Daniel Solar is perhaps better known as one half of the team behind Dikso, the excellent edits imprint responsible for many a disco-rinsed dancefloor burner over the last year. The Hannover native is also one of Berlin’s emergent talents, a DJ, producer, label owner and A&R intent on bridging the gap between disco and dance music, while coaxing the techno-loving city’s tastes a little further off the beaten track.

Here he provides an eclectic mix of dubby disco, uptempo house and deep, melodic beats for the year anniversary of the In Their House series; we hope you enjoy it as much as we have…






In Their House #12 - Daniel Solar by Defected Records

You moved reasonably recently from Hanover to Berlin – do you think that living in Berlin has affected your approach to production?

Yeah, I definitely think so. I mean, the main goal about moving for me was to focus more on making music and playing as a DJ and in the end it worked out pretty well. I really enjoy living here as the city is so versatile and inspiring. You can go out almost every day and you will find a party with any musical style you might look for. According to that, you start to experiment more as a producer. When you live in Hanover you can hardly imagine playing 110 BPM deep house at peak time in a club.

You’ve said previously that your move to more mid-tempo house from techier and more minimal earlier productions was because you became bored by that particular style…why do you think that boredom set in?

Yeah, that’s definitely true, but I can't really nail it down to anything in particular. Usually when any certain style becomes popular, a lot of people start to jump on the band wagon. I don't want to exclude myself from that, but most of the time it leads to a point at which everyone is doing the same things again and again. You go to a club and everyone is playing the same tunes and every production sounds the same. For me, there's just a certain point when everything's said and done. 

The same thing is happening to the whole disco and edit thing as well. I mean, there is still a lot of good music out there, but nobody needs the 101st version of Chic or Al Green. Obviously this is only my 2 cents. I don't mean to offend anyone with that.

Where did you record the mix?

I recorded it at home. Basically I think there is a big difference between club mixes and mixes that are intended for home use. If you listen to DJ mixes at home, you're listing in a completely different way and situation. It does not neccessarily have to be club music. You can play any broken beat or even ambient or pop music. On the other hand, if I listen to other DJs‘ mixes at home i want them to be almost perfectly mixed and ideally that the tracks fit harmonically.

If you're playing in a club, you react on the very special situation and you interact with the people, the soundsystem and whatsoever. You sometimes do and play things that people wouldn't understand if they are not part of that. Thats why I usually wouldn't put up a mix which is recorded in a club.


Can you pick out a few highlights from the tracklist…

Obviously I would like to point out my own track Needin' You‘ that will be coming out soon. I'm very excited about that release as I've played the tracks a lot over the last few month and I really like them. The first track in my mix is pretty special as well. I stumbled across that one recently. Its a good example for a track that I play in a home mix, but I would hardly play that in the club. Besides that, the mix is pretty much a compilation of my favorites from the last few weeks, so I obviously kinda like them all.

Tell us about your own label Dikso – what’s the plan for the rest of year and beyond?

Well, I think it’s the first time ever that we’ve planned more than one or two records ahead. It finally looks like our remix release is coming to life and we have signed some very good artist EPs recently, but there are still some VA release to come as well. We don't really have a long term plan, though. We just do what we love and it looks like people are feeling it as well.

The competition for small, independent label within dance music have never been more intense…what do you do to survive? Do you actually make any profit from it, or is it solely a promotional tool?

Yeah, I heard about that, so it’s just as well we are a super selling major company that doesn’t have to worry about these things. Joking aside, it’s not that easy to run a small independent label nowadays. There are thousands of labels out there and a lot of them are struggling, even though they are releasing very good music.

I just read in a German music magazine that selling 300 copies of a record can already be considered very good. We are actually in a really good overall situation with stable sales, a lot of support and a very strong fan base. We are able to pay out a little bit to our artists and we are making some ‘profit’ as well, but its actually not worth calling that ‘profit’ if you keep in mind how much work you invest in every single release. But we love it anyway!

You’re an advocate of digital production…what would you say to its critics in terms of the sound quality you can squeeze from digital rather than analogue synths and effects?

Am I? To be honest, I'm not too dogmatic about these things. It's true that my production environment is almost fully digital. But it's not that I would argue that digital sounds better than analogue (or vice versa) or something like that. I just think it does not make much difference in terms of sound. For me, it’s all about usability. I just like the fact, that I have virtually unlimited access to synthesizers, effects and stuff like that. You can save every parameter within your sequencer, work on another project and recall everything afterwards. You don't have to record anything before the final mixdown and you don't have to fight with MIDI or even CV.

Anyway, I'm currently looking for one or two analogue synthesizers to buy, mainly for usability reasons as well. At the moment I'm using MIDI controllers a lot, but I think it make a difference to shape up sounds with the real thing in front of you. Maybe I will hate it though - but you'll never know until you try!

Ask us a question….

Can you get me a whiskey coke?

Tracklist:

1. The Beatles - A Day In The Life (Sei A Remix) [CDR]
2. Gesaffelstein - Je Suis Venu [CDR]
3. The Groovers - Waikiki Strut [Audio Parallax]
4. Loose Fit - Table Beggar [Join The Dots]
5. The Tortoise -  She Took The Tortoise Home (Genius of Time Remix) [Undertones]
6. Luminodisco - Too Night [House of Disco]
7. Francis Inferno Orchestra - Go Easy On Me Girl [Kolour]
8. Mario Basanov feat. Miss Bee - Just Think About [Under The Shade]
9. Noir - Are1 [Noir]
11. Youandewan - 1988 [Lo:Rise]
11. Larse - For Real [Noir]
12. Chopstick & Johnjon - Obviously She Is A Whore [Suol]
13. Daniel Solar - Needin' You [Tenth Circle]