Machine love: Tommy Four Seven Logic and field recorder: We discover the way in which the UK producer has made limited tools work to his advantage.

No producer wants to sound like another. Or so they would say. So why is it that so many do? It’s something that the UK-born, Berlin-based Tommy Four Seven has considered a great deal. The difference here, though, is that he took affirmative action. Faced with recording an album for Chris Liebing’s recently rejuvenated CLR, Tommy challenged himself to produce using only found sounds and vocal recordings. The results were fascinating. Yes, Primate is very evidently a techno record—an unmitigated one at that—but this is the genre cut from a different cloth. As we met at his Berlin studio, in a suitably industrial corner of the city, it quickly became clear that the idea of restricting oneself—for whatever reason—has enabled this young producer to find his voice.

You’ve said before that you’ve been messing around with music programs since you were 12—what were these specifically?

The first music software I ever messed around with was a game called Music 2000. I was around 12 years old and found myself totally addicted. It wasn’t technical, but you could write your own riffs and sample about 20 seconds. Although I thought of it just as a game, I think people like Leftfield and Grooverider even released tracks using the program. The first slightly more serious program I experimented with was Reason when it first came out and then another program called Orion Platinum. By the time I hit university I had enough funds to buy a new G5 Mac and Logic 7 (thanks to student loans) and I’ve stayed with Logic ever since.

Many people have said that they didn’t find formal music tech training overly helpful. What is your take on it? I think it really depends on the course you take. It totally broadened my perspective on music technology. I found interests in topics I never really thought about, such as Foley and sound design and working with live recordings. Soon I began to apply these new techniques to my production process in techno.

And you applied a very specific process to Primate. Could you explain the concept behind the album? The concept really came about from both boredom and frustration with the techno scene. Hearing the same sounds, the same hats, synths. It isn’t everyone, but a large majority of producers aren’t willing to take risks. It just seems we are going in circles sometimes and I think it’s time we all pushed ourselves to take things forward. I find it almost impossible to finish a track if I use the same sounds in previous tracks—I lose all motivation. So I needed a concept of no generic sounds, such as claps, hi-hat, and synths to keep me excited and interested. It also created a box which allowed me to focus. There’s nothing worse than having too many options as you get distracted more easily. You need some kind of rules, you need some kind of direction, otherwise you’re going in all kinds of places.

Have you struggled with an overabundance of options in the past? Well, I think I’ve totally restrained myself anyway. I’m not someone who’s like a plug-in whore. I’m not searching for plug-ins all the time. Everyone’s like, “Oh, what plug-ins do you use?” I just use what I’ve got and make the most of it.

So what are you using? They’re all native to Logic. I don’t use any fancy plug-ins like Waves; it’s a little bit out of the budget at the moment. I’m actually happy with Logic’s plug-ins. I love Logic for the functionality, the interface, it works. I’ve not found a reason to change yet.

Tell me how you generated the percussion sounds on your album. Most of them came from just grabbing the mic and recording anything that was in the studio, anything that was outside—some field recordings, anything that works. What would one of these field trips entail? Like going to the tube station for example, getting the haunting ambience of a train. Or when the cars drive over the bridge, you can hear this haunting ambience that’s kind of like screeching. It’s really, really surreal. So quite often I made a note of sounds like that and then came back and recorded it. There’s a track called “Armed 3” [on the album] that the percussion was made out of tin foil. You just scrunch it up and then there’s a great metallic sound and then that’s heavily processed and distorted. Most sounds have been processed probably like ten times—bounced, distorted, crunched, pitched, reverbed, bounced again. And each time you’re bouncing it, it kind of inspires you to do something else and that’s kind of why I find using recordings really helpful because they’re like the catalyst, they’re kind of leading the way. They’re showing me a direction and I’m just going with it. It’s like you’ve got two people almost working together—you capture something and then it’s the two of you and the computer. It definitely helps when you’re stuck for ideas just to get the microphone out.

Using the example of the foil, what would you do once you have the audio in Logic? I would then crunch it with distortion, overdrive—that’s a weapon in Logic that people never use. But you have to, to get the effects I do, you have to manipulate it a lot of times. I’m bouncing it out, crunching it, and each time I’m subtly changing it, so maybe lowering the pitch, or changing the EQ and just driving the fuck out of it with distortion.

Why do you bounce audio as opposed to setting up an effects chain? It’s quick. Also if you’re committed to something, there’s no going back. Once you’ve got that sound it’s there, whereas if you’ve got a chain it could change slightly depending on the plug-ins. So I like committing and that’s a process that helps to focus it as well, to not leave it open. I mean, I don’t work with MIDI, it’s all audio.

Did you find it hard to stick to your self-imposed rules? No… I don’t know. At the moment I’m just anti-really typical synth sounds. For that project I had this kind of rebellious, “Ah, fuck it, just do something different.” I was working with vocals to replace the use of synths.

Tell me about the melodic textures on the album. I was using vocals to replace the melodic elements that synths would bring to a record and it also gave that kind of human element and a bit more soul because with all that distortion and the industrial size of the sounds, it was nice to have a human voice to kind of balance that out.

Did the post-processing differ much for the vocals? Well sometimes I’d come with some ideas, some lead ideas, and the vocalist would take them and interpret them as they wanted to and give them back to me and then I would further sound design those. So yeah, that was a lot of sound design on the vocals to get them working with the elements, kind of some side-chaining, because with digital distortion to get vocals to sit in this harsh world, you have to unite it with a bit of compression and side-chaining. So it kind of needed to be worked to sit in the world of the track. It just didn’t connect otherwise.

Do you find it at all tiring to work with such heavy, Industrial types of sounds? Harsh on the ears?

Harsh on the ears, yes, but how do you generally find working with “noise” for an extended period? Especially because I was using headphones for some of it as well… Yeah, it was harsh but I like that. I don’t know why, I love the crunch, the energy, the aggressiveness, the kind of rebellious sound. It’s a bit more what techno is for me, it’s a bit more raw, it’s a bit more true. Techno now is really fucking clean and it’s not really like it’s played in a warehouse.

