Peter Kuschnereit, born in Berlin in 1970, has grown up in a historical quarter of the city, Kreuzberg. He still lives and works there. In 1991 he started to work at the legendary record store Hard Wax.
Pete is not only a DJ, also a producer. Inspired by the first generation of artists in Chicago and Detroit and above all, from the productions of the house neighbors, Basic Channel. Pete, in collaboration with René Löwe (aka Vainqueur), has given life to the Scion plan, whose first Ep “Emerge” (1995) marks the birth of Chain Reaction.

When Nico Purman discusses his production style he attests, “I don’t think too much, I just feel.” If that’s indeed the case the Argentinian producer/DJ has impressive instincts for etching nuance into viscerally appealing house music. Perhaps his early interest in dance music at age 12 offers some explanation, especially in combination with alternating periods as a rock drummer and house DJ. From his first release on Modelisme in 2005 he’s shown a level of rhythmic and textural sophistication many only aspire to, and his subsequent platters for Curle Recordings, Mule Electronic, Crosstown Rebels never failed to intrigue on some level. Now based in Berlin, Purman seems to be coming into his own with the support of frequent label home, Vakant, exploring a slightly looser, housier side that’s positioned him well in today’s dance music climate. In this rare interview, Purman discusses his dance music education, his hands-on approach to percussion, and the music trio he’d most like to show up at his studio. And in LWE’s 54th exclusive podcast he exhibits the dynamic DJing style that continues to win him fans over an hour’s time.

Mathias Kaden said in an interview that he’s seen you DJ multiple times and that you vary greatly from set to set. What sound were you representing on your LWE podcast mix? Is it fairly similar to what you would play at a club gig?

Nico Purman: The sound of the this podcast is deep at the beginning, more house, funk/disco and some deep techno at the end. At a club sometimes it’s different because it really depends at what time you play, and if the club is big or small. I really prefer to make things deeper where the people enjoy more the music in itself, than to overexcite the crowd with banging beats and noises. I play some old tracks mixed with new; I like to share feelings, emotions, and influences at the same time.

What was your local Argentinean dance music scene like as you were growing into being a producer? What was it like when you left for Berlin?

The scene in Argentina is not as in Europe, of course, but there are a lot of talented artists and DJ friends who are doing a great job. Some are following the ones who had success and try to copy the formula, and some are really creative people who don’t go with the flow, and this is interesting. But about the club scene, there are big clubs that spends thousand of euros on commercial acts and the trance scene was really big, so there are not too many options for the good music. There’s some small clubs that are trying for years to keep the underground alive and they’re doing a great job, like Cocoliche in Buenos Aires or any other small venue that tries to focus the party on the music.

From what I’ve read you were introduced to Belgian New Beat and Chicago acid house more or less as it was happening. How did you get ahold of these imported records in Argentina? What was that like for your young mind? Hearing them, did you know you wanted to make music like that at some point?

I used to go to a record store in the city I lived, Rosario, and they brought white labels compilations with this music, the pirate vinyl. It was made by DJs who had the original vinyls and pressed vinyl compilations with four tracks — it was dance music at 110 bpm and all the people liked in the clubs. I used to go to some clubs with my brother and we knew all the tracks and loved the music when we were kids. And then I ordered
some records from someone who traveled a lot — he worked for an airline, and he brought me some good stuff.

I understand you were a drummer in rock groups. Did you start out DJing or drumming? At what point did you begin producing your own music?

First of all I started djing, then learned drums and when I stopped playing drums I decided to buy some stuff to produce my own music. In 2003 I bought my first computer, a synth and a drum machine, plus Logic 5, and I started making my first experiences with it.

How have your years of experience as a drummer influenced your production process? That is, do you work on drums first and build from there or do you mostly work out the overall rhythmic structure, or…?

I think it’s important to know about rhythm when you try to emulate some acoustic percussion — drums needs to have a naturalness about them. I don’t like quantized percussion by a robot. I don’t have any structure, I can start with drums, or a melody from the synth, or a bass, or some other atmospheric sound that trips me. But I think it’s more a question of how I feel the music: I don’t think too much, I just feel.

Do you ever miss getting behind the drum kit? Have you had the desire or opportunity to record live drums for any of your tracks?

I really miss it, but its impossible to have real drums in my studio now, my neighboors would kill me. But some electronic drums could do the job as well. I didn’t play real live drums for my own tracks yet, but all the drums in my tracks are played by me, with the midi keyboard, with my sounds loaded in the sampler. I arrange every part of the drum kit or percussion in different channels. I used some percussion stuff from Brazil in my last productions, like pandeiros, handmade shakers and other different instruments made by the Amazon Indians, they’re made with materials they found in the forest. Just to add a color to the music, or add
some details. I don’t use drums loops or any sampled percussion loops. It would be really easy to sample the best drummers and the best conga players from CDs but I don’t like to do it, so I prefer to use the ideas I have in my head.

Personally I don’t hear many sonic references to Argentinian culture in your music. Is this a conscious thing or is it just much more subtle than most non-Argentinians would notice?

I don’t think my music represents the music of my country, but I’m really influenced by modern tango (like Astor Piazzolla) and the melancholic melodies. I think my first releases like “Lunatique,” for example, has some sort of tango/piazzolla feeling in the synth melody which sounds like a Bandoneon to me.

Listening over your tracks I get the impression that over time you’ve sort of lightened up musically and favored swinging house tracks over the more serious tech-house sound of your earlier work (eg. from “Desiree” to “All That Glitters Ain’t Gold”). Have your production tastes changed much in the last few years? Are you working with different moods/goals in mind when producing these days?

The thing is, I make music for periods of time, and I start doing what I feel in the moment. It could be ambient, dub, pop, house, and then later I open these projects and see what is more suitable to release.

What is one instrument, trick or method you’ve always wanted to use in a track that you’ve not yet attempted?

There are lots of instruments I really like, but it really depends on how is it played or the character of the sound. But I’m not a multi-instrumental player, so I start with a sound in my head and try to design the sound, and it never sounds exactly as I imagined but close to it, and sometimes it turns into another sound. I would like one day for Prince to come down an angel and play some guitars and vocals. Miles Davis and Hendrix are invited as well.

After shuffling between a varied group of labels (like Mule Electronic, Modelisme, and Crosstown Rebels) it seems you’ve mostly settled down with Vakant. What was your reasoning behind this decision? What do you like most about the Vakant group?

It all started in late 2007 when I sent a demo to Alex from Vakant and he instantly replied that he would like to release it. And then invited me to play at Watergate where I met him. We became friends, he helped me to find a booker, and then to move to Berlin. What I like about the Vakant group is that every artist has his own style and personality, but at the same time I’m feeling inspired by all these artists, too.

What’s coming up from you in the rest of 2010?

There’s one track coming out on a Vakant compilation which is new and really different, but in the vein of “All That Glitters Ain’t Gold,” and couple of more EPs not only on Vakant. And DJ gigs, of course!

A deep journey through dub and techno music

Biography

Reference consists of the Detroit-based artists Luke Hess & Brian Kage. The group was created for the expression of underground music and dance culture. Luke Hess is a name synonymous with the ‘dub techno’ sound but his roots go deeper than that. His continued hard work as a musician and his talent as a DJ has allowed him to release music on some of the most respected labels, and play some of the most prestigious clubs in the world. Brian Kage is the founder of the record label, Beretta music. Along with a countless number of successful releases, Brian’s experience as a producer, DJ, and label head has helped catapult the careers of some of today’s brightest and best artists in the dance music community.

Like any pure artistic or avant-garde entity, they have no concern for following trends. Hess & Kage have come together to create music in it’s truest form; Experimentation, soul, sweat, live instrumentation, and organic sounds all welded together to form deep and timeless music. The main concern of Reference is to stand diligently behind the foundation of underground culture and against the commercialism that longs to destroy the freedom of our senses.

Author: Jürgen Kirsch.
Publish in: Glukskind (Own label), Stil Vor Talent, Nordik Net, Youngsociety Records.
Related artists: Dubnitzky, Micha Klang, Someone Else, David Pher.

Biography

Juergen Kirsch, the cofounder of the “Glueckskind” label & artist on the Berlin-based imprint “Stil Vor Talent”, is one of the most promissing young artists from the “electronic music” dance scene. Working as a resident DJ in the Nuremberg clubs BASE, Mothership & Rakete, more and more he found his own way to the very minimal and sound oriented electronic music. This isn’t only the dance music as most of the works from his beginnings, but a part of the process toward very own and unique style.

Juergen about himself: “I am not someone who likes to make the things too obvious. It’s a joy to take people on a tour through a new and unknown soundscapes, and although I could be dubbed as the most technoid sound maker among my peers, it’s definitely not easy to pin me or my music in some well-known schedule.” Raised on a steady diet of Detroitism, he used to wear his Underground Resistance shirt with so much dignity it became symbolic for his own struggle to make himself be heard without losing his integrity. His music certainly isn’t hype or trying to fulfil the expectations of his near surrounding. Juergen is moving forward with an open mind and ear, and with a bright view in the future. Probably just because of this, he has become one of the most authentic and interesting electronic musicians coming out of the German dance scene… Whilst exploring the “New” Jürgen keeps on doing his best: Enchanting people with his charismatic individualism that makes you want to dance.

Mixed show of fresh tracks and featuring exclusive interviews with Robert Hood & Echospace

Digby tries to con Joris Voorn into doing a free remix for him. Human Life tell us what records they would take with them if they were Marooned on Mars. News Editor Nick gives details of how you can win the opening set on the Mixmag Terrace at Creamfields and of course we have three rooms of crucial new dance music of all genres!

We Love Space Sundays Joris Voorn dates:

July 18th Groove Armada dj set, Carl Craig live, James Zabiela, Joris Voorn, Claude VonStroke, Dixon August 29th Joris Voorn, James Holden, Ewan Pearson September 12th 2manyDJs, Steve Lawler, Joris Voorn Live September 26th Aphex Twin, Jeff Mills, James Zabiela, Joris Voorn, Martin Buttrich

Peter Kuschnereit, born in Berlin in 1970, has grown up in a historical quarter of the city, Kreuzberg. He still lives and works there. In 1991 he started to work at the legendary record store Hard Wax.
Pete is not only a DJ, also a producer. Inspired by the first generation of artists in Chicago and Detroit and above all, from the productions of the house neighbors, Basic Channel. Pete, in collaboration with René Löwe (aka Vainqueur), has given life to the Scion plan, whose first Ep “Emerge” (1995) marks the birth of Chain Reaction.

