Following hot on the heels of his ‘Feelin This EP’ on DFTD in 2013, up-and-coming German producer Aaaron returns to the imprint with his new, three track ‘What Makes You Itch EP’. Defected and DFTD’s Singles Manager, Wez Saunders, caught up with one of Berlin’s most important underground hit makers for a quick chat.
For those who are not familiar with your good self, tell us a little bit about Aaaron...
When I was a teenager, I started out by playing American Hip-Hop vinyls from the 90’s. I was a big fan of artists like Souls of Mischief, Artifacts, Jeru the Damaja, Big L and anything that MF Doom did. I was never particularly a huge fan of West Coast Rap at the time but admit to liking it more nowadays.”
It seems a lot of early/mid-30-somethings started from hip-hop backgrounds, and moved into house. How did this transition happen for you?
Actually, it was Techno that did it for me. I started going out to clubs, bars and festivals in Berlin during the late 90’s, early 00’s. I would just hang around with friends and go out and soon enough I was completely addicted to Minimal Techno. Musically it was a simple ‘click-clack’ which caught my attention and that led me into buying my first Electronic Vinyl.
One of the first tracks I bought was ‘Apparat – Left All My Shit In Tel Aviv’ on shitkatapult. This was the first track that told me a story with no vocals. Most of the stuff I was into was really Melancholic. MDR001 on Marcel Dettmann Records is another that still does this for me (tells a story). Great tune! I still play some tracks from around this time.
From the new EP, ‘Cray’ seems to use vocals in line with your debut ‘Feeling This EP’ but ‘What Makes You Itch’ and ‘No Excuse’ do not. Did you deliberately aim to tell a story without using of vocals?
Yes, ‘Cray’ still uses vocals as I was hunting for that ‘After-Hour’ feeling. For me the idea is to feel like there are just a few people left at the party and it could be a live recording from the point the party is over. I’m always a big fan of staying till the end. And of course something that is often used to describe my sounds is ‘percussive’. I’m a big percussion fan. What Makes You Itch is inspired by old Minimal Synth Leads from back in the day. Actually that’s the same with both ‘Cray’ and ‘No Excuse’. That’s what makes the three tracks work together as an EP. It’s what they all have in common. When I was producing ‘What Makes You Itch’ I was thinking about an Island. I was imagining a storm coming up and leaves of a Palm Tree blowing in the wing. That was the idea anyway.
So, what makes you itch?
Music. It means everything to me. So much music. Any genre. I think a lot of people who are really interested in music and discovering new sounds, genres and ideas itch for new music.
What Makes You Itch EP is out now - buy from Beatport and Traxsource
