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Welcome to Atlanta!
And also the new online home of Kai Alcé. As you can see we still have some work to do so please bare with use, we are building the site as fast as we can.
Peace
Kai
Music Institute 20th Anniversary 12" Series Pt1 of 3 "EARLY JAN 2009"
Friday, December 05, 2008
'NDATL Muzik continues with Pt1 in a new 3Pt limited series honoring the legendary Detroit nightclub The Music Institute. Just in time for it’s 20th Anniversary! So with that we bring together for the first time all of the original dj’s from the MI. This three part series will contain tracks obtained from never heard before lost tapes, dats & cd’s from Derrick May, Chez Damier, Kai Alce, D-Wynn, Kelli Hand, Mike Huckaby & Alton Miller. These tracks will only be available in this format this one time never to be repressed!'
What was "The Music Institute"?
The Music Institute was Detroit's answer to such legendary house and garage clubs as New York's Paradise Garage and Chicago's Powerplant.
At the beginning of this music, the MI was the only place where you could hear Detroit Techno the way it ought to have been heard; loud. Bumpin'. Funky.
The MI (along with the smaller UN club) was the last gasp of young, black intelligentsia; the final celebration of the unique, creative vibe of the "cool" kids from Northwest Detroit; a vibe long since supplanted in more recent times by the relentlessly shallow and low-class gangsta aestethic ("keepin' it real, son") of hip-hop.
But in 1988 and for two years, Derrick May rocked the turntables from midnight to 8-9 am with UK Acid House, Chicago House and the first Detroit Techno classics that the world would later come to know: Suburban Knight's "Motor City Pressure" (later to be released as "The Art of Stalking"), Model 500's "No UFOs", Inner City's classic "Good Life" and his own anthems, "The Dance", "The Beginning", "Nude Photo" and many others. Although others spun at the venue; Mayday was the star of the show, and fuck anybody who says different. Many times, he'd play tracks right off a Fostex two-track recorder that he'd just cut hours before at his studio, something I never got over. He'd beat mix between the reel to reel and 1200s and back, using the pitch control on the reel. He'd cut, edit and destroy other people's tracks, too, as he did with his fucked-up psycho re-edit of the MI theme "We Call It Aciiiieeed" by D-Mob (which I still have on reel).
Although some newer heads deride him as a has-been, Derrick in those days did by hand what many of the current Techno producers do digitally. No DATs. No acetates.
The MI, through Derrick, brought a European vibe to our city, something that there never was before. Before, we were just a bunch of middle-class black kids who read The Face and GQ and Melody Maker and dreamt about what London or New York would be like; now ABC and Depeche Mode came to the MI in its heyday to witness the relentless Mayday at work, and to hang out with us. Real Brits ! Real accents ! In our club !
A no-liquor (pop and juice only) policy kept the MI open without incident to all comers. The older kids, the Cass Tech and Renaissance high school kids, the gay crowd and girls girls girls. All in one house; pre-rave, pre-drugs. One strobe light and House Music All Night Long.
But, ultimately, that's what did MI in at the end. The frat boys wanted alcohol. The older kids didn't like high schoolers there. The girls came to dance, not to get hit on; which made the straight guys mad, as did the healthy presence of a gay clientele at the club (in fact, in those days, the only white faces in the crowd would be the more-adventurous House-loving gay kids and their fag-hags).
Then with the twin debuts of NWA and 2 Live Crew, gangsta hip-hop and booty music (always an East Side thing in Detroit) supplanted House and Techno with the youth. Europe became more lucrative for a lot of Detroit producers as they turned their sights overseas. AIDS destroyed the previously open and fun-loving gay community who had always welcomed straights into their world, and whom House Music had belonged to before Chicago, New York and Detroit had given it to the rest of the world. The talented, smart kids went on to college, only to ultimately leave Detroit (and who could blame them ?).
But for a second, it was there.
There were tears and hugs on the last MI night back in 1990. Every person in Techno at the time, along with a house packed to capacity, jacked their last jack ("jack your body" was current slang back then) at their beloved club. Derrick May's final record was the sad and plaintive "Pacific State" by 808 State; made even more sad by this new context.
Detroit plunged into the Bush years (more bad news for us black folks). And we said goodbye.
But not before a lot of young, talented black people were inspired to take up this music and one way or another, make it their lives. Then go on to rock the planet.
George Baker (owner).
Fridays
Derrick May. Kevin Saunderson. D Wynn. also were Juan Atkins & Chuck Roper
Saturdays
Alton Miller. Chez Damier.
The Music Institute
1315 Broadway, Detroit, MI.
Alan D. Oldham
Feb. 1997
8 Comments:
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Yeah, I was there. Kicking it all night with all the heads and then heading over to Eastern Market to pick up flowers and have a little breakfast before heading over to Mayday's cave for a little convo. I missed the final night of the MI cuz I was down in ATL working and living but believe me I was there in spirit. The MI definitely brought the European flair to the set. I remember talking to a young lady from London while she was painting a mural on the main wall on the first floor. She was cool and we just talked about art for a little while since I enjoy art and well as musical peformance, being a trumpet player and all. Anyway, congrats Kai and hold it down for your peeps all over the world!
6:50 AM
Nice one i will have to put my memories and thoughts together of the MI. If that's possible! That girl from London u spoke of was Sarah Gregory who also did one or two of Rhythim Is Rhythim's import 12" covers. And speakin of that mural pieces of that will be seen on the coming MI 12"s!
8:44 AM
where online are some of these mixes by Derrick May and other DJs that spun at the Music Institute.
5:14 PM
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Techno-Restitution/release/347487
9:27 PM
great story, good to hear it from ppl who experienced it first hand.
loving that first MI compilation just out as well. can't wait for the next two...
9:09 PM
i miss the 4th best club in the world,my home The MI..
9:14 PM
i miss my home..
9:14 PM
Ahhh what memories. For me all of your words envokes memories of George, Craig, Roper, Mark, Alton and myself getting our pre-game on the 3rd floor of the M.I. just before Derrick's set. In those days, One must prepare his mind properly prior. All innocent and harmless, especially by today's standards.
But as I sift through the experiences, the most important and tangible memory was the music. If you stood by boxes (speakers)on the floor the vibration could take you to a "place" you've never been before, while the ports in the back could cool you off from the waves of sweat that poured out of you because of the hours of jackin your body. Derrick's mastery of the tunes at the M.I. was like a conductor over orchestra; we reacted to every nuance of his hand, every blend, every pitch change, every added vocal, it was a surreal experience, never to be repeated.
One last random though:I'll never forget the co-ed bathroom, wasn't sure it was meant to be that way. It just kind of happened, as so many things did at the M.I.
Can anyone find George and Erica, would like to reconnect.
Brian Williams
1:09 PM