mixmag netherlands


The Netherlands has repeated- ly shaped the future of harder electronic music, from gabber and hardstyle to today’s hard te- chno explosion. For Vieze Asbak, that influence comes less from national identity than from sim- ple proximity. When hard dance music surrounds you, innovation becomes part of everyday life.


“I think the Netherlands is one of the few countries where hard dance music is everywhere. We have so many hard dance events and, of course, many huge ar- tists. It’s easy to get into this music when it’s all around you. When many artists start making this music, I feel like it’s normal that eventually new trends are mostly getting created by these people.”


As our conversation comes to a close, the focus shifts away from streaming


numbers, sold-out


festivals and social media. Those moments inevitably fade. What remains is the work itself and the influence it leaves on the ar- tists who come next.


Vieze Asbak doesn’t talk about legacy in terms of records broken or milestones reached. Instead, he hopes the next generation fe- els free to make stranger music, ignore expectations and resist the temptation to fit neatly into predefined categories.


“Hopefully people will enjoy the music I have made and see me as an inspiration, maybe. I hope people will have fun creating music that they love, and try not to just fit into a box or a genre. I hope the music gets weirder and the people who make it crazier. I can’t wait to see what kind of music will be made in 20 years.”


If there is a thread running through everything Vieze Asbak has created so far, it is permis- sion. Permission to be unconven- tional. Permission to embrace humor without sacrificing qua- lity. Permission to ignore the in- visible rules that so often define electronic music from the outsi- de.


The irony is that a project built around not taking itself too se- riously has become one of the clearest reminders that origina- lity still matters. In a scene in- creasingly shaped by algorithms and familiarity,


Vieze Asbak


continues to argue, simply by existing, that the weirdest idea in the room is often the one wor- th following.


MY THOUGHTS


Dance music has always had room for humor, parody and irreverence. Maybe as quirks or collateral characteristics, But, what feels different is that Vieze Asbak´s success arrived without abandoning those qualities as a core. These days,


visibility is


increasingly tied to consistency, optimization and carefully ma- naged identities; but Asbak has built an audience by refusing to smooth out the rough edges.


His answers reveal something about hard techno’s current moment. The conversation is no longer about whether the genre has become mainstream. That debate is already over. The real question is: What happens af- ter success? Every underground movement eventually reaches a point where repetition becomes more profitable than experimen- tation. Vieze Asbak’s instinct is to push in the opposite direction, arguing that the next chapter will belong to artists willing to become strangers rather than safer.


Perhaps that’s why his perspec- tive resonates beyond the music itself. Throughout our conver- sation, he consistently resists the temptation to over-explain his work. He doesn’t romanticize rave culture, intellectualize har- der sounds or claim to represent an entire generation. Sometimes the answer is simply that the music makes people feel some- thing. Sometimes the best ideas begin as inside jokes. Sometimes the weirdest track in the folder is the one that changes everything.


If there is a lasting legacy to pro- jects like Vieze Asbak, it may not be measured in streams, festival appearances or viral moments. It will be measured by the produ- cers who stop asking whether an idea fits neatly into a genre and start asking whether it excites them instead. Electronic music has always evolved through peo- ple willing to ignore convention. Judging by the direction this new generation is taking, the future may well belong to those who are prepared to make it even weirder.


“A lot of artists are too scared to really put whatever they feel like out there. It’s cool to be weird, especially in hard techno, where most feels like a copy of the other.”


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