http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2016/07/29/legendary-dj-carl-craigs-techno-tour-
of-detroit
Legendary DJ Carl Craig's techno tour of Detroit
Posted By Aaron Robertson on Fri, Jul 29, 2016 at 12:33 pm
Late one February night, I found myself trekking along an empty road in
Bologna, Italy with a friend. Occasional streetlights lifted the
darkness, but it was getting cold. We were surrounded by empty fields. A
tanker rolled by headed towards God knows where.
We were lost, but we didn't say as much. I felt awful. I'd convinced my
friend to take the bus with me to a popular warehouse-turned-club just
outside the walls of Bologna called Link. I didn't know that the bus stop
was about a thirty minute walk away from where we meant to go.
For weeks, I had preached to my Californian friend about the Detroit
musician Jeff Mills, whom the Italians lovingly call l'Alieno, the Alien
("The Alien is our Alien," they say). Techno wasn't really her scene, but
she was open-minded. I'd seen flyers advertising a Mills performance at
Link and couldn't believe my luck. As a Detroiter, I was obliged to go.
The Wizard - another of Mill's monikers - was part of the influential
second-generation of Detroit techno artists who spread their gospel of
sound around the world, and particularly in Europe.
Eventually, we found our way there. Link was a pulsing eyesore in the
middle of nowhere. Young Italians thronged the space outside, and a few
tried pushing us drugs with cryptic names. My friend and I had a good
time but, funnily enough, we only stayed long enough to hear the two sets
before Mills, who began playing around 3 or 4 in the morning.
Since then, I've romanticized the night that I almost saw a musical god.
But, as a recent story by VICE's Michelle Lhooq makes clear, Detroiters
are surrounded by the techno divine.
Lhooq was able to go on a unique tour of landmarks connected to Detroit's
techno past, and her guide was the one and only Carl Craig, a seminal
figure of second wave techno. He was central to the creation of the
Detroit Electronic Music Festival (now known as Movement) and through his
label Planet E, Craig released music from artists like Moodymann (Kenny
Dixon Jr.) and Kevin Saunderson. The latter, along with Juan Atkins and
Derrick May, formed the holy trinity of first wave techno known as the
"Belleville Three."
"Everybody knows everybody, pretty much," Craig told Lhooq in reference
to Detroit's tight-knit community of electronic musicians.
At Submerge, a former union hall that now serves as a techno museum and
studio space, Craig and Lhooq ran into "Mad" Mike Banks who, along with
Jeff Mills, formed the militant musical collective Underground
Resistance. Submerge is located on 3000 East Grand Blvd. and the techno
exhibit is appropriately called "Exhibit 3000." There are glass cases on
the walls containing relics from UR's early trips abroad, displays of
drum machines and synthesizers, and collages featuring the likenesses of
Jackie Robinson, the Tuskegee Airmen, and more.
The tour also included: Moodymann's three-floor brick "Prince House,"
which has purple drapes in all of its windows and an extensive collection
of Prince memorabilia inside; the building that houses
Metroplex/Transmat, the record labels of Atkins and May; the historic
Majestic Theater, where artists like Eddie Fowlkes and Blake Baxter
played; and the studio where influential DJ Electrifying Mojo helped
introduced techno to the masses.
