Thanks to everyone for making our season opening event absolutely incredible. We were graced by sounds of DJ Koze, Steve Bug, and Droog who absolutely smashed it! Last season we had the likes of Anja Schneider, Marc Romboy, Robert Babicz, Damian Lazarus, watergate club "official", catz n dogz, Ruede Hagelstein, & Stassy... Thanks to our guests and followers for an amazing first season. Were back again and we kick off 2014 with one of our most forward thinking lineups. THE LINE-UP ✮BUTCH✮ GERMANY (VISIONQUEST | CECILLE | HOT CREATIONS | DESOLAT) https://www.facebook.com/cometobutch Constantly working in parallels - drenched by a potent mixture of juxtaposition and fluidity in both his sets and his productions - Bülent Gürler AKA Butch, fuses the grey-area space between music of the body and mind. With over 20 years consumed by a thirst for electronic music, the Alzey-born, Mainz raised entity has released on leading imprints such as Desolat, Cocoon, Rekids, Sei Es Drum and beyond, while maintaining a solid DJ schedule that’s seen him opening the minds and hearts of crowds at fabric, Time Warp and his continuing residency at Berlin’s Watergate. 22-years ago, a 12 year old Butch received his first record player, some second hand vinyl and obediently burrowed into his room to scritch-scratch and beat juggle, imitating and idolising the masters he saw at the DMC World Championships and the vinyl culture central to its core. Of course, he grew older and louder and continued to broaden his palate for music. Butch got hooked on the art of sculpting beats sometime in the last millennium. He started with baby-steps in 1991 before reaching his current optimum state - a refined style that’s seen him voted as ‘Best Producer’ in Germany’s Groove and Raveline magazines two years in a row, whilst also sitting atop the All-Time Most Charted section on Resident Advisor. “My further musical influence came from my brother” reflects Butch…”recording the techno mixes from the radio as he was out at night partying”, he says, explaining the gradual transition from boom-bap to 4-4 funk and drive. “I absorb influence and ideas from everywhere. So, as my music and DJ sets contain many styles, I like to make those different styles too.” Techno heads love Butch, house heads love Butch, as well as the deep and dirty and the light & bright. Few artists flow through genres and emotional landscapes with such ease and fluidity as Bülent, challenging preconceptions of the dance-floor and the expected outcome in the process. The spark behind his excursions is natural: as a music lover he’s always stayed open to different styles and aesthetics. As an artist, he’s always allowed himself to express his take on each genre – it’s true that with Butch, you never know what to expect, other than consistently fresh and unique output. Butch's production might have contributed to his rise through the ranks, but it’s his avid work ethic and undying love that gives his success a solid and deep-rooted foundation. Striking a fine line between quantity and quality is no easy task, but this juxtaposition comes easy to an unpredictable talent such as Butch. Holding residencies over the years at venues and clubs such as Sankeys Ibiza and Robert Johnson in Offenbach Germany, Butch continues to squeeze the best out of every after hour party and every club night floor that he holds court over. Butch might be the hardest-working man in the scene, but it all comes naturally to a man who is first and foremost a music lover by heart. 5 days a week he spends emphatically producing music, as well as performing around the world at various parties, all of whom are looking for the special vibe and touch that Butch brings to his unpredictable, existential sets. “I like to make people dance and have fun. I’m the captain of the spaceship and I’m driving it. People who come to the show get in the ship – and I take them on a trip. To get into the spaceship, they leave their physical body at the door. You must switch off the real world and switch off the mind. I will do the rest.” As with any restless entity, Butch is set to further explore pastures new in 2014. He’ll be launching OTHRSIDE and working on more experimental, “psycho-acoustic’ music with friend and percussionist Chris Hohberg. A mixture of sonic soundscapes and electronic structures, the planned album will seek to cast its tracks across the divide of musical consumption and appreciation – an album suited to home listening as much as it is for dance-floor. Further collaborations are also on the horizon, with a return to making music with friend and cohort Ricardo Villalobos as ButRic - with the two figures being anything but generic, it promises to be another feet twitching, brain melting escapade