Wir Tanzen is a unique concept in Ghent (Belgium) bringing you the best of electronical music. We were there, wir tanzt and we are going back! A killer headliner with no one less than the queen of techno Paula Temple and other artists like Happa, Man Outta Space, Double U Jay and Massimo Mephisto in the main room. The second room was headlining Manu Kenton, Hypnoise Theory, Drinko, Studio Dondert, Paapie and Remy-x. With this strong timetable, the mood was set in an industrial warehouse at the Kompass Club. When we arrived it was hot inside, sweat on the walls because a whole crowd was already going wild. We’ve got sucked in like a fly on a neon light and the beats took us away. In this two-story warehouse there were chillout areas and we were allowed to go outside (which sadly doesn’t happen that much in Belgium). The decorations looked well balanced with the acts in both rooms. A blasting 8 speaker Function-one system in the main room and Turbosound speakers in the second room were bringing us perfect sound and bass. We could drink Belgium’s finest beers and cocktails were made on the spot at the bar. For us the evening began with a red bull and a beer, a nice talk with the lady at the cloakroom and we bought fresh vinyl at the Dekloned Recordstore. In short, this event had a festive location and setup which made it the perfect start of the summer. For us Wir Tanzen is more than just a DJ lineup, it’s a whole concept and experience that you will not easy forget because in essence it’s a well organized rave. The vibes of the night were perfect, very nice people at every stand, technoheads dancing together and this in combination with a second room that provides even harder beats. That’s an exclusive in Ghent, and it gives this event the extra hit that makes it unique. Ghent has established a core techno scene but none are comparable. For people that like raw industrial techno and underground music with acid vibes, this is the place to be. We highlight what we found the best three sets from the evening.
At the end of Paula Temple her mix we were all danced out! We've put on our sunglasses and faced the morning sun with a smile. Wir Tanzen proves themselves a worthy hardtechno concept and we will definitely follow up this organisation. It has to be said that this kind of quality is rare and it felt like we were in Berghain for a moment. For more information just follow them on facebook.
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Amsterdam, is a city of dualities: rich and poor, weird and comfortable, highs and lows. Amsterdam has it all! It’s a cultural and artistic paradise with a lot of history and great taste in music. Amsterdam knows how to surprise you, and takes on to your interests as a cultural being. Hundreds of LP and music stores, clubs popping up everywhere and musicians or performers on every corner in the streets. We chose to visit Studio 80 on the national holiday. Why? Because we wanted to know where the locals get their weekly music doze! We also visited EYE, a 3D build house, we took the ferry, we ran to the bus and most of all we walked and discovered A’dam at its finest. Before the night began we bought ourselves a nice bottle of rum and up we went! Before midnight it was free entrance, after it was 6€. We would have been almost too late if we hadn’t run our legs of to get the public transport, but we made it! But now, let's focus on music! Studio 80 is a techno club that intvites artists like Chris Liebing, Dubfire, Joris Voorn and has a collaboration with Mixmag. No doubt this is one of the few authentic underground clubs in Amsterdam. The nice and surprising thing about this club is that it doesn’t screams at you. It’s inviting because it’s mysterious and they let the public search for it. It’s tucked in beside the neon-lit Escape at Rembrandtplein and it has a small – almost hidden – entrance behind hard-to-see black doors. The club itself is dark but intimate and has two rooms and a top-notch custom-build soundsystem to pump out a great diversity of electronic music. They can harbor 600 partypeople and the nights range with a great diversity from house to techno, and everything in between. These club nights focus on having fun and discovering new music and DJ talents. We were lucky the porter didn’t ask us a too difficult question about the party. Probably because it was before midnight? Although she asked the people in front of us who would play that night, and she asked us if we were tourists… uh, no? Maybe we had a kind of journalistic flair about us, she just had to let us in, or this would have been a VERY BAD review off course! It was a local night with local DJ’s on a national holiday! WKND-Resident Tijn Benedek played a well balanced perfectly mixed set. Also Pete Bandit & Jason Shae got their groove on in this studio! We loved the music and the