Located near to its famous successor Berghain in a disused freight depot, Ostgut was open from 1998 until its lease ran out in 2003 and the location was demolished. It is telling that the name is still vital in the Berghain enterprise, and Ostgut already had a lot of key elements that are still thriving: marathon weekends with marathon DJ sets, with hard Techno played on the main floor and housier vibes on the already existing Panoramabar. And as Ostgut evolved from the male-only Snax parties, it carried the according focus on gay and fetish sex into a permanent, raw location. We asked Ostgut resident DJ André Galluzzi to guide us through the sound of the club that set the foundation for the clubbing experience Berlin became famous for in recent years.
We begin with a primetime highlight. This track guaranteed ecstasy on the floor and became a trademark for the club.
Ignacio – Virton (N.E.W.S., 1999)
It was not an unusual track, but definitely one of the naughty ones. Direct and mindblowing. I used to drop the track between 5 to 6 a.m.
Si Begg – Welcome To The Discotheque (Mosquito, 2000)
I loved to open my set with Si Begg after live acts. Because it has this incredible intro while the mood of the record was already defining for the night. This was brillant.
Rydims – Rydim#2 (Version) (Nu Groove) Mike Shannon Feat. Fadila – Under The Radar (Ricardo Villalobos Mix) (Cynosure) Soylent Green – Low Pt. 1 (Playhouse) The Prince Of Dance Music – E-3, E-6, Roll On (City Limits) Badawi – Dstry<All>Prfts (Shackleton Remix) (Cargo Records) Hertsi – Oodi Sähkölle (Sähkö) Da Sampla – The Rider (Moods & Grooves) Wax – 30003 B (Wax) DJ Duke – Escape From New York B2 (Power Music) Never On Sunday – Urban Rains (430 West) Laurent X – Drowning In A Sea Of House (House Nation) Keith Tucker – It’s A Mood (Seventh Sign) Dettmann – Vertigo (Vincent Kunth Remix) (Ostgut Ton) Nature Boy – The Major Enemy (Black Label) 4th Measure Men – The Need (Henry Street Dreams Mix) (Multiply) Foremost Poets – Reasons To Be Dismal? (Instrumental Version) (Not On Label) Buzzin Cuzzins Feat. Romanthony – Let Me Show You Love (Approach To Temple) (Azuli) Raudive – Sienna (Macro) Instra:mental – Let’s Talk (Naked Lunch)
FCL – Let’s Go Seven (We Play House) Ramadanman – Glut (Hemlock) Scuba – You Got Me (Hotflush) To Rococco Rot – Fridays (Shackleton’s West Green Rd Remix) (Domino) Monolake – Alaska (Substance Remix II) (Monolake / Imbalance Computer Music) Low Res – Amuck (Sublime) Oni Ayhun – OAR004A (Oni Ayhun) Julia Decay – Untoward (Scandinavia) Rhythim Is Rhythim – Kaos (Juice Bar Mix) (Transmat) DJ Bone – No Sleep (True To Da Roots) (Sect) Mr. G – Life (One Dark Late Saturday) (Moods & Grooves) The Oliverwho Factory – Rain 5th Wave (Madd Chaise Inc.) Moodymann – Analog:Live (KDJ) Grand High Priest – Mary Mary (We-Ze Records) Shake – Psychotic Tango (Frictional) Spencer Kincy – Don’t Stop (Cajual) The Closer – Strong Meets The Weak (KMS) Bim Marx – Stronger (Stilove4music)
The first one is by Rinder and Lewis – “Lust”, which is kind of a space disco prototype so to say. For 1977 it was kind of a landmark record I guess.
For 1977, yes. I suppose Rinder and Lewis were a very prolific production team in the 70s and 80s. They made an awful lot of records, a lot of albums. That’s probably one of their most moody tracks. A lot of their stuff has got a 1920s, big band, Charleston influence to it. But I like a lot of their stuff. But some of it is unusual in its arrangement. That one’s got a slightly more mystical vibe to it.
Would you say they tried to explore their field a bit further with this record? You mentioned that a few of the other productions had certain influences, like the latin stuff for example. But this one is really something different, almost science fiction.
