Thomas Gold loves New York. Saturday night proved that point once again. The show gained hyped up for weeks by Gold, Blogs and the like with constant tweets and Facebook updates about how vast a night it was going to be. Leading up to the night Gold held a press event at the Empire State building where photographers and writers flocked to get a firsthand account about the show and his current career (and braved the frigid temperature). The event was sold out for a couple of weeks, with more than 2,000 tickets bought. If anyone remembers last time Gold was in New York for Electric Zoo and Governors Island, you know how hard he brings it and how much love he has for our city. Bringing his Fanfare tour to New York for the last leg on his North American tour, along with Gold’s one of a kind production craft, things were about to get a little crazy at Roseland Ballroom. Coming off the release of his hit track ‘Miao‘ and tweets about having some new tracks to play for the crowd, we were excited to see what kind of set Gold had in store for the city that never sleeps. He announced opening acts a week earlier including Feenixpawl, Carl Louis and Martin Danielle, and Nari & Milani. Each DJ had an hour to two-hour sets, leading up to Gold finishing out the night playing well into the morning hours to a crowd who wasn’t ready to ever leave. The crowd varied from young to older, packed in Roseland to share their love of EDM and dance the night away with Thomas Gold.
Even if you’ve never been to Cielo you’ve heard of the place. It’s been in the meatpacking district before it was cool and they’ve grown with the neighborhood while still staying ahead of the curve. In November of this past year the crew at Beatport ranked Cielo as having the best sound system in the country and while I can’t speak for most of the other venues on their list, Cielo does not disappoint.
Cielo’s ownerNicolas Matar has been spending the last few weeks celebrating the club’s 10th Anniversary and this past ThursdayVictor Calderone was on hand for the revelry. Thursday’s are Dance.Here.Now’s acclaimed parties at Cielo and the crowd and energy in the room was warm and welcoming. When Calderone took his place behind the mixer you could feel the shift in the feel of the room even more than you could hear the change in the music. Cielo and Dance.Here.Now has worked hard to create a party where the people care about the music and it’s plain to see their work has paid off. This is in large part because Cielo as a rule doesn’t have elevated VIP tables, or a VIP area of any sort. It’s meant to be somewhere you can feel comfortable knowing that the dying-to-be-noticed crowd that populates so many other meatpacking haunts won’t be there taking up valuable space.
Calderon played a long impressive set seamlessly layering and mixing sounds creating what felt like one long beautiful song that compelled you to move your feet. Victor kept the people dancing with cuts like Dema and Paride Saraceni’s “The Snatch” and the dark, frenetic track “Techno Raw” from Spanish producers Coyu and Ramiro Lopez. Calderon’s DJ’ing had the crowd hanging on every pause, every little move he made with the music; he kept them engaged.
The lights and the sounds of Cielo are designed to be immersive; designed to keep the small room swaying and stepping to the music issuing forth from the uncomparable Funktion One speakers. The lighting in the club is fantastic and one of the really fun features are the different sized disco balls hanging from the ceiling playing tricks on your eyes. The truly brilliant part about the lighting and the sunken dance floor and the entire setup of the club is that the focus is not on the guy playing the records, it’s on the records that he plays.
If you haven’t been to Cielo you must check it out. Of course on the weekends the place is crazy but if you want to check out a party during the week their Deep Space party on Monday’s (which has defied time with over 500 parties) or Dance.Here.Now’s night on Thursday’s. Victor Calderon is a well known name in New York. He’s a hometown hero and a champion on the decks and the next time you have a chance to see him you’d be a fool not take it.
Santos Party House. The name says it all. And last Saturday it lived up to its name. Bottles were poppin’, and glow sticks were waving, but most importantly, Live City and dBerrie were spinning! These two New York young guns showed why their names are becoming more and more recognizable in the EDM world by putting on one of the more exciting, intimate shows that I have been to.
Live City took the decks first. They started off with some techy beats to get everyone’s feet moving, but increased the energy with each song they played. One song seemed to transform the environment of the night though: No More Funk. When Live City dropped their new funky, disco house song everyone took notice, and everyone started dancing. From there, the night only got better. They played their new song, Justified, as well as their unreleased track, Showtime, but their finale is what really set it off. Jake Weinstein, one half of Live City, took the mic to introduce their newest song, Child’s Play, while Ethan Bruno, the second half of Live City, dropped the track. The result was mayhem. A grungy chainsaw sounding bass, with subtle electro bleeps…and Santos went wild! The next time these guys DJ in NYC, we will be there.
dBerrie followed up Live City with an awesome set that exceeded everyone’s already high expectations. Smooth veteran caliber transitions, experimental song selection and great mashups combined for a set that had all of Santos’ patrons dancing from start to finish. He dropped his own tracks such as “Voices” and “Radium”, but really got buck with “Million Atoms To Apologize”, the Thomas Gold Vs Hardwell Edit. dBerrie showed why he one of the most reliable DJs in the game.
