ICYMI: Motor City Drum Ensemble's Best Tracks
MCDE @ Let Them Eat Cake 2019 (Pic by Duncograhic)
What do you get when you combine the birthplace of automobile titans Mercedes Benz, Porsche, and Bosch, with the metaphorical backbone of early dance music in the form of analogue drum machines?
You get Danilo Plessow AKA Motor City Drum Ensemble, the play-on-words/Stuttgart born producer whose work is the sonic amalgamation of his surroundings: Stuttgart (Motor City), and his early love affair with drum machines (Drum Ensemble).
The German seems to send crate diggers and music makers alike into a mad frenzy, early on gaining a reputation with his refined and beautifully unique production style which weaves soul, disco, and funk, with a more modern house music sensibility. It’s as if he’s an immediate descendant of his peers: Theo Parrish, Kyle Hall, and Moodymann.
His initial creative pursuits made waves within the industry: a 3x12” project creation using only vinyl samples. Titled the ‘Raw Cuts Series’, it is a project which will undoubtedly go down in dance music history as refreshingly unique and an essential release.
Whether releasing original productions on his record label MCDE Recordings, or remixing for the likes of Caribou, Midland, or Gilles Peterson, a song from Motor City Drum Ensemble always comes laden with quintessentially Detroit House chords, a unique filtered vocal sample, and enough bottom end to keep the dance floor moving all night.
The German wunderkind is heading to perhaps the most Melbourne venue in Melbourne, The Forum, this Friday the 11th before heading to Sydney on Saturday to perform a headline show at The Manning Bar. To get us ready, we thought we’d take a closer look at 3 of our favourite Motor City Drum Ensemble tracks…
Motor City Drum Ensemble - Lonely One
(2020Vision) [2009]
This is the kind of song you hear one night, and can’t quite work out what it is until you stumble upon it months later and you are flooded again with euphoria. The song has enough grit and crunch to it, and you just know it utilises the warmth of a good analogue drum machine while relying on a distorted ominous vocal sample to make it sound like a classic Motor City Drum Ensemble track. Released under record label 2020 Vision, ‘Lonely One’ is refreshingly unique despite its simplistic song structure.
Motor City Drum Ensemble - Raw Cuts #6
(MCDE Recordings) [2009]
Nothing personal against Raw Cuts 1 through to 5, but there’s something about this ‘Raw Cuts #6’ that is just magical. At this point in his career, you can quite audibly hear he’s developed somewhat of a sonic signature, and this track is the embodiment of that sound. Opening with wide spread percussion, a nostalgic, dreamy electronic chord progression, and later interspersing a soulful female vocal sample circa 1970, the entire production is arranged beautifully - even more impressive when you consider that the whole track uses only samples.
Motor City Drum Ensemble - Send A Prayer Pt.2 (MCDE Recordings) [2013]
From his 2013 EP release ‘Send A Prayer’, this track ultimately sounds like a more mature product from the German artist. Maintaining a heavy 4/4 kick throughout, and featuring percussion carrying enough swing it seems effortlessly cool; it’s the filtered vocal sample and melodic chords that make this modern dance floor hit an ode to the era of soul music that MCDE has become fixated upon.
Words by Marli Grosskopf
