Since 2007, Berlin native
Mike Dehnert has co-run raw techno label Fachwerk. The imprint's mission is simple: to release their own take on raw, floor techno. And so they have done, on 15 different occasions, earning both the label and the artists behind it the respect of in-the-know, serious techno fans the world over.
Dehnert’s own productions (often informed by his grubby, dub infused and textured live and dj techno sets at institutions like Berghain and Tresor) have also been unleashed on the world via other respected imprints including Clone Basement Series, Echochord Colour and Deeply Rooted House.
The culminations of Dehnert's musical experiences so far are laid out for all to see on his unashamedly dancefloor first artist album, Framework on Delsin Records. It is a self proclaimed ''collection of tracks'' on long running and high quality label, Delsin, and continues in Dehnert’s traditional vein of crafting engaging electronic music imbued with a range of moods and emotions.
As you can tell from his dark, dirty techno sound, Mike Dehnert is not interested in making a name for himself, but rather just in expressing himself. As well as continuing to DJ and perform accomplished live sets (both alone and part of a series of Fachwerk nights with friends and fellow label founders, Roman Lindau and Sascha Rydell), Dehnert is touring with Delsin later in 2011 to celebrate the release of his album.
Music has always coursed through
Roman Lindau's blood. Even if he weren't the accomplished producer and respected DJ he is today, the German audiophile would still be spending all his money on the stuff; giving over all his time to the art form. ''I'm a music junkie. I need music to live'' he states matter-of-factly. ''For me it's the elixir of life.''
Good job, then, that he gets to spend his days shaping the nu-school electronic landscape alongside pals Mike Dehnert and Sascha Rydell with their Fachwerk imprint. One of the most prominent Berlin labels of recent times, it consistently deals in heavy techno sounds that are doused in dub and finished with an analogue authenticity which set them apart from the crowd.
When producing on his own, the results are economical but efficient tracks like 'Raumgestaltung', which appeared on Len Faki's Berghain 03; 'Keppra' which appeared on Ben Klock's Berghain 04 mix (and on the Berghain 04 vinyl release which also features Martyn), dance floor smasher 'Krasse' and many more which get regularly charted by the likes of DJ Deep, Levon Vincent and Peter van Hoesen... His place amongst the Ostugut techno elite, then, is as deserved as it is assured.
As a DJ, too, he comes at his work from a different angle than most. ''I love to dance and that’s very important I think: as DJ you need to feel what the crowd feel so you can help them celebrate and have fun.'' Combining a varied selection of raw house and techno in his sets, recent bookings have taken Roman across Europe; often to the hallowed techno Mekka that is Berghain and also to a number of clubs as part of the recent Fachwerk label tour. Giving him the edge at these places is his vast experience of the finest Berlin dancefloors from E-werk to WMF... if you can do it there; you can do it anywhere.
With plenty of remixes, an album in the pipeline and with the simple, honest enjoyment of all forms of music an ongoing source of inspiration for the man, Lindau is surely only beginning.
Sascha Rydell is one third of a techno triumvirate that is leading the way in 2011. Born and raised in Berlin, growing up alongside clubs like WMF, Tresor and E-Werk and people like Mike Dehnert and Roman Lindau, Rydell has techno in his bones. But so too hip-hop, soul, funk, house and jazz - all of which are things that inform his sketchy, loopy, heavy techno sounds on the label he runs with Mike and Roman, namely Fachwerk. Charged with representing the imprint for a Resident Advisor label of the month mix in January 2011, Rydell deftly journeyed across a wide range of Fachwerks's output - both released and unreleased - with devastating effects.
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