TEA with Felix K

“Flowers are like explosions in slow motion” says Felix K, a German producer bridging the 50-to-60 BPM gap between drum and bass and techno. “In my opinion sound-design is more defining for music than a tempo or the way beats are structured,” he adds. With the release of his Flowers Of Destruction album earlier this month on his own Hidden Hawaii imprint, Felix K has woken to an outbreak of media praise and attention almost overnight.

Sharing this wave of excitement is former TEA podcastee and Berghain protégé Rødhåd, a founding member of the Dystopian label and party whom Felix K is involved. On top of his DJing, label and booking duties at Dystopian, and alongside other forward thinking Berlin drum and bass associated labels Alphacut and The Weevil Neighbourhood, Felix K’s Hidden Hawaii and the sonic maneuverers it’s been making since 2008 are forging a new path into a realm of techno separate from the road already paved by acts like Instra:mental, Commix and Marcus Intalex.

Over several weeks and in the lead up to his Berghain debut, TEA spoke to Felix K via email about why Germany’s small, yet vibrant drum and bass scene failed to receive the recognition it could have - drum and bass’ re-emergence - his love for limited run labels and chained releases; QNS and the 10" Solaris Series, a tacit explanation to Legowelt’s slept-on Gigla LP on Hidden Hawaii, his new album and the birth and rebirth of his multifaceted imprint.

Your podcast for TEA seems to really focus on sound design. Did you have a specific theme or idea in mind when making it? 

Not really. I didn't want to mix a set of tracks that came from just one genre or one tempo. If you focus on sound-aesthetics, it’s easier to cross genres borders'. In my opinion sound-design is more defining for music than a tempo or the way beats are structured. 

Some drum and bass features in the mix. You come from a drum and bass background; have you found there’s a newfound interest in the genre lately?

That’s a tough question. There is definitely a strong comeback of the good vibes. I see more and more people producing and going out to see good drum and bass. Don't get me wrong, there have always been good drum and bass producers out there, but I’ve been seeing the comeback of certain drum and bass labels and clubs that previously went for overproduced trancey sounds for a long time. I don't want to name names - I think everybody knows them - but it seems like it's that style of drum and bass that is starting to settle down. Of course I am not sure if my observations are totally correct, but I like to see things simply. Maybe the comeback of more interesting sounds (in drum and bass) is because people are aware of the roots of where the music comes from. I mean, the time around 1995 was a kind of a golden era for drum and bass and jungle and it seems like nearly 20 years afterwards people are opening up to those genre defining and open vibes.  

How come you chose those specific drum and bass tracks?

There are two drum and bass tunes at the end of the mix. One is taken from my forthcoming album; “Flower of deconstruction #4”, and the tune that it’s mixed with is “Torque” by Ed Rush & Nico. “Torque” was released 1997. To be honest I don't know why I chose these two tunes. They sounded right. When I started the mix I wasn't following a plan, I just wanted to listen to them when it came to the point I could play them. 

The German drum and bass scene has never really been documented to great length. What it is like and why do you think a lot of artists have recently made the move from drum and bass to housier and techno styles? 

I think it's both cause and consequence for (the German drum and bass scene) not being well documented - drum and bass only existed within local scenes. In my opinion there has never been a German drum and bass scene as a whole; there’s never been a united feel. There's been drum and bass in Mannheim, Bremen, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich, of course Berlin and more, but the view of drum and bass was different in each city. It still differs I think. Anyway, if someone from Berlin would try to document the scene as a whole it probably wouldn't do justice to what happened in Mannheim or Hamburg and vice-versa. 

One other aspect is there have never really been many German drum and bass records, and the few that existed didn't get much attention. Most of the records came from the UK, and UK distributors weren't really interested in German producers or labels. I think most drum and bass fans fed off what happened in the UK anyway, same with the German distributors, publishers and labels. On the one side we contributed to the UK scene, but on the other hand, we were too egotistic and short sighted to build our own scene that could have been documented. German’s forgot to build something that’s attractive to more than a few locked-in hardcore fans. I don't know if there are so many people switching from drum and bass to house and techno as you say... Are you sure it’s that significant at the moment?

I feel like a few years ago a lot of the artists associated with bass music, be it dubstep, drum and bass or garage and other stepped styles made the transition into house and techno. This year especially there seems to be a retrospective focus on acts like Photek, Andy C and Goldie by publications that may have only touched on drum and bass in the past. D-Bridge seems to be one of the few acts that can always peak the interest of techno heads. It's people like Trevino aka Markus Intalex, the Instra:mental guys, Commix and Ctrls from Northern Structures, to the likes of Joy Orbison, Blawan and Skream who are making a name for themselves outside of the genres they first cut their teeth. It feels as though drum and bass - and bassy music - is as close to house and techno as it’s ever been?

Agreed. It seems like artists are not caught in one genre anymore. I am not sure if D-Bridge is one of the only remaining drum and bass producer to be loved by techno fans. There are quiet a lot of techno informed producers; like Calibre, CMX, ASC, Sam KDC, Triad, Ruffhouse, Overlook, Indigo, Martsman and some more that surely gain recognition outside of drum and bass. D-Bridge is probably the most famous one. But didn't he start a techno project himself lately? I also recently discovered a house record by Steve Digital, that was odd, but I bought the record anyway. The best thing to happen to some producers is if they change genres, as there’s a spill-over effect. I like it when a genre uses information from other genres and I think that's happening a lot. Maybe that's why techno and drum and bass has a similar sound design. Both genres follow different rules, but the aesthetic elements are exchangeable. As far as I am aware both share the same roots anyway. 

How did you find yourself making the transition from drum and bass into techno? 

It just felt right. I buy a lot of techno records and I like to play them. Drum and bass is still important to me, but techno is something I feel more comfortable with at the moment. It can be dark, hypnotising and existential without sounding too harsh. I like that. 

