Straf_werk Festival – Amsterdam

The festival machine that is Amsterdam continues to churn out a plethora of fine instalments on a year round basis. The summer there is filled full of internationally renowned artists applying their trade to a continuous array of bustling punters that are all ready to cut some shapes. Now into August the fun doesn’t begin to die down either; this past weekend we visited Straf_werk set just on the outskirts of the historic city centre. The stunning setting married forest with an industrial, apocalyptic over view filled with crates and metals girders; these are trademark inclusions for the guys behind DGTL Festival. The line up boasted a hot bed of house and techno talent, headlined by Jamie Jones, Skream, KiNK, Henrick Schwartz and local hero Prunk.

We actually kicked our day off with the ever present Prunk who has creating huge waves in the mid afternoon heat. The local spinner has had a huge summer hitting us with some tech house bombs and performing to thousands on the festival circuit. The already packed house were well behind him and curated a blend of house upon his onlookers. The knowledgeable audience really took note of the solid warm up from Prunk as he made way for the ever present tech house don Hot Since 82. HS82 gave an applaud and nod to Prunk who opened the door for him to carry on keeping the crowd in a frenzy.

As we snook out of the main arena whilst it had erupted we headed to the Blue area where Finnebassen was weaving between his house roots. With a serious amount of groove and bass cutting through this set he offered plenty of hands in the air moments for the faithful to play off. If live sets are your thing then you have to witness KiNK in action. The Bulgarian genius never fails to impress and always intertwines his set with an array of techno and house. He builds up his progression and drops with sublime precision and always leaves his audience guessing and thriving for more. A true highlight of the evening.

Noir was on fine form with some original snippets creeping into his timely mix. Huxley hit us with some deep and bass heavy cuts, even portraying some solid dance moves of his own behind the booth. The stage set ups were worthy of mention and with zero sound clash it all provided that extra positive experience. Lasers, cannons and smoke machines were also an added bonus as we headed for the closing set with Jamie Jones. I was really taken back by Jamie’s output as he went back to back to basics roots with an old school house set rather than a worn out Hot Creations effort. He really delved deep into his laptop to hit us with some mid naughties classics. This was the Jamie of old and was so refreshing to witness that he is one of the best in the business.