No Way Back (2022)

Return to the Source — Day 2
No Way Back 2022

Outer Space Room:
Wanjira Makena (sound bath)
sold
Adam Arthur (live)
Organic Dial (live)
Wata Igarashi
Scott Zacharias

No Way Back Room:
adab
BMG
Bryan Kasenic
Carlos Souffront
Derek Plaslaiko
Erika
Eris Drew
Mike Servito 
Patrick Russell

After two years of not being able to gather in the physical space of The Tangent, we are so excited to announce the full return of the annual rite of No Way Back at Return to the Source 2022. While the streaming events were unique and special, especially as they allowed No Way Back to extend in time to over 36 hours, we missed the real time physical interaction and energy exchange with our community, in a space together, listening to and throbbing to the psychedelic rivers of sound emanating from the giant audiophile system together. There is nothing else like it. Nothing else more liberating, more recentering. Join us as we begin anew in another dimension. 

We’ve all changed, we’ve all grown. So has No Way Back. What began as a 12 hour party with a leaky roof has evolved into a 14 hour party with a wholly improved environment, now starting at 10 PM. And The Tangent has grown. You won’t believe how alive it is, and full of surprises and improvements — like the secret bathrooms off the main dance floor are now public and fully functional. Interdimensional Transmissions has grown and evolved, as has the transformational immersive installations of Amber Gillen & crew. Nothing could prepare you for what you are going to experience. 

Where the streams allowed everyone to stretch out into longer sets, for this year on the dance floor we have all the DJs playing 90 minute sets that allow them to flow into each other, in an order that should form the Voltron DJ, an arc of DJs DJing the DJ, for an incredible flow of energy, with the narrative told from many angles in an always invigorating way. We have all of our residents, the return of Carlos Souffront to the NWB floor, and ADAB to bring us some fresh futuristic energy. 

The Outer Space room continues to grow in concept and presentation, as the space to unwind to experimental and ambient music means even more to us now. We begin the room with a sound bath from Detroit local Wanjira Makena to allow everyone to begin the session with a clean and refreshed vision. We have live shows from Adam Arthur, who is bringing his giant Buchla up from rural Arkansas, and Cleveland’s super synth heads Organic Dial, comprised of John Elliot and Drew Veres. We have sonic support from Chicago’s sold and Japan’s Wata Igarashi. At dawn, the magical impossible happens, and Scott Zacharias transforms the room with his own unique genre, something compelling and new, somewhere beyond psychedelic, cosmic and sleaze.

This is a psychedelic safe space, a harassment free zone where you can let go of the form society forces you to hold and be totally free. The you beyond boundaries, beyond the limitations of others perceptions. This is something for your mind, your body and your soul. When you feel this freedom, when you touch what you may have thought was untouchable, you will quickly realize that you are too far gone and there is no way back.

This is an eternal concept, we didn’t invent this, and the people who may think they did didn’t either, this is our cultural heritage from a time before history. It has taken many forms from dancing around the fire at a coming of age ceremony, imbibing soma, to losing it on the dance floor of a parking garage to Larry Levan, or in some secret warehouse road under the actual road to the feverish sound of Ron Hardy, or climbing up those stairs to Heaven and seeing Miss Heaven 1 and Miss Heaven 2 jacking on top of the speakers to Ken Collier. We recognize where this music comes from, its original Black, Trans, Queer and Latinx roots, and the serious library of advanced technological thoughts that came from their ecstatic music. Detroit Techno was inevitable when you think about it.

This is our generation picking up those threads and making our own new fabric of the space time continuum. This is our generation returning to the source.

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Return to the Source 2022 is an organic evolution of the original concept, with careful attention to detail put in at every level. We’ve used this time away to improve ourselves and our infrastructure, to mindfully choose what it is we want to do and share with our community. Our weekend at the Tangent includes 4 parties for the price of one weekend wristband, with an outdoor area containing a harm reduction zone, food truck, and a greater outdoor sound system. Once the music starts at No Way Back on Sunday night, it won't end until Tuesday morning — 32 hours of continuous music. A weekend wristband will allow you to experience all this with no interruptions.

Saturday, May 28
Return to the Source — Day 1
Tresor 313 — 10PM - 8AM

Sunday, May 29
Return to the Source — Day 2
No Way Back — 10PM - Noon

Monday, May 30
Return to the Source — Day 3
Lot Mass — Noon - 10PM
The Bunker — 10PM - 6AM