A chance meeting with an art curator at Schneiders Laden in Berlin led to an unlikely connection to Sam Barker aka Barker who listened to a track of JakoJako’s on Soundcloud and immediately took a shine to the unassuming showroom technician. Life has changed quite a bit since then for JakoJako, real name Sibel Koçer, and has established herself as a prolific, multi-faceted producer and live performer. Not only that, she can really bang it in a club too and has been snaffled up by Berghain to become one of the latest members of the Ostgut Booking family.
Since picking up her first pair of turntables, Koçer has been living, breathing, and making music and has the same amount of love for machines as she did on her first day working at the shop. Shrinking availability means she can no longer spend as much time working in the showroom test driving new modules with customers, but still remains dedicated and works 1 day per week without fail. It’s not so bad though as, in her own words, when she’s not in the shop or performing, she’s at home creating tracks, tweaking live sets, digging for tracks for DJ gigs or talking about gear.
Pre-pandemic she was bubbling up, playing regular shows in Berlin and we even tried to book her for a cancelled Inverted Audio event. Despite club closures, the downtime seemed to work in her favour. She took part in a series of filmed interviews in which she opened up about modular synths, her workflow, and her passion for nerding out and arpeggiators. She also performed live on HÖR as part of a Leisure System showcase. As a result, she opened up a door to many about the world of modular synthesis, breaking down the complexity and the overly geeky image that modular once had.
Like many producer-come-DJs, the pandemic was a period of serenity, a time to truly reflect and hone a sound that has made JakoJako’s releases instantly recognisable through their melody, harmonic elements, a love of acid basslines and ambient textures. In the past 2 years alone her solo work has been prolific, but collaborations and long-lasting partnerships with some of Berlin’s regular faces have allowed her to break free from her own detailed production methods. She released ‘Lux‘ EP through Leisure System, shared a collaborative LP with Rodhad on WSNWG earlier this summer and has contributed tracks to some hefty compilations like ‘Tresor 30‘ and BPitch Control’s ‘We Are Not Alone‘.
We wanted to avoid duplication of simple tech talk about her studio, so we ventured into different territories that she hasn’t opened up about before: the Leisure System connection, how she deals with Instagram nerds, her artist name, collaborations and who she’d most like to jam with in the studio.
We also asked her, natürlich, about the mix she delivered. From her perspective, it was a chance to consciously move away from the 4/4 floor or melodic techno she has been accustomed to playing as a new Berghain resident to something more downtempo, breaky and mixed up the rhythm patterns. There are tonnes of breaks, polyrhythms and experimental tracks from artists quite distant from the bleak hard techno world. Slickback, Pugilist, ZULI and Antagonist pop up against JakoJako herself and Barker in a smooth blend that will give you some wake-up tonic after a weekend in the club.
Interview by Luke Hawkins
"I like to use as much new music as possible but if it is in between something that feels right and fits together with older, timeless tracks, then I don’t have a problem with that"
What was the concept behind your mix?
I was immediately thinking of faster something faster, breaky stuff rather than straight techno. I wanted to start a little more chill with some downtempo tracks then move into 80/160bpm polyrhythmic stuff. I recorded the mix nice and cosy sitting down at home.
Is there a specific setup you like to use when recording mixes?
Yes, I have this very cheap little Pioneer DDJ400 at home. It’s easy for me to prepare a mix this way with Rekordbox in front of me at home. In the other room, I have some XDJs and a mixer which I also sometimes use. Sometimes it depends on the time of the day and the neighbours too.
During an interview this year with Keno Mescher on WDR you mentioned you still had essentially a bedroom and studio in the same room. Is that still the case?
Yes, I moved from Mitte to Friedrichshain after almost 8 years due to personal circumstances but in the end, it’s just the same situation only with higher ceilings [laughs]. It means unfortunately a little bit less tight acoustics so I am now thinking about some sound treatment.
Have you upgraded the core studio pieces in any way?
I’ve got new monitors, these Adam A-Series which are calibrating themselves into the room but I think I need a panel for the roof and some other reflections like bass traps on the side. Let’s see if I have time to build them myself with some friends or if I have to get a company to do it for me.
