bringdownthewalls.

“Y’ALL want this party started right?” Not only the refrain from Kraze’s warehouse anthem The Party from back in the day but fast becoming the adopted motto of Session Victim, the lovable German DJ and production dudes. Having made their London debut earlier this year behind the decks at blossoming free-party You Are We, the boys rocked it so comprehensively that the organisers signed them on the spot to return for their summer closing party.

In fact it has been quite a year already for Hauke Freer and Matthias Reiling [aka Session Victim]. Apart from cementing their reputation as party DJs par excellence, there’s been a clutch of excellent releases on labels such as the vinyl-only Retreat [which Freer runs with Quarion] and Delusions of Grandeur, including one of the hottest tracks so far this year, the stunningly-catchy The Keyboarder, while Reiling has also made time to release his debut album Das Gespenst Von Altona.

So with London calling yet again, bringdownthewalls caught up with the Session Victim chaps with their tongues firmly in their cheeks for a second time ahead of their much-anticipated return to You Are We at Corbet Place [August 29] to chat ladettes, new projects and the very-ace podcast they cooked up to celebrate their latest UK visit.

You made your London debut at You Are We and immediately they booked you to come back. So you must have done something right?

Matthias: The club was so packed and there was such an intense, euphoric atmosphere right from the start. It was just an ideal situation to play our records. We were overwhelmed by how the people reacted to the music.

What were your initial impressions of the scene here in London?

Hauke: We saw hardly any chin-strokers, just a friendly open-minded crowd eager to dance. But honestly, we got just a glimpse of the parties in London, so we don’t really know.

Were there any obvious differences or similarities with back home, especially Berlin?

Matthias: I saw really young girls drinking absolutely unbelievable amounts of beer in a really short time in London the last time we were there. I mean, people certainly know how to drink at home, but that was something else…

It’s been a tough time in London lately especially for some of the bigger well-known clubs, venues and brands, which has opened the door for others to make their mark. How are things in Germany?

Hauke: In Berlin you have an overwhelming surplus of DJs and parties. You become spoilt by it really. I prefer to go off the beaten paths and check out the smaller events where I meet my friends and the music is generally better.

And given the tough economic situation generally, how are things for a vinyl-only label such as Retreat?

Hauke: With Retreat, our aim was to release music without any compromises at the pace we choose, not to make money. Luckily we have received great support from people at the shops.

Talking of projects, what have you both got coming up individually?

Matthias: I am individually producing lots of great new tracks for Session Victim. Hauke is more or less waiting for the finished hits.

Hauke: Matthias is indeed a great keyboarder.

So what is coming up together as Session Victim then?

Hauke: A follow-up on Delusions of Grandeur called Million Dollar Feeling is coming in September. We have contributed a song to the next Wolf Music EP too. Also, we are working on a few remixes. Matthias is working on his second album for Giegling. And we have some edits coming out on vinyl on a new label.

You’ll be playing alongside Lee Curtiss [Spectral/Wolf + Lamb] at You Are We this time and it’s been a good year for both him and also Wolf + Lamb. Are you looking forward to catching Lee play?

Matthias: I’ve heard good things about that label [Wolf + Lamb]. Never seen Lee play so far. My expectations are high.

You put together a really sweet mix for You Are We. Tell me a little about it?

Matthias: We recorded it at Hauke’s place with just records, of course. We had a much longer list of tracks in the beginning but we decided to throw everything overboard that didn’t feel completely necessary.

Hauke: It’s mainly favourite records we have had with us over the last few months.

Check out:

Session Victim @ Myspace 

Session Victim’s You Are We Mix

You Are We

Summer 2010 

SUBURBIA has always been a fertile breeding ground for creativity. In particular the rebellious, inventive, curious or simply plain-bored youth from London’s environs have left an indelible mark on society having played a significant if not pivotal role, depending on whose sub-cultural history you choose, in both punk and acid house.

Now while there may not be any kind of revolution, sub-cultural or otherwise, brewing in the Surrey town of Oxted, there has certainly been a quiet storm of creativity emanating from one corner of this leafy London suburb. HomePark have been thoughtfully, resolutely and carefully honing their very British take on the deep house, Detroitesque sound over the past couple of years from the seemingly incongruous setting of the capital’s commuter-belt. Clearly setting matters not a jot, however, as Samuel Fussell and Rob Glassett, the production and DJ duo behind HomePark, have been earnestly forging their own sound and identity whilst nevertheless paying their humble respects to the producers and artists who have influenced their own work.

When the pair name-check the likes of Kenny Dixon Jr. (AKA Moodymann) Madlib, Pépé Bradock, St. Germain and Rondenion as those who inspired them to make music, it comes as no real surprise. Fast-forward to current inspirations such as Baaz, Sai, Ethyl & Flori, BLM, Erdbeerschnitzel, Kyle Hall, Ernie, Ordell, Iron Curtis, Mount Kimbie, James Blake and Instra:mental. HomePark sit very well indeed in such first-class company.

Yet at the same time, despite their unashamed influences, HomePark’s sound is still very much their own.

“Yeah, we definitely put our own spin on these influences, or at least we try to,” explained Fussell. “We try to make music that sounds new and fresh but also has a familiar feel to it. It’s hard to get the balance right.”

Balance though is something they are clearly getting right, as anyone who has caught their productions-to-date will testify, and in some ways perhaps owes as much to their long-term friendship as to their undoubted talent.

“We were at school together when we were 16,17,18 [Fussell is now 25 and Glassett is 24]. Rob was the year below me but we became friends through DJing at local parties and stuff,” continued Fussell. “He happened to live a five-minute walk from my house so we spent a lot of time just mixing in our bedrooms. Even though we had different backgrounds and tastes in music before we met, we explored a lot of new music together and just really enjoyed DJing, buying vinyl and so on.”

The pair clearly complement each other and their shared love of beats is the defining bond as initially they came together from different musical directions. “When I met Sam I was definitely a hip-hop head,” explained Glassett. “I love my old-school golden era rap, mainly for listening. For DJing, UK garage, drum & bass, especially Liquid [a sub-genre of dnb]. Really enjoyed the deeper sounding tracks. When I first met Sam he was always playing me house music, which I wasn’t really aware of at the time. Naturally it had an impact on me and now I’ve ended up loving it.”

For Fussell though, house always came first. “Well, I was always into house of some kind. I was going to Ibiza and clubs in London like Turnmills at the time, even though I was quite young. As for producers, I was quite into Timo Mass, Laurent Garnier, people like that, but always quite open-minded to different genres like drum & bass and garage.”

Despite their history, it was less than two years ago that they finally decided to try their hand at production together. “I had been away at university and living abroad for about five years,” Fussell said. “But we stayed really close mates. So when I came back home we both enrolled on a production course and really went for it.

“We usually start making the ideas for tracks on our own because we find it easier to relax and be creative, but then we pick the ones we like and finish them together to get the benefit of both perspectives.”

Glassett added: “I think we produce differently, but what is most important is what the end product sounds like. I’m always happiest when we’re both satisfied.”

The move into production was especially significant for Glassett. “I’m basically a university drop out,” he explained. “After my failed attempt at a ‘music technology’ degree I ended up working for a couple of years, which was quite depressing. Producing tracks is something we’d always talked about and we finally both had the time and money for equipment, so there was some great timing involved.”

It paid off. No sooner had HomePark uploaded their first demos onto Myspace than highly-rated labels showed their hand and interested parties came sniffing around. All of which inevitably led to their debut EP, the ever-so classy Estimated, which was released this summer on new London-based label Bliq.

“Bliq Records is run by two really good friends of ours, Budolars & El Freak. We met them at a night they put on in Dalston,” according to Glassett. “They were the first people to bring Baaz [Quintessentials/Sthlmaudio Recordings] over to England. We had seen his name on the flyer so went to check it out and heard these guys DJing for a few hours before. The whole night was absolute quality house music and we have been great pals ever since.”

The follow-up, the equally impressive four-track Forever Walking EP, came hot on the heels of their debut outing, this time on 3^rd Strike Records, as Fussell explained: “Rob had spoken with David [Griffiths, who runs 3rd Strike and Under the Shade] randomly at a party on Brick Lane he was playing. Then a while later he sent us a message saying he remembered meeting one of us and really liked a couple of tracks we had up online. So we sent him some demos. We really liked him straight away because there was no messing about. He then agreed on the tracks, got them mastered, pressed and on sale really quickly.”

So as not to let the grass grow under their feet, next up is a release on Enterbt. Mastering was by the legendary Chez Damier, which the boys admit was somewhat “surreal” yet “awesome” and with the end result “a really nice job”, while forthcoming too is a digital-only EP on Nick Lawson’s new imprint, SheWolf Music, featuring a couple of remixes by the label head himself.

More releases will undoubtedly follow for the talented duo and Fussell admitted that they are constantly working on new material and are “open to releasing on new labels if we like their sound”. Despite also working on individual projects though, both insist that their joint project is without doubt their main priority. Right now it seems that, to coin a phrase, home [park] is where the heart is.

Check out:

HomePark @ Myspace

HomePark @ RA

HomePark Podcast for Whomp FM

Summer 2010

NOW while the world is without doubt a weird place at times, it would be reasonable to assume that house music and G. K. Chesterton have probably never featured in the same sentence together. Until now, that is. But feature they do thanks to the burgeoning Chilean electronic label Ojo de Apolo, a tad bizarrely named after a story by the esteemed and long-dead English writer.

