“It is very important to us to support Berlin’s underground scene at Krake Festival.  We’ve been following Fleisch for a while and are looking forward to them showcase their sound at the festival!!” -Krake Festival

Ahead of Halv Drøm’s (aka Saxon Jorgensen) appearance as part of the Fleisch showcase, we spoke to him about Krake, and his methodology for creating sound, and how he was enlisted to play the festival this year:

I went to Krake festival a few years ago as a guest and liked some of the artists and this year they requested me for the Fleisch showcase which I’m really looking forward to!

What exactly is Fleisch?

Fleisch is a Party / Record label focussing on contemporary EBM,Techno, Acid, breaks and Electro. Some of my favourite times dancing were in the Urban Spree basement at a Fleisch party! I had the pleasure to play these parties with Lghtwght, Zanias, Primary, Phase Fatale, Agency and so many more but we were the core djs at the start! I and August started doing these back to back sets which we were doing a lot over these past years in different scenes.

Our next party is on the 7th September with Kontravoid from Canada and Lucy Cliché from Australia!

Who are you excited to see/perform with at Krake? 

Reka because she’s an incredible Dj and JK Flesh because I’m feeling a lot of his tracks!

What is your musical background?

I was the guitarist for Ascetic: with August Skipper (Operant) and Andrew Jigalin (Owner of Dream Baby Dream). I had made music before but really that band and working with those guys was my main thing and informed my musical universe!

What is your methodology for exploring sound and creating music? Can you give a specific example of a moment in your creative process?

I find field recordings a good way to start as there’s so much texture and atmosphere to inspire an unusual palette. I also sample my guitar through many different effects pedals and perform the parameters. I still use a sample pack I made recording a loading dock at the back of a super market 6 years ago! I walked around hitting everything in that space to create most of the big percussive hits in my tracks. Im refining that approach so far!

Is there a practice in alchemic spirituality in the creation of music? Maybe transmuting things into tangible existence that are perhaps nebulous in the void?

Sound can be healing so whether its simply the resonant frequency effecting your cells or the sound that tells a story that brings you to a better awareness it’s definitely a mysterious tool that we can utilise. There’s certain frequencies that alter your brain waves and or restrict parts of your brain and focus on other areas that may help you have visions. But for me alchemy is about transitional stages to become the best version of your self!

What can we expect from your set at Krake?

I’m always on the look out for special tracks that have that impact on me. That get me in the moment and out of my head. Frenetic, romantic, absurd, dark and primal is usually what I’m going for in my sets!

Halv Drøm’s set begins at 2:30am. For more information on the festival, go here.

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The opening track “Absorb in an Other” by Halv Dröm (Saxon Jorgensen, from the band Ascetic) builds and eases into a pulsating heartbeat until it explodes. Aleks Schatten (Berlin-based DJ, writer and producer) makes his debut with “Tribulations”—a distorted and acid-tinged track that is both intrusive and unforgiving in its attack. SΛRIN (who has an upcoming EP on aufnahme + wiedergabe and another on Veleno Viola with Blush Response as KONKURS) can do no wrong with his clean and simplistic, yet menacing track “Sentinel” with all the elements of the old school industrial sprit. However, the highlight of Self-Aware is Human Performance Lab (SΛRIN and Matthew Cangiano from Vierance) with “Acetone”. It’s an unexpected track based on the overall mood of the rest of the compilation that combines the distinctive SΛRIN bassline and snare with a—dare I say—softer, melody that recalls pre-rave early 90s techno.

Side two jolts into “Schianto Contro II Tempo” by Bakunin Commando (Violet Poison) which is pure, pacing EBM and not unlike the genre’s progenitors of which he is obviously inspired. S.G.H.L.’s “Meat Machine” is another exceptional track—perfect in its druggy, off-kilter yet danceable beat. “Hipnoz” by Nick Larkin is perhaps the most pure of techno in Self-Aware; the Moscow based producer does know just a bit about it, after all. The compilation closes with “Into Self” by Dolgener (part of The Cast Project), a track that recalls Dirk Ivens’ Klinik and Sonar eras with its distorted vocals and cataclysmal noise.

Self-Aware’s contribution to the current scene is in its diversity: it re-imagines the sounds and attitudes of dismal, apocalyptic music from decades ago yet has the prescience to understand the next wave of what’s to come in industrial techno. The compilation comes as one of 50 hand numbered and shrink wrapped limited edition cassettes with j-card or as a digital download here.

SELF-AWARE by VARIOUS ARTISTS

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