Tell me about the process you undertake when starting a track. First I’m going to go and make a recording. For “Talus,” say, it was a washing machine. So I’ve got like five minutes worth of recordings and I’m just listening to it. I’ve got the whole audio file and then I’m just marking—I’m taking sections out that I like and I’m doing that for a while and it’s getting shorter and shorter (the amount of audio that I think I can work with). And once I’ve got the audio that is quite inspiring to work with, I’m then just jamming, jamming with the audio—taking sounds out, turning that into percussion, turning that into the bassline. So I’ve got like an eight-bar loop going on, it’s just like a live jam and pulling more sounds in until I’ve got something that I’m happy with. And this whole process of jamming, I’m grabbing distortion here, grabbing pitch here until I’ve got a nice groove and then I stop and reflect on that and build it.

Are you literally using the mouse, rearranging sounds? Yeah it’s just mouse and audio, dragging it and playing around.

And what sort of stage would you need to get to in which you think “OK, this is going to become a full arrangement now”? Once there’s a nice groove, a nice bass… it might get to that point but I need a kick so now I’ve got to go and find some other sounds, so I’m just going back with a microphone and getting those things or I’m digging into files of sounds I’ve already created and chucking them in. Maybe think, “Oh, hang on a minute, there’s a really nice sound that I came up with yesterday that I’m going to chuck in.” It’s quite spontaneous.

Taking the example of the kick, how would you generate the sound? I would just hit the chair. I could hit that and then just EQ it. It’s really simple. But I have to say that to stand up in a club sometimes you need that electronic richness to give it more body. That’s one thing I find sometimes with my tracks, some songs don’t sound that rich. The only elements that are really electronic [on the album] were layering under the kicks to boost up, to kind of give it more density. It’s a really cheap plug-in called BassIsm and you can play around with the frequencies and the decay and tune the kick to your kick, just give it that weight. And that’s actually what we did at Chris Liebing’s studio, we took the tracks there and listened to it because he’s got like a massive fucking sub, which I don’t have, and so we were just listening to the bass to make sure it stands out in the club and really just focusing on the kick and the bass to give it enough weight. “I don’t want to recognize what people are using. I want to be like, ‘Wicked, I’ve never heard that before!’”

Do you find the mixing process easier when you take this kind of sound design approach to production? Yeah, it’s funny because sometimes what you’ve got works and however you’ve come to that point, it’s got soul, and sometimes when you pull the faders down and start again, you lose that vibe; that original kind of jam that just happens. So I always bounce it down, save that session. I will pull the faders down and bring it back up because sometimes you do get a nicer mix-down like that—it’s balanced. But generally I do have a point where I put the faders down, it’s not done as I go along and such. I think for most people it will probably work like that, but I’m more about not losing my interest in it and going with the flow. I’m going until I’ve got a track that excites me and then I’m worrying about the exact sonics and, “OK, how is this going to sound, how does that sit?” I’m more concerned about the energy of the record, the soul of it— is it alive? Because you can kill it if you have a shit mix-down.

Would you say you’re someone who works quickly? It could be two hours and I’ve come up with an idea, it’s not a finished track, but an idea. Sometimes it can take a week. It really depends on the track. Sometimes I get fed up and I move on and I work on something else, but I’m not the fastest worker too. I’m really self-critical, I don’t tend to believe in a lot of the stuff that I’m doing, so I’m often pretty slow. The best tracks usually come within six hours max. They’re usually the best tracks and I usually finish them within two days, but sometimes you need to distance yourself because you can get really carried away and the next day you walk into the studio and it sounds shit. So sometimes I like to give myself five days and you’re not so emotionally attached to it and I think that’s another important thing for mixing, is if you’re trying to mix it down too soon, you’re emotionally attached to some sounds and sometimes it’s not the best for them. It’s hard, coming back after, say, a week, sometimes I just know instantly where to put the faders—”No, that’s not right, that’s not sitting there.”

You’ve obviously got a specific way of doing things so I was wondered if you could see yourself moving away from that in the future? Or do you feel wedded to your process? No, I mean, that’s why I’ve got some empty rack space because I plan to get some modular synths and just play around.

Do you see modular synths as a way of breaking away from what you were talking about before: sounding like everyone else? Yeah I think you can get some great sounds from that. It’s more of a personal goal just to know more about that and to play around with that because it’s not something that I’ve delved into much and I feel like I’m missing out on some options of finding sounds. The whole [not using] synths thing was mainly people using presets… I don’t like a synth when it sounds like a synth, when you can recognize what it is, that’s kind of what the whole point was—I don’t want to recognize what people are using. I want to be like, “Oh, what the fuck is that sound? What’s that texture? Wicked, I’ve never heard that before,” and that’s what I’m trying to do with the albums is give people textures that they’re not that familiar with or can’t put their finger on what it is. Reposted from RA.com

This looks to be an incredible event for Techno & electronica fans in London. Some great names playing.

Short Circuit presents Mute Weekender

13 May 2011 – 14 May 2011 / Roundhouse Main Space

MARTIN L. GORE (DJ SET), RICHIE HAWTIN, MOBY (DJ SET), ANDY ‘FLETCH’ FLETCHER (DJ SET), JOSH T. PEARSON PERFORMS MUTE SONGS
LINE UP SO FAR – RUNNING ORDER AND STAGE TIMES TO BE CONFIRMED
FRIDAY 13 MAY
RICHIE HAWTIN (MINUS, BERLIN) WITH VISUALS BY ALI DEMIREL
MOBY (DJ SET)
RECOIL
NITZER EBB
RICHARD H. KIRK
CARTER TUTTI with NIK VOID (COLLABORATION)
NON
THE BALANESCU QUARTET
POLE
T.RAUMSCHMIERE
THOMAS FEHLMANN
THOMAS BRINKMANN
KOMPUTER
DANIEL MILLER (DJ SET)

SATURDAY 14 MAY
ERASURE AND SPECIAL GUESTS
MARTIN L. GORE (DJ SET)
ANDY ‘FLETCH’ FLETCHER (DJ SET)
THE RESIDENTS
LAIBACH
LIARS
JOSH T. PEARSON PLAYS MUTE SONGS
ALISON MOYET (SPECIAL GUEST)
MAPS + POLLY SCATTERGOOD (COLLABORATION)
S.C.U.M
BIG DEAL
BETH JEANS HOUGHTON
POPPY & THE JEZEBELS
SIMON FISHER TURNER + MIRA CALIX (COLLABORATION)
JAMES BROOKS
PETER GREGSON
DANNY BRIOTTET (RENEGADE SOUNDWAVE) – DJ SET
IRMIN SCHMIDT AND KUMO play The Sound Of Can – CAN ARCHIVES SPECIAL (DJ SET)
WORKSHOP
DIRTY ELECTRONICS

