Bloc File: Redshape

In the last of this series, mysterious German techno producer Redshape talks about his stage persona, the cult of masks, his forthcoming debut album and the ‘Tribute to Ramin’ project…

Are you still happy with your stage persona -  has it been more of a help or a hindrance?

“It’s a really easy answer: over the past three years, it has developed itself as a character. A lot of people who come to the gigs like to see me performing in the mask - this in turn gives me more energy when I perform, but also when I go back to my studio to make music. The aim of Redshape is to concentrate people on the music, it’s not really an image creation exercise - I hope people see it as a project from a music lover for music lovers.”

What originally inspired you to wear the mask – and do you think like Underground Resistance or Basic Channel, that Redshape’s anonymity has actually, inadvertently or not, turned into a selling point?

“I would say that it has slowly developed as a ‘brand’, but not seen as a brand from a marketing or advertising perspective, but just as a good stamp, standing for great music, a good feeling and not doing it just to make money. I was inspired by the techno projects from the early 90s of producers like Luke Slater, these anonymous projects he did. He wasn’t wearing a mask and I knew who he was, but beyond that, nothing about him as a person or what he does in his private life etc. I have also always been into masks -  there is a really big culture behind mask-wearing, especially in Africa. Some are good, some are bad, some are worn by the medicine man to help people get better, but what always intrigues me is that masks create a kind of in-between world.”

"Some are good, some are bad, some are worn by the medicine man to help people get better, but what always intrigues me is that masks create a kind of in-between world.”

You told me a few years that you sweat like mad when you’re performing -  is it still as uncomfortable?

“My skin just got used to it. Actually, if I don’t concentrate on the mask during my shows, I forget that I’m wearing it.”

You moved to Berlin a year or so ago – how do you find living there?

“It’s quite an impersonal city, you are just a number here. It’s great to get music stuff done here, but you can also be alone a lot and it is lonely. I’m from the old East Germany and I miss the human touch, the warmth (of people) a lot.”

Apart from your productions, you are known for your live shows -  how do you find balancing production with touring every weekend?

“The last year has been quite difficult, but in a good way! I played so many gigs that I didn’t get a chance to make much music. Also, the gigs made me change my view about production and now it takes longer and longer for me to produce. It feels more like I work on music pieces rather than tracks -  and it can take weeks to complete them.”

Do you prefer playing big festivals or small clubs?

“I played some big festivals, but the Redshape sound is more suited for feeding the mind and then getting you dance in that way. It always sounds better in a small club -  in a big festival, a lot of the crowd don’t get it.”

The three EPs you put out last year for Present, Music Man and Styrax all sounded quite different – was this intentional?

“I knew that the Music Man release was going to be quite different to what people expect of me, but I was always a really big Jean-Michel Jarre fan,  so it was inspired by that. With ‘Plonk’, I tried to mix the classic Basic Channel/Chain Reaction style with the more modern Berghain sound. It’s not always so easy to deliver the complicated deep tracks, especially when you try to do a few in a row! I’m doing the new release on Delsin and it’ll be different again. “

You mentioned earlier that you were working on your debut album -  can you give me an indication of what it’ll sound like?

“The album will be quite deep to be honest. Some of it will be deep like my usual techno style, while some of it will be deep in the style of Theo Parrish and Moodymann. The way things are now, it is more realistic to release it in September.”

You also did a lot of remixes last year – Joey Beltram, Yuro & Trago, Ripperton & Attias, Marco Bernardi - how do you approach remixes and do you have any more planned?

“I have taken time off and can now completely concentrate on the live shows and productions. I just did a remix of Newworldaquarium’s ‘Trespassers’ for Delsin, but after that, I have no more planned. When I do a remix I look at it as one of my original productions, but I also try to keep the original vibe too - I don’t like it when a remix totally changes the original track. I suppose a remix for me is a mixture of original production and remixing. I put all of my creative energy into remixing, so much so that I can’t do my own productions. I have turned down quite a few recently mainly because the original tracks didn’t say anything to me.”

You were also involved in the ‘Tribute to Ramin’ release - a compilation to mark the first anniversary of the death of Groove journalist Ramin Raissi – can you tell me more about it?

“When Redshape was starting up, he took over doing a lot of reviews for Groove. He was a really big fan of the music and he really promoted my work. He was kind of a freaky person, but I never met him. He was a good friend of Stephen who runs Styrax/Millions of Moments, so when he died, Stephen wanted to do a tribute to him. I am a bit of a control freak, so myself and Stephen did every aspect of the compilation. We did the mastering, artwork, track/artist selection. I’m very proud of it -  it was a very personal project for me, Stephen, the other producers and everyone who knew Ramin.”

We’ve talked about this before: what do you feel about the direction that electronic music is taking? Is it still as bad as before with sales – are there any other issues?

“The way things are going with sales is definitely a problem, I don’t know what to say. I have had problems myself with this, but also with not knowing what is going on in the scene. In most cases, it seems that people are just jumping on bandwagons, most people don’t have an opinion about music, there is no intellectual side or discussion about music.”

Given that Hardwax distribute Present, you are passionate about vinyl -  how do you feel about its future?

“I really hope things get better, but things seem really bad at the moment, especially as regards vinyl. I have even put the ‘Save The Vinyl’ logo on my website and on the Redshape MySpace. I don’t want to get into a big discussion about it, but I feel that putting up the logo will let people see that I want to keep it alive. Hopefully by doing this, the public will see that there are people who still care. Vinyl is like techno’s instrument, or at least it used to be. Let’s compare it to a rock band: no one tries to take a band’s guitars away or no one plays a guitar off a computer. I have nothing against digital, but I see that vinyl sales have really gone down in the past year.  Say there are people who are undecided about what to buy -  if they are reading on certain music websites all the time to go digital, then I can’t see too much of a future for vinyl.”

Comments

[Daragh]

Saw his performance at Electric Picnic last year and he was truly awesome. Another reason to regret missing Bloc!

[gmos]

don't get the fuss with this guy tbh

[Philip]

Agreed Daragh - I do quite like the vinyls but the EP live show was something else

[pac]

I found the remix of Beltram abusively wrong, but R+S is to blame. Ramin and the groove magazine is a media mafia, they pervert the peoples perception of underground electronic music in germany by pushing only a specific (IMO shitty) music taste. So a "tribute" leaves very big question marks.

[onno]

more great insight
cheers