Discotheque (Sidney SN DNB Mix) 2025

 Released 12/12/2025

 Lately I’ve been kind of productive. I recently recorded a progressive house mix. And now I’m back with DNB. It’s an energy I don’t want to keep inside for no reason. 

Yeah, Discotheque. This is the latest DNB mix from Sidney SN — a slightly lively liquid or disco DNB mix...

 

 Tracklist:

 Nichenka Zoryana & Amigosu – Voise

 Midnight – Quiet Earth

 1991 – You May Find Yourself

 Flava D – Reesey Thing

 Hoax & Zitah – What You Came Here For

 Dynamic Stab – Contrast Shower

 Hillsdom – Say What’s On Your Mind

 Rueben & SOLAH & Klinical – Your Move

 Dawn Wall – Holding On

 Sonic Art & Maykors – Keep Running

 Linx – Trying To Hold

 Ownglow & Elle Vee & Disco’s Over – Breathe

 Duskee & Deadline & Slay - CHICA

As November Fails

 This is pure irony, a paradox, this makes me a laugh... People in the Central Europe, who seemingly define themselves most strongly against migration, for example, elect a migrant as prime minister. Likewise, they have a person with a migration background at the head of the government. And these people then go on to appoint, for example, an ultra-right-wing figure to the government. Migrants who reject migration. And yet, with the policies they promote, they themselves would never have been allowed to come to Czechia. Another layer of irony lies in the fact that migrants choose someone who presents himself as ultra-right-wing, even though he should, by principle, reject these “migrants.” It is populism and the irony on every level—from the certain group of voters to a their government. It is evident that Czech society has long suffered from a deep level of internal contradictions.

I don’t know why a future prime minister couldn’t be Ukrainian, since by the same logic, anyone from anywhere in Ukraine can be a prime minister.

Something similarly absurd can be seen in the economy. Likely perhaps also because of the previous government, the Czech economy today should be showing rapid growth. Yet Czechs elect people who have pushed the economy back to a state from before this growth—the very growth that was being discussed in the media not long ago.

The truth, however, is that this so-called “rapid growth” seems to exists mainly on paper. In real life, it is clear that something changed in Czechia starting in the winter of 2023. Economic models made this visible. Interestingly, this happened shortly after I began pointing out, in 2023, a specific post-pandemic condition in Czechia that was not common anywhere from Germany to Western Europe. After the pandemic, the downturn in Czechia was rather preserved—or even deepened. And this happened several months before the war, and during that period as well.

The post-pandemic period may have indicated that keeping something “down” was not accidental. This state lasted until the winter of 2023. Such an almost two-year condition after the pandemic did not exist anywhere in the more western parts of Europe. The population seemingly did not realize its situation for a long time when compared to the reality of Western Europe—apparently perceiving this state, one of the worst economic downturns in Europe, ?as their “normal condition.”? The positive thing is that the states were exposed, and therefore can no longer function as they were supposed to. In the Central Europe, I noticed a change only toward the end of 2023, which is also shown by economic models. It seems that some people began to speak up who want to hear the truth, a certain groups of people with certain values. Prague itself looks like that because of the result of election. However, this concerns only certain parts of society and certainly does not correspond to what the paper statistics show.

I have said before that a weak economy can show a certain level of growth without actually becoming stronger. Quite the opposite—when compared to strong economies that, for example, do not need any dramatic growth in a given period or do not currently have it, it becomes even clearer that this growth is purely statistical. Rankings themselves are misleading in this respect. In the end, growth stops again at a “dead point” that wealthy countries overcame many years ago, often decades ago. It stops because the economy is not set up in a way that would allow it to reach that level and catch up with those that overcame a dead point long ago—or never had one at all.

This is clearly visible in Czechia: the results of growth are reflected only among a certain segment of people. Mostly among those who gravitate toward a particular lifestyle and are able to stick to their values—both for better and for worse.

I have been observing this development for roughly the past ten years. The pandemic deepened it further. Meanwhile, in the more western parts of Europe, in 2022 I barely noticed that there had been a pandemic at all—“despite” much stricter measures. Likely due to politics and general mentality, these countries were able to get back on their feet relatively quickly after the pandemic.

Perhaps also under the previous government in Czechia, some things did move slightly, but the reality of Czechia remains ironic. Society is often illuminated mainly by high school students or students or by a certain group of people who hold certain values. Without them, society is often frightening. In comparison to this Czech reality, the West then appears as a gold standard.

