Brazil’s number one EDM radio network Dance Paradise FM is adding Germany Calling to their schedule and will be broadcasting the Berlin produced show every Thursday afternoon from June 7 (17.00 local time, 22.00 Berlin time).

The Curitiba based station reaches millions of listeners via a network of 55 terrestrial FM radio stations.

Sérgio Maslowsky from Dance Paradise FM chatted to Skrufff this week about the story behind the fast growing Brazilian radio network and recalled how they started 8 years ago ‘just as a web radio station broadcast from a small room here in Curitiba.’

“Initially we began broadcasting a few trance and house radio shows from some international artists and during that period times were really hard but after a few months we got in touch with some huge artists who supported and believed in the idea and the concept of the radio station- people like Markus Schulz, Matt Darey and Menno de Jong,” he recalled.

“Back then the radio was 90% trance and some other EDM songs, then over time we connected up with lots more new artists and we became so full of DJs and musical styles that we launched another channel, dividing up the genres. So we had just one for trance, and the other for house and techno. Nowadays we have 4 different channels and each is broadcast across 55 FM Stations around Brazil.”

Germany Calling specialises in delivering exclusive upfront underground house and techno tracks from labels such as Kling Klong, Soma, Crosstown Rebels, Turbo, Culprit, Punch Music and Great Stuff and is produced and presented by Jonty Skrufff and Fidelity Kastrow. Each week’s one hour show also includes one or two classic cuts and rarities and is also broadcast on BLN.FM (Germany), Underground FG (France) and Ukraine’s leading dance music radio station Kiss FM.

For Sergio, who handles Dance Paradise’s international and artist relations, Germany Calling’s inclusion on the Concept Channel fits a programming schedule that already includes shows from Carl Cox, Yoshitoshi and Get Physical. (This is Dance Paradise; on Youtube: http://bit.ly/KQQ3tI )

“Dance music has always been a global phenomenon and we reflect that on Dance Paradise FM,” he says.

“How many of the shows are in English? Well almost 99% of our output is either in English or foreign languages,” says Sergio. “We have a handful in Portuguese but that’s all.”

Fidelity Kastrow & Jonty Skrufff - Click for archive shows

Skrufff (Seb Mortimer): How do you decide what styles of music and DJs to support?

Dance Paradise (Sergio): “We’ve always maintained good relationships with the DJs who provide us with radio shows, and we’re always looking for good stuff, whatever the genre. The key issue for us is to have good quality programmes and be open minded to new trends and styles. Sometimes these can seem aggressive and weird at first, but when you look into it and see a lot of different material and so many people following that genre then we’ll experiment and put it right in the middle of the schedule and see what feedback we receive.

The artists decide the music they play on their shows of course, and we already have huge numbers of listeners who are addicted to trance, house, techno, deep house and even chill-out so we’re not relying just on numbers, we feel it.”

Skrufff: What’s your assessment of club culture and EDM in Brazil; how much is the country now embracing EDM in the mainstream?

Dance Paradise (Sergio): “Brazil’s EDM scene is growing constantly these days, thanks to both the internet and global communication in general. We need it here too. If I can use myself as an example, I personally hate samba and I hate with all my heart performers such as Michel Telo and that country style music, so I really miss that Europe atmosphere and culture about e-music.

In the past, and I’m talking about not longer than ten years ago, if I told someone I liked Paul Oakenfold or Cris Liebing they would turn to me and say ‘what the fuck? Who are those guys, I’ve never heard of them.’ Or ‘so you use drugs or have a mental problems?’ But nowadays most people in Brazil are familiar with these names and many more and though people aren’t 100% into dance music, it’s changing. We think we’re helping this happen because dance music is our passion- we love what we hear and what we do.”

Live @ D-edge (Sao Paulo)

Skrufff: How about places like Florianopolis; how much do you cover that scene: how much does it have the potential to become an Ibiza style destination (over December to March)

Dance Paradise (Sergio): “We have strong partnerships with clubs such as Pacha and Stage Music Park, they’re excellent clubs and partners, and that city is such a beautiful place. We’re always doing special events there, whether it’s live broadcasting or events or even doing our own special events.

But Ibiza is Ibiza, nowhere in the world beats it. Armin van Buuren once said ”every year we have a new Ibiza, and it burns for that season, and sometimes in the next season it’s gone, but you cant compare the magic of that island, its unique”; Florianópolis has a long way to go still but I think Floripa already has its space at the sun.”

Skrufff: You broadcast to 57 affiliate radio stations: what kind of audiences do you attract: for the mainstream shows and the underground ones?

Dance Paradise (Sergio): “We try to attract both Greeks and Trojans because we have both types of artists on the crew, but let me answer you with another question: What is underground these days? Even in the underground we have mainstream artists and with information now available everywhere you don’t really have underground scenes anymore; certainly not in the way it used to be.”

