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Thanks for taking the time to talk. How are you doing, are you good?
Yep very good thanks

Was there a track around at the time when you began making music that marks your production beginnings , that inspired you to make the music that you do?
It was probably London X-Press by X-Press 2, I couldn’t believe how good it sounded in clubs, the snare builds, organ stabs, it was amazing how club goers responded to it

Who were the producers at that time who were making you sit up and listen?
In the early days it was Nino, Dee Patten, The Chemical Brothers, Tricky Disco, Future Sound of London, Depth Charge. I was listening closely to elements from all these producers and seeing how I could build on it with my own take on club music.

When you started out back in the day, did you have a vision of what sort of music you wanted to make?
Yes – it was really simple, full on club music with house vibes, but with rhythms mixed up and trying to avoid 4 to the floor. I tried not to shift from the vision but often did.

Does that musical vision remain the same today?
It’s very similar today, the only change is the sound of full on club music. I still love the template though.

If you knew then what you know now, what advice would you give to a 25-year-old self about the music industry?
Where do I begin? Meditate more, drink less, be brave, buy these specific records, experiment more, be less precious, get on with everybody. Make Charly before the Prodigy did :D

What was the first track you put out?
That was the 4 tracker Doc Bozique EP in 1993. It sold about 119 copies through Mo’s Music machine in Walthamstow. I literally had no idea what I was doing – zero promotion.

Which of the records you produced do you think made the biggest mark?
It has to be Heavy Water, it’s amazing that even with its re-release 3 years ago its often perceived as a new track. It’s 30 years old!

There’s got to be a record that you felt was brilliant and went under the radar. Is there one you can earmark for us to check?
I’d say that was Planet K from the 3rd Anoesis release/album, Blood and Sweat in London. It’s a lovely spaced out dubby track with a bit of a journey to it

As someone that has been around a long time, you will have seen a lot of changes over the years. What aspects of what you do have remained the same, and what aspects are just so fundamentally different.
Dance music is obviously different now from how it was back in the 90s, but nowhere near as different comparing the 90s to the 1960s. So I’d say the heart of club music is still there. Back in the 90s there was a significant change in that kids could make music in their bedrooms, not having to visit costly studios. Now everything, record buying, DJing, socialising can be done remotely. I miss the fact that you had to go out hunting for things, but of course now ease of access and modern software has massively increased productivity.

What inspires you to make music do you think?
I love creativity, I love sound, I love taking a project to conclusion and seeing it being enjoyed by people. The process of making music is a bit of a ritual that fills certain gaps in your being.

Where do you find the new music that you are into today?
I go through all the usual channels but I’m also always connecting with friends and family to see what they’re into. A regular trawl through 3000 tracks on Beatport is also a useful exercise.

Was there a particular inspiration for this new EP?
I’ve been reading a lot of Philip K. Dick short stories which inspired titles and feel. Electronica and breaks are in there, but I was also happy to include a more soulful side to Anoesis with the final track Lonely

Are there ever personal events in your lives that influence the music and its direction?
It’s always trips to gigs, clubs, festivals. The birth of my first son also coincided with a great deal of recording activity. I suddenly felt I was seeing the world with the awe of a 5-year-old

You have been on Cyphon a few times now right? How did you link up with the label?
Conrad at Cyphon reached out a few years ago having bought some of my records, this coincided with having a few tracks ready to go. Cyphon are a great team and super organised, I also love the look and feel of the label

Tell us a little about the EP and when we can grab it.
Idios Kosmos – “the personal reality experienced during sleep or when in a state of delusion”. The vinyl is shipping now, digital on 20th March

Are you working on some new Anoesis stuff again now? What can we hope to see and when?
Yes, I have new tracks finished now and am currently in discussion re 2 further releases, hopefully they’ll be some additional Anoesis releases mid-year.

What upcoming artists do you think are making great music right now?
DJ Farsight, Dan Speed, Kaval, Chungo, msft are all making great stuff

What is the most recent record you purchased?
Timewind by Klaus Schultze, fantastic to unwind to at the end of the day

If the world was a massive Monopoly board, who would you send straight to jail and who would you give a get out of jail free card?
I think there are some very obvious answers to the first question, and probably top of the list is agent orange. I’d give get out of jail cards to all political opponents of tyrannical regimes who’ve been locked up for speaking their minds

Is there anything else you would like to tell about?
Nothing to add right now – great set of questions

Lovely to talk to you.
And you – see you soon.

Order Idios Kosmos now on bandcamp on vinyl or digital.
Interview by SHINE MUSIC.

For more than two decades, Eamon Harkin has been quietly shaping how New York listens, dances, and comes together. As one half of Mister Saturday Night and Mister Sunday, and a co-founder of Planetarium and Nowadays, his work exists at the intersection of music, space, and social intention. These aren’t just parties or venues — they are frameworks for connection, places where strangers become a temporary community through sound.
Born in Derry and long settled in New York, Harkin’s path has been guided less by genre than by feeling: the emotional temperature of a room, the way a record can soften time or sharpen attention. That sensibility has carried through his DJ sets, his curatorial projects, and now, most clearly, into his new album The Place Where We Live.

