As we prepare to release arguably the most unexpected collaboration of the year in Defected presents Loco Dice In The House, Defected’s Ben Lovett takes a detailed look back at the making of one of electronic music’s most original, talented and successful underground heroes.
Leading electronic light Loco Dice was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, 1974. The son of Tunisian immigrants, he first entered music as a hip-hop MC and DJ; in keeping with Deutschland’s rampant obsession with all things urban during the early Nineties. 1992 was the specific turning point. Infatuated with hip-hop, Achour started to tour his spit ‘n’ spin as alias Dice’C (Dice Corleone – the name supposedly linked to his considerable skill at playing backgammon) and then produce. The Dice was cast....
Dice’C enjoyed some significant early success in his homeland. Within a couple of years he’d established himself as one of Germany’s ‘go to’ urban DJs, securing support slots for Snoop Dogg, Usher, R.Kelly and Ice Cube on the ‘local’ legs of their various world tours. Soon after he released his first hip-hop cut, 1996’s Coming From D-Town, which gained solid support. Dice’C’s next move was to promote hip-hop events at a number of the dance and electronica festivals launching around Europe, which pulled him into close contact with several emerging house and techno artists.
Dice, demonstrating a sharp creative zest that has emphatically defined his subsequent career, immediately saw an opportunity to expand his remit both in the booth and studio. Electronic dance music was a brave and exciting new world with infinite potential.
“When I was playing hip-hop in those days, in Germany and Europe, we had hip-hop clubs, but also many times we had to share the clubs... the main room was techno and the second room was hip-hop. For me it was always, ‘hey, let me have a look, let me go to the other side and have a look at what’s going on’” he told one club journalist last year. “Also I had a lot of friends from techno, and I got to know them at VIP stages, or at parties, and I was more and more interested. I was diving more and more into this world and I was fascinated by electronic music – how a DJ could combine different styles and sounds together. With a hip-hop DJ, it’s very stiff. You gotta deal the dancefloor, you gotta play a record every two minutes. With electronic music, some DJs played epic sets where I [was] just standing there like, wow, how can you do that? This is when I got involved in it.”
Dice’C now became Loco Dice and promptly secured influential house residencies at Dusseldorf clubs La Rocca and Tribehouse. He met Timo Maas at the latter and was, in turn, signed to Maas’ Four:Twenty imprint, releasing quirkily conversational house EP Phatt Dope Shit with Martin Buttrich (the start of a long partnership) in 2002. Dice also remixed Help Me, a major Maas-produced hit for R&B pop-ster Kelis, and followed up his early, highly distinctive studio forays with further steely Four:Twenty EPs City Lights (2003) and Cellar Door (2004), and a mix compilation (alongside Clive Henry) Circoloco At DC-10: Monday Morning Session (2005).
Interest in Dice was steadily building, and his ‘inbox’ beginning to overflow. And yet he remained unflappably on top; able to focus his energy and imagination on a slew of consistent cut-through activities. There were further compilations during the Noughties for Cocoon (two) and NRK among others, and straight after his run of releases for Maas, presenting commitments at MTV and a tie-up with Josh Wink’s inimitable Ovum label. Deep, soothing Ovum EPs Menina Brasileira (2005) and Flight LB 7475 (2006) would precede jazzy yet tribal M_nus lick Seeing Through Shadows (2006), Cadenza hit Harissa (2006), and then a series of versatile house cuts for Dice’s own label Desolat; not to mention a forward-thinking artist album 7 Dunham Place (2008), and M_nus sequel Knibbie Never Comes Alone (2011); a whirring, subtly pumped tech bomb.
Panoramic is an apt description of Dice’s discography, and that’s not even mentioning his pivotal remixes of Mousse T (Toscana, 2002), Martin Landsky (1000 Miles, 2006), Kevin Saunderson (Bassline, 2007), and Crosstown Rebels’ Riz MC (Radar, 2008). The fact that Dice’s material has found its way on to mix compilations for EDM magnet Deadmau5 and Big Apple sophisticate ‘Little’ Louie Vega alike says it all. Dice’s sound is, as he himself attests, groovy, funky and powerfully body-rocking. It is house spun through all shades of the 4-4 spectrum – minimal Berlin to percussive New York via a million other places he has now travelled and experienced on tour.
“I’m glad to be a DJ travelling all around the world. I catch all the cultures and I catch all these cool people around the world that I get to meet. Everyone inspires me in their own way” Dice commented in 2011. “The other thing which inspires me a lot is movies. When I watch a movie or something it gives me an idea of a story, of a beat, of something. I can’t tell you how it works, but it just clicks in my head. I’m in Colombia or I’m in Australia and I come back from such an amazing time and go into the studio. This is how I try to work what I felt and what I saw into the music.”
