Each piece of music has a story – whether you know it or not. In my case that is especially true and I wanna give you an insight on how I let the music flow through myself.
On a mild weekend in March I played at Rabitza. A club at the forefront of the progressive Moscow scene – now raided brutally and closed by the Moscow authorities.
Beyond the club experience I had an excellent time digging deep in record stores, strolling around the city 10km a day and twice in the Bolshoi theatre in an overall surprisingly refreshing city.
Here are a few photos of my Moscow experience!
From the outcome of my digging of Soviet synth sounds I assembled my mix for my 2017 Camp Cosmic set – available here.
Guessing that my visit and set at Rabitza meant little to hosts and audience in their routine, myself wasn’t able to consider this night a routine. I was well prepared forcing to play as much vinyl as possible besides unreleased tracks and edits from CDJs.
Having little appreciation for the set of the tech-house DJ before me (wondering “Why???”) I knew that I would build my vibe from the scratch not choosing the easy path of dropping generic 909 kicks into the audience. I opened with my soon-to-be-released remix for ethno-infused leftfield pioneers C Cat Trance smoothly blending into another UK leftfield slash gothic cult band, namely my edit of a live version by Alien Sex Fiend drenched in lost lyrics, cymbals, guitars, feedback and otherworldy, transcendental synth strings.
For the next transition I didn’t succeed to match scales then and it becomes a little messy, but the vibe keeps going with an upcoming track from a project of Scannoir and me on Uncanny Valley – we call it GOTT. I confess the secret that the string is a sample, but u wouldn’t have guessed so as it perfectly matches our instrumental, recorded last year at Scannoirs studio in Zürich.
From the slowly fed culmination of this hymn we take off with my unofficial remix of German Krautrock legend Conrad Schnitzler. The pumping beat is lend by my best Jacob Korn with whom I also collaborate for my upcoming EP on Bio Rhythm.
The intensity is held with a more solemn piece from the 1989 British EBM scene. The outstanding B2(!) is one of many recommendations by EBM collector and DJ Scannoir. The distortion is edgy, the bass is low, but anytime I drop it it fills the room with an introverted, yet ecstatic vibe.
Getting grip on the crowd and my set I allowed myself a classic by Front 242. By reasons I won’t ever comprehend I only got astonished by this track when Alex From Queens played it at Traxx’ The Hanging Garden festival in Dresden.
Just 100km from Dresden the following off-grid electro track is from. Though expoiting the 808 Planet Rock scheme you’ll find it rather unlikely that my edit is by Czech band Omnibus from Prague written in the mid 80s Socialist era (legend tells the 808 fell from the sky!).
The next Uber-track by Belgian classic EBM band Force Dimension is mesmerizing me since DJ Hell played it in his Electronicbody-Housemusic mix in 2002. So no surprise here. Although the programming of this monster bassline remains a mystery to me (I tried and failed twice).
Carefree – just like at Medusa we couldn’t care less – we hop over to a Music Box disco gem only to build up the tension for a EBM leftfield hybrid that could well have been found on one of these Alternative Funk samplers (another source for us diggers). Tic – Tac – I’ve got your soul.
Then back into black – dirty naughty house. Forth and back, black and white, warm and cold. US and UK. Their friction enhances the intriguing quality. The following sambo beat loop with the feedback on top is actually of Soviet origin. The rhytmically sliced and bass-cut, then dropping feedback itself is from my studio. So here with the DJ mixer I recreate my layered studio version. The subwoofer was suffering.
Time to let loose again with some contrasting early Human League late 70s synth pop. This bassline is unbelievably evil. Back to Detroit’s K-Hand – now you already understand the game of hopping oceans and cultures. New York’s Elbee Bad eternally mixed. We are lost in music. Chicago’s Traxx – one acid track is a must. 
DJ Skull – known to me since his Djax-Up days. Though here with the Skitzo Frantic EP.
This machine deepness I top with my favorite tune by my respected friend Mick Wills – Phantom 77. The drumming is advanced craftmenship. In combination with the pads and bassline – utter madness.
I close with an unofficial remix. Unfortunately I didn’t take notice of the very different speed and the unmusical need to adjust. Excuse and .. Enjoy! I wish you would have been there!
I wanna thank Adil Nugaev and Sergey Golikov for their invitation and superb artist care and their ongoing efforts to build a strong Moscow scene!
The original post on vViscera Music – please read here:
www.visceramusic.com/Mixes-Sneaker
