We are very happy to present the 3rd Teclectic Podcast. Amar Derradj started his solo project Canson with a first release on Stattmusik in 2002 and can be regarded as an integral part of Zurich’s underground dance scene. His output also found a home on labels such as GS Zurich, Cityfox Ltd., Bar25, Eminor and Sub Static!

DOWNLOAD | Listen on Soundcloud

Hello Amar – How did everything start? What is your musical background?

I have always been interested in music and technics. Electronic music touched my life in 1993. One year later I bought my first sampler/synthesizer and started to play around with it. In 2002 I started my project Canson with the first release “One Call” on Stattmusik. In the same year, I founded the label Handheld with two friends, which received positive feedback from DJs and the media. Unfortunately we quit our label Handheld some years ago. My output found a home on labels such as GS Zurich, Cityfox Ltd., Bar25, Eminor, Sub Static – to mention just the most important ones.

So tell us something about your mix. Is it a pretty good example of what we would hear from you at the club?

I recorded it some weeks ago in my home studio with the usual set-up. It’s a little round-up of the tracks I have released and played within the last few months. When I have the chance to play longer live sets than usual – which means over 1.5 hours – I dig out some of my older stuff and blend it in. I prefer to play in the morning hours or at a relaxed afterhour, because my music is more mellow and emotional than most straightforward dance floor tunes.

What kind of dance music do you love? Do you also listen to other music?

I like the recent tunes from Nina Kraviz, Gregorythme, Guillaume Coutu Dumont – just to name a few. I love the old records from Moritz von Oswald and Roman Flügel. But I hardly listen to dance music at home. I used to work in a record store for six years and that resulted in a diversified taste of music. Radio Dept., Piano Magic and Wechsel Garland are some of my favourite bands.

What is your favourite kind of party to play at? Do you have any favourite locations?

I just came back home from my very last weekend at Bar25 in Berlin. I always loved to play and party there. The location and the crowd were perfect for my music. I also like to play in Hamburg with my friends from Liebe*Detail and Eminor. I just love the relaxed vibe up there.
In my home town Zurich I am regularly booked by GS and Cityfox. Cabaret, Zukunft and Hive are the clubs I play at and go to – most of the owners are good friends of mine. Of course, I love to be part of nice open air parties as well.

You recently played with your mate Cosili under the name “Anatol”. Tell us more about this project. Are there any releases planed?
Anatol is a very old project from the 90s. Cosili and I had our first release on the Zurich based label called Stattmusik. When we used to play, it always had some live-jam-character. After we stopped the project some years ago, we were asked to play again at the “Future is now Festival” in Zurich. This gig was a total blast. We had so much fun that we decided to get together more often again. We are not recording at the moment. But we are thinking about going to the studio very soon.

What are you up to in the near future? Can we expect any new releases from you soon?

I was asked to do a remix for Mark Henning’s track “S’All Good” on Tic Tac Toe Records. Mark’s original version inspired me very much, so I ended up with two totally different remixes. I am quite happy that Kenneth (aka Patrik Bateman / Owner of TTT Rec.) decided to release both versions.
I am also looking forward to the upcoming Fabric 54 mixed by Damian Lazarus. My new and still unreleased track for Cityfox called “Sleeping” will be on it. And hopefully there are some other tracks to be released very soon.

Visit Canson: www.facebook.com/cansonmusic | www.residentadvisor.net/dj/canson

In September 09 Pikaya participated in a fantastic GS LIVE night. GS LIVE is an experimental party series at Club Zukunft in Zurich. The concept entails all artists performing and improvising live – a challenging task, not only for the musicians but also for their audience on the dance floor.

DOWNLOAD | Listen on Soundcloud

Hello Daniel – tell us a little bit about this GS Live Night at Club Zukunft.

