Shrouded in the shadows and history of a city that has seen the rise and fall of so many innovative musical careers before his, Brian Kage is still on his way upward in search of the perfect place to shine in the sun. Fueling his gradual and twisting assent, Kage’s intimate connection with the place where the first electronic dance music experiments gave birth to a genre that grew to consume the entire world, combined with an impressive cache of extremely technical production expertise culled from nearly a decade of running a techno record label, producing live events, hunting down and capturing historically significant analog gear, and working as a senior studio engineer for a Platinum selling recording group – all contributes to his ability to continue successfully nurturing the tenuous community of musicians committed to keeping the torch lit in Detroit.

While previously having his ‘DetroitLuv EP’ played on Radio 1’s Essential Mix by heavy hitters Richie Hawtin and Ricardo Villalobos as well as releasing many solo tracks over the years charted by pillars of the dance community, – Kage still strives for his presence to be felt by a larger community of electronic dance music lovers. On the other hand, Kage notably holds down one half of the techno duo Reference alongside collaborator Luke Hess. Their combined soulful efforts have been recognized with the accolades of releasing a string of excellent EP’s on Carl Craig’s legendary taste-making Detroit label, Planet E; as well as noteworthy headlining appearances of their dynamic liveset performances at Detroit Electronic Music Festival and Fresh Weekend in Barcelona.

Soul Over Hype, is a guiding mantra of BerettaMusic, the label that Kage co-founded in 2002, and it has played a very important role in helping to shape the self-fulfilling prophecies for each internationally respected artist on its impressive roster. Seth Troxler, Ryan Crosson, Jesse Somfay, Luke Hess, and Alex Israel – many of whose talents were first recognized and developed by Brian at their side in the studio to produce key tracks that defined them as artists and unlocked the first doors to the paths of their noteworthy music careers. The newest generation of staggeringly talented up-and-coming Beretta producers that Kage is helping to develop include Arthur Oskan, Christina Chatfield, Joshua Harrison, Seth Yender, and Charley Ten.

The best way of comprehending the arc of Brian Kage’s artistic trajectory is to take a moment to look back through the years and see Detroit itself and his relationship to it; how the consistent cyclical processes of destruction and renewal continue to shape and fuel a musical perspective rooted in the legacy of living in a cold climate filled with such warm people. And most importantly, through the discipline created by resisting the overwhelming urge to relocate to another place where he could give up having to work twice as hard, Kage has mastered the ability to open up a conduit through space and time, over and over through his music to the same original inspirational moments that sparked everything.