LONDON, UK (Top40 Charts/ Fabric London Official Website) - The life of a true music lover is a divine mixture of beauty and obsession, dedication and impulse; and there are very few who can be fairly categorized as a true music lover more than
Thomas Koch, aka DJ T. His list of accolades and contributions to electronic music are irrefutable, indelible and seemingly endless. There's his editing and publishing work in the periodical world: founding Groove Magazine in 1989 and remaining its publisher and author for 15 years (Groove remains one of the longest running - 20 years and counting - and most respected dance music periodicals in the world).
There were his projects with other likeminded souls: co-founding the legendary Monza club night in 1999 (now an Ibiza landmark) with close friend Patrik Dechent; and co-founding the triumphant Get Physical imprint with M.A.N.D.Y. and Booka Shade in 2002, which has grown to be one of the most forward-thinking, consistent and flourishing labels on the electronic map. And that's not forgetting his artistic contributions to the hungry music world; from his imagination-traveling productions (especially last year's critically cheered album, The Inner Jukebox) to his smooth DJ sets that shimmy around the globe with an incessant run of tour dates.
Growing up in a family of musicians in Dusseldorf and Frankfurt, T. was constantly surrounded by music - with 'a varied mix of classical music, German pop, chart hits, rock and soul' as his soundtrack. It was as a young teenager, however, that he found his true calling: 'All of a sudden, I lived in these two parallel worlds, alternating between mainstream chart pop and my own personal obsession, a love I could share with none of my school buddies, black music. At 13, I discovered break-dance; funk, soul, hip-hop, old school electro and Miami bass became the soundtrack to my heavily dance-influenced life. I had my first brush with electronic music in 1988, in the acid house-drenched summer of love, when Sven Voth opened Frankfurt's seminal club Omen and kicked off a previously unknown flood of euphoria and get-up-and-go spirit in the local club scene. I fell for this sound straight away; hip-hop and broken beats were relegated to the sidelines. The following 15 years, I spent every single weekend on dancefloors.' - DJ T.
From the age of 16 onwards, T. accidentally fell into a prestigious career as a DJ - by 19, he was DJing 6+ hour sets to 1,500 punters. It's no wonder that his own productions mirror the dancefloor experience into a headphone journey so effortlessly - he has an understanding of the dancefloor that's impossible to top. And it's one that he enjoys to no end.
'Over the last two years or so, the DJ scene has gone through a huge generational shift. All around me, long-standing DJ veterans are starting to lose interest in spinning their stuff or simply don't feel involved enough anymore to continue with this full-on rigmarole, including the latest batch of related requirements like internet visibility or the digital revolution, to name but a few. Many of the old guard simply can't or don't want to keep up with the change. I, for one, feel like I'm on a massive high and I owe a lot of that to the great success of my last tour. Right now, I love DJing more than ever and there is so much fantastic new music to be discovered that I often find myself wondering which of these gems I should play first...and that's something I hadn't experienced in a long while. A lot has changed in DJ and club culture, and certainly not all of it for the better, but I still manage to find enough that is good and beautiful and that inspires me to carry on.' - DJ T.
fabric 51: DJ T serves as an unforgettable introduction to one of his astonishing DJ sets, a lively adventure full of sharp twists and unexpected turns. Deep, elegant and swelling, the mix transcends listeners to otherworldly soundscapes with a fantastically diverse ambience - at times sunny and bright, other times wild and mystifying, and always keeping a psychedelic and cinematic feel throughout. Featuring the off-beat spontaneity of dOP, the Latin infused bounce of Matias Aguayo, the percussive retreats of Bodycode - and plenty of hidden gems in-between - fabric 51 is a joy of a listen, a daydream-fueling hideaway where each track is crammed with as many soul-fueled moments and intricate charms as the next.
'This mix is definitely drenched in the spirit and musical vibe of my recent global tour. Right now, I am digging up all my musical roots - disco, soul, funk, early house and plenty of vocals. I play more vocal tracks than I have touched in ages and I don't think I have ever whipped up a mix with so many vocals, either! While I usually mix from a more 'functional' DJ perspective, this mix is the product of my current super-positive emotional state and definitely not your average dancefloor fodder - at least half of these tracks would never find their way into my DJ bag. Aesthetically speaking, it is more of a shimmering, sparkling disco funk concoction, a nod to the old school, but also 100 per cent in the here and now!' - DJ T.
Tracklisting
01. dOP - Wiper Law - Unreleased
02. Michael J Collins - I Just Wanna Be Your Disco Bitch - Wolf + Lamb
03. 10lec6 - Drown Dogs Holidays - Cliche I am
04. Stuffa A Million Secrets (Salax Peep Show Remix) - Trunkfunk
05. Madioko N Rafika - Ellelli (Kalabrese Remix) - Innervisions
06. Danton Eeprom - Give Me Pain - Yes Is More
07. Matias Aguayo Ft. Lerato - Pata Pata -Comeme
08. Ben Mono - Jesus Was A B-Boy (TJ Kong & Nuno Dos Santos Remix) - Compost
09. Will Saul & Tam Cooper Ft. Ursula Rucker - Where Is It (Will Saul & Tam Cooper's Reloved Dub Mix) - Simple Records
10. Dave DK & Holger Zilske Feat. Richard Davis - You Will Find Out
11. III & Azari - Hungry For The Power - Cliche I am
12. Wigald Boning - Kobra Dance - Compost
13. Soulphiction - The Royal Pennekaums (Chocolettes Nervous Mix) - Musik Krause
14. Le Roif Ft. Roland Clarrk - I Get Deep - Deeptown Music
15. DJ T. - Try To Understand - Kindisch
16. DJ Mujava - Township Funk (Crazy P Mix) - United Recordings
17. Good Guy Mikesh - Milk & Honey (Basket Mix) - LiebeDetail
18. Bodycode - Immune - Spectral
19. Random Factor - Broken Mirror - 20:20 Vision
20. WhoMadeWho - Keep Me In My Plane (DJ Koze Hudson River Dub) - Gomma
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