It sounds like a fairy tale. In 2005 29-year old Oliver Koletzki presses 500 copies of his underground hit „Der Mückenschwarm“. One of those white labels lands in Sven Väth’s record bag and whenever he plays the track, the people go wild. Shortly after that Mr. Väth signs the track for a release on his techno empire Cocoon with remixes by David K, Olivier Berger, Pig & Dan und Dominik Eulberg.
But one would be fooled to think that this was the start of Oliver’s musical career. Since he was 12 years old, Oliver Koletzki has been deeply infected with the production of music. He starts out by programming Hip-Hop beats on the C64, but quickly falls in love with more electronic sounds like Breakdance and Synthie-Pop that he produces on the first Amiga computers. When he turns 18, he also starts to DJ in his hometown of Braunschweig and quickly becomes a regular DJ in the local clubs. In 2000 he decides to move to Berlin to study music and the excessive Berlin nightlife. He promptly lands himself DJ gigs in smaller clubs and bars, but with the release of his first record, things change for the better. In the summer of 2005 he starts to play festivals, gets booked into the most prestigious clubs around the world and gets asked to remix the likes of Rockers Hi-Fi, Client or Cassius. However, while superstardom is lurking around every corner, Oliver stays down to earth: “I have been making music for nearly twenty years now. That provides me with a stable base for not going nuts. Basically, I am still doing the same that I have been doing for years now: making music during the week and playing out on the weekends, even if it is on a slightly different level now.”
In October 2005, while still riding on the success of his debut single, Oliver directly realises one of his dreams: to have his own label. He founds Stil vor Talent, a label dedicated to pushing new artists and creating a platform for a huge variation of quality electronic dance music. “From the beginning I wanted to give people the same chance that I’ve had and offer them a platform to release their music. However: the quality of the music is above everything else. Firstly, I have to like it”, Oliver comments on the philosophy of his first label. And he is a workaholic. He spends hours and hours listening to demo tracks and goes out to see people play live in small clubs. Up until now, Stil vor Talent can look back on 20 releases that include Oliver’s artist album “Get Wasted”.
Also, together with his friend Florian Meindl, who he discovers as a newcomer for Stil vor Talent in 2006, Oliver runs Flash Recordings. The label is mainly born out of the idea to have a platform to release the music that Oliver and Florian have been working on together, but has since also included other artists such as Daso and Lützenkirchen. ”We had so many great tracks, that we just didn’t want to give to other labels. Therefore Flash Recordings is firstly a label that Florian and me can release our music on. But now we also feature other established artists on the label.” Sound-wise Flash Recordings has a clear definition: a new and tough breed of minimal and electro or, as Oliver likes to call it, “New German Techno”.
In May 2007 Oliver Koletzki releases his first full-length artist album “Get Wasted”, which is hailed by ravers and critics alike getting great reactions in De:Bug, Raveline, DJ Mag and Groove. Since then he has taken more time to focus fully on his label Stil vor Talent, which has seen strong releases such as Format B’s “Vivian Wheeler”, Channel X’s “Bug in the Coffee EP” or the mainstream hit “3 Tage Wach” by Lützenkirchen, the accompanying videos getting half a million clicks on youtube! It seems that Stil vor Talent is just about to get started.
Of course, Oliver still finds the time to release some of his own tracks in 2007, such as the hugely successful “Technica Salsa” on Great Stuff, “Music from the Heart” on Hell Yeah, that also features on the Kitsune BoomBox mix as well as tons of remixes for Stil vor Talent’s artist, and more renowned artists such as Cassius.
Above all though, Oliver is still doing what he does best: touring the world making crowds smile and go nuts on the weekend around Europe, but also elsewhere. In 2008 he will tour South America a second time round, play the infamous Thai Break festival in Thailand and rock a beach party at the prestigious Sonar Festival in Barcelona. Apart from DJing, there will also be more releases on bigger labels such as Kitsune, a remix for Fischerspooner and a lot of exciting stuff happening on Stil vor Talent. Be it as a DJ, label manager, producer or remixer: Oliver Koletzki is a busy man and there’s no stopping him in 2008!
