House Cult
Amsterdam has proven itself to be one of the most influential cities in the world, music-wise. Countless numbers of festivals, clubs and of course the Amsterdam Dance Event marked the city as a worldwide electronic music capitol. A few years ago, a new concept was added to the city’s existing repertoire. The new addition was named 5 Days Off and originates from the city of Ghent in Belgium. It started in 1995, and was named ‘10 Days Of Techno’. At this first edition of the club festival, visitors could enjoy 10 days of carefully picked techno DJ’s. Later, the name was changed to 10 Days Off, opening its doors to various genres of electronic music.
The 5 Days Off festival in Amsterdam is the so-called ‘little brother’ of his Belgian equivalent. The line-up however, is as impressive as the Belgium ones. This year, the poster grabbed your attention with names like Darkside, Julio Bashmore, Marek Hemmann, Noisia, LTJ Bukem and many more. We had the honour of visiting the second day in The Melkweg, an evening organized by Electric Deluxe; Speedy J’s imprint. The main act of the evening was Collabs 3000: one of Speedy J’s collaboration projects, in association with Chris Liebing. The night was supported by other great techno names, like Marcel Fengler and Truss. It promised to be a special evening.
The night kicked off with a proper warm-up set by Dutch upcoming talent Jean Pierre Enfant. The big area of the Melkweg, The Max, was relatively empty before midnight, but it didn’t stop Enfant to show what he is capable of. Just 24 years old, he recently hosted his first new club night at the infamous Trouw. Besides that, last month he and his posse ‘Les Enfants Terribles’ took over Tresor in Berlin, with Delta Funktionen and Ian Pooley on the bill. To top this off, last week the line-up for Welcome To The Future festival 2014 was revealed, with Jean Pierre’s name on it. It is impressive to see how he is climbing up the ladder, and he definitely deserved to be the warm-up act for this night. His vinyl dub techno set quickly grabbed a hold of the early visitors.
Within an hour or so, the Melkweg started to fill up with an enthusiastic crowd. The enthusiastic vibe was a result of the carefully selected opening acts. Besides Jean Pierre Enfant, Dutch duo Will & Ink, specialized in raw techno, opened the second, smaller area. The two guys brought a collection of controllers and hardware, which they used carefully to create raw, banging techno beats. As the Melkweg got more and more crowded, Will & Ink attracted the right amount of attention, which caused the small area to fill up quickly. We were pleasantly surprised by the high pitch of the opening sets during this night.
The pretty pitched-up tempo was definitely necessary, because Marcel Fengler was next up in the main area. This German DJ needs no further introduction; as he is one of the main artists from Berghain’s in-house label Ostgut Ton. He applauded the end of Jean Pierre Enfant’s set, and immediately kicked in with his distinguished, Berlin sound. Marcel’s set was energetic and hard, as expected. His set varied from straightforward Ben Klock style techno, to acid bass lines, mixed with some of Fengler’s own tracks like ‘Trespass’. Marcel is a highly qualified DJ and producer, and should be treated as such. This was no problem for the crowd in the Melkweg, as they were dancing vividly to Fengler’s well-mixed set.
In the meantime, Truss had taken over from Will & Ink in the smaller area. The London-based Tom Russell attracted quite a crowd, thanks to his stylish mix of techno, acid and the occasional synthesizer additions. His own track ‘Splot’ got the people moving, although many of the attendees were making their way to the main area.
This was no surprise, as the main act of the evening, Collabs 3000, were preparing their setup in the DJ booth. While Marcel Fengler still had fifteen minutes to go, one half of Collabs 3000 was already busy with cables and laptops. The Dutchman Speedy J, or Jochem Paap, started the first Collabs project with Chris Liebing many years ago. He also did other Collabs projects, with Adam Beyer and George Issakidis. After a few productions and mixes together, the Collabs 3000 moniker was created. It’s still Chris and Jochem, but it’s a golden combination. Speedy J is a marvellous producer, whilst Liebing is known for his intense deejay-skills. Together they form one of the best techno duos out there, and this particular night in the Melkweg, one could see and hear why.
As Fengler faded out his last track, Speedy J started a steady opening track. Accompanied by ecstatic applause from the crowd, Liebing showed up in the DJ booth as well, but he wasn’t able to start yet. The space needed to setup the Collabs 3000 session required Fengler’s turntables to be removed from the booth to create enough space for Liebing’s laptops and controllers. After a few minutes, the NASA-control centre in the DJ booth seemed to be ready and working, and Chris joined Jochem in the mix.
In total, the setup contained four laptops, three mixers, four main controllers, two drum computers and a few soundcards. The amount of hardware is not unnecessary, as Liebing and Speedy J are not aiming to play a ‘simple’ DJ set. Quite the contrary; the 4-hour mix is built up with countless loops and samples, all mixed through one another. All the technical talk aside, the sound coming from the amazing sound system in the Melkweg was insane: a massive, energetic mix of straightforward, hard-pounding techno.
After each of the countless build-ups, the two DJ’s created, the beat got even harder than the ones before. Between the loops and samples, some tracks could be recognized, for example ‘Cream 3’, and Marcel Dettman’s remix of Moderat’s ‘Bad Kingdom’. Chris Liebing, who looked very concentrated and seemed like he was having fun, blended it all to perfection. The steaming techno was the main reason the visitors came to the Melkweg tonight, and they’re not disappointed: everyone was dancing to the nuclear beats banging from the speakers.
Halfway through the set, the crowd was pleasantly surprised by Perc’s record ‘Temperature Rising’, which sounded insane through the speakers. Chris and Jochem were noticeably having a good time, and after each climax they looked up from their gear, to witness that the crowd was moving even more than a minute ago.
It’s safe to say that Collabs 3000 is far from extinct: the euphoric crowd in the Melkweg was the existing proof. The Melkweg was still packed when the music ended, but everyone was heading home with a big smile on their faces. It was great to see these amazing artists up close.
For our pleasure, Speedy J will host another edition of Electric Deluxe, on Kingsday in Rotterdam. It will take place in the Maassilo, with proper names like Ben Klock, DVS1 and Blawan. One may only hope that Liebing and Speedy J perform more Collabs 3000 gigs in the near future. In the meantime, make sure to check out Jean Pierre Enfant and Will & Ink, both opening acts were genuinely inspiring!
Picture credits: Remco Sijtzema
The post Electric Deluxe at 5 Days Off, Amsterdam appeared first on House Cult |.