stuff: hux@dumb-safari.com
bookings: huxley@paramountartists.com

Berlin based. @lapserecords @headroom_dance
bookings / tunes: tunesforjessica [at] gmail.com

REAL MUSIC.
ITALIANS DO IT BETTER.

http://italiansdoitbetter.com
https://instagram.com/italiansdoitbetter
https://twitter.com/iDib
https://www.facebook.com/ITALIANSDOITBETTER/


THANK YOU!
XO
JOHNNY

DJ E.A.S.E
Producer/Writer/Spiritual Conductor/CEO of MY Life. In honour of creation xxx 
Enquiries: kr@endlessloveshow.com

Dave Lee aka Jakatta, Doug Willis, Raven Maize, Sessomatto, formerly Joey Negro as well as being part of The Sunburst Band and many more. 

Bookings: Tim@zrecords.ltd.uk

For Rune Reilly Kölsch, Kompakt has become a great label to call home. In 2013 the German imprint celebrated 20 years of record releases at the cutting edge of electronic music, championed in June by one of the most genre re-defining albums and personal music projects for an era: Kölsch’s landmark long player, ‘1977’.

A melodic autobiography on black wax, the Kölsch project has seen 36/37-year-old Rune take stock of a diverse and successful production career and draw upon his own personal beginnings: a nostalgia for childhood, family, friends and the confusion of applying his split-cultural heritage to what it means to think of ‘home’. As Rune freely admits, “being half Irish, half German and living in Denmark – it was all one big messy period of my life.” 

Born to hippie parents in the freetown of Christiania (a commune-like autonomous borough of the Danish capital Copenhagen) his childhood was spent surrounded by creativity. His mother was an artist whose family had roots in German politics and his father a singer songwriter who travelled through Asia playing music in the early 70's. Kölsch, however, did miss out on building friendships and found solace in making up “this imaginary world that I would spend days in,” before the family moved to Germany – a period of memories, relations and characters from which ‘1977’ derives its titles.

For Rune, the tracks he began building from 2010 took in this personal reflection, his being “completely locked in to reminiscing about what shaped me as a kid and into the individual that I am now” – contemplating his unique past to form the brickwork of ‘1977’, one of the most future-facing techno albums of recent years.

Influenced by hip hop, pop and the incredible legacy of Jeff Mills and Derrick May, Rune started producing in 1995, embarking on a string of success stories. In 2003 he released the multi-million selling, saxophone-infused ‘Calabria’, that saw collaboration requests pouring in from artists as diverse as Nicki Minaj, Shakira and Flo Rida. He then set up Tattoorecs – releasing pioneering underground tracks with no titles, just tattoos for artwork, that garnered critical acclaim and support from minimal and techno trailblazers such as Sven Väth, Richie Hawtin, Magda, Tiefschwarz and Ricardo Villalobos.

This appreciation of the complete musical spectrum has gifted Rune with a devotion to groove and melodics and with it the dexterity to input real creative change to the genres he reveres, not least his beloved techno. “2010 was the year of the ketamine house wave, where the music was 118 bpm and everything was extremely boring”, reflects Rune. “I wanted some melodic techno, some energy back in this scene. People needed the energy to express themselves and go crazy for a bit.”

This notion faced opposition, even from within Rune’s close circles. But it was Kompakt founder Michael Mayer who had the insight to see what Kölsch was trying to achieve. Rune’s conviction that vibrations and melodics are the key to human response had tipped the balance, underlined by his experience as a hip hop DJ where he “needed something to catch me and drag me in. And that’s what techno should do!” Here too he drew on his love of Jeff Mills and Derrick May, recalling how “they used to make mistakes all the time. It would be a big mash of all kinds of stuff, but at least something was happening. That’s what I was missing and that’s what I’m trying to change with the Kölsch project.”

The result is ‘1977’, a personal collection of dancefloor destroyers that are continuing to send clubs and festivals across the globe into melodic supernova. Take this video of Kölsch’s set at Belgium’s I Love Techno festival, one of Rune’s 2013 highlights, where “people were doing sit downs, singing along to all the tracks”. Watch it. It puts the hairs up on the back of your neck. “The response was overwhelming,” said Rune in a recent interview with Mixmag (who named Kölsch as one of their ‘Stars Of 2013’), as “when you think about it, it was just a bunch of childhood memories with a kickdrum underneath.” 

