Techno

Techno stalwarts Christian Smith and John Selway are holders of the increasingly rare accolade of scoring a genuine ‘Tune of Miami’ with their forthcoming release Total Departure (check it out in John’s ‘lift off’ YouTube video for the tune below).

We spoke to Christian about the long-running production duo’s knack for making accessible techno, and exciting plans for a party in Chrstian’s adoptive city of Barcelona for the Sonar festival…

Total Departure is a monster of a tune that was huge in Miami and seems to push dancefloors ever upwards into mass hysteria, tell us how the tune came about?

“After discovering a plug effect that makes you believe that a sound just goes up and up, we immediately said we have to devote a track to this effect. So we basically built a jacking groove around the rising sound and carefully arranged the track. We put allot of time into make a very powerful break, and yes, I think we succeeded. Everybody from John Digweed to Richie Hawtin is hammering this tune every set.”

Both this tune and Transit Time before it have managed to appeal to a wide range of DJs from the trance boys to the techno purists – why do you think that is?

“We have never been purists and always made music with proper arrangements. I think this is something that sets our music apart from many other techno producers. We always try to make smooth and gradual arrangements so that the track never gets boring. About 10 years ago we made a tune on Intec, Carl Cox’s label, called Move! This was the start of our crossover sound. Not only did Sasha license it for his legendary Ibiza Global Underground compilation, but everybody else from Danny Tenaglia to Deep Dish and also some real techno purists like Jeff Mills and Surgeon rocked this track all the time. And now it seems we have another one of those tunes with Total Departure. These days I’m very happy that Techno is slower and that House and Techno DJs play allot of similar tracks. At the end of the day it’s about good music. I really don’t care much about people that only play one style of music. I think a proper DJ can rock various crowds.”

How do you think Techno stands today in the ever moving world of dance music?

“At the present time the word Techno and Minimal are really hyped by the UK press. Also the fact that the bpm’s are the same as house now makes it much more accessible than it was before. One good thing about Techno is that it always evolves and changes. Anyways, right now it’s in a really good state, but so is House etc. The amount of good music out there at the moment is incredible.”

You’ve been working with John Selway for 15 years now, how has the relationship developed and where is it going?

“We have a very good personal and honest professional relationship. I think what also helps alot is that we do our own things as well and work on different projects. In that way we don’t get tired of each other and the creative flow maintains very healthy. For example we have been making tracks for 15 years and this year, 2008, we are releasing more music and remixes than any year before. We are not getting tired. Quite the opposite! Expect to see some slamming releases and remixes out this and next year…”

What’s coming up next for you? We hear there’s a big party at Sonar for starters?

“Oh yeah baby! We do one at Sonar every year as a matter of fact. I am one of the partners in the Club4 night which is every Thursday at Cityhall in Barcelona. It’s a great small club for about 500 people and we’ve had everyone from Richie Hawtin to Josh Wink to Carl Cox play for us. This Sonar we have secured: Audion live, Marco Carola, Paco Osuna downstairs, and upstairs, Adam Beyer, myself, and Par Grindvik live. If you are going to Sonar make sure to stop our party on Thursday night.”

Christian’s Current Top 5 Downloads

Mark Broom - Trumpet - Rotary Cocktail
Patch Park & Ozgur Can - Swell (Dubfunk Remix) - Audio Therapy
Sian - The Dogs Of Thessaloniki (Axel Bartsch Remix) - Octopus Digi Pack
Madoc & Dopamine - Distorted Mind - Hell Yeah Recordings
Paolo Mojo - Nightlaw - Oosh
www.djchristiansmith.com

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