Off to Detroit this weekend? Check out our picks for the best of what goes on outside Hart Plaza.
When people say they're going to Movement festival, they don't usually mean just the festival proper itself. Like many of the world's other top dance music festivals, Movement has made way for an awe-inspiring weekend of parties to pop up around it, taking over Downtown Detroit (and beyond) once ravers are done partying over at Hart Plaza at midnight. As with every year, there are opening parties, closing parties and crazy things happening in between, with revered Detroit locals and internationally renowned stars all taking part.
Our list is by no means comprehensive—for that, check here—but it does give you a good idea of what's going on. And, of course, we're returning to Detroit ourselves this year, with a pre-festival blowout at TV Lounge.
Friday
As usual, you can get an early start to the long weekend with some Friday night shenanigans. We're teaming up with Chicago's Smart Bar crew at TV Lounge for a ten-hour, three-room bash featuring Bicep, David Morales, The Black Madonna and Derek Plaslaiko, to name a few. Meanwhile, an unsurprisingly techno-heavy Blank Code and Oktave party at The Works has Shifted, Paula Temple and Silent Servant atop the lineup, and a rare local show for Three Chairs—AKA Rick Wilhite, Theo Parrish, Marcellus Pittman and Kenny Dixon Jr (Moodymann)—will take place at Bert's Warehouse Theater.
The new club Populux (previously known as Magic Stick) has a short but sweet lineup, with John Acquaviva, Stacey Pullen and Daniel Bell, playing a live set as DBX, all confirmed, while SF jock Jason Kendig and Ghostly and Cocktail D'Amore affiliate Jeffrey Sfire take to the decks at the Whisky Parlor, and MGUN heads up a locals-only lineup inside the historic Fisher Building. Back at TV Lounge (next door to our joint gig with Smart Bar), Auxetic and a squad of longtime Motor City talent including Bruce Bailey and Norm Talley will again be out in force. Wolf + Lamb duo No Regular Play and Droog are billed at Bleu, and last but not least for Friday, Rocksteady Disco have a Takeover planned at MotorCity Wine with Chrissy—the encyclopedic Chicago selector previously known as Chrissy Murderbot—and Pontchartrain on the lineup, among others.
Saturday
As thousands of Detroiters and tourists begin to descend on Hart Plaza, promoters really begin to fan out across Motor City. Kai Alce's been living in Atlanta for some time now, but the Detroit-born house producer brings it all back home every year for Deep Detroit, an afterparty where attendees can pick up vinyl records only available on-site. Alce's signed up Juan Atkins for headlining duty. Keeping things local (and very dubby), Rod Modell AKA DeepChord will host a seven-hour, BYOB party at 3975 Beaufait.
Venturing further afield, Eden One brings a heavy lineup to the scene, taking over The Garden Theater on Woodward for an event headlined by Vatican Shadow. Downwards US-signed weirdos Marshstepper and Northern Electronics artist Varg round out the lineup. On a different note, Club Toilet harnesses the growing subculture of musically switched-on gay parties, with The Black Madonna (who presides over the gay-friendly Smart Bar in Chicago), Jeffrey Sfire, Wrecked's Ryan Smith and other far-flung reps.
Saturday's not without its superstars heading underground after sets on the festival main stage, too. The Disclosure lads will head over to the Masonic Temple after their Movement set. Saturday also marks the start of Soul Clap's 13-hour House Of Funk event, held at the TV Lounge, where the wild, Red Bull Music Academy-facilitated lineup presents Alexander Robotnick, Eddie Fowlkes, Recloose and a dozen others at the Cass Corridor watering hole. Innervisions brings a bit of Teutonic class to City Club for the official night one afterparty, with Mano Le Tough, Recondite and DJ Tennis joining fearless leaders Dixon and Ame.