In truth the name Ojo de Apolo was new round these parts. But then with the proliferation and demise of music labels of differing quality in recent years, that’s hardly surprising.

More surprising, however, is the fact that Ojo de Apolo had still managed to evade bringdownthewalls’ musical radar despite on closer investigation the quality of its releases, albeit still small in number, its obvious ambition, international feel and the stature of many of those connected with the imprint. Indeed, when a label can boast names such as Session Victim’s Hauke Freer, Reggie Dokes, head honcho of Detroit label Psychostasia Recordings, Kai Alcé from Omar S’s FXHE imprint and the legend that is DJ Sprinkles amongst those who have or are currently working with them, then you know it’s time to put on the headphones, sit up and take notice.

And the fact that the Santiago-based label is set to go vinyl-only, despite being so far from the perceived epicentres of the house-world and at a time of rising costs and slow sales generally, only adds to the intrigue surrounding and interest in the South American project. Add to the equation too the label’s “micro-sexy-deep-house” mantra and that equals a venture worth a much closer inspection. 

So bringdownthewalls decided it was high time to catch up with label boss Jorge Cortés – whose recent funky-as-fuck La Isla Siniestra mix can be checked out right here – to find out just why he’s still in love with vinyl, how he managed to assemble such an impressive roster and what’s hot in Chile right now.

Tell me about Ojo de Apolo. How, when and why did the label come about?

It started at the end of 1997. During that time I was starting to produce music with machines and software and I wanted a working name. At the same time I was reading a book of police stories by an old writer called G.K. Chesterton called The Eye of Apollo. Ojo De Apolo is the Spanish translation, so that’s the origin.

But the label didn’t really kick-off properly until much later.

During that earlier time the label was more a collective run by me and other Chilean friends and producers. We released several cdrs and put on events but then there was a break. Some stopped producing, there were differences of style and taste and at the same time I started to focus on sending demos for release by other labels. So there was a pause. The second part and official start of Ojo de Apolo was in 2008 focusing on releasing vinyl and to be distributed worldwide. The beginnings of the label were just more local work and other style of sounds.

What is the philosophy behind the label?

There’s not really a big or intricate philosophy, just the intention to release good music by artists that I like and my own tracks too as Jorge C. and Receptor. That was one of the main reasons to start releasing by myself, firstly to have plenty of freedom and secondly because it is very difficult to get the attention of other labels to release your stuff. Another point is not to be restrained by styles or targets and try to mix well-known artists with unknown artists and catch their attention. Maybe the philosophy of the label can be summed up in what the homepage says: micro-sexy-deep-house. 

Tell me about the different artists involved with the label.

There are several ones, but sadly right now I’m not sure if I will be able to release all of them, or at least not right now, due the high costs of vinyl manufacture and at the same time not being able to sell enough copies. So I can mention the cliché that I do this for the love of art. With the ones that I have worked or talked with lately there are Kai (Alphahouse/Süd Electronic), Bern (Trapez/Underl_ne), Hauke Freer (Real Soon/Retreat), Receptor (Them/Adjunct/Winsome Music/Citymorb), Reggie Dokes (Philpot/Psychostasia/Deep Explorer), Kai Alcé (FXHE/Real Soon/NDATL Muzik/Mahogani), Basic Soul Unit (Ostgut Ton/Philpot/New Kanada/Mathematics Recordings/Mule Electronic) and Jorge C. (Matrix Records Detroit). 

Is it important that despite the high costs and limited sales that Ojo de Apolo remains a vinyl label?

At the moment Ojo de Apolo is both vinyl and digital too (at Juno or Zero Inch for example), but with our fourth and latest release, as well as with future ones, I will offer them only in vinyl, in order to focus on that format and for the love of that. I always prefer a vinyl DJ over a digital DJ and the sound has no comparison. I remember what a t-shirt that a friend gave me said: “hey laptop DJ, your girlfriend prefers 12 inches”.

What do you think about the number of digital-only labels now out there?

At the beginning, when I first discovered netlabels around 2003, this was something original for me and quite nice due to the fact that most of them were free. I must say that Thinner is my all-time favorite. But then it became an invasion of netlabels, many of them very bad. And due to the fact that they don’t have such high costs to bear they sometimes are not so choosey when picking artists or put out lots of releases. There’s a lot of vinyl labels too that have bad music, so at the end I don’t want to sound purist. More than the format, what is most important for me is the music itself, but of course, if it’s in vinyl then that is a plus.

You are working with some really interesting artists from all over the world, from Reggie Dokes to Kai Alcé to Hauke Freer. How did that happen?

I used to write lists with people whose music I like and then via mail or Myspace I invite them to participate in the label with their own tracks or as a remixer. For sure some don’t answer me, some others say yes but later they don’t answer any more and then there are the ones that answer and are interested. I think this fact both gives the label some direction and gives it some funny surprises too. There are others that I contact just because I know them personally and are friends.

There is a real “international feel” about the label and its sound. Was that intentional?

Not a real intention just a consequence. I don’t like nationalism; it’s just a matter of music. At the same time there are not so many Chilean producers to choose from.

I guess Ricardo Villalobos is regarded as the most influential Chilean artist on the electronic scene although, of course, he moved to Germany as a child. So tell me about some of the other Chilean artists and DJs we should be listening out for.

Like I said before, most of them live outside Chile. From those ones, I like almost all the works of Cristian Vogel and Villalobos, the album 42 Mädchen from Chica And The Folder and Los Siete Castigos from Dandy Jack & The Junction SM. And from the ones that live here and are producing I like some tracks of Miguel Tutera, the duo Alta Infidelidad too, which is a joint project between Christian Dittmann and myself and, as with Receptor, is released by the German net-label Thinner. I enjoy Fantasna too, a member of the net-label NoMucho, which produces parties too. And as for DJs, Leo Diez the owner of that label is nice. That’s it. It’s a small scene!

So what’s the house scene like in Chile right now?

I’m not sure if there’s a house scene here in Chile. It tends to be more a miscellaneous scene.  Maybe there’s a tendency lately to repeat the formula created by Luciano and the Cadenza label; a sort of ethnic/Latin/minimal style that was ok in the beginning but right now is a bit saturated and needs to be re-invented!! There’s not a large population in Chile and not so many producers. 

Back to the label then, what is on the agenda release-wise?

Recently we released New Retro EP (Ojo.04) by Mical Rhebess & Pevanu, a duo from the Netherlands, which contains a remix from Kai Alcé from Atlanta. The next releases will be titled House Is My Soul EP (ojo.05) by Reggie Dokes from Detroit plus a remix from a new talent called Mindlo from South Africa and then Jorge C.’s A Little Bit (ojo.06) featuring a remix by the legendary producer Terre Thaemlitz aka DJ Sprinkles.

DJ Sprinkles is a real legend and the album Midtown 120 Blues the best album of last year for so many people. You must be really excited about the remix? How did working with Terre come about?

Yes, you’re right. I’ve liked his work for a long time, since around the year 2000, with his aka Terre Thaemlitz and it was a nice surprise to see him later doing music as DJ Sprinkles. I always like when someone reinvents his sound or tries to explore other styles. During that time I did an interview with him when I was writing in a Chilean zine called loop.cl and then I thought to contact him again proposing a remix. Luckily he answered fast!

And your plans for the label generally?

The schedule is almost ready until number ten of the catalogue, then it will be a break for some time. This is not a big label or enterprise so there’s no point in releasing thousands of titles like other labels. I think it is better to enjoy with calm and peace every release. In the meantime, I’m trying to catch the attention of specialist media and be discovered by millions of people!

Check out:

Ojo de Apolo’s Myspace

Jorge C.’s La Isla Siniestra mix

Jorge C.’s Pantera mix

Summer 2010

SOME things just feel right. Take for instance a pair of cool German dudes, long-time friends and both vinyl junkies, with a wry sense of humour, a passion for house music and a penchant for cute furry animals hatching a plan to play, party and produce together. Now that feels right.

In fact everything about Session Victim [aka Hauke Freer and Matthias Reiling] feels right, right now. Individually the DJ and production partnership have served their time as serious record collectors, party promoting and on solo projects too, while amongst many other things Freer is one half of vinyl-only label Retreat alongside Quarion and Reiling runs a recording studio in Hamburg with a group of friends.

It is together as Session Victim, however, that the duo is really turning heads now. Having warmed-up with a string of damn fine releases over the last couple of years on Real Soon, Hairy Claw and the aforementioned Retreat, the pair really found their stride at the start of this year with the sublime Left the Building EP on Jimpster’s new imprint, Delusions of Grandeur. Occupying that space aptly dubbed “disco halfway-house” recently by Resident Advisor scribe Jack Haighton, the release was shown love from all quarters and exposed the duo to an even wider audience.

Yet whether it be nu-disco, deep house, minimal or tech house, the common thread bonding not only Session Victim’s own work but their DJ sets too (check out their recent podcast for Delusions of Grandeur) is that overwhelming feeling they do it above all else with a sense of fun and a whole lotta love.