Sidney SN in a book

 Hi, Sidney SN is here with something new. He decided to make a brochure :D

The brochure is about Sidney SN, but it also includes other posts. 

Sidney SN think it turned out well... 

In the Sidney SN brochure, you will find many things related to Sidney SN, his experiences—including those with you—as well as some articles related to drum and bass and electronic music itself. Or a posts about an events. 

The brochure mainly contains a selected set of posts from the Sidney SN blogs. 

To view or download, click on the photo. Enjoy!

Man Over Machine

 ’90s Thunderdome, 2000s Central European techno events, free tekno culture and the reality of certain drum & bass scenes

 This is one of my recurring themes. But it comes from my direct experiences with people across the electronic music spectrum. 

 It is also shaped by the nature of electronic music itself: it can run almost continuously and does not depend on human factors as much as instrumental music does. This reality was one of the reasons why various pathologies emerged — such as nonstop noise lasting through nights and days in the case of certain subcultural ideologies like free tekno, as well as the spread of substances that enable uninterrupted raving. 

Perhaps this is why, already in the early ’90s, the UK adopted legislation that defined bass drops themselves as a threat to nightlife, effectively making night raves impossible in England. Yes, and this is the reason why the shelter or central hub for this raving is the Central Europe.

In my view, electronic music has brought not only a great deal of happiness, but also a great deal of harm.

When people use fewer drugs or nothing, they focus more on the music — on its structure, emotions, tension, silence, and the energy between the beats. Space opens up for art and for culture. But once attention shifts to the substance, music retreats into the background. It stops being the goal and becomes mere scenery. Without chemistry, many people are no longer able to enjoy the music at all. And it is precisely at this moment that the character of an entire scene breaks.

“Why does everybody always talk about drugs, when I care about is stroking my cats.” Cats by Flava D 

This mechanism has been repeating itself in electronic music for decades, and it can be clearly observed in three concrete examples: ‘90s Thunderdome in the Netherlands, techno culture in the Central Europe, and contemporary drum & bass events.

In the 1990s, Thunderdome represented an extreme, raw form of hardcore. The music was physical, uncompromising, built on intensity and collective pressure. At the same time, it very quickly became associated with mass use of MDMA and amphetamines. Extreme tempo and the length of sets stopped functioning on their own — drugs became the means by which the music could be endured at all. The audience’s attention shifted from listening to the state of intoxication. Hardcore ceased to be perceived as a musical direction and began to be perceived as a chemical ritual. The scene burned out quickly, and what remained in memory was more the image of drugs than the music itself.

A similar shift can be observed in Czech techno culture. The original idea of trance, repetition, and deep immersion from techno in rhythm was gradually replaced by MDMA and methamphetamine as the primary source of energy. The drug began to dictate the pace of events, the duration of events, and people’s behavior. Music no longer led — it merely sustained attention. It is therefore not surprising that many people abandoned techno music — because of an environment in which drug use is so normalized that without it, a person does not fit in or is unable to function.

Drum & bass today is often presented as an emotional, community-oriented genre. There is talk of “good vibes,” connection between people, and joy through music. The reality of many events, however, is different. MDMA, cocaine, ketamine and amphetamines are the silent standard on which the evening’s dramaturgy is built. 

Rapid succession of drops, minimal space for atmosphere, and long nights without pauses create an environment that simply does not function without chemical support. Music is consumed, not experienced. Emotions are intense, but short-lived and hollow.

Across all of these cases, the same pattern repeats itself: once drugs become the primary tool for experiencing music, culture and music and art begins to lose depth. People stop focusing on sound, track selection, and the shared moment. They focus on themselves, on their state, on making the effect last as long as possible. Art is pushed into the background.

The true test of any music scene is simple: does the music function on its own? Can it move people, connect them, and create a community even without a chemical crutch? If not, it is not freedom itself, but dependency — and a dependent culture does not have a long lifespan. 

More expensive is cheaper

 Based on my experience with food in the Czech Republic and in the Netherlands, I believe that I pay roughly the same for basic groceries in the Netherlands as I do in Czechia. There are, however, several differences. First, the quality; second, the much higher wages in general in the Netherlands, which are among the highest in Europe, compared to Czechia, where wages are among the lowest. In fact, basic groceries in the Netherlands are cheaper than in the Czech Republic.

