For me, there are two approaches to recording a mix. The first is to take a lot of time in thinking of a smart and coherent concept, to then carefully select the according music and plan its transitions, and later, record the whole thing and make it public. There are plenty of my sets on the internet where I have done exactly that, with quite some variety of styles and ideas, and for a variety of reasons and purposes, too. These mixes are often schooled by the mixtapes I compiled for as long as I can remember (for girlfriends, friends and maybe some yet invisible target audience). My mixes of that kind have gotten more refined over the years. At some point, I started to mix music, and the amount of people such a set finally reaches has grown considerably. But the method, more or less, has stayed the same.
The second approach is to record a set while you’re playing in the club. Of course, the selection and execution in that context is different. I usually bring as many records as possible that I would like to dance to if I would be attending the club that very night, and then I combine them as it makes most sense to me in the given situation of the party. I try to avoid repeating combinations with each gig. For me, the fun part of mixing is to try and test new sequences. This can run the risk of a hit-and-miss in outcome (often depending on how inspired or concentrated I am), but in my mind, the possibility of failure is far less uncomfortable than relying on playlists of which I have already explored or experienced the success or functionality of. In short, I try to stay open to the surprises the music has on offer, and I try to pass that on to the crowd.
As Modifyer asked me for a guest mix, I quickly thought of doing something I had never done before: a combination of the two approaches mentioned above. At the time, there were no concepts left in my mind waiting to be released in a set (and admittedly, I also had so many other things to take care of that I found it difficult to come up with another or a better idea). If such ideas don’t strike you right away, they are mostly not worth being carried out anyway. What I did spend some thought on, however, was the music I wanted to play at Macro’s imminent label residency at Panorama Bar on the 10th of October 2009. I decided to leave the records in my box in the exact order I would play them at the gig, and re-record the set as soon as possible, with the memory of the proceedings still vivid. And thus I did, a day later. Naturally, the way the set now sounds is different to the live situation of the club; the mixing is tighter in parts, probably less frantic, and I could already tell where to mix in from what I could still remember of playing the music as it happened. Still, it was very interesting to repeat the experience, and it was also very interesting to take a second look at the choices I made in the intensity and immediacy of the night.
The night itself was a wonderful experience. We had just released the album “Catholic” by Patrick Cowley & Jorge Socarras and its accompanying singles. For the occasion, my label partner, Stefan Goldmann, and I invited Serge Verschuur from Clone Records and our friend Hunee to play. We knew that both would deliver the dynamic diversity we had in mind to celebrate what we had worked on for so long. I was due to play the last set, from 8 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. Unfortunately, I had a severe cold resurfacing, so I took some hours rest before arriving at the club at around 4 a.m. I could tell right away that the vibe of the club was a bit different to other nights there. Dubfire was on for Berghain, and judging from the queue I passed on my way to the entrance, the people interested in hearing him play seemed other than the regular crowd. I didn’t mind that at all, but as I made my way through Berghain, I kept running into friends who were telling me that there was more trouble at the door than usual. The music was different, too. I paused to listen to Dubfire’s set. While the monolithic pulse of the techno sound associated with Berghain was there, it somehow lacked the tension and groove that I need to lock me. I went upstairs to Panorama Bar to check what was going on there instead.
Serge was in the midst of a blinding set of classic and contemporary house and techno. The crowd was well into it. Hunee followed suit marvelously, steering the proceedings to more cheerful shores, and adding some classic disco and anthemic vocal moments. There were smiling faces enough, familiar and unfamiliar, to convince me that the night turned out to be what we hoped for, and then some. As I took over, I had the feeling that I should take another direction musically. I felt very tired and numbed by the fever the flu brought along. To start, I thought that I should kick myself into action with the music, hoping that the dancers would follow my way. Picking Heaven 17 to follow up Hunee’s last record, Code 718’s blissful “Equinox”, was admittedly a bit bold and therefore received some confused looks, but then in the course of the set, things quickly fell into line. Flicking through my box, every next record seemed to be waiting in place, already offering its services to make the night one to remember. When I left the club, near Sunday noon, into the same mean cold drizzle I entered from several hours before, the music continued to thump in my head and there were indeed a lot of wonderful memories to keep. On Monday, I refreshed myself, had a good breakfast and then recorded this set right away in one take, in order to not let any of those memories slip away.
Peter Kruder – The Law Of Return (Macro) Red Sparrow – That’s The Way Of The World (United States Of Mars) Santiago Salazar – Arcade (Stefan Goldmann Mix) (Macro) Technose Distrikt – Untitled (Rush Hour) Katelectro – Plug (Ultradyne Remix) (Mighty Robot Recordings) DJ Sneak – Fear The World (Defiant) Reggie Hall – I’ll Keep On Workin’ You (Urgent Music Works) The Pig – Are You…? (Rush Hour) Aaron Carl & Benjamin Hayes – The Struggle (Remix By The Plan) (Wallshaker) DJ Sprinkles – Sloppy 42nds (Glorimar’s Deeperama) (Mule Electronic) Raudive – Tul (Macro) Pépé Bradock – 100% Coton (Kif Recordings)
As a respected journalist, in many ways you educate your readers. Would you say that this comes across in your DJ sets as well?