Bringdownthewalls caught up with Session Victim as they prepare to make their UK debut spinning at the You Are We first birthday bash on Easter Sunday at Corbet Place. And as if that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, the boys have also kindly recorded an exclusive and rather ace mix together as a wee taster for their forthcoming guest appearance at the free party in London.

Tell me how Session Victim came together.

Hauke: We’ve known each other since our school days, when we organised parties in our hometown Lüneburg. Both of us had been making music and on New Year’s Day 2007 we started jamming on some tunes together for the first time. Since then we try to meet as much as possible to spend time in the studio.

So where did the name Session Victim come from?

Hauke: It relates to the way we make music. We never plan to make a certain type of music. We just sample stuff and see where it takes us.

Your productions have swayed from deep to tech house but since Left The Building you’ve been filed in that part-House/part-disco category alongside the likes of Soundstream and The Revenge. How do you describe your sound and what is it you aim to create with your tracks?

Matthias: What about sample-based House music with a touch of disco and a certain amount of soul? Our aim is to make the fellas holler and the ladies shake their thang, or to be more precise, to make everybody smile and dance together.

In my humble opinion, The Keyboarder is already an early contender as one of the tracks of this year.

Matthias: Really? Wow, thank you.

How did that track come about and how do you generally approach your work together?

Hauke: The track came together as most of our music does. We head to a local record store and pick up some old records. We sample some stuff and play around with the sounds. Once we have some nice loops we turn on our synths to add bass or other sounds.

You split your time between Berlin and Hamburg. Everyone knows of course about Berlin these days, but what’s the electronic music scene like in Hamburg?

Hauke: Hamburg is great. For instance, you won’t find anything like the tiny Golden Pudel Club with its unbeaten atmosphere.

Matthias: There’s plenty of stuff going on in Hamburg. Labels like Smallville, Meander, DIYnamic or Mirau. Besides the Golden Pudel, you should visit the EGO and the Baalsaal. You’ll find good DJs and good sound systems there.

And which artists, producers and DJs are you are into?

Hauke: I enjoy all sorts of music. For instance, I’m inspired by the music of MF Doom, Madlib, Theo Parrish, Asha Puthli, Soundstream and Photek. Lately too by old productions of Ian Pooley and DJ Sneak. They write music that stands the test of time and has the right amount of soul and funk in it.

Matthias: Shadow, Premier, Pete Rock, Amon Tobin, the almighty Portishead. All the Stax music, especially most of the stuff with the MGs on it. House-wise it’s the early stuff of Nick Holder’s DNH label that makes me bang my head right now, as well as the incredible The Revenge productions of course. There’s about 1200 more names that come to my mind, but let’s leave it as it is.

You’re both renowned die-hard vinyl junkies and of course Hauke you co-own a vinyl-only label. So how did you each get into vinyl?

Hauke: I was skipping school to hang out at the local record store, Ins Ohr, where I basically listened to every record that came in. Mostly drum ‘n’ bass and trip hop, lots of Metalheadz and Ninja Tune. I could afford about two or three records a month. I have to thank the shop owner for his patience.

Matthias: My first records were mostly hardcore and metal albums. Stuff like Slayer, Morning Again, Snapcase or Final Exit. Then came all the hip hop, blues and soul stuff. Since I still can only afford three to four records a month, I must say thanks to Groove City, Zardoz, Rekord, Smallville and all the other record sellers for the discounts.

Every so often we hear about the death of vinyl. Will it ever disappear?

Hauke: It is clearly the superior format for a DJ, so of course it will never disappear. Fortunately, there is a determined group of people who put their love and energy in it, because they realise that vinyl is a foundation of the culture they believe in.

Matthias: No, it won’t [disappear]. There’s a lot of people who demand the music they love in the best sound quality available. They all have to go with vinyl. Not everyone is satisfied with eating at McDonald’s everyday just because it’s cheap and easy to get.

Apart from DJing, you also have a live act as Session Victim. Tell me more.

Matthias: Well, we may not have all the shiny hardware on stage to make us look good, but we try to compensate this with really working the shit out of all the loops and sounds. If you take a look at our sequencer while we play, you’ll see that we build up every song from scratch. I think that helps a lot making the live set sound “live”.

But you’re making your London debut behind the decks at You Are We. What can we expect from you?

Hauke: Two friendly guys bringing two crates filled with killer records covering the last 15 years or so.

Matthias: Maybe the last 25 years.

What else have you got lined up as Session Victim?

Hauke: We did some remixes for the labels OFF and Swedish Brandy, which should be out shortly. Another Retreat 12” is due some time this year and we will release some edits.

And what are you working on away from Session Victim?

Hauke: I’m busy with label work for Retreat and I’ll try to finish some tracks that have been in the making for a while. Also, I’m trying to get my name down in the high-scores of some pinball machines around my neighbourhood.

Matthias: Together with my friend Basti I have this project called Nic & Jaq. We make beats for different vocalists such as Shawn Lov from New Jersey, Animal Nation from Canada and A-Plus from the Souls of Mischief crew. And I just finished my album. It’s called Das Gespenst von Altona and will be out on Giegling records in April.

Finally, you seem to have a thing for little furry creatures in your marketing. What’s the story?

Matthias: This is a calculated promotion campaign that has the goal of making all the girls go “this is sooo sweeet”. What did you expect?

Check out:

Session Victim @ Myspace

Together podcast

Spring 2010

YOUTH is wasted on the young, it is often said. Well somebody had better tell that then to talented and seemingly ever-busy young DJ and producer Burnski. At only 23 the instantly-likeable James Burnham, as he is better-known at home, has already racked up a CV the envy of artists much senior than him, has spun at some of Europe’s most established club nights and has been resident of Leed’s legendary Back to Basics since the tender age of just 20.

He’s pretty much a “veteran” in the production stakes having been making music seriously for six years now and having made his recording debut in 2005 with the stunning Coldcut EP on Trapez, a release that melded Detroit techno and English house with such maturity that it belied his age. He hasn’t looked back since with first-rate releases – whether they be at the minimal or deeper end of his production spectrum – on some of the key must-have labels around including Morris/Audio, 20:20 Vision and Poker Flat.

So many of us might be inclined to forgive Burnski, who picked up the nickname while studying music technology at college in north-east England, if he were tempted to rest on his laurels. Instead, however, the savvy yet modest Englishman from Hartlepool is as hungry as ever and has recently launched his own live show to complement the production and DJ components of his career. This month also sees a new EP on Dessous plus a double-header alongside Robert Dietz that is being released by DJ agency Air London. And then there are, of course, those persistent whispers of an album from the man like Burnski.

Factor in too his DJ gigs from Leeds to London and Miami to Moscow, so it was with much relief and delight that bringdownthewalls managed to pin down the busy Mr Burnham to chat about unsung DJs, his plans for 2010 and his enduring love of vinyl.

Has it ever felt like everything has happened too fast?

I have never felt like it has all happened too soon. In fact, probably the opposite as you always want to keep raising your game and improving. I think I am still improving and feel I haven’t even come close to my true potential as a musician and producer. I am always learning new things and love change. I am setting up a live show, which is all new and exciting. That’s my latest new buzz.

You debuted Burnski Live at the Back to Basic’s 18th birthday bash. Tell me more.

My live set went well. It was the after-party for the 18th birthday, so it was a nice slot. The live set at the moment consists of my laptop, controller and keyboard. I am keeping my live sets very exclusive at the moment; just playing one-offs at big events or for Back to Basics is perfect for me at the moment.

As a producer you have been pretty productive in a relatively short space of time. Tell me about your approach to making music.

I am in the studio every day through the week. I very rarely take a full day off unless I am away. Well, the odd Monday! I never work in the studio at the weekends and never have. I sometimes work on the road at weekends on my laptop though. I am very disciplined and am awake at six to seven am and usually asleep by 10pm. I am a morning person and am usually on the bus to the studio before 8am. My approach is always different in the studio. My music is fairly varied. I’ve never stuck to one exact sound really, so one day I might be making deep house and the next tougher club music. I have always been like this. I make it for myself and if and when it gets signed then that’s always a bonus.

So which do you prefer then, the minimal/techy or the deep house Burnski?

I think some people think it’s against the rules to be making both. “How come you have a slow deep house track then a techno track on the same vinyl mate?”. Well, the way I see it, I have been buying vinyl for eight years and in all that time I have never stuck to one sound. I still don’t and I probably never will. This is kind of the same set up I have as a producer. I make music mainly for my DJ sets and I play a real wide variety of music from really slow deep, dubby house and disco to more peak-time tech-house, which you might hear me playing at four am in the morning. I don’t really have any rules.

So I guess I see it all as one rather than separating things by styles. I would not like to think of myself making music in one set style all day, all week long. I would not be doing it for myself anymore if I did that. But each to their own. I’m sure there are plenty of producers who love doing just that. Fair play, but you have to stay true to yourself especially if you’re going to be spending so much time doing it. I get bored of an artist with the same sound every tune. I like to be kept on my toes a little, not too sure what to expect next. Those are my favorite kind of artists.

Some of your very first productions such as Customer Service, Expresso and Flight still sound fresh. How do you look back on those early productions and how do they compare with your current work?

Well, those are very old tracks. The first was made five years ago so my sound has changed a little. I am still using the swinging percussion and you can usually tell it’s me by the drums and melodies I use. All those tracks are quite melodic and I still like to use that in my tracks. I sometimes make more drum-based tracks, really loopy ones with not much melody but I can only do that for so long before I get bored and want to make some music.