Drawing from house, techno, and ambient forms, the album feels like a reflection on everything that happens before and after the dance floor — memory, stillness, belonging. Its title borrows from psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott’s idea of a psychic space between inner and outer worlds, where art, play, and culture allow us to make meaning. For an immigrant who has helped define the sound of a city not originally his own, the idea of “where we live” resonates deeply.

In this Times & Tunes conversation, we spoke with Eamon about translating communal energy into solo work, the relationship between clubs and introspection, and the story behind the playlist he’s curated to accompany this interview — a selection of tracks that map the emotional terrain of his world, on and off the floor.

The Place Where We Live feels very personal, almost inward-facing, especially considering how much of your work has been about collective experience. What shifted for you in making this album?
For years, my work has centered on building collective experiences. That’s something I still hold as sacred — creating space for community, for shared energy and genuine connection. But sustaining that outward focus and all that comes with it can be exhausting. I reached a point where I needed something more private, something that wasn’t about holding a room but about understanding my own internal one. Writing and producing music by myself became that space.
I’ve lived in New York for 22 years, but consistent touring and the freedom to travel meant I never felt too far from Ireland, the UK, and Europe. I was always moving between those worlds. When the pandemic stopped that rhythm — and at the same time my life shifted into being more local, playing mainly at Nowadays and Planetarium, and raising young kids — I felt a real grief around that loss of connection. I was physically rooted in one place in a way I hadn’t been since moving to NY.
That experience shaped the album thematically and the process of witing and producing fed the need for a private process. It’s inward-facing because my life became more grounded and domestic, but also because I was processing distance — from movement, from certain communities, from versions of myself that didn’t exist anymore. The record reflects that recalibration: less about momentum, more about place, presence, and what remains when everything slows down.

The album title comes from Winnicott’s idea of a space between inner and outer worlds. How did that concept shape the way you approached the music — structurally or emotionally?
I read a fair amount of psychology books, and I became fascinated with the psycho analyst D.W. Winnicott’s idea that the space where we make sense of the world is the space of play and culture — not purely internal, not entirely external, but something in between. That really resonated with me, especially as a parent. You see how children use play to process reality, and Winnicott’s point is that as adults we’re still doing that — it just becomes art, music, culture.
That idea helped me understand what making this record really meant to me. It sits in that in-between space: between inner life and shared world, and for me personally, between New York — where I’ve lived for 22 years — and Ireland, which I felt newly distant from when touring stopped and my life became more rooted around home and my kids. There was a tension there — grounded but grieving movement — and that felt connected to Winnicott’s thinking.
It shaped some of music structurally too. I became more attentive to tone and mood, letting things feel exploratory rather than fixed.

You’ve spent years reading rooms as a DJ — sensing energy, tension, release. How did those instincts translate into the studio, where the “room” is imagined rather than physical?
I think the years of DJing have trained me to think in terms of energy curves — tension, release, density, negative space. In a club, you read that through bodies and body language. In the studio, I translate it into structure and sound design. On more ambient or reflective pieces, the movement is subtler. Instead of driving rhythm, it’s about pacing, harmonic tension, spatial depth.

There’s a strong sense of memory running through the record — like club music seen through distance or time. Were you consciously working with nostalgia, or was it more about letting past experiences surface naturally?
I wasn’t trying to explicitly manufacture nostalgia but I do think it’s in there. If anything, I was more interested in emotional residue than specific memories.
Spending years in clubs and with electronic music leaves an imprint and those references naturally surface and with time fade a little. It was that experience that I was most interested in
A lot of the record plays with distance — using reverb, saturation, and degradation to blur edges, or letting motifs repeat in a slightly altered way, like memory looping but never landing the same twice. So the “nostalgia” isn’t a throwback move. It’s more about perspective — what club music feels like when you’re looking at it through time instead of standing in the middle of it.

You’ve helped build spaces like Nowadays that prioritize care, listening, and sustainability — not just musically, but socially. Do you see The Place Where We Live as part of that same ethos, just expressed differently?
Yes, I see them as connected.
Spaces like Nowadays are built around intention — how people move through them, how they feel, how energy is shaped over time. That thinking carries into the album.
The album is a different kind of space. It’s not physical, but it’s still structured. I thought a lot about pacing, dynamics, and emotional pressure — when to hold tension, when to let something open up. In that sense, it’s similar to programming a night.
I’m always trying to build environments rather than just tracks. Whether it’s a room full of people or someone listening alone, the goal is the same: create something people can step into and stay with.

