Laid’s label manager works the wax on this week’s RA podcast.

At a time when the phrase “digital exclusive” seems to be an all too common occurrence amongst house and techno imprints, Hamburg’s Dial imprint have decided to go against the grain, spawning a new sub-label focusing strictly on vinyl-only releases. The man behind the venture is Berlin-based Israeli, Dor Levi, who first came into contact with the Dial crew while he was living and throwing club nights in Tel Aviv a couple of years ago. Named as such due to their low cover charge, his Cheap Friday parties brought Dial mainstays like Efdemin, Carsten Jost, Lawrence and Pantha Du Prince to his home city, with Dor always expressing a desire to have them stay for a few days rather than flying straight in and out.

It was during these extended stays that their friendship blossomed, and when Dor expressed his desire to take his DJing further, the collective were happy to oblige, offering their help and support if Dor made the move to Berlin. It goes without saying that he jumped at the chance, becoming part of the extended Dial family and regularly getting invited to join them behind the decks at their Panorama Bar residency. Their working relationship was taken one step further with the launch of the Laid imprint this year, which has so far featured deep house rollers from Rick Wade, RNDM and John Roberts, offering a fresh take on the American house sound of yore. This week’s RA podcast is only Dor’s second recorded mix (his first won him a DJing spot for Tel Aviv’s Pacotek club night), and sees him showcase his influences from both sides of the Atlantic. We caught up with Dor via e-mail to ask him about the mix, his home country and Laid’s vinyl-only stance.

You’ve just come back from Israel. What did you get up to?

I’m originally from Israel, and I love Israel and especially Tel Aviv very much. Sadly I don’t visit there so much since I moved to Germany, so I just wanted to spend time with my best friends and also in a familiar atmosphere. I actually didn’t do so much – I didn’t even go to the beach! My best friends live in the same building in Tel Aviv, not so far away from where I was living, so basically I never left that building only to eat and to my favourite bar, the Rif Raf. David (Carsten Jost) also lives in this building and Pete (Lawrence) came to visit, so it was just wonderful being at my best friend’s place. I really missed the food in Israel so much – was WONDERFUL to eat a tomato that actually tastes like a tomato. Besides that, we also did a Dial showcase in a club in Tel Aviv called Barzily Club, with Carsten Jost, Pantha du Prince and I. It was a very nice evening.

Where and how was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded in my workroom at home in Berlin. Actually this mix was quite the logistical nightmare, as since I moved to Berlin almost two years ago, I’ve never had a turntable at home. I always ended up buying loads of records or various bits of analogue equipment, and not a turntable to listen to all my records (not the smartest approach, I know…). Every time before a DJ gig I used to take a pile of records and listen to them on Youtube or Juno just to get the feel again. Luckily my dear friends bought me one Technics for my birthday which was last week. And Marc Schneider, who is one of my favourite DJs and a close friend gave me his spare old pitch-weary Technics, John Roberts lent me his soundcard, and finally I rented a Xone92. So after finally getting all the necessary ingredients, I was about to record the mix, but was stopped every time I started due to some other problem.

At the beginning, I noticed that I actually don’t have slipmats. So I ran and got some slipmats, and afterwards I noticed that one needle was not in such tiptop shape. So I ran and got a new one. And then and it went on and on like that until Friday in the early morning. I woke up in my pyjamas and recorded the set, which I used, and three minutes after the last record finished playing, I had to run and return the mixer. So to conclude: the mix was recorded using two Technics with Grado DJ200 needles, a Xone92 mixer and most importantly some records! It was recorded into Logic. The mix is unedited and untouched. I can’t say I’m pleased with my mixing, but I wanted to leave it as is.

Can you tell us a little about the idea behind the mix?

Coming to this mix, I had so many ideas. Really, I must have started like a million versions, but in the end I just had a few records that I knew I must play, like the ones from Moodymann, Levon Vincent (I love him!!!) or a DJ Qu track which I’ve been in love with since I heard it almost a year ago and was shipped to me especially for the podcast, and some records that somehow just popped into my head. I wanted to do something that is very me, and didn’t want it to be something that can be easily labelled.

You’re a big supporter of vinyl as a DJ and earlier this year launched Laid, a vinyl only label. How has the first year gone? What’s coming up on Laid?

Oh, this will be a long one. I think it is extremely important to stand up for things you believe in. I as a DJ and a person who really loves music, really like to have this object; the record. I’m not talking about the sound aspect or anything now, which is all open for debate and preference. I’m just talking about the fact that this round thing you hold in your hand has the sound on it, you can see the grooves, it has a cover, it has a sticker, it has a smell. You have to treat it with care and respect. I’m really connected to most of my records; I remember where and how I got them, almost every scratch or imperfection on them I can relate to some experience I had gone through: “Ohh, here you played in XXX and you scratched it” “Ahh, this cover and record looks and sounds funny because one night a vodka and Red Bull spilled in your record case” “Ahh, I have a love note from a fan on this sleeve.”

Anyone who knows me, knows the look on my face when I get a new record in the post. It’s like Christmas. I’m so happy to get this piece of music. I just don’t get this experience buying an MP3. For me its too instant, there is no high and no rush. Leave the fact that I think this whole vinyl culture is so important socially and we want to help preserve it. I want people to go to the record shop and check out the releases – I want actual conversations to be formed and this whole social exchange to take place.

With all this said, from the other POV as a clubber, I really like to see DJs playing vinyl. I like to see these objects. I like to know these DJs had to carry them around I like to know they had to WORK for it, and that they respect it also. And I like to see a Laid record spinning. More than I would like to hear a Laid track playing from the CD player.

