bringdownthewalls.

I WAS so chuffed with our original ‘Acid House’ t-shirt that I decided to design another colourway. So here it is. Still strictly limited but this time in black with high-quality yellow vinyl lettering. It’s still the same super heavyweight tee, 100% ring-spun cotton with twin needle stitching on collar, sleeves, shoulders and waistband, plus Lycra in collar.

The t-shirts are priced £20 each which INCLUDES postage & packaging costs to anywhere in the world [the t-shirts are sent registered post to UK buyers]. Please drop me a line first at tim@bringdownthewalls.net for available sizes.

Many thanks.

Enjoy!

WHEN American baseball manager Leo Durocher famously declared that “nice guys finish last”, he’d clearly not met Will Saul. Head of one of Britain’s best electronic labels Simple and its experimental offshoot Aus, accomplished producer and remixer, plus a flourishing career as one of the finest deep house DJs around, all of which the charming Mr Saul handles with consummate humility and grace, here’s one nice guy blowing apart the coach’s flawed theory.

Engaging, articulate and still not yet 30 years-old (he reaches that milestone in September), the Somerset-born Saul decided at an early age that music was his career of choice. Encouraged by his parents to learn piano and sax, an avid collector of music since he was eight, albeit initially what he describes as the sort of “crap records” and pop we all buy at that age, before moving on to Motown and soul followed by hip-hop and dance in his teens, a plan started to come together once he could drive. Saul and his friends began the regular pilgrimage up to London’s nightclubs and inspired by the “eclectic style” of Fatboy Slim and, more influentially, the Chemical Brothers at venues such as the now-defunct Turnmills, he began DJing himself.

Ambitious and evidently a fast learner, he started a weekly night in London playing hip-hop, instrumentals and film scores and won Muzik magazine’s DJ talent contest, Bedroom Bedlam. Then, still only 24 years-old but armed with a business degree, nearly three years experience mostly in product management/A&R at Sony International and the need to escape a menopausal French boss, Saul made the bold move of selling his car and with the backing of a couple of friends launched his own label, Simple.

“I had no bloody idea,” confesses the immensely-likeable Saul, neatly turned-out and sipping a pint as we sit and chat in one of South London’s better boozers. “Actually, I knew how to run a label from my experience at Sony but I had no idea about the implications of running a small independent label. I knew the technicalities of what to do on a day-to-day basis, getting records pressed, promoting them and everything else, but I had no idea about the expectations. You go into that blind.

“But I did start the labels [Aus followed in 2006] way sooner than I would have done if I hadn’t had such a horrible boss and really not been enjoying Sony. Plus I had really supportive parents who said have a go now while you’re young enough and got no responsibilities. It was a combination of factors, as it often is, at a certain time in your life that mean you make those decisions.”

Now five years down the line and having racked up more than 50 releases between the two labels with a top-notch roster including the likes of Lee Jones [ex-Hefner and the driving force behind My My] and Motorcitysoul, both Simple and Saul have matured into respected players in the British electronic-music industry. Initially more of a breaks/leftfield label although far from exclusively that, Simple is now focused on its own underground brand of warm, soulful, melodic deep house and techno. Music for the head and home as well as the dance floor. It is very much a reflection in the shift in Saul’s own musical taste as both an artist, DJ and A&R man, which came about during stints working part-time at London record stores Koobla and then Phonica as he tried to make ends meet during the early days of his labels.

“I’d always liked broken beat beats and I came more from a beats background than I did from a house background it would be fair to say,” he explains. “But I’d always bought a wide range of music and then I started working in Phonica and that really opened my eyes to what was out there within the world of house and techno.”

The experience was invaluable in terms of spotting emerging trends and talent. It allowed him to pick up the likes of Mathew Jonson, Sebo K, Efdemin and Konrad Black to name but a few for remix duties before they became too busy or costly, a factor not lost on the business-conscious Saul: “I could literally see who was going to take off because of the records that were physically selling by the shitload. If a producer did his second or third release and it was literally taking off, I kind of had an instant view. I’m still almost tempted to go back and work there one day a week or a day every couple of months simply because it gives you an amazing insight into how things are being received and how things are doing over the shop counter. Otherwise it’s near-impossible to get that insight.

