We interviewed La Baaz, one of most awesome and promising techno artists on today’s scene and he prepared a special, exclusive dj mix for your pleasure. Check it along with several other projects Patrick’s on. Techno friday’s on.

For those who heard about you but haven’t go in depth, tell us a little bit about yourself please.

Hello, my real name is Patrick Sonderegger and I live in Zurich, where I have my studio and the office. I’ve started my electronic music career in 1994, at this time I’ve organized small outdoor parties where I was playing my first vinyls. Back there I produced music on old C64 and Amiga Computer but soon I bought my first audio equipment to refine my tracks.

From 1999-2004 I’ve released countless progressive trance tracks together with a friend under name Paste. La Baaz project was launched in 2002. In this project I focused my tracks and sets more into Techno.

Today, in my DJ sets, I play chosen minimal techno and groovy tech house with unique atmospheres and groovy rhythms using Tech approach that designates my trademark sound. In my home town, Zurich, I am also co-organizer of the successful party series Kinky Beats.

What would you be if you didn’t gone this way (music production) ?

For me music has always been a very big role in my life, I’ve sung in bands before, now I’m a DJ and producer. The music has sent me on big tours and I have met many interesting people. Something I would never miss. Incidentally, I’ve specialized in website programming. Today I am self-employed and run along with the music successfully a small web agency. I’m very happy with this combination.

Do you remember the event (party/festival) that sealed your destiny and made you go this way?

It was not really a festival I was especially fascinated by the electronic music that I could compose on my computer. Very early I had C64 and Amiga, and I tried to make my own tracks. I’ve played tapes of my own compositions at that time on small open-air parties, people were crazy about it.

What did you listen to and what/who was your inspiration back then when you were starting your thing?

In my teenage years, I’ve listened to rock and heavy metal, fortunately, in the 90’s, I was lucky to get inspired with techno and progressive trance. I’ve developed my sound taste over the years – from the quite deep, progressive trance sound to the Tech-house and Minimal-Techno nowadays. When I think about music, I always produce what I personally like.

Do you travel a lot and what is your favorite gig destination?

Lately, I’m not travelling a lot. As I said, I run my own company, which has occupied my time. Zurich is also quite a beautiful city to enjoy with a lot of parties and good people! I’ll be back to traveling abroad and performing soon. I was travelling and performing a lot before, in Mexico, Brazil, Australia and several European cities.

I play a lot of DJ sets in Switzerland, but Mexico is currently my favourite destination, I played at big festivals with lovely people and they love the sound of La Baaz.

Favorite festival and why?

My best festival experience I had in Mexico at the Soul Tech Festival, where we performed as Moosfiebr. The crazy thing was already the trip to the festival. We should’ve play at 2:00 AM and we have been picked up at about 1:00 AM from the hotel in Mexico City.

There were about 8 artists in the bus. On the way up, the dirt road to the festival, many cars and thousands of people were waiting for the entrance. We had to pass exactly trough this. There was almost no passage with the small bus. We stopped several times stuck in crowds of visitors.

The driver told us that we should stay invisible in the bus, because it could be dangerous if the fans spotted us. They are crazy about making photos of us and eventually would want to get into the bus.

Suddenly, some of them spotted us and started shaking the bus, but in the right moment the driver was able to break out of the crowd. After 3 hours journey and some wicked moments we arrived very late on the stage and we could start our live performance in front of 15.000 people waiting for it. It was a crazy experience. The best festival in Europe for me is the Fusion Festival near Berlin…

If you have a family and travel a lot, how do you manage to overcome being a homesick?

I’m with my girlfriend for many years. Always when I have to go for a gig in another country we miss each other for that time but she also likes electronic music a lot so she often travels with me to the gigs and we can enjoy the parties there together.

Now when we know more about you, what is your favorite hardware/software platform and setup?

I’m a computer geek since the beginnings of C64 and in my studio I work with a PowerMac and Cubase. That’s also one reason I work almost only with a VST’s setup.

VST’s you’re using a lot?

• Tone2
• Lineplug
• Fabfilter
• Sonalkis
• Arturia ARP 2600V (I like it a lot)

Who’d you love to collaborate with in the future or you’re a lone gunman?

At the moment I work with DJ Kara Maehl our joint projects Moosfiebr and La Baaz & Kara Mehl. In the future I would like to invest more time especially for the project La Baaz and Moosfiebr. I like to do remixes for other artists to get new musical input.