FILMS
ON/OFF: MARK STEWART Pop Group to Maffia. (2009). DIRECTED BY TONI SCHIFER
AN EXCLUSIVE NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS FILM BY IAIN FORSYTH AND JANE POLLARD WITH MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED
TALKS
GARETH JONES ON PRODUCING MUTE ARTISTS,
STEFAN BETKE (AKA POLE) ‘AN INTRODUCTION INTO THE SCIENCE OF MASTERING’
INSTALLATIONS – 13 + 14 MAY
SCHNEIDERS BEURO
FLIES, GUYS AND CHOIRS
FELIX’S MACHINES

Mute announce brand new additions to the line up for Short Circuit presents Mute festival – 13 + 14 May 2011 – at London’s historic Roundhouse: Martin L. Gore (DJ set), Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher (DJ set) and Josh T. Pearson performing an exclusive set of covers of some of his favourite songs by Mute artists join recent additions to the 2 day festival: Richie Hawtin, Moby (DJ set), Maps and Polly Scattergood collaboration, Beth Jeans Houghton and a Dirty Electronics Workshop.
On Friday 13 May, Moby (DJ set) and Richie Hawtin (Minus, Berlin – with visuals by Ali Demirel) join a line up that features rare UK live performances from Recoil (Alan Wilder), Nitzer Ebb, Richard H. Kirk, CARTER TUTTI with Nik Void, NON (Boyd Rice), The Balanescu Quartet and Komputer plus live sets from key German electronic music figures Pole, T. Raumschmiere, Thomas Fehlmann and Thomas Brinkmann. Mute’s founder, Daniel Miller will perform a DJ set.

On Saturday 14 May, Depeche Mode’s Martin L. Gore and Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher have confirmed DJ sets, while Josh T. Pearson plays an exclusive set of his favourite songs by Mute artists. These announcements add to a bill that already boasts an exclusive performance by Erasure who will be joined on the night by very special guests. Also performing live will be The Residents, Laibach, Liars plus recent Mute signings Big Deal, S.C.U.M Beth Jeans Houghton and Poppy & The Jezebels. Maps and Polly Scattergood will perform a unique collaboration interpreting each other’s songs whilst Simon Fisher Turner will collaborate with Mira Calix. Also appearing are James Brooks and Peter Gregson plus a special guest performance from Alison Moyet. Other DJs on the night will be Danny Briottet (Renegade Soundwave) and Irmin Schmidt (Can) & Kumo (Jono Podmore) who will play The Sound Of Can – Can Archives Special.

Saturday 14 will also include a program of talks and films, alongside live performances throughout the afternoon. Talks confirmed so far include Stefan Betke (aka Pole) with ‘An Introduction into the science of Mastering’ and veteran producer and long time Mute collaborator Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Erasure and Liars) will talk about his work with the label. Films include the 2009 Mark Stewart documentary ‘On/Off’ and an exclusive Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds film by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard. More to be announced.

A series of installations will be running across the Short Circuit festival. Berlin based synth boutique Schneiders Buero will build a unique carousel where visitors can play with new modular and hardware synths. Flies, Guys and Choirs is an audio/visual installation by Irmin Schmidt & Kumo that will transform the sounds of people within the public space in to the bizarre and beautiful. Felix’s Machines (Felix Thorn) will be exhibiting one of his music making sculptures.
In collaboration with Mute, Dirty Electronics Workshop will design a special analogue electronic instrument for the festival. Young members of the Roundhouse studios will take part in the workshop, each building the instrument then performing it at the Roundhouse. A limited edition of the instrument will be on sale during the Short Circuit festival.

Short Circuit presents Mute is a 2 day incident which will feature performances and unique collaborations from Mute artists past, present and future alongside DJs, talks, workshops, screenings and installations. A celebration of Mute’s unique and influential work as a label and publisher, the occasion will see all of the Roundhouse’s public spaces open together for the first time.

The German electronic label Raster-Noton have confirmed a line up for the opening night of 2011’s Short Circuit – Thursday 12 May – and a specially created sound piece will link the Raster-Noton and Mute events. The Raster-Noton / Mute Sound Halo will consist of sound loops created by artists from both labels and will play overnight from 12 May to link the two events.

The line up for Raster-Noton’s event features the premiere of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto’s new piece, plus performances from Anne James Chaton, Grischa Lichtenberger, Atom TM, Byetone and Mark Fell. Tickets are onsale now.

MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS TO BE MADE IN THE COMING WEEKS
Sat 14 May – £45 (12pm-12am)
Fri & Sat Weekend Ticket – £75
Limited Premium Ticket – SOLD OUT
Age: 16+

Roundhouse Exclusive Members Bar: Did you know you can get access to an exclusive bar overlooking the Main Space? We’ll also give you a glass of champagne, a Roundhouse bag and souvenir book. Tickets are £20 per person, plus the usual ticket price.

Space is limited and advance booking is recommended, so call now on 0844 482 8008.

Reposte from Techno Music News

One of the few producers around who can claim to be putting a fresh stamp on the techno genre is London producer and label owner Ali Wells aka Perc. A gradual shift into the depths of underground techno has led to his position as one of the very best in the game; a producer with a relentless work rate and mammoth discography to match. Ahead of his live appearance in Dublin this Friday, Ali took a few moments away from putting the final touches to his debut album to kindly answer some questions we put his way…

How long have you been producing, and what inspired you to start originally?

I started at the age of 16 and I bought my first drum machine (Roland TR626) the day I got my GSCE results, so it’s been a while. At that age I had been in bands for a few years but was starting to realise that a group dynamic was not really for me. Electronic music was creeping into my life and the more I read about the DIY/home studio methods of producers the more I wanted to get involved.

You have released music on such a large amount of labels. With a lot of commitments to releases/remixes etc. do you have to limit the time you spend on each track?

No, by putting in long hours I can work on something until I am happy with it. When I rush, due to a deadline from myself or a label, then I am rarely happy with the results. I spend a lot of time in the studio, maybe 40-50 hours in an average week, some tracks and remixes come together in a few hours, whilst others have been tweaked on and off for up to a year. Every track is different but I know when one is ready to face the outside world.

