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Making Traxx

Years ago, when I was on an assignment in Germany, I heard a few people whose opinion I'd respect raving about a DJ called Traxx. At that stage, his catalogue of releases was small, with just a remix and an EP out, but his DJing as well as the fact that he was missing a few teeth and was a larger than life Chicago native in a small town in the traditionally conservative area of Bavaria, seemed to be causing all the excitement. When I got home I forgot about Traxx, and the hushed respect his name was commanding, and got on with my life. It's only in the past year that he has surfaced again, mainly thanks to his releases on Creme, Creme Jak -  which he seems to be involved in running with TLR, but I could be wrong -  as well as a new release for Aroy Dee's M>O>S. It seems that Traxx and the Dutch electro/techno sound have become very cosy and there's even an eerie Hague-style synth line on the 'epic' version of 'Solara', his new M>O>S release, perhaps his tribute to a scene that has supported him. Traxx recently played his debut gig in Dublin and sadly, I missed it -  I haven't worked out this bi-location lark yet - but the EC lads who put him on posted two mixes (unfortunately with no tracklistings) and it's clear that DJing is really his forte. There's something irresistibly unpolished and lo-fi about the clattering, crashing drums, weeping 303s and percussive shuffles that dominate his style. At times, it's like a slowed down relation to Rush's spinning, and, while Traxx's mixing is smooth, he isn't averse to an odd chop or quick mix when necessary. Here's the first installment in all its glory -  limited to the first 100 lucky takers.

Hazy Recollection

If you live in my part of the world, then you're probably in the middle of bank holiday weekend revelling, but if you can still make sense of my rambling blog posts through an alcohol-induced fog, then here's a quick heads up about a gig in a few weeks' time: Jay Haze is playing his Irish debut on Saturday, November 17th as part of a Test/Pogo collaboration, with support from myself and the excellent Pogo resident Barry Redsetta. Pogo is the popular Saturday night house/techno shindig taking place in the swish PoD club, so it should be a lot of fun. The gig was originally meant to take place in the Cavern, but for reasons that I would rather not go into (yet), we decided not to go ahead with it there. Anyway, watch out for an interview with Jay and (hopefully) a mix from him here over the coming weeks. Normal service now resumed: enjoy the rest of the break...

Good Gott!

I have seen a few posts in various places recently about 'E2-E4', the 45-minute mid-80s recording by German producer Manuel Gottsching, which was the 'inspiration' (and that's a kind term) for the quintessentially Ibizan record 'Sueno Latino', itself a classic of the deep house sound. I haven't followed Gottsching's subsequent work closely since then, preferring to immerse myself in the work of those others he inspired (Basic Channel, Chain Reaction and so on) but was still curious when a copy of his new album, a live recording at last year's Fuji Festival in Japan, landed on my desk. Called, rather unimaginatively, 'Live At Mt Fuji', and issued on Gottsching's own label, it nonetheless seduces with wave upon wave of gently and gradually building and then tailing off layers of dubby electornic sound. The only complaint I have is that Gottsching sounds too Pink Floyd at times, thanks to some meandering, self-indulgent guitar solos. Apart from this minor quibble, it's the best example of mid-50s vitality since I last saw Alexander Robotnick reducing a crowd, most of whom were young enough to be his grandchildren, to a sweaty mass with his infectious Italo. Remaining in dubby territories, but upping the tempo, turning up the volume on the master and with an approach as menacing as a pissed off Doberman who has skipped breakfast, lunch and dinner and is now eyeing you up at the other end of an alley with salivating fangs, is the mysterious Unknown, whose 'Ugandan Speed Trials' on Downwards is a brutal, simplistic and noisy Birmingham techno/dubstep melange. There's something alluringly simplistic about both cuts, the overriding sensibility has more in common with bleep'n'bass or the first raw, repetitive rhythms to emanate from Chicago than modern minimalism and its size 12 stomp means that it comes across like the techno equivalent of the hooligan chant, 'you're going to get your fucking head kicked in'...

