Andreas Baumecker launched his DJ career in the early 90s, a Frankfurt native coming of age in the halcyon days of his country’s reunification. His first stop was the city’s storied and centrally located Romantica, then its affiliate Intimbar where reps from house label Playhouse picked him up for buying duties at record store Delirium. After an uptick in local bookings, he made a brief stop in Mannheim for more of the same before moving to Berlin in 2004, where a recently opened Panorama Bar scouted him as resident and offered him the role of in-house booker for its Berghain operations. As word got out and the city started to draw larger crowds he became a fundamental force in crafting the club’s story. Hesitant to define the upstairs-downstairs split as house and techno, he practices his preachings through an approach that embraces a range of different sounds. ‘Surprise is important’ and his 25,000 strong vinyl collection lends a hand in the process, an assemblage that oscillates between disco, house, electro, techno, breakbeat and pop; the key is to capture the spirit of a crowd. This strategy has borne not only his label Freundinnen (put on hiatus in 2007, relaunched in 2023), but a lasting collaboration with sparring partner Sam Barker as half or Barker and Baumecker (four 12” records and two albums on his alma mater’s imprint Ostgut Ton to prove it). nd_baumecker deals in all things funky and uplifting, a thread of life-affirming melodies and historically literate beats that drive seamlessly forward. Bassiani Podcast 255 alludes to his well stocked portfolio of references, with hints of disco and balearic house, it's more of what his fans know and love to usher in the warmer months; this latest episode is full of spacey tenor, refreshing and gently rolling, breezy chill-out expertly compiled by this fabled German veteran.

@ndbaumecker

Bassiani invites nd_baumecker / Podcast #255

BASSIANI