Deepchild
Berlin, Germany

Touring top billing dj set along-side the likes of Richie Hawtin and Green Velvet (at the massive EXIT Festival, Serbia) Jeff Mills (Tribal Sessions in Leeds), Jesse Rose, Dixon and Sebo K (for Jesse’s “Made to Play” monthly at Berlin’s legendary Panorama Bar), M.A.N.D.Y (Watergate, Berlin), Ewan Pearson and Will Saul (SONAR, Barcelona) to remix work for techno superstars Booka Shade, there’s much that can be said for this genre-mashing producer.

Detroit, Berlin, Tokyo, London, Sanfrancisco, Prague, Cologne, Manchester, Leeds, Serbia, and more all feature in a yearly extensive dj/live touring schedule…club institutions Berghain/Panoramabar (Berlin), Watergate (Berlin), Endup (Sanfran), Sankeys (Manchester) all continue to feature on a saturated touring schedule.

From ‘big-label’ original releases for labels like Trapez and Resopal Schallware, remix work for legendary producers Booka Shade (Get Physical), Jimpster (Freerange), Mark Henning and [a]pendics.shuffle, deeper cuts for Affin (German), and Kaato, and serious tech-weapons for BEEF, Om, and SanFrancisco’s Anabatic Records, a steady stream of bouncy, crunked-up tech-house sounds have insured deepchild has remained one of Australia’s most in-demand producers.

Butch, Hipp-e, Robert Babicz, Tigerstripes, Jet Project, Worthy, Jimpster, KiNK and Luomo (amongst others!) have all lent their remix credits to deepchild 12″s….

The journey has been a long and sonically expansive one. Recent dj support from the likes of Stacey Pullen, Troy Peirce (MINUS), Justin Martin (Dirtybird), Ivan Smagghe, Matthias Tanzman (Moon Harbour), and Abe Duque sits solidly against the proclamations of respected music journal, The Wire, who went as far as to proclaim that this sound was “as sexy and addictive as new-dub electronica gets”. From quirky, stripped-back techno to deep dub explorations, deepchild has proven a robust producer and highly respected dj and live-performer.

When Stereo-Heaven (the biggest dj store in Essen, Germany) found that their biggest selling tech-house record was infact written in a small share-house studio in Sydney’s Inner-West (deepchild’s “No Disgrace”, on Future Classic), they took the time to make special mention of what is indicative of deepchild’s head-turning appeal:

“over here in my hometown in Germany, we really love “no disgrace”!! it’s also by far the best selling record in our new local shop, too…from deep or tech house to minimal djs, hiphop and electronica fans - everybody is into that 3-tracker…really an amazing 12″ you’ve created!”.

More recently, deepchild has produced #1-sellers for Anabatic Records and Cologne’s finest - Trapez…

Frank Haag
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Haag’s history takes us back to the south of Holland where he grew up with his two elder brothers and sister. Coming from a family that is very involved in classical and jazz music, harmony and funk is automatically embedded in his roots. At very young age - through his older siblings - the solid beat was discovered and made a huge impact on innocent little Franky: Motown and over-produced `80 bands like Toto became his favourite listenings. Michael Jackson impressions were a daily routine.

It didn’t take long before he would discover his talents as a musician when he picked up the bass guitar. As a bass player in search for boundary breaking rock without losing the funk, he played various gigs around the south of holland in the midst of the 90’s grunge movement. He had reached an age where exceeding sounds were becoming more and more important. When not rehearsing with a band, Frank’s musical curiosity continued.

Probably as a result of being used to hearing so much acoustic and “humanly” composed music, he became more and more consumed by the machine made and electronic sounds of house, techno and IDM. Especially when hearing Underworld on the radio for the first time it made him realize that emotion and harmony can go together with pumping techno. Out of all this, techno music touched his teenager body, mind and soul the most. It almost had become obsessive bassdrum behaviour. This music encouraged him to start collecting records and to make his own sounds on his dad’s computer. His father didn’t always approve because of all the sound files swirling around on his workstation.

