Here you will be able to find mixes from artists that is releasing on Skudge Presents. 

Plus previews of coming releases on the label.

We are happy to announce that we have singed two new artists on Skudge Presents. ''Alain'' and ''Koehler''.
Both will release their debut 12" on our label

Other upcoming releases on Skudge Presents:

October - Empires EP (Out very soon!)
Rivet - Spelunk
Jared Wilson - N/A
Koehler - Technicolor
Alain - Flindik
MRSK - N/A
Aardvarck - Album Sampler
Jared Wilson - N/A
Koehler - N/A
October - N/A
Aardvarck - Album

More info and release dates soon.

Mike Kivits isn’t your average DJ/producer. A veteran of some 30 years behind the turntables, the man best known as Aardvarck has spent three decades defying conventions, mixing things up and successfully overcoming personal demons. His story, soon to be published in an autobiography offering advice to those battling depression, is nothing less than extraordinary.

Now based in the Asian paradise of Bali, Kivits continues to divide his time between DJing and music making. Outside his native Netherlands it’s the latter he’s best known for, having built up a bulging discography over the last two decades. While lesser producers would focus on one or two key styles, Kivits has released everything from floor-filling house and techno to broken beat, jazz, jungle, ambient and electronica. Given his now legendary status in Holland, it’s unsurprising that he’s recorded for many of the country’s most acclaimed labels, including Delsin, Djax-Up Beats, Rush Hour, Kindred Spirits, Music For Speakers (an imprint he had a hand in founding), and Voyage Direct. Soon, he’ll also be appearing on Dekmantel, another Dutch imprint that has been wowing critics in recent years, and has an album for Skudge in the pipeline.

It’s DJing, though, that remains Kivits’ greatest passion. “You just give and take them higher,” he enthuses. “It’s fun. I do my best always, and am always happy when I’m DJing.”

He’s been doing this longer than most, of course, and has the scars to prove it. He bagged his first residency in 1985, in his home city of Den Bosch, where he’d join the dots between soul, funk, hip-hop, disco and B-boy electro. As the 1980s progressed he began adding the new sounds of Chicago house and Detroit techno to his repertoire, earning more residencies and a number of regular guest spots at Amsterdam’s legendary Roxy Club, mostly at Joost van Bellen’s infamous Wednesday night parties.

As a musical magpie, Kivits was not content with simply playing the latest house and techno, and spent much of the late ‘90s and early 2000s “avoiding the 4/4 beat”, instead playing a mix of jungle, broken beat, trip-hop and breaks. During that time he extensively travelled the world, playing alongside good friend Steven De Peven with lauded eccentrics Rednose Distrikt.

Since moving to Bali a few years back, Kivits has got his passion back for house and techno. Now, he enjoys playing sets that make connections between contemporary productions and tracks rediscovered in his vast collection of early house and techno. “I love the warm feel and raw energy of early house and techno,” he says. “So many of those records still sound fantastic. It’s great to see the reaction to these records from a new generation of dancers.”

More importantly, he’s now happy. “I spent 20 years battling with depression,” he admits. “I’ve never been happier – I’m better than ever. I’ve lived that life, now I have a new life. I changed my surroundings to help myself, and it worked.”

This newfound happiness is reflected in the quality of his club sets, which have rarely been better. While rooted in 30 years of house and techno, he often finds time to throw in tracks from his other musical passions – a trait that marks out the greatest DJs. “House is about the four to the floor beat, and you can get in and out of that easily if you know music,” he says. “If you keep the energy up, you can play anything.”

Booking: Jorn@voyage-select.com
Management: Christaan@societyfools.com

EDITIONS MEGO/MIDNIGHT SHIFT/SANDWELL DISTRICT

Rivet’s debut album On Feather and Wire – released 20 years into his career at the end of 2020 on the revered Editions Mego label – surprised and delighted with its punk spirit, industrial pulse, sensual atmospherics, and body music flavor, gave us a better sense of what the Malmö favorite is capable of. Hinted at by his work as the body music enthusiast behind Kess Kill record label and the years honing his production skills, first as Grovskopa and then as Rivet, his current sound has a sophisticated slink and a surprisingly accessible twist of pop, while still recognizable in its dance music lineage.

