Vakant – Onur Özer

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The mind melt keeps melting. Pretty soon we will just be puddles of freaky essential oils, reduced down to our effervescent essence, like jasmine, or dry Kool-Aid. Of course we are talking about Onur Özer’s album Kaşmir, the gift that keeps on giving.

Once again renowned artists have come out in full force reworking selected tracks off Onur’s album for Vakant’s remix-only VR. First up is Mr. Rajko Müller, better known as Isolée, who having spent some time growing up in Algeria, continues with the African remixer theme (Tunisian born Loco Dice remixed “Eclipse” on part 1. You know us, as if we even need an excuse to work in Africa somehow.) Isolée takes Onur’s otherwise chilling “Innervoice” and reinterprets it into a thick warm blanket of reassuring bounce.

Flipping the record inverts dimensions of time and space. Abyssfully deep legend Baby Ford takes the already ethereal “Aida” and turns it into the soundtrack for finding the God particle. It’s scary, yes, but ultimately it could explain everything.

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Hot off the heels of Onur Özer’s most excellent mind melt album Kaşmir, released October of 2007, comes the reinterpretations on Vakant’s VR division. Wonderfully thought out, VR handles remixes exclusively leaving Vakant itself pure to its artists. This constellation leaves everyone free to the corruption of their fancy, allowing the artists to choose their own remixers.

With Onur, finding willing interpreters is not a difficult task and the heavy of the heavies representing the light and dark sides of the force are here on VR04. On the A side Loco Dice, aka Tunisian born Yassine Ben Achour, takes Onur’s instrument laden ‘Eclipse’ and puts it through the treatment. What comes out the other end is popping state-of-the-art tech house with Onur’s depth and Loco Dice’s spontaneous flow.

On the flip things get serious. Jens Zimmermann, the deep, deep, freak out master hailing from Frankfurt, contributes his own spin on ‘Sahara’. What already started out as a tweaked out twilight adventure gets even more spacey. Sitting somewhere between Cologne’s Studio 1, post intergalactic colonization, and seventh century Silk Road somewhere around Uzbekistan, his 15 minute “Wüstenmond” (Desert Moon) remix lives in its own antimatter reality.

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Vakant Limited 1 – Onur Özer

Vakant presents VALT. VALT stands for Vakant Limited and means a new 12″ series for straight dancefloor tracks. Number 1 is being produced by Onur Özer and showcases his all new direction after his heavily acclaimed masterpiece album ‘Kaşmir’ from 2007.

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Vakant, based in the shadowy hedonic capital of Berlin, once again calls out to its sunlight fearing brood to unite and rejoice in their salvation. The freaky dual podium of Vakant and remix-only Vakant R continues to deliver its message of solemn tomfoolery and whimsical gravity with its latest VR03.

While some purveyors of truth dilute their central message with foreign remix filler, the head of Vakant, Il A. Papino, proclaimed “Let there be VR” and as such Vakant R was born from the rib of Vakant original productions.

Third in Vakant R’s installment of virtuous interpretations, these remixes stand on their own with sincere reverence to their original creations. On our man from Istanbul Onur Özer’s ‘Red Cabaret’ is paid homage by Amsterdam’s Dylan Hermelijn aka 2000 And One, by some means pushing the corpulent funk ever skyward. Flipping the black disk finds Jena’s Mathias Kaden’s ‘Synkope’ taken to deeper depths of murky understanding by Leipzig’s Daniel Stefanik.

Trust in Vakant. The message is clear.

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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 Arabic, Persian, and European waves of influence surged and receded. In these tides Onur Özer was born and raised and in his coming LP ´Kaşmir´, they all come radiating through.

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. Orchestral instruments in an array of treatments express the tracks’ melodic voice while modern rhythms and underpinnings drive the ideas home to the dance floor in a style expressly his.

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. He exported his sound via DJ performances first then by way of Vakant with 3 acclaimed 12” EP’s ´Envy´, ´Twilight´, and ´Red Cabaret´. Recently Onur Özer live also evolved as a more direct tool to express the fusion of sounds in his ears to the audience.

