Shutdown the Dissolution

“England's Paula Temple is a highly respected DJ and producer of hard, uncompromising techno, and a technological innovator. Active as a DJ since the 1990s, Temple co-developed the MXF8, a MIDI controller designed for live performances, during the early 2000s. After a nearly decade-long break from touring and making music, she returned in 2013, releasing EPs on labels like R&S and 50 Weapons, leading up to her full-length debut, 2019's Edge of Everything.”

  At Leucanthemum (Leontyne) I wrote about an example from a Dutch techno festival, where there was a girl who asked me, “When will it end?” I also noted, half-joking, that it could be maybe when she takes off a bra.

 However, I was thinking about Paula Temple, and why she stopped producing music for ten years. Not because of her technique, not because of ideas—but because of the values of the scene she was part of.

When I read about Paula Temple and her many-year hiatus from music, I realized that the mechanism behind it feels familiar to me. Not musically—we are fundamentally different there—but in attitude.

Paula Temple left because the techno scene stopped being meaningful to her. Once, as a participant, I did the same in the Czech Republic. I didn’t want to produce techno either, because of the scene’s values, even though in the beginning, I learned to mix using techno. Paula Temple didn’t want to produce music just to fit expectations. She preferred silence over compromise. This is where we meet, because when Sidney SN started being critical of liquid DnB joining the mainstream DnB scene and losing its meaning, the silence was also an option.

At the same time, it’s important to say: Sidney SN is not about dark beats. In this regard, I am not Paula Temple, nor do I want to be. Sidney SN chose the exact opposite of darkness.

While Paula Temple found her voice in hardness, confrontation, and darkness, me after ten years (2006-2016) since my beginnings in mixing and my subsequent decision to step back from engagement, Sidney SN chose modern liquid drum and bass precisely because it allows him to speak about what he wants.

My doubts about certain directions in the techno scene did not lead me to radical beats, but, on the contrary, to music that breathes.

What Paula Temple and I probably share is one thing: we refuse to make music in an environment that denies its meaning. Paula Temple is also critical toward hard drugs and dedicates herself to social work, social services. In this, we are similar—we respect the voice of our integrity and values.

The difference is in the language we use to express it. Hers is darkness. Mine is melodies.

For those who don’t know, it’s worth mentioning at the end that Paula Temple also designed her own MIDI controller, the MXF8, which connects technology and creativity. 

In a way, I can say that I am fulfilling the mission of Sidney SN. I chose liquid drum and bass because I liked it—both musically and for its potential. However, due to issues in Czechia, something happened that went beyond music itself. And the meaning I saw in liquid drum and bass transcended the limits of the music’s own potential. Music no longer has to be the carrier—and it is no longer. 

At its core, it is not about the music, but about the potential that this music had, and that was realized through it. Music is no longer the necessary medium for that potential to unfold. What once could be as its vessel has since moved beyond it and continues to manifest independently. 

Nevertheless, Sidney SN’s liquid drum and bass is the reason why this is so. And thus this music fulfills the potential that I saw in it. Once again, I can say: thank.

Grand Est

 I carried with me a certain criticism of France—especially regarding the banlieues, a phenomenon largely absent in countries such as the Netherlands, Luxembourg, or also Germany. 

It was also noted that, after Czechia, France has the most widespread free tekno scene in terms of population. Unlike in neighboring countries, where refusal to shut down a sound system often leads to arrests and confiscations, the “party” there is expected to last through the night.

 Yet France is also a land of extraordinary beauty. The Ossuaire de Douaumont stands unforgettable in its majesty, singular in its gravity, not far from Toul. Not far from Ossuaire de Douaumont is Fort de Vaux. A flowering spring there was amazing. Across the whole Grand Est region, one encounters countless places of interest—monuments, historically charged landscapes, and cities that quietly carry meaning.

At the edge of Grand Est lies Luxembourg, Belgium and also Strasbourg, a city balanced on the border with Germany. From there, a tram crosses effortlessly into the nearby German town of Kehl. Few places in Europe allow one to pass between nations with such ordinary ease.

To me, Strasbourg bears the imprint of Germany through its closeness, yet it remains unmistakably French. For me, it is also place of an interesting meeting. 

 I wanted to write about Strasbourg because the city is beautiful—and genuinely safe. Compared to many others, it is also cleaner. Certain areas, especially around the historic center, resemble the carefully constructed sets of historical films.

Last year, this drew me to Strasbourg on the night of Christmas Eve. The city was empty, wrapped in silence, and revealed itself through a distinctly Christmas atmosphere. These streets are usually well kept, and at night—particularly at Christmas, without people—the nocturnal life in French cities like Strasbourg feels calmer. With its architecture and immaculate streets, the city appeared to me like a stage set, a quiet theater awaiting its actors. In its own way, this may also reflect the distinctly French sensibility for art and culture. 

