Back To Mine With Lang Father

Berlin-based composer, producer and multidisciplinary artist Lang Father works across electronic music, hip hop, composition and scoring. His career has included collaborations with artists including Timbaland, alongside a publishing relationship with Sony, with his work shaped by a composer’s approach rather than allegiance to any one genre.

House music has long formed part of that musical vocabulary, with Moodymann and Theo Parrish among his key influences. That side of his work now comes further into view on his new EP ‘I (Junkyard Dog)’, a two-track EP for WeLoFi featuring the title track and ‘Runnin”, and his second release for the label following 2024’s ‘The Substance EP’. Based in Berlin, Lang Father continues to work across disciplines, with further house releases, soundtrack work and a full-length instrumental hip hop album currently in development. DMCWorld goes  Back To Mine with Lang Father.

Moodymann – Answer Machine

I don’t know what this drum bounce did to me, but it completely changed my understanding of what a simple four-to-the-floor groove could be. I’m pretty sure I’ve tried to steal that feeling in one way or another so many times since then.

It’s not just the drums either. It’s the crowd noise, the sample choice, the way the chords are used within the sample. Every little element feels so loose but so intentional. It’s one of those moments where you hear something and you’re just like, “Oh my God, this man is a fucking Jedi.”

Frank Ocean – Lens

I still go back to this as easily one of my favorite written songs of all time. The melody, the development, the lyrics, the cross between heavy auto-tune to natural vocal, the way that you don’t really ever know where the song is gonna land. There’s all these details and elements happening at any given moment. There’s one note of reverse piano for no reason, and then finally at the end you’ve just got these, like, almost EBM crunch drums that you never expect it to happen. I think I’ve put this in every, like, Oh, I’ll make you a playlist type playlist to a friend or something. Like, I just love this song so much.

Oklou – Choke Enough

It’s such an incredible blend of older ideas with much more abstract, left-of-center, underground dance music influences. The almost drumless quality of it, and then those tiny, delicate, breathy vocal moments that are so subtle but placed so perfectly, create this really unique atmosphere.

Again, it’s a song that never really feels like it’s just following a predictable one, two, three structure. It keeps developing and revealing new ideas, but at the same time it has this incredibly beautiful chorus that anchors everything emotionally. It’s just a beautiful song, and honestly an incredible record overall. The whole album feels like such a complete and carefully considered piece of work.

Rosalia – Soako

What a record. What a musician. What a pop star. And what a moment. Coming out of COVID in 2022, and then suddenly Saoko, Mami, Saoko arrives, it felt like such a powerful statement. It was a real revelation of who Rosalía was as an artist and where she was taking her music.

I actually saw her live on the LUX tour, and I was right down by the orchestra pit. It was a completely game-changing performance, not just musically but in terms of the storytelling and the way she builds a world on stage.

She’s one of my favorite writer-performers working right now. The way she combines songwriting, production, visual identity, and performance is just on another level.

Laurie Anderson – O Superman

This one is an old, old favorite of mine. I found this when I was maybe 14, 15. Just an incredible use of pedal tone, vamping and minimalism, and just telling a really abstract story that could be interpreted in so many different ways, and kind of almost is for me every time I listen to it. And a great album, and just an unbelievably strong force of music and art combined. And for this to come out in the mid to late ’80s, just baffling almost. Yeah, shout out Laurie Anderson.

Burial x Four Tet – Moth

This is supposed to be, like, the afters-type records, so I’m trying to keep them a little bit further away from, like, just a whole bunch of four to the floors, even though there are a couple in here. But, like, what can I say about Burial? Like, just my goat, honestly, my goat of goats. Burial, Frank Ocean, you know, Moodymann, obviously. But Moth is just such an incredible tune, and I also like that it is four to the floor and it is direct, but it has such a beautiful compositional quality about it, and it has this, like, ever-moving capacity to it. It’s just constantly flowing like water, but it just feels so effortless, which is something I’m really attracted to with Burial’s music.

Donny Hathaway – Jealous Guy

I really love this cover. The drum groove alone, the way it feels so heavy and downbeat, immediately sets it apart. Then you have this incredible vocal performance that feels so natural and so emotionally present. The whole thing feels like a captured moment, like something that came together in a very specific time and place.

I already love Donny Hathaway as an artist, but this is just such a beautifully executed cover of an incredible song. What I really love are the subtle changes they make: the slight adjustments to the chord progression, the instrumentation, and the overall feel of the arrangement. Those little choices give it this different character, almost like it belongs to a ’70s American soul record.

Compared to Jealous Guy, which has always felt to me like a very quintessentially English song, even though it was recorded in America, this version feels like it’s completely absorbed into that American musical language. And I think that’s what makes it so special. It feels lived in, it feels spontaneous, and it just feels like a real moment captured on record.

Jon Hopkins – Collider (Karenn Remix)

Total wild card. I’m probably going to freak some people out who are there to just hang at the afters, maybe there’s a little DJ set happening because someone has equipment in their apartment, which is very common in Berlin. This is definitely not a record that everyone is going to want to hear in that setting, but I’m going to play five seconds of it for the people who are ready for that level of intensity.

I just think it’s incredible. It’s still one of my favorite electronic pieces of music ever recorded. It’s a really strange one because it’s not necessarily that well known, but to me it’s just unbelievable. The intensity of the groove, the way it develops, the way it builds and transforms over time, it’s such a powerful piece of music. And the original song is incredible as well. I’m a huge fan of that Jon Hopkins album overall, but this one in particular just has something completely unique about it.

Silver Apples – Oscillations

Silver Apples are still a huge reference point for me, both as a musician and just as a music fan. What they were able to achieve is incredible, especially considering the limitations they were working with. The production, the recording techniques, and the story of how Simeon built and adapted his instruments at a time when commercially available synthesizers really weren’t widely accessible yet, it’s just fascinating.

What amazes me is how musically aware it all is. On the surface, it can feel like it’s built around drones, repetition, and almost an atonal approach, but then you listen closer and the melodies are actually so beautiful and so simple. He would use these really minimal bass lines that were incredibly musical, and then place these slightly out-of-tune higher melodies over the top, creating this tension and emotion that feels completely unique.

They’re just an incredible band. I’m also really happy that I discovered them through Portishead around 2008, when I was getting really into Third. I found Third, started digging into the influences around that record, and Silver Apples came up almost immediately. It completely opened up another world of music for me.

Madvillian – Accordion

The Sample, the drums where every element of drums is going in its own direction, but then it just weaves together and feels like it’s breathing, like it’s alive. Like, I mean, he’s just the best. He’s just a super, super genius, and I can never get over how amazing I think that this man is as a producer, composer, a musician, everything. And then, of course he said: slip like Freudian, your first and last step to playing yourself like accordion. Yo, what?? Goated haha!

‘I (Junkyard Dog)’ is out now on WeLoFi.