Bennett Sell-Kline for ElectricZooFestival.com

The Electric Zoo, the annual summer-closing EDM fest now in its fourth year, will take place August 31 and September 1 and 2, and the first batch of performers has been announced. The weekend will be headlined by Swedish House Mafioso Axwell (who'll be headlining the Hammerstein Ballroom for part two of his Cosmic Opera series), French beatmaker David Guetta, and Tiësto; someone who's only currently known as an "eXtra SpEcIal KiLLeR guest" was also touted in the press release. (If you can figure out the riddle (the answer: this guy), you obviously played the Jumble at some point in your life. Or the double l in "killer" leapt out at you too.) Tickets are on sale now; the currently announced lineup below.

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The up-and-coming artist known as DJ Snoopadelic.
Electric Zoo
Randall's Island
Sunday, September 4

Better than: Did someone already reference the Labor Day shootings? Eesh.

Electric Zoo—the dance music festival that's parts techno, house, trance, disco, bass, "electro," and any other somewhat popular genre of music with a beat—is something that you have to mentally prepare for. The crowds make up one of the mental barricades, if only because an island rave called "Electric Zoo" makes real the thought of being sandwiched between thousands of furry boots and glowing fingernails clawing euphorically at the air or, even worse, your hair. But if there's one thing that was made clear from our time there, it's that your pre-festival meditation routines aren't necessary. While it certainly is a spectacle, Electric Zoo was probably the happiest place on earth last weekend.

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The crowd at Let's Play House, our favorite wandering house party. Photo by John Barclay.

​Before we sink into holiday hibernation, we thought we'd take a moment to reflect on our exploits, and present to you our very own 2010 SOTC Nightlife Awards. Below, our fourth installment examines the year's best parties.

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Just an example of the clientele here. Pics by Puja, more below.

​Electric Zoo Day II
Randall's Island
Sunday, September 5

Not only did this Labor Day weekend mark the last day to wear white without glares of disapproval, it also brought Made Event's second-annual Electric Zoo festival to Randall's Island. Fashion clichés were hardly a concern for the approximately 26,000 in attendance (many content with wearing neon -- or close to nothing -- instead) as they flocked to the two-day rave that featured 67 DJs sprawled over four tents. Hellbent on being part of it all, we headed over on Sunday afternoon.

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​"I got kicked out of high school for some weed-related shit," says Flying Lotus, the current king of progressive instrumental electronic music and head glitch-merchant of the Brainfeeder movement. He's been reminiscing about his school days--a period the L.A.-born and raised producer spent feeling like a social outcast until, in a moment straight out of a cheesy '80s teen movie, he wound up being sent to reform school. Suddenly surrounded by fellow "misfits," he felt at home and began to discover his artistic chops. Ahead of a performance at the Electric Zoo festival this weekend, and right as a nation's worth of teenagers get ready to go back to school, here's Fly-Lo's graduation story.

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David Guetta, with his constituency below. Pics by Puja Patel, more after the jump.

While most folks think of Labor Day weekend as a light, end-of-summer compilation of BBQs, final beach trips, and lazy lounging, over 10,000 people instead trekked to Electric Zoo, a huge EDM gathering with over 50 acts supplying 22 hours of live music between Saturday and Sunday. The two-day Randall's Island festival featured four distinctly styled stages, from a tent-ceiling covered with hanging disco balls to a main stage covered in flashing screens and lights with a single spotlight for the DJ, making him appear like a glowing god commanding thousands of onlookers. No surprise that Kanye's guy chipped in on the production design.

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This li'l fella is apparently Deadmau5

​Made Event's inaugural Electric Zoo Festival at Randall's Island Park Saturday and Sunday is shaping up to be a world-class showcase of electronic dance music. Somewhere between the club-kid '90s and P.S. 1 parties, this scene got serious. And the Zoo follows in the footsteps of the U.K.'s Creamfields, Spain's Sonar, and L.A.'s Electric Daisy Carnival (population 135,000, by the way) with blogger-approved new-school DJs, resurgent techno acts, and timeless house giants. (Read out interview with the fest's organizers here.)

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Photo courtesy of Plexi PR

James Murphy and Pat Mahoney aren't Mike Bindra and Laura de Palma, but we couldn't resist this photo.

The United States is most definitely at a different point in the electronic music festival life cycle than Europe. Without getting into Europe's stage (dirty 30s?), it's fair to say that Electric Zoo, a weekend-long electronic music festival created by long-time events organizers Mike Bindra and his long-time business partner, Laura de Palma, is the event ushering America into its young adulthood. Over Labor Day weekend, Electric Zoo will pair old-school legends (Frankie Knuckles, Richie Hawtin, Francois K) beside hipster favorites (James Murphy and Pat Mahoney, Lindstrom and Prins Thomas, Busy P) and guido gods (ATB, Armin Van Buuren, Deadmau5) on four different stages, all hidden away in the (relative) wilds of Randall's Island.

To get the lowdown on this momentous occasion, we recently spoke with Bindra and de Palma by phone about the appeal of techno outside, territorial dance-music genre geeks, and Port-o-Potties.

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