“Different country, different customs”

 Sometimes I wonder how certain observations could be formulated so that they don’t sound “harsh”. On the other hand, I’ve already shared Nukivalent’s streams, for instance. She has an interesting critique of cultural and social habits. On her Instagram profile, videos often appear in which she points out various cultural and social patterns.

I think that if Nukivalent were Czech and pointed out cultural or social habits in clothing or in self-care, and in Western European countries—such as the everyday norms in the Netherlands or in Germany—she would receive heavy criticism, even if what she said were true. The same could be said about many parts of France and values there. 

But the truth is still the truth—it can be seen and even felt. And I laughed when I saw Nukivalent’s streams for first time, because there is a truth about cultural and social values.

In a way, the criticism from DnB ravers of Central Europe that I wrote about after Hospitality at Melkweg in the autumn is enough for me. However, I don’t generally see those typical Dutch “norms” within these communities. They are commonly visible at Dutch techno, tech-house events, but not at similar drum and bass events. I saw no one the person there. Yet in the eyes there, something glows differently than is natural. 

It would be possible to talk not only about outward things, but also about inner ones, which are just as visible externally. In some country, there is a saying: “Different country, different customs.” That proverb captures it well. I recently wrote about my “azureness,” which someone say is visible in me when I return from the Netherlands. I stand by the idea that if I had to explain what I mean by identities, it is difficult to explain something that someone does not know, does not perceive, or perhaps does not even acknowledge—likely because of their own social habits.

But this is not only about the Netherlands. Other Western countries also have values that are hard to find elsewhere, or do not exist at all. I would dare to say that also about someone’s in interest, I can claim that someone similar is not exist elsewhere, and they could be misunderstood because of their identities. And these values are visible in everyday life, or the same, within their professions. This is something no one will convince me could be otherwise. 

I know it from myself — sometimes I think I’m doing something that isn’t even around me. But I do it because I perceive it as something natural. And when I go further west, I see all around me what I mean here. And much more — sometimes I see a glow in the eyes that I don’t see anywhere else at all. 

Azure-tinged

  I hold many reasons close for this land— but here’s a quiet one: Ducks in the streets. Not lost, not out of place, but gliding calm through canals and streams, unstartled by the human pace. They swim like the city belongs to them too. And perhaps it does. Kralingen’s swans nest in still corners as children wander close, no rush, no fear—just a soft balance between feathers and footsteps, roots and routines. There is something sacred in a city that lets life be. Cleaner reality, and people who’ve learned to move with the rhythm of skyscrapers. In Kralingen’s hush, I see intelligence in ivy, ethics in botanic, a culture not only of words but of care. And in Zuiderpark, summer breathes through grills and laughter, a community of coexistence forming over shared bread and sun, beneath leaves that catch every language and send it back as joy. At Essenburgpark, the city bows before a quiet grove— not out of guilt, but respect. And above it all—Erasmusbrug, that swan of steel spanning the river’s grace. Its cables hum like harp strings in the wind, connecting not just land to land but idea to ideal. Skyscrapers rise like glass reeds against the Dutch sky, not to block nature— but to coexist with it. Reflection, not domination. Even in stone and steel, there is room for the soul. This is development not just of roads, but of rhythm. Of harmony between the naturalism and the made. There is no wall between person and pond. No border between culture and root. There is a peace here that doesn’t need to shout. A cultivated silence. Aesthetic. The Beauty of steel and the heritage.

 I’ve learned that I even tend to become “azure” after returning from the Netherlands. What someone may see is a my favorite Dutch city. And not only that – it is also the climate of the Netherlands as a society, a system, and a culture. 

Whether it is the openness of the space that comes from the North Sea and flows through the city without obstacles, or the air that does not stand still. Air is not just a mixture of gases – in the Netherlands it feels cleaner and fresher. It is also a different reflection of how society thinks. It is not only about having a cleaner and more aesthetic environment. 

In a different country, the air is not only worse in terms of toxicity, but also mentally burdened – with a different form of toxicity. 

In the Netherlands, the air is different. It flows. And flow means movement. And movement means life. Society is more open, less grounded in a limiting way, freer, less prone to extremism, it does not stink, it thinks more. Civilization is built so that people can enjoy its beauty. Even the infrastructure does not hold a person down. 

Where things like cycling, open space, modern urbanism, more aesthetic greenery, and less stagnation are supported, the air is lighter. Not only physically, but mentally as well. 

I have also mentioned several times that I recover quickly in the Netherlands – for example from a respiratory illness, which may not in fact be purely respiratory, but psychosomatic. 

People create the air themselves. In some places it is heavy on its own, and elsewhere it is lighter because people are able to naturally radiate through their own culture. I have written before that if the Netherlands has been described as first in quality of life 2026, it has its obvious reasons, which cannot go unnoticed if someone truly embraces this for themselves. 

And such a person may naturally be perceived that way within a certain society when they return from a place where things function in a way that feels closer to them.

Concept

 I’m not sure who still remembers it. It’s been ten years now, maybe even longer, since modern liquid drum and bass was still in its early beginnings.

Nevertheless, in my view once Chilloutbear was already questioning the very concept of mixing through his approach back then. Indirectly, he was also questioning the normality of mainstream DNB and its rave culture as such. Through his approach, he was setting different values from those represented by the mainstream drum and bass at the time.

There was a certain distance in it—an intentional separation from mainstream DNB, whose music is built on entirely different principles and values. That is also why the tracks uploaded by Chilloutbear were not commonly mixed into traditional DJ sets. A conventional, “formed whole,” as we know it from DJ sets, did not emerge there. 

I don’t know whether he was consciously aware of this distance, but that is how I perceived it.

Something similar happened when, in 2017, someone said about me that I was doing liquid only because I was a beginner, and that once I “woke up,” I would start doing neurofunk. It was exactly the opposite. I had already known drum and bass for sixteen years. I started creating liquid DNB mixes precisely because I did not identify with the mainstream— not only the Czech one those two were talking about.

Their rave culture, on the contrary, “woke me up” to the point that I reject it for years. And when modern liquid appeared, it was something that influenced my person. They did not understand (my) liquid drum and bass. It is not the same thing as neurofunk. Liquid tends to be more thought-out, more conscious as a genre—this is also why it was once referred to as intelligent jungle. It is not music for mindless rave intoxication, which is often associated precisely with harder strands such as neurofunk.

My first mix, Memories of The Future (2016), was—based on the logic described above—conceived in a similar way to Chilloutbear’s work. Nevertheless, in 2017 I decided that liquid DNB could be mixed in a way that preserves its inner logic. I therefore added SN and began, in my own way, to mix tracks, singles that truly resonate with me.