Axel Bartsch PRESENTS SPORTCLUB21
'For Lovers' EP by Oddvar
PROUD MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
PROUD is a Berlin style icon. A monthly high-gloss publication printing 20.000 copies and also showcased online, publishing Berlin-lifestyle.
Click here to read the article (in German)
Q&A ON THE NO DOUGH BLOG
The Spanish label continues to show their love of all things Bartsch. To read the interview, copy and paste this into your browser: http://www.nodoughmusic.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106%3Atest&catid=1%3Alatest-news&Itemid=50&lang=en
PLAY.FM PRESENTS AXEL BARTSCH Saturday, 29 August 2009, 12:00 AM - 1:00 AM (CET)
Exclusive interview and special on air set on Vienna's PLAY.FM
Click here for more info
NEW DJ SET FROM THE US TOUR
Thanks to the Basstown crew in Boston for recording and releasing Axel's set at MakeItNew. Click the artwork below to download the set at their blogspot.
Or copy and paste this into your browser: http://basstown.blogspot.com/2009/08/axel-bartsch-mix.html
AXEL BARTSCH IGNITES ON NO DOUGH "Opening what is an exciting collection of summer releases from No Dough, we have a record which is a celebration of percussive techno, presented on a warm palette of textured sound designed to push you onwards through the night...
In ‘Caraka’, we have a deep and looping beat, dominated by a large skip in the bassline rhythm that’s almost “jackin” in its eccentricity...[with] a remix from a long-time friend of No Dough Music, but this is the first time we have had the pleasure to release his work, from Sportclub, Kompakt and Karmarouge we’re proud to present a remix from Axel Bartsch and we hope to bring you more of his work in the future. He creates an epic journey of luscious atmospheric hooks and echoing effects backed up with a super solid Techno beat, this song rattles along at a high pace. Building the energy throughout with modulating synth’s and percussive roll’s, this one will surely be a favorite in the bigger rooms this summer!!"
-- BEATPORTAL
Patrick Chadronnet - "Very good grooving tunes!!! I love cats!"
Carl Cox - "Axel Bartsch remix really does the job here - love the groove on drowning the cat too."
Timo Maas - "Axel’s Mix Rocks!"
RECENT DISCOGRAPHY Towie - 'The Drowning Cat E.P.' Label: No Dough Catalog: ND013 Format: 12", MP3 Released: 07 Jul 2009 Style: Techno, Tech House
Tracklisting: A1 "Caraka" A2 "Caraka" (Axel Bartsch T Like Techno Remix) B1 "Drowning The Cat" BUY THIS RELEASE AT BEATPORT
V/A - 'Home Sweet Home Session - Chapter 3' Label: Upon.You Catalog: UY019.1 Format: 12", White Label, Promo Released: 10 Nov 2008 Style: Techno, Minimal
Tracklisting: A1 Axel Bartsch - "Ah Yeah" A2 The Cheapers - "Gone Fishing" B1 Marco Resmann - "Kittens Getting Milk" B2 Sweet 'n Candy - "Cut The Painter"
Supported by M.A.N.D.Y., Shinedoe, Osunlade, Oliver Koletzki, Barem, Dirt Crew, Format B, Jesse Rose, Luciano, Mark Henning, Mathias Kaden, Markus Kavka... BUY THIS RELEASE AT BEATPORT
Axel Bartsch - 'Rakson' Label: Sportclub Catalog: Sportclub19 Format: 12", MP3 Released: 14 Oct 2008 Style: Minimal, Tech House BUY THIS RELEASE AT BEATPORT
Axel Bartsch - 'Kiss' Label: Karmarouge Catalog: KR35CD Format: CD Album, LP Album, MP3 Released: 11 Jun 2008 Style: Minimal, Tech House
De:Bug Mag (GER): Der erste Track, "Am Mauerpark", ist ein unglaublich zurückhaltendes Monster von Track, in dem einfach bis auf den letzten Sound alles Perfektion ist. Die spielt jede Simple Sounds an die Wand. Und auch der Rest der Doppel-EP ist brilliant produziert, manchmal ist mir allerdings der Groove etwas zu stampfend und die Ideen nicht ganz so klar formuliert, als dass man bei den 6 Tracks wirklich immer sagen würde, dass man ohne sie nicht leben kann, will. Dennoch eine Platte die an Soundszenieren verdammt viel zu bieten hat und eigentlich brilliant auf jedem Floor rockt.
2000 and One (100% Pure/Intacto): Wicked producer Axel Bartsch, he is one of the most steady out there.