One of MUTEK’s signature series, the NOCTURNE program presents more beat-oriented, late-night showcases featuring high-profile artists from around the globe.

Take a listen through this year’s five NOCTURNE showcases, running Wednesday June 2 through Sunday June 6, to get a taste of the variety this series has to offer.

A Detroit-Chicago collaboration between prolific and low-key ambient dub-techno producer Rod Modell (Deepchord) If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the fellows in Berlin’s Rhythm & Sound camp will have no problem endorsing Detroit-based Deepchord as their dub-techno heir apparent. Already an established ambient producer, Rod Modell partnered with Mike Schommer, quietly releasing their first 12″ together in the late ’90s. Like Rhythm & Sound, Deepchord based their compositions around minimal arrangements: repetitive rhythms inspired by dub, faint traces of white noise, and warm synth stabs. The group retained a loyal cult following, releasing several more singles in the early 2000s as well as a limited-run CD version of their first six releases (originally pressed up in extremely limited quantities). The duo’s production went from prolific to a screeching halt around 2002, making a remarkable and rare live performance at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival and releasing singles in a scarce fashion (the group’s 2006 single was only pressed to 100 copies). A retrospective of the group’s work, Vibrasound: 1999-2004, was issued under Modell’s name and released on the Silentes label in 2005. Later that year, Modell teamed with Kevin Hanton to release Illuminati Audio Science and used a generous portion of the group’s output, looped and sliced into small segments (much like Richie Hawtin’s DE9 experiments), for a continuous 70-minute mix CD – and Steven Hitchell (Soultek), Echospace released a series of 12″ singles on England’s Modern Love label, all of which were compiled on a CD named after the series, The Coldest Season. The same year, the duo also issued a pair of singles on Lee Purkis’ Fortune8 label, as well as an additional release on echospace[detroit]. As with much of Modell’s output, Echospace’s material is deeply rooted in the Basic Channel/Chain Reaction school of dub-techno, emphasizing deep throbs and alternately soothing and unsettling ambience (manipulated field recordings, for the most part)

Obmx ◄ (3 versions) Fortune8 2007
Sonorous ◄ (3 versions) Fortune8 2007
Spatialdimension ◄ (4 versions) echospace [detroit] 2007
The Coldest Season (Album) ◄ (3 versions) Modern Love 2007
The Coldest Season – Part 1 ◄ (2 versions) Modern Love 2007
The Coldest Season – Part 2 ◄ (2 versions) Modern Love 2007
The Coldest Season – Part 3 ◄ (2 versions) Modern Love 2007
The Coldest Season – Part 4 ◄ (2 versions) Modern Love 2007
Untitled (12″, S/Sided, W/Lbl, Ltd, Sta) Modern Love 2007
Obmx (File, MP3) echospace [detroit] 2008
Sonorous (File, MP3, FLAC, WAV) echospace [detroit] 2008
Remixes:
Small Words (CD, Ltd, Promo) Our Message (Echospace… Souldubsounds 2005
Wide Road EP (CD, Ltd, Promo, EP) Wide Road (Echospace R… Souldubsounds 2005
Small Words (12″) Small Words (Echospace… Souldubsounds 2006
Culture Box EP (12″, EP) Walk Through (Echospac… Echocord 2007
Grandbend ◄ (2 versions) Grandbend (Echospace D… echospace [detroit] 2007
Miranda (Remixes) ◄ (2 versions) Miranda (Echospace Remix) Matrix Records (Detroit) 2007
RA.049 (File, MP3, Mixed) Small Words (Echospace… Resident Advisor 2007
Starlight [Remixes] (Comp) ◄ (4 versions) Starlight [Echospace M... echospace [detroit] 2007
Vantage Isle (Comp) ◄ (4 versions) Vantage Isle (Echospac… echospace [detroit] 2007
Emily (EP, Maxi) ◄ (6 versions) Dressed To Please (Ech… DFA … 2008
RA.094 (File, MP3, Mixed, Pod) Grandbend (Echospace Dub) Resident Advisor 2008
Trak 6 (Echospace Dub Mix) ◄ (2 versions) Fortune8 2008
Waterfall ◄ (3 versions) Rain (Echospace Reduct… Music Man Records 2008
Balance 014 (2xCD, Mixed, Comp) Starlight (Echospace Dub) EQ Recordings 2009
Mi-Mix (CD, Comp, Mixed) Rain, Starlight Octave Lab 2009
RA.153 (File, MP3, Mixed, Pod) Starlight (Echospace U… Resident Advisor 2009
The Echo Chamber Vol.3 (File, MP3) Nospheratu AvantRoots 2009
And That Was The Way ◄ (2 versions) And That Was The Way (… Kompakt 2010
Trust Less (11xFile, MP3, 320) And That Was The Way (… Kompakt 2010
Appears On:
Dimensional Space ◄ (3 versions) echospace [detroit] 2007
Starlight [Remixes] (Comp) ◄ (3 versions) echospace [detroit] 2007
Who’s Afraid Of Detroit? [Deepchord & Soultek Mixes] ◄ (2 versions) echospace [detroit] 2007
Nospheratu (12″) Nospheratu (Echospace … Phonobox 2008
And That Was The Way (12″) Kompakt 2010

Peter Kuschnereit, born in Berlin in 1970, has grown up in a historical quarter of the city, Kreuzberg. He still lives and works there. In 1991 he started to work at the legendary record store Hard Wax.
Pete is not only a DJ, also a producer. Inspired by the first generation of artists in Chicago and Detroit and above all, from the productions of the house neighbors, Basic Channel. Pete, in collaboration with René Löwe (aka Vainqueur), has given life to the Scion plan, whose first Ep “Emerge” (1995) marks the birth of Chain Reaction.

Welcome to the latest edition of our series of interviews and mixes affectionately titled Talking Shopcasts. The majority of media and fan attention gets showered on the artists who create the music we love to listen to/DJ with/dance to, and for good reasons. But without the hard work, keen ears and business savvy of label staff we might never hear these tunes at all. For our seventh edition we wanted to get the scoop on the inscrutable labels Frozen Border and Horizontal Ground. Until now we knew more about the labels’ stinging raw techno sound than who made the tracks, and for the most part that was all that mattered. Eschewing personality in favor of strict quality control has helped both Frozen Border and its more varied sibling Horizontal Ground stand out among swarms of white label imprints. Yet we couldn’t help but be curious about the thought put into such exacting operations and decided to reach out via email. The labels’ owner, Jeff, was relatively guarded but his responses shed a bit more light on one of contemporary techno’s darker corners. He was also generous enough to send us a top notch live set by Horizontal Ground artist 19.26.1.18.5 (aka Szare), which speaks just as loudly as Jeff’s carefully chosen words.

What spurred you to launch Frozen Border?

Jeff: I don’t think we launched it, that sounds very “Show Biz.” It just began.

What about Horizontal Ground?

More of the same with a different name.

Had you run any labels before this current group?

In a sense I did run labels before, but nothing on this current level.

Do you make any of the music for FB/HG?

No.

How many artists do you work with for your labels? Is it a close knit group or a
loose collective?

At the moment it’s 6 artists and I have never met one of them in person, so I would say it’s quite a loose collective.

When you pitched your vision for a label shrouded in relative anonymity to your artists, what were their reactions? Or was it the other way around?

No pitch, they are either in or out. All the music came from demos sent. The level of trust between us all is the thing I like the most.

These days many fans want to know more and more about the artists behind their favorite records. With this in mind, why go the other direction?

I think the answer is in the question.

Is anonymity in the music business important to you?

Not at all. I don’t think the dance music scene is even the music business (not in real terms); even at it’s most revealed it’s still really a bit of “micro fluff” on the backside of the music industry. Some DJs/producers might do well to remember that.

FB/HG’s rise coincided with a renewed artistic/public interest in austere white label records. Was this coincidence or perhaps a reaction to what was happening?

Maybe; there is some sort of honesty in it, but even that has become a bit overplayed now.

With how little information is available about your labels, I imagine every decision regarding your labels is made consciously: That in mind, is there was any reasoning behind the filled in/blank letters of the Frozen Border/Horizontal Ground names? Zen Order?

I thought all the references were obvious? Karl Regis (from Downwards) took me out into the woods one day to show me where Nico was buried; it made a deep impact so it’s all in homage to her.

What else it to come from Frozen Border/Horizontal Ground in 2010?

More quality music.

Monopod 008 [Recorded April 9th 2010, Sub Club, Glasgow]

Slam’s monthly residency, Return To Mono at the world-famous Sub Club in Glasgow, has become a staple of the ever-advancing music scene in the West of Scotland. Guests like Ivan Smagghe, Adam Beyer, Alex Under, Claude VonStroke, Dusty Kid, Paul Ritch & Marc Houle have brought some delights to the club – but the one thing that has cemented Return To Mono in Glasgow’s clubbing history has been the quality and consistency of Slam’s warm-up sets. Orde & Stuart have been perfecting their trade for many moons, and this is evident when you catch a Slam Return To Mono set.

Our Monopod series is recorded Live from these special nights in Glasgow’s Sub Club and is usually the first hour of music in the club. So expect a mellow journey from dub and lo-fi through to deep, grooving house music.

lthough he only has two singles to his name, in the swiftly moving world of UK bass music, Southeast London DJ/producer Deadboy is practically a veteran. After the appearance of his sublime U Cheated EP, the Numbers squad snatched him up and released the even bigger “If U Want Me,” which solidified his penchant for swinging garage beats and pitch-shifted vocal snippets. Those loves are readily apparent throughout this exclusive mix, as off-kilter percussion and diva-ish vocal drops populate nearly every track, whether it’s an unreleased white label on Well Rounded—a label Wooten helps run—or an old-school classic. Not many DJs in this scene are dipping into the Basic Channel catalog, so Deadboy clearly knows his stuff. We’re anxiously awaiting to hear more from this young producer—new song “Here 4 U” is sounding BIG—but this podcast should help tide us over in the meantime.

This time Mekas send us this great live, full of textures, clicks, dubby sounds and groove. Hope you enjoy it.

Having helped shape the modern electronic music scene in the US, Josh Wink needs little introduction. As well as playing a crucial part in spreading the rave and acid house message throughout North America in the nineties, Wink also came to inadvertently demonstrate the crossover appeal of dance music, proving that it could indeed filter successfully into the mainstream, partly due to the now anthemic ‘Higher State of Consciousness’.

Here, he provides a mix never before been aired in the UK. And as you’d expect, it’s a good’un.

