Dropping on the 27th of September, we are proud to present Tensnake In The House. Over the last year he has emerged as one of the standout artist of the year, and we’re all a little bit excited about working with him. However, if you’ve never heard of him, you can be forgiven for not sharing in our enthusiasm just yet. So here’s a brief introduction of the man who’s only going to get bigger as the decade progresses.
Born in 1975 and raised on a diet of disco, soul, boogie and funk, Tensnake aka Marco Niemerski started listening to the radio and recording shows on tape with 80s pop stars like Simple Minds and Duran Duran. “I grew up in the suburbs where there was nothing to do except listen to music so the radio was the most exciting thing around me” says Marco. “But my older brother was into D*Train, Shalamar, Aurra and other boogie stuff. When I was 16, I would drive my Vespa and listening to a lot of stuff from the 60s and 70s – stuff like The Who and The Small Faces, the UK sound. And later I had an indie faze where I listened to Sisters Of Mercy and Alien Sex Fiend who did amazing stuff sampling and working with drum machines and distorting guitar lines - and then The Pixies and The Pogues after that. But then I came back to electronic music…”
Tensnake
It’s a good job he did, as the electronic tracks he subsequently produced have been among the most exciting and original to bless the scene in recent years. Credited as one of the main exponents of the cosmic disco sound, about which a number of Facebook fanpages have recently sprung up, his style touches on all apsects of dance music. From the bouncy techno stylings of his debut ‘Burning Down the House’ to the exultant vocal-disco of his recent ‘Need Your Loving’, every one of his productions is soaked in soul and exudes quality. It was 2009’s ‘In the End (I want You to Cry)’ however that really grabbed people’s attention. Granted the top spot on DJ History’s end of year Furtive 50 poll and spun by techno, disco and house jocks alike, it acted as a precursor to what would become far and away his biggest record to date; Coma Cat.
Praise for Coma Cat
“Combining the current vogue for nu-disco funk with a knowing nod towards the raw authenticity of early house, Coma Cat moves effortlessly between sounds retro and recent creating a joyful party experience.” DJ Mag
"Tensnake’s Coma Cat has mutated into a fully-blown Ibiza anthem” DJ Mag
“Hamburg's Tensnake has captured hearts and minds with this memorable nu disco track. Gorgeous melodies allow this track to standout and get noticed but it is the effortless glide of the Italo groove with just a pinch of the current deep house craze in those subtle synth pads that makes this one a winner. This track is sure to be huge in 2010...” Ibiza Voice
“Tensnake excels at a midpoint between unapologetic populist hedonism and a sense of deep house restraint. Coma Cat fronts ambiguity from its opening seconds, with a Balearic howl and a bassline that channels 1980s R&B and 1980s house music equally… it just worms its way into your consciousness.” Pitchfork
“…one of the best tracks of the year already, sounding like it was engineered in some disco lab to hit every pleasure centre imaginable. Irresistible is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but it feels like it was made for this track.” OnethirtyBPM
Clocking up phenomenal support from Radio 1 – it has already been added to the station’s C-list and is getting support across the board – Coma Cat is that rare record that succeeds both in the underground and the mainstream, uniting lovers of pop, indie and dance music.
On the remix front, he was handed the delicate task of reimagining Goldfrapp’s ‘Alive’ with commendable results, and his much anticipated remix of Azari & III’s ‘Reckless With Your Love’ has just been released, again gaining approving nods from all the right people. Gig-wise, he’s been at pretty much every festival worth shaking a mud-caked stick at over the last few months; Big Chill, Bestival, Garden Festival, Field Day - the list goes on for longer than it’s sensible to repeat, and now he’s about to embark on a world tour, encompassing more than 30 dates in Europe, North America and Australia. Add to that the fact that he’s one of the most active Facebook-ers we’ve ever come across, and you have all the necessary ingredients of a seriously passionate and talented artist.
So now, hopefully, you can understand why we’re all grinning like idiots at the prospect of not only the forthcoming Tensnake In The House compilation, but of working with him for some time to come. Check the website over the coming weeks for more info.
Words: Greg Sawyer
Tensnake In The House is out 27th September.
Coma Cat Remixes is out 8th September - click to listen & pre-order