You’ve taken an interesting route over the last number of years to where you are now. In a way you’ve done things in the opposite manner of many other producers, in that as you became more well-known and successful, your sound appeared to become (for want of a better phrase) more purist. Is this how you would describe your path?

Hmmm, I don’t see myself as a purist. I have a knowledge of house, techno, rave, drum & bass etc going back a long way but I like to think I combine my influences rather than adhering to any of the existing templates of how techno should sound. There are people out there still serving up purist Millsian loops and Basic Channel dub-techno clones. It would bore me senseless to stick to one of these well worn formulas. A good example is my track ‘Stoq’ on Stroboscopic Artefacts; it pulls on dubstep, industrial and techno and (hopefully) creates something new. Maybe my sound has become more compatible with the established techno sounds of Berlin or Birmingham etc but I like to think I mix in enough unrelated elements to not be filed amongst the hardcore purists.

By shifting your sound, you may have risked alienating part of your existing fan base. Was that a concern to you at any stage?

I make music for myself first, if I am not feeling a track even if I think it has dance floor or sales potential then it will be scrapped. If I looked at my more successful tracks and churned out copies of those then I would be dead in the water in a matter of weeks. I have to be excited with what I make and I like to think people can hear that in my tracks. Whilst my sound and style does develop and shift there is still a clear Perc sound/aesthetic that has been about since day one. The spitting snares, the big kicks, the broken beat stuff, and the kinds of distortion I use. Some things are constant whatever I am making.

You have continued to release vinyl on Perc Trax, when a lot of people and labels around you moved primarily to digital. Can you give a background into how you first started collecting vinyl?

Strangely enough my first decks were cd decks; this was a long time ago when playing from cd was commonly seen as fake or cheating. Then when I got my first paid gig I rushed out and bought a pair of 1210′s, giving me a month to learn how to play vinyl. My first purchases were looped up tribal and acid techno, which I found quite easy to mix and my collection has grown since then. Perc Trax carries on to do vinyl for a number of reasons, but if the day came when releasing vinyl was losing serious money then I’d have no problem stopping the 12′s rather than risk the label as a whole. I love vinyl but I can see a vinyl-less future for techno at some point.

Can vinyl survive? Will younger djs somehow embrace it or are we looking at a future dj culture that will bear no resemblance to the original model?

It will survive for a number of years but I don’t think it will be around forever. Younger djs are embracing it but I am not sure they are enough in number to replace people dropping out of the vinyl market. I laugh when I see a facebook post about a release that is coming out on vinyl and digitally, almost every comment is ‘vinyl for me!’ when most people posting will grab the release free from a blog and not even pay for the download. A lot of the ‘vinyl forever’ stuff is purely show, people trying to look like the real deal when they get most of their music for free from unauthorised sources.

Much of your recent material is industrial influenced. Is this the last area left in techno to truly experiment?

I think there has been an industrial element in techno since the very beginning. Even the old ’88 acid tracks created with a drum machine and 303 shared an atonality that a lot of industrial music thrives on. I think it is an interesting area that still has space for innovation and exploration, certainly within the grey area where techno, industrial, drone and noise music meet. I think for the more forward thinking producers techno is just a vehicle to carry their experimental sounds to a wider audience via the established system of djs and dancefloors. Of course Techno has other areas to move into apart from the industrial thing, some of which will be blind alleys whilst others will open up whole new worlds of possibilities. Going back to what I said earlier about the established templates that a lot of techno follows, it would be a shame if what was once seen as future music becomes too focussed on replicating past glories.

Industrial is also a style of music that could claim to have been a type of active techno before ‘techno’ the term was first coined in Detroit. Would you agree?

Yes, it was/is machine music, focussed on texture and rhythm over melody and lyrical content. Whilst industrial music has always featured vocals, they are often treated as another instrument, equal to machine generated sounds and that is the same with all but the most commercially driven techno. Without studying old Mills/Wizard playlists I am sure industrial music was as much an influence on the early Detroit producers as Kraftwerk. Not just through the choices of sound used but also due to a shared approach to music-making and the (mis-)use of discarded machinery.

Is techno as an experimental art form, sometimes weighed down by the now defined sounds of influential cities like Berlin and Detroit, or is it important that techno has reference points like this?

The reference points are important, to use a cliché, it is just as important to know where you are from as where you are going, but people get too bogged down in these cities and their history. Techno has often been at is most innovative away from these major hubs. Perc Trax’s Sawf is based in Athens, which has a tiny techno scene and his range of influences are truly his own, not those dictated by a select group of hyped clubs and record shops. People should remember that moving to one of these cities does not instantly make you a better DJ or producer. Often with the amount of competing creative types in the city such as Berlin your chances of making a name for yourself are reduced.

It’s argued that the innovators of today are not the producers but the people developing forward thinking software and equipment for producers. What do you think about that, and how has technology helped you over the last five years for instance?

The software developers and hardware companies have a part to play but talented people will always find ways to adapt and use a piece of gear beyond what the designs intended. It is easier than ever to make functional dance music that will ‘work’ on most dancefloors. This does not mean you should be making it or that it has any lasting value. Using preset sounds and samples is an easy way to get a few digital releases but without some innovation and thought you will not go much further than that. Technology has helped me a lot, the switch from a fully hardware based studio to Ableton interfacing with a few choice pieces of kit gives me a flexibility that I could not have imagined before. For remixing the ability to creatively and accurately edit audio visually has been a massive change for me, so much better than staring at the screens of samplers and grooveboxes.

Your debut album is about to be released. For someone with your prolific output, it seems like an album could have come a long time ago. Presumably you were holding out to do something a bit more conceptual then, that is not just a collection of 12″ club tracks?

I think the change in my sound has meant that an album is more viable for me than it was 3 or 4 years ago and now my drone/ambient tracks are getting good responses when before they were often overlooked in favour of my club tracks. One thing that really bugs me is when a producer waters down their sound to make an album more suitable for home listening. If people want an album to soundtrack their dinner parties then they will go for one from a producer with pedigree in that field, not a techno producer suddenly softening their sound. For me the classic techno albums are exactly that. Planetary Assault Systems on Peacefrog, the classic Joey Beltram albums on Tresor and Novamute, Vaporspace’s debut on Plus8 etc. Yes, there are some drone/experimental tracks on my album but they are far from easy listening. If anything they present more of a challenge to the listener than the dancefloor tracks as the sounds don’t have the tried and tested framework of a club track to cling on to.