Alongside the album, you’ve shared a playlist for this Times & Tunes feature. What role do playlists play for you compared to albums or DJ sets?
Playlists sit somewhere between albums and DJ sets for me. An album is a self-contained world with its own pure expression of art. A DJ set should be live and improvised — it’s shaped by a moment in time, in place in conversation with a certain set of people. A playlist is looser and freer. Playlists let you show adjacency — what you’re listening to, what’s influencing you indirectly. It’s less about narrative and more of a source map.
So this playlist is aimed at context. It traces some of the emotional and sonic threads around the record — things that informed it, things that sit next to it, or even things that contrast with it.

Can you tell us about the story behind the tracks you selected for the playlist?
The playlist pulls together a few long-running threads for me: minimal wave, ambient, instrumental music, and a deep obsession with electronic machine-made sound.
There’s an emotional through-line where the mechanical patterns carry a kind of humanity and vulnerability. That tension between circuitry and feeling is something I’m constantly drawn to.
You can spot the influence of Warp Records and the sounds of Detroit in there — I’ve featured artists who treated electronic production as both experimental and deeply expressive. Music that was/is futuristic but isn’t afraid to be vulnerable and emphasize texture, or introspection.
I wasn’t trying to guide listeners toward a single conclusion. More just to create a field of references — sounds that shaped me, and that echo through the album in different ways.

Planetarium invites people to lie down and listen, almost undoing the usual expectations of electronic music. Do you feel that kind of deep listening is becoming more important right now?
I do think deep listening feels more important right now. We live in a moment where our attention and opportunity to connect internally and externally is under threat. And so creating a setting where people can slow down and really focus on sound feels almost radical.
Planetarium flips the usual expectations of electronic music. Instead of forward momentum and physical release, it centers immersion and interiority. But that stillness, for me, isn’t the opposite of club culture – it’s part of its spectrum. Clubs have always been about altered states, about shifting perception. Sometimes that comes through intensity and movement; other times it comes through suspension and quiet. Stillness makes movement more meaningful.

Pre-order “The Place Where We Live”

 

Since 1997, Antal has run the mighty Rush Hour Records in Amsterdam. Encompassing the record store, the distribution, the label as well as being a hive of activity shining light on the carefully selected releases that Rush Hour presents.As a DJ Antal brings an unparalleled energy to his sets – as comfortable playing Chicago and Detroit as he is playing rare Afro funk, forgotten disco from any corner of the planet or dusty forgotten obscure boogie gems.

This week Antal brings together all of his talents as he joins forces with Dubby – owner of Ondas Records in Japan – where together, they have lovingly curated a compilation that focuses upon ‘Techo Kayo’ – Japanese Techno Pop 1981 – 1989. A sound, a time, a movement spearheaded by the likes of The Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk.

On the week of the release, we have the pleasure of putting some questions about this fascinating album, to this industry icon.

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INTERVIEW

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We are thrilled to talk to you today about your compilation that is soon to drop on Rush Hour. The subject of the comp is specific. What was your first exposure to this musical topic and what was it that fascinated you so much that you wanted to put together this comp?
Hey likewise, thanks for this. So, I have always been fascinated by Japanese culture mostly food and film and Kanji signs. So in the early days of Rush Hour we aimed for working with Japanese stores so we could export our releases. Soon after the first travels to the country happened and from that moment on, I have always been into going there and learning more about the culture, especially people, music and food.

You have worked with Dubby of Ondas Records in Tokyo. How did you guys connect initially? What was it like working together on the project?
Via digging sessions I meet up with Dubby once via his online record store Ondas. He, and Chee Shimizu have been at the forefront of exporting Japanese records. At some point, during a dinner, I asked Dubby if he was up for doing a compilation for the label. Since he is so deep into the music I indeed learned from him – enjoying conversations about music and people, highlighting tracks for a reason is a story that comes with each record. Of course there are many more ways, but with Dubby it was a nice way to dig even deeper into this sound.

If you could pick a track that epitomizes the sound of Techo Kayo, what would that be? Tell us a little about that track.
It would be music from Yellow Magic Orchestra or Sakamoto. “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence” was a song that I knew from a very early age and I always loved it.

The first couple of years I would be very much into this music before I moved on to more obscure titles. I didn’t realize it was part of a movement, but I could always hear the “techno sounds” in this music. And of course a tune like “Fire Cracker” was always played on the internal dance floors, so this was a very “Kraftwerk like” jam. I guess that says enough.

You mention that the Yellow Magic Orchestra pioneered this sound. Did you seek inspiration or insight or reference at all from (Hosono)?
Over time I would try to listen to every record that carried Sakamoto’s, Hosono’s or Takahashi’s name. Still there is so much that I personally haven’t heard.

I was very fortunate to see Haruomi Hosono perform in London in July this year. Have you ever seen him perform?
I haven’t yet. I saw he performed in Bali at Potato Head too.

