Despite tons of venue drama and a cranky Brooklyn neighborhood, Time Warp returned to New York City for its second year, in what will hopefully become a Thanksgiving tradition. The techno festival, originally held in Germany in 1994, is one of the longest running dance music festivals in the world, priding itself on incredible production and underground dance music.
A last minute change saw the festival take place at the 39th Street Pie, the same space as last year. While it is a little off the beaten path, the venue is perfect fit for the music. A vast, open space with enough room for two stages with minimal noise bleed and lots of room to cool down and hang out if you need a breather. People tend to associate ‘techno rave’ with sweaty bodies packed like sardines in a tiny space, but this was quite the opposite. There was enough room for everyone to dance, you never felt overwhelmed, it was easy to find friends or wander around or enjoy the festival however you’d like. It never felt like the sweatbox that is sometimes associated with dance music.
While the production was excellent again, with beautiful sounding speakers pumping bass, lights rigged around the entire venue, and the return of ‘The Cave’, the music is the real star of Time Warp. The festival curates a line up full of the best techno music has to offer from around the world, many of whom don’t have as much exposure in America as they should.
The most buzz throughout the entire festival belonged to Ricardo Villalobos, a DJ who, despite being listed as the #1 DJ in the world according to Resident Advisor more than once, has essentially boycotted performing in the United States for over a decade, outside a performance at 2011’s Movement Festival. This booking coup is thanks to the long relationship between Time Warp and Villalobos, and shows the true power of this festival. Villalobos 3-6am set was packed, despite Seth Troxler and Jamie Jones, two artists with huge American fan bases, performing back to back on the other stage.
The set lengths are another beauty of Time Warp. Many festivals try to jam as many names as they possibly can onto a line up to sell tickets, resulting in hour long sets for headliners. Not here, where the DJs get time to take attendees on a musical journey. Headliners like Sven Vath and the Troxler/Jones set got four hours. Most DJs got at least two. It’s just another example of this festival knowing their audience.
Time Warp is a techno music fan’s dream. It’s a genre of music that doesn’t get enough love in America – it’s relegated to side stages or completely ignored at major festivals – if you’re lucky you’ll be able to catch Carl Cox here or there. But Time Warp reads as a love letter to techno fans. They get us. They know what fans want. And they have the twenty years of history to be able to deliver.