Interview with Bas Grossfeldt and Juan Atkins

Many references have been made to the uniqueness of the year 2020, things are in question, under construction, a year that takes quite some things with their gusty winds but where there is hope for a different, better future. It’s also the year of a new Metroplex release - Bas Grossfeldt’s “Lost in sensation” EP. The label run by Juan Atkins re-released some of their standout productions in the past years but is very selective with new productions. It’s Bas' second release this year after his partnership with Jas Shaw (Simian Mobile Disco), who he released “Klavier” with on DRONE.
“Lost in sensation” is an excellent techno track, accelerating your heartbeat as the synths elegantly, but steadily build up. Whilst this is a sound suiting the big stages and peak times, the tracks are cinematic and full of hopeful suspense that doesn’t need a big “drop” to outshine other big room classics. Even “Your Orbit” glints warmly in between the metallic, dystopian element and broken beats. Sound possibly made for this different, better future? Reason enough to get to know Bas a bit better and chat with him and Juan about past, present, and future.

Bas - you are involved in JAKI, a venue in the old location of legendary Cologne Club Studio 672, that just opened in fall 2019. How are you coping with the current situation and where do you see things heading now?
Bas: Well, for the whole scene, this is obviously a huge setback, not only the clubs, but everything related. But I personally hope, even though it may sound like a platitude, that we can see the chances this special situation is offering us. Nearly everyone I talk to agrees that now would be the time to all get-together, artists, club-managers, bookers, promoters, journalists, sponsors, and whatnot to analyze, reflect and come up with a new, more sustainable and fair approach of club culture when the whole business continues. It is complex because I think there are quite a few issues that need to be addressed on all levels, be it business-wise, diversity-wise, quality-wise, or regarding sustainability. But when, if not now would be the time for that? 

Bas - Next to your engagement in the club, you are also a performance and installation artist and music producer. Can you tell us a bit more about how this is all interconnected and if there is sort of a red thread through it?
Bas: It kind of developed through my various interests and I discovered at some point that I don’t have to focus on just one thing but can do a bit of all. I guess I was never able to focus on just one thing. But I discover a lot of times that each artistic outlet influences the other. Just recently I was trying to bring all of this together in my performance-installation & curated-club-night called „The Architecture Of The Unconscious“, where all these interests and levels merge into one whole. It is an installation, where the audience is part of the space, with seven performers choreographically moving through, me playing live and then the whole thing developing into a club-night, where the artists playing as well as the audience are still within the installation. And I guess there lies the red thread: I am always interested in the relations of a physical sensation, a spatial perception, and a sound atmosphere. What experiences can this space create? What space can a live- or a DJ-Set create? Which possibilities and relations can be developed? And at least in my mind, you can also hear this on a record like „Lost In Sensation“ now. 

My engagement in the club just ended more or less though, because I moved to Berlin and wanted to concentrate more on the artistic sides of things again. I just keep booking some nights with my mates Magnus von Welck and Dogan Dolff.

Bas - you recently released the first album together with Jas Shaw (Simian Mobile Disco) - how did that come about?
Bas: Jas and I were playing a gig together in Cologne and before he listened to my demo which the booker of that night, Shumi from Gewölbe, sent to him. So Jas suggested having a jam session before the gig since he somehow liked what he heard. I have to say Jas is one of the most open-minded and inspiring people I have ever met and I am deeply grateful for the artistic collaboration as well as the friendship which developed out of this. In the studio, we then ignored all synthesizers we prepared for the session, because we discovered a Yamaha Disklavier in the recording room, which we found a lot more interesting to fiddle around with. It was not the plan to make an album out of this, but after this one weekend of recordings, playing at the club and basically no sleep, we just continued working on it. The whole album is simply called „Klavier“ now because everything is based on that one session with the Disklavier.