vibes. This club is real, it’s not about being seen or looking good, or whatever other reason but the music itself. We had the honor to interview Tijn Benedek, an accidental DJ and hard working entrepreneur. His style is undefinable, but it's very danceable! His favorite color is dark blue and his favourite drink is red wine. Hear for yourself his set of the night: ::pARTs:: First of all, thank you Tijn for taking the time with us, we were wondering, when and how did you meet this organization? Tijn: I’m a resident at this weekly event from the Studio 80. I think for almost two years I’m playing here monthly. One of my favorite clubs for sure. The people behind it are doing a really great job! ::pARTs:: Your set is very diverse ranging from techno to dub to deep house to chillout, how would you describe your music? Tijn: I think I’m not able to label it. It’s versatile because I like all kinds of music. Disco, House, Dub, Funk, Deep House. But mainly it has a oldschoolish touch to it. So the best way to describe my music is I think is Versatile Oldschool Beats (smile). ::pARTs:: Who influences your musical choices? Tijn: My dad, DJ’s around me, my friends, and a lot of other artist. ::pARTs:: And you swear with vinyl, why? Tijn: I love to collect it. I spend a huge amount of money because it gives me a huge kick to own it en play it. When starting as a DJ I also found it very difficult to remember songs. With vinyl I have a much bigger reference with the visual aspect of vinyl and also I bring 50 good pieces instead of 10.000 tracks. And I prefer to DJ with vinyl 1000 times more than any other medium. Just love the feel. ::pARTs:: When did you decided to become a DJ? Tijn: Hahaha, it still just a hobby and the perfect one for sure. I buy records, I play records, I get paid, and I can buy more records. This is what decided me to become DJ I think. ::pARTs:: Allright! Perfect! And how would you describe your career as a DJ then? Tijn: Like the perfect hobby. I like doing it on a regular base but not too much. It shoudnt interfere too much with my “real” work. After working hard the whole week, going to the club and play my own records really really loud and dance, is my perfect closure of the week. And the free drinks ofcourse ;) ::pARTs:: When did you first start as a Dj and how did you evolved? Tijn: I used to do some hiphop beats when I was younger and stoned all day. Now I’m just collecting a lot of samples and want to work together with someone maybe in the future. ::pARTs:: So the focus is on mixing and not on producing music? Tijn: I think it's such a different kind of expertise, and its something that needs a lot of hours, blood and sweat to deliver something. My focus is more on searching records and playing at home. ::pARTs:: Then who is really worth listening to? Tijn: Sonya Moonear at this moment is one of my favorite DJ’s for sure. ::pARTs:: What is your favorite set all time? Tijn: Favorite set is Mr Scruff, Floating points at the beach on Dimensions two years ago. I was there dancing on the beach completely spaced out. Best… set… ever! ::pARTs:: I’ve heard you are an entrepreneur? Could you tell us something more about your projects and business? Tijn: Well, Together with Mourad Saber I have a creative agency called GR8 Things. We do branding, concepting and creative communications. Mostly with startups, and mostly with startups that are doing something good for the world. For instead an application for voluntary work with elderly people, a social platform with only positive and inspiring news, a b2b platform to lease beehives and a t-shirt concept that sponsors food for people in need (tastees). ::pARTs:: Interesting! But it sounds like a busy job. How do you combine your work with your music? Tijn: Work hard, play hard J ::pARTs:: What clubs/events are definitely worth visiting next time we come to Amsterdam? Tijn: Studio 80, Closure, Canvasopde7de ,... ::pARTs:: One last question Tijn, when is your next gig? Tijn: The 17th of July I had my own party at Canvas. It's called Culture Of Souls and it's strictly disco, funk and soul. And a party you should definitely come to is ZeeZout Festival 5th op September. See you there! (smile) If you can’t get enough you can also listen to Tijn his soundcloud or to Studio 80 their radio program! It’s refreshing and interesting and they broadcast several shows every week. This club is the perfect place to dance the night away if you are a fan of electornical music. Tijn has a more fluid musical personality which makes his sets very a very intersting mix of sounds! If you want to hear more of Tijn his work, he plays @ the zeezout festival or you can follow him on facebook. 