Brizm
Reinier Zonneveld
at the Gashouder for Awakenings Festival 2020 | Online weekender
There is something profoundly satisfying about Reinier Zonneveld, a master of the hardware live set, commandeering the industrial cathedral that is the Gashouder for a streaming Awakenings Festival. No crowd, just pure, unflinching machine funk echoing off the steel rafters. The vibe is classic, driving techno with a distinct 90s-00s flair, all crisp percussion and looping, hypnotic acid lines.
Zonneveld locks into a militant 136 BPM groove for almost the entire duration, a testament to the power of minimal variation and maximal tension, with the dominant, peak-time key of 12A providing a relentless, psychedelic thrum. The energy is expertly managed, a deep, propulsive low-end (over 71% of the spectral profile) that feels like a subterranean river, occasionally punctuated by mid-range synth stabs. The tracklist is a crate digger's dream of timeless weapons: the raw, jacking pressure of Mike Dearborn's 'Black Circles', the unhinged synth freakout of Zyce & Flegma's 'Animal', and the sheer, unadulterated joy of dropping Bellini's 'Samba de Janeiro' in a Vanity Frontroom remix into a techno fortress.
He builds a relentless narrative from an unknown opener, through the cosmic drive of Der dritte Raum's 'Hale Bopp', and finally lands the spaceship with the iconic, trance-tinged synth melody of The Green Martian's 'Industry' as the perfect closing track.