DJ T is Thomas Koch. But let’s just call him T. T’s been going at this forever and what better place to be introduced to the four-to-the-floor than at Sven Vaeth’s Omen in Frankfurt? Soon enough T was DJing there from ‘88-’91. The nineties also brought other residencies such as at Dorian Gray and at The Box; by now infamous clubs.
Just before the turn of the century, T added the Monza Club to Frankfurt’s elite, with which he was still involved with as promoter until last year. Also adding to the madness is T’s running and editing of electronic music magazine Groove for over 15 years, from which he also disembarked in 2004.
This feature deals with DJ T in his current stature – a founding member of Get Physical Records, along with the M.A.N.D.Y. duo and the Booka Shade duo. The label has progressed from an idea in ‘02, to full-blown, 25 release strong, Berlin power house.
A quintet of releases, including a collaboration with Steve Bug, T has now released his debut album ‘Boogie Playground’ and a playground of boogying it is. Referencing a concoction of house-based styles, T touches down upon all that is funk, italo-disco, electro and acid.
ITM’s Marquee Moon struggled through his ill-known German and checked out what the deal was.
With debut albums, it is always customary for the length of time to be heightened to some degree as an artist invests years honing his or her craft to a cataclysmic extreme in preparation. This of course becomes clouded as a producer will release single after single until the debut. Hence the first question.
“The album took about a year. But in actuality it was only a short amount of time. I created it in the Booka Shade boys’ studio and they contract the studio out to a number of customers, so I would only have small windows of opportunity to work on the album. I only got about a day and a half per track.” The album must therefore be seen as concise moments in time as each track had to be dealt with swiftly and with utmost precision.
T would show up with various samples and preparations and within a few hours the basic structure of the song would evolve from which the final product would then be nurtured into fruition over the remainder of the day. Other tracks, such as “Rave d’Amour” grew out of improvisations.
Having spoken on the subject elsewhere, the annual Sonar Festival in Barcelona was brought up. Was it coincidence that ‘Boogie Playground’ was released just before? T explains – “I released the album just before Sonar so that I could show up with promos.” No coincidence prevalent. Rather an insight into the prioritized status the festival has on T’s life.
T went on to discuss being invited to play at Sonar as part of a Get Physical label showcase. “It was a big honor. It was my 6th time there and my first time playing. Sonar is always the highlight of my year. It’s like a week’s vacation in one of my favorite cities in Europe. I love the attitude. There’s this seriousness about all the new technology and art. I always come back inspired and with new ideas.”
As the conversation progresses, the album itself is discussed in terms of its musical make-up. Was it a conscious decision to play around with a number of styles or is it what flows out naturally from T’s artistic unconscious?
“It wasn’t a conscious decision, but completely natural. If I’m moving away from what people know of me, is there still the DJ T signature in everything, regardless of styles?”
Then a pause as notes are being furiously scribbled on my end. A quick “Uh-huh” is added in agreement to buy myself a couple seconds to finish writing. Then, from T comes – “Um, I just asked you a question.”
In complete flabbergast I admit that his question had been taken as a general question, a rhetorical question, since the answer is obviously – “Yes, T, yes. Of course one can still see your presence evident in these tracks. Who else is doing this? Who else is throwing back to rave and italo-disco and minimal? Yes, your signature is still prevalent in each song.” The issue is not whether this sounds like a DJ T record, but where it comes from within DJ T. Is it an intellectual thought process that led to these tracks or is it an emotional outlet of personalizing external influences, or is it both?
In the same vein of thought, a subject of interest was to what degree T’s Monza Club in Frankfurt had impacted his own musical influence. At first, a seemingly odd question, since it’s T’s club. But with all the acts passing through, it could have been possible that Monza had had some sort of profound delineation within T’s construct. Turns out it had none at all.
“Deep house used to be everywhere in Europe between ‘99 and ‘01. If the far left was house and the far right techno, then people started trying to meet in the middle. Techno started getting more organic and house started becoming techier and more electronic. This is where the Monza Club comes in, although, I don’t think I was strongly influenced by it. I took more inspiration from acts like DJ Hell, Metro Area and Chicken Lips. They set the foundation for a complete openness. All of a sudden one could combine everything, whether it be acid, techno, or rave and you weren’t able to categorize it anymore.” T has basically just summed up ‘Boogie Playground’.
Now with a serious amount of time having passed in T’s music career, with the releases, remixes and now a long-player, the advent of Get Physical with the M.A.N.D.Y. boys and the Booka Shade boys, the successful running of Groove Magazine, where does one go from here? What sort of goals remain for someone with these sorts of accomplishments?
“Well, in the last few years, I’ve been trying to move away from the business aspects of things and have more time for artistic endeavors. Two weeks ago I moved to Berlin and will hopefully have more personal time and have less to do with administrative aspects of Get Physical. My biggest dream is to find the time to write a novel and hopefully I will do that over the next year and a half.”
Get funky to DJ T as he uncompromisingly unleashes his unique sound in the form of electro-discodelic-funk-house. Pay attention, cause it’s not just where T’s been and what he’s done, but where he is going. Perhaps soon you’ll happen to reach for a novel to read and an album to soundtrack the reading and both will be DJ T. Time to get physical.
DJ T’s album ‘Boogie Playground’ is out now through Get Physical/Stomp.
