Dispatches from DJ T.’s world tour

Dispatches from DJ T.’s world tour

9 July, 2009 | 10.58AM

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: Music News: dj t, dj t blog, get physical music

DJ T. stands in his apartment in Berlin’s Mitte district surrounded by walls of vinyl.

“So I’m in my forties now,” he says, grinning like a cheeky schoolboy. “In some ways I feel really old, but in other ways I still feel like a young boy.”

Age can’t stop DJ T.. At his 40th birthday party and album launch at Panorama Bar on Sunday, Mr. Koch DJed with a glowstick in his mouth. In a few hours the Get Physical founder will begin a grueling six month world tour in support of his brand new album ‘The Inner Jukebox’ (he will send weekly blog dispatches from the road exclusively for Beatportal throughout). And tonight, he will stream a live DJ set broadcast from Hungary’s Balaton festival via Awdio.

DJ T. sits down at his desktop and starts scanning through pages on Beatport. “I’m addicted to looking through the charts right now, because my album just came out,” he says. “And it’s really exciting to see so many of the tracks rising through the charts already.”

“Look!” he says, pointing at the screen. “In the tech house Top 100, ‘Dis’ is at No.10, ‘Shine On’ is at No.15, ‘Bateria’ is at No.22, ‘Rituality’ is at No.42, another mix of ‘Dis’ is at 52, and ‘Gorilla Hug’ is at 90. I’ve never seen an album do so well.”

He holds his hand above his head and says “High five!”.

There’s so much we could talk about, like his past life as the editor and publisher of Germany’s highly respected Groove Magazine before he sold it in 2004, his founding of the Get Physical label with Booka Shade and M.A.N.D.Y., his 30 plus years of collecting vinyl, his expansive record collection, his knowledge of the forever evolving world of electronic music, and his album. But that would ruin his blog.

For the next three months T will be on the road every weekend, but will be returning to Berlin after each trip like a typical busy DJ. But from October, he will be on the road in far flung lands like Asia and South America for three months straight.

Now that’s dedication to the job. “Well I’ve sacrificed a lot for this,” he says, showing me to the front door. “I have no personal life.”

On the way out, I pass three crates full of Becks beer.

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