What’s your take on piracy now when music is available worldwide to virtually everyone immediately after being released?

Well, the internet has changed the music industry and new technologies are always made so that sound is easy to copy. There is one point to make it all valid, because if a fresh artist wants to be heard, their music should get out there as much as possible, even with the prior knowledge that it will probably be illegally downloaded. This can be also a good promotion, and you will get a gig faster in foreign countries.

Of course the income of an artist has changed, I think most of the artist charge now more for a gig to get their income compensated. But if somebody wants to support their favourite artists, they should buy the music on Beatport or other online shops with a good feeling.

Please, when you’re going to drop that “Freak It” SoundCloud bombshell already in its entirety? I played it like gazillion times, it’s insane!

My newest work “Lady Elliot” will be released as soon as I have a second track ready for an EP.
The tracks “In the Club“, “Loco Motive” and “Freak It” are all released on Bosphorus Underground Recordings. Check it out.

Any work in progress at the moment and can we expect a release soon?

Lately, I’ve focused mainly on the Moosfiebr project. We have a remix ready for Minilogue’s “Doiice” and for Ticon’s “Blow My Horn“. Several pure Moosfiebr tracks are in the pipeline for a release.
With La Baaz I had some releases on Bosphorus Underground Records, where others will come in the future. One of my latest unreleased works you can listen on soundcloud.com/labaaz

What do you play/listen to these days?

I listen to anything with a character and what I think is good music. Mostly I’m into minimal-techno and tech-house with emotion. In my DJ sets I play quite a wide range, from groovy minimal-techno/house to very emotional electronica as well. I’m always finding the right groove to make people happy on the dance floor.

Some of my Favourite Artistes are: Pan Pot, Stephan Bodzin, Julien Jeweil, Dubfire, Oliver Hunteman, Adam Beyer, Sam Paganini and more..

Contact:

• http://www.moosfiebr.com/
• http://www.kinkybeats.ch/music.htm
• http://dj.beatport.com/labaaz

Social:

• @Facebook
• @Soundcloud

La Baaz – End of Summer Mix 2012

The post La Baaz Interview appeared first on Electronic Music.

How about we start off with a little background. Who all is behind the Pan-Pot project? How did you meet, and how did you start your career? 

• Thomas: We are Tassilo Ippenberger and Thomas Benedix. 2003 we met at the SAE (School of Audio Engineering) in Berlin, where both of us were the only ones who liked Techno music. This is how we started to get to know each other make music together.
• Tassilo: The starting point was when we booked Anja Schneider to one of our events in and shortly after in 2005 mobilee released our “Popy & Caste” EP.

How conscious was your shift in musical development? Speaking of the gradual change over the years from Berlin’s ever-present House and minimal techno to the tech house sound of today. Was that an organic development or did you sit down and decide to change at some point?

•  Tassilo: No that just happened. Everybody develops his style and skills right? For us there was never anything planed or a fix decision. When we think about music we just produce what we like.
• Thomas: …and we still are into Techno and are developing those sounds.

Did you have much in the way of help starting your careers? Did you have mentors or anyone to take you under their wing, or did you claw your way up from scratch?

• Tassilo: Mobilee was a big help in developing our career simply because they always supported us and gave us a great platform with the label. It was also the first booking agency that started to get us proper gigs.

You travel fairly often because of your career, correct? What are some of the more interesting places you’ve been to so far? Tell us some of your fun travel anecdotes.

• Thomas: It gets more and more traveling but we love to go to other countries! The mobilee rooftop events at Sonar in Barcelona always stick out as we have all of our friends around and a great time. Once in Hololulu we played on a sailboat party for 50 people and the shuttle boat, that was meant to bring us back to the island broke down and everybody was quite wasted so my brother and myself had to sail back ourselves to the harbor with 4 meters high waves.
• Tassilo: and in Gent girls started to throw their bras and thongs onto the stage and Thomas took one and wore it while DJing. We were young.

Fans are pretty much always curious what type of music their favorite artists enjoy. What are some of your favorite tracks or artists?

• Tassilo: I grew up with Hip-Hop but it luckily changed to Techno when I went to my first Rave. but I like all kinds of music.
• Thomas: same here. There is too much good music out there to be limited to one style but my heart beats for Techno and Tech-House.

Producing for Mobilee has allowed you to work with many different artists. Would you say that their influence has changed your sound in any way? How, if so?

