Paradigm

Author: Gerrit de Boer

Inland’s boredome-breakers

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Inland provides you with some boredom-breakers in these quarantine times, including an otherworldly mix recorded at Paradigm in February and a new Davenport-household recipe: Pumpkin and Tofu Curry with Peanut-Coconut Sauce!

Hi Ed, we hope you and yours are safe and doing well.
I’m good, hope you’re good as well!

What are your days like in these quarantine times?
It’s been a strange mixture of worrying and relaxing, frustrating and productive moments! But to be honest we have been trying to enjoy the bonus family time – me, my fiancee and our daughter are a very tight unit at this point and we super grateful for that! 

I share a studio space with my long time buddy and techno wizard Patrik Skoog here in Berlin and, so long as the rules regarding leaving the house and going to work remain the same in Berlin (we are allowed too – I ride my bike) we have been lucky enough to continue using the studio. So we take it in turns each day to go in and work. I’ve been making a lot of new high-energy techno tracks, and also working on a bunch of new releases on Counterchange that will get released this year.

Your set has been in the forefront of our minds for months. How did you experience the night?
Ah, it was such a great night! The downstairs floor at Paradigm is such a perfect setting for a rave, with the DJ-booth surrounded by the crowd from all sides, and everything was primed for a great experience, from the insane sound to the top-notch staff and the open-minded, up-for-it ravers. I had played in London the night before at FOLD as part of the ’Stream State’ tour, celebrating the release of a 4 x 12’’ compilation and DJ mix on Counterchange, so I was pumped and excited to get out there and really show off all the contrasting styles of Techno that I like to play. Nuno Dos Santos banged it after my set too – legendary night!

Can you take us through your set?
I opened my set  with a few tracks from ‘Stream State’, which I edited out from the beginning of the recording as you should really go and listen the whole thing! Then I went into a rolling section of new and old releases, just stuff I felt like would work in the room,  from the likes of P.Lopez, Headroom, Hector Oaks (an early deeper track of his), and then reached an early peak with Magna Pia’s stunning ‘Narcissist’ – that got the crowd ready for some heavier cuts as I pushed up the tempo and reached into my ‘vinyl rips’ folder to drop a couple of classic 90s Techno slammers. The 2 hrs flew by and I had a big smile on my face for most the set. Mixing in the booth was a breeze, which as most DJ’s will tell you is not at all common in a room as big as that, so I was super happy with the outcome!

Besides your set, is there something else you would like to share with us?
Indeed. We love cooking over here, so here’s a new Davenport household favourite meal we invented over the last few weeks, give it a try: Pumpkin and Tofu Curry with Peanut-Coconut Sauce.

For the Pumpkin and Tofu:

  • 1 Hokaido Pumpkin
  • 1 pack of  firm Tofu
  • A generous handful of Sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
  • 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil (Rapeseed Oil)
  • 1 tablespoon Curry Powder

Pinch of Salt:

Peel and slice the Pumpkin into 1inch cubes, cut the tofu into small cubes and toss in a large bowl with the Oils, soy sauce, curry powder and sesame seeds till they are all coated. Pre-heat your oven to 200 C and when its ready bake the Pumpkin and Tofu on a baking tray (with grease-proof paper) for 20 minutes, or until golden and the pumpkin is cooked through. Meanwhile make the sauce.

For the Sauce:

  • 1 White Onion
  • Garlic
  • Ginger
  • 3 tablespoons of pure Peanut Butter (100% peanut, no added sugar!)
  • 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
  • 1 can of Coconut Milk
  • 1 tablespoon Curry Powder
  • Dash of Worcestershire sauce
  • Dash of Soy Sauce
  • Dash of Maple Sirup
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Finely dice the onion, garlic and ginger and fry in the coconut oil in a pot until golden brown and soft throughout. Add the Curry Powder and stir it through to release the flavours. Add the coconut milk, stir in the peanut butter, and add the other sauces to taste. Stir it till it’s smooth and allow the sauce to reduce slightly till it thickens a bit. If you need to you can add water at any time in case it gets too thick.