Dance Paradise; click for more

Skrufff: How do you see Dance Paradise developing- in the next 6 months- in the next 3 years?

Dance Paradise (Sergio): “It’s hard to say even what we’ll be doing tomorrow, but I think it’s definitely our moment, our time to shine even more. Expanding to 57 station was a big jump, and we’re starting to get these fruits now, so I think Dance Paradise will be bigger than it is now, and I can expect huge events and festival partners and more conference tie-ups in the future.”

Skrufff: Anything to add?

Dance Paradise (Sergio): “Thanks to everyone, even our enemies – if we have any . . .”

Listen to Germany Calling every Thursday afternoon from June 7 (17.00 local time, 22.00 Berlin time).

http://www.danceparadise.com.br

http://www.mixcloud.com/jontyskrufff/ (Listen to archived Germany Calling shows on demand, here)

Seb Mortimer: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Kreuzberg, Berlin

DJs and artists in Berlin will be amongst hundreds of thousands of self employed people who could soon be forced to pay €350 a month pension contributions on top of mandatory health care costs plus taxes meaning each will have to earn at least €600 before earning one cent.

“These mandatory contributions will be hundreds of euros per month for a basic social security which they can’t live on. For many freelancers, this could signal the end,” freelance news portal Deskmag.com predicted.

“From July 1st 2013, many self-employed workers risk enduring significant financial burdens that threaten their professional existence, especially for those who have inconsistent or precarious sources of income. The creative economy is likely to shrink as a result,” they suggested. (DeskMag.com: http://bit.ly/IJmMlJ )

Expat news portal columnist Seymour Gris of ExBerliner was similarly alarmed.

“In a new package of proposed laws beautifully entitled “Rewarding Life’s Work” planned by the Merkel government, the self-employed will be required to pay a monthly “retirement contribution” of around €350 to help fill up the coffers of the bankrupt German pension system which is already subsidized by €80 billion in taxpayer money beginning in 2013,” he said.

“Berlin is especially susceptible to this legislation, as it will kill off myriad microcosms of entrepreneurism in every imaginable field from culture to food to IT. Or else drive more small business people into the tax-free black market,” he predicted. (http://bit.ly/KmzHNp )

Brighton based freelancer and DJ/ promoter Nick Titchener also ridiculed the proposals branding them ‘ridiculous’.

“If a similar thing was brought into play in the UK, many, many freelancers wouldn’t be able to afford to eat, or pay their rent.  Where do the lawmakers think the money is going to come from, especially for start-ups or those going through a bad time – as every “freelancer” or self-employed person does? Anonymous benefactors? Donations from big business?” said Nick.

“It will be a medium term nightmare for the German economy, particularly with mobility of labour in the EU; why would anyone start something up in German? You know those little innovative “we can start by building it in the garage” business like, say Apple or Microsoft . . .”

New 5 star hotels on the Spree

http://bit.ly/J739cf (Click here to sign a petition protesting about the bill)

http://bit.ly/IrJOCl

Seymour Gris: Killing off the Creative Class http://bit.ly/KmzHNp

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Skrufff Tune of the Week: Click to listen

Deviation, London Friday April 27

“House and techno is the cornerstone of London club-land and is such a broad church that I cannot see that ever really changing. In fact, many of the fleeting new-genre led media obsessions you refer to  (dubstep, post-dubstep, drum & bass) broadly fall under that banner anyway.”

London club promoter Ajay Jayaram chatted to Skrufff this week about his wildly eclectic (and immediately successful) new party Broken & Uneven and said that despite kicking off with a semi-Berlin themed Ostgut party, he remains convinced that London is the world’s number one club capital.

“Berlin receives a lot of coverage and praise for its house and techno scene which is understandable and whether it’s better or worse than our own is of course subjective,” he concedes.

“But if your interest in music takes in other genres too – dubstep, drum & bass, grime or even hip hop, then London is the epicentre; I always find myself comforted by our city’s true eclecticism in that way.”

Proving his point via Broken & Uneven’s booking policy, he’s signed up Omar-S, Kode 9 and Benji B as headliners for their next party (Deviation x Hyperdub Warehouse Session, Friday 27 April), followed by a Panet Mu night 2 weeks later and an outdoor tech flavoured party in June. So what’s the overall vision?

Planet Mu party: click for details

“I guess it’s basically a natural extension of my personal listening habits as well as my own background in programming – at the End and also at Cable we covered a very diverse range of music and for this new project I was keen to continue with that ethos,” he explains.