“I get sent loads of promos, go record shopping and keep in touch with what’s happening in terms of trying to find a remixer that’s going to sell enough records for you to keep making records. It’s always a combination of finding people you love plus having that thread in common with the label, but whilst also having the ability to sell enough records to pay for the remix in the first place. It’s kind of a case of watching them get to the point where you think ‘ok, they’re gonna sell enough records now’.”

Talented French duo Châ teau Flight and Dial Records’ much-underrated Lawrence are just two of the remixers currently on Saul’s long and far-from-surprising wishlist. “I:Cube is definitely in my top three producers. Genius. I’d love to get those guys but they’re very busy. Recloose is also, I have to say, one of my favourites. Sascha Dive and Johnny D are also people I’d love to get a remix from but you just can’t at the moment, they’re too busy. Those guys are probably the producers du jour at the moment.”

For now though going back behind the counter to talent-spot is unlikely as Saul has more than enough to cope with attempting to combine producing music, DJing, remixing and releasing other artists’ music with the less-glamorous day-to-day business of running the labels. It’s a stressful schedule for sure, not that you’ll catch him complaining.

“I really like it. I maybe spend a week a month actually producing music because we’ve got three albums from other people coming out towards the end of the year and it’s a lot of admin,” Saul confesses. “I’m mostly DJing at the weekend and flying around a lot. You don’t really want to get in Monday at nine o’clock and do a full day but I do every week. I have to get everything done for the labels. I’d like to look perhaps next year at streamlining the labels or getting someone to run them or all of the above really.

“Over the last year as I’ve got more and more DJ gigs it has become harder. I think for most people that just produce music and DJ it’s a slightly more flexible lifestyle because if you do two or three gigs in a weekend, and you’re forced to be up until five o’clock in the morning three nights in a row, then you’re kind of forced to take your weekend on a Monday and Tuesday. Right now I don’t get that luxury. I love running the label but I think by the end of the year I’ll have to make some choices but I’m lucky enough to be in a position that I can make choices.”

For now though there’s more than enough for Saul to work on. Apart from upcoming remixes for Marc Romboy and Ralph Lawson’s 20:20 Soundsystem, there’s a new cut Tech Noir from Saul and production partner Tam Cooper, as well as recent releases from Jim Rivers and André Lodemann, whose Wanna Feel was one of the tunes of the night at the recent Sü d Electronic party in London. And Saul also reveals that he’s close to securing releases from Tiger Stripes and Roland Appel. Then there are forthcoming albums this autumn from Lee Jones and Sideshow on Aus, as well as Motorcitysoul on Simple. Both Châ teau Flight and Henrik Schwarz will be remixing singles from Sideshow’s LP, while Motorcitysoul’s album will be supported with a remix EP featuring the talents of Move D, Manuel Tur & Dplay and Shur-I-Kan.

Simple/Aus have also just launched their own online digital shop [at www.simplerecords.co.uk] which promises releases at least two weeks before they can be bought anywhere else, although with major labels and the government failing to get a grip on music piracy, Saul admits the venture is something of a step into the unknown: “I don’t really know how it’s going to work out. I’m feeling my way really. It’s a bit of a funny time really as you can pretty much get any release you want for nothing if you look hard enough online. There’s a real timing thing if you’re releasing stuff before it goes out on vinyl or even on your own site. People can spread it and it really does take the sting out of some releases. I’m even looking at ways of not promoting until nearer the release date just to keep the buzz going and prevent releases slipping out for nothing.”

Then, of course, there’s the DJing. Despite talk of business degrees, break even and cash-flows, coupled with the softly-spoken and mild-mannered exterior, behind the turntables Saul cuts it with the best of them and clearly enjoys the buzz. Apart from a steady flow of guest spots, Saul also holds residencies at Berlin’s Weekend and London’s The End giving him a unique insight into each city’s clubbing credentials.

“Berlin just feels really exciting in terms of the crowd. It just feels up for it. You get the feeling of excitement and energy, of being up for it that you just don’t get in London very often anymore, that willingness to cheer and get into it” Saul explains. “I think you really have to work hard in London to get people to do that and I think in Berlin it’s just become a bit of a clubbing hotspot for the whole of Europe really. People go there wanting to have a good time, expecting to have a good time and when you’ve got great sound systems, great clubs and great DJs then I think it all really combines. It’s a great atmosphere.”