What were some of the specific machines that were used in the making of tracks from this time and genre in your opinion – Stuff like Roland TR-808, E-mu Emulator and Prophet 5?
Obviously Roland stuff, but I am not necessary the person to talk with about gear. A fact that is definitive: The music makes use of drum computers and synthesizers as a new thing. Just like with techno and house music.

Was it a hard process to whittle down the final tracks for the comp? Where there many other tracks you could have included? How did you make your final selection?
So Dubby suggested a bunch of tracks and I made a selection out of that as well as suggested a few others. Next to that the selection totally depends on the licensing process and what is available and what not.

You have stayed well away from this being a digital release. Tell us about this choice and why you made it.
This is not our choice, but some tunes could only be licensed for a physical format and so it was just not worth to present the comp. digitally.

It’s written that the technopop boom in Japan started when the most successful band in Japan – YMO – struck an advertising deal in the 80s with Fuji cassette. This format was important to the genre at that time. Are you planning to put the album out on cassette?
We are not planning to do a cassette but I was thinking of it. Nice suggestion though.

The artwork is particularly beautiful on this cover. What can you tell us about that and what it represents?
Honestly we wanted to work with a Japanese artist on the cover as this felt like the only right thing to do. But it didn’t work out, so we asked Johann Kauth – the designer that does a lot more for our label – and he nailed it in one go. He is an incredible talent!

Obviously this needed be done with respect and care for something that is already having an image from the 80s, but it should also be representing what we like about it and what feels good to us.

I knew he was great, as he has done a lot of stuff for us before, but this was so good in one go. We are very happy with it.

You are known for having a very wide range of music in your sets. What kind of stuff are you playing right now?
It depends on the location. Sometimes I can play straight up house, and some places where I play all night I can do whatever I want and feel like that day. To me all good music is one! But the context as in time and space is what matters.

In some locations a tune just doesn’t sound so great, but in other places it does. Sometimes I also feel like playing classics, and sometimes I want be more progressive with the sound.My thing is to play stuff that I am really into at that moment and there have definitely been times where people didn’t understand it. I think it is also fun trying to make sense of it.

I can listen to an Elis Regina song and mix it up with a Phuture Acid track or something. Why not?! I don’t like to stay in one lane, although I do compare DJ-ing for a large audience as a big boat on the ocean. Once you go left, you can’t go right. That’s easier with a small boat with just two people floating. See what I mean?

Even though you have a plethora of music at your fingertips with the store, what was the last record you purchased outside of Rush Hour?
I just came back from Redlight records and bought some synth pop, disco (not) disco stuff. I might not play it in the clubs for some time but my mind is always to try to find other sounds that I haven’t been into before. I always shop local and always try to visit the stores and see what they have. It’s rare for me to walk out of store empty handed.

You live in the great musical city of Amsterdam. How much is your taste in music influenced by the city itself?
Big time! First of all, people like Aardvarck of Rednose District fame was the one that combined so many different sounds that definitely influenced me and the store. At gigs he would combine Motorhead, DJ Rush and Lionel Richie for instance. In fact, when this was happening in Amsterdam, I think the rest of the world was still shuffling on minimal techno. Apart from the UK of course where “rare grooves” were always a thing.

Than there were DJs like Cassie 6 or Kc The Funkaholic, who both really took me under their wing and organized evenings where they would feed not only me, but many other younger local DJs like Mr Wix, Or Leroy Rey. Cassie 6 for instance, was big on anything that was hyped in the UK in the 80s so he would play, and record me CDs with all sorts of jams, loads of Brazilian tunes and what not. Having a club night for over 10 years in Amsterdam’s Paradiso was just one big eduction. I have seen so many bands and DJs there.

Things like, USA DJs requesting Rane rotary mixers and Vestax Isolators on their riders was something that really influenced me. You have to understand, that these DJs came once every 2 months or so, and Paradiso bought the equipment, but it was not used in between those gigs. They would allow me the borrow the equipment so I could practice on it at home. So the first time I travelled to Japan I immediately ordered a Dope Real Isolator. I could go on for some time here but I guess you get the picture.

I guess that Techno Kayo will be released during ADE. Do you have something planned for the launch?
We wanted to release it before but we had a little hick up in the production. Fact is that Roland Instruments is hosting a workshop three days in our basement launching new equipment during ADE. It has nothing to do with the Techno Kayō compilation but it’s a fun coincidence!

Are there more planned in this series?
Yes there is, but the licensing process is the what is in between right now.

Order now: Techno Kayō vol. 1 – Japanese Techno Pop 1981 – 1989 (Compiled by Dubby & Antal)

 

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Interview by Shine PR

It’s always a treat when Dutch producer Tom Trago releases a new record. This time we see him return to his roots with a new series of club-focused Eps. From Rush Hour to Voyage Direct, from TT to JNL we have watched his star continue to rise and to shine. After his soothing musical blanket release Deco last year on Antal’s Amsterdam institution label, ‘Pearls For Pleasure’ bursts onto the dancefloor so bright you can see the disco sparkles from the moon. We have the pleasure of speaking to this pioneering producer as he traverses Asia and other far-flung places on his early 2024 tour.

