Interview by Dan Prince
Yotam a huge welcome to DMCWORLD. You feeling good today?
It’s my best friend’s 30th birthday today and I’m not with her because she lives far away, so I’m pretty moody today – but thanks for asking!
Righteo. Well moving swiftly on, what is the best piece of new music you have heard since rolling out of bed?
President Bongo (Gus Gus) latest “Serengeti”, it is an album that more people should listen to.
So, you have lifted the dancefloor yet again with your music! This time round it’s your ‘Pentimento’ track that has people jumping…with Joe CLaussell’s Divergent Mix cranking it up further. Talk us through the history and the sound of this Rebirth beauty…
This track has a long history behind it, it was originally picked up first by Derrick May for a few compilations he had, than a few years later I realized a lot of big DJs re-discovered it. So I thought I should re-release it as a single with a fresh remix and that’s what we did. It’s a track I did many years ago, it contains a harp solo sample by Alice Coltrane from an album by her which meant a lot to me growing up. I’m very proud of this track and I’m very happy to see is getting the attention it deserves.
You were especially excited to announce your first foray into the world of the Monad series with your release swinging our way next week, tell us about your mix…
I was mostly known for more House productions even though I play a lot of Techno as well. SA is one of my favorite record labels in the last few years because of its brilliant catalogue with some of the best Experimental Techno / Electronica artists out there. I’ve been dying to work for a label like this, which can give me total musical freedom, so yeah – I’m very very happy to join them.
“Avni possesses a special skill for traversing the spectrum of sounds from soulful to steely without ever giving precedence to one mode or another.” Was that the plan?
My musical background is very Jazz/Soulful oriented. My introduction to Electronic dance music comes from that same root as well. So probably anything I’ll produce will have a touch of that, it’s very uncommon nowadays to produce “different styles” of music under one artist name, nowadays every sub-genre has its own separate scene that no one wants to cross for some reason. I want to try to change that, even though I’m not sure it’s the smartest decision I have ever had.
What are the 5 big tunes in your box this weekend…
Lucy – Self Mythology
…is my favorite album right now. I’m heavily curious about Electro-Acoustic music, and especially that who flirt with avant-garde jazz, Lucy totally blew me away on this one.
Sinfol – Unstable
Is a track I cant stop playing, it has that jacked swing groove mixed with this perfect bleepy mindfuck synth that I just love to play.
The Bayara Citizens AKA Joe Claussell – Bambara (Tribes Of Distortion Dub)
No one does it better than Joe.
Alex Under – El Reflejo Del Lacar
Acidic, melancholic and Dreamy, the latest Alex Under cut for Kompakt is in my morning tracks folder for a while now.
2030 – In Aeternum – Black Crow Recordings
A beautiful heavily-inspired Detroit classic piece by Nico Campanella for Black Crow Recordings, Deep’a & Biri’s record label from my hometown of Tel-Aviv.
Okay let’s rewind for a minute. You hail from Tel Aviv, a city drenched in dance music history. What is your earliest memory of music, do you come from a musical family?
Israel has a reach culture importance for mainly Psy Trance music. But In general, around the mid-late 90’s Tel-Aviv was one of the best city’s in the world for clubbing. So even though I was a bit too young to attend I was exposed to a lot of what was going on back then. My dad is a big jazz fan who used to be a drummer, I owe a lot to him when it comes to my love for music.
At what age did you first stumble upon electronic music and what were those first outlets of dancefloor sound?
I think I was about 12 years old when I read a music magazine for the first time and right around that moment I knew that this culture is what I want to be involved in. I was a nerdy kid who knew a lot about DJ culture way before I could get into any club. My first real serious party experience (aka my first pill) was when I was 16 with Laurent Garnier behind the decks at Haoman 17 (The Israeli Fabric back then) it was a night I’ll never forget.
When did you start to think about becoming a musician and what did your family think?
I come from a middle class Russian Jewish family where everyone’s a teacher or a doctor – and I failed in every class since the 1st grade. So my family gave me a hard time for that, it took me a few years to prove that my talent for this music could develop into a serious carrier, and now its all good.
If you hadn’t have become a key member in the Israel dance community, what other professions do you think you may have ended up doing?
I was a music journalist for a few years, I think I could have stayed around that field, either that or working in a book shop.
Who are your musical influences?
Jazz. It’s all jazz, everything around us.
What was your first big break in the industry?
It’s hard to say. I had a really big hit remixing Kiko Navarro’s track a few years ago, but than again my latest release for Ovum Recordings (‘This Is How’) was my first No.1 sale chart single. So maybe that counts more.
What is the biggest risk you have ever taken in life?
I don’t see myself as a big risk taker, but maybe I should. I did go on stage with Bobby McFerrin once for an improvised beatbox session in front of over a thousand people, that was quite risky I guess. But it went well! lol
You made your Amsterdam debut last year – what did you make of this crazy city?
I was very excited to play for Steve Rachmad’s birthday, he’s been one of my biggest inspirations as a DJ and producer and he’s one of my biggest supporters nowdays, so yeah – that was really really fun.
Tell us about Avadon…
AVADON (“Doom” in Hebrew) is my own party nights that I have done around Tel-Aviv for the last few years with my two partners Or Magal and Daniel Frenkel who both work for different clubs in the city. I’m proud to say that it’s been Tel Aviv’s leading night out for a while now…
What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
Trust your instincts.
An up and coming producer to watch out for this year?
In my hometown of Tel-Aviv there’s a few madly talented producers you should follow: Red Axes, TV Out, Deepa and Biri, Yogg are just a few.
A tip for a summer anthem?
The longer they wait for a kick drum the better!!
And finally, what is coming next from you studio wise…
A track called ‘Yeezinality’ (featured at Ame & Dixon latest Essential Mix) is coming out soon on Enemy Records, a track called ‘Blakkat’ with Catz n’ Dogz for their upcoming Watergate mix album and a track for Innervisions later this summer as well.
‘Pentimento’ is out now on Rebirth Records