“It also offers an opportunity to be a little bit more creative with the choice of spaces we use (unlike when we were based at a single venue) and indeed in the nature of the events themselves – no one has ever brought together Ostgut and Sub:stance or Deviation and Hyperdub, for example. So we’ll endeavour to keep things interesting wherever possible, which I hope will help us differentiate and distinguish ourselves from other parties,’ says Ajay.

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): Why did you leave We Fear Silence?

Broken & Uneven (Ajay): “It was simply time to move on. It had been three years since I set it up and whilst it had grown and developed (with a degree of success I feel), there was a kind of inevitability about it becoming more of a job and less of a passion because of the framework within which we found ourselves – i.e. a club residency. Cable came at the right time for us and was instrumental helping to take We Fear Silence to the next level, but for me personally programming a nightclub on a weekly basis was something that I had already done (at The End) and whilst still very challenging, was perhaps not as rewarding for me as a result.”

Skrufff: What’s your assessment of London nightlife right now: how much is the austerity/ everyone being broke situation affecting things?

Broken & Uneven (Ajay): “I think that the music being made in London right now is as exciting as it has ever been and there are some very talented DJs, artists and bands out there contributing to a very fertile scene which, though arguably lacking cohesion, is a great reflection of clubbing in the capital.

There are probably also more events on than ever too which suggests little impact from the recession, but I suspect that it has more to do with the Internet enabling everyone to become a promoter. Not everywhere is busy and not all of these events are necessarily of any significant scale, but whatever way you look at it, we are not short of options, which is a good thing I feel.”

Skrufff: Anything else to add?

Broken & Uneven (Ajay): “Apparently the average person falls asleep in seven minutes, which has got me wondering how long it’ll take to read this interview . . .”

https://www.facebook.com/BrokenUneven (‘Parties for a nightclub that doesn’t exist . . .’)

http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=10800 (Resident Advisor review of their opening night)

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

“I really can’t see ‘hordes’ of Americans coming to Ibiza myself. I do hope a good few thousand come, but come on, the ‘hordes’ you’re suggesting don’t even have passports, mate.”

Chatting to Skrufff this week about the upcoming season of Sunday night parties at Space, We Love main-man Mark Broadbent is on typically feisty form, chuckling when quizzed about how he’ll be attracting American EDM fans flocking to the island for the first time.

“I don’t have any problem with Americans and in fact I even like a few of the ones I’ve met,” he jokes.

“There you go, Jonty, that’s how I’m going to target them. Let them know they are welcome at our party,” he laughs.

With We Love’s 2012 lineups involving the return of regulars such as Paul Woolford, Carl Craig, Derrick May and James Zabiela, alongside relatively new faces including Scuba, Oxia, and Appleblim, more than a few fresh faced American clubbers are likely to flock to the club, though any expecting EDM will be in for a let down.

Firstly, because Mark points out ‘it’s not what we really do’ and secondly though he claims ‘not to have too much of an opinion on it to be honest’, his next sentence suggests otherwise.

“I don’t like ‘pop dance’,” he explains, “and I fucking hate the term EDM.”

“I also think people who jump on bandwagons for cash and do things they don’t really believe in by booking ill placed and badly programmed acts should take a long look at themselves and ask why they are doing this,” he suggests.

“Dumbing down audiences and pandering to the masses has no place on Ibiza in my opinion,” he continues.

 “It has taken the people who care on this island a long time to change perspectives about what the island is really like and booking “pop” acts puts us back years and potentially shortens our shelf life as a serious music brand.”

Click on the picture for opening party details

Launching We Love at Space 14 years ago, he’s helped build the Sunday night weekly into the Ibiza’s most credible brand, attracting thousands of clubbers each week to dance to DJs spinning- broadly speaking- underground house and techno.

Highlighting We Love’s strength on the island, the party will be celebrating Space’s official 23^rd birthday celebrations on Sunday August 12, headlined by Chemical Brothers, Simian Mobile Disco and Joris Voorn.

Though he’s deadly serious in his warning of commercial house threatening the island’s longer term night life future he’s hilariously indiscreet when asked whether he agrees with Pete Tong’s recent assessment that ‘big business’ is threatening ‘the scene’. (Music Week: http://bit.ly/HNHaTW )

“Well he would know, right?” Mark laughs again.

“| didn’t hear what Pete Tong said specifically and in what context but Pete IS ‘big business’, in my opinion,” he asserts.

“He is a director of big businesses within our scene, plays a part in the biggest agency – WME (William Morris Entertainent) – in the world right now and DJs on our oldest national radio station – the BBC – so what is/was he saying? Did he sound threatening?”

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): Another year; another new season; what are the key changes We Love have planned for this year?

Mark Broadbent (We Love): “There are never any key changes at We Love… I think that one of the secrets to our success is that things have evolved rather than changed drastically over the last fourteen years. With ears and eyes closely focused on the street we take direction from what feels right to us, what we think will translate well on Ibiza and with this in mind we have introduced some really great new blood to the family this summer, acts we are excited about ourselves.”