in Butch’s musical ride. It’s Butch’s interplanetary connection to the music – and willingness to create out-of-the-box slabs of detailed sound - that maintains his position at the forefront of the underground electronic scene. ✮KONRAD BLACK✮ (CANADA) (Wagon Repair | Get Weird | No. 19 | MINUS | Watergate) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Konrad-Black-Official/117840781641762 STime has accelerated ten-fold for Konrad over years since the dark, shadowy tones of "Draconia" & "Medusa Smile" enveloped dancefloors around the Globe, christening his influencial Wagon Repair label in style as well as establishing him as a highly innovative producer and much sought after remixer (just check out his work for Tiga, Snax, Audion and Martini Brös if further proof is required). His relocation to Berlin 5 years ago also gave him the opportunity to express himself more regularly as a DJ, resulting in a fast expanding reputation for sending crowds into a frenzy wherever the call of duty takes him. Konrad knows it’s about living and breathing the music, it’s not just a question of turning up, spinning a few tunes and then disappearing back into the night, it’s about getting to know the people, understanding what makes the club tick and always delivering a night of memorable tracks and seamless transgressions. He quickly found himself holding down one of the much coveted residencies at the Legendary Panorama Bar as well as regular spots at dance musics epicenters; Fabric in London, Rex in Paris, Tenax in Florence, Privilege in Ibiza to name a few… After 5 years of a hectic touring schedule, Konrad relocated to Los Angeles and teamed up with fellow producer Martin Buttrich to record a yet unreleased album. For Konrad the aim was to remove himself from the day to day influence of the dance scene in Berlin and "clear the sonic palette" by relocating to a place whose palette couldn't be further from that of techno's mecca of Berlin. "We wanted to be as far from the scene's influence as we could be; Away from any outside musical influence. Berlin is full of musicians of the electronic variety so we decided to do the album in L.A. in the winter time…and I'm happy we did! "It was nice to be back in that west coast laid back way of life…one that I actually missed…which I never thought that I would. "One that couldn't be further literally and figuratively from the 24/7 Techno of Berlin." In hindsight, Vancouver’s laid back way of life was the perfect environment to patiently prepare for the whirlwind his life has now become. Free from the restraining influences of established scenes and trends, Konrad was able to develop his own individual take on dance music under the guidance of Patti Schmidt’s Brave New Waves late night radio show. Digging through the junk bins in Vancouver’s coolest record stores - Basics & Odyssey Imports - also unearthed hidden gems from artists like Tikiman and Maurizio, along with early Klang and Perlon releases that had been shamefully overlooked by the uninitiated. Although his initial instincts had led him in a Drum and Bass direction, it wasn’t long before he began transplanting his ideas into a 4/4 context. Hooking up with Swayzak in 1998 had a large part to do with this and led to a string of releases on 240 Volts including the Busting Down The Door With A Shotgun EP and the inspired Swayzak / Headgear collaboration on In The Car Crash in 2002. During this period Konrad also relocated to London, producing both Drum and Bass for Ed Rush and Optical’s Virus Recordings, and Techno (together with March 21st) as Headgear including a remix of In A State for James Lavelle’s U.N.K.L.E. project. On returning home, Konrad finally met up with fellow Vancouverite Mathew Jonson who was already having massive success producing on the much lauded It Is What It Is label. Together with Graham Boothby and Jesse Fisk they founded Wagon Repair, basically “to do whatever the hell we wanted to do’’ and in a relatively short space of time it’s developed into one of the most respected labels around. Konrad’s own approach to music basically sums up their original mandate – “It’s important to let music mature and resonate. It’s important to know who you are and to embrace the things that drive you forward even if they seem strange to others’’. ...like dreaming darkly on a sunny day. There’s certainly a Byronesque quality to Black, a perpetual struggle between external light and inner darkness that unearths moments of beauty in the darkest corners of our collective consciousness. But fortune seems to favour the brave and it’s with this firmly in mind that he leads the crowd through the night towards another Berlin sunrise. LOCAL SUPPORT: TBA
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