According to production company Paxahuas Chuck Flask (via Detroits Metro Times), David Guetta approached us about it [Movement], but we said no.” My guess is the current king of electronic dance music isnt used to rejection. Following the mayhem of Skrillexs 2011 Movement performance, which happened at the cusp of the producers current momentous rise, the team behind Paxahua have become even more vigilant on how they curate, not just book, the citys celebration of techno.
Now in its thirteenth year, Movement finds the balance between heritage (Jeff Mills, Lil Louis, Public Enemy) and whats next (Dillon Francis, araabMUZIK, The Martinez Brothers). The base is Detroit Techno, polished mixes buried beneath a gritty façade that harkens back to the end of the Motor Citys heyday, but for Memorial Day weekend the five stages that line the concrete park of Hart Plaza contain droney minimalism, sparkling Eurohouse, odd analog experimentation, and yes, epic amounts of Jump Up bass drops.
In the spirit of Movement, this excursion was about discovering something new. With ample amounts of water, and a few back up pairs of earplugs, the following is a journey into the top ten acts that I havent seen, but more importantly, would drop plans to witness once again. With nearly 100 artists to explore, a simple numeric matrix helped the tasks — crowd energy, technical ability, and entourage — with ties being alleviated through the number of inflatable toys.
