RA finds out how the States will be ringing in the New Year.
A new year is almost upon us, which means it's time to start planning the funnest way to celebrate the occasion. Here's our cross-country look at what's good on NYE in the US, along with a few intriguing options for New Year's Day.
West Coast
The Bay Area's never a bad place to be come NYE. Public Works will team up with Honey Soundsystem and Sunset Sound System for their fourth annual New Year's Eve soirée, this time featuring a DJ set from Ghostly favorite Matthew Dear, and Mighty and Pink Mammoth will host A Mighty Mammoth Masquerade headlined by London-based duo Blond:ish. Moby is booked for Streets Of San Francisco NYE at Fort Mason Festival Pavilion (he'll DJ), while an underground Elements party with Brian Bejarano is set to happen somewhere in Oakland. Pushing the festivities into New Year's Day: Honey Soundsystem will be in action again, this time with No Way Back, and they've got Hunee, the former Berliner who now lives in LA, confirmed at Monarch—this party starts at 6 AM—and Sunset (who'll also be busy with both NYE and NYD) and Stompy have a long afternoon and evening in the works at Cafe Cocomo with Tasho, Solar and more.
LA's NYE offerings stand out, as usual, in Southern California. UK veteran John Digweed and leading Dirtybird Claude VonStroke are the guests at Exchange's event LA Loves Techno, while the secretly located Sublevel twelve-year anniversary has Jeno and the Sublevel boss himself, Doc Martin, on the lineup. SCI+TEC chief Dubfire will DJ at Sound, and for a big-room show, hit Shrine Expo Hall for OMFG! NYE with Boys Noize. For something a little more "polysexual," keep an eye on A Club Called Rhonda's Rhondapolis party (though further details are still TBA).
Looking elsewhere in California: Focus in Newport Beach has reeled in NYC's MANIK for a party at Tapas, and in Costa Mesa, Modern Disco Ambassadors is setting up their fifth annual Mesa NYE, though further details are still unannounced at the moment.
West and Midwest
Denver is steadily turning into a hotspot for tuned-in house and techno fans, and this NYE sees two of the Mile High City's top crews, Afterhours Anonymous and Mother Earth Sound System, joining together for a warehouse all-nighter with this set of headliners: UK globetrotter Ewan Pearson, New Kanada boss Adam Marshall, Graze (the duo of Marshall and Christian Andersen, playing live) and Little Mike. If it's rap and hip-hop you seek, a Wu Year's Eve at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom with Method Man, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah should be a safe bet. And if you're out in Boulder, Communikey and Make Mistakes are set to throw a shindig at Shine with Steofan, John Templeton (of Denver's Great American Techno Festival), Attentat and more.
House heads in Houston will want to hit Cirque Noir, for a night with seasoned German DJ Ian Pooley.
In Chicago, Smart Bar is planning A New Year's Eve Phantasia with a lineup that's once again all in the family: Hugo Ball maestro Justin Long and three DJ duos, including The Black Madonna and Olin, will all take turns on the decks. Local collectives Tied and NBFC will bring to town Berlin-based DJ DeWalta for a secretly located party that promises to stretch deep into the morning, with help from the likes of Sassmouth and Jason Patrick. Over at Beauty Bar, the UK's Star Slinger is confirmed, and Oliver $ tops the bill at SinLabel's bash at Epic. Gramatik brings his bass-heavy hip-hop downtown to React and Silver Wrapper's show at the Auditorium Theatre, while The Chosen Few DJs—the longtime Windy City group comprised of Wayne Williams, Terry Hunter and more—head out to the Tinley Park Convention Center for the night.
The Detroit area has a couple intriguing options for ringing in 2014: Interdimensional Transmissions promises to Beat The Box at Tangent Gallery with Chicago jakbeat specialist Traxx, cosmically inclined Cleveland duo Outer Space and more, while Canadian techno stalwart John Acquaviva headlines the Grasshopper Underground in Ferndale.
East Coast
Our look at what's going on along the East Coast starts in Miami. Link and Miami Rebels Justin Martin from Dirtybird and Danny Daze playing their NYE bash at Treehouse, and The Electric Pickle will host Wolf + Lamb affiliates Slow Hands and Tanner Ross, who'll play live together and DJ. Club Space has a wide-ranging trio of headliners to ring in 2014, who'll each play a separate room: trance veteran Paul Van Dyk, Plus 8 man Paco Osuna, and Desolat's Hector.
To the north: Washington DC club Flash will throw a sixteen-hour NYE party featuring Life and Death duo Thugfucker and Scissor & Thread head Francis Harris—and a 9 AM happy hour. Drumcode artist Nicole Moudaber will swing through Philadelphia to play Rumor on the 31st, while at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Rusko is on an EDM-heavy lineup with Dada Life and Porter Robinson for a show called Winter Galactic.
Then, of course, there's New York City. Revelers face a glut of options, starting in Brooklyn. Verboten has Maya Jane Coles, Lee Burridge (who'll play an extended set) and Eats Everything among the guests at their secretly located NYE event. Blkmarket Membership and ReSolute will take over Output for a 24-hour bash with Matthew Dekay, Jimmy Edgar, Konrad Black, Thugfucker, DJ Tennis and many others, and BangOn!NYC will host Crosstown Rebels boss Damian Lazarus at their own TBA location. The Bunker will throw one of their intimate Limited sessions at a new spot, Trans Pecos, featuring live sets from Chris Madak, AKA Bee Mask, and Mark Verbos. If you'd like your end-of-the-year soundtrack heavy on disco, check out Popgun's show Glasslands Gallery with Moon Boots, JKriv and Discovery DJs Free Magic and Faso.
Elsewhere around NYC, Cielo is bringing to town Baltimore house vets DJ Spen and Karizma, and a grip of French talent—Gesaffelstein, Brodinski and Para One—top the bill for We Are 2014 at Slake. Wolfgang Gartner will headline an all-night show at Webster Hall, while Chus & Ceballos and Carlo Lio will play System in Long Island City. Then, come January 1st, VIVa MUSiC boss Steve Lawler will start the new year early at Sankeys NYC, where doors will open at 2 AM, and Pacha NYC, opening up at 4 AM, will move into the morning with an extended set by Nicole Moudaber.
Photo credit: Dean Paul
jeffrey scott, Matthew Dekay, DJ Tennis, tINI, Bill Patrick, Taimur, Fahad, Cem & Rg, Mike Khoury, Thugfucker, Quenum, Nikola Baytala, Willie Graff, Connie, Cesare vs Disorder, DeWalta, Bella Sarris, Ostrich, Konrad Black, Jimmy Edgar, Frank & Tony
Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Francois K, Peanut Butter Wolf, Todd Edwards, Perseus, Isaac Tichauer, Kim Ann Foxman, Wolfram, Justin Miller, Kim Anh, W. Jeremy, Cromie, James Del Barco, Goddollars
DeWalta, Jason Patrick, Mantas Steles, Max Jacobson, Phillip Stone, Sassmouth, Adam Stolz, Duke Shin, Greg K, Jarvi, Mar Mar, Merrick Brown, Nate Manic