The Detroit Techno House

As summer winds down faster than we want, the weekends seem to get more and more packed as we try to cram in as much we can before fall sets in. This weekend started off on kind of a disappointing vibe, we decided to go down to the The White Star in Hamtramck for the House Shoes party(just the name of the vent, the DJ of the same name was oddly enough not involved). This was a new venue for me, it’s just like a block south of where Motor used to be. The first warning sign should have been that the outside of the place looked like a fucking titty bar. The inside was even less thrilling, typical douchy clubber crowd, and the music sucked ass. Needless to say, we were out as quickly as we arrived.

Saturday was much better. I really was looking forward to the Peoples Art Festival after attending for my first time last year, and the promise of live techno just sweetened the deal even more. Really I don’t think you could pick a much cooler venue for an art festival than the Russe

ll Industrial Center. It was a really eclectic crowd, all the artists were on point, and the music was awesome. On the techno tip, I got to see Kero’s set, and I have to say it was really impressive. I would have liked to get a better look at the equipment, his MIDI controller looked like it was custom made. There wasn’t much of a crowd in the building playing electronic music, but I did run into an old head from back in the rave days. If you missed the Peoples Art Festival this year, make sure you mark your calender for next, you’ll be glad you did.

Saturday night we made it down to the Magic Stick for the end of the all day techno and house extravaganza they were bumpin’. I have to say that the setup in the Stick was very impressive, a great sound system and crazy projections all over the place. We got there in time to catch Monty Luke’s set, which was awesome, bangin’ fucking techno. I wandered outside to the Alley Deck a few times, and there was chiller house music out there all night. We didn’t end up staying late, but did get to see about half of Agnes’ set, which was an impressive house mix. I hope they do more events like this at the Magic Stick, especially when they have it set up like that.

Friday night found us at the Alley Deck for the PM/Blank Artists Guiding Light Release Party. I’ve never been to the Alley Deck before, and I love the venue, there’s just something about electronic music outside that makes it that much better. I have to give these dudes props, this was a really well put on event, and the crowd had a great vibe all night. The music was definitely a little different, kind of a funkier slower house that had people dancing all evening, I thought it was great. I will definitely hit up more events with theses dudes in the future.

I’m glad that summer finally decided to show up around mid-August. There’s something I like about going out at night, and it’s still all hot as fuck, I think it makes people crazier, so you see more wild ass shit in the D. Saturday night found the Detroit Techno House crew starting off our night at Oslo for the monthly Recession party. Big ups to free events, especially when you have good DJ’s playing at them. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to Oslo, and it was nice to make a triumphant return. Carlos Suffront was hittin’ some awesome fucking techno when we got there, however, dude’s set was severely marred by the god awful sound system that they have at Oslo. We got to catch a good part of his set, but decided to make tracks over to the Works because we I had heard an acquaintance of ours was playing, and it was another free event, so if it’s wack, fuck it. I would have taken a wack event over the shit that was pouring out of the Works. Seriously, the front was a tag team of DJ’s playin minimal techno that literally all sounded like the same track over and over, and the back room was full of a bunch of underage candy ravers, reeling on bad drugs to some really terrible electro-hardcore. Needless to say, we didn’t make it a long stay. The evening ended with a couple beers at THC talking with this dude from the Czech Republic named Milan. Overall, not a great evening, but interesting none the less.

Friday night and a return to the Works, its been awhile, but I needed a week from this venue. I had my doubts about this event, but the temptation of all that analog gear was just too strong. We got there, and there were some DJs spinning in the back room who were honestly fucking boring as hell. Some of the tracks were all right, but the mixing was atrocious, and definitely nothing that made me want to dance. I got a good look at all of Motor’s gear before they went on, and it looked like quite the interesting arsenal. Motor took stage around 1, and threw the fuck down. Raw analog bass, screaming synth lines, and hard hitting industrial style drums, with heavily synthesized vocals on top of it all. It was awesome to see a good live set again, especially one that just wasn’t some fucking geek staring at a laptop the whole time. Long live analog gear! Oh, and it’s always comforting to see an ambulance in the parking lot on your way out, ahhhh..Detroit.