Minitek New York, reviewed

Minitek New York, reviewed

22 September, 2008 | 9.04AM

• Written by: helenesbpm
• Filed under: Music News: minitek

A nightmare. Horrific. Unorganized. Rip off. These are just a few of the kinds of statements you may have been reading about New York’s Electronic and Innovation Music Festival that took place last weekend.

There’s been nothing but negativity about Minitek and all the reviews online have been poor at best, but we’re going to take a different angle…

Fortunately or unfortunately for you this is not going to be another evil review.

Rather, a touch on all the wonderful things that actually did go down on the weekend of Sept 12-14 in the city of New York. One word that we have yet to read about Minitek is TASTE.

No matter how disastrous of a situation this festival turned out to be, there is no denying the fact that the people behind Minimoo and ultimately Minitek really know their techno music, and they brought it to New York City, in the USA, the most deprived country of all for any kind of electronic music.

And at the end of the day, isn’t that what it’s really all about?

As Jenny Tan, formerly known as “Miss Moo” said when she announced the birth of Minitek for the first time back in May, Minitek was born “to celebrate the music we are so passionate for, in a city we love”. As far as that statement goes, mission accomplished.

Minitek was set to blow everyone’s mind away; it was brought up to be a festival like no other.

With the innovation, science and technology that was supposed to be incorporated into this newbie nobody really knew what to expect.

One thing was for certain though- we were all in for a delightfully sweet line up of the world’s best and most sought after techno DJs, many of whom rarely play in the States, and for extremely large sums of money.

It was this line up that really motivated everyone in the first place, something that the Moo crew might have failed to realize, or could have focused more of the attention on to prevent disappointment - while the innovation and high technology was intriguing, Paul Ritch, Paco Osuna and Marco Carola back to back is ridiculously titillating.

I for one find it pretty impossible for those guys to ever disappoint, especially one consecutively playing after the other. Anyone who came to this festival for the right reasons surely could not have been too disappointed (if they got in, that is…for that there are no excuses).

Now, let’s go back to Friday night. By 1 AM Penn Plaza was closed for business, and no body, not even Jenny’s grandmother, was getting in, due to “full capacity”.

The NYPD were kind enough to allow those who actually did get in to enjoy the space long enough to brag about it later, which was until 4 AM.

After seeing the look on the entire Minitek staffs’ faces, we were all sure that the night was going to end right then and there, sadly four hours before the scheduled ending time and without the sounds of the DJs everyone was so eager to see that Saturday morning.

They looked distressed, sad, and completely lost. However, while leaving Penn Plaza a text message is received that reads, “Paul Ritch, Paco Osuna, Marco Carola, club Rebel, 4:30 AM”.

I realize I am lucky to have been in the know and that many had no way of obtaining this information, but even still, I am pleasantly shocked and impressed at the fact that in the two hours since Minitek was informed that they would be shut down by 4 AM these people were able to not just find another venue, but one located only three or four blocks down!

My clearly inebriated friend, visiting from Washington DC where good minimal or any kind of techno for that matter is scarce to none, looks at me as we run across the street trying to beat a truck and says “I’m having the best time EVER!”

Minitek, if anything, you most certainly provided a nice tour and adventure of NYC for those who came from out of town.

In we go to Rebel nightclub, the perfect venue to get that underground rave feel.

Greeted by smiles, lights, smoke, and more lights, Minitek has finally begun.

Paul Ritch was up first, taking it to the decks like a champ, spinning any frustration or anger right out of our souls and onto the dancefloor.

Next comes Paco Osuna, and at this point people are dancing up on the platform in front of the DJ booth with their hands pressed against the glass that separated them from their idol.

Beep boop, click, squeak, and its Marco Carola.

Friends who were not able to get in to the original venue begin appearing through the fog, looking like lost children who finally found their way home.

Jumping, smiling, laughing, everyone united as one that night, still in disbelief that they just saw Paul and Paco and now Marco, and no, this isn’t Berlin.

At 8 AM, just as originally planned, the party was…let’s just say paused.

Yes, Coney Island was not set up on time.

And even when it opened the Mint Stage, which was set to showcase Heidi, Monoblock, Martin Buttrich and more was not ready until about 7 PM, meaning the above mentioned DJs (plus a few others) had missed their time slots.

Nobody is denying the fact that there were some serious issues at this festival!

While some of the DJs took it as an opportunity to party with the normal folk, many were angry and disappointed.

“This festival is run by too many people who do too many drugs, and that’s really the problem here”, shouted one distressed disc jockey.

Nevertheless, the Purple stage was up and running for the entire day (congrats!) and we were treated to some tasty sets by Camea, Jeremy P. Caulfield, Exercise One, and Heartthrob, to name a few.

At Minitek we heard it all, from the intense, deep, and grungy, to the light, upbeat, and funky, whatever kind of minimal techno sound it is you like, you were able to get it, served hot and fresh, and this proved especially true when the Mint stage was finally set up and Heidi, Audiofly, and M.A.N.D.Y. vs Tiefschwarz played back to back.

We must us also mention that the Get Physical crew really know how to take even the angriest of people and worst of situations and turn it into, well…a high energy, disco bumping, feet stomping, sweat licking party.

The nighttime festivities continued over at Studio B, another impressive and astonishing move by the Minitek crew simply because Studio B, a club in Brooklyn, has been shut down all summer.

How they managed to re open it for Minitek, and so last minute as it were, we will never need to know.

By Sunday, Minitek finally felt like a real festival, and not just a big continuous party with the world’s best DJs following their fans. Security was much tighter, the VIP areas actually felt like VIP, stages were set up and on time, and the crowd stayed rockin’ all day.

A typical Sunday afternoon in New York, weather permitted, might include a stroll with friends outside, lunch, shopping and maybe some museum hopping.

On September 14th, much thanks to Minitek, for the several hundreds of die hard techno music fans gathered in NYC Sunday afternoon and night included Guido Schneider, Konrad Black, Davide Squillace, Guy Gerber, Audion, oh, and what’s his name? Richie Hawtin.

Those are just a few picks, there were many more deviously good DJs as well that day to pick from.

Did Minitek disappoint the many who traveled, near, far, or by subway, for this? Yes. But did it disappoint our ears? Well with the exception of some possible minor ear damage, no.

In the end, through it all, we got what we wanted. Say what you will, hate as you might, but, if the conditions were different, if you didn’t pay 200 bucks for a VIP ticket just to get thrown back in the crowd like bait, if there were no lines or delays or hassles or miscommunications, would you really not want to see all of your favorite DJs, back to back, in one weekend, in arguably the best city in the world….would you really not want to do it all over again?

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Written by guest blogger Helene Sandi

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