ARTIST(S): Edit Select
TITLE: Cyclical Undulations
CAT NO.: SOMALP118
LABEL: Soma Records
RELEASE DATE: NOW

–

I used to write about what a record sounds like. It used to be fun. As the years go on it’s a lot more engaging to write about how something makes you ‘feel’ – even if it’s just for a passing temporal moment. It’s been raining here in Brisbane, Australia, for a few days. This was the perfect soundtrack for driving in the rain, getting out of the car and putting the headphones back on as you went through phases of being soaked with the umbrella throwing off any residual. That’s what ‘Above Ground’ felt like in that place. It’s a captivating piece of electronic music. ‘Two Step Phase’ is an extension on that thought, though ‘Undulation’ is the real kicker on this record. There are other solid dance floor contributions on this release but that made me feel the serious vibe the most. Finally, and it’s one of the most important – ‘Towards The E’ creates a full circle on the experience. There’s an authentic air of finality to it. It’s a beautiful sonic expedition and summarises the story of the entire journey aptly.

I hope it stays on both the dance floor, and in listener’s lounge rooms as the sun sets on 2018. It definitely warrants it.

–

Elliot Clarke, Saturday March 10, 2018

Listen

Download me - right click "save target as" | Open Player in New Window

The schisms of the Cold War brought about a fractured Berlin. It was a city of two divides that produced very different stories for those who were still relatively young and testing their imaginations. As an East-Berlin resident at the time of the wall being torn down, it created an opening in time where incredible possibilities were able to be realised through a period of intense social change. It’s no secret the cultural opportunities were an injection deep into the underground of electronic music. After a short period away in Hamburg where he established his first techno residency, he returned to Berlin where his incursion into production perpetuated a deeper sincerity to contributing something unique. His work with Dasha Rush that formed the LADA project continues to reinforce that vision. With releases across Dock Records, of which he is an label co-founder and Fullpanda Records, it has acted a strong foundation that has warranted bookings at not only both Tresor and Berghain, but across Europe.

So with that, this mix is a little special. All of it was produced live in the studio. Lars Hammerling paints his own sonic adventure for the next 70 minutes of Kana Broadcast 052.

–

EC: Lars we know a little about your time growing up in Berlin with music. To take a different approach this time, I read something recently about how our younger years define what we do later with how we interact with others and our ambitions. What was life growing up in Berlin if we put music to one side?

LH: Of course, the environment where you grow up defines your personality later. Despite from the city where you grew up, I think the most important part is your family and the education, and with education I don’t mean school education. If your parents try to find a reasonable way to bring them up as an independent person who thinks for themselves, then you already have a huge advantage.

But to switch the focus back to Berlin. I was born in East-Berlin. I was 12 years old when the wall came down in 1989. The end of my adolescent age was characterized by the transformation process from east to west, if you saw society in those terms. Especially the years 1990-1995 in Berlin, there were years of anarchy. The economy was fucked up in Berlin. The public institutions had no structure to understand what was going on, and many places like former factories and public buildings were empty and out of order. It was the perfect conditions for subcultures to evolve. I remember my first visits to Kreuzberg, because the best record and fashion stores were located there. For me as a boy from East-Berlin, it was really exciting to explore West-Berlin with all the freaks (in a positive matter) and foreign people along with my twin brother. At those times there was also always the hazard that you got beaten by skinhead groups or get your jacket ripped off by some street gangs, whom pretend to be hip hop gangsters. And sometimes it was really funny to watch those people after the experience of a first techno party on ecstasy and how they changed afterwards.

Furthermore, there was a certain aura during these years after the cold war. The military presence got less and less, because the allies left the city, the Red Army, the American Army etc. It created a feeling that the military got obsolete and it felt like all the remains of it (like empty army bases) are just traces of a really stupid, extraordinary expensive, useless thought process. Events like the -love parade- just amplified the feelings that from this point we are going to follow a new path for a peaceful world. Unfortunately, it did not remain for very long.

