The Necks

One of my absolute all time favorite minimalist jazz groups.

Highest Pleasure

One of the factors that keeps creative black music alive and changing is the ability of the musicians to blend their experience and emotions into the actual fibers of the music. Rudolph Johnson is a musician who has reached that plane where spirit and techniques fuse to form free creative energy.
The 1973 ‘Second Coming‘ album on Black Jazz Records by Rudolph is like the transition between these two states, releasing the energies of rebirth…..the second coming.

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Rudolph Johnson – ‘The Highest Pleasure’

Sci-Fi Dopeness

Reblogged through Firemusic.

Ultra-relaxed

Guest Interview/OTAM Mix 19: Falko Brocksieper – ‘Decemberumbrella′

This 19th of December edition of the Amsterdam labelnight ‘Redevice invites…’ @ Studio 80 features the scandalously underrated Sub Static and Karloff Rekordings label-boss Falko Brocksieper. In order to keep up with our reputation of providing a playground for more experimental and absurd techno approaches, we’ve also invited Vera Heindel, San Proper & Kouam Djoko. Talk about letting those dogs out.
Here’s an exclusive interview plus mix avec Falko, to get the juices flowing.

Could you tell us about the founding of Sub Static and Karloff Recordings. What was your role in both labels?

Sub Static was founded in Cologne in 2000 when I met my long-term partner MIA. Our aim was just to create a small platform for our music and ideas. However this soon became a more serious occupation, as we increasingly enjoyed to work for international content and reputation. It led to the desire to release an even wider range of electronic music we loved, so the sublabel Karloff Rekordings was established in 2003.
At times we had approaches to grow the labels to a higher business level, but after all the basis of our motivation and qualification was always just to release and promote our favourite music.
Mia and I never had clearly defined roles in the label management, so anything within A&R, promotion, administration, accounting was my daily business. I also did all of the graphic design.

One of our favorite mixes of the year is the MNML SSG MX36 you did, which features half-forgotten gems from the likes of Mouse On Mars, Robert Hood & Plaid. Could you tell us something about your musical roots and artists that have most inspired you?

What first got me into techno was trance, mostly european stuff, in the early 90’s. However at the time this wasn’t even a clearly outlined genre, neither was it cheesy or commercial. It simply meant – techno that is monotonic and trippy. When I got my first set of turntables and started to spend more time in recordshops I soon discovered the music of Robert Hood, Jeff Mills, Dan Bell, Woody McBride.. alot of mid-90’s minimal techno, mostly from the states. And soon after there was stuff like Aphex Twin, Mouse on Mars, Two Lone Swordsmen, Mille Plateaux & Rephlex stuff…. also alot of electro. Then even more techno – Cristian Vogel & Brighton crew, Maurizio, Kompakt… It’s been exciting times musically, which intensified for me even more when I moved to Cologne in 1997 to study at the Academy of Media Arts.
It’s this spirit of the 2nd half of the 90’s that I tried to capture in the recent mix you mentioned. Part of the spirit is also the health, complexity and mysticism of musical culture at that time — it seems like a very short time window between the farreaching innovation of electronic music, and the start of desktop producing, discogs, downloads and information overkill.

You originate from Cologne, but you operate from Berlin since 2004. Has this move influenced your productions/DJ-sets in a significant way?

I can’t really say how much influence this or the other city has. I think for the main part, moving to another place always changes your way of thinking, and gives you a new perspective on many things — which was also what I was looking for when I decided to move.
What I can say is – approving the clichee – Berlin has been and still is a very inspiring & vibrant place to live and I have no desire to live anywhere else.

You’ve been pretty productive lately when it comes to releasing. Do you have a lot of unreleased material stored up somewhere?

No, piles of unreleased material is what i never had, unfortunately. However this year has been quite productive indeed. Last year I finally released my 2nd album and was touring with my first live set, both helping me to get a fresh approach on the new productions that came out this year.

Any future plans we should know about?

Right now I’m working on a completely new live set, enabling me to be a bit more flexible and improvisational. It’s also giving me ideas for a couple of new tracks already. You can expect some new releases of me in early 2009, but it’s too soon now to announce any particulars.
Also I’m in the studio again with Benjamin Fehr, recording new material as ‘The Result’. Our first release came out this summer on his label Catenaccio. Another EP will be out soon on Brouqade Rec, as well as remixes on TicTacToe and the remarkable NervMusic from Moscow.

Tracklist:
01. Basic Soul Unit – ‘Hope.unity.vision’
02. Falko Brocksieper – ‘Never Mind’
03. Soul Clap – ‘Beauty Sleep’
04. Rene Breitbarth – ‘Pump’
05. Hakim Murphy – ‘Jupiter Poop’
06. Seuil – ‘Lost In The Soul Shower’
07. Dan Ghenacia & Djebali – ‘Eightball’
08. Motorcitysoul – ‘Vivid [Roman Flügel’s RMX]’
09. Khan & Brigitte Fontaine – ‘Fine Mouche’
10. Wasted Chicago Youth – ‘Shake Them Gears’
11. Hell feat. P. Diddy – ‘The Dj [Jay Haze RMX)’
12. Dollz At Play – ‘Oscura Wand In Paris’
13. Ambivalent – ‘808 Clap’
14. Dinky – ‘Epilepsia’

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OTAM Mix 19: Falko Brocksieper – ‘Decemberumbrella’

OTAM Mix 18: Frodo – ‘Theresnonibbit’

Light, levitating, but with a firm funk base. The mix in hand exactly moves within this range: an overview of most important slightly-overlooked electronic classics of the past decade, mixed together in the playful manner we all have that craving for. Frodos’ definition of electronic club music is mainly based on House, even if some tracks sound more obscure & dub-infused.
One and-a-half hours of genre-defining tracks to rock to.

