Sassafras Guests podcast

sassguest01

One of the first groups of people I met when I moved to Germany was Geräteturnen and was where I had my first dj gig there. They are all individuals and each of them have their own musical sound. They don't promote one type of music, it is more a feeling of togetherness. When you goto their party, you will hear different styles of music but it always feels like it flows. I am happy to say I have played with this group of guys.

so here is a little interview to get to know one of the Geräteturnen guys: O'sugi...

>> Who is O'sugi?

o'sugi is a pure music addict! mainly he is addicted to electronic music
but also to freaky old jazz, funk and latin tunes. his passion is crispy
deep kickin' underground stuff with influences from detroits, paris' and
londons old school scene.
am i talking about myself in the third person??? i should avoid that...

>> How did the whole music thing start for you?

that would have been in about 1993 or 1994 when i heard the first
prodigy album "experience". this was my first contact with electronic
music and i was really fascinated by this freaky shit i was listening
to. it was really mind-blowing to me! my cousin provided me with
different kinds of electronic music from this time on and mate galic and
sabine christ did this cool tv show called "housefrau" on tv. i was more
and more fascinated and began to buy my first records and cds. at that
time i had a rather old turntable from my parents and listened to tracks
by steve stoll, sven väth, mate galic, plastikman, ken ishii, der dritte
raum etc. some years later my cousin began to take me to these big rave
parties and for me there was no turning back. i was totally addicted to
this freaky music. this must be what love at first sight feels like, but
perhaps this is truly bigger. once in about 1998 my cousin took me to
this rather small club in krefeld/germany. its name was "katakomben", a
small basement with rather hard and fast techno music. this small club
had a second area which was even smaller and we decided to check out
what kind of music they were playing there. i guess this was the point
where my personal style and feel began to develop and define its shape.
what the fuck did this unknown dj play?! i hadn't heard anything like
this before. it was deep, hard, totally playful and subtly funky with an
unbelievable flow and all at the same time. i asked the dj what that was
and he answered that it was "detroit"...

>> How long have you been djing for?

that was about ten years ago when a good friend from school bought 2
turntables and a mixer. he was doing some real great hip hop stuff and
so the next time i was there for a visit i took some records with me and
tried it out. surprisingly i did my first nearly clean mixes after a
short period of time and practice, so little time later i bought my own
equipment and started to practice every day annoying my mother and
neighbors with funky house tunes.

>> Are you a part of any party/dj crew and if so, how did that start?

i am part of the geraeteturnen crew. it all began when some friends
moved to düsseldorf and we decided to make parties together. the idea
was to join differet arts, styles and whatever into something bigger
than the sum of the single parts. djing, vjing, graphic design, dia
projections, producing, different kinds of music and conception of
complete electronic events. this is what jo, bilderwilderer, jan s, repp
and i are doing. just visit our website and check it out. or even better
be part of our parties!!!
recently, i started making music with hamee, a good friend from
essen. our styles differ but also complement each other, such that there
is a perfect fusion between house, techno, deep, funky, jazzy, broad,
juicy and dry & crispy stuff waiting to kick your ass on the dancefloor.
he is the more stable and straight part of us while i do mix up some
wild stylez to it.

>> Do you produce music?

i started producing my first tracks when i still went to school. it was
just for fun and did not meet my personal taste and style, but this way
i took my first steps with being creative and also with the technical
part and trying out some things which helped me to get deeper into it
quickly some years later when the first software synthesizers appeared.
so i did the first "real" productions. some good stuff, perhaps also
some bad stuff, always looking for the samples i had in mind. after a
hard disc crash the work of some years was lost and again i had to start
over after a rather long break which i invested in learning sound design.
now i am back with my new tracks!!! each and every sound is designed on
my own. i do not use any presets, samples or patches any more and i get
more and more close to what is on my mind no matter whether this is
rather dark techno music or it has uplifting funky elements. listen to
some of my tracks and also check out hamee's tracks at our myspace website!

>> What do you love to play the most?

it is really hard to answer this question because i love so many
different new and old styles. you would get the best impression from a
live performance. but to put it in a few words, o'sugi usually plays
dry, crispy, and weird sounds, playful rhythms with a jazzy and funky
tip. check out the "besides" set for a good impression what i like best and would be something like my "recent set".

the mix i did for sassafras is called "silence afterwards". it is
a collection of some old records from the years 1999-2002 that went
along with the last year of my life and became more and more meaningful
to me although they have been in my record case for many years. so these
records have a big importance to me too.

>> What are your main inspirations of music?

there are many different inspirations. lets start with herbie hancock, my favourite
jazz pianist and composer. his music is full of mind-blowing moments
especially when we talk about his early work. his funky style is
unbelievable and many basic ideas out of his music are really simple and
have a fascinating great effect on the listener. then there is
thelonious monk, also a big jazz musician. he has a great playful style
and seems to play "wrong" notes all the time but is always keeping
harmonics and rhythm stable in his very individual way. the last
non-electronic artist i want to mention here is cal tjader. he is a
latin jazz musician who does mambo- and salsa-like jazz stuff. he has a
deeper, organic flow than the others which i like very much. and he
sometimes does really trippy music like "ritmo uni" together with eddie
palmieri. all together the jazz music influences get through only in a
subliminal fashion because it it really hard to reduce such complex
music to minimal electronic music. but there are some producers who
really make it and so i'll keep on trying and until i succeed in my own
tracks i'll keep on playing records from these producers.

my electronic inspirations are from music by jeff samuel, swag, pepe
bradock, lil' marc, daniel bell, and many many others... i could fill
the whole interview with this listing, so i'll stop here to let you make
your own impression.

>> What do you listen to when you want to relax?

i like st. germain very much. besides that there is melchior
productions, who is one of my favorites for relaxing music. swag is
also a very good choice. moreover there are plenty of tracks for a chill
session on the "other" sides of my records, which i do not play in the
club and last but not least there is jazz music!!!

>> Weirdest gig you have ever done?

when i just started djing, there was this night in a little club called
"titty twister" in the middle of nowhere, or let's say somewhere at the
border of bielefeld, germany. i wasn't one of the djs but a normal guest at the club, but i had my record case in the car.
i don't really remember how this happened but though i didn't know
anybody from the club, a little time later, i got my case out of the car
and started playing the turntables. this was my first public gig and it
was a pleasure to get people dancing to my music for the first time.
fortunately nobody asked me what the hell i was doing.

>> Most memorable gig you have ever had? Good or bad... + Favourite Club to play in?

it was a gig at the schlachthof in düsseldorf some years ago at a
party i did with geraeteturnen. i still remember that i took over the
turntables and the dancefloor was empty. so, i thought to myself why not
play a pure underground set with no well-known tracks?! it took no
more than 4 or 5 records to get the people into the right mood and the
dancefloor was filled with about 100-150 people, the whole club dancing!
no sitting around, no standing around!!! after another 4-5 records the
crowd really went mad. i think these rather small underground parties
with a handfull of people running wild are more my thing rather than big
events. i do not think it has to be a special club but it has to be the
right audience with a proper and open understanding for my music.

>> Favorite Format? Vinyl, CD, mp3 or other.

strictly vinyl!!!

>> How can people get a hold of you to book you?

info, music and booking:
www.geraeteturnen.com/osugi
www.myspace.com/hameeosugi

>> Where can we see you play next?

hamee and i are working on some gigs in bochum and essen in the
near future. check out our websites and register for the geraeteturnen
newsletter at www.geraeteturnen.com for more info.

Picture: Design by Jo from Geräteturnen

I want to thank him for this mix. Enjoy

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