EC: So it’s hard to separate the politics and movements sometimes. What personal beliefs of yours challenge the social reality of the world we live in?

LH: Well this is a tough question. As I mentioned before I was growing up in a socialist country and I also experienced how the system did not work out, even when I was pretty young. I recently had a conversation with my father, who was an economist during the GDR period. He told me a lot about why socialism failed in the end economically. To much of the GDP went to spending in a none productive sector of the economy like police, security services, the border protection and military. E.g. the Soviet Union spent more than 40% of its GDP on a nuclear submarine fleet to compete with NATO. This is just crazy! Imagine how much you could spend instead on social welfare, infrastructure, environmental protection, science and education systems. For me it is really disappointing to see how these days the military spending increases all over the world, mostly for imperialistic purposes. Politics are always a question about economic interests and power. To create a fair new world paradigm, you have to give up national interest and get away from growth-based capitalism and spread the resources and funds equally. This implies, that the G8 countries have to compromise living standards. Many problems we are facing right now are caused by the assumption that growth is infinite. Obviously, we are living on one planet with limited resources. It means, we need a complete a global paradigm change, if you ask me. Instead of increasing the spending on military to fight against each other for the last resources on this planet, humanity should rather think about how to start exploding the universe as an infinitive source of resources. I am not completely against capitalism, because I believe that the competition in a capitalistic environment can be also a driving source for innovations.

Did you know that Rudolph Diesel the inventor of the Diesel engines wrote a book about Solidarism? The German title is “Solidarismus- Natürliche wirtschaftliche Erlösung des Menschen”. Translated -Solidarism Natural economic salvation of man-. On the contrary to Marx his approach for a fair society is based still on a capitalistic environment. Furthermore, Diesel was completely against the use of his invention for military purposes. The Diesel engine was supposed to be only for civil purposes. Sadly, many military vessels and vehicles used Diesel’s engines, after his death. He was the owner of the patent license and probably got murdered by the German secret service in 1913, before the first world war occurred in 1914. His book is definitely on my list to read and it might give me an idea, how we can change the world to be a better society, compared to the society we are living in right now. Honestly, I have don’t really have an answer to it just yet. Socialism requires a certain degree of altruism, which is not compatible with an individualistic life style, which most of our generation like to live. And I believe mankind is not made for altruism. Maybe it works out in a small environment like in the Kibbutz communities in Israel, That concept I truly like. It is also a good starting point for a discussion about the advantages and disantvantages of centralization, decentralization and standardization in general.

One approach for a better world could be the following fact as well. One of the most important invention and discoveries in mankind history were made in boring and relaxed situations. E.g. Einstein’s “Theory of Relativity”, the atom model of Bohr (on a horse racing place). So, if our brain is relaxed and not preoccupied by constantly looping tasks, each of us would be able to invent things even on a small scale. I don’t see the digitalization of society and the fact that more and more machines will overtake human working processes, as long as we don’t use these technological advancements for military purposes.

It might get clear now that I am a pacifist.

EC: …so life and love aren’t linear right? They don’t move sequentially – it’s a multiverse of ideas and feelings. What are your thoughts on how those things cross your mind from time to time in an ever increasing complex society?

LH: Both life and love are an oscillational movement if you see it on a timeline. It might be a polyrhythmic sequence with changing not predictable bar and beat measures. I think it is important to have people behind you. Friends, family and a partner, with a comprehension to your ideas and the way you see things. It is important to share ideas with other people and on the top maybe create something together out of those ideas. If you do so, you can even face an increasing complex society. I do like to be alone very often, to get familiar with my thoughts and reflections. On a global scale you shouldn’t be.

EC: So that brings us to now then. Music is a vehicle to convey these things sometimes, or not. The mix you did for us was completely live from the studio. Can you tell us about what process you went though?