To a certain extent. In the days before the internet made all sorts of musical knowledge easily accessible it was more important, because apart from what you could gather in the print media and some specialist TV and radio programs, the DJ at the club was the one to offer the glimpse of what was going on. I have benefited a lot from the skills and taste of DJs like Klaus Stockhausen and others back then, who knew what music really mattered and who also knew how to best spread their knowledge as an intense party experience. If that works, it is the perfect way of learning about music. I was always interested in the historical context of culture and I like to connect the dots between prototypes and later developments and so in the past I felt the need to adopt that, playing a lot of records I felt missed out on the deserved recognition along better known stuff, in order to make people wonder and dance at the same time. I still do that, but now a lot of the rare records I would say are worth discovering are very likely to be discussed on specialist boards anyway, and you can easily gather the information with a few clicks that once took quite a while of digging and research. But this inevitably led to DJing with a mere collector’s approach, which often results in a showcase of rare items and not in a good party. I also don’t like when such sets are presented like the real deal and authentic, as I have been around clubs for a long time now and DJs playing whole nights of just obscure music were the absolute exception. I am very aware of the privilege of having been there when some the music people still dance to today was in early progress, and so I like to play older records like I remember them being played at the time they were introduced. And of course I use the web myself to learn how pioneering DJs played certain records in certain clubs. That is not obliging for how I choose the records for the night, but it satisfies my curiosity. I always make a few steps forward and a few steps back with what I play, and I reserve the specialist program for radio shows and mixes I make or get asked for. For gigs, the way I put my record box together has always been the same, I just pack the tracks that I would like to dance to if I was attending the club the same night, and that’s it.
Tell us a bit about Macro and the label’s plans for the future.
Macro was conceived by Stefan and me to be both a platform for his productions and other music we like, with no artistic and stylistic restrictions apart from a high quality standard. We just wanted our label releases and identity to stand out via artwork and concept from other output we deemed interchangeable and risk-free. Thankfully our ideas caught on so quickly that we got approached by other artists and producers we admire who like the idea of releasing on a label that is laying emphasis on individuality and some lasting impressions instead of just exploiting the trends of the season. You can hear some of the results in this mix. There is a track from our first release this year by Oliver Ho as Raudive, Stefan’s stunning remix of Santiago Salazar’s “Arcade”, which is about to hit the shops, and a track from the forthcoming 12″ Peter Kruder produced for us. Furthermore Stefan’s edit experiment with Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps” is going to be released in early June and later this year we will unleash a very special album project with an accompanying series of 12″s, the preparations of which have kept us well busy and buzzing with anticipation since last year. We think it is quite a sensation.
You are known for fusing Disco and Classics in your DJ sets. What changed in your approach for the Sweatlodge set?
I still play a lot of sets where I combine Disco and other related older genres with modern electronic music, but I don’t want to do so per se. I like to treat every set as a new position, be it topical, stylistically or based on a certain purpose. This is basically an excerpt of some favourite sounds I play at the moment as a DJ representing Macro. A hopefully coherent mix of old and new. On another day it could have turned out to sound completely different, but this is how I felt it should be at the time I dropped the needle on the first record. Generally, I have a lot of records to choose from and I try to make good use of that.
Where have you played in the past that you would really want to re-visit again?
We just had our first label night at Panoramabar, and that was predictably an experience I very much look forward to repeat. I also did a nine hour plus back-to-back Disco set with Hunee last Summer at Picknick’s yard which was quite immense and shall happen again. Berlin is buzzing with great clubs, partys, DJs and devoted dancers at the moment, but I have no preferences but a good night out, and I have no doubts I will have some of that for the rest of the year. I’m also looking forward to some gigs lined up beyond Berlin, because I like to travel around and witness some other cities and the according scenes. We’re also working on taking the label out for some dates, and I happily await some fine experiences lying ahead of me with that.
This mix is well informed by my visits to Hard Wax at that time. I was living a 10 minute bike ride away and was going there several times a week to meet people and dig for new sounds. At that time both techno and uk bass music was buzzing with ideas, apart from the house stuff I was looking out for anyway. It was generally a very inspiring period.
UB313 – Q (The Black Dog Bitez Down On Beatz And Bleepz Mixx) TRG – Broken Heart (Martyn’s DCM Remix) Link – The Augur Martyn – All I Have Is Memories Shed – Warped Mind Luke Hess – Renewal Part 2 Mikkel Metal – Lumever Substance – Relish (Shed Remix) B12 – 32 Lineup Brothers’ Vibe – Cuero Para Mi Gente (Altered Vibes Mix) Stefan Goldmann – Radiant Grace Vakula – Loop For My Friends (Lerosa’s Unsavoury Mix) Herb LF – Sunliner (Demo) Prosumer & Murat Tepeli – Serenity (Soundstream Mix)
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