'Bruges is dead', that's what young people say who live there. But we have been to a small underground pop punk concert and felt alive! Bruges is well known in the hardcore scene - H8000 stands for the postal code of Bruges itself and is a worldwide known phenomenon. The straight edge metalcore bands were very popular in the nineties, and it keeps on going! Altough younger bands like wasted 24/7 tend to play power punk or pop punk, it stays a big influence on their musical careers. One of those bands is Wasted 24/7, who played this Saturday in Barock (Bruges). We were curious at how a pop punk band would perform live and we were blasted away! Since 'Bruges is dead' we didn't expect much of it.. Well, how that turned out different! We went to an unknown café with unfamiliar people, the only thing in common was the rush in our heads and the band in front of us screaming that 'partying is a lifestyle!'. This band is the Belgian version of Tenacious D, crazy people who make crazy music! They had us at hello with great guitar riffs, awesome guitar solo's, pounding bass and drums we could feel in our whole body! This is a powerpunk rock band that wants to bring quality back to music without changing who they are as persons. They want the lyrics to be funny and deep, the music to blow your mind and at the same time, they are entertainers! This concert was striking from moment one! The music, goddamn! This music reminded us of popular songs from Blink182, Good Charlotte, City and Colour,.. Before we even realized it the music was taking over our brain and the whole crowd couldn't resist to head bang - you probably know the feeling! We didn't knew one of the songs, but that didn't matter, we just hummed and yelled a little bit while smiling the whole show along! Good voice, nice flows, great riffs and guitarsolo's and catchy lyrics. We hoped a guitar would be trashed at the end - as the band was known for - but sadly that didn’t happen. Didn't matter, after the concert the lead singer Pippin took the time to sit down with us and answer some questions. During the interview you can feel how appreciative this band is for his fans. This group is in here for the music, not the fame or the money. You can see how this band connects with their audience, and we believe this is why Wasted 24/7 is so popular and it’s fanbase is growing each time they perform - because the play until the roof is on FIRE! They are getting recognizes by the media too, Rock XXL elected them for ‘Best Punk Album of 2013’, they were the winners of CommaRocks 2014 and they were live on national television in January this year on Jim-TV (Belgium). pARTs:: First of all, what a performance! Thank you very much! Can you tell us who is ‘wasted 24/7’? Pippin: Thank YOU for enjoying it and partying along with us! I like to think only half of the show comes from us, the other half is you guys. It’s like with sex, you just can’t do it alone! Well you can actually, but it’s not as fun and I heard somewhere that you go blind if you do it too much. That’s how Stevie Wonder got so good! I’m actually the least funny member of this band, that’s why they make me do all the talking. At this point the band consists of Maxim (drums), Ward (vocals, bass) and me (vocals, guitar). We haven’t publicly addressed this yet but sadly, just a few weeks ago, our other guitarist and founding member Matthias decided to quit. He brought a lot of talent to the band so he’ll certainly be missed, but we wish him the best of luck. He’s already looking for a new project to rock out in, so if you’re in a band and looking for a more-than-kickass guitarist, give him a call! pARTS:: What does the band represent? Pippin: We’re all about doing what you want and being who you want to be regardless of what the rest of the world seems to think you have to. Enjoying life to the fullest and not taking anything too seriously. That includes ourselves of course (smiles). pARTs:: Do you agree if I said you guys are the Belgian version of Tenacious D? Pippin: Definitely not! We all love their music but I don’t think our music has a lot in common. Other than that it’s a great compliment, so thanks a lot! pARTs:: Can you tell us how the band evolved from the beginning till now? Pippin: I started this band under a different name with my best friend & soul mate at the time, who sadly passed away since… (Silent). At first we asked Matthias, who was living next door to him to become our bass player. But we quickly realized that since he was a far better guitar player then I, this line-up made no sense at all! So he switched to lead guitar haha! pARTs:: And how about the other members? Pippin: Well, after a lot of line-up changes we eventually met Maxim and Ward on a men-only dating site for fart fetishists. We went on a date and it smelled so well that we just knew this was true love and had a solid line-up to work with. We’re joined on the road by our sound guy Pieter who is the guy responsible for making us sound like we can actually play something. He