Skrufff: I read on Ibiza-voice recently :’refurbishments could take place at space too, with the club’s worst kept secret, the vehemently underground red box, possibly making way for – you guessed it – another vip area.’ (http://bit.ly/wpirVx ): has that happened?

Mark Broadbent (We Love): “Space always make full use of the winter months to fully refurbish the venue so that returning customers are always welcomed with new ideas and themes. The sound and lighting systems are replaced with the latest innovations and a huge amount of time is spent on the general decor to ensure the customer feels like he/she has entered somewhere very special.

This year Space have decided to return the area where the Redbox was back to how it was five or six or seven? years ago. People who have been coming to Space for some time will remember the open terrace above the main-room (discoteca) with it’s decidedly dark corners and even darker seating.

I am told by the management that this will not be VIP but will be open to anybody who wants to enter on most nights with the possibility of table service for a fortunate few.”

Skrufff: Also on Ibiza-voice, I read your recent comment on their latest Berlin feature; ‘it’s  all about grozny now anyway so who cares?”  what prompted that? What’s your view of Berlin’s club scene- I guess pretty negative?

Mark Broadbent (We Love): “I absolutely loved clubbing in Berlin but am so bored of reading about it. Come on, move on, find a new city to fuck up.”

Skrufff: DJ Sneak has been criticizing Swedish House Mafia widely on twitter in recent weeks- blasting them for being fake (‘for the record, they do not play house music’): how much do you consider their music to be ‘house’? under what circumstances would you book SHM? and/ or Tiesto?

Mark Broadbent (We Love): “I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that I have never knowingly listened to “the Swedes” but years ago I was offered them for our sunset terrace. The agent suggested to me that we could have all three of them for a very, very low price as they really wanted to play for us and the agent thought it was the perfect fit for their first Ibiza residency. I didn’t like the name or the implications that they were some kind of house music gangsters, I mean, what can you expect if you invite that kind of person into your life?

Anyway, we didn’t book them and three years later they are the biggest act on Ibiza, making Pacha a fortune. Ah well, never mind, right!  I still wouldn’t book them for Space, but not due for the same reasons Sneak is talking about. After all, we have booked acts in the past who have since turned out to be pretty “fake” but for us it’s important to be able to get along with the people we work with and I just don’t think we would get along very well with those guys.

Acts like this are best booked when you can keep them at arm’s length, for a festival, for example. When you need to sell a shit load of tickets and it’s a broad demographic of people being targeted then you need acts like the Swedes and Tiesto for the most part and we have booked this type of act in the past to do just that at our festivals. We call this “the big swinging dick effect”: get a few bookings like this and the rest of the lineup comes together easily.”

Having said that, I don’t know, there seems to be enough room for everybody to do what they want right now.

Why is DJ Sneak even bothered by what they do? What does he want them to do? Lose the word “house” I suppose? But then the Italians might have problems with them right? The poor guys can’t win. ‘The Swedes’ just doesn’t sound right, does it? It makes you think of greengrocers not nightclubs and disc jockeys. I don’t suppose they give a shit about what he has to say anyway.”

http://bit.ly/GW7Td4 (We Love @Space opening party details: June 10)

http://www.welove-music.com/

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Gavin; Click for more

“The idea of playing in a city built on mob money, bad boob jobs and excess greed doesn’t attract me so I’m not exactly on my knees begging to play Vegas.”

Admitting bluntly that he’s no fan of Las Vegas, underground tech-house rising star Gavin Herlihy pulls few punches.

“I’d like to visit it to see the spectacle first hand and I’m sure that’s probably just a preconception from some horror stories I’ve been told by friends,” he concedes, “But really if I’d wanted to make big money in life I’d have thrown myself into a career in investment banking.”

He’s equally unimpressed by DJs chasing Vegas big bucks (rumours abound of mid level DJs picking up US$45,000 plus DJ fees from the new casino superclubs).

“I’m watching with horror as some of my artistic heroes crumble with greed into sad shadows of their former selves playing awful records to sustain their careers at the level they’re now on,” he confesses.

“It’s so like the superstar DJ boom of the 90s, I think this current phase of dance music is another time of learning how to NOT be a big DJ,” he laughs.

Though not a ‘superstar DJ’ himself just yet, the former Mixmag music editor is well on the way, popping up on line-ups increasingly alongside the likes of Seth Troxler and Jamie Jones while releasing on uber-hipster tech house labels including Leftroom, Culprit and Crosstown Rebels.

“It’s really helped my career being on these labels,” he admits, “Because I feel like I’m finally releasing music that’s totally me, on labels that I love and that aren’t about to sell out at the drop of a hat.”

