Phace

“For me, art has to be original and arbitrary, almost random and not just functional “

Interview by Dan Prince


‘Shape The Random’ is the fourth album from Phace, aka Florian Harres, the renowned German electronic music producer, DJ and label owner championed by the likes of Amon Tobin, Noisia, Skrillex, Andy C, Goldie, Friction, Rockwell, Black Sun Empire and beyond.  DMCWORLD checks in with da main man…


Florian a massive welcome to DMCWORLD…where on planet earth are you today?

Thank you! I am actually on a flight to London to play at the Electric Brixton when I decided to use this travel time wisely to answer your questions.

What was the first piece of music you heard this morning after rolling out of bed?

I actually didn’t listen to anything until I got to my studio. I just recently re-arranged my studio room, so to check the sound in there and to optimize the speaker placement I started the day listening to an updated mix of a collab I just recently produced with Mefjus.

A massive week for you with the major release of ‘Shape The Random’, your fourth album. How long has this long player taken to create?

The writing process pretty much took me a whole year, but the album itself kept me busy far longer. As I released it on my own label Neosignal Recordings I had to plan, coordinate, create and manage everything in detail to ensure the release gets out there the way I wanted it too. 

“For me, art has to be original and arbitrary, almost random and not just functional – a strange science so to speak!” – Discuss…

I have nothing against functional music in general. Often the simplest ideas are the best. I just tend to prefer music that is surprising and not too calculated or ‘thought out’. It shouldn’t just follow a certain formula to work. What excites me most in music are things you wouldn’t expect. Same as in life I think the best way to achieve something new is leaving your comfort zone and challenging yourself with the unknown.

So 14 new musical babies, please give us a few words on each…

1. My mind is modular -> White Noise, Arps and Sequences

2. Digital Diet -> A very good thing to do once in a while.

3. Monochrome -> Ying & Yang

4. I am -> Strange!

5. Empty Talk -> There’s too much of it in media.

6. The Mothership (feat. Mefjus) -> Chill the f**k out.

7. Fraktal Total -> We are more and more living in a ‘fractal’ society these days where everything seems to be a copy of a copy.

8. Imbalanced -> How I often feel about what I do.

9. Flaky -> This is quite flaky!

10. Automatic -> Reminds me on one of my very first tracks I released (Brainwave) and hence it seemed to write itself automatically.

11. Bite the Edge -> Rock’n’Roll

12. Suspense -> This is a deep one.

13. Shape the Random -> And this is a very random one.

14. Exit Plan -> Me being emotional.

The album came out on Monday, have you been pleased with the reaction?

I feel extremely fulfilled, blessed and excited to see the album is doing so good. Pretty much all the feedback I got is very positive. I am very happy the record finally is out there and everyone has the chance to check it out. That is actually one of the best feelings when you know your music is out there and you see you brought happiness to other people. There really isn’t any better reason to do music….

What are the 5 big tunes in your box this weekend?

Would be 5 tracks from my album and they vary every weekend.

What is the best and worst thing about living in Hamburg?

The best thing to me is the liberal, open minded and intellectual vibe of the city. The worst things to me are stupid capitalistic politics and decisions of the city.

What is coming out next from your magical Neosignal Recordings…

Now that you ask, I honestly don’t really know at this stage as I was/am so sucked into my LP release I couldn’t look into the future yet.

3 bucket list adventures you wanna do in your lifetime?

To live a healthy and happy life until the very end.

To marry my awesome fiancé.

To plant a tree.

An up and coming producer to watch out for in 2015?

There are so many talented producers out there, in every genre. But if you want me to drop names in regards to Drum & Bass I especially like all the upcoming music from Emperor and Joe Ford.

An album we would be surprised to find in your collection?

Type 0 Negative – October Rust

What was the last GREAT studio toy you bought yourself?

A Moog Voyager, I always wanted to own one.

And finally, what is coming out next from you studio wise?

At the moment I am focusing on a couple of collabs and two new solo tracks which I hope to get done before the summer.

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About: http://neosignal.de/about/phace/

Listen: http://soundcloud.com/phace

Like: https://www.facebook.com/phaceneosignal

Follow: https://twitter.com/phace_

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZWgTsfA01pdSA1EsHB8xzQ