LWE Podcast 27: DJ T.

PODCAST 27
Photo by Lars Borges

In many ways Thomas Koch is living the techno pundit’s dream. After nearly a decade developing a following as DJ T., the Frankfurt-based jock founded Groove magazine, a vastly influential voice in techno/house journalism, in 1989. Serving as its publisher (as he still does today), Koch also found time to operate the Monza club in Frankfurt, launch the eventually massive Get Physical Music (with Booka Shade and M.A.N.D.Y.), and begin releasing his own tracks. As Koch reveals below, these accomplishments were long in coming and seem developed with the same audience-attuned approach informing his sought after mixes. T was kind enough to provide us with more than a morsel of his signature, light and groovy tech-house blends for our exclusive 27th podcast. Don’t miss this one if you’re craving summer spirits.

LWE Podcast 27: DJ T. (90:11)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tracklist:

01. Madioko ‘N’ Rafika, “Ellielli” (Kalabrese remix) [Innervisions]
02. Brooks, “Iwanchu” [Aus Music]
03. Ekkohaus ft. Robert Würz, “Not Trying To” [Brut!]
04. Soul Minority, “Plough Hand” [Kolour Recordings]
05. Varoslav, “Party Boy” [Composite Records]
06. Jayson Brothers, “Monster Box” [MCDE]
07. DJ T., “Bateria” (Thomas Schumacher remix) [Get Physical]
08. Thomas Schumacher, “NYC” [Get Physical]
09. Tiger Stripes, “Me & I” [Get Digital]
10. Rampa, “Wife” [Keinemusik]
11. Loko, “Scarlet House” [Soulman Music]
12. Leon, “In Da Factory” [Viva Music]
13. Buraka Som Sistema, “IC 19” (James Talk remix) [Fabric]
14. Art Of Tones, “Call The Shots” (MCDE remix) [unreleased]
15. Rodriguez Jr., “Kids Of Hula” [Leena Music]
16. Glimpse & Alex Jones, “Cambria” [Kindisch]

When/where did you make the mix? Is there any concept involved?

DJ T.: I did the mix a couple weeks ago. To deliver really fresh and unheard stuff to your followers, I only used recently released or even unreleased tracks that I got via digi-promo or directly from some DJ/producer-companions. Even if it’s only 90 minutes, I wanted to try to tell a little story instead of giving the listener the impression this mix is just a cutout from a standard club mix.

When DJing, what’s the balance between playing what you want love/want to hear vs. what you think the crowd wants to hear? How important is it to play to the crowd’s demands (‘play Jamie Jones ‘Summertime”!’ or similar even when you don’t want to) compared with what you think they might like?

I come from the old school of DJing. Most DJs who started in the 80’s had to learn how to really please crowds with a certain selection of music. Over the past 20 years the relation between “pleasing” and “teaching” was more and more changing in the whole DJ culture, which is generally a good development. The only problem is this: Many DJs, who think they have the skills to teach and guide a crowd, just overrate themselves and these sets can get really boring because they are just playing for themselves. When I spin, I always try to feel the vibe of the crowd, of the venue, of the moment, and then I have a spontaneous feeling what is the right sound for the moment. If I discover that I am wrong I make some compromises, but only in a limited range. To answer your last question, I would never play a track just because its requested, but if I think it suits, I’m always doing this favor. In the end you have to make the people dance, that’s your job and the people and the promoters paid their money for it.

A lot of DJs have made the switch to Serato-like setups rather than transport their vinyl. Do you think the debate on vinyl vs. mp3 DJing is drawing to a close? Why or why not?

I think the analogue vs digital-debate is definitely coming to an end by next year, yes. Simply because almost nobody will be spinning with vinyl anymore; I know many hardcore-vinyl-lovers who changed this year after a long fight with themselves. Some of them, though — and me too — will still digitize vinyl as long as long as there are good vinyl-only-releases, and respectively as long they think it has the better sound. Instead the debate bill be between “CD vs. laptop” and “only laptop vs. laptop + vinyl or cd-player.”

Reading the credits on your records, you’ve collaborated with a lot of great producers like Prosumer, Thomas Schaumacher, Ian Pooley, Sasse. How do you choose your collaborators, and why have you favored collaboration over working solo?

Simply because I never found the time to really get into the techniques; to be honest, I don’t have a good relationship to computers. Instead I’d rather spend my time on listening to shitloads of fresh music of many different styles to stay inspired and focused on what I want to make and expanding my sound-archives with samples from my 20,000 piece viny collection and many other sources.

Do all techno journalists end up producing?

I only know one other except myself and that’s Gavin Herlihy [Phil Sherburne comes to mind -nb], so I guess the answer is “no.” But I would rather ask the question, “Do all DJs end up becoming producers?” I’ve been DJing for 23 years now, years before I founded the Groove Magazine. I always wanted more than just playing the music; in the late 80’s I was already dreaming of my own label and productions. But I had to wait a long time till I felt the time was right for it.

Download: LWE Podcast 27: DJ T. (90:11)

chris  on August 17, 2009 at 2:23 AM

fantastic mix! very nice music! thank you!

Johan  on August 26, 2009 at 9:37 AM

Really like this tunes… Fantastic!

Richie  on August 31, 2009 at 12:54 AM

Loving your work LWE….seriously informative and amazing variety of underground and more well known djs putting up the goods with your podcasts.. much respect

Sam  on September 6, 2009 at 5:19 PM

Loving this mix! Seriously groovy stuff which combines updated and current production with an obvious nod to Tribal and a somehow retro “ravey” touch to it – sort of like what you might have heard at the Tunnel in the mid 90’s, but minus the cheese and with improved sonics…

Trackbacks

goodsoundOnline · LWE podcasts: Dj T., Ripperton, Peter Van Hoesen and a lot more  on August 20, 2009 at 10:03 AM

[…] LWE Podcast 27: DJ T. LWE Podcast 26: Ripperton Talking Shopcast 05: Steffi LWE Podcast 25: Peter Van Hoesen LWE Podcast 24: Arnaud Rebotini LWE Podcast 23: Aki Latvamäki LWE Podcast 22: Portable vs. Bodycode LWE Podcast 21: Le K LWE Podcast 20: Stefan Goldmann LWE Podcast 19: John Daly LWE Podcast 18: Patrice Bäumel Talking Shopcast 04: Efdemin LWE Podcast 17: Louis Guilliaume LWE Podcast 16: Mike Shannon LWE Podcast 15: Duplex LWE Podcast 14: DJ Sprinkles LWE Podcast 13: Paul Frick Talking Shopcast 02: echospace [detroit] LWE Podcast 12: Andrey Radovski LWE Podcast 11: Simon Flower LWE Podcast 10: Andomat 3000 LWE Podcast 09: Pär Grindvik LWE Podcast 07: DJ Bone Talking Shopcast 01: Even Tuell LWE Podcast 08: Solomun LWE Podcast 06: Adam Marshall LWE Podcast 05: Tama Sumo LWE Podcast 04: Leonid LWE Podcast 03: Nick Höppner LWE Podcast 02: dOP LWE Podcast 01: Terrence Dixon […]

uptownboogiedown » Blog Archive » LWE Podcast 30: Santiago Salazar  on September 20, 2009 at 12:11 AM

[…] LWE Podcast 27: DJ T. […]

Popular posts in podcast

  • None found