The third wave of artists for this year’s Electric Zoo on Randall’s Island in New York has just been announced. In addition to a series of powerhouse labels like Dim Mak, Boysnoize Records, OWSLA, Fool’s Gold, and Drumcode making appearances on one of the three days, there will also be a number of important additions to the Main Stage(s). Deniz Koyu, Henrix, Dyro, Tritonal, and Walden are all joining the party and Sunday School Groove will welcome Joy Orbison, Scuba, Cassy, and a number of Dirtybird mainstays to the long list of DJs already scheduled to hit up New York for Labor Day Weekend this year. Check out the full lineup below and purchase single day or three day passes here.
In the past, Made Event has done a great job of filling the Electric Zoo lineup with artists who meet fans’ myriad sonic preferences. From Above & Beyond, Tiesto, and Jack Beats to Marco Carola and Sasha, festival attendees have had the option to see both the big names and explore the underground. While their choices mostly appease everyone, there are always some names people feel have been erroneously left off the list. So this year, Made Event is giving us the option to help in the curation process with their lineup wishlist form. Just like with the Presidential Election, if you don’t vote you can’t complain so head here to enter your choices.
Click past the break to see my wishlist and let us know yours in the comments.
While most aftermovies from festivals get us incredibly pumped up and immediately ready to party, Hardwell is trying a different approach. In his Electric Zoo aftermovie, Hardwell used an acoustic cover of “Call Me a Spaceman” by Colin McLoughlin to tell the story of why Robbert Van de Corput loves partying in New York. The acoustic version is available on iTunes if you like something a little lighter. If Hardwell is more your style, he’ll be back in NY on November 23rd at Pacha and make sure to checkout our coverage of his set a EZoo 2012.
First premiered by Axwell during his impressive Electric Zoo 2012 set, “Committed to Sparkle Motion” is now being released on Axtone Records. The track starts out with an echoing cry until breaking into a period of fresh uplifting lyrics and a drop that has become the signature DubVision Sound. It’s becoming a pattern for label heads to drop new tracks ahead of releases to drum up buzz, and that is most certainly the case here. If you’re loving this progressive house track, make sure to grab it on Beatport. (more…)
With the colder weather moving in, Summer has come to an end. Labor Day Weekend held the biggest festival in New York City for the fourth year in a row, Electric Zoo on Randall’s Island. Dancing Astronaut was there for all three days of mayhem – taking pictures and critiquing sets – bringing our fans the most coverage possible. Check below the break for everything we covered because we pumped out a ton of content so wanted to make reading about EZoo that much easier.
As I had started to notice on day 1, Electric Zoo was not your average festival. It was my first time on Randall’s Island and I knew I couldn’t miss Hardwell’s set. Not soon after Nicky Romero finished on the main stage, a long majestic beat started emanating from the speakers. The regal-sounding track sped up, and suddenly Hardwell emerged from behind the decks saluting the crowd. The track was “Spaceman” — and Hardwell was letting the crowd know that he was ready to go.
With such an amazing lineup for Electric Zoo 2012, picking the must see artists was hard to do. When I first saw the lineup and noticed that Zedd was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, I quickly made the decision to see the young electro phenom. Despite his recent successes, Zedd is still underrated. Before “Spectrum,” he had a ton of solid productions, many of which did not get the recognition they deserved (“Dovregrubben” anyone?) Although an avid fan, Sunday was my first time experiencing one of Zedd’s sets live — and I could not have been more impressed.
As someone who is very picky about her dubstep, and can for the most part only handle it in small doses, seeing Flux Pavilion and Doctor P was a risky move fueled mainly by curiosity. Although the Circus labelmates often produce and perform together, they are at their core separate entities. My preference is for Flux but having heard good things about their collaborative sets, I chose to skip Knife Party in favor of the dub duo. I found the set enjoyable, but I also learned that their shows are certainly not for the faint of heart. The crowd is rowdy, their dance moves spastic, and the bass so hard that even with ear plugs in it rattles your bones to their core.
My typical complaint about festivals is that I wish I had more time with each DJ but in this case the opposite was true. I likely wouldn’t survive a headlining show, so the shorter length of their performance was a better fit for dubstep weakling like me. (more…)
I have never left a Sander van Doorn performance feeling disappointed, and Saturday afternoon at Electric Zoo was certainly no exception. In fact, multiple people I spoke to said it was one of one of the best sets from the festival. Not only are Sander’s shows energetic and exciting, but he always takes the stage with a grin that lets us know how happy he is to be there. His hour-long at Zoo set was full of classics like “Koko” and new hits like “Kangaroo,” but also riddled with unreleased bombs that caused the packed crowd to go wild. The sonic wizard pulled many a musical magic trick out of his hat on Saturday, but these were his five best…
Best of the Rest is a daily feature from Dancing Astronaut that recaps the most important posts of the day as well as the stuff we didn’t get to. With the rapidity that dance music news and releases come out it’s difficult for us to hit everything — we hope BOTR serves as a catch-all. Make sure to check it out at the end of each day to ensure you don’t miss anything! (more…)
