"Music with a Groove"
House Producer and DJ

MGMT: dg@ayita.com
Bookings (US): rs@thebullittgency.com
Press: kat@listen-up.biz // mikey@listen-up.biz

DARIUS SYROSSIAN  (MOXY MUZIK)
TO BOOK > luke@nge-booking.com 
UK & Spain & Rest of World
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Management + Remix Enquires
Shino > Shino@motionartistmusic.com
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Italy Bookings
Grillo@beatoflife.it
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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


For all of Matthias Tanzmann’s achievements, the future is showing even further excitement and evolutionary growth. He is known as a global leader of the Tech House scene and is synonymous with Moon Harbour, his influential and soon-to-be 25-year-old record label that has already put out over 100 vinyl releases and more than 200 digital tracks. Like Matthias who first broke through as a DJ at the end of the 1990s, it constantly evolves, adapts and leads the scene from the front. 

Both he and Moon Harbour have stayed true to the signature sound that first stood him apart. They never fail to bring new ideas to the dance floor and constantly evolve with the culture. Along the way, there have been countless seminal moments. From his early residency at Leipzig’s cult Distillery Club to his first releases on Steve Bug’s Dessous label and Freude Am Tanzen in 1998 and 1999 via the infamous Moon Harbour showcases at major events including Miami Music Week, Amsterdam Dance Event, Barcelona’s 'Off Sonar' and the leading clubs of Ibiza over the last 20 years. Furthermore he is an integral collaborative member of the super group, Better Lost Than Stupid, alongside Davide Squillace and Martin Buttrich. This ground-breaking trio performs all over the world from London, Ibiza, Miami to Dubai. Together they released the acclaimed full length album Wild Slide and accompanying remix album. 

Whenever he plays, Matthias locks his global audience into his winding and hypnotic grooves for hours on end, always ramping up the pressure and keeping dancers on their toes. He has consistently performed as a resident for almost 15 years at Ibiza's wildest and the most cutting-edge Circoloco party at DC10. He also plays in demand back-to-back sets with partner in crime Davide Squillace and is regarded as one of the favourite players at the infamous ANTS events at Ushuaia Ibiza. In between those regular gigs and picking up several DJ Award nominations, he is on a constant tour of the world's most celebrated clubs and events from Elrow to Solid Grooves to Music On. 

Founded in 2000 and followed by sub-label Cargo Edition in 2006, Moon Harbour Recordings has been a vehicle for much of his music over the years, though it has also been responsible for bringing through plenty of next-generation talents. Matthias Tanzmann has served up three solo albums on his own label - Restless in 2008, Momentum in 2016 and the far-reaching Round And Round album in 2019. Each one shows how he brings colour and narrative to his music through the careful layering of percussion and the teasing out of deft sound designs to make for moments of real dance floor drama. Whether working solo or in collaboration with the likes of Steve Bug, Black Circle or Daniel Stefanik, the key for Matthias is to never stop evolving, asking questions and exploring new ground. Furthermore as a keen contributor to the industry and passing on to the new generation, Matthias shared his vast knowledge with a unique production masterclass in collaboration with Mixmasters in Ibiza in 2023.

As a remixer, Matthias also brings an in-demand signature sound for the likes of Jamie Jones, Dennis Cruz, Moby or Booka Shada. His Remixes 2002-2012 compilation showcased his adeptness and adaptability, and he has further cemented his legacy as a definitive DJ with seminal mix CDs for revered series like Cavo Paradiso Mykonos in 2010, Circoloco in 2008 and 2011, fabric London in 2012, and several times for Moon Harbour.

What started as an obsessive hobby back in Leipzig became a globe-trotting profession. Importantly, though, Matthias Tanzmann has always retained the sense of fun and inquisition that motivated him back then. That shows in the tracks he continues to skillfully craft, whether deep and moody for cozy backrooms, or more raw and jacked up for the main room. From his sets to his productions via the music he A&Rs for Moon Harbour, Matthias Tanzmann blends a deep understanding of dance music dynamics with a burning desire to keep things moving forward.

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the pied piper of dance ...and occasionally known to spot the odd tune...

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