Laundry feat. Derrick May @ Chinese Laundry, Sydney (09/06/07)

Well if you still haven’t seen DJ legend Derrick May, then you really haven’t really lived. Nor have you experienced the man who changed the face of ‘dance’ music, the man who coined the term ‘techno’, the DJ and producer hailed worldwide as ‘The Innovator’ and ‘Godfather of Techno’- the mastermind behind ‘musique electronique’.

He is ‘getting on’ too: he must be about fifty these days. So people, if you get the chance and truly want to see a DJ aficionado, a connoisseur of all things ‘dance’, make sure you catch him before he gets to old to lug his booty down to the South Pacific and you have to make the trek over to his hometown Detroit, Michigan to see him play.

Those that did go last Saturday night were treated to a set that was on par with one of the best sets I have personally ever heard him play. He had plenty of new ‘unknown’ records as well as some old-time Detroit classics: mixed, cut and interwoven in a seamless mix of transcendental atonal bliss. He had just finished up a tour across Melbourne and NZ and is heading up through Asia on his way to “God knows where!” Reportedly he has a new mix compilation coming out on Ministry Of Sound – I’m looking forward to that people – and he has a few EPs and remixes due out on his label Transmat later in the year. All good record stores will stock these of course!

Me and my mate Martian had some questions to ask Derrick: who the last DJ he went to see? Apparently it was none other than “the one and only DJ BIZe”, local foster parent to the techno scene in Sydney and the man responsible for the infamous Flash Parties Australia wide. Biz played a wicked warm-up set that evening: crash hot and on the money, he even played an old DJ Rush track that had me sold.

If you love dance music and you want to see where this ‘techno’ sound originally came from, check out Derrick May.