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The foundations of Proton Radio were built on compilations put forth by Balance and Jimmy Van M. So it is with great honor that we are proud to present the launch of an exciting new monthly show hosted by the series that has hosted the likes of Phil K, James Holden, Anthony Pappa, and Desyn Masiello. Tom Pandzic and Dan Mangan are to host the show. Based out of Victoria, Australia, the two lead up the EQ Grey label for Stomp which releases the Balance series of compilations. The show launches with a special 1 hour guest mix from Jimmy Van M, which you can listen to for free On Demand right now with a free Proton Radio membership. Jimmy Van M's latest compilation, Balance 10.1, is out now on EQ Grey: After his epic Balance 3CD effort that journeyed its way through a wide spectrum of genres and styles, this time, Jimmy Van M increases the energy providing a peak-time mix of tunes from his favourite producers and a snapshot of what you might hear on the dance-floor at one of his gigs across the globe. This selection of music that will appeal to all fans of upfront club music mixed to perfection by a DJ who’s programming and taste in music has always been an inspiration. Balance 10.1 features tracks and remixes from Radioslave, Planet Funk, Unkle ft Ian Astbury, Mauro Picotto, Smith & Selway & Guy Gerber more… Get JVM's Balance 10.1 as a digital download at Beatport or on CD @ Amazon. | ||
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For the uninformed, Patrick Bodmer and Philipp Jung DJ and produce together as M.A.N.D.Y., write music with Booka Shade, and help run the Get Physical label. Based out of Germany, the duo is without a doubt one of the most successful, well established and respected purveyors of the sound we love. Jay: The two of you met playing tennis and swimming while in school... how was the transition from the academic to the musical? Did your family support you in your decision to pursue music? And do you have time to get on the court or in the pool any more? Phillipp.: The tennis court situation was much earlier in the mid 80ies. Neither Pat's nor my parents are super music nerds, so for them it is still something totally strange. My mom went to a gig in Paris for the first time a couples of months ago. She left at 5:30 which is already not bad. So she starts to understand... J: We're not going to ask you where the name M.A.N.D.Y. comes from-- every interview we read gave a different answer! Instead, can you tell our listeners where M.A.N.D.Y was before the Get Physical label and how you discovered disco and house music in the first place? P: The time of waiting is over! It means m.E a.N.D. Y.ou easy, right? Patrick and me were always hooked to music. We recorded tapes for each other at a very early stage. And in 1989 we discovered house and techno and we were hooked immediately. We started to buy vinyl and played them to our friends at afterparties with turntables you couldn't really pitch. Inthe early nineties we did start to do parties in Frankfurt with DJs nobody knew at the time, but are very big today. So everything was very lowkey and underground, but we loved it so much. Then we went to the studio with Walter and Arno (Booka Shade) and started our first prodcutions on various labels. It was definitely only a hobby, but we enjoyed it lot. I can't say we would have had a chance to win a Grammy for these productions, but it was good to try out different stuff... J: In most of your interviews you say that the A&R for Get Physical must pass through six taste makers, including yourselves, Booka Shade, and DJ T. The label now sees releases almost every two weeks. Is this process still the same? How has running the label for you evolved since it began in 2002? How can aspiring Get Physical artists submit demos to the label? P: It is very difficult, and i have to give a super credit to DJ T who is overlooking all the actions and tries to get hold of everybody which is a nightmare. Espacially with the album artists we work very closely together and discuss a lot. A lot of blood, sweat and tears... To be honest we have the impression that we were releasing too many records. Every two weeks is too much. So we cut it down again a bit. We are in the very lucky position now that we have an excellent team working with us who are all real professionals. The thing is you can't really sign an artist and then always be on tour. But of course we have still our meetings all together and decide everything together. And we discuss endlessly until we find a solution. And of course we listen to all demos. It just takes time sometimes. But if we think it's special and something exciting we contact the producer immediately. J: Can you tell us a little bit about who's involved and doing what these days with the label? How many people are involved, and what are your personal roles? Not just in terms of A&R and new music, but contracts, accounting, distribution, you know-- all the boring business stuff. P: The only frightening thing was and always will be the financial side of it. We are of course involved in all big decisions, but the day to day business is now being handled by our guys at the office. There's Tim, the so to say General Manager, Marcus the label manager, and Katja who's assisting perfectly. A couples of trainees and of course Patci and her booking-agency. We are all sitting in our nice office in Berlin. J: How did Trentmoller's Les Djinns single end up getting re-released on Get Physical? Not many listeners know the song #1 best selling song on Beatport ever actually originally came out on Capitol Records in 2003. There was a time when almost every Proton Radio set had that remix in it, and the DJs themselves didn't believe me when I told them it was 4 years old. P: My friend Ken who worked for Ministry at the time played the record to me last year. As he is Danish he knew the guys and we begged him to make the contact and so we were immediately trying to get the record. Of course we didn't know it would become such a success. But I still love it. And it's true it was totally undiscovered, but maybe because there were only 500 units pressed at the time. And it's the best sign if you don't realise at what time a track has been produced. It is a big sign of qualitiy. J: In many of your interviews you've been asked about Berlin and Germany being the epicenter of our scene right now. But you're playing around the world these days with multiple gigs in different countries every week-- from your experience so far, what cities have shown signs of strength and potential for the sort of buzz that surrounds Berlin right now? P: In europe for sure London. Before everything was a bit restriceted and everything was about the big guys, but now they have wonderful afterparties with very good djs at incredible venues and lots of good people. Very nice. Barcelona has all the potential but unfortunately the police shuts down the clubs at 5am which is very sad as the Spanish only go to the clubs around 2. Sad as well that the Pulp in Paris is shut down as it was very important for the scene over there. We realise that through the easy access to the music everybody is pretty much on the same level these days. No matter where you go, you always have people knowing your tracks and they really can appreciate. But Berlin has still this very special vibe which is very attractive for artists. I read an interview with Paul Van Dyk who was complaining about djs being lazy in berlin and that there is nothing new coming out of the city. I think exactly the opposite. When you always have the pressure to do things because you need to make money to pay your rent, it cuts a bit the creativity and leads sometimes to the wrong decisions. I think that's what happened a bit in New York. When you walk through Manhatten there are only pharmacies and restaurants (still a great city of course for so many other reasons!!). J: You've got a tour coming up in the US soon-- where will you be playing and who will be tagging along? We do all gigs together except Denver. Then San francisco, LA, Toronto, Washington and NY. I think it's the 6th time we are coming and of course it's much nicer for us to travel together. We always try and stay at least an extra day at the places we like. J: What is on the slate for the two of you in the months ahead production wise-- any new songs or remixes? P: We just did a remix for Matthew Dear and Alexander Robotnik. And then in February we want to start with the album (like we did 10 times before). But we take three weeks of leave in Berlin and concentrate on doing music. Keep my fingers crossed that something nice comes out. J: We all need something to look forward to. So to close things off, can you give us five new and upcoming producers, DJs or labels that you are excited about right now and why? P: It's the hardest question but we'll try. We just name a few in no particular order and of course we name some artists on our label cause we love their shiat. As djs/producers: Djinnx, Lopazz, MyMy. As far as labels go: Oslo, still Dirty Bird... We discovered so many new labels and producers ately, but we have to see how the other releases are doing, so a bit early to mention! |
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