Beginning with a series of deep, hypnotic house grooves – including a superb atmospheric opener by Blagger – Wink’s mix slowly builds, before an entirely welcome acid hit kicks in at 15 minutes, via Wink’s own ‘How High Acid’ track.

The mix then explores – through a series of effortlessly fluid transitions – tribal house and progressive, minimal techno from Tevo Howard, Valmay and a Martinez remix of a track by fascinating wild-child Seth Troxler. Things then get taken up a notch yet again, via a trippy remix of Wink’s ‘Hypnoslave’ (again taken from the record label that Wink himself established in 1994, Ovum), before a subtle burst of acid house form Kingpin Cartel for the final push.

All of which proves what has long been suspected: that Wink has a profound understanding of the music he makes and the wider scenes into which it falls. Classy, mesmerising stuff.

Live sets are usually tricky to translate into a recording. Most likely when any artist is mixing live electronic music, the tendency is to adjust the sound and balance of instruments according to the acoustics of the room, the speakers available and setup (stereo, quad, etc) and multiple other factors (like the number of people in the room). Ultimately, what sounds great live might not sound that interesting when you record straight from the main soundboard and play it back at home, in headphones or home stereo system. It is one of the main reasons I seldom record live sets – they just rarely translate well into the recorded format. I remember last year somebody recorded a bootleg of our set at Sonar festival in Barcelona. It’s been floating on the Internet for a while and I must say it’s a pity, as it is definitely not representative of what we sound like in a live setting. Part of the beauty of live performance is the physicality of it –like when listening to a very dense, textured wall of guitar noise with sub frequencies at 120db’s…ah, beauty!

Anyway, based on this previous experience, I’ve become more aware of this and have decided to start recording lots of The Sight Below (or solo) sets. I usually tend to record in subgroups, at least 4 channels worth of stems. That way I can master the recording later in my studio and adjust levels of stems, eq the mix, compress, and translate what sounded great live into what would sound great in a recorded setting. I definitely do not try to make it sound like the published works (album or ep’s) – part of the beauty of live performance is to experience either new material or new arrangements of songs. Otherwise you might as well just stay home and play the record.

When Rayna asked me to write a new piece for Modyfier I decided recording and mastering a live set for her blog was the way to go. I’ve been an avid reader since its inception and feel really honored to be writing piece #200. I prepared this live set for an event at the Seattle Art Museum called SAM Remix. It was a very special event in which I created visuals that would interact/react with the music. I was also performing in quad sound for the first time and it added a new level of depth to the music. Of course, this last aspect is very difficult to translate into a stereo field, but with that in mind, I hope you, the reader, enjoy this live set. Hats off to the folks at Modyfier for creating such an amazing body of work and happy #200!

Published / 11 April 2010
Filesize / 71.82 MB
Length / 00:59:47

The elder statesman of electronic music steps into the RA hotseat for this week’s podcast.

Gazing back over the last 25 years of electronic music, there are few that can match the résumé of Thomas Fehlmann. The Swiss musician’s career kicked off in Hamburg in 1979, where he co-founded Palais Schaumberg, an ’80s new wave outfit that counted a certain Moritz von Oswald amongst its ranks through its later incarnations. After the band split, Fehlmann quickly found his feet as a solo producer, committing himself to long hours in his Berlin studio and issuing a series of experimental and ambient tracks as Ready Made. The tail end of that decade also saw Fehlmann launch his own Detroit-inspired Teutonic Beats imprint, which featured early productions from Jörg Burger, Wolfgang Voigt and Westbam.

Fehlmann furthered his Detroit connection when he and Moritz von Oswald hooked up with both Juan Atkins and Eddie Fowlkes for the 3MB project. Collaboration has been a constant theme: Fehlmann has worked with Robert Fripp, Dr Alex Paterson, Tom Thiel, Max Loderbauer and Daniel Meteo in the studio at various points. The 21st century has seen his relationship with Wolfgang Voigt and the Kompakt team flourish, with Fehlmann becoming somewhat of a mainstay on the label. His latest full-length effort—Gute Luft—is his fourth on Kompakt, and shows that the producer is as vibrant as ever, merging together rich dub techno, ambient and melodious house with aplomb. Therefore, it’s only right that we hand over this week’s RA podcast to the man, and he’s fixed us up with a quality hour of deep and dubby house music.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been watching over the evolution of a Gute Luft remix 12-inch that will be coming out in a few ticks. Soulphiction and Move D are involved. I’m really pleased and—dare i say it—proud.

How and where did you record the mix?

Oh, that was done at home in my faithful studio where I still have two decks set up. I used vinyl only and recorded it straight to disk.

Can you tell us a little bit about the idea behind the mix?

Basically it’s a choice out the tunes I play when I DJ. I don’t do it too often, but thoroughly enjoy it when it happens. I’m fishing in the soulful, slower end of the pond and always mix the old and the new. I don’t have the knack to play a set full of new tunes.

You and Moritz von Oswald have quite a history together. Could you tell us a little bit about how you brought him into Palais Schaumburg, and do you plan on working with him again in the near future?

Moritz joined the band (in 1983) at a time when for us the role of the musician evolved more into the role of a producer—a transitional phase. It wasn’t so much one instrument that one was responsible, but everybody started to contribute on all levels: writing, playing, singing and producing. It was a strong hint in the direction musicians work today. it was the time when the first computer-aided MIDI sequencer was introduced and everything started to take a big turn. We also did wacky shit like spending considerable time to fly in samples (the name didn’t exist back then) from quarter-inch tape into the songs. The sampler wasn’t around yet but we used the idea anyway. I feel very lucky that I was able to experience a few mind changing sessions and productions with him. As for future collaborative work? We’ve been toying with the idea repeatedly and I think eventually the time will come, but most possibly not tomorrow.

How did you find the soundtrack writing as opposed to being able to work freely in the studio?

It was quite a relief at first, not having to think about the album format, but then I also realized how deeply rooted I am in making records, and how much it leads the decision making process to know that it’s for an album. That’s probably why I couldn’t resist to take it a level further to produce Gute Luft out of the material. The role of a service provider was something I had to get used to, but now and then I like to put myself into challenging situations where I can test myself, and it was basically just a start in a new field. Scratching the surface, since I didn’t really work to the final images.

As someone with such a rich heritage as far as electronic music is concerned, how do you feel that it is progressing as we get further into the 21st century?

Isn’t it amazing the way it all evolved? Seriously, my feelings towards that are all subject to a constant massive moodswing. There are times when I find it utterly boring how everything seemingly sounds the same and the ears are swamped with half baked ideas, but there is also the backlash to that when I’m amazed at the development of the unique language electronic music has accumulated in this short period of time, and always opens up new fields of brain gymnastics! One shouldn’t complain, really.

What are you up to next?

The Orb—Alex and I—have been commissioned by the English Royal Opera to write a piece for 2012. After ruling out having to work with opera singers, we accepted and are currently developing the project, parallel to all the upcoming live ventures. The opera goes under the working title of Moonbuilding. I also started doing sessions with Reagenz (Move D and Jonah Sharp). Who knows what will come out of that…

When I think about the Swiss house scene, my mind skips past visions of clubbing alongside the Alps and lands on Dino-Boris Dougoud, better known as Agnès (or alternately as Cavalier, Ray Valioso, Modeste or Benelli). Not only has he nurtured the Swiss scene with his Sthlmaudio Recordings imprint, home to releases by Baaz, Cabanne, Chaton, Peter Grummich, and Azuni, this many monikered producer is a shining example of an artist who is steeped in house music’s past but aims his own tunes squarely at the future. Dougoud’s music began on the minimal side of the house spectrum and has since come into full bloom across his records for Perspectiv, Resopal Red, Lomidhigh, Plak Records and his own label, exploring the many possibilities of dub sonorities and embracing his deeper side in equal measures. Lately his focus has been on a string of incredibly strong remixes for everyone from Sebo K and October to dOP and Niggemann & Poppcke, but 2010 holds in store more original material. For LWE’s 47th exclusive podcast, Dougoud brandishes his considerable DJing talents across an hour of achingly well mixed house music, including a clutch of hot unreleased tracks and remixes.

Tell us a little bit about your mix — when, where, and why you made it like you did?

Agnes: Ahhh yeah it’s funny you’ll never believe what I’ve done in order to get there. As always with me, I have to get deep into the things I’m doing. So I thought about getting the “click” in the pitch bend of my old really old MK2’s out from there for some time. Then we came up with the idea of doing an LWE podcast and guess what: you’ve found me dismounting my MK2’s, unsoldering my original MK2 pitches, removing the small iron ball clicking at zero pitch, cleaning them, and you know what it’s so much smoother now =) Seriously, all this to be perfectly honest, I’m playing most of my sets with regular vinyls and Traktor Scratch through time code control vinyls. Traktor doesn’t like the central pitch bend zone on the older MK2’s, you’ve got maybe 0.5 centimeters where it just goes off really weirdly sometimes dropping down or up by a full BPM. On the mix itself, I just really wanted to show what kind of beatz I’m into, what are the tracks I’m digging, snatching in there some of my personal stuff and hopefully providing something personal.

Here are some links for the hard headed out there willing to finally get rid of their “click” pitches:

SL1200/1210 MK2 Service Manual (in German I think, but gooood):

Some interesting links for your pitch faders & MK2 in general:

http://info.bergenteknomafia.com/tech/1200pitch/

http://music.hyperreal.org/dj/pitch_slider/

http://music.hyperreal.org/dj/sl1200.html

When we were discussing the mix earlier, you described the first artist, Djaimin, as a “real house hero here in Switzerland.” Who are some of your other favorite Swiss house producers, new and old?

Yes, sure Djaimin and Mister Mike where running a radio show on Couleur3 called Pump It Up Live, and at the time the radio station hadn’t yet discovered computers. So basically we where immersed in their view of house music every weeks. It was a really good time for me, we were anticipating the next shows very much. Recently we where sitting at Ripperton’s place and he played some of their sets from back in the day and we literally wanted to know what track has been played every six minutes — they played incredible records, really. I think there are only just a few things that are being brought back to our attention but there is so much to still discover in the old — it fascinates me.

Tell me about your experiences in the Swiss house scene — how you got involved, where you went, early residencies, etc.

It really all started up in 2003 when I launched my label, Sthlmaudio Recordings, and strangely, success came from beyond the Switzerland’s borders first. So I’ve never really been involved into a local scene except in my home town of Fribourg, when I was spinning more hip-hop and abstract hip-hop stuff.

What were some of your first pieces of gear? What are your current gear favorites?

