Within five minutes of Flying Lotus’ set on the Red Bull Music Academy stage at Movement on Memorial Day, it was obvious why he was closing down the stage for the weekend. Flying Lotus (born Steven Ellison) came in with a “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality. After rumors that he might be late (no one wanted to see his much anticipated set reduced), Ellison arrived like he had something to prove.
Mid-fi synth-wave, slow-motion funk. How could you read it and not want to hear it? But Com Truise does you one better — he offers up a visual accompaniment with just about everything he releases. To announce a trio of shows — first trip overseas to Sweden, his two-hour show at Movement 2011 and a set in Toronto — Com pumped out a slick graphic to let you know. He designed the artwork for his Ghostly International debut, “Galactic Melt,” due July 5. He rocks a t-shirt he designed to coincide with said release.
These, ladies and gentlemen, are the perks of being the digital art director for a global pharmaceutical firm and a budding New Jersey-based DJ whiz.
Throughout the weekend, the Red Bull Music Academy brought a variety of polarizing acts into Movement 2010’s growing spotlight. On Sunday evening, as the heat subsided and the Detroit River sat calm and picturesque to the south of the stage, local emcees Guilty Simpson and Phat Kat took to the stage with 8-piece funk group Will Sessions (think Detroit’s Dap Kings) to rock the mic and rock the crowd. Running through a catalog of music — from Guilty Simpson’s recently released full-length OJ Simpson (produced by Madlib) to Phat Kat’s legendary hip-hop album Carte Blanche (including a guest cameo on “Cold Steel” by Slum Villages’ Elzhi) along a selection of classic cuts from legendary producer J Dilla — the two emcees set out to translate their rhymes from written lyric to live, fluid poetry while Will Sessions brought recorded sounds live to the stage. It didn’t take long for those unfamiliar in the crowd to wave their hands on command nor did it take long for Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat, Elzhi and Will Sessions’ Sam Beaubien to dish on the experience of performing together on one stage and the state of Detroit hip-hop while relaxing post-show in the Red Bull Lounge.
As Mr. Scruff frantically packs up his gear backstage (as frantically as one can pack their gear with a Budweiser in one hand), my mind wanders around the universe for questions to ask when my time to shine finally arrives.
“Why is a guy who professionally brews his own tea and adores ale drinking a Budweiser?” I wonder. “Is Budweiser available overseas? Is Budweiser considered a delicacy for dudes from the UK?”
“His beard doesn’t seem the least bit unruly,” I observe. “In fact, it’s barely there. Where is the hair on his body that helped give him the stage name of Mr. Scruff? Do I really want to know?”
“Did this dude really manage to fit ‘I Say A Little Prayer’ by Aretha Franklin into his set?” I asked aloud to myself (my brain was overheating from all the introspective questioning).
For the past twenty years, Brian Gillespie has sat behind the decks serving up an educated selection of deep, melodic techno, funk and obscure jazz alongside his signature ghetto-tech blend to the Detroit scene. As part of the deejay duo Starski & Clutch (Gillespie as Starski, DJ and producer Todd Osborn as Clutch), has expanded his brand to a fresh audience after an eclectic set on the Red Bull Music Academy stage last Sunday afternoon. But as a representative for the Red Bull Music Academy in Detroit, many don’t realize that the same determination Gillespie puts into searching for records, he also piles into “helping give young, local talent the resources to [experience] the same exposure in a year that would normally take five, 10, 15 years.” Beginning in Berlin in 1998, The Red Bull Music Academy is built to cater to and foster budding talent. While burgeoning musicians, deejays, singers and producers attend, waves of established and often legendary artists come to visit and educate — think ?uestlove, Madlib, Melvin van Peebles, Chuck D, Carl Craig, Caribou and many more. Held at a mixture of exotic locations around the globe, the Red Bull Music Academy is an opportunity for young talent to get lost within their craft, to hone their skills live and begin building a name through one of the most accomplished music programs to date. But the reach doesn’t end there.
