TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Canada - Toronto & Southern Ont.
-- Review: Detroit Electronic Music Festival
Pages (3): « 1 [2] 3 »
Wow.
One of my favorite songs of the set starts at the end of this clip. Anyone know what it's called?
He's such a pompous little guy...but when he's on, he is ON.
_________________________
Cribby's DEMFerific Experience
Lots of firsts this weekend. Very first edm festival, first time going to Detroit, and first time going to the US without my parents...not to mention my first time *fill in the blank* lol. I can easily say it was the best weekend of the year, as well as one of the most memorable in my lifetime. Expectations were passed and I could finally call myself a proper rock star. Not everything went as planned, but for the most part it was successful. I thought I was prepared mentally and physically, but by the end of the festival I was wrecked.
Saturday
We arrived in D-town shortly after 3 pm and I couldn't help but already feel overwhelmed with my first visit to this city. The air was mucky, not to mention the overall grungy environment, and we were greeted as we pulled our car in by screams of excitement and weirdness. I'd like to say that I felt like I fit in, but even clowns have unwanted comfort levels. Lots and lots of coloured folk, which wasn't surprising, but the ratio in contrast to white folk was much higher than I expected. It was at that moment of realization that my mind finally accepted that we were in Detroit! Detroit... whoooooooo!!!!!!!! We checked ourselves into the Comfort Zone Inn and were greeted by the lovely Ebony at the front desk. We unpacked our gear and quickly made our way to the festival whilst getting a lift by the convenient shuttle bus that the hotel had provided for us.
The ride took less than 10 minutes and we quickly got in line to pickup/purchase our weekend tickets. My levels of anticipation skyrocketed as one of the staff put my bracelet on, and we went around to the entrance of Hart Plaza. They had a mandatory bag check and I was also under the impression that a body check would also be required as well. As I walked by the checkpoint, the woman asks me to hop on one leg and spin around... For some reason or another I took her seriously and didn't bother to question her, so I did what she asked. A few seconds later the staff start laughing at me, exclaiming that she was just joking. Great! I haven't even entered the plaza and already I made a fool out of myself. lol! We made our way in, and I got the full tour of the plaza. I expected it to be one huge concert hall, but I was pleased to see how spacey, clean, and welcoming the plaza was....in contrast to the rest of downtown Detroit. The place was moderately large with a refreshingly beautiful dodge fountain that was centered in the festival. I was tempted to shower myself in there at least once the whole weekend, but I lacked the courage. To my surprise, quite a number of folk had the courage. I really appreciated the layout of the festival; it was never a hassle to travel from one stage to another, and the food/goods booths were scattered quite conveniently. We managed to find an ATM booth after trying to search for one for an hour.... unfortunately the booth was empty with no ATMs in sight. lol. Although the plaza was located right by the river, it was still pretty hot throughout most of the weekend.
At 4 pm the attendance at this point was really lacking, but apparently it was still too early for most people. It picked up towards the evening and night time, and I'd say there were 20 000+ people there. The diversity of partiers were quite outstanding. I thought it was an 18+ event, but a good chunk of folk were candy ravers, aging from early teens to oldies. I've never witnessed so many ravers bunched up together in one location! And the freaks? Let's just say the Toronto sketchbags got nothing on those, haha. I was in awe! I LOVE weirdos. I wanted to fit in, but I was too normal looking in comparison to my personality 
. Most of the crowd was older, similar to the kinds of people at Toronto techno events. The oddities were hilarious. I wish I could remember them all...but I had nicknames associated with each one 
. Saturday brought in the ones that made me die of laughter most of the night, especially "Mr. Tophat Platform Plasktikman" who was sporting quite the look, with platform heels that were about 7 inches thick from the ground. LOL! Because it was raining at some point, the grassy areas were slippery and I'm guessing that one of his heels had broken off. Well... that heel totally fell apart and soon this dude was stumbling everywhere, since it was considerably difficult for him to keep his balance with only one platform intact. ROFL! It was quite entertaining to watch him stumble about and randomly ask my friends and other folk if they had tape! 20 minutes later after his disappearance he made his triumphant return.... with the broken platform fully fixed with extravagant amounts of tape wrapped around. bwahahahahaah. I <3 it!
Other notable oddities that night included Chris Toll Balls (dude sitting down mesmerizing everyone with 3 crystal balls), Donald Glaude Pt. 2 (funky afro, funkier glasses, great energy), Tattoo Tony, and those cute break dancing kids! 
The people were extremely friendly and social. Met peeps from Toronto, Ottawa, Chicago, Washington, London, etc. There were numerous amounts of hot girls/guys and many wicked dancers. The sound for the most part was great for each stage, but the Real Detroit tent as well as the Main Stage were a little bit too loud at times. This was usually an issue when the places were more empty.
We spent most of our time at the Beatport Stage on Saturday night as it started to rain. Fortunately this was where I wanted to be anyway, so the rain wasn't a negative factor. I fact, I enjoyed dancing in it for periods of time when I was overheating. I only managed to catch a bit of Pier Bucci, therefore I cannot share much of an opinion.
