January 2008 – For most, this month does not result in the recollection of fond memories. The 21st marked Black Monday in global stock markets, kicking off a year that would rather be completely forgotten by the majority of individuals globally. Fortunately though, that January also signaled the beginning of something that continues to deliver positive sentimental experiences for a then small, but ever-expanding group of auspicious partygoers also extending to every corner of the planet. Initially a small industry event, spanning from January 5th – 12th, 2008, The BPM Festival has matured in size and scope with each installment, and is widely regarded as the preeminent electronic music festival in existence. As BPM veterans since 2011, we have seen the transformation of Playa from a quaint seaside town, to the most unique festival setting we’ve experienced, for six consecutive years. As we have thoroughly covered in our previous reviews, BPM does an exceptional job of preserving the town’s charm, while managing to nestle in the best day, night, beach and jungle parties we’ve ever seen or experienced. Just a stone’s throw away from some of Mexico’s most spectacular ruins and centoes, and literally steps away from some of the most delicious Mexican cuisine to tickle our taste buds, BPM has it all and more. Over the years, elements of the festival […]

Late December 2015 – As our annual flight of party-goers yet again glided in for a landing at Cancun International Airport, we could already sense that the 2016 edition of The BPM Festival was going to be different and exciting. Gazing out of the window and over the tarmac to the airport control tower, we caught our first sights of the Bud Light logo, the festival’s newest corporate sponsor. The new sponsor signaled an anxious anticipation of change, and a hope for continuation of the excellent festival execution for which The BPM Festival is deservedly famous. As attendees of BPM for almost every year running, we were eager to see what revelry the new beer partnership would help spawn. As we have noted in one of our in previous pieces, we believe that The BPM Festival is at the forefront of delivering and organically growing a festival model that is economically sustainable in the long haul. Year in and year out at BPM, smart decisions, precise planning and forward thinking lead to a consistently unforgettable festival experience, and we expected this year to be no different. As we would later ascertain, we vastly underestimated 2016’s additions. At TT, we feel obliged to pay appropriate homage to the unique urban layout of the festival. Couple this with the sizzling hedonism of Playa del […]

The holidays have passed, New Years is just a (pretty blurry) memory and everyone is FOMOing about BPM. Just another January in the life of The Techno Tourist. As BPM connoisseurs, our experience shows that arriving in Mexico a bit before our customers to evaluate any changes from the previous year is a must. So, after a few beers at Club De La Cerveca (well, maybe more than a few), a stroll down 5th and some foraging into the lesser known parts of Playa, we can confidently conclude that this year’s BPM is going to be the first “do not miss” event of 2016. With the advent of EDM and corporatization of electronic music, the scene that all of us lifers know and love has undergone dramatic change, on a macro level, over the course of the preceding years. Mergers, acquisitions and corporate takeovers have all been foreign terms to the club scene until of late. Subsequent pieces, which we will be publishing in the coming months, will further explore this phenomenon and the impact that it has had on our clubland, but for the time being, the focus is on BPM. Our goal at The Techno Tourist is to work with, and partner with, festivals and events, which we deem to be sustainable for the long term, and which introduce new […]

Sometimes, our market research is quite the pleasure. Other times, it is outright amazing. In 2011, the year we started The Techno Tourist, we made our virgin journey to Detroit after years of ranting and raving on the part of our friends. Rumor had it that here was a festival somewhere in the mid-west that held that golden combination of vibe and production quality firmly in its grasp. Like any good Techno Tourist, we immediately began making plans for our first trip to the D. Fast forward through sunrise ruckus at Old Miami, spacewalks on the plaza and general debauchery on various boats and we suddenly find ourselves in 2015, marking TT’s fifth consecutive year at Movement. Much has transpired in the D since our first visit, but to our boundless pleasure much remains the same: The official declaration of Detroit Techno Week by the Mayor immediately rockets the vibe straight to stratospheric status; the transformation of all Detroit vehicles to mobile electronic music broadcasting units, permeating the city space with sexy grooves at obscene decibels; and the annual metamorphoses of Hart Plaza into a temple of music, drawing in pilgrims from the entire world for a week-long congregation of worship, movement and transcendence. If you think this already sounds outrageous, you’re right, and it’s great. Photo: Douglas Wojciechowski Like every year, […]

The BPM Festival 2015, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico went down as the largest, most complex, and most innovative festival in BPM’s history. The Techno Tourist was thrilled to celebrate our 4th birthday, while ringing in 2015 with an overwhelming number of much-loved, like-minded individuals. BPM attendees want nothing less than to bless a new year with a christening of hard-danced sweat and ice-cold cocktails. This type of abundance inevitably culminates with heavenly dips into the waves of the rainbow-kissed Caribbean. …Okay, and not to mention also culminating in the savoring of fresh organic tacos, cenote diving, visits to the Mayan ruins, and more! Flashing back to late summer 2014, the interwebs were abuzz with discussion of the “pushed back” BPM dates. In all fairness, BPM has changed the dates several times since the festival’s first appearance, so Mexico-loving PDC veterans hadn’t raised an eyebrow at the shift. As firsthand observers to the rise of BPM, we trust the reasoning of its organizers, and were anticipating that the shift would further cull the musically educated. In the end, the final dates didn’t deter a soul, with 60,000 sun-bronzed clubbers dancing up, down, and all over the town for a period of 10 days and counting. During earlier dates in the year (Playa’s New Years), the festivities play host to a large number […]