This Sunday 18th September, we welcome a veritable godfather of European techno Michael Mayer and our own enduring favourite Ewan Pearson to the Discoteca for a special collaboration between We Love and Kompakt. As part of the collusion Herr Mayer has put together a package of a 4 track sampler EP and exclusive mix you can get your ears around here. Also, check out Ewan’s own We Love mix which you can stream below or download here.
In celebration and anticipation of his performance tomorrow, playing for the Moda crew on the Sunset Terrace at the We Love Space opening party, Greg Wilson has given us a mix of the highest order recorded live at The Cut club in Newcastle – a venue which is part 70s Manhattan loft, a bit 80s East Berlin squat with a touch of 90s Fenham house party – suiting this mix down to the ground. If you want to download it for your own home listening pleasure then feel free to do so, here.
You can follow Greg Wilson on twitter and don’t forget to check out his insightful blog.
It’s often hard to judge a “club” mix on it’s merits without the boundaries of the dancefloor. Especially when said floor is the hallowed turbine hall of Berghain. Paul Woolford continued his techno excursion with Carl Craig’s 20 years of Planet E tour featuring in a recent show at the revered Berlin institution.
Picked from a large and carefully chosen crate of vinyl, it’s a fine and joyous journey through techno and bass music which works perfectly well beyond the club. Wooly’s decision to use only records (in our view the most appropriate medium for electronic music) certainly gives the mix a certain je ne sais quoi and great artistic moments are often borne from self imposed restriction.
Hit “play” and enjoy Paul’s warm-up of sorts, joining the dots between the genuine Detroit sound and the European progeny it continues to spawn.
Dusseldorfer
Alex found work as a studio assistant to DJ T, running errands, capturing vinyl, mixing tracks and archiving records. This led to fellow Get Physical stalwarts Booka Shade discovering they had a promising producer in their own ranks. A lauded remix of Booka Shade’s “Darko” followed on a vinyl only release alongside Tiefschwarz and Radio Slave.
After finishing his engineering degree things began to snowball for Alex in 2008, during that summer he was signed to Supernature the home of UK duo Audiofly. They released the Black Rose EP in 2009 followed by critically and commercially successful releases on 8bit charting highly in many end of year lists.
Gigs across the globe followed and in the spring of 2010 he launched his Soulfooled label in the aim of responding quickly to artist needs and creating a platform for artists to release music quicker. The music represents Alex’s standards across old school disciplines of Chicago and Detroit orientated sounds.
Ahead of Alex joining We Love in Miami, we’ve asked him to answer our 11 Questions all about his past present and hypothetical future. You can download an exclusive mix he’s recorded, here.
Is there one book that you have read that has been life-changing for you?
Electroschock by Laurent Garnier. It totally changed my view of that glamourous DJ-life I had before.
Did your parents encourage you to work in music?
Yeah always, my Mom especially when I was I kid and wanted to learn piano. After my interests passed to house and techno music she wasn’t that happy… but my dad continued supporting me until he died unfortunately last year. Without him I wouldn’t be where I am right now! RIP Daddy!
How did you begin to work professionally in music?
It was a hobby for me until I graduated school. I had to decide what I wanted to do for living. So I moved to Berlin and started to study audio engineering to increase my technical knowledge about producing music. When I did the remix for Booka Shade on Get Physical, I knew that I made the right decision. That was the point where I got professional.
How do you apply your past experiences to what you do today?
Everything which you have done or which has happened in the past influences your life. As I also had a lot of really bad experiences, I think this definitely made me withstand things better and reminds me to not give up until I’ve reached my aims!
Reaktion
I just built my new studio on the 1st floor of my flat in Berlin. I spent a lot of money to make it perfect. It is a room in room construction, with all the finest acoustic elements to make the room with all the techniques to sounding perfect.
How much have you had to consider marketing issues since embarking on your career and how has that affected your creativity?
