EDM, hip-hop whatever your preference, the Brunch Bounce collective has got you covered. Since it's inception in 2012, Brunch Bounce has continuously thrown some of the hottest day parties that NYC has to offer. Now, they've stepped up to the plate by throwing one of the best NYC lineups of the summer at their own festival, The Greatest Day Ever. At first glance it may seem a bit difficult to differentiate between TGDE and Brunch Bounce, but as their visual director Klep simply states, "Brunch Bounce is the mix-tape and Greatest Day Ever is the album."
(Enter to win free tickets to The Greatest Day Ever below)
Enter to win tickets to The Greatest Day Ever below!
Held down the street from Brooklyn's ever-growing club scene on the Kent Street Waterfront, last year's The Greatest Day Ever threw artists like DJ Sliiink, Brenmar, and Ape Drums into the spotlight. What the founders of TGDE pride themselves on isn't what top tier DJ is playing, it's turning you on to next big acts.
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Founded by Irvin Benitez in 2012, Brunch Bounce's parties started as a way for friends who hadn't seen each other in a minute to party together outside of New York's prodigal boutique bottle clubs just weren't enticing anymore. Brunch Bounce is rooted on the infamous Dyckman strip in Washington Heights, it's home to one of New York greatest clashes of musical cultures. 'Hookah house', a term which is lovingly used by the Brunch Bounce to describe the strip's known use of hookah lounges and repetitive playing of top 40 'house tracks' is one of the inspirations that sparked the collective's interest in playing tracks that are rarely heard in that area. After having a string of bad luck at an unnamed bar, Irvin packed up and found Brunch Bounce a more permanent home at Apt 78. Since it's inception, DJ Eauxzown has been donning the decks as the party's resident, who always brings the heat by playing everything from the latest deep house track to some heavy hitting trap tracks.
The last 3 years have treated Brunch Bounce kindly. Based off of a word of mouth system, they've earned the respect of everyone in the boroughs as being the go to day party for real New Yorkers. The collective has grown to 6 official members including, MixaL8r, DJ ARQ, DJ Schoolboy, Adamboy, Eauxzown and most recently Ronnisance. Benitez said, "It started as a party where we would get together for each others birthdays, then it expanded into holidays and now we have them whenever we feel like it."
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One of the most unique parts about Brunch Bounce and TGDE is their talent curation at all of their shows. During their regular Brunch Bounce performances, it's rare that they ever book a headlining act, unlike most shows in NYC that strongly depend on big names, Brunch Bounce utilizes their own spinning skills, deflecting the need for headliners. Led by Eauxzown, the collective's broad palette makes for one of the most diverse shows in town. For instance at their 4th of July party held at Space Ibiza, the main room was dedicated to hip hop and trap tunes, meanwhile the rooftop's dance floor featured deep house, tropical and more pop friendly tracks. Their open format spinning stems from legends like DJ AM and Diplo, who cater to the crowd as opposed to playing a specific sound.
"At the time Brunch Bounce started I was really into dance music, going to the first Holy Ship and EDC so I wanted to combine hip-hop, spanish music and dance into one sound instead of pushing them separately," said Eauxzown.
TGDE is a unique experience, unlike most other festivals and the four people running it firmly believe that their vision will soon be realized and be seen as a fierce competitor against EDC, HARD, and Camp Bisco. Visual director Klep said, "We walked up on Governor's island last summer and said 'there's no reason why we can't do this'."
And they did exactly that, by having over 7,000 attendees and some of the best up and coming names in the game. Pushing the ideology of if 'you turn up they will come' the crew expects that by throwing these awesome parties, putting DJs on the map for NYC and having one of the most diverse sounds that instead of paying DJs incredibly large amounts of money to play their shows, they will come on their own. Which is exactly what happened at their show at Apt 78, last January when Diplo and Walshy Fire of Major Lazer decided to drop at Brunch Bounce for a surprise set that ended with the cops shutting it down.
For those of you who weren't already aware, the turnips at Mysteryland U.S. on Friday were brought to you in part by Brunch Bounce. Unlike most situations where it seems like the first day of a festival kind of seems like you're being force fed local acts, Brunch Bounce reigned over the Pinapple Paradise stage (for onsite campers only) so hard that they had to open the actual festival grounds and so that they could transfer some of the turnips to the boat stage. Unsurprising to me, Brunch Bounce's performances that day/night was one of the highlights of the weekend.
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The future shines brightly for TGDE and the Brunch Bounce crew as they map out what their next step will be. Director of TGDE's Event Planning and Logistics, Farah said, "I’d love to see TGDE become the next big festival that everyone looks forward to annually. Whether it's 2 days in one city or going national with it in multiple cities, while with Brunch Bounce, we're already discussing different national markets to produce the event at in the near future."
This year's TGDE lineup is stacked with up and coming acts like Mija, Trippy Turtle, Travis Scott, Walshy Fire (Major Lazer) Shift K3y, Craze and Brunch Bounce affiliates, Adamboy, DJ ARQ, and of course Eauxzown. Buy your tickets why you still can!
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