owns a studio in Knokke called “Shellshock Studios”, check it out if you’re interested! pARTs:: Can you tell us how you as a person perceived all this? Pippin: This band is literally my life so it’s been a chaotic and crazy ride to say the least, but mostly I’m really thankful for every moment I got to spend making music with different friends, playing in front of a crowd, seeing all those crowd-surfs, sing-a-longs, weird dances that don’t have a name yet and the occasional boob-flash. I love watching other bands rock harder than us and feeling inspired to raise the bar for ourselves, meeting new people, seeing people wearing our merch and watching them connect at our shows. It’s been an amazing growth experience so far and I’d never want to trade it for anything else. Some of the ways we connected with people literally blew our mind. There just aren’t enough words to express the love and gratitude I feel for everyone who’s been involved in this and supported us so far! I’m not trying to get sentimental here, just taking this chance to show you all our appreciation while I can! pARTs:: I think the fans appreciate it too Pippin! I wonder, could you give us an example? Pippin: Well, there is this girl who’s boyfriend went to get a haircut, showed a picture of Ward to the hairdresser and told them to do it just like that. Or the one night two guys came up to me telling me how watching us play inspired them to start a band and how the singer was thinking about painting our bunny logo all across his leather jacket, that just felt totally amazing. We also heard about a surgeon playing our music for people before they go into narcosis which is the raddest thing ever! Or it just means we sound boring as hell and it makes them fall asleep easier, your choice haha! pARTs:: What is your favorite song or album? Pippin: That’s kind of a really hard question to answer for me. I can get really swept away by any kind of music, whether it’s funk metal, rap opera, or a Polynesian nose flute concert. There’s just so much good music out there that it would be impossible to have a real favorite. And that goes for most other things as well: Food, books, women, people in general,… Every single one’s got something different to offer and there’s so many cool things out there to experience while you’re here. In the end I think that’s what it’s all about. I also like to make every second count, so lately I’ve gotten into this habit where whenever I’m not enjoying something or have a damn good reason to do it, I’ll just go do something cooler or go somewhere else. This has the side effect of making whatever I’m doing at the moment seem like my favorite thing. More often than not I find myself thinking that whatever album I’m listening to at the moment is “the greatest fucking piece of art ever created by mankind”. Then later that night I’m in some kind of bar playing music that I would consider the worst of the worst if you had asked me at another time but I find myself enjoying it just as much! So with that in mind my favorite LP at this moment is either the Mr. Bungle record playing in the background or the Commander Venus album I played before and my favorite thing in the world to do is talking to you! pARTs:: Haha! Thank you! And which bands inspire you when you are making music? Pippin: Well first of all there’s the obvious choices. I mean certain bands you just can’t be “un-influenced” by if you play this style of music , bands like Green Day, NOFX, The Beatles, New Found Glory, Nirvana or Blink-182 definitely had a core influence on our songwriting. Some of my main influences are also bands that like to mix up different sounds and styles with their punk rock, like The Clash, Sum 41, Brand New or The Replacements. pARTs:: And besides these big punk rock bands, are there other influences? Pippin: Yes, there’s some less obvious ones as well. Even though they’re totally different styles of music Layne Staley was a big influence, and Eminem taught me a lot about writing lyrics. I’m also into a lot of old classic rock/punk rock/hardcore punk bands and like to mix their music with those poppy 90’s sounds. But of course that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Ward and Maxim bring a lot more to the table and even though there’s a lot of overlap we’re three distinct musical personalities and in the end that’s what keeps it fresh and interesting for us (smile). pARTs:: You received a lot of positive recommendations from several magazines, what makes your band so original? Pippin: I wouldn’t really call us guilty of being super-original. I mean we try to but at the same time you know, you have to play the music that you feel in your heart and hear inside your head. I think for us the number one priority is expressing ourselves through our music. I think what those people like most about our music are the poppy songs that they can connect with, so I’d never sacrifice that just to be original for the sake of being original. That said, while I know we’re not inventing the wheel here we still challenge ourselves to make things musically interesting every time so we don’t sound like everyone else or exactly like our last record! pARTs:: I’ve heard you once started making your own cocktails, which one is the best? And can you still read your own drunk writing?
