the spaces left between the beats
Artists
Alex Smoke ∞
booking: gostimirovic music management
Alex Smoke is a new breed of electronic music producer. While his music may reside on the dancefloor along with his renowned live sets, it also resonates so much further than this. With a production style drawn from a myriad of influences that blur the boundaries between electronica, techno, classical and hip hop, Alex Smoke’s music evolves in new directions with every new project he undertakes, musically consistently fulfilling, regardless of the listener’s preferred genre.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Alex’s proficiency in multi-faceted electronic-beat-making is founded securely on a lifetime of classical training, nurtured not least by his mother, by profession a music teacher. At a young age, Alex received a coveted scholarship for Durham Cathedral Choir School, where he excelled on the cello, piano and drums. In fact, the very same voice that adorns his techno tracks, was once heard in Durham Cathedral Choir, albeit an octave higher. After a brief glitch, studying marine biology, Alex soon got back on track, wisely using his student loan to buy his first Apple Mac computer and simple software, giving his imagination the necessary tools to begin producing.
It didn’t take long. After his first release in 2002 on local Glasgow label “S.U.D.”, Alex was soon snapped up by the legendary dance music label, Soma Records, on which he released his seminal first album, ‘Incommunicado’ to critical acclaim in 2005. Upcoming Berlin indie label Vakant immediately recognized this young producer’s extraordinary talent and provided a platform for a series of EP releases that continued to tantalize enthusiasts not only within the techno-driven German capital. Smoke´s first Vakant release, the classic yet ‘Simple Things EP’, was released in 2004 and followed by a five EPs, one of them released under the guise of Quixote.
In 2006, back on Soma, Alex Smoke released album no. 2. ‘Paradolia’ is defined as the human ability to creatively perceive coherent images in randomness, an unusual word by anyone’s standard, but then Mr Smoke is an artist very far from the ordinary. A Rorschach test this was not, more a sonic experiment that explores the parameters of Alex Smoke’s potent psyche. 2006 also saw Alex join the elite wall of fame of Soma’s mix compilation series, ‘Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi.’. Following in the footsteps of Ewan Pearson and Luciano, Alex was also given the opportunity to portray influences past, present and future on one release with no prescribed genre-related parameters to his selection.
Throughout his relatively short career Alex has become an in-demand remixer, already with remixes for Steve Reich, Depeche Mode, Mylo, Junior Boys, Funk D’Void, Radio 4, Jay Haze and Envoy under his discography belt, to mention but a few.
This brings us to the here and now. Or should that be the Hum+Haw? For this is the name of Alex’s burgeoning label project with former Soma man Jim Hutchison, which will house his forthcoming releases next to Vakant, as well as nurture young Glaswegian talent and international musical electricians. Again you will try in vain to categorize this youthful label on the brink of their first release. Almost out the other end of the pipeline, is an experimental hip-hop collaboration between Alex (providing the electronics) and LA MC, Non, of The Shadow Huntaz fame (delivering the hip and the hop). 2008 will witness Smoke’s third studio album and the development of his live set to include more hardware equipment and thereby expand his boundaries and resonance even further. Expect the unexpected.
Dario Zenker ∞
booking: Harry Klein
Just in time, the ‘Free State’ of Bavaria has produced a new son to relight its techno torch. Munich born and raised Dario Zenker is writing his own chapter in the long story of electronic music from Germany’s dirty south. It all started with listening to Michael Jackson as a kid, then Dario moved on to underground hip hop to rile the neighbors. Several visits from the not-so-friendly neighborhood police later, Dario’s father, a pro audio engineer, introduced the wunderkind to music programming and imparted the tools which later consumed him. At 15 Dario started to DJ, and not too long after he received his club education from the Green Room at the legendary Ultraschall.
In 2005 at the ripe old age of 21, Dario landed his residency at Harry Klein which he still maintains today. 2006 saw his debut vinyl release and in the space following Dario managed to sprinkle his magic chuga chuga dust on some of the world’s finest minimal techno labels.
Whether DJ-ing or playing live, in just a few years Dario has built up a reputation for freaky experimental sets which never seem to stay in the same place for too long. Constantly innovating Dario has never been content walking a straight line with the crowd. To attempt to put it into words: bomb, duck, cover, swerve, bomb, swerve, bomb bomb.
In 2008 ‘the’ youngin became ‘our’ youngin joining the hallowed ranks of the Vakant crew with Dario’s split personality ‘Sam Und Er/Womde!’ EP (VA019). Dario’s thick kink finds a natural home here on the Vakant deep freak out bus bumping and bouncing the club kids wherever they need to go.