Berlin is also home to Saul’s favourite nightspot, Panoramabar, where punters turn up Friday night and stay all weekend. The venue is upstairs to the renowned club Berghain with its infamous dungeon where, according to Saul, “you don’t go there, you just don’t wanna go there”.

As for Panoramabar: “It’s fucking mental there,” he states. “It’s like an old power station in East Berlin in the middle of nowhere. It looks like something out of Mad Max. Panoramabar is really stripped back like an old warehouse. But they’ve spent a great deal of money on such details as really futuristic lighting, light fixtures and really striking artwork, little things like that you wouldn’t expect to find in a really fucked-up space. It’s a cool venue.

“And the people there are bonkers. The energy is electric. It was the first time I walked into a club and thought ‘wow, this is really going off’. The energy there is unbelievable.”

Even so, Saul is clearly fond of The End too where Simple take over the lounge on the first Saturday of each month. And next month rather than have a guest DJ play as usual, Saul is taking over the seven-hour slot himself.

“I fancied the challenge and I’ve done it at Weekend,” he says. “I love doing the warm-up because you can really feel the change in energy as the people start really getting into it. It’s my favourite bit of the night, the most exciting bit. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes.

“I think playing the whole night just gives room to expand different areas you might want to look at musically really. It’s a really nice little atmosphere in there and I like the size of the room. There’s also a really good sound system in there and if you get it right as a DJ then it can really go off, definitely.”

So what’s the plan then Will? “I’ll probably just play slower and deeper for longer. That’s about the size of it really.”

As for other DJs and producers, he’s come a long way baby since his days as a Fatboy Slim fan. “The one person I really think is brilliant is Carl Craig. He will play right across the spectrum of house and techno. I do like that. And I do really love the early Detroit producers such as Juan Atkins, Derrick May and all those guys just because they do that one thing I love about dance music and that is they get, more often than not, that soulful, melodic element in there but really futuristic. And it’s different.

“Derrick May was amazing when I played before him in Sheffield. He was a technically brilliant DJ.”

As the conversation turns to the future, Saul insists there really is no grand plan professionally or personally. Label-wise he hopes to keep the business on a sound financial footing, put together a follow up to the successful Simple Sounds compilation and develop the label into a greater platform for artists to release commercially-viable albums. He admits that some would view becoming more of an albums label as commercial suicide, yet with typical and genuine sincerity says it’s a gamble he’s willing to take not only because of his love of music, but because “I really believe in the artists I’ve got and I want to release their music”.

On a personal level, Saul will be celebrating his 30th with friends at Bestival this September [last year he was near-moved to tears when the crowd sang Happy Birthday to him after he'd played his last record] and speculates that when he’s too old for dance music he might pursue more TV and film work or perhaps might settle down, return to his roots and bring up children in the countryside [his parents run an organic farm].

“I don’t want to say I’m going to be making futuristic techno music aged 40 because realistically I’m probably not. I love what I’m doing now, I really enjoy it, but life’s full of different paths and routes. I don’t know what I’m going to be doing in two years, five years, 10 years…” he concludes philosophically.

Life, as Saul knows only too well, is rarely simple.

June 2008

DETROIT has given the world more than its fair share of music legends and pioneers, so maybe the city can be excused for once in a while failing to appreciate an emerging talent in its own backyard. That certainly seems to be the case with DJ, producer and head honcho of the small but perfectly-formed deep house and techno label Sistrum Recordings, Patrice Scott.

Scott, making his London DJ debut at Fabric recently, is in demand in Europe thanks largely to a limited but consistently-excellent clutch of releases on Sistrum since it was set up at the back end of 2006. And although tracks such as his, well, frankly atmospheric Detroit-house debut Atmospheric Emotions, the blissed-out dub of Motions and the deep-as-fuck Raw Fusion are now staples in many a rated DJ’s record box, back in the Motor City it’s still more a case of ‘Patrice who?’.

