Detroit’s Movement Electronic Music Festival is one of the most important techno festivals in the world. Each year luminaries from the genre descend upon the city to celebrate techno’s past, present and future during an amazing weekend.
When we found out Polish duo Catz N Dogz (listen to our exclusive premiere of “Killing With Kindness” feat. Phat Kat) were headed to the Motor City to make their debut at the annual shindig, we asked Grzegorz Demianczuk and Wojciech Taranczuk to keep a diary of their experiences.
Not only did Demianczuk and Taranczuk succinctly capture the essence of their visit — hanging with Midland and Eats Everything to playing an after-hours party with Soul Clap — the duo snapped gorgeous black-and-white photos that are truly a sight to behold.
Soak it all up below and be sure to keep on eye out for their upcoming full-length album, Basic Colour Theory, due out shortly.
Started in Washington, D.C. full of energy! We’ve played at U Street Music Hall many times already and it’s definietly one of the most professional clubs in the US. We already have a good relationship with everybody that works there and the cool thing about the club is there is always a lot of professional dancers so we always play some broken beats and then some hip-hop at the end. If our flight from NYC hadn’t been delayed for three hours it would have been even more fun!
Hello Detroit
After pre-party in D.C. on the way to Detroit, it was perfect weather for DEMF weekend. On the plane we decided that we were going to play a lot of classics, so since it’s our first time and it’s always been a dream to play there we thought this is the right way to do it! Pulled out a mashup of The Prodigy and our tune “They Frontin’.”
We had a quick look at the empty buildings around downtown. There is something disturbing and disconcerting about all those abandoned buildings and kind of inspiring on the other hand. The good thing is that thanks to DEMF weekend there are so many people in the city, it’s one of the safest days to walk around Detroit and check out all those buildings. The empty train station is definitely worth visiting. Last time when we were there they were shooting for Transformers inside there.
Lunch with Midland
When we arrived we managed to get a quick lunch with Midland, Eats Everything and our friends from Liaison Agency. All you can eat buffet in MGM! On the way through the casino (which by the way is also a super weird place!), Midland spotted this place; the photo says it all.
Quick round at the casino MGM
It’s crazy to walk around the casino; there is no way you will not get lost there. If you go to the restaurant, which of course is at the very end, on the way back you have to make three circles until you find the exit. The casino is usually full of old people drinking coffee and trying their luck to win a few bucks.
At the festival, KiNk was already destroying the Beatport stage.
We have played with KiNk at so many parties, but we always come early to watch him play. He’s one of the best entertainers in the music business.
The only problem this time was the sun stopped him being able to see the USB controller lights so the stage management team had to build real quick special covers for equipment. Worked out pretty great at the end!
Spent most of the time with this weirdo.
Yeah, well, we usually spend most of the time with Dan (Eats Everything) as it’s always a lot of laughs. Actually the next day we played a spontaneous B2B set at EDC in New Jersey.
Caught an amazing breakdance battle.
This is what makes this festival special. We were standing there for like an hour just watching a dance battle. Don’t know how old this girl was but she definitely rocked it and the crowd was going nuts.
Dixon as usual in top form at mainstage.
Managed to catch half of his set. Masterpiece as always.
After playing the after party too and only getting one hour of sleep, morning was not easy. The city in the sunrise looked really monumental.
After the festival we went to have a quick disco nap and then played at EFUNK party for our friends Soul Clap. We played a completely different set at 3am in the patio of TV Lounge — mostly disco edits and some deep house, it was a great rare opportunity for us.
This is how the city looked at 6am.
