Movement 2009, the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, kicks off this weekend, and promises to be a blast for fans of electronic music.

Last year’s attendance reached close to 80,000 over three days at Detroit’s Hart Plaza, and this year’s attendance could be even higher, with some big names like Carl Craig & The Prodigy on the lineup.

DJ Count Zero raises some interesting questions about the state of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, though, in the hands of concert producers Paxahau:

The population of the city of Detroit, Michigan is 80% black, 12% white.  Now, granted, it would probably be unrealistic for the ratio of white to black artists at the festival to ever approach the population figures, but you’d think that the idea would be to represent the character of the city pretty closely, right?  Well, for the first few years that was the case:

Year    % Black
2000    58.73%
2001    48.68%
2002    66.18%
2003    45.57%
2004    37.70%
2005    52.69%
2006    21.43%
2007    27.71%
2008    24.47%
2009    32.88%

From 200-2005 the percentage of black performers at DEMF never dipped below 37%, and usually was above 50%.  In 2006, though, something happened.  Paxahau took over the event and the number of black performers dropped dramatically, to 21%!  Why?  That same year the percentage of Detroit area performers dropped too, from 62% in ‘05 to 33% in ‘06!

What possible excuse could Paxahau have to take what was a succesful event regardless of who was in charge and turn it into a homogenous rave party with so little Detroit flavor?

Paxahau’s “excuse” is pretty clear.

They took a event that was financially failing and turned it around by featuring more and more mainstream electronic music artists, who are less a reflection of Detroit’s make up or music than a reflection of the world of popular electronic music.

DJ Count Zero makes a valid point, though – that Movement’s success comes at the price of an event that’s less black, less a reflection of Detroit, and, arguably, less unique in the world of electronic music.

For its part, Paxahau has announced that Carl Craig will be the creative director of the Movement 2010 Festival.

What do you think? What’s more important to the Detroit Electronic Music Festival – the Detroit, or the Electronic Music?

Concert promoters Paxahau have announced dates for Movement 2009, the Detroit Electronic Music Festival – May 23rd-25th 2009, at Hart Plaza in Detroit, MI.

Last year’s attendance nearly reached 80,000 over three days on Detroit’s Hart Plaza during Memorial Day Weekend, with fans enjoying 36 hours of their favorite electronic music artists and DJs performing on five stages and was named “Festival of the Year” by the readers of URB Magazine.

The Prodigy Invades Movement 2009

The Prodigy will play the official opening party for Movement 2009 at The Fillmore in Detroit on Friday, May 22. Chuck Flask, Paxahau Resident DJ and Evan Evolution will be performing in the State Bar. The doors open at 7 p.m. Early bird tickets for this all ages show are available starting at $20 by visiting www.livenation.com. VIP tickets are available.

“Every year our goal is to build upon the success of the previous year by bringing the best available local, national and international talent to Detroit in order to create a weekend experience unlike any other in the World,” said Jason Huvaere, president of Paxahau. “Our team spends a lot of time selecting artist and DJs that will appeal to electronic music enthusiasts. This year there will be a major Detroit presence at the festival as well as some performers that rarely set foot on stage in the United States.”

An alphabetical listing of Movement 2009 Artists confirmed to date is as follows:

Adam Beyer
Adultnapper
Afrika Bambaataa
Al Ester
Anthony Attalla
Anthony Rother (Live)
Audion (Live)
Bad Boy Bill
Bassnectar
Benga
Benny Benassi
Busy P
Buzz Goree
Carl Cox
Carl Craig
Chloe Harris
Chuck Gibson a.k.a. Perception (Live)
Clark Warner
Craig Gonzalez
Damian Lazarus
Delano Smith
Dennis Ferrer
Derrick May
DJ Deeon
DJ Godfather
DJ Omega
DJ Slugo
Drumcell (Live)
Ellen Allien
Exchange Bureau (Live)
Flying Lotus (Live)
Francois K
Frankie Vega
Guy Gerber (Live)
Heidi
Innervisions Live: a critical mass (Live)
Jay Denham
Kate Simko (Live)
Kero (Live)
Kevin Reynolds (Live)
Kevin Saunderson
Krazy Baldhead (Live)
Lee Curtiss
Liz Copeland
Loco Dice vs. Luciano
Los Hermanos (Live)
Luke Hess (Live)
Lusine
Marc “MK” Kinchen & Scotty Deep (Live)
Marco Carola
Mieka du Franx
Mike Clark
Mike Huckaby
Neil Landstrumm (Live)
Nic Fanciulli
Nikola Baytala
Norm Talley
Octave One (Live)
Osunlade
Rick Wade
RJD2
Ryan Elliott
Seoul vs Linder 2×4
Seth Troxler
Shaun Reeves
Starski & Clutch
Steve Bug
The Glitch Mob (Live)
The Sight Below
Tiefschwarz
Tiga
Wighnomy Bros
Will Web
Z-Trip

Weekend Passes for Movement 2009

Discount presale Movement 2009 weekend passes are available for purchase at www.Paxahau.com for $40. The weekend passes give electronic music fans access to the festival from 12 noon to 12 midnight on May 23, 24, and 25, 2009.