LH: Well politics doesn’t play a role in my music. And I would like to keep it out. If you do not have any lyrics in your music, it is nearly impossible to make any political statement. My approach to the music is more about catching a moment or to give an acoustic picture of an emotion or imaginable story, like I did with the Space Bolero EP or like we did it with the Lostbahnhof EP by LADA. It is more an expressionistic way. I see my gear, which I use, as my painting tools. My acoustic painting pallet consists of different sound syntheses techniques to paint soundscapes. Regarding this podcast, my aim was to experiment with polyrhythmic patterns and different sound synthesis. Latin, Jazz and Arabic percussions can be really inspiring. It means I already had a little picture in my mind, what I would like to do with it.

I never use preset sounds and the first thing I always do, is to create sounds with my own personal signature. I am also a big fan of field recordings, and birds can be such a great source for sounds. Meanwhile I have a little library of sounds from places I traveled to and have been in the last few years. For example, the outback and the bush in Australia is a really nice place for field recordings. What I really dislike is just switching from factory preset to factory preset. After collecting the sounds, I start composing the tracks and rhythm and that is the moment where everything comes together: ideas, emotion and feelings. Sometimes you just go to the studio and just have a good run, and everything happens automatically. Those are really rare moments and then you have to hit the record button straight.
I also like to go beyond the twelve-tone scale. Maybe that’s the reason why my music is more focused on soundscapes.

EC: Is that process different to how you play out live?

LH: No. The process is mostly the same as recording a one our live jam both in the studio and out at a gig. Live-recordings in a club are always difficult due to the sound systems. If the live set sounds good on the Club PA after the sound check, it does not necessarily sound amazing on the recording in the studio. The recording from the club I use mostly to evaluate which parts from the set get produced in the studio.

EC: There’s been some great work you’ve put out, notably one through the LADA project with Dasha Rush. How has that played out – everyone works on collaborations differently.

LH: The Lostbahnhof EP was a common creative process. And it is actually the way how I like to work, when I do music with someone. In the end it should be the accumulation of ideas and synergies of both people, which contribute to the final piece. Dasha recently reposted the Lostbahnhof video on Facebook and it is always nice to watch it again. The Lostbahnhof video correlates completely to what I said above. The entire picture is important.

Fortunately I met with Dasha. She has a wide comprehension for experimental music and doesn’t care about musical trends. She does not only consider Techno as track based music for DJs. The art approach is important to ensure everything is unique. Even if the record is not selling well because the DJ cannot implement it easily in a set. And actually, I don’t want to make music only for DJs. Dasha always encouraged me to go ahead with my music and LADA is a perfect musical symbiosis of both of us. I am LALALALA and she is DADADADA.

EC: Balancing all of this with your own time outside the studio must be difficult at times with your own work too. How have you found time management while making sure you pursue the things that are important?

LH: Well I mostly work in the studio during the weekend. My time management is easy. Less party more productive moments in the studio. To create something is more rewarding for me than anything else and I am addicted to it.

EC: All of this seems like you’re set for an even bigger few years ahead. We’re looking forward to it, Lars. Is there any parting advice or commentary you’d like to give about anything that occasionally crosses your mind on your next journey?

LH: A new LADA EP is in the process of being produced and I’m really looking forward to it.

Lars Hammerling Bandcamp

–

Elliot Clarke, January 22 2018

http://okkana.com/Download/Kana_Cast/Kana_Broadcast_051_M.Baumann.mp3

Download me - right click "save target as" | Open Player in New Window

–

EC: Mark you’ve been one of the strongest and most consistent contributors to Australia’s techno scene for many years. Can you give us some background on where that story started?

