The Electronic Music Awards today announced The Detroit Dock, an entire arena that will pay homage to the origins of Techno, with performances from multiple generations of Motor City artists including the genre’s godfather Juan Atkins, legendary DJ Delano Smith, Robert Hood performing as Floorplan (Live) and The Saunderson Brothers, are carrying the torch for their father Kevin Saunderson and a new generation of Detroit artists.
The Electronic Music Awards also announced that SiriusXM will live stream the awards ceremony.
Originating in the early-1980s out of Belleville, Michigan, Juan Atkins developed a revolutionary musical form that would transform his city, and the entire world. “Techno City” was created from experimenting with synthesizers, and marrying Chicago House, Funk, Electro and Electronic Jazz with futuristic, industrial other-worldly sounds and beats. Atkins would go on to DJ around the world, and release music as Cybotron, Model 500 and Infiniti, shaping the sound of contemporary music forever.
Delano Smith might be one of Detroit’s most unheralded heroes, for it was he who was the first of his Detroit counterparts to mix records together. At the age of 14, he adopted the nickname “the Young Genius” for his impressive mixing skills and generations of Detroit DJs cite Smith as their inspiration, indeed Jeff Mills and Derrick May go as far as to say they would not be DJs without him. Together with fellow high-schoolers the Belleville Three, Smith was responsible for creating the Detroit techno scene. Little did they know the influence the parties they threw in rented community halls would have around the world.
Acknowledging the past and looking to the future is something vital to the Electronic Music Awards mission, and flying the flag for contemporary Detroit, are the Saunderson Brothers. Born and raised in Detroit, Dantiez & Damarii, sons of Kevin Saunderson, are part of the next generation of Motor City producers and DJs, alongside the likes of Kyle Hall and Seth Troxler, deeply steeped in the traditions of their home town, and determined to continue and evolve its contribution to the global techno scene.
Befitting the industrial origins of techno music, which was indelibly influenced by the factories and warehouses of Motor City, the Electronic Music Awards will showcase the Detroit acts on the Detroit Dock, a unique outdoor space, with a DJ booth situated on a loading dock.
The Electronic Music Awards will not be a traditional awards show; no sit-down, no acceptance speeches, no breaks. Dancing room only and non stop performances from multiple different areas within the venue. Open to all, the public can RSVP online (http://theemawards.com/rsvp/)
The Electronic Music Awards will be live streamed on Twitter (theemawards.twitter.com) starting at 7:47pm PT, with performances, encompassing the events multiple stages, as well as backstage interviews with Billboard Dance founder Matt Medved and electronic music personality and Revolt TV host Hannah Rad.
The Electronic Music Awards will take place at Willow Studios in the Downtown Arts District in Los Angeles. The event will be broadcast live, globally, on Twitter commencing at 7:47pm PST with performances by Moby, Orbital, Illenium, Autograf, Goldfish, Kidnap Kid, Floorplan Live, Madeaux, Ramzoid, Juan Atkins, Delano Smith and The Saunderson Brothers.
For more information, please visit (www.theemawards.com)
