Uptown Magazine - May 6th
Movement & Mutek
For discerning electronic music fans, the Memorial Day long weekend (May 29 to 31) is the official kickoff of the summer festival season. Since 2000, Detroit’s Hart Plaza has been home to Movement, one of the world’s premier electronic music festivals. Anchored by Detroit’s long-running connection to all things techno, Movement has emerged as a destination vacation for fans from around the world. With a 2010 lineup that connects the dots between Detroit’s past, present and future (and featuring European DJs who rarely play North America), it looks like event promoters Paxahau and new creative director Carl Craig have assembled one of the best lineups in the festival’s history. This year’s event will feature highly anticipated performances by Richie Hawtin (delivering his multimedia-driven rebooted Plastikman show), Ricardo Villalobos (who said he wouldn’t play in the U.S. while George Bush was president after being interrogated by customs officers shortly after 9/11 ), Detroit heavyweights Inner City & Model 500 live, house icons Derrick Carter & DJ Sneak, German tastemaker Michael Mayer, up-and-comer Ryan Crosson, Midwest innovator Woody McBride and a slew of others. While the three-day show at Hart Plaza is the main draw, the after-parties are also not to be missed; there are over 30 official and unofficial post-Hart Plaza parties already announced. There’s still plently of time to buy your tickets, and book your flight and hotel (with Windsor just across the river, you can save money on airfare by not flying direct to Detroit). Paxahau.com offers extensive DJ set archives from past events.
The week following Movement, the party moves to Montreal. Founded in 2000, Mutek focuses on the connections between electronic music, digital arts and technology. Spread out over a number of venues and art galleries, Mutek has been instrumental in putting Montreal’s electronic music scene on the map. Pulling from a more abstract/experimental group of performers, this year’s festival — which runs June 6 through 10 — features an array of international artists, including Matmos (U.S.), Matias Aguayo (Chile), Mouse on Mars (Germany), Tim Hecker (Canada) and a number of other cutting-edge live performers. Visit Mutek.org for podcasts of past festival performances. Two other major electronic music festivals will be joining Movement and Mutek this year; Manitoba’s inaugural MEME festival is set for June 17 to 20 and Seattle’s Decibel Festival will take place Sept. 23 to 26.
Quick Hits
MP3 of the Week: We Have Band — Divisive (Carl Craig remix)
Detroit techno pioneer Carl Craig tackles the U.K.’s We Have Band’s Divisive.
Video of the Week: The Simpsons – Tik Tok
The Simpson family and a bunch of your favourite Springfielders perform a ‘lip dub’ to Ke$ha’s annoyingly catchy hit single Tik Tok.
