Next, the link to a zip of the five track EP - High School Graffiti.

Tracklist

1. Got the Drop on Dem

2. Gunup Runup

3. My Naffew Randy

4. Unitarian

5. Who’s in Key ft. Theo Parrish

Rick Wilhite’s minimal online presence belies over twenty years in the industry as a DJ, promoter and music historian. He owns and manages ‘Vibes New and Rare Music’, a ‘real record store’ that is one of the best known in his home city of Detroit.

Wilhite has adopted several pseudonyms in his career, including DOC, Tech-12, Working Mixx and The Godson, and is best known for his involvement with the 3 Chairs project, alongside fellow Detroit luminaries Theo Parrish, Kenny Dixon Jr. and Marcellus Pittman.

His dark and grinding ‘Ruby Nights’ was the highlight of Third Ear’s Detroit Beatdown compilation, and the recently unearthed ‘Can You Feel Me?’ is the standout moment on Stilove4music’s sought-after ‘Lost Tracks From Detroit’. After a quiet 2010, ‘Analog Aquarium‘ is not only Wilhite’s first release of the year, it is also his first ever full length album: the double-vinyl package comes in a deluxe gatefold sleeve, with a CD version also included.

The opening Jackson 5-inspired track, ‘Blame It On The Boogie’ is the album’s finest moment, with deep muted kicks, warm jazz keys and a freestyle vocal from the inimitable Billy Love. It sounded incredible in the Beat Bar at the Southport Weekender and I’ve just noticed Benji B also dropped it on his show last night.

Wilhite’s low-key approach and limited output typifies the esoteric attraction of Detroit’s press-shunning, vinyl-loving underground. For those that know, this release is unmissable: a heavy collection of late night tracks and a scorching debut from the D.
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‘Analog Aquarium’ is available now from your favourite record shop.

Hart Plaza, Detroit, May 29-31, 2010

Movement Electronic Music Festival, “powered by … Ford Fiesta”(!)

Lucky there’s no such thing as the M1 in Michigan…

Very heavy line-up, but so much corporate sponsorship surrounds this event it’s a wonder they actually need to charge for tickets and aren’t just paying people to go. I felt a bit dirty after checking out the festival website so to spare you the sense of violation here’s a little background on the beautiful old mansion above, and the line-ups for the festival are pasted below.

Although the Motor City’s economy is in tatters, the people who live in The Villages, a collection of six historic neighborhoods three miles east of downtown, remain upbeat. “There’s a richness in this neighborhood,” says resident Kathy Beltaire. “The houses are beautiful and the streets are walkable, but the people here are the best part—they really care.” (From This Olde House magazine’s recent feature, Best Olde House Neighborhoods 2010.)

Now for the line-ups …

Richie Hawtin, Inner City, Juan Atkins headline, check out the rest of the schedule below.

Detroit has worked its magic again, this time the form of 18-year-old producer Kyle Hall. For man so young, his music is steeped in a maturity that belies his age. He runs his own label, Wild Oats, and has enjoyed a lot of hype surrounding his debut 12” on Hyperdub, Kaychunk/You Know What I Feel. With a selection of UK tour dates this month, we talk inspiration, the hustle, and how he wears that Motor City mantle so well.

How long have you been making music?

I’ve been making music since I was 11.

What got you into it?

What got me into making music was hearing it.

Do you feel the pressure of being part of Detroit’s mythical music scene?

No, not at all. I only do what I do. The only time there would be pressure is if someone is trying to compare themselves to others. I believe every artist that has come out of Detroit and has been successful is because of following their own way and not worrying about people in the past.

In your opinion, what is it about the city that’s bred such creative magic?

The reason Detroit has bred such creative magic is because it’s not such a friendly, happy-go-lucky and helpful city. It allows people to naturally create new ways of doing things. Doing things your own way is what I feel is the mantra of many artists here. When it comes down to it, the city isn’t very crew-oriented like, say, places like New York or London. It is a place where every man is for themselves at the end of the day. There are some people that are happy to help you along to an extent, but in Detroit it’s really, ‘do it on your own or else you’re not going to get anywhere.’ So out of that comes inventiveness because of this struggle that you have to go through to achieve whatever it is you’re trying to do. You find new ways of doing things sometimes when people don’t just hand you things.

Are you enjoying the touring? I read an interview that said you hadn’t travelled further than Canada before.

