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Tensnake
SIDEWINDER Musika, Heavy Gossip and Ultragroove have announced a 12-hour celebration of house and electro. Henry Northmore catches up with one of the headliners, Tensnake.
E vents like this usually happen in Glasgow. But Musika, in association with Heavy Gossip and Ultragroove, are giving something back to Edinburgh. They’re presenting 12 hours of house and electro spread over three stages and showcasing some of the best live electronica acts Scotland has to offer (such as Discopolis, Battle of the Zoo and Digital Jones) alongside a battalion of local DJs.
However, it’s not just the cream of Scottish talent that will be occupying the Liquid Room this May Day bank holiday weekend. Jas Shaw and James Ford formed DJ production duo Simian Mobile Disco as a side project to their indie day job. In full-time electronic employment since the release of ‘Hustler’ in 2006, they have three studio albums under their belts as well as countless remixes, EPs and mix albums. ‘FROM 1992 TO 1998, I BOUGHT EVERY RECORD THAT CAME INTO
OUR SHOP’
Tensnake is the other big name heading the bill. With the release of the instant anthem ‘Coma Cat’ in 2010, he instantly shot up through the ranks of house producers, drawing on the sounds that influenced him as a kid. ‘I grew up in the suburbs of Hamburg, where there was nothing to do except listen to music,’ says Tensnake (aka Marco Niemerski). ‘So the radio was the most exciting thing around me. My older brother was into all the old boogie stuff like D*Train, Shalamar and Aurra.’
just try to make music that feels real for me. I am not afraid of adding some pop elements. I love pop music and I love house music.’
This open-minded approach led him beyond disco through mod, ska, 80s pop and eventually dance music. ‘Funnily enough, I’m not really a part of the scene in Hamburg. But I was an avid music fan growing up. There was a legendary early house club called Front that was pretty popular and we went there a lot. This was around 1992. I was totally shocked by something so new, so after that experience I spent all my pocket money buying records. From 1992 to 1998, I bought every record that came into our local shop. From there, making music was a natural progression. ‘I got a drum machine when I was maybe 16. And later for birthdays and Christmas I got my first synths. I was always making music for my own pleasure and it took me years to dare to release it. ‘Coma Cat’ pushed it all on another level though.’
The bouncy disco groove is infectiously catchy and you won’t be disappointed by Niemerski’s live set. ‘It came together so quickly but I had no idea it would blow up so much, or that it would still be going strong today. But I can’t play a live show without it.’
That explains the heavy disco influence. ‘I was never really a fan of the tag or the name “nu-disco.” I Musika, Heavy Gossip & Ultragroove, the Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Sat 5 May.
50 THE LIST 26 Apr–24 May 2012
AFRO HOUSE AUNTIE FLO Highlife at La Cheetah, Glasgow, Sat 5 May and Sub Club, Glasgow, Sun 20 May; Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sun 13 May
It’s a busy month for Brian d’Souza; first he’s launching his debut album as Auntie Flo, Future Rhythm Machine, at his Highlife night in Glasgow, then a fortnight later he’s celebrating the club’s second birthday in the same city. Sandwiched in between there’s a live Flo date in Edinburgh as well as numerous live and DJ sets around the UK, all on the back of the album’s first launch party at Fabric in London in late April. Things are happening fast for one of Glasgow’s hottest young producers. The alter-ego Auntie Flo actually
began life in 2003 (named, says d’Souza, after his real-life aunt in Goa: ‘For no real reason, I just thought she was a special woman’), becoming dormant until recently, when d’Souza could afford a bit of production gear and had developed a musical aesthetic worthy of the name. ‘The sound doesn’t fit within any one genre,’ he says. ‘It’s based around the music I play at Highlife, which focuses on sounds from all around the world – everything from folk styles to young electronic producers from Africa, Latin America and America.’ A big influence has been Kodwo Eshun’s eccentric Afrofuturist text More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction. The intention to collaborate with artists from around the world bore fruit on this body of early work, which was recorded before the more dancefloor-friendly singles ‘Highlife’ and ‘Oh My Days’. Chilean diva Mamacita was introduced to d’Souza by DJ and friend of Highlife Alejandro Paz, while South African/Glaswegian Esa Williams will perform with him at these and a slew of upcoming festival dates. ‘Our only rule is no laptops,’ says d’Souza. ‘We’re trying to make it as live as possible, even as we get used to being a couple of DJs playing an actual live set.’ (David Pollock)