It was quite the beginning of the dubtech/dubhouse hype, so we thought the Internet needs a new netlabel
It was back in 2001 ... Everybody was speaking of Montreal to be the minimal mekka ... We didn't find it worth to invest more energy and time into a dying medium... The Thinner summer will see upcoming releases by Mikkel Metal (Kompakt, Echochord), Theodor Zox (Textone)...
Oscilator: Would you tell us something about the beginnings of third generation of Thinner?
Sebastian: It was back in 2001 when I used to hang out in IRC a lot. Back in those days I was still producing music by myself, and were in touch with this guy called "teori", who ran the Thinner module netlabel. We became friends, and figured at one point that we share the same interest on labels like Basic Channel or artists like Kit Clayton. It was quite the beginning of the dubtech/dubhouse hype, so we thought the Internet needs a new netlabel that features those genres aswell. But after weeks of thinking for a cool fashioned label name, we decided that the good old "Thinner" name is still stellar, so we restructured the label completly, finished after 50 module releases to switch over to MP3.
Oscilator: Can you tell us something about Thinner overseas tours?
Sebastian: The idea to do that arised when Pheek was touring across Europe in summer 2002. I invited him to join me in Mannheim for a couple of days and hang out together. We went in the evening to a bar and where thinking of future collaboration, where he said at one point that he would like to present Thinner in Montreal. It sounded fairly impossible and outreached to me, since everybody was speaking of Montreal to be the minimal mekka at that time. So we planned on this and things just processed. In March 2k3 we went there with a bunch of artists and played in Montreal and Quebec City. Everything went good and we had a great time, and surprisingly, a pretty good attendance. You must imagine, a label showcases with no physical releases available, I think this has not happened before in that measures. The reaction was very well, so it was obvious to return this spring. Bookers from other cities heard of us meanwhile, so we could expand to Toronto and Detroit, where we had great success. Dennis DeSantis was both times part of the tour.
Oscilator: What kind of feedback do you receive from the audience and the press?
Sebastian: Most of the press is surprised of what you can reach by utilizing the structures the internet offers to distribute the music. The fact that it is for free doesn't imply that it's bad, it is an obvious prejudice. So the people are positively surprised, if not even impressed by what we're doing. The reviews are really good, too. It happens more and more, that I receive feedback from either fans or musicians by themselves, speaking of the internet being the future medium for music distribution, especially for modern electronic one.
Oscilator: Have you been thinking about releasing Thinner stuff on vinyl?
Sebastian: We did one release, but never got paid by our distributor Fine Audio/UCMG. So after this pathetic experience we didn't find it worth to invest more energy and time into a dying medium, in a whole collapsing market. Although the interest for electronic music is still there, I think most interest lays in the ex-iron curtain countries in east-europe, but those countries don't have the market power as the western countries, therefore you can't actually sell records down there. You have to cope, and find a different approach how to reach the people. That's what we're doing. The majority of our european supporters are from the east, certainly.
Oscilator: Some of the Thinner releases represent the cutting edge of contemporary electronic, dance music and that is why I want to ask you how do you see dance music scene of today?
Sebastian: Personally, I feel like there's currently stagnation in terms of invention. I think the electronic music has meanwhile got explored to the border and there won't come up something really "new" anymore. It's a dialectical process, as it is with everything of life. Fashions and trends come and go, and then are re-invented at one point.
Oscilator: Please tell us something about future Thinner releases?
Sebastian: The Thinner summer will see upcoming releases by Mikkel Metal (Kompakt, Echochord), Theodor Zox (Textone), Remixes for Benfay from the Thinner Allstars and EPs by Johan Skugge (Mitek, Onitor) and TPolar (Morris Audio/Karloff). In autumn we'll have new Albums by Christian Bloch, Digitalverein, krill.minima, a new EP by Lufth and next Spring there will be a big Dennis DeSantis, Paul Keeley and Brian Kage album for the next North American tour.
Oscilator: Tell us something about the future of your sublabel Autoplate?
Sebastian: We have changed our direction recently from the earlier noisey droney stuff to much more filigrane music. Artists that prove our approach to the detail are Tlon and Marsen Jules, who will have his follow-up to "Lazy Sunday Funerals" being released early July. The recent Compilation underlines our new direction, it's a coloured mixture between sampled shifting orchestral works, dub electronica, acoustic organic instruments and field recording ambient.
Oscilator: Would you name your favourite artists/labels in the last few years?
Sebastian: I don't listen to much music besides to the demos I receive or to the Thinner/Autoplate releases due to a heavy lack of time. Although I sometimes spot good EPs in the Netaudio scene, I don't buy any commercial music at all anymore. I'm too far away from being an every-day consumer of music. I would certainly love to have more time for record-digging because I believe there's a lot of good stuff, but I must study!
http://www.thinner.cc/ |