“My own personal goal is to keep challenging myself musically,” he continues, “to play the best and most fun parties I can, to people who appreciate forward thinking music and not go broke in the process,” says Gavin.

Get Loose EP it out on Leftroom shortly; click to listen

Growing up in Ireland with teenage rock star dreams, he switched to journalism as a ‘plan B’ after losing faith, landing a prestige media internship for CNN in Atlanta when just 20. Leveraging his CNN email address to blag feature articles for UK and Eire newspapers, he next ended up at Mixmag, where a week long stint morphed into him ending up the British title’s Music Editor.

Taking up DJing and music making soon after, he released his first track Machine Ate My Homework’ in 2006, attracting plaudits from tastemakers including DJ Hell and Laurent Garnier.

Coming out on Sasse’s Berlin label Moodmusic, the track opened doors for further releases on even more credible labels including Cocoon, Cadenza and Get Physical.

Six years on, he’s concentrating in music making and DJing 100% though is the first to admit he’s learned a lot from his Mixmag days.

“I’m aware of what it takes to make it,” he says, “But at the same time I’m not about being something I’m not. I’m me. I present myself and if people want to support me I’m eternally grateful but I’m not about to start wearing a mouse mask to increase my brand recognition.”

So how much attention does he play to marketing and image?

“We live in a really interesting time right now. My job is all about making the best music I can but there’s no point doing that if no one gets to hear it so I’m all for promotion and marketing if it’s done in the right way.

Thanks to Facebook and Twitter we now have indispensable tools for getting our message across as artists but that message must come from the heart and as much as we ask people to listen to our music, check out our page etc we need to give back also.

Whether that’s posting a free track or an inspirational message or a tip for a great film or song by another artist, I think marketing these days is all about establishing a relationship with your audience that’s based on friendship not a continuous and soulless take, take, take.

And as for image? That message rebounds through house music every decade: just be yourself,” he advises.

And what about DJs who punch the air and strike Jesus Christ poses behind the decks?

“I love music and I love sharing my love of music with other people so I don’t hold back from having a craic (party) behind the decks,” he concedes,

“That said, I also firmly advocate throwing bottles of piss at anyone who pulls of the Jesus pose behind the decks.”

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): Starting with where you are right now career-wise; you’re releasing on Crosstown Rebels/ Culprit, Leftroom; how much have you now broken through: how much has your life changed in the last 12 months?

Gavin Herlihy: “My musical life hasn’t really changed. All the music that’s coming out now has been bubbling around in my studio and sets for a couple of years now so it’s kind of business as usual. As yet I haven’t started wearing a cape or a pair of sunglasses worth more than our car but you never know.

Though life has changed considerably in the last year in other ways. I’ve started eating like an Olympic athlete. Some people close to me suffer from some really serious diseases that have proven to me that you really are what you eat. I meditate. I do yoga. I bore a lot of people with stories about how amazing Burning Man is. I’ve started using more hardware in the studio.

I haven’t as yet adopted any questionably daft haircuts or speaking about myself in the third person (and never will, might I add) but like most people I’m becoming very conscious of where our society and environment is going and that we all need to make major changes in our lives and the world in general if we’re to get through the next few decades.  Deep yes, but you did ask.”

Skrufff: How much difference has releasing on these ultra-credible labels made to your career? And your finances?

Gavin Herlihy: “I started producing in 2005 and released my first record six months later, went full time in 2007 and then had to learn on the job in a big way.  I made a lot of tracks that I wish I hadn’t but now I feel I’m hitting my stride in the studio and making the music I want to play out and dance to.

As for finances, let’s not forget this is underground house and techno music – none of us are exactly playing stadiums or getting Snoop to come in the studio to lay down a vocal. Luckily. I think people have a very outdated view of DJs all being minted (rich) and tearing around on private jets. A very small percentage do well, but a lot of people are struggling.”

Crosstown Rebels release: click to listen

Skrufff: DJs such as Seth Troxler and Jamie Jones have become huge in the last 12 months; how much is this American explosion in EDM affecting club culture: and you personally?

Gavin Herlihy: “I think the big effect I’ve noticed in the US is how dubstep has rampaged its way into the mainstream. House music is still niche, it will always bubble up a little then drop off a bit but it’s not like America has become the new land of milk and honey. It always threatens to (remember Sasha and Digweed’s Twilo period in the 90s, same thing different century) but the US doesn’t have the same media infrastructure as the UK, for example.

There is no Radio 1 devoting significant portions of their coverage to underground dance music nationwide. Let’s face it, most of our American DJ friends are more concerned with playing in Europe so that says a lot about what’s really going on. I’m personally going to be playing more than ever there this year but that’s more to do with the labels I’m releasing on. The big one I’m really looking forward to is playing the Standard for the Droog guys in September.”

