This time we wanted some hard hitting shit, and contacted our good friend stranger from Rotterdam. We sent him some questions about his style, the scene, and the techno dream. So please push play and read some of his awesome thoughts below.

Listen:

What is your “style”, who influences you, and why?

My style can probably considered as firm and driven techno. The in-your-face back to basic loop techno from 1996 till 2000 is what i like the most. Imagine if the drug amphetamine had a sound, where you can’t stop and have to go on and on, that would probably sound like the techno produced back then. Fearful & hard.

I have a hard time concentrating on music and communicating in every way at the same time, so when listening to a DJ-set on a party i enjoy DJ’s that are giving action non-stop. As a DJ, i think i consider Dave Clarke and Jeff Mills the way they played during late 90’s/early 2000’s to be of big influence on my style of playing. Very intense and rapid mixing of records, a bit messy at some points but there’s always a certain drive that works for the dancefloor. That’s what i find most important. What inspires me overall is people being creative around music in every possible way. As long it’s for the music and it’s real.

Tell us about the techno scene in Rotterdam, whats up? Where should we go?

The techno scene in Rotterdam is doing surprisingly well at the moment in my opinion. Although Rotterdam has been of major influence in the development of techno music since ’91, with alot of pioneers having their roots here (Speedy J and Secret Cinema among many others), there have been a few years of ‘silence’ with pretty much no steady clubs or events programming techno.
But techno lives again, i have seen a big group of young people getting into techno music and there’s alot of young organisations taking the courage to book techno in every form. Some concepts that are more than worth checking out are Strobe, a concept rapidly growing which represents proper techno (just like the Monument podcast does pretty much). There’s the Rotterdamse Rave which is currently the most visited techno concept here, where i’m honored to play as a resident. And last but not least is DNA who has also been bringing alot of varied techno artists to our city. All concepts are unique in the sound they represent, but they’re all working for the same purpose of keeping techno alive in Rotterdam.

Explain the perfect techno party for you?

Well there’s not much of the style i described earlier to be found anymore, so a night of oldschool techno would probably be my perfect party. Oldschool party’s are always filled with names from back then, but they have left that sound behind them years ago. Artists as Invite and Ritzi Lee from Holland do have that vibe, listening to them you can hear that they’re purist playing records no one dare’s to play while they’re actually very effective on the dancefloor. Combining a line-up with such names with an audience that’s just there to dance, that would be my perfect techno party.

What do you look forward to this year?

In the first place i’m looking forward to seeing more and more new good music coming out. I’m really surprised of how much good techno music is coming out again every month. To give an example, i’ve used some Jonas Kopp tracks in my mix, but i could’ve filled a 2 hour mix with just tracks he released over the past 2 months. Really, to see so many producers being creative on a roll is exciting and i’m looking forward to see that continue this year, just as seeing all kinds of new creative artists standing up one by one.

Next to that, i am currently setting up plans to start releasing music. I don’t feel like i’m on a technical level to send out my music to labels right now, but i have been producing for a long time and have gotten a big collection of work that i just feel like getting out there. There’s one demo of a track i recently made in this mix, i hope to finish and release that with a couple of more tracks somewhere this summer. Whether it’ll be successful or not is irrelevant, it’s another step for me in ‘doing’ music. That’s what i’m looking for in the future 🙂

Tracklist:

  1. Johannes heil – Paranoid Dancer (stranger edit)
  2. Take / TK A
  3. Dean Cole – instruction
  4. Echoplex – The Reaction
  5. Shifted – Bloodless
  6. Heiko laux – There is no return
  7. Jonas Kopp – Westphalia
  8. Robert Gorl – Psychoring
  9. Adam Beyer & Thomas Krome – Falkoping
  10. Tijn – Nuke
  11. stranger – root
  12. Gecko – Just Close Your Eyes
  13. Sawlin – Kontraktion
  14. Josh Wink – Are You There? (Ben Klock remix)
  15. Kwartz – Hole
  16. Charlton – Chaotic Behaviour
  17. Jonas Kopp – Insomniac
  18. Eric Martin – Hit It From The Back
  19. Regis – Ital
  20. Jon Hopkins – Collider (Karenn remix)
  21. Eight Miles High – Razorsharp
  22. Raoul Delgardo – Steelworks (B1)
  23. Tijn – Henry
  24. Surgeon – Fivo
  25. Alex Dolby – Left Side
  26. Marco Carola – Poison
  27. Johannes Heil – I love to beat you cause i hate you
  28. Mescalinum United – We Have Arrived