*Guido Schneider*
He came on shortly after 6:30 and was one of the deejays I was looking forward to seeing the most. He played similar to sets I heard from 2007, but focused more on the tech house side. Heard some bombs being dropped from time to time, totally loving every minute of it. Lots of percussive dance-ish minimal with consistent beats. I was impressed by the flow of his set as it ranged from slow grooves to an even slower steadiness. There were a couple of beat matching issues but it was easily one of the best sets of the night. As his set came to a closure and my feet started to hurt he decided to drop my favourite track of his:
Guido Schneider - In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up
The crowd reacted just as excitedly as I did, storming feets to the upbeat grooviness. The tune sounds like the echoes of tap dancing rocks in a pot. I made that comment towards a total stranger who said she'd love to live inside my imagination. I told her I was sober and she laughed. He also dropped
Ambivalent - R U Ok
2000 And One - Pak Pak
Hot Chip - No Fit State (Audion Remix)
*Claude VonStroke*
It was hard to pickup where Schneider had left off, but CVS came on at 8 pm and gave it a shot. At this point it was starting to get dark, and they finally turned on the lights in the tent. It was so much more awesome at night then it was during the day. It's all about the flashy and creative light system. Kudos to the workers! I managed to trick some friends into believing there were unicorns in the ceilings because of the trippy lights . Anyway...that's the only positive thing during Claude's set. He was horrible to say the least.... He had a pretty good start to his set, starting off with some funky minimal tracks, but it went downhill from there. He was the biggest disappointment that whole weekend.
His mixing was good, I'll give credit to that, but his programming was random as well as ridiculous! I've heard some pretty weird tunes in my life; techno sounds like noise to most people, but the kind of stuff he was playing was beyond whack! I had some fun dancing like Boney M in the Rasputin video to a song that had folk music samples in it, but quickly lost interest. People stopped dancing and just stood because it got to the point where it wasn't even enjoyable to dance to. I heard another track with acordians that made my feet really sad, another with an interlude with a fat lady singing opera, and a track that made me fall to the floor in disastrous laughter. My friend once had a ring tone which was a sound sample of two monkeys screaming faster and louder by the second, until they reached the point of what seemed like an orgasm. Claude dropped a techno track that sampled these same orgasmic monkeys. ROFLMAO! Biggest wtf of the entire night for me. I spent the next hour relaxing outside until something better came on.. He dropped
Claude VonStroke - Who's Afraid of Detroit
which I didn't like to begin with...but it was the only enjoyable track of his set...oh and
Claude VonStroke - Chimps (Trevor Levoys Mix)
*Marco Carola*
I was afraid that the wackiness would continue, but nothing could have been worse at this moment. Carola was the final act of the night at 10 pm, and my ears were relieved to hear some pleasantry. His mixing was a bit rough at the start, with a few trainwrecks here and there, but towards the end of the night it was a great, enjoyable set. He played minimal house and techno that was very melodic with a quick beat. There were lots of eerie songs that were upbeat, some of which that used xylophones as the primary instrument. It was freaking awesome! At this time of the night the crowd was really going nuts, bouncing from point to point.
The transitions were really impressive, and I was able to ID a few bangers...
Karmina - Wonder 21
Danilo Vigorito - Chastity
and especially the tune of the weekend for me which made me go shmental! (super hyper mental)
David K - Boul De Nerf
How's that for a kickass melodic minimal track?! Weeeeeeee!
I was supposed to hit the Gabriel & Dresden after party, but decided to call it a night at 2 am after some hotel antics to give my body a full night's rest to prepare for Day 2, which would be the most intense day. Also, considering I had only slept for 4 hours on Friday night after catching Magda/Hawtin at The Mod Club it was the best decision I made...
Sunday
We woke up sometime before 12 am on Sunday, fully rested and ready to go at it for another day (most of us at least.) We planned to head straight to the festival but our bodies disagreed, so we headed to find some grub. At this point, the rain started pouring down heavily and it didn't look like it would stop anytime soon. The statue of the "Sun God" was doing nothing for us. Pfffft. We managed to find a Jimmy Johns close by, and we ate while watching the streets pour with water. I was shocked that downtown Detroit was practically completely empty. I mean sure, the rain was definately a repelling factor, but even on Saturday afternoon the city was pretty lifeless. Our source of entertainment that morning while we waited for the rain to clear came from a hobo conversing with a newspaper stand. The dude must of went on for at least an hour...must of been some interesting conversation 
We made it back to the Movement festival sometime around 1:30 and at the checkpoint I decided to hop on one leg and spin around just for the hell of it. Unfortunately the same woman from the night prior didn't remember me, so I looked even foolish for doing it without a request. Typical Cribby... Of all the festival days, Sunday was the most dead in terms of population. Although it didn't rain as much throughout the afternoon/evening there was definately a lack of attendance. That's not to say that the freakies still managed to come out <3. Day 2 hosted a whole new cast of interesting characters. I saw the debut of who I loved to call Grandma Techno, who I totally adored. This elderly woman would step out from her bugle and start dancing to the tunes. Too cute! Other honourable mentions include Da Sistas, who were two young, big black girls with a lot of charisma. They hung out mostly at the bottom of the main stage, where they rocked it on the floor with their hilarious dance antics. It looked like they were ready to tear each other apart with fist pumping and karate kicking, but those were just their trademark moves. Loved it! Was tempted to start brawling with them myself And lastly, Lycan Thrope, the wolf tail wearing kid... lol.
When we first got there we headed straight for the Real Detroit stage to check out the rest of Ryan Crosson.