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INTERVIEW

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Where are you this moment, and how are you spending your day?
I’m on a bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo. Next to a very cute little Japanese baby sleeping. I had an amazing time playing at Circus in Osaka last night, amazing crowd, superb sound system, a night packed with interesting & intense vibrations.
Yesterday I had time to explore Osaka a bit more and jeez…I love that city! I had amazing dinners, found amazing music and was invited to educate myself more about Japanese Tea / Matcha ceremonies.

Tell us a little about the tour dates for the next few weeks?
It’s that time of the year again! Every year enjoy the Asia / Australia tours a lot. It’s an amazing way to break away from the winter in Holland. But also, to reconnect with all my friends on this side of the world. I really enjoy discovering new places in Asia. This tour is built around shows in Indonesia-Japan-New Zealand-Australia and China.

Japan is a such a wonderful place to travel. The Shinkansen… Such a pleasurable way to get from A to B.
Haha, Im on it as we ‘speak.’ I wish the world had more of this. Such an amazing way to travel.

I guess you are in food heaven in Japan.
Words cannot describe!

You visit Japan a lot, right?
I try to visit Japan of much as possible. It’s so refreshing and inspiring. I always return full of amazing inspiration and a more humble attitude towards life.

So, have friends out there you catch up with on your visit each time?
I’m very fortunate to have an amazing crew of friends that I have met over the years and try to catch up with every time I can.

How do the crowds react to your sets in Tokyo? I can imagine its wild.
So intense, a lot of cheering and body movement but also the crowds have way more patience and are not waiting for the next big drop or whatever. You can really play ‘deep’ here.
And they are very thankful and honoured that you come all the way to Japan to play for them. As for me… it feels like an honour that they come to my shows.

What is one of the tunes you’re dropping on this Asia tour that is going down well?
My new tune that’s called ‘Take a chance’ is really killing it. But also, an old favourite by Josh Wink – Jus Right is back in the front of my crate again!

Do you find new music for your gigs while you are travelling, or is your listening and research done ahead?
I honestly am constantly digging for new/old music. Wherever and whenever. It had become a way of living.

Do you tour many times in a year these days?
I do one the big Asia / Australia tour (Jan/Feb) and one big North & South America tour. The rest of the year I am also touring but mostly in Europe.

Do you like to take the opportunity to explore while you are away?
Yes absolutely, next to music I’m a big tea lover, and just graduated as official Tea Sommelier. The last weeks I worked on a plantation in Indonesia and also in Japan I visited some tea masters. Touring comes with a lot of off-time, and I love to invest that in learning more about passion for loose leaf tea.

Do you have any rituals while you travel, to keep in good shape?
I try to at least do 10 sun celebrations when I get up. But also, really enjoy grabbing some yoga classes in different countries and experience the difference in the way the classes are given worldwide. Also, I rehydrate a lot. The day after the gig :)

What is your approach to a gig while travelling? Would we find you at the afters or are you bed after your set with some lavender oil and an eye mask?
Haha! Both!
Afters first, lavender oil and eye mask second!

After you have been away, what is important for you to do first when you return home?
Be close to my beloved ones. My two daughters and my wife. Also pick up a daily yoga routine for a little while till I feel I’m lost all my frequent flyer miles again.

I guess you are back in the studio quite soon. Do you gather inspirations and ideas while you are away for your studio work?
Yes, I also write a lot of music ideas on the road that I later on finish in the studio.

Is your studio complete or are you always adding new hardware?
Never complete but I’m very happy where I am at now – a lot of analog hardware. My last piece of gear I bought was the OB-6.

What is your oldest machine, do you still use it?
The MPC2000xl, it’s still in use every week!

Upon what did make your new Pearls for Pleasure EP?
The ideas were started on the MPC mostly and then finished in Ableton.

Volume 1 comes storming out of the gates. Was this long in the making or was it one of those things that just fell out of you.
It honestly kinda fell out – it came really easy. I guess this is the kind of music / genre I’m really comfy with.

Is Volume 2 already in the wings?
Done! Just some mixing issues!

Do you feel a pressure to continue to improve upon what you do each release?
No, honestly, I just try to keep it fun and inspiring to work on.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to motivate myself to work on it.

Do you think about challenging yourself musically? How do you continue to increase the bar?
Not on purpose but I do think every beat teaches me something new, so obviously I am evolving myself just by doing it a lot.