Is the sound of techno you talk about what you associate with your label Hidden Hawaii? 

Hidden Hawaii is somehow a techno label yes, but it’s also rooted in dub and drum and bass. Therefore I wouldn't say it is a techno label in a traditional sense, it’s more of a combination of different styles with similar sound aesthetics. For example my album Flowers of Destruction is a collection of soundscapes and tracks that are based at 170 BPM. Speed-wise it is drum and bass, but the design is more techno.

What's your relationship with Legowelt and how did his album Gigla album make it on to Hidden Hawaii?

Some things stay in Hidden Hawaii.

OK. You also involved with the Dystopian label?

Dystopian is a label that has a great take on techno. We have shared the same vision and passion for techno for a long time now and I'm at nearly every one of their events in Berlin. Since last year I’ve become involved as a DJ (for Dystopian) and in the near future I’ll produce for the label. 

You also helped launched the Alpha Cutauri label this year. Tell us a bit about that release and the label.

It’s a project from Alphacut Records - a great drum and bass label from Leipzig, Germany. I was very happy to be involved with this project and I did the first of the three-record series. Regarding the release, I was given a lot artistic freedom by the label and on the record you can hear all kinds of genres; drum and bass, house and ambient music. Usually labels are into a certain forms or genre, but Alphacut let me do what i like. 

Going back to Hidden Hawaii, where did the name come from and what's your relationship with Double O, Martsman and DB1?

Hidden Hawaii is a story of friends. I can't remember exactly how the name Hidden Hawaii was born, but an old friend and I wanted to do a label back in 1998. We sat down for hours thinking of a name. After thousands of stupid names we decided Hidden Hawaii was good enough and we went for it. Afterwards I played some nights under the same name with another friend, but eventually the label and event came to an end. A few years later I started a DJ-team with Wan.2 and Hidden Hawaii was reborn. We then formed another DJ collective with some other friends and Hidden Hawaii was shelved again and we played under the name Breakbeat City. In 2008 Hidden Hawaii was reborn for the second time, this time as a label, and under the new formation we actually started to release music. 

Double O's For My Brother EP was our third release, so he’s been a part of Hidden Hawaii for a long time. I was familiar with his music long before that. His sound is exactly what I like and I contacted him to see if he would be up for a release. He has great musical ideas and combines them with his personal experiences from the good old jungle days. I like jungle and drum and bass because it's one of my defining genres. Without it I'd probably being making completely different music to what I am now. As for Martsman, he is one of my best friends. I always found his music fascinating. His music has always been unique and very well produced. When he came to Hidden Hawaii he'd already released on several other known labels and already had a strong career. 

DB1 is another friend of mine. I first met him at a Bassbin Records night in London. He doesn't write that much music - not because he’s not interested - but because he’s a perfectionist. It takes him ages too finish a tune. He has released the one tune “Vanguard” for Hidden Hawaii so far. It was probably our most defining one. I asked him to do an album right afterwards. I hope it happens some day. 

Each flower - or track - on Flowers Of Destruction seems to explore a fusion of styles. How long have you been working on the album and were you trying to express anything? I'm particuarly interested in the album's final track "Flower Of Hope".

I don't follow a plan. That's why I don't know what I want to achieve with the tunes on Flowers Of Destruction. I had no higher purpose or goal in mind when I made them. That's probably why each track explores something, like you said, a fusion of styles. The tunes that are on the album just sounded right to me. Most of the tunes where produced over the past few years. For example “Flower of Destruction #2” was produced sometime in 2008, “Flower of Destruction #10” in 2012 and “Flower Of Hope” in 2006. I like to let tunes grow for a certain period of time before I decide what to do with them. They don't leave my computer for a long time. For example I don't like to upload my work to Soundcloud - especially not right after I do the mixdown. I’ve never understood artists that do that. I also don't really send my work to other artists or labels. I have to be in a good mood to pass my music on to someone. That's why there’s just a very small circle of people that know my music before it gets released. This means I get the maximum amount of freedom and the highest possible control over my musical information during the production process. I also like the element of surprise. 

There is a concept behind the title Flowers Of Destruction. It was developed after the tunes where finished. I wanted the album title to be a set of variables that works top-down and bottom-up. Each track stands for a flower of destruction, so – if you sum it up – the album is a set; flowers of destruction. Even the last track's title, “Flower of Hope”, fits into the set, because hope is also destructive – if not the most destructive – force of human nature. It just sounds more optimistic. The whole concept of the album title is dedicated to catching the beauty of destructive moments. They mean harm on the one side, but combined with slowness, they might also be a catalyst for beauty. Flowers are like explosions in slow motion. I had this in mind when I thought about the album title. 

I was speaking with Nico Deuster from Killekill and he made the point of saying that even though techno in ‘90s was still dark, it was also hopeful; saying yes to life rather than no. Do you find a lot of techno at the moment is quite pessimistic or is it the opposite? Did you find drum and bass saying yes to life in the ‘90s? 

Can you give an example of music that says no to life?

Warp Records and Underground Resistance was what he refereed to as saying yes to life. No, came from a current crop of faceless -  sometimes underproduced - black-sleeved and black-labelled records "with some reverb". I think the resurgence of industrial techno and some of the new artists it’s brought with it may have something to do with this.

It’s an interesting view on music culture, but it necessary to keep things subjective. I think music is sound first of all. It happens in our minds and is something that is an object of psychology. As an art form it is subject to preferences; good or bad. The idea that music might be connected with - be it negative or life-affirming - is more related to a cultural perception. Within this realm I'd say that a certain sound is more optimistic, if I find it less dark than other sounds. Techno surely tends to be associated with dark and moody states, but if someone says that a label or a musician - or a decade as a whole - is saying no or yes to life, then it’s probably more about an associated feeling that is connected with a sound, rather than about the sound itself. All of this is still a bit blurred for me and I’m still not sure about it all. There is a lot of music coming from producers who avoid specific marketing methods, a trademark or a face. Does this say their music is saying no to life?