*Ryan Crosson*
Because we woke up a bit late, we only managed to catch his last 20 minutes or so. I wish I had caught the full hour of his set, because he was totally ripping it with some bouncy minimal techno. Layering was quite excellent and mixing was sweet. I managed to ID one great track in such a little time span:
Marc Houle - Black Jack 13
The sound was at horribly unenjoyable levels in that tent, and the humidity didn't help either, so we walked around and made it to the Beatport Stage to see who was on at this time of day. Robert Rich was on, and was playing a live ambient set. It was very relaxing and soothing for the mind, and I couldn't help but swivel to it....but this was no time for meditation for me. We headed back towards the Main Stage.
*Milieu*
We were walking by the fountain and heard
Plastikman - Spastik
which is one of my most favoured tracks, but it was just after 2 pm, and it wasn't Hawtin who was dropping it.. Quite possibly the most disastrous deejay I've ever witnessed. Not sure who he was at the time, but the errors were too many! No flow, awful mixing, disastrous programming, and train wreck central. He must of been a local, but I found it quite scary that they wouldn't book Anthony Attalla but would book this dude?! It didn't take long to get me dancing though, I won't lie. His track listing was excellent at some points, dropping 4 bombs in a row:
Audion - Mouth 2 Mouth
Adam Beyer - A Walking Contradiction Pt. 2
Donnacha Costello - 6.6
Samuel L Session - Can You Relate
Pretty intense if you ask me, but it went downhill from there too in terms of track listing. Suddenly his set changed into something so nasty, I heard some tune from Top Gun being played, which then cutoff into 1 minute of Trentemoller's remix of Royksopp's What Else Is There, followed by a massive train wrecking of some breaks. I had to run and get myself some alcohol, because my ears couldn't take anymore pain.
*Audion and Ryan Elliott*
Some great mixing from both guys, but I was expecting something more. Tracks were great and all, but the trademark Audion sound was missing. There wasn't enough substance for me at this point; there were no outstanding tracks that got me screaming. Worked up quite a sweat, but left shortly after 4 pm to see what else was happening.
*Kate Simko and Heidi*
Went to the Beatport Stage and it was quite refreshing to check out some women on the decks for the first time that weekend. Both were fairly impressive, especially Kate Simko, who although had absolutely no crowd interaction and kept a hard, stern face dropped some really delicious live techno. The beautiful Heidi came on next and dropped it pretty nicely as well. Only managed to catch about 30 minutes but I remember liking what I heard. Can't recall much..
*Christian Smith*
Made it back in time for Christian's last hour and wow, what a banger it was. I was expecting a more harder sound from him, but he tore my feet. It was a nice change from all the softer and slower minimal I had heard all weekend. I was pretty tired and couldn't keep up with his sound, so I decided to sit and rest for a good portion of it while bobbing my head in all directions. I was really hoping he'd play Silver Bullet, but he did drop another of his productions..
John Selway And Christian Smith - Lightning Strike (John Selway Remix)
Very nice, but time was ticking!...and so I headed for my techno mistress.
*Misstress Barbara*
Ahh yess, Misstress B. While Magda is my techno queen, Misstress Barbara will always be known as my techno wife. In fact, I always feel the need to emphasize this - random heart gestures with my hands and yelling out "My Wife!!!" from time to time, haha. I decided to get as close to her as possible throughout her whole set. I felt like such a deejay whore (I wasn't the only one though *cough*sarah*cough*dorianne*cough*). I was worried she'd be in one of her bitchy moods, but she managed to smile every so often which was nice. It's such a turn-on seeing her work those decks... you can tell she gets really into it. We were under the impression that she was whacked at some points with the faces she was making. She squinted her eyes a lot and looked like she was in another universe, but we came to the conclusion that she just really gets into her mixing. Mad respect right there.
Her set was easily one of the best on Sunday, and one of the better sets I've heard of hers. Mixing wasn't the greatest, and the track selection was anything stellar, but her consistency blew me away. Wonderful flow, and she always kept her set easily balanced. There aren't many deejays I've seen who have impressed me in this particular area. The Beatport Tent was crowded and everyone was going mental to her awesome sound. She played a train of really noteworthy tracks and I wasn't getting tired of her at all. Some highlights include
Alex Bau - No Change Inside
Someone Else - Hedroom Eyes
Mathias Linzatti - Quasar
and a couple of other tracks I've never heard, including a weird bojangled track that sounded like a circus tent upside down. I didn't want to leave her, but I was really itching to check out Gui Boratto.
*Gui Boratto*
I rushed to the Pyramid Stage around 7:30 pm and was disappointed in what I heard. It was nothing like I expected from Boratto... and then someone kicked me in the butt and said that he wasn't even on yet... lol figures. It was Gui Boratto's North American debut, and he came on a bit later than scheduled. I'm not complaining, because I thought I had missed half of his set. He was one of the acts I was most looking forward to seeing and it was a typical live set. He played most of his productions which was expected... I was in awe. Dancing in the pyramid steps in the breeze by the riverside was the highlight of Sunday for me. Everyone seemed to be digging it, and how could they not? Mixing (if that's what you can call it) was good, and he played almost all of my favourites!! This is a long list...
