Page 50 - Zone Magazine Issue 006

ade report 2015 part 2 - my techno journal
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Every October the city of Amsterdam experiences a boom to its economy as 300,000 visitors flock to Amsterdam Dance Event. The whole spectrum of CEO's of Major Record Labels to the newest raver come to Holland's Capital for the conference. I say conference lightly, there is always that side of it with the seminars, but the main reason people go are for the massive events, and the networking in Pubs too.
Those very lovely people at Zone Magazine asked me to be an ambassador for all things techno and check out some of the techno and house events in the city. So armed with my mate, my photographer, we gracefully obliged!
For the three of us, the journey began at Exeter Airport, where a three and a half hour delay meant the inevitable of sinking a fair few beers to get us nicely warmed up. The news of the delay was welcomed by the fact that each of us knew EU regulations well, and that we would be entitled to €250 each compensation as well, gladly received at the time of writing!.
The unfortunate side to this is arriving so late, so settling into the hotel, and deciding to sleep was the choice here, while the other two ventured to Amsterdam's notorious Red Light District, Thursday started with me frantically going through new promos and checking Juno for new material to mix for my monthly Sonic Sessions radio show, which airs on
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RTE 2FM. For this month's edition there were guest mixes provided by the legendary MC/DJ Ribbz, who performs at pretty much every major festival in the UK, and homegrown hero Skizzo (Essence/Sound Factory), who also joined us in Holland from Friday onwards.
Presenting the radio show live from the hotel with my two other amigos turned into some serious fun (with the prolific Drumcode imprint being the 'Label Spotlight'), and once delivered, we started our hectic Thursday evening schedule with a visit to a party at Macloud, hosted by those lovely people at Soma Records.
Boasting a line-up of Jonas Kopp, Petrichor, Answer Code Request and Slam, we knew from the offset there would be no messing about, and the day would get off to a very driving start.
Answer Code Request in particular showed why he is a mainstay at Germany's Berghain, and went dark and brooding before label owners Slam really impressed us with an hour and a half of solid Scottish techno. A chance encounter with some old friends from Glasgow, fellow 2FM presenter Will Kinsella and also some of my favourite producers of the moment Clouds was the icing on the cake, for sure.
Next we ventured to Club Air for 'It's All Gone Pete Tong', not the most techno of parties admittedly but a prior agreement was made to venture to a couple house events to keep my friends who are also into house happy. Coupled with the awesome lighting and sound, Kidnap Kid and Monkey Safari warmed the venue up well and really put us in the mood before we had to depart.
Heading over to the west side of the city, the rather sinister Stroboscopic Artefacts were throwing a label party at Transformatorhuis, which is a huge hall that had a phenomenal sound system and lighting. We arrived just in time to see Jonas Kopp leathering out some seriously frenetic techno to a packed out crowd. It was Croydon's very own James Ruskin that stole the show for us, dropping a mixture of old and new but at a pace that really impressed and had a huge reception. Cuts like "Work This Motherfucker" and a few of his own productions were played. Label owner Lucy and firm favourite Perc were left to play but unfortunately we had tickets for another event so thought we'd check that out as the night started to get going on a phenomenal scale towards the end of Ruskin's set.
Finally, we popped next door to the prestigious Gashouder, where Drumcode records were at the helm. The sheer magnitude of how massive the Gashouder is, and the second to none production and visuals really set you back when entering the venue, and it is no wonder so many people rate it highly.
Having sold out there were many outside wanting tickets and we arrived for the last half an hour of label boss Adam Beyer's set, which was somewhat lighter than usual (especially considering the music at some of the events previously attended that evening), but still provided a quaint wind down for the evening with some choice cuts, before Italy's Luigi Madonna played some energetic numbers, and the UK's very own Alan Fitzpatrick closed the night with some of his new productions due out on Drumcode.