Hum well, first of all I think when I started with electronic music as a producer I probably was more on a minimal vibe somehow, always dubbed out but that was the sound of those years and I’m not denying it now. I think I’ve always been ready to explore many different paths in music, being house or ambient or more techno productions. But my roots, if I’m honest with myself, comes from the Mo Wax area, the first Portishead [album], DJ Vadim, DJ Cam, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow and all that scene. This is where it all began for me, the DJing and the attraction to electronic music in general. Concerning house, what I dig in it is the groove — things have to groove for me or I don’t care about them. Onto gear, I’ve just recently bought an Akai MPC1000 and JJOS2XL; it’s fat, there is no emulation, there are things that are close but nothing like the real thing. I’m playing my live sets with it now on top of the laptop and all my recent beatz are out of that box.

You seem to enjoy playing with the concept of artistic identity, using a handful of pseudonyms for your releases. I wondered how you distinguished what was going to be released as whom (beside Modeste, which is quite distinct from the other guises) and why you opted for the many names in the first place?

Indeed I love names; I think names are totally cool. I wouldn’t like very much to be doing what I do under my real name, let’s say; Jean-Pierre Vaucher. To some folks this might sound weird but to me it’s an extension of my art, providing me another way of pushing something I firmly believe in. Each time I’m taking on a new name I can build a totally new world or extend something I’ve already explored. This is powerful and harmless. I was reading a review from a journalist having fun about this with me and I just thought he didn’t get it. In two years I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dj playing the track you hear would be the only one to know who did it, if he does; this is to me where it all started with electronic music:, anonymous records done by god knows who and damn they slam right good. I’m totally into getting back to this.

In the last couple years your number of original releases has grown smaller while your remixes have blossomed. Will you tell us about your thinking behind this?

I’m glad you asked about this, it means you’ve been really and carefully checking what was going on with me and you’re right — I’ve been doing more remixes lately. I don’t know how to explain why it happened this way and so on but here is what I can tell you: I love to remix. I love to have someone else’s materials I would have probably never chosen to use in the first place and do my own sauce with it. It is challenging to work on sounds you didn’t choose. On top of that, I’ve worked onto my own music a lot but I didn’t thought about releasing anything yet. If the things I’ve done in, let’s say 2008, are still releasable in 2010 then it might be wise to do so, if not they better stay on my hard drives. I’ve had this discussion with Quarion and he told me something a known record store owner in Berlin told him: producers should have a maximum of three releases a year; we would have less but far better music. I fully agree with that.

There was also a good deal of consistency between your Agnès remixes — slightly dubbed out, old school arrangements, very thoughtful hi-hat patterns — yet your own releases are rather varied. Have you thought of making more original tracks in this vein, and what explains the consistency between those remixes?

Honestly I don’t over think my music. I do what I do being who I am using what I’m using at the time I’m making it. As I’ve said earlier, I really like all kinds of music and sometimes maybe my own things express this a little more then my remixes; although I’m always striking at making something real for me, something I can be proud of — in a very humble way.

A number of your remixes have locations in the title. What do those denote?

It’s like my use of names; I like to sign things, being in my music or with the naming and wording I use. Within the music industry, what you’ve got to express yourself is a cover and a back print (if you signed on a rich label), label stickers, a name and track title and your music. Very often in the scene, remixes aren’t even recognized as being work on its own from the remixer. People would go, ‘Oh yeah, I love that B1 track on this guy’s record’ without even noticing it is someone else’s work. Still though, I like to remix haha.

Who have you not yet had the opportunity to remix that you would jump at the chance to edit?

This is a hard question. To me there are no goals; it’s more about the contents of the original materials. If I think I could do something with it then I’ll try. Furthermore, I really think the originals I didn’t liked that much turned out to be decent remixes of mine so I’ll probably first accept something I don’t like that much instead of remixing one of my heroes, which I’d probably turn down. Also, lately I’ve just done a remix for a Swiss hip-hop artist from Zürich called Big Zis and this was very interesting for me, something else, different sounds, tempo, vocals. It’ll come out soon on Nation Music.

With old school house motifs coming back in style, what do you think are the most overlooked elements of older house records that could stand a revival? (drum patterning, certain synth sounds, etc.)

To me what is killing house at the moment are those producers taking a full bar loop of a groovy beat they never programmed a single hit, EQ’d it out on the low end, add a kick, add a clap and there you go, groovy wacky house for losers. I’ve spotted some of those kinds of tracks in my own collection and you know what? Shift delete, ciao ciao, bye bye. I’m programming my drums, every single hit you hear in my music is from me; I program everything and this is my only chance to stand out.

Is there another Agnès album in you?

Funny you should ask about this, the wicked team from Drumpoet Community asked me for a sophomore Cavalier EP maybe, and as I mentioned earlier, I’ve got many sleeping things on my drives. Well, as I’ve sent them loads of materials to select from in order to make a four track EP they came back at me asking if we could maybe release a long player, so this will be my next album and I’m currently polishing it up.

What’s on tap for you in 2010? What about Shtmlaudio in 2010?

I think 2010 is an introspective year for me, releasing less but hopefully good things. The Modeste long player for example: it wasn’t a huge press success, I didn’t saw much press attention around it but I’m glad I could release that music and I will be continuing in the future with a CD series on Sthlmaudio aimed at electronic music with a broader view. Also, Baaz is working now on an abstract hip-hop long player which we will release later on this year. Next is my home boy Quenum coming with a stunning house tune remixed by my all time friend Ripperton. We’ve got also some more records in the pipe but there is absolutely no rush at all.

Regarding myself, I’ve got en EP coming out on Ornate Music called Got To Be Strong and another EP I’m finishing right now for Hudd Traxx, and of course the Cavalier LP later this year on Drumpoet Community.

Head of Cultivated Electronics, Sync24 contributes a mix of new and forthcoming material from his label. As part of the UK electro scene, he’s behind the Scand parties, which have been an important focus for the genre over the last decade. Watch out for CE006, out in May. There’s also time for the great new Yoav B single on Delsin and a new track from Plant43 on Ai.

This set was recorded live at Unsound Festival New York at The Bunker in Brooklyn on February 5, 2010. Better known as Vladislav Delay and Luomo, Sasu Ripatti’s productions as Uusitalo are not as well known, but just as good. He was a last minute fill in for Tobias Freund at The Bunker party during Unsound, and he filled those huge shoes as well as anyone could.

Big support for this artist, Marko Fürstenberg , the new Icon of dub techno electronic music from the deepest Germany !!

Enjoy this 4 hours dj set live @ duke leipzig 20.02.2010

This set was recorded live at Unsound Festival New York at The Bunker in Brooklyn on February 13, 2010. Pavel traveled all the way from Belarus just to play at the Bass Mutations edition of The Bunker. Pavel keeps a very low profile, but he has an interesting and unique artistic voice, which you can hear in this set of dubby electronic music.

we continue our Harry Klein series today with the Wonderful sounds of Marco Zenker.

marco zenker was born in munichs glockenbach neighbourhood in 1988. after he came true with skateboarding and other sports, listening to roots reggae and underground hip hop for years, he discovered at a harry klein party, on which his brother dario was playing, the fascination for electronic music. in the meantime marco developed his own spaced out dubby techno style.
with his 21 years he has already a substantial row of gigs and releases to show. everything began with dancing – the love for music and letting yourself go with the crowd in a club. his live sets are accordingly full of energy and rhythm whereby it is of course also always about the live moment. marco never plays whole pieces – his live sets are always complete improvised.
exactly this mixture makes them so exciting and different. this tears people of the age of ableton djs – where it is not about the live-mixing-art in itself for many people, but more about at least music from somewhere. even in the ableton age where the sound loses always on quality, there are still young artists like marco zenker who stick, nevertheless, pertinaciously to old traditions and live the spirit. together with his brother he runs the label ilian tape and is, moreover, a part of harry klein records. expect the unexpected.

Links
Resident Advisor: http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj-page.aspx?id=8803
Harry Klein Booking: http://www.harrykleinclub.de/booking/artist.php?nr=75
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/marco-zenker
Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/artist/marco+zenker

2008 Kez YM debuted with “Sweaty Confused EP” on the label from Rotterdam 4lux Recordings. These Detroit house beat down tracks were supported by Moodymann, Cassy, Andy Vaz, Dubbyman, Tyler Askew and more. In March 2009 he produced “City Soul EP” on Yore Records from Cologne, which was a huge success and played and charted by Edfemin, Patrice Scott, Brothers Vibe and many others. The track “Washing My Heart” from this EP was included to Cassy’s mix CD; “Simply Devotion – Cassy In The Mix” on Cocoon among ther artists Kai Alce, Trus’Me, Anton Zap etc.

In Autumn 2009 he made his first European tour for 6 weeks with 11 gigs and played with Andy Vaz, Patrice Scott, Ksoul, Murat Tepeli, Don Williams and more. His dope skills and mixing styles amazed many European crowds and were welcomed. In November 2009 “Butterfly EP” which is his second EP from Yore records was released ad amazed many producers and DJS. The club jazz track “Chameleon” which is a collaboration with Makoto and released from Nik Watson’s Mukatsuku Records was also played by big names like Gilles Peterson, Jazzanova etc.

He was chosen by the Red Bull Academy in Toronto 2007 and has done several projects with musicians such as Randy Muller (Skyy/Brass Construction) and Om’Mas Keith (Sa-Ra).

As Basic Soul Unit, Toronto’s Stuart Li has earned a reputation as something of a producer’s producer. Combining the rough-hewn trackiness of underground techno with hazy atmospherics of deep house (not to mention a healthy pinch of low-end and DFA-style synth wackiness), his releases for labels like New Kanada and Mathematics have shown they can play chameleon in practically any discerning record bag. But 2009, which saw his “Dank” single released by Philpot and his track “Things Pass” included in Ostgut Ton’s Panorama Bar 02 EP, scraped away at Li’s underground status, raising the bar on his studio prowess while placing Basic Soul Unit on a whole host of new radars. Whether you call it a 2009 victory lap or harbinger of a stellar 2010 to come, LWE’s 39th podcast, an exclusive mix of heavy, organic, and thoroughly trippy house grooves, gives us a rare and tasty showcase of Li’s DJ chops.

Toronto doesn’t have the name recognition in dance music of, say, Chicago or Detroit. What was the scene like when you were coming up, and what’s happening dance music wise in Toronto today?