What else can you tell us about the album?

Not a great deal right now. Roughly 10 tracks, more broken beat than 4/4. It is not a concept album but the title (to be revealed soon) focussed on two elements which run through all of the tracks. There will be one 12” released before the album and one after. The remixes for the first single are done and I’m blown away by who has remixed my tracks and what they have done with them. I know it is all very secretive at the moment but I don’t want to say too much until the album is finished.

How important was it for you to release it on your own label? Did it bring an extra creative freedom that you might not have been afforded elsewhere?

For an EP I am happy to send 3 or 4 tracks to a label and if they only want two of them then that is fine, but for an album I need 100% control. To submit an album to a label which they then start picking apart would kill my passion for the album dead.

Finally, what’s on the horizon for the rest of 2011?

The first half of 2011 is focussed on finishing and promoting the album. Aside from that a new collaboration between myself and an Italian producer is about to surface. The first fruits of that new project will be out at the end of March. Details of that will be made public very soon. Perc Trax has a full release schedule with albums from myself and Sawf plus EPs from Forward Strategy Group, Donor/Truss, Dead Sound & Videohead and Samuli Kemppi. From June or July onwards I have no real idea, a few festival appearances are confirmed and I guess I’ll start recording tracks for some other labels once the album is in the can. I don’t really know and that is what makes it exciting for me.

Reposted with permission from Earwiggle Dublin via Techno Music News

The Melt! organisation. Today announced several new acts for the 2011 festival in Ferropolis, Germany. White Lies, Digitalism,  Jens “Jence” Moelle and Ismail “Isi” Tüfekci join the Berlin-based Melt! Klub Weekender with squealing synth sounds, brute breaks, and belling bass lines.

This year Modeselektor are curating the Melt! Selektor Stage for two days in a row and the labels Live At Robert Johnson as well as Bpitch Control are taking over Sleepless Floor. There is also the Total Confusion party at Big Wheel and an additional special celebrating the legendary Detroit techno label Planet E with label boss Carl Craig DJing back to back with Radio Slave – joined by label mate Loco Dice.

Many festivalgoers will be pleased to hear about our continuing co-operation with Ostgut Ton, the label which is connected to Berlin’s Berghain like no other. The label’s about to take over Big Wheel Stage for four hours on Sunday – yes, there’s a Sunday at Big Wheel, folks. Melt say they will soon be announcing the Ostgut line-up.

Last but not least, there is a planned small but nice Dial Records homage at Big Wheel on Saturday. The full line-up reads as follows: Lawrence, John Roberts, Pawel & RNDM and Redshape presents Palisade (live).

All newly confirmed acts
Bodi Bill | Brandt Brauer Frick | Carte Blanche | Clock Opera | Console | Carl Craig & Radio Slave B2B | Crystal Fighters | Dial Records pres. Lawrence, John Roberts, Pawel & RNDM, Redshape pres. Palisade (live) | Digitalism (live) | DJ T. | Errors | Everything Everything | Gold Panda | Guy Gerber | Calvin Harris | Housemeister | Junior Boys (live) | Junip | Katy B | Les Savy Fav | Little Dragon | Metronomy | The Naked And Famous | Proxy | SBTRKT (live) | Sizarr (live) | Sizarr Soundsystem | Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs | White Lies

All confirmed acts so far
Âme (live) | Atari Teenage Riot | Bodi Bill | Gui Boratto | Boys Noize | Bpitch @ Sleepless Floor: Ellen Allien, Kiki, Chaim, Skinnerbox | Brandt Brauer Frick | Busy P | Carte Blanche | Clock Opera | Console | Carl Craig & Radio Slave B2B | Crystal Fighters | Cut Copy | DAF | Dial Records pres. Lawrence, John Roberts u. a. | Digitalism (live) | DJ T. | Errors | Everything Everything | Gold Panda | Guy Gerber | Calvin Harris | Housemeister | Isolée | Junior Boys (live) | Junip | Fritz Kalkbrenner | Paul Kalkbrenner | Katy B | Markus Kavka | The Koletzkis | Les Savy Fav | Little Dragon | Live At Robert Johnson @ Sleepless Floor: Roman Flügel, Arto Mwambe, Oliver Hafenbauer, Gerd Janson, Manuel Raven | Loco Dice | M.A.N.D.Y. | Metronomy| Miss Kittin | Modeselektor present Melt! Selektor | Monarchy | The Naked And Famous | Proxy | Pulp | Robyn | SBTRKT (live) | Sizarr (live) | Sizarr Soundsystem | The Streets | Tensnake | Total Confusion B2B2B – Tobias Thomas, Michael Mayer & Superpitcher | Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs | White Lies

3-day tickets are available only at www.meltfestival.de/tickets. There will be NO 1- or 2-day tickets available for Melt! Festival 2011.

Reposted from ResidentAdvisor.Com

These days you’re more likely to find Stephan Bodzin in the clubs than in the studio, writes Jeremy Armitage.

Bremen producer Stephan Bodzin is standing in the middle of Club Moog in Barcelona surrounded by people – label people, hangers on, fans even. People wait their turn to chat. “Look at him,” says Oliver Huntemann, Bodzin’s DJ collaborator. “It’s always the same. Everywhere we go, everybody wants to talk to Stephan.”

And it seems Bodzin wants to talk to everyone right back. A bit of background might explain it. This is a man who has spent the best part of his life cloistered away in the studio making records, hundreds of them, although you wouldn’t know it because until 2005 none of them had his name stamped on them. But then he decided to do a Buttrich, stepping out from the shadows to make records on his own terms, this time under his own name. The response was immediate and overwhelming: here was a producer who had seemingly come out of nowhere (which actually wasn’t quite true: he’d come out of trance) that possessed that rare thing in dance music: a fully-formed sound of his own. If you hear a Bodzin track, you’ll immediately know who is behind it: the melodies, the Moog bass and the hissing hats are instant giveaways. People dubbed it – unfortunately for other producers in his hometown – ‘The Bremen Sound’. Bodzin also seemed able to churn out a record a week, most of them good. What resulted was pretty much instant fame.

All’s well that ends well, you’d think, but nowadays Bodzin has moved onto the second part of his grand plan. Last year, at the age of 36, he learned to DJ for the first time, and he’s also just put together a live show – not such a bad move in a world where even successful producers find it hard to subsist on mere royalties. But one look at Bodzin, beer in hand, happily chatting to the people in the club, and you sense another, more benign motive to new career move: This is a man who needed to bust out. If you’d been tinkering in studios since you were five, you’d want to get out of the house, too.