Cook some nice jasmine rice and serve everything in a big bowl topped with lots of chopped coriander, smashed peanuts, lime juice and a big spoonful of Sambal Oelek. Lekker! 🙂

 

A conversation with Ghost in the Machine

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Visionary duo Ghost in the Machine is coming our way next week! We asked them a couple of questions recently and they laid themselves bare. Read all about it below!

Hey Nils and Frank! You first came to Paradigm at the festival back in 2017. What do you remember about that time?

Nils: What I mostly remember was the overall vibe and atmosphere and a very enthusiastic crowd!
Frank: Very different from other festivals, that’s for sure!

The crowd thought so too, seeing as we received numerous compliments about your set! How would you classify your sound?

Frank: We started out playing old school and acid sets. Acid was always a large part of the philosophy behind our work, at least for our first 10+ years as Ghost in the Machine. Nils insisted that we should start producing at some point. The subsequent sound we ended up creating turned out to be part acid (a solid sound with a lot of energy), but also very much techno (deep, hard and not too cheerful).
Nils: Indeed, our sound definitely evolved in the direction of techno over time.

And what do you find important to convey during your performances?
Frank: You can find that constant flow in our sets that is natural for techno, but there’s a lot more going on with us because we’ve often got four decks active all at once.
Nils: Agreed. I also feel like all of our sets contain some type of storytelling.
Frank: Yes. It seems to me that some artists click on the first track they see on the screen. Or just grab the first record they spot in their record case.
Nils: That’s one of the things we’re watch out for. Making sure our story stays coherent and consistent.

How do you make it work? Do you each have a specific role and what do you appreciate in each other when it comes to input during your sets?
Frank: I’ve basically got a clock in my brain and I closely guard our process.
Nils: We check each other’s cues and anticipate accordingly or quickly consult with each other. I do indeed really appreciate Franks feel for timing and the ability to keep track of everything. I also really appreciate our communication and flow during a set, which is practically effortless in my opinion. We’re hardly ever out of sync, which is great when standing behind the decks or working in the studio.
Frank: I actually own a watch, one of those with atomic clock synchronization and precision. So, whenever a stage manager tells me we only have five minutes left, I can retort by showing we have six and a half. You can do a lot in 90 seconds!

What does this look like in the studio?

Frank: Fortunately, Nils likes writing out track arrangements. I can do it, but Nils is way more proficient in that department.
Nils: Frank is very efficient. He’s able to completely focus on something, for instance a single part or element in one of our tracks. While he’s busy working on a short loop, I can already envision how I will create transitions or introduce additional sounds when arranging the loop into a track. And yes, I love doing the arrangement and creating a story. We feel it’s important to physically work together in the studio. This greatly benefits our creativity and speeds up the entire process. I can’t think of a single session where we had to call it quits because ‘it didn’t quite work out that day’. We always managed to create at least something useful we could and would want to continue working on, no matter how short or small. We do get stuck from time to time when we’re working on projects without each other.

Can you tell us something about the studio projects you’re currently working on?

Nils: We’re always working on new material for Perc Trax and our own label. We’ve also done two remixes for two amazing artists recently.
Frank: One of them is for Paula Temple, and should be out next month. The other one we can’t really talk about yet, but we’re very excited about it. We try to release around three records per year. After all, we want to play a lot of our own tracks during our sets!

How do you implement your tracks in your sets and how do you keep a balance between your own and other music? Which other artists do you like?
Frank: The idea is to use tracks from other artists to strengthen and complement our own music. This balance usually ends up being three or four tracks by others for every one of our own.
Nils: Off the top of my head: Perc, Ansome, Randomer, Scalameriya, KRTM, I Hate Models and stranger are artists we play a lot and draw inspiration from.
Frank: We also play a lot of stuff by JoeFarr, Dahryl and Ike Dusk. These are all producers we love.
Nils: We also don’t shy away from older tracks that inspired us back in the day. This results in a balance in our sets where we play a bunch of stuff we love right now and those inspirational tracks from way back when.
Frank: We stated in a past interview that we would play “Snake Eyes” by Ansome in every set. We do.

