The Detroit Techno House

Ahhhhh….Monday. Usually the least busy day of the festival, full of those recovering from the night before(if they even made it out of bed) and those who refuse sleep for the duration on the weekend. I made it down to Hart Plaza around mid-afternoon, and got to catch the last part of Sean Deason’s set. Two words: fucking banging. I just wish he had played later in the day when there was more of a crowd. Now he was just using a Xone DX(i think)and a laptop, and usually I’m not a fan of this type of “DJ” set-up, but damn. Great track selection, and awesome use of effects. Got a little hot in the sun, so we headed downstairs and checked out Punisher’s set. She is seriously one of my favorite performers in Detroit, I was glad I could catch this. The fuckin’ rain started shortly there after, so we me up with some friends for awhile, and made it back down for Stacey Pullen. A solid performance, but much less housey, and way more techno than usual for Mr. Pullen. The rain was pissing me off, plus I was still really hungover, so we missed the last 2 hours of everything. Oh well. Had a blast this year as always. We took a shitload of video, so check back over the rest of the week and we’ll post it all up. Peace.

It sure was a hot one yesterday.  With the intense heat from the sun and all the hot music going on, you could say that I was overheated by the end of the night.  I got down to Hart Plaza around 4:00PM and immediately headed over to the Beatport stage to check out The Martinez Brothers, and of course they were tearing it up with excellent House music and a contagious vibe.  After I was done watching them I strolled along to the main stage to check out DJ Pierre who was mixing some serious Acid House.  After him was Larry Heard rocking some good old Chicago classics.  I was excited to see him because I have so many of his records but had never seen him in person, and he delivered exactly what I expected.  I was just wandering around after him and ended up at the Torino stage where Orlando Voorn was twisting it up with effects and midi controllers.  He also had two electronic drummers providing a nice live element to the set.  This one really impressed me, and makes me want to get a percussionist for when I spin.  After refueling and meeting up with some friends I went to the pyramid stage to peep out a hometown Hip-Hop favorite, Guilty Simpson, along with Phat Kat and the Will Sessions Band.  They tore it up for sure.  I’ve seen them together before and I just love how they play J.Dilla tracks live, “Take Notice” being my favorite.  After that I headed downstairs for Rolando, an oldschool favorite of mine, who was ripping up some Detroit Techno and Electro.  This is when the night took a drastic turn for me.  I went over to the Movement Torino stage to witness Derrick May absolutely tearing it to shreds.  Playing his mix of hard, jazzy, deep Detroit Techno had everybody losing their minds.  I hung out here for a while and didn’t want to leave but also needed video of Derrick Carter, so I headed to the main stage to check him out.  I’m glad I did because like May, Carter was also destroying it.  Looking at everyone in the bottom bowl crowd surfing and bouncing all over was quite inspirational to say the least.  I made my way through the massive crowd back down to the underground to see Robert Hood.  I’m always impressed with the sound quality of his sets and am always flipped out by his alien sounds and deep bass.  He was using some kind of sampler/drum machine that had some killer sounding hi-hats.  The last act to go on was Inner City and they ended off on a positive note with uplifting Detroit House music.  There classic, “Big Fun” was a hit that stood out to me in their set.  Overall this day was great.  It made me think about what seperated all the new DJs out there with their fancy computers from the oldschool cats.  Most of the artists on Sunday were founders and creators of our music, and they provided an electric vibe that hightened my awareness.  Maybe because they use vinyl, maybe because they don’t fuck up, or maybe they just got soul.  Either way I’m glad they educated the crowd with the spirit of Detroit the way it should be done.  Proper!