It’s a great idea to create a club night featuring live acts only. I’m sure that is is exciting for the audience to listen to music that hasn’t yet been released or maybe even never will be, music that can’t be found in every dj case and can’t be ordered online for no money. We are really looking forward to play at the Zukunft. Crew, PA, club size and atmosphere are simply perfect and the line-up is always well chosen and carefully compiled. We easily get into a conversation with the other participating acts and like to seize the opportunity to discus about technics and get inspired by each other.
The great collaborative release (editor’s note: Gregorythme / Pikaya – UmmO / Amsterdam – GS06) that has come out of it tops the whole thing off and bundles the different approaches.

What are your musical influences?

Electronic elements in all different styles of music have always fascinated me since the time when I first came in touch with computers in 1992. My motivation was to find out how to make these sounds. Trough the Demoscene around Amiga and the C64, I started to create music with tracker programs. 4 mono tracks and 8 bit – that basically forces you to explore the boundaries. These boundaries and experimenting are my motivation still today to make electronic music. With this consciousness the mass of today’s possibilities is seen in another light. I like to go back to these former times mentally and am happy about the new open technical landscape, the almost endless space to sample and bout the precision you can achieve with the current technologies.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

If i need a little reset, I often listen to jazz, funk or classical music. Other important references are still Depeche Mode, Yello, Kraftwerk, Stockhausen, John Cage and rather unpopular stuff from the sixties or seventies. From 1995 on, house started to become very important to me.

And what about Franky?

Franky’s inspiration comes more from the dj side. In the mid-nineties he started to combine jazz with hiphop, funk, dub, electronica and indie. Our tastes are often quite similar in terms of these musical genres. We have been inspiring one another since 2000. Franky inspires me with music I would never have come across and I inspire him with technical ideas at the computer and the synthesizers. I am the one that consumes less music and he is the one who is less into technics. But from time to time this weighting shifts and swaps and produces interesting results. Pikaya has been working with this interrelation from the beginning and there is no end in sight!

Any news for 2010? What can we expect from Pikaya?

There are definitely more releases about to come in 2010. The next album wont be released on Cadenza in its original form as planned originally due to the release schedule. It would have been put on hold for to long otherwise. We therefore decided to split it into different releases. In March comes an EP on Meander Music, which will contain three of the more danceable tracks. The less club-orientated tracks will probably come out as digital bonus tracks, maybe also on other labels in combination with new material.
Besides this, there is still a remix project for Catenaccio Records, the labels of Benjamin Fehr aka FFWD, in the drawer.
And last but not least we will totally change our live set. We will play regularly during summer at Club der Visionäre in Berlin. We are also planning some jam sessions with Franky as DJ and me at the keyboard with guests like Frieder Klaris (HDT), DeWalta (Meander) und Ion Ludwig (Quagmire). So get ready for some nice Berlin summer nights!

www.gs-zurich.net | www.zukunft.cl | www.myspace.com/pikaya | Gregorythme / Pikaya – UmmO / Amsterdam – GS06

Music with its seven notes, coming back to its first one at the octave: simple, limitless and ad infinitum. This is the next clever coup from Zurich.

„Ave Leo“ is an homage to life. The three guys from Pompelmoessap lay it on thick and dally over a tenderly melting melody, skillfully play with shakers, drum cuts and low deep down effects. Evoking a conjuring atmosphere that gets under your skin. The groove is right. The sun rises, early in the morning at the club.

On the B-side you will find a collectible, an everlasting trip of melancholic club couch music with Bob Dylan’s cultural message from the 70ies. Ion Ludwig looks at „Spiritual Devil“ as a kind of „protest“ against all those 2D digitally recycled techhouse sounds, which are released every day en masse. Here plays timeless music for connoisseurs who want to feel and think while listening. Smoke some weed before listening. Peace.

