When LWE started its podcast series back 2008 it was impossible to tell how the series would progress; but its basis was in providing our readers with quality music, not just the handouts of the biggest names we could find. Now that we’re about to reach our 100th regular podcast it seems safe to say we achieved this goal, pleasing and challenging listeners and occasionally landing a few big name podcasts as well. In celebration of our fast approaching 100th exclusive podcast, LWE’s staff has taken a look back at the first 99 and showcased some of our favorites so far. What’s more, we’ve made all of the podcasts featured here available for download for one more week, so you can grab the archived mixes one more time. Because of the limits of the article we couldn’t possibly cover all of our favorite mixes, so we look forward to discussing your favorites in the comments as well.

LWE Podcast 01: Terrence Dixon
For me, Little White Earbuds’ first trip into the now-overfished seas of podcasting remains one of this site’s most memorable. Appearing at a time when “raw” and “Detroit” emerged as critical buzzwords in electronic music journalism, Terrence Dixon presented a spin on midwest retro that wasn’t dogmatic, but doggedly individual. Lo-fi and often abrasive, this tough, edgy mix sprawls from timeless cosmic techno to date-stamped acid house (see D-Mob’s “We Call It Acieed”). Uniting the selections is a snarling machine funk that mirrors Dixon’s own often-aggressive production work. Befitting an artist tipped by Clone as “maybe the last real Detroit techno innovator,” and whose track “Rush Hour” inspired the name of one of dance music’s most crucial institutions, Dixon’s LWE mix didn’t sound at all rote or trendy then and, even though melanges of prickly house and flickering techno are a dime a dozen today, this mix throws quite a few punches that still surprise. [Chris Burkhalter]

LWE Podcast 05: Tama Sumo
When LWE launched its podcast series, Tama Sumo was one of the first people I approached about doing a mix. Having seen her play the Panorama Bar garden not long before, I knew she was an ideal candidate for the task. But even that preview couldn’t prepare me for the mix she turned in. Weaving between multiple eras of house, silky deep joints (Agnes’ remix of “L’Aurora”) and more banging tech turns (Kerri Chandler’s “Hexadecimal”), Chicago jack tracks (DJ Funk’s “House The Groove”) and new wave torch songs (the “Innovative Mix” of Dee D. Jackson’s “Automatic Lover”), Podcast 05 is a thrilling ride that hits all the pleasure centers. For my money it’s an even better mix than her Panorama Bar 02 CD, even if the mixing is not machine tight. It’s one I’ve played when getting ready for parties, when I need cheering up, and when I’m just craving a reliable listen — because it’s just as fresh and enjoyable today as when it first hit my inbox. Tama Sumo quickly set the bar for LWE’s Podcast series as high as it could go, a benchmark only our best mixes since have been able to touch.
[Steve Mizek]

LWE Podcast 29: Black Jazz Consortium
“I woke up out of a deep sleep and started mixing out of a pile of records.” This is how Fred Peterkin begins to describe the recording of LWE’s 29th mix, and given his role as one of contemporary deep house’s foremost authorities it’s as fitting a situation as any. While deepness for deepness’ sake can seem to come out of one’s ears after awhile, with Fred it’s a different story all together. This mix is deep but never stagnant, slowly emerging out of REM cycles and perfectly escalating energy over its two hour runtime. The inclusion of movie quotes put it over the edge, turning an excellent mix into something truly special: a mix that stays with you past subsequent mixes and long after the unreleased material has been released. The era between its release in 2009 and now has seen house music become increasingly focused back to its roots (both geographically and temporally), and while Fred holds high the traditions of New York house, he makes pushing music forward a priority. Fred has only improved as a DJ since this mix emerged (indeed, his recent set at the Bunker remains a very bright highlight of the year so far), but I keep coming back to LWE’s 29th podcast and suspect that I will continue to for years to come. [Chris Miller]

LWE Podcast 42: Anthony “Shake” Shakir
For his fans, Shake just has the Midas touch. His mixes distill the same unstable, incandescent energy that inhabits each component in his own productions. How does Shake pull this off time and again? Within the last ten or twelve years, during which the dominant clubland aesthetics have called for mixes to have fabric-style edgeless polish, or Panorama Bar-esque unassuming functionalism, Shake has stuck to his guns. He revels in what can be created by jamming two partially compatible tracks together in a brightly kinetic collision. LWE 42 furnishes several good examples: exuberant mixing forces the bleeps and other midrange elements of the first three tracks to talk to one another – even though the frayed textures created when some of the other components combine would have dissuaded a DJ more obsessed with showman-like precision from hurtling them together. Perhaps even more importantly, Shake, like few others, creates mixes that work as a whole. Peven Everett’s “All The Time” is not a track I would reach for as a DJ, or even one for which I might muster much enthusiasm if it landed in my in-tray for review; and yet as the giddy counterpoint to the murkily psychological fare that entangles it on both sides in Shake’s mix, it works great. It’s these ecstatic moments that elevate Shake head and shoulders above the fray, and the fact that LWE 42 wonderfully conveys the rare (as hen’s teeth!) mix of physicality and narrative sensibility needed to create such moments makes it one of my favorites in the series. [Colin Shields]

