How could the club of the future look like, feel or sound? (This is a question that grabbed me after Ricardo Villalobos was talking about it in an interview some time ago). The more I think about it the more I recognize it probably doesn’t matter that much how the room is shaped or what the sound system is like. Let’s think about the music. The world’s clubs usually try to differ from each other by designing means of architecture, location, access or bar inventory. Astonishingly, the one thing that’s the same most often is the music itself. Of course there are styles, but they tend to be the same in more and more countries. There are not only the same DJs playing the clubs of the world, but also all DJs have access to the same tracks.
Of course every club has its profile, but no one is quite unique. What turns out to have success in Berlin can be exported to Austin, Bergamo and Dubai within one day. Watch Youtube, compile a playlist, download the tracks. That’s one of the drawbacks digital availability has facilitated: standardized means of production and distribution result in standardized experiences. Club preset.
Isn’t this where the club of the future takes shape? I imagine it this way: a bunch of producers and DJs jointly develop the tracks which will be heard at one specific site only. I don’t mean this as a dump for the tracks that are too bad to be released regularly. I rather think of truly great, strange, alien stuff so everyone notices something different is going on. A whole night of 7/8 beats as a collectively experienced encounter of the new, unique and site-specific. Location turns into something beyond just a stage for the known or exchangeable. “That exists only in Athens, Berlin, Madrid…” Wouldn’t that be true value in visiting a place?
That’s the big version. The smaller one would be a live set or record box of a DJ containing stuff that is not available anywhere else. Some can use their own productions this way, others get hold of some. Maybe it is about time our superstar DJs discover the “commissioned work” as a tool of differentiation for themselves. In classical music that’s the standard: an orchestra commissions a piece from a composer for the honour and pleasure to play its first performance. Wouldn’t that hold the pleasure of individuality for a DJ, knowing he’s the only one playing out a particular track for half a year? After that the track may well find its way into the world. The beauty and thrill of first encounter – that’s what I think holds a lot of potential for all involved: audience, location, producer, performer.
For the producers that could also be a way to be more than just the replaceable tool merchant for anyone who can download an mp3, again. Start treating your tracks in a way you and your audience truly appreciate them: give the people who actually come to the club a unique experience. Compared to the web users the club audience still holds an inferior position: they pay, but only ever get prefabricated experiences. If I can hear a set today which I can download as a podcast tomorrow I could have stayed at home. Almost. The exclusive performance is a true experience. That makes the web useful again since it would only transport an impression but not the thing itself (while the track-as-file is completely consumed there). Reading the menu does not substitute the dinner. New, exclusive, locally or personally specific music has to be like the Loch Ness monster: surface rarely, impress the witnesses strongly and be available only as a blurry picture of doubtful authenticity to anyone else.
[PS: Putting my actions where my mouth is, I will start the 2012 season with a series of exclusive performances of music created specifically for the occasion & location (i.e. commissioned works). Instead of doing a “standard” live set, I figured this is the more interesting way of extending my live presentation offerings beyond DJ gigs. In March I’ll perform in a joint program with casalQuartett at Arosa Musikfestival in Switzerland as well as (different music!) at BASF Kulturprogramm in Ludwigshafen, Germany. In April I’ll do a solo electronic performance at Podium Festival in Stuttgart/Esslingen, Germany. From April until July I will be artist in residence at Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto, Japan, which will give me the opportunity to engage in various presentations of my music throughout Japan and Southeast Asia. More “unique” performances are planned for fall 2012 and throughout 2013. Finally, 2012 will see the release of my new album, which I currently produce alongside preparing the shows (this will allow me to reach both of you: those who can come to the shows, as well as those who can't - you'll just be hearing different things.).More details on this soon!]
Victoriaville finishes the exploration of Stefan Goldmann’s sweet track archives with 3 unreleased House gems. The main tracks here are pure dancefloor material, with “Electric Bazaar” centering on in-depth drum design. “Zobel Network” provides a prime example of neurofunk. Hidden on the A side, “Chapter 2″ is an early hint at Stefan’s experimental edge. Essential! Revisiting the years 2000 – 2005, “Emptying The Vaults” highlights the era of Stefan Goldmann’s “UK years.” Often his actual releases with Classic and Ovum reflected just a part of the possible. Now Victoriaville proudly steps in to let the whole thing shine. Restored from the original master tapes and cut by D&M’s Rashad, here’s some startling evidence of how deep the roots of House actually were in Berlin years before the hype set in.
