André Uhl

-Who are you?

My Name is André Uhl, I'm a producer and DJ from Berlin. 

-Why do you make music and what does it mean for you?

Music is communication, therapy and my favorite artistic vehicle. It has always been an important part of my life and there's nothing better than having a track finished when I'm happy with it.

- Talking about your EP "Creatures".

For Creatures I experimented a lot with the interaction of different soundlayers, especially in the low frequencies. It contains plenty of field recordings, for example almost all the percussions come from edited samples I recorded somewhere. The structure of the EP is like a journey: It starts uncertain and kind of mystic with convergence, then it get's hypnotic, almost stoic with the second track Native. The third track Leviathan is more intense, the pressure is rising, the last track Marvin is the climax. The title Creatures came in my mind when i noticed that the tracks have developed a life of their own while I was producing them. I discovered a certain personality in each of the tracks.

- How would you define your sound?

Dark, driving, melancholic, cinematic.

-What genres and artists influenced your music the most?

I've always been listening to a great variety of musical genres. I grew up with hiphop and startet DJing. Then I fell in love with sample based stuff, like DJ Krush and others on Ninja Tune or Alias from Anticon. In particular the Deltron 3030 album was like a revelation to me. All kinds of electronic music have always inspired me, Kraftwerk, Squarepusher, Autechre, that's where my love for effects and sounddesign comes from. I also like a lot of wave bands like The Cure and post-rock bands like Mogwai, which probably formed my passion for melodies and melancholy.

-You come from Berlin. What do you think about the music coming from your country and how do you see yourself in relation to them?

Berlin has a long tradition of outstanding bands and artists. It's good to live in such a creative an open-minded environment and to have the chance to see good shows all the time. I do not consider myself as part of a certain musical scene or genre, but I feel at home here. If I would live somewhere else I would still be inspired to make music but I'm pretty sure the music would sound differently.

André Uhl Homepage

-What's your favourite artist and song?

It's impossible for me to define one favorite artist or song. But if I have to name some songs, then Dark Allies by Light Asylum would probably be the most powerful one, Fog by Nosaj Thing the one with the perfect melody, Friday Night by Chinawoman the one with the strongest presence of melancholy and Golden Porsche by Mogwai the one with the perfect mood.

-Who do you think are the most relevant musicians nowadays and who are you listening to the most?

adoptahighway, Ages, Astronautalis, Baths, Chinawoman, Clams Casino, Darkstar, Dorian Concept, Dead Times, Joey Bada$$, John Maus, Light Asylum, Lorn, Lonski & Classen, Mogwai, naps, Nosaj Thing, Robot Koch, Shabazz Palaces and many, many others

-How much does the live element matter in your music?

It doesn't really matter too much during my production process. Usually there are two moments where the it plays a role: a first random played sequence often turns out to be the best melody. The second moment is when I record beats, which I usually trigger live to give the track an organic feel. Apart from that I'm rather a perfectionist. I work as long as it takes on a track until I think it's finished. When I play live shows I perform with a midi controller and kind of remix my songs and work with a lot of effects.

-If you could pick an artist or a band to play with on a stage, who would you choose?

I would be happy to support Kraftwerk.

-What do you think about the music industry nowadays?

I don't think too much about the music industry. For now I work completely DIY and Bad Panda Records who released my EP is a DIY label. So I'm not in a position where I really have to deal with it.

-What is the message that you'd like to express to the people who listen to your music?

Use your imagination.

Cover of "Creatures"

-What is your favourite book and movie?

Again, that's hard. I can't name a favorite movie or book. At the moment I'm reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen which really makes me think about relationships between people. One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel García Marquez is one of the most beautiful books I know.

-How and where do you see yourself in ten years from now?

Sitting in my studio and finishing the soundtrack for a John Carpenter movie about intelligent energy fields taking over the earth.

-Pc or Mac?

Mac.

-Beatles or Rolling Stones?

The Doors

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Oskar Schuster

Who are you?

I’m Oskar, I live in Berlin and I create music.

Why do you make Music and what does it mean for you?

I always wanted to create things instead of just consuming them. I didn’t have TV and when I got my first computer as a child, I didn’t use it much to play games but started right away to program my own little games. When I was about 14, I changed from programming to composing music and later I changed again to writing short stories and drawing. But music turned out to be the thing I could do best. So some years ago, after I moved to Berlin, I decided to focus on it.

Where AND when did you start learn to play piano?

I started to play around on the piano that stood in my parent’s living room as a little child. When I got into school, I started to take classical piano lessons.

What’s your favourite artist and song?

It’s always hard to pick just ONE… Beirut - “Postcards from Italy” maybe, if I really have to pick one. Because it expresses the feeling of nostalgia so perfectly well.

What genres and artists did influence your music?

Just about every genre, but most evidently: classical music, Sigur Rós, Beirut (for the song structures and composing techniques mainly), Pogo (for the use of samples in order to create beats) and Yann Tiersen.

How much the live element matters in your Music?

So far I don’t play live at all, so at the moment it doesn’t matter.

What do you think about Music industry nowdays?

I don’t know much about the music industry. I think it’s changing a lot because of the internet, just like everything is changing because of the internet. It’s easier for unknown artists now to gain attention without the help of big labels.

What is the message that you’d like to express at the people Who listen to your Music?

I don’t have a message, I just want to create something that is a bit magical.

Who do you think are the most relevant musicians nowdays?

Oskar Schuster 

There’s so many musicians and so many different genres. It’s hard to say. Maybe the ones that define their own genre are the most relevant, at least to me. The ones that really create something of their own and stay innovative.

How’s the new album proceeding?

Quite well, most of the song ideas are nearly finished and I’ll soon start with recording and arranging them. It will be quite different from my first record, “Dear Utopia”, which was kind of a process of searching my own sound. Now it seems, I found it.

What is your favourite book and movie?

Anything by Kafka. And I love Tim Burton movies such as ‘Edward Scissorhands’. But at the moment my favourite is ‘La science des rêves’ by Michel Gondry.

How and where do you see yourself in ten years from now?

I prefer to think about the present and near future. So I don’t know. Still making music I guess. Or writing children’s books. That’s something I want to do when I’m older.

Beatles or Rolling Stones?

The Beatles, they were so much more innovative and changed music history forever.