The Kool Kids

Last weekend a great event took place amongst the regions of Amsterdam and Utrecht. The Rauweekender had set sail to destroy fresh-headed people and turning them into sleepless party zombies. For those that might survive, an Rauweekender Afterparty was arranged. A great event, amongst a terrific line-up with matching locations (Melkweg and Tivoli) made these three days pretty tiring for the average person. It’s then no surprise to read a tweet from a guy like Joost Van Bellen, saying he’s slept about a whole day in order to gain some rest. If you were there, you were able to witness cool performances of Aeroplane, Goose (new live show), Green Velvet, Strip Steve, Carte Blanche, Joost Van Bellen and more.

The Kool Kids were able to experience two nights; of those one was the Superrauw in the Melkweg.
We will now describe the artists that were most remembering to us of the night. First up is Aeroplane.
The Belgian duo was dressed in a very geekish way actually, though they looked rather cool after all. Whether that has something to do with DJing is an assumption I won’t be making. Aeroplane played an extraordinary set consisting of a lot of Funk, French House and Nu-Disco. One so unique that I have not seen before. I was totally feeling the groove. Everybody was happy and in a fun mood, which wasn’t always directly related to the drugs you know. Of course the Belgian disco kings had some of their stuff played out, like Sebastien Tellier – Kilometer (Aeroplane ‘Italo 84′ Remix), Friendly Fires – Paris (Aeroplane Remix feat. Au Revoir Simone) and a lot more of their remixes. When the set came to an end, they even felt like putting Holiday Rap on, which totally made my day already. It’s so refreshing and fascinating to see what putting one single on can mean to ones experience and excitement for a whole day.

Next up we were able to witness the king of house music, Green Velvet! It felt like a great honour to witness a set of his. The man kept constantly banging his head on the beat and was enjoying the party very much. His set consisted of a lot of Electro House and some Techno, which worked the crowd really well it seemed. At a certain point, it even was a possibility to see how much the room was packed and how many people went bananas on Velvet’s tunes, as the lights went brighter for a short period. It felt great seeing such an intimidating yet kind guy working on his set, talking into his headphones, performing La-La-Land live. Everyone had such a good time and it made me feel good seeing people can go crazy on stuff like this in The Netherlands. Green Velvet, wearing his sunglasses at night, said to have a great time himself too, of course with enough booze involved.

The next day we had the luck to go to Tivoli in Utrecht. When arrived at Tivoli, we were able to see the great band Goose play some of their new songs. And they were absolutely staggering. The band from Belgium blew my mind with some new tracks of theirs and also one or two new versions of older songs if I recall well. Too bad the crowd was way too calm in order to jump and cheer for the great music they hear, unlike the crowd in the Melkweg. Goose rocked the place so hard and I can’t wait for their second album to drop. Their show was pretty similar to the night before in the Melkweg, so if you’ve witnessed either one of the two shows, you have to be satisfied pretty well. The day after I could still feel the huge kick pounding in my mind, and it felt great. The constant banging kick of a band… I’m sure many of you have had that feeling before.

After that it was up to Boys Noize Records’ Strip Steve to show off his talent, by mixing the French House tunes he enjoys with Ableton Live and a midi-controller. Strip Steve immediately showed what he’s capable of. Mixing Erol Alkan & Boys Noize’s “Lemonade” into Thomas Bangalter – What To Do and immediately into a French House track. Wow, what a start that was! It already grabbed my attention. The speed with which he mixed the tracks was pretty fast and the mixes were synced pretty well too. Besides that he also played some of his own tracks which we all know are stunning. Too bad he made two mistakes which made the music to turn off your a few seconds, but furthermore the set was great to hear. Like a track such as Frequency, which he mixed into a French House track. It really sounded fresh to hear these mixes, seeing you don’t often have the chance to hear a full set of French House and Electro, with the emphasis on French House. At first a lot of French House was being played, later on he switched over to more Electro and a bit of Acid in it too. At some point, a track like MMM – Nous Sommes MMM felt great to be mixed in a set like this. Makes you want to just go totally mental. For those that don’t know this track, buy the “I Love Techno 2008 Mixed by Boys Noize” mix CD. Of course he also put the Delta Disco Remixes in his set and to top it off he finished it with Cassius’ tune.

Green Velvet played a bit more Techno this evening and this time he talked through a mic instead of through his headphones while he performed La-La-Land live. In the two evenings he’s played Iron Man twice and of course the “Jack” tune. His transitions were really smooth and I was totally feeling his set. Twice actually, since I saw him at Melkweg the night before. I noticed he, obviously, used a lot of the tracks he played the night before. For instance, his hit “Turn It Up” was being played on both nights. Next to these tunes, he used a lot of Flanger, which isn’t the best effect for me to work.

To finish the night off, Harvard Bass played his first set in The Netherlands. He immediately began his set with his most known tune called “Caked”. The French guy played a lot of House and Tech House. His mixes were to be described as fading the tunes out and mixing the new tunes in, which could work for me for a few times, yet it shouldn’t be done too often seeing as you would then get a more static set rather than a smooth mixed one. I liked the fact that he had some deep transitions, of whom turned more to the genre of minimalistic House near the end.

All in all it was a great and fun Rauweekender & Superrauw. The Kool Kids enjoyed themselves with a lot of fine music. We were able to witness some fresh tunes and also, more importantly, some fresh artists, which is all to thank to Rauw New Stijl. Next month we can expect to see no other than Boys Noize himself, Djedjotronic (also from Boys Noize Records) and a very special guest! So stay tuned for more!

Pictures taken by Arne Coomans.