The final installation of Emptying The Vaults is exclusively available at Hardwax now. Regular vinyl release expected in Februrary.
Grab your copy here.
Berlin DJ/producer and Macro label boss Stefan Goldmann didn’t have a typical year by any means. 2011 found his musical exploits taking many different turns, all of which were instigated by his own desire to push the proverbial techno/house envelope. Sure, there were the usual amazing gigs at clubs like Panorama Bar and a killer set at Time Warp Festival in Germany and various production work (let’s not forget his mix CD). But in terms of his approach to his craft, Goldmann purposefully stepped mostly to the side in order to recharge his creative batteries and move forward in 2012. We can’t wait to hear the fruits of his hard work.
How was 2011 for you?
2011 brought many changes. I spent a lot of time restructuring the whole way I’m doing everything. It was the first year in which I did nothing else but try new ways and preparing for the future. So there was no new dance single this year, but loads of conceptual work. I did a new mix CD as well as the “Grand Hemiola” double vinyl set, and I started to write essays on how I perceive the future of music. In the meantime at the Macro label, our main focus was on Elektro Guzzi, who did a live album as well as their new studio album Parquet this year. We are so proud of them. It is really the best thing I’ve seen in ages, and I’m happy they are getting all this attention now.
Highlights?
Personally, the debuts thrilled me most. I played Time Warp Festival in Germany for the first time, which was more than amazing. And I also debuted on Ibiza, which started my summer season with a bang. All in all, I had many new and very exciting encounters, but also great returns to places and people I have enjoyed working with before – like to New York, Barcelona and London. Not to forget the sessions at Berlin’s Panorama Bar, which keep getting better and better.
Read the whole interview here.
“Weird in the best sense of the word, a protoypical Macro track overlays minimal techno rhythms with idiosyncratic melodic elements and in so doing separates itself from the dance music crowd. In the Macro universe, it’s normal for a clubby beat pattern to be paired with atonal choir chanting (Stefan Goldmann’s “Lunatic Fringe”), a clarinet’s bleat (Slap’s “Eden Now”), or a cello’s groan and scrape (Raudive’s “Paper”), and no better recording in the Macro stable captures the Berlin-based label’s “avant-garde-techno” aesthetic than its first label compilation Macrospective. It’s an unusual project in many respects, one obviously being the fact that that the five-year-old label’s co-founders, Finn Johannsen and Stefan Goldmann, use the same set of tracks (sequenced differently, however) for their respective disc-long mixes, though their approaches to the material differ with Johannsen’s a spontaneous, one-take affair and Goldmann’s a more methodically conceived set. The mixes’ comprehensive contents—both vinyl-based sets, by the way—are pulled from the label’s catalogue, and consequently the listener is fully reminded of how diverse the Macro universe is. Goldmann brings an inspired imagination to whatever he does (such as stitching together 146 sections from over a dozen classic recordings of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps in order to re-create a “definitive” version), while Johannsen also works for the legendary Hard Wax store when not DJing or tending to label matters. Goldmann himself is represented by five pieces, while Raudive (Oliver Ho), Elektro Guzzi, Slap, Peter Kruder, and Tuomi, among others, appear too (Slap’s “Eden Now” even appears in a Ricardo Villalobos mix, while Pépé Bradock, Oni Ayhun, and KiNK also do remix duty)”.
Check Textura’s Top 10 compilations 2011 results here.
‘Meeting of the Spirits’ is a collaboration by an unexpected pair: Stefan Goldmann, Berlin’s challenging conceptual techno artist meets Sergey Rodionov, one of Russia’s most prolific, yet often overlooked synth pioneers, as well as film score composer and teacher. They met while Goldmann visited Rostov-on-Don, Russia’s southern college town, for a performance and lecture. Exchanging experience and discussing approaches to the creation of electronic music with the students at Don State University, where Rodionov is professor of computer music, both were fascinated by each other’s work – the idea to consider collaborative work formed quickly.
Following an invitation by Milan’s Schoolmap label to contribute a 7” release, Goldmann suggested to exchange interpretations. Both would produce remixes or cover versions of key pieces from their respective catalogues, merging the qualities of the original with their own aesthetic views. It is a rare cross-stylistic achievement that induces new ideas into spheres that rarely interact. For this matter, Rodionov engages in clear-cut rhythmicity and Goldmann in resonating layers of microsound.
Available at Hardwax (Berlin) and Boomkat.