Back to back madness: on the ground at 2GTHR at the Surfcomber

With Miami Music Week now in full swing, there is never going to be a shortage of parties. None, however, are quite as unique as Tuesday’s 2GTHR event, hosted by BPM. The concept: nine back to back sets from a selection of some of the best veterans and promising young talent in the underground scene today. The Surfcomber Hotel is hosting parties all week, but this was truly one of a kind.

The set up at Surfcomber is perfectly designed for a party of this sort. Passing through the lobby rife with funky decor, big couches, and bold colors and walking through a maze of gates and security lines, I entered into my first pool party of the week. Looking past the small pool and the sizable VIP area there is an impressive 360-degree stage set up. Circling around to the ocean side of the DJ booth, however, is when the real party started. Even early in the afternoon the crowd was excitable; tanned women and effortlessly cool men had all kicked off their shoes to shuffle to four on the floor basslines. One of the best parts about partying in Miami is the change of pace from my less diversified San Francisco — walking around the crowd I heard all of the world’s languages spoken, bringing vibes more relaxed than events hosted by big room, progressive DJs.

Lee Curtiss and Shaun Reeves, both Visionquest regulars, introduced a number of big tunes of the moment — Subb-an and Tom Trago’s “Time” with Seth Troxler on the vox, Benoit & Sergio’s “Bridge to Nowhere,” and of course Lee’s own “Freaks.” They pulled tracks out of some the deeper crates as well including Jovonn’s “Talkin Shhh,” Bastian Van Shield’s “Hard Babes,” and “Filled With Something” by Julie Marghilano.

Guti was scheduled to play with Reboot, but instead took the decks solo around 5 p.m. His first track noticeably elevated the mood of the later afternoon crowd and although many of his selections were unrecognizable to the untrained ear, his brand of techno was far more minimal, and totally representative of the Desolat label. He did well balancing softer piano melodies with totally energizing bass loops.

Martin Buttrich and Subb-an opened with Gui Boratto’s “Symmetria” and worked “Time” for the second play of the day. Forty minutes in, loops got noticeably longer as if the duo was prepping for the setting of the sun — transitioning the mood from day to night. Alex Arnout, Deep Dish’s “The Dream”, and Natural Rhythm’s 2010 “Fall” all saw play time from the young one and veteran.

Stacey Pullen and Josh Wink got the first evening set of the party. Lights turned up, sound felt crisp, and the energy was palpable. Wink was animated with the mixer — throwing together David Glass, Luca Bacchetti, and Lorraine’s “Likenobody.” The duo closed in a large way — Danny Fiddo & J.M. Aboga’s remix of Giuseppe Cennamo’s “Canadian Salsa” — a song that couldn’t be more fitting for the sun, sand, and Miami.

By about 8 p.m. the day’s headliners, Nic Fanciulli and Joris Voorn, took over for Pullen and Wink. Backstage was a bit of a who’s who of the top talent in techno and tech house, a clear indicator of the importance of the event. Joris dropped his own edits of Mulder NL’s “Natural High” and “Don’t You Worry Child”  — setting up for easily the most tech house set of the day. Nic played “Movin On,” Rose Rogue’s “Analog People In A Digital World,” and the Benny Rodrigues edit of Kadoc’s “The Train Night.” Continuing on the tech house trend and bubbling the crowd to new heights, they blasted through Umek’s “Pulling The Trigger” with a clear crowd favorite in Andrew DDM’s remix of W.A.R.Z’s “Long Street.” It’s early in the week, but it’s already clear that in scale, talent, and incredible vibes 2GTHR is going to be a hard one to top. Our friends at Be-At.TV even managed to capture a lot of it on camera.

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