So yes, we survived the onslaught of past weekend, opened up by highly impressive performances by nsi. (note : the set was entirely recorded, except the first 8 minutes - thx Yves! - so let’s hope this ends up on the internet in one form or another…) and the gentile guys from Sheffield, SND. The entire Substance crew was impressed how well the night went, bringing smiles to their faces, even at 6 in the morning, while some of us were crashing, physically. The life of an organiser. There’s nothing romantic about it, so take it or leave it.

As last year, the first musical notes on saturday were brought forward by none-other than our very own resident dj Special K. One might ponder what’s so special about this particular, egnimatic ‘K’ persona. Well, nothing much really… He’s as common, except for his wild hairstyle, as you and me, and he takes his job with ease, and an immense amount of concentration at the same time, whilst not losing touch with his audience for one nano-second. Talented & incredibly gifted, he’s one to look out for in the future!

More near than the far future, K paved the path for Bruno Pronsato, who stood up and delivered what he does best, simple, yet effective dancefloor material with enough diversity to keep the listener/dancing crowd in a state of daze & awe. Job well done, Steven!

As the man who stood up, took the decks, bringing what none of us could ever imagine, even in our wildest imaginations… Those in the know of Marcel Fengler’s Mnml Sggs mix, getting praised reviews all over the net, already had a small peek of what to expect, but Fengler, flying in on time, thanks to swift airlines, and our swift all-round driver Evad, shredded the place to pieces, at one particular moment during the night taking it very literally… No words can express it, to be honest… Quoting Marcel, mailing me the day after : ‘pure dope‘. View for yourself here.

Looking back, two days to cherish. Many thanks, love and gratitude to all artists, volunteers, people who beared with us during months, enduring patience and time… you’re all in our hearts.

What’s in store for the future? You’ll find out, eventually.

Yesterday, and tonight at Resonance 2010, the outstanding vj work by VJ Lennart… Soon recordings online of Resonance 2010 at his youtube channel.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away… Yes, listening to the Beatles (imagine…) at the Vooruit backstage, setting up stage for day 2, and closing day, of the Resonance Ghent festival, edition 2010. Steven Ford, nom d’artiste Bruno Pronsato has entered the building, and Marcel Fengler has yet to catch a flight, outbound from Stockholm, where he delivered an amazing (so we heard) dj-set yesterday at the Skyddsrummet night. Things look promising! Tickets still available at a Fnac store near you, and many more addresses…

Opening up for them & sharing a common love for Cluster’s Grosses Wasser LP, Tobias Freund & Max Loderbauer (nsi.) delivered an amazing, fully improvised set of tension-full electronics, reminissing the best of German 70’s avant-garde (think minimalist Cluster, Harmonia, Roedelius…) combined with contemporary minimalistic techno. Fully recorded, let’s hope this live-set will see it’s way on the internet in any form…

Followed by SND, who brought the best in abstract cut-ups, largely based on their most recent release ‘Atavism‘ (Raster Noton - 2009), 100 % digital warmth washing over an intrigued audience in waves. It’s funk and 2-step combined, but not as a general audience knows it.

In the meantime, downstairs at the Concerthall, deejays Mate & Fudge of Ghent’s very own After12 collective, took opening hours for an exclusive night of bass-heavy music, that we can hardly call ‘dubstep’ anymore, entitled SUBSTANCE. The dubstep form has incredibly evolved over the course of the last year, constantly shifting, creating new hybrid forms, proven by absolute highlight of the night Slugabed, bringing an inspired Serato set (even with an incredible hangover - get well soon, Craig!), right after Paul Spymania, who luckily took along some ragga 7-inches along with him from home. Good choice, surprising, and most excellent. Designated by BBC Radio 1 bassqueen Mary Anne Hobbs ‘one to keep an eye on’, Untold hit the audience with subtle, compact basslines and clean percussion, his trademark sound, while Paul Rose, a.k.a. Scuba brought the 500+ attendees what they came for, streamlined quality, in the very same line as his just-released Substance mix album, released only a few weeks ago on Ostgut Ton. 4:30 am, and time for 2562. His far-from-typical sound, drenched in atmospherics, with lots of attention for the use of time and space, combined with classic Detroit-ish, influenced techno kept the audience shouting for more… Sadly, 6 am, and time to close the venue down, getting ready for the following day, here and now.