LWE Podcast 59: John Roberts
Casual listeners to John Roberts’ debut album Glass Eights might have been surprised to hear the lascivious come-ons of KC Flight’s “Summer Madness.” But beneath the buttoned-up, wallflower appearance of Roberts’ own music is an house badass just dying to flex his muscles. The point is proved by his LWE mix which ploughs a furrow I’d like to christen “sensitive thug”: the aforementioned “Sex For Daze” mix rubs up against Robert Owens wittering on about how he’ll be your friend, while “Jack Your Big Booty” is frottaged by the DJ’s own elegant composition “Porcelain.” By the time Italo tearjerker “On and On” brings the mix to a close, one realises that it is in fact merely an extension of Roberts’ own perfect synthesis of rough-house drums and Dial aesthetics: this is what happens when thugs cry. [Peder Clark]

LWE Podcast 62: DJ Qu
While we’ve written countless words on this site about DJ Qu’s inimitable production style, we tend to gloss over the fact that DJing is no small part of what this guy does. And his Little White Earbuds podcast proved beyond all reasonable doubt that the front end of Ramon Lisandro Quezada’s production alias is no false signifier. Dude can mix, but what we got here was a good deal more interesting: where plenty of other producer-DJs let their club sets bolster their 12″ output, Qu’s beats on our 62nd podcast sound very much in the service of his obsessions as a house-head. Those beats — then-exclusives which would go on to assume highlight status on Qu’s long-in-the-works Gymnastics album — mostly rub shoulders with a tightly interconnected circle of like-minded producers, from globetrotters like Jus-Ed and Nina Kraviz to unsung Exchange Place heroes Joey Anderson and Nicuri. But rather than simply restate Underground Quality, this podcast traveled truly recast these now-familiar sounds: New York house found its dark side, and Qu’s signature swirling rhythms (to borrow his words, “Thump and Vibe”) emerged from their cocoons as the stuff of anthems. [Jordan Rothlein]

LWE Podcast 63: Silent Servant vs DVS1
I’ve been listening to techno for over twenty years; my musical education and explorations included huge doses of the purist Detroit and German variety, so it has always held a special place in my heart and ears. I frequently used to listen to a tape of Jeff Mills live at Liquid Room to lull myself to sleep in my mid teens and even though my tastes have mellowed slightly from the hard-as-nails techno I used to prefer, I love hearing techno played properly. Silent Servant and DVS1 bring all the right ingredients to this mix that make techno such a joy to listen to. The mixing is tight, the tracks sound both timeless and futuristic (classic techno like this could have been made any time in the last 15-20 years and still sound like it’s fresh out the box), and there is a raw, tribalistic energy conveyed that keeps things moving and interesting. I love how Silent Servant mixes up the old and new, introducing old cuts to new ears and vice versa, while DVS1 goes mostly for cold, steely look at more recent releases. To me this epitomizes late night, heads down techno and it’s my favorite in our series. [Per Bojsen-Moller]

LWE Podcast 70: Elgato
I’m not sure what it means that my favorite mix in the podcast series is one composed entirely of old tracks; a determinedly “retro” mix seems the kind of musical dessert that shouldn’t be held above perhaps more “adventurous” endeavors. But really, fuck it. Just listen to this mix. Maybe it’s the novelty of a podcast by one of 2010′s most audacious and universally acclaimed new kids on the block making deeply experimental house music turning out to be an orthodox set of old garage from both sides of the Atlantic. Maybe it’s the fact that the selection is unparalleled, mixing both realms of garageland into one cohesive singularity that feels as deeply, intrinsically UK as it worships at the altar of classic American house. Maybe it’s because it capitalized on what seemed like a looming trend of incorporating house and classic garage into bass music, predicting what would soon become the overarching theme of 2011. Maybe it’s… fuck it. Just listen to this mix. [Andrew Ryce]

