INTERVIEW BY SEAN OCEAN
Detroit is not just a city. It is the spiritual and literal birthplace of techno, a place where industrial resilience and Black creativity fused into a global musical language. Every Memorial Day weekend, that legacy converges at the Movement Music Festival in Hart Plaza, a three-day pilgrimage connecting foundational pioneers with the next generation of innovators.
At the center of that continuum is Craig Gonzalez, one of Detroit’s understated but deeply respected selectors, known for prioritizing depth, pacing, and emotional continuity over spectacle. In this interview, we hear from Craig about his influences, techniques, and philosophy playing sets from the underground to the main stage at Movement.
When preparing for a Saturday afternoon set on the Movement Stage, how do you balance underground sensibilities with the scale and visibility of a festival crowd?
To be honest, I don’t focus much on the labels of underground versus festival. I view a stage like Movement as an opportunity to showcase the results of my sonic travels. It’s a platform for me to present the unique and interesting music I truly believe in and to put my own distinct stamp on the afternoon. My goal is to curate those tracks in a way that’s engaging for the crowd, but ultimately, staying true to my personal curation as to what DJing has always been about for me.
You’ve spoken before about treating a DJ set like a compositional space. How has your background in visual pacing influenced the way you shape the arc of a 90-minute set?
Regardless of the medium, pacing is everything. A 90-minute festival set is definitely a compositional space, but at the end of the day I’m playing for a dance floor. It’s a constant, delicate balance between executing an artistic vision and keeping people moving. How far I lean into either side changes with every gig and you have to read the environment. But there are absolutely times when I prefer to take the reins and strictly dictate a composition, challenging the room to follow a specific narrative rather than just keeping things comfortable for the party.
You’re also known for extended sets that can stretch far beyond the usual one to two hours. What changes psychologically when you’re building one of those longer DJ sets?
You become responsible for the whole life cycle of the party. You’re handling the warm-up, the peak hours, and the final closing. I love the space it provides; it lets me feel things out and lean into different genres or moods. Those stylistic tangents are what keep it interesting for me, and usually, that’s when the most memorable moments happen for the crowd too.
In an era of fragmented attention spans, how do you keep people locked into a deeper listening experience over the course of a long set?
The key is trust. If you win the crowd over early, you can push and pull the energy in ways that keep them engaged for the long haul. I try to avoid the trap of playing constant bangers with no breathing room, that lacks nuance and becomes exhausting for the listener (and myself). To keep people locked in, you need a real arc and the willingness to explore the valleys between the peaks
How did the Ann Arbor scene during your formative years shape your style?
Although I only lived in Ann Arbor for a short time, my residency at the Blind Pig lasted a bit longer and laid the foundation for the versatility that defines my style today. The venue booked a highly diverse lineup and I took it upon myself to actively adapt my sound to complement whoever was headlining each week. That mindset taught me how to read a lineup and adjust accordingly. I still operate that way today, focusing on being the DJ needed for that specific slot, which keeps things fresh and unpredictable.
When layering techno, house, and hip-hop together, how do you make those transitions feel seamless?
Honestly, you’d have to catch me playing an extended set to hear hip-hop, house and techno all in the same night!
But jokes aside, that question touches on a core philosophy of mine, which is aiming to be completely genre-agnostic. When you’re traversing different musical styles throughout a night, rhythm and context are the key parameters that hold everything together. On a technical level, it requires foresight. I’m always thinking two or three tracks ahead. If I decide to shift directions, I map out a sequence in my head through my track selection to ensure the transition feels seamless and intentional, rather than jarring for the floor.
You’ve never seemed tied to one style, but more responsive to the room and the energy unfolding in real time. How do you organize your catalog so you can access the right direction instinctively in the moment?
My master organization could probably use some work but my approach is all about staying adaptable. I build specific folders for each gig and pull all the potential tracks into a main playlist within that folder. Then if I’m really feeling saucy, I’ll create more specific playlists based on the timeline of the set, like the beginning, middle, or end, or by using my own labels for tracks.
Once the gig is done, I export the set history right back into that folder. It turns into a great reference library. If a track suddenly flashes into my mind during a completely different set down the road, I know I can jump into my past histories and find it instantly, even if it didn’t make it into that night’s primary playlist.
How have Interdimensional Transmissions parties shaped your evolution as a selector?
We are all from the same generation and I think we still hold onto the same core principles. There is a constant curiosity and a shared love for exploring music, whether that means digging through an artist’s deep back catalog or uncovering modern gems. Their parties are a direct reflection of that ethos.
Seeing those events thrive is incredibly validating because it shows there is no shortage of people who genuinely value that level of depth. It is especially meaningful in an era where the music and the craft itself can often feel secondary. Which is perfect for me because it gives me a space to be my genuine self behind the decks.
What lessons from hip-hop storytelling still influence the way you structure a techno set today?
I was never actually a hip-hop DJ, so to speak. I was just really into music at a young age and I didn’t get into DJing until after I discovered techno. But I never stopped loving the genre and I’ve built my own personal collection over the years simply because I appreciate the music. Playing hip-hop for fun or for a special mix has taught me a lot about the craft as a whole. Different styles require different technical approaches and those skills always translate across genres.
While techno lends itself to deep layering and long transitions, hip-hop is all about precise timing because you don’t want to have lyrics clashing on top of each other. House music requires a bit of both, where you can execute long blends but still have to be incredibly careful not to let vocals or chords clash. Because of that, I see storytelling as a fundamental part of the art of DJing overall rather than something specific to hip-hop. Even when I do play hip-hop, I don’t play it like a traditional hip-hop DJ. I don’t do the quick “one verse and out” style. I let the tracks play and mix them more like house music, using instrumentals to give myself a transitional bridge because I’m more of a beat guy anyway.
Last year you played the 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM slot on the Movement Stage — a set bridging the daytime atmosphere into the festival’s larger evening momentum. What was your intention going into that transition? Did you arrive with a clear plan, or respond instinctively to the energy in the moment?
I went into that set with a very clear plan. It was actually a progression of an idea I started back in 2023 on the Detroit stage. That year, I took a gamble and played a very specific style of drum & bass/half-time/grey area music, which lives at a fascinating intersection of techno and DnB. Before that festival, mostly close friends had heard me play that style but I wanted to bring something completely distinct to Movement that year. By 2025, I had recorded several mixes in that realm, played it out more at gigs and my Third Thursday monthly with Paxahau and felt much more dialed into executing it on the main stage.
However, one of the more compelling aspects of that music is its use of polyrhythms. Through those complex structures, you can actually beatmatch a track at two entirely different tempos depending on which rhythmic layer you choose to key onto. So for the 2025 set, I started at 85/170 BPM, then at about two-thirds of the way through, I used one of those polyrhythmic tracks to shift the tempo to 113.3 BPM. I then slowly built the tempo back up from there. I really wanted to use that main stage platform to put the actual artistry and technical craft of DJing on full display.
What does 2026 look like for you? Will we see you back on the Movement Stage, or involved in other events surrounding the weekend?
I won’t be playing the festival itself this year but I am playing the opening party on Friday night and opening No Way Back on Sunday night. I can’t even begin to explain how much it means to me to open No Way Back, especially alongside a lineup full of friends I’ve known for over 30 years. That connection and history is really what this community is all about.
As for the rest of 2026, I will be playing in Columbus the weekend after Movement and then I am heading to The Great Beyond in July. That festival is incredibly meaningful to me because it taps so deeply into our raw Midwest roots.
I have a few more exciting projects in the works that I am really looking forward to but those announcements will have to come a bit later!
