I am in this business for so long that I know what you have to do right now to get gigs. I am really fully aware of it, and I do not condemn it either. I am part of it myself, unfortunately. But of course all these reels, selfies and footage of crowded floors and beautiful sites do not tell the whole truth. Every DJ once had quiet, or weird gigs. And there really is no harm in that at all. If you learn the hard way, you will probably even have more lasting effects. I am happy that this category of gigs is an exception in my years as a DJ, and I would not tell you if it was otherwise, but let me list some gigs I played that were not turning out as I expected.
1996 Tanzdiele, Kiel
My then weekly residency at Tanzdiele Club in my hometown. The Saturday before was rammed, the one before as well, and so on. I entered the club ready to top it all, and then there were about 20 people the whole night. At some point I was told that there was a huge private party in some flat by some people notorious for huge private parties. We closed the club at 2 am and went there too, but we couldn’t get in because it was so crowded that not even the police there to shut down the party could get in. Told my ego one or two valuable things, and also about taking things for granted.
2006 Aston Villa Stadium, Birmingham
Me and Lars Bulnheim were very excited about the invitation to play some Modern Soul tunes at an allnighter in the stadium. We took selfies on the terraces, admired the trophies and the main floor looked like a cruise ship ballroom. It was wonderful. But when we came to our floor there were some seasoned soul DJs playing mediocre Garage House from CDs, and nearly nobody danced. There was a sizeable bunch of old soulies at the bar, and they were cheering and applauding our records. But we waved them over to dance, and they just laughed.
2007 103 Club, Berlin
Booked to play one of our then quite cherished disco b2b sets with Hunee. Hunee had suddenly decided that digital DJing was the future and so I was playing vinyl and he was playing with Traktor, or whatever. The difference in sound quality was really awkward, as Hunee’s files sounded really bad on the club’s PA. So even the 15 people who showed up left quite soon. Now his files sound better on most PAs than my records, but hey.
2011 Cabaret, Zürich
I entered the club and I was delighted by the sleazy and plush interior. Unfortunately that floor was reserved for a Hessle Audio night with all three of them. I said hi and then was directed to my floor, which turned out to be very small, and also served as the smokers lounge. You could say the smoking and according interaction mattered more than my set, let alone dancing.
2011 Tape, Berlin
Traxx celebrated his 40th birthday party on several floors. It was a great party, apart from the floor Trevor Jackson and I played. Which was the separate room upstairs where people went to have a chat, snog or take drugs, or to just have a quiet moment at last. And I was playing a rather advanced set of post punk favourites.
2013 Gipsy, Moscow
The club by the river looked like as if a spaceship had clashed into an ancient vessel and was half open air. One separate floor had walls of empty bottles. The Russian government had just introduced harsh anti gay laws and the crowd consisted mainly of rich kids more interested in showing off their wealth than in any of the music played, and handsome boys on the edge of the floor pretending to be just friends. I still feel dirty and ashamed when I think of that weekend.
2013, Berghain, Berlin
Me and Anstam were the support DJs for the showing of Murnau’s Nosferatu, soundtracked live by Shed. Anstam was great with setting the mood before, the film itself and Shed’s score was impressive too. When that was over, everybody left very quickly and I played maybe half an hour to the almost empty main room. But I ended with „Bela Lugosi’s Dead“, and the staff packing up and me agreed that it was quite a moment.
2014, Komm, Nürnberg
I had played the same club for the annual soul weekender many times, so I thought it would be a great idea ot play a garage house set. But none of the local soulies showed up, the few people on the floor were not that much into vocals, there was heavy bass feedback on the decks, and there was a huge sold out punk concert in the main room upstairs, and when that ended a bunch of charged up and quite aggressive punks entered the floor and if looks could kill. But I was stubborn, and ready to fight, and surprisingly enough they warmed up to the music very soon. I never had a floor with equally wasted and loved up punks pogoing to Ce Ce Rogers again, unfortunately.
2014 Plastic People, London
Mark Ernestus was telling me that the club had probably the best sound system he ever heard, the reputation of the place was astonishing anyway. What I did not know about the booking was that I was the only remaining member of a Hard Wax package, and that the gig was announced as such. It was also announced that I would be the only one playing of the former lineup, a day before. So I played a frenetic cut up disco set to a few dub techno fans. The club closed soon after.
2015 Humboldthain, Berlin
I played an amazing set, but it was a daytime open air party on the hottest day of the year, and the few people who came by were paralyzed. I also quickly realized that playing in a wooden shack without ventilation was even worse than lying around in front of it. And I played for four hours.