Stuart Li: From my experience (not to say that I’m an authority on the subject) Toronto may not have been an emanating source of dance music but it was a point of convergence and absorption. That is to say there wasn’t a definitive Toronto sound (of course we had a few known exports like Nick Holder, Strobe Records, Stickmen, etc.) but being in-between Chicago, Detroit and New York we took in all the influences and sounds coming from those places. Europe too had an influence on Toronto, not just musically but a lot of British expat DJs and promoters would pass on their knowledge of European club culture to the city. I was too young to go clubbing in the late 80’s (the main club at that time was Twilight Zone, which was described as Toronto’s answer to the Paradise Garage or the Warehouse). However, I discovered dance music through the local college stations on shows like Dave’s Dance Music (they would play a wide range of music including house, hip-hop, electro, R ‘n B and freestyle). When I was going out in the early 90s’ there was a big warehouse scene (some of the DJs were Mark & Aki, Dino & Terry, and PTS). You would hear a spectrum of house music from jacking Chicago, to deep Detroit house & techno to “vocal garage” and also the rougher styles (think Todd Terry) from New York. The crowd was mixed, a large percentage gay and very much into music. It was definitely a liberating experience. From about the mid-90’s as the sound was getting bumpier and harder I exited house music for a bit and got into jazz, soul, disco and so on. I was more into the soulful end of things and excited about finding out the source material for a lot of the samples in house and hip-hop. I did eventually find my way back to house during the late 90’s and early millennium with a revival of sorts in Toronto (it was the time of Roy Davis Jr., Spiritual Life, Ibadan, Body n Soul, Ron Trent re-emerging, Moodymann and Theo of course). Almost fittingly, I kept traveling back in time back to my roots and ended up getting back into Chicago and Detroit influenced material.

As for the present, I may not be the best person to judge the state of the scene. Having a family and having to work, I’ve not been out as much these days. From what I can tell though things still seem healthy. There are a couple of good small and medium clubs with good programming. Most of the good nights though are loft/warehouse style and after hour parties with local DJs. There are nights for those that like it soulful and nights for those that like it bumpy or techy. But I wish there was a bit more mixture and a night with a wider spectrum of deep sounds. For awhile I put on a few small nights with some friends and we would bring in guys like Mike Huckaby, Norm Talley, Alton Miller and Mike Clark. They were great nights but in the end we still didn’t break even and sadly we couldn’t keep it going. At the moment, there’s not much happening specifically in the spectrum and range of music I like to hear out (and I’m getting too old to promote it myself, ha). Production-wise, there are a few up and comers that seem to be rising to take the place of Toronto area veterans like Nick Holder, Mike Shannon, Adam Marshall or Jeff Milligan, most of whom are based in Berlin now. Although I don’t know most of them personally, names like Johnny White, James Teej, Noah Pred, and Martino come to mind and its exciting to know.

Your experiences working at Toronto’s Cosmos Records exposed you to a wide assortment of music styles. Do you think this richness of influences has been a major contributor to the versatility of your productions?

Definitely, even if not on the surface. Just being open-minded to listen to different types of music and take and learn from each. After all, I’m a music lover. What I produce comes partly from what I’m capable of technically and musically (not being that technically adept and not being trained musically), but it is also a distillation of my influences. In fact, Cosmos is owned by the aforementioned Aki who used to be a well known house DJ in the early 90s’ and now pushes (amongst classic house) jazz, soul, funk, disco, Latin, Brazilian, Afro-beat and more. Also gotta mention Jason Palma, another well respected house DJ and record shop owner (Play De Record) who also opened up my horizons musically and gave me one of my first breaks playing eclectic sets at his night in the original Octopus Lounge. Presently, I still do a “jazz/soul/funk/disco/latin/etc.” night in Toronto with Jason (along with another friend General Eclectic).

Were there any records or DJ’s that got you to narrow your focus on Detroit- and Chicago-influenced club music?

I don’t think there were any particular records or DJs that narrowed my focus. Actually the DJs I like tend to play wide ranging sets: Three Chairs, Harvey, the Body ‘n Soul trio of Claussell, Krivit & Kevorkian, Ron Trent, Gilb’r, Prins Thomas, etc. When I started listening to techno and house again (everything from Perlon, Trapez, Playhouse to Delsin, Rush Hour, Planet E and more) in the late 90’s and early 00’s, I liked the percussive and syncopated feel of it which brought me back to jack; on the other hand, I also liked soulful music, so I was following the melodic output of producers like John Tejada, Titonton, Fabrice Lig and so forth. I guess that’s what led me to my direction.

You’ve had records on labels as diverse as Philpot and Mathematics, but Ostgut Ton — home of your latest, “Things Pass” — makes for a surprisingly good fit. Tell me about your involvement in Panorama Bar 02. Was “Things Pass” a track you’d had around for awhile, or did you have Ostgut Ton and Tama Sumo in mind specifically?

I still can’t believe I’ve had the good fortune to be able to release records on some of my favourite labels. It’s something I wouldn’t have thought possible seven years ago when I started trying to produce. Regarding “Things Pass,” I did have it hanging around for a bit. At the time I did the track, I had no idea what Panorama Bar was like outside of what I heard or read about it. Kerstin (Tama Sumo) and I had been keeping in touch for awhile and I finally met her when I played at Panorama Bar for a Versatile night in March this year (also finally met Gilb’r and I:Cube for the first time). Soon after, I received an email about her project and a request for tracks. I dug up “Things Pass” and submitted it along with a few others. In the end that was the one she liked best.

Does contemporary house and techno excite you? It seems like a pretty good moment in time to be Basic Soul Unit.

For sure I still get excited about new music all the time. Especially with some of the younger producers who may not have a long history with dance music, it’s always great to hear their fresh take on it. As for myself, I guess the current deep house, Detroit and Chicago revival has worked in my favour, but all trends will come and go and I just gotta stay true to myself. It’s not like I make a living off music at the moment anyway so it makes it easier to focus on what I want to do.

Who are some of your favorite producers right now, and who from the past do you keep coming back to?

As you might guess, too many to mention but some current producers would be Redshape, Deetron, MCDE, DJ Koze, Shed, Flying Lotus, DOP, Minilogue, Martyn, Jackmate/Soulphicton, Hieroglyphic Being, The whole Firecracker crew, Lerosa, a lot of the new generation of Detroit artists, the list goes on. Past producers have got to be Larry Heard, Marshall Jefferson (especially his Jungle Wonz moniker and the couple tracks he did as Truth), Lil Louis, Carl Craig.

You’ve been heavily involved in the relaunch of Toronto’s Left of the Dial label. What’s your official role at the label, and what’s next from the LOTD camp?

LOTD is actually owned by my friend John Kong. It’s a sub-label of Do Right! Music (think of Do Right! as Toronto’s version of Talkin’ Loud or Brownswood). He started back around 2005 with the idea of LOTD being the more electronic oriented release outlet. There were two initial releases from fellow Torontonian Stephane Vera and myself. Then things kind of stalled a bit because he got busy with Do Right! At that time I wanted to learn about the record biz, so together with good friend Jason Ulrich, we brought up the idea of helping out with the label. We take care of A&R and some promotional duties and design. Since then, we’ve released material from K Alexi, Alton Miller and Tony Lionni. We are going to release an EP (at least digitally for now) from Jacob Korn early next year. He’s an exciting up and comer from Dresden, Germany (some of you will know him from his recent Running Back release). There is also some new BSU material in the pipeline.

What’s on the horizon for Basic Soul Unit? Any upcoming records or gigs we should know about?

Actually, speaking of Jacob Korn, I have done a remix for him coming soon on Dolly (Steffi’s new label), as well as remixes for Spanish label Hivern. There’s some material that’s been on hold with Jerome Derradji’s Still Music which hopefully will see release sometime soon. Then’s there’s the above mentioned LOTD project. Beyond that, I’m just trying to find time to get some new ideas down. I do hope to get out more next year too, so hopefully I will visit a city near you soon.

Seeing in 2010 in style Louche welcomes Harry Klein resident Dario Zenker for the podcast series. Dario has rapidly come to the fore front of the techno scene producing tracks for Vakant, Harry Klein and for his own label Ilian Tape. This mix blends deep, chunky techno and truely takes the listener on a auditory journey suitable for any hour. We think you’ll agree this mix sets a high standard for the new year.

xeed is a dj of a younger generation, growing up in a time where electronic music wasn’t a novelty any more. he made his way from hardcore rave to trance and over techno to house and minimalistic beats …finally to dubtechno. why? you know. in this radio show, xeed shows us his vision of good eletronic music that is of course not necessarily dubtechno. anyway, it was a particular deepness that came to our attention when we got to know some of his sets. it made us greedy for more. check his website djxeed.ch and find  a couple of teasers – xeed is also producing under his civil name fabian schinzel!

Born in 1980 and raised in the Detroit area, Luke Hess has harnessed a deep appreciation for electronic music and the expression of the underground movement.

His background in mathematics and engineering have given him a scientific approach to the dance floor. His music production has landed him a seat with Beretta Music and FXHE in Detroit, Kontra-Musik in Sweden, Modelisme Records in France, and Echocord in Denmark. His first release on FXHE made it into the top 50 releases of the year in 2007 in Groove Magazine.

With 8 years of DJ experience, he is regarded as a perfectionist behind the decks, layering records in a very detailed and hypnotic manner. Luke has notable mixes online and in 2003 recorded a promotional mix CD release for UR/Submerge. Luke’s continued hard work behind the decks and in the studio combined with his unyielding interest in technology and sound will no doubt stimulate the boundaries of electronic music.

Discography:
Releases: Absolute Truth (12″) w/ Falko Brockseiper RMX – Berettmusic Grey – 2007
Dubout LH-01 (12″) – FXHE – 2007
Believe and Receive (12″) w/ Shed RMX – Kontra-Musik – 2008
Reference EP (Limited 12″) w/ Tadeo RMX – Beretta Grey – 2008
Dubout LH-02 (12″) – FXHE – 2008
Campfire Dialogue (12″) w/ Marko Furstenberg – Echocord Colour 02 – 2008
Reference VS EP1 (12″) – Beretta Grey – 2008
Dub for Love EP (12″) – Modelisme – 2009
Light In The Dark (2×12″ LP & CD Album) – Echocord – May 2009

Tracks Appear On:
Beretta Grey Vol.1 (12″) – “Dwell” – Berettamusic Grey – 2005
Beretta Music Evolution Mix (CD) – Berettamusic – 2007
Viva London mixed by Steve Lawler (2CD) – Renaissance – 2007
Berghain 02 mixed by Marcel Dettmann (CD) – Ostgut Tontrager – 2008
Remixes: Jason Fine Remixes (12″) – Kontra Musik – 2009

Coming Soon:
Modelisme 23 – Gustavo Lamas – Mares (Luke Hess RMX)
Ornaments – Rhauder w/ Tikiman – (Luke Hess RMX)
DeepLabs Detroit 001 – Luke Hess – (Label Launch April 2010)

EUROPE / ASIA BOOKINGS: Contact Miguel at: miguel@d-fusion.biz

Looking at Berlin’s Techno landscape, there’s no way missing the landmark which is DJ Pete. He’s not only an eye wittness to Techno’s zero hour in Berlin, but he also became one of the early forces shaping the German capital’s underground dance scene for the years to come. He quickly went from being a consumer to actually write Berlin’s Techno history as a producer, remixer and an international dj, as well as part of the Hardwax record store crew.