Why do you create music? Where are you going with your productions?
Frank: There isn’t much of a philosophy besides the storytelling and having fun in the studio. Essentially, I just like working together with Nils. I’d rather work on something together than going it alone.
Nils: Same here. Also, it’s hard to predict anything resulting from us working together. I think it’s an interesting quality that keeps things fresh. I mean, we thought we were going to make 150 BPM acid for a while, and we were wrong.
Frank: And I also really love making things sound enormous. That really gives me a head rush!

What does your cooperation with Perc mean to you?
Frank: Working together with Perc means so, so much for us. We lost interest in techno when it made a shift from energetic, tough and dark sounds towards minimal. However, many years later, we accidentally encountered several great techno tracks, one after the other. Positively speaking, we started to wonder who had approved pressing this insane noise on vinyl. This almost always turned out to be Perc. Take his track “Hyperlink” for example. It’s not really techno, but if someone like Perc releases it on a renowned techno label and plays it in techno sets, it ends up becoming techno! We’ve created a similarly odd track for Perc Trax recently. He’s really the only one who could actually release a track like this.

Thank you for your time! Anything you want to add?
Frank: Well, we’re very much looking forward to play at an indoor Paradigm event! We’ve experienced it from the sidelines a couple of times, which left us hungry.
Nils: The Paradigm Festival was a great first time and we can’t wait to get together again!

The end of Malbetrieb, the start of something new

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It’s 6.30pm. Niels is calling us. “I think I’m going to stop using my Malbetrieb alias. No, I’m actually sure of it.” Our Niels, one of the original residents, has made a clear choice for himself. His sets have captivated many souls over the years and this isn’t the end of his music career; it’s actually a fresh start!

Tell us, Niels! How did you come to this decision?
I completely collapsed during ADE three years ago because I had the feeling that I wasn’t in control of myself anymore. I was no longer doing what I set out to do when I first started DJ-ing and worked so hard for over the years. Musically I had received a label to my name, something that I found very difficult to deal with.

How did that label come about?
I received it because I used to do a lot of opening sets, usually because no one else wanted to do these. I played a lot of melodic music and tracks with lots of vocals, which I still think is an ideal entry point for any club night (including our own!). As this style of music began to become more popular, my career grew with it. I even closed an evening like that during an event (even though I already opened, but Paul and Piter insisted) with Kollektiv Turmstrasse. That moment still feels like the starting point of my career – Malbetrieb became a household name after this. However, this “career” only magnified a small part of my musical taste. After all, I’ve always played and listened to ambient, techno and everything in between.

What changed?
I’ve started working with different aliases during the past three years, so I could feel free again in my studio. With Joannes on one side of the spectrum and Sad Girl at the other, I could express my musical vision once more and really bring everything to light between Ambient and Techno. It’s because of these aliases that I completely lost interest in my original Malbetrieb alias, going as far as having no more interest whatsoever in melodic techno of any shape or size. I felt reborn with my new aliases, so playing and creating music became exciting again!

Can you share some of your highlights as Malbetrieb with us?
The best moments have got to be those in Paradigm, especially those solo nights and closing sets. I still experience goose bumps when I think about those times I played ‘Turn Around’ (Âme) and everyone fell into each other’s arms, started kissing each other and was even shedding a tear or two… But that’s all in the past, as I never want to play like again. I’ve re-discovered myself with Joannes and Sad Girl. I can finally play and create what I want without compromise or a limited framework to work with, which feels amazing. Moreover, Sad Girl originated as a joke during a time of my life when I felt really depressed. Now that I’m my happy-go-lucky self again, my Sad Girl alias doesn’t really fit anymore either.