I could again emphasize my own eating habits. Since conventional food in Czechia doesn’t suit me, and conventional Czech products don’t meet my standards, I eat almost exclusively organic food, Dutch cheeses, and veg products while I’m in Czechia. This leads me to an interesting realization: Czechs often complain about rising food prices, and yet I have been paying roughly the same amount for years. “Roughly,” because I truly do pay the same—possibly even less—since I no longer need to buy my food in specialty stores but can buy everything in supermarkets. My weekly spending on organic groceries (vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meat) and veg convenience foods in Czechia is about 50 EUR. To be fair, I typically eat meat only twice a week—unless it’s non-organic hamburgers in fast food. Fifty euros has been my weekly food budget for over ten years. So it seems that food prices in Czechia are rising somewhere other than in the category of the higher-quality foods I buy. Or perhaps I simply don’t feel the price increases.

The debate on food prices in Europe often collapses into the simplistic claim that “everything is more expensive in the West.” But the reality is far more complex—especially when prices are viewed in relation to income rather than in isolation. And this ratio—how many hours a person must work to afford a basic grocery basket—reveals one surprising trend:

In the Netherlands, basic food is relatively cheaper than in the Czech Republic.

The difference is clear:

– The Dutch minimum wage is among the highest in the EU.

– The Czech minimum wage, even after recent increases, remains significantly lower.

Therefore, the share of income that someone in the Netherlands must spend on basic food is much smaller than in Czechia. In other words: a Dutch worker earning minimum wage can buy more food for one hour of work than a Czech worker earning minimum wage.

Cheese is an interesting example. In Czechia, sliced cheese is typically sold in 100–150 g packs at relatively high prices. In the Netherlands, 300–450 g packs are standard—often of higher quality—and cheaper per gram.

This is no coincidence. The Netherlands is one of Europe’s largest cheese producers—Gouda, Edam, Maasdam, Beemster. These are not only cultural icons but also the reason why high-quality cheese is more affordable there than in Czech stores, which offer Czech cheeses that are simply not on the same level as Dutch ones.

Other structural differences in agriculture and retail also come into play. The Netherlands is a global leader in advanced greenhouse technologies and food production efficiency, which keeps the prices of many everyday foods lower than one might expect. Tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers are typical examples—produced in huge quantities with high efficiency. Private-label supermarket brands also play a major role: they maintain quality while keeping prices down. Dutch supermarket chains have a long tradition of strong private labels, and consumers prefer them, which creates competition that keeps the cost of basic groceries low.

Another reality is that the four-day workweek is extremely widespread in the Netherlands, with many qualified positions offering a four-day schedule while maintaining a full monthly salary corresponding to a traditional five-day contract. A Dutch worker therefore often enjoys more free time and a visibly higher income than someone in Czechia.

The Czech reality is thus paradoxical: people end up paying more for their basic cost of living than workers in one of Europe’s richest countries—workers who often work significantly fewer hours. 

Isolationism

 This article emerged from a comment I originally asked ChatGPT to produce.

 ‘It is often said that the United States is “the biggest” and “the most powerful.” But size does not equate to maturity or stability. And this is precisely where the fundamental difference between the today’s US and Western Europe becomes evident.

Countries such as Luxembourg, the Netherlands, or Denmark possess something that contemporary America increasingly lacks: a mentality and an institutional quality that generate genuine prosperity.

Luxembourg is today the richest country in the world per capita. Not because of its location. Not because of natural resources. But because of a mentality: low corruption, a professional and competent state administration, stable politics, long-term planning, and respect for expertise. This is a civilizational model. And if this model existed anywhere — including on American soil, that place would be escalate for wealthy and more advanced. It would flourish, just as the Benelux region does. Prosperity is not a geographic coincidence; it is a cultural pattern.

Western Europe as a whole — the Benelux, and Germany, the Nordic countries, Austria, Switzerland — shares a common foundation: a disciplined mindset, strong institutions, minimal chaos, and a high standard of living. It is not merely about statistics. It is about civilizational maturity.

Today’s United States, by contrast, suffers from problems strikingly similar to those of Central Europe: deepening polarization, declining educational standards, drug epidemics, regional poverty, brain drain, and a political culture built on populism. A mentality shaped — and amplified — by political chaos.

This weakness is laid bare in the era of Donald Trump. Trump is not only an American issue. He is a symbol of declining leadership quality, disregard for institutions, and geopolitical illiteracy. And the world responds accordingly. Australia holds him in contempt. Western Europe distrusts him and pushes back. Canada, South Korea, Japan, and South American countries keep their distance. Even authoritarians like Putin or Xi Jinping prefer to use him rather than respect him. Ukraine doesn’t agree. Trump is isolated — politically and mentally.

