House Hunting #20 – Various Artists ltd #2

Over the 80s and 90s I spent a lot of time per week digging through a tiny store called Plattenkiste in my hometown of Kiel, up North in Germany. The store was rammed with stacks of records, filthy paperbacks, VHS tapes and video games. It was all completely unsorted, and whenever they did their regular flea market stints, they just rearranged it all back randomly and you had to start all over again. The store was operated by a family business, a couple and their daughter, and neither of whom had even a vague interest in what they were selling, nor any knowledge. The only music playing was an oldie radio station, constantly. They bought record collections from local DJs, Danish libraries and any private person in need of money. Every record in the store then cost 2 Deutschmarks, regardless of format, and later 2 Euros. It was a total goldmine, where I found a good deal of my record collection, and even if it now has dried up compared to its former glory days, I still find bargains there whenever I go back to visit family and old friends.

One of the finds with the most impact on me has to be “Ruff Disco Volume One” by Nature Boy, which was released on NYC based Black Label in 1992, and which I discovered in the store a year later, probably left there by some local DJ in search of some funky House tunes for the rather commercial clubs of the town. Given that purpose, this particular record was really bound to fail. Apart from myself I never hear it played in clubs for years to come. Disco actually was the theme throughout, and its samples mainly shared the same heritage used in the freestyle based releases of early 90’s New York House labels. But that was it completely in terms of similarities. These tracks deconstructed Disco thoroughly, down to a primitive core that was just incredibly rugged and dark. It kicked determinedly, but all the glitz of its sample references were twisted to a muffled mess, and you were rather thrown out into the back alley through the back door than swayed through the velvet rope on the other side of the building. The record was and is totally visionary, and it preceded what the mid 90’s Chicago trackstyle or Detroit House producers would make of Disco, albeit arguably not this radical and daring.

This was pre-internet, so it took me some more years to find out the producer behind it was DJ Milo from Bristol’s legendary Wild Bunch sound system, and then I loved it even more. You could snatch up copies of it for little money for a really long time, but last I checked that changed dramatically, and these few words probably won’t help. Then again, it might help to get it reissued. Else, dig and you shall find.

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Hot Wax: DJ Dove – God O’Mighty EP

I first heard this record played by Boris Dlugosch at Hamburg’s Front Club, sometime in the 90’s, where particularly “Illusion” became a cherished and trusted screaming anthem. It was a fairly obscure Jersey sound item, but not that hard to find. I actually got a hold of it in a bargain bin for just a few Deutschmarks, and since every time I played it out over the years people kept asking about it, I kept recommending it and every new owner was happy to find something so special for so little money. I was convinced it could stay this way forever and never checked back, but as I played “Organized” at Vancouver’s New Forms Festival this year (see Hot Wax 022, around the 1:50 mark) it was welcomed on the floor like an old friend, with people coming up to thank me for playing it out, and cheers all round. I told them the usual about it being a gem that is still out there for easy grabs, and then to my surprise got told that it was quite the opposite now. Well, it totally makes sense.

DJ Dove probably would have loved to sound as classy as the more successful protagonists of the New Jersey and New York House scene, but it is most likely that there was little money for equipment and studio and his label maybe had even less to spend. Thus you have a record bursting with great moments, and mastering and cut do their best to reduce it to a back door to back alley version of what was best intended, and still it is a wonderful example of what you can achieve as long you have ideas. Nowadays each week sees releases by up and coming producers who gather costly vintage equipment (or according presets) and muffle what they have on purpose, aiming for grit and that enigmatic authenticity, an air of mystery even. Still, if you think what you hear without the filters and hiss, there is not much left to stay in your memory but an aesthetic which has already crossed the gap to a cliché without much meaning. And the reason why a track like “Organized” is still ruling is hardly because it is raw, it is because it is a really good track. But there are plenty of forgotten releases from the past like this, raw because there was no other way, and there will be plenty of new releases longing for this punk deepness, and coming up with the necessary tunes to combine a certain attitude with, well, music. You will have trouble achieving longevity if you neglect the music for anything else. Here’s proof.