I read that you are always happy to offer advice to producers who get in touch with you. Who helped you along the way?

I started learning music technology when I left school. This helped me get on the path and after that it was mainly myself. Reading music magazines helps I think and it’s best to read up on things regarding music production. When I started sending stuff to 20:20 Vision, Simon Baker and Ralph Lawson would help me out with advice, which used to help. Changing parts of tracks, making breakdowns and such.

Turning to DJing, what is your approach to that?

I guess it totally depends on what time I am playing and where. The only place I get to play my really slow deep records is usually if I get the warm up slot at Back to Basics or at after parties. I still play vinyl, and the occasional CD including my new unreleased stuff, which I am limited to playing on CD. My sets are always varied and no matter where I am playing you will get a bit of variation. I never just play the same sound in my sets. 

You’re still very much a vinyl man then?

Yeah, I am still loving the vinyl. I do not know many still playing it. In fact I could probably count them on one hand, out of people I know personally anyway. I have always loved it and again I never think, “oh, I wonder if or when I’ll give it up” because if I do I’ll do it when the times right by how I feel. I am still going strong but I do miss having chats with mates about what new records they have got.

Many DJs including yourself have commented on how difficult it is to get bookings if you are not producing. Tell me about some of the DJs you’ve come across who perhaps don’t get the credit they deserve.

There are a lot of really good DJs in Leeds [Burnski’s adopted hometown]. I have actually been listening to a new mix from Despo non-stop for the last two weeks. I get a lot of inspiration from Leeds DJs. To name a few we have Tristan Da Cunha, James Barnsley, Tim Weeks, Denney, Jon Woodall, Ryan Shaw, Frenchy, Buckley, Simon Baker, Ralph Lawson. I get little bits of inspiration from all of them. The majority would probably get overlooked when it comes to being booked by the fact that they are not releasing music regularly. Quite often I enjoy their sets more than the headline they warm up for. It’s a shame that’s how the scene is but I guess as a promoter the motive is to fill the club and usually that is by booking guys releasing records and who are very well known.

So which DJ would you gladly pay to hear play?

I have always loved it when I have seen Josh Wink. That guy’s a legend. I would queue an hour or two to see him again.

If you were asked to put together a compilation of your favourite music, what would you include?

It would be interesting. I would pick 20 of my favourite records that I have ever bought – I’ve bought a fair few – and put something special together. It would take some time though. If I start now then I might have it done for this time next year. It would be everything from trip hop, disco, through to deep house with a bit of acid, tech-house and then onto techno.

And, finally, what about those rumours of your own album this year?

I am working on the live set at the moment and I think that’s a good step to take before an album. The concept of the album would have to be a really exciting one for me. I have always followed my heart, so it won’t be a case of thinking “oh, is it ready to do that album yet?”. I’ll know when it’s time because I’ll start doing it 100%. It would be very varied, showing all my inspiration over the years.

Check out:

Burnski’s Myspace 

Burnski’s Jaunt Podcast

January 2010

BLACK is the new black, Croatia is the new Ibiza and Sundays are once again the new Saturdays. Or are they the new Fridays? Either way, London has been at the forefront of the end-of-the-weekend clubbing phenomenon for many years and the options are more exciting than ever. Now there’s a new kid on the block that’s freshening up a competitive field and may just be giving the established players a reason to look over their shoulders.

You Are We is the labour of love of five friends – promoters Ali Watson, Gareth Chappell and Sam Matthews along with resident DJs & production duo Ashley Wild and Tom Roberts, aka PlaySet – who decided earlier this year that London was ripe for a new, regular and free [not an insignificant factor in these uncertain economic times] Sunday session founded on an exciting booking policy that combines burgeoning international talent with emerging British producers.

Having set-up home at Corbet Place [formerly the venue for Retox] in the heart of East London’s vibrant and creative Brick Lane district, You Are We are still only three parties in with three more to come this year [August 30th, October 4th and December 6th]. But with David Keno [Frankie/Kindisch], BLM [Fear of Flying] and Leif [Trimsound/Morris Audio] having already headlined and Ekkohaus [who played a much-talked about set at Fabric earlier this year] top of the bill for the forthcoming Bank Holiday event, it’s evident that the boys not only know their onions in musical terms but, given there’s no door tax, collectively they are willing to put their money where their mouth is too.

And when one of your headliners declares he’s coming back as a punter because the party was that good and follows it up by doing just that – as BLM did – then you’ve got to be doing something very right.

So in the less-frenetic surroundings of London’s South Bank, bringdownthewalls met up with You Are We’s Ali and Tom to chat about Sunday clubbing, the importance of supporting British talent and why it pays to be nice.

Tell me about You Are We.

ALI: Myself and my two business partners Sam [Matthews] and Gareth [Chappell] have been promoting for 10 years under various other banners and during this time we’ve been quite successful; built some big brands and hosted events at all of London’s well-known venues. Over the years we’ve been immersed in music and eventually we felt we’d got to the point where we had something musically to say ourselves. The issue is it’s difficult to strike a balance between credible and commercial, especially on a large scale, so we wanted to make You Are We cooler and smaller.

So this year we decided to set-up You Are We, which is more of a musically-focused night. It’s not about the money. It’s not about packing out huge venues, it’s about doing something small and without compromise, and that’s basically how it started.

TOM: I think it’s probably a little more self-indulgent than Ali makes out. We have a very similar taste in music and we thought, yeah, let’s have a little party, get our friends in. Nothing too heavy, no massive responsibility on numbers, just a nice, friendly vibe and an excuse to book the artists that we’re into. And we thought the best way to do that was a free Sunday party. No pressure, people can roll in and it makes sense to do it over East London where a lot of our friends are and where there’s a positive vibe anyway. Gareth actually suggested the ideal venue for the party, Corbet Place, which sits perfectly by the Truman Brewery. There’s a great vibe about it.

It came together quite naturally, quite organically and the first party was much better than we ever thought it could be. It was a surprise. We thought, ‘ok, we’ll give it a go, see what happens’. Didn’t really promote it, more a word of mouth sort of thing and, yeah, it was fantastic. The weather was great, we booked David Keno, he was brilliant, and the crowd was great. It just ticked every box. At the end of the night we were glowing and thought, ‘ah, we could have something here’. It was very exciting and we’ve just gone from there.

ALI: You Are We is an excuse for us to book some really interesting artists without the need for them to be household names. OK, so we have booked Ekkohaus for the next party and we booked David Keno for the opening, both of whom are a really big deal in electronic music  right now. But there is also fantastic talent coming out of the UK such as BLM and Leif, both of whom have already featured at our party. That’s another reason why we’re doing it, to support up-and-coming talent. Very often they’re in the UK and not Berlin. If they’re making good music then we want to support them. Most promoters will book a big name that everyone knows to pull in numbers. Our idea is simply to have the right music and bookings and let the right people gravitate toward the party.

TOM: It can be really difficult getting numbers through the door and we’re going through a trend with promoters booking DJs because they think they’ll do the promoting for them, that they’ll bring in the punters for them without the promoters actually doing what they’re meant to be doing. We’re lucky in that we are able to bring numbers through the door without having to have a huge name and that’s great because we can book the people we enjoy, music that we think is great despite whether they have a big profile or not. And it’s great for guys like BLM and Leif because we can put them top of the bill. They may not have a huge profile, but we think they’re great and we can whack them on the top of the bill and that’s just nice to be able to do.

Given the competition out there, were you at all concerned about making You Are We work?

ALI: There is a lot of competition out there but something I’ve always lived by when doing parties is that if you’ve got a good product then your 75% of the way there. Of course there is a lot of effort that goes into every party on top, but getting the basics right is paramount. When it comes to East London’s Sunday scene,  people know their music and know what they want. There are a handful of parties out there who are getting everything right but there a whole lot of people who are not. I think what’s key is our target audience know the difference. With this in mind, it’s consistency that counts toward success.

TOM: I must admit I was a little bit apprehensive when we said ‘ok, let’s do a Sunday party’. There’s fuck-loads going on on a Sunday afternoon especially on a Bank Holiday. Obviously there’s Secretsundaze and more recently Lo*kee. They’re all really good parties, really great music. Is there room for anymore? Well, yeah, there obviously is. From somewhere there are obviously enough people to go round especially as from what I gather, and certainly those names I just mentioned, nobody’s really struggling. Everyone’s doing all right and it’s been a lot easier than I thought it would be. It’s a bit of a surprise.

Secretsundaze, as you say, has obviously been a huge success. Do you have aspirations to develop You Are We in a similar fashion?

TOM: Fair play man, I’ve got a lot of respect for Secretsundaze. Massively. They are still pushing the boundaries musically. Still quite cunning, slightly more commercial success but still maintaining credibility with the music they book. I think they’ve done it very well.

ALI: I think you’ve got to have aspirations but to say we have some kind of corporate-style blueprint or business-plan?… That’s not in line with the music. We’re really going with what feels right, and developing it from there.

TOM: I think once you do get to a certain size you do have to start making compromises. If you move to a 2000-capacity venue, and you do bump it up a scale, I do think you lose that cosy, friendly vibe. Of course you are. I wouldn’t like to see us lose that.

