"
Change Of Focus" is a post written on these pages like 20 months ago - at a stage of grief, sorrow and a broken heart and no, the wounds did not heal. Time doesn't heal a thing when you've lost what's most important in your life. It never does and if someone tells a different story just call him a liar straightaway. And I'm not talking music here.
The main focus was about taking a step back from the DJ circuit for a reason explained in all detail and the main points haven't changed as far as I understood from the very few nights out I've spent in night clubs and venues since then - as a guest. The art of vinyl DJ'ing seems to be a rare and forgotten one, the mainstream in electronic music still doesn't bother me and I feel more and more annoyed by drugged out and totally wasted people. And I didn't miss being on stage that much although I had a proper fun time playing an extended eight or ten hours longset to the heart of the
Liquid Sky Berlin family in July as well as having a sweet little back 2 back session with
Henry at
Hamburg's Westwerk just a few weeks ago that totally felt right for being a meeting of two people sharing one musical vision although we never had shared decks before. These two sets and a meeting with
gigmit.com throughout this years Berlin Music Week made me think about what's the status quo in October 2013 and where
baze.djunkiii is at at this point.
And more important: What does the future hold? What's the role to play and what about the tasks to handle? The position to take on in? The grumpy dinosaur reminiscing about the good old golden days? The teacher and preacher? The keeper and defender of original DJ culture? As the last mentioned option is not the worst ever and seems to suit quite well as I see it - plus: I'm a curious guy and do like their concept - I set up a
baze.djunkiii microsite at
gigmit.com a few weeks ago. For booking. It's easy to handle, their support is working fast and if it all works out well you might see
baze.djunkiii play some selected shows again in future times. On a different level and with a different attitude. And it will not be a full on retirement from retiring.
For me music is still there although it's not the most important thing to me anymore, neither is being on stage. But from the feedbacks I got throughout the last 20 months I feel that there's one message that got through to me - for being shot at me repeatedly by different trusted folks on different occasions over and over again. Within all these years in the biz I seem to have amassed - not my words here - a nearly encylopaedic knowledge about music, it's history and the complex connections in between producers, labels and activists that needs to be shared. That's what the mentioned folks say. Not only in opening
my mixes archive on mixcloud or unveiling
what's in the crates but also beyond that. Combining the old and the new, building bridges between styles and eras, telling musical tales of the deepest underground has always been important in
baze.djunkiii's DJ-sets from day dot but if the aforementioned shows will ever happen this it what they'll be about: spreading knowledge and musical wisdom. No matter if a tune is old or new, no matter if the crowd is young or old - timeless quality will still rule over the latest micro hype of late, breaking down things to their essential core in extended sets is the focus. The selection. The story to be told. My story. Selected places. Selected shows.
I still love to discover new things and to write about them which is pretty obvious as you're reading these pages. I love to hunt down records and still don't feel comfortable with all that digital DJ thing happening. I don't get that and probably never will. I just don't care. If it's not out on vinyl I can't be bothered. Call it oldskool, stubborn, nostalgic. You can't change a dinosaur nor his musical preferences as I'm still rating a rough, rugged and obviously hardly mastered 1988 AcidHouse tune or an unknown 1994 Jungle piece way higher than 98% of todays output although there are great tunes and records out there if you take your time to dig through quadrillions of sub-average tracks. Even listening to the tunes
I've been involved in productionwise a decade ago still feels right to me as I still can recall their feeling and vibe within only a few bars. And it seems like they matter to others, too, as a limited
repress of a raw and long gone bootleg from the early noughties is nearly out of print again.
Plus: I love to sell music to the likeminded. Quality [electronic] Music. No matter if it's
via discogs or at the sales counter of
Otaku Records. The chit chat, the transfer of knowledge, the thrill of providing rare pressings and highly limited editions to the people who know, the nice feeling of introducing unknown, new and sometimes even long lost records to new customers, to the occasional vinyl heads who came in from far away places or to those who were looking for something completely different but are totally blown away by that "...weird stuff the guy from the record store took from somewhere behind the counter". Digital stores can't provide that.
Workwise I'm still at the heart of things. A music related daytime job - 9 to 5 ain't matching our office hours though - that's all about working for highly respected labels and globally renowned artists. Freelancing for a similar setting artist- and labelwise, contributing to
FAZE Magazine and some other digital blogs and publications, being the connecting link between different folks as well as being involved into promotion and strategic planning of things revolving around the
Liquid Sky Berlin arts and music cosmos and - that's off music now - crafting DVD extra transcripts and subtitle translations for the occasional project popping up with a tight deadline there's still a stream of inspiring ideas, concepts and thoughts bouncing on and off me everyday on never ending digital communication stream with creative people all around the globe. That never stopped albeit there have been serious thoughts about leaving the creative field forever but it turned out once you're in it you're glued to it forever.
Not to mention first steps into the field of arts and lyricism with the release of a
completely blank 7" which is nearly sold out and the first
Intrauterin Recordings Art Card that has been put out in May - both releases important as statements referring to the new and total freedom that occurred by hindsight after having reached that meta-level of seeing all activities as
baze.djunkiii as a gesamtkunstwerk that does include but is by no means limited to music. Conceptual arts, writing are a part of that, too, and so there's all the stickers to be found on walls, lampposts, traffic signs and handrails all over the world spread and captured by friends & the crew.
A while ago I coined the phrase "I used to live and fight for music. But I don't do this anymore." and that's still true to up a certain point. The fighting has stopped and the hunger for being stuck in the full frontal limelight has gone. But as long as people do care about what I've got to say my voice will be out there, my thoughts will be read somewhere, reflecting on what's going on from the point of view of someone who has been around for ages. And if there are vinyl friendly clubs, venues and promoters appreciating deep musical knowledge and classic, original DJ culture coming up with reasonable offers I'm ready to accept the challenge to step up on stage again every once in a while - no matter if it's a public, corporate or art related show. Just for the reason that there's a
multi-thousands collection that needs to be heard.
The implication of all that? More work. Beyond music. New projects. Things to pop up on the interwebs. Connecting people. Maybe the occasional DJ set. Pulling strings here and there. Spread the word. Teach. Support. Move forward. Earn. Invoice and cash in. For safety reasons.
But never forget that one person I still miss after all these lonely months. You know who you are.