• Tassilo: well, every influence changes our sound, not only other artists we work with. It can be nature, traveling and other cities, sad or happy moments and special clubs which influences what we do. But there is always this specific Pan-Pot style we want to keep and like to carry through.

Tell us about Slam. What was it like working together, and what’s your friendship like?

• Thomas: Slam and us met when we all were picked up from the airport in a tiny car and went on for a long drive. We had a lot of fun and it was a great honor that we were the ones to remix Lifetimes, one of my all time favorite tracks!
• Tassilo: And the whole Soma crew is great. They often ask us to play at their parties in Scotland and we invited Slam to Berlin. We will play quite a few gigs in Germany together too this year I think.

Walk us through building a track. What’s it look like?

• Tassilo: We use Logic and arrange our tracks all way through. There is no fix process though.

 How does your standard setup look like when you’re performing? What do you use, and how do you set it all up?

• Thomas: Right now we use Traktor, several X1 controller and the Korg Electribe app with an iPad. We like to combine live elements with a proper DJ set and this setup gives us all the possibilities to do this.

 Which of your records is currently the most played?

• Thomas: you mean in our sets? We play the new ones of course but also love to dig out the older ones and integrate them. And within some sets it is always exciting to test new things, which we currently work on but which have not been released.

 How were your SONAR experiences? Can you tell us a bit about them?

• Tassilo: the first time we played was at a beach party and we were afraid because we played much harder than the DJs before us. But the people loved it and we only got great feedbacks so that was a great start.
• Thomas: its always a lot of fun to meet all of our friends and party with them, especially at the Mobilee roof top party of course. We always stay there for some days and check out Barcelona and other great parties.

We can see that after the success of “Captain my Captain” you’ve gone ahead with the collaboration with Cari Golden. So what can you tell us about your new single, “The Gravity”?

• Tassilo: Correct,its Cari’s voice on “No Body Knows”, its the second track on our Gravity EP. We wanted to do something little less Techno with her so thats the result. And Gravity is the first track, pure Pan-Pot sound and some nice voice by G-Tech. Safeword did two amazing remixes for this one.

About Pan-Pot – The Documentary. What can you tell us about Sebastian Radlmeier’s film?

• Thomas: each year mobilee release the back to back compilation series where every artist does something special. Now that is was our turn to mix it and because we always have our cam with us when we are on the road the ideas came up to include a DVD.
• Tassilo: Sebastian started to follow up around and collect amazing footage, not only from us touring but also from where we grew up, went to sound engineering school, etc. It gives people a little insight into our lives and shows who we are and what we do. We haven’t seen the documentary ourselves until it was finished and are very happy with the result!

We have to ask. Do you prefer vinyls or CDs, and why?

• Thomas: We use Traktor and X1 controllers to be flexible and integrate live-elements but actually in our technical rider we also ask for turntables because sometimes we also bring vinyls.

We asked before about the music you like to listen to, but much of the time artists like to mix different types of music together. What music do you listen to outside of electronic? Who are your favorite out of genre artists?

• Thomas: right now Solar Quest and film music for me.
• Tassilo: I like classical music a lot right now when traveling and Alternative when working out.

How about if you tell us a secret? Something you’ve never let out before.

• Tassilo: then it would not be a secret anymore right?
• Thomas: there are some secrets at the end of our DVD.

Pan-Pot Back to Back Mix – 16 min teaser

Pan-Pot BerMuDa Special Radio Fritz 05.11.2011

Article by Anna Kec

The post Pan-Pot Interview appeared first on Electronic Music.

Antix has been around for some time now, I remember listening to their debut album “Lull” from 2003 and knowing that they are going to rock the scene since their music was quite advanced for that time and can be easily compared to a bunch of productions nowadays.

Every Antix album brings innovations, top notch production and joy to the ears and synapses of the listener of story they’re prepared to tell.

Antix is band which has tunes remixed by pretty much every big name from the genre and that practice is likely to continue. Lets hear the bros..

Hi there guys, just to get things started, could you start out with a short introduction about who’s behind the ANTIX project?

• The infamous Strom Brothers. Barton and Hayden, we’ve been writing tunes together for the last 11 years.

How did you get into making electronic music?

• We became addicted to dance music it was just a natural progression for us to start producing. It wasn’t enough just to listen we wanted to get into the nuts and bolts of it all.

