6-22-2022 8:15pm

Tribeca: God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines' Review

Anita Johnson-Brown Editor

God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines is a Washington Hill Pictures and XTR's highly anticipated feature film documentary.

This film tells the story of the Black DJs who created Techno music in the 1980s; The documentary also has a special live performance by Inner City and Blake Baxter.

"God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines is a rich and knowledgeable music documentary that takes you on a journey of the start of Techno music. It all began in Detroit, Michigan, and shows those watching the film a tour from Detroit to Chicago to London and Berlin, outlining Techno's roots in the African American, community.

This film emphasizes the strength and talent of a crew of young male artists. God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines takes you on an emotional ride of ups and downs and success.

Producer Jennifer Washington and Director Kristian R. Hill show the factual elements of Detroit's Black DJ visionaries Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Blake Baxter, Eddie Fowlkes, and Santonio Echols, and how they rose to fame.

My view on God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines

What does it take to captivate an audience and stir the souls of a community, especially in 1980, when people are starving, inflation was on the rise, and world manipulation of mankind is at hand, you guessed it, Music of course.

God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines, walks down memory lane and is focuses on legendary Detroit DJ Mike Huckaby and other musically inclined, creative musicians, opening up a world of sound and mixmaster effects to set a new trend in music, that volumizes the public's ears, and sets the scene for the club bounce, and anatomy of movement, and gives birth to a hysteria of rheumatic soul, and a brings party atmosphere on high.

The electrifying beats heard throughout the film not only keep you interested but get you involved in how these brothers came together, to form the mesmerizing sound of the drum machine, and set the standards for instrumental equations that produced a hum and head bop, that changed the into a lyrical flow of musical stimulation.

The film documents the sound of musical history and moves forward to the beats we hear bumping in vehicles, clubs, and parties today. The question is will Techno music fade or becomes the replacement of the soulful sound of R&B, Pop, and Funk? a mixture of the three might be interesting.

written by Anita Johnson-Brown