Meet this amazing artist from Hamburg! Today we talk to baze.djunkiii about his vinyl collection and the German music scene!
Who is baze.djunkiii?
That’s an interesting question to begin with. For a short answer I’d say – Hamburg-born and Hamburg-based DJ, producer, music writer, electronic music activist. Also head and founder of the Intrauterin Recordings label group link:
https://intrauterinrecordings.bandcamp.com/
which, as of now, consists of the mothership Intrauterin Recordings alongside the subsidiaries Intrauterin Tapes, El Caballo Semental, Freebreakz.FWD and The Absence Of Light – plus an additional offshoot that lies dormant right now.
When did you first learn about music?
I think the very first starting point was a cassette tape given to me by an older cousin around 1986/87’ish when I was in primary school still. This tape, which was not a mixtape but contained full version of the tracks, featured mostly early AcidHouse, ChicagoHouse and NuBeat cuts, probably some ItaloHouse, too, and got me hooked from day one.
After that I recorded quite a bit of mostly electronic leaning music from the radio on tape which, given the day and age and what was played on German daytime radio back then, also included SynthPop, some Eurodance x EuroTechno etc.. In 1990 I bought my first two records (Depeche Mode – Violator / Snap! – World Power) on the same day and tried to read and learn as much about electronic music as I could, collected flyers and free magazines which were plenty at the time.
I went to my first rave in 1992 or 1993 and followed the development of electronic music ever since – first as a raver, fan and a little later also aspiring bedroom DJ. But this changed after I left school in 1997 and the whole music x media x madness thing in many forms became somewhat of a full time occupation for me and I became an active part of the entire scene and music industry myself.
What are your favorite tools to work with?
As a DJ – loads of vinyl, two Technics MKII turntables and a Pioneer mixer. Most preferrably one with as little technical features as possible. I do believe in what I oftentimes refer to as #originaldjculture and feel there’s absolutely no need for a gazillion of FX buttons, filters and other stuff to rock the house.
And sorry Allen & Heath – your mixers might be excellent tools for digital DJ’ing but they’re of absolutely no use to me and my style of playing records from a technical point of view and how I do approach mixing as an artform.
Any musical genre that defines your essence?
Yes. And no. I’ve never been focusing on one single genre exclusively so oftentimes I use the term ‘quality [electronic] music’ to vaguely describe what I like. And I do use parentheses on purpose as my musical taste and knowledge exceeds the realm of electronic music and I still continue to discover more and more things beyond that realm the older I get.
This being said, the raw euphoria and energy of AcidHouse, NuBeat, Agreppo and early to mid 90s Techno x Rave x Trance x Breakbeat x Jungle will always have a special place in my heart because these were my formative years, ofc. Plus – if one knows a little about the art of DJ’ing one can tell and will notice that I’ve played a fair share of Breakbeat-derivative music in my life from a technical point of view, even if I might play a DeepHouse or Techno set at this specific moment.
Also I do enjoy genres in their infancy, when things are less formulaic, there’s no real rules and there’s some kind of anarchic everything goes vibe going on before everyone and their mother agrees upon on how genre XYZ sounds like and what its specific elements are, supposedly.
What other artistic activities do you do apart from being a DJ?
DJ’ing has been a major part of my 25+ years journey and I will always continue to be doing that in some form, be it in a live context or doing radio shows, mixcast sessions or whatever. Yet, not only induced by the pandemic it has become a little less important for me now and even if I’d love to play out more I feel the way for me to go forward in this specific field would be to team up with a booking agency x management that fully understands and supports my artistic vision and take it from there. Simply because I’m invlvd in so many other things that hustling myself out for gigs and contacting clubs and promoters is a thing I don’t enjoy much and don’t have the time and energy to do on my own on top of everything else.
Creatively I’ve taken music production a little more seriously and released my Dark Ambient x Death Ambient solo album „In Macrospace“ in 2k22 and also teamed up with my long time friend and partner in creative crime Sascha Müller to form the bass music-leaning project Combat Dubs as well as – breaking news incoming! – a second project named Arbitrary Demons which will be focusing on Nu Beat / early 90s Techno vibewise.
Also I still do write heaps of music reviews on my website nitestylez.de link:
have been running a small electronic music related Youtube channel for a while link:
https://m.youtube.com/c/bazedjunkiii_tv
dabble a bit in glitch art on Tumblr and run two websites for streetart, graffiti and sticker culture apart from other things.
Do you like collecting vinyl records?
That’s what I do as vinyl and occasional dubplates are my medium of choice. My collection is vast and deep and literally approaches two metric tons of weight but there’s still a few thousand records on my wantlist. And the more I learn about music the more new records I discover I’ve never heard about before. Like, on a daily basis.
What has been the most incredible experience you have lived in your artistic work?
It’s pretty much impossible to single out one single experience as the most incredible – especially after 25+ years of doing this professionally. Still being here, having survived and overcome all obstacles and adversities I’ve seen, still being able to do what I do and love even though the focus and roles might have changed over the years to me is a well astounding fact in itself.
From a musical perspective a major highlight has been the international reception of and acclaim for our COMBAT DUBS II vinyl single which I’ve recently repressed for 2k23 as it had sold out pretty quickly after its initial release in late 2k20. Plus – releasing a full on solo album was never ever on my radar when I started this whole journey.
From a label perspective I’d say the 40 years anniversary 7“ re-issue of NO MORE’s 1981 Goth / Wave / PostPunk alltime classic „Suicide Commando“ on my label El Caballo Semental was a big one which has been repressed two times already. Also the fact that American producer legend Freddy Fresh who – amongst a gazillion of other exceptional tunes – produced „Badder Badder Schwing“ with Fatboy Slim released the very first Modular Jungle x Modular Drum’n’Bass 7“ single of his 30+ years spanning career on my label Intrauterin Recordings means quite a lot to me.
From an artist x performance point of view performing at the MOCA – Museum Of Contemporary Arts in Atlanta, GA as a part of the immersive audio-visual project Poemes Electroniques was quite a special and unique experience video:
And being invited by the Goethe Institut to take part in the week-long Wunderbar Together tour stop in Portland, OR has opened a few new perspectives for me as well, ofc.. So I gotta send a shout out to Miriam Bruns here for reaching out and getting me on board.
Any upcoming project you would like to share with us?
There’s always something brewing and a gazillion things I don’t wanna speak about yet.
But, and I do hope I’m not spilling too much tea here, I’ve done a DeathAmbient remix for German Industrial x HardTechno act Xotox Link:
which is supposedly to be featured on his next full length CD album. I’m not too confident about an exact release date but late spring / early summer might be a rough estimate.
Also our Arbitrary Demons project will see its very first vinyl release via the Hamburg-based label Cheezy Crust Records link:
https://cheezycrustrecords.bandcamp.com/
in late 2k23 which, via its offspring Carsharing Tapes, has also put out my latest „Diurnal Tides: First Wave“ split DJ-mixtape alongside underground Techno phenomenon The D3VI7 in 2k22.
Plus – DJ-wise I’m looking forward to our next BETA-ZERFALL party which is going to take place in Hamburg on March 31, 2k23 link:
https://m.facebook.com/events/1249534502603993/
and, as an event series in general, presents a sound spectrum including PostPunk, (No)Wave, ElectroPunk, Industrial, Indieelectro and beyond with an attitude more similar to an electronic music club night in terms of DJ’ing and mixing.
Thank you very much to this multi-artist for allowing us to do this interview today, it is a pleasure for us to have these talks with great artists with a respectable career. I invite you to follow him on his social networks.
Instagram: @baze.djunkiii