Back to Laid, the label is doing well – I mean considering what’s going on with record sales. It is very nice to have Dial and Kompakt as support; that is the only thing actually allowing us to press records, and I am very proud with the upcoming releases on laid. The next one is from the Smallville Collective, and will be called “Smallpeople.” Afterwards we have a split EP from John Roberts, Christopher Rau and Fred P. Also coming up is an AMAZING EP from the Workshop guys Kassem Mosse and Lowtec, and a very special EP from Marcello Napoletano. I hope we get them out as soon as possible.

Another thing I want to say, is I am actually quite sad that due to this vinyl only restriction a lot of people are denied access to laid’s music. When we have time we will create a platform that allows users to listen to all laid content online. This whole vinyl-only concept is not some sort of snobbism or something. We want our music to be available to everyone, but we think supporting the format we believe in is just more important. Eventually we will make sure we do both.

You’ve asked to hold off publishing the tracklist, at least for a few days, for this mix. Do you think trainspotting is a dying art in electronic music? I know when Omar-S last played in Berlin, despite disguising most of his records – you had no trouble identifying them.

Yes, I do want people to try to ID something if they like it to communicate to search for it, just because I do enjoy these things! It is part of the experience for me. So I thought delaying the track list by a day or two might give that a push, even though it’s not like I played such “secret” tracks. I think people won’t have problems IDing almost everything before the tracklist is be published. That Omar-S party at Tape was funny. I must say that I might be one of the biggest Omar-S fans – I love Alex’s records I really like how he is playing them, and I actually like this competitive approach of disguising his records. Me being a smartass of course had to try to ID them all on the spot, and I had a great time that night. I personally do not disguise my records. I don’t believe in that so much. It would be silly since most of my records I discovered from other people, sets, endless searching of Juno’s out of stock items or my constant use/abuse searching for music and records I love (I must give a shout out to all the people who work on putting these great pieces of music up on Youtube). And I would never have found them if everyone was hiding their records. But as I said, I really like that he does it.

What are you up to next?

This Friday I will play at Panorama Bar, which I’m always excited about. Apart from that and my other gigs, I’m continuing work on the label, starting to experiment with sound on real machines, and generally keeping my head straight and doing my thing.

His sumptuously arranged music – released on a range labels including A.R.T.less, Styrax Leaves, Apple Pips, Meanwhile and his own Mojuba – brings together elements of Detroit techno, Chicago house, dubstep and dub-techno.

His latest release, the Xine LP, finds him indulging his interest in ambient and cinematic sounds, but his FACT Mix has definitely been assembled with the dancefloor in mind. An abundantly funky mix of jacking house and skipping techno, it gives you some idea of what to expect when Sven plays alongside the mighty Chez Damier at London’s Lost In The Loft party on November 14: more information on that night here. No tracklist as yet, but we’re pon de case.

Judging by your bio you’ve done lots of moving around in your life from a young age. Musically did this help you discover a lot of different types of music?

Sure, traveling helped a lot, but I know I’ve only scratched the surface so far.

Having experienced the laid back lifestyle of California, the club-kids era of New York, as well as living in London and Berlin, what place do you feel has shaped you the most, both creatively and as a person? And are the sounds that you assimilated with in those different parts of your life and love of music creeping in to your current productions?

Every place left a mark in different ways. If I have to point a finger, it would be New York. I loved that place! Amazing times with lots of great memories, as with London and Berlin. There are very specific sounds that remind me of New York, for example, but I’m not sure if they are creeping in to my current productions. I will check it out.

You’re known for having a distinct sound of your own. A DJ’s sound is one that is always evolving but also there is a moment when it clicks for them. When did you think to yourself that you’d found a unique sound and what were you doing at that time in your life?

I don’t look for a specific “sound” as such, so it’s very nice to hear that people think I have a unique sound.

What has been your most enjoyable residencies to date?

Panorama Bar, a very, very special place for me!

Where did you get the vocal samples from for “Invisible Circles”?

From an Internet radio station.

Your productions have a very free form element to them. Rather than regular floor tracks which tend to be more predictable with their arrangements to the point of knowing when the bass/kick/synth is going to come in etc, how do you write and sequence your tracks so that they are cohesive and resolve themselves?

I don’t have a “formula” as far as arrangement. Listening to it over and over and over again (with some tea breaks in between) helps to see if something is annoying or doesn’t belong. I keep playing around until it feels comfortable somehow — and in a way, because it’s never really finished, or am I alone on this one?

You have spent a good many years based in London and are now residing in Berlin. What do you feel are the differences in the working patterns of producers and DJs and how have you operated in each city?

Some have studios at home, some like to go to another location to make noises.I would guess there are quite a few night birds around here, like myself. I don’t know the patterns and operations enough of those two cities to compare.

What are the pros and cons of living as a DJ/producer in each city?

That “cons” can be “pros” and sometimes “pros” may be “cons.”

Tobias Freund has helped out on a couple of your releases with some mixing and production. How did you two meet? What did he bring or unlock in each track he helped out on?

I met him at a party in Berlin. Tobias helped me with pre-mastering and levels in general. Made the sound warmer, more detailed. [He has a] very cool pair of ears.

Your output so far is somewhat teasing to those who are encountering your music. Can we expect more frequent releases from you soon?

I’m sweatin’ ova’ here, workin’ ova’ time. There will be something on Power Shovel Audio, in the spring.

What can we expect from you next year?

Maybe some gray hair?! Wishing you all lots of warm vibes out there! Give earth a kiss!