2015 Wax Treatment, Kiekebusch
A wonderful party actually, but all DJs got carried away and played way longer than scheduled. When Shed and me finally started it was already dawning and a lot people had already gone back to the city, and the remaining crowd was too wasted or tired to dance. It did not help that I brought a bag of my favourite Proto Jungle anthems.
2016 Acido, Salon zur Wilden Renate, Berlin
The new techno floor had just opened and I thought it was a great idea to play a set with my favourite acid house records. Unfortunately the other DJs had played a rather leftfield set that did not work, and by the time I arrived the floor was already dead. About five people were merciful enough to dance on, but they were gone pretty soon, and they did not leave to tell other people what was going on. They just left.
2018 Bewegungsfreiheit, About Blank, Berlin
When I arrived at the club I noticed that the lobby floor was sticky and drenched in sweat, but half empty. It was not brave Cinthie’s fault, who played before me, the reason was that the whole ventilation went bust right after the party started. In June. I played my set, but nearly everybody had escaped to the garden. And every drink I had to fight my frustration seemed to dissolve instantly in the heat.
2020 Colour, Melbourne
I had a marvellous time in Australia two years before, playing at the wonderful Inner Varnika festival and some accompanying gigs. When I returned in 2020, however, the pandemic had accelerated from being a distant rumour to undeniable realness very quickly, and while I was travelling down under Europe was locked down and upon arrival I had tons of messages and phone calls by panicking DJs, and I realized that the life I was happily living for over 30 years was basically falling apart in realtime. My first gig in Melbourne was a disaster, as people obviously decided to be reasonable and stay in, and apart from a few friends there hardly was anybody there. The gig in Sydney two days later was the total opposite, playing b2b in a sold out warehouse with DJ Sprinkles, but it had the vibe of the last night out possible, and it actually was. I managed to get one of the last flights back to Europe before most airports were shut down, and dear me I was confused.
RuPaul – Strüdel Model Masters At Work – The Ha Dance (Pumpin’ Dubb) The Ride Committee Feat. Roxy – Love To Do It (Sandy’s Favorite Mix) The Moonwalkers – 10000 Screamin’ Faggots (In The Life Extended Mix) Club 69 – Warm Leatherette (Quick Mix) Rageous Projecting Kevin Aviance – Cunty (Party Mix) G-Bravo Presents Miss Fernando – Serve (Original Dirty Club Mix) Junior Vasquez & The Spastic Babies – Nervaas (Nervaas Dub) Urban Discharge Feat. She – Drop A House (Deep Tribal Mix) Junior Vasquez -X ( Junior’s Dub) Fierce Ruling Diva – Atomix Rageous Projecting Franklin Fuentes – Tyler Moore Mary (Banji Bite Mix) Tronco Traxx – Runway (Grease Monkey Drag Queen Mix) Frank Ski – Tony’s Bitch Track (Original Dirty Version) Tronco Traxx – Walk 4 Me (Wanka Mix) Tronco Traxx – Walk 4 Me Q-Marc – It’s Time 2 Walk The Runway Whatever, Girl – Activator (You Need Some) (Jheri Curl Sucker Wearin’ High Heeled Boots Mix) The Ride Committee Feat. Roxy – Curtains For You Morel’s Grooves – Down To The Waistline (Honey) Boogie Balo – Chocolate & Peanut Butter (DJ Double Dee Hunts Point 7AM Coco Mix) DJ Vibe Feat. Franklin Fuentes – I’ll Take You (The Classic Twisted Mix) Kevin Aviance – Join In The Chant Delicious Inc. – Eau De Chanté (For Men) Uncanny Alliance – I’m Beautiful Dammitt (3rd Vox Floor Mix) A.D.A.M – Children Of The Night (Part 1) The Look Feat. Franklin Fuentes – March (Rave Tip Mix) Moi Rene – Cum 4 Me Bitch (Dub Vocal) Ralphi Rosario Pres. Xaviera Gold – You Used To Hold Me (The Trancesexual Dub) The Look – Glammer Girl (Bochinche Prelude Ballroom Mix Moog Reprise) Hex Hector Presents Pres. Ground Control – Absolutly Fabulous (The Full Runway Mix) Temple Of Vinyl – C’mon Miss Thang (Fierce Mix) Byrd Bardot – Bardot Swing (Ralphi Rosario’s Cha Cha Mix) Roxy & The Effects – The Art Of Sampling (Dub) The Ride Committee Feat. Roxy – Accident (Todd Edwards Dub) The Ride Committee Feat. Roxy – Get Huh RuPaul – A Shade Shady (DJ Pierre Club Mix) Jack And Jill – Go Miss Thing (Club Mix) Jack And Jill – Work It Girlfriend (Morning Mix) RuPaul – Back To Roots (Murk’s Curl Activator Mix) Fierce Men On Wax – Go Girl (Fierce Groove Mix) Uncanny Alliance – I Got My Education (Ken Lou Extended Mix) Karen Finley – Tales Of Taboo (80 Factory Mix) DJ Sneak – Fierce (Queen’s Anthem) Danny Extravaganza – Love The Life You Love (Le Palage Mix) Miss Tony – Release Yourself (Funky Fingers UK Master Mix) I.M.T. – I.M.T. Theme (Miss Girl Hopes 2 Become Mix) The Daou – Surrender Yourself (Factory Reprise) Size Queen Feat. Paul Alexander – Walk (Paul’s Groove) RuPaul – Supermodel (Couture Mix) Bette Midler – I’m Beautiful (Brinsley Evans Back To The Scene Of The Crime Mix)
This show was a live recording in Ljubljana. A very interesting weekend. I spent time visiting the Radio Student archives and the city itself. The gig was quite wild. Very punky location. Crowd were rebels. I like rebels.