A question for all those Berliners with 3-metre high ceilings. What’s the main benefit of treating a room this way?
Without them, you compensate with loudness as the sound gets lost in the room. It means I don’t have to turn everything so loud and I have more clarity in the sound. It also removes these annoying fluctuations.
Have you already made a start with renovations?
In October when I take some months off from gigs I will make a start on the treatment as I want to use this time to make new music.
Were you always planning to take this time off?
As I have been travelling so much I haven’t touched my studio unless I have been preparing for a live set but now the machines are full of tracks I want to record.
You have been playing regularly since clubs reopened earlier this year. Has this been a big lifestyle change for you with more travelling?
Definitely, it has. I have to get used to it though and I am not as organised as other people. I am also not so strict in a way that I don’t like arriving at gigs, performing and leaving straight after. I like to see who plays before and after me and for example if there is someone playing who I really admire I want to give their set a proper listen. I am sleeping less of course and need to be stricter with myself about that but it’s nice if a crew gave me a chance to play amongst a wide selection of acts and there are acts I really also want to hear.
Has the line started to blur between artist/performer and your day job?
I have to deal with my day job and resting and making sure I eat healthily. I have to learn somehow!
How much attention do you pay to the lineup Itself or even the venue when you are preparing a live or DJ set?
I definitely check out the other artists who are playing. Often you know them, but if it’s locals it’s super nice to learn about them. If I haven’t played at a venue or with a promoter before I tend to ask friends if they have and they usually say “yeah, cool crowd, cool venue” or whatever [laughs].
When I am at the venue, and I am playing live, I like to do a sound check with the help of the sound technician. This is my go-to person as they know the room the best & the most important person [for my preparation]. I trust their opinion.
Do you take more care to prepare for a live set or a concert than you would for a DJ set?
I actually prepare a lot for DJ sets.
How do you organise tracks before a DJ set?
I always try to look for as much new music as I can to keep it exciting for myself. Normally I would have a few tracks planned at the beginning that I’ll play and I will know how I will end and in between it is a little bit wischiwaschi [laughs]. I do order in key though so I don’t have to think too much about that I can create a journey but it’s not super strict.
It’s quite common amongst trance DJs to organise by key to ensure harmony during transitions from track to track but not often do I hear that a techno DJ also does this.
I do have a lot of trance elements in my sets but nothing like fast/hard trance or anything like this. It’s more like pads, lush things, arpeggiators and so on. But I have these little combinations of tracks that complement each other very well, using it as a base to mix and match tracks.
Would you describe your techno sets as melodic rather than percussion-based techno?
I am not playing these super melodic happy vibes I just have lots of tonal elements and I want them to be there. Even if it’s just a bassline and it’s rolling/groovy and it has a note I would want this to fit with the next melody I am putting in [from the next track]. Sometimes it can sound a bit crap which is why I prefer organising by key.
I know you were self-taught through books on music. Do you feel you were at a disadvantage learning about scales, melody and harmony through books vs. classical music training?
I am not sure books have helped me but I think I am a bit more patient and take my time in order to get somewhere that sounds good, either in production, live set or DJing. I am not classically trained but at school, I had classes for guitar and when I was an adult I took a few piano classes but my Russian teacher was a little bit too strict for me [laughs] so I stopped and lost the enjoyment of it. I think I learned enough though.
What I learned from books were scaling tools, quantizer’s and stuff so that I can kind of get a scale in my synthesizer and you can press any note and it will correct it for you. Through this, I learned this scale is this one, that scale is that one. I got my own real system to learn..maybe it would have been easier to go the classical way.
Do you feel you have more pressure to prepare well as a new resident when you play at Berghain versus clubs outside of Berlin?
I have celebrated here a lot and I know what the vibe is and what I would need on a dancefloor so it’s kind of easy for me to choose the tracks. There is pressure, especially when really good DJs are playing before and after me, so I feel then I definitely need to deliver. When I play at Berghain I usually start with one song then I build a pool of tracks over the 4 weeks [until I next play] and this is how I will build my sets. It changes if I play in a dark club or an open-air for example.