Liberalitas Bavarica!
DeWalta ∞
booking: Gostimirovic music management
With a background like DeWalta’s, the stage was set long ago for this yougin to blast some serious holes in the fabric of music, time, and space. DeWalta a.k.a. David Koch budded from a large family in southern Germany filled with theater, literature, and music. Early schooling came in the form of the interdisciplinary Waldorf School (also home to electronic pioneers Abe Duque and John Selway) tasked with nothing less than helping young people fulfill their unique destinies.
With the school’s emphasis on artistic and imaginative endeavors in elementary education, David started with French horn at age 7 leading to his first orchestral and ensemble performances. Meanwhile David’s grandfather was a music journalist who first exposed him to early American jazz on old lacquer records and later the music of the beatnik movement of the 1950’s.
At age 10 David started to teach himself jazz. By 13 he engaged in known local jazz clubs playing on sessions which lead to his first musical scholarship where he met his first inspiring instructors. Parallel to his jazz studies David picked up on good ol’ American P-Funk, hip hop, and some pop\rock. Additionally David started to tour globally with classical symphonic orchestras, and in the off season started to earn money performing in young jazz ensembles.
In 1999 David moved to Berlin to attend an elite music conservatory and continued to play jazz taking part in Berlin’s young jazz scene. Just 2 years later he left the high school conservatory to attend the Hans Eissler Music College for jazz and pop where he studied saxophone, piano, composition, and music theory. Of course here he also found many suitable ensembles to play with ranging in style from big band and free jazz, to funk and Latin music.
By 2003, as was common for many gifted musicians, David started the doubt the necessity of musical education. Though trained as an instrumentalist for most of his life, he felt limited by traditional performance with control of just one element of a piece. The emphasis of improvisation in jazz led him to experimentation, composition, and giving into the natural genesis of producing his own music. He started to acquire studio equipment, experimented with different sounds, founded a disco band, and made his first forays into producing electronic music events. Berlin was also a vinyl paradise which David did not overlook quickly amassing a collection delving deeper into electronic music. His eclectic endeavors continued to dominate composing theatrical music, expanding his studio, studying jazz at the music college, and partaking in the bohemian urban paradise that was and still is Berlin.
David continued to expand his studio, improved his production skills, and advanced his productions. By 2007 he founded his Meander label and began releasing his first electronic records. Just a year later long time friend and Vakant big daddy snapped up David leading to the drop of the ‘Salgaro/Farina’ EP (VA021) on the world’s dance floors. With a bass presence not easily described in words and the musical expanse that floats on top of his debut Vakant release, DeWalta became instantly known to all those seeking massive funk with their freak. With so much music already under his belt and the platform that is Vakant, we envision a mad scramble of the world’s sound technicians to technically accommodate such a talent in the time to come.
Dinky ∞
booking: backroom entertainment
Don’t let the name fool you: Dinky is a powerhouse. Inheritor of the diminutive nickname before she was even born, Alejandra Iglesias has grown her stature the old-fashioned way, with focus and determination and, of course, killer DJ skills and a catalog filled with classic, game-changing tracks. Active since the mid ’90s, the international traveler has seen scene after scene try to claim her as their own, but she’s never stayed in one place, musically speaking, long enough to get mired in yesterday’s ideas. Her restlessness is our gain.
Born and raised in Santiago, Dinky is a leading member of Chile’s second generation of electronic-music greats. Like so many of her artistic compatriots, her music reflects both her roots and the experiences of a highly peripatetic lifestyle. Caught up in the musical revolution started by the likes of Ricardo Villalobos, Dandy Jack and Atom Heart in the early ’90s, she taught herself to mix records and was soon appearing at desert raves. It was in New York, where she had moved in the mid ’90s to join the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, that Dinky’s career began to take off, as she immersed herself in the city’s vital underground scene of the day and became a regular behind the decks. In 2000, just 23 years old and armed with only an MPC 2000, she turned out her first productions; within a couple of years she had released a spate of records, ranging from trim, nuanced minimal techno to downcast electro-pop, on Cologne’s Traum Schallplatten as well as New York’s Sonic Groove and Carpark labels.
In 2003, forced by U.S. immigration laws to leave the country, Dinky lit out for Berlin, a city that had captured her imagination nine years earlier during the heyday of E-Werk and Tresor. It was a good move: by 2005 she would release the massive “Acid In My Fridge” for Sven Väth’s Cocoon imprint, and the following year she landed a residency at Väth’s infamous Cocoon parties at Ibiza’s Amnesia. Both DJing and playing live, Dinky has gone on to become a regular fixture across the continental scene—from Ibiza’s Circo Loco to top-draw festivals like Sonar, 10 Days Off and Sonne Mond Sterne—while in Berlin she currently holds the honor of a Panorama Bar residency.
