- With artists like Flying Lotus and Jimmy Edgar starting to appear on bills across the ciudad, Mexico City is fast becoming one of Latin America's hotspots for forward-thinking dance music. The lineup at the inaugural Ceremonia Festival exemplified this, showcasing the likes of Nicolas Jaar, Oneothetrix Point Never and Nosaj Thing.
Originally destined for Xochimillico in the south of the city, Ceremonia was moved last minute to a go-karting track in the desolate industrial town of Toluca. The first thing I saw was the Mexican band Centavrvs, who used a combination of live instruments and electronics to create a sort of bass-heavy cumbia sound. Following them was the ever-youthful XXYYXX, a Florida-born producer, who took to the stage and promptly smashed it. Starting with sparse kicks and aggressive snares, his set was built around peaks of raw 4/4 garage beats, apt for a rainy day in Mexico City.
After catching the moody electronica of Nicolas Jaar on the main stage, I moved to the frenetic electro sounds of Busy P. His Ed Banger mega-mix was impressive, showcasing his considerable skills as a DJ and including a tribute to DJ Mehdi. The same cannot be said of Breakbot. He mixed like a bar DJ—a poor one at that—and the only highlight of his set was Midnight Star's "Midas Touch." The biggest programming flaw of the day saw a 45-minute period in which the only option was Animal Collective. For those not interested in swaying to that particular sound in the cold and the rain, the only other choice was to wander around—in the cold and the rain. All in all, Ceremonia got off to a positive start with some great music on offer, but there are programming issues and early teething problems to be ironed out for next year.