On a Thursday summer night, popular Williamsburg venue Output hosted an album launch party for electronic music duo Gorgon City. Lucky New Yorkers were the first in the world to hear tracks from Escape, the twelve-track second album from the duo.
Not your typical dance venue, Output brought attendees to their rooftop bar to dance in the open air. The wooden rooftop had a full bar to accommodate for the night. The dance party was actually held on the rear half of the roof. Attendees descended a flight of stairs after traversing three flights of stairs to enter a secluded paradise, complete with fake grass to emulate the feel of a tropical summer destination despite being in located in the Big City. Many also hoped to capture the moment of the approaching sunset on their cameras. It was a rewarding sliver of beauty on an otherwise humid and sticky day.
Naations, an up-and-coming Australian electronic music duo, were one of the openers for Gorgon City that surprised many by their powerful performance. At first, the perfect-pitched voice coming out of the speaker systems sounded like a produced track was simply being played. Delighted listeners soon took notice that the vocals were actually being performed live and turned their attention from their conversations to Naations.
During their set, the crowd began to slowly trickle in to get their spot to see Gorgon City. The one lonely industrial fan cooling the rooftop began to feel almost non-existent as the dance floor continued to fill. A few songs from Naations’ set included “Alive” and “Air and Water.” After they were finished, they hyped the crowd to get ready for Gorgon City, the main event of the night.
Gorgon City came out to cheers as they greeted the many who stuck out the weather to see the duo. They reiterated the fact that Escape had never ever been heard before, and New York was selected as the lucky ones because they loved the city so much. Instead of simply playing their album, Gorgon City went the extra mile and brought many singers from the album to perform the songs live, making this party all the more special.
Their first guest singer was Josh Barry who sung, “Blame.” They joked about how great Barry looked against the New York skyline. The duos’ love for the city could not be contained as they continued to rave about the city. The next singer was their opener Naations, who performed “Let It Go,” the collaboration between the two electronic duos. Next up was Chenei to sing “Never Enough.” There was a hiccup in the microphone to which Gorgon City roasted the singer by saying, “There’s a button on the mic to turn it on you know.”
If one were to assume three guest singers were more than enough to make a set special, Gorgon City brought out one more. D Double E was the final singer to take the stage and perform his collaboration with the duo, “Hear That.” “All Four Walls” was played to re-energize the crowd as they promised after their album listening set, they would play a true set for the attendees to really party. The final song off their new album was “Night Drive.”
Rather than waiting for applause or thanking their fans, Gorgon City continued straight into their DJ set to reward them with an all-out dance party. The roof shook as the crowd danced away into the night despite the oncoming drizzle.
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