Entering the Hyperspace; Electric Zoo 2023

Exuberance filled the air of Randall’s Island this past weekend when Electric Zoo returned to transform the park grounds into a Hyperspace. The sense of community Electric Zoo has established over the years made the 14th annual experience truly unforgettable and unpredictable. Although the festival had to unexpectedly and suddenly cancel Friday’s performances, supporters confessed their adoration for Electric Zoo by packing the venue to capacity early on in the day for Sunday’s conclusion of the festival. Electric Zoo surely upheld their title as the largest music festival in New York City and we were honored to be a part of this year’s experience.
Despite the unforeseen complications Electric Zoo faced this year, the ravers of New York City and beyond nonetheless transformed Randall’s Island into an alternate reality filled with infectious grooves and undeniable affection for Labor Day weekend. Although it was disappointing to hear of Friday’s cancellation, the dedication of the event organizers cannot go unnoticed. All six of the stages assembled in the park were massive, with extensive thought and detail put into their designs and aesthetics. The sound quality at all six stages were pristine and top-notch. The only issue was the size of the park in relation to the stages, which unfortunately caused two of them to be essentially on top of one another, sometimes causing the performances to mesh together into one sound instead of being separate. Even so, the stages and general admission areas were expansive enough to find ways around this and ultimately every artist received their deserved spotlighted moments. In addition to this, the stage curations were deliberately planned out and well-executed, reinvigorating the crowd with strobe lights, lasers, flames, and newly incorporated AI visualizations that were utterly entrancing. The coordinators also went above and beyond with selecting vendors, including food and water stations in almost every part of the vast venue. The expansion of the festival map for this year’s experience included practically two main stages between the “MegaMirage'' and “The Convergence.” The “MegaMirage” stage, marketed to be a festival within the festival, went beyond our expectations and was well-worth waiting an extra day to experience in its entirety. The additional stage further assisted in dividing up the crowds on the park grounds which ended up being essential for Sunday’s performances where over ten thousand people were in attendance. To further make things easier on attendees, the event arrangers also choose to make payment entirely hands-free by having everything connected to the admission wristbands. Many people have previously complained of pickpocketing or misplaced items at Electric Zoo, hence connecting everything to wristbands made it easier to keep track of personal belongings throughout the weekend and hopefully addressed this previous concern. Extensive dedication was evidently attributed to this year’s delivery of Electric Zoo. The efforts of the team to create an inclusive and memorable experience for all was prominent throughout the entire weekend, however, if there is one suggestion we have moving forward, we would’ve appreciated health and information booths supplying Narcan, as there was an instance in the crowd where someone desperately needed it.
After facing technical difficulties Friday morning, Electric Zoo opened their gates Saturday afternoon to begin the journey through the hyperspace. Fans swarmed the front gates with growing smiles and bubbling adrenaline to a soundtrack already playing in the background from Sharlitz Web. If there’s one thing you can rely on Electric Zoo to provide annually, it’s non-stop EDM music for an entire two days straight, and this is what lures people in year after year. By installing six stages, the event arrangers were able to showcase up to four diverse artists at the same time without undermining the production of another's performance. In this way, multiple stylistic forms of EDM were advertised at once, catering to all niches of ravers and attracting all types of EDM listeners. From Saturday’s lineup, our top three front-runners were So Tuff So Cute, Timmy Trumpet, and Big Gigantic.
Beginning with So Tuff So Cute, the duo is composed of female producers GG Magree and Mija. Their take on electronic music fuses together angsty-punk inspired arrangements with riot grrrl vocals but what really captivates the crowds is the pair’s enticing charisma. So Tuff So Cute had easily one of the most entertaining sets of the day. The crowd fed off the vitality of GG Margee and Mija who phenomenally connected with and engaged the audience despite being distanced on an elevated stage and concealed by mixing boards. The artistic approach of So Tuff So Cute is enough to grasp your attention on first glance and once you hear their runway-esque sound, you’ll become infatuated with the duo as we did on Saturday. Our next notable mention from Saturday’s performances was Timmy Trumpet, an Australian DJ, song-writer, and record producer. Timmy Trumpet has become famed internationally for his ability to mesh together jazz elements with dance music, additionally incorporating instrumentals from the trumpet into his productions. Although Timmy Trumpet is a worldwide phenomenon, ranking as the number 8 DJ in the world according to DJ Mag Top 100, we had never heard of the artist prior to Electric Zoo. Timmy’s unique take on the electro house genre was a refreshing breakaway from the other artists we had heard throughout the day and easily one of the most polished musicians of the lineup. Finally, instrumental electronic hip-hop and jazz duo, Big Gigantic, from Boulder, Colorado stepped out to warm up the crowds for the upcoming headlining acts. The pair, consisting of Dominic Lalli and Jeremy Salken, enhance their electronica sound by incorporating elements from the saxophone with live drums beats. Jeremy Salken, the drummer of the conglomerate, effortlessly acts as human metronome, infusing intricate drum rolls and solos into the EDM back tracks. When Jeremy Salken’s convoluted drumming fuses together with Dominic Lalli’s orphic saxophone components, magic is made through the music, generating a sound truly individual to Big Gigantic. Dominic Lalli and Jeremy Salken have transformed the typical electronic mixing board style into a live-band experience. Big Gigantic’s music echoes through the empty spaces, even in an outdoor venue, and is lighthearted enough to dance along to despite the complexity of the instrumentals.