This night’s line-up…

Sat 6.03 ballroom Vooruit
doors 22.00

<house & techno>

22.00 Special K
01.00 Bruno Pronsato LIVE
02.00-05.00 Marcel Fengler

See you there !

Best,

RG Team

By popular demand, the timetable…

Friday 05.03 — Ballroom Vooruit :: Live Electronics

Doors — 08:30pm

08:30pm - 09:00pm : dj 0106 (Resonance)

09:00pm - 10:00pm : nsi.

10:00pm - 10:30pm : dj 0106 (Resonance)

10:30pm - 11:30pm : SND

11:30pm - … : dj 0106 (Resonance)

Friday 05.03 — Concerthall Vooruit :: SUBSTANCE

Doors — 11:00pm

11:00pm - 12:00pm : Mate & Fudge (After 12)

12:00pm - 01:00am : Paul Spymania

01:00am - 02:00am : Slugabed LIVE

02:ooam - 03:00am : Untold

03:00am - 04:30am : Scuba

04:30 - 06:00am : 2562

Saturday 06.03 — Balzaal Vooruit :: Micro to Macro — House & Techno

Doors — 10:00pm

10:00pm - 01:00am : Special K (Resonance)

01:00am - 02:00am : Bruno Pronsato LIVE

02:00am - 05:00am : Marcel Fengler

In five days time, the clock will strike once more. Coming Friday, March 5th, the pinnacle of months of preparation will see the light, living towards in excitement and all the more nervosity of, luckely, things going as planned, and, sadly, things not turning out the way they were planned. But let’s not look back in sadness, and look towards the coming weekend, an audiovisual feast of many continiously evolving electronic artforms : Resonance Ghent 2010.

Surely if you’ve been following this blog lately, you’re already up-to-date with what Resonance has to offer this year : performances by the Berlin duo nsi., and a brand new mathematical, yet soulful audiovisual performance by SND. Enough trembling with a bass heavy night, courtesy Sub:Stance (in coöperation with After 12 & Democrazy), starring live- & dj-sets by Scuba, Untold, Slugabed (new, exciting Planet Mu signing - check his H*O*T ep here), 2562, Paul Spymania & After 12 dj’s Mate & Fudge. And closing off we do in proper style with the man who took opening honours last year, Special K, our very own Resonance resident, followed by an exclusive live performance by Steven Ford aka Bruno Pronsato, and a 3-hour dj-set by none other than Berghain resident dj Marcel Fengler. Don’t tell us we didn’t do our utter best…

Tickets in pre-sale at all Fnac stores nearby, as the Musicmania store in Ghent, as online via www.democrazy.be

Keep an eye on this page the coming days for more updates (no, we don’t do Twitter), timetables & plenty more…

All the best,

Mich

From 2003 unwards Dutch born VJ Lennart has performed for artists such as Derrick May, John Digweed, Kevin Saunderson, Shinedoe, Appleblim and Shackleton. On thursday March 4th he will be entertaining the crowd at Paradiso, Amsterdam on the second night of the 5 Days Off festival, but after that he’ll be joining us right away to demonstrate his skills at the Sub:stance showcase of Resonance Ghent (Friday March 5th, Concert Hall Vooruit), and the techno night at the ballroom with Bruno Pronsato and Marcel Fengler the following evening. Capturing live visuals is not the easiest thing to do, but for a glimpse of what VJ Lennart is capable of, here’s some (low res) footage of a Scuba dj-set in Rotterdam (8.03.08).