Yeah touring is cool. I’ve learned a lot about clubs, people and sound. So yes, it’s really great.

What’s been your favourite place so far? You met some good people?

My favorite place so far is the UK. I feel the people there receive the music I do the best. In the UK, I’ve also met some really great people.

How’s Wild Oats going? Are you signing any new artists or just concentrating on releasing your own work?

Wild Oats is going great! I’m getting ready to release a new record by yours truly called the Sun Goddess EP. It’s being pressed up right now and I’m shooting for it to be released late June early July. Wild Oats is for releasing my own stuff. Every now and then I might bring someone on board for a collaboration, but Wild Oats is me at my purest.

Kaychunk/You Know What I Feel is getting a lot of heat. It’s a great record. Did you anticipate such positive feedback?

Honestly? Yes. I knew people would eat up a record like that. I put together the ingredients of a feel-good record and had it released on a label where I thought my sentiments and ideas could be most properly expressed for these types of songs. It was a planned and successful experiment, definitely.

Kyle Hall is playing in London this Sunday 2 May at Hybridlife’s launch showcase. He’s also at the Southport Weekender the following weekend, and is back in London on 14 May for an Eglo Records party at Plastic People, sharing the bill with Floating Points.

Out of Okinawa, Japan:

Iori – Galaxy / Urge (info)

Listen in full via myspace.com/ioriasano

Detroit’s latest luminary:

Jason Fine – Future Thought (info and audio)

myspace.com/jfinemusic

And representing London and the UK:

Fourtet – Love Cry / My Bells (info and audio)

myspace.com/fourtetkieranhebden

Growing up in Conant Gardens on the South Side of the Detroit, Omar-S osmosed the oblique melodies and electronic sounds of video games in his grandfather’s arcade, got schooled by his pops’ passion for Motown records and came of age on his cousin’s mix-tapes of classic Chicago house tunes. He got his first keyboard at eleven and his first pair of turntables at fifteen. For the past 13-14 years he’s held down a day job at the Ford Motor Company, certifying car parts with the same magic markers that he’s used on the labels of those Omar-S vinyl 12’s which he’s produced in his own precious time. Quality control – 100%.

Despite the fact that he’s been making tracks since his teens and dropped his first label release, Omar-S 001, back in 2001 he’s still regarded as a cult artist. Like other Detroit artists Moodymann or Underground Resistance before him, Omar-S seemed to be comfortable maintaining his own mysterious persona. However, the release of the ‘Detroit’ album for Fabric Records seems poised to change all that. The music of Omar-S speaks for itself while Omar-S, the man, shoots from the hip.

“Am I part of the new Detroit Sound? Definitely… if not one of the key players. There’s a lot of people out there, around the world, playing Detroit music and they playing boring music. It’s not even fuckin’ mediocre. On a scale of 1-10 it’s a fuckin’ a Zero. I’m the kind of a person, whatever it is, it has to be unique – the women, the car, the video games, the record sound – it has to be unique to get my attention. Theo… I’m into his shit. There’s a lot of guys… Dennis Ferrer, Jerome Sydenham, Dixon … he’s making some good shit… there’s a couple of guys in Germany but as far as Detroit goes there’s a lot guys who are really slacking off. It’s time to go back upbeat. Downbeat is fuckin’ borin’. Upbeat… I brought that back into dance music. Period. Not just in Detroit. Listen the Fabric mix and you’ll hear the shit going up, that’s how it’s supposed to go.”

When he tells me he rarely DJ’s in Detroit I’m confused. “In Detroit, maybe I’ll DJ once a year. There is not an underground party scene here. A lot of people think there is but it’s not like that. There’s a lot of hip hop, R&B and Booty type shit but playing some Omar-S or some Dixon or some Theo Parrish… that’s not here.

So, when it comes to spinning tunes he’s off to New York or LA or Europe. Surprisingly, the Japan scene has proved elusive – he believes it’s the “Big Name” thing. And when I ask what his favourite clubs are in the States he laughs and says, ‘People are always asking me that, ‘Where’d you play this weekend? And I have to say, ‘I don’t fuckin’ know! I forget. I just go there.’

Paul Bradshaw / Straight No Chaser

Set It Out (sampling an 80s boogie track by Midway)

Omar S Detroit

Pick up Omar-S ‘Detroit: Fabric 45′ mix CD from here or from your local record store.