You mentioned the vibe. The feedback has been excellent and you have already cultivated a really friendly following. How did you manage that?

ALI: We pride ourselves on the fact that it’s an extended family sort of thing and that’s something we actively encourage. Yes, we have a lot of friends in East London, which helps, but we are extending that now and we are starting to meet a lot of new people. Everyone involved makes a massive effort to go out there and meet people and not just rely on Facebook!

TOM: It’s not so targeted. It’s more relaxed than that and more real I think. We’re just lucky that people are friendly.

ALI: I put I it down to, and without blowing my own trumpet, just being a nice person. I’ve met so many idiots in this industry. If you’re quite genuine it seems to transmit over to other people.

And the parties are free.

ALI: That’s the lynchpin, it just gives you freedom. When you are not counting the door takings and already know what you spent on the event upfront, this allows you to really enjoy the party and embrace the vibe. It’s basically a labour of love so you’re willing to spend your own money to do it right.

You’ve booked some great guests. Tell me about your music policy.

TOM: It’s not really that organised a process.

ALI:. Both of us have a keen ear for music and we are constantly on the look out for new talent as well as keeping our ears to the ground for established artists’ new releases. Music is always evolving and producers who were making straight up techno not so long ago might be making house today. It pays to stay on top of things really. If we like an artist’s current output or a label’s sound then they are in the frame for booking requests.

TOM: There is such a wealth of music especially in the UK. Emerging producers are everywhere. When you are buying records, listening to music, there are new names all the time. It’s just kind of easy really. You hear a great record; you check out Myspace, they live down the road, fantastic. Ok, let’s get them down.

The house and techno scene is stronger than it’s ever been, I believe. There’s great music coming from everywhere, all four corners of the globe.

Where do PlaySet fit into You Are We?

TOM: We’re the residents and with Ali we basically programme the music. It’s worked out nicely. Shortly after Ash and I started working together, You Are We happened and it’s a great platform for us to play and indulge in booking the artists that produce the tracks that we play and everything else.

And I hear you’ve been working on your own tracks.

TOM: Ashley and I have been together about eight months and it’s going well. We were starting from scratch and we’re now at the stage where there are a few tracks that have interested some labels, which is great. But more importantly I think we’ve found our sound and our pace. It’s great to just get down what we’re feeling and just to be able to express ourselves. When you’re learning it’s kind of inhibited but now we get together and have fun.

The sound is predominantly house, although that of course covers a broad definition. I would say tech house, but again that covers a broad spectrum. So expect lots of organic, live sounds with a little bit of wonkiness thrown in. We like it deep and we definitely like our techno but we also like it funky and playful, so there will be a spectrum of sounds.

Can we expect a release anytime soon?

TOM: Based on the interest we’ve had, I’d like to think we’d have a release in the next couple of months. It’s a bit daunting when you pour your heart and soul into something.

It looks like being a big year all-round then?

TOM: Yeah. I’d like to think so. Ash and I, we’re in a great place right now where we’re really enjoying it. Stuff’s happening and we’re at that stage of our lives right now where we’ve been on the scene for many years and we’ve had our fair share of fun! But now we’ve learnt how to be proactive and make things happen whilst still enjoying ourselves. I think with the music production being there and the platform to express it in You Are We, I’m definitely looking forward to what’s to come this year and 2010 as well. There is a couple of interesting production collaborations in the pipeline later on in the year as well, so watch this space.

I’ve known these guys [You Are We] for 10 years. We’ve done the scene together and become best friends. You Are We is another chapter and it feels really good.

Check out:

You Are We

PlaySet

PlaySet Podcast

August 2009

BERLIN. Detroit. Ibiza. London. House and techno heads are well familiar with the key cities, hubs and stopping points on the global electronic music map. So perhaps it’s high time some well-earned credit and kudos were given to a new pretender: Wales. 

That’s right, Wales. And it’s by no means as delusional a suggestion as it might appear at first glance. With the country’s highly-regarded Freerotation festival [masterminded by Steevio, head of local label Mindtours] named by Resident Advisor as the must-have summer event and the likes of Tom Demac [Sthlmaudio/Electronique Audio], Tom Ellis [Moon Harbour/Morris Audio] and Joe Ellis [Floppy Funk] all currently plying their trade from and flying the flag for their home nation, there’s clearly something in the Welsh air.

Very much a central figure in all this is bright young producer and DJ, Leif. Still only 27 years old, he cut his teeth as a DJ playing outdoor parties in Wales, has been successfully recording his own music since 2003 for labels such as Moon Harbour, Morris Audio and Fear of Flying, whilst also finding time to run the charming UK imprint Trimsound with close long-time friends, the aforementioned Ellis brothers Tom and Joe.

Home for the instantly-likeable and quietly-spoken Leif is in the middle of a beautiful forest in the north of Wales, five miles from the nearest town and a million miles from the fickle and ever-changing whims, trends and tastes of the more obvious musical and cultural hotspots. It’s perhaps one reason why he’s been able to craft, hone and shape his own unique trademark sound that is fashioned meticulously from deep dubby techno, bleepy minimalism, delicate chords and Chicago house nous.

Seclusion hasn’t hampered his  DJ skills either, as anyone who caught him rocking the floor at the outstanding and ultra-friendly east London Sunday session You Are We will testify. Highlight of the set was when he dropped his own recent production Designed With That In Mind, a track that was ably backed by a delightful homage-to-Larry Heard remix from Two Armadillos and has been picked up and supported by such respected spinners and producers as Anja Schneider, Clive Henry, Sascha Dive and M.A.N.D.Y.

And Leif – who definitely mustn’t be confused with a recently-emerged American producer making a very different brand of music – is clearly a man of many talents given the number of live instruments he’s been introducing to his productions of late from bongos to congas and guitar to Japanese flute. Not to mention his own vocal talents. He’s also working on a new solo project Classmate, an outlet for his slower, deep house leanings which may also necessitate him starting his own label. And lest we forget, there is also the acclaimed and burgeoning live project he also performs, again with fellow producer and business partner Tom Ellis.

So with a warm, vibrant and bustling Brick Lane in the heart of London’s east end, a five-hour drive from home, as the backdrop, bringdownthewalls collared the laidback Welshman to discuss amongst many things Tokyo, Trimsound Live and house production down his neck of the woods.

How did you get interested and involved in house music?

I grew up in North Wales and got out and about at a lot of outdoor parties that were happening at the time [around 2000-2001]. In fact, there was quite a vibrant scene there. It was nice at the time but the parties focused very much on the faster, hard techno sound. Then I met Steevio in 2001 and he was a big inspiration for me. He had a really interesting studio setup and the stuff he was doing was really different. I met him at an outdoor party and he was playing really intelligent, soulful, deep and slightly slower techno grooves compared to what I was used to. He introduced me to his mates and I started using his studio to master my tunes. I had my first release on his label Mindtours in 2003, which was Contentment. It was a great introduction for a first release really. Also meeting Joe Ellis at that time and hearing the style of music he was playing was a real eye-opener; his blend of deep house and slower techno was a welcome contrast to the faster, harsher techno sound I had been used to up until then.

You hadn’t been producing that long then before you launched Trimsound in 2004?

Meeting Steevio was one of the things that made us decide we should start up our own label and try to get some releases out there. We’d only released on Mindtours and I had an idea about the labels I wanted to send music to, but Steevio talked us into starting our own label, as it’s a nice way of doing it since you have total control over what goes out.  You don’t have to wait around for people to decide what tracks they want, and then change their minds etc. And as long as you have a little bit of money to start it off there’s no reason why you can’t have your own label, your own identity really. That’s what we tried with Trimsound, so it’s more of a vehicle really for our own material. We don’t actually produce that much music together but we do a lot of split releases.

But you do work together as Trimsound Live. Tell me about that.

We’ve played as Trimsound Live quite a bit over the last couple of years and it’s a really nice project to work on. We try and incorporate a lot of live elements. Me and Tom have always worked together musically and it just made sense really. A lot of people when they were trying to book us as artists were looking to book us together, so it made sense to have a live set with both of us together to offer to people. A lot of the time I will go out and do a bit of DJing, while Tom does a bit of a solo live set and then we’ll do a Trimsound Live set. So we can offer quite a variation of stuff between us both.

There are two laptops, a few controllers, a couple of effects boxes, live bass guitar and congas. So it’s quite a colourful set up. The congas are something we’re introducing now so there are a few logistics involved with microphones and all that kind of stuff. It’s good fun, definitely. I like working live.

You took Trimsound Live to Tokyo. How did that come about?

It was a night called Minimal Tokyo. The promoters were really nice guys. They were into the releases we were doing at the time and really wanted to get us over to play. We flew over and we stayed for a week or so and played a couple of gigs for them. It was really good fun, really enjoyed it. It’d be great to get out that part of the world again. Really nice people, fantastic place, and the crowd were really appreciative of what we were doing musically.

Tell me a bit about how you work on your productions.

I used to work entirely on a Yamaha RS7000 Groovebox, completely from start to finish. I used to write the tunes all on that one groovebox, which is very restricting but it’s all I could afford at the time. Basically working mainly with samples. I sold that a couple of years ago and moved onto a computer-based setup. So I’m using a mixture of software, Reason, other bits and bobs, sequencers and plug-ins to create what I’m doing at the moment, with of course live recording on top of it.