Scuba at Subway | vjlennart . com

lennart visuals | MySpace Vidéo

“It is important to me that music tells a kind of story using varied styles from all areas. That’s why I favour to build my sets up, then down again. It has to be varied and it has to snake through the night in waves…”

Marcel Fengler shows himself as a real craftsman when it comes to hour-long, musically rich dj-sets. As a resident of Berlins infamous Berghain club and with his various releases on Ostgut Ton, he’s considered the right man to let yourself go to and surrender your mind, and feet in his skill-full hands. A man who knows his past and thinks about the future of techno. No better man closing down the Resonance-festival with a 3hour dj-set.

Young as producer, but with a musical output which shows years of maturity which will conquer time, Bruno Pronsato has worked his way up in the ‘micro-house’ scene. His releases have seen the light on labels such as Hello Repeat?, Philpot, Musique Risqueé & Perlon (as half of Half Hawaï) amongst others. His latest work, The Make up the Break Up, a subtle, constantly evolving composition over 30 minutes in time, full of intriguing micro-structures, places Pronsato right next to top-producers such as Ricardo Villalobos and Luciano.

Creating a new form of it’s own, not only by running the highly prolific Hotflush Recordings since 2003, combining past influences with an ear forward into the future, but also by learning his own lessons, Paul Rose aka Scuba was and still is a name to be taken into account within the dubstep scene. Residing in Berlin, he hosts the monthly Sub:Stance clubnights at Berghain, where he constantly pushes the (sound) barriers, as in his own studio where he delivers instant classic productions after another. His new album ‘Triangulation’ will be released early 2010 on Hotflush.

www.myspace.com/substanceclub

Released on a variety of labels such as Hessle Audio, Hotflush, and his own Hemlock Recordings, London-based Jack Dunning aka Untold’s unique take on dubstep has already won him an army of fans and admirers, including Mary Anne Hobbs designating him as ‘one to keep an eye on’. A signature sound that is highly distinguishable : compact bass lines that punish and clean percussion that clicks and drives instinctively; finding a balance between precise detail, deepness, and pure dancefloor sensibility that is very rare indeed.

Slugabed : “a lazy person who stays in bed long after the usual time for arising”. With few releases on quality imprints such as Ramp Recordings, Stuff Records (aside Rustie) & MYOR, Brighton-based producer Slugabed has worked his way up in the dubstep- & hiphop-scene where nothing sounds ever the same, constantly shifting, evolving, with a dash of humour, hooked into mad scientist creativity. Early 2010 sees the release of the Ultra Heat Treated EP, released on Mike Paradinas’ Planet Mu label.

Released on a variety of labels such as Hessle Audio, Hotflush, and his own Hemlock Recordings, London-based Jack Dunning aka Untold’s unique take on dubstep has already won him an army of fans and admirers, including Mary Anne Hobbs designating him as ‘one to keep an eye on’. A signature sound that is highly distinguishable : compact bass lines that punish and clean percussion that clicks and drives instinctively; finding a balance between precise detail, deepness, and pure dancefloor sensibility that is very rare indeed.

Homegrown & following the constant evolution going on in the contemporary dubstep scene, Mate & Fudge of the After 12 collective gained years of experience in Belgium’s clubbing scene by hosting their own events, inviting international names such as Distance, TRG, Ramadanman, Pinch, Mala & many more. By now they’ve been hosting Belgium’s longest-running radioshow committed to dubstep on Ghent’s Urgent.FM.

www.myspace.com/after12radio

Mathematical and minimalistic shifting rhythmic patterns, ever evolving till trance-state of minds occur. One foot in the technoscene, the other in avant-garde music, SND feels at home on labels such as (the now-defunct) Mille Plateaux, Line & Raster Noton. The ‘intelligence’ of SND’s music was noticed by Autechre, who asked SND to perform as standard support act on recent tours.

www.makesnd.com