Der Klang der Familie: Berlin, Techno and the Fall of the Wall by Felix Denk & Sven von Thülen

Author:Felix Denk & Sven von Thülen [Denk, Felix & Thülen, Sven von]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Published: 2014-11-12T23:00:00+00:00

ROBERT HOOD We said exactly how we wanted to be treated. We couldn’t allow ourselves to be taken advantage of. As black musicians, we had to control how our music was being represented and put out, and we had to make sure we were being properly compensated. Black musicians have been exploited so often. We’d learned from that. We said to ourselves that we could do business with record labels from the other side of the world while still retaining our integrity and our character. We were committed to doing it without being taken advantage of or being treated like ignorant black musicians. That was part of the UR idea as well.

CAROLA STOIBER They had three demands: no photos, they wanted to design the cover themselves and they wanted to make the promo letter into a record. I was a punk rocker and said, somewhat snappily, that if we said we’d do it a certain way, then we’d do it that way. And that was true.

DIMITRI HEGEMANN X-101 was meant to be the first release on Tresor Records. But Mute wanted them too. As a music researcher, Daniel Miller had discovered that something new was emerging in Berlin. I played him the tape of X-101, and he was immediately enthusiastic. “You have to wait,” he said. “We want them too!” Of course I was impressed. Wow, Mute is interested!

UWE REINEKE Jeff and Mike were both very shy. Jeff was more on the ball businesswise, whereas Mike was more intuitive. When he noticed something wasn’t working for him, he just pulled out or declined, then dug his heels in.

DIMITRI HEGEMANN In the end, we released the record in Germany in conjunction with Mute in their territories. But because they had a real promotional apparatus, the whole thing dragged out. That really turned me off. When it finally came out, there was such buzz that even the

BZ raffled off 100 white labels. They even contributed to the costs. We didn’t have any fear of association there. We were rather apolitical.

CAROLA STOIBER X-101 hit the shelves in December 1991.

UWE REINEKE The record took off right away; we didn’t need to do much promotion at all. It caught fire immediately. We sold a great deal.

TANITH Shortly after the UR gig at Tresor, they released records like “Punisher” and “Fury.” Unbelievable decks. I think the experience at Tresor had an effect on them. For me, “Fury,” along with “Sonic Destroyer,” is the Tresor record par excellence. It didn’t bang anywhere like it did there. I had the feeling they took it with them from Tresor.

ROBERT HOOD The enthusiasm we met in Berlin was surreal. But at the same time, it was sort of familiar. We had a common bond, and we

knew the bond was there, that we were on the same page. What was surreal was that you came from such different backgrounds. It seemed to me that they wanted to escape their past. And we wanted to escape our past, too, the one so full of racism.

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