As the festival began to reach its conclusion, Sunday came with a bang to close out Electric Zoo 2023. Doors opened around one in the afternoon for fans to mob in and after a little over an hour, the venue had reached its capacity, causing Electric Zoo to close its doors before 3 in the afternoon. It is predicted around 15,000 people were in attendance for Sunday’s performances, yet even with these masses, there was more than enough room to twirl around and various vacant spaces to exchange kandi bracelets. From Sunday’s lineup, our highlights were Nostalgix, KREAM, and John Summit’s B2B set with Dom Dolla.
Kicking off with Nostalgix, the Iranian-born female artist began mixing house music during her college years after being inspired by local electronic music events. Since then, Nostalgix has been pushing boundaries in the electronic house scene, earning renowned imprints with artists such as Steve Aoki and being hand-selected by BIJOU to be the premier on his new label Do Not Duplicate Records. As a producer, writer, and rapper, Nostalgix stands as a triple threat in the music scene, fusing together spunky charm with a 90’s edge through thunderous basslines and electrifying beats. Nostalgix’s musical purpose is to build a positive, loving environment in the dance music scene and her persona on stage has made this a reality for her listeners who feel weightless listening to her mixes. The next on our roster of favorites from Sunday were Norwegian DJ and record producer brothers Daniel and Markus Slettebakken from KREAM. KREAM is a project focused on energetic dance music with an emphasis on classical songwriting. The artists are famed for their pulsing, high-energy house-and-dance orientated pop music which most literally will make anyone want to move around and boogie to. KREAM’s performance was full of vigor from the crowd who fed off the dynamic beats and lively productions. The set was one we caught ourselves dancing along to from start to finish and it was practically impossible to walk around from the energy of the crowd. To end the night and conclude the festival as a whole, John Summit and Dom Dolla launched their brand-new event series entitled Everything Always, which made its first ever debut in Manhattan last weekend. While John and Dom have performed numerous back-to-back sets together in recent years, the introduction of the Everything Always spectacular sent fans into a frenzy. The success of the series at Electric Zoo has also led John and Dom to decide on bringing the ordeal to stages across the world. The chemistry between John and Dom offers an experience like no other, intertwining their distinctive styles and musical visions to create an immersive and extraordinary affair that pushes the boundaries of electronic music. John Summit and Dom Dolla feed off one another’s musical style brilliantly, the music flows seamlessly and the connection between the two artists translates into fans feeling carefree and joyous during the upbeat mixes. Ultimately, this B2B performance was the most outstanding of the handful we witnessed throughout Labor Day weekend at Electric Zoo, and we hope to see it in its entirety on their upcoming tour for Everything Always.
Electric Zoo once again transformed Randall’s Island into an alternate reality filled with a soundtrack of the hottest beats of the electronic music scene for Labor Day weekend. This year's lineup was stacked with never seen before stage curations and B2B sets along with a brand new stage and an expanded festival map that made the experience completely unprecedented and like none of the previous years before. Overall, Electric Zoo’s 2023 experience further cemented their place as the largest music festival in Manhattan. Even after 14 years, the organizers have effortlessly maintained an inclusive, carefree, and effervescent environment where everyone feels appreciated and accepted. If you weren’t on Randall’s Island this year, we promise next year will be even more thoughtfully executed and we highly recommend you try attending at least once in your life as Electric Zoo is an experience you’ll reminisce on forever.