Jerome Sydenham - Addicted Podcast #14

Jerome Sydenham - Addicted Podcast #14 (Movements in Techno – Kiev Series Vol 1)

We saw this coming! Our podcast series wouldn't have been complete without a mix from a long-time friend and a living legend Jerome Sydenham. What can we expect from the guy who has had an A&R experience with major labels, has been successfully running his own imprint for more than 15 years and has produced a number of tracks that found their way to the electronic music's hall of fame? We're sure you know the answer - this is exactly the case when words are meaningless and the music just speaks for itself.


- ‘Animal Social Club’ is your first ever solo album. What was the creative process like behind this release? Tell us more about the origins of this project – how long did it take you to produce and what does the album’s title mean?
- The motivation for “Animal social Club” was based on a desire to mold familiar acoustic emotions from house and techno into a seamless realm of understanding; which directly correlates to the album title. “Animal Social Club” is a place with a primal edge filled with instinct driven music, an environment where there are no inhibitions and spontaneity is the key! Generally I work rather quickly during the composition process and I used a lot organic outboard gear on “Animal Social Club” (303, 707, 808, 909 drum machines and some cool synths ect). All in all the album took, in between other creative and business responsibilities, about a year to complete and was recorded and mixed in my Berlin studio.

- You told me some of the tracks from this album had a particular inspiration. Besides the obvious reference to house music heritage of mid 90s, what were the things/people you had in mind while producing ‘Animal Social Club’?
- That's a tough one. It is hard to pinpoint specific influences but I would say the formative influences are an amalgamation of street, club, and creative life-styles coming out of Chicago, Detroit and New York City.

- You’ve been jumping around both soul-driven house and proper techno music during recent years. How do you manage to maintain a smooth transition between different sides of music spectrum both production-wise and in terms of DJ sets? What is your take on ‘cross-genre-ness’ of modern club-friendly music?
- First and foremost I love all music; especially electronic as this is where I live. All forms of House and more sophisticated forms of Techno have always been around from the conception of both genres so you could say I understand them rather well. Combining these various forms on DJ sets is more of a Jerome style thing but this definitely varies in my performance and presentation depending on the location, venue and audience.

- You are known to be keen on collaborating with other artists whether it is Function, Dennis Ferrer, Argy or whoever else. Who would you like to challenge yourself to collaborate with the most? Are there any other names from different music backgrounds that you’re after at the moment?
- There are quite a few, Carl Craig and I talk about a collaboration and also Tyree Cooper. Busy DJ schedules, however, make it very difficult. I am currently also concluding my second Nagano kitchen album. It is a collaboration with Hideo Kobayashi and is a Techno driven project which will be coming out on Apotek Records early summer. Also, my upcoming Ben Sims remix on Drumcode should hit the streets in February.

- Please describe your Addicted podcast. How and when did you record it? Was there an initial idea to build the mix from?
- The idea behind it was imagining a few friends and I driving through a winter storm in Kiev. I used Ableton on this particular mix as I did some spontaneous experimental edits.


Tracklist:
1. Jerome Sydenham – Mud Sweat feat. Katsuya Sano (Orig. Mix) – Ibadan Records
2. Alan Fitzpatrik – 9 Hours Later (Markus Suckut Redefinition 1) – 8 Bit Records
3. Greg Grajek – Cell (Audio Injection Remix) - Dark and Sonorous Recordings
4. Stephen Brown – Fuego (Ben Sims Remix) – Theory
5. Psyk – Distane (Orig. Mix) - Mote Evolver
6. Ben Sims – Smoke and Mirrors (Jerome Sydenham Remix) – Drumcode
7. Jonas Kopp – Reforce (Orig Mix – Jerome Sydenham Special Edit) – Deeply Rooted House
8. Telex - Moscow Diskow (Carl Craig Remix) – Repertoire)
9. Jonas Kopp – Green Fingers (Orig. Mix) – Deeply Rooted House
10. Bas Mooy - Odd Rok (Pfirter Remix) – Audio Assault
11. Jerome Sydenham – War of Attrition (Orig. Mix) – Ibadan Records.
12. Jerome Sydenham – Seed feat. Katsuya Sano (Orig. Mix) – Ibadan Records