DEMF 2010

The Detroit Movement Festival (its current of several names it went by) has come a long way under many different sponsers and directors. I still have the most fond memories of when the festival was free, and there were almost no major/mainstream names on the roster. It was pure Detroit electronic music. Part of the reason why you're paying such a high price for this festival is to see THOSE names...which is not so cool but cool too. Naturally, I am a little bitter when I see acts like Girl Talk perform at a festival that was meant to give techno credibility within its own city. This is not some highschool dry hump fest either. This years lineup, however, was a pretty good balance of underground artists, and the more upfront players. Lets face it, dance music is being exploited and shit is just never going to be the same (You can hear fucking HOOVERS in Lady GaGa songs now). Carl Craig is back as creative director, and he gets it (who remembers when he got fired?). It was nice seeing him early in the day on the move and being friendly. Great dude. So Friday was a good starting pace. the first thing that caught my eye as I walked in was...A MOOG TENT? That is so gnarly, now I can go tweak analog electronics if I have the sudden urge to. I never played a theremin either! There was a silver man who was kind of a dick. Green man is the OG, plus he is really nice and dances with you. The Red Bull stage was kinda wack. Dubstep is the musical equivalent of vomiting when you first start drinking...you might think it's cool if you're 13. Also, there were a bunch of teeny boppers throwing up the X sign during this one dudes set, don't you know that shit is reserved for the X-ecutioners!? Especially after Roc Raida passed. Ending the first day was Richie Hawtin performing as PLASTIKMAN. I think this was the best performance. He kept it raw, plenty of squelching 303, 909 and some really ill reoccurring 808 snare rolls that were ran through a flanger or something. I swear this one break down in the middle slapped me so hard in the fucking face that I don't remember dancing that hard EVER. And then the encore. He emerged from behind the screen and rocked, from what I could tell, just an 808 and 909 on a stand for 15 or so minutes. Beyond that, Inner city was super fun and energetic while some dudes named Kraak & Smaak laid down some seriously funky business. It was nice seeing The Martinez Brothers performing rather than dancing besides Dennis Ferrer like last year. They just might be my favorite djs with their fresh approach and energy mixed with solid knowledge and respect for house music. There is more to be said about this years festival, but I will cut it off here. Fun!