Pippin: It’s pretty funny that you mentioned my drunk writing! Like you said, I once turned a huge wardrobe closet into a cocktail bar so we could start off every day in style. I had this list with about 50 DIY recipes and one night we decided to try them all out and rate them on taste and buzz level. After the first ten you could really notice the decline of our handwriting. The numbers slowly went from unreadable to not even there anymore. At some point we just made illustrations like skulls and bones or a lightning bolt, to indicate lethal they were. One of my favorites we called “Frangipane” because it tasted, well, like Frangipane… I remembered a variation called “Electric Smurf” that really messed you up as well! It’s funny how at the moment you write that shit is still perfectly readable because you’re on that same level, but when you read it the next day you just sit there and scratch your head. Then again I’m actually 5 months sober right now, but I can’t even read my sober writing and I doubt anyone else could, so it’s just as possible it wasn’t the booze’s fault! I still have that list somewhere, completely unreadable from all the booze we spilled on it. If I ever find it I’ll scan it for you! pARTs:: Thank you! I’m looking forward to see what it looks like! But besides trashing the night I’ve heard trashing guitars was one of the main spectacles in your show, is this fact or fiction? Pippin: In the early days you could definitely be sure that at the end of the show one of the guitars was going to get smashed to pieces. It’s not like we planned it or that it was our gimmick, it just seemed to happen every time. It got kind of expensive after a while though, especially for 4 guys with no income! So needless to say we had to learn to control ourselves eventually. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen anymore though, just not every show. We really like to get a little crazy every time, but these days we like to mix it up a bit, try different things as much as possible so people don’t know what to expect in advance… Well, for example, this last year we’ve more than once TP’ed the entire audience, danced the limbo in the middle of the show or made people crowd surf in a sofa among others. We’re also blessed with a lot of fans & friends that start doing cool stuff by themselves at our gigs which really adds to the party. It’s like we feed off of each other’s energy and keep bouncing that party ball back and forth until it gets bigger and bigger! Again we really owe a lot to those people and I’m really thankful for that! pARTs:: Could you give us some examples of the audience bringing something to the show? Pippin: A while ago Ward made a giant cardboard printout of a person he had recently met and started including it in pictures of him chilling with friends, just to fuck with the guy. On one of our gigs we took him on stage with us and wrote our setlist on his torso. During one of our softer songs a couple of girls in the crowd started slowdancing with him, after that all hell broke loose. Everyone started dancing with him, we’ve seen him crowdsurf a couple of time, saw him pop up in the mosh pit and even make out with at least 2 different girls. He never made it home with us so I guess he got lucky that night, haha! Funny to think somewhere, someone he’s never met before probably has a cardboard cutout of him in his room. pARTs:: Maybe we can find that person? If someone has it! Let us know! And Pippin, what is the band working on now? Pippin: We’re working on a new album at the moment and aiming for a September release. It’s been no walk in the park so far since there were a lot of (creative)tensions leading up to Matthias leaving, but we’re really excited about what we’ve got so far and how our sound and songwriting has evolved compared to our last release, so we can’t wait to share it with you! I know we’ve been quite for awhile, but you can definitely expect a lot more news about this in the near future. pARTs:: Allright! We are looking forward to this! And one last question, when is your next gig? Pippin: We can’t do a lot of shows right now since we’re working so hard on the album but we still managed to sneak in two gigs for this month: The 31st of July we’re playing support for GUTTERMOUTH in fuifzaal Elysée (Ostend) with our friends of Vienna and F.O.D., which is another really cool band you should