It’s clear that hard work and creating beauty pays off: This summer Christian will play at Melt Festival and a whole lot of other lovely venues and festivals. So we are extra proud that before the festival season is unleashed you can come and listen to him, performing his live set on the next RTFKT night, the 15th of March at the OT301 in Amsterdam. His first ever performance in the Netherlands. Yes!

Within this 33rd Mutecast you’ll find a Löffler remix of ‘A Crashed Blackbird Called Rosehip‘ (check out their album!), quality German craftsmanship and a couple of all time RTFKT favorites. A bit of advice: Don’t skip through it! Just press play and let this mix surprise you, as it contains the same interesting story-telling qualities you’ll witness on his album, and of course, the 15th of March.

So this week, let’s leave deep house aside for a sec and make room for this big fat techno set, both very subtle in its construction while remaining dark and hypnotic, just how we like it…Well, you know how it goes.

Soul Clap bring the fun on our latest Pulse Podcast, recorded live from their recent Australian tour. Two and a half hours of party vibes await!

Chicago footwork meets Brighton bass.

Alan Myson’s music often has the illusion of dual tempos. Depending on what you want from it, the sound of Ital Tek is either a swaggered 80 BPM head-nod or a frenetic 160 BPM hop. Nebula Dance, the 2012 album released through Planet Mu, has been his most concrete statement in this regard. Myson processed the rhythmic template of footwork and overlaid the types of fizzing melodies that have long been his speciality. Before the push-pull vibes his recent releases, Myson predominantly produced dubstep. Planet Mu put out the sub-focussed cYCLiCAL full-length in 2008, and he has remained a label regular ever since. Seeds of change were apparent when he returned to the full-length format in 2010 with Midnight Colour, a more contemplative and melodically-driven effort that sat somewhere between Flying Lotus-style experimental hip-hop and UK bass. These sonic shifts can also be traced via Atom River, the label Myson launched in 2009 that has thus far released four 12-inches.

Ital Tek performances could accurately be described as a live show, although he is fond of dropping other producers’ tracks, as he does here with aplomb on RA.352. The set comprises 70 percent his own material, with no less than five new and unreleased tracks included alongside the likes of Om Unit and Dawn Day Night.

What have you been up to recently?

Well, I’ve just released my latest EP, Hyper Real, on Civil Music. They’re a label I’ve been close with for a few years now, doing some remixes for them and knowing the guys personally, so it’s good to finally work together on a proper project. I wanted to follow up from the Nebula Dance album quickly and get some new music out straight away in 2013, so I’m really pleased with how it’s gone down.

How and where was the mix recorded?

I use Ableton for my live shows and this mix was recorded in much the same way that I perform at gigs.  I made it in my home studio, mostly jamming out the mix on my Akai MPD32 and then I’ve gone back over it to add some atmospherics and effects.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

Well, I wanted to give a fair representation of what people can expect to hear when they come to see me live, while also experimenting with some more ambient passages to give it a sense of narrative. There are five new unreleased tracks of mine in there, which are exclusive to this mix. In fact, I’d barely finished them by the time I recorded the mix. It’s about 70 percent my own new tunes and then some unreleased tracks I’m really feeling at the moment by friends and producers who I think are killing it at the moment.

Would it be fair to say that you’ve undergone a shift in sound in the last 12 months?

Yes, definitely. I feel that my music has had a natural shift into more upbeat dance floor structures. I’m always over-thinking what I do and it’s been nice in the last year or so to feel a bit more freedom. I think making music is just as much about what headspace you’re in as your technical ability or what gear you use. After releasing records for a few years now, I feel a lot more confident and trust in my vision more so than in the past. It can be tough mentally to keep putting your music out there into the world to be judged, so it’s good to get to a point where you can just go for things and let loose.

In a club context, have you recently seen an increased appetite for faster strains of dance music?

?I think there’s a cycle of what tempos listeners and club-goers have an appetite for. Dubstep was refreshing because of the way people found energy within the gaps. The space was what made it so powerful. Now tempos are creeping up and people are finding the energy in the drums. I’ve always been a huge jungle fan, and I think footwork and juke tracks appeal to people in Europe in a similar way that jungle does. It’s also got the ability to lock people into a half-time groove and I think that slow/fast juxtaposition is a really powerful sound on the dance floor. I always enjoy playing tunes that split the club; you can see people raving and people swaying to the same rhythm.

What are you up to next?

I’m currently working on a couple of new projects that should see the light of day later this year. I’ve always been reluctant to collaborate with people, as I’m pretty single minded, but recently I’ve been making a load of tunes with two other guys, which is sounding really promising. We’re working out a way of performing it live at the moment. I’m not going to give away too much until the music is ready to be heard properly, but I’m really excited by it. There will definitely be more Ital Tek records this year as I’m just pretty much writing music non-stop. Since my last album, Nebula Dance, came out a few months ago I’ve got about thirty new tunes.

I’ve also done a few remixes that are out soon. And more touring! I’m reaching Australia and New Zealand this year for the first time, having wanted to go for years, so that will be great. It will be nice to tick off another continent from the list.

The Waiting Room is his third full-length release for Ghostly International under the moniker Lusine, and his first album since 2009′s A Certain Distance. As with all McIlwain’s work as Lusine, this is a record that’s characterized by both diversity and coherency. Its tracks traverse a variety of sonic landscapes, from the widescreen atmospherics of appropriately-titled opening track “Panoramic” through the digital soul arrangement of Electronic’s “Get the Message” and the club-friendly bounce of “First Call” to the slow-building Detroit-inflected closer “February”.

