Movement 2012 Report

Our crack photographer – Ankur Malhotra – was unable to join us at Movement this year, so we don’t have the usual cavalcade of photos.  (See prior coverage here.)  Nonetheless, I did put a few shots up on our Facebook page, and here’s my report from the field.

Friday
This year I took Amtrak from Chicago to Detroit, and thought the train was a pretty great way to get there – roomy (if not entirely comfortable) seats, lots of legroom, power outlets, on-time travel, reasonable cost and no TSA security hassles.

Arriving to sunny skies and warm temperatures, I learned from my cabby that he looks forward all year to the Movement electronic music festival. Although there are plenty of big events in Detroit, Movement is the biggest weekend of the year for cab drivers since the after-parties keep them busy all night long.  The locals in Detroit are friendly, and my experience here has always been real comfortable and fun. So it feels pretty good to spend money in Detroit, because you really get the sense that your economic support is appreciated.

When my buddy’s flight finally arrived from New York, we grabbed a late dinner and then headed over to a party at the Elysium hosted by Visionquest with Love and Death, Thugfucker, Clockwork and others.

I think the Elysium is a really nice venue. It has a great raised dance floor that is a blast to dance on, just pulsing with the music. And I’m a fan of the downstairs area too. Nice chill out lounges and a smaller, more intimate, underground vibe. This was a really great warm-up party and we got back to the hotel feeling excited and energized for the festival.

Saturday
We made it over to the festival grounds at Hart Plaza a little after 3pm and joined the tribe that was gathering.  Movement draws a very diverse and international audience – a near total spectrum of ages (with a majority of people in 3o’s and 40’s, I’d guess), appearances and styles.  It’s a welcoming environment and a beautiful collection of humanity (over 30,000-40,000 people attend each day); fun people-watching too.

We enjoyed great sets by Tale of Us, Damian Lazarus, Kyle Hall b2b Jay Daniel, Matias Aguayo, and Seth Troxler b2b Guy Gerber. I was also able to catch parts of  Mark Farina, Earl “Mixxin” McKinney, Marcellus Pittman, and Derrick Carter.

I was pleased that the Beatport stage was re-oriented to face the river this year, and its grassy hillside is always a sweet spot to rest.  In addition, it looked to me as though the sound systems were bigger at both the Made in Detroit stage (one of my favorites) as well as the Underground stage.

After the day ended at the Fest, we got changed and headed back over to Elysium for the CLR after-party. Collabs (Speedy J + Chris Liebing) were pounding the beats on the main floor when we arrived and Tommy Four Seven was killing it downstairs… I’ve got a theory about the beneficial effects of full body sonic vibration therapy. Needless to say, Collabs provided the complete treatment.

After a couple hours, we cruised over to the City Bar at the Leland for the DirtyBird party. We had to wait a bit to get in because the club was at capacity, but once in it was well worth it. A nice room, good sound and decent pricing on drinks, the energy was fantastic, and Claude Von Stroke was insane.  I especially appreciated how the DJ pit was in the middle of the crowd.  This was my weekend highlight.

Then Justin Martin took over and next thing I knew it was morning! This video was shot around 5am. As you will notice, the crowd was still energized.

Sunday
After a late breakfast at Plaka Café (breakfast served 24 hours a day), we walked over to Movement and caught Carl Craig, Maya Jane Coles, Maceo Plex, Dopplereffekt, Marco Carola, Loco Dice and finished off with Claude Von Stroke as he tore the house down to close out the Beatport stage. (Yes, his set was so good the night before that I wanted more.)

Claude Von Stroke’s tracks are great, but its only when you see how he uses that vocabulary to build a live set that you get the full Dirtybird experience. He certainly gets my chicken wings to flapping when I see him.

The last couple years, I’ve enjoyed transcendant experiences at the Underground Stage. Last year, Traversable Wormhole blew my mind. And this year Dopplereffekt provided the refreshment for me. Their presentation was conceptual – masked, facing each other, almost still and not looking at the crowd – while they create really interesting soundscapes. They had the sound dialed in perfectly, and I had a lot of fun dancing at this.

After brief rest (this is the stage of the festival when you become very aware of the soles of your feet) and a change of clothes, we went to the Creators of Techno party at St. Andrews. The music was good, and I would have liked to stay and listen more, but St. Andrews was a total sauna, seriously, and with a morning train to catch, I couldn’t hang in there very long. So we only stayed for an hour or two.

I was disappointed to have to miss Monday’s line-up. But it was a very successful DEMF experience for me. The weather was great – partly cloudy and hot, and rain never interrupted my festival time. The sound systems were superb as usual, and the crowd was a beautiful collection of humanity. It remains my favorite music festival. Kudos to Paxahau… again.  Their event rocks.