You’ve developed your sound a bit over the years – from the quite deep, progressive trance sound to the tech house sound nowadays. Is it a shift in sound you’ve made consciously or something that has come naturally?

• Natural progression, maturing with the music, changes in taste all brings on the shift in sound.

I guess some people still request that you play some of your older trancier stuff. How do you feel about that?

• It don’t bother us, if we can, we will play some older stuff, its’ hard though because the old sound doesn’t really fit with the recent tracks. We’ve been playing a few retro sets of late, so look out for that.

You’ve been on the electronic music scene for a long time now. Have you reached a point where you’re able to make a living from your music?

• Almost, we still have to fill it up with other sound production jobs etc. We are not rich with money but feel very rich in our lifestyle.

It’s no secret that you’re brothers: do you think that it has a special impact on the way you make music?

• Yes, I think so, it allows us to express ourselves fully with no holding back, this is sometimes a bad thing but we work through things really quickly.

Let’s put focus on your new compilation out soon on IBOGA RECORDS. How did that come about?

• Emok asked us. We thought it was a good idea, pretty simple really. It’s also nice to compile a bunch of tracks that we’d play in a Dj set, and also quite a few fromour very talented friends.

Ok, about the process: Did you have an idea to begin? Perhaps concerning which artists should be on it, the flow of the compilation and the sound/mood?

• Our only pre-required was that we’d play the track in our Dj set. We’ve done a Dj mix of the selection and it flows really well. We also wanted to use a few Iboga tracks and tune’s that have we’ve been grooving to of late.

Once again the release is featured on Iboga Records like all of your albums – can you tell about your long relationship with the label?

• We’ve been friends for along time and we’ve been happy with the work Iboga have been doing for us, so it’s a matter of why change when something is working well.

As far as other artists go, who and what are inspiring to you right now?

• We’ve loving the new Maceo Plex album on Crosstown rebels.

Where do you see the sound in “the scene”?

• I think music generally does big circles on itself, just like fashion things repeat them selves but with a slightly different flavor. All I know is that it just keeps getting better!

Antix – Box of Birds

Antix – On The Rock (Lull 2003)

Antix discography:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Antix

Official website:

http://antixfiord.com/

Folow Antix:

@facebook
@twitter
@soundcloud
@myspace

The post Antix Interview appeared first on Electronic Music.

Hi there guys. Just to get things started, could you start out with a short introduction about who’s behind the Ticon project?

• We are Filip Mardberg and Fredrik Gilenholt – 30 years of age and around 60 combined We have our base in Malmö, Sweden which also houses our studio and office.

Tell me a little bit about your musical development: What did you listen to as kids and what drew you to electronic music in the first place?

• We met through Fredrik’s younger brother, who went to school with me (Filip) back in 1995. Fredrik was listening a lot to hardtrance and techno which was totally new for me. We became friends relatively quickly since this is a small town and any “odd” music-directions and lifestyles were not greeted with the best of respect. Fredrik also played around with an Amiga 500 and a 5 channel tracker sampling sequencer program and one day we started to make a track together. I remember that we had to put the kick in the left speaker and the bass sound in the right since there were not sufficient channels to house all the sounds..haha.

And about the production side of things – why did that start?

• I don’t know why we started. As I said, Fredrik was already playing around on an Amiga and it felt like the right thing to do. After the first session we immediately set up 2 days a week to make some new stuff. After some years this had grown to 4-5 days a week and today it’s our work and passion. In the first years we stayed in Fredrik’s house, but in 2001 we hired a proper studio location.

What was your first big breakthrough would you say?

• We have been producing under many names in the past, but it was not until the Malmö based label Digital Structures, which was run by Peter, Markus and Sebastian (former known as Son Kite, but now produces under the name Minilogue). They asked us if we were willing to try and make something for their labeland they gave us a bunch of techno tracks. We made 4 tracks in 4 days under the name Ticon and to our surprise they were signed and both singles sold out in no time. Then we made our first album, and after that things have just been going up.

You started out making harder, psychedelic trance music, but in later years your sound has certainly become slower and more house-inspired. How do you define your music? And what is its purpose?

• It is really hard to analyze your own music – we only follow our hearts and make music that we enjoy. Not only to dance to, but also listen to and produce. Every album we make is quite different than the previous one, since we get inspired really easy. I believe this is why we still enjoy making music together – nothing gets boring if you have an open mind, ears and eyes! The “slower” music nowadays is only a natural progression for us. I hope it’s not because we’re getting old – haha!