But for all The Waiting Room‘s eclecticism, it’s also notable that it plays out as a coherent whole, with McIlwain’s deft production creating the sense of a single, logical journey — an album, rather than a simple collection of tracks. It also continues the excursions into vocal-led tracks that characterized A Certain Distance — exactly half of The Waiting Room‘s ten tracks employ vocalists, most notably the aforementioned “Get the Message,” wherein guest vocalist and wife Sarah McIlwain makes Bernard Sumner’s words her own: “I don’t know where to begin / Living in sin,” she sings calmly, “How can you talk? / Look where you’ve been.”

As a whole, this is an album that’s both cerebral and visceral, a record that’s both rewarding of a serious headphone session and also warm and melodic enough to make listening as engaging in an emotional sense as it is in an intellectual one. Many artists flirt with these two extremities of electronic music; few tie them together as well as McIlwain does.

One thing’s for certain though, this mix keeps the momentum of our series going at full speed with the techno and tech house genres perfectly balanced and a seriously well thought out selection of records. We’re expecting a lot more from 3tbp but for now, we’ll let the music do the talking.

“Finding production processes that have just a kick drum, a hi-hat, a 303 and nothing else, and to be able to turn that into a six minute track that actually works, I’ve always found [that] fascinating,” Tom Russell told Juno Plus earlier this year. He was speaking in reference to MPIA3, an alias he adopted last year to explore the outer limits of his sound through simple production means. As Truss, Russell has been producing varying forms of techno—either solo or in collaboration with Donor—since 2007. Perc Trax has been the primary outlet for his music during this time, with Russell’s functional but always intriguing take on techno becoming a cornerstone of Ali Wells’ standout label. Hints of Russell’s rave and hardcore roots can be traced in much of his work down the years, but it was in 2012, with the introduction of MPIA3, that they properly flourished. The gnarled stepper “Ganymede” as Truss served as a precursor, before three MPIA3 12-inches dropped in quick succession. The onus, it seemed, was very much on extremity: charged acid lines scarred Ely and Wttp for Ventress and Shifted’s Avian label, while Your Orders, a six-track EP for R&S, fused broken beats, distorted kicks and tons of attitude.

Russell stands among a currently thriving UK techno scene—AnD, Perc, Shifted, Regis, Surgeon, Karenn et al—and their shared sense of adventure courses through this mix, a roughneck trip through techno, electro, hardcore, acid and even a splash of progressive house.

What have you been up to recently?

Writing a lot of music, travelling to places I’ve never been to before for gigs, meeting new people and trying to organise my wedding.

How and where was the mix recorded?

I spent a lot of time sourcing tracks. I tapped up some of my friends for any new material they were able to send me, sifted through my promo folder and recorded a lot of vinyl during an NYE get together at my house—productive partying. The majority of the mix was done in Ableton before moving over to Cubase for some mastering.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

I wanted to provide a snapshot of what makes me tick. The type of tracks that I like to dance to, music that inspires me to produce and records I like to play when I DJ.

Why did you adopt the MPIA3 alias?

My MPIA3 alias was born out of a mixture of dissatisfaction with my own productions at the time, and a frustration with hearing too many techno records that sounded so similar to each other.

We spoke to you last week as part of our piece on industrial techno, but in summary, what are your thoughts on its recent re-emergence?

For me it’s a very exciting time right now in techno. There are a lot of producers bringing their own unique identities to the table and I welcome the renewed interest in harsher sonic territories. That said, it’s all about variety. While it’s great that a harder sound is being pushed again, it shouldn’t become a singular focus.

What are you up to next?

More of the same hopefully. I joined the LittleBig agency a few months back and gigs have really picked up. I feel incredibly lucky to be traveling to lots of new places and meeting so many wonderful people through DJing, it’s very humbling. Studio-wise there’s lot’s going on, including my solo projects, the long standing collaboration with Donor, a new collaborative project with Tessela as TR\\ER, as well as the customary anonymous techno record or two.

Ivan Smagghe enters the Pulse Podcast fold with an all out, dancefloor mix.

Hello I am Samuel and I like to study theology, play music, produce beats, drink coffee and beer, cook, play football, chill with my friends etc etc. I am currently on an extended vacation in Paris while I am studying and collecting material for my master thesis about transfiguration in christian theology and iconography.
Recently I’ve been so fortunate to get to know some really nice people here too, like the Cracki guys, Latency, MLIU, Lazare Hoche and Concrete people. So I thought I’d go here for a while to spend more time with them and at the same time enjoy the life in the city that made all these friends who they are… I figured it must be a great place.
With the mix I actually just wanted to play some different stuff and not a pure 1hour mix tape of the same kind of dance music. So it’s a bit diverse but I hope, that it will make sense to you as it did for me when I hit the record button and started putting on records. There’s no track list mostly because I am too lazy, but send me a message if you want to know some ID’s. Hope to see you out there! :)

Maps have numerous purposes in life; they are one of the fundamental means by which human beings represent information. Experimental mappings such as data visualizations, cover a wide range of different influences that can make the complex simple and the simple complex. TVO’s addition to the FIBER podcast series is a mapping of a wide variety of sounds that represents the various territories of his aesthetic.

TVO stands for The Village Orchestra, both are monikers under which Scottish Ruaridh Law plays a vibrant role in the scene. Apart from managing his Broken20 label, releasing productions, and playing DJ-sets, he also shares his knowledge and taste for music with the occasional written contribution for FACT magazine. So what are influences that contributed to his musical development?