MB: My first experience of electronic music was in the mid 90’s when listening to acts like Leftfield, Chemical Brothers, Everything but the Girl, Massive Attack etc, but during this time I was more into rock like Tool, Faith No More, Mr Bungle and RATM + more. It wasn’t until I arrived in the UK in 2000 that I really got my first intro into the dance scene. I was totally sucked into D&B initially but then started to explore house and techno as I tripped around the EU, but at that stage I was just enjoying being a punter. It wasn’t until I landed back home in late 2004 and relocated to Melbourne where I was introduced, through a mutual friend, to now label cohort Lance Harrison where my love of electronic music turned into something that I wanted to explore a little deeper. Like most people I started out with two turntables and a bag full of badly chosen records. I went and train wrecked my ass off for the next 6 months of my life which was both fun and frustrating at the same time. During that time I met another chap by the name Daniel Filipovic (Southern Lights), who with lance and I started playing a fortnightly thing at E55 in Melbourne, spinning everything from deep house to deep techno. In that time I also started playing around with Logic/Live and trying to understand the components that went together to structure a track. Around 2006 Daniel, Lance and I kicked off a free net label called Pinksilver Music, this progressed into payed digital and pressing wax, that was a massive learning curve for all of us navigating all that from scratch. Pinksilver was the platform I went on to release my tracks as Markojux and later collaborations with Lance. Renae (Trinity) came on board to help us out with Pinksilver A&R and also releasing tracks which was great – Renae brought a new energy to the label as well as bringing the name out of Melbourne. It was busy times! Planning releases, running parties, a Kiss FM radio slot etc etc. But all good things do come to an end I guess and mid-late 2011 I decided to take a break from the label. It wasn’t long, I think around a year, and planning Primary colours first release was underway.

EC: The Echo Inspector’s project played a key role in the progression of that narrative. There are always some challenges to working with someone, and so many benefits. How did you navigate and embrace both in the studio?

MB:Lance and I were writing prior to Echo Inspectors as Forty6&Two so we have established a workflow inside and outside of the studio. There were and still are a lot of challenges to that, we have our moments and don’t agree on things but that’s where passion and compromise have to balance – sometimes you can’t see at the time, but in the end you know that the compromises made was the right move. For me you can’t have a dogmatic approach to music but rather approach it with a level of openness and vulnerability. When you get the guys we have had on remix duty you know you are on the right track and holding the wax in your hand is the biggest reward for sure. Distance now is the biggest challenge to finishing tracks.

EC: Most of the hard work now is being realised through the Primary Colours imprint. There’s been a lot of success resonating as a consequence of that effort. What advice would you offer to those starting out with their own labels in an ever increasing saturated environment?

MB: Stay true to your sound, have a solid concept for the future direction of your label and don’t try to be all things to all people. Give yourself permission to fuck up then learn from those mistakes. Mr. Meeseeks isn’t going to appear and sort you out – would be good though!

EC: These types of experiences with music often tend to transcend into a deeper perspective of the world around us. How has this journey impacted your own processes on how you live your own life, and spend your time outside that creative sphere?

MB: Well it’s intertwined isn’t it? I mean music from a young age influences your life and your experiences influence your music, so they are intrinsically linked. One thing writing and running a label gives you is not only the tools to create but also the impetus to finish something and put it out there for others to enjoy, dislike or dismiss. Again it plays back into that mantra of openness and vulnerability. I have another creative outlet in brewing beer. To be honest that has been a more difficult process than writing tunes – making sure you strike the perfect balance of elements is not as easy as it seems and attention to detail is paramount! But with Family I like to spend time enjoying the beach and exploring waterfalls near where we live, that hit of nature is a good way to recharge the batteries and find inspiration.

EC: All of those moments have no doubt transpired into your vision on future ambitions. Where do you see those influences and impetus’ being fulfilled?

MB: Collaboration. Sharing the process, the problem solving and working together is more satisfying to me at this stage than feeding off an individual effort. Continuing to learn as much as I can about everything I can keeps the cup full.

–

Elliot Clarke, December 27 2017

Facebook | SoundCloud | Purchase / decks.de