Night on the Tyles

Here's a new mix I did when I had a free hour to spare. Recorded using vinyl, two Technics and a shaky old Gemini mixer, it's called 'In Tyler We Trusted' - hats off to anyone who can guess what film that immortal line is uttered in. Here's the tracklisting:

'In Tyler We Trusted' (october 07)
1. cassy: somelightuntothenight (beat street)
2. dj swap:the walk (smallville)
3. marlow & claudia nehls: water (daniel stefanik emix) (moon harbour)
4. swayzak: snowblind (swayzak remix) (k7)
5. plasmik: interswap (conaisseur)
6. sascha funke: the acrobat (bpitch control)
7. audion: fred's bells (spectral)
8. peter grummich: fresh air for fresh people (karloff)
9. raudive: zeitgeist (poker flat)
10. fingers inc: i'm strong (clone classics)
11. daniel mehlhart: karmasutra (karmarouge)
12. nagano kitchen: north central (apotek)
13. jacek sienkiewicz: mirrors (recognition)
14. falko brocksieper: black box (sub static)
15. ectomorph: lost angles (ghostly international)
16. monkeyshop: niagra flow (stilleben)

Thanks as always to Philipfor hosting the mix...

Thought for the Day

It’s too late for this year, but John Tejada and Arian Leviste deserve huge amounts of love for the summery feeling of their new record, 'Live 07'. Apparently, it's a taster for their first live tour at the end of the year, hence the imaginative name. I know that Tejada was unfairly stigmatised by the bump'n'grind of 'Sweat on the Walls', but he remains one of my favourite techno producers, with a huge back catalogue that has rarely disappointed over the past ten years. Sure, he became trendy/in vogue due to the minimal explosion (part 2), but he was quietly and prolifically releasing intricate, futuristic techno music on his Palette label long before the hype machine went into overdrive and will transcend the wave of hiccuping, FX-heavy tracks. He has been responsible for hundreds of records under his own name - including some decent drum'n'bass - and even makes alt rock as I Am Not A Gun. Anyway, back to 'Live 07' (which is out on his label): its lead track, 'Lost In Thought', delivers the killer blow: based on a warm, surging bassline, shimmering keys and spiralling melodies, it's a combination that lifts my mood and banishes the blues. It's the happiest thing Tejada has ever done, and should be a huge track, but he hasn't deserted his stark, metallic rhythms just yet, because on the flip, the plunging bass and old school percussive hiss of ‘Forbidden Planet' recalls the plaintive feeling of his debut album, 'Little Green Lights and Four Inch Faders'. Ten years is a long time in techno, but I'm glad that he didn't take that job in BMW after all (see the April 06 archive)!

'Minimal is dead'

At least it is in Berlin, according to one of its most talented producers, Peter Grummich, and he’s qualified to make such a comment. With releases for Shitkatapult, Sender, Spectral and Karloff, including the excellent 2004 album, ‘Switch Off The Soap Opera’, he has developed a distinctively visceral, noisy brand of dance floor techno. More recently, Grummich has diversified, with the deeper than usual ‘Therapy’ release on District of Corruption, albeit with his trademark spiky, staccato beats. With an album due on Mule, I used the wonders of e-mail to hook up with one of my favourite producers.

Is Grummich your real name or is it a stage name? What does it mean? I think that it fits very well with the music that you make…

"Yes, Grummich is my real name. My other stage names are Lee Anderson and Jens Linse.

I know, it’s a funny name and we are all sometimes a little bit ‘grummy’, he he."

What has been the biggest influence on you musically? On your MySpace you say you are influenced by Bowie and Sun Ra as well as Skinny Puppy and MBV - are these people as important or more important than your electronic/techno influences?

"Music is music - these are all influences of my youth. For me, they are the pioneers of electronic music. They all used synthesizers and analogue FX in their music. But in the mid-80s electro and disco funk and more bassline-oriented music like the first house records from Chicago had a big influence on me and still have. Acid house was the first music I really went crazy for!"

   

You say that you used to mix Sonic Youth with acid house - is that a good description of the way that you see your music production?

"Maybe, yes. I like the vibe of noisy sounds and analogue synths. I also like the extreme clean digital coldness of plug-in synths and FX. The combination of different sound sources is the key to a unique sound in my opinion!"

You have been working on the music since the mid-80s  - why did you only start releasing material in the 90s?

"My first release as Slammin Jack was 1995 together with Mark Pfurtscheller from Wirtschaftswunder. ‘Stop the Rain’ is an acid trance track, which we used to love producing at that time. All the things I’d done before I’d only recorded on tapes and that had been just a learning curve and not good enough to release, but learning never ends!"