I always look forward to the first day of Movement, everythings all fresh and clean, not yet defiled by a constant stream of ravers, freaks, tech-heads, and all around partiers. The weather was great yesterday, almost too hot. When we got Downtown, to my horrific surprise, the lot on top of Cobo was closed and we had to seek alternate parking. We usually park here because of its the only lot where you can truly tailgate and enjoy some pre-festival refreshments. Anyway, parked, found the ticket-for-wristband exchange quite quick and hassle free, and no line to even wait in to enter, a definite plus. Grabbed a cold beer, and found a shady spot over at the Beatport stage to catch part of Ida Engberg’s set, bangin’ techno that had people all hyped up. It seemed to be getting hotter, so next we headed over to the Real Detroit/underground stage for some shade. Got to catch some of Nico Marks set, house and techno, with lots of people dancing, and a good overall vibe. After just kinda wandering around for awhile, met up with some friends, and went over too see Paco Osuna bang it the fuck out. Now one thing that seemed really fucked up last night was the drink situation. Two friends of mine had the same situation; wait in a long ass line for a mixed drink, only to find out that they only have Triple Sec, and they can’t sell it. Then wait in a beer ine to be told they dont have any cold beer. For real, it’s only the first day, lets get this shit locked down for the rest of the weekend. Later in the evening, made it down to the Real Detroit stage to catch Rick Wilhite and Theo Parrish’s sets. Rick Wilhite brought some jumpin’ house that had the crowd dancing the hold time and asking for more. Theo Parrish brought some really downtempo, funky, house with the BPM’s floating around at 100 it seemed. We then headed over too hear the end of Josh Winks set; really not that impressive, and his computer ended up totally glitching out at one point. Plastikman was awesome, definetly one of the better Ritchie performances I have seen in some years. The visuals were crazy, and he brought that old school Plastikman sound with 909 drums and drippy, acid lines, all accented with lots of delay and echo. Only thing that sucked was the fuckin crowd. That shit was unbearable with all the shoving. Didn’t end up after-partying, but looking forward to a full day today. Peace.

Well, it’s finally that time of year again. I’ll be heading out here shortly to Hart Plaza for 3 days of electronic music days and afterparty debauchery nights. Lot’s goin’ on, so check back periodically throughout the weekend for updates and videos.

Last night I made a trip down to 5&10(on Woodward, near Oslo) to see a friend of ours, Walter Glasshouse, spin at a party that was featuring Stacey “Hot Wax” Hale. Check out his bio here, and download one of the DJ mixes, you’ll be glad you did. Here’s a little video of his set last night.

Sunday night found me down at the Majestic for a night of hip-hop beats and other off-kilter trickery. I saw Glitch Mob at Movement last May, and they blew it the fuck up then, so I was definitely looking forward to this show. We arrived to see the last half of Deru’s set. To be honest, it was not overly impressive, just some looped out boom-bap beats, nothin fancy. Free The Robots took over next, and this dude had some pretty twisted, quirky beats. What sucked was they had his sound all low, so he really couldn’t rock it out; I was kinda disappointed, because his set seemed pretty cool. Glitch Mob went on around eleven with a huge amount of gear. Bass guitar, drum pad triggers, keyboards, and some cool looking MIDI controllers(Jazzmutant Lemurs I think). They had some great stage presence, but the sound was totally different from what I remember from the last time I saw these guys play. Last may it was glitched out, micro-sampled hip-hop insanity. This time it was slower beats, more atmospheric, almost like Glitch Mob is slowly becoming a strange indie rock band with electronic tendencies. I thought it was a cool sound, but not really what I was expecting. Check out the video, and you be the judge. On a different tip, this was my first time out since the smoking ban, kinda weird not seeing the Majestic in a cloud of smoke, but definitely nice to leave not stinking like hell and sinuses all fucked up. Peace.

