- When it comes to electronic music, few cities in South America have grown as much in recent years as Medellín. The scene in Colombia's second largest city has swelled steadily since house and techno first took hold in 2007—today, it's home to Freedom, one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the region. A slew of local promoters work week-in, week-out to maintain a strong buzz about the weekend circuit: Shaun Reeves, Marcel Dettmann, Speedy J and Developer all played clubs here in 2013. The latter was brought over by Move, a collective made up of Medellin's four most active outfits. For their first anniversary, Move went all out, booking one of the most impressive DJs in techno: DVS1.
The venue was Local Paintball, an impressive outdoor space hidden deep in the surrounding mountains. The field was fitted with an ominous-looking soundsystem, the DJ booth placed between two seven-foot drawings of the human form. Above, the sky was full of stars. Local talents MH and JJH kickstarted the evening with a perfect balance of deep house and techno, giving way to Merino. The Woods N Bass Records owner showed his versatility with an impeccable two-hour set of similarly tough, pulsating tracks.
At 2 AM DVS1 took over, opening with an acapella of DJ Romain's "Respect The Music," before moving through a selection of new and old school records: Reeko w/ Architectural's "Looking Ahead," Rødhåd's remix of Radio Slave's "Repeat Myself" and his own "Confused" and "Polyphonic Love." After a water-tight, four-hour excursion through techno's many moods, DVS1 closed with his remix of Nina Kraviz's "Best Friends," much to the delight of the baying crowd. Everyone in attendance agreed: the man from Minneapolis set a new standard for DJs visiting Medellín.