Rhythmism.com

One of the most prolific producers out there is making his return state side, for this New York exclusive gig. Mark Henning made his USA Debut last year, and reSOLUTE is bringing him back for round two on June 20th, 2009. Now a London transplant to Berlin, Mark is getting adjusted with the help of all his neighboring brits, and artist friends already living in Berlin.

You followed the exodus and moved to Berlin last year. How is the whole process of settling in and communing with the local techno community?

Yes, bit of a cliché now isn't it?! My wife and I have been here just over a year now and we feel very settled - loving it here actually. There's nothing to draw us anywhere else. Forgetting the whole music scene, it's simply a great place to live... loads to do. We live central, yet in 15 minutes there's rolling countryside with golf clubs, lakes etc. Good for me as I like that shxt! We live in an apartment block with 7 Brits in total so we have a proper little community going. Plus we've made some really great friends since we've been here. Having so many other artist friends living here has definitely made the transition easier. And it's really funny (or not) how everywhere you go you see so many of your peers. We've kind of taken over Berlin!

Now that you live in Berlin, what is your favorite club in Berlin? Favorite spot for afterhours?

Favourite haunts have to be Club Der Visionaere and Panorama Bar. I tend to stay away from Bar 25 as for some reason they don't like the look of me and never let me in! :lol: Every now and then I end up there - it can be fun sometimes. I'm looking to check out some new venues though, e.g. Villa, I've been told it's really cool - basically a club in a house - as I'm a bit bored of going to the same places all of the time. If the weather is good then Club Der Visionaere is the no. 1 choice. I just wish all the techno tourists would ease off a bit as it takes an age to get a drink at the bar now.

You have a record coming out on Clink Recordings, who also migrated to Berlin last year. Was it a serendipitous meeting of the minds in Berlin? How did you guys meet and decide to start working together?

Yes absolutely. I'm really pleased that we hooked up. Camea, Insideout and Tim Xavier have all become good friends. We've been hanging out since last summer. We actually met at a drunken BBQ that Jeremy Caulfield from Dumb Unit was organizing. After meeting up a few more times and discussing music and our love of X-Box, they asked me for some tracks. Though I didn't expect to have a release on Clink so soon. A gap came up a month ago and then 'boom' they loved these 2 new tracks and the release was scheduled for pretty much 1 month later.



Can you tell us a little about the release? What is the concept?

Hmmm... no concept actually (as with most of my music). Both tracks use some similar sounds but other than that there isn't anything to connect them. They are both new ideas though. I work on some tracks for up to a year - spending only a bit of time on them every now and then - but I started these at the end of last year which is pretty recent for me. I'm not very good at describing my own music. I guess 'Punch Bowl' is more techno and 'Jilted Love' is more bumpy, dark tech house with a lemon twist.

When is the release date?

June 24th I believe. Digital will be a few weeks later.

What other current releases do you have out now?

There's a lot actually. I was really busy in the studio over the winter. There are three remixes out - on Hypercolour (of Matt Star), Absurd (Tigerskin) and Eminor (NDRU) records. Also two EPs: 'S'All Good' on Tic Tac Toe records and my 2nd release on Frankie records - 'Vick For President'. And there's plenty more planned for the summer and beyond including an EP on UK label Hypercolour as well as music on labels like Om, Minimood, and a new Ibiza label called Vitalik.

This is your second time in US, how do you see the scene here comparing to the rest of the world and especially Europe?

I see the scene as being really healthy. The gigs I played at rocked big time - they were well attended and organised - and the public knew their stuff. Apart from the scene being more spread out I don't see it as being much different than Europe. Of course in Europe there are more parties and more parties that run late but there are enough cool gigs and promoters who know what they are doing in the US. I'm hearing more and more cool stories from DJs who have gigged in the US and have had crazy times.

Favorite thing about NYC?

Hmmm... Considering I've only ever been there for about 48 hours in total, Die Hard 3.

You've played at reSOLUTE before for your NYC debut. What's your take on the "underground" aspect of their parties?

