1.Your bio discribes you as a "genre-mashing producer". How is this expressed in your music and would you say it confuses the fans and promoters?

One of the things that's remained an enduring part of electronic music's pull for me, is the resistance to traditional notions of musical 'purity'. From the dawn of sampling-culture, music like hip-hop has been a decidedly 'bastard' form...In a very real, tangible sense, house/techno etc really is a mish-mash of genres, simply by virtue of sample-culture and production choices - in this sense, I'm probably just stating the obvious...and I always feel skeptical of any sort of 'dogma' or narcissistic talk about 'true-school' or 'old-school' or 'real' anything, especially when it comes to creative process. It's our calling to problematize dogmatic assertions, and to re-imagine what the future might sound like. I'm a big fan of Kodwo Eshun and other so-called "Black Music" futurists in this sense - and they're way more articulate than I am.

Aesthetically speaking, though, I suppose that I'm essentially a 'techno' or 'house' music producer, but I'm not so interested in producing music which doesn't try to hide my cultural references, and which doesn't begin to ossify a dance-music via romanticized notions of what constitutes 'realness' within' a genre.

I love what hip-hop, soul and dub have offered me, I love crunk and ghetto-tek, disco, rare-groove, the Basic Channel sound and musique-contrete, and I don't subscribe to the notion that 4-4 music is the be and end all, or that a certain canon of production choices are the 'best' or 'only' ones. In this sense, 'genre-mashing' is a mission statement as much as a description.

When I dj or perform live, I do tend to mix up darker techno with more 'booty' influenced stuff, and forays into differing aesthetics...occasionally there are moments when purists object, but I'm too old and enjoy the madness too much to worry about these sort of critiques. Recently in the US, I found that some people in Sanfran found my set too 'housey', and some kids in Detroit hadn't expected me to be so 'techno'. Made me chuckle.

2.Deepchild has been touring the US a lot lately with shows that included DEMF.Do you feel that your music is more understood and excepted in the US then Europe?

Not at all. From my experience, these are pretty different audiences, and different clubbing experiences. I'm still very surprised by how well-received I've been in the USA, as I've always thought that my sound has been, traditionally, a touch more 'cerebral' - which appeals to the German temperament, in particular in Berlin, where audiences tend to take their music VERY seriously indeed. What I have found in Detroit, Seattle, Vancouver and San Francisco is a real enthusiasm for original-music, and a real appreciation of the culture of performance. Similarly in the north of the UK, I've been really touched by 'new' audiences to my music, who've responded super-enthusiastically whilst not necessarily being familiar with my sound. Berlin audiences tend to want to be challenged and inspired, but can on occasion be a little 'precious'.

US audiences have proved surprisingly robust and warm, whilst not necessarily sharing the same cultural preference for instrumental music. I benefit and grow from all these experiences. So much changes depending on context, club, audience. I'm constantly surprised (by way of an anecdote) by differing responses to, dropping Audion material in a techno-focused dj-set...as likely to clear the floor as it is to pack it out.

3.Speaking of Europe, you recently relocated to Berlin. Please tell us about your experience so far and has the move effected your music?

I've been visiting Berlin for shows for 5 years prior to this one, so I'm fairly familiar with the terrain, the clubs, the people. When I first started visiting and performing here, I felt a new understanding of a lot of the Perlon/Basic-Channel style stuff which I was enamored by, and a lot of classic techno. Now that I'm living here, I feel like I'm 'breathing out' - it feels really wonderful to feel part of a production 'community', rather than merely a musical-tourist. I think I've realized one of the joys about this place is its cultural diversity - the license which it affords artists to contribute and mold our 'scene'. I'm living in Neukölln now, which feels perfect for me. It's a Muslim / Turkish meltingpot - a living metaphor for what is rich about this city in general.


4.With a live show at the legendary Berghain club coming up, how would you deferyour new live performance from what you have been doing in the past?

This is certainly something I'm still wrestling with this week. Given that Berghain certainly has a serious 'techno/minimal' reputation, I do admit that I'm a little anxious - for reasons of aforementioned assumptions regarding musical 'purity'. I mean, I'm hardly Dubfire. I was only aware, recently, that it was a live booking also - which basically means me performing and generating original ideas/loops on the fly. I'm bringing along a bunch of hardware/drum machine bits, so I'm aiming to have the performance as flexible and live/organic as possible.

The soundsystem at Berghain is so gorgeous, and my set is a 2-hour one, which is longer than usual, so I'm hoping it affords an opportunity to stretch out ideas...perhaps to go a little deeper and more percussive than usual.

Hopefully I won't be kicked off for being too 'fruity', but then again....that would certainly be a cool story to tell. All I can do is tell my story and hope the people dance.


5. Can you tell our readers about your future release plans?

Lots of things on the horizon - new remix material for OPSM, a collaboration and new material for Trapez, a new ep on DETEK (a fresh startup label from Detroit), and a pretty wonderful 'bigger-label' ep due out shortly, which I'm not privy to sharing at this time - suffice to say that they are one of my favorite and long-enduring techno/house-imprints from Germany...it's a release I'm particularly excited about, as, for me, it marks a 'full circle' to working with a label that has been so influential and inspiring to me for well over 10 years.

www.myspace.com/deepchile

Artist of the Week: Deepchild will air Tuesday July 27th at 18:00, with repeats Wednesday at 12:00, and Saturday at 10:00.