Âme
Kristian Beyer & Frank Wiedemann

MUSICAL ROOTS

Frank: I wanted to play drums at first – my father said he would buy me a drum kit but first I had to learn some harmonies, so that’s when I started playing piano. I had classical lessons for over 10 years, but with really open-minded teachers. I was not so much into Brahms and Schubert, I was more into the more modern classical stuff. Even my piano teacher was a piano player for the smaller classical stuff, like John Cage, so she brought me to this kind of music as well. So I was trained classically for 10 years and then I started playing in bands – synths, keyboards. I enjoyed practicing the lessons as much as the band stuff.
Kristian: I got into record collecting really early, at 13 or 14. My first record was the first Erasure LP. When I first started collecting records, I was more into indie and guitar bands. Years later, I discovered electronic music. There was actually a famous club in my hometown; they used to do indie nights on Fridays, where I always went every week when I was 16 or 17. Suddenly they started to make the first techno parties in that club on Saturday but I would only go to there on Fridays. Some of my friends started going on Saturdays and when my three years younger brother went there when he was only 14 (he knew the door man), I went for my first time with him on a Saturday night. I remember thinking, “Wow.” I stopped going to the club on Friday and started going every Saturday!

FIRST PROJECTS
Frank: I was really into rock for a long time and I didn’t discover electronic music until much later than Kristian. I started DJing, really mixing it all up, around the same time that I got really into acid jazz, trip hop, the whole Bristol sound, nu jazz, downbeat stuff...and finally I met Kristian.
Kristian: We met in my record store. I worked in a record store before and when the owner closed the store, he gave me his whole stock and said “open a new one if you want.” This was around 10 years ago, so I was about 25 years old and I was studying at the time, civil engineering. I was so close to finishing my degree but I never finished – instead I opened a store with a friend.
Frank: I went into the shop and was buying some nu jazz records, lots of drum n bass, all kinds of stuff, really eclectic. Kristian showed me some Moodyman stuff, and some music that he thought could fit into my jazzy mind. I had some club experiences after that, Kristian brought me to see Robert Johnson, and that finally helped me understand house music. I’m not sure I even understand it right these days! (laughs) At the time, I was already working on a small electronic music project, but it was more nu jazz.

DJING
Frank: I always say that Kristian asked me to start working together.
Kristian: No, he asked me! (laughs) We started working together in Karlsruhe – I’d moved back to Karlsruhe for studying, and then opened the record store. I was playing parties, he was playing parties, and sometimes we’d play together but it wasn’t like we had a club night or anything like that. It’s not like there’s a huge scene in Karlsruhe, it’s more like doing parties from time to time. It’s funny because these days the clubs are getting bigger, but it actually feels exactly the same. We’re still just playing music we like and having fun. It’s been over seven years now.

LABELS & PRODUCTION
Kristian: Frank knew Jazzanova before, and I knew Dixon a couple of years before.
Frank: And we met Henrik Schwarz in his kitchen.
Kristian: He’s also from the south of Germany, I met him years before. And then we re-met him at a party we played in Berlin. We got along really well, we had the same historical background and listened to the same music.
Kristian: I remember showing Dixon the first draft of our work when we first started producing. I only showed him not with the aim of getting signed, it was just to get his opinion of it. And he said, “I want to release this.” He was kind of A&R for Sonar Kollektiv; it was Jazzanova’s label but they trusted him to work as A&R. So from there, we started doing more and more releases and getting more and more confident with ourselves, and together with Dixon we decided we were ready to start up our own company. Innervisions started as a sub-label, but we already had our own plan to branch off on our own. When the sub-label was very successful and the name was already well known, when we came to the point to set up our own label, it would’ve been stupid to not take the name with us. As a company, we’ve been on our own for about 2 ½ years. It’s work, and it’s a hard business, but we like to do it. It’s a passion.
Frank: We’ve got one guy that’s really working hard for us, he does all the office admin stuff. We, with Dixon, enjoy having concepts, ideas, and A&R’ing, working with the artists.
Kristian: Frank is the musician so when it comes to producing, I’m more like the movie director sometimes.
Frank: I think he’s more like the producer, and I’m more like the musician throwing in all the material, and he’s got the vision to put it all together. The problem is if you work on something for a few hours, you can’t even hear it. I don’t know where he gets it from, but he’s always able to see the whole thing, as a full picture. I get very restless, and he’s very good at sitting very quietly and patiently. We’re counterparts. Good, bad...
Kristian: Ying, yang. I think ‘Rej’ opened a wider market for us, it made us known to a wider audience. These days, when people say, “You have to play ‘Rej,’” I say, “It’s a different level, but the Stones did not play ‘Satisfaction’ all the time!” Sometimes it fits, sometimes not. I think we’ve proved that we can do other stuff besides ‘Rej,’ at least I hope. During the course of production, our sound changes so much, depending on what music we are listening to, what mood we’re in, what the others are doing. I own a record shop so I can see what’s going on at the moment in the electronic music scene. Going through all of these influences brings us always to some point. I hope it will still always sound like us, but maybe it’s different to records we did before. It’s a constant evolving process.

