Here’s the first report from the DEMF. Not-quite-live blogging if you will.

As with years past, the festivities really get started the night before the festival. After some fun with airplane sickness and acting as taxi for some fellow festival-goers from London, I finally managed to eat something, and geared up to head out for the evening. The first destination was Oslo, a sushi bar that tends to be a hotspot for the weekend. Rich Medina (soon to come to Seattle) was supposed to be playing, but managed to miss his flight so SunTzu Sound opened the evening instead before a wonderful live set from Detroit local Kevin Reynolds. This was followed by a DJ set from John Arnold, who surprised many by playing records from both his broken beat stash as well as his more techno-oriented past (think Krakt meets Jazzanova).

Day one of the festival was as expected, with the crowd steadily building as the day went along. No inclement weather to speak of, other than an incident with glowstick juice later in the night. I managed to show up and sneak past most of the lines in order to get inside just before SunTzu’s set. They represented Seattle well, although the heat and early timeslot didn’t make for a full tent. They were followed by their Puerto Rican contemporaries, the Amalgama Records Crew, who completely brought the funk. They managed to build up a crowd as people took refuge from the sun, with a breakdancing circle opening in the rear of the space. John Arnold and Jeremy Ellis both performed live after those sets, Ellis especially captivating the crowd with his complicated sampler freestyles.

The rest of the day was spent largely wandering the festival grounds, taking in the music on offer. Mike Clark and Ron Trent played deep, soulful house on the main stage, followed by an innappropriate for the echoey environment set from Pantytec. Detroit Techno Militia aurally assaulted the crowd with their banging techno, providing the first DEMF moment as they dropped the Jeff Mills classic “The Bells.” M_nus artist Magda dropped a great set before Troy Pierce kept the crowd going, while Dan Bell slipped a few vocal tracks into his otherwise minimal set.

There were a few surprises on the day as well. James Holden, often described as a progressive artist, wasn’t playing anything cheesy at all, but had a set filled with so many clicks, clacks and other bits of nuance that it surpassed those genre-based limitations. ARK played techno like a rock star, grabbing the mic and jumping around like a madman. The true highlight was Rob Hood, who closed out the main stage for the evening. Playing mainly classics, the crowd steadily built as the sun went down. Save for a misstep with a Beyonce remix (WTF?), Hood’s set ruled the day, causing me to miss most of Audion (the beginning was only “eh”) and the ever-dependable Doc Martin.

My body rejected the idea of too much afterpartying, so I checked out SunTzu’s rooftop gig at Comerica Park before finding some much needed aspirin and sleep. Heard the m_nus party was great (at least when Richie Hawtin was playing anyway), but oh well.

Now, time for Day Two to get started.