Even if you’ve never caught Dinky live, you can get a good sense for her unique style from her two mix CDs, 2007’s Get Lost 03 (Crosstown Rebels) and 2008’s Dinky Mixes Horizontal (P-Vine). Folding phrases with origami grace, they present interwoven percussive grooves flecked with scraps of melody; they’re lush and dryly funky, jacking and introspective all at once.
Dinky’s own productions work in similar ways. Whether working with samples, software, hardware or some combination of all three, she builds compact, complex worlds out of sound, using only the bare essentials. It’s hard to think of another producer who has imbued the principals of minimalism with such soul. Stripped-back grooves do only as much as needed to keep the pulse rippling, while scraps of synths, voices, or sampled who-knows-what flit about like nervous ghosts. Often it’s impossible to tell how Dinky has put together her tracks, which seem partly collage, partly the expression of some sentient machine.
The most recent phase of Dinky’s production finds her experimenting more than ever. With the launch of her own Horizontal label in 2005, she began moving in the direction of jittery, cut-up house; the label now has 10 releases and counting, featuring not only Dinky’s own productions but also records from Matthew Styles, Jambi, Andres Bucci and more. In 2008, Dinky released her third album, May Be Later, and an EP for Berlin’s Vakant label, exploring ever more intricate polyrhythms and uncanny timbres. In 2009, fellow expat-in-Berlin Mathew Jonson invited her to join his Wagon Repair label, resulting in the four-track Lydian EP and the full-length Anemik. Having proven time and again that she can pump out tracks for the most demanding dance floors, here she lets her imagination and her fingertips guide her to a more secluded place, using exclusively hardware synths, sequencers and drum machines, and even Fender Telecaster and Rhodes keyboard, as her raw materials. The results range widely in style and mood, but they all come together, crystallizing (and this music is nothing if not crystalline) into a single idea or a single image: something like a sun-dappled clearing in the woods, far from any “proper” nightlife, marked by close friends, good sound and no intrusions from the outside world, where the music is free to roam.
Mathias Kaden ∞
booking: Freude am Tanzen
Whether it is Opening, Primetime or Aftershow, Mathias’ intuition for the crowd and location, proves each time again that he lives for his profession. His music is both, distinctly ambitious and refreshing. Following the House music of the 90s, he works thoroughly to create new sound structures. For a while, he has been using different types of percussion elements. The result is an enjoyable rhythm, which communicates with its audience in a very particular way. In a playful approach, he creates an incredible repertoire of feelings that reproduces within the crowd. Mathias’ various sets include the following sound features: funky, freaky, dashing, dub, slamming, enriched by African and South American percussions.
Inspired and motivated by the first House & Techno DJs at Bioxultra in Gera he got his first turntables at the age of 14. One could argue it is necessary to live wherever the sound rises at a particular time. However, Mathias draws on his own strengths. Away from sated urban in- and output, he has always maintained the objectivity for his music.
For 7 years, he has been the resident DJ of the well-known club Muna. He is not only DJing there, but he also supports talented folks within the Freshblood project. Additionally, he is jointly responsible for the Klanglauf events at Kassablanca in Jena, as a DJ and organizer. Together with Marek Hemman, Mathias released 4 ep’s on the label Freude am Tanzen and 4 own ep’s on Vakant. Amongst others, he also did remixes for Matthias Tanzmann, Onur Özer, Dapayk, Anja Schneider, Daniel Stefanik and Trentemöller.
DJing and, later on, the production of electronic music have been his occupation for 13 years by now. With his style of work, Mathias joins those, who refuse to produce and release music excessively. Thus, the necessity to make records that will remain long lasting is one of the guiding motifs of his profession.
Nico Purman ∞
booking: Gostimirovic music management
Born and raised in Rosario Argentina, Nico Purman has been roasting the proverbial marshmallows since he first started collecting records at 12 years old. Those days of innocence were filled with not-yet-freaky Michael Jackson, soon after tainted with the New Beat sound coming out of Belgium (with bands like Jade 4 U and Erotic Dissidents), before being completely corrupted by the fabled late 1980’s Chicago Acid House movement. Once debased, Depeche Mode, Joy Division, and The Cure quickly followed all leaving their influence on Nico.