“Sometimes, there aren’t a lot of people” at the show, explains Thomas Turner, the caped crusader behind the menacing electro-pop and rock of Ghostland Observatory, “but those people go off and tell their friends and it just keeps growing, you know?” As Austin, Texas-based Ghostland Observatory closed the Red Bull Music Academy on Sunday night, the word had spread to Movement 2010. Over 3,000-plus rabid festivalgoers refreshed themselves in the waves of guitar and synths working together to redefine just what “electronic music” means at the start of a new decade. Fueled by the classic rock theatrics of a laser lightshow and a barrage of smoke, lead singer Aaron Behrens brought his fierce, unfiltered energy to the Red Bull Music Academy stage (especially apparent on the duo’s raw cover of Prince’s “Darling Nikki”), turning the DJ decks into his own private catwalk. Meanwhile, Turner was lost in the fog manipulating an array of knobs and synths. “We’re never the average rock band,” laughs Thomas when asked how it felt to be performing at an electronic music festival built around mostly understated electronic deejays. “We always stick out like sore thumbs everywhere we go. After a while, people either get it or they don’t. Obviously, the people who do get it end up having a really good time.”
From the time the gates opened at Hart Plaza, ushering in a single-day record attendance of 35,000-plus patrons, anticipation filled the festival grounds. Perhaps it was raw excitement for the weekend ahead — dozens upon dozens of international electronic musicians from all genres were represented and ready to take the stage at Movement 2010. Perhaps it was the smell of carnie-style corndogs simply upsetting stomachs. Perhaps it was the idea that even as Detroit’s economic woes plagued the city’s day-to-day existence, Memorial Day weekend was going to be blessed with something that actually worked for once. In the end, it was all those reasons plus one more. After taking a year off, Richie Hawtin was returning to Movement and bringing his alter ego back to the stage for the first time in six years. The reason behind the crowd’s collective eagerness was unveiled — Plastikman was set to close the festival that very night.
It’s not easy to describe the sounds of Tokimonsta. An initial impression could you leave in a world as “melodic and sentimental” as the artist herself is cute (see above picture). And even though the 24-year-old Tokimonsta’s catalog is somewhat brief, that initial impression could leave you locked into the wrong idea. Within seconds, this Los Angeles-based, self-proclaimed “jack-of-all-genres” can pull a rough, rugged and hip-hop heavy dose of remixed beats out of her bag and no, she won’t hesitate to use ‘em. “I love listening to varied genres,” says Tokimonsta, “so I wanted something with guitars. I wanted something with soul. I wanted lots of hip-hop in it mixed with that electronic, sonic value. As you create, you realize that the years and years of listening to music expel themselves into whatever music your making.” Kicking things off on Monday afternoon, this is the sort of eclectic thrill that Tokimonsta brought to yet another unique weekend performance on the Red Bull Music Academy stage. ChinaShop caught up with the 2010 Red Bull Music Academy attendee to grab up all the details on how this young deejay came to hone her craft and gain some notoriety with some help from Flying Lotus, the adversity she faced early on in the LA hip-hop community and the broad musical tastes that help keep the audience always guessing. We had a chance to catch up with Tokimonsta at this year’s Movement Festival and this is what she had to say:
The culture of Detroit does not rest solely on the shoulders of the Movement festival. Like any major American city, Detroit hosts its annual beacons of pride and popularity — the lauded Detroit International Jazz Festival, downtown’s chilly Winter Blast, the prestigious North American International Auto Show. But often, the shadow cast by these behemoth weekend attractions hides a bustling culture that breeds year-round. Last Thursday evening, as the stages were being erected and the carnival food carts were still jockeying for position before the start of Movement 2010 in Hart Plaza, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) was offering a small sampling of such sophistication.
Most people wouldn’t throw a Crystal Method CD into their car stereo and describe the duo as “musical entrepreneurs ahead of their time.” But the oddball business description would be more than fitting. Before electronic music was granted the same avenues of exposure as your run-of-the-mill Top 40 pop hits, Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan of the Crystal Method were exploring alternative routes of rocking the masses to great success. “We can’t help it that we’re sexy! We can’t help it that everyone wants us!” laughs Kirkland, the vodka and Red Bull rushing to his head backstage at the intimate Vain Ultra Lounge in downtown Detroit. “But we did wrestle with the concept of [commercializing our music] early on. We were like, ‘Fuck you! Fuck money! We’re hardcore!’ … We were young, dumb and passionate.”