 In France, one is also struck by how close nuclear power plants can be to residential areas. The Grand Est region is no exception. It is here that the important Cattenom nuclear power plant is located, situated just a few kilometers from cities and inhabited areas. The plant is embedded in the landscape along the Moselle River, in close proximity to forests and settlements, which clearly illustrates the French approach to nuclear energy. France has built its nuclear network (the parc nucléaire) since the 1970s as a strategic infrastructure to ensure energy self-sufficiency.

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 Onto Life

 Ownglow & Elle Vee & Disco’s Over – Breathe

 Duskee & Deadline & Slay - CHICA

Integration

 Part 1.

 For instance, I cannot avoid Germany when I want to reach the West coast. I enjoy the journey. I try to also change the places where I stop along the way. Sometimes it leads to Dortmund, sometimes Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Cologne, or Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, or Munich. Or sometimes the days in Berlin areas. 

But it’s not just about traveling through Germany. I have the sense that the country has a strong integration system. Germany is often cited as a place where migrant integration works better than in much of Europe.

What is visible in Germany is that the system is set up so that it is worthwhile for people to be part of it, while also preventing the formation of spatially segregated, marginalized areas. People in Germany are also more open, and origin or ethnicity does not play as strong a role in integration into society and the system.

I mean that in Germany there are no clearly separated marginalized areas, unlike in certain parts of France for example. In other words, Germany lacks the visibly segregated, marginalized neighborhoods or marginalization.

In certain parts of France or in the Czech Republic, ghettos itself emerge: in the banlieues or in Czechia, or in Slovakia, people sometimes live outside the system due to limited economic opportunities, housing constraints, identity-based segregation, or structural racism. 

 Part 2.

 Not to leave the Benelux out, I have already written an article about Luxembourg economy, and I would also include the Western coasts. In the Netherlands, the natural coexistence is visible in the local communities. South Holland is very naturally diverse. The presence of “black culture” is also unmistakable. It is part of the character of the Western regions of Europe. In France, communities are also diverse, but there are areas of exclusion.

The West system encourages integration through economic opportunities and accessible social services, while urban planning avoids large, concentrated areas of poverty. People are generally open to migrants, and the emphasis is on participation and functioning within the system rather than background or origin. 

This helps prevent the formation of ghettos and allows migrants to take part in society across multiple neighborhoods.

The Days of Thunder

 About eighteen years ago, I used to enjoy reading blogs where bloggers described their experiences and adventures while traveling around Europe. In a way, I still do something similar today. 

My topics are also economic, cultural, and overall environmental experiences.

I also wrote about experiences with train stations. In Czechia, I often see articles about incidents around German train stations. I wrote that this says more about stations elsewhere than about Germany. 

Now I started a journey at one bus station and preferred to leave quickly… 

Someone resembling a homeless person, a drug addict, and apparently a former prisoner was threatening to stab homeless people with a knife—and then to stab me as well.

 I told myself that I was already looking forward to Germany, and further on to the Benelux. And it really was like that. Elsewhere, of course, this reality does not exist. There was apparently one immigrant on a bus in Germany under the influence of some opiate like fentanyl, but nowhere was there anything like what I experienced at the beginning of the journey.

Christmas-time Amsterdam was great again. Amsterdam is beautiful in itself thanks to its architecture, and with the ever-present Christmas decorations it has the charm of real Christmas. 

In my opinion, Amsterdam is one of the most decorated and certainly one of the most beautiful Christmas cities in Europe. I like the whole Benelux at Christmas, as well as cities in Germany.

In the core Dutch city for this music genre, there was some Thunderdome event—it amused me 😄 that during my days in the Netherlands, over Christmas, I was also confronted with this modern Dutch history in the form of gabber—with the typical logo on bomber jackets and other clothing featuring this logo. 

I’m little amazed at how gabbers influenced the world. For example, Dutch Christmas (1999) by Scooter. Or One (remix of Always Hardcore Bodylotion). I’ve already mentioned that in my childhood I listened to happy hardcore along with other “dance” music, without even realizing it was happy hardcore. However, I tend to laugh at gabbers more for their dystopian history. In my view, there’s a certain sense of awkwardness in their utopia of drug use.

Just yesterday, Sunday, there was a sunny day to be had in the South. Amsterdam was typical, with a bit of wet weather. There was frost at the beginning of the journey, and also snow at its end in Germany… It was all kinds of weather during the Christmas trip.