News

Back to Back: Steve Rachmad and Karotte

These have been some pretty special moments here on the blog in recent times with the meeting of some of the great musical minds of our generation, but this week we’ve gone and double dosed, that’s just how it works out sometimes. Just yesterday you had a sublime tête à tête between Ostgut sisters Steffi and Virginia and today we’re celebrating a friendship between two other kindred spirits who this year have toured their internationally popular DJ union – Karotte and Steve Rachmad. It’s been a busy year for both producers, one that’s set to culminate in Room Two this Saturday. The committed followers out there may have already spied some of their extended conjoined sets online over the summer, but otherwise, we can give you a new and exclusive insight into the sound to come out in Karotte’s specially recorded promo mix. And in way of looking more into the characters behind the mix, read on to see Steve Rachmad and Karotte going back to back on the blog. DOWNLOAD: Karotte fabric Promo Mix Steve Rachmad asks Karotte Karotte - where does your name come from? That is my second baptismal name. What would you be doing if you were not in music? I think I would work in one of my skilled professions such as a chimney sweeper or retailer or maybe ever a restaurant owner. If you'd have one month more to live, what would you be doing in that month? I would dine at all my absolute favourite restaurants and play in my favourite 10 clubs one more time. Your 3 favourite restaurants? All three are in Germany, the Schwarzwaldstube in Tonbach, the Heimat in Frankfurt and the Villa Merton also in Frankfurt. Karotte asks Steve Rachmad Steve you are aka sterac, Ignacio, Dreg, Parallel 9 und Adverse Match why so many pseudonyms and which is your favourite? The moment I am working on a specific track, is when a certain project name is my favourite. I cannot chose the overall favourite, I love to make different sorts of music. It started as an exclusivity thing for me. My first project was called Black Scorpion and when I wanted to release a Black Scorpion on another label they didn't let me use this name. So I came up with a new name. It got a bit out of hand because I came up with a new name for every new label. So I decided to connect a style to most of the names. Sterac >> Deeper Detroit techno Parallel 9 >> Dubby techno Sterac Electronics >> Electro Rachmad Project >> Easy going house/tech house and club orientated stuff Dreg >> Super hard and rougher techno There were lots of other names that were sometimes just one offs. Adverse Match was the funniest one because if you mix up the letter you can make Steve Rachmad out of it. Most of them I will not use anymore because it is too confusing sometimes, but a few of them that I just mentioned I might still use because they are very specific in styles. If you could define yourself in BPM (beats per minute), what number would it be? I have to look for a general number now because I do a variety usually. I never stay on 1 bpm. I usually start slower than when I finish a set. I guess nowadays I'm somewhere in between 126 and 130. So if I have to pick one it will be 128 bpm. You received an Award at the Dutch Techno award 2012 for Special Achievement, what can we expect from you in the future? It is very dangerous for me to mention stuff now because usually I mention stuff I want to do but do not get to it because of traveling a lot during the year. These are few things I want/planned to do but didn't get to yet: Finish of my Klockworks release for Ben Klock / Ovum release for Josh Wink / Sterac album / Parallel 9 album / Sterac Electronics album / Co-op with Vince Watson, Ricardo Villalobos and some other artists. And working with some instrumentalists and singers. I just met a violin player and a great female singer. After 25 years in the business and over 100 releases, how do feel when you look back at your long journey today? I'm pretty proud to see how much I did in the past. Of course not proud of every release, but who is? There is always something that could be better. Some could have been better mixed of whatever but I learned to let go and move on. Steve Rachmad and Karotte will be DJing back to back in Room Two this Saturday, for more info and tickets go here.
Tags
No items found.