February 17 – 22, 2009
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN.

If you’re a Twitter user, you can follow the events on Twitter.

Details below.

Douglas Geers & Ali Momeni, Artistic Directors
J. Anthony Allen, Producer
Phillip O’Toole, Technical Director
James P Hunglemann, Nightlife Curator

2009 Featured Artists

STEIM
STEIM (the studio for electro-instrumental music) is the only independent live electronic music centre in the world that is exclusively dedicated to the performing arts. The foundation’s artistic and technical departments supports an international community of performers and musicians, and a growing group of visual artists, to develop unique instruments for their work. STEIM invites these people for residencies and provides them with an artistic and technical environment in which concepts can be given concrete form. It catalyzes their ideas by providing critical feedback grounded in professional experience. These new creations are then exposed to a receptive responsive niche public at STEIM before being groomed for a larger audience.

STEIM – 40 years in live electronic arts by Takuro Mizuta Lippit / Artistic Director of STEIM

For the last forty years STEIM, STudio for Electro-Instrumental Music, Amsterdam has been the leading institution in research, development and facilitating live electronic music and arts. Many unique instruments and tools have been created over the years; Blackbox Modular Synth System, Crackle Box, SensorLab, The Hands, LiSa and JunXion are just to name a few. STEIM has also functioned as an active hub of ideas and people, becoming a safe house for an international community. Today, STEIM continues to support artists through it’s artist in residency program, educational program and concert series.

This presentation will introduce the general history of STEIM and it’s work method through various examples of artists and projects. Recent activities will also be presented as well as the challenges that the institution faced in 2008.
Visit the STEIM website…

Kanta Horio
Kanta Horio studied acoustics and sound art at the Kyushu Institute of Design in Fukuoka, Japan. He present audio performance using physical phenomena with electronic devices, kinetic objects, and assorted self-built gadgets. In recent presentations he has explored installations too. He has performed widely both internationally and throughout Japan. Alongside his performance activities, he organizes some unique events such as “dorkbot tokyo – people doing strange things with electricity”.
Visit Kanta Horio’s website…

David Wessel
David Wessel studied mathematics and experimental psychology at the University of Illinois and received a doctorate in mathematical psychology from Stanford in 1972. His work on the perception and compositional control of timbre in the early 70’s at Michigan State University led to a musical research position at IRCAM in Paris in 1976. In 1979 he began reshaping the Pedagogy Department to link the scientific and musical sectors of IRCAM. In 1985 he established a new IRCAM department devoted to the development of interactive musical software for personal computers. In 1988 he began his current position as Professor of Music at the University of California, Berkeley where he is Director of CNMAT. He is particularly interested in live-performance computer music where improvisation plays an essential role.
Visit David Wessel’s website…

Douglas Ewart
The kaleidoscopic talent of Douglas Ewart has expressed itself in so many forms–instruments that double as sculptures, music that combines the traditions of four continents with fresh inventions, masks and costumes fit for rituals ominous or joyous, death-defying improvisations combining master musicianship and acting-that the whole might be mistaken for the work of a small culture rather than one man.
Visit Douglas Ewart’s website…

Puzzleweasel
Puzzleweasel is the sonic output of Peter Dahlgren. Originally swedish, the puzzleweasel was brought up around europe in Zürich, Amsterdam and Stockholm and now resides in Aarhus, Denmark. Where he started churning out his music in 2001. Fueled by years of dance floor attendance at raves and jungle/ dnb venues he started sculpting away at his intricate take on beat programming. Quickly getting recognition for his uncompromising sound and overwhelming presence on stage.
Visit Puzzleweasel’s website…

Wafaa Bilal
Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal is a professor at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. He has exhibited his art world wide, and traveled and lectured extensively to inform audiences of the situation of the Iraqi people, and the importance of peaceful conflict resolution. Bilal’s dynamic installation Domestic Tension placed him in front of a paintball gun which people could shoot at him over the internet, 24 hours a day. The month-long piece spurred online debates and intense conversations, garnering the praise of the Chicago Tribune, which called it “one of the sharpest works of political art to be seen in a long time” and named him Artist of the Year in 2007. Newsweek called it “breathtaking.” But it is the resulting dialogue that Bilal seeks, as an artist who feels he does not have the privilege to create work that is not political. In the face of a war that stretches on, the 2004 deaths of his brother and father, the violence in his own history, Bilal seeks to imbue his audiences with a sense of empowerment that comes from hope in the enduring potential of humanity. In fall 2008 City Lights published “Shoot an Iraqi: Life, Art and Resistance Under the Gun,” about Bilal’s life and the Domestic Tension project.
Visit Wafaa Bila’s website…

