Berghain 06: Norman Nodge

The latest Berghain compilation CD hit the stores yesterday, and it's mixed by our favourite techno lawyer, Norman Nodge. Now on to it's sixth edition, after previous escapades from Andre Galluzi, Marcel Dettmann, Len Faki, Ben Klock and Marcel Fengler, the Berlin nightspot continues to dip into their extensive list of residents to showcase the music that's built the club's legendary reputation for the worlds very best techno.

As you may expect, Nodge's signature stamp of quality is plastered all over the mix from start to finish. From it's ambient beginnings, with the help of Birds Two Cage, Oni Ayhun and an artist we're big fans of here at SDD, Mokira, the mix steadily builds in energy, drifting it's way through the expansive sounds of Detroit, Berlin and UK techno. Combining classic tracks like Jeff Mills' 'Keeping Of The Kept' with new faces to the scene like Patrick Gräser and recent SDD podcaster, Charlton. The mix, recorded live at Berghain, completes a full circle as tracks from El Gato#9, Radioactive Man and Xosar return the listener to the comp's more blissful beginnings.

Tracklisting

1) Birds Two Cage - Gase
2) Oni Ayhun - OAR002-B
3) Mokira - Manupulation Music (Redshape Tape Dub)
4) Patrick Gräser - From Foreign Territories
5) Hauntologists - Untitled
6) Staffan Linzatti - Morning
7) Jeff Mills - Keeping Of The Kept
8) Silent Servant - Untitled
9) DJ T - 1000 - Metra
10) The Nighttripper - Tone Exploitation (Planetary Assault Systems Remix)
11) Charlton - Black Slong
12) Architectural - Looking Ahead
13) Mark Broom - Vault 5
14) Ctrls - Socket
15) Chancellor - Roundabouts
16) Tim Taylor & DJ Slip - New York Minds
17) El Gato#9 - Coefficient Of Friction (Monty Luke Back Catalogue Remix)
18) Radioactive Man - Nasty Radio
19) Xosar - Rainy Day Juno Jam (Legowelt Remix)

As with all Berghain, and Panoramabar CDs, this mix contains a number of exclusive unreleased tracks. In the case of 06 it's three, from Birds Two Cage, Patrick Gräser and Mark Broom. Thankfully for those of you DJs out there, these three tracks don't stay unreleased for very long as they all feature on the companion vinyl. Samples of which can be found on the soundcloud player below

Mark Broom | Birds Two Cage | Patrick Gräser | Berghain 06 | o-ton 59 by Ostgut Ton

The CD and vinyl are out now in all good record shops, or can be purchased directly from the Ostgut Website. More info on Norman Nodge can be found on his Facebook Fan Page. If you're in Berlin next month you can attend the official launch party will be held at Berghain on November 10th which features Mark Broom, Redshape, Patrick Gräser (aka Answer Code Request), Ctrls, Marcel Fengler and of course Norman Nodge. Full event info can be found on Resident Advisor

Weekend Clubbing Roundup: Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, New York, Riccione, Nagoya City, Taipei

For Londoners this weekend is all about Bloc @ The London Pleasure Gardens (check the link for our preview / itinerary) but for everyone else there's still some cracking events happening worldwide. Here's our picks of some of the best of them

Berlin

Klubnacht - Panoramabar 04 Release Party @ Berghain / Panoramabar (Saturday 7th Jul 12)


Berghain - Klubnacht
23:59 - 04:00 Silent Servant
04:00 - 07:00 Luke Slater
07:00 - 10:00 Fiedel
10:00 - End Rødhåd






Panoramabar - Nick Höppner's Panoramabar 04 Release Party
Andrés
Dexter
Nick Höppner
Matthew Styles
The Mole
John McMillion (Live)


Sonntags
Will Saul b2b SCB (Scuba)
More TBA


With all the recent goings on involving the GEMA legislations the days of Berghain could be numbered, so every opportunity to spend time in the Berlin techno mecca should be taken. Especially when there's a stella line up like this and the launch party of the new Panoramabar 04 CD.

Amsterdam

Darko Esser invites two of the UK's brightest techno stars, Tommy Four Seven and Shifted, to join him at Amsterdam's Melkweg club for the latest of his Balans label parties. Doors open at 11pm, full info can be found on the Facebook Event Page

Paris

Tonight the legendary Paris venue, Rex Club, will be filled with the sounds of Technorama as DVS1 and Delta Funktionen join French local DJs Zadig and DJ Jee.


