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Following the release of André Galluzzi’s Berghain mix in November 2005, O-TON 01 marked the start of the club’s vinyl series. Ostgut Ton was and is meant as a platform for Berghain and Panorama Bar’s residents as well as other artists the club has grown fond of. Stylistically it since has been as open as possible, without losing sight of the dancefloor.
Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann are both residents at Berghain. This also is the place where their friendship and collaboration started. Throughout the 90s Ben has mainly played at Cookies, Tresor and WMF. When Berghain opened in December 2004, he took over a residency to act out his need for harder sounds. By that time he had already released 12“es on BPitch Control, Memo and WMF Records, which gained him attention outside of Germany as well. Marcel, on the other hand, has already been a resident at Ostgut, Berghain’s predecessor, always keeping stylistic backdoors open. In the daytime, he worked for the Berlin based record shop institution Hard Wax.
“Dawning” and “Dead Man Watches The Clock” are two functional club stompers, rather deep than too obvious and rather analogue sounding than digital. In Dettmann and Klock’s heads, Detroit is just around the corner, especially “Dawning” with its stirring harmonies, reveals its full effect in the club.
Following our vinyl debut by Dettmann|Klock, the second release comes from Paul Brtschitsch. Born in Berlin, raised in Frankfurt/Main, Brtschitsch, who also produces and runs the label Taksi with André Galluzzi, has just decided to move back to his old home town.
These two tracks here clearly show themselves influenced by Brtschitsch’s visits to Berghain / Panorama Bar, where Paul, as he puts it in his own words, was finally able to quench his thirst for inspiration again: “I see ‘Twirl’ as a perfect soundtrack to the moment, when the shutters open up at Panorama Bar and daylight floods the room. ‘Under’ on the other hand is a deep and atmospheric track trying to underline the vastness and large scale of the Berghain.”
Of’course this doesn’t mean, both tracks couldn’t work the other way around or at any other place: “Twirl” and “Under” are universal and useful scorchers fusing a certain summery, trancey fleet-footed-ness with the right ammount of dancefloor punch making this ep a strong aspirant for the perfect open air record 2006.
Released: 27 November 2006
Our third vinyl release comes from Berghain resident DJ Marcel Dettmann, who already provided the all around successful debut with Ben Klock (Dawning / Dead Man Watches The Clock). “Dawning” slowly but surely developed into a massive hit and was recognized way beyond the borders of Berlin nightlife. In the meantime, Marcel had set up his own label MDR, which is exclusively distributed by Hard Wax – the record store where Dettmann worked during daytime and regularly serves customers at the counter.
“Quicksand” on A is a bone dry club tool which does not even start to bother about Minimal sound standards. Instead it mind-bogglingly uses one noise sound in a very effective way in a skeletal, even nervous arrangement. Without question, noise is the rave signal of the year and “Quicksand” is one of its most convincing representatives.
“Getaway” on the B-side strikes a more sublime note. It has already been produced one year ago, around the same time “Dawning”. It reflects the atmosphere of the wee hours in the morning in a club, when melancholic Detroit chords can touch the soft boiled dancefloor to the quick. This is a softly pushing track with an emotional surplus!