Well, I would say I’ve spent a lot of time with updating social network sites etc. I think the internet is an important medium, which more and more becomes an entertainment medium. But at a certain point of the career which I have right now, I cant do it on my own anymore. I mean, I still post / tweet a lot of things, I think it is very important to keep in touch with your fans, but for all other things I have my press agency. I definitely think that press and social networking became one of the most important things in this business, as there are too many “self-called” DJs / artist you have to stand out from! But all the marketing doesn’t effect my creativity as I do it most of the time when I’m on flights or in hotels, where I usually don’t produce.
How would you describe your work?
Just one word! Travelling! Playing and producing isn’t work for me. I still have a lot of fun doing that.
Who were your teachers?
Me, myself and my brother, who taught me the first skills in DJing. I mean I had some idols I was always and still looking up to like Ken Ishii, Steve Bug or Emmanuel Top, but they unfortunately couldn’t teach me anything personally because I didn’t know them. So I was learning most by trial and error, until my studies where I refined my technical background.
Your home is burgled but fortunately the culprits are caught and your possessions returned to you. What would you deem a suitable punishment for the burglars?
Show them how it’s when someone steals their possessions and let them life without them for a while.
You have to make one species of animal extinct. Excluding insects, which species would that be?
As I think, that every animal has its function on mother earth, I wouldn’t do it, because the natural balance will be broken. If the question would be only about a species including us, I would say human. As we are the most useless species. The world could life in its balance better without us!
If you could spend one week in any period of history, which period would you choose?
It would be the epoch of Rococo, as in this time most of the most brilliant creative people have lived. Such as Mozart or Goethe!
Thanks Alex. Connect with him on twitter and facebook. Download his mix, here.
We’ve pretty much fallen head over heals for the artwork coming out of the GLA / BCN collective commonly known as Thunder Disco Club. The flyer was created by Ian Guy who clearly knows his chops when it comes to all things with retro-future appeal. It’s all in aid of this weekend’s festivities at Stereo in Glasgow where running mates RPZ and TDC will share musical and cultural influences from the spandex clad moment of American culture which created the workout video. Expect the best in “hi-tech disco, italomatic euro beats and cybernetic funk”. Joe Crogan will be on hand to mix up a video wall of footage from the aforementioned exercise tapes. Workout! promises to be a day-glo smorgasbord of beautiful women, handsome men and tight jeans.
The main reason we brought your attention to all this is the canny aerobic mix from Hushpuppy you can find over at the TDC blog, here.
Workout! is at Stereo, Glasgow, Friday 11th Feb 2011, doors are at 11pm. There’s a Facebook event page thing, here.
You can follow Thunder disco on twitter, listen to them on soundcloud, like them on facebook and even visit their blog like we did in the old days.
Ibiza’s favourite son, Jaime Fiorito has recorded a mix from his studio in Switzerland for us back here in the Balearics. It was recorded very simply on a pair of Technics, 2 CDJs and 1 mixer.
His choices have been inspired by his sets at We Love last year with some modern touches from labels such as Rush Hour, Robsoul and Teardrop. Good quality house music. Track list below. ‘Full fat’ 320 MP3 download available, here.
André Lodemann – The Light
Lovenbirds – Love & Hapiness
Presence . Sence of Danger (MCDE rmx)
Rick Wade – Forever Pimp
Two Amardillos – Promo
Phill Weeks – Peep Game
I:Cube – Disco Cubism (Daft Punk mix)
Mood II Swing – Move Me
Mike Delgado – Sould Good
Pepe Bradock – Deep Burnt
To continue our Where Now featurette we look towards a man who now calls Ibiza his year-round home. Mr Doris is a true original, coming up through the unwavering ranks of resident Ibiza DJs with his true to the new school sound of global funk and breaks. His diverse selections have landed him sets in venues as diverse as The End and fabric to Koko and even the Royal Albert Hall, where he has supported the likes of The Cinematic Orchestra and Kruder & Dorfmeister.
