1.Growing Up

I grew up in a very musical household – electronic music played a big role from early on. My grandfather was a musician at his time too. He gave me a very early version of Cakewalk as a kid. It’s a MIDI sequencer, basically, and came on several floppy discs. It took me a while, though, to get a single sound out of it. I also remember constantly recording stuff on tape. It could be music or very random stuff. The process of it just somehow fascinated me.

2.Inspirations

Later in my teenage years I was mainly listening to hip hop. I remember Cypress Hill’s III: Temple Of Boom had a big influence on me. I loved the roughness and dark atmosphere in their beats. But after some years I kinda lost the thrill in the genre so I started looking for something new. Then came the parties and house music and I fell in love with that. The first big influences on me were MAW, Murk, Todd Terry and stuff like that.

3.Your Crew

My crew is called Beste Modus. That’s stevn.aint.leavn, Cinthie, Ed Herbst and Albert Vogt. We started our label in late 2012 and been running it as a crew ever since. But over the years I’ve become friends and colleagues with a lot of fellow artists like Nick Beringer, Peer Du and Martin Goldyn, whose musical integrity I respect a lot. We’re doing these dinner parties every now and then, where we play each other our new production and give feedback. It’s always a very inspiring gathering.

4.The Music You Make And Play

A couple of my recent favourites include DJ Deep – Cuts Volume 2 (Deeply Rooted), Leo Pol – IILE 01, Ion Ludwig – Im Kloster (Lick My Deck), Spacetravel – Dance Therapy (Perlon) and MP – Decki B. EP (Soulsity).

5.Music, Right Here, Right Now

I like the vibe in the scene at the moment. Especially our smaller circle constantly inspires and motivates me to try new things. I’m glad to see there is a reversion to old values like when you look at the recent vinyl renaissance. People are going back to taking stuff in their own hands, starting labels or running parties. I love being part of that.

[Diego Krause photo by Max Dorsogna]

Mantra Collecgtive and CU Saturday present Diego Krause atCivic UndergroundSaturday August 13, withNine Yards, Mantra Collective and HighBeam. Get tickets here.

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