Full event info and tickets can be found on Resident Advisor

New York

Two weekends ago London was blessed with the incredible live set from Prologue's Voices From The Lake. Tonight it's New York's turn as The Bunker take over Public Assembly for another night of Pure Techno. As well as the VFTL live set, both Donato Dozzy and Neel will be performing DJ sets in the Back Room alongside Bunker resident Spinoza, while the Front Room is headed up by Detroit legend, Omar S.


Tickets for tonight's party are still available through Brown Paper Tickets

Riccione

Notte Rosa @ Cocorico (Saturday 7th Jul 12)

Chris Liebing

Len Faki

Ben Klock

Idriss D

Seuil

Andrea Arcangeli

Vault Series (Mørbeck & Subjected)

Italy gets a selection of techno heavyweights as Mr CLR joins two Berghain residents, two Grounded Theory boys and more.

Event info on Resident Advisor

Nagoya City / Taipai

This weekend the man behind the labels Do Not Resist The Beat!, The End Of All Existence and, with Henning Baer, K209, Milton Bradley makes two stops on his tour of the far east. First up tonight in Japan at Mago for Otonoko (Resident Advisor)

and tomorrow he'll be in Taipai, Taiwan at The Wall as Smoke Machine present Organik 18.

Event info on Resident Advisor

Weekend Clubbing Roundup: Detroit, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm

We've already brought you the news of We Fear Silence presents Blueprint Records @ Cable and Grounded Theory @ Arena but here's the rest of the weekends action around the globe, and it's a busy one! (I'm going to be brief otherwise I'd be here all day

Detroit

We begin in the birthplace of Techno, Detroit, for the Movement Festival. Saturday night CLR set up camp at the Hart Plaza with a headline set from Collabs (Chris Liebing & Speedy J) and support from Tommy Four Seven, Drumcell and Monoloc.


Tickets available on Resident Advisor

Interface 36 - Scene 04 - Official Movement After Party @ The Works (Sunday 27th May 10pm - 7am)


Line Up


DVS1
Cell Injection (Drumcell / Audio Injection)
Raiz (Live)
DJ Hyperactive
Kyle Geiger
Jeff Derringer


+ more. Full info and Tickets on Resident Advisor

Berlin

Klubnacht @ Berghain / Panoramabar (Saturday 26th May 12)


Berghain:
Kr!z
Ø [Phase]
Inigo Kennedy
Jonas Kopp (Live)
Boris
Henning Baer


Panoramabar:
Amirali (Live)
Tama Sumo
Ivan Smagghe
Andrew Weatherall


Sonntags:
Red D
Dinky
Oliver Deutschmann


Full info on Resident Advisor

Wax Treatment Carnival Weekend Open Air Africa Special @ Gretchen (Sunday 27th May)


Line Up


Yard (Outside) - 12:00 - 22:00:
CGB-1 (Wax Treatment)
Duncan Brooker (Honest Jons)
Adamantios Kafetzis (Teranga Beat)
Hugo Mendez (Sofrito)
Mark Ernestus presents Jeri-Jeri with Mbene Diatta Seck (Live) (Ndagga)


Box 1 (Inside) - 22:00 - end
Analog African Soundsystem - Samy Ben Redjab & Pedo Knopp
Appleblim (Apple Pips)
Shackleton (Live) (Skull Disco)
Shed (Wax Treatment)
MMM (Live)
DJ Pete (Scion Versions)


Full event info on Resident Advisor

Copenhagen

Sandwell District take over the Culture Box with a live set from Function and a DJ set from Silent Servant.


Full info on Resident Advisor

Stockholm

Finally we end our tour in Stockholm at Karbon tonight for a DJ set from Semantica boss, Svreca, and a live set from Stockholm Ltd's S100


Full event info on Resident Advisor

Weekending 24/3 Clubbing Roundup: Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Leipzig

Berlin

Jeff Mills, Axis Records 20th Anniversary @ Tresor (Friday 23rd March 12)

Globus: (Midnight - 6:30am)

Jeff Mills (Axis Records / Detroit)

Globus: Klubnacht (6:30am - onwards)

Blake Baxter (Mix Media / Detroit)

Vince Watson (Tresor Rec, Delsin / NL)

Tresor:

TAG (Tresor)

Mad Max (Tresor)

Herr Schneider (Tresor)

+4Bar:

Patrice Scott (Sistrum Recordings / Detroit)

Oskar Offermann (AIM, White)

Schoppen Wittes (Frühschoppen)

There's not many occasions in techno bigger than Jeff Mills celebrating 20 years of Axis Records at Tresor, and this weekend it's happening. He'll be marking the landmark with a 6 1/2 hour set at legendary Berlin venue, Tresor.