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Hot Wax: R.I.P. Mark Bell

When I first heard LFO, I instantly thought this might be the first music to really challenge the legacy Kraftwerk left behind. Meaning, a legacy based on game changing achievements in sound and ideas, and much else beyond. I never really felt the need to revise that first impression in the years to come. Hardly any music of that era has aged so well, and still sounds so unique, and particularly Mark Bell followed it up with a whole lot of comparably superior music, either as collaborator, or on his own. I always had this feeling he might drop a release that would shatter a whole scene again, at any given point. But now he very untimely passed away. There will be young, determined and insanely talented producers again, but Mark Bell’s legacy will be really difficult to match. R.I.P.

Finn Johannsen – Interview for The Screen Girls

Finn Johannsen is the kind of DJ we didn’t think existed anymore. He has an encylopediac knowledge of music and it’s apparent when watching him play that his understanding of music moves him while he’s moving the crowd. The Berlin based DJ has been a fixture in house music since he began spinning in clubs in the ’80s. His command of music has led him to branch out from DJ’ing, as a buyer for legendary Hard Wax in Berlin, where he curates a selection of sometimes very hard to find vinyl in different genres, like dub or acid techno. He’s a co-owner of Macro Records, a label which reps artists like KiNK and Morgan Geist. He’s also a writer, contributing to electronic bible Resident Advisor.

Our favorite thing about Finn, is his dedication to vinyl. He only plays vinyl during his sets, which is quite a feat, considering he tends to play marathon sets (we caught him during a three-hour feat). It’s easy to keep the crowd moving when you’ve preselected a surefire mix with whatever is trendy at the moment, but Finn chooses to keep an eye on the crowd and let that determine which record he ducks down to grab from the thick stack he’s brought with him (did we mention he doesn’t play the same set twice?).

We asked him to tell us a little bit about how he got started, the state of the music scene in Berlin and his advice for aspiring DJ’s. Catch the Q+A below.

What attracted you to house music?

When I first heard house records in clubs, internet was not an option. I learned where it came from from magazine articles, but later on. I liked that it condensed a lot of music I liked before into something new, which sounded primitive, fresh, and effective. For me it was just another step in the chronology of club music though, albeit one that surpassed early fad status very quickly.

How has house evolved since you first started spinning?

It absorbed a lot of music styles and got bigger and bigger. But it also fragmented into countless sub-genres. Nowadays the style is as detached from its origins as it is close to it. And that is not even a contradiction. It seems anything is house, and nothing.

How do you think social media has changed the way music is shared?

Social media has changed everything in terms of accessibility. You can be up to date with anything you are interested in, no matter where you are. The problem is that you are also up to date with anything you are not interested in, and there is not much you can do about it.

What is the Berlin scene like right now?

Berlin drains a lot of talent from anywhere else in the world with the promise of affordable everyday living, and lots of opportunities to earn money and reputation with what you do, particularly in the club scene. That may be true in comparison, but it also means a lot of competition with a lot of talent, and the affordability is waning. The influx of national and international artists have not yet led to a distinctive sound you can link to the city either. The sound of Berlin now is a plethora of sounds, with a huge network attached. But the city also has a plethora of distractions, which are not always helpful with a creative process.

You impressed us with your 3 hour set, and you’ve said that you don’t play the same set twice. How do you read a crowd and keep the party going?

To me it makes no sense to repeat certain sequences that people might have heard at other gigs or on online recordings of mine. I have enough records to try and avoid that. When I travel and I have to do a succession of gigs with the same record bag, I try to change the set as much as possible, in order to challenge myself and offer some surprises for the ones who came to see me. I am interested a lot of different kinds of music and I like to make use of that. Well, I get bored very easily, too. And I do not want anybody else to get bored either. When I’m about to play somewhere I’m the type trying to arrive in time to check out how the night is evolving. I only play vinyl, so I have to get along with the records I brought, and I select those records by doing some research about the place I’m due to play, and sometimes who else played there as well. But how much I can succeed with said selection is pretty much down to the experiences gained in nearly 30 years of playing out in clubs. It works well most of time, but there is never a guarantee. And there should be none. Routine is the enemy, and failure is as important as success.

You move seamlessly through different fields; is it easy for you to transition through each field? How do you balance?

