Awakenings festival

June 22nd, 2009
Countdown to Awakenings

Adam BeyerThis year’s Awakenings festival is sold out, as expected, as techno fans from across Europe and even as far as North America have bought their tickets for the 4 stage party this Saturday on June 27. Taking place just outside of Amsterdam, Gayle Santhis year’s edition like last will feature 2 open air stages and 4 tented areas with artists including Dave Clarke, Speedy J, Sino! live (Technasia & Dosem) Heiko Laux & Steve RachmadMarco Carola, Bas Mooy, Mauro Picotto, Joris Voorn, Alex Under, Adam Beyer, Cari Lekebusch, Magda, Oscar Mulero, Secret Cinema,Carl Craig, Slam,Gayle San, Ben Sims & Surgeon(Frequency7), Rolando, Stacey Pullen, Misstress Barbara, Miss Djax, Pet Duo and many more set to perform. I’ve been looking forward to going again this year for some time now, it will be nice to see a lot of familiar faces this weekend and 6 stages of solid techno lineups! Many of the sets should be recorded as well. www.awakenings.nl

awakenings

FYM this weekend

June 4th, 2009
Free Your Mind - This Weekend

ben simsFree Your Mind festival in Arnhem is happening this weekend on Saturday, June 6.  Artists scheduled to perform on the numerous stages include Steve Rachmad, Ben Sims, Derrick May, Secret Cinema, Felix Krocher, Wouter de Moor, Speedy J, Len Faki, Bart Skils, Joris Voorn, Kenny Larkin, Marcel Dettman & Ben Klock, Martin Buttrich, Remy, and many more. The full lineup is on the FYM website (www.freeyourmindfestival.nl) Like previous years, the LiveSets.com crew will be back again to record the sets throughout the festival, visit the LS site shortly afterwards for the sets: www.livesets.com

Adam Beyer Tribute

May 21st, 2009
LiveSets Tribute: Adam Beyer

adam beyerAfter a short hiatus the LiveSets.com all day tribute show is set to return tomorrow, May 22, this time featuring a talented Swedish artist who needs little introduction - Adam Beyer.  The tribute begins at 12:00 CET and will lasts well until the evening/next day possibly.  Undoubtedly a number of quality sets will be on the playlist for the occasion, expect a mix of older and more recent sets.  The schedule is typically posted on the site before the show begins, visit http://www.livesets.com/ for more information and to tune in this Friday!

Rockit Lineup

May 14th, 2009
Rockit Open Air Lineup

Rockit Open AirThis year the 5th edition of the Rockit Open Air festival will be happening on July 25 in Utrecht.  The event follows the other major Dutch festivals in July - Dance Valley and Extrema which are the previous two weekends. Many familiar names on this year’s lineup including Steve Rachmad, Joris Voorn, Oscar Mulero, Remy, Derrick May, Darko Esser, Extrawelt, Felix Kröcher, Henrik Schwarz, District One, Michel de Hey, Derrick Carter, Marcel Dettmann, Steve Bug, Alex Under and more.  For more information visit the Rockit website: www.rockitopenair.nl

Techno at Global Gathering

May 13th, 2009
Global Gathering Lineup

Joel MullThe initial lineup has been released for some time now and there are definitely some solid techno options at Carl Coxthe Gloabl Gathering UK weekend festival, this year taking place on July 24 & July 25. Some of the numerous acts scheduled to perform so far over the course of the two days include: Carl Cox, Orbital, Prodigy, Joel Mull, Richie Hawtin, Magda, Gaiser, Loco Dice, Tiga, Sebastian Leger, Dubfire and many more!  I am not typically that keen on the multi-day festival thing but I have heard great things about this legendary event over the years, so hopefully I will make it there someday!  For the full lineup and more information visit the Global Gathering website: http://www.globalgathering.co.uk/