So you want to continue on as Joannes?
I’m able to focus on my entire music spectrum with Joannes, ranging from ambient to techno. I’ve got releases coming up at Sluwe Vos’s label Patron, Munich-based RFR (label with releases by Skee Mask, DJ Hell, Zenker Brothers and others) and Nuno dos Santos’s SoHaSo. I’m choosing quality over quantity with playing in front of a crowd. I want those moments to become special again, both for my audience and myself, and I plan on taking a lot more time preparing for a dj set. So, when you see my name on the line up, you can expect me to completely demolish the place. ‘Joannes de Sloper’, like Nuno says from time to time.

Introducing our new hard cups and payment system

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Like we’ve mentioned a while back, we’re going to say goodbye to our plastic tokens! We don’t want to waste mountains of plastic any longer. APOE, as mentioned, was the last opportunity to purchase and use tokens. Planet Paradigm will be the first event where we’ll employ our new payment system. We’re also going to implement hard cups. More on that below:

Pin + Paradigm Card

  • From Planet Paradigm onwards, you can use your pin/debit card at the bar.
  • You can also deposit cash on a special Paradigm prepaid card, which will be available at the cash decks. 
  • Each prepaid card has a unique QR code. You’re able to check your balance by scanning the QR code from your card. 
  • Gather all (!) old Paradigm tokens, put them in an envelope with your name and email address on it, and deposit them at the letterbox at the cash registers near the Da Vinci Dome stage. You’ll then be eligible for our give-aways!

Hard cups
We throw away 200.000 plastic cups each year. That’s something we don’t want to do anymore. From now on, we’ll only serve drinks in hard cups. We’ll also be getting rid of the Spa Blauw water bottles, starting at Paradigm Festival 2019.

Here’s some information on how this will work during Planet Paradigm 2019:

  • The first time you order something at the bar, you’ll be required to pay a one-time €1,-  deposit fee for your hard cup or Spa Blauw bottle.
  • Don’t want to keep your cup or bottle with you all the time? You can hand it in at the bar and receive a green cup token (old Paradigm tokens we used as food-tokens in the past).
  • You can hand in the green cup token whenever you order next. You will then receive your drink in a fresh and clean hard cup or a new Spa Blauw bottle!
  • Did you lose your cup or bottle? Then you have to pay another €1,- deposit fee for a new one.
  •  You can take either the hard cup or green cup token with you when the event is finished, or leave it at the nearest bar.
  • The green cup token may be handed in for a hard cup during the next event!
  • You may collect cups and bottles, hand them in and receive a €1,- discount for each one on your order! The discounted amount can never exceed the order amount, which means you can’t get a cash-back.
  • You can take the hard cup or bottle with you to the Afterhours.

Thank you for keeping our planet clean and healthy!

A conversation with De Sluwe Vos

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In anticipation of The Backyard Project, we wanted to shine a light on the inner workings of De Sluwe Vos! He shares his previous experiences with Paradigm, how his relationship with Ryan Elliott came to be and a little of what we can expect coming Saturday.

It has already been 5 years since you first played at Paradigm and we’ve seen each other a couple of times since then. Anything you want to share about those experiences?
I’ve played at Paradigm multiple times and it was a home run every single time. I can really relate with the programming, aesthetics and overall vibe at the new location! Usually I perform a couple of times a year in Groningen and, when I think about it, every performance has had something special. It also happened – more than once – that people ask me when I’ll be playing at Paradigm again. This is a very strong indicator for me on how vibrant this place is.