It actually is not easy at all. Not only in terms of scheduling, but also because certain things I am involved with do not get along to well with others. I think it is obvious that running a label myself and buying and selling other labels at Hard Wax does not really blend well with writing about other labels, for example. So I stepped back from writing considerably, even if I am missing it quite a bit. I still do some interview or features about more general topics, but nowadays discourse is an almost totally neglected aspect of music journalism, both due to networking obligations between the music business and the media, and a lack of self-criticism on the side of the artists. This also applies to the other things I do. Mostly they benefit from each other, but there is also always a potential they might affect each other negatively. You have to keep a lot of things in mind, and often you do not want to, or even can.

We’re in the era of the “laptop DJ”. Do you think it’s important to learn to spin on vinyl?

I have not much respect for digital DJ’s who stress the layering aspects of their setup, and then just play track after track from a huge database. For me then, the only aspect is convenience. But the entertainment value of a DJ set is not dependent on the medium it is performed with. The music matters. Still, I prefer DJ’s who do the mixing by ear, and who rather watch the floor instead of a display. I do not think that you should start DJ’ing by learning your craft with vinyl. But you should learn your craft first.

Is dj’ing an art form?

No, it is the means to an end.

What advice could you give to dj’s who are just beginning?

There are legions of DJ’s. If you want to make a difference, be different.

Interview for The Screen Girls

Hot Wax: dBridge – Wonder Where

I must admit that I did not buy that much Drum and Bass in its mid 90s heyday. I simply loved too much of it, thus it seemed purchasing what I loved would drain my budget for good, as there was enough already going on elsewhere I needed to keep track of. I bought a whole lot of mixtapes though, trying to devour the most and best of it as it was intended to shine. I applied the same pattern with Dubstep as well later on. There were just too many interesting records to add the them to the shopping list I already had week in week out. I went to nights, bought some mixtapes again, kept in touch. But then some day 5 years ago, I was going up the stairs to Hard Wax, and DJ Pete was booming this over the store PA. With every step up I became convinced more and more that this was not like anything I heard in either Drum and Bass and Dubstep so far, yet it sounded like it belonged to both, but it had very determined sound aesthetics more linked in my mind to Techno as well. The half time tempo had me confused at first. Of course you could always mix Drum And Bass or Dubstep with slower paced downtempo tracks, but this particular track seemed to be built for the purpose, only the other way round. Its beats were really heavy, yet agile. It’s atmosphere dark, yet totally engaging. The vocals floating above, adding still to the austerity. I asked what it was, and bought it instantly. There will be a time you will drop this, and it will do serious damage, I thought. I was right. I also fucked up my budget by extending my purchasing schemes to this area, for years to come. Sometimes, you just have to give in.

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Hot Wax: Cajmere – Chit Chat, Cajmere – Believe In Me, Cajmere ft Dajae – Brighter Days

One thing I really enjoy when DJing is sequencing tracks that use the same samples, or combine them with the material it was sampled from on top. The same goes for tracks with similar sounds, and of course you find the most similar sounds if you takes a closer look at a certain producer’s output. I have a very weak spot for the eccentrics of House music and Chicago’s Curtis Jones is among my favourite from that species. I have a weak spot for spoken vocals in House tracks as well, particularly if they exceed mere dancefloor imperatives or spiritual togetherness stuff, or embarrassing sexual posing. Well, Curtis Jones is well smart and hip enough to perform the latter with tolerable style and humour. So I was flicking through my archives of 90’s Chicago House 12″s for a recent gig at Panoramabar a few days ago, and I remembered that several tracks produced by Jones used the sound template made so famous by the “Underground Trance” version of Cajmere’s “Brighter Days”. The other that instantly came to mind was “Chit Chat”, it took a while longer to come up with “Believe In Me”. All three tracks sound very similar, but have a very different lyrical content. I decided to play “Chit Chat”, “Believe In Me”, and then “Brighter Days” in succession, and together they form a really weird narrative. Of course the majority of the people on the floor have enjoyed the music more than the tracks’ twisted little story, but that is perfectly fine. Not every point you make has to hit home. But it is important to make a few points throughout a set, for me at least. I also played a few early 90’s NYC sample House tracks that sample Yazoo’s “Don’t Go”, but none were too obvious, and I forgot to bring Yazoo’s “Don’t Go”. Next time.

