The second day of Movement 2009 started and ended with the sound of techno, but the day was marked far more by the adventurous sounds heard in between. A stage was over-run by dancers, hip hop legends collaborated in a turntable freestyle session and more than a few beats were broken.
Nic Fanciulli
The days always seem to start in the evening, but the ideal weather made it seem lazy afternoon for Nic Fanciulli. The UK DJ matched his sounds to the atmosphere playing precise and technical beats that fit the weather nicely.
Jay Denham
But downstairs at the underground stage it’s always nighttime, and that means the hard hitting beats being worked by Jay Denham fit the mood of the space as well. Calm and collected behind the decks, he strung together a set that moved toward a deeper path with melodic grooves surfacing before another wave of stomp moved in.
Somewhere in the soft spot between the underground and the main stage where the soundsystems don’t clash so much as cancel each other out into white noise I wandered upon a b-boy session dancing without the aid of a DJ. The skills were impressive all around, with the circle seemingly made up of nothing but dancers and photographers.
Neil Landstrumm
Up next at the riverfront Red Bull Music Academy stage, Neil Landstrumm was starting up his slightly schizophrenic live set. Working between four-four kicks and heavy breaks with quick splices, Landstrumm moved easily between tempos and brought plenty of dubstep sounds into the mix. Any differences between styles were ignored in this set and it all sounded right together.
RJD2
RJD2 has taken his sound in a number of directions over the course of his three albums, but for his Movement appearance, he brought out the good time beats that first got him noticed. Set up on four turntables with his MPC and other accessories also at the ready, the Ohio native wasn’t flawless technically, but when you’re scratching with 45s those things can happen and he keep the beats big to keep the crowd pumped up. Everything came to a peak as he dropped “Good Times Roll Part 2” and invited all the ladies dancing in the front to climb onto the stage. He then chilled things out a touch to close the set and introduce the next act, DJ Z-Trip. With both legends on stage it seemed natural that they would throw down together.
Z-Trip and RJD2
RJD2 lit up a hefty beat on his MPC to which Z-Trip added a few bits from his and then scratched in an acapella of Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” and the two DJs set about playing over the top. After the short session flipping scratches and accents over the impromptu beats, RJD2 left the stage and Z-Trip set into his set proper.
Explaining his intention of playing a special set for Detroit and the festival, Z-Trip kicked things off with “Hands Up for Detroit” before diving in to his prodigious repository of acapellas and instrumentals to put together custom mash up versions and connecting everyone from Daft Punk, Run DMC, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Kanye, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne, to Survivor, Guns n’ Roses, DJ Shadow, Afrika Bambaataa and DJ Assault. Excursions into drum and bass, dubstep made nice sidebars to a set that worked hip hop mix styles over seemingly any sound with a beat that Z-Trip could find. To conclude his set, Z-Trip cut over top of Plastikman’s “Plastique” before adding LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” to the mix.
Loco Dice and Luciano
Z-Trip’s madness wasn’t even the focus of the plaza, as over at the mainstage the duo of Loco Dice and Luciano were busy supplying a stream of big techno beats and well placed breakdowns. It was on point and the place was still packed as they closed out the night.
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