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Electric Zoo 2011 Review (pg. 20)
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| DJ Eco |
| quote: | Originally posted by Groundhog Boy
I'm astonished at how many people are saying that Gui Boratto was their best set of the day, even the weekend. I thought it was all over the place in terms of flow, and I've seen him before. |
I admit, I'm a n00b, I know and love so many of his productions but never saw him live, so just hearing some of them live immediately made it a good set haha.. |
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| Groundhog Boy |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ Eco
I admit, I'm a n00b, I know and love so many of his productions but never saw him live, so just hearing some of them live immediately made it a good set haha.. |
Actually, I'm just starting to think it's me...I've seen probably 5 other people say it was their favorite set of the day. :conf: |
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| euphoria |
| quote: | Originally posted by yankeeBaby
LMAO! Totally did....same freakin names (who remembers the numbers?)
:stongue: :stongue: :stongue: :stongue: :stongue: |
lol well actually his was DerangedMind1981 or something like that. Deranged, disturbed...same :p :happy2: |
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| SebG |
I forgot about Day 2
I listened to Zacks set again and its sooo nicely built up. Too bad he was at a such an early time. He deserves a bigger audience and exposure, especially at festivals.
Sean Tyas & Simon paterson, these guys ing rocked. Lift is always an amazing tune to listen too, especially when you're around your friends in 1 big tent :D
SVD was a little bit different than from what I remember, but had me going.
Just like everybody else, Digweed was in a wrong time slot/place. They should have put him in a Sunday tent at a later time. I liked his set, but you cant put him between SVD and A&B.
A&B was awesome, although I didn't stay for their entire set. I have find it somewhere and listen to it again.
My friends wanted to go to Dirty South so i went. From what I remember, he played a decent amount of old productions from last year.
After that I chilled in the back of hilltop for Andy Moor, which I don't remember at all. Not even one song lol.
I was reluctant with ATB, but he was A LOT better than last year. He still has his annoying cut ins, but he def got a better.
Ferry Corsten was different to me. I've been a fan of his for years, but i wasn't feeling some of his set. Kinda wish that i went to see Luciano.
For some reason, i was very tired on saturday and I didn't really want to do anything, except for chilling.
EZOO Overall: It was a lot bigger this year than last. The hilltop tent was huge. Pushing the main stage back was a great idea. Food choices were great, although I didn't eat at all.
Beer choice was also great. Grolsch is delicious. Water and redbull price was on point. Bathroom situation was good. Plenty of it without lines. Water fountain lines were a bit big, but I don't think there could be done much about this.
VIP = waste of money(in my opinion), except for those couches to lay on and the mixed drinks. I rather lay on grass somewhere than pay $150+ on top.
I agree with everybody else on expanding Red bull/Sunday tents.
Overall Ezoo was a great experience this year. They need to bring out more local talent + some lesser known talents from other countries.
I hope they keep the price low next year or at least have the early bird tickets for a lot longer..or maybe have them throughout the entire time (wishful thinking).
It was great to see everybody out. Everybody had an awesome time. |
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| magocbluestar80 |
richie hawtin, nicolas jaar, chris liebing, josh wink, carl cox, james holden ... are my favorites!!
:D |
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| Gccboys3 |
| quote: | Originally posted by AdagioforString
If neons where not enough they had to throw techno penguin again and hippie artists to make friendly for newfags. They missed only a tag in the forehead.
The mix of fail paradox there was immortal. |
What's wrong with People enjoying themselves? Or a penguin for that matter.
EZoo had a completely different look/vibe than last year. Above and Beyond were great towards the end...I got to run on stage which was awesome.
Infected mushroom was definitely a blast for me as well as Sander. Rusko kinda disappointed me..same with skrillex...just didn't get a good vibe from it.