“More people over here [Europe] know who I am than in Detroit. There’s an appreciation for the music, you can see it man. And that’s been the case ever since I started producing almost five years ago and releasing music almost two years now,” Scott explains. “Detroit is where techno originated but it’s just not the same kind of love as you get over here. Europe has pretty much taken over now, it leads the way. The scene in America is definitely not as strong. You can still go to New York, Chicago and some good spots in LA but you’re not gonna get as much of a choice as over here.”

Clubs and clubbers are not the only difference with back home, according to Scott, who’s been collecting records since the age of seven and DJing since he was 14 [he’s now 39]. Record-shopping back home usually means a three-hour drive to Chicago or Toronto due to the lack of decent stores in the Detroit area. But a trawl round Soho’s vinyl emporiums was ‘the best record-buying experience’ Scott’s had in ages and left him laden with vinyl and light in the wallet. “I bought a lot of records man,” he drawls, “and I’m not even gonna tell you how much I spent.”

Back to Sistrum, and while softly-spoken Scott is the first to admit that the label is not the most prolific on the electronic music circuit with just five releases in 18 months, he insists that it is entirely deliberate and he intends to continue the quality-rather-than-quantity policy: “I couldn’t care less about putting out a new record every other month. I’m looking at the quality. For example, the next EP comes out in May. I made that track a long time ago but I just wanted to make sure it was right when I put it out. I’ve got a whole load of music but I am my own worst critic and I’m like ‘is this good enough?’. If I got good music that I feel is ready to put out every other month then maybe…”

Scott is planning no more than three more releases this year including an EP from Italian artist Pixel Music and the so-far untitled Sistrum 006, which promises to mine the same rich seam of deepness as his previous productions: “There’s the original version, a deep-house techy-type tune. Then there’s another mix, it’s kinda electro, something different for me, while the third track is minimal.” Beyond that, Scott claims there’s no long-term plan for Sistrum, adding only that like any other business, while he’s not actually losing money he’ll keep making and putting out records.

Although Sistrum’s motto is ‘never be afraid to be different’, when you come from Detroit and count Theo Parrish, Kenny Dixon Junior aka Moodymann, Carl Craig and Omar S amongst your friends and acquaintances, complimentary comparisons with such luminaries of the electronic music hall of fame are bound to follow whether Scott likes it or not.

“Whatever I feel, that’s what I do,” he explains. “I love the Detroit people; Derrick May, Carl Craig, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, all those guys. I got the utmost respect for those guys and they are the reason Detroit is respected the way it is. Theo, Kenny, Omar S, Carl and my good buddy Keith [Worthy, who owns the Aesthetic Audio label] are my favourite artists out of Detroit making music right now. So as for my music sounding like Detroit, well, if I sound like them then I’m happy.”

You can take the man out of Detroit but, perhaps, you can’t take Detroit out of the man.

April 2008

IT sure is a good time to be Efdemin. Touted by some as the best producer of last year ahead of even the demi-god that is Ricardo Villalobos, in demand internationally as both a DJ and remixer and one of the best albums of 2007 to his name, why the chap has even been called the best dressed man in house.

Not that the engaging and articulate Phillip Sollmann, to give him his real name, believes the hype. Berlin-based Sollmann is too smart and been around too long for that, having graduated from Vienna’s Institute for Computer Music and putting out records under various guises such as Tobin and Pigon for the past 10 years.

But it is as Efdemin that he’s been really making a name for himself. It’s thanks in the most part to last year’s self-titled debut album on the quietly-successful Dial label, a record inspired by Chicago and Detroit – most notably Theo Parrish and Moodymann – but manufactured with German minimal know-how. Vorsprung durch technick, if you like.

Either way, the album was deep enough, techy enough and minimal enough to keep most househeads onside and drew a raft of remix work from labels such as Aus, Bpitch, Brut! and Dessous, even though Sollmann confesses he doesn’t like remixing ‘because I don’t feel I’m the best remixer’.

Nevertheless, there are many that clearly like him and for the second time in less than a year we sit in a trendy Shoreditch hotel to discuss being Efdemin. “Things have been very busy so I’m now beginning to take things more slowly with Efdemin and concentrate on Pigon [his more techno-flavoured project with production partner Oliver Kargl, aka Rndm]. It’s very important to me and it’s nice to be working with someone again. My girlfriend likes it more than the Efdemin stuff. I’ve been travelling a lot on my own [as Efdemin] since we last met, playing every weekend, sometimes three or four times,” explains the immaculately turned out and instantly likeable Sollmann.

