ON THE FLOOR
of curveballs. Dixon then brings his trademark chugging techno sound, dotted with familiar songs and leftfield remixes, to complement the sunset perfectly. Finally, Danny Tenaglia brings the pot to a final boil as we leave the festival feeling the most musically satiated we’ve ever felt at Electric Zoo. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming and there are no echoes of danger or over-indulgence present in the crowd, whether they are sober or otherwise. Although we don’t spend much time at other tents, the level of curation at this underground stage is so high we enjoy seeing kids wander in and like what they hear. It’s heart-warming to see the trickle-down effect that we wrote about in last year’s Electric Zoo review and we hope that the festival keeps Sunday School Grove to this standard.
Dixon
Saturday begins bleary-eyed thanks to a night at one of the official after-parties, which Williamsburg’s Output trumps over the whole weekend by offering our favorite line-ups. DJ Sliink softens the pain at the Riverside/ Fool’s Gold takeover, bumping his New Jersey sound to a surprisingly large crowd given the early hour. After a reviving food break we are treated to the legendary Green Velvet and lose our voices singing along to ‘La La Land’, a live performance of ‘Flash’, and other classics. We spend the next few hours on a giant wander and take in everything from AraabMuzik to Claude VonStroke and Noisia. There is a noticeably more aggressive mood today than before, but only at certain stages and in small pockets. We are privy to hearing the music stop a few times for personal safety announcements but assume it’s the festival sticking to protocol to keep its patrons safe. Laurent Garnier is the next standout set for us back at Sunday School Grove, and we muster up the last of our energy to take a trip down memory lane and lose our shit when he plays Vitalic’s ‘Poney Part One’ as a closer. Moderat, who close out the circular Hilltop Arena with a stripped-down version of their live set, entrance us with their performance and leave us standing gobsmacked the entire time. Although they don’t pull a huge crowd, since Bassnectar and Tiësto are performing at the same time, they are our top act of the festival and their ethereal and moody songs, although not intended to be our last glimpse of the festival this year, provide a perfect lasting memory of its end.
FourTet
As much as we are looking forward to Sunday, we have a fantastic two days at the festival and understand why they choose not to go ahead with its final day. By acting in co-operation with the city of New York , Electric Zoo ensure that they — and the wider dance music scene — are seen as an ally which won’t be shut down the way most were during Giuliani’s complete takedown of NYC nightlife in the late 1990s. Whilst organisations of lesser integrity later feel the need to stir the pot with false accusations and incorrect facts, it’s important to remember that Mayor Bloomberg tells the Wall Street Journal that Electric Zoo has, “been nothing but cooperative. I have nothing but good things to say.” There’s the hope, too, that what happened will be a catalyst to begin a more reasoned debate on America’s stance on illegal drugs. Professor David Nutt, head of The Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, was sacked from his position as the British government’s chief drug adviser after scientific evidence suggested that MDMA, in its pure form, is substantially safer than the state-sanctioned drugs of alcohol and cigarettes. This fact alone casts light on how the War On Drugs has arguably actually endangered public health, by leading to kids ingesting toxic adulterants in illegal drugs, and using legal drugs that are worse for their health. Molly’s recent rise in American pop culture has made her alluring to kids who, unlike other countries with more openly discussed drug culture, don’t know how to approach these substances with the same degree of knowledge and responsibility. It’s possible to draw a parallel with the effect of this country’s approach to sex via the the offical figure from a nationwide study on sex education. Teenage populations that receive comprehensive sexual education are respectively 40% and 60% more likely to delay when they have sex and use protection, as compared to places that teach abstinence or bypass the whole issue. Kids are going to have sex whether we want them to or not, much like they’re going to go out and take drugs. So the key to conservation is surely research and education. If they are going to indulge, it is better that they know how to do it safely. The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported less than five deaths a year due to ecstasy, whilst deaths from alcohol are well over a thousand a year. We expect that Electric Zoo will come back bigger and better than ever next year — and we look forward to it. ZARA WLADAWSKY
djmag.com 055
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