Berlin

Latest from Berlin

Video interview: Marcel Dettmann, Berghain resident

Berghain resident DJ Marcel Dettmannhttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif has had a phenomenal year with major releases on Beatstreethttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_l.gif, Brut !http://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_l.gif and his own Marcel Dettmann Recordshttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_l.gif having paved a darker, more stripped back techno sound that others have now followed.

His recent remix of Modeselektor ‘The Black Block’ (listen to it in the player after the jump) is a prime example of his ability to create futuristic techno rhythms that keep the mind busy as the body moves, and being drafted in to mix the ‘Berghain 02’ compilation in June can’t have hurt his international reputation.

Pioneer’s marketing website DJsounds.com managed to score a rare video interview with Dettmann at Berlin’s legendary techno institution Berghain, although from the footage it’s clear they went when the club wasn’t officially open (Berghain has a very strict no-cameras policy inside).

Popkomm Berlin: 10 Artists from 10 Countries Beatport party

Hailed as the biggest music industry fair in the world, Popkomm brings together more than 400 solo artists, bands and DJs playing in over 25 official locations.

Next weekend on October 9th at Weekend Club Berlin, Beatport and Groove Magazine team up to showcase the current and hottest sounds of electronic music, with a party highlighting 10 different artists from 10 different countries.

This night is promising to be an excursion into the multi-dimensional and cross-cultural showcases of exciting talent in electronic music from around the world.

Sweden’s Minilogue, France’s Danton Eeprom, UK’s LA Synthesis and plenty more will be there to share the grooves. 

Click through for the full line-up.

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Ricardo Villalobos compiles his two-part ‘Vasco EP’ on CD

These days the CD format is the king of kings when it comes to the music of Ricardo Villaloboshttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif.

Simply because once you press that play button, you can get lost in his psychedelic excursions into the trippiest corners of the techno and house universe without having to flip the record every now and then.

And once in a while there is a track that Ricardo Villalobos finds worthy to be released in its entire length - like his epic ‘Fizheuer Zieheuer’, a mesmerizing 40-minute odyssey.

Well, there is another time-defying epic about to be unleashed.

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Gaiser to release debut album on Minus

Following the footsteps of labelmate Heartthrobhttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif, who released his first longplayer ‘Dear Painter, Paint Me’ a few months ago, (Jon) Gaiserhttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif is about to release his debut album on Minushttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_l.gif in November.

At the beginning of the year the Minus posse announced ‘10 weeks of silence’, a period in which none of the Minus artists performed live or got behind the turntables to focus on spending time in the studio, having a personal life and whatnot.

Check out the tracklist to ‘Blank Fade’ after the break.

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Jay Haze US tour announced

For the first time since he left his homeland, Berlin-based producer Jay Haze is about to go on an extensive tour throughout North America, promoting his new album ‘Love and Beyond’, which came out a few months ago [check out the album and the tour-dates after the jump].

He also found the time to shoot a little interview at his studio in Berlin, where he sat down and answered a few frequently asked questions. In true Jay Haze style.

Hitler wins, Contakt comes to Berlin

Following the Führer’s outburst last week on YouTube, Richie Hawtin and the Minus gang have decided to present their Contakt show in Berlin on October 11th.

The special Contakt club events, that celebrate Minus’ 10 year anniversary, are collaborative performances that see Magda, Troy Pierce, Gaiser, Heartthrob and Marc Houle play live together, whilst Richie Hawtin commands it all through a giant mixer.

Some of the Minus artists play live, and some of them DJ, and somehow Richie Hawtin’s giant brain manages to combine all the separate audio channels into one electronic music masterpiece.

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Top label: Mojuba

Looking back, 2005 was a good year for house music.

Why?

Dixon started Innervisions as his own offshoot in the Sonar Kollektiv family, releasing Ame’s now classic ‘Rej’, Carl Craig remixed Theo Parrish’s ‘Falling Up’, and Don Williams started Mojubahttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_l.gif [check out Mojuba’s backcatalogue after the jump].

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Innervisions Laptop Sleeve

A while ago Berlin based house label Innervisions struck a chord with their “House, House And More F*cking House” t-shirts.

Now it’s time for another fancy artifact of Innervisions wear:

Say hello to a leather laptop sleeve.

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Get Physical starts digital label

Berlin’s Get Physical has started a digital-only sub-label called ‘Get Digital’.

The first release will be a collaborative effort by Crosstown Rebel’s Jamie Jones and Infant Record’s Simon Baker.

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Back in the day: Thomas Fehlmann with Palais Schaumburg live in 1981

Recently I’ve been re-reading Jürgen Teipel’s awesome book ‘Verschwende Deine Jugend’.

It’s the oral history of the emerging German punk and new wave scene at the end of the ‘70s and early ‘80s, the German counterpart to Legs McNeils and Gillian McCain’s ‘Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History Of Punk’.

A lot of people who became integral players in electronic music are interviewed in this book, and Thomas Fehlmann is one of them [read more after the jump].

Paul Kalkbrenner rocks Locarno Film Festival

In four weeks ‘Berlin Calling’ will open in cinemas across Germany.

In this movie Bpitch Control’s Paul Kalkbrenner plays the leading role - his first steps as an actor.

Until then, there is quite a bit of promotion to do like going to film festivals like the Locarno festival, for instance.

Tracklisting for ‘Watergate 02’ mixed by Sascha Funke

A month ago we announced that Bpitch Control’s Sascha Funkehttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif was asked to mix the second edition of Watergate’s freshly started mix-CD series.

Now, we can reveal the tracklisting of the mix. Check it out after the jump.

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Interview with Stefan Goldmann

The Berlin-based producer Stefan Goldmann has always had a thing for eerie soundscapes and textures.

For his debut album which is coming out in September, he explored this love for dark ambient and multi-layered soundscapes even further, taking it beyond the dancefloor.

‘Voices Of The Dead’ as the album is aptly called, dives deep into the realm of multi-layered sound experimentation and electro-acoustic composition. Showing the producer’s experimental side on a full-length album.

But of course there is also the dance music producer Stefan Goldmann, who produced hits like ’Sleepy Hollow’ or ’Lunatic Finge’, which moved dancefloors worldwide.

After giving it a little thought, the Macro label boss combined both aspects of his productions on two CDs.

So we have the compilation of his dance tracks, previously only available on vinyl on one CD – which is called ‘The Transitory State’, and the second CD (‘Voices Of The Dead’), which features his take on electro-acoustic composition.

Reasons enough to ask him a few questions.

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Magda: “Minimal techno is mainstream”

Since her move to Berlin in the early naughties Magdahttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif has become one of the world’s biggest techno DJs riding the crest of the boom in underground music.

The Minushttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gifhttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_l.gif star takes a break from her insane touring schedule to answer some questions about her life on the road and why minimal is going all “ticky-ticky-ticky-ticky.”

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New Deadbeat album in October

After four albums for Berlin’s ~scape Records, Scott Monteith, aka Deadbeathttp://www.beatportal.com/images/site/misc/wiki_box_a.gif, delivers his follow up to last years’ ‘Journeyman Annual’ via Vancouver’s Wagon Repair.

His newest full length is entitled ‘Roots And Wires’ and will be released in October.

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