Und weiter geht es mit der neuen EP auf dem Zürcher Label. Brilliant und smooth funkt Gregorythme auf der A-Seite mit sehr lockeren Synths und Sequenzen und lässt sich auf die Halluzinationen der Nacht ein, in denen er die eigenwillig gebogenen Melodien und Klänge wie eine Waffe aus Plüsch anlegt, mit der er sich durchboxt. Deep und magisch. Und die jazzigere Rückseite von Pikaya lässt es in ihren Hallfetzen glucksen und ist ähnlich organisch sanft im Sound dabei. Musik, die einen immer weiter in einer solchen Sicherheit hinausführt, als hätte sie uns eine Hand gereicht. Verzaubernd, betörend, mystisch fast, aber doch immer wieder funky. Technojazz der nächsten Generation.

Words: Bleed | Published in edition nr.138 Dez’09

GS LIVE is an experimental party series at Club Zukunft in Zurich. The concept entails all artists performing and improvising live – a challenging task, not only for the musicians but also for their audience on the dance floor. Grégory Poncet (Gregorythme, Digitaline), Daniel Ramm & Frank Greiner (Pikaya) originally met in this setting, connected their machines and visibly enjoyed themselves. It was in that night, when they decided to create a split EP together.

Gregorythme takes the A-side. The story about the planet ‘UmmO’, 14.6 light years away from the earth, is mysterious and nebulous. Just like the track: full of fantastic moments, intensive and spherical. )+(

The B-side ‘Amsterdam’ by Pikaya is based on a faint idea that emerged from the warmth and cosiness of a hotel bed in Amsterdam. It has been recorded and arranged live with a very basic setup. The moody bass line, the fat dubby chords and the soft pads convey the sensation of a unique jam session. Superb music with live character!

Around December we will be back with a stunning release by Pompelmoessap (Plak, Geneva) and Ion Ludwig (Quagmire, Perlon, Berlin) – please stay tuned.

go to soundcloud: Gregorythme / Pikaya – UmmO / Amsterdam – GS06

Endlich wieder eine EP von Canson. Den hatte ich vermisst. Und die beiden Tracks treffen die Sommerstimmung so perfekt, dass man den feinsten kleinsten zischelnden Geräuschen dabei zuhören möchte, wie sie sich unter die Bäume verkriechen und sich nicht wundern würde, tanzte plötzlich mitten auf dem Dancefloor ein Reh. Zwei sehr schöne Sommerhymnen.

Words: Bleed | Published on: www.de-bug.de

following the high-flying release of mathias kaden on gs, canson celebrates his stunning comeback on the zurich based label! two years after releasing ‘gueti sach’, he drops another dance floor killer for the crazy morning hours. ‘risiko’ is mysterious and provocative!

on the b-side ‘hot sunday’ inspires with its cheerful dramaturgy. this is the perfect soundtrack for a dancing sunday in the park!

it’s not a surprise that mathias kaden releases a terrific and energy-loaded track for the young label gs zurich. too many all-nighters and a close friendship unite the label – also well known as one of the best party labels of zurich – with this exceptional artist.

on the b-side is a track from the young zurich producer knor. with „la plage“ he reflects the perfect atmosphere of a mild summer evening on the beach with all its surprises. knor also causes quite a stir as drummer of the band rizzoknor, which recently played one of the best concerts this season at bar25 in berlin.

the beat goes on! the main idea – to bring national and international producers together on GS – is being applied on this third release for the first time.

somewhere in-between stockholm, berlin and los angeles mikael stavöstrand always finds a convenient home. in zurich it’s the morning hour where he feels like a pig in clover. that’s the right moment for “at the bottom” being played. decent-housey and introvert the track grooves along the entire lenght. vocalsamples and african elements cause a organic character.

proper hoax and aciid! it’s self-evident for the zurich doyen. bang goes is known for demanding something from his listeners. in return he offers a good deal. after releases on bruchstuecke and stattmusik he continues his work with “i can’t hold it” like a pioneer with dramaturgy and ideology. boring techno is surely made by others! an interesting b-side which affects unexpected.