Listening to Pete dj, it is hardly surprising his experience spanning two decades constantly shines through. His sets comprise a wide range of the most important currents the music went through over the last 20 years. His energetic djing is based on loop-y Techno with a tinge of Industrial, tougher House tracks, the proverbial Berlin Sound, as well as classic US Techno. One of his main strentghs is to intuitively keep the balance of pleasing the crowd while always keeping an open mind for new sounds. Moving between those poles is DJ Petes main source for inspiration, currently resulting in him spicing up his sets with a lot of Dubstep verging on Techno.

Another fine example of both his variety and open-mindedness is the fact that he – as a dj still prefering the sonic and haptic qualities of vinyl – released “Scion Arrange And Process Basic Channel Tracks” as part of the duo Scion, which was the first commercially available cd ever to have been produced with the then completely new software Ableton Live. In 1995, Scion released their debut „Emerge“ on Chain Reaction, followed by more productions under his solo pseudonym Substance on Chain Reaction and Scion Versions, as well as remixes for artists like Juan Atkins, Robert Hood and Rhythm & Sound.

Fluxion aka K.Soublis is an artist with numerous releases on Chain Reaction and Vibrant Music labels.
He created a distinct style of atmospheric dub techno, with the caracteristict long lenghts and slowly evolving pads.
His first 12” release “Atlos” came in 1998 on Chain Reaction, followed by an LP titled “Largo”.
Then came the “Vibrant Foms” cd album in 1999, compiling the vinyl releases plus unreleased tracks.
In 2000 he released the “Prospect” 12″ and “Bipolar Defect” LP, all compiled on “Vibrant Forms 2″ 2xcd album, including unreleased tracks, for the same label.
He then moved on to create his own label Vibrant Music.
He released under the Fluxion project name, the 12″ “Redundant” in 2001, “Spaces” cd album, based on an experiment of the perception of the space and it’s acoustics, “D teck” 12″in 2004.
He also released under various other aliases such as Silex, “Alphabet” cd LP in 2002, Silex “Stark” 12″ in 2001 ep, as Unsquare Mode “Turbulance” 2001.
He contributed tracks for compilations :
EFA “State of Emotion Vol 7″ 2002
“Pink rest at low levels” from Moodgadget in 2005
Teletai “Rarities and remixes” from Hands Productions in 2008
“Diaspora Cottage Industries” from Neo Ouija in 2008…
Fluxion is also working on a new revised edition of the Chain Reaction albums, consisting of previously unreleased versions.

New Fluxion “Inductance” EP (Echocord 039) out now 12″ & digital

New Fluxion album “Constant Limber” out now on cd and digital (Resopal).

Fluxion release, “Constant Limber” EP 1 is out (Resopal)

Fluxion remix of MRI “El castillo de los monstruos-Reworked” is out (Resopal)…

As well as producing a spanking new issue of Clash Magazine every month, we’ve also been busy this year providing an audio accompaniment to each issue.

To this end, we present a round up of this year’s Cross Section download albums. Each bursting with a month’s worth of tunes from the band’s we write about.

Check out your favourites and discover 2009’s wealth of great, new talent.

Visite www.clashmusic.com

MIKKEL METAL aka Mikkel Meldgaard from Copenhagen is know for a personal blend of dub, electronica and minimal techno. The new album “peaks and troughs” featuring Paul St. Hilaire is out now on Echocord.

Since 2000 he has released on various labels, most notably danish Echocord and german Kompakt. Broadly speaking the releases on Echocord are centered around the dub element while on Kompakt the sound is more melodic and techno-inspired.

Musical background
Mikkel’s musical career started more than 10 years ago as a guitarist in various noise-rock bands. In the mid-nineties focus changed to electronic music, inspiration coming primarily from breakbeat music, especially drum’n'bass. It’s this period that gave Mikkel his nickname “Metal”, due to his fondness of hard metallic drum’n'bass cuts

Present
Around 1999 Mikkel changed focus towards genres like click’n'cuts, IDM, techo and dub, and started releasing under the “Mikkel Metal” moniker. Primarily he releases on danish label Echocord and German label Kompakt. The former with a dubby grainy sound , the latter focusing on a more melodic and 4/4-based sound. For more info please see discography and live-section.

Upcoming releases
Kenton – Echocord Colour 07 w/ remix by Marcel Dettmann

Current releases
“peaks and throughs” CD album. Echocord cd04
“peaks and throughs” EP 1/3. Echocord 31 (incl. Cassy remix)
“peaks and throughs” EP 2/3. Echocord 32 (incl. Pole remix)
“peaks and throughs” EP 3/3. Echocord 33 (incl. Mike Huckaby remix)

Dactilar, like fallen from heaven, a new sensation just arrived to electronic music scene. His career as a dj began at the end of the 90’s, when he first felt the attraction to the deepest sounds of electronic music. Recently, after having finished his studies in the prestigious international school S.A.E. where he keeps collaborating as an engineer, he has been submerged in the production world. His way to understand and work with quality electronic music has delved into the deepest of the national and international panorama. His debut record “Phonograph” for Organica Music Label has been praised by artists and critics and got immediate support from producers like Hernan Cattaneo, Laurent Garnier, Tom Pooks or Tim Baker among a long etcetera. So if you like deep, charismatic quality techno, Dactilar is the new name to follow.

Today’s Daily Download is a takes the form of a blustery epic from dub-techno vet Brendon Moeller a.k.a Beat Pharmacy’s Echologist project.

Taken from the forthcoming Echologist EP, Snowblower, ‘Ritual’ is dusty and sun-scorched but doesn’t resort to dub-techno standards, instead reaching and squelching in different directions, with flickering lights criss-crossing in the distance. Breaking down and building up at all the right places, it’s one of the EP’s most assured tracks. .

Snowblower is released next month on Moeller’s own Steadward label.

Name: Kenneth Christiansen
Profession: Labelowner (Echocord & Echocord Colour), co-owner of the club Culture Box, DJ
Current Releaase: Pattern Repeat, Gauge Tension EP on Echocord Colour

Seven years ago I already had the idea of an own record label in mind, when a guy came into the record store I was working for. It turned out he should be the final reason, why I founded the label Echocord, his name was Mikkel Metal. In that time I was a big fan of the Berlin scene around DIN Label, Basic Channel and
Rhythm&Sound and his sound was pretty similiar, but still he got a very unique style. I wanted to push Echocord in that dubby Techno Ambient direction, music that can be played in the club, but you can also listen to at home and now, seven years later, I must say it worked out pretty well. Of course also because of the good relationship I already had to the Kompakt people around Michael Mayer and Wolfgang Voigt. Now the label is a big thing for me, we have around 40 releases and I started another label, the Echocord Colour for more club orientated releases, which are about straight Dubstep or straight Techno.

About Music:
When Dubstep came up, I knew immediately, this will be a big theme for me: not that I play it so often in my DJ sets, but it helped a lot to open the listeners for Dub Techno. Artists, who always had big influence on me, are now about to come back, and form the forefront of a trend, which, I cannot deny, is pretty good for me and my label.
In the moment I see a lot of good things coming up from America , likewise Mike Huckaby, I know he has been around for many years, but his current releases fascinate me a lot. A must to name here is Luke Hess, whose album I released four months ago, it can be best described as Dub Techno with a lot of Detroit elements. And as far as I can say, he is about to push things way forward in 2010.
During my first trips to Berlin around 1991/92 for the Love Parade, I was listening to a lot of Detroit artists likewise Jeff Mills, Robert Hood and the Minimal Nation and I feel truely happy for them and that their sound gets popular again. The reasons might be found in the scene around Berghain and Ostgut Ton with the forefront of Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock. They interprete Detroit in a completely new way and as they appreciate Dub a lot, I can see some interesting ways for cooperations.
For example in end of September I was playing at Fabric and they put all together:
they had Octave One and Juan Atkins playing there, Maurizio and an Echocord showcase at the same time.
The conglomeration of Detroit and Dub sound worked out so perfectly, it turned out to become a super good night. Then I played the Golden Pudel in Hamburg, which is actually my favourite club. Pudel is a tiny space, but always stuffed with open minded people. You can turn your set in a totally different direction and people stay on the dancefloor, listening and prying for the story in it. That’s what I aim for in my sets: to keep the audience curious and excited and the Pudel is just the perfect place for it.

About Culture Box:
I’ve benn running the Culture Box together with Loke Sander for five years now and try to focus to bring new talents from Denmark together with substantial music on an international level. Of course we had nearly all big names from Detroit, up to Germany’s heroes likewise Luciano and Ricardo Villalobos. Culture Box works fine with around 400 people, who enjoy the diversified booking and a good quality soundsystem. In the moment Copenhagen is not an easy-going place for this kind of music, but I hope we can survive.

About Pattern Repeat:
My newest project is called Pattern Repeat, I built it together with Dennis aka Resoe, the owner from Baum Records. Copenhagen is pretty small, everybody knows everybody and we got to know each other around ten or twelve years ago as we both worked in a record store called Loud Music, probably the best one Copenhagen ever had. The shop went pretty well for a period, but then Loud Music closed down, because most people started to order online, you know the story. One day, not too far away from now, Dennis invited me to his new studio, which he set up all on his own. I came there and was wow’ed immediately. So we sat down and did a track in only three hours, surprisingly good and we both had one thought: we just need to release this. While Dennis takes on the technical part, I am working on the creative composition. Dennis brought a full and deep sound to the project as he is a very good producer and engineer in all diverse kinds of music genres. Simple, but actually that’s all about it. Few weeks later we had the release on Echocord Colour. And in the moment we are already planning to do a new label for this, also called Pattern Repeat, on which the first release can be expected around January 2010.