LWE Podcast 72: Aroy Dee
Too often when a DJ uses their podcast to spotlight their own label/productions, it distracts from what could be a satisfying mix. And although Steven Brunsmann aka Aroy Dee’s podcast from early this year starts and ends with his own R-A-G trio and features several other M>O>S recordings, it never feels like he’s doing listeners a disservice. Brunsmann’s podcast, taken from a Panorama Bar DJ set late last year, offers a stirring journey through Chicago house and Detroit techno alongside equally significant modern productions. Pulling out lesser known older tracks from The H-Men, MD III and Reel by Real, he slips in and out of textured, moody techno from the likes of Soulomon, Paul Bennett and even the gloriously off-kilter “Bowls” by Caribou. Even when he groups two unreleased (at the time of publishing) tracks from M>O>S together, D’Marc Cantu’s “Set Free” and Brunsmann’s own “Beauty,” the quality of the tracks dispel thoughts that their placement is merely a sales pitch. This podcast is just what it is, a snapshot of Brunsmann’s DJing on one killer night. [Kuri Kondrak]

LWE Podcast 76: Anton Zap
I’ve been through probably 10 to 20 variations on “buses at dusk” trying to describe this Anton Zap podcast. That’s basically the wave it’s on. The Russian producer put together a bunch of unreleased (at the time, anyway) material from his Ethereal Sound label and a few other odds and ends, but the end result is a lot less about singular tracks than fluid, drifting atmosphere. It’s casually engaging but never boring, just subtly switching moods and shades — the BPMs are steady, there are lots of soothing pads — it’s like some kind of deep blue motor. Maybe try thinking of a ride down a post-twilight boulevard: blocks of muted light in apartment windows, closed businesses where the front is neon-lit and then fades off into blackness in the back, faceless people doing that downcast end-of-the-day trudge. It’s one of our moodier, more evocative editions. [Steve Kerr]

[Hotflush Recordings]

Clearly cognizant of Mount Kimbie’s cross-border appeal to techno/house heads, Hotflush wisely spends the second remix EP on the 4×4 axis with mixes from its head honcho, Paul Rose, and Panorama Bar residents Prosumer and Tama Sumo. Rose’s effort on “Vertical,” under his SCB guise, is the only track labeled as an edit, and fittingly it exploits the richness of the original without imposing too much Scuba. Basically re-imagining the moody original for the jacking techno crowd, its restless clink figures prominently, offset by a throbbing kick-and-woodblock rhythm section. Several breakdowns are employed alongside noisy washes, and with each the track grows more monstrous. It’s linear, as an edit should be, but not monotonous; SCB magnifies everything for peak-of-the-night intensity.

“William” found Mount Kimbie at their most seasick, a somber little number that develops into a distant, obscured future-shanty before its unexpected immersion in heavy, drunken bass. Tama Sumo & Prosumer’s mix retains many of the original’s qualities, extending them for dance floor consumption. They harness the power of its bass line for a driving rather than disorienting effect by chopping it up and placing it throughout the energetic structure. Midway through, dramatic strings emerge, setting the tone for the vocal, now slightly more intelligible. It’s not so far from the indie-house crossovers of Pantha du Prince or the Dial label, a streamlined take on sentimentalism. In summation, Mount Kimbie could not have selected a more formidable group of artists to rework their catalog. The results are split equally between exploiting their rhythmic and emotional capabilities, somewhere between the dance floor and the anxious rest-of-the-world. This is the split at the heart of Mount Kimbie as well.

If you ever have the immense pleasure of meeting Kerstin Egert, you won’t soon forget her radiant ebullience or her buoyant hugs. Her wide smile shines just as brightly in conversation as it does from behind the decks, where she can always be counted on to share a personal, variable, and downright bodacious mix of tunes that cut straight to your emotional core. Despite almost two decades of experience as a DJ and resident for some of the world’s most well-known and respected clubs (from Tresor to the old Ostgut to her current residence at Berghain/Panorama Bar), Egert — alias Tama Sumo — didn’t really step into the global spotlight until 2008 when her first release on appeared Ostgut Ton (produced in partnership with her dear friend and musical ally, Achim Brandenburg, known to most as Prosumer). A few months after the release of “Play Up” and “Brothers and Sisters,” her incredible DJ sounds first graced my ears in the form of her — in my opinion, legendarily awesome — LWE podcast (which, although archived, can be easily found on the Internet). After 16 years of spinning, Ms. Egert finally earned her due respect with the release of the much-anticipated Panorama Bar 02, a mix that would top the charts as the year drew to a close. Months after her popularity boom and the world tour that ensued shortly after, we checked in with Tama Sumo to get the scoop on the Panorama renovations, the state of the Berlin club scene, and where she’s heading next.

So let’s just start at the beginning — when exactly did you first realize that you might want to do this music thing for the rest of your life?