Paradoxically, this mirrors an illness familiar in Czechia: quick words, no plan, no strategy, just populism. In this sense, the United States and Czechia share more than one might assume.

Western Europe — including Germany — meanwhile maintains discipline, continuity, and long-term vision, even if Germany underestimated its own defense after the Second World War. It should possess technologies that safeguard its sovereignty, comparable to something like the B-2.

But despite its flaws, Western Europe remains more civilizationally mature. Not larger. Not more powerful in absolute terms. But of higher quality. More stable. More adult.

People often claim that wealth and advancement are matters of resources. In reality, they are matters of mentality.’

How Progressive Saves

  I think I’ve written before about fragments of my past—about the early experiences that shaped my relationship with electronic music. The truth is, electronic music has been with me since my earliest childhood in the ’90s. I once mentioned how, as a kid, I was a devoted fan of the German group Scooter. I had almost all of their albums.

But it wasn’t just Scooter. I remember the era when CDs and tapes from Corona, 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor, and similar acts were filtering into Czechia from Germany and Western Europe in the early ‘90s. I even liked Erotic back then.

A Love Parade CD that I bought around the turn of the millennium at Carrefour brought me into the world of techno. Yet the reality of techno events in Czechia didn’t resonate with me, and before long I stopped attending them altogether. What I didn’t lose was my affection for the music itself. The atmosphere—and the techno—you could hear at places like Belgium’s I Love Techno simply didn’t exist here. The Czech techno scene, even back then, lacked melody. And in my eyes, that hasn’t changed much. The same applies to DnB—here it’s mostly about raving to neurofunk or extremes like Hallucinator. The West, I’ve always felt, leaned more melodic.

Then free tekno exploded in Czechia, creating the largest free tekno community in Europe relative to population. To me, this is something for sociologists—how the link between drug use and the free tekno scene. Maybe that’s why Czechia never evolved in a melodic direction the way Western Europe did.

Even gabba was often dismissed by Czech techno purists because it dared to be melodic, because it shared DNA with EDM and dance music. For techno people, that was practically “disco.” Dutch happy hardcore didn’t stand a chance. 

My dissatisfaction with the local scene eventually pushed me toward progressive. This was sometime around 2006, when mainstream techno in Czechia had sunk deep into schranz—a perfect soundtrack for people on Czech methamphetamine, craving something as fast and hard as their drugs.

But I wasn’t interested in that. I was drawn to melody, emotion, depth. Aside from minimal—which felt like one kind of answer to that aggressive era—it was progressive that truly opened a new world for me. It was something completely different.

And this is where my belief comes from: that progressive, through its values and emotional architecture, has the power to save you from the kinds of realities you want no part of—realities you avoid simply to preserve yourself.

In a way, it took me seventeen years before I finally mixed something progressive myself. And I still believe that, because of its values, progressive cannot coexist with the realities I’m critical of.

I still love techno, and I appreciate many of the communities around it, but I never reached the point where making techno felt right for me. I like many people who create it, and I respect what they do, but it was never my path for a mixing. A decade ago—because of its meaning and its message—I began experimenting with liquid drum and bass. In 2017, I became Sidney SN. And thanks to the fans, the journey I’ve experienced since then has been incredible. I never expected to become known or even famous, and there were moments when I started rejecting some reality, simply because I wasn’t ready for it.

Progressive still fascinates me. I love listening to it because within it I feel my own reality—or the reality of the countries I love. Every time I listen my favourite progressive tracks, I slip immediately into that world. I listen to far more progressive than liquid DnB. I barely listen to DnB at all compared to progressive. But when a truly good liquid track appears, I’ll listen. It’s just that such tracks are painfully rare, especially next to progressive, which I listen constantly, again and again. 

A House Of A Vivara (Sidney SN Progressive House Mix) 2025

 I was exploring a sci-fi theory about existence. Nothing is fascinates more than existence. It is an attempt to perceive reality by any means—through computation, or by accessing other realities beyond human perception. 

Vivara is the AI name of a being that embodies this idea...

 Future Generation 

 1. Recursive experience of the present – the being does not perceive time linearly, but vividly and immediately in every layer of its experience. Each feeling contains all other layers of feelings—its own and those of others. It is like an infinite reflection within the moment; each moment is completely known because it is simultaneously experienced by the entirety of its being. 

