Real Scenes: Detroit from Resident Advisor on Vimeo.

There’s no denying that Detroit has played a major role in the world of electronic music. Which is why in the second edition of Real Scenes, RA and Bench went to the city which birthed the genre we now call techno.
Detroit has always had a creative streak, due in large part to the boom and subsequent bust of the auto industry. These extreme economic high’s and lo’s have always been reflected by the music that emerges from the Motor City.
“These days, Detroit’s importance in the global electronic music scene is often referred to in the past tense. When we visited the city, though, we found a number of artists with their eyes (and ears) firmly set towards the future. After our time in the Motor City, it’s clear to us that Detroit will endure and innovate for years to come.” RA and Bench

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The group released a few singles on Tellé, then signed up to the big beat label Wall of Sound. The Röyksopp debut was 2001’s Eple single; both “Eple” and another track (“Poor Leno”) earned slots on over a dozen chillout compilations that year or the next. Their first full-length, Melody A.M., appeared in late 2001. After spending a few years performing live and remixing artists including Beck and Annie, Röyksopp returned with new material in 2005; the single Only This Moment heralded the summer release of the duo’s second album, The Understanding, which featured more traditionally structured songs than their earlier work. The live EP Röyksopp’s Night Out appeared a year later, and the third album — Junior, their most upbeat set — came in March 2009.

royksopp.com

In 2002, fans were treated to Hullabaloo Soundtrack, a combination rarities/live set that peaked at number ten in Europe. Muse then returned with a proper studio effort, Absolution, which became the band’s first album to chart in America. A short North American tour in the spring of 2004 coincided with Muse’s spot on the fifth annual Coachella Music and Arts Festival, and Absolution eventually went gold in the U.S. Back at home, the album earned Muse their second platinum certification. Released two years later, Black Holes and Revelations marked the band’s brightest, most dynamic set of material to date, topping the U.K. album chart within its first week and earning Muse their second consecutive number one album at home. In America, Black Holes and Revelations broke into the Top Ten.

Muse toured Europe, America, Australia, and Southeast Asia in support of the album, and their dynamic stage performance (which won the band multiple awards for Best Live Act, including accolades from the NME Awards, the Q Awards, and the Vodafone Live Music Awards) was captured on 2008’s H.A.A.R.P. Live from Wembley. The trio spent the remainder of that year — as well as the early part of 2009 — in the recording studio, eventually emerging with the release of The Resistance in September.

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After graduating, MGMT released an electro-rock EP, 2005’s Time to Pretend, on the tiny indie label Cantora Records. Good reviews (particularly for the title track, which would later crack the U.K. Top 40) and extensive touring brought the duo to the attention of British producer Steve Lillywhite in his role as an A&R executive for Columbia Records, which signed the band to a major long-term deal in 2006. Regrouping in Brooklyn, the duo partnered with another producer, Dave Fridmann, and recorded Oracular Spectacular, a far more musically expansive album that was released digitally in late 2007. A traditional CD release followed in January 2008, andOracular Spectacular ultimately enjoyed both critically approval and commercially success, with the album selling over 500,000 copies in the U.S. and going platinum in Australia, the U.K., and Ireland.

MGMT served as Of Montreal‘s opening act for their extensive 2007 tour, during which Van Wyngarden and Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes began sketching out ideas for a side project called Blikk Fang. Although Blikk Fang planned on releasing an album in 2009, touring commitments kept the members of MGMT busy, and all side projects were temporarily shelved as the band spent the better part of two years on the road. In 2009, MGMT began working with producer Sonic Boom on their second album, Congratulations, which was released in the spring of 2010.

www.whoismgmt.com

Ladytron toured throughout the continent before beginning work on their debut EP, Commodore Rock, which was released in the summer of 2000, providing their fans another foray into the noisy world of early-’80s sound. The studio full-length 604 followed a year later, and gained many positive reviews. 2002 saw the release of Light & Magicand the mix album Softcore Jukebox. The group returned in the summer of 2005 with the Sugar single, which heralded the rock edge of Ladytron’s third album, Witching Hour. Extended Play, which featured remixes of Witching Hour‘s singles, arrived the

www.ladytron.com

www.ladyhawkemusic.com