Without taking it as far as saying no to life, I think people still want to have fun to this music, regardless of how gloomy some of it may sound. Left to its own devices, electronic music provokes a lot of free thought and interpretation, especially if it’s devoid of vocals. So it’s understandable that people might feel a liitle despondent to darker music. Do you find your moods effect your productions in the studio, and how hard is it to translate that into a DJ set when playing to a dancefloor?

I have fun when I listen to Bach, the classic composer, or Aphex Twin. I smile when I hear a sad song, a Basic Channel tune or a well executed amen break. It is definitely “yes-to-life music” for me. What I am afraid of is the sort of fun that’s had at festivals and stuff like that, where people just turn into drunk animals. I think this is the kind of cultural phenomenon that can be associated with a certain “no-to-life”, big-stage sound. But like you said, let’s leave this behind. When it comes to making music I am no so sure about everything, about this sound or that arrangement. I try to catch my moods when I can and it takes a long time for me to finish a track. Behind the decks I am quite a different person. Although I am still quite introspective and shy, I simply like to play great tunes. 

My DJ sets are intuitive and spontaneous most of the time. When you play a four-hour techno set you don't want to get bored yourself. That may happen if you just follow a prepared playlist. You also want to do unexpected things. That's why I don’t play my own music that much. For example Flowers Of Destruction is a part of my personality, but it left my personal sphere when it was released. Until that point it was just an album for me, and I play it only if the moment is right. What I don't really do is translate my productions into my set. I mean it may happen of course, but I don't force it. 

You also released a box set of all the music to come out on your Hidden Hawaii sub-label QNS. Does this mark an end to the label and project? How and why did it start and are limited run labels something you like being a part of - like Hidden Hawaii’s Solaris Series?

Yes it was the end of QNS. To be honest I don't know why we started it this way. We wanted to try a series for the sake of a concept. QNS just felt right and that's all I can really say about it. I don't like to limit things, but I like the idea of finding a rare record in a record shop. 

You are also a music journalist? 

From time to time I am a music journalist, yes.

How does it feel to be on the other side of the interview?

It was a pleasure, and being on the other side of the Interview is great. You have to deal with unexpected questions. For me it disproves solipsism, which may arise when you work on something of your own for too long. 

Good luck at Berghain tonight. You are playing the opening set. Going back to what you were saying about doing unexpected things as a DJ, opening Berghain seems like a great stage to do this?

Thank you. It's the best stage and the best time I can imagine right now. I am free to play my favourite techno records. But I will also have to deliver something for the floor because as the opening DJ you are kind of responsible for the vibe of the whole night. So I will have to find a balance between moody leftfield-ish sounds at the beginning and move into techno later into the night.

Finally, what is your favourite tea to drink?

Espresso. But seriously, mint.

TEA Selections: Traversable Wormhole

Prior to the happening industrial swing in techno, all roads for factory-made sounds led to Adam X - and alongside Terrence Fixmer - the Berlin-based New Yorker has become a go-to-man on topics Belgian techno, EBM and industrial music. In 2009, Adam “X” Mitchell’s mystery project, Traversable Wormhole, surfaced with a run of five secret 12”s, which combined Mitchell’s love for hardcore rhythmics and brutal sound design, with his inspired visits to Berlin superclub Berghain. In 2010, Traversable Wormhole was sent into overdrive with a heavy-duty rerelease on Chris Liebing’s CLR, which saw a galvanisation of techno’s biggest producers sign up for a colossal remix package of Adam X’s unveiled alias.

Since taking credit for the Traversable Wormhole project, Adam X has enjoyed revitalised output on his own Sonic Groove imprint - including the Cardiac Dysrhythmia EP with Ancient Methods - a two-track Outflow Boundary EP for Munich humdinger Prologue, while a forthcoming Coercive Persuasion EP on Killekill and Suicide Circus affiliate label SCR Dark Series awaits. The Traversable Wormhole catalogue currently stands at ten volumes strong and earlier this year it received a bulky Sonic Groove remix treatment, which included reworks from Northern Structures - aka Lasse Buhl and Troels B-Knudsen - longtime techno associate Dasha Rush, Belgian EBM veteran Monolith and industrial-noise deep-think Orphx. 

Adam X kindly retraces his inspirations for making sci-fi techno for TEA, which began after hearing Clock DVA’s “The Act” for the first time. Mitchell then cites Warp Records, Underground Resistance, overlooked R&S 12”s, Kevin Saunderson basslines, Two Loneswordsmen remixes and his music-retail customer service as other influencing factors for his take on futuristic and industrial techno.

Clock DVA - The Act [Interfisch // Wax Trax]

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Sometime in 1999 my friend Reade Truth - who records on Carl Craig's Planet E label - and I were working the upstairs of my former record shop in NYC, Sonic Groove. A woman in her upper 40s entered the shop and asked if we would take a look through a bunch of records she wanted to sell. It wound up she used to work as the American publicist for (German Industrial band) Einsturzende Neubauten. She had a nice sized box of mint condition industrial and EBM promos she was looking to sell. (They were) Obviously promos sent to her when she was working as a publicist. I knew very little of the genre and at the time I was not a fan of vocal based music, so Reade suggested I listen to the instrumental mix of Clock DVA’s “The Act”.

I did exactly that and with the drop of the needle I was instantly hooked to the programming of the sequences, the mechanical drum rhythms and the overall sci-fi futuristic feeling of the music. Techno was quite stale in this period and I was looking for something I hadn’t heard before and this was it. This one record opened me up to a whole new world of music. I became addicted to industrial and EBM music overnight and bought hundreds of albums in the months to follow. I would also link up with many of the major players and eventually record for some of the most respected labels and artists from the scene, with several known artists recording on my label as well. This was a decade before the current hype of industrial music in the techno. In a twist of irony, the release for my label was from Dean Dennis of Clock DVA, with his 2001 EP "Sector".

