Air Max ‘97

The DUNJ takeover in Sydney promises no-frills, heads-down electronics, and Air Max ’97 delivers with a set that feels like a wire stripped bare, buzzing with raw current. The vibe is a dark room, strobe-lit, where the only conversation is the dialogue between kick drum and sub-bass. This is hard techno and experimental electronics, pushing an average BPM of 159, with keys scattered across 7A, 6B, and 12A, reflecting a deliberately dissonant and unpredictable path.

The energy is cavernously low-dominant at 0.85, creating a physical, chest-caving pressure, while mids at 0.11 allow for eerie melodic fragments, and highs at a mere 0.01 are almost absent, making every hi-hat feel like a surgical incision. The BPM range from 136 to 171 is extreme, building from a techno march into breakneck, trance-inducing rhythms, with mixing that is surgical and relentless, focusing on textural layering and brutal impact. Reeko's 'Lyra' opens with a distorted, industrial throb, setting a grim and compelling tone.

Fever Ray's 'If I Had a Heart' is transformed into a haunting, rhythmic mantra, while the marathon-length mix of HI-LO & Space 92's 'Mercury' is the central peak, a monolith of driving, peak-time techno that locks the room into a trance. The journey begins in the murk of 'Lyra', ascends to the hypnotic, punishing plateau of 'Mercury', and finally crashes down into the gritty, halftime pressure of Madam X & Cartridge's 'Hoodlum FC' as the closing track.