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


small steps for mankind
bookings: yoeri@davidlewis.nl

www.residentadvisor.net/dj/toman

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An individual firmly at the heart of The Netherlands’ current electronic landscape, Amsterdam-based DJ and producer Toman is an artist whose stock and stature continue to rise as one of the scene’s most-loved emerging acts. A surging name in recent years, with releases via a host of leading labels and appearances across the globe, his musical journey combines unrivalled work ethic with innate musical talent to showcase exactly why he’s an artist in such heavy worldwide demand.

His debut EP on Mihai Popoviciu’s Cyclic (2017) welcomed a first insight into his studio ability. Since then, he’s taken off with EP’s on Cuttin’ Headz, Moscow, Eastenderz and No Art – the label where Toman features as the A&R. In this role he is also one of the driving forces behind the vinyl-only sub-imprint No Art Red, with his reputation and influence growing as a figure pushing the modern signature ‘Amsterdam Sound’ worldwide alongside close friends and regular studio partners, Chris Stussy and ANOTR.

A talented drummer since his early years, a return to his roots via electronic drum kits within his work has further strengthened his unique sound, building on minimalistic, rolling arrangements to create house music that nods to the golden era of UK tech house. Combining deep grooves amongst hypnotising sonics, his no-nonsense outlook delivers productions perfect for any occasion; from the warm-up to peak time, clubs or festivals, all the way through to the afters and early hours.

The result? His position as Beatport’s best selling Minimal/Deep Tech artist of all time, delivering seven #1’s on the platform across four different labels while gaining support from Raresh, The Martinez Brothers, Joseph Capriati, Enzo Siragusa, Stacey Pullen, Phil Weeks, Franck Roger and Terry Francis to name just a few.

Add in global appearances from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires, Berlin to Montevideo, London to Sydney, manning the decks at Watergate, fabric, Awakenings and S.A.S.H. alongside regular outings at Amsterdam’s most-renowned establishments, and it’s clear to see just why the Dutch talent is on such a steep trajectory… And yet, he’s still only just getting started.

As one of the longest standing independent record labels in the US, Nervous Records has built its reputation through a willingness to take chances on new sounds and new producers. Nervous was the first American label to sign and release tracks from such dance industry luminaries as Armand Van Helden, Paul Van Dyk and Nuyorican Soul. This spirit has enabled Nervous to build a catalogue of hits that spans the complete range of underground dance and hip hop genres.

The label was famous almost immediately when it started back in 1991 because of its eye-catching, very distinctive cartoon character logo. In addition the first three releases were produced by Roger S., Kenny Dope, and Todd Terry respectively, representing the three best house producers of that time. By 1992 Nervous was featured in magazines like Billboard, DJ Magazine (cover story), Mixmag, and ID, hailed by all as the “Sound of New York nitelife.”

Nervous’ first major dance release came in 1992, with “Feel Like Singing” by Sandy B. Nervous decided at that point to focus its energy on expanding the label’s musical field. The label’s first step outside the house music arena was with the Brooklyn, NY-based rap group, Black Moon, whose single “Who Got The Props” virtually put Brooklyn back on the map as a center of hip hop. At the same time, the label decided to alter the Nervous character for this release, giving it specific hip hop characteristics, and calling the hip hop label Wreck Records. Massive success followed with the Wreck imprint, as hits soon followed by Smif-N-Wessun, and Funkmaster Flex.

Nervous decided to continue to expand its musical boundries in 1993 by signing Mad Lion, which would be the first reggae artist on the Weeded imprint. Once again, there was huge success as Mad Lion’s single “Take It Easy” sold over 250,000 units.

Meanwhile, the Nervous merchandise continued to produce massive sales numbers as it established itself as one of the most favored t-shirts for the youth cultures of America, Japan, and many European countries.

In 1994, the label decided it was time to move into the electronic genre, and started an imprint called Sorted. The first artist on that label was Josh Wink, who went by the artist name Winx. While Winx’s debut release was a critical success although not a major seller, Winx’s follow-up release “Don’t Laugh” became the American dance community’s most talked about single, and ended up selling several hundred thousand units worlwide. Subsequently Nervous released Winx’s debut album, “Left Above The Clouds.” This album was one of the first “electronica” albums to be released, and lead to Josh Wink being signed to Sony as an artist. Nervous also released an album by two Long Island based dj’s, DJ Micro and Vicious Vic. The album, entitled “Progress Into Our Future,” since became a seminal album for the crew of Long Island dj’s that currently dominate clubs with their hard trance sound.