On this full length listening experience, Onur and Vakant come together again each uniquely expressing the style they have become known for as staples of expanding and far reaching club sounds. ´Kaşmir´ is a vivid mind melt of intersecting thoughts and movements in synergy, venting from a sweltering ancient yet modern melting pot. With this album, Onur has funneled the currents that have shaped his hometown together into one truly exceptional torrent.

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There’s a saying in poker “If you can’t tell who the sucker at the table is then it’s probably you”. What does this have to do with this release, very little actually, but all eyes should be on Onur Özer as he’s doubling up.. and if you think he¹s playing the same hand as last time then your about to lose your pants..

Music stripped to the bottom line but going for the all in. Onur goes for the pot, pushing and pulling every string and trick he’s got. This is a tight chugging back bone of a number. dispensing of anything unnecessary he grabs the essence of forward moving minimal to etch it into vinyl.

Red Cabaret (Overture) on the A side comes along with a warm, slanky tribal rhythm, and grows into a 5 alarm burnout, slightly uncharacteristic for Onur but still stamped with his trademark tactics. Tight shifting sounds, off kilter howls swirl through the mix and put you right in line with this pro’s mind.

Orion and Allegro Energico on the flip show the brute force of Onur’s production as he goes deep into late night territory. This time a truly different approach for Onur; straight, chugging with an old school flavor but still firmly rooted in today’s minimal canon. It’s dark, melancholic, Chicago affair with foggy and treacherous corners to lose yourself in.

Twilight (Re-Edit) is perfectly rounding up this mutant funk package and will be available on Beatport.com only. This edit is known to these who were lucky to attend Onur´s appearance at 2006´s Loveparade when he played it to introduce his set at the Siegessäule. An early version has also been featured on Onur and Mathias´ Momentum compilation.

Onur is currently working on his debut album which is due to release in May 2007.

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It’s been a busy couple of years for Berlin’s Vakant label. Kicking off in October 2004 with Alex Smoke’s Simple Things EP, Vakant has gone to strength to strength, releasing a tightly curated set of records from new talents (Onur Özer, Tolga Fidan) and old hands (Robag Wruhme, Mathias Kaden) alike, as well as launching the remix sublabel Vakant R and the audiovisual division VX.

Now, with 11 pieces of vinyl safely under its belt, Vakant invites the turntable-impaired to join in the fun with the release of Momentum, the label’s first CD. Not simply a compilation of hits, Momentum recreates the feel of Vakant’s infamous parties at Berlin’s Watergate club with a seamless mix of 14 of the label’s most propulsive tracks, expertly blended by Mathias Kaden and Onur Özer.

In contrast to the prevailing trends in mix CDs – either resolute analog purism or fussy, edit-heavy digital sessions – Momentum strikes a middle path. After plotting the CD’s track selection, the tag-teaming duo banged out the mix in true old-school fashion using two Technics 1210s, a CD player and a sampler. Afterwards, they went back and judiciously added samples from elsewhere in the Vakant catalog, from diamond-hard staccato accents to lush ambient washes. The result is an ever-spinning, constantly mutating vortex that draws the listener in via propulsive rhythms and jagged hooks, and then pulls out the rug with subtle upsets and topsy-turvy layers.

In good dubplate style, the mix features several unreleased tracks: Kaden’s “Nuance,” Özer’s closing “Untitled” and VX artist Spenza’s “kunstfehler,” which kicks off the mix in a haze of oily static before “Nuance” cracks things wide open with chugging polyrhythms and faraway drones that set the tone for the remainder of the mix’s dry whirlwind of dirty beats, disorienting effects and subliminal voices.

The CD also features bonus material in the form of two videos by Spenza, featuring the artist’s original music and visuals, and rounding out the release as the rare project designed to stimulate the ears and eyes.

Just as black holes aren’t empty at all, Momentum proves that despite the label’s name, Vakant thrums with commanding grooves, unique sounds and compelling visions for dance music’s alternate future. Power up to warp speed and hang on.

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P. Diddy may have, ahem, “invented the remix,” but now Berlin’s Vakant label is turning the concept on its head – using the remix to (re)-invent the label itself. Vakant R is the newest addition to the imprint’s crowded house; alongside the parent label and audio-visual offshoot Vakant X, Vakant R rounds out the minimalist trinity with a stunning debut release featuring Mathias Kaden and Onur Özer going head-to-head in a no-holds-barred battle of the remixes.