Conversely, Dice’s long-standing base in Germany has also provided vital inspiration. In terms, he says, of its own expansive dance scene and strong connection to other international house scenes - an inherent nationwide support of electronic music which balances enthusiasm with calm, cool appraisal. “I was [when I was younger] very open-minded and was very hungry for new stuff, new sounds, new scenes. I was always wondering what was going on. And Germany opened that door for me. In Germany, there is no hype. You go to a club and nobody is dancing in front of you or screaming at you. They respect you as an artist as well. That was a really good thing about growing up in Germany. It gave me a healthy attitude. It allowed me to keep my two feet on the ground and not drift away, letting me evolve and go slowly into other sounds but without me forgetting about my roots. I think that is why I am still here.”
Dice’s sound continues to evolve, typified by his most recent production work (last year’s rugged Desolat EP Toxic) and DJ sets. Regularly positioned within the upper echelons of Resident Advisor’s hallowed Top DJs poll (he was number 7 last year), Dice continues to hop between tiny 300-capacity gigs and mega-festivals with a carefully tailored playlist to boot. That playlist, unsurprisingly, is never static, mixing DJ Sneak and Masters At Work with Richie Hawtin and Basic Channel; always, though, at the most suitable moments.
Dice has built upon his formative Dusseldorf residencies with an endless flow of smart, taste-making global bookings. He is synonymous with Ibiza staple DC-10, largely due to his five-year stint there (2002-06) as Circoloco resident, as much as he is with legendary Germany techno rave Timewarp, Cocoon’s regular multi-territory events and South America’s funshine beach party scene. Last year, Dice conquered America without even the faintest ‘fromage’ whiff of an EDM key riff. His fiercely underground Under 300 tour (a follow-up to his 2009 of the same name) was ecstatically well received, and flanked by a further, similarly-toned Stateside tour with Hawtin, titled CNTRL: Beyond EDM. Remarkably, Dice has never been in such demand or control. It’s that firm German grounding at work once again.
We mustn’t forget Desolat in all of this. Dice’s powerhouse record label, founded in 2007, celebrated its fifth anniversary earlier this year with a commemorative compilation capturing its unique and already classic dancefloor spirit. The tracks featured by regular Desolat talents including tINI, Hector, Guti and Shlomi Aber are largely recent ones but handsomely reflect the vision and innovation (albeit on a starker, more minimal tip) of earlier, vintage numbers via Dubfire and Jay Haze. But that’s omitting other recent highlights too, such as DJ Sneak’s loopy Necessary Evils and Pirupa’s award-winning, utterly relentless Party Non Stop. And the wider Desolat brand, which has effortlessly extended into club nights and showcases around the world, and, today, represents one of clubland’s true essentials. Another indication of Dice’s immense industry and reach....
Dice’s latest move is to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Defected for the label’s next In The House mix. It’s a bold, appetite-whetting project, already being touted online as one of the most unexpected electronic collaborations in recent memory. Testament to Dice’s standing, however, much of the initial reaction has been accepting rather than questioning. That Dice’s discography regularly flirts with techno and Defected’s is more closely aligned to swinging house is by the by – reflecting the digitized, hyper-networked reality of today’s music industry, both parties are naturally into all sorts of sounds and shakes.
“Every time when two different people come together it’s always like that; people look at it a bit strange and say what is this project? Some other people put me in a commercial type and they say ‘see, we told you he is commercial’. I see Defected as doing their thing; it is great and it is house music. I think we all belong together and we all should do something at one point together.... You will have a lot of haters but this is typical and normal. I think most of the people from the Defected scene or from my scene will be satisfied and will say that it is cool, that it fits and it is 100% real.”
Dice’s ‘house’, then, is a joyous blend of visionary styles and ideas. The rhythm was in him from a young age, his parents raising him on a rich, old-school Tunisian ‘Mezwed’ fusion of drums and horns. His fascination with rhythm and groove has only grown and grown since then, delivering him fame and creative fortune on the right side of underground. Dice has the adulation of fans, critics and peers but, admirably so, without the shallow distraction of mainstream success. “I don’t need to put a dress on or anything, I can just come and have fun and dance” he concludes.
There lays the secret to his own pure brand of success – walking the walk; not talking the talk. All ears will be on where this talented artist carries himself next.
Defected presents Loco Dice In The House is out 21st July - order from iTunes
