Session Victim
Wednesday, March 24th, 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?
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Spring 2010