Detroit – Nearly 100,000 fans descended on Hart Plaza this past Memorial Day weekend for Detroit’s annual Movement festival. Produced by Paxahau, the three-day event ran May 27-29 and brought more than 100 top DJs/electronic acts.
Additionally, it served as the kick-off event for America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Presented by Weedmaps & DJ Times. The 15-event tour will support an online vote that will answer the annual question: Who’s America’s Best DJ? (To vote and see the latest tour details, please visit AmericasBestDJ.us.)
As always, DJ Times maintained a dedication exhibition booth at Movement, where the magazine’s reps took votes for the event’s eight ABDJ-nominated jocks. They included Carl Craig, Green Velvet (performing as his Cajmere alias), Honey Dijon, Josh Wink, Kevin Saunderson, Matrixxman, Soul Clap and Stacey Pullen. Also, the 2016 ABDJ winner Claude VonStroke—performing as Barclay Crenshaw—made a mainstage appearance.
Among the ABDJ-nominated jocks, highlights included: Honey Dijon’s powerful deep-house Sunday sets on the Red Bull Music Academy stage and later at the “OK Cool!” afterparty at the TV Lounge—“I’m Every Woman,” indeed; Josh Wink’s exquisitely nervy Radiohead-meets-acid set Saturday on the mainstage; Carl Craig’s occasionally growling, often playful techno set Saturday on the Stargate Stage, which featured furious buildups, manic breakdowns and plenty of happy locals; and Stacey Pullen’s strong, soulful tech-house effort just prior to Craig’s set on Stargate.
Also of note from ABDJ-related talent: Matrixxman’s Saturday set of strafing buzzbombs that careened around the Underground Stage’s concrete walls, leaving the daytime festival-goers a tad stunned; Cajmere’s always-consistent set of quirky tech-house on Sunday’s Stargate stage; and Barclay Crenshaw’s hip-hop and ghetto-tech set that featured local hits like DJ Assault’s infamous “Ass-N-Titties.”
Other notable Movement performances: Kerri Chandler’s wonderful deep-house set featured the massively crowd-pleasing Dimitri from Paris re-edit of Prince’s “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” which brought plenty of hands in the air and elicited a few tears; Robert Hood’s taut, yet soulful techno lit up the Riverfront Pyramid Stage on Saturday; the live set from Larry Heard (aka Mr. Fingers) featuring vocalist Mr. White delivered Chicago’s house roots to a receptive, young crowd; and, working with a drummer and keyboardist, Thundercat dropped some insane six-string bass runs, providing some showy, but moving free-jazz moments – a nice departure from Movement’s world of beats.
Both the online voting and America’s Best DJ Summer Tour Presented by Weedmaps & DJ Times will run until Labor Day, and the ABDJ Award Show/Closing Party will take place Columbus Day Weekend in October.
Fans who vote (in person and online) and fans who keep up with America’s Best DJ on Facebook and Twitter can win a slew of prizes. Additionally, one lucky voter (chosen randomly) will win a trip for two to the ABDJ closing event. Stay with America’s Best DJ all summer long and maybe you, too, can be a winner.