Kerstin Egert: Oooooh. Hmm, well, music was always important for me. I played guitar as a child, but I think it was more or less because it was cheap and it didn’t take much space — can’t really say it’s one of my favorite instruments. I would loved to have played drums or maybe bass guitar or something like that. I spent of lot of time as a child listening to music and spent all my pocket money for records. I think at this age, I thought everybody liked music, and I don’t remember exactly when it became really clear to me that it’s kinda defining my life. Maybe at the end of my twenties?

Did you have a career before you were a DJ?

I studied, and during university I started to DJ. Then I was working for a company doing personal management, a job that I liked a lot — I loved talking to people and it was something that I found quite interesting. But then it was too much to have the full time job and also DJ on the weekends. For 14 years it was a balancing act. So then in 2007 I finally thought, “Ok, maybe I have to make a decision.” And it’s pretty clear which way it went. [laughs]

Where you living in Berlin at that time? Where are you from originally?

Well, I was born in a little village in Bavaria called Mühlhausen, between Nuremberg and Munich. But I was living in Berlin since 1990. I started my first steps into DJing in 1993.

Germany is known for breeding some of music history’s most influential experimental electronic music acts. Did you grow up interested this vein of music, or did you stumble upon it later?

I wish I did, but I didn’t. I grew up in a very little village in Bavaria — and of course we had no computers in the 70′s, when I grew up. It was far away from growing up with cool soul and disco music! So I grew up with mostly mainstream music — what came on the radio, and there were only two radio stations. During my youth, I was more or less forced to listen to some rock music, [laughs] which I actually don’t really like, I don’t really have a feeling for it. But, you have what you have. We also had some Italo disco and some mainstream disco, and by the 80′s of course I got some things like Depeche Mode or whatever. But in the record stores it was all things that everyone knew — there wasn’t any underground.

So when were you first exposed to underground music?

It wasn’t until I left home for university that I first heard other kinds of music. I studied in Erlangen, near Nuremberg, for three years. At this time, Nuremberg had what I thought to be a quite good scene. I went to my first acid house party there and it was totally flashy — it was really so mindblowing to me, so completely different. Even before this, I had started to listen to some independent music. But this scene was totally in the electronic music direction, which was much more my thing, and I was [deep breath] — wow!

Can you think of a moment in those early days when you realized you wanted to be a performer, instead of just a someone in the crowd?

There was an old friend of mine named Holger whom I knew from Nuremberg, who came to Berlin a little after I did. I shared a lot of music with him, we went record buying all the time. He sometimes DJed in Nuremberg and later in Berlin. We talked a lot about music, listened to a lot of music. And then he played at Drama, a house bar in Kreuzberg [Berlin], in 1993. And he was the one who said, ‘Ah, Kerstin, why don’t you DJ?’ He would really insist, forcing me all the time, ‘You have to become a DJ! Music is so important for you.” Because often times I was recording music I liked for my friends, on cassettes — I always liked sharing things. He kept saying, ‘Think over it.’

I’m really more an introverted than an extroverted type. I just kept thinking, ‘No, no… this is such a stage for me, I don’t know if I feel comfortable with that.’ I was refusing this for a long, long time. And then he played at the Drama bar and he was like, ‘Kerstin, I play there regularly, and I would so love if we did it together.’ So he gave me his old record players and said, ‘Try to mix.’ Then, without my knowing, he confirmed a date for the two of us at this bar. If he didn’t, I think I wouldn’t be a DJ today. So it’s due to him that I do it.

So what was it like transitioning from Nuremberg to Berlin? How were the scenes in the two cities different?

I mean compared to Berlin, the clubs in Nuremberg were very nice and a bit chic. Then I came to Berlin, which was completely different, because it was right after the wall came down. There were immediately a lot empty spaces here, and it wasn’t clear to whom they belonged. It was possible for people to throw illegal parties there because nobody lived there, the space belonged to no one. As long as things were this way, people could bring in their sound systems, bring in their party, whatever. It was really weird, I liked that a lot.

It was a dirty atmosphere for sure because nothing was renovated — it was the former East, everything was abandoned. And you had some great locations, like Tresor or the Planet, which was at different locations. There wasn’t this big flier culture at that time, and no Internet, no place where you could go to look what’s going on. It was quite interesting because you had to know the people. So somebody tells you, ‘Oh, there’s a party on Koepenicker Straße! Go through the second door and then up to the third floor….’ It was really amazing, kind of an adventure game.

For me, who came from sober and nice Bavaria, it was a trip! I loved that. And the music was different, too. Whereas in Nuremberg it had been a lot of the nice, cozy acid-housey thing, here in Berlin, techno was the soundtrack to all the political and social things that were going on. At the beginning of the 90′s, there weren’t a lot of places where they’d play house music. It was a more like a really dirty, industrial sound that you could hear in every club — or at least that’s how I perceived it. So for me, at that time, I sometimes found it a bit too hard, because I wasn’t used to it.