“I started listening to UK Rave and Hardcore when it hit the charts in the late 80s/early 90s. From there a progression to ambient techno, “IDM” type stuff and into techno – UR, Drexciya, Basic Channel etc…and then a chance purchase of a load of old Fat Cat cds led to a discovery of drone, industrial and noise and my realization of how all those sounds crossed over with the techno I already loved”. The mix conveys this variety and has some unpredictable turns. “I don’t plan things much”, explains Ruaridh, “I just keep mixing records together as they sound good, and sometimes that makes some odd changes”.

These unexpected transitions also occur in experimental maps and in TVO’s sources of visual inspiration. “I love Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy, and art from my friends like audiovisual artist Konx-om-pax and Krypt. In films, rather clichéd unfortunately, I love the looks of the films of Lynch and Tarkovsky – Solaris, Stalker, Inland Empire and Lost Highway are probably my favorite films I’ve ever seen”. All these examples offer a surrealistic vision where reality and subjectivity intertwine. Similar to how Broken20 as a label is not tied to a certain static reality of a genre, but rather to a dynamic aesthetic related to “decay, erosion, entropy, mistakes and errors, line noise and tape hiss, hum and buzz”.

The sixteenth FIBER podcast shows exactly what this dynamics is all about, and offers a wide landscape of techno as well as a few unreleased exclusives.

Born and raised in Lille, France, Benales has been honing his craft since the end of the 90s. An avid record collector – and enthusiast of house and techno – his DJ sets and tracks combine the raw, dark and deep elements of these musical forms with a firm nod in the direction of Detroit. Having already released on Etoka, Signaletik and Aesthetic Circle Records, 2013 will see a much-anticipated helping of new material and DJ dates from Benales, as he looks to take his music into new and exciting territory.

And with that, we bring you the first ever Dispatch Agency Podcast: a collection of 13 tracks that all speak for themselves, pieced together using vinyl and Technics.

This mix pulls no punches, so please have your gum shields at the ready.

A selection of Techno tracks mixed with two MK2s and Xone 22, only vinyls.

Andrew Weatherall has always been good for a quote. From the deep, dark days of early acid house to the modern-day Two Lone Swordsmen: if you’re looking for an opinion on the largely insipid world of dance music then Andrew’s always had that happy knack of cutting straight to the chase; delighting and upsetting in roughly equal measures.
The swaggering original moody DJ. The pop-star producer. Bastion of the underground. One-time (ahem) Balearic figure-head. Electronic experimentalist. Peerless explorer of the minimal techno sound. Arch grumbler. Londoner. Honorary Yorkshireman. All these notions have been bandied about by punters and critics alike in a bid to pin down Weatherall’s role in music, yet none of them quite fit the bill. And even when they do hit the mark they’re often far too paradoxical to make much sense. In the dull as ditch-water world of dance music, Andrew Weatherall comes across as a refreshing and involving character. This has always been reflected in his musical output since those formative days remixing Primal Scream’s rocky original into the pivotal ‘Loaded’.

Weatherall’s history goes back far to the beginning of the British acid house scene, having swung gigs for himself at Danny Rampling’s legendary Shoom night off the back of the sort of sounds recently showcased on the compilation for Nuphonic – entitled 9 O’Clock Drop. Subsequently, his connections with the original Boys Own record label (and fanzine) led to artist releases, remixes and a string of legendary London clubs such as Blood Sugar, Circulation and of course Sabresonic (where the fledgling David Holmes cut his teeth). It was through Primal Scream though that Andrew first made his name. As the producer of Screamadelica he took The Primals, twisted them (best not to ask how) and in turn created the hybrid of narcotically-challenged rock and acid house now seen as a generation-defining release.

It was through the club Sabresonic and Andrew’s remix productions that he tied in with Jagz and Burns, forming the live/studio Sabres of Paradise band. More often than not shows would see Andrew standing at the side of the stage, possibly doing fuck all other than smoking fags; no one was quite sure. What is certain is that these experiences drew Andrew away from the Screamadelica-inspired limelight that beckoned and back into the sub-terrain to develop the dark, experimental sounds he has become known and respected for. After the demise of Sabres (and the record label inspired by the outfit) following a string of albums and singles (on Warp), Andrew teamed up with fellow Sabres cohort Keith Tenniswood to form Two Lone Swordsmen. Keith himself has a string of prior musical convictions working with The Aloof, David Holmes and Red Snapper. More recently he has made really fucked electro breaks to wrong-foot the dance-floor under the names Bargecharge and Radioactive Man for the Fuel label. Keith’s ear for the production of low-end frequencies is unrivalled.

Quietly toiling away in their Rotter’s Club studio the pair honed their own brand of lo-fi emissions, delighting experimentalists whilst frustrating the folk waiting for Andrew to stop being up his own arse and knock out more of those dubby Balearic tracks he initially made his name with.

Thankfully this never happened. Instead, Fifth Mission – Return to the Flightpath Estate was released: a sprawling, dense double-CD soundtrack lurching between leftfield dance-floor and your fucked head, all shot through with an alarming disregard for genre or expectation. As if to confound admirers further, Andrew also made deep-house releases as Lino Square, Rude Solo and a whole host of yet to be discovered pseudonyms. After a couple more releases on his own Emissions label Andrew and Two Lone Swordsmen re-signed to Warp and became quietly prolific with a string of releases such as ‘Sticky/ Gay Spunk’, ‘A Virus With Shoes’ and ‘A Bag of Blue Sparks’. He then went back to Primal Scream taking the track ‘Stuuka’ and re-writing it as a supremely morbid piece of reggae-heavy electro. Next there was the second TLS album ‘Stay Down’, its title as revealing as it was succinct. The third album ‘Tiny Reminders’ and then a fourth ‘Further Reminders’ were the platforms on which Andrew [and Keith] threw the cat amongst the pigeons, making music with machines like no one else. In 2004 they delivered ‘From The Double Gone Chapel’, their final release on Warp.

