Celebrating the 2nd anniversary of Future Intel!

On the 30th of January 2022, Future Intel celebrates its second birthday. To commemorate two years of learning-by-doing, we’ve invited a host of friends, teams, and artists from across the country who we believe in, learn from, and want to celebrate with. Our first celebration: two days of two-till-two. On Friday the 28th and Saturday the 29th of January, Future Intel presents 12 hours of live streaming between 2pm and 2am by DJs across a divergent range of genres, approaches to DJing, and personal connections to our shared world of music. Sets include a back-to-back between Pinkman Crew’s Marsman & Genyten, KLAUW’s music director DJ Shahmaran, Radio Tempo Não Parà’s Mosaic Man, Stranded FM’s Luke Cohlen, among many others. This all followed up with takeovers by beloved local record-store 33|45 and, visiting us for their second time, Dekmantel.

In the run-up to this milestone, we wanted to come together as a team, stand still amidst the rush, and take a moment to reflect on the art, stories, and music that inspired us this year at Future Intel. Our team has changed over the past year. There are new faces we would like to introduce you to, and old faces who would like to say hi. The feature born out of this endeavor is not meant to be read as a straightforward ‘countdown’ or ‘top X’ listicle. It is more unorthodox and nostalgic iteration of a ‘Staff Picks’ article: a space for each of us to express how different sets, and different artwork impacted us in our own voice; to relate in what manner what we heard and saw this year carried itself within our lives. In short, to put into words and share what impact your music, art, and selection has had on us.

On that note, a word on the process of ‘selection’:

When the idea of this quasi- ‘staff picks’ article started flying around, like children, we were giddy at the thought of digging through our archive and getting to share the sets and artwork that excited us most this year.

Unfortunately, fate played us like  a fiddle, and we forgot that the task involved something far crueler: choice. Naturally, it turned out to be a grueling process.

Zamba, our programmer, gave a particularly valiant effort, and, instead of selecting an allotted three sets, chose nine instead. Through pain or perhaps divine providence, he whittled it down to four, and really, that’s all we could have asked for.

Without further ado,

I'm Zamba-Jan Bakana, one of the founders of Future Intel. My main role within Future Intel is taking care of music programming. During streaming days, I am your host and bellboy ;) Together with Olivier, Mounir and our lovely team we shape the platform!

What I like about Future Intel is that we can give a platform to artists to express themselves freely in both music and art. Together, we make nice content to share with the world and build a community. You might know this or not, but next to FI, I work at a hospital as a social worker/helper for the SEH.

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First off, I’ve been given the impossible task to pick only 3 sets,

In my opinion, so many artists played beautiful sets this year.

The first set that popped into my head occurred on a day I had off. During this stream, I was at home with my girlfriend, but could not resist to continue watching the show. We tuned in at the end of Loradeniz set, who played beautifully. After Lora, my name is not mata started – and we just could not walk away. Instead, we put the volume up - what a trip!

My second choice is one I could not resist. It was something else; sounds that we hadn’t heard together like this before. Everyone on the team agrees that this set put us in a trance. It was one that many of us talk about and listed. Just listen…

My third choice is one I remember for its artistry – the way that Dazion used the CDJ’s during this set – he worked them like an instrument.

My final pick came through because of the DJ Discourse, who introduced me to LY Foulidis, a friend of hers. Firstly, I want to note that the set discourse played was incredibly nice as well. Just a couple of weeks before the show, LY Foulidis asked if he could bring a drummer to Future Intel. This was new for us, so we asked LY Foulidis if he knew a sound guy to work with the drummer – He did!

On the day of the show, after a 2,5 hour build-up, the set-up was finally ready, and the three of them started. What I liked was that it was all improvisation – one long jam. I could not get enough, so we just let them continue for longer than their set time. After they were done, no one felt as though they had played for over an hour. Olivier thought it had been just 20 minutes. It was great to see how it all worked out.

Thank you Discourse for the introduction and thank you to all the DJs that came by this year!

It was hard to make a choice about the art that stood out for me, looking back at the archive of incredible artists that offered to share their work with us this year. Big thank you to Yasmine and Tessa for curating all this work!

For me, Joep and Tim’s series – Yopo & Timaeus explore… – stands out as a highlight.

During their four different shows over the year, they created an audiovisual blend of both physical elements – bringing artwork into our space – and digital elements. Tim created a 3D world that would be explored throughout the set, and Joep accompanied this by navigating this imaginary, created space through a path of music – creating one combined journey and experience of the artwork. It was always a surprise to see what happened on the next edition. And the story will continue… but more on that later.

Lewie’s white bean soup!

I started with an internship at Future Intel because I wanted to dive into the music and sound- world with my own art and studies. I really connected with the team and found it inspiring that they were at a starting point with the platform, so I could learn about everything from the get-go.

I learned the most about production, but also about the importance of creating a warm, inviting, comfortable space with food and conversation ready for the guests. As a person, I'm naturally laid-back, but always ready to jump at opportunities or to try out something that gets stuck in my head. I think I'm social and warm to whomever, but sensitive to atmospheres. This influences the way in which I’ve learned to work with Future Intel as an art curator. I enjoy connecting with the artists and figuring out how we can best present the art in ways that are both new for us and comfortable for them.

It's very rewarding to be a part of this process. These days I’m not around as much as I would like to be, but when I get my energy back up (which everyone helps me with lovingly) I’m ready to share and experience everything again!

Hello! My name is Lewie and I’m one of the newest members of the team. As you might have read on my sets at Future Intel, I’m a real ‘import Hagenees’. Although I grew up in Maastricht and spent most of my adult years in Amsterdam, The Hague is where I feel home! I found my way into electronic music through local parties in the South. After moving to Amsterdam, it didn’t take long before I got my first turntables, and I immediately fell in love with the Black Gold. Carrying around a full bag of records is not the best, but when I find myself behind the decks it’s all worth it.

Future Intel is a place that provided me with this pleasure — an initiative giving a stage to all the talented artists that were stuck at home these last years. When I first set foot in FI, it was love at first sight. I was overwhelmed by the beauty and view of this amazing place, and even more impressed by the great hospitality of the crew. Before I knew it, I was coming back to hang out, see my friends play, help Mounir in the kitchen, or play my favorite records in front of the camera. This made me aware of all the time and effort the crew puts in this project every week, and I wanted to help wherever needed. So, I’m happy to announce that I will be a regular face at the Future Intel Headquarters!

It's hard for me to choose between all the wonderful sets that have been played at Future Intel. For that reason, I chose the sets that I witnessed.

The first set I would like to mention is Lil Lawaw’s set. Lovely guy from Antwerp making moves in Amsterdam! He played a nice and versatile set, crossing several different gernes. You should also check out his new label Cape St. Francis, that recently released a great electro EP!

The next set is one from the Plata Morgana crew. I had the pleasure to invite them over to The Hague and play alongside them on the stream. It is always nice to see your friends play, but even better if you share the bill! The set I choose is from henna.essa, who always surprises my with his excellent selection! He closed the night with a beautiful deep set, going from ambient and electronica to more breaky bits and back.

The last set is from my wonderful friend and roomie mul/ANNA. She’s working hard to become the next best DJ! Even during these weird times, where all the clubs are closed, she’s doing weekly radio shows, livestreams, and appearing on all underground rave’s lineups! Even though I see her play all the time, she keeps mesmerizing me with her fast-paced electro and ghetto sets that can’t make me stop dancing!