Skrufff: Having worked for Mixmag for some years you’re well aware of the business side of everything: do you have a manager, agent, publicist?

Gavin Herlihy: I have an agent, people do my press on a release by release basis but I don’t have a manager. I’m lucky to have friends to rely on for advice who know what they’re talking about but I think now is an exciting time for artists. With platforms like Facebook, YouTube or Twitter you can bring your music to a wider audience without having to play the corporate dance music PR game.”

Skrufff: Herlihy is an unusual last name and quite tricky to both spell and pronounce: how much did you consider taking on an easier DJ name?

Gavin Herlihy: “Funny question this one. I am genuinely bowled over if anyone can pronounce it first time as generally most people tend to cough their way through the pronunciation. It’s a real tongue twister let’s face it. I should probably have come up with a nerdy sci-fi one worder like the dub step /drum n bass lot tend to do but the truth is, for a former journalist, I’m shit at coming up with names My name is a real issue for people so I may come up with a more pronounceable artist name to make life easier on people. If I can be arsed! Answers on a postcard if you have any suggestions, please.”

Schlesischesstr, Kreuzberg

Skrufff: You lived in Berlin for a few years (between 2007 and 2009),: how much was it like you imagined it to be?

Gavin Herlihy: “It was great from a professional sense. I left London to start producing full-time and not having the noose of a London rent round my neck enabled me to get started. But it was also right around the time the recession kicked in and I struggled big time to make ends meet. Nowhere in the world is very friendly when you’re skint so it was a tough two years but I got work done, I learned my craft and then when the time came I shipped out.”

Skrufff: When did you first start thinking it was time to leave?  And why?

Gavin Herlihy: “There were a few reasons all at once that made leaving a pressing priority so I finally moved to Leeds in 2009. I had never intended to live there for life so I was only ever there for the short term. Like I said I was pretty much constantly broke. Berlin is very barren experience when you’re brassic and I had a girlfriend in the UK who was tied to a job and going through a tough time so it made sense to move back. That said I love to return and hang out with my friends there. The people make the place after all so that’s what’s most important to me when it comes to living in places or traveling.”

Skrufff: Speaking to the Independent recently you said ‘gigs were short in supply and my time in Berlin was spent being ruthlessly skint and literally making music to put food on the table’: why didn’t you return to writing to carry you through the tough period?

Gavin Herlihy: “I used to write a little while there but nothing to the same scale as what I was doing before. There comes a time in your life when if you’re going to do something you need to do it, take the negatives on the chin and get the job done. I was so inexperienced in the studio when I moved to Berlin it took all my time just learning how to produce so I didn’t have time for distractions.

My first record was really well received but I didn’t even know how to use a sampler at the time and was literally just feeling my way around the studio in the dark using soft synths. It seems pretty financially suicidal now. But if I hadn’t done it I’d still be in an office somewhere doing the should-a-could-a-would-a routine.”

Skrufff: How much was it a problem returning: did you experience any s schadenfreude from people back home? (or did you feel any sense of failure?)

Gavin Herlihy: “Not at all. I didn’t see my time in Berlin as a failure at all and I don’t to my knowledge think anyone else saw it as a failure either. In the time I lived there I went from being a total rookie producer to releasing on big house and techno labels and playing Watergate, Panorama Bar, Bar 25 etc. To be honest it felt like graduating from boot camp when I left.

Berlin for the out-of-towners also is a little bit of a cliché now so I haven’t really lost out in life by moving home to be with my girlfriend. Quite the opposite. A lot of people think the streets there are paved with dance music gold and move there only to discover their DJ friends are away all the time and if you haven’t got a concrete income you are going to struggle big time. It can be a pretty gritty place to move to. The smart people already have a base of REAL Berliners and can connect with what the city is really about but a lot of people seem to be returning very disillusioned with their time there.”

Skrufff: When did your career turn around? And how?

Gavin Herlihy: “Sadly I’ve not yet had a ‘Eureka, let’s buy a Lear Jet’ moment just yet (Maybe next year. eh?). Like anything in life as soon as you climb one mountain there’s always another one even bigger to climb right behind it and my career has gone up very  steadily so far. IF there was a turning point it was jacking in my job, suddenly feeling the fear of how the fuck I’m going to pull this off and getting my shit together to make it happen.

This part of the process is all in your head. It’s essential to remain positive, strong willed and confident in your abilities. That doesn’t mean turning into an egotistical dick. It means believing in yourself enough to change your life and transition from one phase to the next while at the same time remaining thankful for what you’ve got.”

Skrufff: Jooking back, what was your biggest mistake?  And your greatest stroke of fortune?