There's not much more to be said on this one. It opens at midnight tonight and, as is generally the case in Berlin, finishes....? Full info available on Resident Advisor

Klubnacht @ Berghain / Panoramabar (Saturday 24th March 2012)

Berghain:

DJ Pete (Ostgut Ton)

Fiedel (Ostgut Ton)

Shifted (Mote Evolver)

Luke Slater (Mote Evolver)

LADA aka Dasha Rush & Lars Hemmerling (Live) (Fullpanda)

Panoramabar:

Gerry Read (live) (Fourth Wave)

Lady Blacktronica (Sound Black)

Jenifa Mayanja (Bu-Mako)

Tama Sumo (Ostgut Ton)

Tom Kerridge (Ramp)

Sonntags:

Joy Orbison (Dold Drums)

Van Rivers (F Records)

Boris (Ostgut Ton)

nd_baumecker (Ostgut Ton)

The good times keep coming at Berghain (not that we expect anything less). Berghain sees a collection of some of todays most innovative artists supplying the soundtrack to your Saturday night / Sunday morning. This line up really lept of the page at us, so much so that we almost booked up some flights.

We recently brought you LADA's video interpretation of their 'Lostbanhof' release, now here comes the live show. Luke Slater and Shifted join them with the show is completed with the usual spattering of Berghain residents, this weekend in the form of DJ Pete and Fiedel.

Full info on Resident Advisor

Copenhagen

Most weeks when putting these roundups together, we look to the Danish capital for the next edition of the Culture Box legacy and we're rarely let down. Prologue Records' Abdulla Rashim headlines, with support from a Korridor artist showcase.

Check Resident Advisor for the rest of the info

London

After recent hectic weeks rammed full of world class techno, London's has quietened down for the weekend, but you can always rely on their being something special on the horizon. This weekend's party is care of Thunder and features one of our favourite producers, Sven Weisemann.

Advanced tickets have sold out but there will be tickets available on the door, however they are limited as the venue is on the intimate side. But that should make for a great night. Full info on Resident Advisor

Leipzig

Echolot Electronic Series Chemnitz @ Weltecho (24th March 12)

Electronic Music by:

Moritz Von Oswald (Honest Jons)

C-Beams feat. Tina (Uncanny Valley)

radio121soundsystem feat K-fog und Felde (Chemnitz)

Visuals by:

Autolum (Chemnitz)

We finish back in Germany with another of our favourite producers. Moritz Von Oswald, of Basic Channel / Rhythm & Sound fame (along with Mark Ernestus), has pretty much influenced the majority of techno you hear today. It would be a very different place had that infamous mastering studio not been set up in the heart of Berlin.

He'll be bringing his dub techno sound to the city of Leipzig as part of the Echolot Electronic Series

There's no tickets so turn up and pay on the door. Full info on Resident Advisor

Weekend Clubbing Roundup: Madrid, Geneva, New York, Berlin

The weekend has arrived and we've selected four events from around the world that we very much wish we was going to.

Madrid

I could list everyone who's playing at the 3 day festival in Madrid, but we'd be here all day. So instead we'll let the flyer do the talking. More information can be found on the Klubbers Day Website

Geneva - Friday

Zoo keeps the great techno coming. UK legend, Surgeon, joins 19.454.18.5.25.5.18 for a night of tough, industrial and probably quite experimental techno.

More info on Resident Advisor

New York - Saturday
Two of our favourite Americans, DVS1 and Silent Servant, join forces for an audio assault on National Underground in New York. The times say 11pm till ?, and knowing DVS1 as we do (especially his epic closing sets at Bergain) this could turn out to be a seriously long one!