How does it feel to be one of Berghain’s latest residents considering your connection and history with the club?
It’s not quite sunk in yet. I’m still processing it. I can say, working for such a professional and well-established organisation motivates me a lot. It’s also a big honour to be supported by such a place and to work with this dedicated team of people.
"When I play at Berghain I usually start with one song then I build a pool of tracks over the 4 weeks [until I next play] and this is how I will build my sets. It changes if I play in a dark club or an open-air for example"
You mentioned twice that now you like to hunt down new music. Does that mean you are not much of a digger? How often do you look back to find some techno gems?
I like to use as much new music as possible but if it is in between something that feels right and fits together with older, timeless tracks, then I don’t have a problem with that.
Most people will be more familiar with you as a live performer and there have been many video interviews specifically around your production setup & live performances, but when did you actually start DJing?
I knew how to DJ a long time before I made music and started in my home town with friends who were doing it but they were more into minimal techno. I was into tech house when it was cool and didn’t really know about techno then. I was never really interested in the performance element of DJing as some of the [well-known] DJs I knew at the time I didn’t really like. I thought the whole thing was a bit too macho for me. I wanted to stick with the nerds and the producers, and this was my interest anyway.
Where did the name JakoJako come from actually?
It’s not from the sports brand. My second name is Jacqueline and some old friends made a joke and called me ‘Jako’ many years ago. I created a SoundCloud account purely for listening to music and ‘Jako’ was already taken so I used a double Jako [laughs].
So how or where did this nerdy curiosity begin?
I had a friend who was always fixing monitors, speakers or doing a little bit of circuitry or whatever and it was more interesting than being the cool drunk master mixing the tracks! Just to clarify this is not the majority of DJs [laughs] and I have met so many since then who are the total opposite.
How did you get involved with Leisure System?
It was a funny story I was working at Schneiders Laden every day and lots of musicians were coming to the shop, around 80% of them are just hobby musicians, and the remaining 20% and professional musicians and making a living from it. Serious musicians that are working with a modular synthesizer. One of those customers was Sam Barker (aka Barker) and he normally knows what he wants, goes to one person on the desk, picks up the module, has a little chat and leaves. He would not go to the showroom and try out things or ask you questions. This was my position at the time just explaining to customers what to plug in where etc.
One day an art curator Emer came in and asked some questions and she was fascinated by what she’d seen. She asked if I was also making music and I gave her my Soundcloud link she was crashing at Sam’s place and asked him if she could play my tracks and somehow they did and this is how I got his attention. The next time he came in, a month or two later, he told me that he’d heard my track on Soundcloud and liked it, and then invited me to play on a Red Bull Radio show with him and Golden Medusa. After this radio show, they asked me if I wanted to release it on the label.
Was that the first connection to Golden Medusa too?
Yes, I didn’t know her before.
Do you have any role in the logistics or operation of the label Itself?
No, not really, I am part of the label as an artist.
Is a release coming up for you on Leisure System?
I have something in mind for the label in October. It will be some more broken beat and experimental than I would make for other labels. As I said my machines are full of tracks and I have different kinds of sets, one is kind of breaky, one set is straight techno and one set is more ambient and melodic. I will try to document these sets somehow so that they are recorded as tracks and somehow try to think about how to move on to the next chapter and leave these [sets] behind. But yeah I am planning to do more with Leisure System.
It’s great as I am kind of free and can do whatever I want and it’s really cool but that also means it takes a little bit more time for me to think about what exactly is it I want to do.
Leisure System also ran a really cool party series here at Säule and Berghain. Are the crew planning to run more parties in the coming months?
A lot of people are asking me this and they are missing Leisure System parties but I am not too involved in all the organisational stuff. Not sure what the delay is or why it’s not happening anymore as I would love to play again. It was always fun and had a different vibe, never so crowded but the people who were there were musically knowledgeable, knew who was playing, and knew the tracks people were playing it was a bit nerdier!
