There’s a reason Clark Warner’s DJ sets are unlike anything you’ve heard before. In fact, there are several reasons-and Detroit is just the first.An early Motown-radio influence coupled with a near-simultaneous rave-and-club cocktail helped to shape Warner’s style: full of heart and yet challenging to the listener, absolutely in tune with the moment and the pacing, bursting with atmosphere and energy. Call it radio-free meets radio-friendly.

Starting in the early ‘90s, Warner’s Detroit-area DJ residencies—at The Shelter, Zoot’s, and Motor—grew into regular trips to New York, the Midwest, and international festivals including Sonar, Mutek, DEMF/Movement, Nature One, and Tribal Gathering, among others.

But again, Warner’s DJ sets are only part of the story. In addition to

working as a tour manager early on, Warner was instrumental in developing Plus 8 Records and Minus, working with Richie Hawtin, John Acquaviva, and some of techno’s most profound artists while helping produce legendary events. It’s this collective sensibility that led Warner to co-produce the Focus:Electronic monthly radio segment on WDET-FM in Detroit, acting as co-pilot in establishing electronic music’s most essential artists and sounds.

Taking his roots at a time when sounds and scenes were colliding without prejudice or buzzwords, Clark Warner makes unusual sounds fit in perfectly, fusing left-of-center audio with the newest dance pulses. Warner rightly concludes: “It has to have soul, human or alien, if I’m going to play it.”