Digweed was sick and definitely enjoyed the set
Same goes for Carl Cox...damn fun to dance and just let go to for me. |
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| Mr Game+Watch |
Had an awesome time at the festival, great to see that the positives of the first 2 years (reasonably priced water, tons of bathrooms, good food, big crowd but not ridiculously jam-packed) were still there, and some of the negatives have been removed (namely, the dust and sound crossover wasn't nearly as bad). My big complaint was that, with EDM blowing up so large in the states, it seemed like a lot of the people there "didn't belong"... i.e., they were only going to see Skrillex and Afrojack and do molly and . And of course, a bit too heavy on the dubstep/electro/dutch house stuff.
Day 1
Went by myself, drove in to Randall's Island and got there around 12:30.
First set I saw, apart from walking in on the Martinez Brothers for a minute, was BT's Laptop Symphony. Mostly obvious tunes, with a little improvised acid riffs dropped over them. Jes came out to sing on a few of the tracks, and most of the stuff he played was off of "These Hopeful Machines", but I really liked when he played "Flaming June" and sang over "Love Comes Again" (pretty sure he was lip-synching). I broke up with my girlfriend of 2 years shortly before the festival, so the song resonated with me a bit :)
After BT, I walked around a bit... saw Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano, who I wasn't familiar with. Was pretty bog-standard electro house, quickly went to see Josh Wink, whose show on Sirius XM I've been digging lately (nice mix of deep tech house and retro techno tracks). His set was much more on the techno end, a bit dry for me, but he finished with a belter of a remix of "Higher State of Consciousness"... I did not know frequencies could get that high, I thought my ears would start to bleed! Then came Voorn/Fanciulli, a set I was looking forward to. Voorn's set in 2010 was one of my favorites, and I was hoping to hear more warm, deep, and funky house music (one of my genres of choice). Some of the songs had some great, jazzy and almost funky riffs, but there were spots where things just dragged on. Hearing Deetron - "Starblazer" live was amazing, as well as "Dark Flower"... but I don't recall hearing "Together" being played, which was shocking. Overall, it was a good balance of funky, upbeat music and plodding tech house.
Afterwards, I walked around a bit more, catching pieces of DJ sets here and there. Heard a minute of Gareth Emery and was surprised to hear him playing commercial electro house. Trance has fallen out of favor with me in the past 5 or so years, but even in those times, there were still a few Emery productions I loved (especially his stuff with Lange). Went to see Busy P (never heard of him before), and he started off with some slo-mo nu-disco influenced track not unlike Aeroplane. But the set was riddled with sound problems - the volume went from really low to ear-bleedingly loud and distorted - and his mixing sucked, so I left. Saw the last half of Rusko's set, dubstep isn't much my thing but I wanted to get in a good variety of DJs and music this year... I used to go to Ultra Miami every year with a group of friends who wanted to hear nothing but the big-name trance DJs (with the occasional prog stalwart here and there), and it would get boring. One song he played resembled oldskool 2-step garage, which was great.
Stuck around for Benny Benassi, as there wasn't too much else that interested me at the moment. He played exactly as expected, but having the lead singer of "Cinema" come out to perform the song live was pretty cool. Between him, Felguk, Gareth Emery (!!!) and others, there was no shortage of commercial electro house to get my fill of. Finished with him, got some food, and then over to see the end of Loco Dice and Carl Cox. Loco Dice I don't remember much about, a lot of people here seem to rave about him, and he certainly had a big fanbase there (with "People Like Us" shirts and everything). I guess I don't really particularly care for the plodding minimal/tech house sound as much as I thought I did. Cox was great, too. I've recently been wondering on the Main Discussion board why Coxy never gets his due, only to find out that yeah, people still love him. The remix he played of Bucketheads - "The Bomb" was amazing, and his set was catchy, uplifting and filled with energy. Aftewards, I had to leave to see Tiesto, being a long-time fan and all.
