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As shows and club nights are canceled until further notice, it’s more important than ever to keep our beloved music communities together and animated from home. That’s why Telekom Electronic Beats is teaming up with Native Instruments and Warp Records for a new iteration of the ongoing #RemixThis competition series on Metapop, a platform helping aspiring producers and music makers grow their skills and get heard. 

Warp Records’ experimental rock band Battles have turned to the Native Instruments’ Metapop community for an album remix of their latest release, Juice B Crypts. The challenge is simple: Can you put a new spin on their signature sound of jittery guitar riffs and intricate, polyrhythmic drum patterns?

Battles have supplied loops and samples to Metapop and are looking for an entirely fresh take that still encapsulates the album’s thrumming indie-electronic essence. Battles will then choose a winner and Native Instruments will award them with a grand prize suite worth over €2000.

Are you a producer with a home set up who’s up for the challenge? You can join the competition here, download the stems, and get remixing.

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The coronavirus pandemic is impacting the music scene in dramatic ways. With DJs, musicians, promoters, clubs, and their staff suddenly seeing their regular source of income vanish, many clubs are turning their (hopefully temporary) closures into an opportunity to broadcast sets straight to their fans’ living rooms. Just in time for the weekend, the Telekom Electronic Beats staff has rounded up some of the best live streams in the past and forthcoming to tide you over the club-free nights ahead.

Nicolás Jaar

On Thursday, April 16th, Nicolás Jaar will live stream a two-hour mix of his. Mostly consisting of exclusive material such as unreleased tracks and edits, the stream will kick off at 8 pm CEST. The Chilean producer has had a fruitful year, with two LPs out already – Against All Logic – 2017 – 2019 and Cenizas. You can listen to a trailer of the mix below.

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Nacht Eins Stream Of Consciousness x Telekom Electronic Beats

On Friday evening Cologne club JAKI opens its virtual doors to for another Digital Clubnight with Telekom Electronic Beats. Expect to hear a slew of specially themed sets from MK Braun, presenting his “Summer Slowdown: 45rpm records strictly on 33rpm” mix, Bas Grossfeldt’s “Overrated Kicks: Techno without kickdrums” set, Christian S’ “Digital Riddim Extravaganza” and DJ Longsleeve’s “Music for Restaurants”. The clubnight will kick off from 8pm CEST on our Facebook page.

United We Stream

One of the biggest live streaming initiatives to have launched in light of the Coronavirus pandemic is United We Stream. Each day, one of the participating Berlin clubs is set up to take over the broadcast. On Friday you can tune into Kater Blau, on Saturday the legendary Pornceptual crew takes over from Alte Münze and on Sunday, Griessmühle presents Rebekah, Ellen Alien and Inhalt der Nacht from their “exile” in Alte Münze. Tune in every day this weekend from 7 pm CET to midnight CET. Additionally, you can donate to the initiative to ensure that your favorite club can reopen its doors when the shutdown ends.

Tempio del Futuro Perduto

Milan’s cultural center Tempio del Futuro Perduto is hosting what they called “the longest DJset in the world.” The club’s DJs who are currently living in quarantine in the artistic residences of the Temple have decided to try to beat the record of the longest DJ set in the World: a marathon without interruptions lasting 340 hours. Starting at 9 pm CET, the club’s residents will perform for two weeks straight. Italy is, of course, the country in Italy which has been hit hardest by the Coronavirus pandemic in Europe. The record, if it beats the current one of 240h set in Nigeria in 2016, will be dedicated to the Italian health and medical personnel. The Tempio del Futuro Perduto stream aims to raise funds for the Covid-19 relief efforts in Italy.

C minus TV

Kansas-based podcast and compilation series c- is quietly growing into the most beloved platforms to showcase underground electronic music on Soundcloud, with mixes like Aurora Halal’s “Summer of Self Love” and Khotin’s “Your Name On a Grain of Rice” racking up serious numbers. This Saturday, you can tune into streams from a globally dispersed group of c- affiliates, including Beta Librae, Nadia Khan and Perila.

