TuneLab
Awakenings ADE 2018
Shlømo & Keith Carnal
Awakenings ADE 2018: a week where Amsterdam’s canals likely vibrate at 135 BPM. The back-to-back between Shlømo and Keith Carnal is a masterclass in peak-time, no-nonsense techno pressure for a crowd that knows exactly what it came for. The vibe is a darkened Gashouder, a single spotlight catching the DJs, the air thick with anticipation and sub-bass. Technically, they lock into a driving, purposeful 135 BPM groove, using the dominant, hypnotic pull of the 12A key as their north star.
The energy profile is heavily weighted towards the low-end (0.69 avg), creating a physical, chest-caving foundation that makes every mid-range synth stab and high-end hat cut through with surgical precision. Their tracklist is a box of dark, functional tools. Arabica’s ‘Take Me Up’ is a relentless, looping mantra, and Kronotrope’s ‘Splenic Rupture Awareness’ lives up to its visceral name. The inclusion of DEADWALKMAN’s ‘Rhythm 11’ shows a taste for raw, industrial textures.
The peak, however, is a glorious, nostalgic sucker punch: the extended, rave-ready rebuild of Jam & Spoon’s ‘Right in the Night’, followed by the sheer, unadulterated joy of Martin Solveig’s ‘Everybody’. They begin in shadows with an unknown opener, ride that wave of 90s-tinged euphoria, and close on a modern, cynical note with Hadone’s brilliantly titled ‘How To Fake Success’.