check out! If you buy your tickets directly from us they are even cheaper than the regular pre-sale tickets. Just send us a message or comment on facebook and we’ll fix it for you. We’re also playing at Rock XXL-fest in Zoersel (July 14th) which is guaranteed to be one big party as well. Lots of cool bands on the bill and it’s only a couple of euro’s. Gino’s eyeball is always great, and I’m really looking forward to seeing For I Am perform! I recently heard their debut EP and instantly liked it. Anyway, I really hope to see you again at one of those gigs and I case I don’t, I wish you an awesome summer! pARTs:: We will! Thank you very much for this interview Pippin, and we wish you, Joker, Maxim and Ward the best of luck with your new album! In the mean time we enjoy listening to your last album “Your Mom’s New Favorite Record”! On March 20 we crossed Belgium to Limburg to attend the 2nd anniversary of Technoïd, a Techno event as it should be. If you know something about techno you have probably heard of Boris Brejcha! If you don’t, now is the time to listen to his music. Not only is he one of our all-time favorite producers/dj’s in the world, the Belgian Technoïd organization thinks so too. On their 2nd birthday they proudly invited this true pioneer. As they say “the creator of a completely new and truly unique genre called ‘High-Tech Minimal’, in our eyes his older releases on the Harthouse imprint redefined music as we knew it”. And we agree! The line-up started with KlanK, the founding father of the organization, then it was up to Boris. After Boris, big shoes needed to be filled, but it went just like we wanted it. Yobi, Sample and Steg took over the rear and it was truly great! A divers evening with hard basslines and great tunes perfectly blended in a mix of turntables. Boris Brejcha is known for his perfect mixing skills, playfull melodys, hard basslines and unexpected vocals. Here you can enjoy some music from Technoïd and a free mix from Boris Brejcha, the high-tech minimal god! The location of CLUB FORTY FIVE was perfect! The darkness and vastness of the club provided enough space for techno-heads to thrive and dance to their heart’s content. The visuals team ‘Campattack Visuals’ definitely deserves to be mentioned as they used synchronized symmetric psychedelic images to fill the room with mesmerizing effects. The Technoïd organization knows what the audience wants: a killer line-up and a good surrounding for the eyes and ears. There was food outside and a very good atmosphere. Technoïd attracts a fine audience at the age between 18 and 35. The place to be for techno lovers! INTERVIEW WITH BORIS FCKING BREJCHA!pARTs: Boris, when did you decided to become an artist?
Boris Brejcha: “When I was 12 years old I heard electronic music for the very first time. Since that day I decided to become a producer and DJ. In the beginning I was really into trance music but after a while I changed into techno music.” pARTs: And what does it mean for you to be an artist? Boris Brejcha: “That means a lot! I mean, music is not just a simple work – 8hours a day. For me it is a way of living. So many expressions and it also works as a medicine for me. I think it is the best way to show your fans your feelings.” pARTs: You did an outstanding performance, but if you could choose from you’re creations, what do you like the best? Boris Brejcha: “Hard to say… There are many… But outstanding – I think are tracks like “Lost Memory” and “White Snake”. pARTs: Why those? Boris Brejcha: “These are tracks I did when I was in a bad mood. Artists always do their best music when they are sad” (smile). pARTs: And who influenced you to become a producer? Boris Brejcha: “There were artists like Armin van Buren, Cosmic Gate, Bomfunck MC’s and more…” pARTs: Just one last question Boris! What are you currently working on? Boris Brejcha: “Actually I am working on a special show. Which will be called ,,FCKNG-SERIOUS”. With a big light show! The premiere will be in Brazil first. After that we try to spread it around the globe. And soon I will start with my own label. Which will have the same name like my show. We just need to fix some things because in Germany they don’t like to give us this name as a company (laughs) because of the word ,,fucking”.” pARTs: Boris, thank you very much for taking the time with us. We wish you all the best of luck with your new show and label and we hope it will be a FCKING-SERIOUS big success! Boris will play again in Belgium on Extrema Outdoor and afterwards on the XO Afterparty in Café d’Anvers on 24 may! He is invited together with Adam Beyer, Ida Engberg, Claptone, Kollektif Turmstrasse, Len Faki and many more! The Next Technoïd event will be 5 may in The Social Club in Leuven and it's a collaboration with Kryptonight Events. All the pictures we use are taken by Kim nijs Photography. |