Earlier this week, the Movement Electronic Music Festival in Detroit announced their full lineup. Thoughts at Ears To The House were the lineup has basically gone global – this is truly the year where the festival has well and truly ramped up its budget and forgotten it’s meant to represent the city of Detroit.

So far, complaints from the city’s scene have been kept muted by the inclusion of Carl Craig and one of those mysterious performances by Juan Atkins from Cybotron – mysterious mostly because no one seems to be able to work out what the man himself is doing during said performances. Still, perhaps one of those in attendance will finally be able to obtain footage of Atkins playing – Michael James faces forking out $4000 if this happens.

But what about the dance music press? Who are they going to be sending on those junket-style visits to the city to “cover” the event? By which, of course, they mean by writing a stupidly glowing review of the event which will be published a few days after the whole saga ends. Certainly not anything interesting, like getting interviews with those in attendance or speaking to the crowd or talking about the latest gossip.

Sources close to Mixmag say the confirmation of the full lineup has caused an “awkward atmosphere” at the publication, who are keen to avoid the debacle last year – where their representative, dance music press doyenne Annabel Ross, had her media pass revoked. All because Carl Craig had a temper tantrum and threatened to cancel his appearance if Ross was allowed to cover the festival.

One source told Ears To The House that “No one’s quite sure exactly who they’re going to send this time. They were left with eggs on their face the last time and they aren’t quite sure what they want to do. There’s a lot of people who want the gig, which is hardly surprising. All it involves is staying in a 5-star hotel nearby, getting drunk and just writing a cookie cutter piece at the end. You could train a dog to do it, honestly.”.

The discomfort for Mixmag goes on…