Gavin Herlihy: “My biggest mistake was not taking up production A LOT sooner. The best way to start out in this game is to learn your trade until you’re making exactly what it is you feel is you and then start sending it to labels. I did it the other way around so I released a lot of music early on that didn’t always represent what I was about.

MY greatest stroke of fortune; sick buckets at the ready please; was meeting my girlfriend Laura. She is an amazingly inspirational person in the face of adversity. A constant source of fun and good times together, the only person I can trust to give me a true opinion of my music, and we’re very lucky to be in a relationship where we both do the same thing because our lifestyles can be killers for most other couples. If I fail in my every endeavour from here on in, when I’m about to breathe my last breathe, I will still consider my life a success thanks to meeting her.”

Get Loose EP; click to listen

Click here for Witching Hour & Inner Place?~ Gavin Herlihy / Laura Jones: http://bit.ly/HdlCyP

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Anton Kordi? aka El Niño Andrés

“There is actually no audience for my music or electronic music community here at all. The scene is very small, and none of the clubs actually play house/techno or anything else similar. Dubstep is like 10 years away.”

Though both his artist name El Niño Andrés and record label Hija de Colombia are in Spanish, tech house producer Anton Kordi?, 26, actually hails from Mostar, in the heart of Bosnia Herzegovina.

“Most of the clubs in Mostar play folk music from ex Yugoslavia area, and most of the people here like that kind of music,” he admits. “There are lovers of commercial dance music like Guetta and company, but there are no electronic music clubs. A few guest nights here and there, but really there is no scene.”

But why the Spanish theme? (he’s also opted for a Spanish title- Mas Dinero Mas Problemas which translates as More Money, More Problems’ for his upcoming debut artist album).

“Well I’ve always been a fan of the Spanish language, like many of my close friends, and I always thought that everything sounds good in Spanish,” he explains.

“As for the Colombia reference, it was motivated by a documentary I watched about Colombia and the Latin American style of life, and I thought it’s a lot similar to the one here, in terms of passion and faith.”

What he’s particularly passionate about personally is music, specifically the Berlin style techno and house which is represented (and reinterpreted) so superbly on his new album.

“Yes my music does have a certain German vibe to it,” he happily concedes, “because I grew up listening to that kind of stuff.”

“Half of the stuff I listen to nowadays is from German labels, and it’s just music I’ve always loved. I’m particularly inspired by the early 2000s, I’m taking bits and pieces of inspiration from German sounds and combining them with cinematic soundtrack elements I also love.”

“I think a lot of music today sounds totally generic, and lacks substance,” he continues. “It’s tasteless, so a track’s life is often just for a few weeks: Until someone else releases version two of the same track: Then someone else again. Some of those tracks are up to version 50 by now,” he laughs.

Ironically one of the standout tracks on Mas Dinero Mas Problemas is Cegado por las luces, which first came out two years ago and is now available itself in a new much shorter (otherwise broadly similar) 7 minute version.

The rest of the album is also anything but generic, containing instead a fantastic selection of understated though engagingly melodic tech-house club cuts.

Writing about his approach on the album’s accompanying biography he says “Kordic’s inspiration for the album is the idea of re-connecting to what is important in life, in a world obsessed with money and the pursuit and wealth and power”, begging the obvious question, so what is important in life? And how does that translate to your music?

“Well to be honest, I didn’t mean to go that deep for the meaning of the album or connecting it to my music as such,” he replies.

“Music came naturally, just by me sitting with Monome and Ni Maschine playing around and recording a lot of stuff. After I finished quite a lot of drafts for tracks, I decided which ones would make the best selection for album. After finishing it, I was thinking about naming it with something that will say something about me.

One of my favorite quotes is “don’t chase money, chase dreams” (by Murs on Dreamchasers), and making the album despite the current state of music – financially speaking, there is not lot of money in it for underground – was just that, dream chasing.

Also the financial crisis has showed just how much the money system, as a religious symbol to so many people these days is vulnerable to breaking and falling apart.”

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): On your press release you talk of  ’a world obsessed with money and the pursuit and wealth and power: how much is the digital revolution changing the situation for you personally and your plans for Hija de Colombia?

El Niño Andrés: “Digital has changed the industry, no doubt, there are some positives and negatives here. For example, there is no vinyl shop in Bosnia-Herzegovina or Croatia. Not one! While I was growing up, you couldn’t get vinyl anywhere – even on the internet our credit cards were not accepted for Paypal at first. So the only way people could get to music was as mp3s.

On the other hand, as a label owner now, digital labels are making a mess of the market, in my humble opinion. Even the major labels like Warner Bros that covered 15 genres of music didn’t have that many releases a year like digital labels now that are being run by one or two people.