Do you find it easy working on new material?

For me, it’s important be in the mood to make music. I can’t go in the studio and force myself to make music. At the weekend if I get an idea for a tune in my head then I think ‘right, I’ll go into the studio and just try and get this down’. It’s got to be fun, that’s the main thing.

I’ve got the day job so the amount of time I can spend making music is limited what with other things in life as well. When I get in the studio I’m fairly productive. I like to work on a tune and finish it. I don’t have lots of half-finished tunes on my hard drive. I tend to get a project then work on it until it’s done. I’m lucky in that most of the stuff I have written has been released. I don’t have many tracks left over at the moment.

What is your part of the world like for someone producing underground house and techno?

I love it there. It’s really beautiful but there are downsides especially with having to travel so far for gigs. It’s a long way to go anywhere and the music scene for our type of sound in North Wales is pretty much non-existent. At the moment me and my wife [Jade, who also DJs under the name Jakooky] live in the middle of a forest, literally, five miles from the nearest town so it’s really isolated. It’s a fantastic location especially if you want to have parties or blast out the music, there are no restrictions in that sense.

With yourself, Tom Ellis, Mindtours and Tom Demac all based in Wales, there seems to have developed something of a loose creative collective.

There are a gaggle of musicians making a similar kind of sound. It’s a very different contrast from London where there’s loads and loads of people in a small area concentrating on a similar sound. In North Wales there are maybe a handful of us spread out over a relatively large area, so we’ve got a good connection with those people as they are few and far between.

Although there is a group of you making a similar style of music, is it important nonetheless that labels have their own sound and identity?

I think so. There’s obviously a certain sound people associate with that label. There are exceptions, there are some great labels out there that do a massive variation of music but on the whole I think it’s quite important to have a general kind of sound you go for with a label. It makes sense I think.

And how would you describe your own sound?

The cliché would be house and techno, somewhere in the middle of deep house and a techy edge, slightly minimal but not too minimal with a Chicago house element in there somewhere as well. I’ve always liked a melody in there, something with a real hook. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the minimal sound, but I do like to keep something of a funk element in there, some deep chords or something melodic.

So which artists have influenced and inspired you then?

What really changed my life, the album that turned me on to the sound I like now was Daniel Bell’s The Button Down Mind of Daniel Bell on Tresor. That was a real eye opener, an amazing mix CD. Just incredible music. Also Akufen, early [Richie] Hawtin was an inspiration too. Matthew Herbert, Rhythm and Sound, Aril Brikha. Also other styles such as roots and dub reggae, I-Roy, King Tubby etc., and chilled sounds like Kruder & Dorfmeister, Jazzanova and Saint Germain have all been a big inspiration to me. I guess moving on to Moodymann, the more housey sound as well and obviously Tom Ellis, Steevio and Joe Ellis, the people I’m surrounded by.

Tom is a big inspiration musically. He’s such a talented guy. When we finish a tune we send it to each other, get some feedback and bounce ideas off each other. It’s good to have that synergy with someone.

And how about your wife?

She’s been an inspiration musically in terms of the stuff she buys and plays, but she’s also a great creative muse. If I’m working on a tune, I can play it to her and get some honest and constructive feedback, which is really important.

What’s up next for you?

Just got a new release out called Tone EP [on Trimsound]. It’s just fun to release our own stuff now and again. We’ve got a few more plans for the label in the pipeline. There’s a couple of guest remixes of our music coming out which I’m really excited about. Also Martinez is doing a remix of Designed With That In Mind soon on Fear of Flying. And there’s a split EP with Tom on Frankie Records.

Finally, I see you’re playing Freerotation?

Freerotation is a really special event. Steevio and Suzybee organise it; it’s been pretty much their focal project over the last couple of years. It’s a great party to play at and it’s also good to be involved with the organisational side of it as well. It’s an amazing line-up. It’s a perfect place for a party, a stately home in the middle of nowhere. It’s like a giant house party really. A serious quality sound system and some superb artists. It’s just a really awesome event.

Check out:

Leif’s Myspace

Trimsound

Leif @ RA

Freerotation

Photos: Jade Knowles

HOUSE has always found a welcoming home in London. The wealth of clubs, venues and party promoters playing host each week to the world’s foremost DJs and artists is testament to that. Fabric, Secretsundaze et al have become bywords for underground, cutting-edge quality. Yet with Berlin and Detroit talent often dominating the column-inches, homegrown labels and producers are sometimes denied the attention they deserve.

And it’s not because they don’t deliver. Far from it. British talent generally, not just from the smoke, cuts it with the best of them when it comes to quality house and techno. A case in point is gifted young producer BLM and his first-rate Fear of Flying label, which he co-owns with long-time pal Jay Massive.

BLM (aka Ben Micklewright) came up through the ranks from bedroom DJ at 15 listening to 2-step and garage [he admits to still dropping the occasional 4/4 garage bomb in his sets even now with Todd Edwards and the Kerri Chandler-produced Kamar particular stalwarts], through to a formative stint at the Midlands’ respected Massive Records, where he met Jay and his love of house took root. A sound engineering degree and a move to Nottingham, where he spun at the city’s then-key clubs, widened his musical education.

Still only 23 and now based in London (he’s originally from Oxford), although BLM’s been making music since 2004 it was the launch of the label and at the same time his own production career proper three years ago that sent out a statement of intent. Tracks such as the techy Believe In Love, the sublime Gyms Are For Pussies and the Balearic-tinged deep house of Oi Pedro, Do You Do Chips have marked him down as a name to watch out for and helped confirm Fear of Flying’s status as a label on the up.

BLM’s idiosyncratic take on deep, minimal house [whether it be the garage influence clearly evident in his work or the irreverent track titles] is a breath of fresh air from the earnest posturing of many a serious producer. And the label’s other artists [Leif to Pawas to Cally] also tread their own individual paths yet nonetheless manage to compliment both BLM and Fear of Flying’s approach. Together they form a well-matched collective, but lazy dance music by numbers it definitely isn’t.

Now with a clutch of outstanding releases to his name, nearly all though not exclusively on Fear of Flying, bringdownthewalls puts BLM on the spot and finds out about plans for the label, the inspiration for his tongue-in-cheek track titles and why Larry Heard is such a genius.

Was a career in music always the aim?

Ever since I can remember, making music and DJing has been something I have wanted to do as a career. I remember my school-teacher telling me I’m wasting my time, but I completely ignored what I was being told in school and spent most of my time listening to music in class. I used to hide my earphones amongst my long hair, so they couldn’t see what I was doing. I’m getting further into my career now, but no way near the stage where I can live off of it. London’s a hard place to live as it is, and money is tight when it comes to music so I think it’s always going to be a struggle. I’m really interested in sound for moving image, so I think I might start looking into that once I finish my degree.

So what kind of music and artists did you grow up listening?

I used to listen to loads of 2-step garage when I was younger. I wasn’t aware of artists, but I used to listen to DJs like EZ, Dreem Team, Karl Brown etc. This then led me to get my own turntables, which is where the passion of music stemmed from. Once I got them turntables I was hooked. I guess my love of music just got deeper and deeper from there onwards. Regarding the music I liked then and the music I like now, they all have one thing in common and that’s the deepness. The music I love the most is really deep, with lots of warm tones. I have always loved music with lots of deep tones, like the Rhodes keyboard, so whether it’s house or garage they both share the same qualities I look for in music.

At what point then and why did you decide to start making your own music?

I started making music around 2004. Not quite sure why I started, I guess I just felt the need. It was when I was working at Massive Records, so I guess hearing music all day just made me want to try it myself. I always thought I started making music way before 2004, but I just checked out my first ever track and it says 2004, so that’s quite nice as I thought I had been doing it a lot longer.

Some of your track titles are quite irreverent: Gyms Are For Pussies, Oi Pedro, Do You Do Chips & In The Cuntry. Was it a deliberate move not to come across as too serious?

It definitely wasn’t a deliberate move; in fact I think I’m one of the most serious people around when it comes to music. I like my music and myself in general to be taken seriously. All my track names have come from something that’s come up in my life at some point. For example, my girlfriend heard someone say to a Spanish man working in a kebab shop in Ibiza “oi Pedro, do you do chips?”. One of my mates is massively into the gym and I used to take the piss out of him saying, “gyms are for pussies”. In The Cuntry has to do with me being from the countryside.

You run the label with long-time friend Jay Massive. Why the name Fear of Flying?

Because Jay gets sweaty palms when he has to fly. He’s alright when the seatbelt sign turns off, but when he’s taking off and landing he gets well sweaty hands.

How did the label come about?

Jay always wanted to start a record label, but couldn’t because of the lack of music. I came along with my music and it grew from there. The only plan we have is to release good quality house and techno music, with a deeper edge. We pretty much have the same tastes in music, so that helps a lot. If I get a demo, and I’m feeling it, I pretty much know that Jay will love it too.

What do you and Jay individually bring to the label?

I would say Jay deals with more of the business side of things. He’s got to be the most efficient person I have ever met. I’m completely the opposite so without him the label would be releasing once a year.

Regarding what I do for the label, for starters I bring my music. If we were ever short of music, we know we always have me to fall back on. I do a lot of liaising with the artists and finding new artists. I spend hours trawling through MySpace and various message-boards trying to find new artists. I love listening to music, so I think I would do this even if I didn’t run a label.