Finally it’s our turn to meet Bodzin, and his first move is to immediately buy us beers (Bravo. He’s obviously getting this new partying thing down pat). He’s very willing to chat, but I manage just a couple of questions: “Did you choose this club because it was called Moog?” “Yeah, kind of,” he whispers before being dragged away by another well wisher. Soon he’s up on stage preparing his gear, and when his set cranks up it becomes obvious just how much he’s enjoying this second life as a performer. And it’s very much a performance: Behind his space-age controllers, Bodzin seems determined to make the party jump around through sheer willpower alone – white-gloved (?) fists pumping, he dances as hard as anyone in the room – and while the result is still a work in progress in terms of flow, what Bodzin lacks in club experience he makes up for in enthusiasm. Later Huntemann takes over and the room finds a more even groove (“He’s been a DJ for twenty years now” Bodzin explains), with Bodzin in the box egging his labelmate on as the night settles in for a party. Chances of getting an interview tonight: slim to none.

So we make our appointments, and call Bodzin on press day.

How are you feeling, Stephan?

[gravelly voice] Uhhh, I’m really hungover. And I’ve got four interviews today… 

You’re sounding a bit more, er, subdued than when we saw you at Moog…

Yeah, I’m not this kind of cool, minimal, relaxed DJ. No, that’s not me. I’m into the music. I love the music. I don’t need drugs to jump around. I have a few beers always but that’s it. I have to move to it. That’s what I’m producing for, to make people dance and have fun. 

I was surprised in Barcelona because that night drew quite an electro crowd. But your sound doesn’t necessarily fit into that. It’s not quite techno, but not quite electro either…

It’s techno. 

So how did you manage to come up with it? It’s so recognizable…

What happened was that I’d decided to take a break from producing. I didn’t touch music for a whole two years after around 2002 or so. I needed to regroup. Me and Oliver Huntemann had been doing Kaycee and other stuff in the nineties and I’d kind of come to the end of the line with it. So I just stopped doing music completely and tried to figure out what I really wanted to do. And then after two years, I just started producing again, but this time very intuitively and free of all the stuff that’s on the market and what other people play. And it just happened that the music I was making had a signature to it that somehow I’d created over the years. I didn’t have a plan or anything.

“I love James Holden as an artist. He’s a real freak. He’s eating music – I love that – and he’s spitting it out.”

So it’s true that you were making trance through the nineties?

Everybody wants to talk about that! 

It’s a very interesting history though. Maybe it explains something about your present sound. 

Well, me and Oliver Huntemann were involved in a lot of projects. I don’t like to talk about it too much. I’m really ashamed of it actually. No, it’s part of my life and you have to get where you are somehow so finally I think I reached something that I’m quite satisfied with right now.

What do you think about that kind of music now?

There’s a big market for it. There are some big guys working on that but it’s definitely not what I want to do anymore. I did that for a long time and was quite successful, but I broke with that and I’m pretty sure I will never go back to that again. But the love of melodies and synths has stayed with me I think.

Someone else who came from trance but broke with it is James Holden, and he doesn’t like to talk about it either. Do you like his music?

I love his music. I can’t actually play any of his tracks when I DJ, but I love James Holden as an artist. He’s a real freak. He’s really into his stuff. He’s eating music – I love that – and he’s spitting it out just like it comes. It’s cool really, somehow.

Hands in Gloves: “Because I am Michael Jackson,” 
- Stephan Bodzin.

Do you remember how many records you’ve made over the last year or two?

[Thinks for a long time] Fifty? I’m not quite sure. A lot. After that two years off, I went through a really manic period in the studio. I would get up at seven in the morning and then make music until twelve o’clock at night. It just felt really liberating to make exactly the kind of music that I wanted. I’d have an idea and get it down, then another idea… 

What kind of music were you listening to when you were growing up?

I was definitely listening to early electronic stuff between five and ten years old. My father was a big fan of Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze and all that stuff in the seventies. He had a big studio with all these original synths and analogue stuff, all the Moogs and the Arp modular systems. So that’s what I grew up with. I was turning knobs when my friends were playing football. My father showed me everything about those synths. In a way I feel that I’ve come full circle back to that situation, you know?

Are the Moog sounds in your music analogue?

No, they’re done with soft synths, which is better because they actually stay in tune. And you can program them. But I do really respect guys like Âme who get such a great sound with just analogue, but that’s not the way for me. I’m not a purist about gear.

Have you ever done anything else besides make music?

Actually, no. When I was a lot younger, I produced different styles of music such as theatre scores and some classical stuff. I had a piano education. But I’ve never known anything else other than music. I’ve been living with and from music for as long as I can remember. I just can’t imagine another kind of life. Maybe when I’m older I’ll get into some other stuff, but I just can’t imagine that now.

You said that after Rekorder 10, you wanted to take a break from producing and concentrate on DJing and playing live for a while. Is that still the plan?

Yeah. You know, everything has gone so very fast the last six months. I started DJing last February so everything is really fresh. Sometimes it’s strange for me to see that there are fans, you know? I’m happy with that, and it’s a real adrenaline rush, but they are real fans. I meet a lot of people who say, “Cool to meet you. You’re my man.” I respect that. But I still need to get used to it.

Have you ever been a fan yourself?

I guess when I was really young, like ten or twelve, I was a fan of some heavy metal stuff like Motorhead. There’s always been amazing music out there, but no, I’m not the type to be a real fan.

Did you learn to mix just recently?

Yes! I’d always had some turntables in the studio but I never used them. They were Oliver Huntemann’s. I mixed my first two records in 2006. In February, I stopped producing for two months and worked on my DJ skills for eight hours a day for two months. That was quite fast. But I had bookings a few months before I had even mixed my first record so I was really afraid of the first gigs. But for me, DJing was kind of a discovery of a new way of life. Now I can’t imagine life without it. Playing live and DJing is big, big fun.

What were the first two records you mixed together?

I guess it was some Rekorder stuff because I know them very well (laughs). I think I started with them.

“I had bookings a few months before I had even mixed my first record.”

Do you remember your first DJ gig?

