(English) funk paranoia

Alex Niggemann is at the peak of his carreer so far with his latest album ‘Paranoid Funk’ (see the review here) being released on Poker Flat this month. We took the chance to talk to him just before his gig in Privilege to find out a bit more about the man behind this excellent name.

d: Alex, the release of your first album ‘Paranoid Funk’ is the perfect moment to welcome you in dub. Tell our readers about your musical background.

Well originally I came from playing classical piano for more than 20 years. When I was a teenager being a classical musician was pretty uncool. My first record ever was Armand van Helden’s The Funk Phenomena, but I was more into Hip Hop, Stylewriting and breakdancing. When I was 15 my brother took me to my first Techno party – from there on things changed for ever.

d: It was Thomas Koch aka DJ T who took you under his wings to show you what EDM is all about. How did this come and are you still close?

Actually it was a bit different. When I studied Audio-Engineering in Berlin, a friend of mine was working for Get Physical, so he introduced me to the guys. After having released the Remix for ‘Darko’, I randomly started working for DJ T.

d: After remixing ‘Darko’ from Booka Shade things went serious but you went back to the roots to study sound engineering. Is that something every producer should consider before he can do a good production?

I was in the middle of my studies when the remix was released. I always finish what I begin so there was no doubt about my studies. Being an artist is one thing but if there’s something in your curiculum vitae like a bachelor it can be helpful if things don’t work out. After graduation, I took one year off to only focus on producing and releasing records.

d: Two close friends, Anthony and Luca aka Audiofly played a major role in your development as well. How did you come together?

Yeah definitely. I recognized that those guys were pretty much into my releases. I saw the DJ-feedbacks and decided to go and say hello when they were playing at Watergate. Anthony & Luca have been really nice and were directly offering me to release stuff on their label. From there on things snow-balled.

d: You created your own label Soulfooled together with Marc Poppcke and Oliver Fritsche. What is the aim of this label?

We always wanted to have our own thing. One day we just decided to start with it. You know, we did the label just for fun, I mean we put a lot of energy into it, but we only release tracks we are really feeling and we don’t have a tight schedule with releases every 6 weeks. It’s just a cool thing to publish a record where I know that I really love all the stuff that is on it.

Nowadays i do not buy a record because i just like one track on it.  In times where records sales are dropping more and more you really have to care about releasing quality, because this is what still makes people buy records. For sure we also got a new profile through it, as Soulfooled builds a platform which makes everyone of us more interesting for clubs, press and promoters. But our first intention was to release what ever we like – whenever we like!

d: Let’s come to your brandnew album, what can you tell us about it and how is the cooperation with Poker Flat?

I always had the plan to do an album and last year I decided that 2012 would be the perfect time for that. When I told Steve Bug about my plan he was immediately offering me to release it on Poker Flat. So I started to work on it in summer 2011. I wanted to create an album which is different to a typical club or listening album. It is supposed to be something in between. I also wanted to have tracks which fit together sound-wise but being different to each other so you have an interesting flow. I think I worked it out, I’m very happy with the result.

d: Is there a special ‘Niggemann Sound’?

No, definitely not. I was always interested in all sub-genres, so you will always hear different songs from me. When I produce music I try to do something new, something challenging, that’s what moves me.

d: What advice can you give any rookie to become a good DJ and producer?

Most important is to take your time. Just because producing for a year and having labels on the market who sign everything doesn’t mean it’s the right time to release. It took me 7 years before I signed my first record-deal and it didn’t hurt me to wait. It is better to release quality than just release a lot to get some attention. People will remember long-term quality work but will forget about one-hit-wonders and people who release only B-type music. On the DJ-side, always interact with people and react to them. Just playing your set without reading the crowd might let you loose their attention.

d: Any plans for Ibiza this summer?

As I’m travelling a lot due to my album release my weekends are fully booked but there are a few tbc’s. I played Privilege on the 5th of June but there is more to come.

d: What happens on the 21st of December 2012?

If you mean the possible armageddon (lol) – honestly, I live every day as it could be my last so for me there is nothing to be afraid of. As it will be before X-Mas I’ll be with my family anyway. So if something happens I will be with my beloved ones.

d: What would you do if you weren’t a DJ?

I would be a sales man for chemicals which are used as ingredients for cosmetical products. I’m a share-holder of a family company in my hometown Düsseldorf.

d: Alex, thanx for this honest statement and we are definitely sure that you made the right choice in becoming a DJ and producer, even if the sales man story could be more of a sure shot.