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Interview: Danny Tenaglia – “I always loved what I was doing”

There are not many DJs who can look back on such a long and successful career as the 54 year old New Yorker Danny Tenaglia. Towards the end of last year he confirmed his extraordinary status once again during a rare visit to Germany where he played at Berlin’s Panorama Bar and Berghain on the same weekend. His enduring popularity can certainly be attributed to his often several hours long sets which still are packed with the most relevant new records of the current day. After all these years, Tenaglia still  has his eyes on the future instead of the past. For this interview, though, he made an exception and looks back to the beginnings of his career.

Apparently you got hooked on dance music at a very young age. What led you into it? Were you coming from a musical household, or did you learn by yourself, by listening to the radio for example?

Growing up in the 1960s and 70s, we (mom, dad and four brothers) had always been around all kinds of music especially during big family gatherings, which were quite often. It was mostly my mom’s side as she was one of nine children. My dad only had one sister and his side was very reserved. All of my mom’s siblings were married and they all had children except for one aunt. This brought me 20 cousins, ten boys and ten girls, and when we all gathered together it was like an army! (laughs) We also had many second relatives and we were all born and raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which is extremely popular these days since it is very close to Manhattan. Back then, Williamsburg was like a big version of Little Italy. When I visit Naples, Italy, it always reminds me so much of my childhood since Naples still looks exactly the same as it did 50 years ago. I can relate so well to the people there and on the island of Ischia as well.

I truly consider that this all started for me when I was only just a tiny fetus inside of what I call: “The Boom Womb Room!“ I guess I was always paying attention to beats, rhythms and melodies long before I knew what they even were. There was always music in my childhood. My mom’s younger sister Nancy was unable to have children of her own. However, she wound up becoming the most influential person in our entire family and had a wonderfully gifted voice. She always had music on. She bought records very often as there was coincidentally a record store right on our block. She even taught herself how to play piano and guitar by ear and this was initially how I learned to play as well.

Our family often had good reason to celebrate events like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, family picnics, local catholic church festivals from the schools we all attended. I grew up listening to a lot of typical music that elderly Italian people would listen and dance to. Besides the obvious traditional music for dancing like the Tarantellas and the big band Benny Goodman swing music, there was plenty of the 50’s Doo Wop music as that’s what was big for them during this era. So I had no choice but too hear it all. Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, The Beatles, Bossanovas and lots of soul music as well, Motown records particularly. Sometimes I think maybe my family were the ones to have invented karaoke? (laughs) There were many relatives who would love to take turns and sing their hearts out. And to end this deep question, it was most definitely my very dear aunt and godmother Nancy who taught me (and many of us) how to fully appreciate God’s gift of music, how to “feel it deep down in your soul“ and how by the changing of one simple chord that could be played with „great emotion“, it could bring upon unexplainable goose-bumps and quite often – even tears!

Were you aware that the music of those years was extraordinarily important, or was it just what was around then?

I definitely knew in my soul that it was meaningful. But I don’t think I realized how important it all was for me until I passed the age of ten and was realizing what type of music I was loving the most and only wanted to hear music I liked, as I was becoming sick and tired of the Frank Sinatra music and I was not a big fan of ballads and slow music until I eventually got heavily into soul music. I knew that I had possessed an incredibly deep passion for music since birth as relatives and friends would always make it obvious to my parents by saying things like: „One way or another this kid is going to be in the music business when he grows up“, because it basically was the only thing I displayed interest in. I had all kinds of little instruments and child record players, even reel to reel tape machines for kids. However, it did not truly hit me until I was about eleven or twelve when I was quickly finished with some music lessons because I was very young and did not like the discipline and how strict they were with me. They first took me for piano and then guitar lessons. I even attempted saxophone in seventh grade.

I had a great ear for music and which melodies worked together and which ones did not. Unfortunately, I did not posses „the gift“ of mastering an instrument, but I guess that ultimately it was a DJ mixer that became my main instrument of choice that I am stilling playing with today nearly 40 years later.

When you were still a kid, you got to know the prolific DJ Paul Casella, who played a part in turning you onto the profession. Can you tell how that shaped your decision to pursue a career in DJing?

