MAKE ME: NACHTDIGITAL 2018
Great times by the lake.
Allow me to flash you back to a simpler time, pre-2020 bullshittery when the vibes were high and the music flowed free.
August 2018, Nachtdigital.
5am-9am, Saturday morning.
By the lake.
In the whole 15+ years we spent playing together, this will always be our crowning glory.
I’ll let RA do the talking:
Nachtdigital books its share of big names, but the core of any lineup is the raft of lesser-known acts who, in the mind of the main booker Steffen Bennemann, deserve a greater platform. Chief among those this year was Make Me, a trio of UK DJs (including former Resident Advisor staff member Nic Baird) who run the popular London party of the same name. Much to their surprise, they were given arguably the slot of the weekend, tasked with guiding the sandy Open Air stage from 5 through 9 AM on Saturday morning. When Bennemann first delivered the news several months ago, they were so taken aback that their initial instinct was to suggest they play one of the smaller stages instead.
Bennemann stood his ground, and it massively paid off. Make Me have spent the past ten years warming up crowds all over London, and they played with the confidence and grace of DJs who have clocked hundreds of hours studying the impact certain moods and sounds have on a dance floor. The opening moments were trippy and well-paced, leading with Dopplereffekt's beatless "Ulams Spiral" into "Frigia" by Steve Moore. Gradually, the beats quickened and the vibe intensified, though never at the expense of melody or emotional depth. As the sun glided into view, the synths grew twinklier and the pads more lush, the richness of the tunes luring in tired ravers on their way to bed. At around 8 AM, out rolled the hits: first "India In Me" by Cobblestone Jazz, then Âme's "Rej" and, finally, the insanely funky "Get Down" by Liz Torres. From the trio's raised vantage point, it must have looked quite the scene: several hundred smiling faces framed against a backdrop of pearly water, crystalline skies and a perfect semi-circle of tall, bushy trees. In other words, a dream come true for any DJ, big or small.
One point of clarification, for the historical record:
I would never ask to play on a smaller stage, that was Baird.
We were always going to boss it.
Love.
Rubin