May your groove never stop.

 

Alex Niggemann is at the peak of his carreer so far with his latest album ‘Paranoid Funk’ (see the review here) being released on Poker Flat this month. We took the chance to talk to him just before his gig in Privilege to find out a bit more about the man behind this excellent name.

d: Alex, the release of your first album ‘Paranoid Funk’ is the perfect moment to welcome you in dub. Tell our readers about your musical background.

Well originally I came from playing classical piano for more than 20 years. When I was a teenager being a classical musician was pretty uncool. My first record ever was Armand van Helden’s The Funk Phenomena, but I was more into Hip Hop, Stylewriting and breakdancing. When I was 15 my brother took me to my first Techno party – from there on things changed for ever.

d: It was Thomas Koch aka DJ T who took you under his wings to show you what EDM is all about. How did this come and are you still close?

Actually it was a bit different. When I studied Audio-Engineering in Berlin, a friend of mine was working for Get Physical, so he introduced me to the guys. After having released the Remix for ‘Darko’, I randomly started working for DJ T.

d: After remixing ‘Darko’ from Booka Shade things went serious but you went back to the roots to study sound engineering. Is that something every producer should consider before he can do a good production?

I was in the middle of my studies when the remix was released. I always finish what I begin so there was no doubt about my studies. Being an artist is one thing but if there’s something in your curiculum vitae like a bachelor it can be helpful if things don’t work out. After graduation, I took one year off to only focus on producing and releasing records.

d: Two close friends, Anthony and Luca aka Audiofly played a major role in your development as well. How did you come together?

Yeah definitely. I recognized that those guys were pretty much into my releases. I saw the DJ-feedbacks and decided to go and say hello when they were playing at Watergate. Anthony & Luca have been really nice and were directly offering me to release stuff on their label. From there on things snow-balled.

d: You created your own label Soulfooled together with Marc Poppcke and Oliver Fritsche. What is the aim of this label?

We always wanted to have our own thing. One day we just decided to start with it. You know, we did the label just for fun, I mean we put a lot of energy into it, but we only release tracks we are really feeling and we don’t have a tight schedule with releases every 6 weeks. It’s just a cool thing to publish a record where I know that I really love all the stuff that is on it.

Nowadays i do not buy a record because i just like one track on it.  In times where records sales are dropping more and more you really have to care about releasing quality, because this is what still makes people buy records. For sure we also got a new profile through it, as Soulfooled builds a platform which makes everyone of us more interesting for clubs, press and promoters. But our first intention was to release what ever we like – whenever we like!

d: Let’s come to your brandnew album, what can you tell us about it and how is the cooperation with Poker Flat?

I always had the plan to do an album and last year I decided that 2012 would be the perfect time for that. When I told Steve Bug about my plan he was immediately offering me to release it on Poker Flat. So I started to work on it in summer 2011. I wanted to create an album which is different to a typical club or listening album. It is supposed to be something in between. I also wanted to have tracks which fit together sound-wise but being different to each other so you have an interesting flow. I think I worked it out, I’m very happy with the result.

d: Is there a special ‘Niggemann Sound’?

No, definitely not. I was always interested in all sub-genres, so you will always hear different songs from me. When I produce music I try to do something new, something challenging, that’s what moves me.

d: What advice can you give any rookie to become a good DJ and producer?

Most important is to take your time. Just because producing for a year and having labels on the market who sign everything doesn’t mean it’s the right time to release. It took me 7 years before I signed my first record-deal and it didn’t hurt me to wait. It is better to release quality than just release a lot to get some attention. People will remember long-term quality work but will forget about one-hit-wonders and people who release only B-type music. On the DJ-side, always interact with people and react to them. Just playing your set without reading the crowd might let you loose their attention.

d: Any plans for Ibiza this summer?

As I’m travelling a lot due to my album release my weekends are fully booked but there are a few tbc’s. I played Privilege on the 5th of June but there is more to come.

d: What happens on the 21st of December 2012?

If you mean the possible armageddon (lol) – honestly, I live every day as it could be my last so for me there is nothing to be afraid of. As it will be before X-Mas I’ll be with my family anyway. So if something happens I will be with my beloved ones.

d: What would you do if you weren’t a DJ?

I would be a sales man for chemicals which are used as ingredients for cosmetical products. I’m a share-holder of a family company in my hometown Düsseldorf.

d: Alex, thanx for this honest statement and we are definitely sure that you made the right choice in becoming a DJ and producer, even if the sales man story could be more of a sure shot.

May your groove never stop.

