Richie Hawtin and his award-winning club concept ENTER. returned to Space last Thursday to kick-start their fourth season on the isle. The ENTER family celebrated the first event of the summer with three packed principal rooms and a lot of techno.
All the guests were concentrated at the Sake Bar during the first two hours of the opening to check the juicy back-to-back that ENTER had promised in its line-up. Guy Gerber and Mathew Dear flooded the place with the right vibes to welcome Richie's party, who was observing them inside the booth and cheering their best tunes (techno lovers, note down: Advancing Man by Groove Amanda, I Would Fly by Maya Jane Coles, Finding Love by Einzelkind…). A solid techno set with progressive rhythms and some house tints at the end which filled the dancefloor with a lot of energy. After them, the Sake's queen Hito took over the decks, providing happier sounds and tech-house beats to the applause of the crowd (now take note of these tunes: Hoodlum by Traumer, The Infamous by Pete & Shawnecy, To Answer Your Question by Nicolas Agudalo and James Aville…).
Bella Sarris, Hawtin's Australian recruit, opened the Terrace with her particular courtly and (kind of) elegant deep techno. The artist tinged the first beats with lighter sounds until the number of attendees was enough to and transform them into darker and harder sounds. After the last few years, she has the ENTER family rhythms in her veins. After Bella, it was Recondite's time to play more hard-hitting and deeper beats and with experimental touches and an impressive variety of sounds.
Meanwhile, in the main room, two artist were doing the warmp-up for Richie: Blind Observatory and Gaiser. The first one offered a solid set, full of techno tunes like Provocative by Titonton but adding those particular punchy sounds that ENTER fans love. Gaiser took over the stage for another two hours of quality music, with similar sounds to his predecessor but including a huge variety of synth lines with futuristic noises.
When the clock struck 3am, the two main acts of the night jumped to their respective booths. Tale of Us was on charge to fulfill the terrace while Richie was doing his work on the Main. The Italians' set didn't quite hit my expectations during the first hour, rocking much the same bass line as the one Hawtin was playing in the other room. But, suddenly, they started to go harder and harder, as usual playing an amazing combination of techno beats with melodic and emotive bass like Don't Stop by Lenzi and Pankow by Fur Coat.
Over in the main room, between flashing lights coming through the roof and a massive audience screaming and applauding him, it was finally the time for Richie Hawtin to show the guests what he had prepared for the new season. As we could see last summer, Richie's type of sets depend on the date, but last night I could see a consistant and focused Hawtin who provided his fans with four hours of exceptional techno full of heavy bass and treble trickles. A well-played set which may have started a little weaker, but soon pulled the cheers of the party-goers.
Quality techno music was the hero of the ENTER. opening. Whilst the music concept was too similar between the all rooms and artists (excluding Hito who, for my taste, was the more original), the walls still sweat techno just like the attendees, who were happy to ring in the latest ENTER season.
WORDS | Natalia Gutiérrez PHOTOGRAPHY | ENTER.