Force Legato - System [ZYX // Sonic Groove]

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This release is one of my all time favourites. It was one of the first records I bought when I getting into techno in early 1990. It's a beautiful mix of Detroit techno with a Kevin Saunderson-esque bassline, but mixed with EBM in a special way known to come from the Frankfurt area back then. It was Oliver Lieb's first released record and it was a big underground hit in Germany. I wound up re-releasing it on Sonic Groove in 2001 with a Two Loneswordsmen remix and one from myself. Around the same time I sold an original copy in my shop to DJ Hell after I played it at a gig with him at Limelight in NYC. He would then give it even more shine on a compilation he released. This track really influenced some my work over the years, it's a great mixture of EBM and techno.

Reese - The Heavens [KMS // Kool Kat]

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Though I’m known for playing the darkest of dark music, I actually love the deeper - more melancholic - and spiritual side of music just as much. This, in my opinion, is one of the most self reflective tracks ever to come out in techno. It still gives me the old chicken skin every time I hear it. If you dig through my discography over the years, you’ll find a lot of self-reflective and melancholic tracks I have made - they exist and Detroit's Kevin Saunderson has done many-a-record over the decades to inspire a lot of my music, whether it’s his bassline, melodies or rhythms. They don’t call him Master Reese for nothing.

Xon - Dissonance [Network Records]

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Broken beat, bass and bleeps from one of the most important - but yet very underrated techno producers of all time - Robert Gordon. Gordon collaborated with Richard H. Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire on this release, but Gordon's bass and bleep signatures are all over this EP. Gordon is the founder of Warp Records and recording under the name Forgemasters,  Gordon bought heavy bassline to techno music; check Unique 3’s “The Theme” from 1989. He’s had a huge influence on me over the decades and his music has surely had a subconscious inspiration on me in the way I write basslines. 

The Mover - Nightflight [PCP // R&S Records // Industrial Strength]

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The darkest of dark techno. I remember when it first dropped in early 1992. It was like: “what the fuck is this?”, “who the hell made this?” We didn’t have the internet back then, so things really were a mystery and a record like this was damaging to braincells. It would just crush shit in these dark and dirty warehouse parties we organised for thousands of people. It still crushes shit 21 years later when I play it. I featured it on a very big compilation I did in 1998 that I released through legendary industrial label Wax Trax. This was before I knew anything about industrial music. It really gives industrial music and EBM a run for the money in darkness-appeal. A huge record in my life and it definitely takes me on a night flight down the Traversable Wormhole.

Underground Resistance - Elimination // Gamma-Ray [Underground Resistance]

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In my opinion, the all time kings of sci-fi techno were the deadly combination of Jeff Mills and Mad Mike. For me the sound design in “Elimination” is second-topnone when we’re talking about sound travel between the galaxies. I have traveled through many-a-galaxy listening to this over the past 22 years. If the artwork for a release was ever correct, it was on this record; the label shows a huge satellite dish which is most definitely sending out signals to other life forms far, far away.

Pulse - Catvoice [R&S Records]

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This one was never a known record on R&S, or one that was played out much back when it was released in 1990. Perhaps it was because it is one of the darkest, most spaced-out sci-fi techno records of all time. It more like a sound track for a sci-fi horror flick - like Alien or The Thing - than music that’s made for the dancefloor, although it does have beats. The sound design on this is incredible. Mentally, this track puts me in some remote location -  not on earth - and no one is around, just faint voices and screams heard traveling through time and space. This is some seriously heavy mental shit here. No other record sounds like it. 

Fresh TEA: René Audiard

René Audiard seemingly appeared out of nowhere last year with the Pechorin album, a 7-track jewel of lucid dub techno and glowing deep house. A highlight of the LP was “Doctrine”, with its barley graspable groove and spaciously cryptic drum patterns landing neatly at number 4 in TEA’s Top 100 tracks for 2012. It was the third release from an intriguing and emerging label called Supply. 

Six months before, I received an email from a friend in Berlin who wrote, “Who the fuck are B Tracks???” with a link to their Soundcloud page, followed by “Playing at Panorama Bar on Saturday.” I wrote back from my Melbourne bedroom: “Sounds ok through my laptop speakers...” Six months after purchasing Pechorin, the pieces fell into place. B-Tracks were in fact a Boston-Ithica based pairing of John Barera and Soren Jahan, with the latter taking up the alias René Audiard. 

Supply Records is run by Barera and Jahan and since Pechorin, the label has released a further two impressive EPs; Barera’s Black Box referencing Walk Right In and B-Tracks’ Flightless. On top of this, Jahan recently launched his own label, Blank Slate, with close friend Kamal Naeem. 

It’s fitting then, that last Friday at Panorama Bar I heard Levon Vincent play North Lake’s “Griswold”, a track from Blank Slate’s debut various artist release. TEA caught up with Soren Jahan over email to talk about flamenco guitars and Turkish santurs, John Barera’s loft in Boston’s Chinatown, B-Tracks impromptu Panorama Bar set and the storm of attention he’s received so far.

Hey Soren, thanks for speaking with us. Your mix for TEA takes a sudden turn with Audion’s “Kisses”.

For me, it serves as the climax of the set and I liked how the mix-in and mix-out really transforms the track from something purely brutal to something more emotional. I understand if it's bothersome...I should note that this mix, rather than being an example of a set I might play live, is more like a mini-sampling of the range of styles I'm into, arranged in a way that the mixes are kept as interesting as possible. I kept the wildness to a minimum, so not as much EQ cowboying or quick cuts or whatever, which I usually do when DJ'ing at a party. I don't really feel like that kind of stuff always translates well to a home listening setting. Part of what makes it so hard for me to record mixes at home.