 

Alex Niggemann is at the peak of his carreer so far with his latest album ‘Paranoid Funk’ (see the review here) being released on Poker Flat this month. We took the chance to talk to him just before his gig in Privilege to find out a bit more about the man behind this excellent name.

d: Alex, the release of your first album ‘Paranoid Funk’ is the perfect moment to welcome you in dub. Tell our readers about your musical background.

Well originally I came from playing classical piano for more than 20 years. When I was a teenager being a classical musician was pretty uncool. My first record ever was Armand van Helden’s The Funk Phenomena, but I was more into Hip Hop, Stylewriting and breakdancing. When I was 15 my brother took me to my first Techno party – from there on things changed for ever.

d: It was Thomas Koch aka DJ T who took you under his wings to show you what EDM is all about. How did this come and are you still close?

Actually it was a bit different. When I studied Audio-Engineering in Berlin, a friend of mine was working for Get Physical, so he introduced me to the guys. After having released the Remix for ‘Darko’, I randomly started working for DJ T.

d: After remixing ‘Darko’ from Booka Shade things went serious but you went back to the roots to study sound engineering. Is that something every producer should consider before he can do a good production?

I was in the middle of my studies when the remix was released. I always finish what I begin so there was no doubt about my studies. Being an artist is one thing but if there’s something in your curiculum vitae like a bachelor it can be helpful if things don’t work out. After graduation, I took one year off to only focus on producing and releasing records.

d: Two close friends, Anthony and Luca aka Audiofly played a major role in your development as well. How did you come together?

Yeah definitely. I recognized that those guys were pretty much into my releases. I saw the DJ-feedbacks and decided to go and say hello when they were playing at Watergate. Anthony & Luca have been really nice and were directly offering me to release stuff on their label. From there on things snow-balled.

d: You created your own label Soulfooled together with Marc Poppcke and Oliver Fritsche. What is the aim of this label?

We always wanted to have our own thing. One day we just decided to start with it. You know, we did the label just for fun, I mean we put a lot of energy into it, but we only release tracks we are really feeling and we don’t have a tight schedule with releases every 6 weeks. It’s just a cool thing to publish a record where I know that I really love all the stuff that is on it.

Nowadays i do not buy a record because i just like one track on it.  In times where records sales are dropping more and more you really have to care about releasing quality, because this is what still makes people buy records. For sure we also got a new profile through it, as Soulfooled builds a platform which makes everyone of us more interesting for clubs, press and promoters. But our first intention was to release what ever we like – whenever we like!

d: Let’s come to your brandnew album, what can you tell us about it and how is the cooperation with Poker Flat?

I always had the plan to do an album and last year I decided that 2012 would be the perfect time for that. When I told Steve Bug about my plan he was immediately offering me to release it on Poker Flat. So I started to work on it in summer 2011. I wanted to create an album which is different to a typical club or listening album. It is supposed to be something in between. I also wanted to have tracks which fit together sound-wise but being different to each other so you have an interesting flow. I think I worked it out, I’m very happy with the result.

d: Is there a special ‘Niggemann Sound’?

No, definitely not. I was always interested in all sub-genres, so you will always hear different songs from me. When I produce music I try to do something new, something challenging, that’s what moves me.

d: What advice can you give any rookie to become a good DJ and producer?

Most important is to take your time. Just because producing for a year and having labels on the market who sign everything doesn’t mean it’s the right time to release. It took me 7 years before I signed my first record-deal and it didn’t hurt me to wait. It is better to release quality than just release a lot to get some attention. People will remember long-term quality work but will forget about one-hit-wonders and people who release only B-type music. On the DJ-side, always interact with people and react to them. Just playing your set without reading the crowd might let you loose their attention.

d: Any plans for Ibiza this summer?

As I’m travelling a lot due to my album release my weekends are fully booked but there are a few tbc’s. I played Privilege on the 5th of June but there is more to come.

d: What happens on the 21st of December 2012?

If you mean the possible armageddon (lol) – honestly, I live every day as it could be my last so for me there is nothing to be afraid of. As it will be before X-Mas I’ll be with my family anyway. So if something happens I will be with my beloved ones.

d: What would you do if you weren’t a DJ?

I would be a sales man for chemicals which are used as ingredients for cosmetical products. I’m a share-holder of a family company in my hometown Düsseldorf.

d: Alex, thanx for this honest statement and we are definitely sure that you made the right choice in becoming a DJ and producer, even if the sales man story could be more of a sure shot.

May your groove never stop.