It was a blustery autumn weekend in New York, but there was no shortage of fiery techno being served up in Time Warp’s spacious Brooklyn warehouse warehouse for its sophomore installment.
Considering its very, very successful debut edition last year, the bar for Time Warp US 2015 was set very, very high. This year, the ID&T and TCE team worked tirelessly to further impress the techno-heads from around the world who travelled in droves to party all night long with the genre’s finest talent. Boasting two rooms—the cavernous Cave 2.0 and a laser-filled Floor 2—and two nights, Time Warp US 2015 solidified its place amongst the crowded NYC event scene. With its impeccable lineup and staggering visual production, Time Warp US represented the perfect marriage of music and technology.
Friday
The fest’s first night was a brilliant mixture of classic Time Warp mainstays and unexpected surprises bringing the heat. Monkey Safari went a bit deeper and darker than their usual house sets for the occasion, while Luciano followed up his much talked about performance from last year’s fest with an equally thrilling ride.
It was, of course, the man of the hour—one Ricardo Villalobos—who was the subject of endless chatter before and after the gig. Having rarely played in America throughout his illustrious career, the ever-controversial Chilean DJ/producer has always been the source of wildly polarized reactions due to his esoteric performances. This time, Villalobos kept it casual with a fine performance, aside from a couple of mistimed beatmatches and mind-bending mid-track slow-downs and speed-ups.
Over on Floor 2, Jamie Jones and Seth Troxler delivered the night’s finest set. The four-hour (!) B2B performance was a killer mix of bassy tech grooves, classic house divas, and undeniable dance moments. It’s honestly impossible to pinpoint a single highlight of the superb set, but the moment they dropped Mark Pichiotti’s dub of “I Like It” by Angel Moraes was an jaw-dropping instance of the music and light production—lightsaber-like laser beams rolling in sequence—coming together for an indescribable experience.
Saturday
The final evening offered two very different experiences in each of its two rooms.
Floor 1 was the home of a more ambient, spacious form of techno, with the DJs focusing less on delivering raging sets in favor of esoteric soundscapes and emotional journeys. Apollonia was an unexpected choice for the fest, but the French trio delivered a spectacular set fit for the Time Warp canon during their 11 PM slot.
Recondite’s live set right afterward, however, was the true highlight of the night. While its hour-long length was short relative to other performers of the weekend, it’s sweeping vistas and creepy atmosphere made it feel like a real journey for those who chose to take the ride. The tone set was even held up by Papa Sven Väth himself, who chose to not bang the room out like he did at last year’s fest. Instead, he set the stage for the masterful Tale of Us, who closed out the morning with a heavily melodic odyssey.
Things went a lot harder on the other side of the warehouse. Len Faki really kicked things into high gear by bringing crushing techno sounds imported straight from Berlin, with the relentless assault of hi-hats and drums continuing through Chris Liebing’s 2 AM set.
It’s hard to adequately convey the magic of Time Warp. While smaller in size than its Mannheim counterpart (which features six rooms in comparison to Brooklyn’s two), the US installment matches it in pure dance magic. Honestly, we’ve already started counting down the days until Year Three.
Photos courtesy of Time Warp/Stephen Bondio/Chris ‘Pearcey’ Proper
