Written by Megan Caruso
Photo credit: Brandon Rabotnick
Detroit’s Movement Electronic Music Festival is particularly picky when curating artists to play in the heart of the city Techno calls home. The fest has always prided itself on staying underground, housing the hip-hop and DJ underdogs of genres cultivated far from the mainstream, so you can imagine the Twitter-spammed outrage when the 2018 lineup included Diplo.
He’s speculated to play a hip-hop/techno set, but Diplo went ahead and tweeted a thank you to a complaining purist for “safeguarding America’s techno scene” before making a snarky promise to play an “alt-country” set in Detroit’s Hart Plaza.
The good news? Movement has six stages, all stacked with artists dedicated to the mission of the fest, where you can find whatever else you’re looking for. The siren songs of the Underground Stage will have you diving down the rabbit hole to explore the showcase of fresh techno talent in the city of its birth.
You’ve heard of Golf Clap, and you’ve probably already seen their name plastered on an exhaustingly-lengthy list of lineups all over the country. Movement intentionally curates an exploratory experience of artists still unknown, and there’s no better time to check Golf Clap out for the first or fourth time. The Detroit-native duo is constantly playing alongside Dirtybird players, and even opened for GRiZmas 2017 in Detroit this past year. Come for the deep, funky house, leave with a new hometown favorite.
2018 is the year of girl power, and Movement has a solid selection of women DJs to check out again this year. Mija has made huge festival appearances including one at Coachella, but her hypnotizing trance will thrive in the intimate crowd in Hart Plaza. Prepare for the feels: Mija’s sure to spin tracks from her latest EP out earlier this year, How to Measure the Distance Between Lovers.
Justin Martin is no stranger to the Detroit scene, having constantly played in scattered smaller clubs all around the city and Metro area over the last year or two. Deep house takes on a new meaning when Dirtybird is involved, and no one is safe from the infectious beats that’ll get you grooving at Justin Martin’s set. Other players have been known to make appearances with their label-mates, so this set might come with a surprise.
Movement Electronic Music Festival is happening in Detroit’s Hart Plaza on Memorial Day weekend from May 25-27. Check out the full lineup, set times and festival details here:
