Well, here are my thoughts on this year's DEMF
It is terribly obvious that the festival has been loosing its luster over
the last 2 years. In previous year's I really had to make tough decisions
about whom I wanted to see, while this year I would be hard pressed to fit
everyone I really wanted to see on a single stage in a single day. I've been
trying not to compare this year to 2000, since that was such a 'point in
time' moment and feeling that will never happen again.
Nevertheless, there was still great music to be heard this year, and that is
the reason I went. Yes, you had to hear about all the chemicals the ravers
digested whenever you went to the bathroom, yes, the commercials between the
performances were the pits, and blah, blah, blah.
But, this post is about the dope beats we heard and that is it
My crew and myself arrived in Detroit late Friday night. First stop,
Mexicantown. We filled our stomachs to the brim with pollo ranchero, Corona,
and Tequila. I live in one of Chicago's largest Hispanic neighborhoods and
have been to Texas numerous times and the eats I've had there simply don't
compare to what you can get in Detroit's Mexicantown (particularly Los
Galanes).
Afterwards, we stopped at that nice little liquor store on Fort, near the
Post Office, got our bottle, and headed to the UR cabaret. As soon as we
entered, the first track I heard was the Birth of 3000. Nice. The music that
night was somewhere between Ass-n-Titties, Planet Rock, and Sonic Destroyer
at +8, if you can picture that. It was nice to hang out with friends new and
old who we don't get to see very often. Yes, Mad Mike was all dressed up
and looking sharp. Later in the evening he was going from table to table
inviting people to their Saturday night party personally, class act. I even
heard he was dancing later in the evening!!
Got up early Saturday and caught bits and pieces of Sundiata, Jay Langda,
and Electric Indigo. All of which were sounding good. Caught most of Mad
Professor, which really didn't do it for me. I gave it my best, but I
couldn't get into it. My personal highlight on Saturday at the festival was
Deep Chord, which most here have talked about.
After dinner we came back to see Steve Rachmand, who I thoroughly enjoyed.
Up until then, it was the best DJing I heard all weekend. Caught a bit of
Marco Carola, which was OK, just a bit too banging without end for my
tastes. Caught all of Juan's set, who as always played great tracks. If
anyone can ID the spacey techno track he played about 40mins into his set,
it would be much appreciated. His mixing was not as good as I know it can
be, but I think seeing him close out the first night on the main stage, in
front of the RenCen is more about paying respect to THE man.
The UR party on Saturday was phenomenal, it was the highlight of the weekend
for me. Buzz Goree was fabulous and Rolando was even more fabulous. The
turnout was much larger than the first For Those Who Know party and a lot
more people we getting down this year, me thinks. I only wish Sub Night had
played live, as indicated on the flyer. I think his live set in-between Buzz
and Rolando would have been the icing on the cake. Afterwards, it was Coney
Dogs at 5am.
I was hoping to see Art Payne and Stewart Walker on Sunday, but 4 straight
hours for dancing at the UR party wiped me out. Did anyone catch Art Payne?
Reviews?
We did arrive in time to see Chaos, Bone, and Dave Clarke in the underground
stage. Chaos played a good set with Gerald Mitchell on keyboards. It was
mostly Chaos MCing over UR beats. Good stuff.
Bone was awesome. I guess the airlines had lost his records and he was
playing with stuff picked up from Recordtime and SID. You would have never
known. During the last 30mins of his set, Bone proclaimed that the
underground stage was now 'Cabaret Bone' and played some old, old school
stuff. I got good looks at the record jackets he was pulling from. If I ever
see any of them, I'll report back ;)
Next up was Dave Clarke, who absolutely rocked it. I've never seen the
underground stage go as berserk as it did that night. He was playing a lot
of hard stuff, but what he can do with a mixer is mind-blowing. He is a bad
motha. At one point, out of nowhere, the crowd started to chat,
"Detroit
Detroit
Detroit
" Then Clarke dropped beats in-between the chant so
you heard, "Detroit, boom-boom, Detroit, boom-boom." He also played Techno
City, complete class.
We literally had to 'climb' out of the underground stage to catch the end of
George Clinton. I've seen him a few times and what I saw didn't seem any
different than times before. It looked like most people had left to go to
whatever party by then.
Got to CPOP/the Majestic in time to see KDJ live, which as many people here
have said was a sexy set to put it lightly. I was kinda bummed we missed
Larry Heard, I don't know why they would put him on so early! :( Later, one
of our friends got a very bad case of the cocktail-flu and we had to leave.
I always though Germans could hold their liquor! :)
Headed for home on Monday thinking the best was over, but you folks have me
feeling envious talking about the Aux Men set and KMS party, oh well
There was still great music to be heard, times to be had, and plenty of
asses shaking this year. I don't think you can ask for much else.
Cheers,
John (eagerly awaiting DEMF03 drama)
_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