Have you had much success through MySpace?

I have had loads of luck, yeah. All of our artists on Fear of Flying were contacted via MySpace, or they contacted us through it. It really is such a great tool; you can do whatever you like on there. I have all my music, my DJ gigs, videos etc… all up on there for free, so it’s great for promotion. Plus pretty much every single artist new or old has a MySpace, so it’s really easy to contact people. It also tells you when people have read the messages you sent them, so you know who’s ignoring you!

Tell me then a bit about the artists you do have on the label.

The main core of artists is myself, Leif and Pawas. Leif was someone I always had my eye on from when I was working at the shop, so we got into contact with him straight away and Pawas actually sent us a demo after our second release. They are great artists, who deserve a lot more respect. At some point I think Pawas will do very well out of music. He’s one of those people that are naturally gifted when it comes to making music. I think he was only making music for like a year before he started to release.

We have some new artists too just added to the roster. First one is Cally, who just released two vinyl EPs, both of which went down a storm. We also have Jay Bliss and his crew doing an EP for us, as well as a Chris Lattner EP coming soon. London lad Jozif has just done a track for us as well, which I’m really excited about as it’s a great track and totally different from anything we have put out before.

We are really busy at the moment with releases. We have enough releases to last until next year now. The releases schedule includes BLM, Leif, Two Armadillos, Pagal, Mihai Popoviciu, Jay Bliss, Chris Lattner, Martinez and Cally. No long-term plan, other then to keep doing our thing.

What have you got lined-up as BLM?

I have got a remix of a Leif track and a single track coming out on Fear of Flying. Also myself and Jay are starting up a new label so I’m going to have a release on that with Pawas. We also have another limited vinyl-only label called ‘FOF?’, so I’m going to do something for that too.

In an ideal world, which artist would you love to work with?

Larry Heard, because he is a genius. Some people have a real talent for music, and he is one of them. There is so much good music out there, but when you listen to his music it sparks such emotion, which is something a lot of music is lacking in.

Do you have a favourite track by him?

Yeah, Free is my favourite Larry Heard track.

I’ve heard you championing talented young Londoner Wbeeza. Tell me about your relationship.

He’s another one I met through MySpace. We exchanged messages and then met up at his studio. Some people you just click with and I think he is one of these people. I have a lot of friends into dance music, but it’s finally nice to find someone who has the same appreciation of house music as I do. It’s cheesy as fuck, but this music flows through my veins. If I didn’t have music in my life, there really wouldn’t be much point to it. A lot of people say they love music, but when you meet me you know I’m in it for the love and I can see this in Warren [Wbeeza] too. I think this is why we get on so well. All of that adds to why I like his music I guess.

Going back to the label, in general, how difficult is it launching and running your own imprint? Has it been tougher than you expected?

It’s definitely harder then we thought. If we had started the label 10 years ago we would have been laughing, but now with record sales being dreadful it’s a hard business to be in. Digital sales are cool, but it just doesn’t feel the same. There are some labels doing 3000+ units vinyl, so there is a market there it’s just about finding out how to reach that market.

What ways are you exploring to reach that market?

We have tried various things like getting outside companies to look after our PR, getting more DJs involved in the promotion and getting bigger artists involved with the label. It’s strange because none of this is working, so I guess we need to rethink our strategies. Seriously though, I don’t think we will ever be selling 3000 units but we can aim to, you know?

Is there any advice then you would offer to anyone planning on starting his or her own label?

New labels shouldn’t expect too much. I think people still don’t understand that vinyl sales are low, and this affects all labels. I heard there was a 40% decrease last year, which is massive. I think it’s important for labels to have an identity too. You get so many labels that contact every single artist from another label and I have never really understood that. I want our releases to be individual, and to have artists that everyone else has just seems pointless to me. I think in general we’re quite lucky because we haven’t followed any trends, so not a lot of people contact out artists.

What impact, if any, has the economic crisis had on the record/music business in general and your label in particular?

Nothing has changed to be honest. As a whole our record sales have been constant. Digital sales are on the up as well, so in all honesty the recession isn’t affecting us all that much. I have noticed that record prices have increased by £1 due to the pound being weak against the Euro, but I still feel people will pay for quality.

You live in London now and love the nightlife. Anywhere particular?

Well to be honest I always end up down Fabric. I have been visiting that club since I was 18 now, and I’m still not bored of it. The line-ups they have each week are more then enough to satisfy my musical needs. I played at a great party called You Are We recently. It’s a cool party. There is a really friendly vibe in there and the people seem to love house music so I’ll definitely be going there again.

Your dad was a keen clubber too. Have you ever been out with him?

 I have been to many club nights with my dad, but I don’t think he could take it anymore. He’s 50 now, so I think he has given it all up. The music’s changed as well, and when things went all minimal I think he just got a bit bored with it. He listens to loads of music at home though, but a bit more jazz orientated, which is where he comes from.

You recently became a father yourself. How are you managing the work/life/parenthood balance?

Well, music’s taken a back seat. I haven’t done anything since becoming a father. My days now are spent in the local park getting fresh air, walking my dog and playing with my daughter. I only live in a small flat, so I can’t really play music because my daughter is always around and I love to listen to and make music at a loud volume.

And your own dad, what does he make of your music?

He loves the housey stuff I do now. When I was starting out I was making minimal stuff, which he wasn’t into at all. It’s hard when you first start out because all my ideas came from other people’s music. I would sit down, listen to a track and then try and copy it as a way of learning. At the time I was listening to lots of minimal, so this was what I was making.

Now if I tried to sit down and make a minimal track, it would end up deep house oriented as that’s where my heart lies.

Check out:

BLM

Fear of Flying

BLM Mix

June 2009

IT’s an unseasonably warm spring Sunday evening in London and the city’s hip and cosmopolitan Brick Lane district is even more vibrant and frenetic than usual. Amidst the hedonism and sitting opposite, the personification of laid-back calm itself, sipping appropriately and through choice on a Becks beer is an equally high-quality German product, the very latest house and techno wunderkind Langenberg.

Tousle-haired and dressed simply in a neat jacket over a grey hoodie, Max Heesen, to give him his real name, is fresh and alert despite a very late night following his British DJ debut playing at a label party for Sounderground, the up-and-coming and rather-fine London-based imprint.

Another day, another house starlet from Germany, perhaps? Except that on the form Heesen’s shown so far under various guises there is every reason to believe he’s the real deal. His thoughtful take on deep minimal grooves, smooth productions and an instinctive ear for memorable chords has found support from the likes of Steve Bug, Brothers’ Vibe, Jimspter and Sebo K, to name only a few, and suggests that he is no two-minute wonder.

Still only 26-years-old, Heesen has already put together an impressive CV since his first tentative steps into the music industry as a 17-year-old punk, somewhat perversely playing soul and funk at the parties he organised with friends in the squat-cum-co-operative he occupied in his hometown of Mülheim, a small middle-class town near the west German city of Essen. It wasn’t long though before Heesen, originally DJing and indeed recording under the name Brett Pitch (on Supercity), caught the attention of the region’s in-crowd and then finally accepted a residency five years ago at the then newly-opened Hotel Shanghai club in Essen, now his adopted home.

Then two years ago he launched his production career using the alias Langenberg, a name he adopted from a previous occupant of his flat, with a stunning EP that belied his relative inexperience as an artist, the mature and Detroit-influenced Mrs. Future on Resopal Red. It’s been followed by a string of equally impressive and well-crafted releases on the likes of Drumpoet Community, Sthlmaudio, Dessous and very soon liebe*detail too. Heesen confesses to being something of a perfectionist. It shows in his work.

Aside from his own productions he’s also provided top-notch remixes for Ajello (Rebirth), Art Bleek (Sounderground) and Homewreckers (Unique). There are also remixes for Moonpool [Marc Poppcke’s Beatitude] and Compost Black [Manuel Tur and Dplay’s Conchord] scheduled for July and August respectively. And lest we forget, he’s also providing his own spin on Two Armadillos’ excellent Tunnel of Light for volume three of Dessous’ remixed classics series. Not bad for a kid who admits that he had to be “kicked” to piano lessons by his parents.

And not content with impressive solo progress, last year Heesen decided to move his career up a gear, jacked in his job in export sales management and digital sales/distribution for Düsseldorf-based funk and hip-hop label Unique and teamed-up with deep house prodigy and friend Manuel Tur to record dub-tinged techno as Ribn for Styrax Leaves, its sub-label Millions of Moments, and most recently Freerange. Factor in too the Slow Club night the pair collaborate on with pal Dplay (aka Dirk Gottwald) at Goethe Bunker in Essen. The venture is a chance for the three to showcase not only their considerable talents behind the decks but also experiment with other projects and ideas such as the Ribn live act.  And then there is the record label, Mild Pitch, that the three of them are launching later this year. With such a hectic schedule it’s clear that not only is Heesen in-demand but his career is unquestionably heading in the right direction.

So it was with relief as much as curiosity and interest that bringdownthewalls caught up with Heesen after a night on the town and just before he embarked on yet another.

Had you always planned to be a DJ?