At 17, Nico started to study percussion and played drums in local indie bands, recording in some of Buenos Aires’ biggest studios. The experience left him with the taste of live performance and a deep understanding of rhythm, syncopation, and independence that only drumming can provide. With this classical insight into time and beat, Nico transitioned to vinyl and became one of Argentina’s most respected DJ’s. Armed with an expansive collection of music, he winds his audience through long hypnotizing sets of tough mood and movement, interlaced with selected loops and samples accentuating his motivational transfer.
Nico’s original music production quickly followed, first releasing the ‘Artificial Plastico EP’ on Karmarouge (KR09) in 2004 as Artificial collaborating with friend Gustavo Sacchetti. Later Nico discharged solo and remix work for Spanish net label Sinergy Networks. Nico’s first vinyl EP came out in 2005 on France’s Modelisme Records (Model011), returning for a second Modelisme EP (Model013) in 2006. Also in 2005 Nico contributed ‘Resurgir’ to Onitor’s Stadtmusik Buenos Aires (ONITOR47). Gaining momentum, Nico then released ‘Lunatique EP’ on Crosstown Rebels (CRM036) to critical appeal, from which the title track was licensed to the Get Lost 2 compilation mixed by Jamie Jones. In 2007 Nico’s ‘Romantique EP’ came out on Japan’s Mule Electronic (MULE039). Then in 2008 Nico appeared on a mixed EP Curle Recordings (CURLE010) out of Belgium with the track ‘Miercoles’. This took Nico over the top as it was praised by people like Laurent Garnier, Troy Pierce, Bart Skills, Martin Landsky, and Loco Dice.
Since releasing the ‘Tuesday EP’ in 2008 (VA017), perhaps the most direct approach to dark loud strobo room stimulation the label has ever seen, Nico will focus primarily on Berlin based Vakant. Forward, 2008 will prove an expansive year for Nico entering a new phase with Vakant, relocation to Europe, and his influence steering the sound of modern techno becoming ever more persuasive.
Onur Özer ∞
booking: cocoon
The currents of influence that have shaped Istanbul for thousands of years, continue to flow today in the only city in the world situated on two continents. At this crossroad the ‘Queen of Cities’ has sat while Middle Eastern, Asian and European waves of influence surged and receded. In these tides Onur Özer was born and raised and in his music they all come radiating through.
Onur’s developmental years were spent listening, not playing an instrument. The melodies and harmonies he composes today are a result of those he heard, interpreted, and ‘somehow’ able to spontaneously play. Club development came way of the Istanbul club scene starting from 1999, close to the time Onur began producing music. From 1999 to 2004 tech and minimal house thrived in Istanbul as did Onur’s position in it. In 2003 Onur quit his day job to peruse music exclusively and held various residencies in Istanbul’s best clubs. He exported his sound via DJ performances first. In 2005 he released his debut ‘Freakdisko EP’ on Freude Am Tanzen followed by the ‘Envy EP’ on Vakant. From these releases combined with his amplified DJ touring, Onur was recognized as one of Groove magazine’s best new comers for 2005.
Onur provided 2 more highly acclaimed Vakant EP’s, ‘Twilight’ in 2006 and ‘Red Cabaret’ in 2007 followed by a full length album. The debut album for both Onur and Vakant, ‘Kaşmir’ presents the musical world Onur was surrounded by, from the mystical Arabesque and Turkish art music, to the deep synthetic pulses that come through the drivers of some of the world’s biggest sound systems on which he plays. Together they melt drifting ideas left and right, east and west, moody to motivated. Onur expresses the music which unexplainably comes out of him sans musical training with textures widely varied.
With his production or DJ sets, Onur evokes a vivid mind melt of intersecting thoughts and movements in synergy venting from a sweltering ancient yet modern melting pot. Funneling the currents that have shaped his hometown together into one truly exceptional torrent, Onur uniquely expresses the style he has become known for as a staple of expanding and far reaching club sounds.
Robag Wruhme ∞
booking: Kompakt
Music is the light of their lives!
Wighnomy Brothers are Robag Wruhme and Monkey Maffia.
Greetings, friends of the savoury palate. There are more or less three different stylistic methods concerning food ingestion: 1. orderly consumption; 2. suffering through some form of diet and; 3. a balanced feast. The Wighnomy Brothers of Jena have applied the latter, not only to the taking in of nature’s fruitage, but by applying this also to their daily intake of music. Next is to deftly inform the rest of the world. Hereby they purloin not only the vinyl classics of others, but keep to the ultimate aim of keeping their own irons in the forge.
