Sitting with the famed German producer and DJ. "The morning sun shines pleasantly deep into the apartment and the cat lounges on the sofa. A cup of fresh coffee is a must."
Reading your lovely introduction to Roman's work, which I also rate VERY highly among the turn-of-century, German minimal-house (my generalization of the sound) posse, I notice a word missing that I've always associated with him: "art." Maybe it's knowing early on that Roman was from Darmstadt, which I **only** recognized because it's the location of the New and Electronic Music Institute, but to me his records always evoked an Art Music for dancing, created after the form of "Chicago house" (and to a lesser degree "Detroit techno") became part of his artistic DNA. (This, to me, always differentiated Playhouse/Ongaku from Kompakt and Perlon, which to me had a druggy ravey aspect to their sound - again, generalizing like a MFer.) Reading Roman's quote about having his head turned by Silk Hurley's "Jack Your Body" reinforces this notion. How much the appearance of House in Europe made budding artists who were already kinda headed in a 4/4 beat direction, stand up and go, "Scheisse!" and begin to reimagine what they were doing. Roman is almost a paradigm of that sound for me. (Down to his longtime no-digital policy.) Anyhow, kudos to one of the best, and, in my mind's eye, the most under-rated.
One of those DJ's/producers I've long been aware of and admired the bits of his output I came across, However, 3 hours in his company at Houghton festival last year was the highlight of the weekend for me and those I was with. Truly a master at work.
Reading your lovely introduction to Roman's work, which I also rate VERY highly among the turn-of-century, German minimal-house (my generalization of the sound) posse, I notice a word missing that I've always associated with him: "art." Maybe it's knowing early on that Roman was from Darmstadt, which I **only** recognized because it's the location of the New and Electronic Music Institute, but to me his records always evoked an Art Music for dancing, created after the form of "Chicago house" (and to a lesser degree "Detroit techno") became part of his artistic DNA. (This, to me, always differentiated Playhouse/Ongaku from Kompakt and Perlon, which to me had a druggy ravey aspect to their sound - again, generalizing like a MFer.) Reading Roman's quote about having his head turned by Silk Hurley's "Jack Your Body" reinforces this notion. How much the appearance of House in Europe made budding artists who were already kinda headed in a 4/4 beat direction, stand up and go, "Scheisse!" and begin to reimagine what they were doing. Roman is almost a paradigm of that sound for me. (Down to his longtime no-digital policy.) Anyhow, kudos to one of the best, and, in my mind's eye, the most under-rated.
so nice when others share the enthusiasm, thank you sir.
One of those DJ's/producers I've long been aware of and admired the bits of his output I came across, However, 3 hours in his company at Houghton festival last year was the highlight of the weekend for me and those I was with. Truly a master at work.
love when a set has that power!