“I’ve been really overwhelmed by the DJing and the reaction from the people. It’s really lovely to have people come up to you in a club and say ‘I’ve travelled 200 kilometres to hear you play’. It’s really like, ‘wow’.”

While Sollmann has no immediate plans for further releases as Efdemin, he does let slip plans to launch his own label, Naïf, and admits that new material is likely to be out around the end of this year. He refuses to be drawn much further, adding only that he has a ‘clear idea of what he wants to try’ and that it will be ‘very cool’. But he admits that his own tastes have changed during the last year.

“Since we last met, what I play has become more and more reduced. I got bored with too many melodies. I think my next stuff will sound much different, I’ve got a different feel now,” Sollmann adds. “I’m interested in layering things from worlds outside house and techno. It’s what Ricardo [Villalobos] does a lot and I appreciate it. He comes up with these children singing or an orchestra playing and he takes out the kick for five minutes and people really rave. Then the kick comes back and people go crazy. He always has this simple beat in the back. It’s always there, but it’s not always important.”

For the time being though it’s all about Pigon and working on other forthcoming releases from Berlin-based Dial. Although Sollmann insists Dial has no business plan, the label does have a residency at Panoramabar and its latest double 12″, Dial 40, is out this month featuring tracks from Lawrence, Carsten Jost/Carsten Klemann, Pigon, Phantom & Ghost, Rndm and Pantha du Prince. And there’s also a new album due out in May from Sten [label boss Peter Kersten aka Lawrence].

As a media-savvy former music journalist, Sollmann shies away from media talk of being the best producer around preferring instead to talk about the DJs and producers he rates. “It was a bit too much. I appreciate it but…Actually, I met Ricardo two weeks ago at a party and I was overwhelmed by him. He’s such a nice person. And I must say he is my favourite DJ right now. I feel what he does is something I look up to and it really makes me want to continue with my music. He is really exploring the borders of house, is so radical sometimes but always keeps an eye on the groove and the tradition.

“And of course there’s these guys from Romania like Raresh. They really interest me because they’re really young, like 10 years younger than me, and come from a completely different background, different history and everything and yet they are deep in this tradition.”

Luciano, Dixon, Move D, Keith Worthy, Ra.H and My My’s Nick Höpnner are also favourites. “Dial had a party in Hamburg featuring Jus Ed and everyone said he was awesome,” Sollmann adds. “Patrice Scott is one of my favourite DJs right now. He played Panoramabar and I couldn’t stop dancing. I wrote him lots of love messages and gave them to him and he was like, ‘you are crazy over here. I don’t think I understand Europe’.”

As for his own DJing, and if you haven’t heard a set from Efdemin or Pigon then go Google, Sollmann says: “I think it’s a funny game when people say ‘hey, I read you were a deep house DJ. What is this, you’re playing banging techno now?’ I’m very eclectic. If it works, and it doesn’t always, I’ll try it. You have to develop the mood. If the people don’t really get house then you can’t do it. I don’t want to go, ‘hey, you’re gonna listen to this. You hate it, you hate me but I don’t care’.”

And if all else fails? “I play more minimal, more techno and throw in a house record here and there and then they get it without realising,” he says. “I want the house people to listen to really good techno and the techno people to listen to really good house.”

Cutting a dash in neatly-pressed black jeans, smart shirt and a v-neck, and seemingly desperate for a fag, Efdemin clearly likes to look good. But the best dressed man in house? Laughing loudly he says: “Somebody wrote that and next thing you know it’s a fact. There’s just one fucking photo from my friend [Efdemin suited and booted]. I like clothes but it’s just not that important. Carsten Jost is a clever dresser but I don’t know if he’s the best.”

Although Berlin is lauded as the centre of the house universe right now – ‘every week somebody cool moves there’ – Sollmann is a self-confessed lover of London. He admits he’d like to move to the smoke one day and is now a regular visitor thanks to various DJ bookings, but he’s yet to play Faith.

“Faith do parties?” he asks somewhat surprised. Oh yes, Faith do parties Efdemin, they do parties alright.

June 2007

First published in Faith fanzine