Tiesto was an interesting mix of music, was disappointed at the dutch house-type stuff he played, but I loved hearing that new remix of "Lethal Industry" and "Silence" and even the Pirates theme song. "Maximal Crazy" at the end of the set, with the confetti flying everywhere, was massive too. I dug that he never really lingered on any song at the moment, like he was trying to fit a 4 hour set into 2... so even if I heard a ty dutch house track, I knew it would quickly get mixed out without the energy dying down. I tried to get near the front during his set but it was really crowded at this point.
Day 2
This time, my friend who isn't much of an EDM fan, accompanied me. He really likes dubstep and mashups, so he wanted to go see Skrillex and Super Mash Bros (cool name at least :P). As soon as I walked in, I heard Chordashian playing Nelue - "Deconstructed (Crazy P mix)" over at the Sunday School tent, so I just had to go over. Chordashian played some very funky nu-disco, disappointingly one of the only sets I heard in the genre (Lindstrom and Prins Thomas back to back in EZoo 2009 caused me to get hooked on the genre in a huge way). After they were on, I saw Guti, whom I heard good things about (and I knew from a couple of tracks I heard). Guti did a liveset with Ableton, and improvised piano/synth riffs on a keyboard. His set was fantastic, played the brand of deep tech house he is known for. After the set, I met up with him, got a picture with him and chatted a bit. Very funny, kinda silly guy, I am definitely gonna look into his stuff. After Guti, James Holden opened with a progressive monster. I never saw Holden before so didn't know what to expect, I knew that he's been getting into more abstract, IDM-influenced stuff in recent times... so hearing trippy, melodic progressive and tech house from him was almost a relief. He kept the energy up for most of the set, unfortunately I was kinda spent so I had to take a bit of a break. After Holden, I headed over to casually observe Sander Van Doorn over on the main stage. Was shocked at the crowd! Last (and only) time I saw him, was in Miami in 2007, and there was hardly anybody there! He played lots of obvious big-room trance and electro monsters, I dig "Koko" so it was nice to hear that played out.
After him, the crowd cleared out for Digweed, which made me go "WTF"? Digweed was my main draw on Day 2, so his set was extremely disappointing, even more so after destroying the Sunday School tent at least year's EZoo. He played repetitive, droning techno, that went nowhere, for the first hour. None of the dark, swirly prog/techno crossover stuff that pulls you into a vortex. Though to his credit, he started to pick up a bit towards the end of his set, ending on the questionable (but still welcome) "Stress" by Justice. Most people cleared out for Digweed, and the ones who stayed weren't into it (nor was I, disappointingly). I overheard a few teenybopper girls talking about how boring the set is, and "who is John Digweed anyways?"... yet they were here for Rusko and Afrojack :P That really pissed me off... the guy is a LEGEND, while dubstep and dutch house are flash-in-the-pan genres. Digweed played the wrong set for the wrong time, being wedged between Sander Van Doorn and Above and Beyond. A peak-time Sunday School slot filled with deep, dark music punctuated by melodic psychedelic prog riffs, like EZoo 2010, would have been ideal.
Above and Beyond were next, and like I said... I am not into trance much anymore, but these guys really brought it. I was really impressed by their set, it was just filled with overbearing amounts of unicorns and rainbows and PLUR and all those cheesy trance cliches that I couldn't help but feel taken along for the ride. When Paavo brought his daughter on stage to wave at us during "Sun and Moon" I was all sappy. I wished they would have played some Anjunadeep stuff instead of relying on their own productions for most of the set, but I still couldn't help sing along for stuff like "Sun and Moon" and "On A Good Day".
After them, I met up with my friend, who split off during Digweed to see Skrillex and Super Mash Bros. We got some food and listened to 12th Planet from outside the tent. Pretty standard dubstep wobble, some with extra reggae/hiphop influence, it all sounds the same to me after a while, at least Rusko had a bit more variety to his set. Then came the second half of ATB's set, where he dropped my most-heard tune of the show, Arty - "Around The World", and teased 9PM a bit. The guy isn't that great of a DJ if you ask me, his mixing was pretty botchy and his tune selection wasn't that interesting... it's like he still gets bookings based on "9PM", which was huge here in NY back in the day. I closed the night out with Ferry, who started with "Feel It" and "Check It Out", then proceeded with lots of bombs keeping the energy up. Loved hearing the remix of "Out Of The Blue" and hearing "Beautiful" again. Was hoping he'd end with "Fire" but instead he played "Made of Love". Definitely an awesome performance closing out an amazing day.