Gui Boratto - Arquipelago
Guy J & Sahar Z - Hazui (Gui Boratto Remix)
Gui Boratto - Terminal
Gui Boratto - Shebang
Gui Boratto - Gate 7
Gui Boratto - Mr. Decay
Gui Boratto - The Blessing
Gui Boratto - Beautiful Life
and just when I thought I heard them all he drops his own remix of one of my current favourite spooky tracks:
Robert Babicz - Sin (Gui Boratto Remix)
I nicknamed this track Phantom Train a while back, because of the haunting steam noises. The Gui Boratto remix adds a kick to it, making it danceable. I felt goose bumps and my eyes lolled to the back throughout this whole track. Talk about a haunting! 
*Mathew Jonson & Michael Mayer*
I jumped back between the Beatport and Pyramid Stages at 30 minute intervals. Neither Mathew or Michael really did it for me. Mathew Jonson was playing what seemed to be a very oriental sounding set. It was very down tempo and incorporated many asian instruments and sound samples. It was nice enough to fall asleep to, but I wanted something with more of a beat at the time. Switched back over to Michael Mayer who was delivering some wonky techno. Very trippy and dark; a little bit too overwhelming for me at the time.
We headed back to the hotel where we had a little bit of a foot odor incident (LOL) and so we decided to take a break. Since I was fully rested from a good night's sleep, I decided to go all out that evening with the after parties. We waited what seemed like forever for the shuttle bus to come pick us up, and our patience levels were very low... so we cabbed it to 150 Lounge.
[150 Lounge]
It took us a while to find the exact entrance of the venue but we managed. We paid $10 to get into the place, which looked like a regular lounge. There was a tent out at the back which was the main focus. As if dancing all day on the cement wasn't enough we had to withstand some more of it outside in the tent. We were there a little bit early; it was just a bit before midnight. There was absolutely no vibe in this place! The turnout was reasonable, considering how most people had just left the festival, but it didn't really pickup that much over the next hour. The energy levels from the crowd were low, and most people were of the top 40 crowd. Some very pretty ladies were about, but sorry, techno comes first for Cribby's sexual organs. What was with that smoke machine? Could it be anymore annoying?... and the sound in there was quite brutal. The opening act was crappy, playing some pretty generic tech house and for the 10000th time I heard Mouth 2 Mouth that weekend. Where was my Babs?!
*Misstress Barbara*
Thank god she came on when she did...as we were ready to jet from there. I found her set this time around to be much more stellar. Consistancy was still there, but she dropped some next level techno. Much harder and melodic; quite the contrast in elements, but it worked! She looked pretty upset at the turnout, and the damn equipment kept messing up on her. Poor Babs... Heard some swanky tracks like
Petter - Some Polyphony
Len Faki - Mekong Delta
and a few others that I can't remember right now. Overall great set, but we weren't feeling the place. We decided to hit after party #2.
[Tronic Treatment Party]
We thought we'd never make it, but with a little assistance from partiers we made it! Everything else after this point is pretty hazy for me... but I remember the venue looking very creepy inside and out. 3 levels with totally different vibes on each floor. I stayed away from the street level floor completely, just because I needed to be in a darker area. The top floor was totally rocking, with a great turnout, including so many sketchy folk. Honestly I was a bit scared. Saw some couple almost having full on sex on one of the chairs, and another couple humping in a bathroom stall. I felt like I was in a 1970's Detroit version of the Comfort Zone, except without any younger people. The basement was something out of this world. It had this strange overwhelming aura that was evil...almost cult like, haha. The low ceilings and dark lighting (more like lack of) didn't help either...but it was great! From what I can remember, Tony Rohr was playing one of the most disturbing, twisted techno sets I've ever heard. I recall having a distorted vision of the music consuming the crowd into chaotic stomach. Yea..I should have probably laid off the substances..
I recall bits and pieces of Rohr and Deetron, and even recalled a few IDs. Not sure who played what though..some are pretty obvious though:
Paco Osuna - Sechamps
Tony Rohr - Marriot Acid
Johhny Arthur - Evil Edna (Deetron Remix)
Mihalis Safras - Sabbath (Mark Broom Jack Mix)
I'm actually impressed at what I remembered considering how my mind went missing.
We left around 5ish and went back to a lovely hotel for another after party. We watched the tasty sun rise into view, and we were itching for some more action. We decided to try and find this Monday morning party which I had doubts even existed. Strangely enough, we traveled by cab into the middle of nowhere, and found ourselves at some bar. Uh... is this it? Paid the entrance fee and walked around this shady bar full of business early in the morning. I think it was just after 7? We exited through the side door which led us towards a massive backyard patio. Lots of lounging furniture as well as a mural of the "Sun God" which totally tripped me out..It was hard to believe how many people were at this party. I guess it wasn't that big of a secret...still, I felt pretty honoured being there Everyone looked and moved like dead zombies, including ourselves. Tried dancing on the grass, but it was too slippery, and so we lounged in the sun for a big. Caught a bit of Butane who was playing decently, but we figured we had enough of after parties for one night. On our way out Sarah tells me that spotted Magda. To my surprise this woman looked fairly similar to her.. And then Sarah confirms that she wasn't joking.. OMG!! So totally awe-struck as I was I ran up to Magda and introduced myself with a tender yet firm handshake. I couldn't formulate a proper sentence as I couldn't believe I was meeting my techno queen. Ahhhhhhhhhhh! She smiled at me, and I felt like a fool, so I sadly walked away and told her how much she rocks.