Are you based in Boston? 

Believe it or not, I'm actually based in the sleepy little town of Ithaca, New York. More often than not, when I do travel east I end up in Brooklyn, rather than Boston, due to a really unfortunate bus system. Things here are very quiet. I don't do nearly so many local parties or gigs as I used to, and I'm very busy working as a line cook in a Mexican restaurant, but at least I have plenty of time to produce and run my two record labels. 

OK. Do you play in Boston - or abroad often?

I think the last time I played in Boston would have been a few months ago. It's harder to keep track since I'm not on Facebook. I've also done a few things in Brooklyn as B-Tracks with John - this one spot, the Bossa Nova Civic Club. As for abroad, I've had exactly two gigs – one at Elipamanoke in Leipzig, and the other at Panorama bar. So it's almost never. But I'm not exactly blowing up promoters inboxes with booking requests – I just think of gigging as something that I'll focus on later, once I'm based in a larger city. 

Where are you planning on moving to?

It's a done deal. I'm moving to Berlin in mid-July and will spend the foreseeable future there. I've been coordinating some releases and already have some friends there, so I'm hoping to land on my feet and keep pushing as hard as I can. 

What were the first parties you started playing?

They were the reason I launched this crazy dream of being a DJ-producer. Even though these were small house parties around school - with 30 people dancing at a time if we were lucky - I still loved it even though my mixing was shaky and the cops could come knocking any minute. It was just at that time, my second year in college, that I threw down and scored my first pair of 1200's. 

Since then I managed to start doing a few parties at the larger co-op houses around campus, with maybe 50-100 people on a good night. There's something great about playing for kids my own age, or younger – they're more innocent, they don't have work the next day and there isn't nearly as much jadedness. They might not recognise a Villalobos or Shed record, but so much the better – I'm free to get away with a lot more of my favourite music that the heads would roll their eyes at. 

Your bio talks of your father’s tape collection. What sort of music did he collect?

Both my mom and dad had quite a few tapes, ranging from classical to Indian-world music, pop and reggae. Aside from endless Bob and Ziggy Marley, I remember the electronic stuff the best – Tangerine Dream and Kitaro mostly, with a little Deep Forest thrown in. 

Supply Records

How much of an influence was this music?

A couple of Tangerine Dream tapes were pretty much what did it for me. I remember staring at the squiggled lines on the cover of Pergamon while getting sucked out of reality by those arpeggiated synth notes; overcome with some kind of indescribable feeling. I'd never felt anything like that. I must have been around six years old. 

What do your parents think of the music you make?

Both my parents are supportive and by this point they've had a bit of a dance music education, whether or not they wanted one. I think they're a bit bemused by the whole thing. My dad used to call everything I made and listened to “disco”, which infuriated me to no end until I gradually came to appreciate the way things evolved. 

You also played the flamenco guitar. Was this just a childhood thing or did you take it further?

It was strictly a childhood thing. I played classical for 7 years, until I was around 13-14, then the last couple of years I was getting into flamenco. Just around that time I was starting to get obsessed with dance music, and my practising fell off dramatically. In the end it felt too limited when compared to the timbres and textures in electronic music. And for some reason, I could never get past my nerves when auditioning or playing in public. 

John Berera and Soren Jahan

Will you ever pick anything like that up again?

I have no idea. I'm keeping my options open, but for now I feel like I know what I'm looking for in the near future. I'd rather work with other instrumentalists who've been playing this whole time. A project I'm working on with a very good Turkish friend of mine, Ali Cakir, incorporates live recorded santur as well as some other friends on other things. 

You run Supply Records with John Barera. How did the label begin and how are you friends with John?

The label grew out of us meeting up at his loft in Chinatown and starting to make tracks together. We'd been introduced by a mutual friend, Ari (Volvox) some time after the Together competition. The first thing we put out together after a couple of sessions was “Specialize”, the A1 of our first EP. At the time we had a few demos that we shopped around to a few small labels around Europe, but after no end of delays and miscommunications, we felt we had no choice but to put the damn things out ourselves.

I sold my CDJs, we both starved a fair bit and before we knew it, we were stamping records after an extraordinarily lucky break finding our distributor, Honest Jon's. Funnily enough, John (Barera) and I have an incredibly professional relationship. I think that's a natural consequence of how passionate we both are about the music. Sure, we're still good friends and the atmosphere is relaxed, but when we're together there's always a project open. I don't think we could have gotten as far as we have if that weren't the case. 

A loft in Chinatown. 

That's where John lives. It's above a kung fu studio in Chinatown and he's had some fantastic loft nights there. I don't have much equipment so it makes sense for the studio to be centred there. Now that I'm rarely in Boston most of our collaborations are back and forth via WeTransfer, but whenever I'm in town we try to get at least one or two intensive working nights in.

You produce as B-Tracks with Barera. 

John mostly plays basslines, pads, chord stabs and does all kinds of work with his Juno 106. I tend to work on percussions and I am a bit merciless with the delete button. But that's all flexible. Sometimes I'll try a synth take, or John will get on the drum machine. It all depends on the track at hand. Where we really have to compromise is in laying out the final sequence – sometimes it takes quite a bit of back-and-forth because we're both coming from different places creatively, but I think that's part of the strength of the project. 

I'd never worked on any kind of soulful or deep house before B-Tracks. It was all dub techno and minimal stuff. So it's been an exciting and new thing to get into this different vibe and allow a bit of funk to creep into my sound. Not to mention that John is the one who first taught me Ableton. I had no idea what was happening when we first sat down together. 

How was you set at Panorama Bar?

