Kozzmozz meets Tresor @ Vooruit, Gent
Line up :
James Ruskin (Tresor , Blueprint, London ) – new album on Tresor : ‘The Dash’
Suburban Knight ( Tresor, Dark Print, UR, Detroit )
T-Quest (Music Man, BE)
Kr!z (Token Rec., BE)
Price : Pre-sale : 14,00€ Door : 16,00 €
Doors : 23h.
More info : www.kozzmozz.com
www.myspace.com/kozzmozz
www.tresorberlin.com
Artist-info :
James Ruskin
http://www.myspace.com/jamesruskin2006
http://www.discogs.com/artist/James+Ruskin
http://www.blueprintrecords.net
Suburban Knight
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Suburban+Knight
http://www.myspace.com/suburbanknight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Pennington
T-Quest
http://www.discogs.com/artist/t-quest
http://www.musicmanrecords.net
Kr!z
http://www.kriz.be
http://www.myspace.com/kriz_space
http://www.myspace.com/tokenrec
Concept :
Kozzmozz already going strong since 1995, is honored to invite the legendary Tresor.
Tresor, a true techno institution, founded in 1991 by Dimitri Hegemann, was and still is one of the most pioneering clubs and labels in techno-land. The legendary Berlin club had a unique underground atmosphere that was loved by so many clubbers worldwide. The label Tresor developed a strong connection with Detroit, signing people like Jeff Mills or Juan Atkins at the beginning of their careers, and quickly became a breeding ground for more talents from across the globe, Cristian Vogel, Surgeon or Fumiya Tanaka to name but a few.
Now that Tresor club has finally found a new home, Kozzmozz brings some of these unique Berlin techno flavors to Gent. Two techno institutions finally meet to rock the dance-floor the Berlin way.
First up is James Ruskin who has just released his fourth album ‘The Dash’ on Tresor Records. This is James’ third album on Tresor Records but it is a bit different from the previous ones in the sense that it is not as forceful as ‘Point 2’ and ‘Into Submission’ but builds a bridge between listening music and dance-floor techno.
He is joined by another regular guest at Tresor in the form of Suburban Knight or James Pennington. Suburban Knight was at the forefront of Detroit’s early releases on Transmat and Underground Resistance. In this way Suburban Knight and Tresor have a long history as Tresor was one of the first European labels and club to support Detroit artists.
Our compatriot T-Quest has been playing for Kozzmozz since the very beginning. He knows how to make the Kozzmozz-crowd go wild like no other ! He’s also one of the few Belgian dj’s to play in Tresor in Berlin not so long ago.
Kr!z is one of those few dj's who possesses the gift to play great records and have an astonishing mixing technique. And there's more: Kr!z recently presented his own label Token records, which has 4 releases out by Inigo Kennedy, Sub Space (aka Julien and Gonzague), Wax and Radial. All tracks receive raving reviews from the cream of techno dj’s all over the world.
The artists:
James Ruskin ( Blueprint, Tresor, London )
A lot has happened in the six years since James Ruskin’s third studio album ‘Into Submission’ (Tresor, 2001) hit the ground like a dance-floor wrecking ball. Computers have become studios, digital downloading has revolutionised the music industry and the boundaries between rock and dance music have become increasingly blurred. Similarly, in the same period Ruskin has rebuilt his studio, started a family and suddenly last year lost his best friend and Blueprint co-founder, Richard Polson. Taking stock of all these experiences and developments brings us to a new composition that is a huge step in Ruskin’s musical development and fitting testament to the inspiration and life of a close friend. Forming a massive leap in sound that joins the dots between his previous dance-floor savvy material with intricate basslines, beautiful melodies and hypnotic rhythms, ‘The Dash’, Ruskins fourth album, is the mark of an artist in full control of his sound.
Ruskin`s early exposure to musical alternatives via active radio and club scenes affected his own need for self-expression and identity through music. The rampant electro, hip-hop and emerging Detroit techno scenes channelled his influences
toward more electronic sources enough to inspire his own productions in the early 90s. His step toward DJ-ing had already been made in 1991 and his blinding mixing style was earning him top spots across the UK and eventually worldwide by 1996, coinciding with his and Polson’s first releases as ‘Outline’ on the emerging force that was Blueprint.
With Ruskin constantly delivering the Blueprint message to the clubs, his own production signature became more frequent, resulting in his first solo releases on Blueprint, spawning classic club tracks such as ‘The Divide’ and ‘After Dark’ whilst his collaborations with Surgeon, Polson’s Surface imprint and Oliver Ho’s Meta label and remix work brought his name to a wider audience. With the focus on British techno sharpened by the late nineties, the scenes welcome reaction to his ‘Further Design’ (Blueprint, 1997) debut album propelled his name and motivation still further.
Already a guest DJ at Berlin’s infamous Tresor sweatbox he was to begin a long-standing musical relationship with the label that continues today. Two albums,
‘Point 2’ (2000) and ‘Into Submission’ (2001) quickly followed, cementing his sound within the world’s electronic elite and then Ruskin took a back seat from production, regrouped and developed new strategies.