All the while Andrew has been maintaining his output through various alternative projects, most notably his first EP under his own name: ‘The Bullet Catcher’s Apprentice’ released in September 2006 on Rotters Golf Club. His mix CDs continue to impress: from his heavenly offering with Richard Fearless to his formidable Fabric Mix and the hard to find Rockabilly mixes recorded at his London residency with Ivan Smagghe, aptly titled Wrong Meeting, at the T Bar in Shoreditch. His latest offerings consist of a rockabilly-based compilation for Soma, the first under their Sci.Fi.Lo.Fi branding, and the genre-spanning Watch The Ride on Harmless Recordings.

In between DJing all over the world, with residencies at Fabric (London), Back to Basics (Leeds), Robert Johnson (Frankfurt) and Mondo (Madrid), he also finds time to run the monthly A Love From Outer Space night at The Drop in London. After a three year hiatus 2007 saw not one, but two new albums by Two Lone Swordsmen: Wrong Meeting (a limited edition vinyl box set) and Wrong Meeting II. These extended the rock ’n’ roll influence evident on Double Gone Chapel – displaying a base of electronica with layers of garage and rockabilly stylings. Andrew is also a prolific remixer and recent outings include Grinderman and Trentmoeller. He produced the highly acclaimed album Tarot Sport by Fuck Buttons and recently mixed the debut album by Warpaint for Rough Trade.

2008 witnessed the collaboration between Andrew and The Boardroom – a group of dapper men about town who spend their leisure hours producing aural delights for fans of electronically-informed dance-floor beats. Mr. Weatherall dropped in and, inspired by the tunes he heard, twiddled a knob or two alongside the Boardroom’s resident guru Steve Boardman and came up with the ‘Andrew Weatherall Vs. The Boardroom’ album. Mr. W enjoyed himself so much he invited Mr. B to collaborate on his debut solo album ‘A Pox on the Pioneers’ and a second instalment of Vs. The Boardroom. 2011 will see Andrew release his second solo album (title and release date tbc) – brace yourself as one of the UK’s few remaining innovators stays uniquely true to his own musical vision when all around him are going soft or running out of things to say.

There is next to no information about you out there, unless your real name is Frederik and you are first in line to the throne of a wealthy Scandinavian sovereign state. Can you give us a bit of information about growing up as the Prince of Denmark?

Prince of Denmark: Oh yeah, it was sometimes hard, you know — pretending to be mad, spending most of my life questioning existence. But it’s all good, I can handle that.

You also moonlight as another kind of Prince. Can you tell us about Traumprinz and the differences between the two projects?

Traumprinz is more of a child that likes to play with things.

What’s the reason for the secrecy? Are you an established artist who wants to have an anonymous side-career or perhaps an attention shy producer like Burial who just wants to be left alone?

I sure like to share my music with people, but I feel pretty sensitive about how it should feel to give something from myself. Joy and the freedom to express whatever you want are far more import to me than anything else. I don’t know, I just want to make some music, take my time and make my experiences. Anonymity as a certain concept is not my thing. Somehow it just doesn’t make sense to me yet to go out.

What are some of the pros and cons behind your anonymity?

You can wear a whole-body latex suit all the time and you get away with that, pretending music does play any role. If you’re not too much into that kind of stuff it will be quite annoying to do that all the time.

Do you DJ as well as produce?

I first started DJing. I loved it and I took it quite serious at that time, but somehow I lost my interest in it after a while. I think it was very formative to my approach on making music. I love how a well made DJ set can combine all kinds of genres and open spaces. It can set you into a imaginary place. For example, the imagination of taking part in one of the first abandoned warehouse raves in ’89 somewhere in England or conincidentially for the first time stumbling into a dark basement rave party in East Berlin in the early 90ies, just after the wall came down, makes my fantasy glow on how things could have been. That inspires me to put a live mix together but doesn’t necessarily require you to picture this musically one to one, it should simply capture some of that feeling. Like the one I gave to you.

Your Prince of Denmark EPs have got dub techno purists preparing for the second coming. Are you going to be releasing more material under this name? And also under Traumprinz?

The Staub series will be let to end. There’s one last release together with Vril that will act as a sublimation of all things that we have done there. There’s also an LP planed on a new imprint that is part of the Giegling family. Then there is a various artist EP with some of my beloved friends that I originally shared the same hometown with, including the likes of Herr Koreander, leafar Legov and Vril on Giegling, all under the name of Prince of Denmark. And one release as Traumprinz also on the Giegling main label. I guess all within the next three or four months or so.

I understand that the podcast you put together for us is made up of all your own material. Can you tell us a bit about it? Was it a live set or DJed?

It’s a live set that I DJed. As I mentioned above, I like to give my live sets some kind of a DJ-set feeling.

I’ve come across another set like this of yours. Do you perform live or have these sets been put together just for people to hear more of your productions?

No, that Giegling mix was originally made, you know that good old, classic thing, for a girl I fell in love with. We’re happily together ever since I gave it to her.

What can we expect from Prince of Denmark in the next year?

Plenty of Eurodance inspired soul music along with some nymphomaniac, dystopian house and techno. I might also send a guy who looks a little bit like I do on a tour to perform my music.