Kirk Degiorgio’s name is not synonymous with minimal techno. Over the course of his 18-year career you could count on your hands the number of releases that would even qualify as club-approved tackle. Degiorgio made his name with multi-hued Detroit-inspired techno and went on to produce soulful music in a variety of genres, but rarely touched on straightforward dance floor-ready tracks. Today we see Degiorgio taking a new path that embraces this side of techno, both in terms of production and DJing. Degiorgio rebooted his Applied Rhythm Technology (ART) label this year and is focused on creating full sounding techno that works in club environs. That approach is paying dividends with the recent “Isomer Shift” release on B12, his new “Swarm” EP, the first release for ART’s new Dance Division series and one forthcoming on Planet E. He has applied this same concept to DJing, choosing to play the same type of material he is championing through his own productions. For LWE’s 36th podcast, Degiorgio shares an exclusive mix of what he’s currently spinning and sits down to explain the finer points of running a label, his relationship to DJ technology, and to set the record straight on techno’s debt to jazz.

So ART 08 was just recently released and it received critical acclaim. Why did you decide to revive ART and what is your long-term vision for the label? How do you think it will differ form the previous incarnation of the label?

Kirk Degiorgio: I’d been wanting to revive ART for several years. While I was signed to New Religion for my techno material there was less motivation as they had the resources of a major label behind them, but the label head eventually became MD over at Universal and the label run ended. That was the cue for me to start releasing techno on ART again. I don’t really have a long-term vision for the label as the music industry is changing radically on a monthly basis it seems. Being an independent imprint will allow me adjust quickly to whatever happens hopefully. It will differ from the previous incarnation by being more prolific. The original ART had only seven vinyl and two CD releases in four years!

What did you learn from working with a major label subsidiary (New Religion) and how can you apply it to running ART?

I learned that it’s quite an ordeal to get anything done at a major label. The marketing departments are very influential and everything has to be signed off by somebody higher up the chain. I was very fortunate that Dan Keeling — who started New Religion — was well-thought of at EMI and he managed to put out releases that would have been near-impossible at any other major. But being on a major label obviously has its advantages. New Religion always had great artwork due to the budget available. Alan Oldham created some exclusive art for each EP release and Ben Drury — previously of Mo Wax’s famed art department — created the amazing design for the Electric Institute compilation. Major labels also have the capability to attract mainstream artists for collaboration. Not too many people are aware of this, but if you look at the credits for “What Ever Happened To The Cosmic Kid?” on the Electric Institute compilation, you’ll see it was written by myself, Dan Keeling and C. Martin. That’s Chris Martin of Coldplay! Dan Keeling signed Coldplay to EMI — that’s how he was able to start New Religion in the first place. Dan was playing Chris some techno in his office one afternoon and Chris came up with some chords that we used as a foundation for that track.

As far as applying my major label experiences to running ART — I don’t think much applies. It just reminded me how nice it was to be able to make my own decisions and not have to run everything by somebody higher up. It taught me the importance of marketing I guess, but I doubt ART will ever be dictated by those factors. It’s always just been about releasing music that I like and think will sell in sufficient quantities to not make a significant loss.

I noticed that you were going to be DJing out on a regular basis again. How has the club experience changed since you were last regularly DJing and how do you think that impacts what you are currently playing?

The changes I’ve noticed recently have been a reduction in the amount of mnml being played — I’m a mnml fan by the way — and an upsurge in fuller sounding techno but with mnml and even progressive production influences. I went to Fabric recently to catch the Moritz Von Oswald Trio live, and the other DJs on the night were all playing more of the kind of techno directly influenced by Detroit. Terry Francis played a super set which seemed heavily influenced by Robert Hood, Sandwell District — that kind of stripped down but full-sounding style. The other observation I made is that as far as technology in the booth is concerned, anything goes nowadays. Vinyl, CD, Traktor, Final Scratch, Ableton. DJs have had long enough to experiment and now use whatever they feel most comfortable with. For some, they prefer the tactile physicality of vinyl and to a lesser extent — but similar conceptually — CD’s, others prefer the customisable, limitless nature of Ableton, and Final Scratch/Traktor for those who like a middle-ground between those extremes. As I have made known throughout the years, according to Ableton I was the first known professional DJ to exclusively embrace Ableton for DJing. I don’t say that to be conceited or brag — but it’s just to let people know it takes years to get fully comfortable with a new method of DJing. I’ve had to adapt and change my approach to get the kind of energy levels and intensity that I always believed possible with a laptop, far exceeding what is possible with a traditional approach.

I toured quite extensively up until 2008 and then had to bunker down in London and L.A. for 18 months to produce the next Beauty Room album. I’ve done the occasional gig here and there as I think it’s important to be aware of what the people are currently feeling, and of course, I just love DJing. So although it’s been difficult schedule-wise I’ve been over to Berlin a couple of times and also fitted in some gigs where I really appreciate the crowd, like Melting Pot in Glasgow. With the setup I have now, with MIDI controllers being the key, I can really push the envelope when DJing. Although laptops are commonplace in booths now, I believe my approach is quite individual. It’s a very intense kind of set. I’m really looking forward to playing out regularly again now the Beauty Room album is done and I’ve got a ton of new material to showcase that hasn’t yet been released, and with my agent Richard Maher we’ll be taking it into the kind of venues where my approach works best.

You’ve said yourself that the recent “Mass” track had an “obvious peak-time” feel. And the new “Isomer Shift” track follows suit. What’s influenced your production approach to move in that direction?

Well, obviously I’ve released “peak-time” techno material throughout my career, but perhaps not as prolifically as my other styles. One of the main reasons for this is a legal issue. My Future/Past moniker was always reserved for my more overt club-based techno, but this project remains tied up contractually to R&S Records. R&S hasn’t been fully functional for some years, but I feel I owe it to Renaat for that project to remain dormant waiting for R&S to become active again. Rather than simply sit on all my club material I decided several years ago to start releasing my club-inspired music under my own name for New Religion. I’ve had club hits such as “Nairobi,” “I Do Not Exist,” “Mindstorm” and the Los Hermanos remix of “Germanium” over the past few years, but this year has probably been my most prolific in terms of club-based releases.

My other motivation is purely sonics. The reason mnml gets over so well in the clubs is the production. This trend happened in drum ‘n bass also. You can achieve more punch, power and precision with a stripped down track with few elements to fill up with the frequency spectrum and hence less to control, allowing you to focus on a single sound and build a framework to support that. Achieving this same level of production with more developed, melodic/harmonic, layered material is more difficult. I take this as a challenge and my recent productions such as “Mass” and “Isomer Shift” are examples of this. I’m stripping down my layered, harmonic approach while retaining the essence of “my sound” and some reviewers have described the end result as “grand” or “epic-scale” sounding which is an accurate description, I think. I still like to have some variation on each EP so you’ll usually find something with a different mood tucked away somewhere. I’m due to start touring in early 2010, so I’m spending all of my time in the studio at the moment perfecting this style and there are quite a few releases in the pipeline. “Isomer Shift” is out now on B12 and next month comes the first release in ART’s Dance Division Series. ART-DDS1 is called the “Swarm EP” and consists of three tracks of pure peak-time material. “M-Brane” is due on Planet E sometime soon, just awaiting a C2 mix on that. There will probably be an ART release from myself every two months at this rate.

UK techno history is highly regarded for the releases that you, B12, Stasis, Black Dog Productions, Nuron, Neuropolitique and others put out in the early 90’s. Why do you think that deep techno sound isn’t as prominent any longer? And what would you say to those that are still yearning for it to continue?

It was music of it’s time. Technology, the influences of other styles such as mnml, tech-house — techno has evolved and moved on as it needs to, to remain relevant and exciting. Also, that deep techno sound is not easy to make. It requires a certain understanding of harmony and melodic invention, as well as skilled drum programming. It goes beyond a lot of what goes into making a solid club track today, which can often be devoid of any harmony and is more about the impact of sound. Deep techno is a curious beast. It never seems to work properly if it sounds too “musician-like.” Those early Detroit classics have a certain naive, amateurism about them — certainly in strict musical terms of being in a certain key, etc. Also, there are few artists who can pull-off those icey but strangely uplifting chord changes without them sounding too “trancey.” There does seem to be a healthy deep techno scene that digs into that early sound. Arne Weinberg, Delsin, Vince Watson, Fabrice Lig, Ian O’Brien and others here in Europe, and artists such as Los Hermanos, Shawn Rudiman, Omar-S, et al. over in the US still release great material with echoes of that illustrious age without sounding too dated.

For those wanting that sound to continue strictly in its pure, original form, I would say ‘Move on!’ That original sound was a blueprint, but each artist adds their own unique personality on that foundation and it’s healthy that techno has moved on. It’s great to hear a purist homage to that golden age now and again — Ian O’Brien and myself did this with our “Night On the Promenade” track — but I’m generally not interested in being a retro artist.

Over the years ART had strong connections with like-minded labels (R&S, Planet E, New Electronica, New Religion). What current labels do you see yourself sharing a kinship with and what are those similarities?

That’s a tough question. Obviously I’ve had close associations with Planet E and others for many years now, but I’m very wary of “cliques” forming in this scene and I try to be open and supportive of all labels releasing music I enjoy. Nothing turns me off more than labels and artists grouping together and becoming a “closed shop,” only supporting each others’ releases, etc. It can be like the Eurovision Song Contest with each label voting for each other in a small circle at the exclusion of others. I like to think ART shares a kinship with any independent label out there releasing quality techno because it’s a way of life for the people involved. It’s been a way of life for over 20 years for me and obviously ART has the advantage of a certain pedigree with the artists it’s released in the past; but you only have to look at my monthly charts to see I like to support labels old and new, whether I have a personal involvement with them or not. If new artists and label are not supported the scene becomes very stale, very fast.

Can you talk about how The Kabal boogie-oriented project came to be and is this a solo project or will you be collaborating? What are the biggest challenges in creating a song in this style?

It’s in its very early stages at the moment. I haven’t used samples for a very long time and that is the biggest challenge really — I like to disguise them beyond recognition so there’s a lot of thought and time that’s going into these tracks. Nothing scheduled for release yet as it’s really in its development
stage. No plans for collaboration on this; it would probably test anybody’s patience being in the studio while I endlessly micro-tweak samples!

What is the framework and concept for the Beauty Room project? And what can we expect from the new album?

