Hotflush get off to a strong start in 2012 as they welcome Belgian newcomer Locked Groove to the fold. The title track is the pick for me, but all three tracks are the work of a promising new producer showcasing a deft amalgamation of deeper house, techno and garage influences. The EP is out on vinyl and digital on 16th Jan.
Tough tune from one half of Lazer Sword, Lando Kal.
Berlin born DJ, producer and label owner Ben Klock is without a doubt one of the most significant characters in techno’s recent history. He is a resident at Berghain which has undoubtedly influenced Klock’s approach as a DJ and producer as well.
He is most famed for playing techno sets full of hypnotic, deep and heavy grooves he has earned him an excellent international reputation over the last few years. Klock pursues an unexacting fusion of quantum jumps and tradition – including effortless melodies or hook lines that you would usually associate with house. Being able to harmonize this method of industrial austerity, natural musicality and an impressive physicality is Ben Klock’s great art and skill.
All you really need to know about Klock is that he plays 12 hour sets from 10am to 10pm on a Sunday afternoon, any DJ that can do that and keep the party moving is good in my books. Hats off!
BEN KLOCK — SUBZERO
DEPECHE MODE — PEACE (BEN KLOCK REMIX)
BEN KLOCK — OK
BEN KLOCK — FROZENCITY
I am a huge fan of Midland, I love the eclectic nature of his productions, such a broad range of tracks. It’s been a while since he has put up anything of note on his Soundcloud but today a preview of his new EP, forthcoming on AUS, popped up (brought to my attention by Sara, thanks!). ‘Through Motion‘ and ‘Shelter‘ are two huge deep house tracks, 4am bizzle for sure, probably more suited to the Berlin early bird crew than Plastic People in London! As with so many records in the past 3-4 years there is a distinct Detroit influence in these productions but also drawing form the hypnotic techno sound championed by artists of Hard Wax. All round a winner in my opinion, in the bag for my next outing, whether it gets played or not is another thing, maybe another number for when I hit Athens, hope it is a late one! Check it out.
Midland – Through Motion – Forthcoming Aus [Clip] by Midland
Midland – Shelter – Forthcoming Aus [Clip] by Midland
Too follow the theme, here is a recent remix by Midland for Mano Le Tough entitles, ‘Baby Let’s Love‘, WOW!
This is something totally new, totally fresh, so much so that I don’t have much to tell you about them, him, her… what I do know is that Objekt is a German outfit coming form Berlin, making stuff somewhere between Wookie bass, 2006 era dubstep and 2-Step. This is bound to be massive, it is the freshest thing I have heard from anyone this year and I for one will be playing this a lot. The BPM seems to be at somewhere around 140, a stark change in the current trend of 130 productions. ‘The Goose That Got Away‘ is a warped roller, hints heavily towards the darker side of UKG where as ‘Tinderbox‘ has all the essences of DMZ at 4am, using dark synths and deep basslines. I am already a fan, can’t wait to see what’s next! Check out the tracks below…
OBJEKT001A :: The Goose That Got Away by Objekt
OBJEKT001B :: Tinderbox by Objekt
OH, and here’s a little mix too…
Really like this, very much on a Berlin tip! I love the new direction TRG has taken this year, very housy, very techy but true to his roots all the same (whatever they are). I will be trying to find a way of getting one of these tracks into my next mix and on to the dancefloor!
Paul Rose, aka Scuba, waxes lyrical talks about Berlin, London, Hot Flush and himself to Intruders.tv, check it out.
Black and whites in music are irresistible. Indie and dance. Rhythm and melody. 4-4 and broken beats. Even though some of the above are arguably the same meta category (the big one, er, ‘Africa versus Europe’, ‘black versus white’ if you’d rather) they’re still useful in defining some sort of polarity that tells us who we are, what we like.
Problem is, increasingly the black and whites that I used to depend upon are deserting me in favour of a confusing agenda of preferences made up of other prejudices: memory and nostalgia, shock and awe, plain old quality. When you no longer fall into any of the camps around which popular music forms its allegiances you need to find an agenda for every circumstance. The one on my mind right now is head vs body. This one I reserve these days for nightclubs, particularly Berlin’s Berghain (a body club in every definition).
On last visit I was struck by how listless the crowd at the club’s top room house outpost, Panoramabar, seemed compared to the ruthless clarity of purpose evident on the main Berghain dancefloor. I’ve always enjoyed Panoramabar; it does housey decadence with more class and intelligence than most places. At its best it’s a place where hetros happily rub shoulders with exhibitionists, muscle Marys and the club’s obligatory weirdos. Where you can sashay around with a rum and coke at some ridiculous hour, get offered fresh fruit at the bar, exchange beatific grins with fellow late night travelers and whoop and holler your way into the next evening. All this listening to sets by Carl Craig, Andre Galluzzi, Efdemin. Bliss.
But nonetheless, it’s always been a more blood-pumping experience for me plunging into the quadrant of Function One piled high in Berghain. Down here you don’t just sashay around elegantly wasted, you tend to jump up and down or stand mesmerised in the mist. The music isn’t appealing to your head, your waist, your ego. It’s after your body, your Id. It’s primal. It’s body music. And the body music that thunders through you from that incredible soundsystem is, of course, largely driven by pile-driver 4-4s.
Increasingly, though, the DJs entrusted with that floor – the Marcels, Ben Klock, Norman Nodge – are looking to the broken grooves of dubstep to punctuate their strain of intensely reduced techno, finding in it the scale and physicality the space demands. Scuba, who runs Berghain’s regular dubstep night, Sub.stance, is charting a perverse mirror of their journey as his production and sets become more and more pinned around the metronomic 4-4. Surely it’s no coincidence that this dancefloor is the common ground of all these experiences.
So, with the polarities slowly dissolving but dubstep and techno still just flirting with each other, trying to figure out how to reconcile their differences from Bristol to Berlin, it may be a safe bet that the answers reside in the body and not the head.
No doubt about it, one of my favorite Techno producers of the last decade. This guy has been tearing up Berlin for longer than I’ve been interested and if you follow my mixes, you will no doubt of heard a track or two his thrown in! Of all places, I was with some work colleagues in Copenhagen last night and I heard a bizarre retake on The XX’s VCR. Again, all of you will guys will knoe that I have been plugging that band for over a year now (cheers Darkstar!) and there have been many remixes in the last few months, but I thought this was a little different. Check it out…
