Live review: Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival
Aug 9th, 2009 | By admin | Category: Live Reviews
Ten years ago a party blasting electronic music at an old factory would’ve been called a rave—probably something like Unified or Together—and the police and fire department would’ve turned up in riot gear to shut it down. But times have changed. One-off parties have rebranded themselves as festivals in an effort not to draw attention from the authorities and disassociate themselves from the imagery of glow sticks, pacifiers and ecstasy that became—for better or worse—iconic symbols of underground club culture.
Instead of logos from local record stores and party crews on their flyer, Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival (BEMF), held on Saturday at the Old American Can Factory in the Gowonus section of Brooklyn, NY, had corporate sponsorship from Pabst Blue Ribbon and Microsoft’s Zune, among others, and a media tie-in with indie-rock ‘zine Death & Taxes. (Full disclosure: Big Shot inquired about a potential media sponsorship on June 26th and did not receive a reply.) Where corporate logos were once satirized on flyers, they are now prominently displayed and rarely objected to by punters.
A collaboration between Famous Friends (a promotion company) and Noise Problem (a booking agency), the second installment of BEMF—the first festival took place last summer at The Yard—seemed to be banking its success on strength in numbers. With admission at $25, 38 DJs and bands were packed onto a 12-hour bill of “emerging” artists, with each act charged with the task of taking control of the party for 30 minutes at a clip. Overstuffed bills didn’t work in the ’90s, and it didn’t help BEMF’s cause on Saturday. There was little musical fluidity (or any real connection to Brooklyn, aside from some on the lineup calling the borough home), and none of the DJs had the time to stretch out and take the crowd on a proverbial journey. While aspiring live acts need opportunities to hone their craft, some of the early live performances looked like amateur hour.
Overstuffed bills didn’t work in the ’90s, and it didn’t help BEMF’s cause on Saturday. There was no musical fluidity (or any real connection to Brooklyn, aside from some on the lineup calling the borough home), and none of the DJs had the time to stretch out and take the crowd on a proverbial journey. While aspiring live acts need opportunities to hone their craft, some of the early live performances looked like amateur hour.
“Do you like electronic music?” asked one of the performers in-between songs from behind her synth, throwing the sparse early-evening crowd a bone. Her question was met with polite, almost ambivalent applause from the contingent of hipsters. Subsequent acts tag-teamed with DJs on the small outside main stage (some of the groups soundchecked during the DJ’s sets), but few made an impact. All of the more established acts worth seeing—The Juan Maclean, Shy Child, Udachi—were relegated to the end of the event.
Rave culture in its heyday got a bad rap in the media because of its misdeeds. But what made many of those renegade events so memorable was its insurrectionist attitude. Old-school Brooklyn parties like Storm Raves, for example, were curated by a DIY DJ crew—Frankie Bones, Heather Heart, and Adam X—and promoters who championed techno while thumbing their nose at the establishment. The backdrop of their events ranged from abandoned warehouses to an underpass on the Belt Parkway, where Bones and his crew siphoned power from the MTA to power their generators. These parties drew upwards of 5,000 people because the promoters had taken the time to cultivate a community of like-minded partygoers through smaller events.
Aside from a pre-party held a week earlier, BEMF had no such momentum going for it, and that lack of energy was palpable. At times it felt more like a gathering for those who wanted to be seen, not party. If it’s serious about making an impact on Brooklyn’s electronic music scene, then looking to the past will provide BEMF a few clues about how to transform its next soiree into a historic event.
Words & images: Darren Ressler
fantastic recap.
i knew from the moment they announced their lineup that this would be a disaster. there was absolutely nothing cohesive about it.
plus, famous friends are total douchebags.
You obviously have never spoken to Famous Friend or given them the time of day.. you probably just got kicked out of one of their events for being an idiot and hold this blurry, drunken and unfounded memory of them.
but hey, keep being a hater… haters are happy people.
Real house music fans were at Supreme Trading for Farina…
“Do you like electronic music?” Sounds like my 53 year old uncle ha ha
How is writing an honest review of a party you attended wherein you relay objective facts (like 30 minute set times) that cast the event in a problematic light being a “hater”.
So by your definition, if you express any sort of view that says something isn’t AWESOME ALL THE TIME, you’re being a hater.
yes, it must be AWESOME ALL THE TIME.
I agree that the event honestly should have had major Brooklyn influences as Frankie and others, and a more varied program focusing less on bands and more on the DJs. But the fact remains its a very different scene today than what it was back in the 90s.
Beyond that, your citing of rave culture, logos and all…do you know what would happen to a promoter these days if they took power from the MTA? I wouldn’t be surprised if the police threw some Patriot Act lines at them if they were caught.
You also have to realize that many of the acts, the promoters, and DJs didn’t come from the dance scene and are from the DIY Rock scene. It’s a very different attitude and for better or worse, it’s whats taken control of underground party circuits around the world.
Another thing, why are there only photos from outside? Your readers deserve to see a better picture of the 30 other acts going on.
The term electronic was definitely used “loosely” here. For the most part, it was some indie rock bands using some electronic elements with DJs sprinkled in. Then again, that’s exactly what I expected. Brooklyn is so damn hipster it hurts. I wasn’t expecting pure electronic music and knew you’d see bands with samplers and efx. Still, it would have been nice to see some ode to the past. The Juan MacLean, etc, yawn. Same ol’ same ol’