When we speak, Nico Stojan has just finished up at the five-day Burning Man festival in Nevada, and it sounds like he is still feeling a little bit delicate. Happy – but also like an ice-cold bucket of reality is about to be dumped over his head. Such is the life of an in-demand DJ/producer/classically trained clarinet player. While some wouldn’t envy it, plenty do – Stojan’s rise seems meteoric in comparison to many of his contemporaries’. That is, until you find out he has actually been on the scene since the ripe old age of 16.

“Actually, I started making hip hop,” he says, adding that he has only been “doing electronic music” for the last five years. His breakthrough was when he landed a residency slot at the legendary Bar25 in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district. Known as much for its techno DJs as its five-day-long parties, the venue cemented Berlin’s status as the world capital of electronic music. But these facts only sketch the picture of what really went down inside those hallowed walls.

“It was a place where everyone could feel free and jump on this carousel of love and happiness for the whole weekend – sometimes it ended Tuesday midday,” Stojan says.

Bar25 may have closed its doors in 2010, but Berlin’s underground scene is still raging. From the slick, trendy clubs of Mitte and Friedrichshain to the huge, multi-story haunts of Kreuzberg, if one wants an experience to remember (or vaguely piece together later), this is where to get it. Stojan is quick to insist that Kreuzberg – the bohemian, painfully hip ‘alt’ Berlin borough – is still the number one place for underground music.

“It is. No doubt. I think the Berlin style is, and was always, upfront. There was always a big potential with a lot of creativity in Berlin. My city always gave me the right vibe to do what I love.”

While his first love may have been hip hop, Stojan’s transition into electronic music saw him blend his signature soul style into techno. He looks for samples to reflect that groove and feeling; sounds that are timeless. His latest releases have a different vibe to them – they’re lighter, have a little more groove injected into them, and sit at the edge of conventional nightclub techno.

Stojan admits it “takes time” for an artist to adapt their sound to international audiences in that way. For him, moving to New Zealand was a little bit like a detox from the fairly typical European gig in, say, an abandoned power plant filled with hundreds of sweating people, knee-deep into a three-day bender. NZ is a place he can escape the madness.

“I love the vibe of that amazing country – my inner child is able to flow with the wind without thinking too much, and it gives me the freedom to express myself. I take it as a digital diet. No iPhone – only emails sometimes.”

This hiatus from technology doesn’t extend to gear, of course. No DJ or producer worth their salt would decline the opportunity to talk about equipment. Stojan’s enthusiasm is palpable as he explains how he used to store beats on an actual datasette (“Yes, no floppy or hard drive”). It might seem romantic to the modern DJ, but Stojan remembers it could also be draining.

“Sometimes after six minutes’ loading time there was a ‘cassette error’… it took ages to build a beat,” he says.

Wherever he goes, with whatever gear, Stojan seems to fall in love. Perhaps that’s what happens when you ride good house vibes around the great festivals of the world. Next up for Nico? “Ozzzz!”

Catch Nico Stojan at S.A.S.H Sleepout alongsideNick Curly, Rodriguez Jr, Sammy Dee, Francis Harris, Marc Poppcke and more at theHunter Valley fromFriday September 19 to Sunday September 21.

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