Yes, but that’s quite different from the rest of the “Seven Deadly Sins” album. I reckon it wasn’t a track that was made to be a hit. It was probably considered an album track. But with that weird bit in the middle with the glockenspiel, it goes into a sort of devil bit about two thirds of the way through. Which is very out of character with the rest of the record. But what I think is interesting about that is that you don’t get those sort of unexpected bits in records now. I guess when musicians are making records, it’s very different to when DJs are making records. Now, when DJs make records they just tend to have the same stuff going throughout the track, it just loops round and round. Maybe there might be some changes, but there’s nothing drastic coming in really loud. A bad DJ produced record might just be a bit boring, whereas a bad record from the 70s might have a great verse and a really terrible chorus. Or you might have something really cheesy. A lot of records now are just rhythm tracks made by DJs for mixing and whatever, whereas then you might have records that have got loads in them, maybe too much. But the reason that they’re not great is maybe because they’ve got too much in them. They might have some great musical parts, but the vocals are crap. I think I’m digressing a little bit. A lot of Rinder and Lewis stuff – have you got that album “Discognosis”?
No, I know the THP Orchestra stuff which I found really good.
Yeah, and there’s El Coco and Le Pamplemousse. I like that track. It’s always very well orchestrated, they always had a bit of money to make the records. It wasn’t done on a shoestring budget, they must have sold pretty well. I think El Coco’s “Cocomotion” is one of my favourites by them as well. Obviously a lot of the stuff on AVI was produced by them, they were putting out a lot of music. They must have lived in the studio in 76, 77, 78, 79.
This is also a really good example for what you can do if you’re a good arranger – the arrangements they did are really complex and beautiful. Is that something you miss? You talked of modern rhythm tracks and functionality – I think it’s hard to pull off these days because you don’t have budgets for studio work…
Yeah of course. I suppose you have to think, this is now and that was then. Record sales were much higher, I suppose disco was like r’n’b was 5 years ago in terms of its worldwide popularity. So there was a lot more money, obviously there weren’t downloads or people copying CDs. I don’t know what the sales figures were like of something like Rinder and Lewis, but it probably sold half a million or something like that. It’s a completely different time, in terms of being able to get a string section in for your record. I’ve paid for string sections before, but to be honest with you what I’ve found is a string section with 30-40 people is so different to a string section with 7 or 8 people. I’ve only been able to afford 6 or 7 people. It isn’t really a string section! Nowadays, with CD-ROMs and whatever you can make something that sounds pretty good – not the same – but pretty good with just samples. To really make it sound a lot better, you need a 30-40 piece, big room orchestra. People at Salsoul and a lot of them classic disco records had that big proper string arrangement. Also, paying someone to do the arrangement isn’t cheap if you get someone good. Very difficult to do that now. So yeah, I do miss it. But there’s no point missing something, it’s like saying “Oh, I wish they were still making Starsky and Hutch”.
As long as a glimpse of an orchestra won’t do, it doesn’t make sense?
I think the only it could make sense is if George Michael decides to make a disco album, or someone like that. He could afford it. Or Beyonce. Some big star. But your average dance record – I suppose Jamiroquai had some live strings on some of his stuff. But then again, he was selling a lot of records.
Doobie Brothers – What A Fool Believes (Warner Bros. Inc., 1979)
“What a Fool Believes” by the Doobie Brothers, which is a merger of rock and disco.
There’s other tracks, like the Alessi Brothers “Ghostdancer”… I suppose that just shows how popular disco music must have been at the time when people like The Doobie Brothers and Carly Simon were actually making disco records. I suppose it’s the same as nowadays people making a record with a more r’n’b type beat. Or at the beginning of house music, there were lots of pop acts making house records. I was listening to a best of ABBA a few years ago. It started off sort of glam-rock, sort of sweet, like Gary Glitter, that sort of production. And by the late seventies their stuff had got pretty disco-ey. And by 82 it was folky. So I think the disco beat was just featuring on a lot of productions by acts who just wanted to make a contemporary sounding record. That’s probably why a lot of the American rock establishment hated disco so much. It wasn’t just that it was there: their favourite acts were making disco records! They hated the fact the Rolling Stones made disco records, it just wasn’t allowed.
But the thing is, that when the disco boom ended, a lot of the rock acts who made disco records acted like they never did! They deserted it pretty quickly.
