Two legends of the Berlin dance & soul music scene — Christian Prommer & Alex Barck — have collaborated to release a full length record that reflects their many influences and long history as DJs and artists. “Alex And The Grizzly” will be released mid-April on their newly formed label, Derwin Recordings. The label’s administration will be handled by their long-term partners and friends at Compost.
No need to explain too much, the songs on “Alex & The Grizzly” are the lifelong and concentrated passion, their quest for finer music and the fantastic tiny details of deep tunes.
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What a journey! These guys have had so many experiences and numerous discoveries – dubstep, electronica, funk, punk, wave, Chicago house, handmade music and soul. Oh, those nights at clubs, the records, the shelves, the dirt in the second-hand record shops, the stacked audio- and studio magazines in their toilets or elsewhere in the house, the hours spent making their own radio-shows, hundreds of hotels checked in and out of, dozens of sound-checks done.
Last but not least, the revivals, the subgenres, the fusion – well these peeps have given real influential input into some of these (sub)genres in the past. If we generally agree with the thesis, that 90 % of these musical genres are boring, mainly crap, commercial, rip-offs or trivial, then all that’s left is 10 % of really good music. This is the kind of music we like. Music which we would take to a lonely island, tunes which can rarely be played in clubs, records we would never sell, music so awe-inspiring it brings you to your knees or has you being afraid to share it as a file. We are talking about tunes, which changed the life and world of Christian Prommer and Alex Barck.
Talking about groundbreaking influences. Well, these guys’ are so wide-ranged, that a young foolish nerd could never compete with them. No doubt, you have to attest: these guys internalised thousands of records, hundreds of thousands of songs, of which only a small part at all belongs to those 10% of inspiring music.
Furthermore they, we, you are always discovering something new in those gems that these 10% are. You can call it love for music – someone may interrupt: better call it “love for detail”.
But, isn’t it a concentrated passion, which is lying very closely to addiction and meticulousness. It has been influencing daily life, relationships, everything, twenty-four-seven, for 25 years and ongoing. So, besides a lot of fun, it is also hard candid work.
Even negative experiences leave something positive behind. Back then, the passion first matured into a hobby, later on developed into a job and became a whole mission (gained such attributes like “Professionals” or “Connaisseures”) which brought Christian Prommer and Alex Barck together, finally.
Even if you would sort the tracks into different musical genre/style categories, the conclusion is: they are always made of those fine ingredients of the beloved 10 % batch.
Masterminds:
Alex Barck (Jazzanova), founder and member of Jazzanova and SonarKollektiv.
Christian Prommer (Christian Prommer’s Drumlesson, Voom:Voom, Trueby Trio, Fauna Flash), Producer of Hell, Kim Sanders, Marsmobil, Kelvin Sholar and many more. With the Hell album (“Teufelswerk”) producer Christian Prommer was nominated for the German “Echo” award, and the Kim Sanders album earned the “Best Album 2009 “ by “German Music Critic”.
Featured Guests: Dollkraut, Kim Sanders, James Teej, Eva Milner (Hundreds), Sascha Gottschalk (Thief), Uwe Karpa, Azar Kamal, Ann Lisa Nathan
FREE SONG
Prommer & Barck – “Sleeping Beauty”
