Movement Electronic Music Festival 2013: Cara’s Picks

As the 13th annual Movement Electronic Music Festival approaches, with a global techno fan base poised to descend upon Detroit, the Dancing Astronaut editors prepare for their own stint of techno tourism. For followers of techno, house, and other deeper genres in dance music, Movement’s lineup is quite certainly a dizzying opportunity to take on the finest talent on the scene right now in arguably one of the most culturally significant cities in the music’s history. There are five stages in total that’ll be bumping the bass in downtown Detroit’s Hart Plaza this Saturday May 25th through Memorial Day Monday. We’ll be on the ground covering the event produced by the hometown favorite Paxahau (as well as several of its afterparties), but in case you’ll be joining us, read on to hear some of our must-listen picks for the festival itself.

Saturday

Steffi [Underground Stage, 6 p.m.]

Although Steffi is Dutch-born, she’s made Berlin her home in the last several years. She is now in her sixth year as a resident at Panorama Bar, responsible for the latest Panorama Bar 05 mix compilation, and serves as a well-respected label owner for Klakson and the smaller Dolly Imprint. Although she’s not at superstar status, she’s been a leader and positive female presence in the scene for a decade plus. Her debut album Yours & Mine in 2011 was a pure example of a fully formed deep house groove, but her sets are known to shake it up a bit more, with higher highs and heavier, techno lows. With her 2012 EP Schraper she clearly pushed back the modern deep house movement, into tracks like “Schraper” which borders much more closely on techno’s fundamentals.

Sunday

Masters at Work (Kenny Dope & Louie Vega) [Beatport Stage, 10 p.m.]

Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez and “Little” Louie Vega are not of the Detroit techno scene per se, but they are probably the two most important producers to come out of the hey dey of New York house in the 90s. They’ve remixed, dubbed, and produced literally hundreds of songs — everything from pop records, to soul, hip-hop, funk, Latin, African, and jazz. As Masters at Work, a name pulled from one of Todd Terry’s discarded alter egos, they made incomparable strides developing their own sound that dominated the New York club scene for years. Using Kenny’s hip-hop education as a bass line, they sampled and laid down beats while Louie contributed the arranging, instrumentation, and fostering of newcomers on the scene. This is a seriously exciting opportunity to catch the best of New York in techno’s capital.

Monday

Buzz Goree [Made in Detroit Stage, 8 p.m.]

Part of the experience of a weekend in Detroit should always leave room for exploration and expansion in musical understanding. Buzz Goree is a member of Underground Resistance, a group originally formed by Jeff Mills and Mike Banks in the late 80s as a reaction to both the political climate in Detroit at the time and the disservice corporate interests were doing to the music they loved. Although Mills and Banks are no longer active members of the collective/record label, their influence continues to live on in the workings of others, including Goree. I don’t honestly have the best grasp on what a set from him might sound like in 2013, but it’ll certainly be interested to see how he re-interprets his roots in disco, house, and Detroit techno.