This past Saturday was a night to remember. The Electric Beach CL guys know how to throw a party, and dBerrie and Live City know how to work the decks. Be sure to check out their future parties.
Well known for their incredible ability to throw outstanding parties every Thursday night in the notorious meat packing district club with one of the best sounding systems in all of NYC Cielo, Dance.Here.Now featured Tim Mason and rising NYC duo Hyperbits on New Years Eve-Eve. The intimate setting of Cielo was packed with EDM enthusiasts ready to party all the way to 2013.
‘This is Dada Land. Get ready to arrive beautiful and leave ugly. There are no rules but the rules of Dada. Don’t look back in the past. Always go forward. And whatever you do: don’t trust us.’
On New Years Eve, Olle Corneer and Stefan Engblom, Dada Life, from Stockholm, Sweden, came to Williamsburg, NY to make their beautiful crowd turn ugly at Dada Land Compound. The motivated atmosphere was contagious and everyone was excited to enter 2013 with a dose of Dadalife. The venue was huge with multiple LED towers counting down the seconds to the new year put together by Area Event. Blow up letters spelling out Dadalife surrounded the stage, accompanying the blow up bananas and champagne bottles that were crowd surfing throughout the night. Banana suits were given out to VIP ticket holders as well as skull face masks just adding to the hype. There was not a frown in sight at this event, nothing but happiness, enthusiasm, bananas and rolling stone t-shirts.
The Cadenza head and Ibiza kingpin, Luciano, really outdid himself with this one. What an unbelievable party and an exceptional way to begin 2013. The warehouse space, which was riddled with speaker stacks and LED screens along with loads of garbage left over from the Dada Life party earlier that night, was a perfect setting for this type of gig.
Sleepy & Boo played really well to open it up, dropping big records like the Carl Craig remix of Life and Death (Tale of Us + Thugfucker) – Morgana. Even then you could tell the night was going to be special. Luca Bacchetti then hammered away at a packed dance floor, with tasteful italian tech house that was reminiscent of the earlier stages of a marathon Marco Carola set. Massive breakdowns and familiar vocal samples made for an ideal opening. When Luciano came on promptly at 9 AM, the energy was palpable. His intro was short yet effective, just enough to let everyone in the 65,000 square foot warehouse know that the headliner was on. Just LOOK how crazy people were going. He played tracks like Sis-Nesrib, Basement Jax- Samba Magic,Monkey Safari- High Life (Cheeky Bold Cover), Robert Hood- Interior Suspect, and his classic Rise of Angel (below). They all went over incredibly well, and the venue was rammed even for Fanciulli who played from 1-5 PM. This NYD was a great success for Area Event (amazing production and bookings) and all who attended (amazing stamina as NYD parties can be rough). Lets all hope this is going to be an annual occurrence for Luciano!
Luciano- Rise of Angel
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The last weekend in 2012. Madness. Pacha was sold out. People were packed in Wall to wall ready to dance the night away for one reason, Laidback Luke. Its truly amazing to see what the EDM world has risen to, with so many people packed into Pacha to share their love of dance music. Opening up the night was Gina Turner who only on special occasions opens up for LBL which is surprising as they are husband and wife.
Laidback Luke
After Gina Turner warmed up the crowd, Laidback Luke came in full speed ahead. He kicked it off with his remix of Steve Aoki’s ‘Emergency’, which got the crowd into it right away. He was full of energy, and the crowd really fed off that throughout the night. The set was an interesting one, with many songs you really wouldn’t expect Laidback Luke to drop. He worked them all in very well though, with many heart pounding, heavy bass drops which erupted the crowd. Pacha’s system is one of the best, and you really feel it throughout your body. A highlight of the set would be Pacha’s giant robotic suits lit up with LED lights raging in front of the crowd. Pacha erupted when LBL dropped ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’ with the fog erupting from the robotic hands. Laidback Luke threw in a little bit of everything ; from rock to trap to hip hop, he kept the place alive. There was a transition in the set that was epic, from ‘Who is ready to Jump’ by Chuckie, to ‘Internet Friends’ by Knife party. It felt as if all of Pacha jumped on that one (no pun intended). One more highlight worth mentioning was LBl’s mash-up of ‘Take Over Control’ by Afrojack. He dropped it so hard with a filthy Dutch/Electro type of beat, blowing the roof off of Pacha. Laidback Luke closed out the set with ‘Turbulence’. This was a perfect way to end the mind blowing 2 previous hours, and the drop was perfect on the speakers throughout Pacha.