Replay These Sets

Blitz residents

Last Friday, following club’s temporary closure, Munich’s Blitz streamed sets by residents Zenker Brothers, Sedef Adasi and Muallem. Adasi kicked off the stream with her energetic mix of body-rocking house and euphoric breaks while sipping on a glass of prosecco, her drink of choice. Muallem took things into deeper territories, with a consistent selection of slick dance floor gems. Finally, Bavarian bass hero’s Zenker Brothers closed things off with a slew of old-school hip-hop records. You can also learn more about their studio process in our feature on EB.TV.

Peach, Shanti Celeste, and Saoirse B2B

London’s Peach, Shanti Celeste, and Saoirse’s fruitful friendship has seen them become regular B2B collaborators. While usually bringing their combined skills to places like Strawberry Fields, Panorama Bar or various clubs in the UK, last Friday they hunkered down and streamed an impromptu epic 3-hour session “from Peach’s gaf”. Revisit their intimate house party here.

Salon zur Wilden Renate

Although the doors at Elsenbrücke remain closed for the time being, the club’s parties will go ahead online. For this purpose, Salon zur Wilden Renate even created a custom website with the slogan “Live From Renate”, including a countdown to the next session. You can listen back to sets from Ash Lauryn, Cyan85 and many more on Ray Kajioka on Renate’s Facebook.

We will continue updating this post as more live streams appear. For suggestions, please contact info@electronicbeats.net

These are uneasy times for the electronic music community. In light of the Coronavirus pandemic and the necessity of social distancing as a matter of public health, everyone is hunkering down. If you’re suddenly finding yourself with free time on your hands, here are some resources to get your creative juices flowing in the midst of the COVID-19 shutdowns. Say no to the club–at least for now.

Try your hand at Ableton

Ableton just announced the extension of the trial period for their Ableton Live 10 software from 14 days to 90 days. If you’ve ever thought about making electronic music, giving the program a shot could be a great first step.

Try out Logic Pro X for free

Mac users can now try Apple’s music production software, which usually costs €230 Euros, for 90 days.  A close competitor of Ableton, Logic Pro X was never available for a trial period – until now. The software offers everything you need to produce music or other audio projects, including a large collection of effects, instruments, and unique sounds.

Download these free synth apps

As of yesterday, Moog and Korg have waived the fee for downloads of their synth apps Minimoog Model D iOS and Kaossilator. A statement from Korg reads: “Schools, workplaces, and meetings worldwide have been requested to close by their respective governments and so many people are studying and working from home. To help you with a musical way to occupy your mind we have decided to make the Kaossilator app for iOS and Android free of charge for a limited time.”

It’s not clear how long Moog’s iOS version of the Minimoog Model D iOS app will be available for free. Built after the iconic hardware original, which was first released in 1970, the app includes new features such as four-note polyphony, an arpeggiator, looper, and ping-pong delay. Scoop it up while you still can.

Learn DJing tricks with Octo Octa and Eris Drew

Back in January, Octo Octa released an in-depth guide on how to set up a home studio. In it, she details her personal approach to music-making and gives helpful tips and tricks for bedroom producers who are just starting out. This week, Octo Octa and Eris Drew published a joint guide titled “Hot n’ Ready DJ Tips, Tricks, & Techniques”, in which they lay out various DJing techniques and include helpful pointers for DJs such as negotiating fees, plus best practices for performers. As Octo Octa and Eris Drew put it: “We just want to share our knowledge and experiences to hopefully help others, not make them feel othered by declarations of ‘this is what a real DJ does.’ We’re all working on improving and elevating our art together.” You can read the guide, which has been updated today, here.

Create an EP with Nathan Melja

Paris-based Nathan Melja recently released “Synesthesia”, a spaced-out minimal club gem, with remixes by Pariah and Anthony Naples, for Kalahari Oyster Cult and is a resident on Rinse France. On Sunday, he announced on Twitter that he would host a virtual music production session, in which fans could chime in via chat, leading to a collaborative EP “by the end of the week.” He added, “it’s now time to get all together and show the complete opposite of selfishness.” You can join the stream here.