Winter 2023 saw Rivet’s second album ‘L+P-2′ dropped on Midnight Shift Records, with RA calling it, “A touching and occasionally searing portrait of grief through the lens of post-punk techno.” It came with accompanying remixes by artists Hodge, Nik Void, Hüma Utku as well as other friends and affiliates.
In 2023, he worked with electronic musician and composer Luis Pestana and double-bassist Gregory Vartian-Foss for a special SHAPE+/INTONAL commission and performance.

Always working, Rivet's third album ‘Peck Glamour’, due on Editions MEGO in march 2025, recognizes his dancefloor roots. But his other big release for 2025 will be as a producer and mixer of Sandwell District’s new album ‘End Beginnings’ due the same month.

Since 1997 Rush Hour has cultivated itself into a haven for music lovers worldwide. The reputation Rush Hour has built mainly comes from the fact that first and foremost Rush Hour focuses on music they totally believe in and have a love for. The Rush Hour family has a strong sense of pride in always working with and feeding off that impulse and faith, rather than working for the mighty dollar or bottom line. Rush Hour has always been this way.

I've done records for Love What You Feel, Construction Paper, Running Back and Don't Be Afraid. I've played live shows in Seattle, Dallas, Austin, Boston, St. Louis, Bristol, London, Ghent, Munich, Offenbach and Berlin. 

I've had podcast and chart support from Larry Heard, Shake, Dj Dex, Seldom Seen, Morgan Geist, Steffi, Tamo Sumo, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Scott Ferguson, Dj Deep, Basic Soul Unit, Ben Sims, Skudge, Oliver Hanfenbauer, Red D, Jitterbug, Lerosa, and Tim Sweeney among others. 

"If you are good at something, never do it for free." 

Jack Napier
  
  

Loidis/Pendant/autobouncer620/Bell Le Roy/Independence Ave. Orchestra/Mio Mio/Mosslander Tablet/Royal Crown of Sweden

Everyone's fate is made of many tales. Although our own destiny might be dwelling in our breast, it also takes strong convictions and the courage to challenge yourself. DJ, producer and label manager Marcel Fengler is the best example that talent isn’t just a matter of luck, but the will to believe in your own passions while constantly developing them. Today, Fengler has not only been quoted as „one of the finest techno DJs“ (Resident Advisor), he has earned international respect for his „well-crafted body of production work“ (FACT) introducing his unique and „multi-faceted personality“ (Electronic Beats). 

While growing up, he was first fascinated by the hip-hop culture, breakdance, and graffiti art, Fengler’s interest shifted towards techno music and the art of DJing after the Berlin wall came down. As a vinyl nerd he began playing records during the early nineties. By witnessing Claude Young mixing with three record players, Fengler followed his path merging both hearts in his chest: turntablism and techno. Carried away by the magic and the togetherness of the first hardcore and trance raves in such clubs like E-Werk or Tresor, he organized his own parties in his hometown Fürstenwalde.

Over the last two decades, Fengler developed a versatile and dynamic style of DJing that made him one of the first resident DJs of Berlin’s infamous Berghain / Panorama Bar in 2005. With his impressive intuition for the very moment, Fengler is capable of changing pace, atmosphere, and energy reacting to the mood on the dance floor: whether industrial-drenched hardness, broken beats, gloomy dubs or melodic and funky grooves – next to his inimitable instinct, Fengler draws from a varied repertoire. The approach of allowing to drift away within the momentum also applies to his first singles as a producer on such labels like Ostgut Ton and Mote Evolver. His debut album „Fokus“ (2013), in particular, was a statement of his ambitious claim, awarding his own tracks with emotional densities as well as unexpected contrasts. 

Bringing together both his melodic groove and beat tracks and his straighter cuts, he founded his own imprint Marcel Fengler Index (IMF) in 2011 – a platform that not only continues evolving his timeless techno approach but represents a creative center introducing new and young talents. A logical step for an artist who’s always interested in looking beyond his own nose represented by his project DIN, the mutual collaboration with Philipp Sollmann (Efdemin), for the contemporary dance project „Masse“ of the Staatsballett Berlin. 

As a DJ and producer, Marcel Fengler stands for imposing surprises and the appeal of variety. For him, techno is both unconditional passion as well as an essential part of his identity. He’s not bound to a linear or one-dimensional sound, instead, he’s constantly seeking for new ways to express his emotional storytelling skills. His willingness to challenge himself and to stay curious, while establishing changes as his secret persistence, is showing his true vision of techno which makes Marcel Fengler to one of the today’s most exciting electronic artists in these days.

Booking: stefano@genomesequence.com

https://acr-label.bandcamp.com

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