When someone says “warehouse party,” I have an instinctual, knee-jerk reaction to roll my eyes. It seems as though any non-conventional room, no matter the size, can be considered a warehouse nowadays, to help boost the interest of an event. If you want to experience a proper warehouse rave, you need to get yourself to a Time Warp event. Time Warp, which has been rocking since the early 1990s, knows exactly what they’re doing, and they brought the heat to their most recent stop in New York City.
This year’s stateside edition of Time Warp parked itself into the Brooklyn Navy Yard, taking place in two adjacent actual warehouses right by the water. Approaching the venue, attendees had to navigate a winding path through the other industrial buildings in the area. The further we walked into the concrete maze, the feeling of escapism grew stronger and stronger. I was happy to see this wasn’t just a new venue directly off a city road.
Night one was packed with special back-to-back performances, which included Ricardo Villalobos b2b Craig Richards, who delivered some extremely spacey and minimal techno vibes in the main room. The secondary room was home to the harder and faster Berlin-leaning techno, closed out by Berghain resident, Kobosil. Our favorite moments of the night came via Seth Troxler b2b Jamie Jones, however, who were having fun with throwback bangers and left-of-center selections during the early hours of the morning.
I will say that, unfortunately, the sound was a significant issue for me during most of the first night in both rooms. It was either too quiet or too loud, depending on where you were standing, and it was very frustrating trying to find the sweet spot. Whatever the issue was, however, was solved for the second night, when the techno superstars such as Nina Kraviz, Richie Hawtin, and Stephan Bodzin played. While night one featured more experimental performances, night two went straight to business with flawless sets from these veterans. In particular, Richie Hawtin blew the roof of the place with a flawless, sinister set that had everybody begging for more.
With Time Warp now expanding their event to Santiago, Chile, for a fourth location (in addition to Mannheim and Sao Paolo), we’re hoping that they’re sticking around for more years in New York City as well. They’re simply some of the best when it comes to large-scale techno parties.