yes, really lame, i know: i won't be traveling to detroit this weekend for
movement 2013. (it hurts, seriously.) but! that won't stop me from pointing out some artists that i think are worth seeing, should there be any detroit-bound techno fiends in need of some tips. this is certainly not a comprehensive list, as the festival's lineup looks particularly good this year. nonetheless, i submit these ten anatomy picks for your consideration:
[UPDATE. lucy and marcel dettmann have canceled their appearances due to - you guessed it - "visa issues".]
LUCY the stroboscopic artefacts boss has a two-hour slot to open the underground stage. intriguingly,
lucy is booked before a pair of (relatively) more house-oriented dj's in nina kraviz and steffi. but i'd be surprised if he did not stuff that room full of dark, atmospheric techno. anyway, lucy is certainly one of the movement 2013's most forward-thinking bookings. an excellent reason to get to the festival early, and my
top pick for saturday at hart plaza.
underground stage, saturday, 2-4pm
DAVE CLARKE his previous detroit appearances are seemingly spoken of only in hushed, reverent tones, and he does not play the US very often (up until a few years ago, it had been close to a decade since his last visit). a rare stateside opportunity - on the big stage, no less - to see the so-called
"baron of techno" at work.
rbma stage, saturday, 8:30-10pm
BEN KLOCK b2b MARCEL DETTMANN oh how this duo should have gotten a longer set. methinks techno heads surely would have been satisfied with a slimmed-down program where klock and dettmann would have three or more hours to work with; at least, it would be more must-see if they had a longer set time. still, look for these two berghain favorites to hit it pretty hard while they can.
underground stage, sunday, 7:30pm-9:15pm
AUDION hooray for the return of
audion! i've
grown a bit weary with matthew dear's 'pop' meanderings over the past
few years; it's usually interesting stuff, but i think he's better when he gets
out of his big black car and dives into the intensely hypnotic sounds of
his audion alias. there's hardly been any new material or live shows
from audion in three or four years. and now there's this return to
detroit (he's also billed for wavefront festival in chicago in july).
dare we hope for more action from audion this year?
rbma stage, sunday, 8-9pm
DANIEL BELL i'd be a fool if i didn't recommend some of detroit's top homegrown talent, because as usual, there's a ton of it at the festival. you could probably get a pretty wide-reaching history lesson by setting up shop at the made in detroit stage all weekend. i'd also recommend checking out terrence parker and ryan elliott, to name a just a few, but my top pick of the locals is
daniel bell, whose closing set is likely to be filled with smooth, minimalist techno and house.
made in detroit stage, sunday, 9pm-close
PLANETARY ASSAULT SYSTEMS unfortunately, this one has a bunch of overlap with daniel bell's set. if you've got the courage, the underground stage is the place to be sunday evening, as it marks a very rare US appearance for luke slater - and his live alias, planetary assault systems (he'll also be dj'ing at an afterparty, see below). slater is one of my favorite artists: his 2011 album
the messenger, produced as PAS, ranked
#2 on my top LPs from that year, and to my ears, it's been unmatched by almost every techno album released since then. either way, he certainly ranks among the genre's finest, most open-minded talents. this is my
top pick for sunday - and for the entire weekend!
underground stage, sunday, 9:15-1030pm
DABRYE tadd mullinix is a man of many hats. one of them, dabrye, is filled with abstract hip-hop jams. though i only occasionally tune in these days, his 2001 LP
one/three was one of my first "favorite" electronic albums. this set could be pretty good way to ease into monday afternoon.
rbma stage, monday, 3pm-430pm
ECHOLOGIST aka brendon moeller, he'll be opening up the underground stage on monday. the charmingly spaced-out echologist album
subterranean was (like the PAS LP) one of my
favorites back in 2011, but i'd expect him to be a bit more floor-friendly with this set.
underground stage, monday, 2-3:30pm
MIKE PARKER he just played an unsurprisingly fantastic set here for his chicago debut, and i'm sure his bag will be properly packed as he plays the festival for the first time (and he'll be playing a friday-night party in his detroit debut, see below). consider
mike my
top pick of monday's program.
underground stage, monday, 3:30-5pm
RROSE okay, now i'm just going through monday's underground program one by one - i'll stop now, but it's really that good, especially on the front end. mysterious man/woman
rrose has been moving beyond his affiliation with the (apparently) defunct sandwell district, and further refining her psychedelic style via his own label, eaux. this set should have your head swirling by the end.
underground stage, monday, 5-6pm
... and then there's a whole catalog of afterparties happening around detroit. i helped write this
guide over at RA, which i think is pretty comprehensive. then there's this
very long listing. here's some quick recommendations, along with a few choice artist picks.
friday
perc trax showcase - the works | perc, mike parker, rrose
smart bar/tv lounge opening party and bbq - tv lounge | derek plaslaiko, cassy
saturday
CLR detroit - st. andrew's hall | marcel dettmann b2b radio slave
deep detroit v.5 - 1515 broadway | kyle hall, norm talley, kai alce
sunday
interface 42 - scene 10 - the works | luke slater,
rødhåd (top afterparty pick), silent servant
ok, cool - tv lounge | rick wade, mike huckaby, michael mayer
ghost in the sound - 4264 grand river ave. | deepchord presents echospace, population one (aka terrence dixon)
monday
klockworks label night - the works | recondite, ben klock
... and that's all from me. what shall i be doing this weekend, you might ask? i'll probably be staying indoors and off my feet, listening to music, and menacingly closing my curtains. to those going: safe travels, stay out of trouble and have fun!
juan atkins and moritz von oswald are teaming up to produce a new album called borderland. both many-aliased artists should be household names for techno heads, but a quick refresher, just in case: atkins is one of detroit's most iconic producers, while berlin's von oswald is probably best known for the pioneering dub/techno soundscapes crafted alongside mark ernestus as basic channel and rhythm & sound, and alone under the name maurizio. (pardon my bias towards von oswald: the BCD compilation and a bunch of stuff on the BC sublabel chain reaction played a huge role in my initial forays into the world of electronic music.)