A fusion of sounds, amalgamated in order to create different emotions. Dark and deep shadows, strong rhythmic patterns, cozy and beautiful warm melodies mixed with lazy ambiences or infinite images. A thoughtful profundity that goes far beyond the dancefloor. This is the concept of my music.

Music has been always for me something worth to live for. My first love is composing music, djing, and doing live sets. I’m into a wide range of music styles and I got a particular love for techno, house, and all its variations.

After studying classical guitar and percussions at early age, I left the studies and I got into many shades of electronic music. Then I started to create electronic music with my PC back in the ‘90…

By the years I evolved my musical knowledge, searching new forms of music. At the end of the 90’s I decided to go to London to satisfy my musical appetite, to trying a new life experience, and to connect with dreamers like me. And also because where I was living at that time was quite boring for me and it was difficult to find interesting music a part from underground sources. Radio, TV, and magazines were playing and talking about meaningless music (and not only that!).

Every last Thursday night of the month I run a night called “909 NIGHT” at cafe 1001, Bricklane, in east London. The night is focused in techno, minimal techno, techouse to electronica, downtempo, dub and chill out. I’ve been playing in almost all the clubs around east London. I’ve also played outside the UK in Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, and Germany. I’ve joined also BRICKBEAT. A team composed by dj’s and producers that run various parties in east London.

I finally began to establishing my music, doing various releases in techno environment and also electronic, downtempo enviroment. I had various releases with respected labels such as: Wavetec, Archipel, Serialism, Celestial Dragon, Gumption Recordings, Blurred Vision, Essential Reload. Until now, I’ve been writing my life with my music and I will keep doing it until my last day. ;)
Peace and dub

Most of tracks featured in this mix are not more available to download online, because the netlabels are not more active or they changed their directions for the digital pay downloads.

This is also a brief of electronic musical history that show you how unknow talented artists can grow up until became famous for their quality music.

Thank and Enjoy.

INFO:

Label: Deepindub.org

Catalog#: [rare-mix003] [podcast008]

Format: 1x File, MP3, Mixed, 320 kbps

Country: Italy

Released: 07 Nov 2009

The purified sound without any bustle and haste. The beginning is ambient, incredibly atmospheric and placatory insensibly dispose us the contemplating harmony and make us throw off all our troubles and look into ourselves.

Several more minutes of making up our mind and we irrevocably find ourselves into the power of velvet bass lines and charming percussions. The immersion is occurring imperceptibly, but very fast we are caught up and carried away by the rhythmical underwater flow, track after track, that is taking away to reveal deep techno mysteries.

Text by: Alex Kaidannik

Born in Germany and currently living in Amsterdam, Patrice Bäumel is a dj/producer who has been an active member of the electronic dance music scene for many years. He is an artist who devotes all of his energy to the dancefloor, with his dynamic sets as well as his trademark climaxing productions. His music is full of emotion, dynamic and contrasts of cold, warm, soft and hard: “If you can feel it, it’s good music!”

“360 Says everything about the spectacular view in 11 but it also expresses our musical freedom during our club nights” Dos Santos explains. Whether it is minimal techno, old school Chicago house or an ace remix by LCD Soundystem,  “we’re always looking for the boundaries of the dance spectrum.” That is exactly what you can expect from Nuno’s 360 podcast, so sit back and enjoy!

A keen musician since he was a Detroit youth, inspired by jazz, funk, r&b and more, Edgar climbed to the forefront of this decade’s electronic music spectrum with experimental releases on Warp, Steve Bug’s Poker Flat, Citinite, Isophlux and more. His Warp releases in particular are massive inspirations on the glitchier side of modern electronic music, from Super_Collider to the Black Affair, whose Pleasure Pressure Point album was co-produced by Edgar. He’s also a member of the superb Plus Device.

His FACT mix features Ed DMX (Krew), Aaliyah, Richie Hawtin, Dopplereffekt, Squarepusher and more, as well as unreleased Edgar solo material and a collaboration between Edgar and the much hyped Machinedrum. Full tracklist can be found over the page.

And what are you gonna do when you’ve finished downloading Edgar’s FACT mix? Well if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get tickets to LuckyMe and Citinite’s joint party at Vauxhall’s Lightbox club, an amazing LED-drenched new London venue. Rustie, Dam-Funk, Jimmy Edgar and Gosup helm the main room in what will be London clubbers’ first chance to see Rustie’s new live set (all four performers will be playing live). As for the second room, well, we can’t say who the three special guests will be – but let’s just say that fans of Kode 9 and his Hyperdub label really, really won’t be disappointed. Facebook event page here.

House and techno alchemists Pezzner and Lusine turn found Seattle sounds into an eerie ambient track in the course of five hours.

For our third installment of our occasional Tune in an Afternoon series, we challenged Seattle producers Dave Pezzner (a.k.a. Pezzner) and Jeff McIlwain (a.k.a. Lusine) to record a track using mainly sounds collected on a light-rail trip to the waterfront. Watch here as they talk to birds, use secret microphones, and ponder bpms, and then download the track!

With a musical presence and maturity beyond their experience Audiojack are arguably one of the most talented and exciting electronic music acts to develop in recent years.

Signed to Ralph Lawson’s 20:20 Vision Recordings for their original productions and forthcoming debut album and with remixes under their belt for labels such as Renaissance, CR2, Leftroom, Great Stuff and Audio Therapy Audiojack have proved a unique ability to produce credible underground music whilst appealing to a wide enough audience to surpass the sales and airplay of many of their peers.