Yeah, once it became uncool they pretended they never liked it, it wasn’t their idea and all that. I tried to once do a compilation album of that sort of stuff. But it’s too difficult to license it all. They’re all on major labels, they’re all big acts, and it’s very hard to license that stuff. In fact I’d go as far as to say it’s impossible: just too difficult and expensive.
Was it just because of budget reasons, or because the acts didn’t want to be reminded of what they did in that area?
I think often those big acts have to approve every compilation album license. A lot of the time, for the people who work in the compilation album license department, it’s easier for them to say no than to write to the management of Supertramp or Queen. And often, if they do see a title that has disco in it, they will say no. And a lot of them won’t license the Rolling Stones to a comp that’s got a projected sales figure of less than half a million. There’s so many reasons why it’s problematic. You could do it, but you’d have to leave off so many tracks, there would hardly be any point doing it. I did have a chat with a major label about doing it and that was one that owned quite a lot of them. But it’s just so difficult. They want to see a big marketing budget, they want to see you spend a hundred grand on television adverts. Otherwise they just go, why are we on this compilation album?
I think it’s a shame really, there were so many good disco records done by major artists…
Yeah. I like a lot of those things. I’m doing this compilation for BBE which is maybe a similar thing, just it’s not all well known acts. People like Fleetwood Mac, they did that track “Keep On Going”, those sort of things. I guess it’s blue-eyed rocky soul. Quite danceable… it’s not all disco, but it’s not really rock either. More black music based. I always think, if you look at the back of a rock album and it’s got someone playing bongos on it, it’s worth checking out. Read the rest of this entry »
> Bocca Grande – Overdose (Four Roses Recordings, 2009)
Ich kenne es nicht. Ist es aus Deutschland?
Nein, ist es nicht. Es ist ein deutsches Label, aber die Produzenten sind aus Japan.
Das wäre meine nächste Vermutung gewesen.
Warum hättest Du das vermutet?
Das Piano als Schlüsselelement. Ein helles Piano und auch die Art, wie sie es editiert haben. Es ist offen.
Interessant, dass Du aufgrund des Piano-Sounds auf Japan gekommen bist.
Ich denke, dass diese Art Melodie etwas hat von japanischem Soundtrack-Piano-Stil hat. Diese gewisse melodische Herangehensweise. Es gibt immer dieses romantische, dramatische Element. Und nun mit dem Keyboard weiß man genau, dass es definitiv aus Japan kommt. Es ist aber ein sehr schöner Sound. Sehr Yellow Magic Orchestra. Sehr oldschool.
Das ist, was ich dachte, als ich es ersten Mal gehört habe. Es klingt nach der Art wie Sakamoto Piano spielt.
Genau, das Piano ist irgendwie Sakamoto, aber das Keyboard im Hintergrund ist der Hosono-Touch. Es ist diese Tanzmusik, zu der Du nicht tanzen kannst, für mich jedenfalls. Vielleicht bin ich, was das Tanzen angeht, zu einfach gestrickt. Es hat diese Plastizität an sich. Ich frage mich oft, wenn ich diese Art Musik höre, ob die Musiker diese Plastizität kritisch angehen, oder ob es nur ihr künstlerischer Ausdruck ist, und eine unkritische Herangehensweise. Aber dieser Collagen-Stil zwischen Melodien, Elektronik und Texturen ist auch sehr japanisch.
Sie nennen sich Bocca Grande. Ein Paar, und sie ist Klavierlehrerin. Alle ihre Tracks haben diese Piano-Elemente.
> H.O.D. – Alive And Kicking (Mata-Syn, 2009)
Schnelles Tempo. Zu schnell für mich zum Auflegen. Das kenne ich auch wieder nicht, ich vermute mal, es ist europäisch.
Ja.
Aber kontinental, definitiv nicht englisch.
Es ist englisch.
Nein, ist es nicht! (lacht) Plugin-Keyboards, würde ich sagen. Software-Studio. Auf eine Art wie Snd auf Acid, weißt Du was ich meine? Es klingt wie eine Snd-Platte auf 45, über die man einen Beat gelegt hat.
