Joyhauser
Awakenings Spring Festival 2023
There is a special kind of dedication required to ruin a fresh pair of Air Max 95s in the mud just to hear 'The Bells' played out for the four-hundredth time. The Joyhauser Awakenings Spring Festival 2023 tracklist is a magnet for these hardcore techno tourists, the ones who treat a 138 BPM kick drum like a form of seasonal therapy. It is proper mad watching the Berghain queue cosplayers shiver in their mesh tops while pretending the punishing baseline is keeping them warm. The vibe is immense and industrial, an open-air assault of strobes and steel that cuts straight through the crisp spring air.
On a technical level, this Joyhauser live set is a perfectly engineered weapon of modern Techno. Driving relentlessly at an average of 137.5 BPM, the Belgian duo locks into a 12A and 5A Camelot key progression, crafting an energy arc that feels like an unstoppable freight train. Their mixing style is characteristically thunderous, layering massive percussion over sharp, driving synth lines. The crate digger selections are absolutely sorted, blending future anthems with cheeky European classics.
Dropping Gigi D'Agostino's 'Bla Bla Bla' is a stroke of hilarious genius, while Bellini's 'Samba de Janeiro' provides a totally unexpected festival moment. The bruising journey kicks off with the opening track 'Touch the Darkness' by Victor Ruiz, immediately setting a menacing tone. It peaks in a frenzy of lasers before the closing track 'Wasted' by Joyhauser leaves the Awakenings Spring Festival 2023 crowd completely battered.