Alexander Kowalski - WMF - Berlin DE - Feb 2001

Biography of Alexander Kowalski

Alexander was born in 1978 in Greifswald, close to the Baltic Sea. In the small, introspective town Grimmen he spoke his first words and made the first steps; he was taught how to read and write – until one day in 1986, when the Kowalskis decided that the time had come to swap cosiness for excitement. With kith and kin they moved to Berlin.

A wise decision – it is due to the spirit of Berlin, its mood of decampmant in the beginning of the nineties (and last but not least due to Felix and the Utah Saints) that Alexander became addicted to electronic music. – One year later, the Amiga was selected to be the musicial instrument, and tracker did first services. At this time, Techno-records from Chicago were now and then played on the radio. Alex was so enthusiastic about it, that he spent all his money on the precious vinyl. Indeed, when he tried to imitate the sampled titles with his tracker-program, he soon realized how limited the Amiga was. He only had the money for a TB303-Clone and a few cheap drumcomputers – which was enough to create some Acid-tracks. In 1996, he enlarged his equipment with some analog synthesizers and started producing harder Techno. Americans like Joey Beltram, Steve Stoll or Synewave had a strong influence on his sound (even though without knowing it J ). With a friend, he established a small studio the following year – their sessions were successful excursions to the fields of House.

The breakthrough was unexpected, but mighty: short-dated, a friend booked him a live-gig at the Tresor club. Together with his studio-partner he humped half of the studio down into the bunker. The improvised Live-Act was a great success involving the contact to Pacou and therewith to Tresor. It is not surprising that Alexanders first track was part of the „headquarters“-compilation on Tresor Records.

Soon after, Alexander made friends with the guys of „Sender Berlin“. On the contrary, he didn`t have much in common with his studio-friend any longer. The return to producing on his own was the logical consequence. 1999 his work was crowned with success – the first Maxi was published on Proton Records.

Short after followed the first release on Tresor, the „Brothers in Mind EP“. The track “UnGleich 01” and the birth of the act “Double X” were the result of a spontaneous studio-session with Sender Berlin. Double X (Alexander and Stassy of Sender Berlin) had their debut-live-act on the Love Parade `99 at Tresor.

By accident Heiko Laux got a few tracks done by Alex to listen to which followed a new and kind of deeper direction. The owner of „Kanzleramt“ was immediately convinced and engaged Alexander Kowalski as permanent artist. With the beginning of the new millenium, Alexander had premier at the “Kanzleramt”-label with his first EP.

The year 2000 became important for Alexander: the label „Konsequent“ released his „Autocycle`s“ EP , Tresor published new DisX3 stuff, several remixes among others for Sender Berlin, Ben Sims, di_indicator and Christian Morgenstern followed, „unGleich in Exile“ 2x12“ as Double X and his praised solo-Maxi „Dark Soul“ came out on “Kanzleramt”. A Double X CD on unGleich and the belonging limited 12inch “unGleich 6.5.” followed immediately.

In 2001 Alexander Kowalski finally released his first solo-album “Echoes” on Kanzleramt. At the end of the year he found himself in the readers polls of the german dance magazines in the top ten of “Best Newcomer”.

But that was all nothing comparing to what happened in 2002 ! With the release of Alexanders second album “Progress” the techno world went crazy about this new guy from Berlin. He made it for “Album of The Month” in the german Groove magazine as well as in the french Trax and in many others. Alexander sold thousands of albums, played all big festivals in Europe, got an award in the category “Best Single” at Music & Machine for his amazingly deep “All I Got To Know” with Kitty Yo´s fantastic singer Raz Ohara, made remixes for Turner, Elektrochemie LK, Sono 2000, Codec & Flexor, Glen Wilson, Alan Oldham, Martini Brös, followed that big hype with another smashing club-hit with Raz Ohara called “Hot Spot”, sold even more records and found himself this time in the readers polls of the german dance magazines in almost all top ten he could have been in on one of the top 3 positions: Best Producer, Best Album, Best Live Act. Alexander is also nominated twice for the German Dance Award 2003.

The new (third) album '|response|' on kanzleramt will be released in August 2003, the pre-single 'Belo Horizonte' in April.

http://www.myspace.com/alexanderkowalski

Heiko Laux - WMF - Berlin DE - Feb 2001

Biography of Heiko Laux

This artist, born in the city of Bad Nauheim in Hessen, which is close to Frankfurt, regards Farley Jack Master Funk's 1986 release 'Love can't turn around' as one of the most important influences in his early career. 'I wanted to make my future audience as happy as this house track made me. I wanted to play this energy and to pass it on to others' remembers Heiko. It was at this point, that it became clear to him that he would become either a DJ, or a musician. He decided to become both.