We dropped by when you played your new live set during the last edition of ESNS. We really enjoyed it! What are your own thoughts on it?
ESNS is a special week every time I visit it. The expectations were pretty high after my gig in 2016. I found myself heading several top 10’s in multiple industry-leading magazines for ESNS that year. Also, playing live for a crowd for the first time is always suspenseful. Keeping that in mind, it was just great to see that the venue was filling up quite nicely way before I even had to start. I also spotted a lot of friends and colleagues in the audience, which boosted my confidence! The whole thing felt only 10 minutes long, which speaks volumes on how much I enjoyed doing it. And even though I didn’t perform a sound check, it was going really well. It always gives me a lot of energy to see the crowd dancing as they did that night, which made me feel at ease even faster. 

About your live set, can you tell us something about the formation of your set-up and your workflow?
I’ve worked on it for more than a year. The whole idea was to push myself to actually perform live revolving my modular setup. It took a long time at first to even find the right setup to get the most out of it. The hardest part definitely was finding a way to play existing records without the use of a laptop. After half a year of trial and error, I finally found a set-up that worked for me and I’ve been playing with it a lot ever since. I was mostly finding my way around the system. My goal was to feel completely at home with it, to jam and play without thinking. Even though I didn’t do a sound check, the set went admirably. It was really great to see everyone dancing the night away, which made me feel at ease pretty fast.

You’ll be playing a special 5 hour b2b set with Ryan Elliott during The Backyard Project. How did this come to fruition?
A couple of years ago I invited Ryan Elliott during a Patron Record label night in Arnhem. We were both playing extended sets and we noticed that we share lots of common ground regarding our music and personalities. We continued to run into each other from then on, followed by me inviting him in 2018 for De Sluwe Vos and Friends at Thuishaven in Amsterdam. We really enjoyed ourselves and afterwards he asked me to see if we could do an actual b2b session in the future. We’ve set things in motion every since and decided that Paradigm was the right place for the job.

What about this common ground you speak of?
This sounds cliché – we share some great chemistry musically as well as personally.

What can we expect for your b2b set?
Lots of energy, new records and two DJ’s who will definitely challenge each other!

Are you gonna prepare for it?
We’ll contact each other beforehand for sure, but I like to step into a b2b with an open mind. Maybe I learned that a little from Benny Rodrigues. Preparation and practice is in my blood but I learned throughout the years that you can hardly plan for everything. I don’t really know what Ryan’s going to do, what kind of crowd we’re going to get and how the acoustics will be. These are all important factors which can make or break your set, even though you can’t really anticipate these things. I combat this by going in without any expectations. After all, the moments that last and stay with you are the ones you never really see coming!

Which record are you definitely going to play?
I really want to test the waters on this track I’ve been editing, which is a really old track by Speedy J. I’ve also rediscovered the Plink Plonk label last week, so you’re definitely going to hear some of their releases.

Konvooi Exceptioneel about creating NYE-objects and donating funds to charity

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NYE is almost upon us and we’re eager to show you how we dressed up the place! We specifically had a quick chat with the visionary creator of our mainstage: Jeroen. Read and find out about why this project is so special!

Hey Jeroen! Can you tell us something about yourself and Konvooi Exceptioneel?
We are Konvooi Exceptioneel and we provide various rental services, such as stages, bars and tents with a creative twist for events. Check out www.konvooi.com for more information about who we are and what we do.

And you had an amazing idea, right? Can you share that with us?
Some time ago, I got the wish from Paradigm to dress up NYE for a certain amount of money. Then an idea started to take root. It was to donate the funds to charity, specifically for (children) refugees out of Lesbos. The project’s name is “Keep Dreaming” and, together with our schoolchildren, they create “dream blankets” for the children in the refugee camps. They have a facebook page and a website http://www.projectkeepdreaming.nl/project-keep-dreaming for more information. 

What are you guys creating for NYE? 
We’re building several large constructs with a group of about 15 people. Lots of friends also signed up to help for this charity purpose, together with numerous others from unexpected places. We can’t wait to show it!

Mark Fischer reveals the NYE-Trilogy performances

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The Paradigm NYE-Trilogy is right around the corner. There will be performances like last year and there’ll also be a small, intimate theatre. In light of this, let’s ask some questions to its programmer, Mark Fischer.