Flava D – Hold On VIP Alex Coulton – Break Pressure Joy Orbison & Boddika – In Here Four Tet + Terror Danjah – Killer Animal Youth – Sixty Four Zero KiNK – Sintezator Hissman – Nobody’s Talking Sneaky Traxx II – Bangin It Chicago Trackwerk Vol. 3 – Be Quiet DJ Disciple – Fixation Da Rebels – House Nation Under A Groove Gino Soccio – Dancer C.A.T.S. – Dancer Robert Hood – Dancer Pev & Asusu – Surge (MMM Remix) Dario Zenker – Cookin Bookin FunkinEven & Delroy Edwards – X Dungeon Acid – Astro Todd Osborn – What Is Love Asusu – Velez (A Made Up Sound Remix 1) Hodge – Renegades Pev & Kowton – Raw Code (Surgeon Remix) DJ Qu – Undescribed (Believer) Dan Trevitt – Squelch Vereker – Slain Crash Course In Science – Flying Turns Vellico – The Peace Signal Vernon Felicity – Static Character
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In discussion with Traxx on “H.S.T.A.” by Das Ding (2009).
How did you discover Das Ding? Were you aware of Danny Bosten’s productions before the reissue on Minimal Wave?
Tadd Mullinix (JTC) posted a video from Youtube of this group, that I thought I heard of before, but really couldn’t put my finger on.
I wasn’t aware of Danny Bostens’ productions until they came out on Minimal Wave. He released all his stuff on Tape-Cassette, and I’ve always been a vinyl head, so it must have slipped through.
What made you decide for this album? What makes it so important for you?
The music is just plain sick! And I really like the overall concept that doesn’t get stale. There is a poem on the back of the cover:
“The reassurance ritual has us actors in its play
a million times we repeated the words that we will say
and if its not tomorrow then it will be today
that words this way spoken will lead another way”
This pretty much covers everything that I like about this album. In our society things have a habit to repeat themselves over and over again. Be it fashion, art or music. Danny Bosten tried to break the borders of the genre that he was classified in back in that time. This is something that I can relate to, too.
I discovered this track in one of your live sets, and I was really surprised by it. How did you get to this?
I actually heard this being played by Ron Hardy at the Music Box.
Ah, so it was Ron Hardy who inspired you then?
The people that have inspired me musically where I am now is Ron Hardy, Larry Levan, Larry Heard and fortunately but unfortunately Ian Curtis and Kurt Cobain. Those are pretty much some of my strongest influences. Later on it became people like Farley Jack Master Funk when he was really bringing it to the table musically on the radio, and from that point on it’s like my whole world expanded, it expanded to unparalleled paradox.
In regards of “Diskomo,” though, when I heard Ron Hardy play it, it didn’t make sense to me because I wasn’t on drugs. But a lot of people that were in the party scene at that time were experimenting with drugs. Ron would spin records faster, because he was under the influence. So the thing is I probably heard “Diskomo” at a faster speed. You never knew what Ron was doing at this time, so when you hear “Diskomo” and you hear these sort of patterns and tone pads and kind of modular effects like wind and stuff in this manner, it was hard to tell what was what. If you were in that time period, would you think that was Ron Hardy, or would you think that was a record?
