I have to second you on the sound at the Pyramid stage, it was
incredible.. i got trapped in it's sonic boom for hours listening to
the sweet sweet sound sof Rhythm and Sound (paraphrasing the MC there ;)
Mark and Moritz were pulling out the gems all night, but I have to
say, the bass on the Burial Mix tracks towards the end of their
session were gut wrenching.
My overall first impression of the festival isn't too positive, even
though the music was great on the various stages at times (Model 500
- WOW, Kenny Larkin, Shake are always bringing it!), the majority of
the crowd left a lot to be desired. A young guy and a girl right next
to me in the pit at Model 500 were feeling the rush of their chems,
and she proceeded to get down, unzip the dude an well you can only
imagine the rest.
I guess i'm just not used to going to big festivals anymore, but I've
had enough of glowsticks and baby pacifiers to last me a lifetime.
Big up the gurner massive.
P.
-------------------------------------------
Southern Outpost
Sydney - San Francisco - Berlin
http://www.southernoutpost.com
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On May 26, 2007, at 7:01 PM, Bill Van Loo wrote:
Well, I went to the DEMF/Movement festival today - it's the only
day I'll be going and I thought today seemed like both the best
lineup and the best fit for my schedule. Here's how my day went.
1:15PM - Arrived in downtown Detroit, park in the underground lot
where I always park for the festival. It's $10 this year - seems
like it wasn't that pricy before. Ah well.
1:20PM - Secure tickets. $26 for a one-day pass. Ouch! Again, more
expensive than years past, but oh well.
1:30PM - Park myself directly in front of the stage in the Beatport
tent and watch as Pole begins. His first two tracks pretty much
melted my face. The bass was staggering, it sounded like the Pole
of days past. After that, he veered into what sounded like his
newer material, based on the bit I've heard. It was decent -
nothing I'd seek out, but enjoyable. He played one track that
sounded like Pole's take on west-coast rap instrumentals, with this
sort of Moog-sounding synth part. That description might steer you
a little off, but it's close, I guess. He finished up with some
noisier dub pieces, and it was quite good. A great start to the
day's music.
2:30PM - Watch as Sassmouth begins her set in the Beatport stage,
and head out after 10 minutes or so. What I heard was fine, but I
wanted to check out Higher Intelligence Agency, who was playing on
the Pyramid Stage. I meet up with Jeff Kleine, and we head over
together.
2:40PM - Oh my. The sound system at the Pyramid Stage is absolutely
stunning. The high-frequency drivers literally looked like none
I've ever seen before, and the sound is just unreal. Super crisp,
clear, plenty loud, and the bass just envelopes you. Each side
(left/right) has a front stack, two side stacks, and a rear stack.
Standing in the middle is really the sweet spot - the bass hits,
you get an awesome sense of the stereo imaging, and it really can't
be beat. The music is a great compliment to the system - deep bass
and kick drums, clean, clear synth parts, and even some nice field
recording noises at times. Bobby Bird (HIA) looks like he's having
the time of his life during his set, too. Jeff and I both really
enjoy this set.
4:00PM - HIA finally wraps up, and Rhythm & Sound starts. This is
one I've been anticipating, and there on the stage are two grizzled-
looking Berliners, Mark Ernestus and Moritz Van Oswald, with a box
of dub 7"s and a pair of turntables. A mic and Powerbook lay on the
table next to them, awaiting the line-up of 3 toasters who will
eventually accompany the pair in their selections. As the set
progresses, it becomes clear that they're in no hurry (they have 6
HOURS on this stage, after all) and a steady stream of slow,
grooving versions and vocal tracks get played.
4:30PM - Some food is in order, so I skip over to the Ren Cen for
an ATM, then back to the festival for a corn dog. Mmmmm, corn dog!
4:30PM - Back to Rhythm & Sound. The toasters are in full effect,
though at times they're detracting from the experience - a bit too
much banter about "rhythm & sound, the sound system, feel this
experience, etc". I like the DJ role in all this, but I'm here to
hear the selectors, too.
5:10PM - Over to the Beatport stage for Losoul. I saw him setting
up while Pole finished, and he's got an interesting rig -
Sequential Circuits Studio 440 (an ancient sampler that takes
floppy disks and has analog filters), a Novation Remote 25
controller, and a laptop. I own a couple of Losoul records that I
like, which have some zip and funk to them, but this set turned out
to be fairly sterile. Lots of kick drum, synth noise, rinse,
repeat. Ho hum.
5:30PM - Back to Rhythm & Sound. The vocalists seem better
integrated now. Some nice songs. Nothing from the Burial Mix
catalog (what I would give to hear "Ruff Way" or "Never Tell
You"!), but a good dub vibe. Fred Heutte is here now, too, and we
all vibe off R&S.
6:00PM - Over to the Real Detroit tent to hear Anthony "Shake"
Shakir. Shake had kind of a rough set - his multiple sclerosis
seems to have made a lot of the necessary energy and fine movements
difficult, but there were glimpses of his stunning past DJ sets in
this set, bits like finding the groove in doubles of Rob Hood's
"internal empire" and working it, or dropping "Shades of Jae" at
just the right time. It was great to see him really having fun,
though there was also obvious frustration at times, too (partly due
to what I think was an unfamiliar mixer, or possibly something
wrong with it).
I've said it in the past, and I'll say it again - I just love
Shake, and I really enjoyed seeing him play. Shake, if you read
this - you made my day playing your Frictional records today.
You've been a huge inspiration to me musically. Keep it up!
7:00PM - As I walk back to the car, the rain starts to come down
with slightly more force. It's held off all day, but is finally
starting to rain, and I watch the lights, and the people, and hear
the thud of kick drums gradually fade. It's time to go home.
You can see pictures of all this at my Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chromedecay/sets/72157600270169761/
peace,
bvl
--
bill van loo & j. schnable - raindays - now released!
http://www.chromedecay.org/releases/cd004/
http://www.chromedecay.org || http://www.billvanloo.com
