A Quick Chat With: Gregor Tresher and His fabric Promo Mix

Having been raised on a diet of eighties synth-pop from the likes of Depeche Mode, Heaven 17, and the Human League, it's little surprise that Frankfurt born Gregor Tresher has a keen ear for melody, a trait which has come to characterize his soulful, dancefloor ready productions. Tresher's abilities at crafting richly textured soundscapes are more than notable on his latest release, Nightcolours. an album put out via Tresher's own imprint, 'Break New Soil'. Founded in 2009, 'Break New Soil' was set up with the aim of releasing (as the title suggests) boundary pushing music, whilst remaining in the house and techno bracket. Ahead of his live performance on the 31st in Room Two, we caught up with Gregor to discuss how his live performances have developed, the thinking behind his new album Nightcolours, and what it feels like to remix one of your childhood heroes. So your latest album Nightcolours has been out for just over a month now, have you been happy with the response? Yes, I am very happy with the feedback from both colleagues and the general public. I was reading in an interview with 'Soundwall' that you feel the sound of the album is connected to your work as 'Sniper Mode'. Do you think this mix between the two projects is something you will continue to explore in the future? Well, I haven´t been doing music as Sniper Mode for about ten years now, because when I started to use my real name, it changed my approach to releasing music a little bit. It’s just a different thing when you use your real name on a record instead of just a synonym. Then again, the sound I was doing with the Sniper Mode project is something that is still important to me nowadays and I´ve always been into electronic music that´s not aiming solely at the dance floor. The artistic freedom to present different kinds of electronic music is what makes the album format still very interesting to me - both as a producer but also as a listener as well. The album was released through your own imprint, 'Break New Soil'. Have your intentions for the label changed since you founded it, and to what extent do you feel it has lived up to its manifesto of breaking new ground? When I started the label, I wanted it to be a platform to release my albums on and for me to be able to make all the decisions - for example, who does the artwork or what formats will it be released on. But then I started to receive demos and eventually I wanted to release other types of music. So the label grew bigger and we started to sign artists. Then we started to do our label nights at events at ADE, Sonar & WMC with label artists, and that has been going really well and has continued to evolve. In regards to breaking new soil, well - in the end it is just a name I came up with that I like and that I thought would be a cool label name. I did a release on Moon Harbour that I called Break New Soil a year before I started the label (and it actually was sort of new ground for me as it was a house track, something I´m not really known for). I´m aware that we are not reinventing electronic music per say, but I think we are releasing modern dance music from creative and forward-thinking artists, which is an ethos consistent with the name of the label. Since setting up Break New Soil you've also continued to release with labels such as Ovum and Drumcode, how do you decide which music to release with your own label and which music to release via third party labels? I am happy to be in the position to release on a couple of different labels that I really like. At some point I made the decision to find a few labels for the different kind of styles I like to work on. Basically, on Ovum I release housier tracks, Drumcode is for Techno obviously, Music Man for my collaboration with Petar Dundov and Break New Soil mainly for my albums and compilations. I was very happy with a track I produced called “About a Good Place” on Cocoon last year, so there might be a follow up to that as well. Your music is incredibly melodically rooted – are melodies usually the first thing you work on when writing a new track? Thank you. When I start a new track, I always try to find a basic atmosphere that could be melody or a melodic element. I usually start with the kick drum though. Pretty old school, I know! Several tracks on the album flirt with ambient music, can you ever see yourself writing an album entirely aimed at home listening? Absolutely. I´m pretty sure I´ll do that at some point in the future. When asked in a previous interview who your dream collaboration would be you replied you would love to remix Depeche Mode. Having subsequently done this, how did it feel to fulfil the dream? It still feels a bit surreal. I´ve been a fan of the band since I was eight years old, so this was something that I always dreamed of. When I first heard I might be invited to do a remix I really couldn´t believe it, then when I got the parts and started working on it I realized it´s actually happening. I handed in two remixes as I thought it wouldn´t be enough to just do a Techno mix, so I also made a more downbeat, melodic mix. When I got the confirmation that the band actually likes both mixes and that they are going to release them both I was more than happy. I even had the chance to meet the guys backstage at their show in Frankfurt, which was another great thing. You have a pretty impressive catalogue of remixes in general. What do you think makes a good remix? I think a good remix gives a track a new direction. I also think a remix should always at least have some recognizable elements of the original track. You've put together a mix for us ahead of your performance on the 31st, can you tell us a little bit about the thinking behind the mix and how it was recorded? It´s actually a live recording from a Live Set I played at Electrocity Festival in Poland three weeks ago. The venue was a church from the 12th century, an incredible venue! I´ve played it two years in a row and it has been a great experience both times. Your show at fabric will actually be a live performance – how have your live shows developed since you first started doing them? Basically in the beginning it was something that I only did two or three times a year when I was doing an album tour for a special occasion. On this tour I did a lot more live shows as I have enjoyed it more and more. Basically, it’s a laptop based live act. I play for around an hour (sometimes a bit longer) and it´s pretty much Techno right now as I try to play my recent releases only and not my music from a long time ago. I remember playing live at fabric during one of my first album tours (around 2008 or 2009), which was a great experience, so I´m really looking forward to play live on that massive room two sound system again. Finally what can we expect to see from yourself and the Break New Soil imprint over the rest of 2013? The next big thing with Break New Soil (apart from releasing new music of course) is our annual label night at ADE (Studio 80, October, 17th), where I´m very happy to present our biggest lineup so far. For me, it’s all about touring for the rest of the year since the album tour goes on until New Years Eve.