Upon leaving school, he started an apprenticeship. By day, he worked as an Industry Wholesaler. By night, he mixed countless tapes for friends. These tapes soon became highly desirable Collectors Items and the cost of a genuine Laux tape rocketed. In the mid 80's, he began his career as a producer with a Casio Keyboard. The presets and patterns were edited and the resulting sounds were passed, via his brother, to the only club in town 'The Soccer Club.' At the end of the 80's the young Laux was a frequent guest in the new club, Omen, in Frankfurt. 'Omen has been the most influential club for me and from 1989 onwards, I was there several times a month.'

Meanwhile, 35 kilometers away in Bad Nauheim, the studio in his parents' house was filling up with more and more machines and had become a central meeting place for like minded musicians. When his brother opened a pub, Heiko seized the opportunity to move the studio. Although the space moved, the idea 'to find a new way and an own sound in this new musical movement,' remained. Anthony Rother, Johannes Heil, Patrick Lindsey, who became the first league of the Kanzleramt artists - were regular guests in what was soon to become the legendary pub Kanzleramt. While honing his DJ skills, Heiko discovered his love for the work of Jeff Mills and the idea to develop a label. In 1994 the label he founded was named Kanzleramt.

Numerous publications followed and Heiko became known as 'The Hessen Techno Tiger. And, although other DJs seemed stuck in musical limbo, his notoriety was growing on the scene. Soon, Sven Vath from Omen, the club that was so hot it had guttering mounted for the sweat, signed Laux. It was here that Heiko played his first live gig. He remembers my set was to be one hour long. But, I was so excited that after just 30 minutes I was through and for the rest of the evening I had to improvise. 'It was like a boiling kettle back then. If you listen to Kanzleramt No.14, you can hear the excitement.'

In 1996, during his last live gig at the Popkomm, Heiko met a young producer named Christian Morgenstern who gave him a demo tape. He was so impressed with his sound that, just a few months later, he released Morgenstern's debut album on the Kanzleramt label. It was around this time when Heiko was offered the prime time slot as resident DJ at Omen. And this is where he fulfilled his promise to give energy and luck to the people through his music. His reputation as a concrete Techno DJ was growing.

More personal success came in 1998, when he released his own debut album 'Liquidism' on Kanzleramt. 'I think this album has the best flow. It represents me so well. It's like looking at a picture of my self'. At the end of 1999 Kanzleramt moved to Kreuzberg, located in Berlin. Despite a long phase of becoming established, Heiko was able to replicate his previous success. New opportunities arose and other artists joined the now, internationally renowned, label. The so called next generation comprised of DJ Slip, Alexander Kowalski and Diego.

Almost simultaneously, alongside his move to Berlin, Heiko released his next album. 'Sense Fiction' was the lightest album he's ever produced. It sounded easy, jazzy and funky at the same time. Critics praised him for his successful musical research of the senses and they stressed the albums subtleties. In the meantime, to add a further component to his DJ sound, he began working with three decks. An art many cannot master. 'I got the idea with the three turntables after seeing Marco Carola in the Palazzo. He only used a third record every once in a while. I watched him and wanted to do better. Eventually, it worked and I managed to keep the three stable. Then, my sound got much deeper.'

In the meantime Kanzleramt was busy. Slip and Diego both released debut albums, the 'Sense Fiction Remix Series' was celebrated and Ricardo Villalobos' mix charted number one in Groove Magazine's Top 50. After the Europe wide, seventh anniversary 'Fully Fledged' tour, Heiko devoted his time to producing the album 'Ornaments' which became one of the most important milestones of his personal development. This album symbolises the renaissance of the individual as a feeling being. The inspiration for this album came from Heiko's own experience of moving to Berlin. The man who moved from the countryside to the big city had finally arrived. Now, with his talent recognised and revered globally, opportunities to view life from different angles and perspectives are plentiful when touring. On one such occasion, around Christmas 2002, he extended an Australian DJ gig in Melbourne to 4 weeks and his experiences with nature left a lasting impression and influenced his music.

By the beginning of 2003 Heiko was ready to explore a new musical openness. He had already demonstrated on earlier albums that he was able to move away from '4-on-the-floor' rhythms, but the collaboration with his studio neighbour Teo Schulte, a Berlin-based Jazz musician and Producer, accelerated this development and the Offshore Funk project, described as 'Funky Flow with Club Entertainment', was successfully released. 'In the early days, me and my siblings were in a marching band. I think the beats, from playing the snare drum, got into my blood and influenced the Offshore Album. So, I think it's fair to say that some of my Techno roots can be traced back to that early Hessen marching music.' Heiko is proud of his humble beginnings and demonstrates his fondness for his hometown by spending most of his mealtimes in the Kreuzberg's Markthalle Restaurant, whenever they have a Hessen week.