Meeting Mila Stern during the ongoing Summer Contrast Festival, we had the opportunity to talk about a few details about her career. Mila Stern is an artist who combines many genres of music in a unique way and gathers a growing number of fans around.
Hey Mila! As a producer you connect so many styles in your music. What influences you on a daily basis?
First of all I’m a raver. Even if I don’t have as much time anymore as ten or 15 years ago being on a floor at a club or on a festival is the biggest influence. I also listen to so much different music in my every day life which is not club music. It has a huge impact on the music I produce and also the music I play as a DJ. I’m coming from a post-punk, indie music background and I guess these influences are very recognisable in my own work. My sound has definitely been informed by a sense of counterculture.
I started producing relatively late in 2018. Today I’m a resident at Kater Blau in Berlin and at Station Endlos in Halle and I’m touring world-wide.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the beginning of your career?
I started DJing 16 years ago in 2008. I used to live in Halle close to Leipzig and played at DIY underground clubs, squatted places and illegal open airs sometimes even right after a punk band. It was my favourite hobby that became my profession much later. I went to parties a lot also in Leipzig and Berlin. Later I lived in Tel Aviv for some time and enjoyed the club scene there, too. Before I moved to Berlin over six years ago I already was very integrated in the Berlin scene so it just made sense for me to live here. I started producing relatively late in 2018. Today I’m a resident at Kater Blau in Berlin and at Station Endlos in Halle and I’m touring world-wide. Together with my best friend Mira and with Peter Schumann I also work at Kiosk ID, the in-house label of Kater Blau.
Do you prefer to work surrounded by multiple equipment like synths and groove boxes or go minimal with laptop and Ableton?
Maybe I would love to work surrounded by multiple equipment like synths and groove boxes but I don’t have any. My „studio“ is my desk at my small apartment. So I just work with my Mac, Ableton, headphones, plugins and samples at the moment.
What upcoming festivals / club gigs are you going to play in the near future?
I’m looking forward to play the last festivals of the season like Summer Contrast and Moyn Moyn in northern Germany. Kater Blau will celebrate its birthday at the end of August which is definitely a highlight for me. Another exciting gig will be at September 6 also at Kater Blau where I will host the Heinz Hopper floor. I invited Cenkk from London. I love his productions and the drama in his sets and he became a friend who I love to spend time with over the last year. The other guest I invited is Delia Plangg. Her eclectic sets are awesome and she is also a resident at Station Endlos and a friend of mine.
Is your upcoming show at the Summer Contrast Festival in Poland a first gig at that place?
I already played at Summer Contrast last year and I’m happy to be back at the Oak Stage. I played at different places in Poland. Just a couple of months ago I was at Ciało in Wrocław. where I played the closing at the outdoor floor and I really loved the vibe there.
I want to transport my vision of rave culture as a purist aesthetic free of nebulous superstructure.
What’s your plan for the set? Can we expect any new, unreleased tracks?
I will play on Thursday at the Oak Stage five to eight pm. So I want to play a set that catches the vibe relatively at the beginning of the whole festival. There will definitely be some unreleased stuff of other artists that we will release on Kiosk ID over the next months.
You are considered a pioneer of sorts in the genre, having built a loyal following around you. What message would you like to convey to these people?
I think my sets and productions are not so much about a message I want to convey but about an aesthetic. I want to transport my vision of rave culture as a purist aesthetic free of nebulous superstructure. The music I produce is very functional. It’s supposed to make people dance. But it’s supposed to make people dance to music fitting my aesthetics. I love unorthodox sounds and fringe soundscapes. There are easier ways to bring people on a dance floor than by using these sounds that seems harsh or dark. But I love it when my audience and I are captured by these sounds and the beauty of harshness and create one of these special moments together.
What are you working on now regarding next releases?
At the moment I work on my next EP. I don’t know where it will be released yet but I have a few ideas where I may fit. After that I will remix a track of Niki Sadeki. The original is already awesome. Next year I will start my own label together with a friend…This is still a little secret so I can’t say too much about it now. Stay tuned…
Can you tell us five tracks which inspire you or you like going back to?
It’s so complicated for me to make a list of five tracks and I guess if you would ask me tomorrow I would tell you five different tracks maybe. But these are five tracks that illustrate my style very well – one of my all time favourites and some newer stuff:
Sobek & Yourr – Never Enough (Fausto Remix)
Schlepp Geist – Chord Society
SKALA – Don’t Run Away
Ben Clock – Subzero
Agustin Giri, Last Men on Earth – Silencio (Mila Stern Remix)