Dj duo from Germany Cologne
Resident Dj's for Solar Elektro Sound

Great Stuff / CusCus Music / Solar 

For bookings or any other questions feel free to contact:

contact.anker@gmail.com

Last Gigs

Kitball Records @ Junkjard w/ Ramon Tapia
Solar @ Wartesaal w/ Matthias Tanzmann
Morgenandacht @ Zimmermanns w/ Dario

Marian Müller &amp; Michael Kastens

find us at: www.walkthenight.net

"I was walking along the road with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red - I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city - my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety - and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature." (Edvard Munch)

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


Rooted in melancholia and darkness our sound ranges from hard-hitting techno, tech-house grooves and minimalistic beats all the way to the more soulful tones of house music. Good music and sets should not be classified to genres, sub-genres or styles. Music just has to make sense.

Book me ∆ & Get in contact with me ∆
 ray@rajo-music.com

Ray Okpara - An artist whose roots lie half in Nigeria represents today for what we understand as House: 

Percussions, drifty hypnotic beats, a touch of soul and marvellously deep.........house is a feeling and Ray Okpara has his finger firmly on the pulse, leading the way. Whilst his own roots are in Nigeria, it is actually Mannheim, Germany that Ray has helped put on the electronic music map, with a string of stellar productions on hot labels like Cécille, Oslo, Get Physical, Soweso and Arearemote and an indomitable DJ style that has seen him rock out the world’s great modern clubbing arenas.

With Ray’s distinctive style, it’s no surprise to learn that his early influences were hip-hop, funk and soul before the nightlife escapades of he and long-time friend Johnny D truly awoke his strong interest in electronic music. Impressed by the many different genres, the first attempt on the turntables was actually using Johnny's UK Garage Records. But the passion was sparked and Ray and Johnny began their own party, RAJO, which was hugely popular throughout the Rhein Necker Delta.

Another friend, Nick Curly, joined RAJO in 2001 and 'The Loft’ residency began in Mannheim, where the first seeds of something monumental were unwittingly being sown. The Mannheim influence, and the time Ray has spent living there, is tangible; during these years the technical elements of Ray’s sets developed and the groove began to take shape, thankfully encompassing all the early influences like soul and funk.

Berlin was calling in 2005 and beginning 4 years living in the city, Ray really started to blossom musically. The heralded DJ performances were soon accompanied by productions, such as remixes for Johnny D on Oslo and 8-bit or the Italoboyz on Get Physical. His first EP, ‘Fumnaya’ on Lomidhigh Lmtd and releases like ‘Frozen on Yellow Ice’ (Arearemote) and ‘Loving Moonbauh’ (Drumpoet Community) were instrumental in Mannheim’s explosion in 2008.  

On returning to Mannheim in 2009, his Brothers EP (Oslo) was a permanent fixture in clubs across the world in in the first half of the year and is one of the 2009’s most charted tracks on Resident Advisor. On the brink of beginning his live act in 2010, two further EPs, ‘Brainows’ on Soweso and ‘Tru Crowd’ back on Area Remote put Ray Okpara on the front foot going into a new decade of continued house grooves and more good times.

A crowd teaser and crowd pleaser, constantly rocking it with music to make you smile and lose yourself in the moment, Ray Okpara is coming to get you and there is no hiding place. 

House music still movin’ and groovin’.........

Rays Recordlabel:
Ama Recordings is Ray Okpara’s label out of Mannheim, Germany. Amaefule, Ray’s middle name in fact, literally means “your name will never get lost” and it symbolizes the strength of identity we create through music. Ama is also derived from the Latin meaning of love and the philosophy of the label is born out of the affection held for conceiving and sharing quality electronic music. There are no rules about what Ama Recordings will sound like, but it comes from the heart, so expect true house values to be maintained at all times with a natural tip towards the deep and dubby.

Katermukke isn’t just a label; it’s an evolving sonic odyssey. Each release adds to its dynamic narrative, showcasing a relentless quest for musical innovation. The label seamlessly blends diverse electronic genres—from the hypnotic depths of melodic house and the driving pulse of techno to the dreamy realms of electronica and the infectious beats of indie dance.

Founded in 2011 by the visionary Dirty Doering and Sascha Cawa, Katermukke emerged from Berlin’s vibrant electronic scene as a sanctuary where music breaks boundaries and invites endless exploration.

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