Their music has gathered an enviable and varied list of international DJs who support their sound including Groove Armada, Sasha, Carl Cox, Deep Dish, Paul Woolford, Lee Burridge, James Zabiela, Nic Fanciulli, Timo Maas, Erol Alkan, Luciano, Steve Lawler, Craig Richards, Meat Katie, John Digweed, Laurent Garnier and Danny Tenaglia.

Their first original production ‘Robot’ released on Leftroom Limited dominated leading DJs sets on release and has sold over ten thousand vinyl and digital copies. Robot was also nominated for ‘Best British Single of 2006’ in DJ Mag’s Best of British Awards.

Debuting with such a big production meant a big follow up and when the guys were asked by Paul Woolford to remix his recent underground classic ‘Erotic Discourse’ they didn’t disappoint, creating another track which has seen massive global coverage with plays from most of the aforementioned artists and many more.

Their debut EP on 20:20 Vision featuring the tracks White Noise, Coastline and Quicksand achieved status as one of 20:20 Vision’s best selling EP’s of 2007. Remixes of tracks such as Idiots, Erotic Discourse, Hijacked, Zum Zum and Stabbing Sally have all featured in Beatport’s top 10 covering all genres whilst selling equally well on other vinyl and digital release portals. Audiojack have also remixed for Underworld on their record ‘Holding the Moth’ which was released on their recent Japan compilation ‘The Bells The Bells’.

Audiojack’s music takes influence from various styles and is typically hard to categorize. Their music appears in shops and magazine reviews under many styles – house, progressive house, minimal, techno, breaks, electro and tribal have all covered their productions, interestingly 4 of those genres covered 1 remix in the same magazine issue!

But it isn’t just their productions which are receiving such critical acclaim. Their ability to work as a team at the highest level is best seen in their live DJ performances, which to date has incorporated over 200 performances in more than 30 countries.

Alongside regular UK appearances Audiojack have performed on 5 continents internationally in countries such as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine and United States.

Alongside releasing original material on 20:20 Vision, Audiojack are label managers at their own imprint U.F.O (Underground Frequency Organization). A sub label of 20:20 Vision, U.F.O acts not only as a second stable to release their own material but also for other artists who compliment the labels sound.

With their debut album set for release in early 2009 alongside ongoing remixes and much more international touring set for the future, Audiojack continue to build their reputation as one of the most consistent and successful electronic music acts breaking ranks today.

heiko put this mix together especially for this party. its an all vinyl set and he’s taken time out to fill us in on it some more.

“the mix is called ‘you’re the one’. i named it after one of my favorite tracks of all times by d-train – ‘you’re the one for me’ which is included on the mix towards the end.

actually i was trying to bring some favorite tunes of mine together from the present and the past ranging from disco to house. so the first track (after the organ intro) by jackson jones
from 1980 and slides into a track by rainer trüby from 2009.
besides these 2 tracks and d-train you’ll find tunes by pal joey (who really is one of my heroes), some timeless nu groove records, sounds by rheji burrell as utopia project, some classic westend sounds like shirley lites. also some sharon redd, visual or colonel abrams besides some present funky tunes by 6th borough project, motor city drum ensemble and norma jean bell.

simply dance music with backbone and SOUL.”

If ever something did exactly what it says on the tin, it’s this set: prime Vitalic, crunching his way through the sort of squealing electro you feel like you could bite down on – if only you hadn’t been grinding your teeth together for the past three hours, you grabby caner. Authoritative, punchy house music at its hardest, and exclusive to FACT.

As a birthday present to us all, Clark has uploaded a terrific studio mix by DJ Hatcha from his personal archive. Recorded in 2001 or most likely 2002 – the very earliest days of dubstep as automonous genre – it’s packed with productions by Skream and Benga, many of which have never been released and have been lost to hard drive crashes and the like.  As Clark writes, the sound is “dark, clipped, minimal and grime-inspired”, and it “transitioned dubstep from the swung garage of El-B, Horsepower and Zed Bias to the mid era of Loefah, Mala, Coki, Kode 9…”. Crucially, though, this isn’t half-step skankers’ session you might expect; there’s a 2-step flex on the rhythms that makes them all the more deadly and spry.

It all serves as a reminder that in the first few years of the decade, Hatcha – mainman behind Big Apple records and among the most influential characters in the nascent scene – was a DJ without equal. There’s no tracklist for this rude and wondrous session, so just enjoy it for what it is – a precious snapshot of a key moment in the UK underground, and a gripping listen to boot. Essential.

Read more about the mix here.

Over the years Groove Armada have made waves through both the underground and wider dance channels thanks to huge crossover appeal, with a string of hit tracks including ‘Superstylin’ and ‘At The River’.

Tom’s exclusive mix for Clash delves into techno, house and general slick electronic goodness of all kinds, exploring both the downtempo vibes and irresistible beats and melodies for which Groove Armada have become known. Featured artists include LCD Soundsystem, DJ T, and a marvellous Greg Wilson edit of A Guy Called Gerald’s ‘Voodoo Ray’.

There are also two fine remixes of Groove Armada’s upcoming single, I Won’t Kneel’ (released November 16, and taken from upcoming album ‘Black Light’) each slotting in seamlessly with the eclectic mood of the mix.

A delightful DJ mix from a true pro. Enjoy.

On first hearing the music of New York based producer Svpreme Fiend, there is one comparison that instantly leaps to mind: Burial (Indeed, he says that besides the late, great J. Dilla, Burial is his biggest influence). Texturally, their music shares alot of common ground. The haunting vocals, deep pads and lo-fi production values found in Mr Bevan’s work are also present in Svpreme Fiend’s tunes. However, his music is by no means a “rip off” of Burial’s and, no matter what the similarites are between these two artists, it has its own very unique feel to it.