In 1996, Nervous virtually single-handedly created a garage house music revival by releasing the debut solo artist album by house music legend Byron Stingily. Byron was formerly the lead singer of gold-selling group Ten City. His second single on Nervous, “Get Up,” went to number one on dance charts around the world, including the Billboard Magazine club chart in America.. For his album, “The Purist,” Nervous assembled an all-star cast of legendary House producers, including Frankie Knuckles, Masters At Work, David Morales, Basement Boys, Maurice Joshua and MK.

As the musical trends continued to evolve in the late 90’s, Nervous continued to create new imprints to remain at the cutting edge of all independent labels. Nervous Dog was created to accommodate the emerging harder-edged house sound of New York; Strapped was the home for uptempo, club oriented hip hop Party tracks; and Nervous Chill released the down tempo, jazzy grooves that are always in vogue in the newest restaurants.

The label also has had many successful tours over the years. One of the biggest was in 2,000, when the Nervous tour was sponsored by Playboy Magazine and KAMEL cigarettes, and featured DJ’s Jackie Christie, Razor-n-Guido and DJ Escape, along With PA’s by Nervous artists Byron Stingily, Charlotte And Kim English. In addition, Nervous created what became one of the Winter Music Conference’s most original Parties, the Nervous After-hours breakfast at Denny’s, which featured an International list of dj’s entertaining conference attendees at 5:00 AM while they ate their grand slam Denny’s breakfast.

In 2000 and 2001, the energy tribal sound dominated the US club and Nervous gave America’s club-goers four of the its most dominant anthems, “Skin” by Charlotte, “Ssst…Listen” by Jonah, “Unspeakable Joy” by Kim English and Dive In The Pool by Barry Harris featuring Pepper Meshay. During this same time, the label has also created many successful compilation series, among them “Hip Hop Independent’s Day,” and “Future Progressive,” and “Club Nervous.

As the hits grew in number, so did the value of the catalogue for sampling purposes. Nervous songs have been sampled in major hits by Mariah Carey, New Edition, Coolio, Flip Squad, Basement Jax, George Michael, Soulsearcher and more..

In 2006 Nervous gave the US one of the biggest dance radio records with What A Feeling by Peter Luts & Dominico, a track which won the 2007 WMC award for Best Euro Dance track. In addition, Nervous delivered the most memorable US underground track of the year with Ralph Falcon – I Need Someone, which was also number one club record of 2007 according to Billboard Magazine.

In 2008 Nervous had two of the top five most played records of the year at dance radio, with Bellatrax feat. Sophia May/I Can’t Help Myself and Every Word by Ercola featuring Daniella, and ended the year as the two most played label at dance radio in the USA according to Billboard Magazine.

Nervous has also made a strong foray into the compilation market, building a roster with some of the most credible house music. The past twelve months has seen full length cd’s from Oscar G, Ralph Falcon, Funkagenda, Mark Brown, Behrouz, Chris Lake, Starkillers & Austin Leeds, DJ Theo, Exacta and Marlon D. Second half of 2009 will see releases from Danny Krivit, Frankie Knuckles, Tom Stephan, Peter Bailey and Richie Santana and Anane (produced by Louie Vega. 

In the grand tradition of Nervous launching sub-labels to embrace the next sounds to take over Nitelife ... In 2011 we launched Nurvous Records.  With the Indie Dance / Nu-Disco sound that has erupted from England and is now barreling towards full speed in America, one of our primary goals is to provide innovative homegrown style; and bringing back emotion to the music, squashing the over-commercialized big-room invasion.

The inspiration comes from the magical energy of Ibiza, which is reflected in both his music and his stage name.

As the resident from the stunning Porsche Design Tower, one of southern Germany's most iconic locations, he has quickly become a recognized figure in the electronic music scene. 

His performances at top-tier events, alongside leading artists, have earned him widespread attention.

From soundtracking Berlin's prestigious fashion show to setting the mood at Ibiza's hottest beach clubs and radio stations, his talent is impossible to ignore.

With a distinctive style and growing influence, he’s poised to become a defining voice in the scene for years to come.

Lisbon was the city that saw DJEFF born in 1984 and where paternal Cape Verde and maternal Angola came together. DJEFF brings us a sound often defined as “Afro Tech”. In 1999, he began to attend the matinees at Bauhaus, Estoril's historic club in Lisbon, while friends dance, DJEFF observes the DJ and the fascination is born. From here a journey begins - buy a mixer to mix with two Discmans; collects dance music and investigates styles and DJs - until he discovers Erick Morillo, that global reference of the art of mixing that would serve as an inspiration to DJEFF until today.

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