Feature: The Party Lover, Damian Schwartz

Feature: The Party Lover, Damian Schwartz

12 November, 2008 | 10.57AM

• Written by: Lee Smith
• Filed under: Music News: cmyk music, mupa, net28

At the relatively youthful age of 26, Madrid’s Damian Schwartz has already established himself as a key player on the European minimal scene, with his releases for his own Net28 and Mupa labels garnering praise from the likes of Hawtin, Villalobos and many more.

With his hotly-tipped debut LP ‘Party Lovers’ already causing a stir in underground circles, we caught up with Damian to chat about Spanish techno, the nu-deep house craze, and his ambitions for the future.

Techno Espana

When it comes to techno, Spain occupies a rather strange place in the international league of nations. Despite being home to mega-festivals like Sonar and Benicassim, not to mention Ibiza, there have been relatively few artists, DJs and labels to emerge from its sun-kissed climes.

Over the last few years however, a tightly knit circle of Madrid-based artists have started to shift the balance, with notable exports like Alex Under and his good friend Damian Schwartz making waves outside the Castilian motherland.

“It’s strange, but true,” confirms Schwartz when we catch him on his way to a gig in Belfast, Northern Ireland. “I started going out here in 1998, and although there were many nice clubs, there were very few producers.

“There was like Oscar Mulero, and maybe three or four others. But during the last few years, the government has been pushing down harder on the clubs, the drugs, and so on. So now there are less clubs but more producers – I think many people are staying in their homes and making music instead of going out all the time.”

The son of Argentinian political refugees, Schwartz has been surrounded by music for as long as he can remember.

“Always, there was music,” he recalls. “My mum did a lot of parties with her friends, and always when we woke up, there was music in the house, so yes, it was always there. I started to learn drums aged 11 or 12, and although I played for three or four years, I never learned harmony or anything. I always studied on my own, which is something I’ve continued with until today – I need to have total control.”

After a teenage spell dabbling in hip-hop and funk, Schwartz received his dance music epiphany at the tender age of 16.

“It was in Madrid, in a small club called Solar,” he fondly remembers. “At that time, it didn’t matter if it was house or techno – they played everything from Jeff Mills to Larry Heard, soulful stuff through to hard techno. It was the first club that really blew my mind.

“I kind of began with the hard sounds, then moved into more Latin house. But I’ve always tried to be really open to all music – I don’t really care about the style. I just care about the message.”

Soon enough, Damian hooked up with Alex Under, who at that time ran the local record store and was in the process of setting up his fledgling CMYK imprint.

“There was not much happening in Spain for labels or producers then,” says Damian, “but Alex was convinced we could do it. So I thought that maybe I could do something too - maybe I could have a release. It was always like, if you were from Spain, everyone thought you couldn’t do anything like the other countries were doing. But now that is finally changing.”

In the House

As Under’s early records began to strike the right chords with big name jocks like Ricardo Villalobos and Richie Hawtin, Schwartz oversaw the development of the pair’s album-only Mupa imprint for more club-based tracks.

Skip forward to 2008, and Schwartz’s hotly anticipated debut album ‘Party Lovers’ looks set to establish him as a force to be reckoned with, with its slinky blend of nefarious minimalism and organic, sub-heavy house slotting neatly into the current groove-orientated climate [listen to it in the player below].

“I think the album is coming out at the right moment. Everything is changing towards a house groove. I’ve actually had the album ready for nearly a year – we moved distributors from Intergroove to Kompakt so we had to keep delaying it.

“But I think it’s better, because everything changed a lot this year. I think it works for the new mood of today.”

Why does he think the mood of the times has changed so dramatically?

“For me, it’s simple. The people needed more groove. It’s just obvious. Many of the recent minimal releases were a really straight groove - really cold sounding.

“I always tend to have more groove, more black soul influences. Of course, I’ll always like certain kinds of minimal – stuff like Dan Bell, with big basses and grooves – but after the last few years, I think people really needed some kind of soul and funk in the music. They were missing it, and that’s why it’s re-appearing.”

Nonetheless, Damian’s quick to distance himself from the increasingly conservative house-by-numbers sound that’s started to become prevalent of late.

“Actually, I’m a bit sad about a lot of the housey things now,” he admits. “Lots of labels are falling into the trap of just putting out deep house vibes and not moving anywhere. It’s just like house from ’96, and nothing else. It’s lazy!”

Band of Brothers

Fortunately, Schwartz is anything but lazy, maintaining a packed DJ schedule while overseeing his two labels, as well as his regular remix and production work. He’s even found time to return to his beloved drum kit.

“Yeah, I’m doing something with my brother’s band,” he reveals. “We are trying to make something now, but it’s just at the beginning.

“In the near future, we want to do some kind of disco stuff with live instruments, kind of a ‘70s thing but with a modern edge, perhaps more in my style. We’ll see. I’d also like to try being a producer for bands, or maybe more experimental stuff - like what Herbert is doing.”

Fans of the Schwartz’s four-to-floor thump need not fear, however.

“I would love to go in other directions, but I don’t think I will ever be bored of dance music. I talk to some other artists, like Thomas Koner or Luomo and they always think that dance music is for getting the money – they like it, but it’s not their first thing. But for me, it’s one of the most important things – I love nice clubs, I love connecting with the people and making them dance. I love that hypnotic process.”

Whatever the future may hold, it seems that for Damian Schwartz, the party’s only just begun.

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• 'Party Lovers' on Beatport