the party with Malik Pittman and Andres is off the hook right now-1490 gratiot , same block (but on the other side) of the transmat building.
On May 31, 2011, at 3:17, Fred Heutte <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2011/05/27/136718287/detroit-techno-city-exporting-a- > sound-to-the-world > > Detroit Techno City: Exporting A Sound To The World > > May 27, 2011 > > by Wills Glasspiegel > > Carl Craig says he's always thought of his music as "a personal > beautification of Detroit." > > This Memorial Day weekend, techno music and its fans come home — to > Detroit — for the annual Movement Electronic Music Festival. > > Today, most of techno's audience is in Europe. But its futuristic sound > was nurtured by African-Americans in Detroit in the 1980s. It all > started in the late '70s, when a Detroit radio DJ named Electrifying > Mojo put music on the air in a way that had never been heard before in > the city: Kraftwerk plus Jimi Hendrix; Rick James plus the B52s and > Phillip Glass – all on a spaceship. > > Mojo's sci-fi persona dominated Detroit's urban radio back then. The > pieces he assembled became the raw materials for techno. Juan Atkins is > often called the first techno artist. In 1981, Atkins was 19 years-old > and technology-obsessed. He co-produced a song called, "Alleys of Your > Mind," on a rudimentary drum machine. > > "Mojo dropped 'Alleys of your Mind' on his radio show and it just blew > up," Atkins recalls. "It was like a breath of fresh air on the radio. > And nobody knew that this was some black kids from Detroit making this > record. They thought it was from Europe or somewhere." > > Through Mojo's radio show, the alien sounds of techno piqued the > interest of Detroit natives — but the music's largest audience quickly > grew in Europe. > > "I'm fortunate because I exported my business," says Carl Craig, one of > techno's biggest ambassadors. "If I kept it in the U.S., we would have > failed a long time ago." > > In addition to making his own music, Craig runs a record label he > started two decades ago in Detroit. Last year, it shipped nearly 20,000 > vinyl records out of the city — 70 percent went to Europe. Craig is a > star in Berlin and Paris. > > But in Detroit, his profile is low key, his studio an anonymous bunker > near a slew of abandoned buildings. "You go around the block from here, > there are buildings [where] the windows are blown out," he says. > "They've been abandoned for 30 years." Craig says he stays in Detroit > because it's cheap, but the city is also central to his creative > process. "My music has always been for me a personal beautification of > Detroit." > > He's not the only one who sees possibility in the rubble. There's also > a small but steady stream of "techno tourists" who visit Detroit. > "We've had several people that have come from Germany, mostly from > Europe, specifically for the techno scene here," says Nicole Stagg, > who hosts visitors through www.couchsurfing.org. > > They come to see the abandoned factories where techno parties happened, > and to visit Detroit's techno landmark, Submerge — an iconic label, > studio, techno museum and record shop on Detroit's east side. Label > manager Cornelius Harris says Submerge defies the negative trends in > Detroit and in the music industry itself. > > "The key with being able to function in Detroit is not to look at what > it is, but to understand what's possible and to move from that place," > Harris says. "People in music do it all the time. They do it every day, > which is amazing to me. You've got this thing that doesn't exist and > you bring it into existence. That's the definition of magic." > > One of those musical pieces of magic, "Falling Up," by local artist > Theo Parish, could be a metaphor for Detroit. Parish is a torchbearer > for his city's music, but he hardly ever plays there. His regular gig > is at a club called Plastic People — in London. > > Marlon Bishop contributed reporting to this story. Both he and > Glasspiegel are producing a radio documentary on Detroit techno and > Chicago house for Afropop Worldwide. >
