There's no two ways about it - Movement is the best dance music festival in America.

Let's put it this way, each year the festival officially "ends" on Monday, and last year, I barely made my flight on Tuesday... at 3pm.

Yet there's no real place to begin when starting to explain why the festival formally known as Detroit Electronic Music Festival (or, "DEMF") is unlike any other.

Is it the Old Miami party which starts in the oddly spacious backyard of a Veterans bar in the middle of an abandoned Detroit neighborhood at 7am on closing Monday? Some might say. Is it the underground stage which is, quite literally, underground? Perhaps. But maybe it's just because it's in Detroit, America's most glorious shit hole, which once transforms into a heathen techno Mecca every year on Memorial Day weekend.

Similar to Ultra, Movement is not just about the festival. Unconscionably incredible after-parties are scattered throughout the historic industrial wasteland. You can go to a Tale of Us & Damian Lazarus afterparty (as I did last year), go for a smoke break in the lobby of the abandoned adjacent hotel, and discover that, if you follow the service stairs down to the equally abandoned basement, there's an unbilled Audiofly party happening; a party at which little chunks of ancient industrial ceiling are crumbling harmlessly down because the bass is that hard.

There aren't too many places in America where you can get a vintage techno experience at this point, but Movement guarantees it.

I get goosebumps just looking at this Phase 1. While last year's line-up was undeniably awesome, this year's is stupefyingly epic - and this is only Phase 1.

The staple artists are all there: Carl Craig, Kevin Saunderson, Stacey Pullen, Loco Dice, Seth Troxler, Luciano, and, of course, Richie Hawtin. But those are the names you expect the see every year, so none really come as a surprise. It's the "I wonder what I'm gonna get for Christmas this year?" additions that make this line-up so mouth watering. Ataxia Audiofly, Ben Klock, Dixon, Dubfire b2b Hot Since 82 (!!!), Eats Everything, Henrik Schwartz, Joris Voorn, Joseph Capriati, Kink, Marcel Dettman, Mano Le Tough, Matador, Matrixxman, Osborne, Recondite, Rødhåd, Ryan Elliot, Ten Walls ... you get the point.

It's a techno festival first and foremost.

At least, that's what DEMF started as back in 2000.

Now DJ Snoopadelic, Disclosure, and Danny Brown are performing. Nothing against any of them (other than DJ Snoopadelic, of course. It was cute the first time he did it at the second Electric Zoo, but it's pretty fucking insulting now as a loyal dance music lover. A small part of me dies inside whenever I see DJ Snoopadelic on a dance music festival line-up).

But I'll refrain from going on a perfectly reasonable rant and move on.

Movement gains its reputation as the best American dance music festival because of its techno associations, and it's disappointing to see mainstream acts - nonetheless, rappers, included in the lineup.

And I know what some of you yuppies might be thinking, "Then just don't go to those performances, man."

Nah. Fuck that. People who don't understand what techno really means don't respect true techno enough as it is. We don't need clowns like Danny Brown and Snoop (ehemm) Lion polluting that pure Detroit air. If nothing else, the type of culture they represent and appropriate through their music doesn't jive with techno whatsoever (and hold your horses Race Police, I'm talking about the flashy party culture related to rap music, which is quite literally the opposite of techno).

If you're simply looking to get "turnt", then maybe Movement isn't for you (and trust me, there's plenty of getting turntness going on); the best thing about the festival is it's exteriority to other pop culturally infested festivals like Ultra, Electric Zoo, and Mysteryland. And although I've whined about a couple artists, this Phase 1 is nothing short of spectacular. Given the profit driven, consumer lala-land we live in, there isn't all that much pandering beyond what I've noted.

The spotlight is clearly on techno.