Tracklist will follow shortly.

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OTAM mix18: Frodo – ‘Theresnonibbit’

Detroit’s Last Vinyl Pressing Plant

Guest Interview/OTAM Mix 17: Matthew Styles – ‘Live At Beach Club Beach′

This October’s edition of the ‘Redevice invites…’ clubnight at Studio 80 in Amsterdam, is an epic roundup of the best artists from its international stable of affiliate producers, one of which is the very talented Matthew Styles.
From his residencies at the legendary Crosstown Rebels ‘Slash & Burn’ parties and Berlin’s WMF to his now monthly appearances at Berlin’s Panorama Bar and his regular features at Fabric in the U.K., his solid appreciation of what the dance-floor needs, and with an acute sense of taste, Matthew easily transgresses all house music regardless of trends.
Besides treatin’ ya to a two-and-a-half hour mix of the man, here’s an interview we did with him, which outlines his musical roots & future plans.

Be sure to pass by on the 10th of October if you’re in the Amsterdam area!

Your productions seem to be infused with classic Detroit techno, but also seem to be infected by an old-school funk flow. Could you tell us a little bit about your musical roots and your biggest influences?

When I was growing up my father was DJing in clubs and he was close with Tony, the founder of DMC. DMC was like a club for DJ’s which was very popular in the 80’s. They were famous for their DJ Only remix compilations and they also started the magazine Mixmag for DJ’s…
I remember reading these magazines a lot, and another one called something like Jocks [which became DJ magazine I think].
It was before the acid house thing. I remember people like Steve Silk Hurley, Colonel Abrahams, Shalamar, Pebbles, The Jets and stuff like that being popular. I was encouraged to use the turntables and mixer we had at home once I was old enough to be responsible for not scratching the records…
DJ friends of my dad taught me some tricks and gave me some insights, and my interest took off from there really…
Later on in the early 90’s Tony Humphries was a big influence on me, and his mix of upfront vocal style & deep techno was something very inspiring. That influence keeps me pretty open minded about what music can move a floor rhythmically and emotionally…

What have you been working on recently?

I have been doing some remixes, one for a project of Seth Troxler, Shaun Reeves and Hector called ‘The Royal We’,
and also I just did a remix for Radio Slave under the Worst Case Scenario moniker I have with Ed Cartwright — which was a big honour to do.

You originate from England, and you’re currently living in Berlin. Did the move to Germany have a big influence on the way you produce and DJ nowadays?

I think the German influence was already strong before I moved here. I was coming for 7 or 8 years, to party and also to play. I had a lot of good connections here, so to move was the final logical step. It’s a slightly different approach to partying and DJ-ing: everything last’s for much longer, and I really appreciate the attitude towards music here…
I am very lucky to have been playing at the Panorama Bar so much since I have been here, and because of that I really tried to focus on what I could bring to the table in a city so full of great DJ’s. I really try to represent my influences as best as possible in terms of Dj-ing and production.

What are you up to next?

I will finish new EP’s under my own name, as mostly this year has been more about the other projects I have like the Worst Case Scenario one, also eMT, which I do with Tobi Neumann, and finally Taxi Funk, which is a project I am working on with Jorge Gonzales from Los Updates…

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OTAM Mix 17: Matthew Styles – ‘Live At Beach Club Beach′

OTAM Mix 16: Frodo – ‘Incredible Detour’

For this mix I took a classical rooted but forward-looking approach to prototypical house and techno, first by greatly expanding its scope with timeless sounding gems, but mostly by significantly championing submerged underground sounds, consisting of dubby synthesizer melodies and funk-laden percussive rhythms. Enjoy.

Tracklist:
01. John Tejada – ‘The Locus Of Points’
02. Mr. Barth – ‘Above The Skyline’
03. Lowtec – ‘Please Go Away’
04. Marc Romboy – ‘The Awakening’
05. Frankie Knuckles – ‘Baby Wants To Ride’
06. The Persuader – ‘A1 Untitled’
07. Rick Wade – ‘Ricky’s Groove’
08. Brommage Dub – ‘Brommage Dub’
09. Gadi Mizrahi – ‘I’ll Set Your House’
10. Jesper Dahlback & Jean-Louis Huhta – ‘Midnight Express Pt. 1’
11. Kassem Mosse – ‘Untitled A1’
12. Jesper Dahlback – ‘The Lonesome Dub’
13. Isolee – ‘Albacares’
14. Kerri Chandler – ‘Keep Me Inside’
15. Delano Smith – ‘I Feel This’
16. Verdict – ‘People At Night [Portable Remix]’
17. Iz & Diz – ‘Happy [Strip Mix]’
18. Jus-Ed – ‘Wonderment’
19. Peaches And Prunes – ‘Welcome To The Club [Ron Hardy Re-Edit]’

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OTAM Mix 16: Frodo – ‘Incredible Detour’

Paris Is Burning

All i can say is, watch it if you haven’t already…