Dance and Electronica with Chris Honnery
Berlin-based house proponent Kerstin Egert, AKATama Sumo, will headline the new weekly Sunday night bash Exit at the Spice Cellar on Sunday November 17. Tama has been DJingsince the release of films such as The Last Boy Scout and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze heralded the second Hollywood Golden Age in the early ’90s. Since then, she’s held down residencies at fabled Berlin clubs such as Tresor and Berghain/Panorama Bar, where Tama continues to spin regularly, taking to the decks both upstairs in the more house music-oriented environment of Panorama Bar and downstairs in the reverberating catacombs of Berghain. A specialist DJ, Tama’s built her vaunted reputation on her live performances rather than a significant production discography; she’s only released one commercial mix compilation, the second in Ostgut Ton’s Panorama Bar series, and has released a few EPs alongside Prosumer between 2008-2010.
A varied selector whose range traverses Chicago house and Detroit techno along with European influences, Tama’s sound leans more towards the latter. She can certainly thump it out when the moment demands it, but she prefers to focus on playing tracks that exude “emotion, funk, soul, variety and dirt” rather than sticking to a particular style. This fluid approach allows Tama to change the tempo throughout her sets and seamlessly shift between genres depending on the mood, crowd, venue and other DJs on the bill. However she gauges the mood at Spice Cellar in her maiden performance in Sydney, you’d be a fool not to be a part of it.
Two of the leading producers in the underground club realm, John Tejada and Moomin, will throw down at The Burdekin on Saturday November 23 courtesy of Picnic. Hailing from Austria, the LA-based Tejada has ticked plenty of boxes throughout his career, collaborating with the likes of Josh Humphrey and Takeshi Nishimoto, launching his own label Palette Recordings, remixing the likes of Claude VonStroke and Gui Boratto, completing a mix for Fabric and releasing on labels such as Poker Flat and more recently Kompakt Records. With an eclectic sound spanning Detroit-flavoured melodic techno and house along with more minimal soundscapes, Tejada will return to Australia after having previously headlined Mad Racket’s NYE bash.
Listen to a Tejada mix here.
The other headliner, German producer Sebastian Genz, AKA Moomin, is a long-time DJ who made a belated but hugely successful transition into production a few years ago; he’s now considered one of the finest purveyors of deep house in the biz. Coming from a hip hop and funk background, Genz first emerged as a producer with a release alongside Berlin house figurehead Oskar Offermann, the Hardmood/Joe MacDaddy EP, before garnering a profusion of accolades with the release of his debut album The Story About You on Hamburg’s Smallville Records label in 2011. Citing the likes of DJ Shadow, Theo Parrish, Diamond D, and Omar-S as influences, Genz has translated his intuition for sampling into soulful deep house productions that have captured the imagination of house music aficionados worldwide. “I think the most important thing is to make music that comes out of your heart, something you feel,” says Genz. He’s also collaborated with fellow Smallville artist Christopher Rau under the moniker of Roaming, and launched his own label Closer at the start of this year with his A Day And A Night EP. A strong local lineup of DJs will support Tejada and Moomin, headed by veteran DJ Phil Smart, a favourite among local clubbers.
Looking Deeper
Saturday October 26
Subsonic Halloween Boat Cruise
Tatler
Coma
Aardvark
Imperial Hotel, Erskineville
Sunday November 17
Saturday November 23
John Tejada, Moomin
Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through[email protected]