Ray Lee
UK sound artist Ray Lee’s bewitching sonic sculptures become an extraordinary choir that produces mesmerizing drones and whirls of light in a carefully shaped hourlong sound /theatrical performance. An indescribable experience, Siren incorporates 30 large metal tripods at varying heights with rotating arms that generate electronic tones. In near darkness, two performers set each arm in motion, building a dramatic, immersive spectacle of choreographed movement, light, and sound while the audience is free to roam the McGuire stage. Siren was a hit of the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Visit Ray Lee’s webite…

Pole
Although you won’t find his name in their catalog, Stefan Betke has been closely associated with the Berlin-based Basic Channel label and BC artists such as Maurizio, Monolake, and Vainqueur. Like those artists’ bassy, dub-laden reductions of techno and house, Betke’s work (appearing so far on the Kiff SM, Din, and Mute labels under the name Pole) has been all about doing more with less — snaps, clicks, crackles, and smudgy bass atmospheres occupy the whole of Pole 12- inches such as “Tanzen” and “Raum Eins/Raum Zwei,” as well as Betke’s aptly titled series of CD releases issued by Kiff and distributed to American audiences by Matador. Where most Basic Channel releases cling fearlessly to the throbbing momentum of 4/4 minimalism, however, Betke draws complex, intricate rhythms from the crisp analog haze, layering rich, ghosted melodies over multitracked tape hiss and a barrage of syncopated skips and stutters. Betke’s nom de plum derives, as usual, from a sound- processing device — the Waldorf 4 Pole-Filter, from which issue the strained creaks and crackles that identify and characterize his music.

Speedy J
Jochem Paap, aka Speedy J, is a Rotterdam-based techno musician whose polished blend of melodious electro-pop with a harder, more Detroit- fueled edge has been among the most highly-praised of post-rave European techno. The Dutch rep in Richie “Plastikman” Hawtin’s Plus 8 label, Paap was equally well-known as a club DJ (his nom de record is in reference to his prowess on the cut) before deciding in 1997 to curtail his DJ engagements and focus on his music. His 1993 debut LP, Ginger, was an engaging blend of ambient textures and hard, crisp beats, and was immediately smacked with the “intelligent dance music” tag, aided by the inclusion of a pair of tracks on the first volume of Warp’s influential (Artificial Intelligence) series. Paap has since released several follow-ups under the Speedy J moniker (G-Spot, Public Energy No. 1, A Shocking Hobby) and two solo albums in an ambient series for Fax titled Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 (just re-insert the missing vowels for a quick translation). He’s also recorded a scattering of material as Public Energy for Plus 8, as well as for his own Beam Me Up! label before discontinuing the latter in 1996.

Guerino Mazzola
Author of over ten books and over 90 papers in the fields of Arithmetic, Topology, Category Theory, Algebraic Geometry, Mathematical Music Theory, Brain Research, Computergraphics in the Arts, Performance Theory, Computer Musicology. Mazzola is an internationally recognized jazz pianist. Production of several LPs and CDs; composition grants of the City of Z¸rich. Extensive tours as a jazz pianist in Europe, USA, Corea, Japan, Indonesia, and Mexico.

Scott Pagano
Scott Pagano is a filmmaker, motion designer and spatial reconstructionist. He is a leading edge exemplar of the current digital vanguard reinventing the fine art as well as pop art worlds. He is a visionary and acclaimed Creator Director and Designer in the interactive visual storytelling arts that are being more and more demanded by feature film and video gaming audiences. His motion art works and music videos have been screened in venues ranging from, movie theaters, fine art galleries, international film and music festivals, and MTV. Working with some of the most innovative artists in the Music and Film worlds, Scott has created abstract and conventional digital artworks that push the boundaries of audio- visual composition and process combining a dynamic mix of cinematographic and synthetic imagery. The narratives streaming in his video artworks lay the foundation for the storytelling of a new age.

Keir Neuringer
Born in New York in 1976, KEIR NEURINGER is active as an improvising saxophonist, a composer of electronic and acoustic music, and a vocal performer. His output ranges from pulse-based electronic music, through free jazz and experimental electroacoustic improvisation, to notated compositions for contemporary classical ensembles. He also writes texts and makes videos and installations critical of the destructive behavior of the dominant culture. In 1999 he moved to Europe and spent ten years, during which time he was a Fulbright scholar at the Academy of Music in Kraków and a master’s degree graduate of The Hague’s experimental interdisciplinary ArtScience Institute. It was during these ten years that he cultivated a personal and intensely physical approach to solo saxophone performance that both honors and eschews many diverse music-making traditions. He also cleaned offices, worked as an undocumented helper at a children’s daycare center, and curated the audiovisual program at contemporary art platform <>TAG. Keir Neuringer collaborates with a wide and undefined network of musicians, including Rafal Mazur, Ensemble Klang, Joel Ryan, DJ Sniff, Carlos Iturralde and Matt Bauder. He has performed and exhibited works in the US, Mexico, Israel, Turkey, South Africathroughout Europe. He lives in New York.

