rob's blog

FUSE-IN 2005: A ROUGH GUIDE (FESTIVAL ONLY)

It's time of year again. Samosas, corn dogs, lemonade and annoying booths with too loud of music and even more annoying people selling their wares. This time around the promoters had to bust their asses to make this one happen, and much to their credit, they pulled it off. This year's lineup is the most promising since year one of the DEMF. Not sure where to start or who these people are? Well, I gotcha covered. Sort of. Here's where I would be, if I were on the festival grounds the entire time. Which I won't be.

SATURDAY

12PM-1PM DJ SHORTROUND (MAIN STAGE) or DREW MADDOX (UNDERGROUND) : Depending on your favorite style of music, these two local yokels will be kicking things off in grand style. Shortround bringing the deephouse goods to ease your morning in, and Drew Maddox the dubbier side of techno.

2PM-3PM MIKE SERVITO (UNDERGROUND STAGE) - Mike Servito can kick your ass and the ass of your record collection. And he'll do it without mussing up his hair, his diesels or DJ set. One of my Detroit favorites and fellow Dorkwaver. I'll be the one in the Servito baseball hat in the front row.

From there, I'd probably go back to the hotel and chill out for a few hours, or go stop by the Ponch poolside (weather pending) for some drinks and talented local DJ folk.

7PM JOHN TEJADA (WATERFRONT STAGE)- Minimal techno madness in a DJ set from one the expert practitioners of the genre. From there, it's all about the back to back magic of

8-10PM FABRICE LIG AND ARIL BRIKHA (LIVE) (MAIN STAGE)- Detroit inspired european techno is a wonderful thing, simply because 7 times out of 10 it's better than Detroit techno. These two guys are examples of that.

or conversely if Detroit techno isn't your thing, Soundmurderer will be laying down an insane set of the highest quality at the Detroit Luv/DJ Supply tent around 9pm. This one gets super high thumbs up. I'll be missing Aril to see this one, no doubt.

10:30PM-11PM TONY OLLIVERRA- Tony's back in Detroit, and Detroit's all the better for it. An amazing DJ who is sorely underrated. Hopefully this will turn a few more heads on to him. He's worthy of your attention and dancing. If you like him, stick on around. I'm heading over to

11PM AKUFEN (UNDERGROUND STAGE)- A uf n cu up set f mi ma techno.
Maybe I'll check this out. Highly unlikely though. About this time of night the festival crowd gets woefully annoying, and the afterparties are about to kick off.

DAY TWO

There's really nothing on this day that captures my fancy too much. Okay, there's some awesome shit going on. I lied. If you're waking up late like I'll be, you'll probably get there about 2PM. Most of the best action will not be happening on a stage, per se, but at the Detroit Luv/DJ Supply stage.

02:00 - 03:00 : Electropunk
03:00 - 04:00 : Airport Society (Kage vs. Ryski)
04:00 - 05:00 : Rob Theakston vs. Allen Goodman
05:00 - 06:00 : Derek Plaslaiko
06:00 - 07:00 : Craig Gonzalez

This WILL be fun and the most exciting area to be at during this stretch of the day. Theakston and Goodman vs. Plaslaiko? Done. Forget it. It's awesome. Better than anything else going on at this time, bar none.

8PM STACEY PULLEN (MAIN STAGE)- From year one, Stacey has always pulled out all the stops on the main stage, and this year will be no exception. It's always ALWAYS the time when something magical happens with the crowd.

10PM MODEL 500 (LIVE)- The last time I saw Model 500 live I was so embarassed for Juan Atkins. It was an absolute disaster that should have been aborted from day one. Had it not been for Keith Tucker, that show would have never gone off. Juan has a habit of missing his gigs at the festival, and then when he does show, it's as mediocre as it gets. I'm willing to give him another shot, if only for redemption for that massacre that was last time. But after this? No more. He fails and he's forever blacklisted in my book. I don't care how many tunes Missy ganks from him. This is his last chance to prove his relevance to electronic music in 2005.

10:30PM ADAM BEYER (UNDERGROUND STAGE) - Pending a fuck up from Juan, this will be a rockin good time for you hard techno fans. His last few 12's have been outstanding, and I'm really looking forward to hearing what he does to a Detroit crowd up for party.

11PM KEVIN SAUNDERSON (MAIN STAGE)- I have to eat my shoe. I never ever thought Kevin could have pulled it together. Granted, the festival still hasn't happened, but I'm amazed at the quality lineup and execution in the given time frame. He's pulled it off, and for that he gets all the respect in the world. Forget those other dinosaur has beens pathetically living off their mantles who tried to run the festival, Kevin could very well be the real deal. Hats off to you, sir.

DAY THREE

12PM-1PM CLARK WARNER (UNDERGROUND STAGE) - One of my all time favorite memories of any festival was 12PM on the last day during year one. Bill Van Loo and I were both nursing hangovers, and it was a goregous day out. Simply beautiful. We listened to Clark's set on the grass and munched on Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwhiches. Then he played "A Wonderful Life" and everything seemed to sync and make sense. For some reason, they've got him on the underground stage this year, but like Stacey Pullen, Clark always has some of the best sets of the festival...favoring track selection and texture over flash and rhythm. Get your ass out of bed, get a samosa and a smooth and relax. This'll do the trick.

2PM-3PM KEITH KEMP (LIVE) (UNDERGROUND STAGE)- Like Clark, Keith can really shake it up and is pretty versatile. His live sets vary in style and scope from ambient to full on tech-house stompers, so it's anyone's guess what he'll play...but for certain whatever he does will be worth checking out.

3PM-4PM ELEMENT 8 (Detroit Luv stage) - Eric's a pretty talented DJ, and he's finally getting his shit together. Another one of the local yokels that hopefully will get more attention and generate a larger audience because of this.

6PM- 7PM BLAKE BAXTER (MAIN STAGE) - I'm really hoping Blake opens up a roll of parchment, starts reading off names and asking "What Happened?" for an hour. That's all I want. He doesn't have to touch a record, he just has to ask everyone "what happened". "'ey Steve! Wha' Happened?"

7PM-8PM CARL CRAIG (WATERFRONT STAGE)- Whatever.

9PM- DAN BELL (UNDERGROUND STAGE) - This might be impossible to get to, because King Richie will be playing later on after this. But in my opinion this will be the show to watch over Hawtin, because you know whatever in hell Hawtin does a bunch of e-tarded ravers will bug out and think it's the best thing ever. That's annoying.

10PM- UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE (LIVE) (MAIN STAGE) - Whomever put this on the same time as Dan Bell should get kicked squa in the nuts. But Underground Resistance live in Detroit is a rare and precious gem, and should NOT be missed under ANY circumstance. This will be THE show of the festival if it's pulled off. Wow.

11PM- GO HOME. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME BATTLING RAVERS TO SEE RICHIE HAWTIN. THERE WILL BE RIOTS, OVERCROWDING AND CRUSHING. IT WILL BE A DANGEROUS AFFAIR. AVOID AT ALL POSSIBLE COSTS. THIS IS YOUR FAIR WARNING.

So there. This is subject to modification on a whim, but it's a primer to things that get my seal of approval for this year's festival. Later on: the afterparties.

Stay tuned.

Posted by rob at May 26, 2005 06:07 AM