It was in Hamburg in a very small club to about four hundred people. I was shaking like crazy. I remember that. I played four hours and it was a crazy party – really fucked up! But I was afraid. It took me six minutes to beatmatch each record, and even then they were just short mixes. But then I really got into it last year. Now everything is working perfectly and I’ve had so many gigs as a DJ. It’s cool.

Has DJing made you think more about how a DJ uses your music?

Yes, sure. Now I can hear if a DJ has been in the studio, if the track is easy to handle or if for example there’s an ending or a spot that you just can’t mix. When I’m making records, I won’t do that anymore. DJing also definitely changed the way I produce because you get the response at the club, which track is running well and why and where. That’s very good information for the week. 

Which do you prefer? DJing, producing or playing out live?

I guess I prefer DJing, playing live and then producing. It’s a tough question to answer as my answer always changes. I’m very into my live set now – I’m working on a big show for 2008, which is really exciting. I’m looking for new and strange equipment for a more futuristic show, like a body touch controller so I can touch my arms and have drums or something like that. And some infrared controllers around the stage so I can run around and have some sounds and lights or whatever. I think next year will be great fun. I also need a better stage dance!

But on the other hand, I haven’t produced a track now for maybe four weeks now. I can’t remember the last time I did that. So I’m really looking forward to my next studio session. And today I bought about twenty records so I’m also looking forward to my next DJ gig because I can play them. I have been listening to them all day. So I really love all of those three sides of my life.

Is one of them easier than the other?

DJing is easiest. That is really partying, too – not just hard work. When I play live I need to carry the equipment and do soundchecks, and deal with trouble with the stages. And also with airlines sometimes it’s really hard work. The studio is definitely work too. You have to work on the DJ thing too, but it’s quite a bit more fun.

Are you stopping some of your collaborations now?

Yes, we finished the production of Rekorder. We will close the project and the label forever so I feel very lucky and proud. Definitely proud.

Which is your favourite Rekorder? I like number six a lot.

Yes, I like it too. I’ve been playing it for a long time but actually my favourite is the zero. It’s a secret somehow. It’s really floor-smashing. We just produced it a few weeks ago and that’s my favourite. But I haven’t stopped producing with Marc Romboy – I only stopped producing with Thomas Schumacher and Elektrochemie, which I did for a few years. They want to be a full time project so I just decided to stop because I need more time for me to do my own stuff. I couldn’t work day and night. But I’m still working from time to time with Marc Romboy and Oliver Huntemann.

Your collaborations with Oliver Huntemann and Thomas Schumacher are more electro, but the tracks with Marc Romboy seem a little housier.

Yes, somehow it’s deeper and a bit housey. It all depends on the guy who you’re in the studio with. Marc Romboy always brings a very deep influence to the music. I love the way he’s hearing and working with music. But for me, I need to do different kinds of music. As long as it’s electronic and I can play it.

Finally, many other DJs and producers namecheck your releases but which producers do you rate?

There are so many good producers out there. Where can I start? For the last year, one of the bigger producers is definitely Booka Shade, who made all this Get Physical stuff. Walter is actually the one and only producer there – he’s been producing so many artists. I also love Radio Slave. And I love the new, reborn Josh Wink – he’s such a great producer. 

Radio Slave’s a bit like yourself in that he’s a bit of a production machine.

Yeah, unfortunately I haven’t met him yet. But I would really like to say hello and (giggles) be a bit of a fan.

That Brooklyn’s Adam Mitchell might actually need this introduction is a reflection of the often fickle and fashionable nature of techno. Now based in Berlin, he ran the legendary Sonic Groove record store in his home city in the nineties before eventually founding a record label bearing the same name, pushing harder and darker techno sounds. At the turn of the millennium, Adam turned his ear towards industrial and EBM music, fashioning a techno-industrial fusion that was all his own. Unfortunately, loud and banging techno quickly went out of style and Mr. X was left with dwindling sales and a floundering record label. But with the prominence of the Berghain and its label outlet Ostgut-Ton, Mitchell found solace in the club’s preference, for, of course, loud and banging techno.

Were really enjoying Blawans recent releases while perhaps not strictly speaking “Techno” We felt we had to push this guys stuff out its that sharp.

Check this tune

Now the Blawan Mix

http://official.fm/tracks/134134?fairplayer=small&skin=247

INTERVIEW: Blawan [Hessle Audio] – Reposted from Sonic Router

One such dude we felt compelled to push, is Blawan. The Hessle Audio backed producer – his debut 12” on the label ‘Fram’ b/w ‘Iddy’ was released recently – has a strong and rugged approach to his drum lines; a similarity he shares with label mate Joe and to a lesser extent – given this player’s more dancefloor centric wanderings of late, Ramadanman. Making tonal wanderings simply from his selected percussion he booms out bass stabs on ‘Iddy’ rollocking through the beat’s progression with whispered layers of phrase and machine hum atmospherics plucked straight from the bows of dystopian warships and the winding lead synth on ‘Fram’ could have been taken straight out of Kode 9’s ‘Black Sun’ era. It’s simply the way he cracks out his drum loops that grabbed our attention, subtle snaps of snare drum piquing through the top end perfectly.

We caught up with the South Yorkshireman between train journeys, giving him the opportunity to further introduce himself and his music ahead of his forthcoming date at fabric for the Hessle Audio takeover…

Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?

Blawan: For starters I am not Ben UFO despite the kind rumors. My name is Jamie, I am a DJ/Producer originally from the cultural melting pot that is Barnsley and I recently had my debut release on Hessle Audio.

Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?

On the daily, I drink a lot of tea, don’t finish tunes, delete ones that I have finished and get easily distracted…

How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do so?

Like a lot of people, school really got me into music. I went to a pretty rough school that thanks to Labour’s deprived schools policy had mint facilities, so I started playing drums at the age of 10. I first got into making electronic music on a dodgy version of Fruity Loops when I was 15 but didn’t really get serious about making tunes until I was about 18. Prior to the Hessle Audio release I had a pretty random musical background. I used to drum in a couple of bands playing like post-punk stuff as well as making dance tunes, and just muddled it along until now.

What’s your production set up like? What’s your favourite bit of kit in the studio?

My set-up is pretty simple, I run Ableton Live, midi controllers and some decent monitors… oh and some nice flat response headphones and that’s really it. My favorite bit of kit has to be my Ozone 4 plugin; it’s a sweet all rounder.

Where do you take inspiration from when making music? And how did you get into this current flux of dubstep?

