- When British Airways cancelled flights from London to Amsterdam on Saturday, The Black Madonna paid for a private jet to avoid missing out on Lente Kabinet. Two years ago, Dekmantel's sister festival helped pave the entrance for the Chicago DJ onto the European circuit, so it comes as little surprise that she has a soft spot for the one-day gem. The locals seem to love it just as much: in the lead up to the event, tickets were going for up to three times face value on Facebook.
Lente Kabinet goes down in the lush open fields of Het Twiske. Temperatures peaked at 32 degrees during this year's edition—even the hardware onstage had to seek shade under cardboard covers. The strong programming distributed visitors evenly across the four stages. Summer vibes were captured early on by The Hague talent 751, who did an excellent job warming up for Boo Williams, ending on an uplifting highlife track: Nana Tuffour's "Sikyi Medley." Williams continued the African theme with Jephte Guillaume's remix of Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra's "Too Much Information" before taking a turn towards more thumping house. One of the tracks had a string section reminiscent of early Derrick May.
In a festival market as saturated as Amsterdam's, it's not easy to maintain your position as a leftfield curator and simultaneously draw the crowds. Lente Kabinet proved that Dekmantel knows how to engage its audience. Two things specifically stood out: a growing number of live sets and the uncompromisingly dark atmosphere at the Red Light Radio stage. Elena Colombi may have arrived late, but she quickly picked up on the gloomy downtempo vibe set by Tolouse Lowtrax. She set off with a dark industrial loop, which was maybe a touch too shadowy for the early hour. Moustache Records boss and Italo nut David Vunk followed, presenting a captivating and uncompromising set that was the day's highlight. Helena Hauff, fag in mouth and wearing a black "Detroit" wife-beater, closed with classics like Human Resource's "Dominator" and a slew of sludgy electro tracks with grunting voices.
For all its wins, though, Lente Kabinet could make some improvements. The new cashless system could be reconsidered—cueing up for wristbands is no fun. Also,while it's understandable that a band like Aksak Maboul & Véronique Vincent, with laptops, hardware, vocals and instruments, is a challenge to set up in between DJ sets, the changeover could've been smoother. That said, Dekmantel should be applauded for educating their audience on the roots of contemporary electronic music. Unfortunately the Belgian electronica pioneers couldn't keep the crowd left for them by Sadar Bahar's glowing set, which included Larry Levan's remix of The Joubert Singers' gospel smash, "Stand On The Word." Party-starter Antal only needed three tracks to draw the numbers back in, although he was clearly bothered by technical issues. Over on the main stage, Matthew Herbert delivered a minimal set that was a bit too much like the stretch of green land in front of him: flat.
These flaws were minor issues when you think of the variety of acts on offer. From New York rockers Silver Apples to the bewildering yet brilliant Powell, so many of the performances pushed the boundaries of what is considered dance music today. Powell's set was filled with fragmented drum rhythms and futuristic sounds that seemed to be out of control. He stood trembling onstage, eyes closed. More accessible was Bruxas, the latest addition to the Dekmantel stable. Jacco Gardner and drummer Nic Mauskoviç performed their new EP, Más Profundo, helped by Jungle By Night percussionist Tienson Smeets on bongos. The hippie trio oozed exotic psychedelia in their trippy outfits (cowboy hat, suede fringe jacket, linen suit) as rattling synth guitars played on top of a constant dialogue of acoustic percussion.
To finish, I had to make a near-impossible decision and choose between Helena Hauff, Palms Trax, The Black Madonna and Objekt. In the end I went for Objekt, who demonstrated his genius by layering complex rhythms across four decks. As he explained to Will Lynch earlier this year, he proved that tempo doesn't dictate energy, switching from an intense 12-minute percussion track into early rave synths without missing a beat. Some of the passages reminded me of early Aphex Twin records. Overall, it was a cracking end to a fantastic day of music.
Photo credit /
Lead- Desiré Van Den Berg
All others - Yannick Van De Wijngaert
In a festival market as saturated as Amsterdam's, it's not easy to maintain your position as a leftfield curator and simultaneously draw the crowds. Lente Kabinet proved that Dekmantel knows how to engage its audience. Two things specifically stood out: a growing number of live sets and the uncompromisingly dark atmosphere at the Red Light Radio stage. Elena Colombi may have arrived late, but she quickly picked up on the gloomy downtempo vibe set by Tolouse Lowtrax. She set off with a dark industrial loop, which was maybe a touch too shadowy for the early hour. Moustache Records boss and Italo nut David Vunk followed, presenting a captivating and uncompromising set that was the day's highlight. Helena Hauff, fag in mouth and wearing a black "Detroit" wife-beater, closed with classics like Human Resource's "Dominator" and a slew of sludgy electro tracks with grunting voices. For all its wins, though, Lente Kabinet could make some improvements. The new cashless system could be reconsidered—cueing up for wristbands is no fun. Also,while it's understandable that a band like Aksak Maboul & Véronique Vincent, with laptops, hardware, vocals and instruments, is a challenge to set up in between DJ sets, the changeover could've been smoother. That said, Dekmantel should be applauded for educating their audience on the roots of contemporary electronic music. Unfortunately the Belgian electronica pioneers couldn't keep the crowd left for them by Sadar Bahar's glowing set, which included Larry Levan's remix of The Joubert Singers' gospel smash, "Stand On The Word." Party-starter Antal only needed three tracks to draw the numbers back in, although he was clearly bothered by technical issues. Over on the main stage, Matthew Herbert delivered a minimal set that was a bit too much like the stretch of green land in front of him: flat.
These flaws were minor issues when you think of the variety of acts on offer. From New York rockers Silver Apples to the bewildering yet brilliant Powell, so many of the performances pushed the boundaries of what is considered dance music today. Powell's set was filled with fragmented drum rhythms and futuristic sounds that seemed to be out of control. He stood trembling onstage, eyes closed. More accessible was Bruxas, the latest addition to the Dekmantel stable. Jacco Gardner and drummer Nic Mauskoviç performed their new EP, Más Profundo, helped by Jungle By Night percussionist Tienson Smeets on bongos. The hippie trio oozed exotic psychedelia in their trippy outfits (cowboy hat, suede fringe jacket, linen suit) as rattling synth guitars played on top of a constant dialogue of acoustic percussion. To finish, I had to make a near-impossible decision and choose between Helena Hauff, Palms Trax, The Black Madonna and Objekt. In the end I went for Objekt, who demonstrated his genius by layering complex rhythms across four decks. As he explained to Will Lynch earlier this year, he proved that tempo doesn't dictate energy, switching from an intense 12-minute percussion track into early rave synths without missing a beat. Some of the passages reminded me of early Aphex Twin records. Overall, it was a cracking end to a fantastic day of music. Photo credit / Lead- Desiré Van Den Berg All others - Yannick Van De Wijngaert