Bas - “ Lost in Sensation” is your first solo EP. We’d love to hear a bit more about your beginnings as a producer and the steps leading up to this release.
Bas: To be honest, I think this is the beginning and I have to admit that I am really lucky and blessed that Juan is so open-minded. It was not until 3-4 years ago that I started producing music. When I started my postgraduate studies at the Cologne School of Media Arts, I stopped working on all fine-art context-based projects and just focused on learning how to produce music. I literally was in the studio 24/7 and just got into it. I guess my background as a DJ, not only as a techno DJ but also one who played a lot of Hip Hop, Rare Groove, Calypso kind of stuff, helped me a lot understanding music on a creating level, even though I know that a good DJ is not automatically a good producer or vice versa. I then started sending out some demos, but the feedback besides some DJs playing it at radio shows was nearly zero. I just continued working and then my art professor at that time, Mischa Kuball, sent Juan some tracks of mine, and all of a sudden, I was talking to the Originator about a release on Metroplex, which was kind of mind-blowing. I just had „Lost In Translation“ released on a small compilation by Dissolute, but Juan wanted it anyway since he was really moved by it. We then exchanged about other tracks and out of this came this three-track EP.

Bas - these mark two excellent releases within a year. Sure people, who discover your works now are curious what’s next? Any further things planned this year we should have an eye out on?
Bas: Thanks, appreciate it! Obviously it is such a big honor to release on one of the most influential electronic music labels and to have an album out with such an amazing artist like Jas - I sometimes feel like a little child and still can’t believe this is happening, haha. Originally I planned to show my aforementioned performance-installation „The Architecture Of The Unconscious“ in some more art spaces and clubs - we just had amazing premieres in Cologne and Düsseldorf beginning of the year. Guess we’ll have to wait on that, but I am planning to release the soundtrack, an accompanying book and a digital-video-version of the performance later this year. I am also starting a new label called Prince Madonna, where the name of the artist is not revealed in order to put the music more in focus. And Jas and I are already working on new material.

Juan - how did you know about Bas’ productions and what has led you to have it released on Metroplex?
Juan: I was informed about Søren aka Bas Grossfeldt through Mischa Kuball, who I was doing an installation with at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. I wanted to do a lecture called „Respect the Sound“ there, about sounds, vibrations, and their effects on humans, the human’s mind, body, and soul. Well, and Bas was one of Mischa’s disciples or protègès, they are both artists. And when Mischa played me Bas’ music I liked it, so I said I would release it.

Bas/Juan - The approach to this record was referenced to “also as an art project” can you tell us a bit more about that?
Juan: I guess it was kind of an unspoken thing as well. I guess Bas was surprised that I would release this record on Metroplex, but we do an overhaul of Metroplex every so often. I thought it would be, coming into the year 2020, a little bit more open-minded for the label. Bas’ is kind of the first release that I came across, where I wanted to express our versatility as a label.

Bas: As mentioned before, my artistic interests in space, body, sound and it’s relations are also reflected in this record and it’s obviously not a typical club record. Juan gets these kinds of things, he has quite an understanding for the vibes or something metaphysical lying underneath a record or an artwork, without needing to explain it. So when we exchanged about the record, he also gave me the artistic freedom to for example design the cover myself. So in the cover, there are multiple references and hints to the sounds, the process, or Metroplex itself. Accompanied by the abstract videos of Svenja Voß for „Lost In Translation“ and Anna Schwingenschuh & Zuhal Er for „Lost In Sensation“, there is an overall artistic approach that exceeds the medium of the record.

Both of you live/ have origins in cities that made a remarkable impact on electronic music - Detroit and Cologne - in different ways. How would you assess the current “state of affairs”? It felt like a lot of folks had to re-educate themselves on electronic music and its origins.
Juan: Well, To me, this term “re-educate” means to relearn, which means relearning things that one has already learned. However “educate” means learning things that one has never learned or didn’t/doesn’t know. In this context I think simply “educate” or “further educate” is more appropriate.

Bas: This is so true. I think we all see that we are at a turning point now. And only through reflecting on oneself, how one thinks, feels, and behaves, we can get a step further. This includes being aware of historical contexts and acknowledging them. And even though it might be painful at some points, like getting aware of individual and collective thought patterns and breaking them, this is also a chance now for us to, as Juan put it so well, „further educate“ ourselves.

Bas Grossfeldt’s “Lost in Sensation’ EP is out today via Metroplex Records and you can buy it via the link below