Max HeyraudThis week’s entry to Mix of the Week comes from an essential figure in the heart of the Irish underground: Burnout. Recorded live at Electric Picnic in September, this set was powered by Rubadub Hifi and Mighty Jar Soundsystems at Freetown.
Burnout has been a fixture of the Irish dance music landscape for over a decade. Whether he’s playing jungle in a Wigwam basement or setting up a soundsystem at a rave, he’s one of the dedicated few keeping club, festival, and rave culture raw, visceral, underground, and above all, loud, bassy, and weighty.
These ethos are central to Burnout’s DJing. He thrives in the 30–50 Hz range, that is, the kind of bass that makes your stomach rumble, your chest vibrate, and demands a monstrous system to truly come alive. It’s lush, it’s menacing, and it hits deep, the kind of sound that you don’t just hear, you feel it.
And where better to experience that than on the Rubadub Hifi and Mighty Jar Soundsystems at Freetown? When DJ and system align, it’s a rare alchemy, a moment where everything just clicks. Burnout navigates half-time, steppy dub cuts, kaleidoscopic breakbeats, and gut-wrenching 140 rollers that nod to the seminal FWD days. The mix feels like an ode to that legacy: heads down, cool, calm, collected, but never so cool that it becomes pretentious. It’s pure, unadulterated bass power, delivered by someone who truly loves bass. A match not made in Heaven, but in Freetown.