DJ Emerson brought driving techno from its barren lands to a new territory built upon groove and bounce
This respected veteran of Germany’s techno scene, Emerson struck a chord with multilayered techno; enriched in quality and indicative of his synthetic electronic style. Founder of the esteemed Micro.fon imprint, he has opened the door and brought dr.iving techno from its barren lands to a new territory built upon groove and bounce.
With releases on Sub Static and freakWaves, Emerson has moved through the last decade unearthing a fledgeling reputation as a turn‐to producer for those who love a gutful of groove despite how driving and hard‐faced the music may be.
DJ Emerson is also an extremely prolific producer and much‐loved DJ both in his native Germany and across the globe. The positive response to his work inspired Emerson to start Kiddaz.FM in 2001, a label which has clocked up over 50 releases, selling more than 100.000 units in the process, and counts the likes of Adam Beyer, Shinedoe and Chris Liebing among its regular supporters.
As a modern techno‐juggernaut of a producer, Emerson is without doubt part of a pedigree of underground artists vastly aware of a changing German music scene that sees him deliver his gritty beats and analogue architecture to dance floors with ease.
My style is heavy repetitive techno music with soul and groove. Simple as that.
We are here today to ask him some questions about his recent release “Murder Was The Haze”. A collaboration with the rising Columbian producer Deraout. The four-track EP includes two remixes from Mark Broom and the well-respected Andre Crom.
Hello,
Hope the summer is treating you well? How are things?
Hey there, nice to meet you, all good from my side. I had some quality releases lately on 100% pure for example. And the new Micro.fon release is just around the corner only bad thing that happened is that my Instagram account got hacked this morning and Instagram doesn’t give a shit about it but what would you expect from a company like that.
TGMS: That’s bad. Especially knowing that gaining followers/fans isn’t that easy.
For the people reading this and who haven’t heard your music before, how would you describe your style and the key elements that define it?
My style is heavy repetitive techno music with soul and groove. Simple as that.
You have a new EP coming up on your label Micro.fon. Please talk to us about it and the inspiration behind “Murder was the haze“.
Well, I was working on this track for a long time with my friend from Colombia Deraout when I was visiting in 2016 for a little tour. Then it kind of layed on ice for a while until I started working on this project again. At this time I bought a vintage Yamaha DX7 synth on eBay and played around with it while the TB3 was going and suddenly in the break I hit this pad sound and I thought wow this sounds like murder was the bass 🙂 and since I have a passion for weeds of all kinds murder was the haze was born. so the track kind of gave me the inspiration for the title and maybe some of the arrangement but I don’t think anybody else would be reminded of it apart from me
You worked closely with Columbian producer Deraout on this release. How did that collaboration work out? Maybe tell us about the creative process? How does an EP like this come together?
As I said, we started working when I was in Colombia and when I was back we kept sending the projects back and forth until we were both happy. The “Murder was the haze” track was actually the “Reconnected” track but we played around with it so much and added so many new sounds that it kind of developed into another song and at the end we said but we want to keep the original as well. So we went back to finish this and suddenly had 2 proper tracks to work with.
The “Murder was the haze” track was actually the reconnected track but we played around with it so much and added so many new sounds that it kind of developed into another song and at the end we said but we want to keep the original as well.
There are also 2 remixes on it. One by Andre Crom and the other by Mark Broom. How did that go? How do you select your partners for a remix?
Well, Andre Crom just joined our district 4 agency and I am a big fan of his OFF label and his releases. I just did a remix for OFF too so we were thinking back and forth about which track he could remix and then we got stuck with this.
The other remix was kind of more difficult. we wanted to have Radio Slave who confirmed but then it didn’t work out. Then we tried Marco Faraone but he was too busy and then Mark just recently played at Mute club in Medellin, the club run by Deraout. He heard him play the track and this worked out great and to be honest. I don’t think anybody else could have delivered such a bomb of a remix. We are really happy with both remixes which aren’t always the case to tell you the truth.
Are you closely involved with the remixes or do these respected artists get a carte blanche from you? Creative freedom so to speak.
It depends if the artist is a friend or close homie of mine we keep sending each other the versions from the start and then you are closely involved too. but sometimes I just trust the artist and let them do their thing like it was with mark. only thing I usually do upfront, in this case, is that I talk a lot with the artists to make sure they get a track they chose themselves and inspires them in any way.
As you run a record label, produce music, play gigs, … do you have any advice on maintaining a successful working relationship in the crazy space of electronic music?
Honestly, I don’t know if I am the right guy to ask this. I just kept playing, producing and distributing the same techno music I always liked until it became some sort of success. But my music is still very very underground. So if you chose to represent an underground style of sound I can just tell you to stick with it and keep pushing what you really believe in. Someday it will work out but it takes a long time and also some hard times in between for sure but you really have to stay true to yourself and your taste.
If you chose to represent an underground style of sound I can just tell you to stick with it and keep pushing what you really believe in.
As a veteran in the industry, what do you think are the typical mistakes people make when trying to pursue a career in the music industry?
Its the same with consuming music nowadays everything has to go super quick. when I started working as a techno DJ the word career was the last thing I thought of. I was happy to go out there and give the people a good night out with fantastic techno music they rarely heard before. I always wanted to deliver the best sound I possibly could and impress them with my djing and production skills.
nowadays people sometimes want to impress you with their social media or their outfits or super funny dance moves. but for me, it is still purely about the music and the DJ skills.
Have you ever hit roadblocks with making music? If so, what have you found to be the best ways to overcome this?
Sure I do. I think everybody does but there are certain ways of fixing this … either I start working on something completely different. Like I just started a Fatboy Slim like big beat tune last week. Just for fun and to see if I could produce something like this and out of this lightness I get tons of inspirations for new techno songs. Or I turn off the computer and just listen to music I like over and over again. Then I go back to particular tracks I produced I still really like and look at the arrangements to see how I produced it. Also, a good but edgy way is to get a single piece of new equipment and get inspired by the fresh sounds. But you shouldn’t really get more than one piece since the distraction is also getting bigger and bigger to just fooling around.
What exciting news is there for Dj Emerson inthe works for the coming months?
I am doing a new label with my friend Raphael Dinscoy called Lehmann Musik in connection with the club in Stuttgart and there we have our first release coming at the end of August. A various artists compilation with me & Thomas Hoffknecht, Kyle Geiger and Raphael Dinscoy. And the tune I contributed together with my friend Thomas Hoffknecht got remixed by Cari Lekebusch. Then I have another new EP coming called rolling and my EP for Dolma has just been released today with remixes by marla singer and many more. and I am working on an LP for Thomas Hoffknecht which will be called “Open Your Eyes” and it will be out on Micro.fon too.
I am doing a new label with my friend Raphael Dinscoy called Lehmann Musik in connection with the club in Stuttgart and there we have our first release coming at the end of August.
If you weren’t making music what would you be doing with your life?
I don’t know but me not doing music isn’t really an option honestly.
Thank you and good luck with the release!
Thanks to you and all the best!
Besides DJ Emerson we have other great interviews on our website. Check them out »