Info on Resident Advisor

Berlin - Saturday

Klubnacht - Innervisions Überall @ Berghain (17th March 12)

Berghain - Klubnacht

Laurent Garnier pres LBS feat Scan X & Benjamin Rippert (Live) (F-Com)

Ben Klock

Marcel Fengler

Rødhåd (Dystopian)

Dixon & Ame (Techno Set) (Innervisions)

Panoramabar

Ame (DJ set + Live) (Innervisions)

Agoria (Innervisions)

Domenic Capello (Seventh Sign)

Redshape (Live) (Delsin)

Sonntags

Dixon

Lil Tony

Nick Höppner

Laurent Garnier (DJ set)

Our last stop is Berghain for the Innervisions night. It's a really interesting collection of artists spread across the two legendary rooms, but then whatever time you're there over the course of Sunday and whoever you happen to see, you rarely leave dissappointed.

More info on Resident Advisor

Monolake 'Ghosts' and The Ghosts Surround Tour 2012

At an early age Robert Henke was consumed by a want to be an engineer. Fascinated by technology and an enquiring mind, with the help of Jean Michel Jarr's 'Oxygen', he was lead to electronic music. In 1990 he moved to Berlin and began studying in the Electronic Studio for Music at the Technical University. He first started to make music, with Gerhard Behles, whilst studying Sound Engineering at the Academy For Film And Television.

Behles went on to start Ableton, where Henke later joined the team to develop the software, and help turn it into one of the most widely used digital workstations in the world today. When the pair split, Monolake became Henke's solo project. He had a number of collaborators on previous projects, including T++ who helped shape the 'Polygon_cities' album in 2004, but the last two albums have been all Henke's own work.

We turn our focus to his latest album, 'Ghosts'. The production process was a strategy based on colours and field recordings. Moving past just recording textures, he took it a stage further to begin recording percussive elements, exploring a sound designers approach.

As the title suggests, the album consists of a collection of dark, spooky and in some cases frightening sounds. Endless landscapes intertwine with jagged stabs, as the album seamlessly flows between different tempos and energy levels delivering wave after wave of sonic pleasure. But don't take my word for it. Check out the samples below...

Monolake Ghosts album preview by monolake

Tracklisting

1) Ghosts

2) Toku

3) Afterglow

4) Hitting The Surface

5) Discontinuity

6) The Existence Of Time

7) Phenomenon

8) Unstable Matter

9) Lilith

10) Aligning The Daemon

11) Foreign Object

The album will be out to buy on cd, double vinyl and digitially from the 27th February. To celebrate the release of the album there will be a tour taking place in various cities around Europe and once in New York. It kicks of at Berghain in 2 weeks time, and us lucky individuals in London will get the chance to catch the show twice. Once at the legendary fabric, next month (I still have very fond memories of watching Moritz Von Oswald Trio perform their 'Vertical Assent' album in room 1, and if it's anything like that, which we're positive it will be, then it'll be one seriously inspiring and emotional evening) and then in July at the Bloc Weekender.

As a sneak preview, Henke has let slip a video test for 'The Existence Of Time', with animations from Tarik Barri. If the soundcloud album preview above didn't get you excited for the tour, then this certainly will.

The Existence of Time from Tarik Barri on Vimeo.

Tour Dates

29th Feb: Berlin - Berghain support from Shackleton (DJ Set) Peverelist (DJ Set) Tickets

1st Mar: London - fabric support from Craig Richards (DJ Set) Peverelist (DJ Set) Tickets

9th Mar: Amsterdam - 5 Days Off Tickets

17th Mar: Spain - KlubbersDay (TBC) Tickets

20th Apr: New York - Unsound Festival

4th May: Slovenia (TBC)

6th Jun: Italy - Dancity Folignio

7th Jul: London - Bloc Tickets

29th Sep: Bologinia - Robot Festival (TBC)

More information on Monolake can be found on the Monolake Website, 'Like' him on his Facebook Fan Page or follow him on Twitter. There's plenty of stuff to explore, including all his dates, a whole host of free downloads and details of all his work. We also recommend you have a read of a recent interview he did with Todd L. Burns on Resident Advisor.

Weekend Clubbing Roundup - London, Bristol, Berlin, Copenhagen, NYC

The January blues are long forgotten and 2012 is well into the swing of things. Two weekends into February and the quality techno is coming thick and fast. We've got a number of parties happening this weekend to tell you about, spanning continents and even oceans. There's plenty to mention so I'll be brief. We kick off with our hometown....