Based on my experience of that warehouse party, 'underground' is an apt description. I remember the main room being pretty much pitch black with minimal lighting.. it was pretty eerie actually. I had a lot of fun. The venue was perfect and leant itself to the music and the fact that party could continue until the early hours - much later than most club nights in NYC I guess.

You have recently finalized your new live PA. Where was the premier for this set, and how did it go? What kind of factors go into fine-tuning your performance?

Actually, it's been a constant learning experience for me. The first time I played live was in Berlin last October, but it was very much a last minute thing. I'd been looking for the 'perfect' set up for a while but couldn't decide; I was looking for a solution that didn't involve a laptop. But in the end, I had so many requests from promoters that I decided to just get something up and running with Ableton Live. Since then I've performed live about 6 times and each time I've changed the set.

I'm never satisfied. I keep on wanting to update the set with my latest tracks. My performance at Fabric in London was the best so far I think. Even though I'm not entirely happy with using Ableton it's still probably the best method in terms of flexibility - there's a good reason why 90% of all live PA's are done with it. Saying that, I'm looking to perform later in the year with some other outboard kit - including an MPC 1000, TR-707 and a Jomox T-Resonator. I can't wait until I actually have more time to try it all out in the studio.

You're playing a DJ set this time in NYC. What are some of the challenges and constraints in playing live for you?

I do enjoy playing live but currently my set is very structured - I can't deviate too much from the plan. This is something that I want to change for sure. I'd like to be able to take it in different directions according to what the crowd are feeling... but this is much easier said than done. It's all about finding the right balance about how much you can improvise within tracks and how flexible you can be in terms of jumping from one track to another. Or another thought is to forget the tracks concept and just going for a 'free for all' with less structure.. but this is the hardest. Maybe I should just get my banjo and kick drum out of the cupboard and go for the one-man-band approach.

Last year you released your first artist album – Jupiter Jive. With your live set ready, is this the basis for your next artist album?

Not really. My current live set actually still contains a fair few tracks from Jupiter Jive. I think my next album is a way off. It'll certainly be much less dance floor orientated. It will probably be more of a listening album - something different. For now I'm concentrating on putting out 12" dance floor tracks; and there is a lot of new material in the pipeline. So my live set is made up of half of released material and half of up and coming stuff.

How do you describe your sound, and have you seen it evolve over the years?

It's definitely evolved. It started off much more 'minimal' (I fxcking hate that word).. I was really into the whole 'clickhouse' thing in 2003/2004 when I started. My production used to be a lot rougher and hectic. Listening back to some old tracks I can't believe how much was going on. it's insane... I'd have 100 channels of audio. I didn't really have any master plan - I would just go with the flow. Now I have a much better idea of what I want to make - from the production style to the sounds. My new material is less busy with more emphasis on one hook; big, full sounds, not too clever but still interesting. I'm definitely feeling older house and techno - I'm totally sick of a lot of current tech-house / minimal bullshxt that is being released at the moment. In terms of my sound I'm bad at describing it. It can be house it can be techno.. quite often dark and moody.

I always try and put musicality, soul and a good groove into my productions. There are usually some weird and wonky elements - I don't have any interest in releasing forgettable, generic loopy/filler tracks, however crisp and fat they are, what's the point? There will be 100 better, fatter, straighter more boring tracks that people want to buy and play (yes, unfortunately I can't just think about making music purely for my own pleasure anymore. I have to think about what the public wants to some degree, whilst still maintaining my principles!)

Your productions have set you apart from the pack, can you give any advice to young aspiring producers?

The competition is so damn fierce out there right now because of a massive increase in the number of people releasing music and performing that it's never been more important to set yourself apart from the crowd. If you're making house/techno music aimed at making people dance then inject some funk and interesting twists and turns... otherwise your tracks will get lost in the mass of releases each week. Getting labels to listen to your music can be really difficult and frustrating.. so be prepared for this.. don't give up.


Saturday, June 20th
reSOLUTE 025 presents

reSOLUTE ROOF PARTY

with music from
Rodriguez Jr. –Live
Mark Henning
Elon
Connie


www.myspace.com/djmarkhenning