Is there an artist you would love to play with on the same lineup?
It’s happening soon. I am a huge Rrose fan and we are playing together in August in Fuse in Brussels. I am also a huge fan of Tobias – fortunately, this happened already and I started my set with a Tobias. track at Berghain. There are lots of live artists I would love to see and do a long jam with.
I am also really excited about Colin Benders playing next weekend at the same festival I am at. He’s playing a 10-hour set! I hope I don’t end up staying for the whole 10 hours [laughs].
How do people do 10-hour DJ sets?
I don’t really know. I think you need to start with ambient or start with techno and end with ambient so that there are 4 hours or so of really relaxing stuff so that you can lay on your back. If I were playing alone for this set I would have certain sections: somewhere I could stand, I could sit, somewhere I could lie down. But I don’t know how I could do it.
Apart from a massive amount of drugs I am not sure either!
If someone would play 10 hours of pure banging techno you would have to be really creative with rhythms so it’s not boring and you only have two hands. Maybe loops, macro controls or something…I don’t know! 10 hours ambient might be ok with some self-generated patches, getting a coffee, doing some stretches and so on.
Moving on to Schneiders Laden… it’s quite well known about your job that you have there. Have you had to reduce your hours in the shop due to a more intensive gig schedule?
Yes. Fortunately, Schneider is a cool person and I can shift things around. Now I have 1 day of the week where I am there and if I have the capacity I can do more but at the moment I can’t do more. If I could I would do more. Everybody working there is chilled and patient.
Do you still get the same buzz working there and have the same passion as when you started?
I do yes I really love it. If I could manage my things better at home and time for preparing sets I would be there more often as it’s so much fun. You have the latest gear and you can make patches at work, speak about music all day long and feels like free time so actually, it’s not a big effort for me to work there. It’s also fun and we drink beers together after work.
Not many people could say the same about their job I guess and it’s nice to be able to go home, make music and be able to go to clubs too.
Yeah, it’s pretty cool.
Do you get a lot of questions from nerdy people via Instagram?
And guest list requests [laughs].
How do you navigate all the requests about which module does what and how this or that oscillator works?
It’s getting better. People are still asking me but sometimes I am having long conversations on my phone through Instagram and I am sure other people feel that they don’t want to chat all day on this platform. I don’t have time to reply to everything and it can be quite stressful. Sometimes I forget to reply and the messages just pile up. But when I have time then I try to reply to people who I know who are seriously interested in me or the modules.
If there is a specific question that I can help them answer in one sentence. If they ask “hey I saw you changed your filter from Happy Nerding to Joranalogue. How is the ping and would you do your percussion with the pings of the filter?” I can help. But it’s pressure on me when lots of people want something from you.
It must be stimulating for you to talk about your passion though?
Yeah, I love to talk about that stuff. “How have you done the bouncing ball in Kambo? Was it just a patch of Make Noise?” I say “yes, it’s really easy to do it I used this oscillator.” But if someone asks me again about monitor stands I am using…!
Your popularity is likely to grow, and you’ll undoubtedly attract more followers so how will you know when to draw the line and politely bring a conversation to an end?
Actually, I am not answering so much, when I feel like answering I do it. Sometimes there are people coming from really far away, somewhere you don’t have a Schneiders Laden you simply have internet access and you can see they are not hustling, they don’t want to get famous, they want a question answered where maybe they failed on a forum. I can see if someone has given the effort and then I will be supportive.
There is one Indian guy who is asking me how I made a track and I help him as there is nothing to lose. I sometimes get samples from manufacturers [to test] that are not released yet and they are considering getting it and it costs a lot of money to invest I have been in the position, checking something 10 times before deciding to buy or not. This is normally how I prioritise who I should reply to.
"The synthesizer world is male-dominated so when a woman comes along everyone is in love and wants to help, which can be annoying as well"
Do you interact with the modular community outside of Instagram and the shop?
I have accounts on Modular Grid and other forums in which I don’t use JakoJako as a username so I can also go through those forums and fulfil this need [to help].
