the hell out of Detroit tracks cause they’re the shit! The slowly rising snare rolls build and build, and boom, the bass just kicks in and overwhelms everything, with spaced out drum rolls and echoing claps coming and going from nowhere. Some of the other tracks on this album, Gak and Kriket are a little more out there, but could most definitely have a place in many DJ’s sets. Kriket is a really trippy track, just showing what kind of strange auditory adventures you can go on with a TB-303. If you don’t own this, I highly recommend you pick up a copy, on vinyl if you can, and just enjoy this spacey piece of techno history.
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