FABRIC
Kristian: I think we played before ‘Rej,’ was about four years ago, because Judy always said to us, “’Rej’ was made for Room One!” (laughs) It’s really funny because you see a lot of places, a lot of big places, and at fabric when you meet Judy and Sanj and all the guys that are working there, it’s like a family. It doesn’t feel like a big club. That’s what I love about fabric; it’s always nice to come back. They treat you well and they know the music and that’s what I love.
Frank: When I came here the first time, I missed my flight, so I was really late in coming in. But it was just great, I really, totally loved it. Recently we played our Innvervisions night in Room One with Henrik and Dixon, which was great.

THE FUTURE
Kristian: We look forward to a lot of good things with Innervisions. Lots of exciting remixes and 12”s, and we are doing another compilation with BBE next year, after fabric.

Dixon
When Dixon entered the Berlin club circuit in the early 90’s, he established his name on the strength of DJing. Back then, confidence or experience based on putting out mixes in the internet did not matter as much as it does now. You had to do your practice, of course, but when your thing was good and tight enough to take it to the clubs, there were opportunities to do so. But those opportunities meant responsibilities. A residency did not mean playing the same club every once in a while, it meant playing the same club every week. The crowd did not consist of people that wander in and out of club nights and its guest DJs as the weekly hype commanded them, it consisted of people which headed straight to a certain club night because they were sure its resident DJ would deliver the goods this week as he did last week, and the next weeks to come. As long as that happened, there was no need to move on. You made your decision to return out of good experience and you stuck to it as long as it lasted.
In such a context, there is no way to learn quicker how to become a very good DJ than by making people dance throughout a set that lasts the whole night, on a very regular basis. If you can’t hold the crowd for hours then, you fall through. It is learning by doing, the hard way. Dixon did not only learn very quickly, he loved every moment of it. Starting out low, slow, unfolding the flow, working towards a peak, then working
towards another, turning up, turning down, to find the exact point from which to swing moods, to find the perfect way to end what should be a lasting experience. Once you passed your exams in the night club school of that era with distinction, you can rely on it forevermore, and Dixon surely did. His residencies then and now are obviously schooled on the stylistic and technical versatility and skills, attitude, stamina and experience based on countless nights honing ways to direct a loyal crowd on the dance floor at will. Hours spent to find and select the right music to achieve the levels of intensity necessary, hours spent to plan the imminent night’s structure and proceedings, and then hours spent putting it into action. Dixon was always more than happy to spend this much time on his nights, because he takes his profession seriously. It is exactly what matters most to him. He has always been and he always will be a DJ first. This is the mission he embarked on, no end in sight.