The two, tone-artists junkies Gabor Schablitzki (alias Robag Wruhme) and Soeren Bodner (alias Monkey Maffia), react to and revolve around the verbal confrontation. Both tap into you, starting stealthily as a mere bud in your soul, which eventually conquers your musical devotion. It all began with blond perms, armbands, striped stretch pants, heavy (emphasis on heavy) metal and everything that goes with that image. Actually, that is just a collection of lies told with a sigh and a smile. The two buddies’s got to know each other in 1988 while break dancing. The way it happens with some adolescents, the different music styles that passed through their eardrums started with Hip Hop, early electronica of every colour, ambient, house, techno, jazz, funk, and even alternative/independent rock. Both soon concluded that the true sound aesthetic is far away from the instruments; at full blast it is only what pours out of the grooves in the vinyl. This being the case, the established “Phonothek” absorbs, selects and then releases product. The first refuge: Gabor stood in the mid-90’s as “The Chill-Out DJ”, behind the decks on many a relaxing floor of mother earth. In the meantime he played with Herbie Hancock and stood as a virtuoso in a keyboard shop. In 1996 with Volker Kahl he started the project “Beefcake”. With his, rather experimental but simultaneously harmonious, electronica-devoted release he had notched his own international respect. Until 1997, Gabor & Soeren dashed through the Thuringian club and party scene, and are currently residents in the renowned Club Kassablanca in Jena. However only since April 97 they are known as the Wighnomy Brothers. Since the founding of the Freude am Tanzen label, business has steadily improved. Of course, not without the stumbling blocks and setbacks that happen with marketing mechanisms. However, in accord with the motto “Stehter Tropfen höhlt den Stein” (words of wisdom which mean when translated, steady drops will drill a hole in stone), the FAT vehicle with the Wighnomy Brothers steam engine stays on track. Also, for the last two years there is the added train car called Musikkrause and, the friendly collaboration with the Cologne based Kompakt stable must also be mentioned here. The always multifaceted style of the WB’s has been further developed through club experience, production, and still more flavour expansion efforts. This all brings a functional kick with the ever-present view to the thoroughly rocked dance floor. Originally, they were native to deep and traditional house together with Latin, vocal, and Nujazz flavouring. The musical spectrum lying between advanced in the direction of “raving with reason”. Therefore, stirring, intelligent, technotronic, wide ranging dance music of incalculable worth to body and soul welcomes you. Everything out of the speakers goes straight to the bones, bringing your blood to a boil whether minimal, bounce, shuffling, break, or jazzed tracks. Both gentlemen are solo artists: Robag Wruhme (also as producer) and Monkey Maffia, allowing (when the “blessed union” is on hiatus) both gentlemen the liberty to give and receive unique inspirations. This serves the Wighnomy Brothers the benefit of bringing fresh impressions to the table when collaborating. Monkey-Soeren is also the owner of the Fatplastics recordstore in Jena: quite the ideal refuge and communications platform. Wodka raus, Wighnomy frei!!! (Break out the vodka, Wighnomy is free!!!)
Tolga Fidan ∞
booking: lola ed
Hailing from Paris via London via Istanbul, don’t call our multi instrumentalist French. Born and raised in Istanbul, studied in London, and relocated to Paris in 2005, Tolga Fidan considers himself Turkish above all else. At just 14, Tolga was playing bass and guitar in post rock bands. Always drawn to experimental music, he was taken with the sounds of Sonic Youth, Autechre, Pansonic, and Austrian experimentalists Fennesz. From this past, Tolga’s musical interest organically morphed into deep techno, signed exclusively with Vakant, and became the label’s youngest-ever artist.
Since breaking into the electronic dance music consciousness with his first ever release ‘Now I’m Weak EP’ on Vakant (VA009) in 2006, he has earned the esteem of fans and techno heavyweights the world over in record time. Perhaps even more freaky, his lush and beautifully produced debut EP was created from the most modest bedroom studio means and mixed on headphones costing less than a round of late night drunken kebabs. Almost instantly this EP got the attention of people like Sven Väth. From there, in 2007 Tolga released ‘Venice / Tanbulistan EP’ (VA014) to critical appeal. Unprecedentedly a track from both his first 2 EPs was licensed to Cocoon for their seventh and eighth season Ibiza mix compilations.
Continuing his exclusive roll on Vakant, Tolga most recently let loose his third installment ‘All Pleasure Is Relief EP’ (VA018), a moving, evolving, and sprawling electronic soundscape. This last work perhaps best illustrates the breadth of Tolga scope incorporating a multi ethnic feel, showcasing his musicality, and redrawing techno boundaries.
Together with Vakant, Tolga Fidan’s bottomless sound, constantly morphing arrangement, and eclectic sound design that somehow points towards the orient have taken him so far in so little time.