I think the key difference is  in the atmosphere that it creates. Svpreme Fiend’s music takes me to a warmer, more comforting place. The insecurity and lonliness that eminates from Burial tunes such as “Untrue” and “Distant Lights” or the deep sadness of “Near Dark” isn’t felt with Svpreme Fiend. Sure, the music is still melancholic but the lead melody lines in tunes such as “Prover” or “Assurer” are nothing short of uplifting. The stripped down percussion, placed low in the mix, is made up of clicks, pops and heavily filtered snare sounds. It gives the tunes a certain organic quality to them: the drums in “Affecter” remind me alot of Mount Kimbie. Another similarity with Burial is that the rhythms are often built up around the ghosts of 2-step but this gives the tunes a real swing and bump to them. In a time when a lot underground electronic music is becoming saturated with sub-standard releases made solely to please the DJ and the “raving crew”, these kind of raw, honest and achingly beautiful sounds have never been more essential.

He was kind enough to put together a nice little mix for us which we urge you to check out.

The third and final week of our Autumn techno onslaught comes from one of Minus’ most talented signings of the last few years – New York’s groovy mofo Ambivalent. “We met when I was organising parties under the Brooklyn Bridge” he recently told us off his and Minus boss Richie Hawtin’s first meeting. “Later on I worked for him. Over time I would occasionally give him some music. I was releasing tracks with my friends on Clink, and then Troy gave a copy of R U OK to Rich. The next day he asked me to release it with Minus.”

Hawtin’s keen ear for talent and hastiness to sign Ambivalent’s music didn’t let him down, with his productions and DJ sets quickly winning him fans across the world and allowing him to be accepted into their burgeoning family with ease. This podcast sums up everything we love about him – sexy, jacking, stripped-back techno with a hell of a groove, some enticing builds, dashes of weirdness, and a surprise ending.

This 50 min mix is jam packed with classics, re-edits (even some done on the fly) and a handful of unreleased material due out in the coming months. Sorry again, no track list

about the Artist:
Lucy aka Luca Mortellaro was born in Palermo, Italy, in 1983. At 16, he embarked on his journey of musical creation, experimenting firstly with analog synths. From these humble beginnings he started performing as a DJ, creating a name for himself as an underground artist in Italy. Once he moved to Paris in 2006 he decided to fully dedicate his life to electronic music. Lucy attracted interest from several labels and in 2007 had his first releases.

These early tracks drew the attention of renowned artists including James Holden. It was Holden who introduced Lucy’s work to Raphael Ripperton, prompting Ripperton to immediately release “Glass Computer” on his influential label, Perspectiv Records. Through invitations to remix tracks for leading artists such as Gui Boratto, labels like Tic Tac Toe Records and featuring on Fabric 38 mixed by M.A.N.D.Y, Lucy garnered his international reputation. In 2007 he was warmly welcomed aboard Meerestief Records, a relationship that has allowed him to continually develop his musical identity with several EPs. Significantly, Meerestief also invited Lucy to compile and mix the Submerge CD, released in February 2009.

Collaborations with cutting-edge labels such as Curle Recordings, ProgCity Deep Trax and the aforementioned Meerestief has led to hotly anticipated forthcoming work on Ware and Time Has Changed Records to name but a few. Lucy, supported by giants of electronic music such as Steve Lawler, Derrick May, Laurent Garnier, Agoria, James Holden, John Digweed and more, is confirmed as one of the most interesting newcomers in the underground scene.

• Length: 56:42 minutes (103.82 MB)
• Format: MP3 Stereo 44kHz 256Kbps (CBR)

I know you started out with funk and hip-hop; how did you get into house and techno from there?

St. Plomb: I actually started with jazz even before that. When all my mates were into Duran Duran, I was into Omar Hakim, I was learning drums in the local jazz school. In fact, I hated house when it first appeared in the clubs. In a matter of weeks, the four-to-the-floor beat had replaced the eclectic mixture of funk, disco, punk, rock, ska, pop and whatnot. I remember sitting in the middle of the dance floor to show my disapproval at the MAD club in Lausanne, in ‘88, as acid-house had just hit the turntables. Young and not yet famous Laurent Garnier was playing and I stupidly sat! The first electronic music to blow my mind was jungle in ‘94 — it wasn’t kick-based! Drum’n’bass made me want to start DJing seriously and producing. It’s only around 98 that I was introduced in a very pedagogical way to American and German techno by my friend Gregor (Crowdpleaser). Two DJs then had a great impact on me: Kevin Saunderson, because he made me feel the link between soul and techno, and Rolando because he played it the hip-hop way.

How did you meet Gregor? Did you have any preconceived notions for what you wanted to do together?

We’re coming from the same art school in Lausanne (ECAL). He’s a graphic designer now and I’m an art teacher. I helped him produce his first 12″ in my home studio, ten years ago. We quickly realized that we could get along very well in the working process without having to explain too much. So we started co-producing on Rather Be, sharing ideas 50/50, and it was like magic. I’ve been trying with lots of other people, and he’s the only one I keep collaborating with so far with great satisfaction.

Your music varies greatly from release to release. Are you always looking forward to trying new sounds? What is one underlying quality you believe exists in all your music?

As a matter of fact, I feel I’m finally settling down into something recently. Indeed, I got bored with styles, but I also have the feeling I was trying new things. You might call the resulting versatility a quality, but this has made my “career” very complicated so far, because I suppose it was a tad confusing for labels and promoters. It appears now that I’m naturally narrowing things down a bit. Not I don’t try anything anymore, I just do it… which sounds a bit Russ Meyer, though.

