- With a history that stretches back 17 years, PS1's summer Warm Up parties have become an institution of New York clubbing. The curatorial approach has changed a little over time, but crucially the same commitment to interesting and boundary-pushing programming remains to this day. The crowd it attracts is as large and diverse as ever, and there's still the option to cool off in the building's galleries mid-rave. Despite Untold's last-minute cancellation, August 15th's schedule was shaping up nicely, with sets from Ninos Du Brasil, Vessel, Cut Hands and French Fries back-to-back with Bambounou all to look forward to. Plus, Veronica Vasicka and Nick Hook had been brought in at the 11th hour to replace Untold.
I arrived most of the way through the French pair's opening turn. Trading classic house and disco tracks, they got things off to a pleasant start while the courtyard below slowly started filling. The atmosphere changed when Vessel took over, but the crowd rolled with it. Though his harder, more industrial material felt slightly out of place in the daytime, the broken, dubstep-leaning drums of his earlier work fared better on the floor. I'd seen Vessel two days before at Output, and he left a much stronger impression on me in the open air.
I wasn't so taken with Italian duo Ninos Du Brasil, whose set felt heavy on spectacle but surprisingly light on content, especially given last year's outings on Hospital Productions and DFA. More than anything, they could have benefitted from playing the electronics live, rather than laying live drums and vocals over pre-recorded backing tracks. Cut Hands, easily the party's most leftfield booking, was more of a success, splicing slowed-down jungle breaks with explosions of noise. By this time the courtyard was mostly full and attentive, though Cut Hands' more abrasive moments brought about plenty of baffled looks.
As sunset approached, Veronica Vasicka stepped up. Her switch to more party-friendly selections was needed, as she blended cuts of classic industrial and EBM with snippets of recognizable techno. Nick Hook went too far in the populist direction, opening with a Björk song before dropping into obvious hip-hop classics—Wu-Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, Mobb Deep—followed by footwork. Considering the progress Vasicka had made, Hook's hype man tactics seemed a bit tone deaf, and I found myself wishing Vasicka had taken the extra hour instead. Rough landing aside, the event was a shining example of why Warm Up remains such a well-loved fixture in New York.