It was fantastic. We're a couple of dudes from Boston, and there we were in the DJ van driving with the other guys to go on that night, Paul Mac, Nautiluss, The Organ Grinder. It was about as pure a clubbing experience as I can imagine, but at the same time, I feel like there's so much more to be had there. It felt perfectly natural to mix there, it had just the right kind of energy - as anyone will tell you - and I can't wait to be back. 

What about your releases before the Supply label. What were they like?

Maxime over at Pertin_nce has been a longtime friend for years. I heard about him through some very interesting producers and DJs in the Ithaca area, namely Sharinne (DJ Laika) and the wonderful Hemiptera. They passed me an EP by Blue Pulp called Delay, which I still play out all the time. I got in touch with him, started sending projects back and forth and before long I had my first entry on Discogs. Enrique at Elefant signed the competition-winning track "Fundament" along with some remixes and Inanna reached out to me shortly after that. It was an exciting start and I very much appreciate their support, but soon after I got the vinyl bug pretty badly and I've been focused on tangible media ever since. I'm fine with digital releases, but since I only spin vinyl, I'd rather have a chance to play my music out.

What about your solo material on Supply. Was the Pechorin album a collection of tracks or were they made especially for the LP?

Pechorin represented the best tracks I'd made up until that point for the past couple of years. Many of them were supposed to come out on other labels, but as Supply began to take off and seem more viable, I lost patience and decided to make it happen myself. That was the case with "Pechorin", "Landscape" and "Nowa Huta". The oldest one there is “Memory”, which was made in spring 2010 in filmmaking class. It was actually the score of a 16mm collage called “Cooking,” which was my final project. 

I'd spent 60-plus hours in three days splicing the damn thing together and was in a weird state of mind when I had to make the accompanying score. All of the tracks formed a cohesive unit for me with the exception of “Contract”, which was a last-minute substitution. The track it replaced also contrasted with the others, but in a darker direction, one which I eventually decided against. It was more or less when I first learned to make dub-tinged techno. It wasn't a sure thing for us that Pechorin would sell when we put it out, but luckily we went for it and people seem to have appreciated it. 

It’s a fantastic record. Supply is up to its fifth release, how has managing the label been so far?

John followed up my album with his own house excursions on 004. The tracks all worked for us - an honest expression of his style and it made a lot of sense to show the “other half” of B-Tracks. We're definitely planning on launching some releases by other artists in the near future, but the next release will be our third B-Tracks EP, Flightless. We tentatively have some hard techno slated for 006, but that's not confirmed yet. We're looking to try and flesh out our vision for the label's sound. B-Tracks kind of splits the difference between house and techno without getting too brutal, but we're not afraid of getting dark.

Could you explain the story behind your own Blank Slate label?

Part of it grew out of some demos we'd been sent for Supply that were a bit too leftfield for the sound we were cultivating. John and I both agreed that the material was strong, but couldn't find the right tracks to fit our schedule, which filled up rather quickly. Meanwhile I'd been talking with my longtime friend and DJ partner Kamal about launching our own project. One of his friends, Mirko, impressed us so much with his "Untitled" track that we signed it without hesitation. We worked our way through a bunch of new demos from those previous artists and basically just picked tracks that we both liked. Once we'd picked them, it was remarkable how they flowed together. A high school friend of Kamal's, Max Hull, is an excellent calligrapher and came up with a bunch of script samples for us on short notice and then Blank Slate was born. We didn't actually come up with that name until the very last minute. We just had our first release, a various EP. It sold decently overseas, and can't wait to get further through our planned schedule.

What’s coming up for you?

I'm trying to put together some new releases with labels in Lisbon and Venice, which would be really exciting. I have some material coming up on a new label called The Double R. One of those Turkish instrumental-collaboration tracks should be arriving reasonably soon as well. Next up on Blank Slate is an EP of mine, two epic 12-minute minimal house tracks. In general, though, I'm just trying to keep both labels up and running while saving enough money for a move to Berlin. 

Lastly, what's your favourite tea?

Lapsang Suchong. I haven't had it for a couple of years, but it's really like nothing else. 

Tracklist:

01.Achim Maerz - Channel 04 (Sven's ReChannel Mix) [Freund Der Familie]

02.Baby Ford & Zip - Morning Sir [Perlon]

03.Arnaldo - Family [Blank Slate]

04.Akufen - Installation [Force Inc. Music Works]

05.René Audiard - Stranger [[Blank Slate]

06.Philus - Ionit [Sähkö Recordings]

07.Etienne Jaumet - Repeat Again After Me [Versatile Records]

08.Abdulla Rashim - Gizaw 1 [Abdulla Rashim Records]

09.Mattias Fridell - Denial Of All Reality [ESHU Records]

10.Mike Dehnert - Fachwerk 25 [Fachwerk]

11.Audion - Kisses [Spectral Sound]

12.Santiago Salazar - Retiro [Historia y Violencia]

13.Len Faki - Rainbow Delta [Ostgut Ton]

14.René Audiard - Contract [Supply Records]

15.Automia Division - Rays [Out Of Orbit]

16.Technical Onslaught - Eyes Of The Mind [Allabi Records]

17.B-Tracks - Plateau [Supply Records]

18.Maurizio - Domina (C. Craig's Mind Mix) [Maurizio]

19.René Audiard - Cywilizacja Pt. 1 [Blank Slate]

Chris Colburn - Stick or Twist [RohMaterial]

Chris Colburn
Stick Or Twist EP
RohMaterial

That’s the thing about record shopping, in a shop, there’s a tangible aspect that lends itself to discovering new music. Maybe it’s a record that wouldn’t fit back into the shelving, so it comes with you to the listening booth out of awkward confusion, maybe there’s some great artwork, maybe some terrible artwork - maybe there is no artwork. The thought process is decidedly different when thumbing through records, say at Berlin’s Spacehall, where I discovered Chris Colburn’s Stick or Twist EP, when compared to the hand-in-cheek screen gazing and finger clicks of online shopping. 