His first proper gig came a year later where he found his musical past and ability to anticipate the crowd coming together in the form of a seamless and thumping techno set. Interest in the more abstract electronic sounds was now growing exceedingly. And it still is actually. Heavily influenced by Richie Hawtin’s DJ set approach (combining electronica with turntables) last few years contained a lot of experimenting with different software and hardware.

Typical for Frank Haag’s style is an always dark and substant approach. Energetic pumping subbasses. Subtile altering drumpatterns with heavy percussive content. It is music with a deep cinematic touch and a story, and often combining the organic with the sonical abstract. Studying Sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Frank is experimenting with analog and digital studio techniques by making mutiple channels compositions. As

Frank Hagemans, his real name, focus lies on concrete music, also seen as sound art. Under his moniker Antonius Macht, Frank explores the sounds of dub techno or techno with an old school touch. His uses this moniker to not constantly having to focus on one style of music and to broaden his horizon even further.

Played next to: Onur Ozur, Mathias Kaden, Dan Berkson and James What, Marc Antona, Mark August, Smirk, 2000 and One, Raresh, Ricardo Villalobos, Pherox and Ahmet Sisman, to name a few.

Today we find Frank residing above an art shop and next to a brothel in the centre of Amsterdam. He is known as one of the few forward thinking underground techno producers in Amsterdam that challenges the minimal fad with a deeper sense of understanding. No surprise that his performances comprise of a combination of abstract minimalism and rhythmic funk with deep traveling sounds which give creed to the motto “The dance floor is for the feet as well as the mind”.

Supported by artists such as Mark Henning, Someone Else, Ahmet Sisman, Pherox, Andre Crom and the Amsterdam based Sandrien where his tracks are on heavy rotation.

Jason & The Argonauts
Netherlands

The Ancient Greek myth of Jason & The Argonauts came to life over more than 5000 years ago. A man sent on a mission by the Gods united all the heroes of his time and took off to for fill his destiny. The myth is a symbol for brotherhood and cherishing a goal on ones heart. With this in mind four friends decided to make this myth come back to life in June of 2004. A second Jason and the Argonauts (J&A) became reality for a shared purpose: creating a live-act and letting everyone know that they’re there.

In 2005 they started with a combination of equipment, that they still use till this day; Three laptops, synced to a machine drum together with FX for live vocals. Through out Holland they`ve performed at many different locations. They can also include Belgium, Northern Ireland and Berlin to their history of excellent gigs at clubs and festivals.

To get a good image of the sound they produce, they recommend people to come and check them out: “our live-act is best to watch live. In this way everyone can sculpt their own opinion about what kind of genre our music really is, if you prefer labelling music in a way.”

One thing is for sure: Their act guarantees a boost to your energy level through stimulating the visual and auditory senses.

Sandrien
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Sandrien is probably one of the biggest rising stars of the Dutch dance scene. Her sparkling personality in combination with her qualities as a DJ, brought her to the top of female DJ’s in Holland over the last 2 years. This fine combination also brought her to all the big Dutch festivals, such as Dancevalley, Mysteryland, Innercity, Lowlands and 5 Days Off, Awakenings (2007/2008) she shook the crowd back there, and not only there, every weekend Sandrien makes the crowd go wild, playing in clubs throughout Europe. Her sets are always surprising and full of energy, she is known for her fine tuning with the audience, which in return is known for loosing it when Sandrien plays her mixture of minimal techno and deeper freaky sounds.

This mixture of sounds goes beyond DJ-ing alone, Sandrien is busy as a producer as well. She forms the Amsterdam Assholes, together with Wouter Hisschemöller. Their collaboration creates freaked and deep minimal dancefloor rockers.

Demy Ottens
Rotterdam, Netherlands

Demy Ottens, born in the Netherlands and got involved with electronic music when he started going out in Rotterdam. New innovative dance music played at most clubs and inspired him to become a DJ and producer. After his first experiences of playing out to a crowd, it took off from there. He started to organize parties with a friend under the name “Onbegrensd” and play with well-known artists. He was also invited to play in Gran Canaria at the “Cream Chic Club”.

In the last years his musical style changed from Electro/Techno to the more abstract and minimalistic music. Drums, bass, percussion, a lot of FX and dark vocals to keep it simple but groovy This involves also for his produces, trying to give every track a deep and unusual atmosphere.