Sustain-Release

Sustain-Release is a small, invite- and membership-based underground electronic music festival held at Camp Kennybrook, a summer-camp property near Monticello in the Catskills of upstate New York. Founded in 2014 by Brooklyn nightlife figures and led by festival founder Aurora Halal, it runs on a sleepaway-camp model, with cabins and tent camping, a lake, pool and saunas, and multiple stages (including Main, Grove and Bossa) spanning techno, experimental and downtempo sounds. It pairs high production values with an extensive harm-reduction and awareness program, and returned for its twelfth edition in 2026

Attendees repeatedly praise the production and sound system, with one long-time visitor calling it the best production, sound-system and dance-floor experience they had had in North America, and many highlighting the curated lineups as unusually strong for a festival of its size. The woodsy, summer-camp setting and the friendly, non-overcrowded scale also draw praise. Recurring critiques center on long food lines during overnight hours and a crowd some describe as cliquey