We suspect another German audible delight from Mr Lieb
Audible Suspects to launch ‘Collaborations’, a new creative platform
for Bedrock in 2012. This project is the culmination of a journey over many years, through Jimmy’s pursuit of Oliver’s music, resulting in their friendship and now this collaboration. Many years ago Jimmy was among the first people to bring Oliver to the USA to play and was the first to arrange a tour for him to perform live and now the time is right for The Audible Suspects to be born. As label boss John Digweed says, “Jimmy and Oliver have delivered a futuristic mix that locks you into a
groove and won’t let go. This is cool electronic house meets spacious
techno.” Grab a copy now!
Welcome Oliver to DMC WORLD. A brilliant new collaboration with Jimmy Van M which we will come to later. You were born in Frankfurt where at the age of 14 became a bassist in various funk, jazz and soul bands. Did you come from a musical family?
“Not really, I was always interested in hi-fi gear, speakers and musical instruments. A person in the house where I was living was a bass-player. So when he was selling one of his bass guitars I kind of got drawn into this instrument’s sound, especially when connecting it to my sound system and the large speakers that I had built!”
What sort of early artists were you into at that age?
“I was in all kind of bass-orientated bands like Level 42’s early stuff, George Duke, Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke etc. Then a bit later, lots of pop and early synth stuff like Jean-Michel Jarre, some Pet Shop Boys, Yello, Art of Noise and early Hip House/Acid House stuff…Fast Eddie, Adonis etc. Also, being a big Hip Hop fan, I was really loving the early Ice-T tracks (who had the first programmed, not just sampled grooves, I discovered).”
When did the lure of electronica start to sway you?
“While playing in bands I sometimes made some music on my own with the available gear like a Sequential Circuits drum machine, keyboards, fx and the 8 track recorder. Then a bit later, I just found it more cool to go in this direction more than continuing in bands. So I sold all my bass equipment except for one custom made bass that I still have… and bought my first sampler, a Casio FZ1 and a hardware sequencer, the Alesis HR16. That’s how I created lots of tracks, even my first single, “System” that came out a year later on Torsten Fenslau’s label, Abfahrt.”
What were the early clubs you first ventured to and who were the DJs/producers that first got you hooked into their world?
I started going to some some clubs while there was no real ‘DJ culture’ yet…that came a bit later…then it was the Dorian Gray at the airport in Frankfurt and the Omen. But, like I said, I was starting to go out before there was something like a hype around DJs.”
What was your first break in the music world?
“Actually, it was my first release, “System”, in 1989 by my first project name, Force Legato. It sold more than 60,000 copies and got all around the world. The remix came out a bit too late though, since nobody realized what was going on then. It was at number 101 in the official German charts and with the remix coming a bit earlier it would have been one of the very first techno tracks to actually hit the national charts.”
Germany played a huge part in the growth of the electronic music scene back in the 90s. It paved the way with producers, DJs and some of the finest clubs we have ever witnessed. What is your opinion on the country’s musical prowess today?
“Well, back then, like today, it was all based in certain cities… some more than others. Here that sound was big… there this one a bit more… but initially, the first “techno” sound was big everywhere from 1990 onwards. Today, Berlin is still a great place with a big scene and good clubs. Frankfurt, at the moment, is struggling and, to me, there is no ‘perfect’ club or location for techno at the moment. Its either too clean, or too big, or something else, which really is a shame if you go back in time and think what we had here. Also, some years ago, two very important distributors of this music went bankrupt in this area, which made a big difference to the
way things are today.”
So a new collaboration with Jimmy Van M is under way with the release of a new mix album. How did all of this begin between you two?
“I’ve known Jimmy for a long time, from when he booked tours through the USA for me. After a break from producing, I was slowly getting back to starting working again and one of my first steps was to care about my online presence like Facebook etc. I added Jimmy, making contact again and soon we talked about working together on some things and we quickly had the idea of doing a compilation. A few months later we met up and Jimmy decided to actually spend more time in Frankfurt and moved over.”
A new album “Collaborations” – can you talk us through this most excellent release…
“Like in my monthly podcasts, I wanted to transport new interesting music from well known and more underground or yet not that well known people and focus on the techy side of things, which actually is my main playground. Its based on grooves and interesting sounds, as well as melodies that don’t just aim for big commercial success but more for some trippy development of audible space.”