There is something brave, wild, and super quirky about producers from the Netherlands. Yourself, Awanto 3, Frits Wentink, Nachtbraker. Perhaps the commonality is that all of you are unlike anyone anywhere else. What’s in the water?
I think there is a great work ethic in Holland and there was laid out an inspiring scene by the OGs of the scene. Like KC the Funkaholic, Dimitri, Antal etc etc

You guys have a strong history of supporting local artists. As you did on Voyage Direct. Are you still working to develop local artists?
Yes! Voyage Direct is opening up again for a whole new generation of producers from the Netherlands again, like my soul brother Willem Makez.

Who should we keep our eyes on in your opinion?
Makez. Willem Mulder

You were a pianist at a young age, right? Who were your piano icons? Classical or more Miles Davis?
Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans

How do you feel about Robert Glasper? Are into him?
110 %

Do you still play Piano now? Do you think about teaching your daughters to play?
Yes, and Yes, but only at the moments they are into it by themselves. I’m not trying to push it too hard.

When you are not touring or tinkering in the studio, what might we find you doing?
Making tea, and drinking tea, cracking jokes, listening to my friends their life story’s, spending time with my daughters and masterminding my next moves in life.

Tell us something that you think everyone could benefit from.
When you are not feeling happy or motivated in life remember… ’also this shall pass.’

Lastly, tell us something we might never know about you.
I’m a big fan of the twelve-step program designed by Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith. And later on, adapted and applied by Julia Cameron for ‘THE ARTIST WAY.’

Order now, Pearls for Pleasure Vol. 1

Berlin has always been a breeding ground for innovative artists. Amidst this vibrant landscape, one name has risen to the forefront, enchanting dance floors and captivating house lovers worldwide – Cinthie. Her journey from a young vinyl collector to an international artist, DJ, label and record store owner has been nothing short of remarkable. Her innate passion for music, combined with the city’s legendary club culture, fuelled her ascent through the ranks of Berlin’s competitive circuit.

Cinthie has an unwavering passion for vinyl and an ear for incredible music, with her sets boasting a plethora of genres and eras seamlessly woven together to create a joyful experience. This passion for physical music has also blossomed into Elevate, a record store based in Berlin, as well as 803 Crystal Grooves and its many branching sub-labels. These platforms have not only propelled her career but have also nurtured a community of emerging talents, adding another layer to her illustrious career.

Back on the road once again, Cinthie brings her live show to Canada ready for this year’s edition of Mutek Festival. We caught up with the Berlin local ahead of her show to talk plans, times and tunes!

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Thanks so much for joining us for Times & Tunes! How has the year been treating you personally so far?
Yeah really well, though it’s been a very busy one, organizing gigs here in Liverpool, releasing that indopan album and the overload release as well as playing in a band. I started a new job working in a Europe-wide pediatric research consortium as well so I’ve had my time very full. Strangely I find I produce more music when I have less time, the momentum keeps me inspired to create more and move forward.

Over the years it seems that fans of yours can check for output from you amidst an array of projects; can you share a bit about the creation of these different facets and how you like to refract through them?
Refraction is a good analogy, as I see it the source and inspirations as the same I still to thoroughly enjoy the same types of music that I loved when I was 16 starting out producing, so it’s been more of exploring new facets of production as I’ve learned and experimented more of the years. As I’ve been DJing a lot more lately I’ve come to appreciate producing the format of the dance track, whereas when I started out I felt I was rebelling against it with my mangled sound and out of time rhythms.

Your most recent LP comes from you under your Indopan alias — what informed you on the making and release of this psychedelic effort?
Actually it was the purchase of a Wurlitzer 206a that inspired a new approach, just jamming on it day after day and tinkering with the electronics inspired me to make something a bit more delicate. The way each note has its own reed and is very slightly off tune means when played softly it evokes such a deep yet loose feeling and inspired me to go a little more subtle than my usual approach.

Aside from your solo work, you’ve also run and curated a few labels at this point: Tape Throb being the former alongside the recently launched Overload Liverpool. Do you find your roles as artist and label owner ever conflict with one another, or are they mainly complimentary?
For sure there is a bit of a crossover and some conflicting moments. Crossover in that it’s sometimes an opportunity for me to put something out that maybe another label wouldn’t pick up, but conflicting when I’m trying to focus on my own projects but need to put the time into promoting and releasing someone else’s. It’s like balancing spinning plates most of the time, especially on top of my full time job.

Through the labels you have released seminal works from talented artists across the globe like Baltra and AL-90. Do these relationships strike up naturally, or rather, what is the process like of working with others to help push their creative ventures in the world?
With the tape throb records it was more of an international online thing, just reaching out to artists across the world whose music evoked a certain vivid emotion in me. The artists were always super collaborative and friendly so it was actually a pretty straightforward process artistically, I just followed their lead. On the Overload Liverpool side it’s been more of a locally focussed thing, with us putting on more events here, I see it expanding beyond the city, but more something budding from the ground up, with me trying to give more of a helping hand.