It has a really eerie atmosphere…
It’s the same thing with Ian Curtis, and what Joy Division did. The producer behind them gave that whole thing atmosphere, that sort of specialness. And that’s what “Discomo” did for me when I heard it.
This new wave post punk music is not necessarily something you would associate with early house, which is kind of peculiar, but you seem to be attracted to this kind of music…
This is house music. That’s the thing that nobody—and let’s make this clear, I am nobody to tell you what is and what isn’t the truth—but I can tell you what I know and what I saw. And it was the innovation that Larry and Ron undertook, and it’s the innovation that I have personally taken on myself. I am singlehandedly the ambassador of truth right now. I feel like I have singlehandedly taken on the roles of these artists in the way that they described their music and the way that they played their music, and I feel that I’m someone that can say that this music that has somehow been forgotten has a greater significance than people can imagine.
New Order – Video 5-8-6 (1982)
Let’s talk about New Order. This has a kind of long-jam approach to recording, but it is also kind of a blueprint, not only for later electronic developments, but also for their own developments. There are already shadings of “Blue Monday” in it, but it is much earlier, 1982.
I play “Video 586” in my sessions. I play every type of sound known, and I am probably the world’s biggest risk taker. There are probably three other people that I could say right now that are as risky as I am.
Who are they?
Mick Wills, from Stuttgart, Germany, James T. Cotton and myself. And, actually, someone who is on another level to also give full etiquette and education and experience is Jamal Moss. In my eyes, even though he doesn’t DJ, musically what he does with IBM and these other projects… it’s not the sort of stuff that you would usually hear.
But he does DJ, doesn’t he?
Jamal is one of my guys, and I have never seen him play wax. But what I have of him, the material that I have gotten from him, is still sick. It’s like another level of Ron Hardy through Jamal Moss. Without a doubt.
You seem to be quite like-minded in your approach…
Well, “Video 586” is an idea that I didn’t realize that was important until later, Jamal didn’t realize until later, that JTC didn’t realize was important later. It’s the idea of not following the law of 4/4 music, or the law of what it should be. This is what made music risky, and this is what made New Order risky.
Why do so few DJ’s take risks that way do you think?
Because they are scared. They’re scared to lose the crowd, they are scared to be risky, to do something that they have never done. That’s why you have something called the social chain, and it’s what everybody else follows. I am not on the social chain. Those people that I have mentioned, Mick Wills, James T. Cotton, Jamal are guys that I know do not play by the rules.
So is that your main agenda? To change the set of rules?
My main agenda is to change the rules to the way that they should be. The way that everybody is crying, “Why can’t it be like the days when I was growing up.” Because this is the point, think about it: Why do people play records from the old days? Because they wanna remember. Why do you always have to remember the past? Why can’t you deal with now? Read the rest of this entry »
1988, im Blütejahr von Acid House, war die Sachlage eigentlich klar. In den USA war Acid roh und funky und entschieden billig-analog, die Chicago Originators allerdings schon auf dem Sprung zum nächsten Ding (Hip House vorerst, da lässt sich die Geschichte nicht klittern), und Detroits Brüder im Geiste machten etwas ganz Anderes aus der Vorlage. In England hingegen griffen die traditionellen Mechanismen der Hype-Presse und Acid wurde zur Bewegung. Und diese war in Klang und Mode überwiegend Pop. Im Gegensatz zu den amerikanischen Ur-Tracks, die voll in ihrer Funktionalität aufgingen, kam man auf der Insel nicht ohne den stilistischen Mehrwert aus. Also wurde alles day-glo, Smileys, Acid Ted und Space Cadet, und man hielt Radlerhosen und Bandanas für ein unbedenkliches Outfit. Man brauchte erneut Gesichter, und im Rückenwind von Yazz, Baby Ford, D-Mob quietschten und blubberten Varianten in die Charts und Clubs, die mit der experimentellen Ausprägung