<![CDATA[Sub Echoes]]>https://www.subechoes.dehttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xmgU!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F12cb9b1b-0717-4eda-b653-f1e8b2240e15_1254x1254.pngSub Echoeshttps://www.subechoes.deSubstackSat, 17 Oct 2026 07:35:11 GMT<![CDATA[My setup at Draaimolen Festival 2026]]>https://www.subechoes.de/p/my-setup-at-draaimolen-festival-2026https://www.subechoes.de/p/my-setup-at-draaimolen-festival-2026Wed, 07 Oct 2026 18:10:46 GMTForest Drive West texted DB1 and me, if we were be up for playing a long live show and that we might get a secret stage at Draaimolen festival. Haven’t played live for a couple of years after Rural, Atonal and Monom, all with Ena in 2016 - 2018, I was blank. But I wanted to do it, and started to get my head around the live thing again. Without a show or the equipment in mind, I said yes.

Before I were able to think about the actual music to perform, I had to approach it analytically. A long live performance, including collaborative jams needed special preparation. I needed careful selected stems from Ableton sessions, to cover newest releases, unreleased and experimental projects, getting together enough material to go for hours potentially. But I didn’t “just” want to be firing loop trigs. I wanted it to have a real improvised live feeling, real modular patches and live beat programming to be mixed with stems. And it should fit in a small bag.

Next my stems (I didn’t use half of them) in the sampler module by Bitbox, I prepared a few sequencer channels to control a VCO for sub bass, a synth voice, kicks, percs etc, but left most programming open to be programmed live. In the end, I did a solo performance for about an hour, going deep into dub techno and minimalistic drum and bass vibes, followed by a 4, yes FOUR, hours of fully improvised, pure machine jam by Forest Drive West, DB1 and me (as Levl).

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]]><![CDATA[Reading the floor]]>https://www.subechoes.de/p/reading-the-floorhttps://www.subechoes.de/p/reading-the-floorThu, 24 Sep 2026 19:37:16 GMT

I remember entering the stage not having a clue what track I might start with, where the story might take. I had about 30+ unreleased Nullpunkt tracks, tracks from friends projects, recent buys from Hard Wax and older tunes. Ready to let the story develop track by track.

45 minutes deep into 85/170-based hypnotic sounds, the energy didn’t get started in a way that I expected. The floor even started to clear a bit. I am not afraid of moments like this, but knew I had to make a decision within a minute.

It was Photek’s 2000 version of Freeway, that turned it into a different story. People started to rush in. At this point I didn’t know how far it would go. Climbing the ladder of dance floor heat step by step, it was a strong reminder how older tracks can still bring it. Rewinding Calibre'‘s Highlander was great in 2004 and it still is in 2026. Check 1h:33m for that.

I am truly grateful for that experience. What I enjoyed most was the thought that some dancers might have heard these tunes for the first time in their life, reminding myself, how much these tunes meant to me.

Instant connection.

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