Electric Zoo
Summer’s over, but here at the Beat, the party is just getting started. If you missed Electric Zoo Fest on Randall’s Island this weekend, all I can say is you missed out. Don’t even worry about it though, because we’ve got you covered. Here are recaps of my favorite sets of the weekend, along with youtube clips where I could find good quality, the handful of pictures I took that didn’t come out awful, and some tracks for your listening delight.
Joachim Garraud
I gotta say, Anyone with a Key-tar gets props from me just for the attempt. Not only did Joachim bust out the Key-tar, but he ROCKED IT, with a sick rendition of the intro Coldplay’s “Clocks,” and then closing his set with the best version of Swedish House Mafia’s “One” I heard all weekend. What I loved about it was that he was playing the chords right there live, smiling and sweating, and he definitely missed a few notes. The genuineness of its imperfection made it perfect. Make no mistake, Joachim Garraud is one cool French dude.
A side note on Swedish Hoouse Mafia’s “One.” If I had a nickel for every time I heard this track at EZF, I’d probably have about forty five cents in nickels. This track was EVERYWHERE – and for good reason, it’s awesome. Every time it got dropped, the crowd went wild for it. In New York City, the land of Vinnies and Tonies and Sleeping-with-the-Fishes, a different mafia was king this weekend.
Swedish House Mafia – One (Original)
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Erol Alkan
Erol was one of the artists I was most excited to see this weekend, and he did not disappoint. He dropped some awesome tracks and mixed them well. Two that I loved were Boris Dlugosch’s “Bangkok” and Carte Blanche’s funky/awesome remix of Scissor’s Sisters “Any Which Way.” Just a great set all around. The last 10 minutes, which was an extended version of Erol’s collaboration with Boys Noize, “Lemonade,” was absolutely fucking electric.
1) Scissor Sisters – Any Which Way (Carte Blanche Remix)
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Rusko
Oh man, what can I say about this guy. I am not huge on dubstep yet, so I hadn’t planned on checking out Rusko until I got a text from a friend saying “Dude, you gotta check out Rusko at the riverside stage. Absurd party in there. He’s doing a whole set of dubset, crowd loves it.” If you gave a four-year-old one of those giant cans of redbull and an eight-ball of cocaine, that’s pretty much Rusko behind the tables. He was jumping up and down, his hair was waving all of the place, he was pumping fists, etc. etc. etc. Just non-stop for the whole set. He wasn’t even jumping or pumping in sync the beats he was playing, he was just going nuts like a wildman. The crowd loved it. I feel like there were a lot of younger people there relative to the rest of the festival, but either way, people were MOVING. Anyone who says you can’t dance to dubstep clearly did not see Rusko’s EZF set.
Major Lazer
Major Lazer – what a hoot. I happen to like him, and I don’t mean this in a bad way, but Major Lazer just feels like one big gimmick to me. He’s fun, genre-bending, creative, and positively hokey.
Boys Noize
This was easily the highlight of the weekend for me. I managed to push my way to the front of crowd and all I can really say is WOW. Mr. Ridha threw down hard. He played all his classics, “Lava Lava” “& Down,” “Starter.” I wasn’t sure whether or not he would also play “Lemonade,” and when he did, I thought someone was going to have to call the freakout police because it was just unbelievable. He closed the set with his new single “Yeah.” It’s a great track if you haven’t heard it yet, and the perfect way to close the best set of the weekend. Check it out:
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Moby
As far as electronic music has come over the past decade, I wasn’t sure if this legend/relic would be able to connect to the crowd as deeply as some of the new blood could. Would the same kids in their gold lamé american apparel unitards who had gone nuts for Rusko’s Dubstep just a day before also go nuts for the man who brought us “Porcelain”? Readers, let me tell you, the answer was 100%, resoundingly, YES! Moby’s set was HEAVY, fast and totally awesome. A bunch of people I talked to said this was their favorite set of the weekend, and I can see why. Moby is an absolute pro.
DJ Medhi
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, if you have the chance to go see Mehdi. Dude just knows how to party. Great set.
A-Trak
Wish I had spent more time at this one. As it was I was trying to go back and forth between A-Trak and Wolfgang Gartner, but from what I saw, AT’s set was way cooler. The parts I saw I loved, and it’s clear why this guy is as respected in the DJ community as he is. Speaking of A-Trak, here’s one of my favorite remixes of “Barbara Streisand” that I’ve heard so far (and there’s been a ton of remixes). :
Duck Sauce – “Barbara Streisand” (Fare Soldi Remix)
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