Submitted By: DJKOSIAK

Genre: Techno

Date of Set: Jun 9th, 2008

Filesize: 338.58 MB

Total Downloads: 46

The story of M.A.N.D.Y. begins on a tennis court in Saarbrücken, near the German-French border. That’s where Patrick Bodmer met Philipp Jung on a summer’s day over twenty years ago. They grew to become great friends, and together dreamt of a way to make a living out of their shared loves: collecting records, throwing parties, meeting ----FRIENDS--- girls and laughter. Alas, these idle plans soon had to make way for sensible adult concerns and they parted ways.

At 25 Patrick and Philipp were reunited in Frankfurt, then the hub of Germany’s flourishing house and techno scene. Philipp worked for Snap’s record company; Patrick studied and lived as an artist / ---PAINTER---. They began their first forays into music with releases on local independent imprints and devised their unofficial Lust (eng: joy, zest, delight) parties as an excuse to play records. Later Patrick acquired an old brewery as an atelier – this space served as a cauldron bubbling with their ideas, art and wanton personal experimentation. This period came to a close in 1997 and the final twang of traditional career values saw Philipp move firstly to Cologne as A&R for Jive, and later to Berlin to do the same job for V2. Patrick finished studying before taking a sensible day job he quickly came to detest.

Over the next years the pair consumed music, raved and span records at every opportunity. DJ T and Patrik (The Sunsetpeople), from Frankfurt’s Monza club, heard them play at a party and noticed them on the dancefloor, stamping their feet and ripping their clothes in sheer delight. The four became close friends, and M.A.N.D.Y. have held a Monza residency since 2001. In the past couple of years Monza has spread its wings to Ibiza, London and beyond to become a truly global concern.

Soon after their old pals Arno and Walter (Booka Shade) joined M.A.N.D.Y. in Frankfurt. The four intensified their work together and once again there was talk of starting a label. The first official M.A.N.D.Y. release, a remix of French electronic band Galleon, became a big-selling chart sensation; DJ work poured in but they couldn’t reconcile their musical values with the commercial scene and they abandoned it after a few short months.

M.A.N.D.Y. liken their next moves to a last exit, a final chance to do something special. They decided to found a label with their friends Booka Shade and DJ T, utilising the talent of their circle of close friends. They called it Get Physical: in tribute to the dancefloor; in memory of their meeting; and for their love of disco, with a nod to Olivia Newton-John. Get Physical was born of pure desire, the need to create something tangible out of a lifelong passion. In 2002, M.A.N.D.Y.and Booka Shade moved to Berlin seeking a new creative kick. What they found was a confluence of artists and ideas, and a constant shower of music to immerse themselves in and be inspired by – M.A.N.D.Y., Booka Shade and Get Physical have been based there ever since.

Over the past five years M.A.N.D.Y. have come into their own as artists and DJs. Mixing the first Get Physical label compilation in 2004 sent their sound beyond Europe but it was the 2005 collaboration with Booka Shade, ‘Body Language’, which sealed their reputation: the track became a bona fide anthem across the globe and was voted Ibiza’s Track of the Season that year. ---AND TRACK OF THE YEAR IN DJ MAG UK---- This was followed by the ‘Body Language Vol. 1’ mix CD, where Philipp and Patrick joined the dots between electro-influenced house and disco and the miminal techno sound which is now so prevalent.---AND MIX CD OF THE YEAR IN DJ MAG ---- In 2006 came M.A.N.D.Y.’s contribution to the ‘At The Controls’ mix series – a double CD which flitted effortlessly between genres and hich showed a more sensuous side to the M.A.N.D.Y. sound without compromising their underground, electronic house edge. ---CD OF THE YEAR AT RESIDENT ADVISOR UK----
- ESSENTIAL MIX BBC
- MIXMAG

Philipp and Patrick are much sought after remixers, having worked with artists as diverse as The Knife, Tiefschwarz feat. Tracey Thorn, Sugababes, Hans Peter Lindstrom, Joakim, Royksopp and Fischerspooner, The Klaxons, Mathew Dear; the ’13 GREAT Remixes for 12 GREAT Artists’ compilation collects some of their finest efforts on one disc and is testament to the variety and reach of their productions. Meanwhile, their DJing talents are in constant demand across the world, and they regularly rock floors and festivals from Buenos Aires to Sydney, New York to Moscow.

Though they travel the globe on what seems to be a neverending tour, they nonetheless treasure the family vibe that gave birth to them as artists and continues to support them in Berlin. For M.A.N.D.Y. this isn’t a job and it isn’t about success; it’s about partnership and friendship and a realisation that dreams can come true. It’s about seriously good music, and it’s still about those four things which bonded them in the first place: collecting records, throwing parties, meeting girls---FRIENDS, MAKLING FRIENDS and laughter.

http://www.myspace.com/getmandy

Submitted By: DJKOSIAK

Genre: Techno

Date of Set: Jun 9th, 2008

Filesize: 338.58 MB

Total Downloads: 46

For almost twenty years Thomas Koch – DJ T. – has been a vital part of the techno and house scene. In a range of different capacities: among others, Koch worked and works as a DJ, producer, promoter, club operator, publisher and journalist. In 2005, he relocated from Frankfurt to Berlin.