Well, this is where I had then realized instantly at the mere age of twelve years old upon hearing an eight-track tape mixed continuously by Paul that I was somewhat mesmerized by because when I expected a song would end, then another would blend in. Sometimes harmonically on key and sometimes so perfectly that I kept asking my cousin who made this tape and how did he do this and how did he do that? Long story short, I called the telephone number on the 8-Track tape and Paul Casella happened to be nearby and came to our families grocery store and he brought us more 8-Track tapes. He wanted to meet me as he was amazed some little “little kid” was so impressed with him and the art of DJ-ing. I guess it was right around then in 1973 that I never showed much interest in anything else, including sports. I was not interested in any subjects in school, I was only interested in music, becoming a DJ, getting professional DJ equipment and getting gigs in big nightclubs and eventually this obviously led to my second career by nature which was producing music of my own, collecting synths, drum machines and various studio gear.

As you loved the music and heard about what was going down in the seminal clubs of that era, I guess you could not wait until you were old enough to go there yourself. Was it like you had imagined it to be? What kind of clubs could you already go to?

I was barely a teenager, so nightclubs were still a long way for me. But I can recall the anxiety and being extremely envious of my two older brothers, because they would go out often. But their interest was mainly to drink with their friends, meet girls and do what most guys from Brooklyn were doing in 1975. It wasn’t much different than what you can see in the movie Saturday Night Fever, including the fighting! However, when I was about 16 or 17 my older brothers would sometimes sneak me in to a few places which I will remember forever, and then they and other mature relatives and friends would basically chaperone me when I got my first job in a corner bar called The Miami Lounge in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was just a few blocks away from our house and the nights were starting at 9 pm, but my parents wanted me home by 1 am. The lounge is still there and it’s walking distance from the new and already famous club Output. The lounge looks exactly the same as it did in the 1970s but it’s now also a restaurant as well. I’m not sure of it’s current name, though.

You then had the privilege to witness some of the most celebrated clubs and DJs in New York like the Loft and the Paradise Garage and numerous others. Are the first impressions of those nights still vivid? Was it every bit as outstanding as it is described up to this day?

Yes, yes and yes! The Paradise Garage, The Loft, Inferno, Better Days, Starship Discovery 1, The Saint, Crisco Disco and many, many more that had come but now are sadly all gone! It’s a shame we don’t have much footage or even great photos of so many of these nostalgic parties and venues. There were so many options back then from all the way in Downtown Manhattan up to 57th Street and from East to West, seven nights a week. We had big venues, small venues, raw underground parties with no decor at all and obvious mega places like Studio 54 and Xenon. Then as the 80s came around we saw lots of changes with all kinds of theme parties at places like The Limelight, Area, Roxy and others. Read the rest of this entry »

Finn Johannsen – Radio Študent Interview

Interview at Radio Študent

Finn Johannsen – Sound Of Thought 14

KWC 92 – Night Drive
D-Ribeiro – Down You Will Get (AM Mix By DJ Sotofett)
Corbie – Arktika (Sprinkles’ Deeperama)
Deetroit – Feeels
Ozka – MTRX
L’estasi Dell’oro – Reverse & Repair
MGUN – Mask
Joey Anderson – Sky’s Blessings
Jeff Mills – Human Dream Collectors
The Abstract Eye – Reflexes
Divvorce – Wander 7
Plastic Soul – I Got It
SSOL – SSOL 001
FaltyDL – Umi Says
The Fantasy – Glass Traps
Vaib-R – About Freedom
Ttam Renat – Merging (Hut Mix)
Roy Davis Jr. & Sean Smith – The Revival
Webster Wraight Ensemble – The Ruins Of Britain (Pépé Bradock’s ‘Robin’s Hot Barbershop’ Remix)
L’estasi Dell’oro – Iscariotic Lips
Kassem Mosse – Workshop 019
? – Aspect Music 6
Ob Ignitt – Celestial Salacious
Damon Bell – What
The Trash Company – Manchester Stomp

For our final podcast of 2013 – vinyl devotee, Hard Wax curator, part-time journalist, Macro co-boss, family man and a damn near impeccable selector, Finn Johannsen steps up.