Ja, dies ist ein englischer Dubstep-Produzent. Ein gutes Beispiel für einen etwas deeperen Stil, nicht so abhängig von den sonst üblichen darken, wobbeligen Basslines.
Ich wünschte, wir hätten einen DJ-CD-Player dafür, denn der Bass ist nett. Es wäre schön, das erheblich langsamer zu spielen.
Ich hab das ein paarmal gespielt und auf -6 heruntergepitcht, und es funktioniert.
Ja, man müsste es so auf zwischen 120 und 125 BPM herunterbekommen, und es könnte wirklich deep sein.
Ist das ein Sound, den Du magst?
Nun, es erinnert mich an einen Sound, den ich mag. Aber die Pads, ich müsste raten, wenn ich sagen wollte, ob es Plugins oder Synth-Software-Keyboards sind, zumindest ist es ein Mastering-Stil, wo es hochgeladen wird und dann mit digitalem EQ und Plugins gearbeitet wird. Der Sound erhält dadurch diese Knusprigkeit, die mich nicht wirklich interessiert. Auf seine Art ist es zu clean, und zu scharf. Es ist ein Klang, der nur mit Digitalaufnahmen funktioniert. Was in Ordnung ist, es ist auf diese Art eben zeitspezifisch, und zeigt, dass ich überholt bin. Es ist wie House Music mit etwas zu unbehandelten Patch-Sounds. Das führt zu so einem industriellen Flavour. Das schreckt mich auch bei modernem Techno ab, ich mag das nicht.
Weil es vorgefertigt klingt?
Ja, aber auf eine Art die nicht zynisch ist. Ich kann es nicht genau sagen. Ich finde nicht die richtigen Worte um zu beschreiben, was mit diesem Keyboard-Sound ist. Aber ich mag den Bass.
Es ist definitiv für große Soundanlagen gemacht.
Eine anonym veröffentlichte EP, die sich in unmittelbarer Nachbarschaft zum dunklen Techno von Ostgut Ton, Sandwell District und Scion Versions bewegt. Hier hat sich jemand wirklich eingehend damit beschäftigt, wie man aus pulsierendem Metall-Dub, rotierenden Frequenzen, entstellten Rave-Signalen und stoischen Grooves einnehmende Tracks formt. Dazu kann man entweder in kompletter Düsternis und Dauerregen über verlassene Bahngleise in Industriebrachen torkeln (ohne nach links und rechts zu gucken), wissentlich die letzten funktionierenden Geräte an Bord der gestrandeten Weltraummüllabfuhr zu Klump hauen (es holt einen ja sowieso niemand mehr ab) oder die anderen Tänzer auf der Tanzfläche des weltletzten Destruktiv-Balls zum ganz engen Engtanz auffordern (sofern man sie in dem ganzen Strobonebel überhaupt sehen kann). Wir vermuten gehörige Erfahrungswerte und positionieren neben dieses Wurmloch einen Melder.
Mit ihrem ersten Artist-Album macht das Label zur Clubinstitution zum Zeitpunkt einer Wiederkehr der Grundfesten der House Music ein folgerichtiges Statement. Natürlich sind die Klänge hier an den Erfahrungswerten der langen Wochenenden am Wriezener Bahnhof geschult, aber eben auch an den trendresistenten Klassikern zwischen Endachtziger-Ausgangsmaterial aus Chicago und New York und deren Deep House-Fortführung wenige Jahre später, mit denen Prosumer seine Sets aus Prinzip spickt. Der Kitt ist hier aber nicht nur eine Unverfälschtheit und Direktheit im Grundgefühl des Sounds, sondern eben auch in der emotionalen Aussage. Es geht beiden offensichtlich nicht nur um eine detailsichere musikalische Umsetzung ihrer Überzeugungen in der Produktion an sich, sie setzen auch noch die passenden Songstrukturen obendrauf. Prosumer selbst und Elif Biçer sind eben auch die dafür notwendigen Interpreten, die sich adäquat zurückgenommen und durchgehend wunderschön mit den Wirrnissen der Nacht auseinandersetzen, womit sich dieses Album entsprechend zu einem konsequenten Gesamteindruck bündelt, der so manchem noch aktiven Protagonisten der Ursprungsgeneration dieser Musik schwer zu denken geben sollte. Serenity indeed.
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