With MUTEK right around the corner, it sounds like you have something special lined up for attendees. How will this upcoming performance differ from what many might be expecting, say a traditional DJ set or computer-based approach?
Well it’s an updated all-hardware setup, including semi-modular synths, a rhodes electric piano, a whole raft of new effects units and it’s a set spanning 10 years of my music, including newer tracks that I’ve never played live before, unreleased pieces and improvisations. It’s very much focussed on being both cerebral yet very danceable and visceral. So I’m hoping I can bring the crowd to a special place within and outside themselves in the closing hours of the Satosphere.

We’re also tremendously grateful that you took some time to pull a playlist together for Bolting Bits to showcase some of your favorite work to listen to or find inspiration from; can you highlight a couple selections for us?
Alias – Civil Defense (Dub): I’ll be playing a couple of more intimate gigs for the first time in Chicago just before coming to Montreal and I think this tune is an often overlooked moment in the evolution of electronic music and particularly house, that tipping point where weird electro and minimal disco transmuted into house and techno.

Metrist – Levan Liver Lever Love: It’s hard to put this price of music into words, but it feels right at forefront of Techno and Electric, the sound coming from Bristol’s Timedance is so mind expanding on so many fronts, but this track has a uplifting element that for md transcends a lot of other similar style of forward thinking techno and rhythmic noise.

Appreciate all your time for us…as we wrap here I’d love to poke around about any upcoming releases that you may have in the works either from yourself or through your label?
I’m currently working on more tracks in the Indopan (think sleeker house) and The Motorist (my tongue-in-cheek UK Garage alias) in works. On the label end I have a 5 track compilation 12″ pegged for early 2024 that’ll include a number electro techno and psych-jazz numbers from artists based on or closely associated with Liverpool, so very excited to get that out there!

Catch The Cyclist on Sunday, August 27, 2023 2:45 am_3:45 am

Interview by Dan.

Dima Disk is a collaborative project of Ragnar Rahuoja and Robert Nikolajev, evolving from an event series the pair used to run in Tallinn between 2014 and 2017. A favourite amongst underground selectors since their debut single ‘Casino’ on Porridge Bullet’s ‘Bullets No 2’ compilation and their ‘Fetty’ EP on the in-house label of electronic music vanguards Rubadub that followed.

After a six year absence they are back in fine form with blistering EP ‘Pahakas’ which was recorded live in Tallinn and edited long-distance in 2021, and is the first release on their own label Surve. This new six-tracker is an essential tour-de-force of heavyweight ‘odes to the UK hardcore continuum’. In typical Dima Disk style the project is shaped by bass, breaks, metallic percussion and the kind of background synth washes found on early dubstep, UKG and Metalheadz records. With a clear penchant for the colder, more alien variety of 5am warehouse rollers than those on a soulful tip, Rahuoja and Nikolajev waste no time setting the tone for their first EP since 2017. Showing an evolution in both production and palette, ‘Pahakas’ retains the concern for chest-rattling sound system pressure but advances on the slightly lo-fi sound design of the pair’s last outing.

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INTERVIEW

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Thanks for talking to us. Where are you this moment and how are you spending you day?
Hey, I’m just catching up on emails from my flat in Berlin . Hola!

Have you been performing this weekend? Where were you at? How was the night?
Yea we did a show in Istanbul on the weekend, it was my first time in the city and it was inspiring to visit a newly opened venue out there with some really hip music curation.

Where were you born Ziggy? Can you paint a brief picture of where you grew up?
I grew up in a small scientific community in Antarctica, my father was working there doing experiments with Apes under extreme weather conditions.

What was going on musically where you grew up, was there a scene?
Yea there was a really progressive future jazz scene in Antarctica.

What was your first step into music?
My father also happened to have a diverse record collection and played the drums with a few local bands, so it was very natural.

When did you get your first set of drums?
Well yea my pop always had a kit around the house, and I guess when I was teenager I bought my own kit from a garage sale so I could set them up in my room.

What kind of sounds were you into in your teens?
Hmmmm. I guess it was a period of expanding from the usual teenage 90’s / 00’s sounds of heavy metal/ Alt rock and Hip-Hop into some deeper stuff like jazz fusion and modern art music. But also, really digging a bit more into the kind of records that were sampled in hip-hop of course like soul music / Motown etc.

What was the first record you ever bought/ invested in?

N.W.A Straight Outta Compton – changed everything forever.

How did you discover your music when you were growing up?
Sounds old skool now, but back in the day you would save your pennies to buy the CD. I guess just through friends, older kids who were into more hip stuff like Prince and stuff like that u know. If u was cool they would lend u an earphone from their Discman.
Was radio important to you?
Honestly, where i grew up was so remote we didn’t really have radio until I moved into the city as a teenager, and then of course, I was checking out local community radio stations that were playing electronic and art music. Stations like PBS and RRR in Melbourne serve as the backbone of the scene in many ways.
Now it’s one of my main sources of inspiration. I tune into NTS or the LOT or WWFM every day.