Elsewhere he’s ripped up the airways with an acclaimed Essential Mix for Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1, delivered his incendiary soundscape to Singapore’s world-renowned ZoukOut Festival, boomed his live show through the heaving basement of London’s XOYO and played the hallowed Space Terrace – in his words “a boyhood dream since I started going to Ibiza in 1999. That was what I wanted from life!” So opening Amnesia in 2014 with Joris Voorn will be a bonus then...

While these are reasons enough to keep the beaming smile beneath Kölsch’s trademark black fedora, his humility remains just as striking. While tracks like ‘Goldfisch’ have taken pivotal positions in the set lists of world class DJs from across the dance music spectrum – traversing the underground with Seth Troxler, while simultaneously providing credible new euphoric highs for the likes of Axwell – Rune remains joyously down to earth. All despite producing, with ‘1977’, an album that has crossed as many cultural and musical boundaries as his own childhood past.

From the face-twisting melodic drive of ‘Opa’ and ‘Bappedekkel’, to the chord-surfing piano groove of ‘Der Alte’ and the euphoric crescendos of ‘Lorely’, ‘Oma’ and ‘All That Matters’ (all hits in different countries), the fact remains that whether in your living room, on the dancefloors of the world’s greatest parties, or simply in your headphones on your way home, Kölsch’s ‘1977’ has re-defined techno and become an achievement that speaks for itself. 

Words: Phil Dudman – Clubs & Live Music Editor, Mixmag


YAM WHO?

FOR DJ BOOKING'S, REMIXES, PRODUCTION, CONTACT : yamwhoworldwide@gmail.com
DEMO SUBMISSIONS: midnightriotrecords@hotmail.com

Yam Who? is the internationally known alter ego of the disco producer Andy Williams. One of the most consistent DJ’s on the circuit, every weekend you’ll find him rocking the dance floor at clubs & festivals around the globe including Glitterbox, Lovebox, Ministry Of Sound, Horse Meat Disco, Love International. He’s featured on line ups with the world’s finest selectors including Greg Wilson, Joey Negro, Melvo Baptiste, Tiger & Woods, Purple Disco Machine & Danny Krivit.

Ambitious & tirelessly active alongside his partner in crime Tom Laroye they are signed to Glitterbox Recordings as Qwestlife. Having already released 2 chart busting singles ‘Give Me A Minute’ &  ‘Hit It Off’ they are set to unleash their block party rocker ‘Fever’ feat Sugarhill Gang, Melle Mel, Scorpio & Siedah Garrett. 

Behind the creation of 3 record labels Midnight Riot, Black Riot & Ism, theyl have a diversity of sounds with a line-up of producers, DJ’s including the world’s finest Eli Escobar, Ron Basejam, Lenny Fontana, John Morales and many more. For a further taster check out the recent collab alongside Hifi Sean with the New York legend Arthur Baker’s‘ on his classic 1979 re-release ‘Reachin’.

Since 2016 he’s been the Mixmag disco editor, providing a cutting edge platform for the disco, boogie & house modern scene, not forgetting his production touches for the legendary NYC disco band Odyssey. Following on in 2016 he released & co produced with Detroit’s Amp Fiddler’s their critically acclaimed album ‘Motor City Booty’. 

Over the years he’s added disco fever to Grace Jones (PIAS), John Legend (Sony Records) Josh Stone (Virgin Records). His party led productions have been released on Glitterbox, Classic Music Company, Ubiquity and with Joey Negro’s Z Records as Yam Who? & Jaegerossa ‘Grateful’ featuring Jacqui George, not forgetting one of biggest Traxsource Top 100 tunes of 2018, Dubplate Disco’s  ‘Pick Up’ (Yam Who edit). To round off 2019 look out for the forthcoming remixes compilation on Midnight Riot.

Geoff89 is following