And then we slept...for a few hours...
Monday
Woke up a bit later than expected, and had to miss Paco Osuna and Gaiser. It was somewhere around 2:30 pm when we finally got ourselves together. Once again, there was no way I'd directly travel to the festival without a source of nutrients first, so we walked north and managed to find the downtown food district. Because it was a holiday, downtown Detroit was finally a lively place to be this time around. We rushed back south while being entertained by bongo drums on the sidewalk and finally made it to the festival around 4:30 pm. I was certain that Loco Dice would finish up soon, which made me feel a bit of resentment. Monday was beautifully sunny out, and the turnout was pretty great at the festival. Most of the candy ravers had left, but there were a few new additions to the team of freaks. The disturbing femme duo Strawberry Shortcake and Dollhouse Dorothy were quite the characters, haha. Nothing was surprising at this point for me. We sped over to the Beatport Stage..
*Loco Dice*
As it turned out, Loco Dice came on at a late start, so I had only missed an hour of his set. The tent wasn't as packed as I had anticipated, which was quite surprising. Mr. DC-10, Loco Dice was ripping it when I made my way up to the front. He played a tech-house set, with a few minimal tracks here and there. Mixing was superb as well. Not the best set I've heard from him, but it delivered. I'm not liking the more housey approach that he's been taking, but he tried to steer from that direction. Didn't hear any tracks of his, which was really disappointing. The DC-10 sound was pretty lacking, but I think I was just bitter that he didn't play the Ripper Farts track. Nothing out of the ordinary until he dropped
Dennis Ferrer - Son Of Raw ( loco dice remix )
David K - Boul De Nerf
Shonky - Olympia
which I couldn't help but smile for a whole 20 minutes afterwords.
Took a little break afterwords relaxing in the shade by the grass. Went up to the Main Stage shortly afterwords.
*John Acquaviva*
My opinion at this point was somewhat biased, considering how I had been swimming in techno/minimal the entire weekend, but I found Acquaviva mediocre at best. Transitions were great and all, but I just wasn't feeling the house. It was out of place for me, and the track selection was typical. Nothing new, only recycled tracks and elements that I'm used to hearing in Toronto. Kind of a disappointment that he didn't try something more eclectic. Swaggered my legs from time to time including the only good part of this set when he dropped
Audion - Mouth to Mouth
Marc Houle - Bay Of Figs
which I was sick of hearing.. Give me something new dammit!
*Luciano*
Made my way back to the Beatport Stage to check out another one of my most anticipated deejays, Luciano. Lots of ups and downs with this one. He wasn't quite as versatile as I thought he'd be. Mixing was next level intensity, and his programming was quite strange. Pretty awesome for the most part. He didn't focus on the DC-10 style of techno; there was a lot of down-tempo slower yet groovier tracks that he dropped. I can definately appreciate it, but wasn't feeling it so much at the time. Some of it was very melancholy.. Just when I thought he'd lost me, he'd pull a 360 and drop a ridiculously awesome track. Like Loco Dice, I didn't hear many of his own productions but he destroyed me with some mental tracks!
Alex under - Trapezines Erectos
St. Germain - Rose Ruge (Remix)
Popof - Alcoolic
I really wished his remix of Love Dose was dropped, but the track is a few years old. I look forward to seeing him in a more dark and small environment.
*Richie Hawtin*
I've said this a lot during the weekend, but Hawtin's was the best set EVER. Definately in one of my top 5 sets that I've witnessed during my life time. I was so relieved to hear music being played this time around. Prior to DEMF, I attended the ADD party at The Mod Club on friday, where Richie really disappointed me. I won't get into much detail, but it was a total let down. Thank you Richie for not making the same mistake! Perhaps he had good drugs this time around, lol. Whatever the case, he dropped it like it's hot! 2 hours of nothing but bumping hard techno, mixed in with some clickity clackity minimal techno, and even his trademark ambient sounding stuff which I adored at this point. Mixing was quite sloppy at first, but he delivered at midpoint. It was a nice sight to see him looking clean for once. He actually looked somewhat attractive. Who was this guy? lol. A bunch of unreleased stuff was dropped, which made me cry at the thought of not getting my hands on the releases anytime soon; tease! Couldn't ID any tracks throughout his whole set, but there were no dull tracks. Wait... I remember this one:
Damian Schwartz - Ryf 5
tune! I could have withstood another 10 hours of Richie if it were possible...but those 2 hours were enough to keep me satisfied for days.
*Jeff Mills*
It was quite delightful to have everyone in the festival gather around in the Main Stage for the closing set of DEMF. The lighting was sweet, and the energy levels were awesome. Other than that, the last set of the night was pretty pathetic. I appreciate Jeff Mills for being one of the legends of techno, and one would think that he'd be quite the skillful deejay, but no. Beat matching is a word that doesn't exist in Jeff's dictionary. He was unable to beat match ANY track. It's not like he's a moldy old has-been who hasn't played for a decade. I was always under the impression that a deejay can never lose their skill. Perhaps he didn't have any to being with, lol. The transitions were horrid, and it didn't help that one of the speakers were mangled. Track selection was jibberishly put together. It was quite brutal, but everyone including myself couldn't help but dance and gather around for the closing of this radical festival. The only upside was hearing the legendary
Jeff Mills - The Bells
which was truly a classic. I had pretty high expectations in terms of a huge closing performance with light shows and what not, but I was a little over my head with my imagination. It was a techno fest, not a Sensation party.
