Here's What We Learned at EDC New York 2013

This past weekend, New York City welcomed Pasquale Rotella and his Electric Daisy Carnival. The two-day festival brought a host of DJs and live acts from around the world including but not limited to The Netherlands' Headhunterz and Afrojack, Sweden's Steve Angello and Eric Prydz, the UK's Carl Cox and La Roux, and of course good ol' American acts like Porter Robinson and 12th Planet. With five stages, carnival rides, countless food and drink options, trying to taste and experience it all was quite the undertaking, but here we are in the afterglow and we're sure of one thing, us androids definitely danced.

I'm born and raised in NYC, so being able to take the subway to a world class festival like EDCNY is pretty much a dream. Instead of having to trek out MetLife Stadium for EDCNJ, I was able to get some brunch and hop on the train and be at Citi Field in no time. I don't have a driver's license and I've never needed one, being able to walk or take the subway anywhere, so thank you Pasquale for letting me live my life the way I want to. Seriously though, with traffic as a non-issue, it made for a seriously pleasurable experience. I paid $2.50 each way to get there. Had it been in New Jersey I would have had to go through a bunch of hoops to get there and the Citi Field location negated that all together.

Madeon once said "anyone hating any genre of music simply doesn't know the context in which it's meant to be enjoyed," and that's certainly true. This past weekend, catching Headhunterz close out Friday changed my opinion. For years, I really couldn't stand hardstyle. From the aggravating "boing" sound on the kick drums, to the horrible stereotypes (yes, I'll admit, I sometimes give into stereotypes), I couldn't stand it. I've always had a love for the cheesiest of cheese eurodance/classic trance melodies and big bass so it only makes sense I'd love hardstyle, but for some reason I couldn't. As time has passed and after Flosstradamus' X EP, I found myself searching for an understanding of hardstyle. I still don't love it, and I won't be downloading any, but hearing Headhunterz drop some straight up euphoric melodies and that pounding bass on the big stage had me re-evaluating.

Now not every DJ had one, but over at the Bass Pod where I spent most of the weekend, I found that the DJ sets with MCs tended to be some of the strongest. Although there were many instances of great MCing, I have to make special notice of Cool, Crizzly's MC. Closing out the Bass Pod on Saturday night can be quite a tall task, but Cool and Crizzly were ready with no issues. Dropping his usual crunkstep madness, Crizzly had the crowd bumping, but it was Cool who rocked the kilt and sombrero absolutely wilding out. Cool's energy was so infectious that even the previously stoic security guards had to start womping too.

I'm not doing drugs and I'm not drinking, so my appetite isn't going to be suppressed at these festivals. I also don't have a rider to get all the finest beef wellington, so I need to fend for myself these days and make sure I get some grub. At many festivals, food is overlooked piece of the puzzle, bringing in $15 burned burgers and overly-salted french fries. At EDCNY, there was all kinds of food and the lines were never too long and so when hunger struck, I didn't panic. Dropping $7 on some of the dankest supreme nachos was definitely not cheap, but considering the expected prices and the taste of those nachos, I had to do it again on Saturday when I was hungry. Although I didn't personally enjoy it, I heard similar reports on the grilled cheeses, tacos, burgers, pizza, french fries and corn dogs. And although I didn't grab it, that funnel cake looked delicious.

With five stages fitting in a parking lot, this could have been foreseen. With only the Neon Garden having any cover whatsoever, the four other stages almost competed for loudest. Depending on where you were on festival grounds, you could hear multiple stages going at once. Now, if you were in the crowd at a particular stage this wasn't an issue, but there was something a bit aggravating walking from stage to stage and hearing a cacophony of inaudible sounds from all directions. I understand wanting to have open air festivals (and I love them), so this is almost unavoidable to a certain extent, but it's definitely something I had to mention.

I'm afraid of heights, sorry. I just don't do them. The thunderbolt looked like fun, but I never did it and I was not about to do any ferris wheels (and good thing, because it broke mid-festival). But you know what? That's fine because as soon as the sun came down a bit and the festival truly lit up, you could see the beauty of the carnival and the production values. Viewing Empire Of The Sun rock out while the ferris wheel lit up was truly a sight to see. I had never been to an Insomniac Events festival in my life before, but damn those production values were top-notch. Just one of the many reasons Insomniac is a leader in EDM events.

Friday saw super-blog tastemakers Gotta Dance Dirty curating the Wide Awake Art Car while the Discovery Project did it on Saturday. In all honesty, I didn't spend enough time there. Surely I could have gone to the mainstage to hear Afrojack spin for the umpteenth time or see [insert DJ here] drop [insert Beatport top 10 track], but the Art Car had it's own party. We already told you that Cy Kosis was an act to see on Saturday and on Friday it was great jumping up and down and rocking that cart, too, as I heard some great tracks including a personal favorite, Mak & Pasteman's Kendrick Lamar-sampling "Jimmy Kendrick's." The space wasn't all that big, but it was definitely bumping.

Captain Obvious right?! Yeah, to an extent, but it's particularly unnerving walking through the gates and seeing someone hold up a Dunkin' Donuts sign replaced with "AMERICA ROLLS ON MOLLY" or countless shirts saying "KEEP CALM AND ROLL FACE." I'm not going to sit here and tell you not to do drugs or that drugs are bad or anything of the kind, as I'm in no position to do so or feel that I should, but it just drives home how little people care about how they're are perceived. Surely you we don't need to prove the New York Post right.