By Brendan M. Gillen
5/31/00

Pitch'd is MT's weekly column devoted to Detroit's dance music deejays, producers, promoters and intelligent club programming. Our purpose is to acknowledge and support the Detroit scene(s), but to also respect those who wish to keep their efforts underground.

Check out the entire Detroit Electronic Music Festival schedule of performing artists.

E-mail us, or send 12"s, mix tapes, party flyers and other points of BPM culture interest to Pitch'd, c/o Metro Times, 733 St. Antoine, Detroit, MI 48226.

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THE DSL ADVANTAGE

It used to seem like a science-fiction dream to be able to hear music and radio from all over the world in your home or office, but since the popularization of RealAudio, exciting, exotic music is just a Net burp away. We finally have a local challenger to betalounge in Paxahau.com. Started by catalysts of the Detroit rave scene – Jason Huvare, along with Jason Clark – Paxahau.com gets the depths of the electronic music scene and its core Detroit culture out to the world. It broadcasts in Hamtramck every Friday, from the ever-so-hip Cloud 9, a place where quality DJs such as Magda, Derek Plaslaiko and Johnny Saco play in a friendly environment with free entry, cheap drinks and a dungeon. I honestly can’t imagine a better atmosphere for this music. Now you agoraphobics can enjoy this vibe electronically via the Net – will miracles never cease? Those more in the mood for chill, rather than the house, techno, electro, etc., of Friday nights, can tune into the original Paxahau party on Sunday afternoons and evenings when a wide variety of abstract and ambient electronic music is played by guests including Clark Warner and Carlos Souffront. Directions to Cloud 9, 8534 Conant, Hamtramck: Take I-75 south to Caniff, go east on Caniff, then one mile south on Conant – it’s on the left. Call 313-932-0000. More info at www.paxahau.com.

LESS IS MORE

Thursday, June 1, will find another special show at Motor featuring some of those on the vanguard of German minimalism. With this, plus the Kit Clayton-Stewart Walker show and the upcoming Syst3m event on June 13, Motor could be onto something. One core group of electronic purists is the minimalists. Making a music that is so exact, eloquent in its subtraction and simplicity is hard work, and can make a man go bald. Minimalism began formally in music through visionaries of sound like Steve Reich, Philip Glass and LaMonte Young, but the power of the music has found a new home in this electronic generation, and astounding power in the hands of artists such as Panasonic’s Mika Vaino. The music may seem boring to the uninitiated, but for lifelong fans of minimalist pioneers including Robert Armani, Dan Bell, Rob Hood and Maurizio, it can offer boundless invention and energy from a seemingly limited playing field – playing games with your perception as your mind fills in things that aren’t there at the same time the music is shifting. It’s the exact thing that dies when you try to describe it – you’ve just gotta be there.

Thomas Brinkmann was initially introduced to Detroit by his reinterpretations of Richie Hawtin’s Concepts series using his unique double-tonearm turntable system. Brinkmann later came to capture our turntables with his infectious female name series on Max Ernst, featuring gems such as "Karin," on Dan Bell’s Tresor Mix CD. Though regrettably he no longer travels with those turntables, Brinkmann’s more recent material is accessible with its driving moments, rather than the focus on surface noise of his previous works. Accompanying Brinkmann will be longtime controversial German electronic music critic Triple R, better known as Reily R. Reinhold, DJ and collaborator on records on both the Disko B and Elektro labels, notorious at record stores around the globe. If you ever had a question about German minimalism, Mike Ink, etc., this is the man to ask. Rounding out the night will be locals Clark Warner and Derek Plaslaiko. Motor is at 3515 Caniff, Hamtramck. Call 313-369-0090. Curiously enough, the event will be broadcast by paxahau.com.

TRANSMISSIONS 2000

Continuing in the art-meets-techno vein, a recent multimedia show ran to enthusiastic audiences at 1515 Broadway, once home of the legendary Music Institute and often home to off-off-Broadway shows. The show was Pray Harder, featuring the music and video work of Ian Clarke (Perspects on Ersatz Audio, co-founder of Le Car) and the improvisational butoh-inspired movement and dance by Jeremy Kallio and his accompanying everywoman chorus produced by Tim Price. The evening began and closed with a distinguished selection of abstract music spun by the old Zoot’s Coffee crew of Carlos Souffront and Clark Warner.

The highlight of the show was when the three women began throwing themselves against the wall like lemmings as images of plastic surgery and a distorted Opie flashed on the video screen while Perspects’ music reached a stunning peak. Uncomfortable, ugly moods found a whole new life onstage, and the vision was clear as the show closed with the perfectly cynical lyrics of ABBA’s "SOS," stating, "I tried to reach for you, but you have closed your mind."

Pray Harder had some exceptional moments and the synchronicity between the movement, music and visuals was a new height in electronic music’s collision with other arts. Hopefully this show will be the impetus for a series of shows further combining disciplines.

Pitch’d is MT’s biweekly column devoted to Detroit’s BPM musiculture. Send info, releases and news to Pitch’d, c/o Brendan M. Gillen, PO Box 8298, Ann Arbor, MI 48107, or via e-mail.