The Beauty Room project is a mainstream rock/soul project that is about to release it’s second album. It really just came about through working with Jinadu, a vocalist and song-writer who featured on my As One albums for Ubiquity. I produce, co-write, arrange, program and mix the project, but I’m not a musician so we work with a core group of session players in the studio. The success of the first album allowed us to have a considerable budget to record the forthcoming album. We went out to L.A. and recorded a lot of it at Sunset Sound which was an amazing experience. We’ve also recorded at Olympic, Abbey Road and British Grove here in London. The new album is a progression from the first, a fuller sound. Paul Buckmaster has done some stunning orchestral arrangements for us. Paul did the strings on David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” all of the classic early Elton John albums and co-wrote On The Corner with Miles Davis, etc. He is a true genius. I’ll be writing a feature on his career for Wax Poetics early next year.

You have released several albums over the years; do you see the relevance of the album dwindling with digital downloads?

Absolutely. It seems the format which has suffered most recently is the CD album, especially for dance music which has always been stronger as an EP culture anyway. It’s interesting how the format popularity has worked out. It seems there is still a healthy demand for physical product; the first run of vinyl for ART8 has almost all gone which means I’m selling as much now as in the supposed “heyday” of UK techno in the ’90s. Plus now the digital sales are kicking in, so I’ll continue to keep making both formats available. Personally I have a preference for full quality digital files such as wav, or AIFF. I also still buy vinyl if the track is unavailable in any other format. My DJ sets consist of wav’s or AIFF’s only; no mp3’s due to the loss of quality. If no full quality digital file exists I’ll make my own digital master from vinyl. I have digitised and re-mastered hundreds of vinyl tracks over the past few years. Re-mastering some of the old Chicago and Detroit classics gives them a new lease of life in today’s clubs too. Some need it to compete with the impact of contemporary tracks due to the advancements of digital limiters and the loudness wars.

You obviously have a passion for jazz and many have talked about techno being an electronic form of jazz. How do you think jazz informs or manifests itself in your music?

I’m glad you asked this because my comments in the past have caused some misunderstanding regarding jazz and techno. Firstly, I do not see jazz-specifically electronic jazz-as any kind of “original” form of techno. This
is a mis-interpretation of my views. I have often brought to attention the fact that it’s not just European acts such as Kraftwerk, Yello, Cabaret Voltaire, etc. that pioneered electronic music that had an impact on techno. Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Miles Davis, Eddie Harris and other jazz musicians also experimented with electronics and often go unmentioned in the more rock-familiar dance media. It’s more a case of readdressing the balance than any statement that techno came about solely in a direct lineage from these artists. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not a musician — not like Gerald Mitchell, Mike Banks, Jimpster, Ian O’Brien, et al. — who can channel jazz and improvise over chord structures. Jazz more influences my music with the spirit to experiment and explore harmony.

Your Sound Obsession radio show for Red Bull Music Academy allows you to hone in on a particular sound or artist for an entire broadcast. But the different shows display the diversity of the music you appreciate (Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, boogie, Detroit techno). How did you get involved and what goes into preparing and producing the shows?

I first became involved with the Red Bull Academy in 2005 when I was invited to lecture and perform in the ArRange concert in Seattle. Since then I’ve continued to give info-sessions and perform at SONAR for them. The Academy approached me as they launched their radio station and it was a dream come true when they agreed to my concept of presenting a monthly two-hour show on a specific artist/label/genre, etc. It’s a chance for me to introduce listeners to a full chronological retrospective of an artist’s entire works — something rarely done outside of collegiate stations in the U.S. Some shows, such as the Motown
Special, spread over three shows and six hours worth of material. I try to track down every release by the artist/label chosen and then select my personal favourites rather than the most well-known or successful tracks. The show format also allows me to go beyond the dance music genre. I’ve presented shows on The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, as well early Detroit Techno Specials.

You’ve written for Wax Poetics, The Wire and also album liner notes. How did you get started writing and how do you end up choosing your assignments/projects?

My writing projects have all come about with magazines or labels approaching me, except for the Herbie Hancock piece for Wax Poetics which I offered to them after the label I original wrote the piece for — as CD box-set liner notes — became defunct before it could be released. I have a certain “obsessive’s” knowledge of certain areas of music, especially Chicago house, techno, electro, soul, jazz, early rap, etc. So although I don’t consider myself a great writer, I often get asked for my expertise I guess. I like to work with an editor, though; my grammar is abysmal!

What has been your most interesting and/or fulfilling writing assignment?

Meeting up with the late Marc Moulin and writing the liner notes for his Placebo retrospective was a highlight. But without doubt the most fulfilling was the Herbie Hancock feature I did for Wax Poetics last year. I think it was the longest article they have ever published which is frightening because it only included about a third of the original draft! I got to interview all the legends in Herbie’s Mwandishi Band such as Bennie Maupin, Billy Hart, Pat Gleeson, and Eddie Henderson, and Herbie and producer David Rubinson both proof-read and approved the whole thing.

You have been able sustain a career in music through production, DJing and writing. Which of them do you enjoy doing most and which pays the bills?

You can’t beat the immediate excitement of DJing to a packed appreciative crowd. I’ve been lucky with my DJing in that I haven’t over-exposed myself by extensive touring, hence promoters and clubbers alike always seem to be pleasantly surprised that I’m basically a party DJ. You may not catch me playing “Strings Of Life” or “Jaguar,” but I refuse to play over people’s heads either. People generally go clubbing to have a good time, not to be patronised or educated; and once I gain their trust early on there is nothing more enjoyable than knowing you have a crowd that is willing to be taken wherever you want to take them over the next few hours. Enjoyment through production is a thoroughly different kind because as an artist you are always striving to improve, explore and never keep still, whereas with DJing you can relax and just live in the moment.
Which pays the bills? My publishing royalties and savings I’ve made from scoring TV ads back in the ’90s. DJing, remixing, the radio show, liner notes, licensing, etc. It’s all about diversifying and having the basics in place these days. Not that I sensibly planned any of my career. As Patti Labelle once sang, “Music Is a Way Of Life.”

We’ve got something special for you this sunday: a new mix by our very good friend, silent servant. inspired by a super deep opening set from regis at the recent sandwell district gig in berlin, this is a more downbeat and introspective mix, well suited for a sunday. in his own words, “it is an all vinyl mix from a stack of my favorite dub techno and dub inspired non techno tracks. it was mixed in one shot.” this shows yet another side of juan mendez, further illustrating the depth and breadth of his musical knowledge. i am consistently impressed by this man’s creativity, and strongly feel he is one of the most interesting and worthwhile voices in contemporary techno. respect.

A deep space journey through electronic dance music

The CLR Podcast 037, this Monday, 9th of November 2009, with a massive set from Benny Rodrigues… Enjoy, guys! Benny Rodrigues has infiltrated himself in the list of famous Dutch top DJs in a very short time. This Rotterdam born and raised talent with Portuguese blood understands the art of using the funk, of getting the dancing floor full and the room to its feet. Although confessed because of its groovy/funky (deep) tech-house sound with lots of detroit, minimal and acid influences, he also knows that he has to do some work now and then and he knows how he must use that hatchet, what results in a particularly strong and delightful portion of techno which remains above everything well digestible. Besides his huge amount of dj-gigs, Benny’s main focus nowadays is to produce music wich reflects his tipycal edge sound, so the rest of the world will get to know and experience where Benny Rodrigues musically stands for. With releases scheduled on Darren Emerson’s (ex-Underworld) Underwater Records and other very interesting upcoming projects he’s setting himself quite a good step in the right direction!

Margaret Dygas’ position as an avant garde techno producer has been achieved with only three proper releases to her name but backed up by years of formidable DJ sets around the world. Born in Poland, she spent her formative teenage years growing up in America and now, like so many other dance music producers, lives in Berlin. Her exquisitely executed tracks have been released on Contexterrior, Non Standard Productions and Perlon, each showing a progression in her abilities and slowly revealing a distinctive type of sound. LWE hoped to learn much more about the budding artist in our interview but it turns out that Miss Dygas prefers to let her music do the majority of her talking. Read on for the words we managed to glean out of her and check the stunning podcast after the interview for a more revealing glimpse into the world of Margaret Dygas.

Judging by your bio you’ve done lots of moving around in your life from a young age. Musically did this help you discover a lot of different types of music?

Sure, traveling helped a lot, but I know I’ve only scratched the surface so far.

Having experienced the laid back lifestyle of California, the club-kids era of New York, as well as living in London and Berlin, what place do you feel has shaped you the most, both creatively and as a person? And are the sounds that you assimilated with in those different parts of your life and love of music creeping in to your current productions?

Every place left a mark in different ways. If I have to point a finger, it would be New York. I loved that place! Amazing times with lots of great memories, as with London and Berlin. There are very specific sounds that remind me of New York, for example, but I’m not sure if they are creeping in to my current productions. I will check it out.

You’re known for having a distinct sound of your own. A DJ’s sound is one that is always evolving but also there is a moment when it clicks for them. When did you think to yourself that you’d found a unique sound and what were you doing at that time in your life?

I don’t look for a specific “sound” as such, so it’s very nice to hear that people think I have a unique sound.

What has been your most enjoyable residencies to date?

Panorama Bar, a very, very special place for me!

Where did you get the vocal samples from for “Invisible Circles”?

From an Internet radio station.

Your productions have a very free form element to them. Rather than regular floor tracks which tend to be more predictable with their arrangements to the point of knowing when the bass/kick/synth is going to come in etc, how do you write and sequence your tracks so that they are cohesive and resolve themselves?

I don’t have a “formula” as far as arrangement. Listening to it over and over and over again (with some tea breaks in between) helps to see if something is annoying or doesn’t belong. I keep playing around until it feels comfortable somehow — and in a way, because it’s never really finished, or am I alone on this one?

You have spent a good many years based in London and are now residing in Berlin. What do you feel are the differences in the working patterns of producers and DJs and how have you operated in each city?

Some have studios at home, some like to go to another location to make noises.I would guess there are quite a few night birds around here, like myself. I don’t know the patterns and operations enough of those two cities to compare.

What are the pros and cons of living as a DJ/producer in each city?

That “cons” can be “pros” and sometimes “pros” may be “cons.”

Tobias Freund has helped out on a couple of your releases with some mixing and production. How did you two meet? What did he bring or unlock in each track he helped out on?

I met him at a party in Berlin. Tobias helped me with pre-mastering and levels in general. Made the sound warmer, more detailed. [He has a] very cool pair of ears.

Your output so far is somewhat teasing to those who are encountering your music. Can we expect more frequent releases from you soon?

I’m sweatin’ ova’ here, workin’ ova’ time. There will be something on Power Shovel Audio, in the spring.

What can we expect from you next year?

Maybe some gray hair?! Wishing you all lots of warm vibes out there! Give earth a kiss!