Thursday night, spring was in the air, and heavy low end was reverberating through the speakers. Made it down to the Magic Stick to check out an evening of dubstep and out-there hip-hop beats. We got there a bit early and had a few beers downstairs, and I was amazed at the crowd I saw amassing for this event. Of course, I’ve been to a couple dubstep parties lately, and they seem to be picking up momentum every week, which is awesome because it’s getting a lot more kids into the electronic music scene, which could really use a boost in Detroit. Anyway I was pretty excited to see that the “surprise” opener was Brian Gillespie and Moodyman. Gillespie got the crowd going with a mix of hip-hop and some bass, with everything in between. Moodyman took to the decks next a spun a solid hour of downtempo, funk, beats, old house and all kinds of other gems; I really enjoyed this set. Made it out on the deck for awhile to enjoy the spring air, and by the time we were back inside, Kode9 was tearing up the dubstep tracks. I have to say, awesome track selection, reaching into the deep realms of dubstep, and not just a set of all wobble bass. He definitely got the crowd going, so by the time Flying Lotus took over, the place was on fire! Flylo brought the fire with beats, on the fly re-edits, and bass deep enough to knock the wind out of you. Fuck yeah! I got a look at his setup, and it looked like live MPC + laptop(someone please correct me if I’m wrong). All I have to say is, this dude definitely lives up to the hype, and I can’t wait for him to be back. Here’s a couple of videos of the evening to bring you up to speed. Sorry about the sound, soooo much bass it was unavoidable. Peace.

After a hiatus of event reviews, I made it down to the D this past weekend with some friends to check out all the hotness that was going down at 10 Critics. I’m glad this place finally got licenced, no “membership fee”! When we got there Shawn Rudiman was blowing it up on a veritable arsenal of live gear. Watching this guy live is madness! Absolutely amazing control over all his machines, and just straight sinister sounds, especially from the 909 and the Virus.(see video below). Derrick May took the reigns next, and threw down a bangin’ set of old tracks and new from all over the techno spectrum. I haven’t seen him play in a couple years, and I though he really killed it that night! Although, my hat is off to Shawn Rudiman for probably one of the best live sets I’ve seen in awhile. Convextion was billed on the flyer, and I think he played like 3 tracks before Derrick May went on; I wonder what was up with that? Lots of video this week. Peace.

Saturday night, a mid-January thaw in Detroit, and some properly performed techno. We found ourselves down in Corktown at 10 Critics, to check out Starski and Clutch and James T Cotton at Fun, which appears to be a new monthly party with varying venues. 10 Critics was a a bit different, when we got there a sign on the front door informed us that if we weren’t members, we had to go to the “business office”(a shipping container with a door and a ticket window)in the back to obtain one. This involved giving a quite a bit of personal info, and giving them a 20 spot. However, this one payment($10 for cover, $10 for booze)entitled you to open bar all night, so really not a bad investment. The venue was straight, good sized dance floor, good “free” bar area. When we got in, E-Spleece was spinning some nice techno, and the crowd was growing. By the time Starski and Clutch went on, there was an awesome crowd fueled up on an open bar that was there to dance. SAC threw down and awesome set, touching all types of dance music genre’s. They started off with some booty, but thew in some house, acid, techno, soul, old school, and even a couple of club bangers. People were dancing their asses off for the whole set! James T Cotton hit the decks a little before 2, and brought a set of some proper techno, with some fucking awesome acid thrown in. Awesome track selection and mixing the whole time that finish up the already pumped up crowd. Word to the the promoters, db productions, for a truly proper party, I can’t wait for the next one. Luckily a lot of video got shot, so here’s a little sampler of the evening.

After a brief break from things, we were back in step for some Detroit techno. Thursday night found us down at ReLiv for an event which was to be an homage to Metroplex records(!),and seeing Carl Craig for free is always awesome. ReLiv is definetly not your typical spot for electronic music(it looks like a typical douchey super-mega-ultra club inside), but Thursday night had a great crowd. We got there just before Carl Craig went on, and when he took the decks, the next hour was nothing but slammin’ old school Metroplex tracks. Word on all those dope ass Cybotron tracks! After Mr. Craig, Kevin Saunderson took over and rocked out a fucking awesome techno set. I was glad to see so much love for so much legendary Detroit techno, it was a blast. The video’s don’t really do it justice, but it gives you a good idea.