Given the number of DJs and producers plying their trade in the German techno capital, only the best of the best get ahead and make a name for themselves. And that’s certainly something Franklin has done, as evidenced by the podcast he has recorded for our on-going series. Kicking off with kinetic house beats, it builds through deeper fare, forever warming you with lush synths and a hint of summery-ness.  As techno and more coarse metallic elements seep in, things remain forever human and propulsive, right to the electro leaning end.

As we’re waiting to see what Tristen’s got in store for us this year, he gave us this one hour mix, in an naturally very smooth atmosphere and impressive in its knowledge of groove and technique. This one is on repeat…

You have more recently been releasing solo records, but you first came to light through your collaborations with Prosumer. When did the two of you first meet and how?

Murat Tepeli: It was 1997 when I moved to Saarbrücken where I started to study. I went shopping in the local vinyl stores, especially at Hard Wax Saarbrücken. Achim [Prosumer] was a very good friend of one of the owners so he was also regularly hanging around at the store so it didn’t take long until we both got introduced.

How long was it before you started to make music together?

I really don’t know when it was exactly. I’ve been DJing since 1994/95 and I guess I started producing my own music around 2002. So it must have been about six years after we met.

Had you been making music yourself before this? And did you have any formal training with instruments?

I’ve been always attracted to music my whole life. My father gave me a present when I was five or six years old; it was a Saz, a Turkish guitar which I started to learn. It was actually a big one, so I really struggled playing on that. Later I played the trumpet and trombone in the big band of my high school. But I soon realized that it’s not the kind of instruments I like to play, so I told my parents that I would love to have a synthesizer, but all I got was a cheap Casio preset keyboard. But that was fine for the beginning, because I realized that I can play sounds with it which I like.

But the real first steps in producing electronic music was when I got my Amiga 500. It must have been when I was 14. Besides playing games I was interested in programming simple games, and I got myself some tracker programs like Protracker or Soundtracker and I started to program beats and music. I was very limited because I didn’t have a sampler, which was too expensive, so I had to find another way to build up my sample collection. One day I found out that there was a program which could rip sounds, or even the whole tracks out of the RAM memory of the computer, if you played a game and just switched off the computer. I tried to program beats from famous dance tracks. I don’t how much time I spent ripping sounds out of games just to find out the right sounds to program a beat, like “Calling Mr Vain” from Culture Beat and I was so happy and proud to listen to the result, which was really close to the original. All my friends laughed about it. I wished I still had those versions.

Your Serenity album was the first album released on Ostgut Ton. How long did the album take to come together?

I can’t believe that it’s already four years ago now. Time runs so fast. I think from the moment where Michael from Ostgut asked us if we wanted to do an album for the label it went quite fast. Achim and I were already having lots of ideas, since we had already done some tracks together. It just took us a few months to focus the ideas for the album, and the whole production in both of our studios we did within a month.

It’s been a few years since the two of you released something. Are there any plans for more Prosumer & Murat Tepeli releases?

I can only speak for myself but hell yeah, of course! It’s just too hard to find some time together with him at the moment. He is playing a lot so we rarely see each other. Achim doesn’t have his own studio right now and there hasn’t been the chance for him to find time to come over to Cologne to my studio. But we are getting there since I’ve been talking about my ideas with Achim a lot recently. One thing I can proudly announce is that there is going to be a 12? release of mine out on AVA by the end of January with an awesome Prosumer remix.

So you started DJing in the mid 90?s. Was there a particular moment or particular tracks that you heard that really made you want to start?

Yes definitely. My sister brought home all these mixtapes and compilations from a DJ with tracks like Heavy D, Adeva, Soul II Soul, The Wee Papa Girl Rappers, The Cookie Crew, Fast Eddie, Mantronix, Redhead Kingpin. That stuff really blew me away. I was sure one day I was going to do mixtapes like that.

Your day job must keep you very busy which I’m sure explains the sporadic nature of your musical output. How long have you been working in medicine for?

I got my University degree for medicine at the end of 2004 and I started working in a hospital in 2005. Since then I have worked on my specialist training in orthopedics and trauma surgery, which I completed at the beginning of this year, but I never completely stopped the music. I never would have imagined us to have such a resonance with our releases, but at one point I was just exhausted. Besides working full time in a hospital and having shifts every second weekend, we had lots of gigs the other weekends when I was supposed to have time off, so at one point I had to decide that I have to take care of myself so I decided to reduce the music. But one thing was sure, I knew that as soon as I got my certification I would start doing more music again.

Does this mean you have to turn down a lot of requests for remixes and DJ gigs?

I had to turn things down. But things changed with this year. I am a freelancer now so I only do substitutions for hospitals. Right now I can afford to spend more time in the studio. I started doing DJ gigs again but I am trying to focus more on my own releases at the moment, so I try to be in my studio as much as possible. It makes me feel miserable when I listen to all the drafts and ideas I did over the last two years, because I never had the time to finish my ideas. There are so many patterns on tapes and on my computer, and it feels like skipping through a graveyard. I don’t want that to happen again so I’m trying to be more disciplined right now. Though I love having DJ gigs, watching Achim being so busy right now and having up to three or four gigs in one weekend, while traveling all over the world, one cannot try to be creative for the rest of the week. It just doesn’t work. So I am aware of that and I try to focus on my own stuff right now rather than playing a lot of DJ gigs.

Is there ever any crossover in your careers? For instance have you ever seen one of your patients at one of your gigs?