Live-stream your DJ set at home

Music business writer Cherie Hu has published her “Virtual Music Events Directory”. The extensive Google Doc contains a calendar of virtual/live-streamed events as well as a live-streaming tool directory for artists and bedroom DJs. Taking cues from the Shanti Celeste, Peach, Saoirse, DJ Marcelle, we hope to see more home live-streamed sessions by our favorite artists popping up in the next few weeks.

Catch up on gear talks with EB.TV

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Dig into our archives of over 60 Tech Talks, in which some of the most respected names in electronic music explain how they work in the studio.

We will continue updating this post as more resources appear. For suggestions, please contact info@electronicbeats.net

How well do you know house music? Think you could name most of the genre’s most notorious tracks?

For the newest episode of Blind Test—the ongoing series on our YouTube channel where the scene’s biggest DJs are quizzed on dance music’s biggest records—we’re inviting two members of the Berlin community to participate.

If you live in Berlin and think you can hold your own against our internationally-acclaimed DJ guests, apply here now. Check out the previous episode of Blind Test below, and stay tuned to our YouTube channel every Tuesday for new videos like these!

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International DJ gigs, long-distance flights and climate protection – how can these things be linked together? The Danish DJ, producer and music manager Kasper Bjørke is taking up this polemic question and has been committed to reducing his carbon footprint since he became a parent five years ago. Among other things, the environmentally-conscious DJ is avoiding air travel as much as possible and tries to tour only to cities that are reachable by train. For the Telekom Electronic Beats Podcast, Kasper Bjørke met Gesine Kühne right before his performance at Grace Club in Milan. In this interview, he talks about traveling 25 hours by train for a gig and how he likes to spend his time. He describes how his environmentally friendly decisions are shaping his career and that he hopes to inspire others without shaming anyone. But how can the music and club scene be more sustainable in the long term? How can DJs, club owners, bookers and agents become more active? The conversation with Kasper Bjørke is meant to inspire reflection.

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Mit Charisma und einer guten Portion Sturheit haben sich Inga Humpe seit jeher viele Türen geöffnet. Schon seit den 70ern ist die begnadete Songtexterin, Sängerin und Komponistin ein unnachahmlicher Teil der deutschen Musikszene. Dabei haben einige Dinge durchaus Zeit benötigt. Die selbsternannte “Spätzünderin” stand im Alter von 23 Jahren zum ersten Mal mit ihrer Band Neonbabies auf der Bühne, danach folgten Auftritte mit DÖF und Humpe & Humpe oder gemeinsam mit Tommi Eckart in Form von 2raumwohnung. Mit Gesine Kühne spricht Humpe im Telekom Electronic Beats Podcast über ihre Liebe für lebendige Musik und wie sie kurzerhand für Fridays for Future einen ihrer alten Songs neu zu einem Protestsong im Kampf gegen die Klimakrise umschrieb. Neben Einblicke in ihr politisches Wirken teilt Inga Humpe im Interview auch sehr persönliche Gedanken über die Beziehung zu ihrer älteren Schwester Annette Humpe, mit der sie Ende der 80er Jahre das Musikprojekt “Humpe & Humpe” betrieb. Sie erzählt, was passiert, wenn kreatives Arbeiten und Familienleben extrem eng miteinander verbunden sind, welche Krisen die Schwestern sowohl emotional als auch künstlerisch zu meistern hatten und welchen Einfluss all dies auf ihre individuellen Karrieren hatte.

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Due to Coronavirus, Boiler Room x Telekom Electronic Beats events in Cologne and Prague will be postponed until July. Stay tuned for more updates.

Two key amplifiers in the electronic music scene are teaming up in 2020 to celebrate some major milestones: Telekom Electronic Beats will be celebrating its 20th anniversary, and Boiler Room, its 10th. This year promises a packed international program across Budapest, Prague, and Cologne.