In such a historically “techno” city, you have such a warm, housey sound. At what point did it become normal to play house music the way you play it? Or is Berlin still primarily a techno town?

I think Berlin is still more a techno town than a house town. But compared to the 90′s, or the beginning of the 90′s, the house sound has increased a lot. And of course the borders are a lot more fluid. At the beginning of the 90′s, it was more of a distinction if you’re a techno or a house DJ. This or that. This was a bit of a pity, because there was kind and attitude that if you’re cool you play techno, and if you’re “handbag” you play house. At Panorama Bar I love to do that — I love to go from techno to house to techno to disco — for me it’s about playing music that I like, that touches me in some way, and not to just have one genre that I have to fit into. At the beginning of the 90′s, I had the feeling that this was very unwritten rule, that you have to play either THIS or THAT, but not both. It wasn’t until the middle or the end of the 90′s that people started combining the two.

How do you feel like the the scene here in Berlin has changed in more recent history? Especially with the influx of the discount airlines and so-called techno tourism?

Well, I think it’s still a solid place. For sure there are lots more people coming from abroad for a weekend to party, and that does something with the scene. But I think it can get quite interesting. From the view of the DJ: at some point in the past the club scene became so familiar to a lot of people, they know what to expect. But now, because there are so many people coming from abroad, you always have a good mixture of people — some who are from Berlin, who you know (so there’s that family feeling) mixed with some people that nobody knows, who might be here for the first time. I think it can be a good exchange.

To be honest, I think it’s really great when I travel around the world and people have these glowing eyes as they say, “Oh I came to Berghain last month, it was so great!” Maybe this sounds a bit cheesy, but it’s in these moments when you see that music can be something combining, that you can celebrate together — that’s sweet! I’ve gotten to know so many people from all over, even when maybe we didn’t even share the same taste for music. So I guess, to answer the question, sure it changed the scene, but not in a bad way. As long as you stay open-minded and open-hearted! This is why I went to a big city instead of staying in a village where everything has to stay the same.

So you’d say it’s good to have this influx of new people?

It can have good and bad influences – it depends what you make out of the fact that a lot of tourists come to Berlin. Concerning exchanges, in many ways it’s great. But there can be bad influences as well. Not because of the new people that come, but because of the people who think they can make good money from these tourists by repeating the well-working concepts. It’s capitalism. If it’s only the money that motivates people of doing something instead of the heart for something and their interesting ideas, that means you are looking for concepts that fulfill the tastes of the masses, concepts that are easy to get… and this usually bores me to death.

On that note, how do you feel about refurbishments at Panorama Bar at the beginning of this year? Do you think it’s a good thing that the clubs are making enough money now to invest back into their spaces?

I like that they renovate, but at the same time they remain true to themselves as they develop. Berghain always did it. Before Berghain, there was Ostgut. And then when Berghain came, it was something different… but in a way there was something which combined the two clubs as well. I think life is changing, so if there are some changes in the club, why not? I am so happy about the new sound system, and I’m SUPER happy about the wooden dance floor — I could go down on my knees!

You know, it’s quite funny, because today I heard that there are many discussions about the how they changed the picture [in Panorama Bar]?

Oh yes, there are.

I guess there is one group who says, “We want the old picture back.” [laughs] But you have to do the same thing as a DJ as well. Try something new. I’ve been a DJ for 16 years, and I don’t play the same sound for 16 years. There’s still something around which everything new is defined. But the center stays the same.

Photo courtesy of Sven Marquardt

What are some of your favorite clubs and parties you’ve played as a DJ over the years?

There are so many. I love the Süd Electronic party in London a lot. Next to Berghain/Panorama Bar, which of course is my favorite [grinning]. This is a party that won my heart, due to a wonderful promoter, crowd and sound system. Also the party Club House I played in New York with the Underground Quality guys – Jus-Ed, Levon and Anthony I appreciate a lot for the same reasons. I’m really, really happy to know them and that they invited me.

Some other parties and places I’ve really like very very much are, hmm… La Villa in Oslo, Techstock at Reitschule (a kind of collective with a political background in Bern), Trouw in Amsterdam, Silo in Leuven, Pacotek in Jerusalem/Tel Aviv, Cassero in Bologna, Ego Club and Baalsaal in Hamburg, Robert Johnson in Offenbach, Inkonst in Malmö, Rex Club in Paris, Pulstar in Köln, and in Japan I like Unit and Module in Tokyo and Mago in Nagoya.

So now you’re a producer as well as a DJ. How do you feel about producing compared to DJing?

