Detroit Electronic Music Festival

[oliosky]

Great to hear Greg Wilson is still killing it too

[djproben]

Just saw Public Enemy, they were pretty much exactly as I remember them when I saw them in 1991. And that's actually a good thing. Juan Atkins was disappointing, the sound in the "underground" stage sucks especially when it's turned up way too loud, which it was; as a result he train wrecked a few more times than anyone should who's been playing since 1981. Claude vonstroke sounded pretty good but I was starving and dehydrated at that point so I went in search of food and water instead. And as usual the people at the "made in Deroit" tent were utterly killing it; I'd probably be happy with this festival even if that was all I got to see. Mark Kinchen aka MK (or maybe that's backwards) was playing some really great upbeat stuff that was difficult to walk away from; had I known Juan Atkins was going to suck I would have stayed there. Oh yeah Marco Carola was incredible too - didn't see a lot of his set but he blew me away when he played MARRS "Pump up the Volume" from waaaay back in the day.

Too tired for the afterparties and I have to be up tomorrow for the bicycle tour of 313 techno history, so I'm blowing off three amazing afterparties -- the big Made in Detroit event (with Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May, Eddie Fowkes, and so forth), Rare Form with Maya Jane Coles, Maceo Plex, Magda, Soul Clap and more, and Then the event I was considering going to with Doc Martin, Nick Jagger, Paul Johnson and more. If anyone goes to any of them post how awesome it was so I can live vicariously

[djproben]

OK I lied ... Walked out for a quick drink, ran into some locals, and they said they were headed to the monsters of techno event, got me in free, and introduced me to Kevin Saunderson. So now it's nearly 5 am and I just saw him do an amazing set; the best part was the surprise guest - At the beginning of the set, they set up drums and miss on stage, and Paris Grey and Inner City jumped up and did a live set of "Big Fun" and then "Good Life" - the latter being the song that introduced me to this sound back in 1987 or 88. I nearly wet myself. Needless to say I'm glad I made it out, but I'm gonna be paying for it on that bike ride....

[3heads]

Damn, that sounds awesome, proben. Really awesome

[sobi]

OK I lied ... Walked out for a quick drink, ran into some locals, and they said they were headed to the monsters of techno event, got me in free, and introduced me to Kevin Saunderson. So now it's nearly 5 am and I just saw him do an amazing set; the best part was the surprise guest - At the beginning of the set, they set up drums and miss on stage, and Paris Grey and Inner City jumped up and did a live set of "Big Fun" and then "Good Life" - the latter being the song that introduced me to this sound back in 1987 or 88. I nearly wet myself. Needless to say I'm glad I made it out, but I'm gonna be paying for it on that bike ride....

I can not begin to tell you the amount of jealousy that is running through me right now. Sounds like a blast!

[djproben]

Great time for sure, next year we should have a djtt meetup here! I'm really exhausted now though. Ten mile bike ride for the Detroit techno history tour at noon, it sounds harder than it was because Detroit is FLAT. But with like four hours sleep it wasn't pretty. Still glad I did it though, the tour guide was a DJ who knows Richie Hawtin, Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May, etc. and had some great stories about various old warehouse parties and such. Got back to the festival in time to catch a bit of Nina Kravitz (who really seems to know how to work the crowd, or at least she's great at doing cutesy poses and looking like she's having a great time) and then DJ Psycho, who was really Well worth checking out - thanks for the tip MWagner! He quick mixed Classic song after classic song, mostly hip hop and funky stuff from 70s-80s, and did it with a LOT of oersonality. He wasn't the most technically tight performer - in fact he was downright sloppy at times - but he sure made up for it by jumping around, singing, making faces, and riling up the crowd with his antics. He did a lot of beat juggling as well, again pretty sloppy but with lots of personality (my favorite was when one turntable was giving him trouble during a juggle routine he started giving the turntable the middle finger every time it skipped.). All vinyl btw, and a LOT of it, he played easily a hundred records in the hour or so I watched him for. Brian Gillespie came on next and he also was rocking it with a quick mixing style, though less quick and less show-offy. and with less personality frankly but he was still quite awesome. I didn't stay long though as I was starving and tired, so I left and got some food; back at the hotel now for a quick nap before I go out to catch the last couple hours of the festiva....

[djproben]

The end of the festival was cool but not as epic as yesterday... Missed the Martinez Brothers, I wanted to see them but I've seen them before so that's fine, got back to the plaza for Nic Fanciulli (I'm sure that's spelled wrong but it's 2 am so bite me) and Joris Voorn, that was really great but the beatport stage was ridiculously crowded, they sounded great but I have no idea what either of them looks like. and either my ears are tired or the promoters decided to turn everything to 11 for the last night, every stage just sounded punishingly loud. I had earplugs in of course but they're the etymotics, they only do so much, I felt like the entire plaza was way louder than its been the past couple days. Missed Stacey Pullen which Is too bad, I heard he was phenomenal. Listened to the big name headliner, Jeff mills, for a little bit and got bored. If I want to hear 80's music, hip hop, hardstyle, and disco all mixed together I'd rather listen to JesC At one point I was kinda digging it because he was playing acid house but that lasted all of thirty seconds and then it was hardstyle again...

so I went over to the beatport tent and listened to Steve bug for a while, that was pretty cool, I kinda wished I'd been there for more of that. Then I went over to the redbullstep stage for a few minutes before heading out... Got out before 11:30 so I didn't have to deal with the crowd so if Jeff mills or major lazer did anything really cool at the end of their sets I missed it. I have a friend at an afterparty I'm thinking of heading over (it's the Hot Natured party if that means anything to anyone) and dj psycho is playing another afterparty ... But I'm pretty sure I'm gonna crash this time instead as tomorrow I want to hit the Motown museum and a couple record stores before I head home. But if that changes I'll let y'all know . Not sure how this post turned into my blog about the weekend but I had an epic time, thanks for listening hahaha!

[Xonetacular]

Listened to the big name headliner, Jeff mills, for a little bit and got bored. If I want to hear 80's music, hip hop, hardstyle, and disco all mixed together I'd rather listen to JesC At one point I was kinda digging it because he was playing acid house but that lasted all of thirty seconds and then it was hardstyle again...

Jeff Mills was playing hardstyle? I'm confused.

[JasonBay]

Jeff Mills was playing hardstyle? I'm confused.

Yeah, I was thinking that as well

[LanceBlaise]

i'm guessing he means hard techno, and not hardstyle... i could be wrong though.