SUMMARY
One of the best experiences of my life, and some of the greatest techno sets I've witnessed. Friends made the whole shindig so much more memorable and enjoyable. Can't wait for next years!
Best Set: Richie Hawtin, with a 2nd place going to Guido Schneider
Worst Set: Milieu
Best Live Set: Gui Boratto
Most Impressive Set: Ryan Crosson
Most Disappointing Set: Jeff Mills
Most Consistant Set: Misstress Barbara
Weirdest Set: Claude VonStroke
Deejay Most MIA Tania Vulcano
Best Stage: Pyramid Stage
Best After-party: Tronic Treatment Party
Best Festival Day: Day 3
Most Overplayed Song: Audion - Mouth 2 Mouth
DEMF's Unofficial Song: Ambivalent - R U Ok
My Favourite Track Played: David K - Boul De Nerf
Favourite Sketchbag: Mr. Tophat Platform Plasktikman
Best Drink: Jungle Juice
Worst Drunk: Sparks
Phrase of the weekend: RAVE!
<3!!!
I wish I could do the "raaaave" online but you need the mouth tittering action.
Great review, I giggled so many times reading that.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Skipper <3!!! I wish I could do the "raaaave" online but you need the mouth tittering action. Great review, I giggled so many times reading that. |
that was one of the best review i've read on TA, amazing cribby, i felt like i was totally there lol
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Cribby |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by magikb between you and Sheldon... wow, crazy reviews! That was awesome.. took me a solild 10 min to read through it all.. LOL.. so I can imagine how long it took you to write it |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by geroin probably less time it than it took you to read it he's like a machine |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Cribby lol! You actually read it all? I think that's my longest review and post ever! Took me days to write it all :/ |
WHOA! Massive massive review.
I need to read that soon, but its soooooo long and im sooooo sick and i just watched a cute chinese-american lesbian film, so im all like unable to focus on much right now.
but im gonna read it soon cribbers!
someone help me get better! 
-
I've gone to DEMF every year since it began, and it has always been fun.
This festival more than anything for me is about feeling like you are a part of something great going on in the middle of Detroit. As someone who has grown up spending a lot of time there, and having a real fondness for the city, I can't tell you how rare that is, and how great it feels when it actually happens.
To top it off, this year, without question was the best year organization, and lineup wise (in my opinion). I also had the benefit of having a great group of friends from Toronto to make the experience that much better.
There's something about music in the sun that is the ultimately fun experience, and this was no exception.
Three of the four stages at DEMF had areas where it was very easy to either get right up into the heart of the crowd, or back off a bit and relax, while still being in very close proximity to the main sound area, but completely comfortable.
The Real Detroit stage was the only one that wasn't set up this way, and that is one area where the festival could improve, but all in all, this was a very well done event. I hope that this year was a great first experience for all those who went for the first time, and that it only provides reasoning for more people to make an effort to go next year.
Job well done Paxahau.
With minimal riches squandered.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Cribby *Richie Hawtin* I've said this a lot during the weekend, but Hawtin's was the best set EVER. Definately in one of my top 5 sets that I've witnessed during my life time. I was so relieved to hear music being played this time around. Prior to DEMF, I attended the ADD party at The Mod Club on friday, where Richie really disappointed me. I won't get into much detail, but it was a total let down. Thank you Richie for not making the same mistake! Perhaps he had good drugs this time around, lol. Whatever the case, he dropped it like it's hot! 2 hours of nothing but bumping hard techno, mixed in with some clickity clackity minimal techno, and even his trademark ambient sounding stuff which I adored at this point. Mixing was quite sloppy at first, but he delivered at midpoint. It was a nice sight to see him looking clean for once. He actually looked somewhat attractive. Who was this guy? lol. A bunch of unreleased stuff was dropped, which made me cry at the thought of not getting my hands on the releases anytime soon; tease! Couldn't ID any tracks throughout his whole set, but there were no dull tracks. Wait... I remember this one: Damian Schwartz - Ryf 5 tune! I could have withstood another 10 hours of Richie if it were possible...but those 2 hours were enough to keep me satisfied for days. |
Sorry it took me so long to write this review, but after a 3-day festival of this caliber, it takes a while for the dust to settle.
Day 1
We arrived on Saturday during the mid-afternoon at the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Detroit. We decided to stock up on supplies (beer, snacks, etc) before we got to the festival. After picking up beer in a very sketchy area of downtown, where the variety store cashier was surrounded by bulletproof glass, we went back to the hotel room to start drinking.
Once we had an adequate level of drinking done, we decided to make our way to the festival at around 7pm. The lines moved very quickly and they seemed to be quite organized. Once we finally got in, we made our way to the Beatport Stage. The Beatport Stage was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, and was in a very good location. Not only did they have a fairly large tent, but they also had speakers behind it, pointing away from it, toward a large grassy field that overlooked the water. This allowed for much more people to be accommodated, and created a nice venue to sit down and relax while listening to the stage that in my opinion housed the best DJs of the weekend.
We arrived at the Beatport tent to the sounds of Guido Schnieder. I had heard a few sets from this individual prior to DEMF, and I was excited to see him. He surpassed my expectations. Everyone from Toronto seemed to be enjoying his set, as we were really some of the only people in the tent dancing at this time.