What are the current top 10 tunes you are spinning?
1. Ladies on Mars / My Computer Boy – Adrian Hour remix / Xela Digital
2. Alex Long, Mike Vale / Epic Drama – Piatto Remix / Steel Ground
3. Andre Hecht / Mystical Mirrors / Empuls
4. Egoism / Innovator / Leap4rog Music
5. Audionatica / Black Tower – Tony Rohr Remix / Gon Records
6. M.A.N.D.Y. Vs. Booka Shade / Home – Samuel L.Session Remix / Get
Physical
7. Terence Fixmer / A Journey To Uncharted Destinations / Planet Rouge
8. Pen Perry / Meine Seele / AOA Recordings
9. Slam / Temperance / Drumcode
10. DJ KoT / White Crow / Minimized Records
What was the best club you played at in 2011?
“I didn’t play too much in 2011 since I was focused on getting back into producing and updating my studio. But I really, really, enjoyed the Cream reunion. That brought back lots of memories!”
Not many people know this, but Oliver Lieb is really good at…
“Computer games and cooking.”
You have released hundreds of tunes under various guises, what is your personal favourite track you have created and why?
“I don’t have one, everything stands for a certain time or special moment and even if I don’t like it that much, there is a reason why I did it this way. But I’m more proud of developing a project and Spicelab was the first in this direction and I went much further with L.S.G., by taking it through lots of different moods and directions, but all done in a developing process.”
“I was really happy to meet the guys from Yello in person, since I listened to all their music. Then, there is the Utah Saints ‘Lost Vagueness’ remix which was one of the most successful ones.”
What do you think sets you apart from other producers?
“Well, it’s hard for me to say this! Maybe other people can say something better? But, maybe its the different directions I take while it’s still possible to tell its me, the high sound quality standard and the arrangements, especially on long tracks and albums?”
So we come back to your place after the club – what are the Oliver Lieb “Back To Mine” tunes you chill us with?
“Syzygy’s ‘Morphic Resonance’ album…Tangerine Dream’s ‘Phaedra’ album…the ‘Logic Trance 2’ compilation. Maybe some more
Leftfield, Orbital…there is so much! It will all depend on the mood at the time, I think?
What DJs do you love to DJ alongside?
“The ones that really love what they do, it doesn’t matter if they are really big names or unknown. You can quickly see and feel that and then it’s fun!
You can be quite vocal in your thoughts of trance music, once calling it way too commercial. What do you therefore think of the current monetary success of people like Tiesto and Avicci?
“You are talking about the statement I posted with the L.S.G. ‘Unreleased Album’? That statement is now quite a few years old, while it’s meaning is even more serious than back then. There are the people that know the original meaning and there are the ones that came new to the scene, and this recent sound is their first contact and so there are lots of problems about what is good, bad, credible etc. because of this background. So there are probably too many discussions and talking about something that is gone and that’s good. It did grow and also got killed by commerce and so lots of people are sick and would like to hear something that is not that obvious and made because somebody really liked it and not to aim just for money and a big follow-up or break through hit. I really hope to hear more good types of quality productions in a direction following this so often abused trance genre. I wouldn’t really say a Tiesto, or whoever, of the past few years is responsible for this stagnation. It started a much longer time ago and it doesn’t make sense any more to look back, there needs to be new productions and I can find them more and more. Also, there is a gap for this sound and people are looking for it, so that’s maybe the start of something. On the other hand, that’s a completely normal process. I don’t want to have back the same sound like then. I want something fresh sounding, but with the same feeling in there. Please no retro! This won’t be the solution. The whole process has taken place in all kinds of other styles, like punk, hip hop, heavy metal, rock n roll or whatever. It just proves that electronic music has to be taken as seriously as every other major music style! These styles
all had to re-invent themselves or they would have died out.”
Great answer! So, what is the next step for The Audible Suspects in 2012?
“First, we are going to go on tour and play as many gigs as possible. Because we haven’t really played together before, this will be a very interesting experience. Then, we will start thinking about something new. There is lots in our minds, but we are actually concentrating on this album release first.”