Festival Review: Elements NYC Fights The Rain To Shine Over The Bronx
Photos By Andrew Rauner
The EDM scene is a culture, and since its very conception, Elements NYC has realized this. It has a LOYAL following, of which the festival cannot truly fail them because, by now, there is an open family policy. Such ideals make me wonder what Woodstock would have been like because, at Elements, you will see people meet the same day to build a lasting, lifelong relationship.
Body painting, women dressed in ball gowns made of balloons, and gorgeous outfits made from the materials you would find in a garage, Elements Music & Arts Festival is also about fashion. It is the first thing that grabs your attention because it is also the first thing to indicate this is an ambiance of permission. As I perused between stages named after the different elements, I encountered people that had no problems talking love and EDM. Yet, there was no coyness or societal shame. We were the harmless outcasts of society; deemed crazy, despite, swimming in desires to be kind and have kindness.
From the Vortex Labs, where women dressed as robots would greet you into a lounge of transient electronica or from the Water Stage, which had a pirate ship and jungle gym that elated grown adults back into their kindergarten glee, Elements NYC was truly freeing. I have reviewed Elements NYC for years, and even got to see old friends that I met there like, The Golden Pony. Each year the fest has never forgotten its loyalists, like myself, but has worked hard to attract new names and faces. After all, if a community does not grow, it vanishes. Thus, you had a lineup that could happily compete with Electric Zoo.
You had Bassnectar BLOWING PEOPLE’S MINDS LIKE THEY DIDN’T NEED THEM. The “bassheads” or “nectarines,” as they called themselves, were out! Trudging through the mud as if we were all in the trenches for music, and people didn’t care. That, alone, is an amazing feeling to both have and witness, especially when you are, technically, in an abandoned warehouse. This is, usually, not a location people would call a “carefree” or “safe space.” Yet, the New Expo Center is housing some of THE BEST festivals, of which New York’s summer and artists love it. The place is completely open and not hard to find everything within you access. It is just a mile of artists selling jewelry and t-shirts, mini, local restauranteurs trying to bring business back to the “everyday chef,” and, of course, lots of music. From Emancipator bringing out a violinist to turn such savage, electro swag into Mozart to Jade Cicada’s beats dancing to a screen that was seemingly running a neon-colored Rorschach test, Elements stepped up its game when it came to how lights and images play into music,
Despite the rain, and how much it could have cut off people’s moods, every set was backed by massive strobe lighting and screened spectacles, which played a huge part to how people invest in an EDM moment. Through Elements years, this was not, exactly, so. Elements NYC has always worked hard on its atmospheric details to envelop its festival-goers, but, like anything, growing funds also grow sets. Eyes looked at the swirling images behind them like bees flying towards their queen’s nest. Not only were people acting inspired, but the entire ambiance felt like an inspiration. Elements NYC took the elements of earth, and made them otherworldly.
From Justin Jay to Bruno Furlan, Elements NYC scoped the vastness of EDM sounds, and how DJs have taken electronica and infused it with every genre and the geography of the world. From jazz to Brazil, countries and histories bounced within every baseline, and even led to afterparties throughout other boroughs. Thus, if you ever want a mixture of grounded people and a taste of what the EDM culture is, then I recommend Elements. Some people fear this scene and its “craziness,” but this festival is love-based madness. Frankly, I welcome it. I am not even an EDM’er, but culture is a powerful thing,= and music might be the most benevolent of cultures. For More Information On Elements Music & Arts NYC Click Here. For More Information On Bang-On, it’s event coordinator and their upcoming shows Click Here.
