Alex Bau is a German DJ and producer who established himself as one of the important representatives of the ultimate and very competitive techno scene. With a career span of almost two decades, releases on CLR, Cocoon and Sleaze, Alex Bau has become a household name in the world of techno. We got a chance to chat with him about his new Cocoon EP, his Credo label and new release „Vision“, and he also turned back to his gig in Belgrade. Enjoy!
Your new EP ‘Illuse’ is out, so, tell us something more about it… What inspired you to make it and is there a story behind it?
Well, honestly, there is no story behind that except that I tried to create some high impact techno tracks for the club, just as I always try to do. I can`t follow all these deep and partly philosophical explanations of some producers when they talk about the inspiration of an ep with maybe two tracks only. An album, ok, there you can tell a story and reflect a deeper inspiration, but an ep with a few tracks for the dancefloor? I want to make people dance and create tracks that stay in the ear even when they`re over and the next one is running. Simple music. Simple explanation. 😉
I read somewhere that these are the strongest industrial techno tracks Cocoon has ever released, so, how would you describe the sound on both ‘Etah’ and ‘Illuse’?
That`s correct probably, I can`t remember any heavier techno tracks on the Cocoon catalog during the recent years. But I wouldn`t go as far as calling them industrial, maybe also because of the fact that I have a different approach to „industrial“ due to my musical history and education. The sound on both Illuse and Etah is kind of mechanical and machine-like, but at the same time I`d say it also features a kind of organic touch.
What’s your favorite thing when it comes to producing your own track?
It´s the surprise of what can happen. Producing techno music for me is like a row of accidents. You can plan things on basis of your ideas, but most of the time things just happen in the studio. You search for a sound or a sample let`s say, that reflects the idea you have, but while searching for this sound which maybe even doesn`t exist, you stumble and run into totally different elements or sounds which are even better as the one you`re looking for and the fascination just takes the next exit and a totally other track is born. Producing techno and improving on it is very much about improving your ability to filter sounds and to let things you don´t need go, event though they sound cool, maybe, but simply don`t fit in. Maybe this is another good explanation also for your first question above, because how can you still translate your basic idea when you already left the path you initially wanted to take?
How did your cooperation with Sven and his label started?
Well, that`s another „fatal accident“. I produced the track „On Synth“ of my previous EP on Cocoon in 2015 already around two years ago and I started to play it out with good success, but somehow it didn`t fit on the release plan of my label Credo, so I sent it to some few labels I knew and had a relation to, but nobody wanted to release it. They all said „Hmm, well, Alex, you know, it`s a cool track, yes, I like it, hmmm, I don`t know… but I will play it…“ and I thought „Wtf…“. One day, when I played it, I realized that the synth inside and this melody line is something I could imagine to hear throughout a set of Sven, so I sent it to Cocoon`s label manager who I knew for more than 15 years, but I never sent any demo to them before because I considered my music to be too hard. Two days later they called me and said „Alex, great tune, send us a flip side…“. The track was then released in early 2015 and once Sven started to play it during the summer it became a kind of „hit“. That`s how it started. By accident. Here we go again.
Let’s also talk about your label, Credo. What’s new and are there any releases that we shouldn’t miss?
Biggest news currently for sure is the album of Klaudia Gawlas, „Vision“, which was just released this week. It´s an amazing techno album and reflects how much Klaudia has developed her sound and music. Honestly I didn´t expect this when she sent the first demo, but I listened to the first demotrack and I knew I wanted to release it. Before Klaudia`s sound was much more focused on the peaktime in the club and the overall sound was different, totally. But with this album she reached a level that still works on the club, but carries a great deepness and seriousity at the same time. But apart from this the whole year was a big milestone for Credo with releases and music by great artists like Nastia Reigel, Vloyd, Dirty Basscore or Mikael Jonasson and cool remixes from guys like Truncate, Alex Dolby, Hours or Johannes Heil.
And next year, with it`s 10 years anniversary, it will be even bigger!
What does techno represent to you?
I can answer that very quickly: Check out the music on Credo, and you get a perfect idea!
How are you preparing yourself for a gig? And are there any tracks that have been part of your sets for a really long time?
Well, there are no tracks I play in every set for years now, but there are some tunes I love to grab out from time to time, like an old track on Uturn (an old label by Heiko Laux), called „Ro“. Also Emmanuel Top`s „Turkish Bazar“ is a track you can play anytime. But I don`t want to speak about the rest of my „secret weapons“ 😉
You played in Serbia before, last time about two years ago, so do you have some memories that you would like to share?
It was on this boat-club on the Danube river, I remember exactly. It was truly an amazing vibe and I was able to play just as wanted to, with no restrictions, because the crowd was very open for it. That`s what always experienced when playing in Serbia, even many years ago, that it was always a very enthusiastic and open minded crowd. And trust me, that`s not the case everywhere. Would love to come back to Serbia soon, but so far nothing is scheduled unfortunately.
What are your plans for the future, are there any upcoming releases?
Next stuff to come is a remix on Sleaze Records UK of a track by Hans Bouffmyhre. The EP also features Pfirter and Keith Carnal I think, then I did a remix for „Concepts of Time“, the label of the artist Hours plus another remix, more deep and dubtechno, for „Made of Concrete“, a small, but very passionately driven label from Dresden in Germany. And of course and mainly it´s gonna be a great year for Credo in 2017 because of it`s 10th anniversary, so we will kick of with an amazing compilation called „credo.ten“ with 10 tracks by 10 different artists. And we will also host a row of credo.ten showcases all over the world.
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