London - Friday

Basing House is our new home for Slash Dot Dash and we're in some very good company. Two weeks ago Redshape headlined for Bread & Butter, and tonight Make Me host the man from Minneapolis, DVS1. Tickets are available from Resident Advisor

London - Saturday

fabric seemed to of stepped up their commitment to providing London with world class techno, week in week out. We've already seen the likes of Sandwell District, Sigha, Delta Funktionen and Skudge. This week sees a Berghain takeover as Norman Nodge and Ben Klock join Terry Francis in Room 2. Get your tickets at Resident Advisor

Bristol - Friday
After the big success of last weeks fabric Room 2 takeover, Hotflush take the show on the road, West down the M4 to one of the UKs most influential music cities, Bristol. Scuba, Sigha and George Fitzgerald again feature at the Lakota Club. Tickets on Resident Advisor

Berlin - Saturday

Klubnacht pres Blueprinted Berlin @ Berghain (11th Feb 12)

This event very much speaks for itself. Blueprint Records taking over Berghain! I'll let the line up do the talking. There's no tickets, just pay on the door. The club opens at Midnight and will finish.......?

Berghain - Blueprinted Berlin

23:59 - 05:00 - DVS1

05:00 - 06:00 - O/V/R (Live)

06:00 - 09:00 - James Ruskin

09:00 - 12:00 - Sigha

12:00 - End - Marcel Dettmann

Panoramabar features Cle, Blondes (Live), Bok Bok vs Jam City, Thomas Schumacher, Mano Le Tough, Ed Davenport, Oliver Deutschmann, Magda and Nick Hoppner. Full event info on Resident Advisor.

Copenhagen - Saturday

Culture Box continues to keep the big line ups coming. Saturday sees two very big Slash Dot Dash favourites in Samuli Kemppi and Dasha Rush. The intimate surroundings of the Danish club will provide the perfect setting for these two excellent artists. There's no tickets but check out the event info on Resident Advisor.

New York - Saturday

Finally we come to the end of our Weekend Roundup and we finish with something rather special happening across the pond in New York. Oktave team up with Sama to help them celebrate their 1st birthday and they do it in style. They've looked to Berlin and selected Stroboscopic Artefacts boss, Lucy, and CLR shining star, Tommy Four Seven to join Oktave resident and Perc Trax artist, Jeff Derringer at a secret location somewhere in Brooklyn. Full event info can be found on Resident Advisor.

Thanks for reading and where ever you happen to be in the world, if you go to one of our selected parties, or not, we hope you have a great time.

Mix Of The Day: Norman Nodge @ Berghain (14th Jan 12, Parts 2 & 3)

Ok so yesterdays Mix Of The Day saw the first part of Norman Nodge's opening set @ Berghain on Saturday (get it here). And since we posted that one, he's since uploaded parts 2 and 3 so to complete the set, here they are too

Berghain 14th Jan 2012 pt2 by Norman Nodge

Berghain 14th Jan 2012 pt 3 by Norman Nodge

Please see Part 1 for the links to his pages and details of his upcoming gigs

Mix Of The Day: Norman Nodge @ Berghain (14th Jan 12, Part 1)

We've just spotted this on Soundcloud, uploaded by the man himself, Norman Nodge. This is the first two hours from his four hour opening set from Saturdays Klubnacht @ Berghain. As the mix is titled part 1, it could well mean that part 2 will be along anytime soon. We'll have to wait and see.

Norman was joined by fellow Berghain resident Marcel Fengler, John Selway and a live set from Grounded Theory artists, Vault Series (Live). Check out the set below...

Berghain 14th Jan 2012 pt1 by Norman Nodge

If you want to see Norman Nodge performing at a club near you, he'll be playing at Hive Club in Switzerland on Saturday (RA), then back in Berghain on the 4th Feb (RA), Amsterdam on the 11th Feb (RA) or all you Londoners can come join us in Room 2 @ fabric on the 11th Feb as he's joined by Ben Klock (RA).

For all the rest of the info on Norman's gigs and releases head over to his Facebook Fan Page

Weekend Picks: Berlin - Grounded Theory 11, Time To Express, Klubnacht @ Berghain

If you happen to be in Berlin this weekend, you're really in for a treat. On any normal given weekend, chances are you'll be spoilt for choice, but this weekend things really are getting ridiculous. Tonight there's two options which either way will both be worth a look. Firstly it's the next edition from our friends at Grounded Theory who will be taking over Horst Krzbrg with Tadeo, a live set from the Forward Strategy Group, Jonas Kopp and GT resident Milton Bradley. The party kicks off at midnight, full event details can be found on Resident Advisor.

