TuneLab
Hudson Mohawke b2b Nikki Nair
Boiler Room Festival Berlin: SYSTEM
Hudson Mohawke and Nikki Nair's back-to-back at the SYSTEM Boiler Room is a beautiful, chaotic mess of bass music, breaks, and pure sonic mischief. We're the crowd that appreciates a 'Sandstorm' drop as much as a Robert Hood deep cut, united in our love for the unpredictable. The Berlin bunker vibe is ideal for the sub-bass pressure and flickering LED strips. This is a genre-blurring bass music set, averaging a hefty 150 BPM but veering from 134 to 171 with reckless abandon.
The key of 12A is the most common thread, offering a bright, anthemic quality to even the most distorted moments, with appearances from 4A and 7A. Energy is concentrated in the mid-range (0.54 avg), where the syncopated rhythms, squelchy synths, and chopped vocals live, while the low-end (0.37) provides a flexing, physical foundation. Their style is collaborative and chaotic, with quick cuts, playful edits, and a sense of shared discovery. TNGHT's 'Goooo' is the perfect hype-man opener, all distorted horns and swagger.
Their own collab 'Demuro' is a buzzing, syncopated weapon built for the system. Bastiengoat's 'double take' is a mind-bending, glitchy highlight. The inclusion of Robert Hood's 'Unix' is a deep, hypnotic techno masterstroke, and the legendary Darude - 'Sandstorm' tease is the ultimate in-joke executed flawlessly. It starts with the bombast of 'Goooo,' builds through the intricate chaos of their own productions and the Hood epic, and concludes with the celebratory frenzy of their closing track 'Set The Roof.'.