Hi Mark! We’ve been working together for some time now. However, can you tell something about yourself to everyone who doesn’t know you?
Of course! I’m a born ‘Stadjer’, and after leaving the city for a couple of years and living in Amsterdam and Berlin, I returned to this wonderful city almost two years ago. I have a background in theatre, previously worked for the City Theatre in Amsterdam, and now working for the Grand Theatre and Station Noord (a talent-development network for starting dance- and theatre artists in the north). I’ve always been in love with the club-scene (especially with disco and house music) and interested in the cross-overs between theatre, dance and rave-culture. No wonder I fell in love with Paradigm. I love the vibe of the place and the people, and think it’s something very special. You don’t find anywhere else. My heart burns for a more social and green society, and I’m willing to put as much effort as possible in making the world a little bit fairer and more sustainable. That’s why I joined the board of Stichting EMS (Electronic Music Society) about a year ago, a foundation closely related to Paradigm. With the foundation we organize and facilitate activities on the terrain and events of Paradigm around three main themes: sustainability, inclusivity & arts and culture. It’s great to see already so many results after a year, and it has been a great pleasure working with the wonderful people of EMS, Paradigm and everyone around, who all seem to share the same passion and values. For NYE, Paradigm and EMS put their strengths together once more and made a performance programme for the chill out area.

How did you come up with the composition of the program? 
Traditionally NYE has always been a moment for reflection. Upon your own life in the past year, but also upon important events in reality. I’ve noticed that my generation, more and more, are trying to escape that reality. And although I’m personally also very familiar with that kind of escapism, I would like to create a moment of reflection during the NYE Trilogy with this program. A moment where people can sit back, relax and where reality and imagination can collide. I’ve chosen some, in form very accessible, but content-wise still interesting and challenging performances.

What does the program look like?
NNTWEE, the youth platform of NNT and Club Guy & Roni, will present their successful container performance from Noorderzon: ‘Life is a Rave’. A pop-up spectacle inspired on the burn-out society and constant desire to party.

“Ex dance company” Teddy’s Last Ride will show an excerpt of their new show ‘The Others’. The Others is an immersive pop-spectacle that features three misfit aliens and their cautionary tale of the future. Having shed themselves free from their mortal coils, and having conquered every inch of time & space, they have returned to the present upon the discovery that there was never any frontier to conquer but the one inside themselves. Also known as: “welcome to my thirties”.

Lester Arias is a charismatic performer who is able to seamlessly mix concert and performance. He pilots his audience into his world with his winning gaze and soft, clear voice. A world where reality and imagination are not rigidly delineated and where one reality merges, almost unnoticeably, with another. Arias’ voice is also constantly transforming – from nasal and sing-song to soft-spoken, like the narrator of an old-fashioned scary story. A story that suddenly turns out to be all about you…

In between the performances there will be projections on the very big back wall of the performance space by Jakub Valtar, a promising young VJ and artist, who just graduated the Frank Mohr Institute. Beatboxer Haydar Corky, a newcomer from Syria, will close off the night at the chill out area with his loop station.

Who are you looking forward to the most?
Oh, difficult question! It’s always hard to pick a favorite… But if I have to choose, I’d pick the Teddy’s. I have a special connection with them. They are a dance-collective of very nice and ambitious young people, based in Groningen. I met them a couple of years ago, when I was organizing a small festival in an abandoned shop in the city centre of Groningen (together with Tom van Ulsen, who is now programmer of Paradigm – what a small world we live in, here in Groningen). We connected them to Dither, a hardcore DJ and producer and they did an amazing show together. Over the last couple of years, they’ve grown amazingly. First under the wings of Club Guy & Roni and now on their own. They made some very interesting shows already, always on the brink of theatre, dance and club/rave culture. So that’s a recipe for success in a Paradigm context. They will show also return with the full performance of ‘The Others’ on Paradigm Festival this summer.

Photos by Pieter Postma