Some producers are very secretive about what type of gear they use in their studio & are not as open to sharing as you seem to be. What makes you have this fully transparent approach?
Even if you had the same gear as me it would never do the same stuff. I am constantly changing modules anyway which is why I love the Modular system anyway and is never boring. If someone asks me about a certain section there is nothing to hide. It’s not even the smartest system and I am not doing very complex patches that I am scared of someone stealing.
This is also how I learn too. I also like to ask customers in the shop and exchange ideas and talk about modular. This is how the scene lives: It’s around exchanging knowledge and ideas on patches and coming from this background I feel no need to hide.
Do you have a go-to person you rely on for very technical support for yourself?
Not really. When I get a module or when I am interested in a module I understand and there is so much information on the internet and there is also a manual. I am planning a new case and know which sound I want from a new oscillator but I haven’t found a suitable filter in that price range, sound and aesthetic yet. So I’ve explained this to my colleagues and asked if any modules like this are popping up and it’s nice to get another view from people with different interests.
What about mix-downs? And are you still mixing down through Ableton?
I asked friends on mix-downs about certain elements of a track, especially when I have worked on the track for so long and I can’t figure out why the sound is not becoming clearer. I changed my setup a little bit and I am trying to do as much as I can through my APB Pro-Rack Dynasonics 1020 mixer where I would like to do more analogue mixing but I still do the surgical stuff in Ableton. Sometimes I run things out of Ableton into a stereo channel in the mixer and play with the EQs. It just sounds better I think.
When you are not producing, performing, touring, working or DJing what are you doing with your time?
Eating, sleeping, drinking beer [laughs]! I try to get better at meeting up with friends as they normally come to me at home whilst I’m in the studio. I was a bit lazy so I am trying to get back on track. Apart from that, I am not this person who jumps on a bike, rides in the forest and jumps into a lake, that’s not my thing. If I were invited maybe, but I would never come to the idea on my own.
What about other creative outlets other than music?
I would go out and buy some paint, draw something, paint something. I never went as deep into this as I have done with my music but have always done it. It helps me relax and I can do this for many hours. What I can’t do is sit down and watch movies. The conclusion I came to was everything I do is active, just not sporty active.
So no sports to break free from the studio?
Not really. When I was a nurse I was really sporty and had a six-pack and walked everywhere. Now I am the opposite.
You worked as a Care Nurse for a long time. Do you miss it?
I do miss it. It’s important work and fulfilling. My first stop is getting back on track with friends then I think I need to do something more Social Care related. One idea my mum had was to help Refugees or Asylum Seekers learn how to produce music. I am in touch with Refuge Worldwide about doing something like this in Berlin.
As well as producing as JakoJako, you have had a few collaborative projects on some well-known labels including a release this year with Rødhåd. How did you meet him and how did your project come to fruition?
Rødhåd contacted me after seeing a video of me for FACT and asked me if I wanted to collaborate. I don’t want to say I am difficult but I feel like I need to chill a bit with the person before collaborating as I had a bad experience once where in the end I was really annoyed with this person. But after chatting together I realised he’s chill so I decided to try it out.
What made working with him so easy I guess as an established techno producer he has a certain method for producing tracks?
The first thing is he’s chill and he’s open. Some producers have a vision for a track and you have to adapt to that vision, but with him it was free. He invites collaborators and wants to make space for the person and step back and the ego is not involved. The second thing is we had a similar taste in synthesizer music, these rhythmical ambient arpeggiator tracks. If I wanted to play with a synth he let me do it, he’s smoking in the studio, ash is dropping all over the mixing desk etc. This is the kind of person I need.
How did you decide on roles in the studio?
It was really fluid. I took a week off work and everything just came naturally. He asked at the beginning if we had a certain workflow. My workflow makes a sketch and at the point where I want to record something then, I will record each layer, instrument by instrument he does this a similar way so we just jammed around a bit and when we were happy with a certain sketch we said: “ok let’s record it”.
What about the title ‘In Vere’ and the theme of the LP?