Having been one of a select few at the helm of the Hard Wax institution since 2010, it comes as little surprise that they would turn to somebody such as the likes of Finn for the coveted position. Casting his net wide, Finn’s general philosophy when it comes to music echoes the sentiments – if you are no longer being stimulated by what you are hearing, then “look elsewhere, or look harder”. Though in his eyes a decidedly necessary standpoint for somebody that has been frequenting clubs since the 80s, Finn’s ability to keep his finger ahead of the pulse demonstrates a breadth of knowledge that shines through heavily both in his selections and writings.

A unique and highly refreshing figure, Finn turns in over two hours of fresh wax for us – with an extreme wealth of wisdom to back it up, take time with both facets of this episode, as there is much to take in.

So we come to you as 2013 draws to a close – as somebody that is so involved with new releases from far and wide through your position at Hard Wax, do you feel 2013 has been a good year for electronic music? Has your wide-ranging palette been mostly satisfied?

There was only one period where I was really bored with House and Techno, that was the mid 90’s. The wild creativity made way for bigger clubs and the according income boost possibilities, and innovations seemed to trickle in comparison to the years before. But then there were other styles emerging, especially in the UK, and as I dug deeper, I also found enough interesting music to keep me hooked. Which since then I had established as a rule for myself. If there is not enough happening in what you are used to, look elsewhere, or look harder. Since then I did not find any year in electronic music disappointing. I took home a lot of good new releases week in week out, year in year out. Discovering a lot of new names, new labels and lost or overlooked obscurities in the process. For me personally, there is still too much music released that tries to recreate something that has already been done, especially when you consider the fact that both the landmark originals and the according copycat records from the same period of time are easily accessible via second hand. But if I were 20 and just becoming aware of certain sounds, it would probably thrill me in the same way. And of course the overall interest in vintage blueprints brought a lot of interesting reissues as well, some of which I did not know before. But generally the amount of previously unreleased or longtime deleted material is not a particularly healthy sign for such a fast evolving culture like club music. And I could not help noticing that the producers and DJs moaning the most about retroesque phenomena were often a bit more seasoned, and also often the ones seemingly failing to deliver the same spark they felt was now lacking. If you have the feeling that things are developing for the worse, take a close look first at what you can do or actually do about it. In any case, what interests me most is what happens next.

In the Critic’s Round Table edition of RA’s Exchange in August, you state that personally, “surprises” when going out or listening to music are fewer and further between. Though you also state that this is to be the natural state of things when you have been engaged in both activities for as long as you have and those pioneering years have well and truly past.

We’re interested to know what some of these more recent surprises have been and what it takes to grab your attention when you have been steeped in this history and culture for such a significant period of time. And do these increasing lapses between ever cause you to lose some of your vigour for the scene?

I started collecting records in the mid 70’s, 6 years old, and sneaked my way into clubs in the early 80’s. And I still buy records and go out. So a certain degree of recurrences is just natural. Hype tends to move in circles. There are shoes I still like to wear that have been in and out of fashion so many times that I simply do not care anymore if they are fashionable or not, and the same applies to music or club nights. Music production is so standardized by software today that it is unlikely that someone comes up with a sound unheard of before, and using analogue gear does not guarantee an individual signature sound either. For some time now, a lot of interesting innovations in electronic music happen in the realm of recontextualization, deconstruction and interpretation of certain traditions. And if it is done with enough fresh ideas to add a new perspective, I do not mind that at all. I look out for artists who have their own sound. And I must add that in that aspect it does not matter if a producer able to do that is just surfacing or has been around for a longer time. I do not make a big difference between artists refining their own sound, or artists just establishing it. The main difficulty is trying to remain relevant, and I salute everybody trying and succeeding. Thus for example, I had the same pleasure with artists like Mark Pritchard, Soundstream, Pépé Bradock, Terrence Dixon, Kode9 or Terre Thaemlitz still doing their thing as it should be done, as with newer artists like Tapes, Call Super, DJ Richard, Gorgon Sound, Moon B, Aquarian Foundation or MGUN, who are just in the process of developing their own creative persona. There are many more fine examples for both camps, of course. For inconsiderate omissions, please consult what I charted and mixed in 2013. Read the rest of this entry »

Resident Advisor EX.176 – Berlin Vinyl Culture

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