Well, let me think. I guess if I am allowed to call my friends my patients, while they take the chance to ask me for an advice or a treatment by every now and then yes! There are patients on the dance floor. [laughs]

Given that things must be quite full on with your career in medicine, what role do you feel music plays in your life?

I sometimes feel like I live in two different worlds, but as I think about it, I should be really, very happy with it. It allows me to find my balance. Working in an emergency room can take you down so bad. People getting injured and having to deal with their handicaps for the rest of their lives or even people dying. It’s not a place where you can let your emotions go. If you do so, you just break down very fast. I remember my first two years in the hospital: it was so hard. I came back home every day with mixed up emotions, totally exhausted. So you try to build up a shield to not let your feelings through. It helps you to get through the day. But it also changes the way you behave in private. One day I was told that I’m not an emotional person, that really hurt me very bad. Everybody is vulnerable, some of them show their emotions very easily, some of them try to hide it. And I thought about where my feelings went and it might sound cheesy but I realized that it was in the music. When I was in the studio or DJing, it was the time and place I could let go. Every time I had a gig I felt a big release. I just love to be on the dance floor and let my emotions go, whether it’s a happy or a sad moment. Meanwhile I can even admit that I don’t have to feel ashamed if I feel like crying next to the dance floor. I appreciate those rare moments and I even start to enjoy them.

What can you tell us about the mix you put together for us?

When I DJ I find it very relaxing nowadays being able to mix dance music from all the decades and I appreciate it so much that people enjoy and celebrate all that great music on the dance floor. And I am so lucky to have so many talented people I got to know over all these years and can even call my friends. Over the past few months I got some really great tracks from them I wanted to share on the podcast, some stuff on AVA — the new label from Cologne I support — plus some old classics you might know or not know yet.

And what can we expect from Murat Tepeli over the next year?

Watch out for a new release of mine on AVA by the end of January. Its going to be a 12? with two tracks of mine plus a great remix from Prosumer and one from Damiano von Erckert (the head of AVA). And there is going to be a great 12? on Philpot, which is also going to be released in the first quarter of 2013. And hopefully lots of great time in the studio together with Prosumer again.

Cari Lekebusch is a Stockholm-based Techno DJ/Producer, he is also the founder of the H.Productions record label. In the early nineties he was a member of SweMix, alongside Denniz Pop and StoneBridge.

He’s also collaborated with some of the finest producers around; Adam Beyer, Joel Mull, Alexi Delano, Par Grindvik and Jesper Dahlback being some of those producers. The man isn’t shy of an alias too, he’s recorded under the names of; Fred, Mr Barth, Braincell, Shape Changer, Vector, and The Mantis.

Today he showcases his considerable knowledge in music for our Data Transmission podcast… we think you are going to enjoy this one a whole bunch.

Sum up this podcast in 10 words…
A hybrid of hot cuts fresh from my HPHQ kitchen!

What’s your personal favourite track on it?
I would have to say my favorite track would be Alexi Delano & Hans Bouffymyher – Take 2. The track is from a forthcoming collaboration project that Alexi has put together for my H-Productions label with him producing tracks with a whole range of producers. I particularly like this track because I think the combination of Alexi and Hans’ styles has made something really special. Of course I have been a huge fan of Alexi’s music for ever, he and I go way back. Hans is one of the new school of techno producers that really excites me and I have been a huge supporter of his Sleaze label from the start. I guess I had high expectations for this track when I heard about it but those expectations have been met and then some. It really is a standout for me on this mix.

What¹s the special ingredient in this mix?
The vast majority of the tracks I have used on this mix are very new; many are only just on promo or just demos so they are not records that i have been playing for a while or knew very well before I did the mix. I find it really exciting when that happens because it takes me slightly out of my comfort zone and I find that lends a dynamic edge to my mixes and I am really thinking on the fly as to which tracks to use and when to play them. It doesn’t always work out like this but there just seems to have been a glut of really cool promos in the last couple of weeks so there was an opportunity to put many of them together on to a mix.  The fact that the mix was for something special like DataTransmission added to the sense of occasion and I have to say I am very happy with the end result. I hope you guys are too?!

What¹s the best gig you¹ve played recently?
Oh wow, that is really hard to say. I had some amazing gigs recently with shows at some really classic clubs like Fabric in London, Tresor in Berlin, Old River Park in Naples and Lehmann Club in Stuttgart. When I play these places I always know it will be good but each time something happens that makes the event even more special than the last time. I think this is one of the secrets of being a legendary venue or event. You have to keep on delivering higher and higher standards to stay at the top. Funnily enough though I would say the gig that will stay with me the longest from recent times would not be from one of the places I play regularly but my debut show at Bahrein, Buenos Aires. I spent the whole weekend in the city and just played the one show on the Saturday night so I got a very strong flavor of hat rhw place was all about. From hanging out with all the guys and girls who put the event on to touring around the city to getting to meet so many fans at the show, the whole experiences was something special and certainly very different from the normal quick in-and-out stop of a show in Europe. The hospitality, warmth and passion of South American people is very well known but to experience it first hand really makes you stop and appreciate everything. The actual gig was amazing too – you can see how cool the club is and the amazing vibe they create by checking out this video they made of the event –>http://youtu.be/Eju30nkVbLw

What have you got coming up?
I am typing up this interview at Stockholms’s Arlanda airport while I wait to fly to America to start my mini tour that will see me play in Chicago, Miami and New York. It is going to be an interesting trip as I was supposed to go back in October but unfortunately I had to cancel as I got sick. So this time I am fully stocked up on vitamins, well rested and ready to rock out some techno. I have not played Chicago since 2008 I think and it will be the first time I have played for Basic in New York who are some really well respected promoters who I have heard great things about from people like Alan Fitzpatrick and Ben Sims so it will be exciting to play in these places. My gig in Miami is actually on a Wednesday – the day before Thanksgiving – so it will be fun to see how people celebrate the holiday. Then once I am home I intend on locking myself in the studio for a week to catch up on some production projects that have been simmering for a while. I have a remix to finish for Ben Sims which will come out on Drumcode and some new original productions that will appear in 2013.