I like producing a lot. There were many years where I was a bit afraid of it, because I’m not very much into the technical stuff. But I have to say a big thank you to Prosumer. I think without him I wouldn’t have done it. He was the one who said, ‘Hey come to my house, let’s do it!’ And he forced me — he took away a lot of my fear about it — ‘Just try it!’

I always thought, ‘Oh, I have to know so many things,’ so his prodding was super helpful to me. At the moment we’re working on a new track for Ostgut Ton. I’ll try to work by myself as well. But I couldn’t at first because I didn’t have the knowledge, and I didn’t have the gear. I wanted to produce with machines, not just with a computer, but I didn’t have the money for it. But after the [Panorama Bar 02] CD came out I had a bit more bookings and I tried to spend some of this money on some gear, and now I can build up my own studio and work alone as well. At the end of last year I bought a synthesizer called Nord Lead 2 and a drum synthesizer, Pearls Syncussion. And finally some studio monitors! And I had a Roland 808 and 101 already – so I guess it’s a good basis now for making music that I like.

Despite all this, I always want to work with Achim because we’re good friends and it’s so much fun to work with him, so inspiring. So I think I’m getting more and more into the producing thing. But I have to say, I do NOT understand why in the music scene it’s such an expectation that if you want to be a DJ, you have to produce, and if you are a producer, you have to DJ. Because I think they’re two totally different things. One should have the chance to go without the other.

So when you go to a record store, can you describe what it is you’re looking for?

I prefer analog sounds — or a least analog sounding sounds. Because I know some producers can do a good job of sounding a bit analog but it’s still done digitally. I really like it if something is a bit dirty, maybe edgy or rough. I need some deepness. I need some funkiness. And sometimes, cheese for me is okay too. Or a bit of a pop attitude. Once in a while I need that. I think I’m looking more to old schoolish sounding things. I’m not really into minimal or much of the new minimal or loopy house sounds, for me, if it sounds very minimal it’s just not much an interest for me. I want some funk. Soul. Deepness. This is all what I like a lot. And some disco as well. And jacking things are always getting me!

What sounds turn you off? Ten seconds and you say NO?

Minimal, minimal house… everything which is only functional bores me to death. You know that it will work at the club when you play it, but there’s no really good idea behind it. It’s just working. And when something is too overloaded, I can’t stand it. I love minimal things in terms of what Robert Hood would do — focus on the important sounds in a track. I think there are a lot of tracks that sound as if they are made in two hours. I sometimes wish that people would spend more time in caring for the sounds, so something sounds more three dimensional, not two dimensional.

Are there some records you never leave home without? Any labels or artists that are always hiding somewhere in your crate?

OK, there is no record which I have always with me. But… It’s so funny. Maybe Marcus Mixx? I usually have one of his records with me. I often have a Soundstream record with me. And for sure records from Achim and Steffi, and I always have Shed with me — I never go anywhere without a Shed record. Shed or Wax or Equalized, one of them.

What else? Hmmm. Some of my most loved labels and producers that I would usually have with me for a set are Ostgut Ton, Uzuri Records, Madd Chaise Inc., Deconstruction/Novel Sound, Underground Quality, Third Ear, Restoration, UniRhythm, Sound Signature, Beautiful Granville, Rush Hour, Delsin, Metrolux, Strength, Soul People Music, Fachwerk, M-Plant, Purpose Maker, FXHE, Dolly, Dekmantel. And I never leave the house for a gig without a lot of old house and techno records from Chicago, Detroit and New York.

Obviously music is your main deal, but in a city like Berlin, I can’t help but wonder if there are any other artforms that inspire your work.

From all the different artforms, I guess movies or video installations inspire me the most. I like movies a lot, especially the small independent ones, and I’m sure that sometimes atmospheres or music in films are also an inspiration for me as a DJ and producer. Achim and I once worked for a documentary TV project and were asked to choose the music for it — we loved that, because it’s a different and very interesting approach to music. Just as well as our work for fashion shows for which we also choose music. Projects like this also have an influence on my DJ work — maybe less concerning the music selection itself, but more the way in which I’m looking for music.

So what’s on the horizon for you?

Prosumer and I did a remix for Mount Kimbie, the track “William,” for Hotflush [to be released April 26]. And then we’re working on a new Ostgut Ton release, a 12 inch, which includes a remix by the Oliverwho Factory from Detroit and which will be released 31 May. And then we have a Japanese gay pop group, they live here in Berlin, and we were asked to do a remix for them as well. They once gave me a CD, and I like what they are doing, so hopefully that will work out. And then there’s an Ostgut Ton compilation coming out later this year. Steffi was asking if I want to do something for her label, but I think, as I said, I’m quite slow. So maybe that’s not for this year. Let’s see.