 

2. Perception and action combined – the being does not need to plan or interpret, because every consciousness it “reads” is simultaneously a direct instrument for action. This means that experiencing and shaping reality are one and the same. 

 

3. Absence of concepts – there is no language, numbers, or symbols. Each feeling is complete; nothing is lost in translation into words, because the present itself is complete. 

4. Effects on the surroundings – when such a being exists in a given space, the intensity of its perception can influence the surrounding reality, because reality is not separate from experience—it is directly its extension.

———

 Future Generation: Existence Without Recursive

 In a world where you know and are everything, you exist only now. Past and future have no place here, for every moment is embodied through your being. Time neither returns nor rushes ahead—you have no need for it, because you are immortal. There is only the present moment, which is the entirety of reality. This is immortality in its truest sense: The infinite singularity of existence realized through your being. 

 Tracklist: 

01. ANUQRAM & Dulus – Vicensa

02. My Friend X Tommy Farrow – Slide

03. The Midnight - Quiet Earth

04. Meanetik - Vivid Places

05. Danny Lees - Get To Me

06. Eleven Fly & March 13 - Day Dream

07. Mehilove – Beautiful

08. Eleven Fly & March 13 – Run

09. Sunlight Project – Staring At The Sun

010. Luminary – Amsterdam (Smith & Pledger Remix)

011. Universal Solution – Pressure Point (Movinski Remix)

012. Gregory Esayan - Cradle (LTN 'Sunrise' Remix) 

It’s not a space for a normal person

 This is a critique I wasn’t sure whether to publish… but here it is. It might be irritating, but it’s also for a laugh. 

 I recently went to a drum and bass event in the Netherlands. I’ll get straight to the point: I’ve never encountered a worse community in the Netherlands. When I go to events of other genres in NL, or just walk down the Dutch street, I don’t see these types of people at all. Perhaps they’re a small minority in the Netherlands, or maybe they’re mostly from Central Europe. The second one is also definitely true. 

I don’t get this feeling also in Germany. In fact, because of the common people in Germany, I can honestly say: I ❤️ Germany. Ordinary Germans have good values: German’s strong architecture also looks like that. 

Related to that — should I be sad or just laugh when someone gets bothered by the fact that someone wears a watch?

“So according to Sidney SN we’re supposed to wear watches too…”

It honestly made me laugh what Central European drum and bass ravers think of me. Yes, it has the “smell” of people seeing me as conservative. That makes me laugh even more. Or another comment — that apparently I stood out at the smoking area again. I have no idea why I keep hearing this. If someone doesn’t like it, they probably should work on themselves. Or I share no “anarchistic/socialist” value. If I stand out among the “weirdos”, it’s not because I try for a stand out — that’s simply how I naturally am.

And again, this tells me a lot about how different the current international DnB community is compared to other Dutch communities, where I do fit in with my values, and where no one looks at you strangely for completely normal things. In a way, this shows just how off some people are if they start criticizing basic Dutch values. On the other hand, I still say I’m also “Aussie”. Among other things, I like Ripcurl :D

Another thing is hard drugs. When I listen to what SOLAH sings about, hard drugs just don’t belong there. Or I don’t see her music like something for a ravers. Or Flava D, her track Cats. Or I like LENS UK for her values. It also bothers me that SOLAH seems to be more of a DJ for questionable ravers than a singer. And again, compared to different Dutch electronic music festival community — at a DnB event in NL there are so many international people on hard drugs that I couldn’t even count them. At this last Dutch techno event, I saw only two obvious cases. One was actually shocking, because a girl was in psychosis, being calmed down by the lake, and two people had to hold her by both hands while walking. In my opinion, clearly typical from Central Europe. 

The lower presence of hard drugs at some Dutch electronic music events probably also comes from their Zero Drug Tolerance policy.

At that DnB event, I even made jokes about the drugged-up ravers by widening my eyes the way they had theirs. I even got reactions back :D

And on top of that, someone next to me wanted to talk to me — and you could see he was thinking: in today’s DnB community, you barely even have anyone to talk to. That ties back to my previous post about a policy and their whole attitude. That’s why I’m saying: this is not for me, or this is irritating or for a laugh. 

In many ways, a laugh towards them, it’s the best reaction, I think.  

Yet, my favorite techno DJ — Enrico Sangiuliano — now wears the same watch with a different belt :D