Day 3
The final day, I wasn't sure if I was able to make it 3 days straight... but here goes. I got there as soon as it opened, since I was eager to catch Jaytech. Big fan of his productions and his sound... electro basslines but with melodic and funky riffs. His set didn't disappoint with this at all. He played lots of his own songs and kept up the warm, melodic sound. Saw a father dancing with his young son to the music, which was cool... get them started in EDM at a young age, right? There wasn't too many people in the tent, since it was still early, but people still were dancing their asses off. After, I met up with TAs tubularbills and firefox, and we saw Super 8 and DJ Tab. They played lots and lots of classic trance songs, so even though I haven't really followed the genre, I was able to follow along. Grace - "Not Over Yet" and "Helsinki Scorchin'" being 2 favorites. At this point I was thinking... what the hell, I like trance more than I thought I did!
Killed time with Arty while waiting for Guy Gerber. Heard "Around the World" again and was shocked to see Arty looks about 12! He could stand to lay off the sidechain in his productions, but he was very capable as far as DJing went. Gerber though, WOW. This was the set I was hoping Digweed would play... he sucked me into the vortex and wouldn't let go, was probably the darkest and most menacing set I've heard all show. He closed with "Timing", a favorite track of mine.
After Gerber, I had some time before the next sets I wanted to see (Gui Boratto and Nicolas Jaar), so it was off to see Calvin Harris. When I saw him in Miami years ago (before he became famous), he did a liveset with the rest of his band. This year, he was DJing and playing the same commercial house everyone else was playing. Though I have a soft spot for Florence and the Machine - "You've Got The Love", which he played near the end. And also, he played "Sandstorm", which gave me a chuckle (I NEVER thought a DJ would have the balls to drop that song nowadays!), and sent the older people in the audience into a frenzy. After him, I had to get out of there before Snoop came on, got some of those awesome Frying Dutchman fries and then it was time for Boratto.
Not being familiar with a lot of Boratto's productions, I felt that some of his set sounded a bit samey after a while, with strange pacing issues. The set never really went anywhere, although the individual songs that made up the set had nice melodies and fantastic production... stuff that would be better to hear on an album, or as a track or two in a more varied mix, instead of a whole continuously mixed set of the stuff. Overall, not too bad but nothing mindblowing.
Nicolas Jaar was the most original performance of the show - a live band, with a drummer, keyboardist/sax player and guitarist, along with Nicolas himself. The music was a marked change from the deep house/tech house/techno that made up the Sunday School tent... it started off drugged out and loungey (half of the audience was toking up during this set), slowly building to melodic deep house. Nico provided the vocals on a few songs, and I think I recognized "Mi Mujer" in there, but I'm not an expert on the guy. Very unique set, though not very danceable it was a perfect way to chill out in the middle of the day.
Got some more food, then met up with the TAs for Gabriel and Dresden. by this time, my legs were seriously about ready to fall off. Apparently, I just missed G&D playing remixes of "Mindcircus" and "As The Rush Comes"... though when I tuned in to the Sirius XM replay of their set, the remixes sucked compared to the originals. Their set took me off guard too... the first (and only) time I saw G&D, was at Pacha in 2006, weeks before they broke up. And they had some of the worst pacing I've ever seen... their massive prog tunes haphazardly strewn about waves of plodding minimal and tech house that was de rigeur in those days. This time... it was massive electro tune after electro tune, with a short break to play the Skrillex mix of "Cinema". I guess I shouldn't have been surprised what with most of the other acts on the lineup playing this.