‘In Vere’ translates to ‘In Spring’, which is when we recorded it. We had the windows open and we heard the birds and this was kind of the inspiration behind it and was produced last year. The track names are all Latin for flowers or bugs and relate to the spring theme. He also did all the artwork as he is talented, but this bit on the cover looks like a hairy pussy [laughs].
The ‘Floor Remix’ track looks very Latin!
Haha, that wasn’t my idea.
I presume you had fun and were less stressed with Rødhåd than the unsuccessful collaboration project you mentioned?
Yeah, we still meet and are friends and think it won’t be the last project. We also had a jam at Oxi Garten for over 3 hours with Barker together and this concept was fun, we can make ambient, techno, everything with this setup. With six hands you can do a lot. He also came to support me at a Hangout in the Berghain Garten last summer.
What did you learn from the experience when it didn’t work out with that producer?
I was stressed and wanted to chill and knew these tracks were just jams and there were tensions so I took a break from collaborations and wanted to do things on my own for a while. Some people I have jammed with have come to the studio and just started to mute things, encroach on my work or whatever and I am like “Woah” [laughs]. It can be annoying when only egos are involved and this for me takes the fun out of [producing].
Do you have any more collaborative projects in the pipeline?
I had a release with CYRK for their Burial Soil label called ‘Freundschaft’, which also had Anthony Rother and Steffi collaborations with CYRK. WIth them it was similar, we just clicked. I chose a synthesizer that was there, started, recorded and it was finished. It was natural, with no force.
Coming back to the ego thing you mentioned earlier on tech DJs and not liking big macho characters in electronic music. Do you feel there has been a positive step change in terms of female representation in clubs, and at festivals and have more opportunities given to amazing female artists in recent years?
I think this is happening and more and more people are interested and more women…I’m just not so on top of it as I am not really following the news [related to this] and haven’t really observed it. I just compare my experience to Schneiders Laden and how many men vs women are coming during the week. There it hasn’t changed. There were always cool women coming to the shop who were sound artists, and producers, asking great questions, and focused on their interests. And they are still there.
I don’t know specifically about the DJ world so can’t make a comparison that is 100% accurate. The synthesizer world is male-dominated so when a woman comes along everyone is in love and wants to help which can be annoying as well.
Are you specifically searching for other female producers like you to support them by buying and playing their tracks?
When I buy a track it’s because I like it. Afterwards, if I look it up and find out it’s a woman then I think “oh, cool” but I am not checking out HÖR sets if there is a woman playing to see who it is for example. It just happens naturally when I buy a track or I hear a set and I find out later.
You played as part of Leisure System with HÖR in the past but do you feel as though you have done what you have had to with live stream/live performances or would you like to do more?
It was an experience and I had fun I had a few different requests but had no time to do them. It can be fun especially to try out new things and put things in the world that people didn’t know about you. Maybe the next thing I will do is a harsh noise set [laughs] and there is also less pressure on being perfect in your performance.
Would you like to do more live performances like the 30 Jahre Tresor concert on ARTE which included live choreographed dancers?
Yes, we named ourselves now as ‘Infinitum’ and it is 4 dancers and me and we’ve continued to work together. In July we will meet in Porto in Portugal for a residency to continue our work, change some things here and there and we will also perform in Kraftwerk as part of the Tresor 31 summer festival.
I like to work multidisciplinary even with painters, friends who have exhibitions, and dancers like Alvin Collantes who danced while I performed in Halle. I love this type of collaboration as this is where the real goosebumps come, surprises, and new expectations.
Do you have a different kind of relationship with your music when these types of people are involved in your performances?
When this feeling of visuals, body and music comes together you have a different feeling from when you are home alone in your studio thinking, “ooh I’m cool, I made that bassline” [laughs].
Speaking of Tresor you also released a collaboration track as part of the 30 Jahre Tresor compilation with your friend Mareena.
We met at an event of Herr Schneider. There is this company Superbooth together with the Schneiders Laden and Schneiders Büro and she worked for Superbooth curating the event. So we met at a Christmas party and were immediately like “you’re cool, no you are”. She has this label Unrush, is curating many charity compilations and is a Tresor resident but we were just meeting without knowing she was making music I knew her only as a DJ.