Erm, that’s a hard question, I’ve always found it hard to pin point what inspires me to make a tune and to be honest I still don’t really know. I think trying to keep my mind occupied when making a tune helps, as I find makings tunes when am bored rarely has a decent outcome or it ends up turning out as some weird jacking house thing.

I got into dubstep around late 2004/5. Before this, mates from Sheffield used to send me their badly recorded vinyl rips of Big Apple releases and old garage tunes and things just carried on down the usual routes from there really. I’ve also always had a passion for house music and think that’s had a big impact on me musically. The tune that really pushed me to think I wasn’t just making some weird garage type music was Pangaea’s ‘You & I’ (HES006). The vibe caught me perfectly, it’s still easily my favorite tune to date.

How would you describe your sound? You’ve got this proper tough percussion going on that drives everything… is the rhythm a main focus for you when making tunes?

Honestly, if I could just make drum loops for a living I would. Percussion is definitely something I focus a lot of my attention on when producing. Other elements of my tunes are always considered but are subtle enough to make sure they don’t take away purpose from the rhythm and percussive melodies. The outcome of that in a tune is something minimal, but I fought my last battles with complex synth arrangements a long time ago and bare rhythms win hands down for me each and every.

Your first couple of releases are out now on Hessle and Folkwood respectively. How did you link the releases?

My debut with Hessle was a pretty surreal affair, I had a few tunes that had been sitting around and one day, I just said ‘Fuck it. I’ll send these to Untold.’ I did that then within about 2 hours I got a phone call off David (Ramadanman) saying Jack sent him the tunes and the guys liked them and want to put something out. A simple but crazy outcome and I can’t tell you how lucky I feel to be in the Hessle camp. Oh and I still haven’t bought Jack a drink yet to thank him.

The folkwood thing really was something that happened a while ago, a group of friends at Uni got hold of some cash to press up some music. They asked me to submit a track so I did. The tune is kinda old now, but it’s nice to get bits out there when you can. Big up Ste Shine on that one! Oh and you guys for the kind words about it…

What other projects have you got in the pipeline? What’s happening with you in the rest of 2010? Gigs, releases, personal growth etc?

2010 has been an amazing year already; I am just focusing on putting out tunes I am happy with, when I can so theres no rush. Hopefully DJing as many gigs as I can because that’s what really gets me making more music. There are a couple of things in the pipeline that should be surfacing soon, so watch this space.

Any words of wisdom for our readers?

Yes, it needs to be strong with one sugar and milk. Secondly, catch me at Fabric on the 20th August, for the Hessle Audio takeover.

Posted on Techno Music News

Whoa… its not often a piece of gear makes me salivate and immediately want one (Native instruments maschine was the last one:) ) but Dave Smith instruments (Dave smith is the guy whop created the legendary Prophet 5 analogue synth) just released at NAMM 2011 the details of his new analogue drum machine, the DSI Tempest, this piece of kit looks truly amazing.

A collaboration with Roger Linn, the tempest has 16 velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads and two pressure- and position-sensitive Note FX slide controllers.

The following is a video of Roger and Dave demonstrating the Tempest Drum Machine:

Doesn’t that sound amazing?

The tempest features:

• Each of the 6 analog voices has 2 analog oscillators plus 2 digital oscillators (with a large bank of included samples), Dave’s classic analog low-pass filter with audio-rate modulation, an additional high-pass filter, analog VCA with feedback, 5 envelopes, 2 LFOs, an extraordinary variety of analog modulation routings, and stunning sonic quality, warmth and punch. Although optimized for drum sounds, it excels at tuned sounds as well, and even doubles as a 6-voice analog synth. In addition to the 6 direct voice outputs, there are stereo mix outputs and phones outputs, plus 2 inputs for foot switches or expression pedals, MIDI in/out and USB.

• The performance-oriented operating system, 90 panel controls, and bright 256 x 64 OLED display work together to provide a tightly integrated, non-stop workflow: record a drumbeat in real-time, switch to another drumbeat and use the lit pads to record it using step programming, switch to another drumbeat and record tuned keyboard parts, use the 2 touch controllers to to record real-time note or beat-wide parameter animations, use the generous sound controls to edit any of the drum sounds, tweak the analog effects or drum mix, arrange beats in real time and record the live arrangement into a song, enter/exit Song mode and much more, all without ever stopping play.

• 16 pressure- and velocity-sensitive lit pads are arranged in a 2×8 configuration, providing intuitive access to all your fingers and providing the ideal compromise between the popular 4×4 pad arrangement (popular for real time programming ) and 1×16 arrangement (popular for step programming) because Tempest does both. The pads can be used to play 32 drum sounds (2 banks), mute/unmute the 32 sounds on playback, play and arrange 16 beats in real time, play one sound at 16 tunings (in a variety of scales) or 16 velocities, or as 16 time steps for step programming. The ROLL button permits creating drum rolls or repeated groove patterns by varying pad pressure as the beat records, and doubles as a momemtary “stutter” effect when the pads are assigned to play beats. Use the Sustain button on tuned parts like a keyboard’s Sustain pedal, or to choke drum sounds or drumbeats when the pad is released.

• Two pressure- and position-sensitive Note FX slide controllers permit real-time recording of note or beat-wide sound parameter changes into the drumbeat as you play. For example, record simultaneous filter frequency, tuning, envelope decay and pan changes for each note, or control similar parameters affecting the entire beat.

• A variety of unique effects are provided while maintaining a pure analog signal path: 1) Stereo analog compressor and distortion circuits affect the stereo output mix, 2) beat-synced delay is achieved by generating additional delayed note events within the sequencer, and 3) a beat-synced “stutter” effect is created entirely within the sequencer by looping short portions of the drumbeat on demand.

• The degree of swing timing can be adjusted in real time during playback. Roger used his entire bag of tricks to make the swing sound very human and natural.

The Tempest is expected to be available by June 2011 with a projected RRP of $1,999.00.

It’s been great to see Richie Hawtin resurrect his Plastikman alter ego – the name which catapulted him into global techno fame in the ‘90s and took the baton from Robert Hood’s minimal foundations to explore the realm of stripped-back electronic music further, elaborating on ‘80s electro and the essence of what techno was all about. Now with legions of millions of new fans since he and Minus became instrumental in forming the new, sexier side of grooving minimal techno, the time is right for him to educate some of these newer recruits in the ways of his highly influential history.