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Kolombo: “Invest in Old Second Hand Hardware, Try To Be Different Than Others, And Never Give Up”

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Having mastered art of modern production, Belgium’s Olivier GrĂ©goirehas become one of the world’s most renowned dance music artists, with a bevy of high-profile releases under his various pseudonyms. You may know him as Kolombo, the house player with a discography that charts esteemed imprints like Diynamic, Noir Music, Suara, Turbo, and most recently Dirtybird, with the summer 2018 single “It’s Gettin’ Hot.” Though he’s also made waves as the LouLou Players with his partner Jerome. Together they’ve toured the world, and launched the LouLou Records imprint, a house label with several releases from Kolombo and the Players.

With shows at Belgium’s Tomorrowland, all across America, in Russia, Australia, and in the hip party capital of Berlin, the past few years have seen Kolombo’s star continue to rise as a DJ almost everywhere. But especially in South America, where he regularly plays festivals, along with clubs.

It’s apparent that Kolombo’s work ethic, consistency, and spirit of open-minded creativity have been the key ingredients for his success so far, and it is with that in mind that we took the time last week to speak with the in-demand artists.

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Digging Deeper with Oliver Huntemann

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Myths abound in the north of Germany when it comes to techno ground zero, and they refuse to go away. Oliver Huntemann is one of a handful of children of the north who, for what seems like an eternity, add an element of credence to the mythology. He does not, of course, live in a snowy forest or at the edge of the polar oceans. The sun does, on occasion, shine down on Hamburg. Nevertheless, there is a tendency towards a hypothermic reduction in the rigorous efficiency of the Huntemann oeuvre. Images of cold storage warehouses, desolate heavy plant sites and bluish flesh are not entirely misplaced. Shards of German Engineering glimmer in his music, laced with persuasive logic, gruesome Darwinism. What remains: what works.

In “Brighter than the sun“, the English music theorist Kodwo Eshun depicts the birthplace of Kraftwerk, Dusseldorf, as the “Mississippi Delta of Techno“. Huntemann’s tracks may well have dragged themselves out of the same primaeval soup, but it was the far north which fired them with the necessary steel for clubland. The resulting creations are linear, free of fancy, charmingly direct. One particular London arbiter of taste sought to label the nature of his skeletal sound as “bare and stripped back to the metallic core“ – whereby Huntemann’s reduction does not end in thin minimalism, it draws attention to the core itself. Less is more to the max. The only luxury is a little dirt.

Whilst hordes of German producers and DJs set their satnavs for Berlin, Oliver Huntemann chose to head back home. His epicenter is, and will remain, the north. Hamburg, to be exact. This is where he produces his music and it is from here that he sets out into the world, thrilling the populous with his DJ sets.

Huntemann is also the owner of Senso Sounds, the label on which he released his Propaganda LP in 2017. The imprint is busy in the midst of releases two remix packages from the LP, the first of which came out November 30th (buy it here) and featured re-works from Alex Stein, Shall Ocin, Raxon, Carlo Ruetz, Hatzler, Marc Houle and Distale.

We catch up with the Hamburg producer, DJ and label owner to talk about his 2018 gigs, releases, weirdest food he has eaten and much more.

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Interview: Discovering Australia’s Willaris. K

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Real name Jack McAllister, Willaris. K shared his debut EP Alchemy with the world earlier this year, showcasing a dark and progressive sound that comes to life during his energetic live shows.

His latest two tunes might sound a little familiar to those who have been keeping up with the Australian artist, especially so because he has been playing a version of “Natural Selection” for a while now. As per the usual Willaris. K style, “Natural Selection” is a driving number, somewhere between techno, electro and house, with a constant build throughout that leaves the listener eager for more, while Cobaki Sky (Prequel) seems to allude to something bigger on the horizon, perhaps the much-awaited debut album by a producer whose popularity is on a meteoric rise.

In 2017-18 McAllister played an unrivalled number of festival shows in Australia and NZ with over 25 live sets brimming with his trademark punk-influenced stage presence – all ahead of his international debut at Coachella this past April and debut sold out Australian headline tour. With his debut European festival appearance (Forbidden Fruit) and a landmark set at iconic Berlin club Watergate, the foot is firmly on the gas.

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Interview: Fabio Neural Discusses His Recent “Flow Beat” EP and Being a Core Member of Jon Rundell and Carl Cox’s Intec Label

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One of the recent releases on Carl Cox and Jon Rundell’s Intec label comes from imprint regular Fabio Neural.

Italian born Fabio Neural is known for the consistency of his productions that cover a full spectrum of techno but always with a dance floor focus. Apopular DJ booking playing many of Europe’s top clubs and festivals, Fabioalso boasts previous releases on labels including Dubfire’s SCI+TEC, Kaiserdisco’s KD Music, Josh Wink’s Ovum, Andre Crom’s OFF Recordings, and Adam Beyer’s Truesoul.

Fabio Neural is a core member of Intec’s family of artists, and this release marks his eighth EP on the label. One of those early EPs was made in collaboration with Alex Costa, but the rest have been solo efforts. Arguably one of Carl Cox and Jon Rundell’s favourite artists, this latest outing on Intec titled Flow Beat is another fine example of Fabio’s exceptional production skills.

We decided to catch up with Fabio in honor of this release, which you can stream below and also find on Beatport.