There is no quality threshold, as people that don’t release vinyl have almost no expenses in releasing tracks. When you have to invest two or three thousand euros for a vinyl pressing, mastering and artwork you sign a lot less, and you find a lot less tracks worth releasing. I know people will find a few tracks that are awesome, but did not get a vinyl release but I believe they are just the exceptions that prove the rule. That’s why I mostly don’t even listen at all to promos of only digital releases.”

As for Hija De Colombia, we already have our next three releases lined up. Next one will be a 12” from Stumbleine, a great guy from UK doing some wonderful glo-fi shoegaze dubstep fusion, then we have some kind of nostalgic 90s trip on a 7” from Liam King, a release which I just adore. We plan those two out in next 3 months, while Matthew Adams’ release will follow in autumn. I don’t want the lable to focus on any particular genre – we plan a lot of different stuff, but it has to be with substance, have its own personality, not something that’s just a plain copy/paste of whatever is trendy these days.”

Skrufff: Mostar was one of the worst cities affected by the Balkans war of the 90s; how much do tensions remain today?

El Niño Andrés: “Well tensions are much smaller then before of course, but they can be visible for a few days a year, especially around football matches or stuff like that. Segregation is physical, as the city parts where Croats and Bosniaks live are divided by the river, but people are free to go anywhere without problem. It is safe here generally, though there are individual incidents every few months, just as there are incidents in every town in the world from time to time.”

Skrufff: How fearful are you that war could break out- in Mostar/ or Bosnia again?

El Niño Andrés: “I am not fearful because I believe that there will be no war here again, although it’s hard to say that Bosnia – Herzegovina is in a great condition, of particularly good relations between the three nationalities. The political situation is always very tense. But I believe that future differences will be solved diplomatically.”

El Niño Andrés: Mas Dinero Mas Problemas is released on April 9 on Hija De Colombia (and is available as a double vinyl LP).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pl5kl9athA

http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/elninoandres

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Click to find out if you're doomed

For the apocalyptically minded out there, check this fantastic new website which reveals radiation damage, blast waves and death rates for a whole range of nuclear devices dropped on your town.

As the site says; “”A convenient rule of thumb for estimating the short-term fatalities from all causes due to a nuclear attack is to count everyone inside the 5 psi blast overpressure contour around the hypocenter as a fatality. In reality, substantial numbers of people inside the contour will survive and substantial numbers outside the contour will die, but the assumption is that these two groups will be roughly equal in size and balance out. This completely ignores any possible fallout effects.”

Click on the link for more bomb maps:

New York; doomed?

Berlin; doomed?

Skrufff chief Jonty Skrufff is also the international representative for the Sochi Winter Music Conference, which takes place next weekend in Russia (February 9-12)

Todd Burns, Editor-in-Chief Resident Advisor (click for more)

Todd Burns (ResidentAdvisor.Net): The Key Questions

Todd Burns is editor-in-chief of electronic dance music portal Resident Advisor (RA), overseeing all editorial output created by its team of over 100 active international contributors. He visits SMWC to speak on the Media Matters panel (Beyond Web 2.0- the future for dance music media).

SWMC: How did you end up as Editorial boss of Resident Advisor, where did it all begin?

Todd Burns (Resident Advisor): “One day, I told myself that I wanted to be the second best electronic music writer in the world. (Next to Jonty Skrufff.) I’m still working on it.”

SWMC: How big a role has luck played in your life/ career?

Todd Burns (Resident Advisor): “It’s been pretty much the defining feature of my life and career.”

SWMC: What’s been the hardest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?

Todd Burns (Resident Advisor): “My lack of talent.”

SWMC: What’s been the biggest mistake you’ve made?

Todd Burns (Resident Advisor): “Thinking that I had a bit of talent. Don’t let your ego get in the way!”

SWMC: How superstitious are you?

Todd Burns (Resident Advisor): “Have you ever seen Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets? It’s a little bit like that.”

SWMC: What advice would you offer someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?

Todd Burns (Resident Advisor): “Watch out for cracks in the sidewalk. (pavement).”

SWMC: What has been your greatest achievement?

Todd Burns (Resident Advisor): “Establishing personal relationships with international DJs and producers of course. Getting close to fame is what it’s all about!”

SWMC: What’s the meaning of life?

Todd Burns (Resident Advisor): “42 according to Douglas Adams. Who am I to disagree?”

SWMC: What are your expectations about Sochi: what do you hope to achieve/ experience from the conference?

Todd Burns (Resident Advisor): “I’m not sure what to think about the conference, as I haven’t been. But what I’ve heard from Jonty leads me to believe that Russians are very serious about their electronic music. I hope to change that a little bit.”

http://residentadvisor.net

Jonty Skrufff (http://skrufff.com )