Founded in 2000, EB has dedicated its work to showcasing esteemed acts such as New Order, Gorillaz; Grace Jones, Moderat, DJ Koze or KiNK, as well as profiling emerging talents like VTSS, Beta Librae and Cera Khin. Throughout its twenty years, Electronic Beats has championed club scenes around the world, making this unprecedented partnership with the streaming platform a natural fit.

Boiler Room’s own history also demonstrates its commitment to driving underground subcultures forward, through its peripatetic collaborations, which span from touching down in Nyege Nyege Festival in Uganda to joining forces with virtual club project Dommune in Japan. 

For the joint venture, Electronic Beats and Boiler Room will premiere an interdisciplinary audiovisual experience to be broadcast live from venues including the Akvárium in Budapest on March 5, the Wassermannhalle in Cologne on March 12, and the Roxy in Prague on March 19. Save the date and stay tuned for full line-up and more dates for 2020 to be announced.

Several members of the electronic music community are releasing records to raise funds for bushfire relief charities as Australia suffers from devastating forest and bush fires, which have already claimed the lives of over 24 people, as well as roughly half a billion animals according to one estimate.

Australian producers Mall Grab, Lou Karsh, Logic 1000, and DJ Plead, are among some of the artists who have shared previously unreleased tracks and EPs on Bandcamp, with proceeds going directly to organisations such as the First Nations Fire Relief Fund, NSW Rural Fire Service and the Victorian Bushfire Disaster Appeal. A number of record labels such as Animals Dancing, NLV Records and Public Possession are currently also donating some or all of their proceeds from sales throughout the next few days.

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Writing on Instagram, Lou Karsh said: “With so much loss already, increasingly dangerous weather conditions and a useless government there is a lingering feeling of sadness and anxiety in all of us now and for the days to come.”

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Donate directly to the cause here:
Fire Relief Fund for First Nations Communities
NSW Rural Fire Service
Victorian Bushfire Disaster Appeal

Our recent EB podcast guest Klaus Blatter, the self-described “pioneer of acid house,” seems to have finessed his way into the genre’s who’s who without a lick of proof. He says he was left out of the history books, but his ability to snag a “comeback” gig at Glastonbury sans any verified credentials cheekily points to the success of grifters in our current era. More power to him. Part of his offbeat charm is his ability to make a strong impression. A caricature of a throwback raver, you won’t often see his moustachioed self without the highlighter yellow BVB track jacket, olive fedora, and matching visor shades. For us, though, it’s his music that pushes to the forefront. Watch him flip his B-side selects in the video below. 

Within, Blatter refers to himself in third person, spouts some 1980s history, and describes his vintage cuts with evocative metaphors, as if reciting some roundabout type of lysergic poetry.  “It reminds me of the stalking powers of the birds of prey who swoops and swoops before finding its victim–and then strikes swiftly,” he says of Divine’s “Native Love (Step by Step) USA Remix,” “This track has this build to it.” For his second choice, “Astoria,” he describes a conger eel slithering up the Amazon River. More comedic absurdism to jumpstart your 2020, inside.

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Loraine James has dropped a “New Year’s Substitution 2” on January 1st. Collaborators on the EP includes J. Albert of New York’s underground, Irish experimental producer Lighght and fellow London-based polymath patten, who will be supporting James for her upcoming March 27 show at Café OTO in Dalston. Listen to the full Bandcamp stream below.

On the EP, James proves herself as a disciple of Hyperdub’s evolved UK club sound, uniting thudding syncopated drums with a ghostly, Burial-reminiscent female vocal sample on ‘Ripples of Light’ alongside Lighght. In the producer’s signature sensibility, hushed atmospherics softly enrobe the hi-hats and subdued bass on “Take It Easy” with Florian T M Zeisig.

“The EP is basically the beginning of a new chapter in my life, that was made under a week,” James explains, of her approach. “I wanted it to be quick and just pretty light-hearted.”

This release is James’ most recent since her September debut album off Hyperdub, For You and I, a dual study on female queerness and London’s rapidly changing urbanscape, and follows her New Year’s Substitution 1 EP from January 2015.