Ended the night with Armin, a DJ I used to be crazy about in the early 2000's, but quickly lost interest. His set was light on vocals and had some interesting tracks thrown in, like a remix of "Beautiful Things", and Eric Prydz remix of "Personal Jesus". I loved the irony of seeing him do the Jesus Christ Pose during aforementioned tune. Didn't particularly care to hear "In And Out Of Love" again, and his encore of "This Light Between Us". Pyrotechnics at this point were very cool, and it ended in a wave of confetti, and some great lasers/visuals. Overall, a great end to an amazing festival.
Kinda upset I missed Chromeo and Carl Craig, due to schedule clashes.
I just hope they get some more deep and funky house, prog, and nu-disco guys there next year, and diversify a bit again instead of filling slots with another run-of-the-mill electro guy. Give me Danny Howells, Hernan Cattaneo, Nick Warren, Add2Basket, Lindstrom and Prins Thomas (again), perhaps someone like Move D or Eamon Harkin...
Food
Food-wise, the "Frying Dutchman" french fries were amazing, I had them the first and the third days, and I loved the choice of dipping sauces you could get. There was also the LIC Marketplace, that served roast beef and pulled pork sandwiches. The place hardly ever had any lines around it (maybe the price - $10 for a sandwich and chips - was too high?), but the roast beef sandwich was the best food I ate at the place. Was disappointed in the flavorless wrap at the vegetarian place, and the falafel at the "Chickpea Falafel" place was pretty good. My friend raved about the chicken and rice plate at the aforementioned "Chickpea Falafel". Smoothies were pretty good, but I didn't like the choice of water, it tasted just like NYC tap in a bottle, and most of the time wasn't even cold. :P
Overall Ranking
Day 2 > Day 3 >>> Day 1 |
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| MeLLyMeL |
| quote: | Originally posted by lounger540
I heard him @ Pacha in June. Or at least there is evidence I was there but it's mostly blank upstairs. These tracks are all oddly familiar though sooooo...
Kicking myself for over sleeping their Sunday School party in Miami this year. That's what happens when you're cracked out for 5 days straight I guess. Only 6 1/2 months away!
Was Luciano down in Miami too, and if so did he play his Lady Luck bomb? Almost missed this because I had to grab another beer. I came racing in when I heard the hook play. |
. Luciano was here but he played at Arkadia in the Fountainbleau hotel. Didn't make it. Miami was insane this Labor day. James holden, nic fanciulli + jooris, guy gerber, reboot, markus + guti and loco dice who played at space from 3 am till 6 pm. Yes that is 15 fuking hours! |
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| SebG |
| quote: | Originally posted by Mr Game+Watch
Day 2 > Day 3 >>> Day 1 |
Wow
One of the best reviews i have ever read...
BTW did anybody hear Art of trance= Madagaskar? It was played twice by 2 diff DJ's... |
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| euphoria |
| quote: | Originally posted by MeLLyMeL
Oh fuk they got merged? |
Search within thread option works now. Click here ;) http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...tby=&sortorder=
Are u back now?
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| quote: | | Originally posted by Mr Game+Watch |
That was a pretty epic review. I feel like it should be published somewhere. U should def try ur hand at reviewing events on the web or a blog. U are very good at it ;) |
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| Frutersi |
| quote: | Originally posted by SebG
Wow
One of the best reviews i have ever read...
BTW did anybody hear Art of trance= Madagaskar? It was played twice by 2 diff DJ's... |
yah, def heard it twice, maybe even 3 times. Ferry played it and someone before him. and i think also on day 3 |
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| SebG |
| quote: | Originally posted by Frutersi
yah, def heard it twice, maybe even 3 times. Ferry played it and someone before him. and i think also on day 3 |
Yeah, Ferry did!
I don't remember who else played it.
Also, does anybody have Carl Cox set list. I'm looking for a name of this one track thats very hard and updriving. Its around 20 mins into his set. I had it stuck in my head since i heard the set. |
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