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Digging Deeper with XY&O

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Welsh three-piece band XY&O, aka Skip Curtis, Nick Kelly and Tudor Davies, have been causing a storm with their distinctive style of Haze-pop – a sound that fuses elements of warm electro, chillwave and synth pop combined with profound lyrical content.

We grab a chat with them as they unleash their brand new single ‘Fever’.

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Interview: A Peek Inside Rebekah’s World

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Celebrating 20 plus years since she first stood behind the turntables, Rebekah has established herself as one of the leading exponents of techno currently operating on the global circuit. Her love affair with the harder sounds stretches back to the legendary Que Club in her hometown of Birmingham where she drew influence from the likes of Dave Clarke, Derrick Carter, Richie Hawtin and Billy Nasty.

Every artist, regardless of their discipline, needs to evolve. In fact, it is something inherent within creatives. The need to push the envelope, have new experiences, and share new impulses is deep-rooted, and yearns to be nurtured. That is the position Rebekah found herself in during the early stages of 2016, fast forward to the end of 2018 and we see her busier than after having launched her label/event brand called Elements, debuted her Live show at ADE and continued to tour relentlessly playing both solo and on carefully selected back-to-back performances with Paula Temple.

This weekend Rebekah returns to the United States for three back-to-back dates that will see her perform in Minneapolis on Thursday, November 29th, followed by San Francisco for Robot Ears on Friday, November 30th and finally with WORK by 6AM and Synthetik Minds in Los Angeles on Saturday, December 1st

To believe in Rebekah’s music is to believe in the harder, raw side of techno, and that is sound very dear to our heart. It is with this in mind that we took the opportunity to not only bring her back to Los Angeles but also to have a chat ahead of her upcoming U.S. gigs.

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Interview: Kaz James’ Latest” Life In Purple” EP Brings True Emotions to Circus Recordings

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Australian DJ/Producer Kaz James follows up a string of huge releases with his new EP Life In Purple, out on Yousef’s Circus Recordings. A huge, emotionally-charged house track, Kaz continues to set the bar incredibly high.

The past year has been busy for Kaz, with releases on some of the house music’s most influential labels including Glasgow Underground, Nic Fanciulli’s Saved and Dennis Ferrer’s Objektivity. Alongside this, a busy touring schedule has seen him performing worldwide, having played at Brooklyn Mirage New York, Pacha Ibiza and KOKO London, whilst holding down his residency at Scorpios, Mykonos.

Title track “Life In Purple” is a smooth and melodic track, built around slowly evolving melodies and synth lines. With a propulsive groove that never lets up, it’s a rare and emotionally engaging house track that encompasses all aspects of a strong floor filler. This killer original receives further elevation with remixes from both Ben Pearce and fellow Circus affiliate, Ki Creighton. It is this last remix by Creighton which we are premiering today, as support from industry tastemakers including Radio 1’s Annie Mac, Pete Tong and Danny Howard continues to roll in.,

Kaz James’ Life In Purple EP will be released 23rd November via Circus Recordings and is available for order here.

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Digging Deeper with SkyWhite

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SkyWhite is a brand new talent from Mozambique, from which he brings his Zona Quente EP.

At the tender age of 20, SkyWhite has been snapped up by Afrocentric Records for this powerful debut release. A brand new talent to the music scene, SkyWhite’s journey into music began when he learned to play the piano at 10 years old. He was turned on to house music at just 16 after attending Black Coffee’s (Ballantine’s Human Orchestra) performance in 2014 and promptly learned to DJ. He honed his craft playing at local parties and events, before producing a selection of his own tracks that were promptly signed by one of the hottest Afro House labels of the moment, Afrocentric.

We grab a chat to find out more about this talented wunderkind.

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Back-To-Back: DJ Skull and D’Julz Interview Each Other

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DJ Skull’s Powered Funk EP was just released on D’Julz’s Bass Culture imprint this week.

With this release Chicago pioneer DJ Skull brings that original energy as only a native of the Windy City can do. After remixing Houdini by D’Julz earlier this year its an honour to welcome DJ Skull back to the label for his debut EP. Skull’s depth of experience dates back the mid­eighties when he began to play house music when he was just 10 years old. Fast forward to 2018 and he’s still deeply involved with the music, keeping the passion alive and travelling across the world to spread the house music gospel. On this three-­track EP he brings the funk, undiluted and fresh with chunky bass, crisp beats and hints of acid coming through, a great all-round EP from a man whose years in the game make him a force to be reckoned with.

In honour of the occasion, we asked DJ Skull and D’Julz to interview one another. Check out what they had to say below!
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Q&A and 6AM Guest Mix: Charlie Rope

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Heavily influenced by the likes of Larry Levan, Giorgio Moroder, Frankie Knuckles and Giles Peterson, Charlie Rope’s love of classic house music and disco is apparent in his productions, which are also driven by a desire to bring people together through music.

Growing up in Bedford listening to disco, funk and early house music, Charlie has started to find his feet as a producer, which only felt like a natural progression after DJing from a relatively young age. Both a regular on the dance floor and long-time listener of BBC’s Essential mix has help build the foundations to his love of club music, track selection and energetic DJ sets. 

His very first release was on Reptile Dysfunction back in 2017, confidently setting out his musical stall with life-affirming disco loops and chunky house grooves. Charlie returned to Doorly’s label this fall with his second solo EP, Different Love: four propulsive house cuts with a healthy dollop of disco for good measure.

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