At around 8pm I decided to check out Kerri Chandler. Kerri is a DJ that I�ve always loved and I�ve always wanted to see. I tried listening to him for about 20-30 minutes or so but the deep house just wasn�t doing it for me. I made my way back to the Beatport tent for Claude von Stroke who wasn�t really impressing me either, so we decided to go back to our hotel to drink some more cheap American booze.
We made our way back for Marco Carola at around 10pm. It had been a couple of years since I had seen Marco last, and while he impressed me the last time I saw him, it was nothing compared to his performance this time around. Marco hammered it out with a great mixture of minimal and banging techno, and the crowd ate it right up. The vibe in the Beatport tent when we left at 8pm to when we returned at 10pm was night and day. We had our own little section at the left of the tent where we ripped it up for the duration of Marco�s set. Once his set was done, I was completely shocked at how crazy the first night had been, and was unable to comprehend how it could get any better. Little did I know�
We all decided (except for the rock star named Sarah) that it would be a good idea to take it easy on Saturday night to give us energy for the rest of the festival.
Day 2
After about 9 hours of much needed sleep, we woke up and decided to hit up the famous iHOP for breakfast. The extremely greasy, mildly disappointing food was a small price to pay for the entertainment that we experienced during this little excursion. Between Detroit slang that I thought only existed in movies, a charming waiter named Red who memorized our entire order (complete with a few changes) without writing anything down, to Red proclaiming to his boss that he needed to take the next day off because he was going to �get sloppy drunk� for his birthday, the trip to iHOP was well worth it.
After breakfast, we decided to make our way to a grocery store down the street instead of the variety store in the ghetto to buy supplies. After we stocked up, we called a cab TWICE, and proceeded to wait 40 minutes before we finally found one on the street that we hailed. Apparently getting a cab in Detroit is not fun.
After some more pre-drinking at our hotel, I made my way down to the festival by myself because I didn�t want to miss Heidi in the Beatport tent. I caught the latter half of her set, and while she was pretty good, she was no where near as impressive as she was when I saw her at the Armada Night in The Gallery. She played some fun electro-y tech house until Mistress Barbara hit the decks. I gave Mistress Barbara about 20 minutes to impress me, and like any other time I�ve seen her, she just didn�t do anything for me, so I decided to check out Gui Borrato the Waterfront Stage.
Gui played a good set, but got to be a bit much for me at certain times with the effects. It was fun to hear him spin his own productions, but his set was nothing really to write home about. Michael Mayer hit the decks after him and played a very impressive set. In my opinion, Michael Mayer played the best set of the day.
The Waterfront stage was easily my favourite venue of the festival. It over looked the water, had a cool lighting system, and had raised areas where you could watch the crowd and the water. I wish there was more music that I liked going on at this stage during the festival.
We decided to leave the festival a little early because we had heard that the M_NUS afterparty was sold out, and that they weren�t selling any tickets at the door. Even though barely anyone in our group had tickets, we decided to leave early and risk it anyway since we thought that an absence of tickets at the door was highly unlikely. How wrong we were. We arrived to an absolute �no tickets at the door�, and someone telling us that he tried to bribe a bouncer $150 to get in to no avail. Josh and I decided to go in, while everyone else went to Bleu.
Troy Pierce was on the decks when we got inside. Troy�s sets have been in heavy rotation on my computer in the last little while, so he was one of the DJs I was anticipating the most. He played exactly like I expected him to � slower paced minimal techno and eerie tech house that suited the dark warehouse that was MoCAD very nicely. Troy played one of the best sets of the weekend for me, but unfortunately there was not more than 50 people there for the duration of his set since everyone was probably still at the festival. Ambivalent played a pretty decent set, so did Magda, and JPLS just plain sucked. During every DJ�s set right up until Richie, the vibe was non-existent, and everyone was just standing around in what seemed to be anticipation for Richie, who hit the decks 30 minutes late. This was pretty disappointing and made it hard to stay considering I was tired from 2 days of partying at the festival. Richie�s set was only an hour long, and it was very up and down. There were certain good parts, but other parts where it was just too abstract and experimental.
All in all, the party was ok, but considering how much hype surrounded it, I was pretty disappointed. There was basically no vibe, the place was only busy for a couple of hours, and Richie only played for 1 hour. Other people that I talked to said it was the same kind of BS last year. I don�t think I�d ever attend the M_NUS afterparty again.
Day 3
We decided not to waste much time getting to the festival because it was on this day that the biggest names were playing.
When we arrived at the festival, I was headed straight for the Beatport stage when I was stopped dead in my tracks from the sounds coming from the Main stage. Vladislav Delay was playing what I can only describe as disordered ambient minimal that walked the line between music and random sounds. There was very little apparent pattern in the �music� that he was playing. When you hear someone describing music in this way, it�s usually negative, but what Vladislav was playing was very captivating. I sat down on one of the steps of the main stage for about 30 minutes and went on a journey through the warped soundscapes I was hearing.
