Movement 2013 – Sounds and Sights

This post and photos from Mikel O.D. of MPAD Media (keep checking back because there will be more MCB Movement coverage to come)

This year’s Movement Electronic Music Festival was another epic success with all 5 stages hosting numerous brilliant sets and a massive crowd that brought in the styles and energy that make the festival one of the best. This was my first year with a photo pass and I took full advantage of it taking over 600 pics for the 2 days I attended. Here’s a breakdown of what I heard and saw :

Day One: Saturday
I arrived around 2pm and found a line already formed a couple blocks long but moving at a pretty good pace. My first stop was at the Made in Detroit stage for Ataxia. The Made In Detroit stage, I’ll call the “feel good” stage as there were plenty of people but there was always room to move and the crowd there was definitely moving and grooving the entire weekend.

Ataxia

Later I made my way to the Underground Stage which was complete madness. Stacked from front to back with little room to spare, if you were into to the more amped up side of things this was the place. But I think once those that staked their place in the main floor area probably didn’t have an easy time moving from there. My time in the Underground Stage was well spent as I took in a fantastic set from Nina Kraviz who came all the way from Russia to play.

Nina Kraviz

The Red Bull Stage was the headliner stage (with a couple notable exceptions) where the immense floor and seating area had a good crowd throughout the day and filled to capacity for the evening sets. I saw Shigeto play, who has a different approach to his electronic music set as he played drums for most of his set mixing it in with electronics. Onra, from France came on next and played a set of what I am going to call exotic hip hop.  In the evening Carl Craig played an inspired set that enthralled the crowd for his entire 90 minute set.

Shigeto

Carl Craig

At the back in the wooded area was the Electric Forest Festival area where dubstep and hip hop beats ruled and the crowd was a mix of dubsteppers and a more bohemian crowd. Here, I saw Sinnestar perform as well as new-to-Movement DJ Nit Grit, who comes from Bay area. His heavy dubstep set got the crowd worked into a real frenzy.

Nit Grit

The night reached perfection for me on the Beatport stage as Moby played an incredible set that didn’t let the crowd rest for second. I hadn’t seen Moby perform in quite a few years and didn’t know what he would have in store for the night. Turns out, Moby is still a stellar artist that gives his all on the stage. He jumped on his DJ table throughout the night edging the crowd ever closer to sheer ecstasy.

Moby

Day 2: Sunday
I’ll be honest and admit that I probably over-extended myself on Saturday (blame Moby!) so I took a lax approach to Sunday. Arriving later in the afternoon at the Red Bull Stage I took in a set of throwback electro and industrial from Adult. The duo had a tremendous stage presence with Adam behind his synths in leather jacket and Nicole cavorting around the stage singing both their old and new songs from their excellent release “The Way Things Fall.”

Adult.

Later Audion (Matthew Dear) played a DJ set behind some sophisticated decks. His music was full of beats but also had quite a bit of nuanced noise which made it one of the more interesting sets of the weekend.

Audion

For the evening I spent my time at the Electric Forest area where I got a chance to take some photos from the stage area. I was expecting a set from The M Machine (who are great) but instead Big Chocolate was performing a thick set of hip hop and electronics.

Big Chocolate

I ended the night with Stacy Pullen, which truth be told, was one of the only artists I saw actually mixing vinyl. With some regrets, I didn’t make it back for Monday which I’m sure was another day of great music with local favorites Deastro and Phantasmagoria making appearances.

Finally, the other part that makes Movement such an incredible event are the people that come to their show with their enthusiasm and particular sense of fashion to compliment the music. Here’s a few pics of the weird and wonderful people:

You can see more of my pics from Movement at my MPAD Media and flickr pages.