I think it’s safe to say LWE Podcast 05 by Tama Sumo is among the most beloved of our entire series. This classic slate of deep house, both new and old, mixed together with grace and exceptional timing, is retiring this Friday, February 12th at 10am CST. Don’t miss out on a piece of LWE history — grab this gem while you can.

[Diamonds & Pearls Music]

When you’re a label as well respected as Diamonds & Pearls, audiences tend to expect a lot from each new platter. Add boldfaced names like Tobias Freund and Efdemin, the pair responsible for the first of D&P’s Phantasma series, and expectations could’ve burst through the ceiling. Yet after “Vol. 1″ struggled to satisfy as anticipated (largely down to a surprisingly lackluster Efdemin cut), the Phantasma series took a dip into relative obscurity. To be sure, this was listeners’ loss as “Vol. 2″ offered “Choices,” a resplendent Matthew Styles and Dinky collaboration and “Machupichu,” a Pier Bucci joint of nearly equal quality. “Vol. 3,” however, is unlikely to suffer a similar fate with Marcel Dettmann on one side and a Prosumer/Tama Sumo collaboration on the other. As the latter has already evinced in the mix (Panorama Bar 02, to be specific), this is a record many DJs won’t want to leave home without.

For “Helix,” Dettmann spreads a base coat of flushed, waxy tone contoured by gnawing filters which scour the sides and define the track’s rugged shape. His monochrome pattern emphasizes each note’s attack, which varies from sudden and guitar-like to soft and pliable like pastels, leaving plenty of room for skittering counter-rhythms to streak in and out of view. Thoughtful yet unyieldingly direct, “Helix” is standard Dettmann — just how I like him. Prosumer and Tama Sumo’s “Alien Mutts” is similarly brawny and unambiguous in its aims, bulking up the vintage house sound the pair first mined on the Ostgut Ton-released “Play Up/Brothers Sisters.” Dusky pads glow hot beneath unwavering synth patterns and an equally vigorous battery of percussion, pushing dancers to sweat it out as sparing vocals samples are folded into the mix. Even as the melody grows restless and more suitably alien, Prosumer and Tama Sumo have anchored their track as firmly to the dance floor as their A-side companion’s. If you slept on the Phantasma series before, “Vol. 3″ is a potent alarm clock.

[Ostgut Ton]

In his LWE interview with Will Lynch, Seth Troxler let this morsel slip about Berlin’s famed club scene: “…it feels like people are going through the motions sometimes, you know?” When he comes to America, he goes on to say, “it’s a lot easier to blow people’s minds.” I haven’t partied in Berlin since the fall of 2006, so I can’t weigh in personally. But I got to thinking again about Troxler’s bittersweet observation while listening to the latest Ostgut Ton mix, Tama Sumo’s Panorama Bar 02. Unlike Cassy’s epochal Panorama Bar 01, mixed at the height of Berlin’s mythical status among underground club music heads, or Marcel Dettmann’s techno masterclass Berghain 02, Tama Sumo’s mix feels less like a codification of a local sound than a nudge towards getting a legendary dance floor excited again. Those of us across the Atlantic have had our minds blown endlessly by sounds imported from Berlin this decade; is one of that city’s most respected house DJs now trying to scramble brains with sounds brought over in the opposite direction? America is heavily represented, as are Canada, Russia, Ireland, the Netherlands, the UK, Norway, and a sizable contingent of Berliners bearing exclusives. But regardless of an included producer’s place of residence, it’s the sounds of Detroit, Chicago, and New York that cast the widest shadow over Sumo’s vision of house music.

She opens the mix with its most recognizably Teutonic moment — “Constant Confusion,” Tin Man’s grooving anthem in the Perlon style. But she quickly springboards from that mode into effervescent deep house from John Daly (his gorgeously dubby “Birds” from 2006) and UQ’s white-hot Nina Kraviz (Jenifa Mayanja’s soaring, sexy remix of “Voices”). The string of new Ostgut material material that follows — fellow Panorama Bar resident Steffi’s “24 Hours” and Lerosa’s “Plesso,” which were both recorded specially for this mix, and Prosumer & Murat Tepeli’s current single “U & I” — sounds straight out of New York’s decidedly laid-back contemporary house scene, less an invitation for weekend-spanning debauchery than the kind of thing you’d drink a bloody mary to on a Sunday after a decent night’s sleep. Tracks from John Roberts (“Blame”), Trus’me (“W.A.R. Dub”), and Kassem Mosse (“Zolarem”) continue to build a danceable vibe without really ramping up the mix’s energy much, letting Sumo’s first act close with good vibes not too far removed from their launch pad.