There were already some electro, breaks and 80’s elements on your 2003-album “Aero”, so you can saythat the album was a bit on the forefront of the development the progressive scene took in the following years. Are you consciously trying to go “outside the genre-boxes” in terms of making music, or is itsomething that just comes naturally?

• No idea. We only make music that we think is good in the moment we make it – there’s no plan to make “outside the box” songs. Things just happen due to the influences we are into at that time. Sometimes it can be a bit tricky: one week we can produce a fast techno track, and within 5 days we don’t like fast techno anymore and we throw it away and start on a house track instead. But in the end this is also what keeps us going – never looking back

I think you always had some slightly goofy elements on your tracks and albums. From the track-names, some of the lyrics and even full spoof-tracks like “Bonanza” and the secret track on “Aero”. What’s the background for this?

• We like to think of our work as fun and goofy. Music needs charm and humor – otherwise it would be dulland gray. The best music we make is made when we have fun in the studio and we just play around – no strings attached so to speak. You need to take some risks and do whatever comes to mind so that you don’ tfall into the production loop of boring, serious music…. Bla bla bla i don’t even know what that means

Looking back, which of your tracks and/or albums are you most proud of? Also – I guess some people still request that you play some of your older, harder stuff. How do you feel about that? Do you still play some of your old tracks in the original versions or maybe new re-edits in your livesets?

• We don’t have an album that we have favored. When we have finished working on a track we straight away start working on some new material – we never look back and we always play the newest material in our live sets to test tracks and techniques in unfinished tracks. We never do gigs with only older music since looking forward is much more inspiring than looking back. Some older songs we still play at times, but only in new live-versions. Since we play a lot of  live sets we tend to change tracks a lot, so we don’t get tired of working on stage…

You’ve played in practically all corners of the world (except for maybe the Arctic and Antarctica) and released 4 album – how do you keep motivated and inspired?

• Music is our way of life – without it we would be lost. There’s no greater feeling than when you get just the right feeling in a track that you are making, then playing it out live and get a good response. That’s what keeps us motivated.

Let’s focus on your new stuff; Can you tell something about your new, 5th album?

• The work on this album “I love you, who are you” has been going on for almost two and a half year so it’s going to be quite an emotional rollercoaster. The music that we made 2 years ago is quite different from the stuff we’re producing today, but that is a good thing in an album I believe. Albums should (in our opinion) be fun and inspiring to listen to, and we feel that we have accomplished that. The focus lies on club oriented songs, less “commercial” than our previous album and perhaps also more DJ friendly. So how to describe your work in letters? Hmmm… there’s a kick and a bass, a high hat and stuff like that

This is also the first album you are set to release on Iboga Records, even though you’ve had a few tracks featured on the label over the years. Why did you choose Iboga Records for the new album?

• We felt that we wanted to try something new and we have been friends with the label-managers Emok and Banel for many years, so it was a natural decision for us. Iboga Records has also grown on the international market, and the guys are definitely very enthusiastic – it is inspiring to work with them!

As far as other artists go, who and what are you listening to at the moment?

• We listen to anything that has emotion and joy. Fred is into Frank Sinatra and Balkan music and I’m personally into progressive house and tech house, but that will probably change soon enough. We tend to change what we listen to every month.

Where do you see the sound in “the scene” heading?

• The great thing about the electronic scene is that one cannot predict where it is going. There’s a lot of new techniques being developed and the development away from the old, expensive midi-based studios has given room for the computer based studio with plugins and software-synths. The great thing about this,is that almost everyone with an interest can start making music in his or her bedroom and that has, in ouropinion, led to a rise in popularity of electronic music. The downside is, that in recent years the main focus has been on the production rather than warmth and feeling in the techno scene. But in general I believethat we have a bright and interesting period in the scene ahead of us.

And finally – are there still new musical things you want to explore under the umbrella of Ticon, or perhaps a new venture?

• We never stop exploring – every week there is something new to discover. So hopefully many new adventures are still to come

I Love You, Who Are You album Soundcloud clips:

Blow My Horn:

The Glue ( editors favorite <3 ):

Smorgasbord:

Official website:
http://www.ticonmusic.com

Follow Ticon:
@facebook
@twitter
@myspace
@soundcloud

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