Blame it all on the disco ball. Born in 1969 in the city of Dusseldorf, at the tender age of nine Koch succumbed to the glistening seduction of black vinyl. By this time, his family had moved to Frankfurt, ‘disco’ had reached its zenith and Koch’s parents continued to ply him with early vinyl compilations, triggering what would become a serious and lifelong collection streak. T.’s burgeoning obsession went beyond disco and hi N-R-G – Village People, Donna Summer and Evelyn Thomas were soon followed by early rap music (via Grandmaster Flash) and finally – from 1983 – electro funk and its seminal protagonists Afrika Bambaataa, Planet Patrol, Newcleus and Mantronix. Their tracks had everything Koch craved: glam, funk, beats and bass. They were the soundtrack to a new dance culture. To Koch, this was love at first sight and he decided to take up breakdancing. Until this day, many of DJ T.’s own productions preserve the musical spirit of this period. Some loves do last forever.

Like many of his fellow DJs, Koch’s career on the decks began with trial stints at private parties, back in 1985. For his first professional gigs two years later he adopted the pseudonym DJ T - a moniker he retains to this day. Early fare on his turntables: black music in all its variants. Spinning at a range of different clubs in and around Frankfurt, T. soon found himself swept away by the powerful acid house wave that hit the city with the opening of Omen in 1988. Caught in the surge, Koch switched to straight beats and soon moved the crowds with early house, EBM and techno tracks, followed by his first residency at Frankfurt’s seminal Music Hall. Throughout the 90s, he played almost all of the city’s essential clubs, including extended stopovers at Plastik, Dorian Gray and The Box. By now Frankfurt, one of Europe’s foremost epicentres of electronic dance music, has become indelibly linked with the name DJ T. In 1999 Koch, Patrik Dechent and others opened their own club Monza and, for the next five years, Koch played a decisive part in shaping its profile. Impressive names like Steve Bug, DJ Hell, Ricardo Villalobos and Tiefschwarz were among the venue’s welcome and frequent guests. Run without Koch since 2004, Monza continues to claim its place among Germany’s foremost clubbing locations; its offshoot at Space/Ibiza counts among the island’s hippest events.

Moving back in time, in 1989 Koch founded the influential German-language magazine ‚Groove’. Until this day, Groove remains Germany’s most important and high-quality publication for the electronic aspects of life, alongside ‘De:Bug’. According to Koch, it was all about “creating a magazine that would meet my own needs. I assumed there were many others with similar needs out there.” And history proved him right. Besides serving as Groove’s publisher and author for fifteen years, he also contributed to anthologies on club music, among others ‘Localiser 1.0’ and ‘techno’.


Places of euphoria

In 2002, Koch and friends decided to start their own label, Get Physical Music. By now, the label’s popularity and fame has spread well beyond its Berlin base – reaching #4 (of favourite labels) in the annual Groove reader’s poll in 2004, Get Physical also claimed the coveted ‘label of the year 2005’ slot of British club bible DJ Mag. One would be hard-pressed to find a single techno/house DJ around the world who does not reach for at least one Get Physical track when things get hot.

Featuring six seasoned veterans of electronic music and club culture, the label collective also includes DJ and production team Patrick Bodmer and Philipp Jung (otherwise known as M.A.N.D.Y.) as well as producers and studio owners Booka Shade (Walter Merziger, Arno Kammermeier, Peter Hayo). Focussing on A&R, Koch tirelessly scours the scene for new talents, soaks up demos, establishes contacts and takes care of those already signed and their current productions. And yet, besides all these activities, Koch still finds time pursue his own artistic endeavours. 2000 saw the release of his first production with ‚Monsterbaze’, a Steve Bug co-production on the latter’s Pokerflat label. Ever since - discounting a co-operation with Freestyleman on Moodmusic - Koch has stayed true to his own label. After five years as a musician in his own right and a move to Berlin, Koch was ready to unleash his first album ‘Boogie Playground’ (2005), a reverence-laden and referential piece of music paying homage to T.’s own past and all those variants of early club music that had shaped his future path. Balancing all these citations and moods that gave classic funk and electro as well as disco, italo and acid house their good name, ‘Boogie Playground’ wraps them all up in contemporary sound design. A new album is in the planning for 2007: moving beyond Koch’s 70s and 80s roots, we can expect a strong Detroit and Chicago slant. In addition, Koch’s talents as a remixer have not gone unnoticed. His interpretations of acts like Spektrum, Mylor or Newcleus plus remixes for labels like ArtofDisco/Yellow, 20:20 Vision, Simple and Naked Music have moved critics and crowds alike. Berlin daily ‘taz’ on his recently released, first commercially available DJ mix ‘Body Language Vol. 2 ‘ (2006): “Koch combines tracks from the most varied of genres. And yet, his goal is aligned to the mix’s ideal location – triggering the most disparate of euphoria-soaked locations, he touches on the different wave forms of twenty years of party bliss.” An apt description of DJ T.’s club sets. Whether, like every weekend, somewhere in Europe or on one of his extensive tours of North and South America, Australia or – soon – Asia: T.’s sets are invariably stirring and extraordinarily varied. In this Koch is most certainly no ‘style fascist’, but rather something like a bass and groove addicted club historian with a firm grip of the present. His sets turn 25 years of electronic music history into one fine, homogenous blend, reminiscent of expansive narratives that transform the significant links between genres and ages into a physical experience. Yet despite all this track-inherent party spirit, Koch also knows how to send 6pm crowds into veritable danceathons – the tireless Watergate and Panoramabar favourite can probably tap it out in Morse code.

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