These new strategies have spawned a sound full of depth and atmosphere whereby basslines become melody hooks and tracks such as the opening sequence link four different sections together like a conductor building and bridging the composite
segments of a concerto. The dance-floor is never far away but the warm; tunnel like encasement of sound cocoons the listener into the subtle layers of the album’s myriad hidden depths. ‘The Dash’ may well still be about electronic body movement but this is also just as much about mind and soul.
The album has a feel that traverses from home listening to James’s incessant nocturnal realm of DJ-ing with consumate ease. Consistently headlining clubs and festivals throughout Europe and beyond as one of the UK’s most revered techno DJs, the album gives us glimpses into a twilight world full of sweaty handshakes, dimly lit clubs and smoke filled caverns. Now incorporating a computer into his DJ sets, which has effectively become the third turntable, it has allowed him to explore and return to classic house and electro tracks that simply could not previously fit into his sets. Similarly old house records were literally too slow to play but Ruskin’s use of new technology has helped to bring those elements back and join the sounds of his formative years with modern
techno compositions.
Whilst the first two Tresor albums, ‘Point 2’ and ‘Into Submission’, were integrally linked and part of a more extreme sound, ‘The Dash’ marks a new beginning in many ways. “It’s not as forceful as the previous two albums,” he points out. “My aim was to try to bridge the gap between music designed to listen to and music I would use as a DJ at the weekend” and Ruskin’s slow burning fourth studio album achieves this objective in abundance.
Suburban Knight ( Dark Print, UR, Tresor, Detroit)
James Pennington's recordings as the Suburban Knight pioneered the moodier side of the Motor City with classics like ‘The Art of Stalking’ and ‘The Groove’. And though he collaborated on the biggest hit to come out of Detroit, the techno-pop monster ‘Big Fun’ by Inner City, he later recorded with subterranean mainstays Underground Resistance.
It was through his connection with another Detroit mainstay, Derrick May, that Pennington began recording. May had set up his own Transmat Records in 1986, and Suburban Knight debuted the following year with the third release for the label, ‘The Groove’. He had also been working with Kevin Saunderson, and co-wrote ‘Big Fun’ with Saunderson and Art Forrest. After vocals were added by Paris Grey and the record was released, it became a worldwide hit and virtually defined early Detroit techno for many foreigners. Though Pennington only released one more single for Transmat, it was the dark classic ‘The Art of Stalking’.
With the rise of Detroit's second wave in the early '90s, Pennington became a mentor for Mike Banks and the Underground Resistance crew. With UR, he released the singles ‘Nocturbulous Behavior’ and ‘Dark Energy’. He also featured on the Submerge label compilation Depth Charge, Vol. 3, and produced tracks for Underground Resistance's 1998 full-length Interstellar Fugitive.
James' Debut album 'My Sol Direction' was released to critical acclaim on Peacefrog including both classics and new, unreleased productions. You can find 3 of James new tracks on the new Interstellar Fugitives album Destruction of Order on UWE in France.
Two years ago James started up his own label Dark Print with 6 releases up to date of which the last 4 are by the man himself : The Digital warriors EP’s – Episodes I & II and the limited ‘Hey Monster/Alpha Game.
T-Quest (Music Man, Kozzmozz, BE)
T-Quest has been dj-ing since the early 90’s, mainly influenced by big innovators Kraftwerk, Fad Gadget… during the new beat and acid house periode. After Behind the beat, he started working in the Music Man record store and later on did a project called Two Pieces.
Besides dj-ing, he also started producing. He released tracks such as Play (with Frank De Wulf) on R&S records, Upiter on Music Man Records, Cakewalk for the Kozzmozz compilation … Of course he's also the A&R of Music Man which has signed artists like Green Velvet, Justin Berkovi, Deetron and many, many more ...
Since day one, he holds a residency at the Kozzmozz events and was resident at Belgium’s famous Fuse club for a very long time. He’s also a regular guest at Belgiums most prolific festivals (10 Days Off, I Love Techno, ... )
Kr!z (Token Rec., BE)
Kr!z's story with electronic music started after walking the many genres of music. He didn’t need much time to feel the heat of the vibe as it was a mere comparison between his heartbeat and the one of energetic techno.
He earned spots on some main events in Belgium: he got invited by Kozzmozz (7th, 10th and 11th anniversary) & Fuse, where he still plays on regular basis. A demo of this solid pumping techno sound was picked up by the national radio show ‘Switch’ whom offered him a spot in the new talents room of I Love Techno. His dj-schedule gets him all around Belgium, with gigs across the borders of France and Netherlands.
With the start of his own label Token and a first release by Inigo Kennedy in March 2007, which received positive feedback from over the whole wide world, he will strengthen his position in the techno scene even more. In May "Chain Reaction" by Sub Space (aka Julien & Gonzague) was released on Token. Tracks by Wax and Radial (Jeroen Liebregts and Laurens van der Starre from Holland) followed. With nothing but great reviews, the future looks bright for Kr!z.
. Kgeef toe, het was maar een bedenkelijke post van mij. Maar ik hoop gewoon dat er zaterdag als vanouds een lekker technosfeertje hangt. L3m4nt, als je ooit eens een full on techno avond in de fuse hebt meegemaakt op dezelfde dag als I Love Techno, weet je wat ik bedoel