Laidback Luke has been around the EDM scene for a while, and he still brings the same energy as if he just started. If you got to experience the show, you couldn’t help but leave smiling. We felt our ears ringing for two hours after, still hearing tracks from the set in our head. What a night it was at Pacha. Sander Van Doorn headlines Pacha on New Years Eve, along with Arty and Julian Jordan. This will be a party lasting hours into the morning and you will not want to miss it. For more information and tickets, click here!
December 21st, 2012 the world was supposed to end. Why not end it with Zeds Dead’s Countdown to Oblivion at Webster Hall hosted by Girls and Boys. This end of the world celebration was a basshead’s playground. Zeds Dead, a Canadian duo made up of DC and Hooks from Toronto, Ontario, definitely planned on going out with a bang, feeding the crowd a perfect amount of bass to end the world. This sold out event was packed from wall to wall with bassheads fiending for their last fix. UZ threw down an amazing set which hyped up the crowd for Zeds Dead and Subset, who is the main DJ for every ‘Bassment Saturday’s’ held in The Studio at Webster Hall, kept the crowd going after Zeds Dead left. He’s known for dropping a lot of dubstep, trap, and anything with a lot of bass, perfect for a Zeds Dead show.
This was possibly the best 2012 show at Webster Hall. The dance floor was packed with people that were crowd surfing and throwing water everywhere and clearing embracing the end of world vibe.
Boris and Oscar G headlined Pacha NYC on 12.15.12 and did not disappoint. It was a cold night in New York City, but if you were heading to Pacha, things would quickly be heating up. During the day the city was taken over by bar crawlers dressed in all sorts of Santa Costumes, for the annual Santacon bar crawl. Many crawlers filled Pacha before Noon and danced the day away. Later in the night was when the true house heads came to support two resident DJs , Boris and Oscar G. Many people were still dressed in Santa outfits, or what was left of them, still came out to have a good time at Pacha. The atmosphere was alive a couple weeks before the holidays, everyone in a partying mood, and people from all over the world were ready to dance until the early morning hours. Pacha is celebrating their 7th anniversary, holding many big names in the month of December. The crowd loves their favorite Resident DJs , and the night would prove to be an epic one. Boris had just released his ‘ New Generation’ EP, and many Boris fans were in for the treat of hearing fresh new beats from the Russian Veteran DJ. You can check that out below.
Boris – ‘New Generation’ EP
After Oscar G hit the turntables one more time at Pacha in 2012, as the tech/tribal house DJ will be heading down South to play in D.C and Florida to wrap up the year. This was the last time the Resident DJ would be spinning this year, proving for an eventful night. He really got the crowd warmed up, with signature drums, horns, and sirens (with one clubber saying they felt as if they were actually in a police chase) and filthy Miami driven beats. There is a certain feeling you get when Oscar G is spinning, and Saturday he really made it seem like if you stepped outside after his set, it would be 70 degrees and you would be in Miami. Oscar G will be touring the country for the next couple weeks, but he will be back at Pacha on 1/05/13 to kick off a brand new year.
Boris would hit the turntables later in the night, and he was straight killing it. For any true Boris fans, you know what you’re in for – a late , head bobbing, heart throbbing night of dancing. With his new EP ‘ New Generation’ out this month , Boris would not let fans at his residency Pacha go without hearing him spin it live. Boris threw it down until the early morning hours, with Pacha still packed with his faithful. From a Miami feel with Oscar G, Boris brought the true New York house music feel to the dance floors of Pacha , and no one was disappointed. Several anonymous Pacha faithful said that this was one of their favorite events in a while, leaving with nothing but smiles and beats still pumping in their minds as they exited onto the NYC streets. Boris will be spinning on New Years Eve at 4Sixty6. Do not miss out on this. You can purchase tickets here.
By MichelleKUPP (@MichelleKUPP)
on December 10th 2012
As Pete Tong said when he introduced Eats Everything’s live Essential Mix last year, there is something brewing in the south west of England. Along with a slew of Bristol city mates, including Julio Bashmore and Waifs & Strays, Eats Everything, real name Dan Pearce, is working wonders as part of the charge to bring the thriving bass and house scene of his city to international prominence.
