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In Depth: Jon Rundell Discusses The Sound Of Intec

The man Carl Cox is an undisputed king type figure of the techno world. He’s advanced his position to the point where he’s fully in control of all the facets involved in the way he presents himself; whether that’s his Revolution party or his Intec label - which also has the informed insight of Jon Rundell behind it. Intec for both Cox and Rundell is a platform for music with an advanced level of production. It’s all about the output being able to perform and sing out above the noise of the incredible volume of music being released digitally today (an info nugget we uncovered in our recent interview with Rundell). As the label is due to represent in Room One this Thursday, to get extra insight into both figureheads perspective on the label’s output, they have each shared their top 5 releases from the back catalogue... Stream: Carl Cox & Jon Rundell's Top 10 Intec Tracks When you first got involved with Intec (way back) – were you already a fan of its output? How did you first connect with it? I was for sure, I had most the releases from the start, I was buying all kinds of techno records back then and Intec was always introducing me to new names, something we still like to do now. I remember when Pontape came out by Renato Cohen and there was nothing else like it, and still isn’t today, an unreal track. What do you feel now after being such an integral part of it your own taste has lent to the label’s sonic identity? I think overall that its really down to me and Carl having similar tastes across all kinds of different music, and when it comes to the techno we seem to have this ability to know the right records for us as soon as we hear them. Of course this took some time to get to as we spent more and more time on the road together testing records out and generally talking music. To be able to have input on the music we then release feels good, especially if we uncover some new talent and they go on to do well. Which artists are you most excited about now that are coming up on the label? I’d say for me artists like Carlo Lio, The Junkies, Tomy DeClerque and Nicole Moudaber are all doing some great tracks and we have supported them from early points in their production. Then you have the likes of Chris Count, Ferhat Albyrak and Fabio Neural who are developing more and more each record we hear. All these artists have their own style too which we feel is important so we don’t get stale as a label. The current release we have out is by Just Be called After Midnight and is a big one for us, then we have one from Tomy called Push, and then we release all the remixes we got in from Carl’s last artist album, featuring the likes of Loco Dice, Joel Mull, Guti, Sharam, Jim Rivers, Ben Sims and Yousef. How would you say it compares to the music going out there, what kind of qualities are you looking for in a track or an artist for them to be ‘Intec’? Its hard to say when we give the artists free reign to express themselves, we feel that’s what gets the best out of them, which you could argue gives us a different appeal to other labels perhaps. There is not one particular techno sound that you could say “that’s on Intec” as you might do other labels. Overall though I would say a really good groove gets our attention, something unique in the record where possible too, and very importantly a good mix down, it really has to cut through the sound systems and stand out sonically, its so important. It’s really a digital based label – what do you think is key about operating solely in the digital realm? There’s that idea that unfortunately people don’t buy all that much digital music. It’s a real idea too, compared to the heights of vinyl when it was at its most popular, and especially as perhaps people stream music now more than they buy downloads even. We can sustain things in the current form by generally keeping our overheads as low as possible, without doing that we would be unable to exist in reality. Whatever the future holds we will have to adapt further and are prepared for it. So this year you started putting on these Pure Intec parties launching in London earlier in the year, why did you feel you wanted to start hosting your own events? To give the artists on the label more of a platform, to help people find out more about them. We had so much music we were excited to play too that it just made sense. We were also looking to do things that are purely about the music, moving away from some trends of having big LED screens, dancers etc. Of course we have a subtle amount of things inside the venue that we do but we would just like people to really get into the feeling of the music we represent, as ultimately that’s what makes people connect with us first and foremost. What kind of feel can we expect in Room One when you take over this October? As above, with the added bonus of getting down and dirty. We are really looking forward to playing on the clubs infamous sound system and keeping it real. I’d think its also a great opportunity to experiment a little too with some slightly different styles within the techno field. I’ve always respectfully warmed up for Carl too, it helps build some tension and anticipation so that when he takes over people can really feel the full force of what he does. This night will be no exception. Carl Cox & Jon Rundell's Top 10 Intec Tracks Playlist Tracklist: Jon Rundell's Top 5 Intec Tracks: Smith & Selway – Move – The first ever release ! Renato Cohen – Pontape – Nothing else like it before or since, a seminal classic record Tomy DeClerque – Raw – Absolutely destroys floors every single time Carlo Lio – Coppa – Great tribal infused record with a techno undertone Bryan Zentz – DClash – Another classic unique record from Byran’s album Carl Cox's Top 5 Intec Tracks: Jon Rundell – Knick Knack – Broke the mould and went to the overall number one spot on Beatport for 6 weeks, great achievement for an underground record. Nicole Moudaber – Roar – full on techno power record full of feeling Oxia – Troisieme – A beautiful warm techno record with some clever melody Marco Bailey – Never Say Never – The 2nd EP from Marco that really brought him firmly into the scene. Powerful energy and warehouse feel. Deetron – Don’t You Know Why – Full of energy and power
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