It seems that electro has had a big impact on your style, is that true? What does electro bring to the table for you?

Not at all. First of all, I’m an old schooler, so for me electro means 808 and break-dancing, the soundtrack of my early hip-hop days. I loved it, but hip-hop really hit me later when it started sampling the music I loved, jazz and 70’s funk. There you have the holy trinity of my early influences. Then there is the new “electro” and I have no idea what it’s about. Sounds to me like techno made by people with a pop-rock background. I don’t relate. My releases featuring Detroit Grand Pubahs and/or TTC have been tagged electro, but I’ve never liked anything else called that, so I can’t explain. Maybe because of gritty and rough bass lines, but I had funk in my mind doing so. It got lost at some point, probably, which happens when you’re zigzagging like I did.

There are some electronica moments in your discography as well. How important is writing for the dance floor?

Sometimes I wish there was more of these “electronica” moments. I have lots of ideas for downtempo or beatless music, but when I start working I always end up making a club track. I guess that’s what I love doing most, simply. Nothing’s more rewarding than a packed dance floor moving to my beat. Even when I performed music for dance-theater shows, it was not club music but it was still meant to drive moving bodies, and it was still based on (very) repetitive loops and grooves.

A lot of your timbres and sounds are anything but out of the box, with even the more simple sounds taking unexpected and complex turns.” Where does this approach come from and why is it important to you?

There’s a famous Swiss clock maker whose slogan is “Masters Of Complications.” It’s true that when I compose, it’s always as if the ultimate gem was deep into the forest, so I go on searching and rarely keep first finds. With electronic music, sound design is interwoven with the composition. So unless you’re damn lazy, you can’t help but twiddle and fiddle until you get that very sound that’s gonna be a vehicle for your melody, rhythm, etc. Basically we all use the same equipment, and if you don’t make a minimum of effort most of the production sounds the same. This is not new, think of the DX-7 days. I for one would usually blend three different types of sources in my tracks to avoid that: Real machines first, old ones mostly, 808, Juno 60, Minimoog, etc., and also some forgotten synth expanders. Then I would play and record drums, percussion, voices, and basically anything that my mic stumbles upon. And eventually I use carefully selected plug-ins. All of those have their strong and weak points, but altogether they allow to create a more subtle material, bringing depth in the mix, background noise, warmth, flaws, life. Now I don’t want to talk like I am an authority, I have more to learn than to teach.

Tell me a bit about making 2006. Did you know at the time of its creation that it would be as big as it ended up being? Did you see 2006 as your survey on the sounds of that year?

We actually worked for two years on this album. After one year we had 10 tracks ready, but we weren’t fully satisfied so we re-worked them for another 12 months. We didn’t want to give ourselves excuses of any kind. We worked it the Kubrick way, in every detail. So we had immodest expectations indeed. We called it 2006 only because it was a milestone for us. In the making, we had no consideration for what other people did at the time. The period was all minimal, bleeps and blurps, but we were playing lots of old-school, funky American techno in our sets. It was more for us a digest of our various influences, our own Homework in the form of something that wasn’t supposed to be trendy. It wasn’t up-to-date, so we named it the current date.

It seemed like you sort of disappeared after 2006, only to reappear this year. What were you up to in the meantime? Were you producing at all or keeping up with records?

The main reason is that the day the album was released, my son was born! Busy year! Those of you with kids at home know what I mean, especially if you have modern views on how the father should get involved.
The other reason is that after those two years of production I was exhausted, dried out. After the release we also toured in Europe and incidentally in Japan, which took most of my time and energy left. On top of that, the album had great reviews everywhere but it didn’t sell, which became very depressing. Then by and by, the creativity came back. I accepted the fact that I had less time due to family life, thus had to get organized instead of complaining. And at the end of the day, I’m much more effective now than before. I also took this time to reconsider which direction I wanted to take and went back to my musical roots, jazz and funk. Now I even got myself a guitar and started learning last month.

What’s changed for you in the meantime? Do you still enjoy the clubbing atmosphere?

Actually I had an epiphany in January 2008 at the Zukunft club in Zurich. Moodymann was playing, a glass of cognac in one hand, turning plates with the other, hosting the night like a radio-show, mixing down-tempo soulful tunes with disco bombs, Latin house, jazz-funk, you name it. All the music I always loved. To hear psychedelic-disco-funk at peaktime hour in the best club in town, I was literally in tears. I thought I was done with techno. It was like a baadaaaass angel slapping me in the face, saying: “I do my thing, why don’t you?” For years, I had been fighting my jazz-funk influences, thinking they were unwelcome on the dance floor, too much cliché or whatever. I suppose I also had the typical complex of the white guy educated in black music. But in the end, all this is a part of me, no matter what. I believe in the disco utopia: breaking boundaries, bringing people together. I feel now much more confident in the studio, I still produce a kind of house but I don’t refrain from my deep influences.

Tell me about the new records you have coming out in the next six months.

In October, I released two tracks on Brut! Records, “Escape Run” and “Saturnic Night Access.” I love this label, so I’m very happy about this release. It’s gonna be the first plate reflecting clearly the new turn in my production. It’s available on digital and as a very limited vinyl edition. Then comes “Niki,” another two tracker on the new Swiss label Saint-Vitus on digital, in fact two versions of a same track with my son babbling on it — it’s my take on classic house.
Then Ripperton’s label Perspectiv will release “Precious Soul,” the most musical stuff I’ve ever done so far, with remixes about which I can’t speak yet. And Third Ear Recordings will release the next Crowdpleaser & St. Plomb EP.

