Dirty Epic welcomes aboard @dj-t-1000 for its fifty third episode of Amplify Series.

Detroit-born, Berlin-based Alan D. Oldham has been called "Detroit Techno's Renaissance Man" by Muzik Magazine (UK). Electronic musician, label owner, remixer, graphic illustrator, and international DJ, Oldham-under his stage name DJ T-1000-does it all.
A lifelong cartoonist and graphic designer, a young Oldham published his own indie comic book "Johnny Gambit" in 1987 to local notoriety. Hired that same year by his childhood friend Derrick May to illustrate several memorable pieces for his new Transmat label, this led to Oldham's very first involvement in the fledgling techno scene. More art requests quickly followed, most famously from the Djax-Up-Beats label (NL), where his art took center stage for many years (the lone EP that Oldham produced for Djax, under the name Signal To Noise Ratio, brought home a 1991 Detroit Metro Times Music Award for best single in "Detroit Is Burning"). At the same time, college-student Oldham was hired at local radio station WDET, hosting Detroit's first-ever all-electronic radio program, "Fast Forward," introducing artists like UR, Richie Hawtin and Carl Craig to local airwaves.

Five years later, Oldham found himself under the tutelage of UR's Mad Mike Banks. Initially hired as UR's "Minister of Information," working side-by-side with Rob Hood and others in the office, Oldham was eventually tapped to replace his departing friend Jeff Mills as DJ on UR's world tour (quitting WDET in the process), and DJ T-1000 (and his label Generator, distributed by Submerge) was born. Big shoes to fill, but he was up to the task. For a year afterwards, Oldham toured with Banks in the UR techno boot camp. Since those long-ago days, a solo Oldham continues to rock crowds in Berlin (with an unofficial residency at Tresor), Milan, Barcelona (unofficial residency at Moog), Madrid, London, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and all points in between with his own no-nonsense brand of bangin', funky-ass techno. When DJ T-1000 is on the flyer, fans know he's bringing the ruckus.

In 2004, Oldham finally left a flagging Motor City for the Midwest boomtown of Chicago. And in 2005 he finally established his permanent European base in the world's latest electronic music capital, Berlin.

When he's not behind the decks or in the studio producing electronic dance music for labels like Tresor Berlin, Inzec (CH), Minimalsoul (CH), or his own Pure Sonik and Generator imprints, Oldham has provided artwork for the electronic music industry for almost 20 years. Also, his drawings and large-scale paintings have been on display in art galleries in Chicago, Berlin, Paris, Los Angeles, and most recently a sold-out opening in Amsterdam.

Pic: Chris Molina

LINKS:

DJ T-1000:
Soundcloud: @dj-t-1000
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AlanOldhamMusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/alan_oldham_
Bandcamp: https://djt1000.bandcamp.com/music
RA: ra.co/dj/djt-1000

DIRTY EPIC:
Website: www.dirty-epic.com
Merch: shopby6am.com/collections/dirty-epic-collection
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DirtyepicLA
Twitter: twitter.com/dirtyepicla
Instagram: www.instagram.com/dirtyepicla/

Amplify Series 053 - DJ T-1000 (Live at NYE Techno by Compound)

"Made during the Blizzard of January ’99. I was snowed in all that week so I just made tracks and did artwork. I only went out once to get groceries. This is why so many good records come from places like Detroit or Stockholm. Crap weather." (Alan D. Oldham aka DJ T-1000)

Progress

BANDCAMP

DJ T-1000 - Pure Code

"This is a holdover from the Pure Sonik Evening sessions, but never before released. I was inspired by Timbaland’s beats on this one, but the MMT-8 sequencer is limited. I’ve got the DrumStation and R-8 both going at once on this track, with the BassStation and the R-8 on the same MIDI channel, hence the heavy bassline." (Alan D. Oldham aka DJ T-1000)

DJ T-1000 - Berlin

"I was going through a heavy breakup at the time I made this track, as you can tell from the title. That shit goes for your so-called friends too; watch them closely or you’ll end up like me, with a whole butcher shop (knives, saws, etc.) sticking out of your back." (Alan D. Oldham aka DJ T-1000)

DJ T-1000 - They Will All Betray You

"I don’t know what made me write this track. I guess I was really into Massive Attack’s Mezzanine (the best album of 1998) when I made this one. Just trying to bust out of the techno ghetto, man. Do something a little different, seductive, more real. There’s a full set of lyrics that I wrote to this track, too. Maybe you’ll hear them someday." (Alan D. Oldham aka DJ T-1000)

DJ T-1000 - Tonight

Welcome to Dirty Epic's Amplify Series, a music podcast focused on elevating the underground from scenes across the globe. From techno to electro, and everything in between, our aim is to broadcast the music we love, from artists we respect, to people all around the world.

For more information about Dirty Epic and our mission, head over to Dirty-Epic.com

At midnight, on March 13th 1991, a basement door opened at Leipziger Strasse 126, Berlin. Through this door, many passed, on their way to defining new terrains in electronic music. There they found a dance floor in the vaults of a closed-down department store, with a unique sound bound to dense fog, building night after night a history that was also a vision of the future. 

This history has seen in Jeff Mills’ first sets on three turntables, Underground Resistance's first live appearances in Europe, grandiose Tresor Park parties, to various chapters of the Loveparade with Sven Väth in the 90s and since then countless generation-spanning parties. These moments represent the highlights of infinite personal clubbing experiences. It is the manifestation of the Berlin spirit, emerging from its considerable strife. This history is not without its complications - from temporary closure by the authorities and several raids in the early years to closure and demolition of the old location in 2005. What followed was years of wandering in exile and, finally, resurrection in the new home in Kraftwerk Berlin.

These stories, conversations and shared experiences within our walls forge a resilience that drives towards a shared ideal, the Tresor sound: community, resistance, and the world to come. This was observed in the newly re-unified German youth, who danced and celebrated together from the club’s inception, and into the present day through ongoing community work in Detroit. 

Tresor Records was founded in the same year and began to serve as a platform for exporting the new sounds associated with Tresor all around the world. Emergent musicians from Michigan, such as Juan Atkins, Underground Resistance and Drexciya, were pivotal in shaping these early years. Their visits to Berlin would kick-start dialogue between the youth movement in Europe and these musicians. This story is one of friendship and community-building, inextricably linked with cities like Detroit, Birmingham or Edinburgh, where like-minded friends built something truly special, where revelatory rhythms soundtrack decaying industry in corrupted metropoles. 

Tresor Records has been the fertile soil for dozens upon dozens of creative minds, from the very luminaries of the scene who developed electronic music over the last three decades through to contemporary protagonists who are currently defining the sound of the future -  A more than 300 strong catalogue displays an unmistakable identity - the Tresor spirit.

To those that have danced before, and to those that will dance in the future: the light at the end of the long Tresor tunnel is a signal. A flicker amidst the fog. This is our future. This is our place.

New tracks tagged #Alan D. Oldham