DJ Mag hit the Amsterdam Dance Event where the Dutch spirit of libertarianism has helped turn its DJs, producers and clubs into a world- beating force...
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rriving in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, you can spy why the Dutch are so dominant when it comes to dance music, and in particular DJ Mag’s Top 100
DJs poll. Amongst adverts for perfume and other duty free goodies, electronic billboards proudly proclaim this year’s annual Amsterdam Dance Awards (ADE). This is sponsored by Buma, the Dutch licensing authority — their equivalent of the MCPS — who take their job of promoting domestic artists seriously. While in the UK electronic music comes with a history of being anti-state protest music, the soundtrack to social rebellion and a cause célèbre for tabloid drug hysteria, in liberal Holland it’s a source of national pride that celebrates its ever growing list of big name exports.
This attitude of level-headed professionalism shines through at ADE and – along with the increasing number of parties that take place night and day amongst the cultural capital’s waterways and tram routes — make it the deserved highlight of the dance music calender.
Indeed, if anything, this year’s event is busier than ever, at times frustratingly so. While the most popular club-nights are often one in one out, the ADE passes that supposedly get you into associated events normally next to useless compared to having guestlist or a ticket to a party, on our first day at the Dylan Hotel – which, alongside the neighbouring Felix, is host to most of ADE’s talks and networking – it’s a similar situation with the two talks we attend
52 on our first, fresh Thursday in the city.
‘The United States of EDM? When Money Meets Music’, headed by Tommie Sunshine, couldn’t be more zeitgeist, the New York times reporting on EDM as a worthy investment earlier in the year and other commentators labelling it the new dot-com bubble, but the room is already at capacity by the time we arrive, the bodies of standing punters pushed up against its glass walls. Whether this point of over- saturation will soon be reached in the US itself is a matter of debate, but Richie Hawtin and Loco Dice’s ‘CNTRL: Beyond EDM’ appearance capitalises on what they see as the drip-down effect of EDM to more underground sounds, fleshing out the aspirations of their recent edutational college tour which paired parties with talks. Sadly, it’s a a similar story as we find our way barred at the entrance again but we manage to grab a few minutes with Richie alone in the light, airy press room on The Dylan’s top floor.
“The name is on a number of levels,” says the savvy techno man, explaining that his presence is almost purely business this year and that he’s been in bed by midnight each night. “The reason the more underground people have had any success and longevity in the last 20 years is because we’ve taken control of our careers. We’ve had our own labels, we do our own music with no producers or secret people behind us, so it’s that control that’s taken us to this level. It’s also control, the idea that technology is what we use to give life to our ideas, our emotions,
that come out through that technology into entertainment,” he adds, telling us that the mobile phone with its gyroscopic capabilities will be the next phase, the laptop becoming the modern-day equivalent of the guitar.
“I think we’re at a point now with this new EDM explosion in America where the initial rush is wearing off and people are starting to notice that there are a lot of similar things going on. Some people will get bored and perhaps move onto other things but I think there are a lot of people who will want to dig deeper and continue the exploration of electronic music that they’ve started in the last six months or year.”
The array of night-time choice makes hopping from one venue to another the best way to soak up the true extent of ADE’s breadth. At midnight we head to Air for All Gone Pete Tong, catching Eats Everything and Justin Martin playing back to back, Randomer’s aggressive ‘Freak Dub’ smashing