I decided that it was time to check out Locodice since I had never seen him before. I got to the Beatport stage and immediately started rocking out to some unexpected darker more �polluted� sounding minimal. I immediately thought to myself, �This doesn�t sound like Locodice at all!� Sure enough, it was actually Gaiser on the decks. I got excited at this point because I thought I had missed his set, and from what I read from last year, Gaiser was one of the stars of the festival. This year was no different. In fact, I would say that this was my favourite set of the festival. Some of the sounds that I was hearing in the tracks Gaiser played made my eyes bulge out of my head in astonishment. He played a very well put together set that got the Beatport tent rocking early in the day. It was too bad his set was only an hour long.
After Gaiser, Locodice hit the decks, and played a standard tech house set. It was fun, and I enjoyed it, but this is just a testament to the housier direction he has been taking recently � a direction away from the sound that got me interested in him in the first place.
Once Locodice had completed his set, I parked myself right in front of the DJ booth for the DJ I had been anticipating the most: Luciano. His dirt bag techno DJ appearance is what made me appreciate him even before he played his first record: scraggly, long hair, unshaven face, and dirty moustache. 5 points for appearance right off the bat. Although at this point I can�t remember exactly what his intro was, I remember that I really enjoyed it. It looked like Luciano was pretty surprised with the crowd response he got, so he must have decided to pull out all the stops for this set. As Chris mentioned, he didn�t really play true to his DC-10 style. However, I wouldn�t call his set downtempo at all. He played a proper upbeat techno set that the crowd in the Beatport tent ate right up. He played quite a few tracks with saxophones, trumpets, and other band instruments in it. There was one song that had a very uplifting saxophone solo that I would expect to hear in a Chicago house track instead of a techno track. Luciano didn�t let me down at all, playing one of the more unique sets of the weekend.
It was now the moment everyone had been waiting for: Richie Hawtin. The tent got sooooo unbelievably packed at this point. Being anywhere near the middle of the tent meant that you were right on top of everyone else. The difference here though was that no one was really walking around the tent at all � everyone was just fixated on Richie. This made for being in the busier parts of the tent a lot more bearable. That said, it only took about 10 minutes for me to reach my threshold of annoyance so I relocated to our spot at the left of the tent.
After Richie�s somewhat disappointing performance the night before, I was really hoping that Richie would play a set that would showcase exactly why everyone talks about his DEMF performances� and boy did he ever do just that. For the next 2 hours, he put on a performance that I have been getting serious goose bumps and surges of euphoria when recounting the experience to the people who did not attend the festival. Right from track 1, Richie played a banging, mind bending techno set, sprinkled with minimal, crafted together with Richie�s trademark effects and sounds. Save for about 2 or 3 tracks, I was literally jumping up and down, screaming at the top of my lungs for every song in the set. The set had about 4 or 5 of those absolute maximum my-head-is-going-to-explode-if-this-gets-any-better moments. For a 2 hour set, that is pretty damn good. To make it even better, Detroit absolutely loves Richie, so I could tell almost everyone in the tent was on the same level as me. The vibe in that tent was on a level that I have not often witnessed.
I couldn�t comprehend at this point how the main event of the festival was still yet to come. I was pretty skeptical that Jeff Mills would be able to top Richie�s performance. It turned out that he didn�t even come close. Having Mills close the festival was a pretty bad idea. I wouldn�t have mind seeing him at another point during the weekend, but as the closer? The guy�s songs had pretty much no builds at all, his beat matching was horribly off, and the sound was awful. There are many that believe on Detroit clubbing message boards that the mixing and the sound problems were actually done on purpose by Mills so that no one would record his set. This is such BS. If you want to destroy everyone�s experience at the end of the festival just to destroy any possibility of someone recording your set, then don�t fucking play!
Although the closing set was anti-climatic, the festival was an overall very good experience. Before going, my main purpose for going was because of the music, and I didn�t really care about much else. In the end, the music was definitely one of the best parts of the festival, but it ended up being so much more than that. Techno lover or not, I recommend this festival to anyone and everyone. If you go with the right people, it is a guaranteed good time. I haven�t heard anything but positive reviews from everyone that I went with.
The Good:
Top sets of the festival:
1.Gaiser
2.Richie Hawtin
3.Troy Pierce
4.Luciano
5.Marco Carola
Highlight of the festival: Richie Hawtin�s set
Best stage: Waterfront Stage
-The food (surprisingly good)
-The crowd on Monday
The Bad
-Beer prices (~$8.66 USD/beer!)
-The crowd on Saturday and Sunday
Awesome video of Misstress B ripping it up. You can see myself, Sarah, and Vince in this video. And at one point you can hear me scream out "We love you!!" bwahaha. <3
hahaha! "my wife!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4XAWZBKBUs
goddamn it was hot in there that day...
i have a cool hawtin vid.....gotta go up
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Skipper hahaha! "my wife!" |
lol.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Cribby Really? I was waiting for it, but I couldn't hear it in the vid lol.There's like 20 minutes worth of footage of Corolla as well, and over 40 minutes of hawtin. I LOVE it! <3 youtube. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Skipper hahaha! "my wife!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4XAWZBKBUs goddamn it was hot in there that day... |
Which decision...to go or not go next year?
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Skipper Which decision...to go or not go next year? |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by The Highroller Gui played a good set, but got to be a bit much for me at certain times with the effects. It was fun to hear him spin his own productions, but his set was nothing really to write home about. Michael Mayer hit the decks after him and played a very impressive set. In my opinion, Michael Mayer played the best set of the day. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by MKpacha i expect katy has gone camera crazy... or else tell her she better :P |
Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright © 2000-2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.