I like the way that your tracks are raw sounding. Do you feel that your music is very distinctive, that the listener knows very quickly that it's a Peter Grummich track?

"I’m not sure, there are so many different ways for me to make tracks, and it’s always a new process so I don’t really know what comes out in the end. Ok, I think I got my own style of how I like things to do, but I think that’s normal for each and any producer."

Is there is too much clean/dry minimal techno around?

"Oh, I believe that people understand more and more that technology is not all-important to make music and what they want to do...But there is a lot of crap mini trash on the market and the problem is not whether the sound is dry, clean or fat, it’s more a problem about creating a copy from a copy and more copies from other copies. You know, maybe there is just a drug horizon left from the weekend before or whatever, and that’s in all kind of things what people do!"

Do you feel that your releases are less extreme than they used to - are people getting used to your sound?

"No, I’ve always made different music. Some like it, others don’t. Ok, my last album was very strong stuff and also extremely noisy from how the sound and the arrangement of the elements work together, maybe it was techno clash!"

Do you not release any more music on Shitkatapult?

"I might do a new release in 2008, but they have problems with their style. 2008 is approaching and I will make an electro dub EP for them!"

What's it like to live in Berlin? Is the scene hyped too much or are there are a lot of great events going on that people from outside the city don't know about?

"Berlin is fantastic for me! The city has a big influence on my music and a lot happens here. Every week we have more than 20 good underground parties with exhibitions, street art, theatres and other interesting cultural things in secret locations somewhere in and around Berlin. All the big clubs are just a small selection of the potential of all the people that live here. There are many new clubs like the Office or Oktagon and their sound is direct and physical rave and jackin house. It’s the new sound of Berlin; nothing against minimal but minimal is dead in Berlin! You can go to any mainstream club and they will play minimal and Tiefschwarz, but that’s not important."

Your recent release on District of Corruption is deeper than usual: have you decided to go into a housey direction?

"House music is still the father and electro the mother of new things that never happened before. I’m a real house music lover and a music lover in general as all the different genres disappear in my music. Ok, maybe I’ll do a dub release with MC Soom T, an electronica album for Staubgold or a soulful vocal house anthem with a new female vocal star! Everything is possible!"

Your current DJ promo mix is more housey and not as dark as the 'Maria' mix from 2 years ago - has there been a big change in your DJing style?

"No, not really. I always combine different styles of music in my DJ sets. The Maria club mix CD was very special and a reflection of the sound of the club! I always play of lot of old and new house music tracks in my sets!"

Do you have any plans to follow up your 'Switch Off the Soap Opera' album?

"Yes, I’m still working on my new album called ‘Moondancer’, the same name as the first single I released earlier this year on Mule Electronic. The album contains a lot of deep house and electro dub tracks like nothing I did before. I also just finished a new mix CD called ‘Dinner Music for Clubbers’ last week. It’s more an ambient electronica folk mix from the unbelievable back catalogue of Staubgold."

If you have a chance to play your dream gig, what musicians, producers or DJs - alive or dead - would be on the line-up?

"I would like to play with keyboard support by Wally Badarou and Sun Ra on his crazy percussion set up and I would play only Italo disco, electro and deep house that night! That would be a fantastic trip!"

Great Stott

I like Andy Stott. A Lot. Hey, that rhymes! Seriously though, Andy is one of the best techno producers to emerge from the UK over the past few years, someone who seems equally at home with the bastard hard acid of 'Demon In The Attic' as the sombre, dubby tones of 'Fear of Heights'. It's been nearly a year since he released his rather excellent debut album, 'Merciless', on Modern Love, so I recently caught up with him (actually what really happened was that I phoned him up at home after he finished work) for a quick chat. It went a little something like this:

How are things?
"It's going allright, thanks. I'm trying to write a lot of different sounding music. I had been doing a lot of tracks recently where the focus was on the bottom end, so now I'm trying to change and use more hooks again."