And finally, do you have a special message for our readers?
Thanks for listening! I hope you enjoyed the mix and I look forward to sending more satisfying sound waves your way some time soon.

Dyed, Dan and Shonky.

Apollonia is a label and DJ collective comprising Dyed Soundorom, Dan Ghenacia and Shonky. Rising from the ashes of Ghenacia’s Freak n’ Chic at the beginning of 2012, the trio endeavoured to build a platform for their shared musical vision—something Soundorom articulated as “a mix of white soul and black music” earlier this year. What that usually means for the dance floor is house music with a focus on groove, with an equal amount of emphasis placed on the past and the present. DC-10 in Ibiza has been a stronghold for their sound this past summer. The trio has played back-to-back-to-back regularly, with a semi-strict policy of spinning one record apiece. Their relationship with the club is actually long held: Ghenacia has been a resident since 2001, while Soundorom joined during 2010 in the same capacity. Shonky has been playing regularly for two years now.

Recorded at the end of the Ibiza season, the trio approached their mix for us in exactly the same manner as their club sets, resulting in a perfect 85-minute encapsulation of the dynamic trio. Apollonia will keep the joint sets rolling into 2013, starting out atBPM Festival in Mexico where they’ll all make their debuts at the event.

What have you been up to recently?

We just launched the Apollonia band and label one year ago, it’s our first year of touring properly after hanging out and working together for more than ten years. We’ve played some amazing gigs this summer. Some highlights include Panorama Bar, DC-10, fabric and just recently Movement in Torino, playing with Derrick May; we’ve been big fans of Derrick since the start of our careers, so this was great for us.

With the label, we’ve released two EPs so far, one from Shonky, Minneapolis Touch, and one from Dan Ghenacia and Shonky, Close to the Edge. Dan has also just completed the third EP, Trax On Da Road, coming in December.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded at the end of the Ibiza season. It was really interesting to prepare the selection because we are not just one artist, but three. We did the selection all together and for the recording we did it at a little private gathering with our close friends at home.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

The idea behind the mix is to introduce the way we play as Apollonia: back2back2back. That means one record each like we do during our Apollonia DJ show, and this is how we mixed the podcast. In terms of the sounds, the Apollonia concept is based around blending black music with white soul, and the best of the old with the new.

Were there any particular prevalent sounds or styles that you noticed at DC-10 this year?

The more housey sounds from legends like Kerri Chandler and Doc Martin were clearly really popular among the ravers. And one of the main changes this year was the arrival of DJs like Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann. They fit perfectly in the club and it shows the evolution of Ibiza as major place for underground music.

What are you up to next?

We are actually all in Berlin right now, working on an Apollonia EP. In January, we will be touring South America, including Apollonia’s first ever performance at BPM Festival, plus more great shows for next year like fabric and D-Edge are already planned.

For the label, after Dan’s EP is released in December, Dyed is remixing a track from Daze Maxim and we are starting a repress series on the label, re-releasing some forgotten classics with new remixes. The first one, “Underwater,” is coming from Point G (DJ Gregory) and then we have a Kerri Chandler track with some top secret remixers lined up. We also have the first album release on the label coming from Chris Carrier and Hector Moralez in 2013, so keep an eye out for that.

Fresh cuts, unreleased specials & more are crammed into this 60 minute mix from one of dance music’s all time heroes.

Check their bandcamp and support these artists, they really deserve it !

This is the last free mix from Catalepsia (aka Jerome Bazzanella)

Continuing our podcast series from modern day techno pioneers, Radio Slave weaves together a trippy, vinyl-only mix of unreleased music and forthcoming Rekids tracks, from Solomon to Nina Kraviz and beyond.

The heavily-accented deadpan delivery over techno beats that established her notoriety on previous recordings has been unseated by a desire to sing, to scream, to rap and to croon, all of which she manages to do with ample helpings of sly wit and wordplay and a musical landscape that incorporates both brazen beats and intoxicating atmospherics.
However for all her releases and collaborations Kittin’s first and main love remains DJing. From starting out in 1994, Kittin’s name first appeared on a flyer in the chill-out room for a rave in an old military fort in the mountains. From there on Kittin hasn’t looked back. From playing harder edged Techno, rave classics, Chicago, Acid and Detroit Techno Kittin has progressed into more leftfield, Electro and electronic realms. Able to play Prince with Black Dog or Aphex Twin with a new Kompakt 12? she has an uncanny and intuitive sense of selection that not only flows but also maintains that primary sense of the party. Anyone who has seen Kittin dancing behind the decks or grabbing the microphone mid-set will understand only too well that she is also a clubber at heart. As Kittin says, “I love playing records, it’s probably the best thing I know to do in life. I do it because it’s big fun and it makes me free.”