There was nothing particularly exciting about this record’s exterior; black sleeve, white label and bold text written in capital letters. What the 12” did have going for it though - for me at least - was a cut-and-dried aesthetic that reeked of techno, a name I hadn’t heard of, a label I didn’t know, and on closer inspection it was the debut release for RohMaterial.  

The 001 discovery was as a timely one reading L.I.E.S_News’ tongue-in-cheek twitter outburst yesterday. “Record Store Day can eat a dick. All these bullshit labels clogging the plants up slowing things for those who do it all year round. End it!” In 2010, Alan Fitzpatrick, who has been running his 8 Sided Dice Recordings since 2008, could have said the same thing when L.I.E.S surfaced two years later with Malvoeaux, aka Steve Summers’ Targets EP - the same year as 8 Sided Dice’s 23rd release and Colburn’s first for the London label.

The 8 Sided Dice imprint is not a label I’ve particularly followed, a little to loud and slamming in parts, however James Mile’s Dowtown and Markus Suckut’s redefinitions to Fitzpatrick’s 9 Hours Later EP (ironically 8 Sided Dice’s debut release) are stripped back and pleasurably rhythmic-heavy club tracks. The label is also home to the better part of Colburn’s back catalogue, but Stick or Twist on RohMaterial is distinctly different from all of Colburn’s previous work, in fact it’s better than anything he has produced before.

What makes it different from Colburn’s other works, is no track on the EP is sonically overpowering, his techno savagery has been toned down and it’s deep enough to dive into head on. Builds and drops are substituted for EQ fills and subtle variations in sound, resulting in heady rhythms of muscular groove, not brutish walls of noise. The title track is a perfect example of Colburn reducing ostentatious moves in favour of subtler ones, with the bass and percussion of “Stick or Twist” dipping and filtering into periods of drift and uncertainty, setting up rocksteady drums to vacate its arrangement, returning with a boosted animosity when reintroduced.

Sharing the A-side is “Headspin”. It’s a constant piece, held together by ride cymbals that sound like they’ve been sequenced by Jeff Mills, while doubled-up claps and murky tom thrums add to a penetrating groove. Disconnected from the constant forward thrust is a wavering synth of softened edges and gossamer melodic filaments that resonates like a magnified hum of a spinning coin in a smooth steel drum. So far intrigued by the EP, but not yet convinced, I flipped sides to discover “Dab” and “Feelings”, both gnashing at my achilles heel - dubby chords.

It’s wonderful to get lost in the catenation of dub techno’s reverbs, delays and saw waves, even if they seem familiar now. Dissolvent one-note chords blanketed by modulating filters, create a natural breathing system of sound in “Dab”, allowing a chugging bass at mid-tempo to gather in pace, aided by cyclical drums and brightly chinking hi-hats. “Feeling” perhaps tones down the EPs Berghain behaviour, by taking the chordal stabs used in “Dab” and stretches them out to cover the gap between its beats, resulting in a coruscating whirlpool of feedback and shapeshifting textures that intensify over each loop.

Stick or Twist sounds like an EP made by a producer hitting their stride after a long apprenticeship. It reached my ears at a time where a lot of techno I’ve been listening to fails to fill me with the excitement music geared toward the club should. Even if it’s still a steady procession of compound beats, straddling hi-hats and dubby cadence, its manages to perfect a tried technique that when executed properly never fails to satisfy.

Tracklist:

A1.Stick Or Twist
A2.Headspin
B1.Dab
B2.Feeling

TEA with Max_M

Max_M has officially been releasing music for over ten years. But it wasn’t until 2009 that things took shape to become what they are today. 

In the year 2000 Max_M launched M_Rec, the label which bore his first record Rawframes, an EP co-produced with Andrea Kalenda, aka Octad, when the two lived in Rome. It was the label’s one and only vinyl release before turning into a digital platform for emerging artists. Patrick Krieger’s debut EP Ruffianly subsequently ended the labels operations in 2011, making way for the vinyl pushing M_Rec LTD. 

Looking back on M_Rec’s digital discography, the label boasts a modest alumni of artists to forge successive releases on other labels, including Myk Derill, whose Fachwerk sounding productions have since been snapped up by Knotweed Records, Myles Sergé’s RE(FORM) and Brendon Moeller’s gorilla blazoned Steadfast imprint, while Naples producer P.God soon found a release on Komisch after his 2010 Far Clusters EP.

Having now formed a footing in the clubbier realms of techno skewed toward sound design, Max_M called upon Jeroen Search in 2009 to launch M_Rec LTD with his Segments EP, and since 2010 the list of names to grace M_Rec LTD include the likes of Samuli Kemppi, Giorgio Gigli, Cassegrain and NX1. Max_M also commissioned Shifted for his second ever remix, which was fittingly to his own “Kidnapper Bell”, while securing other reworks from Regis and Silent Servant, Terrence Fixmer and Ed Davenport.

In 2012 M_Max received a demo from Finnish techno producer Juho Kahilainen, spawning the creation of M_Rec’s Grey Series, a vinyl exclusive sub-label housing music distanced from the weighted concepts of M_Rec LTD. EPs from Ness and Max_M’s Asma collaboration with Ascion soon followed, while a fourth EP by Ukrainian anchorite Stanislav Tolkachev has also been announced.

Over email TEA caught up with Max_M, where he talks of life in Rome and the Remix record store of yesteryear, his fascination with Le Corbusier styled architecture and a choice of tea which after reading this is an obvious one. 

Hey Max, thanks for catching up with us. First of all, where did you record the mix?

The mix was recorded at home during a sad grey day when it was snowing in Milan. I used  two technics 1210s, an Allen & Heath mixer and few upcoming M_Rec tracks on CD.

