Defqon.1 hits Biddinghuizen at the end of June and most of the coverage fixates on the mainstage hardstyle. Fine. But the reason this festival makes every other summer lineup look soft lives one stage over, where the kicks stop being polite. Hardcore, frenchcore, uptempo, the harder end of the site. If regular hardstyle already feels too gentle for you, here’s your map for the rest of the week.
1. Angerfist - The Nightmare Man
Angerfist has been the face of Dutch hardcore for two decades and “The Nightmare Man,” out last November, is him doing the thing nobody does better. Distorted, mean, zero interest in your comfort.
2. Dr. Peacock & Sefa - Incoming
Frenchcore’s two biggest names in one track. 200 BPM, a kick that gallops instead of stomps, the entire genre’s...