I see there’s a new record coming from you and Crowdpleaser. What was it like getting back together after time apart? Has much changed for you two?

We’re good friends so we’ve kept seeing each other and DJing together in the meantime. And as I said before, it’s always been sort of easy to work together. Now I wouldn’t say that our four new tracks were quickly done; far from it, there’s again a lot of deep diggin’ involved. But I feel we’ve achieved keeping it fresh, and it should hopefully reflect the fun we had doing it. This 12″ will also feature guest producer Emilie Nana, from which I’m sure you’ll hear a lot in the future.

When/where was the mix made? What was the concept behind your choices?

The mix was made end of August in my studio on a pair of CD mixers, with the idea to make a mix that is for once representative of what I would actually and ideally do in a club. Sometimes you have to adapt and play differently: On the main floor in Ageha, Tokyo, you don’t want to play deep jazzy minimal stuff. I also played at the Hive club in Zurich recently, I just couldn’t go funky — people were clearly expecting darker and deeper beats. Fair enough, I can adapt to some extent. But here is what I’d like to be booked for. What I wish people would expect from me.

Who are a few of your favorite DJs, past and present, and why?

Of course Moodymann, for all the reasons mentioned above, plus his charisma, his voice. The man just does what he wants. The DJs who impressed me the most weren’t necessarily the ones proposing a perfect mix and letting people go nuts, but the ones who surprised me. I’ve seen François K and Danny Krivit in quite small venues, all legends apart, they was just magical moments of music. In an other genre, James Holden made a huge impression on me, a few years ago, mixing CDs so smoothly, he was the first to make me consider dropping vinyl. But mostly his selection was surprisingly wide, quite unexpected. And finally, the ones I know only on tape, such as David Mancuso whom I hope I’ll manage to go and see once, Larry Levan and Ron Hardy, all founding fathers of the disco dream, synonyms of liberty, sound quality, challenging uncompromising selection, and free love for all.

The Hot Chip and Greco-Roman co-founder mixes up this week’s RA podcast.

Joe Goddard has been a somewhat inescapable figure of the past few years. As vocalist, percussionist and synth wizard in Hot Chip, he’s seduced listeners from both rock and dance spheres over the course of three albums, melding live instrumentation and electronics with an irresistibly twee aesthetic. The group have always been interested in the dance floor, as proven by their remarkably diverse additions to the Bugged Out! and DJ Kicks catalogue, mountain of remixes and hectic DJing schedule, with Goddard spinning records either solo or alongside his Hot Chip companions.

Such is his love for underground dance music, in fact, that Goddard decided to go it alone and produce a body of work that distils what he’s loved about dancing to 2-step, Dutch electro, classic Warp material, Chicago house, and many more styles on his debut solo release, Harvest Festival. His RA podcast is similarly angled and covers many of Goddard’s musical loves, traversing from hip-hop to funk via a healthy dose of house and current bass music sounds.

You’re currently in the US. What are you up to?

DJing in LA, San Diego and New Orleans with Alexis, playing at Halloween parties. Playing out bits of Harvest Festival and trying out mixes of the new Hot Chip stuff. Halloween is BIG in the US, seems to last for about a week and involves a lot more dressing up than in the UK.

Where and how was the mix recorded?

I recorded some vinyl at home in London and then took the files to my good friend Craig’s place Red Light Mastering to put the mix together using Ableton.

Can you tell us a little about the idea behind the mix?

The idea was to build a lush and melodic musical mix with my song “Apple Bobbing” at its heart and to feature my favourite recent records and producers—people like Osborne, Pépé Bradock, Martyn, Zomby, Zed Bias. Different styles of music but hopefully things that work together due to the kinds of melodies they employ. Depending on the night, you might hear me play a set like this whilst out somewhere, unless I am playing somewhere where I can get away with old 2-step garage records because then I tend to play quite a lot of those.

Your track “Apple Bobbing,” which is featured on this mix, is a beautiful bubbling synth serenade. How was the track made? And will it get a vinyl release?

Yes, “Apple Bobbing” will be released on vinyl in the next month. I made the song using an old Sequential Circuits Drum Traks drum machine and my Doepfer modular synthesizer, I wanted to limit myself in terms of the equipment I used with this album (Harvest Festival) to give it a particular production sound.

Why did you choose the name Greco-Roman? Can you tell us about the parties, and what’s coming up for the label?

The next party is at Villa in Berlin on November 21st. I will DJ alongside friends and label boss Alex Waldron. I think we thought the name sounded sexy and exotic, and I have a passion for world history. Also, I associate the name Greco-Roman with beards which is apt because there are many half or fully formed beards in our gang. The next releases for the label will be from Dels, Kwes and the debut album from Drums Of Death, tentatively titled Generation Hexed.

What are you up to next?

Finishing some tracks with Dels, working on an EP under the name 2 Bears with my mate Raf, mastering the Hot Chip album and then rehearsing and touring with Hot Chip throughout 2010.

It all started with Collás and Marquand, two New York underground club DJs feeling restless with the concept of playing other people’s music. Both had also been involved in the NYC nightlife scene, and had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of esoteric music ranging from Brazilian soul to vintage psych-rock… becoming producers seemed to be the next logical step. After writing and working with a wide range of artists, from veteran soul acts to up-and-coming rock n’ rollers, the duo set their sights on their most personal project, The Phenomenal Handclap Band.