Could you elaborate on the Remix record store in Rome you spoke about in a recent interview.

Remix still exists, but it’s not the same as before. In the ‘90s it was a record store that imported techno from all over the world. You could find all the independent music from Roman artists, along with internationals. It was also a great place to find out about parties and raves - basically it was the place to be if you loved techno.

What was it like growing up in Rome and discovering electronic music?

Rome has always been an open minded and forward thinking city when it comes to music. It’s different from the other Italian cities. Together with London and Berlin, it has played a very important role in underground electronic music. DJs from Detroit or elsewhere would play to crowds as big as 3000-4000 people, some gigs even as big as 9000. The cultural bigotry going on at the time (the ‘90s) sparked a reaction that transformed Rome’s underground techno scene into the fulcrum of expression that it was. Today it’s not quite the same.

Why the move to Milan?

At the end of the ‘90s Rome felt too tightly controlled. I moved to Milan for work mostly, then with time I decided to make it my stable home in Italy. It might not have that warmth that Rome has, but as a city it’s my base now and I’ve enjoyed living here these past few years.

Many Italians involved in techno often live outside of Italy. What is the Italian techno scene like at the moment?

In these past few years the Italian scene - from an artistic standpoint - has been prolific. When it comes to clubs and parties it’s still very much happening, but this is tied to the trending movements of techno. No one really is really expressing anything personal, new or of their own. There’s a lot of people rolling with the trendy wave, but international guests are finding Italy a very welcoming place, maybe even more than what they expected. Having said that, there are a lot of things going on in Italy that I respect, and there are people who have created something special here, which can be a hard thing to do when you have to deal with the politics of the place.

You are also good friends with Freddy K who runs the Key label?

We’ve been friends for years. Freddy (aka Alessio) has always been a big player in the Italian techno scene - since the early ‘90s. He’s always been involved with radio shows, labels, record stores and parties. He’s a true example of someone that lives and breathes techno. His contributions are still very important with things like K1971 (digital promotion agency) and his label KEY. We’ve always been close, supporting each others projects; he’s definitely an important person in my life and not just from a music standpoint.

Explain the artwork behind M_Rec. You say you have always been fascinated by buildings and windows?

Yes. It has always been a passion - even obsession of mine - like office buildings, or more specifically what you see from inside these buildings, sometimes it’s nothing but other offices. I wanted to bring this concept into my label’s graphics. If the release sounds more “solar” than I use a photograph taken during the day, whereas something darker sounding is represented by photographs taken at night.

So M_Rec was first and then M_Rec LTD?

Everything ultimately started with M_Rec Digital, but I knew from the beginning that it wouldn’t have allowed me to express my love for techno on vinyl. Therefore, I started M_Rec LTD. M_Rec Digital has been on hiatus for a while and I doubt it’ll pick up at any point. I focus all my energies on LTD and the Grey Series now. 

With M_Rec LTD I’ve tried to represent my taste and my musical background from the very beginning, as well as the sound of other international artists. I’m very particular with the tracks I pick from others;  they must match my concepts, the label and my tastes. It’s nice to see the LTD take shape and I’ve been lucky to have people like Regis release on it. It’s all happened by developing relationships based on respect and friendship. M_Rec Digital was dedicated to younger and up and coming artists, so it was more of a platform than a label.

And the Grey Series? Did you create the label because of a demo you received from Juho Kahilainen?

Yes, Juho sent me a demo but it didn’t quite fit into LTD. I liked the tracks so much that I decided to create a sub-label called Grey Series, it’s exclusively vinyl, limited to 250 copies and no represses. I wanted to create a something very personal with a completely different sound from what characterises the LTD series. I receive a lot of demo’s but (before Grey Series) I found myself always turning them down, it became quite annoying - to the point where I created my new label Grey Series. The (Grey Series) sound is obviously always techno, but with a different kind of soul.

So you liked his track enough to create a new sub label for it?

Juho’s demo sparked something. I had no hesitations in deciding to create M_Rec Grey Series for it. It represents a part of my taste where things are more about atmosphere and actual listening to sound.

Why the colour grey, because of your fascination with buildings?

Grey is my favourite colour. It’s a colour that can hide something, or offer a glimpse of something. It’s dark but also light, like the label.

Is more to come from the Grey Series? It’s now three releases in.

The third release was from Asma, a collaborative project between Ascion and I. We had Silent Servant remix it also, someone I’ve alway admired. I find him to be a complete artist. We have a Stanislav Tokachev EP coming up and some others I’d rather not share just yet.

Tell me about your recent Asma collaboration, how did it start and will there be more?

Ascion and I are friends. Having spent a week in Berlin with each other, we couldn’t help but produce something. The result was worth keeping and continuing the project, so we’re planning another EP, with remixes.

What is your favourite tea?

Earl Grey. Obviously.

Tracklist:

1. The Watchers - Astronomised [Steadfast]
2. Tom Dicicco - Dying Breed [Krill]
3. Stanislav Tolkachev - No Home No Flag [M_Rec Ltd Grey Series] - Forthcoming
4. Sawf - Skotos [M_Rec Ltd]
5. Asma - Birds [M_Rec Ltd Grey Series]
6. Northern Structures - Session 4 [Sonic Groove]
7. Oscar Mulero - Damper [Semantica]
8. Ness - RK First Stage [M_Rec Ltd Grey Series]
9. Samuli Kemppi - Astrometric precision [M_Rec Ltd] - Forthcoming
10. Shifted - Cold Light "Sektor B2" [Avian]
11. Abstract Division - Fierce Tension (Shifted Remix) [Dynamic Reflection]
12. Asma - Birds [Silent Servant Remix) [M_Rec Ltd Grey Series]
13. Function - Gradient II [Ostgut Ton
14. Inigo Kennedy - Chamber [Token]
15. Donor - Sense [Unreleased]