Time To Express labelnight @ Panoramabar Friday 30th Sep 11

23:59 - 04:00 Samuli Kemppi

04:00 - 05:00 Pendle Coven

05:00 - 08:00 Peter Van Hoesen

08:00 - close Donato Dozzy

Unfortunately things are never quite straight forward and we're throwing up a bit of a Friday night dilemma for you, because also tonight is the Time To Express label night at Panoramabar. Starting the night with a 4 hour set is a Slash Dot Dash favourite and former guest, Samuli Kemppi. Following him will be a live set from Pendle Coven and further DJ sets from Peter Van Hoesen and Donato Dozzy. Again get the rest of the info and set times on Resident Advisor.

Klubnacht @ Berghain Saturday 1st Oct 11

Berghain - Klubnacht

23:59 - 04:00 Fiedel

04:00 - 05:00 TR-101

05:00 - 08:00 Sigha

08:00 - 09:00 Henrik Schwarz (Live)

09:00 - 16:00 Ben Klock

16:00 - end DVS1 & Ben Klock

Panoramabar - Innervisions

23:59 - 05:00 Marcus Worgull

05:00 - 06:00 Ame (Live)

06:00 - 09:00 Osunlade

09:00 - 13:00 Dixon

Sonntags

13:00 - 16:00 nd_baumecker

16:00 - 19:00 Gerd Janson

19:00 - 20:00 Henrik Schwarz (Live)

20:00 - 23:59 Prins Thomas

23:59 - end Dixon, Marcus Worgull & Ame

For our final recommendation, we stay at the Berlin techno mecca that is Berghain for the clubs in house Saturday night Klubnacht. The line ups at Klubnacht are always a little bit special but tomorrow night (and Sunday and maybe Monday?) is pretty much phenomenal. Making his debut at the Berlin techno Mecca is one of London's brightest stars, Sigha. As if playing 7 hours wasn't enough for Ben Klock, he'll carry on with a b2b with DVS1, who last at Berghain played for a massive 11 hours, so god knows what time that'll finish. TR-101 is a live project from DJ Pete and Sleeparchive.

With Innervisions bringing the house up in Panoramabar and a Sonntags session of pure class with Ostgut artist nd_baumecker and the man from Robert Johnson Prins Thomas and finishing off with a b2b2b Innervisions style, its set to be an incredible weekend in the former power station. Check out the rest of the event info on Resident Advisor.

Mix Of The Day: Damon Wild - Synewave Klubnacht @ Berghain (11th Jun 11)

Ok so there's more than 1 mix of the day today but we can't help the fact that loads of good music has come to our attention all at the same time.

Last weekend saw Synewave Records take over the legendary Berlin club, Berghain. Label boss, Damon Wild recorded his mix and put it up on Mixcloud for us all

Damon Wild - Live in Berlin (June 11th, 2011 / 5:00 -6:45 AM) by Damon Wild on Mixcloud

Damon's Facebook Fan Page will tell you everything else you need to know about him.

Mix Of The Day: Peter Van Hoesen @ Berghain (6th Feb 11)

The first Klubnacht of February was a pretty special one. Big favourites of Slash Dot Dash, Stroboscopic Artefacts, were invited along to showcase the sounds of their label. A line up including Lucy, Perc, Xhin, Norman Nodge and of course Peter Van Hoesen, and that was just in Berghain.

The focus of this post is about Peter Van Hoesen. Belgium's premier techno export was handed the 4 hour period between 8am and midday, and he was nice enough to record every single minute of it and host it on soundcloud for our listening pleasure. We would of loved to of been there, but this is a very special 2nd prize.

Peter Van Hoesen at Berghain - 022011 by petervanhoesen

Mix Of The Day: Function @ Sandwell District Nacht, Berghain (24th Oct 09)

We've woke up this morning to a bit of a special treat. Last month we headed out to Berlin to catch up with the boys from Sandwell District for their label night @ Berghain. We was in there for hours and the last 3 1/2 we gave our ears to the brilliance of Function aka Dave Sumner.

Just like all the times we'd seen Function before, he was on fire. Closing out the morning and pushing us through into the afternoon before Regis stepped up to the plate.

