Today’s bloggin best…
- Gorillaz like Katy Perry, but hate Russell Brand. Prefix
- Plastikman, Model 500 and Inner City all to headline Movement Festival. URB
- Someone let Insane Clown Posse onto Nightline…oh, to make fun of them. Videogum
- 13th Witness directed the new Deftones video. Hypebeast
- Kavinsky has a new track to rave to. Fools Gold
- Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins and Moby all appear in Canadian vampire flick. The Playlist
“Mics live, music live, people absolutely live. ” Such is how Dj extraordinaire Derrick May would prefer you hear his music — a stealthful combination of intricate rhythms, beats, and DJing that pays tribute to the days of old — up front, in person, in-your-face. It’s not that surprising, then, that he has a sound similar to the likes of Kevin Saunderson and other purveyors of the genre from his hometown of Detroit, where the now-famous Detroit Electronic Music Festival has become an incredible success. But as the hoots and hollers would suggest, May’s live performance better captures his meshing of both worlds. It’s proved to be a successful marriage, one that encapsulates a DJ with a cutting-edge sound who is genuinely in touch with his audience live, more able to build off the vibe and emotion of his listeners.
Kevin Saunderson might be probably a familiar name by now. He’s what James Brown was to soul, what Robert Johnson was to the blues, what Wayne Newton is to casinos and cruise lines. No idea? Well you’re probably one of those uneducated rave twerpies who has no appreciation for your musical roots, shame on you! (I had no idea who he was either.) Saunderson’s been making techno since 1983, and pretty much created it, in addition to about a million different subgenres, not to mention industrial and the amorphous, ever-expanding genre of electronic indie music. Now, the master himself returns to the spotlight on Red Bull Music Academy Radio to show you what else he’s been up to. He’s come a long way since his humble beginnings in Detroit, though on his latest, he isn’t above mixing weird present with random past (including that ‘chikka-chikka’ song from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) with some pretty steadfast and modern beats, as well as creating some more groundbreaking noise–there’s a reason that he’s sold over 6 million albums and had 6 top 40 UK hits. For those of you who want to know more about where modern electronica came from, here’s your chance to get educated.
Anyone who loves techno owes Kevin Saunderson for three things: co-inventing techno, coming up with the anthems, Big Fun and The Good Life, and being the unsung hero of Movement, stepping in at considerable cost to save the festival when its future was bleak.
The year was 2004, and the festival, which had been free to the public for the first four years, was in deep trouble. The city approached Saunderson, a well-liked presence in the Detroit community, and begged him to come in and take charge. “I had never run a festival before, but I knew how much time it would take to do it right. So I agreed on the condition that they officially back the festival by September,” he says.
In the beginning, there was only an unlikely pitch. What if Detroit, by 2000 already one of the most depressed, violent, financially challenged cities in the country, gave a free festival in Hart Plaza, the downtown river walk/concrete park, honoring techno music? What if Detroit were filled with people from all over the world on Memorial Day, having the time of their lives, raining serious coin on local merchants throughout the city?
Proving that truth is stranger than fiction, the city bought the idea. Thanks largely to a generous sponsorship package from Ford, which was introducing a new car, the Techno, DEMF (Detroit Electronic Music Festival) was green lit. And techno, which had been invented in Detroit, got its own festival — even though many of the people responsible for the decision had no idea what techno really was.
