- With a career that stretches back 30 years, it's difficult to believe it took DJ Stingray until 2015 to play in New York. The Drexciya associate has always lived slightly in the shadows, taking long breaks away from the studio and masking his productions behind aliases such as Urban Tribe. His dedicated pursuit of electro, a niche genre even in Detroit, is part of the reason for this, though his reputation as one of the Motor City's most formidable DJs has never been in question. Aurora Halal's Mutual Dreaming parties have a history of booking Detroit's more leftield names—Terrence Dixon, DeepChord, Anthony "Shake" Shakir—and so were an obvious fit for Stingray's debut. Supported by a cast that included Phil Moffa, Vereker and residents Halal and Ital, the buzz was strong in the lead-up.
I arrived just after 1 AM and the Brooklyn loft location was already packed to capacity with a line out the door. Moffa had begun his live set in harder techno mode to match the sweatbox rave inside and prepare the crowd for Stingray, who was slated to follow. Nitemind's production was brilliant as per, with colorful lights and smoke engulfing the dance floor. This, coupled with the sauna-like temperatures and Moffa's driving techno, made for an overwhelmingly intense atmosphere, but you soon got used to it. The roof deck offered some respite from the heat, but with Moffa dropping choice tracks like his own "Elevation," sweating it out seemed the smarter option.
As soon as he went on, Stingray's mastery was evident. Beginning his set at 140 BPM and climbing past 150 over the course of two hours, he rarely left records on for more than 90 seconds. His breathless pace was matched by the crowd, who danced with abandon, some taking off their shirts to cope with the heat. Limited by tempo, Stingray's set remained grounded in older Detroit techno, classic Drexciya and his own productions, hot-mixing tracks the Motown way. It was a stunning performance.
Vereker followed, lowering the tempo a notch and revelling in the furious rave that was before him. Pulling from Downwards Records and rarely-heard classics like Maurizio's remix of Vainqueur's "Lyot," the intensity barely flagged for the duration, although heat had begun to thin the floor. By 6 AM it got too much for me, and Ital and Aurora Halal's unscheduled back-to-back wasn't enough to keep me there. Given Stingray's set and the rapturous reception he received from the New York audience, hopefully the city won’t have to wait another 28 years for him to return.