On the A-side, Kaden, well known for an accelerating string of productions and remixes on labels like Vakant, Freude Am Tanzen, Sender and Traum – both solo and as one half of Hemmann & Kaden – tackles Onur Özer’s ´Twilight´, from Vakant 008. Where the original was a long, psychedelic burner filled to bursting with meaty snares and eerie chords that dissipated like noxious fumes, Kaden subtly reshapes it into a streamlined groove that corkscrews ahead with intricate drum programming and sly atmospheric bursts. Bumping, burbling and bounding across the spectrum like a supercharged ping-pong ball, the details – and in particular, that rubbery, insistent bassline – show Kaden at the height of his people-moving capabilities, even as spooky washes of color work like an undercurrent of doubt, tugging everything into a murky netherzone perfect for programming in pre-dawn sets.

On the flip, Özer – another Vakant and Freude Am Tanzen alumnus with a fast expanding rep, thanks in part to his main-stage appearance at this summer’s Loveparade – tries his hand at Kaden’s ´Pentaton´, the lead cut from Vakant 007. Where the original was a crisp exercise in hardscrabble drums, channelling African percussion through minimal techno at its most hyperkinetic, Özer piles on the dread with a hazy scrim of Pan Sonic-like oscillator swoops, industrial-grade white noise and oily, penumbral chords. This is true horror-core – gothic techno at its most seductively gloomy, kitted out with ominous plucked strings and drums as rattly as a box full of bones. Özer proves that the dead can dance as he works all these elements into a jacking house pattern that commands your body to move even as it’s tying knots in your gut. If John Carpenter ever makes a horror film set in Berlin’s vampire-like club scene, he’ll know where to find the soundtrack.

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Onur Özer was rated one of Groove Magazine´s up and comers for 2005, now he returns with another stellar EP for Vakant. At only 25 years old the minimal assailant is back to claim another dance floor victim. Already broken in on the dance floors of his residency at Indigo Music Hall in Istanbul the Twilight EP is sure to put you in your place. So sit down and pay attention!

With the Twilight EP, Onur once again demonstrates why he is the master of the new funk. Every corner opens up into a new space, with efx washes covering you like a blanket made of sharp glass. Forget 3D, we´re into the age of 4th dimensional minimal, the past and the future seen perfectly at the same time. But like the time before the sun falls you never know what´s going to happen when it really gets dark.

Side A is where you need to check out if you need crunchy but smooth madness, drop it like it´s hot at anytime of night and you will see it works better than donkey drowned in vodka on a high mountain road. Onur manages to capture a sound that can change it´s shape or form depending what it´s played next to and this EP is no exception. Like a good wine though it fits with almost everything, so drink up and have a sonic feast. Edgy, raw and tactic every track on the Twilight EP is exploding at the edges with explosive power.

It will drop you in deep space with no ticket back. Terrific brainwashing, with a patina of grit makes this one for you and the family..

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Been a long time gone, Constantinople… Straight out of Turkey, Onur Özer is the 25 year old minimal invader with agility and skill to match. Take a look under the surface of this gentle resident of the Indigo Music Hall in Istanbul and what you get is one lean minimal tech machine. Already causing a storm on the vista with his Freakdisco EP on Freude Am Tanzen, Onur is now ready to conquer even more hearts and minds as part of infamous vakant brigade.

Onur is on automatic, with the Envy EP, every sample and edit leads the way to new worlds. Pause and reflect before you get shot back into some of the most irresistible, driving and intricate beats out there. Needing your minimal far-out and hyper? Side A is the ticket. Witness Onur raw and uncompromising on ´Envy´, bursting at the seams with energy it will deliver you to never-never land with no coming back.

When you need to rest, then take in Side B with ´Maze´ & ´Superfunk´, where Onur lays on layers and layers of wignomyesque reverbs to deliver a rich and satisfying slab of glitched out funk. Terrific encoding, super communicable bass lines and a varnish of raw edits makes the Onur Özer – Envy EP one for the box .

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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.