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| Sloterpark |
Due to my experiences with techno communities in Czechia since 2001, and due to the rise of the free tekno mainstream around 2003—when free tekno even managed to shut down Creamfields in Czechia—and the way Czech techno people began collaborating with the free tekno scene, I’m happy that my imagination about what a techno community could look like has been realized in the Netherlands. I always believed in the vibe of tech-house, progressive, melodic, and proper techno. I’m happy because what I imagined is now real here.
I believed in a community made up of normal people—people with inner wealth and good looks—and in the Netherlands, this is happening. I think the Dutch techno community looks like how I imagined a functioning society could be. I can enjoy these events without fear because of the shared values here. The only thing I fear is saying this out loud.
For example, when I mentioned a liquid event in December 2022, something felt off. People aren’t the same everywhere. The world is about people. As the inner spaces look, so do the worlds. In places where techno is shaped by citizens with strong inner values, it feels different.
In the Netherlands, even
gabba is mainstream. I don’t say anything negative about that because Dutch gabber carries those same values. At 10:45 PM, when I left the Loveland shuttle at Sloterdijk, I could hear tech-house, techno, progressive, and gabber playing all around. At first, I thought the techno was coming from Loveland, but after a few steps, I heard different music. I realized that music was coming from everywhere—houses, cars, balconies. Gabber was playing from cars too.
It’s true that Dutch open-air events usually end by midnight. So when I got to Sloterdijk, it was the tail end of all the events happening around Amsterdam. At 11:00 PM, a guy on a balcony provocatively a one started playing weird bass like he had a sound system at the balcony. That’s political too.
Now it’s ten days later—I’m lying in bed at
1:30 AM and suddenly, a free tekno party starts. When I see this, it’s like those people are shouting, “Look at us! We’re the dumbest in Europe!” Some of them are under 30 and already without teeth—stuff even indigenous communities wouldn’t see. And when the decibel limits are completely ignored, the free tekno just continues.
At ADE, nobody wants to go days without washing their body. But at some wannabe events, the common smell says everything. In a way, I’m glad real, civilized societies exist somewhere, and the weirdos stay weird—dirty and desperate, stuck in the world they made for themselves. I don’t believe these people know what a Western society really looks like. They believe their own nonsense, because they’re not educated—not even about the world outside Czechia, which seems to be their final stop in life.
This is also the truth about the Czech reality. Every time I return from Germany to Czechia, I feel like the country is outside of reality. It’s a shock—being everywhere in Western Europe and then arriving in a place where the West doesn’t seem to exist at all.
I don’t want uncivilized or antisocial behavior—especially not during the day. But I love daylight events. It’s beautiful when everyone can see what the people around them actually look like. When I come back from a daylight or sunset event, I never question the value of day events. That’s what’s great about them—they last longer, I can sleep at night, and in the morning, I feel good. Or I can enjoy the night later, alone, in my own private space. And still wake up happy. It’s like traveling in a night train—when I look around and see people I’m not afraid of.
