In Technos Historic Home, KAYTRANADA Pays Homage
Few people have had as great an influence on the Canadian music genre as DJ KAYTRANADA. KAYTRANADA was born in Haiti before migrating to Montreal as a child. He grew up listening to music from Montreal's vibrant club and hip-hop scene, introduced by his brother DJ Lou Phelps. As he began to produce his own music, his influences coalesced and propelled his unique brand of rap and R&B house music to a prominent position in the home community.
The Midwest has long been the home of culture, a genre that originated in Chicago's underground clubs in the 1970s. Detroit also has very strong ties to house, with Detroit's influential techno subgenre being an important influence of KAYTRANADA. In fact, I first saw KAYTRANADA live earlier this month at the Detroit Masonic Temple, where many of the city's founding artists have performed, including the Belleville Three.
The set itself is a lively and vibrant tribute to the Masonic Temple Theater and Michigan's love of house music. Even those in the row of seats behind the small ditch could feel KAYTRANADA's real presence on the stage because he could barely see her silhouette. To its credit, KAYTRANADA has a very unique stage performance for a DJ, combining its mixes (mostly original and live) with two trips to the table. His body language seemed to dictate the mood of the audience, and as the band progressed through their final act, the kinetic energy on stage seemed to grow with him. The graphics and lighting are also well designed and executed, interacting with the ornate interior of the Masonic Temple.