At one point I decided I would like to play more ambient shows rather than just techno shows. She then asked me if I would like to make a track for one of the compilations. From there not sure who asked who but I offered to do a track together ‘Füreinander’ which worked really well and we were happy with it. Muzan Editions then asked me for another album to release ‘Atlas Der Gedanken‘ so I thought I’d ask her and we do it together.
It happened really fast and we worked at my place. I work really slow so was sometimes good to have her there to listen to the parts of the track I was making, and vice versa. I can create and listen to a melody for a week sometimes and not be happy with it but it was cool she was there to say “stop” it’s good enough now. It was surprising to be done in an hour versus one week.
Do you equate the duration of production with the quality of the track?
Yes in the past I calculated it this way. For the easy tracks, I was like yeah it’s ok but for some people, these tracks are the best as they don’t hear the cramp I developed over months of refining tracks. We will definitely do more together in the future.
How does it work producing and performing for both Tresor and Berghain?
I wouldn’t say it’s a problem, it actually functions really well. I am a resident at Berghain but if Tresor offer something like the ARTE thing I just speak to the guys at Berghain and they say usually go for it, we support it, and it sounds cool. I love them both and also partied a lot in Tresor as I was living next door and checking out the closing sets. Everyone I work with is nice and that’s the basis of everything.
As well as continuing your new residency at Berghain do you plan to release an EP or LP on Ostgut Ton?
I am not sure how it’s working with Ostgut Ton but I have a few remixes coming soon and an EP coming up on Mute, originally planned for Novamute, which is curated by Daniel Miller. They contacted me to release 4 tracks which will be a dance EP. The release date is still TBC but test pressings are approved and the artwork is finished.
Maybe this snuck under the radar for a lot of people but you also remixed a track for New Order. Did the label contact you directly for a remix contribution or how did that happen?
It was the most difficult one for me and I cried once. I made a first version which was a bit too sad and emotional, and then I made a second track which I really loved and worked hard on it but only then did I realise that from the Dropbox folder of stems I had been sent, I had made a remix of a remix from someone else, and not remixed the stems from the original track.
Then I had just a few days left to finish and was under such pressure. They obviously wrote history and I really wanted to do something great. I was asked to include vocals as much as possible but I not using them so often. I eventually got around to that, made something, sent it to Sam (Barker) and asked him if it was cool or too cheesy and said “that’s really good do it.” So I mixed it down and sent it off right on the deadline!
Is there anything else you are looking forward to this summer?
I look forward to residency with the dancers and think this will be a Fruchtbare Zeit with some great exchanges. There is also an alternative music festival in November, which I will be playing at with Daniel Miller with noise, wave, synth acts and I asked if I could go wild and he said yes. I already have an idea of what I want to do and I am going to go mad [laughs]. Playing with pioneers like Daniel is going to be great.
Photography by Marco Krüger
TRACKLIST
1. Flørist – Headrush [Baroque Sunburst]
2. Kessler – Moonlight Branches [Shall Not Fade]
3. Moresounds – Ruff Times [Cosmic Bridge]
4. Earl Grey X Dead Man’s Chest – Fugitive Version [Western Lore]
5. Sully – Swandive [Astrophonica]
6. Workforce & Halogenix – Don’t Give Up [Together with Ukraine]
7. Slikback & 33EMYBW – ZENO [HAKUNA KULALA]
8. FOR. – Proactive [Exiles]
9. ZULI – Keen Demag [UIQ]
10. Barker – Polytely [Ostgut Ton]
11. Sun People – No War [Together with Ukraine]
12. Abstrakt Sonance – Run It [Aufect Recordings]
13. Pugilist – Septic [Artikal Music]
14. Black Barrel – Fabric [Dispatch Recordings]
15. Digital – Strictly DNB [Function Records]
16. Antagonist – Enchant [Samurai Music]
17. JakoJako & Rødhåd – HELONIAS [WSNWG]
18. Giulio Aldinucci – Every Forgotten Word [Karlrecords]