Maximal Festival

May 12th, 2009
Maximal Festival - Milan

Valentino KanzyaniMilan isn’t known as much of a hotbead for techno compared to some other Italian cities, but on June 13 the first edition of the Maximal Festival will take place at a 6 room venue just outside the city.  The lineup is quite impressive, with the different areas described by the promoters as: ”one exclusively for techno creators Dave Clarkecoming from Detroit, one for nowadays European minimal music, two stages dedicated to stronger vibrations thanks to the collaboration with the two mayor hard techno labels of the world, Kne’Deep and Bullshit Bookings, a room dedicated to the European sound and aBasstation (promoter of the first Italian festival of the kind: “Stay Up Sardinia festival”) while the last is going to host the main artists of the electro scene: German, Dutch and French.”.  Artists set to perform include Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Scan 7, Dave Clarke, The Hacker, Funk D’void, Monika Kruse, Len Faki, Alex Under, Valentino Kanzyani, Pet Duo, Miss Djax, Frank Kvitta, DJ Bold, The Madox, Frank Kvitta vs. Boris S., Space Djz, D.a.v.e. The Drummer, Zina & Mandy, The Advent vs. Industrialyzer, Rino Cerrone vs. Markantonio, Bas Mooy and many more!  I won’t be going unfortunately but hopefully the sets are recorded anyway.  For more information visit: http://www.maximalfestival.it/09/

maximal festival

Piknic Electronik 2009

May 6th, 2009
Piknic Electronik 2009 (Montreal)

Mateo MurphyRichie HawtinThis year the fan-favourite Piknic Electronik weekly event in Montreal is entering its 9th season and has just released a very impressive lineup kicking off later this month until October.  Many talented Canadian and international artists are set to perform at the Sunday events including: Mr Scruff, Thomas Fehlmann, The Mole, Ricardo Villalobos, Zip, Sonja Moonear, Bill Patrick, James Holden, Richie Hawtin, Barem, Joris Voorn, Justin Long, JT Donaldson, Alex Under, Damian Schwartz, Amon Tobin, Paul Kalkbrenner, Dusty Kid, including well-known Montrealers such as Mateo Murphy, Misstress Barbara, Creator, Pheek, Mini and many more.  Each year the event seems to grow in popularity and has since spurred a similar winter event called Igloofest. For the full weekly lineup via video press conference visit: http://piknicelectronik.com/

Piknic Electronik

2009, so far so good

May 4th, 2009
Another Spring in Amsterdam

KateI haven’t posted a ‘blog’ entry this year yet but 2009 has been off to a fantastic start so far!  Travel-wise I went to Stockholm for a few days in early January for a change of scenery and it was well worth the trip! Then in February I managed to catch some rays with my family in the Dominican Republic which was really nice, followed by my first trip back to Canada since moving to Europe. In a few weeks I will be in Lyon for a work conference but unfortunately it is the week before Nuit Sonores which would have been a happy coincidence. My father was just here visiting for the first time and I used the occasion to finally make it out to the Keukenhof gardens in Lisse.  Millions of beautiful flowers covering a vast public garden, it was stunning!

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European Techno Clubs

April 26th, 2009
European Techno Clubs

dj rushBen SimsPlenty of solid options in the weeks ahead at some of Europe’s highest profile techno clubs, with many Queen’s night/day options in the Netherlands next week and May day celebrations throughout the continent. I am opting to stay closer to home for the occasion and check out Rush, Bold and Pet Duo at P60 in Amstelveen on Queen’s night, a Heroes of Techno party. The next night Rush will be playing a back to back set with Ben Sims at F135 in Fraga! That pairing has a lot of potential, hope the set is recorded.  Also at F135 in the weeks ahead are Slam and Andreas Kremer.  At another Spanish club, Row14 DJ Murphy and Pepo are set to ring in the club’s first anniversary party alongside A. Professor and Paula Cazenave followed by David Squillance and Dubfire the next weekend.  Fuse Club just celebrated their 15th anniversary with a stellar lineup including Ricardo Villalobos, Dave Clarke, Raresh, Monika Kruse, Magda, Adam Beyer and more, and coming up they have Cassy, Damian Fuse clubLazarus and Tobi Neumann.  Other Queen’s night/day options in the Netherlands include an Electric Deluxe party in Rotterdam with Speedy J, Chris Liebing, Richie Hawtin, Marco Carola Row 14and Len Faki, then in Amsterdam there is also a party at Melkweg with Bart Skils, Marco Carola, Martin Buttrich and Sneak plus a Circo Loco party on Queen’s day featuring Raresh, Tania Vulcano, Warren Fellow and many more. U60311 in Frankfurt has a solid May Day Swedish lineup with Adam Beyer, Jesper Dahlbäck and Cari Lekebusch.