Our 80th exclusive podcast is a blazing live set recorded at The Underground in Dublin, an hour of Detroit techno that will blow your hair back and have you checking for when Octave One will hit your town.
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DOTW: Octave One, The Greater Good
March 25, 2011 – 10:01 AM
This week’s download is a sneak peak at Here, There and Beyond, the new album by Octave One.
BBH: Various Artists, NSC 1-4
February 9, 2011 – 11:01 AM
More than ten years after its 1998 release, NSC 1-4 remains a testament to the relationship between the National Sound Corporation and Detroit techno’s luminaries.
A Tribute to Aaron-Carl
December 28, 2010 – 1:01 AM
As an acclaimed musician and record label owner, as well as a friend, father and partner, Aaron-Carl wasn’t afraid to put himself into his art or speak his mind. Steve Mizek honors the Detroit great who passed away in September of 2010.
LWE Interviews Sherard Ingram
August 18, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Sherard Ingram’s music and life have simply seen too much growth and change to permit easy characterization. Sure, a through-line connects the span of his work, but not one that parallels any single current of electronic music history. Tipping our hats to The Wire, Little White Earbuds eagerly turn to Ingram with some follow-up questions of our own.
LWE Interviews Robert Hood
June 16, 2010 – 10:01 AM
In a career that spans some twenty years Robert Hood has indelibly left his mark on the techno landscape, and to this day he continues to explore his particular brand of stripped back, haunting techno funk. LWE spoke to Mr. Hood about his new album, Omega, injecting faith into music and hearing the echoes of Motown through techno.
LWE’s Movement 2010 Review
June 9, 2010 – 10:01 AM
As May rolls around each year, many dance music fans in America and around the world instinctively reach for their wallets and begin making preparations for Detroit’s annual electronic music festival, Movement.
LWE Podcast 50: Mike Huckaby
May 10, 2010 – 12:01 AM
Even if we could ignore all his considerable undertakings and accomplishments, Mike Huckaby would still be an LWE favorite for his refreshingly level-headed and thoughtful perspectives on the electronic music industry. We tried to coax a few of those out of him in the Q&A that follows, and we’re honored and thrilled to present, as LWE’s 50th podcast, an exclusive 78-minute mix from one of the crucial artists of our time.
LWE’s Guide to Movement Detroit 2010
May 5, 2010 – 10:01 AM
With so much to choose from, LWE has decided to reprise last year’s popular festival guide. Because the daily schedule has not yet been released we’re breaking things down by stage, so at least you’ll know where to be to see these incredible artists at work.
LWE Podcast 45: Stacey Pullen
March 8, 2010 – 12:01 AM
LWE spoke to Stacey Pullen about that album which lead to a bleak period of disillusionment, the early years at Transmat and feeling reinvigorated again with a basket-full of new music to unleash on the world. He was also kind enough to put together an exclusive mix for LWE of tracks he has been feeling lately.
BBH: Various Artists, Detroit: Beyond the Third Wave
January 27, 2010 – 11:01 AM
There have been plenty of Detroit techno compilations over the years; True People would probably rate as my favorite for its sheer comprehensiveness and myriad pieces of vinyl, though its spot at number one has often been contested in my mind by this compilation on Astralwerks which came out the same year in 1996. Packed with ten tracks of exclusive material from the creme of Detroit’s third wave of techno producers, it showcases their many different sides, from deep and hypnotic through to raw, jacking soul and clinical, electro funk. Though many of the producers on the album were familiar to me already, there were others like Ectomorph, Will Web, and Mode Selector I was discovering for the first time. Throughout it all can be heard strains from their mentors mixed in with the new directions in which these younger guns were taking the music.
LWE’s Movement 09 Round Up
May 31, 2009 – 10:09 PM
For many electronic music fans in America’s Midwest, the most anticipated event of each year is Movement: Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival, and for good reason. In spite of the reverence DJs and producer express for the region as the birthplace of house and techno, the Midwest is often passed over by DJs and producers whose U.S. tours reach no farther than New York and Los Angeles or San Francisco. While the reasons for this are too complex to tackle here, suffice it to say many Midwesterners — and those who travel from far and wide — relish the one time DJs and musicians annually descend upon Detroit en masse. It’s also a chance for Detroit’s homegrown talent to strut their stuff for larger audiences who seldom make it to the Motor City.
Win a Weekend Pass for Movement 09
May 4, 2009 – 10:30 AM
Once a year since 2000, electronic music fans flock to America’s techno mecca, Detroit, to celebrate in the only way they know how — four days of dancing. Paxahau’s Movement 09 festival provides us with numerous reasons to move it in Detroit Plaza this year from May 23rd to the 25th. Have a look at all the festival has to offer and win one of two weekend passes by answering our trivia contest.
Motor City Drum Ensemble, Lonely One
April 22, 2009 – 8:30 PM
Listening to “Lonely One,” the latest single from Motor City Drum Ensemble, I found myself focusing on the artist’s name more than his music. In all likelihood the Stuttgart-based producer (nee Danilo Plessow) picked the moniker as homage to Detroit’s many pioneering artists or as an unacknowledged nod to his hometown’s manufacturing claim to fame, but I can’t help feeling suspicious of his choice. A bit more than a year after minimal’s popularity bubble went bust, many producers and fans have found comfort in the “realness” seemingly innate in Chicago house and Detroit techno. Plessow’s music is likewise influenced by Detroit sounds; but as the press material for “Lonely One” admits, his is an outsider’s take that aims for more than emulation. Why then opt for an alias so tied to that ethos?
Shake, Levitate Venice
April 15, 2009 – 8:40 PM
Anthony “Shake” Shakir told Detroit’s Metro Times in 2002 he sometimes felt “like the invisible man of techno.” This rueful admission may well be partly true. While Shake’s first track was included on the compilation that coined the genre name (Techno: The New Dance Sound Of Detroit), he’s never had the high profile other Detroit first wavers have enjoyed. This outsider status is in some ways self imposed. Shake’s music has always been too idiosyncratic, too eclectic, too damn futuristic to fit in with any hype, trend or zeitgeist. Compare this to the single-minded approach of peers such as schoolmate Mike Huckaby or fellow drumming student Robert Hood, and it’s apparent that maybe a lack of a signature sound resulted in this long-term under appreciation. A typical Shake release, if there is such a thing, traverses genres, tempos and moods without even blinking. So it is with “Levitate Venice,” his first record for some four years.
Sons Of The Dragon, Sons Of The Dragon
December 8, 2008 – 11:15 PM
Chat-room scuttlebutt has swirled around the true identities (and merits) of the Sons Of The Dragon, the artists behind this limited-edition white double-12″ of deep Detroit-flavored techno.
Intrusion, Intrusion/Reflection
April 22, 2008 – 10:16 PM
[echospace [detroit]] Given the wobbly state of music distribution after the shuttering of Syntax, Amato and Watts Music and a dollar value which shrivels daily next to the euro, Detroit/Chicago-based label echospace can be forgiven for being stingy on new releases. Echospace released the majority of its catalog last year as well, which makes this [...]
Carl Craig, Sessions
February 29, 2008 – 12:02 AM
[!K7] Thanks to the generosity of Carl Craig and !K7, there’s a free download after the jump. After an artist reaches legendary stature too often they are boiled down to just that — a legend who needs no explaining or closer examination. Even though most of us are quite familiar with Carl Craig as a [...]