This is the long awaited conclusion to my DEMF report. I look both days 2 and 3 as well as the Metroplex party. Hopefully the delay was worth, plus some video and the story of the Mad Hatter of Movement 2010.
The second day I left my room to catch the beginning of the Martinez Brothers set. Let me say something about the Martinez Brothers, I first heard them years ago and my first impression of them was, “they’re okay but they play like 40 year old DJs.” At the time they did not convince me that they had their own voice. That is definitely not the case now. These boys have not only found their own voice they have mastered the skill of complete crowd control. They had that crowd at the Beatport stage at the palm of their hands. While I appreciated the craft they used during their set, I just couldn’t get into what they were playing. Pretty much everything I said about the stage during the first day applied here. I just couldn’t get into it, plus I was tired from the previous night so I went back to the hotel.
I stayed in the room until about five then I headed back to Hart Plaza. After going around the different stages a little bit I checked out Cassy on the Beatport stage. This woman knows what she was doing. I would love to check her out the next time she is in New York City but the tendency of everyone to playing very “Ravey” plus the dynamics of that stage made me head back to the Made in Detroit stage to hear the closing of K. Hand’s set. She wasn’t near the worst offender of this crime and there was a certain charm to her presence and style but the Beatport stage just wasn’t for me.
Speaking of people playing hard and banging, K. Hand was definitely pumping up that energy. The Raver kids were out in full force and K. Hand was controlling their every move. She got me screaming, “She’s the queen of techno.” Some may have felt her set was a bit too “Trance-like” but I enjoyed every moment I heard. Although the stage were overflowing with kids at times, because the stage was more oriented toward dancing and the lineup was filled with the people I came to see, I enjoyed that stage a lot more than the Beatport stage.
Anthony Shakur brought things down a little bit, playing a more Classic House and Disco oriented set with some Techno added in. This set was much stronger than the set he played in the Bunker in February. Shakur had me shaking and kept me dancing throughout his set. After “Shake” DJ Rolando stepped on the decks mixing Adonis’s “No Way Back” with something else and it was on. Rolando is someone who takes where the previous DJ left off and builds his set up until the climax. Coming in, I know that Rolando is building to “Knights of the Jaguar,” so I was anticipating hearing it. At one point he teased the crowd with a remix before going back to his set. I decided to go to the Main Stage with a friend to check on his wife who was watching Derrick Carter play. I respect Derrick Carter but I could never get into him. I probably stayed there for about ten to fifteen minutes. Of course by the time I got back to Rolando, “Jaguar” was just finishing up. Oh well, I enjoyed the rest of the set and got excited when Rob Hood started his Live set.
What else could say about Rob Hood other than, “He is the Man”! There were problems with the sound early on and the performance stopped cold within about ten minutes. After that was settled, Rob continued with a relentless set of tracks that sent me to ecstasy. Totally amazing! After that it was back to the Main Stage for the Inner Life performance. They played their greatest heads and while enjoyable, the performance was marred by sound problems. I could barely hear Paris Gray’s and Ann Saunderson’s vocals. The lack of clarity made it harder to really get into the performance.
While walking back to the hotel, I saw the line to get into the Metroplex party. I figured, fine that’s cool but I wanted to take a little rest before heading to that party. Big mistake! By the time I got on line it was 1:00 am and I did not get in until past two after alcohol sales ended for the night. I was on line next to John. Who is John? If you were at Movement you probably saw a guy in a Mad Hatter costume; that’s John. I told John, “You should put on your costume maybe they’ll let you in because by the time you put it on we’ll still be at the same place on the line.” He went back to his room and about 20 minutes later he was dressed and we were on the same place on line. He came back with his friend Bridget, a dancer and proceeded to entertain the people in our section on the line plus some people passing by in their cars.
A bunch of guys drove by blasting Michael Jackson and they stopped when they saw the Mad Hatter. The stereo was playing “Billie Jean” while they stopped and Bridget started dancing and the guys in the car were cheering her on. That made the wait on line that much more bearable.
Here’s a Youtube video of the Mad Hatter from Movement 2010:
Once we got inside it was after 2:00 a.m. which is last call for alcohol. It’s so easy to New York’s 4:00 am alcohol laws for granted until you leave the city. I’m just getting warmed up at 2:00 am but a lot of NYC transplants are usually home by 1:30 am. Posers. Anyway, back to the Metroplex party, we kept ourselves entertained until we finally got in.
From what I heard there was a lot of behind the scenes drama regarding this party; there were a few DJs that were advertised but did not play like Rob Hood and Ben Sims. I don’t know if Rob Hood was ever slated to play but Ben Sims posted on his Facebook page that he could not deal with the party’s promoters so he decided not to play. There were only set times listed for the downstairs floor where the four Techno founders played (Eddie Fowlkes, Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins, and Derrick May) but no one knew what time the DJs on the other floors was playing. Plus, the long line was totally unnecessary. I understand wanting to create a buzz but in NYC there is a way of managing the line to make the event look happening while getting people into the room. Once inside, you realize the place was huge and it was nowhere near hitting capacity. The doorpeople could have done a much better job managing the line.
Once inside, all of that didn’t matter. The music from the Techno founders was amazing. I missed Eddie Fowlkes but Kevin, Juan, and Derrick was amazing. Kevin probably played the most Techno of the three, while Juan focused more on early-80’s dance classics, and Derrick was a combination of the other two. A highlight for me was singing along to Love Committee’s Salsoul classic, “All I Got is You” with someone else on the dance floor. Derrick May was hitting it strong until the sound abruptly cut out in the middle of the song at around 6:30 a.m. Security was encouraging people to leave at that point. By that time I was up for about 22 hours straight. I walked back to the hotel, had breakfast, and sneaked a few hours of sleep.
The next day I wanted to have a late start. I wanted to see the Mortiz Von Oswald Trio but I got a text from a friend when it started at 4:00 p.m. I quickly headed down to Hart Plaza from the hotel to catch the last 20 minutes of their set. It was more “Techno” than the set they played during Unsound New York. There was a slow, but airy beat underneath the music. Good head music that took you somewhere. After that set we decided to go somewhere to eat, coming back to check out a little bit of DJ Minx in the Real Detroit stage but I was hoping to hear more Soulful House from her. I went over to the Main Stage for Stacey Pullen. He provided more of a big room sound that was effective.
Then it was time for Kenny Larkin. Kenny killed it. His live set was pure, driving Techno. I can’t say anything else that hasn’t been said about the man. He also dropped Knights of the Jaguar. Model 500 ended the festival with a live show consisting of Model 500 classics. Juan Atkins, “Mad” Mike Banks, and their cohorts came out in their Star Trek: The Next Generation outfits. It definitely set the stage for the vision of the future as described in the music. Between the two headlining performances I saw, this one was the strongest. This was a great way to close out Movement 2010.
I did not go to any afterparties on Monday, instead hanging out then going to bed. The next day was back to reality. Sorry for the delay in this report but a combination of circumstances slowed things down. Thank you for reading.
