Frank Heinrich, AKA Reboot, is back with another block-rocking Defected release, and about time. ‘The Frenchie Thing EP’, a three-track master-class covering everything from loopin’, grin-inducing Ibiza anthem-to-be, to deep tech-minimalism, arrives some five years after Defected’s re-release of ‘Enjoy Music’ – the track that put Herr Heinrich firmly on the neon-lit disco map.

That’s not to say Heinrich hasn’t been busy in between. In fact, he’s been incredibly busy. The talented Frankfurter started out alongside former partner Delle as duo Delle-Heinrich, recording for labels such as Combi.int and i220. In 2007  he introduced his Reboot alias by way of confident tech EPs ‘Charlotte’ and ‘Be Tougher/Letters’ (the latter released on Cadenza), and then cemented it over the following two years with a series of increasingly mature cuts for the likes of Cocoon, Motivbank and local imprint Below (home, before, to ‘Charlotte)’. By late 2009, when Italy’s D:vision Records fired out the fizzing drums and Naked Music NYC-sampling finery of ‘Enjoy Music’, Reboot’s profile was unassailable. And so much more was to come.


Between ‘Enjoy Music’ and ‘The Frenchie Thing’, Reboot has delivered further studio nuggets on Sei Es Drum, Oslo, Circus Recordings, Be Chosen Be Chosen and Jay Haze’s hallowed glitch, bass ‘n’ click haven Contexterrior. He has also maintained his relationship with Cadenza, providing EPs ‘Rambon’ and ‘Beautiful Parasite’, as well as dynamite debut album Shunyata – a pulsating reflection of his deep belief in ‘complex polyrhythmic architecture’. Remixes have landed for Sebo K & Metro, Spencer Parker, Guti and Marshall Jefferson – to name just a few – whilst out on the road Heinrich has entertained fervent crowds at major clubland institutions like Fabric, D-Edge, Womb, AIR and Pacha Ibiza. Exactly 12 months ago, Heinrich successfully dropped mesmeric mini-album Deep V on Deep Vibes and just a few weeks past launched his new label and booking agency Noon. Oh, and he’s also squeezed in rebuilding his studio from scratch - so we can look forward to a serious acceleration in the discography stakes in 2015.  Here’s the main man to tell us everything....

How are you Frank? What have you been up to this week?

I’m actually just back from playing South America. It was great. I’m a little jet-lagged now but back at home and making sure I relax!

Not for long though – ‘The Frenchie Thing EP’ is upon us; what’s the story behind it?

The whole idea for the title track came from my love of a certain very famous French song – I have always loved the original and the later versions of it, and I thought it would form the basis of a perfect tool for DJ sets. ‘The Frenchie Thing’ has a great smiley, Ibiza summer vibe, but I didn’t produce it to release it necessarily. I had it in my sets for a while and then Andy Daniell [Defected A&R] heard it at Pacha Ibiza last summer and wanted to do something more. It seemed right for Defected but I told them that if I was going to consider a release then we needed to do more than just this track with a bunch of remixes. I wanted to do a proper EP. 


Tell us about the other tracks then.

I had already recorded the track ‘Lubricalifornia’ which has this nice underground sound and uses a cool sample from an old Audiowhores record on Defected. That made finalising everything for the EP really easy; this coincidence was a sign for me that the EP was meant to happen. ‘Hooks N Breaky’, meanwhile, is really deep and a great way to fully round-out the package.

You mentioned Ibiza earlier, what’s your game plan for 2015?

You’ve probably asked me a fortnight too soon! I’m currently hammering in the final nails of my plans this summer. However, I can say that I will be playing several shows. It’s a special place that I love to come back to.

What about Miami next month then? Your itinerary must be sorted there?

Yes, basically, it is. Miami splits people these days – some like it, some think it has lost its way. It’s true there is less business happening there now and more partying but the marketing and networking is still a very important factor. I actually skipped it all last year but I’m coming back strongly in 2015. I’m introducing my Noon agency with a daytime party at Steam [22 March] which will feature our artists Romano Alfieri, Melanie Ribbe and Matteo Spedicati, as well as Todd Terry and Uner. And of course there’s me playing too. I’m also playing Yousef’s Circus party at Nikki Beach [21 March] and there are another couple of special TBC events. Look out for them! Personally, Miami isn’t playtime, it’s all work. A holiday is when you relax with family; the parties in Miami are about me doing my job as Reboot and introducing people to our Noon people.


How is Noon doing so far?

I launched it with Carol [Sepulveda] at the end of 2014, and my first EP on the label, ‘Dry Wet’, was released just four weeks ago [following Romano Alfieri’s opener ‘Loving Once Again’ in December]. We’ve had great feedback so far. But then we’ve taken a lot of time to get everything about Noon right and to draw up a proper plan. There will be a new EP every month and it will be music that we love, whether that’s deep house, minimal, techno, disco or experimental. You’ll never know what’s coming next. We’ll be working hard to develop our artists as well. It’s a really hot project and I’m very excited to be finally doing it.

Talk us through your own personal career plans for the coming months....

Aside from Noon, I have a new remix on Guti’s Rompecorazones Remixed album [Reboot has re-worked ‘We Love You’] and then there will be an EP for Dubfire’s SCI+TEC label, but I can’t give you a date for that yet. I’m currently working on a special project with an amazing Spanish guitar player, due this summer, as well as a new full Reboot album. I’m aiming to finish and release that this autumn, once all the summer shows and craziness is out the way.

A new album? More information please!

Well, it follows the complete rebuilding of my studio in Frankfurt last year. Before this I had a bit of an absence from the studio. Once it was completed, I recorded something like 18 new tracks in one month. I can hear an evolution in my sound. It’s a lot more melodic compared to what I was doing in 2013. Back then I was making the Deep V album, which focused on rhythm. Today, my music is more about story-telling...proper songs and trips, and not so many loops. There are a lot of melodic layers going on. In the past I’ve spoken about my polyrhythmic approach to percussion; today, I doing the same multi-layered thing with melody. My current ‘Dry Wet EP’ is a good reference point.

Many thought that after ‘Enjoy Music’’s rampant success you’d aim for lucrative repetition in the mainstream. You’ve certainly not done that....

No, and what you have to remember is that in 2009 no-one expected a record from me like ‘Enjoy Music’ after my previous releases. In that sense, nothing has changed for me – I’m still just doing what I want to do and trying to keep surprising myself. I’m not sure everyone was expecting ‘The Frenchie Thing’. As an artist, I like to reflect on my achievements so far as well as look forwards but there’s no big master plan. I’m happy with where I am right now and looking forward to where I’ll be in the future. There are lots of good things still ahead, I’m sure, but what exactly they are I can’t say yet. What I can say is that the way...the journey is good. This is all one fantastic journey.

 
The Frenchie Thing EP is out now on Defected – buy from Beatport / Traxsource / DStore