Since dropping a promo mix on the desk of our chief booker 5 years ago, Mr Doris has grown in stature to play extended back-room sets for Carl Cox, Pacha and of course We Love. Last summer his star was burning bright when he was given a promotion of sorts to host the Sunset Terrace weekly for We Love from midnight until close, some might say a risky move with a crowd more accustomed to a classic high-energy house sound. It turned into an unexpectedly pristine display of musical knowledge and brought some much needed dubby light-heartedness to a time of day when things can get a wee bit moody. Give that mix a listen and you’ll know exactly where we’re coming from. Mr Doris, take it away…
Over the past few winter seasons you’ve set up shop everywhere from the East End of London to Bahrain. This year you seem to have settled down in Ibiza, you’ve even got a cat. How is that working out for you?
It’s true… I have led a bit of a nomadic lifestyle (or a hobo’s, depending on the way you look at it) for the last 11 years. The only recurring destination seems to have been Ibiza – and over the last 5 years myself & my partner in grime (fellow We Lover… Roxane Barcelo) have realised that this is the place for us (for now at least). This winter is turning out to be the most productive (literally) in a long time as I have finally got back in the studio after a 5 year hiatus, collaborating on many different projects with many different artists. I’ve also had time to compile and mix a new compilation album ‘El Chiringuito‘ that will be released at the start of May in CD format in stores as well as through the usual online sources (iTunes, Beatport etc).
Productivity aside I have never felt more at home (hence the new cat) as I do at the moment here in Ibiza, it’s a truly beautiful island with a nice year-round climate. However like any island I do believe it’s possible to go a bit stir crazy so I’ve been lucky enough to have a few great gigs in the “real world” to keep me sane.
Our house, in the middle of our street
The last 3 summers in Ibiza have been incredibly hectic – I got Tony Hart & Neil Buchanan to create a life-size cardboard cut-out of myself (complete with puppet strings) so I could keep up with the work load… luckily it seems that only you noticed.
Seriously though, after 6 months of pretty much non-stop music going through my ears it’s been nice to have a break from the DJing for a while but I wouldn’t change anything for the world, it’s just nice to do something I love and be appreciated for it at the same time.
Doris n' Mo'Funk
Last year on the Sunset Terrace for We Love… was one of the highlights of my summer and my career as a whole – added to the fact it was a completely unplanned success made it all the better. When Mo’ Funk & I do our 4 deck show we really do bring out the best in each other – although I still have a few things to teach him… ;-)
When it comes to being different it’s just the music I enjoy mixing the most and if that’s any different from anyone else then it’s unintentional. If it’s been successful then I would probably contribute that to the fact that the musical scope of the average Ibiza club goer in general has seriously expanded in the last few years.
Next years plans are hush hush but big nonetheless… all I can say is that there will be a lot of incredible artists (including a couple from my mix playlist) making their Ibiza debut at We Love… Sundays at Space.
Many thanks as ever to the consummate professional Señor Doris. Check out his official website, here.
Insection
Surgeon has been known to show his humorous side, jingle all the way…
Production duo Retro/Grade have recently uploaded their essential mix to soundcloud for your listening pleasure. It’s very dynamic with a cinematic feel from end to end. You can see the full tracklist here. You’ll find office faves Bicep with their track Darwin (Retro/Grade Edit) somewhere around the middle of the mix.
Follow Retro/Grade on twitter.
By all accounts a great night up North. However, we’re aware that some of you (Fatneck) chose to spend all night the in upstairs room with disco doyen Greg Wilson, the boogie boaters PBR Streetgang and er… Fatneck.
Worry not though fellow disco lovers if you missed out on the house house and more house provided by Heidi, Tristan da Cunha, et al in the main room. Backtobasics resident Burnski has recorded his set, featuring his own productions as well as some up-front sounds from the likes of Subb-An. It’s pretty much that quintessential house sound of the moment, looking back whilst always being innovative with labels such as Hypercolour, 2020Vision and even Morris Audio being all over this jackin’ type of racket these days.
Available for stream or download.
Follow @Burnski_ on twitter.