The A & R and Label Work
However decided Dixon was to follow the path of his choice throughout his career, he certainly was not insistent on travelling alone. He used events to introduce foreign DJs to Berlin crowds, raised his profile by providing memorable support slots in the process, and contacts were made. He got to know likeminded souls from all over the globe, and he travelled abroad himself, and his reputation grew further. Meanwhile back home, he made bonds with Jazzanova and became involved with their vibrant Sonar Kollektiv label. Never the one to shy away from challenge, Dixon made his first foray into label and A & R work with running Sonar Kollektiv’s sublabel Recreation Recordings, where he set up a testing ground for his personal view on House. He introduced Âme in the process, two comrades from the traditionally strong Deep House scene of Southern Germany, whom he brought to the Sonar Kollektiv stable, only to observe that they pulled in the kudos for their music very quickly. In 2005, the reign of minimal sounds in clubland was gaining momentum as much as House lost it, and more sooner than later Dixon came to the conclusion that there had to be a way to maintain his preferred sound while so many DJs and artists were reducing the musical ingredients of their output. The choice was simply either to adapt or to rebuild. Dixon decided for the latter and took the next step with another Sonar Kollektiv sublabel called Innervisions, which he founded with Âme. It was clear from the beginning that this label was intended to make a difference, and it was clear from the beginning that all the connections Dixon made with likeminded souls should come into fruition with it. It was a platform that was thought of to keep up the House tradition all those involved stayed so faithful to over the years, but it was also thought of to breathe some fresh air into it. And so it did. Dixon’s famous rework of Tokyo Black Star’s Blade Dancer knocked on the door, and already the second release, Âme’s future classic Rej EP, was breaking right through it. The following releases by befriended artists confirmed the almost instantly good reputation of the imprint and within a short time it became obvious that something was achieved that not any label could achieve: a sound was innovated and an identity, which began to seep through the scene, affecting the way other labels recruited and published their roster. While being developed on the back of a longstanding tradition, Innervisions kicked House back into focus, and many others were happy to join in, either again or for the first time. Always interested in producing some added value to a good thing, Dixon soon used the success to put other ideas into action. The label was parted from the Sonar Kollektiv mothership and became independent, and the trademark artwork of the label was getting connected with sought after fashion and design items, carefully conceived to meet the high standards of the Innervisions camp and its supporters.

The Producer & Remixer
The relationship with Sonar Kollektiv helped Dixon to fully tap into areas he had not fully explored before, and he felt confident enough to do so. In short, Dixon extended his idea of House beyond DJing, and applied it to other people’s work. And in contrast to his public DJ persona he defined his role in fields like producing and remixing this time as the one who stays out of the spotlight, helping to shape and redefine sounds and artists from his longstanding experience, knowledge and taste. First, a string of acclaimed remixes ensued, remodelling the music of the likes of Femi Kuti, Atjazz, Kemetic Just and a whole plethora of artists on the deep end of Sonar Kollektiv and affiliated labels like Compost, Wave, Yellow Productions or Nuphonic. The involvement with Recreation Recordings also gave him the opportunity to sharpen his skills as an executive producer in the classic sense of working with other artists, arranging, discussing, tweaking, advising, editing and especially pushing tracks towards the needs of sophisticated dancefloors. Many nights on the decks had given him a good feeling and intuition for what could help the music he dealt with, and so he lent his knowledge to artists like Clara Hill and of course Georg Levin, a very talented singer and songwriter. He proved to be a perfect companion for the project Wahoo, and as by now things tended to fall into place as they were thought to be, it also became a massive success. Tracks like Make ‘Em Shake It fulfilled their unashamedly appealing hit potential, and a whole fine album followed, shedding light on the pair’s other musical preferences besides House, like Modern Soul, Reggae and even Rock.

Henrik Schwarz 
Henrik Schwarz was born and raised in South Germany where he also took his first musical steps as a DJ in local Clubs playing Rap, Hip Hop, Rare Groove and Jazz and Detroit Techno. Soon after he started to spin regularly he was also interested in computer music production and started to do his own productions in 1992 with a few drumachines and synths. When he got his first Laptop in 1998 he started to integrate it into his DJ-Sets and soon the Laptop played an important role in all his music activities. The software got better and better and Henrik was enjoying the new possibilities.

1999, after he had finished his studies in Graphic Design, Henrik decided to move to Berlin and worked as a Graphic Designer for several years. By-and-by things developed nicely also on the music side and he had the chance to found his own label SUNDAY-MUSIC together with Sasse Lindblad who had just released Henrik's first ever Vinyl 12" called "SUPRAVISION EP" on his label Moodmusic Records in 2002. "Marvin", one of the tracks on the record, got attention from many DJs around the world, especially BBC's Gilles Peterson took it in his show and played it with immediate effect. From that moment things made a great leap forward for Henrik: He received first remix requests and started to travel to the UK and other European countries. His next releases "Jon" on SUNDAY-MUSIC and especially "Chicago" on MOODMUSIC became very successful and made him shift his activities more and more from
Design towards music production and travelling.