Sunday
Before we take a survey of Sunday's afterparty madness, one little reminder: this weekend is a marathon, not a sprint. One morning party to keep in mind is Rocksteady Disco's Funky Breakfast at Whiskey Disco, which starts at 7 AM with Chrissy and Pontchartrain again on hand. Looking to the late evening, TV Lounge will be the setting for another edition of OK, Cool, with Seth Troxler, Move D, DJ Tennis and Rick Wade all part of a stacked night-into-morning lineup. Blank Code will return to The Works for another techno blowout, this time with LA's Droid Behavior crew and a bill that features Steve Rachmad, Rødhåd and Reeko, and over at City Club, Paradigm will join forces with Visionquest and No.19 for a two-floor bash—Ryan Crosson, Lee Curtiss, Shaun Reeves and Art Department are all in on the action.
Interdimensional Transmissions and The Bunker will host their No Way Back session at Tangent Gallery with a for-the-heads, mostly familiar cast of underground talent, like Carlos Souffront, Patrick Russell, Mike Servito and Erika (but don't forget Spectrum Spools boss John Elliott, on hand for his debut DJ set). At the Russell Bazaar, Marcellus Pittman, Cordell Johnson and Zernell will play a Detroit edition of Chicago's deep house monthly Excursions, while Nightsneak does a Dirtybird showcase at the Fillmore with Claude VonStroke and company.
Carl Craig's intimate MotorCity Wine gig—which donates all ticket profits to the Detroit Institute of Arts—moves to Sunday night this year, and the techno icon will share the bill with an unannounced guest. Sian and Marc Houle head up an Octopus Recordings party at Bleu, while M!X Bricktown hosts plenty of seasoned local jocks like Eddie Fowlkes, Juan Atkins and Keith Worthy. And then Populux will host a party with Nina Kraviz and her ???? label-mates, including Terrence Dixon, Exos and Bjarki (and the only time on time on this list that you'll see Robert Hood).
Monday
For the battlers among us, Monday morning holds some of the weekend's most legendary parties. Erstwhile Detroit troublemakers Seth Troxler, Ryan Crosson take over long-running music dive the Old Miami for the tenth edition of Need I Say More, starting at 7:30 AM Monday morning—and there are usually a few surprise guests. Third-shifters with a taste for live techno should head over to the Industry Brunch where Pittsburgh hardware veteran Shawn Rudiman plays alongside other brunch regulars like Titonton Duvante, DJ Shiva and more.
Fast-forward about 15 hours and you're at no loss for options after the festival proper shutters. The official closing party is going big before going home, too, with Windsor son Richie Hawtin and his fellow Ibiza mainstay Loco Dice taking the reins over at the Masonic Temple. But then there's Dirty Epic's massive afterparty, presented in partnership with The Bunker. For proof of the deep connections forged by the NYC party-turned-label, look no further than the affiliated artists on the bill—Atom TM, Reaganz, Romans (Tin Man and Gunnar Haslam) and Mike Servito (who spins back-to-back with Derek Plasaiko) make up just about half the lineup.
Elsewhere, Crosstown Rebels and Paradigm have teamed-up for a Detroit version of Rebel Rave featuring label boss Damian Lazarus, DJ Three and recent superstar signee Skream. The TV Lounge hosts the appropriately named party Last Cat Standing topped by MGUN and Sassmouth, while MIX Bricktown has one called Last Man Standing, and it features second wave staple Stacey Pullen.
Alexander Robotnick, Catz 'N Dogz, Dan Bain, Eddie Fowlkes, Mathew Jonson, Metro Area, Navid Izadi, Newcleus, Recloose, Scott Grooves, Soul Clap, Stacey Pullen, Tanner Ross, Terrence Parker, Thugfucker
Ryan Crosson, Lee Curtiss, Benoit & Sergio, Lee Foss, Nick Bassett, Max Jacobson, Mantas Steles, Art Department, Kenny Glasgow, Shaun Reeves, Nitin, Maher Daniel