Based in Paris since 2007, Kittin released her second solo album “Batbox” in 2008, followed by the second album of the collaboration with her all time favorite musical partner The Hacker entitled “Two” in 2009, both released on her own label ‘Nobody’s Bizzness‘. After the extensive live touring of Miss Kittin & The Hacker in 2009 all over the globe, 2010 has seen Kittin’s couple of remixes and collaborations and in early 2011 a release of the ’All You Need’ EP on Mobilee Records, that brought her sultry yet punchy vocals back to the floor with a classic electro bassline.

Having spent over a decade cultivating her intransigent image, Miss Kittin reliably brings all her gusto, charisma and inspiration to the decks, which have produced many seminal moments of dance-floor heaven and is rightly placed as one of the most revered and recognizable artists in Dance music today.

As for the future? Watch out for her next, 3rd solo artist album in early 2013.

Undiluted techno from an under-appreciated name.

Ashley Burchett is a London producer whose work has featured in the bags of full-throttled techno DJs since 2000. Those who checked our recent Label of the Month feature on Belgian label Token will know that Burchett came on board with the imprint in 2007 and has made it his exclusive home ever since. Burchett has largely pushed a fast-paced, rolling sound, one that often evokes the more shadowy corners of Jeff Mills’ Purpose Maker series. Token marked its fifth birthday at the start of 2012 with Burchett’s relentless Binary Opposition, a release that would be remixed later in the year by an eye-catching selection of modern techno’s finest—Ben Klock, Peter Van Hoesen, Planetary Assault Systems, Sigha. Burchett arguably outdid himself withBehind the Sun late last month, running from delicate intensity through to full-bore attack mode.

You get all of the aforementioned Ø [Phase] tracks on RA.337 along with unreleased material and new guard names like Shifted, DVS1 and Truncate.

What have you been up to recently?

Production-wise I’ve been busy with various remixes (due out in the coming months). I’ve been gigging in between. Also working on an album for next year.

How and where was the mix recorded?

It was recorded in my studio directly into Logic from vinyl and CD. I don’t have Traktor or Ableton or such like.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

There’s no big concept. It’s just a condensed version of what I might do live. An illustration of my tastes right now.

Kr!z said in a recent feature with us that you “should have been way bigger by now.” Is this a view you share?

It’s a fair enough sentiment, though I’m not particularly looking for reasons why. We all have our own curve.

Do you feel like the techno scene has been increasingly moving in line with your approach to the sound recently?

It would seem things are toughening up again lately. Perhaps they’re just finding a natural level. Things went too hard and too fast in the past, certain producers slowed things down (which was definitely a good thing). It feels a bit like those two approaches have been re-aligning slightly over the past couple of years. I’ve always been somewhere in the middle so I suppose you could look at it like that.

What are you up to next?

The album will be my main focus musically in the coming months, while gigging in between.

With a musical background that has encompassed Hip-Hop and song composition, via Skate-Punk and Metal. It is quite a surprise to experience the deep and often dulcet tones of Piemont’s modern productions.
Their beat ridden tracks do include a certain kind of magic in terms of abstract funkiness and soul which has been growing on people ever after they have listened to their tracks for the first time.

Many of their tracks have developed into evergreens, being played out for months and months. Now Piemont is no more a upcoming force in the scene but an established member of the top league of German producers with an international profile.

“Carbonat” and “Black Smoker” have been major hits but also “Plumbum” or „Purist“ has evolved on a premium track. With their acclaimed debut album on MBF, “Strange World Beyond”, Piemont have for the first time explored also deeper moments in their music.
The second album “Sand Hills” was released on their own imprint Suchtreflex.

UPCOMING RELEASES

Piemont – Off To Drink EP (Resopal Schallware, 2013)
Piemont – Excuse Me EP (Plumbum, 2013)
Piemont – The Gap EP (Mr Carter, 2013)
Moog Conspiracy – Blender (Piemont RMX) (Buenaonda Rec., 2012)
Luid – Fifty Four (Piemont RMX) (Moan, 2012)
The Glitz – All The Ladies (Piemont RMX) (Material, 2012)
Beatamines – Get2gether (Piemont RMX) (Damm Rec., 2012)
Piemont – Get Back (Yellow Tail, 2012)
Piemont – Linguistic Split (WePlayMinimal, 2012)

OUT NOW

Piemont – White Portion (Plumbum, 2012)
Piemont – Viewstar (Terminal M, 2012)

ALBUMS

Piemont – Sand Hills (Suchtreflex, 2011)
Piemont – Strange World Beyond (MBF, 2009)

It’s a deep and vibe fuelled mix that matches their production aesthetical to a tee. Taking in their own remixes and productions alongside cuts from Willie Graff, Deepchild and Maya Jane Coles, its snakes through infectious claps and warm stabs, rolling basslines and more torque-y tech, never straying to far from a body pumping dancefloor pulse.

Matthew has just released his new EP Aji-No-Moto on Running Back, and if you haven’t discovered his music yet here is an excerpt from his first and brand new live set, a superb selection of released and unreleased material that will give you a glimpse of what he’s currently up to in the studio.

special download

This live-in-studio recording is a direct artifact of our studio process. No filters, no camouflage and no editing. Our only preparatory and intellectual contribution to this was the decision about which of our studio synthesizers and effect units we should connect to our limited 16 channel mixer. The rest of the effort was an attempt to avoid any other conscious restrictions after we pressed ‘record’.

This is the same process we applied for the recording of the bulk of the material for our latest LP ‘Techno Primitivism‘. The less conscious, intellectual intervention in our composition process, lesser the chances for a lack of authenticity.

In a nutshell, we jammed.

Instruments used: Yamaha CS-30, Korg Polysix, Yamaha DX7, Roland SH-101, Fender Strat