Awakenings ADE 2018
Charlotte de Witte
Enter the jaw-swinging midnight sunglasses crew, navigating the dark room like they're dodging lasers in a heist movie. They're chewing gum at 200 BPM while the music is only at 133, looking absolutely terrified of the strobe lights. It's a proper techno cliché, but you've got to respect their commitment to the aesthetic. The brutalist, concrete confines of the Awakenings ADE 2018 warehouse are illuminated only by piercing white strobes and the glow of the CDJs. This Charlotte de Witte live set is a punishing, stripped-back Techno masterclass.
Driving hard at an average of 133.7 BPM, she leans heavily on the 12A key to create a relentless, hypnotic wall of sound. The energy is entirely focused on a massive, distorted low-end, leaving the high frequencies sharp and metallic. Her mixing is fast and aggressive, using abrupt cuts and massive EQ sweeps to disorient the floor. Scanning the Charlotte de Witte Awakenings ADE 2018 tracklist reveals her signature blend of acid lines and heavy kicks. She drops her own massive anthem "Silence" to absolute uproar.
The inclusion of Hidden Empire's "Cashmere" alongside Ricky Sinz's "Riders" keeps the energy completely dialed to the maximum. The arc of the set is a steep, unrelenting climb into darkness. Following a mysterious opening track, the intensity never once drops. The definitive peak arrives with her own 6-minute acid weapon "Selected", before she hilariously but brilliantly drops Gabry Ponte's "Time to Rock" as the closing track.