If you think about hardstyle, you’re bound to name one of the oldest & most iconic labels out there: Scantraxx. Founded a little over 20 years ago by DJ The Prophet, the label has released all different spectrums of hardstyle under their main-label and various sub-labels. During this years edition of Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) Scantraxx is delivering a 360 degrees hardstyle experience with a pop-up store, vinyl auction, hardstyle tattoos and 2 hardstyle events at the Q-Factory. Last Friday’s event titled ‘Scantraxx presents Alchemy Of Hardstyle’ showcases the big diversity within hardstyle, from early hardstyle to classics and even a bit of raw, it’s all there.
The Q-Factory is a well-known venue for ADE events; Revealed, Spinnin & many more did events here, so we knew about the venue and the quality of sound. Upon entering the venue we immediately spotted the line-up poster, revealing that the blurred-out artist isn’t D-Sturb or B-front as some social-media comments were claiming, but in fact the talented A-RIZE.
When we decided to check out the stage JDX was already playing some major early hardstyle beats. It’s kinda crazy to consider how the genre has evolved within the last 20 years and that the definition of what hardstyle is all about has become more broad than ever. Obviously, JDX played ‘Live The Moment’ and the dedicated crowd put up their phones in the air, which made it a pretty special moment (no pun intended).
After JDX’s last record a video started playing on the big LED-screen behind the DJ booth and it was officially announced that A-RIZE joined the Scantraxx main label. We’re happy for him that after AOC: Eternity was disbanded recently he gets to continue his promising career at Scantraxx. He had teased a bit on his socials with the term ‘Rise Again’ and that turns out to be the title of his upcoming 4-track EP. ‘Rise Again’ the title track of the EP especially sounded really good and was received well by the audience.
It’s not very often that you get to see Tatanka in the Netherlands and it’s a lot less common that the special DJ-act by Tatanka and Zatox ‘Wild Motherfuckers’ is performing. If you’re not aware of Tatanka’s extensive discography (‘Control The Mind’ is incredible), we definitely recommend checking out the old Zanza Labs tracks, they still do the trick and are loved by early hardstyle lovers. It’s very different though from what’s being released these days but that’s part of the charm in my opinion. It makes your mind drift away to the times when hardstyle was super underground and Q-dance threw events like XQlusive Holland vs Italy. Obviously, Tatanka had incorporated the iconic tunes ‘Tokyo’ and ‘Africa’ in his set.
It’s very unfortunate that Zatox was ill, which meant that Tatanka had to do his ‘Wild Motherfuckers’ set solo, but he definitely didn’t disappoint. ‘Gangsta’ and ‘Wild Wild West’ got the audience partying very hard.
Jones has been in the game and is one of these steady artists who deserves more recognition for what he does. If you’re a part of the classic hardstyle community you definitely know his mixes, but you can also know him from his performances at big festivals such as Defqon.1 and Decibel Outdoor. Big surprise, he started his set with Scantraxx Roots and that set the vibe for 30 mins of Scantraxx classics.
As we already mentioned Zatox couldn’t be there, so for his solo-set Flux Overload was the one to take over the decks. To be honest, we kind of expected that he was going to play (more) Zatox music, but it turned out to be raw classics. It did prove that E-Force’s ‘Seven’ still really impresses any true hardstyle crowd and brings back some long-lost memories.
Demi Kanon comes across as a very chill & humble guy, but then his stage-presence and the visuals of his live-act are so professional and cool, that you just gotta love it. The lasers, LED-screen visuals and tunes work together in harmony and you nearly automatically start dancing to it, standing still is just not an option.
Adrenalize brought a lot of energy and euphoric vibes. ‘Get Up’ already turns 5 this year, but it’s still such a great melody that really brings joy.
It’s always good fun to see the Melodyman aka Frontliner behind the decks. These days you can’t really characterize Frontliner as euphoric anymore, he actually has a raw hardstyle alias, but tunes like ‘Weekend Warriors’ and ‘Discorecord’ will never fade away.
Bass Modulators will always be plural, but these days it’s just Roland who’s doing the performances. With a very strong tracklist featuring DBSTF’s Godd is a DJ, Imagine, Legacy and Oxygen, this was bound to be one of our favourite sets of the night.
We’ve got to mention the super talented ‘’shuffle ladies’’ here, who’ve been featured before on Scantraxx socials Anna & Julie who danced to a few of Bass Modulators tunes on such a small section on top of the DJ booth area, very impressive!
Atmozfears, who recently dropped his latest album ‘Reawakening’, had the honor the close the night and get rid of the final bits of energy of the crowd. I’m not sure how, but it seemed like MC Da Syndrome has an infinite amount of energy, because I honestly don’t know any other MC that has the ability to keep the vibe great, dance in between and hype up the crowd whenever it needs a little push.
Scantraxx’s tagline is ‘We Create Memories’ and they sure delivered on that promise. So, to finalize there’s only 1 thing we can say: thanks for having us & the memories, let’s create more in the future!