I like Sumo’s subtle build quite a bit, but I really start to love Panorama Bar 02 when Shed’s tragically unreleased “Stiff Job” starts to blow things up. Continuing to prove his worth as one of the best producers in dance music right now, Rene Pawlowitz lends one of his lightest, funkiest, most difficult-to-pigeonhole tracks in some time to a critical moment in the mix, tugging into ecstasy the steamier house that follows. We get a beefed-up and jagged remix of Newworldaquarium’s seminal “Trespassers” care of Redshape, a career highlight from Levon Vincent in his mix exclusive “Late Night Jam,” brilliant Chicago machine music from Marcus Mixx and Ron Hardy (“Without Makeup,” from the rare first release on Let’s Pet Puppies), and even a couple of excellently goofy singalongs (The Oliverwho Factory’s “Together” and Ost & Kjex’s “Continental Lover”). Sumo herself, with an assist from Panorama Bar colleague Prosumer, shows up on production duties for part one of her victory lap. Undoubtedly indebted to the aforementioned Marcus Mixx but with a tracky tidiness that’s pure Ostgut, “Alien Mutts” helps bring the mix back to its Friedrichshain digs. And Soundstream, Berlin’s to-the-point and clubbed-out cousin to Moodymann, offers up one last indicator of Sumo’s musical thesis.

On her excellent (if we do say so ourselves) LWE podcast from 2008, which included transmissions from the stables of Underground Resistance and Ibadan, Tama Sumo proved she’s no Berlinist. But she’s resisted the urge, in a year when Europeans are complaining about how expensive our 12″s are to import for a change, to stitch together some cash-in American house pastiche here. The tracks certainly pay homage to generations of North American dance music, but the presentation — effortless, patient mixing with an emphasis on the music itself, not on the selector’s ego — has the touch only the world’s most talented circle of residents can deliver. Has U.S. house gotten the Berlin treatment, or did Berlin get the injection of American swagger it’s been craving? Either way, it’s tough to imagine minds aren’t getting blown somewhere.

Before she made her vinyl debut for Ostgut Ton earlier this year, Tama Sumo (Kerstin Egert to her friends) was already a celebrated DJ with Tresor and Panorama Bar residencies under her belt. So it’s with great excitement that LWE offers this exclusive mix from one of Berlin’s finest. LWE HQ hasn’t stopped shaking since this one arrived.

LWE Podcast 05: Tama Sumo (65:38)

Tracklisting:

01. Basic Soul Unit, “Mmme” [Mathematics Recordings]
02. DJ Koze, “I Want to Sleep” [International Records Recordings]
03. Toby Tobias, “The Feeling” (John Daly remix) [REKIDS]
04. Niggemann & Poppcke, “L’aurora” (Agnès Chicago Take) [Moonpool]
05. Octave One, “DayStar Rising” [Underground Resistence]
06. Tony Lionni, “Shuffle” [Versatile]
07. Kerri Chandler, “Hexadecimal” [Deeply Rooted House]
08. Wbeeza, “Disco Dayz” [Third Ear Recordings]
09. Ricky L, “Nothing But…” (Skin dub) [Ibadan]
10. DJ Funk, “House the Groove” [Dance Mania]
11. Gemini, “U Know How I Feel” [Relief]
12. Dee D. Jackson, “Automatic Lover” (The Innovative Mix) [Power Records]
13. Nick Chacona, “Tonka” [20:20 Vision]
14. Motor City Drum Ensemble, “Escape To Nowhere” [Four Roses Recordings]
15. JC Freaks, “The Rock” [wandering]
16. Prosumer & Murat Tepeli, “Serenity” (Soundstream’s Dusty Machine mix) [Ostgut Ton]

When and where did you make the mix?

Tama Sumo: I did the mix at home yesterday (July 28).

What’s the concept behind the mix?

Puuuh — having fun, feeling good and groovy. Combining different things (if I do longer sets, I usually combine old and new house, techno and a bit (electro) disco stuff. But one hour for me is a bit too short for telling this story ;o)

Who are a few of your favorite DJs and why?

Some my favorite DJs are my Berghain and Panoramabar collegues: Prosumer, Steffi, Stephan Hill, Cassy, nd baumecker, Marcel Dettmann, Ben Klock, Shed, Marcel Fengler. And besides Berghain: Rolando, Redshape (live), Tobias Freund (live), Carsten Klemann, Mike Huckaby, Larry Heard, Moodymann, Patrice Scott, Omar-S, and Laurent Garnier. They all inspire me because while listening to their sets I have the feeling that they are or give: positive vibrations, moods, grooves, for being authentic, for creating ups and downs during their sets, for telling stories, for laying a lot of love and passion in music.

What can we expect from you for the rest of the year?

Another track from Prosumer and me on a Diamonds & Pearls compilation and maybe a track from Stephan Hill and me on Vidab.