Have you ever watched a fire at night? I find it totally fascinating to just look into a fire and follow my own thoughts.

I don’t know if you can follow me here, but this DJ set tries to capture a similar mood: The contrast between cold darkness and a bright fire that dances in the dark…

Nerditional Information:

The opener track “Blaue Moschee” by Die Vögel is one of those strange hits that pop up from time to time: It’s a real dancefloor burner in the clubs right now even though it sounds very strange and different to other Techno tracks. Nevertheless, I really like that trumpet sound here, and it’s rare to have that swing feel in a Techno track.

I have been following Hardfloor for years now, and I am still fascinated with their simple yet anthemic Acid productions. They just keep releasing great tracks, and they have been around for a long time already. Their other project Dadamnphreaknoizphunk is also worth listening to. While Hardfloor productions are usually straight Techno bangers, the tracks by Dadamnphreaknoizphunk are more on the Trip-Hop side.

Leschet & Wilde is a duo from Cologne that is already famous for their wild live acts. Irwin Leschet, one half of that duo, is also a resident of the regular Silberschwein-parties that has a real pig-shaped disco ball as a mascot. They also started with their own label a while ago, and the first two releases are already great examples of how you can make deep dancefloor music without being cheesy or overly abstract.

Finally, I would like to highlight the track “Zoom” by Barem. This is a great example for a netaudio release that you can even download for free . I am often impressed by how much great electronic music is available for free on the net – makes one wonder about those superstar DJs even more.

Tracklist:

1. Die Vögel – Blaue Moschee
2. Vinyl – The Weasel
3. Hardfloor – Who Took Da Box
4. Depeche Mode – Everything Counts (Oliver Huntemann Remix)
5. Barem – Zoom
6. Shane – Reaching For The Stars
7. Westbam – Die Dunkelsequenz
8. Rob Acid – On Fire
9. New Delhi FM – Cable Pollution Results
10. Leschet & Wilde – Autummatik (Heiko Voss & Geiger Remix)
11. Jamie Fisher – The Calm Before The Storm (Deluna Remix)

With most current Techno releases being focused on minimalism, it is very refreshing to hear Odissi’s latest release “Dirty Secrets”. It is a very energetic track that draws its power from industrial sounds and rock vocals.

However, while many industrial-influences releases sound somewhat too alien for your typical Techno- or Tech-House-DJ to play, “Dirty Secrets” manages to be tame enough to be playable while showing enough rough edges to be interesting. Check out the remixes, too! (The Hedflux remix is my personal favorite.)

By the way, Odissi is definitely worth following on Twitter as she leads a very active and interesting life as a model,musician, promoter and DJ .

What would it be like to eat a spicy curry in space? I don’t know, but this spicy Minimal mix might feel somewhat similar.

I am not a big fan of Minimal Techno, but there are some tracks that I really like. It’s not my preferred kind of music for partying, but there’s something about its spacey abstractness that can make it interesting for listening. This is also pretty much the sound that I consider typical for many clubs and bars here in Cologne.

Tracklist:

1. Xenia Beliayeva – You Better
2. Audion – Mouth to Mouth
3. Gui Boratto – Patrick Zigon (Remix)
4. The Stain – Battle of the Quarks
5. Home Criminals – Noise
6. John Tejada – Asanebo
7. Voodeux – Just A Spoonful
8. Marquez Ill – Ill is Ill
9. Matt John – Hypercube 10 a

Matt John’s “Hypercube 10a” was recommended to me as the “next big thing” by my record dealer some time last year. I can’t really tell if this became true, but it’s still a nice track. Maybe he just wanted me to buy the record.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cinefil_/3041198788/ / CC-by-nc-nd

Inspired by a hilarious video (see above), I wanted to create a mix that showed some Techno cliché. Obviously, I disagree with the statements in the video, but I certainly know what he means. Don’t we all?

However, if you take this mix without any irony, you can still enjoy it as a solid Tech-House mix.

Tracklist:

Nerditional Information: The Techno Viking is an internet phenomenon that grew from a video of a long-haired guy who was filmed dancing on a techno parade. I don’t really know how the original video got popular, but you can find dozens of references and mashups on that – including the video shown above.

There are a couple of older tracks in this mix, including Yoshimotos 2006 hit “Do What U Do” and one of the gazillion remixes of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”. I included it because I think Deadmau5 is a great producer and remixer and he always manages to put something special and non-obvious into a remix.

The track “Social Anxiety” is a release from Jetlag Digital, one of my 2009 favories . I hesitated for a minute if I should really include this here: To me, this track has a somewhat different atmosphere and less Techno cliché than the other tracks, but it still is a great, straight and deep dance track.

Oh, and check out Swen Weber! I only know a few of his productions, but all of those rock.