Speaking to him before his set, Dave informed me that the Berghain soundman was gearing up to record his set, and I've been seriously looking forward to getting to hear it all over again. But unfortunately it turns out that this mix is from the 2009 Sandwell District Nacht @ Berghain, not the 2010 night. Still it's a brilliant mix, I've listened to it a few times over now and it's more than worth a listen.

You can download the mix from the following link

Sendspace

Enjoy

Ostgut Ton release new compilation as they celebrate turning fünf

Over the past five years, Ostgut-Ton has risen steadily to become one of house and techno's most respected imprints, thanks in no small part to its association with the famed Berghain/Panorama Bar. The label was first conceived by Nick Hoppner in 2003, following the closure of Berghain's predecessor, Ostgut, which was torn down to make room for Berlin's o2 Arena. Hoppner had been a resident DJ at Ostgut, and when he heard about plans to open a new location, he offered to run the club's record label. Two years later, Ostgut Ton ("Ostgut Sound") released its first CD: Berghain 01mixed by Andre Galluzzi.

The relationship between Berghain and Ostgut Ton is brought to new heights onFünf, which uses field recordings from within the club as source material for new productions. Spanning two unmixed CDs, the compilation boasts 24 previously unreleased tracks by most of Berghain and Panorama Bar's residents, plus new tunes by Emika, recent signing Ryan Elliott and Murat Tepeli with Elif Bicer. Resident Advisor caught up with him at his office within Berghain itself, and Hoppner gave them the rest of the scoop on Funf:

What can you tell me about the concept behind the compilation?

Well, it wasn't really my idea. I was thinking about our five-year anniversary compilation already a year ago. I didn't like the thought of doing it like everyone else–maybe a mix through the back catalog and a few exclusive new tracks by some key artists... I wanted something more special. Then a while ago I met Ema Jolly, she’s making music herself on Ninja Tune, as Emika. We sat together one day last summer and she told me about her last visit to Berghain. It was a regular Sunday morning and she noticed how everything in the building was resonating and vibrating and swinging and humming–she realized that there were lot of sounds coming from the building itself. That led to the idea of doing field recordings within the building while it's not open to the public. She had access to everything, the cooling rooms, storage rooms, the PA rooms... Our in-house technicians helped her mic the lighting rigs, they recorded the strobelight flashing, the fridges humming... They recorded impulse responses in the space of Berghain and built a reverb plug-in from that. It took about two or three weeks, then she took home tons of rough field recordings and edited them down to a library which she organized into different groups: downstairs, cloakroom, toilets, water, glasses, swings... whatever she has recorded... It was a four gigabyte library.

How strictly did the artists stick to that sound-bank when they were producing their tracks?

Some more, some less. We’ve got a few tracks where you can hardly tell, but every track contains a sound from the club one way or another. The tracks by Marcel Dettmann and Magaret Dygas, for example, rely on the sounds to a very big extend and it really shows. Then you’ve got other tracks where they have just put some hums in the sampler and tuned it and pitched it and copied so it's kind of turned into a pad that sounds like a regular synthesizer. We didn’t place any restrictions on the use of it, we just said "take these sounds and do something with it."

Why was that concept important for the compilation?

People always talk about how the club influences the music, so it was interesting to see what kind of music you can actually make with sounds from the club, you know ? It’s kind of a play on the relationship between the architecture and the label and the really close relationship of the label and the club itself.

Berghain and Ostgut Ton have both become a lot more popular over the past two or three years. How has that affected the label?

I don't think it's really affected the content of the label. It's up to our artist completely. Whatever they wanna do, they do, I hardly ever intervene, I was never in a situation where I had to say "Sorry you can’t do that." Basically our concept is more of a social one than an aesthetic one. The idea was to set up the label as a platform for our resident artists, and that's what we’re still doing... Of course what has changed is that we are putting out a lot more music these days and there is a lot more work and responsibility and deadlines to meet. It has become more of a business. I would say that everyone is feeling some sort of pressure, but not in a negative way. It’s just there. We have to try to keep the good work and that’s basically it!

The label has been expanding out from the club a bit recently, for instance you've had label nights in Tokyo and at Space and the quarterly residency at the Bunker. Is that just an experiment something that you think will continue?