The last time we spoke, you were just about to release your debut album. How has the last year been?
"It's been interesting all right. I've had a lot more bookings and playing live has been a steep learning curve. I performed at this art festival in Belgium recently which was great and I've done quite a few small gigs in the UK. Last week I was back at the Panorama Bar. That place is ridiculous, it's beyond the realms of anything I've experienced. It opens at midnight and I was playing between 4am and 5am. I had a quick look at the DJ roster and the last one was playing until 2pm the next day! The last time I played there, it was a very straight set, so I thought that I would try something different this time, but the crowd didn't seem to warm to it as much. Maybe there were too many tourists there. Playing at Sonar was also a laugh: I was very nervous because we were on at the same time as Junior Boys, but our tent remained full, there was about 1,000 people there. Playing live is a great way to test new material, and it makes me realise that I need to write a track that’s as angry as ‘Demon In The Attic’ again!”

What's your live set up like?
"It's very compact, just a laptop and an external controller. I intend to buy some hardware, but I haven't started yet. I use Reason for all my productions, it’s really easy to use. A few years ago, I bought a second-hand PC, which had a copy of Reason already installed on it, so I thought I'd give it a go. I suppose I started producing by accident."

What music are you listening to at the moment?
"I don't have the biggest knowledge of the classic techno artists, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Over the past year or so, I've been introduced to Basic Channel, and there have been some comparisons made to my newer work, which I take as a huge complement. I've just discovered SND, these two sound designer guys from Sheffield who have been around for ages and I'm into Wolfgang Vogt’s Gas project on Kompakt because it's proper stripped back music - he uses really nice pads with submerged kick drums."

Speaking of all things dubby, what do you make of the direction that Modern Love is going in?
“I think that we all listen to what the others are putting out, but we definitely haven’t sat down and decided that we’d all go in this direction. Claro (Intelecto) is a mate, but Deepchord is based in the States and I wouldn’t have much contact with him: I don’t think he has even played a gig in Europe yet, but that’s about to change soon. I’ve just given Shlom a bunch of new tracks and his reaction was ‘Jesus, that’s some next-level shit’. We are given a licence to do pretty much what we want - the label would probably even release a gabba track if it was deep enough - but we have talked about it and although Modern Love is doing well, we feel it is time to wipe the slate clean and mess about, see what happens. We could put out some of our leftover tracks, but we don’t want to keep repeating ourselves.”

Do you think that your surroundings has had much effect on your music - is Manchester a techno city?
"No, I wouldn't say so. It rains and is industrial looking, but nearly all of the stuff I listen to isn't from the UK and pretty much all the stuff from the UK I listen to is influenced by German producers."

'Fear of Heights' and 'The Massacre' marked a change of direction for you: was that intentional?
"Yes, that super-slow, stripped back sound is where I want to be a lot at the moment. I even did some dubstep tracks on 'Merciless', but I got bored with that very quickly because it's so formulaic. At the moment, production is happening for me - there have even been times when I've taken my laptop into work to finish off a track. I'm a car spray painter for Mercedes. Mind you, it's taking me a lot longer to produce music now. The bassline and kick for ‘Ceramics’ was done in just twenty minutes and I spent a few days perfecting the arrangement. It was the same with ‘Demon’ – I wrote the acid bassline in a few minutes and was sitting there thinking, ‘what the hell am I going to do with this?’ I'm still trying to write a song that sounds as angry as 'Demon' but without sounding the same."

What's next for you release-wise?
"I've already got one track written and ready for the next album which will be out in summer 08 hopefully. I'll also have some EPs out in the meantime."

Finally, if you had to programme his dream gig, who would be on the line-up (living or dead)?
“You’ve got me on the spot, but Basic Channel would have to play, sharing the bill with Aphex - not his ‘Druqs’ period, more his Analord stuff - along with Theo Parrish and Drexciya.”

The Dave Clarke 10

Here's Dave Clarke's current top 10 and a comment about each track/record. I find the remarks about Underground Resistance especially interesting - when was the last time you heard a decent tune on commercial FM radio?