Also Featuring:

Danceband, Second Life Avatar Orchestra, Beatrix*JAR, and many more!

Archaic game and home computer hardware is recast into the unlikely role of musical instrument and motion graphics workstation at the Blip Festival 2008, a four-day event showcasing nearly 40 musicians and visual artists occupying the international low-res cutting edge.

The Blip Festival takes place DECEMBER 4—7, 2008 at the Bell House, and is presented by Manhattan art organization THE TANK and NYC artist collective 8BITPEOPLES.

Minitek

for the first minitek, we’ve been lucky to get support from some of the most exciting electronic music talents from around the world. alongside the most sought-after artists who have a solid following in the US, you will hear top acts from abroad whose US debuts have been eagerly awaited for years and you’ll discover young emerging artists that are currently gaining tremendous momentum, some of which are home-grown new york locals.

we know that the genre of “electronic music” covers many other facets that you won’t find on minitek’s lineup, like progressive or drum’n’bass for instance. we chose the term because most artists can’t possibly be reduced to one single genre, and it leaves room for interpretation and development.

as for the innovation aspect of minitek, we wanted to bring some of the most ingenious projects and inventions from all around the world off the internet and right to your doorstep. we selected a range of experimental art and technology installations that you can discover and try out in the innovation pavillion during the day. and during the night, visual artists will fill the walls with their most unconventional projections.

Featured artists include: Richie Hawtin, Tiefschwarz, Audion (aka Matthew Dear), Troy Pierce, M.A.N.D.Y and Monoblock.

Lineup info, free podcast downloads and information on a remix competition are available at the Minitek site.

Image: Eric Hamilton

Moby does his DJ thing at Love Parade 2008.

Before the Moby haters come out – this is worth a watch just for the crowd shots. Love Parade is an awesome freakfest.

Dozens of partygoers at an outdoor rave near Moscow have been partially blinded after a laser light show burned their retinas, say Russian health officials. 12 cases of laser blindness were recorded at the Central Ophthalmological Clinic in the city.

Ravers at the Aquamarine Open Air Festival in Kirzhach, 80 kilometres northeast of Moscow, began seeking medical help days after the show, complaining of eye and vision problems.

“They all have retinal burns, scarring is visible on them. Loss of vision in individual cases is as high as 80%, and regaining it is already impossible,” Kommersant quoted a treating ophthalmologist as saying.

Great light shows are almost a requirement for big electronic music shows. Unfortunately, it sounds like the organizers of this light show were either irresponsible or ignorant of the potential dangers of lasers.

via New Scientist

Then check out one of the upcoming International Noise Conference events:

• International Noise Conference Toronto,Saturday 9 August 2008
• International Noise Conference Japan/Korea Tour 2008 website
• International Noise Conference Euro Tour 2009 website
• Central & South America / Australia & NZ dates tba
• International Noise Conference USA Tour 2008 website

The rules:

• NO DRONING!
• NO LAPTOPS!
• NO MIXER BOARDS!

Trailer for the Loveparade 2008 in Dortmund, July 19th – what some call “the greatest Party in the world”.

Announced artists include: Richie Hawtin, Paul Van Dyk, Armin Van Buuren, Carl Craig, Dubfire, Anja Schneider, Audion and Underworld.

It should be a great opportunity for Greek synth fans to see some live electronic music action.

Here’s a link to our review of Sirros’ recent release as Parallel Worlds, Obsessive Surrealism.

In additon, Bakis Sirros of Parallel Worlds will offer a 3-hour analogue modular synthesis workshop with his A-100 on the 14th of June, Saturday evening on Bios building, Athens.

The workshop is focused on the application of the basic methods of synthesis (Subtracti ve, FM, AM) on analogue modular synthesizers (the Doepfer A-100 analogue modular synthesizer will be used as an example).

Application of analogue VCOs, LFOs, Envelopes, VCAs, Ring modulator, Waveshapers, Sample and Hold for the creation of simple and intricate sonic tones, drums and sound effects in the modular environment. Connection with cv / gate keyboard controller. Application of analogue step-sequencers and analogue modular synths as real-time sound manipulation tools (interactive link between sound source and analogue modular). Practical application of analogue modulars and MIDI.

via Doepfer