I never wanted to be a DJ, it just happened by chance. It wasn’t my intention to do the parties [at the squat in Mülheim] to give myself a place to be a DJ. Because I was bored, I got together with some friends and we did that party. Then another friend invited some friends who played vinyl. I saw it and liked it and that’s how I became a DJ.

I was interested in music all my life but it was a year after we started that party night that I started playing records. Then I started to collect some records. There was Kompakt in Cologne, which is one-hour train ride from Essen, and this was the first record shop I went to regularly. As well as Groove Attack, which is just on the corner from the Kompakt store. It was there I first got in touch with stronger techno tunes. Then from there I got into this whole House thing.

So what were you playing back then?

Actually, when I started DJing it was some kind of wild-style, a mixture between hip-hop, funk and soul. Then I got into techno tunes and mixed it all up. Now I play straight electronic music, it’s just house and techno but I don’t like having doors closed where you are not allowed to be adventurous. So sometimes I still mix things up. Normally I try to play as deep as possible but I want to play honest.

Is it particularly important for you then as a DJ that you can play what you want?

I always want DJs to play really honest, so that they play exactly what they want to play. Patrice Scott was playing at Hotel Shanghai and I was really nervous because I really love his sound and I wanted him to play honest. He asked me if it was ok to play these hard Detroit techno tunes. And for me that’s why he was there, to go for it and do just what he wanted to do. He said the booking agency had said it was a really housey place so better that he should play a bit deeper. I really liked him as a DJ and also his label [Sistrum Recordings]. At the end of the night we played a ping-pong set together. It was a really nice night, not too many people, but I really enjoyed the night. It was good.

What did the crowd make of it?

Sometimes it is not always easy in Essen. The people sometimes have really huge question marks above their heads. But there are only two options. You can give them what they want maybe, something that you can get really fast, or maybe be honest [play what you want] and maybe they’ll come back, give it a chance and listen to some styles of music they haven’t heard before. After a few times they get into it and feel it.

As someone who’s organised parties, DJs and now runs a club night, you must have a better idea than most what makes a good night.

Definitely good people and a good sound system. Open-minded people, so that they give the DJ a chance. What I don’t like is big spots, three different rooms where the people are moving around the whole time and do not stay on the floor. I prefer smaller venues. For me as a DJ, I really need the feeling to come into the sound. So I really love to play at the beginning and play for the whole night. That’s what I like most.

When there are people I know or who play a similar sound to me, that’s alright, but I’m not that peak-time DJ who gets into the DJ booth at two o’clock, plays for two hours and then goes. Normally I try to get them [the crowd] into the groove and build it up really carefully with a really deep beginning and then it could be harder. There’s enough time at a club night so you can really play different styles and sounds and you can become a bit harder, or a bit faster in the later hours. And then try to build it up again. But it has to be one flow.

It’s not only the club, it’s the crowd and the feeling around. I really feel at home at Hotel Shanghai because that’s been my residency now for years. What feels best as a DJ right now though are the parties I run together with Manuel and Dplay, the Slow Club thing. We only did a couple of parties and we did the first Ribn live act there. It’s a really good playground to try a couple of things out and invite the people we really want to invite. We’ve had really good DJs there including Gerd Janson [Running Back] last time.

Tell me a bit more then about Essen club-wise?

Essen is a boring city and we only had one good club and I never felt really comfortable because I wasn’t sure if the people in this city had the same understanding of music that I have. There’s only one huge club in Essen and not everybody likes Hotel Shanghai. It [Hotel Shanghai] is now about five years old and I was there from the beginning. And it’s a really good place, a really nice club. It has grown in the last few years and I think I have grown with it kind of. It’s quite housey so you can play really, really deep on a nice sound system, a warm-sounding system, and really nice people.

So it was definitely a big step launching Slow Club. I met Manuel and Dplay because I played together with Dplay at Hotel Shanghai. That’s where we met and then I met Manuel as well. And then we [Manuel Tur and Heesen] started to share a studio and became friends, but we actually met in a club.

Then you and Manuel decided to start working together as Ribn, right?

Yeah. When I met Manuel he was searching for a new studio and a friend of mine had this venue, where we do Slow Club. It’s a bunker, an old bunker from the Second World War, which is now the party location. On the first floor there are some really small rooms, you know, the size of a car-parking space with no windows at all and really dark. It was there I went in with Manuel and we shared a studio for just 50 Euros a month.

My first output was actually produced at home but the Drumpoet and newer stuff came from that studio as well as the Ribn tracks. If we had a studio with windows we are not sure the sound of Ribn would be that dark. It’s funny because we never thought when we started to do tracks that we would come together on these dubby techno tunes. We just had some sessions and tried a couple of things out. When we discovered we both really liked that sound it was all really, really fast. The workflow was really good. All the Ribn tracks have been produced in about two weeks, just a track a day.

Tell me more about the project and how the pair of you work together?

Sometimes he’s [Manuel] in front of the computer and I’m at the hardware and sometimes it’s different. It’s 50/50. Maybe if I’m first to come into the room and sit down at the computer I’ll start making some beats maybe and Manuel will just jam a bit on the groove box we do all the synth stuff with. It’s a Yamaha synth with RS7000 sequencer. It’s a rhythm machine and all the sounds are from this synth.

We started with a Millions of Moments release [Mined EP], which is a sub-label of Styrax Leaves, and now there’s the Styrax record [Shift/Ctrl EP]. Then we will drop a 12” on Ovum in July, then three tracks on Mule Electronic. 

Is there much difference between your individual productions and those collectively as Ribn?

It’s totally different. We never thought we’d come together on these dub house-influenced and dubby techno tunes. I don’t know, it’s just totally new because Ribn have nothing in it from the normal Langenberg sound and nothing from the typical Manuel Tur sound. These tracks are like nothing I tried to produce before I came together with Manuel. It’s just a result of sessions together at the studio where we tried to get to know each other better, while jamming around and then coming together on that sound.

How do you analyse your own sound as Langenberg? It’s certainly influenced by Detroit, isn’t it?

I’m not the best at reflecting on my music but, yeah, I’m definitely influenced by the Detroit sound. Sometimes I make tracks and play them to my friends and they say, “oh, that sounds like an old record”. I don’t know.

But your first EP included a track called Black In Black, which featured a Gil Scott-Heron sample, a very Detroit-esque touch.

It was my first record and actually it should have been a remix for a friend of mine. I heard that vocal and said “I really like that can I do a remix for you?”. The remix became totally different, really deep and he didn’t like it so then I asked him if I could release it as Langenberg. So it became my own track. I signed it to Resopal and it was my first 12”. It’s my favorite release now, but it just takes some time before I’ll drop my own singles. I don’t play my own tracks too often. Sometimes I try it out. I like what I do but I’m not so good at playing my own tracks. But when they rest for a few years, like the Resopal release, then I’m able to play them.

Detroit and Chicago are obvious influences but which artists, DJs and producers are you currently into?

There are so many artists I really like. I’m really into Moodymann for example or Patrice Scott. As a DJ now I’m more interested in the older tunes than the new tunes. I don’t shop for new music too much. I try to get older records. So I’m going to the past, not really to the future but I think that goes hand-in-hand. I try to get them together in some way.

I really like Tobias. I also really like the stuff of Dplay and Manuel of course. I don’t know, mostly I get to know people better when I play alongside them so I really enjoy playing together with Prosumer from Ostgut Ton, Cassy and Tobias, like I said. I played with Baaz [Quintessentials/Sthlmaudio] recently. I really like what Baaz is doing and Agnès [Sthlmaudio] too. I really like their sound.

I hear you are now setting up a label with Manuel and Dplay.

We are just shaping the outlines for our own label. We’ll drop some things on different labels but we plan to do our own label as well. We had the working title r12v but we switched a few weeks ago. We now want to call it Mild Pitch. We’re going to release our tracks on Mild Pitch and it will be a bit deeper. We’re not really sure which direction it will go but we have Manuel, we have Dplay, we have me and we have the Ribn stuff, so we have enough projects to make something happen. In the beginning we’re not sure if we want to sign any artists, but it could be because we are just interested in releasing good music. But there’s nothing planned or anything.

It could be we still release on other labels as well. I like Manuel’s work and he likes mine but it’s not every track that we have to release on our label. With every new track first of all we’ll sit together and discuss if it could be a Mild Pitch release and if not we’ll maybe send it to other labels.

When will it be up and running?

Good question. We hope late summer. Late August or September. The release sheet is not decided yet but right now the first release will probably be a Ribn single [This Feeling EP] and the second will be a Langenberg single [Times], with Manuel doing a remix for that.

Earlier on you said that Essen was a “boring city”. But it seems to me that actually, beneath the surface, there’s a lot of creativity and activity going on.

There are some other guys like Marcus Sur, he released some tracks on Highgrade Records, he’s a bit housey but not the kind of house we do, for example. There are a couple of guys making different sounds. Then there’s Urban Absolutes and Modern Walker. They’re funny. I think Modern Walker just made the first one-sided digital track label. He’s a crazy guy.

Nobody knows Essen. The thing that makes me really happy right now, and the fact that I want to stay in Essen, is that I met these guys that I have the project with [Manuel and Dplay], that I feel really good with them and that we have plans for the future. We can push forward our city.

Check out:

http://www.myspace.com/langenbergmusic

http://www.myspace.com/ribnmusic

Langenberg DJ Mix May 2009

May 2009