1) Voltaic: ‘Abyss’ (unknown)
“This is a very moody, bass-heavy record, I'm lucky to be sent a lot of digital tracks before they ever see the light of day, this will be out in a few months no doubt.”
2) Terence Fixmer: ‘Electrostatic (Audion remix)’ (Gigolos)
“I'm a big fan of Fixmer and Matthew Dear is one producer who can make extremely interesting deep music. This mix is 15 minutes of warped low tempo techno, I had the worldwide exclusive on my show White Noise.”
3) Underground Resistance: ‘Kill my Radio Station’ (Underground Resistance)
“Great lyrics, expresses how I have felt about Radio One in a few sentences,
UR are living heroes to many: why? Because they have conviction and don't
bullshit and are still here doing the do, and you got to do the do if you want to get done.”
4) Max Durante “Shake It” (Truckstop 76th)
“Holy shit, anyone professing to dig techno has to check this EP out. Liasing with Keith Tucker on one of the tracks, being politically correct on ‘Xenophobia’ and ‘Shake It’ having incredibly direct percussion, this release has rocked clubs for me for a few months.”
5) Aux 88: ‘Electro Muzik’ (Crème Organization)
“True electro from such nice guys, always a fan.”
6) Frank Kusserow: ‘Human Being’ (Datapunk)
“Rother's road tour manager shows his own sound and gets full marks, very
atmospheric indeed.”
7) Billy Nasty: ‘Electro Malequiro’ (unknown)
“Nasty returns to music after becoming a part-time resident of Amsterdam. This is actually my favourite release he has ever done.”
8) The Plan: ‘Change of Mood’ (Submerge)
“I like this because it has nostalgia attached to its grooves, it reminds me of when I used to go record hunting at vinyl fairs and find an old Detroit release that I had missed: it’s very smooth as well.”
9) The Advent: ‘Slave Rhythm’ (Classic Music)
Cisco is the boy when it comes to pounding but complex beats, his PAs
always hit a spot few thought they had, but then they are subsequently happy
Cisco found it for them. This is an exclusive on my ILT album: it’s so nice
not having labels get in the way and slowing things up when doing a compilation, this was downloaded and licensed in 15 minutes, no drama.”
10) DK7: ‘Life is Everywhere (Steve Rachmad’s Chicago Remix) (DK7)
“DK7 played for me at Pukkelpop in Belgium two years ago, they are fun to be
around and I like what they are doing, so when you combine that with Steve's
talents, you are onto a winner. I actually heard this before it was sent to them, digital is so damn direct, I think this will be out in two months. (You should also check Rachmad's remix of Game One by Infiniti, a great update).”

Ten Year Time Space Continuum

And speaking of De:Bug, here's a fascinating piece by Philip Sherburne on the magazine's website about the 1997/2007 time space continuum. I wish he'd focus more of his times and efforts on these kind of pieces rather than devoting his time and efforts to the minimal mafia.

Keep the faith

There are very few electronic music magazines out there whose journalists really feel passionately about the subject matter. There used to be some: Magic Feet, Overload (which as far as I know is now still going as a pure internet play at Spannered) and, in its pre-London incarnation, Jockey Slut. Nowadays, most magazines in this sphere are dependent on advertising revenue to survive, so it follows that they keep the highest bidder happy with flattering content. Even in the online sphere, magazines' editorial policies are 'advertising-driven' and even the hipsters' favourites are compromised by the dollar sign. Does anyone really want to read a Sander Kleinenberg feature? Thought not. However, there are still a few notable exceptions: De:Bug is excellent (and it helps me keep my Deutsch in good shape), as is London's Fact Magazine - although they need to keep the cosmic disco noodle content a bit lower. Remaining in the UK capital, another thoroughly enjoyable read is Faith, published by the people who run the parties of the same name. Presented as a fanzine, eg layout skills aren't their forte , and difficult to obtain in this part of the world - even though we're just across the Irish Sea - it is available for free in some online record stores and in some real ones across the UK. What appeals to me about Faith is that it restricts its coverage to a fairly tightly knit, albeit global community - house music. Faith is not the publication to turn to if you want to read about the latest Paul Van Dyk album, but it is the only place where I've read a feature on facial hair for DJs (written by Mr Weatherall) and a history of Shoom in the same issue, alongside interviews with Seve Bug, Luciano and Theo Parrish. Sure, at times it has too much of a Junior Boys/old school London acid house network, 'we were playing Phuture back in 1987, it's not as good as it used to be' mentality, but the fact that Faith also doesn't take itself too seriously - there are only so many wordy, Wire-style navel-gazing pieces one can read before the sick bucket beckons - and that it knows the roots as well as the current state of house inside out - unlike the clueless scribes who can only relate to something if its new and by that narrow-focused definition, good - means that it's an essential read for anyone who is passionate about electronic music, an increasing rarity in the print and online worlds.