Part of it is an experiment I would say, but I’m not so familiar with the thought behind the booking policy. I don't think that we would expand to a huge extent. But the relationship with the Bunker for example is something that will go on. It’s a very nice working relationship with the people promoting it and everyone who has played there really really enjoyed it. So I don't see why this should stop any time soon. And the rest... yeah I don’t know. I’m sure people from the club and the label will continue to travel to Japan but I don’t know about regular residencies or label nights. At the moment it’s kind of a new phase where a lot of possibilities open up, but we’re aware of the traps of it.

So even though you're expanding, Berghain the resident DJs will always be the foundation of the label?

Oh totally. You know, I could have found so many great artists already because people give me amazing music all the time, but we have to turn it down because we have so many in-house artists and it’s hard to meet everyone’s needs. More of our residents are producing their own music now, like nd_Baumecker is about to release a collaboration with with Sam Barker, AKA Voltek, and he wants to continue to do music for us, so that's another artist we have in our family now. Tama Sumo is starting to do her own stuff--so far she only did music with Prosumer, but she has her first solo track on the compilation. Boris also has his first solo track on the compilation and I guess sooner or later they will do their own 12-inches for the label. So yeah, I think it will always stay within the family. And of course, I mean, even if everyone of us enjoys playing parties abroad in different cities I think all agree that playing here in Panorama Bar and Berghain is still one of the best thing that ever happened to us. There is no place like home (laughs). I don’t see what that should change.

A lot of clubs and labels have been suffering in the past few years, due partly to the economy and the state of the vinyl market. Have Berghain and Ostgut Ton felt any effects from this at all?

I’m not the right person to talk about the economics behind the club, but just from what I’m feeling I don’t think so to be honest. The place is full most of the time, but I'm not sure... Speaking for the label, I can say that vinyl sales for us are still a bit higher than for other labels I’m aware of, but it’s constantly going down. It’s not getting better. It’s slowly but surely getting worst, and the digital doesn’t really make up for it. We’re not losing money, but we’re not making a lot of money either.

Are there any other releases in the pipeline that you can reveal at this time?

Yes. We've got the debut of nd_Baumecker with Sam Barker coming up in three weeks. At the end of September there will be a new Marcel Fengler 12-inch, then in November it's a Ben Klock 12-inch. At the end of January, early February probably we’ll do Steffi's debut album. And new Panorama Bar mix by Prosumer next year, then a Marcel Fengler Berghain mix CD. Probably a new album with Luke Slater at the end of 2011 and the rest is still to be thought about.

Five years on, what are the label's long term ambitions?

I think the long term ambition is to stay interesting and relevant with the concept we are following. People are very picky and choosy and their music. Everyone has his tastes and a very high standard of quality. Just maintaining this level of quality is our ambition I guess. Keep it interesting, and whatever that might actually mean remains to be seen. I don't know where we'll actually be in 10 years. Of course I hope we will be here but whatever happens in between in the meantime… I don’t know. We’ll try our best, that’s for sure.

Fünf will also be available as a pack of seven 12-inches, though some tracks are exclusive to the CD release. Naturally, the compilation will be launched with a weekend-long bash at Berghain and Panorama Bar, featuring many of the label's core artists, including Shed, Marcel Dettmann, Steffi, Prosumer, Tama Sumo and more.

Tracklist
CD1
01. Emika - Cooling Room
02. Marcel Fengler - Shiraz
03. Prosumer - Daybreak
04. Substance - Gestalts
05. Ryan Elliott - Abatis
06. Nick Höppner - ISP
07. Marcel Dettmann - Shelter
08. Fiedel - Doors To Manual
09. Shed - Boom Room
10. Steffi - My Room
11. Dinky - Twelve To Four
12. Len Faki - Kraft Und Licht

CD2
01. Barker & Baumecker - Drin
02. Marcel Dettmann - Scourer
03. SCB – Down Moment
04. Tama Sumo – Iron Glance
05. Murat Tepeli feat. Elif Biçer – Hold On
06. Soundstream – Wenn Meine Mutti Wüsste
07. Cassy – Never Give Up On A Mood Swing
08. Ben Klock – Bear
09. Norman Nodge – Start Up
10. Luke Slater – Boom Tang Shwuck
11. Boris - Rem
12. Margaret Dygas – Qunitet

Fünf will be released on Ostgut Ton on the 25th October 2010. Keep up to date with Ostgut Ton via their Website and on their Myspace page