Day three of DEMF 2007 started at a static pace perfect for easing off some of the exhaustion from the previous two days’ activities, and, like all good finales, it built it’s way to an uproarious conclusion with a Detroit legend returning home to a welcome crowd.
After shaking off the effects of the previous night and finding that I’d completely lost my voice sometime during the previous evening, it was nice to arrive to the hefty ambiance coming from the machines controlled Vladislav Delay. The rhythm took a back seat to the mood for this set a the Finnish musician was cascading tone waves and intermittent clicks and gasps across the sunbathed Main Stage pavilion.
The set was a pleasant deviation from all the heavy beats of the previous night, but for the first time all weekend the sun was really beaming and a retreat to a tented stage started to sound like a great idea.
Apparently lots of other people had the same idea and former Grand Rapids resident Gaiser was providing plenty of reason to stay in the shade provided by the tent covering the Beatport Stage. The M-nus artist showed why he’s a vital part of the next generation pushing the minimal sounds. Gaiser set his tracks atop sturdy beats, but it was the reverberating patterns he cast from bouncing bleeps and echoing pops that gave the skeletal tracks the vitality being gobbled up by the crowd.
The day’s hottest moments were well passed by the time Luciano started his own set in the Beatport Stage, but the crowd inside was more than capable of taking over for the Sun as people were really starting to pack into the tent. The Chilean DJ made it into a real party, having some fun with friends backstage while working three decks to entertain the crowd with his uniquely spiced minimal grooves.
By this time UK dance music pioneer A Guy Called Gerald was starting up on the Main Stage, and while the crowd seemed small for this stage this late in the evening, the performance was one of the best of the weekend. Working solo off a dual laptop setup, the musical chameleon Gerald was showing off his latest take on acid techno with choppy beats and buzzing scrapes oozing from the sound system. Many of Gerald’s classic tracks were reworked in the seamless set which finally unleashed the breakbeats after more than an hour.
Of course, right as he takes this set in this new direction it’s time to head back over to Beatport as Richie Hawtin is starting his set before a mob scene inside and all around the tent. People packed in just as densely backstage as out front to reach a density of bodies that seems to be a part of Hawtin’s sets these days. But any annoyance with the lack of personal space quickly melted away along with all concepts of time as the minimal master set to work building and dissecting rhythms while unleashing voluminous basslines and taking full charge of every sound in the place. Hawtin seemed to be enjoying things just as much as the crowd and apparently played a half-hour encore when his timeslot ended.
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