Over the last years with international bookings all around the globe, with regular appearances in Japan, America etc. Henrik improved his HENRIK SCHWARZ LIVE show and is now one of the most requested live acts in the dance scene. At the same time Henrik produced a string of very well received remixes and own tracks: WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES for Coldcut on
Ninjatune became one of the biggest club hits of 2006, LEAVE MY HEAD ALONE BRAIN bridged the gap between Jazz and Techno and Soul and was super well received by Deejays from Hip-Hop to House to Techno and became the biggest hit for SUNDAY-MUSIC so far. Until today he has done remixes for many very well known names like Mari Boine (Universal), Kuniyuki (Mule Musiq), DJ Hell, Tosca (G-Stone), Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (Deeper Soul), James Brown, Dark Globe feat. Boy George, Omar feat. Stevie Wonder, Jazzanova, Jesse
Rose, Detroit Experiment, Michael Jackson (Motown) and many others. Today many fans are awaiting his debut album which is in the works effectively since a few months.

2006, as a result of him getting more and more known by a wider audience, Henrik was asked by !K7 to do one of their famous DJ-Kicks series and the result has been regarded as"one of the highlights of the series" and led to another cooperation of the label and Henrik: HENRIK SCHWARZ LIVE with recordings from his intoxicating live shows from all over the
world.

With Dixon and Âme from Innervisions Henrik released "Where We At" with Derrick Carter on Vocals which became an instant classic and marked the beginning of a fruitful and close collaboration between Henrik and Innervisions until today with successful releases and remixes like AMAMPONDO AND HENRIK SCHWARZ - I EXIST BECAUSE OF YOU (Amampondo is a very famous south african percussion group), ANE BRUN - HEADPHONE SILENCE (Henrik Schwarz Remix, Dixon Edit), Crocodile IV-RMX for UNDERWORLD, HOLD MY HAND IV-RMX for UNKLE and many others culminating in the first unforgetable Laptop Supergroup Live show of the dreamteam together "A CRITICAL MASS" in Amsterdam and more gigs around 2009 at Melt!, Dissonanze in Rome, Detroit Electronic Music Festival, NY, Japan and many others to come.

2009 also saw the release of a very well received compilation called THE GRANDFATHER PARADOX were Henrik Schwarz, Âme and Dixon were looking back at the last 50 years of minimalistic music from Stevie Reich to Robert Hood and correlated the past and today to throw a glance at the future with the help of todays technology.

Early 2010 Henrik released the SCHWARZONATOR. It is a music software plug in on the basis of the music programming environment MAX/MSP. SCHWARZONATOR helps creating complex harmonic structures for the computer musician. It can also help interacting with instrumentalists and led to another major discussion about the use of the computer as a musical instrument. More software like this will be written by Henrik in the future to expand the performance and improvisation possibilities given by computers today.

Henrik already worked with the Chicago based Jazz trio ETHNIC HERITAGE ENSEMBLE on live performances earlier in his career with gigs in Bordeaux and Chicago etc. His most recent Live duo project together with world-famous Jazz virtuoso BUGGE WESSELTOFT from Norway happened at several venues all over Europe in 2009 with gigs in Berlin, Oslo, the Jazz Festival
Montreux and others. It is about the free improvisation between a laptop and a grandpiano played by two musicians who both have a great knowledge from the ohter one's musical background. 2010 took the duo to a sold out London's Royal Festival Hall with more gigs in 2010 for example at the Philharmonic Hall Cologne or the Norway Numusic festival and many
other venues around the globe. WESSELTOFT & SCHWARZ DUO album will be released in June 2011 worldwide through UNIVERSAL/JAZZLAND.

A CRITICAL MASS (H. Schwarz, Âme, Dixon) wrote a new scoring of the black and white horror movie classic "Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari" which was performed live by the group at the Jetztmusik Festival in Mannheim early 2010.

In March 2011 Henrik presented his new Henrik Schwarz Techno Liveset at Timewarp in Mannheim in front of a couple of thousand dancers with great response. In November 2011 Henrik will release a new full length album with a 10 piece classic ensemble. Ten of Henrik's classics have been transferred to sheet music and and have been recorded live in an old church in the center of Berlin. The album will be performed live with a 15 piece string ensemble at the philharmonic hall in Berlin on November 15, 2011.

The future looks bright as we will see more of his one-of-a-kind remixes and remarkable releases in the near future, more collaborations with Bugge Wesseltoft, Dixon and Âme, Guem, Jesse Rose as Black Rose more Live shows and finally a new solo album to be ready early 2012!