Time and minds warp at Movement 2010 – the first 24 hours
This was the 10th Anniversary edition of Movement, Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival and the usual motley crew from Madison and Milwaukee had expanded this year to more than a dozen car- and van-pooling techno-heads headed east to the Motor City. With gear packed into our van Tetris-style, we hit the road a day earlier to catch some of the pre-festival parties and settle in for the big first day of Movement. Rolling into town past midnight we started off the weekend party catching the latter halves of sets by Speedy J, Matthew Dear, and Seth Troxler performing Friday night and into Saturday morning at the official YEL3 party at St. Andrew’s Hall. And then for some more excellent techno and pounding beats by Jay Denham (Black Nation Recordings, Kalamazoo, MI) and HD Substance (from Madrid, Spain) at The Works down in the 1800 block of desolate Michigan Ave.
Batteries charged with a heady mix of music by artists both old and newly discovered, and a quick rest at the wonderful Atheneum Hotel (our second time staying there, walking distance to Hart Plaza and highly recommended!), a splinter group headed off on foot to find Detroit’s Eastern Market.
Situated a couple of miles north-east of downtown in the city’s historic commercial district, this Saturday bazaar is Detroit’s take on the farmer’s market with some of the most juicy and delicious produce I have tasted (and cheap to boot!). Armed with a weekend’s supply of healthy fortifications, we were now all set for Hart Plaza. With over 30 artists performing simultaneously at 5 stages, it is always a challenge to catch all of your favorite artists and then some new ones. But the conducive layout of Hart Plaza and stage setup made it a breeze to bop between acts going on at the same time.
I started off my day at the festival catching a bit of Turkish DJ Onur Ozer warming up the Beatport stage with his set of melodic techno. A bit of Yos at the Torino stage and I was back at the Beatport stage to catch DJ diva Ida Engberg woo the crowd with a ready smile and techno with a Swedish flair.
And then I was off to enjoy the wonderful sounds of Scion on the Main Stage. German techno producers Rene Löwe and Peter Kuschnereit teamed up as Scion back in 1995 for the Emerge 12″ on the Chain Reaction Label, and last performed at the festival back in 2000 at the first DEMF (alongside reggae star Tikiman). I got hooked onto their sound via Arrange and Process Basic Channel Tracks, a 2002 Tresor-released mix album comprised of Basic Channel tracks and was looking forward to their live set.
Working the acoustics of the amphitheater and surrounding buildings to the max, the duo built up layers upon layers of precisely timed ambient melodies overlaid with driving beats and a pulsing bassline. A definite highlight set for me from day one!
A St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin native now based out of the Twin Cities, Woody McBride took the Main Stage following Scion for an all-vinyl set of pounding hard techno. Definitely one of the most expressive performers from the festival, and heartening to see vinyl make a return to the festival this year. Which prompted me to go hunting for some at the Ghostly/Spectral Sounds booth (I picked up a recent release by Bodycode and some white label Audion amongst others.. nice:).
With so many of my favorite artists playing simultaneously for the remainder of the evening, I ended up catching brief sets by Marco Carola and A-Trak. It was a treat to see these artists work the crowds into a frenzy, especially evident at the tightly packed Red Bull Stage with A-Trak going wild with his exceptional mix of rap, disco, house and on-stage antics.
And then I was back to the Main Stage to catch a bit of Josh Wink’s set, including some wild body surfing as the crowds got a bit restless in anticipation of the Plastikman finale for the evening. 
I did want to catch a bit of the Dirtybird a.k.a Claude VonStroke set and as glad as I was to hear (and feel) the fun groove at the Beatport stage, it was time to catch Plastikman!
Richie Hawtin’s Plastikman alter-ego had been dormant the past several years and his first show in Detroit (as Plastikman) since 1994 had generated palpable excitement, evidenced by the nearly 40,000 strong crowd gathered at Hart Plaza.
The Plastikman stage setup, an oversized, semicircular curtain of lights enclosing Richie’s electronic toys and gadgets, had been shrouded in secrecy behind opaque plastic the entire day, and hinted at a sound and light spectacle like no other. And what a show it was! Starting off with the sound of a steadily growing-in-intensity buzz of an electric charge, to the sudden burst and flash of sound and light that created an almost visceral feeling of being shocked. On to minimal beats mixed with classic tracks from his Sheet One and Musik albums, building up speed and then slowing down to a jazzy, meandering pace. And then more shocks, as the sub bass rumbled up through my legs and slammed into me head on. Occasionally, a silhouette of the man behind the controls would appear, ghost-like amidst the smoke and lights. The screen almost throbbed with life, organic and pulsating, morphing from amoebic forms to oscilloscope traces, to a minimalist blinking square – all in perfect sync with the sound.
The hour long set ended with Hawtin coming out to the front of the cage to wrap things up on a vintage-looking analog console. The show was over but it took a while for the shell-shocked and still-in-a-trance audience to regain a sensory perspective of their surroundings as they reluctantly headed towards the exit gates. The Plastikman experience was indeed stunning and a must see if you ever get the chance.
All photos by Ankur Malhotra
In pictures: The first 24 hours at Movement
