Kevin Saunderson @ CODE 10 Anniversary 23 Nov 2013 (Fabrik Club Madrid)

Kevin Saunderson live set  @ CODE 10 Anniversary 23 Nov 2013 (Fabrik Club Madrid)

Listen to Melodica now: https://found.ee/EDancer-Melodica

Bookings: ed@arcade-talent.com 
Management: phil@onehouse.com

Platinum-selling recording artist, label boss, festival promoter, true innovator in the pantheon of popular music, cultural champion, cracking DJ: there’s a lot to be said about Kevin Saunderson.

His influence runs deep, through both adopted hometown of Detroit, and music culture as a whole: as one of the Belleville Three, the high school trio which also includes Juan Atkins and Derrick May, he irreparably changed the face of electronic music; with Inner City, he gave it some of its most memorable tunes. 

The genesis of today’s enormous techno scene can be retraced straight to Kevin, Derrick and Juan, as their formative experiments on rudimentary hardware sketched a blueprint for a genre that was yet to exist. By absorbing Kraftwerk, cutting-edge funk, local radio stalwart The Electrifying Mojo’s electicism, and all manner of new synthesiser and drum machine-led pop music, the Belleville Three broke new ground as musicians and DJs in the 80s. 

Saunderson’s comparatively late start as a producer – kicking off in ’87 under the moniker of Kreem, with E-Dancer and Reese two of the more well-known names to follow – inadvertently gifted him a headstart. With the eruption of house music a few hours down the I-94 in Chicago, Saunderson married Detroit’s raw sound to more tactile, pop-leaning sensibilities. Inner City was born, and global success followed.

Between “Big Fun”, “Good Life”, debut album Paradise and a number of follow-up singles, Inner City (Saunderson and vocalist Paris Grey) amassed 12 UK top 40 hits and over six million records sold worldwide during their peak. A dancefloor-dominating remix by Luciano in 2008, and a globetrotting reunion tour in 2012, underscores the longevity of Inner City’s classic sound. 

His nickname of ‘The Elevator’ is apt: for his role in transporting Detroit’s new sound to a wider audience; as anyone who has seen him perform live can attest, his high-energy, high-spirit and high-impact DJ sets; and for spending the past 35 years of his life progressing the culture he helped create. 

Operating in tandem to his golden run as a producer in the late 80s and early 90s, Saunderson’s own KMS record label – a remarkable 30 years strong in 2017 – has chronicled the early footsteps of R-Tyme, Blake Baxter, MK, Chez Damier, Derrick Carter, Bicep and even Saunderson’s son and regular DJ partner Dantiez more recently. 

A special 12” series in 2008 called History Elevate, released in tandem with fellow polymath Carl Craig’s Planet E label, brought contemporary names like Mathew Jonson, Simian Mobile Disco and Loco Dice into the fold, proving his nous for fostering relationships with each new wave to come through techno’s gates. 25th anniversary compilations and numerous reissues have followed suit. 

Saunderson has a behind-the-scenes role to play, too: he is intertwined with the history of Detroit’s flagship Movement (formerly Detroit Electronic Music Festival / Fuse-In). Having produced the event in the mid-2000s, the last handful of years have seen repeated invites from Movement to display his ORIGINS showcase at the festival, bringing acts like Delano Smith, Phuture and DJ Minx under his curatorial umbrella. 

And of course, with a stacked international touring schedule over the decades, playing in nearly every country and at nearly every festival or club worth mention, he has not stopped pushing the feeling of techno on and on. 

The Groove That Won’t Stop, indeed.

I'm born 1984 in East Germany. 1989 the Berlin Wall was History. When I was 6, my parents moved with me to a small Bavarian village. My passion for Music starts with MTV and VIVA… and my deep love for electronic Music began early. On my daily walk to School, tracks by Faithless-Insomnia, U96-das Boot or the Prodigy- Firestarter played blaringly on my Walk or Disc man. Lifetime flew by nothing When I was 14 me & some Friends went to the Love Parade for the first time. Our Parents did not know anything on off course there were Consequences after all, but …as if that had bothered us. I, or rather we, grew older and celebrated Techno in Clubs like Ultraschall / Munich, Alcatraz / Landau, Treibhaus / Meilenhofen, Airport / Würzburg, Rakete & Hirsch / Nuremberg, and Ohrakel in Ingolstadt. We celebrate excessive and surreal Party's with Sound from DJs like Sven Väth, Gayle Sun, Dave Clarke, Jay Denham, Chris Liebing, DJ Rush, DJ Hell, Monika Kruse, Ben Sims, Gary Beck, Richie Hawtin, Mark Reeve, Tapesh, Pig and Dan. Gaiser, Pan Pot, James Ruskin, Karotte, Adam Beyer, Josh Wink, Frank Lorber, Luke Slater, Steve Rachmad, Marco Bailey and many more…. In the early 2000s, I finished my apprenticeship as a Baker and went on a journey abroad for work. Started with Shanghai, Hurghada, Las Vegas, and at least London. I've been to many Clubs all over the World, but London, especially at the End of 2000, was a special peak Time of my Life. The Fabric Sound system and weekly Line up from WYS with top Headliners and DJs like Cormac, Peter Pixzel, and Jacob Husley was a Mecca for Techno every Sunday Night. The years abroad build & teach me in everything as a Human and who I am today. I saw and learned a lot about different Cultures, People, and the World as it once was. The rest is History.

Peace