des Ausgangsmaterials nicht mehr viel zu tun hatten. Und dann kamen 808 State aus Manchester mit ihrem Debütalbum ”Newbuild“, einer komplett anderen Interpretation all der Zufallsklänge, die sich mit einer 303 erzielen ließen. Graham Massey, vormalig Mitglied der Post Punk-Veteranen Biting Tongues, Martin Price, Besitzer des legendären Plattenladens Eastern Bloc und Gerald Simpson, das Voodoo Ray-Wunderkind, hatten offensichtlich weder Interesse daran, den Sound aus Chicago zu kopieren, noch ihn mit käsigen Samples zu Top of the Pops-Material umzubiegen. Ihr Entwurf war kalt und irre, ein einziges manisches Flirren, das bereits von den komplexen Rhythmen vorangehetzt wurde, die Markenzeichen der Band blieben. Wo die Boulevardpresse sich mit Drogenvorwürfen gegen die vergleichsweise charmanten aber eher harmlosen Hits der Szene warm schoss, war eigentlich hier der wahre Feind. Musik, die gleichermaßen klang wie ein weitäugiger Rausch im Strobonebel der Clubs, sowie eben auch ein weitäugiger Rausch inmitten der grauen Fiesheit mancher Gegenden nordenglischer Städte, dessen Stumpfheit die Kids im Strobonebel der Clubs bekämpfen wollten. Der komplexe Irrsinn von ”Flow Coma“ oder ”Sync/Swim“ hat nichts von seinem Schockpotential eingebüßt, und ebnete den Weg derer, für die die Clubmusik der folgenden Jahre nicht mit Behaglichkeit einherzugehen hatte, also in etwa das Bindeglied der Hinterhältigkeit und Radikalität von Cabaret Voltaire und Konsorten und Aphex Twin und Konsorten, und dann wieder zurück nach Chicago zu Traxx und Jamal Moss. Wie so oft ließ sich der Intensitätslevel des Erstlings nicht halten, wie so oft probierte man sich danach mit anderen Ideen aus, man überwarf sich, man ging getrennte Wege, und man produzierte das nächste Meisterwerk, in anders aber mindestens ebenso bedeutend, ”Automanikk“ hier, und ”Ninety“ da. Der Stoff, aus dem die Träume sind.
Der mysteriöse Produzent aus Chicago hat bereits vor zwei Jahren an gleicher Stelle Tracks aus den frühen 90ern freigegeben, und wenn man diese Fortsetzung als Maßstab nimmt, sollte er das wirklich regelmäßig tun. Junior Rafael hat sich ganz dem sexuell überladenen Booty- Trackstyle-Irrsinn von Dance Mania, frühem Jack, etwas Nu Groove und dazu herrscherischen Phuture-Vocals verschrieben, nur eben in der expliziten Queer-Version. Bei „4 All Da Men In My Life“ wird beispielsweise über einen knorrigen House-Track eine beeindruckende Liste von Ex-Lovern angesagt, und ich vermute es handelt sich dabei nur um einen kleinen Ausschnitt. In „Anything 4 Ur Love“ gibt Junior Einblick in das, was er mit den Jungs zu tun gedenkt, wenn er sie denn erstmal kennen gelernt hat. Auch da kommt einiges zusammen, und so geht es auch weiter. Das bleibt allerdings keineswegs als Gimmick hängen, dafür sind die Tracks einfach viel zu direkt, viel zu zwingend, und viel zu gut. Und zwar allesamt. Die alte Lehre vom hocheffizienten Gebrauch weniger Elemente, aus dem sich Musik ergibt, mit der man den Club eng an die Leine nehmen kann, immer noch und für immerdar. Genug gekuschelt im House-Revival, jetzt ist Gericht!
Entweder man hortet musikalische Preziosen im gleichgesinnten Elitisten-Zirkel oder man gibt das Druidenwissen großzügig weiter. Wenn man Franzose ist, sollte man Letzteres nicht unternehmen, ohne nicht mindestens in todschickster Manier eine Website, regelmäßige Clubabende und vor allem eine Serie von Compilations zu präsentieren, deren Linernotes so irrwitzig prätentiös sind, dass The Capuccino Kid angesichts seiner simplen Prosa ein Comeback für alle Zeiten ausschließen muss. Damit grenzt man sich von den Methoden anderer Modenschau-Geschmacksfilterer nur unwesentlich ab, vielmehr prangert man Missstände im Bereich von niveauvollen Compilations ungefähr so an, wie Michael Bay filmisch Gewalt in der Gesellschaft anprangert, aber immerhin kann man sich konzeptuell so abgefedert fühlen, dass man flugs Ennio Morricone, Nico, Flash and the Pan, Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt und Skeeter Davis mit vermeintlich leichtfertig übersehenen Stücken von Cristian Vogel, The Emperor Machine, Isolée, Brooks und naturalment Supermax auf den gleichen Tonträger packen kann und der geneigte Geschmacksverwaiste vor soviel Esprit und je ne sais quoi nur demütig den Hut zieht. Aber hallo.
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