German producer, DJ, and label owner Andy Vaz steps into the mix and has a chat exclusively for Symbiosis 76.
Vaz hails from Düsseldorf and has been releasing music through his Background Recordings imprint since 1998 – starting with other producers and then finally putting out something of his own after 2000. Since then he hasn’t stopped with many releases on his own labels as well as others like Persistencebit Records and Telegraph.
Apart from having played countless clubs, festivals and venues (he’s done everything from the legendary “Liquid Room” in Tokyo to the Mutek Festival and the DEMF in Detroit) Vaz has build up an excellent reputation as a crowd shaking and unique sounding live act. He is known for both extended dance sets and more abstract listening performances.
www.andy-vaz.de
www.yore-records.com
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01. Braxton Holmes – 12“ches of Pleasure (Ron’s Foreplay Mix)
02. Chez’n Trent – All about You
03. Dennis Ferrer – Untitled
04. Floating Points – Love me like this
05. Theo Parrish – Can take it
06. Roy Davis Jr. – House Inferno
07. Amp Fiddler Feat. Corrine Bailey Rae – If I Don’t
08. Taxi C:A.B – Son of a Beatnik
09. Earth People -Dance (Club Mix)
10. Chez Damier & Ron Trent – Hip To Be Disillusioned Vol. 1
11. House Master Baldwin* Featuring Paris Grey – Don’t Lead Me
12. House People – Jack Me Frankie – (Chip E Mix)
13. Omar S. – Set It Out
14. On The House – Pleasure Control
15. Woz – Let Me (Inst.)
16. KB Project – The Symphony
17. Lil’ Louis – I Called U (Saxy Version)
18. Moodymann – J.A.N.
19. Phuture Scope – What is House Muzik?
You have been DJing and producing music for some time now. When you look back what has been the biggest change over that time?
The biggest change probably has been the turning-point when the whole thing became more and more professional for myself and my operations (as a label-manager).
It still took many years while I was already fully living of music, that I was still pretty much still looking at things from a (music) fan perspective, a collectors perspective, and was doing all these various operations (playing, running the labels, producing etc). It was sort of a “I don’t know really what I am doing, but whatever, I am just doing it anyways” attitude.
This only very slowly progressed over the years. It changed my whole outlook on things when I began to understand how to do things on a professional basis. Thinking more in a long term sense and all.
It has been a learning process and I am quite satisfied being in the place where I am now. It was great fun having all this freedom and all the DIY attitude and just going along and roll with it kinda vibe, but it feels quite comfortable, having a more developed, precise way of handling my things now.
Where do you find yourself right now as an artist and how are your labels going?
I feel that I am in a very comfortable place now. I have been doing it for so long, being in my mid thirties now, that I have gained so much from it and learned a lot. I’ve seen things and people come and go, develop and stretch in various forms and I have grown with it and looking back, it seems I have always been in the right place at the right time to play an active role in this music culture.
I found my latest Label Yore before this recent global Deep House revival arrived and I have been making House Music way before it. I am still working on expressing my own niche within the House sound.
I am actually currently working on my new full length album, which is going to be my second album only and it’s been 5 years since the last one. I am quite positive and still bursting with energy. I am quite enthusiastic about the album! A lot of material had to remain unreleased and unfinished to finally arrive with something I was 100% comfortable with.
Tell us about your musical background – why did you decide to produce music and when?
I started my first musical love affair with early Hip Hop when i was around 12 years old then got in touch with Techno. I always dreamed about making a record one day.
I heavily started collecting techno and house music when I was 15 and then things took the usual progression. I started DJing in my bedroom, diving more and more into sound, then I started fooling around with my first gear (sh-101 and a roland 707, got hands on a RZ-1 to do them DBX beats etc).
I then first started my first label Background, concentrating on other peoples output, allowing myself the time to polish my production and to feel more comfortable with the progression of how to use the gear properly. I also wanted to go beyond imitating a standard formula of how house and techno music has to sound. I then needed more time to come up with my own sound, something I felt was 100% me and sort of a new formula. That resulted in the release of the experimental Sound Variation series which were my first releases in the form of a conceptual 10 records series.
Was there an artist, or a few artists, or songs that inspired you?
I was really into the early Robert Hood; Metroplex, UR sort of thing and of course the first radically minimal things coming out of Europe later on (Saekhoe etc).
What is coming up for you in 2011?
I will be focusing on my Album as I mentioned. I will also dive deeper into my own radio-show on Cologne based online station: www.soulsender.de
From 2011 onwards I will be on air bi-monthly, every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month, 21.00 – 23.00 CET (Central European Time). Archives and playlists can be found here: www.yore-records.com/radio.php
The show will present new and old house releases, moderated by myself and will also features guest interviews and mixes.
What is coming up for your labels in 2011?
There is going to be the IBEX full length album release (as 2×12” and CD) as well as my own full length album. Also be prepared for some new .Xtrak EP’s, later on this year.
Overall 2011 will be more of an album, then just a steady 12” dance EP year for Yore. You won’t see 12” releases as steady as the years before – also a consequence of professionalism.
12”ches are good and are the basis for this music and its still a great effective weapon for the heads & dj’s out there, but for a label that wants more and which is growing, albums are gold – from an artistic perspective also of course. Since the label has been growing, it’s the right time to concentrate on albums and really work on successfully building up our artists.
What are your top 5 tracks right now?
01. Jill Scott – lonely when you are around
02. Daphne – Comin` on Strong
03. Theo Parrish – Monster Mash-Up
04. Serious Intension – You don’t know
05. ARP 101
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