Club Michigan - Back to Detroit
Instead of being greeted with looplooplooploop, the residents intend to stir up their own recipe of hi-tech funk
| 17 Mar 2006
Access has a receded moustache, Dogma has retired and Musotica and UTI are unfortunately a rare breed. React, JakN and several Red Vodka nights are pushing the harder side of things but where is the soul? You get the picture; there is something drastically missing in Edinburgh's 'techno scene'. The four DJs promoting Club Michigan (Chris, James, Marc and Brian) now have enough time, saved cash and motivation to bring something much-needed to Edinburgh's Fridays, to twist the local club experience back to a Detroit way of thinking.
Pure was the last Edinburgh club that consistently brought in Detroit's underground, yet most of the punters were only aware of the club's identity. Michigan's love of a local party goes hand in hand with the respect they have for clubs like Solescience and Tokyoblu who have brought many through their doors due to their residents' enthusiasm: "They have tried out a formula and it works. Booking DJs that most people don't necessarily know doesn't matter if the club's reputation is strong. That is why we started with three resident nights and the pre-club – so we can get the people listening to what we like."
Few other Edinburgh clubs are reliably maintaining a pre-club session, but from half-six the City Café basement hosts the free 'Ron Hardy Appreciation Society', a gathering that indeed bows its head to an icon of early Chicago house nights. Instead of being greeted with looplooplooploop, the residents intend to stir up their own recipe of hi-tech funk. Stressed as not just another night of techno but rather as a club that plays all that the industrial graveyard and its surroundings have to offer, expect the funk of Chicago thrown in along with the inspirational (especially amongst young males) Detroit sound.
This venture is also a chance for the residents to book acts that they have not seen live before. The lack of similar nights and the stealth of the lesser-known Detroit DJs have been hard to penetrate: "bar Rolando (now a UK resident), it has been five years since a 'proper' UR Detroit night has been held in Edinburgh. For Scotland's capital city that is a pretty pathetic statistic." That is why they are going to do it big this time. March 17 will bring UR's hottest touring assault DJ of the moment – DJ 3000. Ignore what seems like an obsessive love affair and go see what the Detroit vibe is really about; vibrant DJ sets without all the bullshit. From Detroit, Michigan to Edinburgh, Midlothian the residents are committed on bringing the dance movement's true innovators to Edinburgh and keeping their club's spirit alive. [Andrew Cooke]
Pure was the last Edinburgh club that consistently brought in Detroit's underground, yet most of the punters were only aware of the club's identity. Michigan's love of a local party goes hand in hand with the respect they have for clubs like Solescience and Tokyoblu who have brought many through their doors due to their residents' enthusiasm: "They have tried out a formula and it works. Booking DJs that most people don't necessarily know doesn't matter if the club's reputation is strong. That is why we started with three resident nights and the pre-club – so we can get the people listening to what we like."
Few other Edinburgh clubs are reliably maintaining a pre-club session, but from half-six the City Café basement hosts the free 'Ron Hardy Appreciation Society', a gathering that indeed bows its head to an icon of early Chicago house nights. Instead of being greeted with looplooplooploop, the residents intend to stir up their own recipe of hi-tech funk. Stressed as not just another night of techno but rather as a club that plays all that the industrial graveyard and its surroundings have to offer, expect the funk of Chicago thrown in along with the inspirational (especially amongst young males) Detroit sound.
This venture is also a chance for the residents to book acts that they have not seen live before. The lack of similar nights and the stealth of the lesser-known Detroit DJs have been hard to penetrate: "bar Rolando (now a UK resident), it has been five years since a 'proper' UR Detroit night has been held in Edinburgh. For Scotland's capital city that is a pretty pathetic statistic." That is why they are going to do it big this time. March 17 will bring UR's hottest touring assault DJ of the moment – DJ 3000. Ignore what seems like an obsessive love affair and go see what the Detroit vibe is really about; vibrant DJ sets without all the bullshit. From Detroit, Michigan to Edinburgh, Midlothian the residents are committed on bringing the dance movement's true innovators to Edinburgh and keeping their club's spirit alive. [Andrew Cooke]
Club Michigan, The Venue, Mar 17, £TBC.