Berlin is rich with local electronic music producers and DJs. Privately though not all of them are exclusively listening to electronic music or the kind of music they make themselves. So what else is inspiring them?
Once a month Monarch Berlin invites a producer, artist or DJ to play music he/she would usually not play in a club: music that informs the roots of their styles, obscure songs they love, guilty pleasures, analogue or digital, danceable or not.
Tobias Lee is a Korean-born, Danish-raised, and Berlin-based producer and DJ. After intentionally spending years on the fringes of experimental dance music, 2015 saw Lee embracing the conventional release format for the very first time, accordingly establishing himself as a formidable emergent voice in dance music’s larger conversation.
The resulting Snipestreet EP on Rabit’s Halcyon Veil label notably found the artist exercising a newfound mastery over original productions, in lieu of his usual, unruly approach to bootlegs and edits. Upon release it garnered widespread critical acclaim, with tracks and videos from it being premiered on DIS Magazine, a full-length interview appearing on The FADER, and Heroin Hat making it to FACT Magazine’s best club tracks of the year list.
The breakout year also saw Lee getting his own show on the reputable London-based radio station Radar. It was there that he inaugurated his “Famished” mix series, which regularly features exclusive tracks from himself along like-minded international artists on labels like Fade to Mind, Janus, and beyond. The third edition of Famished came to life as a part of Halcyon Veil’s lauded mix series, which has also seen contributions from SCRAAATCH as well as Rabit in collaboration with Chino Amobi.
Lee’s sound both on record and behind the CD-Rs defies easy compartmentalization: if anything, it is defined by its visceral uncategorizability. He’s as likely to draw on ballroom and rap as instrumental grime, but it’s Lee’s radically singular approach to putting it all together that makes him so exciting. Even if the ingredients are familiar, the end product never is: his hectic, cathartic, and uncompromising style of club music ultimately stands completely in its own lane.
This event is presented by Digital in Berlin. Check out our Facebook page to win tickets.
YDRKM (You Don’t Really Know Me): Why Be
Wednesday, 20th April 2016 | 21:00 CET
Monarch | Skalitzer Str. 134 | 10999 Berlin/Kreuzberg
soundcloud.com/ristlee2smoeger | kottimonarch.de