The band’s core consists of, along with Daniel & Sean, Patrick Wood, Nicholas Movshon, Pier Pappalardo, Luke O’Malley, Laura Marin, Quinn Luke, and Joan Tick. Together, in their Lower East Side studio, they crafted a sound that is equal parts anthemic, dancefloor-oriented and orchestral, borrowing elements from progressive rock, disco, electro, and psychedelia. Throughout the recording, many friends stopped by in interest of the project including The Lady Tigre, Aurelio Valle, Bart Davenport, Jon Spencer & Jaleel Bunton to name a few.

The album begins with the meditative strains of the epic “Journey to Serra da Estrela” which erupts into a driving synthesized force, and foreshadows the arrival of “Testimony”, in which Jaleel Bunton (TV on the Radio) provides a fiery psychedelic guitar backdrop for Aurelio Valle’s (Calla) voodoo incantations. Carol C (Sí Se) lends her considerable vocal talents on the last single “You’ll Disappear”, a cosmic disco floor-filler that sets the stage for The Lady Tigra’s (L’Trimm) jump-rope rhymes on forthcoming single “15 to 20″.

Live, The Phenomenal Handclap Band is distilled to an eight-member powerhouse, an eye-popping spectacle that overwhelms the senses. It pulses with a savage rhythm section that provides the ultimate foil for cascading guitars and electrified washes of organ and synthesizers. Their delirious sermonizing whips crowds into a charismatic frenzy. Needless to say, their live shows are more akin to a spiritual church revival than an actual rock show.

Claude VonStroke is better known to locals, as Barclay Crenshaw, the owner of San Francisco’s quirky tech-funk label, dirtybird. The label consists of Crenshaw (VonStroke,) fellow producer Justin Martin, and a diverse assortment of top remixers from around the globe such as John Tejada, Audion, Diplo, 3 Channels, Dj Assault, and Kevin Saunderson.

The idea for dirtybird began in 2003 when Crenshaw was producing an intense 5 hour DVD about electronic music called Intellect. The project was a labor of love, taking almost 2 years to complete and starring over 35 top producers and legendary DJs such as Derrick May, Swayzak, Derrick Carter, Deep Dish, Paul Van Dyk, Theo Parish, and many more. The main goal of the Intellect project was to make an informative dvd that could help DJs advance their careers in electronic music. The result was Crenshaw himself starting dirtybird records and a production career under the alias, Claude VonStroke.

Since 2005, dirtybird has managed to solidify a reputation for releasing oddball classic techno and house tracks. The outdoor dirtybird parties in San Francisco’s scenic Golden Gate Park have also become a legendary summer destination point for both locals and international travelers.

In addition to production and label management, Claude VonStroke has an intense regimen for preparation and a great ear for song selection. His DJ sets are always inspiring and surprising. You will never hear a set of monotonous music because Claude always takes time to find the special cuts that make for a completely original experience that is not to be missed.

In 2007, Claude is hard at work on his second album. He also has plans to introduce a new deep techno sub-label this year called Mothership.

Not to be confused with the floppy haired dubstepper of the same name, Gatekeeper deal in “psycho killer symphonies for the back alley discos of the macabre”, inspired by the sound of their hometown as well as the soundtrack work of John Carpenter, Goblin and Claudio Simonetti.

Their Optimus Maximus EP is out now on Fright (that’s Mayer’s new label), and if you ask us is pretty fucking great. As is their FACT mix, which features Depeche Mode, Dopplereffekt and plenty of “ridiculous sound effects from horror movies”.

Hey Gatekeeper – tell us about the mix you’ve done for FACT.

“This mix is, of course, for Halloween. It’s kind of all over the place, a lot of early industrial & EBM, movie soundtracks/samples and even disco towards the end. Neither of us are proper DJs so we definitely rely on ridiculous sound effects from horror movies to blend tracks together. Lots of satanic narration, thunder and werewolf effects, vocoded demonic choir, etc.”

How did you meet?

“We met in Chicago while we were both in undergrad. As longtime electronic music enthusiasts, we became friends, and a few years later started working on Gatekeeper.”

How would you describe your sound?

“Cinematic electronic body music? We’re heavily influenced by horror and sci-fi film scores, italo disco and early industrial music.”

Were you both making this slasher disco type stuff then, or were you making other music?

“The ’slasher disco’ sound was something that grew out of a shared interest in soundtrack music and late 70s and 80s kitsch horror imagery. It was a natural fit with our developing industrial and dark new age style.”

How did you hook up with Michael Mayer and Fright?

“Jon Berry (1/2 of the Fright brain) contacted us through the web. We were of course eager to work with him as longtime Kompakt fans and the ‘fright’ project sounded like a perfect fit for us. There is literally no better label for what we are doing.”

Both of you – favorite John Carpenter film?

“Definitely Escape from New York.”

What do you have in the pipeline for the future?

“We’re about to go into the studio to start working on our first full length so no shows for a while. Once we finish the album we’d like to tour a little, play some shows outside of Chicago.”

What’s the best Halloween you ever had?

“We usually just head over to Haddonfield. Its pretty close to Chicago…”

Enjoy: Negru, born in Bucharest, in a well known family of musicians, began taking piano lessons and carried it on for over 12 years. He started performing with his dj acts only a couple of years ago in after hours clubs in the same city he was born meanwhile he started his own residency at Studio Martin, one of the most underground club in the field. Nowadays he’s spreading his music sets all around the country with much appreciation from the people who love his music. He worked his way up playing next to important names in the industry such as Loco Dice, Sneak, Chemical Brothers, Danny Tenaglia, Fatboy Slim,Tobi Neumann, Monika Kruse, Pier Bucci and next more popular artist to be followed. His first release on Cecille brought him a very welcome on the international scene alongside the hot romanians Livio&Roby. More over upcoming releases will get him on Soweso, Deep Moves and All Inn Records.