Who are the artists from the past who have impacted the music that you make today?
Too many to name… Prince, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Nina Simone, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Jorge Ben, Billy Holiday, Charlie Parker, Tupac Shakur, and Jimi Hendrix. These are the true greats and should be used as a starting point for discovery.

What was the first band you were involved in?
Hmmmm it was an Antarctic nu-metal band that you’ve definitely never heard of.

What lead you to hook up with 30/70? Are you still part of the collective? How does that run with you being in Europe?
Yea, it’s fam. We drink from the same cup so it doesn’t make any difference if there are oceans between us. When we’re in the room together making music it’s an effortless and sacred experience. We transcend borders.

Why is there so much great music coming out of Melbourne? What is in the water?
Yea. It’s laced with LSD. You didn’t hear about that ?

What other new acts from Melbourne should we check?
Mandarin Dreams Collective, Danika Smith, Komang, Elle Shimad, La Sape Records, Love Above Records, Wax Museum, and Northside Records.

What lead to your move to Berlin?
Eventually, I was more interested in exploring a more sex-positive/ queer space to dance and play music. That’s why I’m in Berlin. It’s generally a bit more open-minded like that.

Who did you hook up with when you first got there?
Yea, I was linking up with people like Wayne Snow, Abase, S.Fidelity, Moses Yoofee, Ingwa, Stella Zekri. These were the selectors and artists bringing a fresh energy to the city.

Historically a city of machine music & techno. But there’s a huge new jazz there scene there right?
Yea, well it’s coming up for sure . Yea, I mean as you know the last 30 years there’s been a lot of amazing DJ’s and electronic music producers gravitate towards the city. There’s also been a strong underground scene of punk and experimental music for many years. That kind of anarchism is in a way the heart of the city and it permeates through all genres of music. So we’re just really tapping into that with the experience of the scene we’ve been involved with in Melbourne and London.

Who are the great drummers over time that you look up to?
Ivan Conti, Idris Muhammed, James Gadson, Tony Allen, Clyde Stubblefield, Paul Motian, Airto Moriera.

What does it take to be a great drummer in your opinion?
Spirit. Energy . Focus. Humility

When did the Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange form and what was the catalyst for its formation?
It came out of the necessity to create more of a curated jam session in the sense it was never a strict line-up of musicians but always changing cause that’s just how we got by. We had to play every night of the week back then and we would call whoever was available, so we’re not precious about the members in that way like a rock band or something. We focused on live music for the dance floor as opposed to self-indulgent jazz or the cold rigidity of electronic music. I love both of those things, but we slip between the cracks.

Who are the members of ZFEX?

The OG Melbourne band is: Lewis Moody, Matthew Hayes, Javier Fredes, Erica Tucceri, Finn Rees, Rodolfo Panga

The Berlin Band is: Eric Owusu, Aduni Geldes, Szabolcs Bognar, Roman Klobe Baranga.

What words would you use to describe the vibe of ZFEX?
Energy Exchange is a gathering for progressive, moving, loving and creating.

What has been your most notable release to date? What release has had the biggest impact for you?
We released a track this year on Blue Note. That was a big bonus for us being such a hugely influential label of course we were gassed.

How did you hook up with Secretsundaze?
The guys are legends, James Priestly came down to a show of ours in London and introduced himself afterwards. Later that night they took us out to the Horse Meat Disco, a legendary queer disco night in the city.

Kreuzberg used to be one of the poorest areas of West Berlin. What does Kreuzberg mean to you?
Creative innovation always emerges from the outskirts of cultural city centres, that is somewhere between gentrification and the working-class immigrant neighbourhoods, exists opportunity.

When I first arrived in Berlin, Kreuzberg was such an area. Not so much anymore, sadly it’s quite gentrified now and most of the artists in the city have moved further outside of the ring, Neukölln, Wedding etc.

On this second edition of the EP you have the incredible Wayne Snow . How did get Wayne come to be involved?
He was one of the first musicians I met and connected with in the city. I have a huge amount of respect for him as an artist, visionary and I’m grateful for him sharing his creativity to this project.

Chicago heavyweight Jenifa Mayanja remixes the title cut. You gotta be thrilled with her rework, right?
Yea, it’s a banger. We’re gassed .

What other projects are you working on that you can share?
I’m working on some experimental electronic music with an amazing drummer from Ghana. I’m working on a Neapolitan disco record with a crew in Naples, Italy. I’m working on a load of new music for the 30/70 collective. I’m working on myself and my relationships. I’m working on my visual arts ……… the list goes on.

When you’re not in the studio or with your drums what do you do to kick back?
Stay in bed with my girl, smoke weed, u know normal stuff I guess lols.

Tell us something we would never know about you?
Um…. I’m a vegan. Did u know that ?

Good luck with this dynamite EP!

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Interview by Sharon