Groove Mag (GER): Letztgenanntes eröffnet auch den schön treibenden Mittelteil der Platte, in dem sich zusätzlich mit "Coppa", "BSV" und "Karneval" ein paar Peaktime-Bomben zusammen gefunden haben, bei denen vor allem die letzten beiden mit brachialen Snares und einer gehörigen Portion Aggressivität auf die Tanze zielen. Auch "Am Mauerpark" geht locker durch: Mit Bongobeat bewaffnet vermittelt es einem das Gefühl von einer Jamsession mit Kumpels, von Grillen und Bier im Park. Das an sich runde Gesamtpaket wird hier und da von ein paar nervigen Ambientausflügen getrübt. "Mystique" zum Beispiel kann man als künstlerische Entfaltung sehen, ich empfinde es als überflüssig. Auch "Zu Breit Für Dong-A" sorgt für einen kleinen Bruch, der aber wieder wett gemacht wird durch "Freedom", einem sehr verspielten, harmonischen Stück, bei dem man eine von Bartsch’ Stärken erkennt: Er vermag auf einem schmalen Grad zwischen Qualität und Cheesiness zu wandeln. Und bisher ist er dabei noch nie daneben getreten.
IDJ Mag (UK): Fans of Bartsch’s tense, big-room style will find much to enjoy here, with numerous moments of roaring peak time techno pomp to get crazy with.
Karotte (Cocoon/Great Stuff): Sensationell gutes album von Axel. Ich spiel alle Stücke. Ist für jede tages-nacht-club-zeit was dabei. Ganz großes tanzalbum!!! BUY THIS RELEASE AT BEATPORT
Tracklisting: A Sian - "Tales From The Lab" (Sian's No Lab Animals Remix) B Axel Bartsch - "Tales From The Lab" (Axel Bartsch Dirty Disco Remix)
BUY THIS RELEASE AT BEATPORT
Influences
The Clash, Soft Cell, Human League, Depeche Mode, Jean Michel Jarre, BDP, PE, Paris, Parliament Funkadelic, James Brown....
BIOGRAPHY
It’s a long road that leads from the purchase of your first single in mid-70s to establishing yourself as a respected solo artist with gigs all over the world today.
There were, of course, the first tentative steps, spinning funk and dance classics at house parties in the 80s. These led to Axel promoting raves in the early 90s with old friend and partner-in-crime Asem Shama, with whom he then built a studio, set up their first label and collaborated on the Vanguard project. Next came the fifty or so releases on respected and innovative labels like Bush, Planet of Drums, Frisbee Tracks and Spiel-Zeug, not to mention the innumerable live P.A.s and DJ sets…
After completing his studies in 2004, Axel was finally free to focus all his efforts on music, especially his increasingly sophisticated solo works. The fresh application of time and energy landed him one side of the now classic Speicher 26, released on Kompakt’s prestigious Extra offshoot.‘Galaxy’, was a growling, bass-driven bomb and deservedly became an international smash, setting dancefloors alight.
“I’d not had previous contact with the Kompakt guys,” Axel says, “But after all I’d read and heard, I got the feeling we had a lot in common, and that they’d like what I was doing…” And like it they did, commissioning another mighty Speicher production (‘Was Bleibt Ist Die Musik’) and acting as distributor for the newly minted Sportclub label, which Axel founded together with Franco Zeiger in late 2005. Sportclub has provided Axel with another platform from which to release his own heady brand of modernist techno - releases like ‘Breakout’, ‘Thunk’ and the ‘Hola Guapa’ EP have ensured a steep rise in his popularity, and put his name on the lips of DJs, labels and tastemakers across the globe.
Any doubt that Axel Bartsch had truly arrived was dispelled with the release of his ‘Light in the Dark’ maxi for Kompakt’s main imprint and the solo Speicher 41. “I produced ‘Light in the Dark’ with Kompakt in mind…” Axel tells us, “I guess it was meant to be, kind of eerie…”
After a few Remixes he returns to his good old partners at Spiel-Zeug Schallplatten to deliver two awesome peaktime tunes on the 'Radio Controlled' E.P. in 2007 followed by 'Easy' on their Hi Freaks imprint.
He had done three albums in cooperation with Asem and now it..s time for his first solo album 'Kiss' which hits the scene on Cologne based Karmarouge Records in June 2008 and takes him another step ahead celebrated by almost all upfront DJs in the techno circus.
2008 is the year when he really enjoys Berlin and spends more time to see what the city's got to offer then in the studio, but he still delivers remixes for Gui Boratto and Sian beside two Sportclub releases and a track for Berlins hot shot Upon You Records.
So the road’s been long, sure, but Axel remains tireless – his fascination with music and clubbing keeps him happy and, luckily for us, productive.
Wherever he is right now, whether tweaking away in the studio, gazing out the window of an airplane or maybe sweating his bollocks off after a 6-hour set at the Panorama Bar, you can rest assured: he’s doing it for music’s sake, and giving all he’s got to enchant and enthrall us with the sounds of the 21st century. Get behind him.
VIDEO reSOLUTE 026: Boat Without a Captain 7/19/09
Axel plays to a deck of melted New Yorkers who definitely didn't realize what they were getting into when the party started 14 hours ago....
Axel Bartsch @ Clubnight 31-07-2005
A little nostalgiaaahhh! Recorded live for TV, complete with spring rolls.
Herr Bartsch, leben wir denn noch? sind uns laaaang nich mehr auf de füsse getreten! unser revival hatten wa auch noch nich..... knorke grüsse um de ecke ;)