Liquicity

Liquicity did not begin as a festival but as a YouTube channel. Dutchman Maris Goudzwaard started it in 2008, wanting to build a new subculture within drum & bass. He picked out a melodic strand of the genre that had no label of its own yet, and a worldwide community grew around the channel. Its fans came to be known as "Liquicitizens".

From channel to label

In summer 2011 Goudzwaard heard "Avalon", the first track by a young producer called Maduk (Mark van der Schoot), and got in touch to promote it. The two kept working together, became a team, and a few months later set up Liquicity Records. Today Liquicity is run by Goudzwaard, Boudewijn Kustner and Maduk. The label has released music by Netsky and Hybrid Minds alongside many newer producers, runs the sublabels Escapism, Galacy and Ridmic, and holds a long-running residency on Rinse FM. Since 2012 Maduk has recorded a yearly mix of the label's most-played songs.

From club to festival

In January 2013 the founders started a company for the events and label work, turning a hobby into a full-time job. The first small Liquicity event took place in Ruigoord in March 2013, and the first all-day event followed in 2015. The summer Liquicity Festival, held in the countryside north of Amsterdam, has run over a full weekend since 2017. The 2020 and 2021 editions were postponed to 2022 because of the pandemic. Around the summer festival grew a winter festival, a spring festival, Family Day and Maduk & Friends nights, plus club events in more than a dozen countries, from Cologne, London and Prague to Budapest, Tallinn and Cape Town.

Good to know

The sound is melodic liquid drum & bass rather than its heavier side. All events are listed at liquicity.com/events, and summer festival details are at festival.liquicity.com.