The re opening of Fabric, the focus on his imprint IMF,
The art of djing ,The RA polls & The Berlin sound.
A conversation with the vinyl nerd who became Berghain resident & considered one of the most exciting dj’s in the techno scene today : Marcel Fengler
In 2013, you released your first and for now, only artist album on the Ostgut Ton label. Last year you released an EP on your imprint. Can we expect for more releases and perhaps another album in 2017?
After some big changes throughout 2016 I´m really happy to put my focus on my own productions finally again. After a couple of remixes I have done for Luke Slater, Pan-Pot and Dave Clarke at the end of last year, I’m planning to release own productions on my label IMF and on Luke Slater’s Mote Evolver. Despite this I’m still in touch with Efdemin to continue our work of DIN which I’m really looking forward to. And indeed I also want to start to work on first ideas of my second album soon.
IMF, your imprint, has focused on releasing your material and similar Techno related producers. What does the future hold for the label?
The biggest aim for 2017 will be a compilation in October this year. This compilation encapsulates the past, present and future of IMF and will be expressed through a collection of exclusive originals and remixes created by some of the most skilled producers of the moment, along with contributions from rising talents who are set to shape the direction of the label for years to come.
The Resident Advisor 2016 poll had 6 German DJs in the top 20, with only the UK having more representatives (7). Is there such a thing as a German or “Berlin sound” and do these kinds of polls have any effect on it?
I think that a couple of great German artists have influenced the scene properly in the last years and polls like Resident Advisor reflect this. Nevertheless I think also that this perception is related to a specific platform. For sure Resident Advisor is one of the most important platforms in the market and so they are influencing such developments essentially. But I think such distributions look different in some other polls. Guess you have to involve also other platforms to evaluate this conclusively instead of focusing just on one source.
Just recently you played at the reopened Fabric. Was deejaying there more special due to the circumstances that preceded the gig and what is your view on the club’s foreseeable future?
Yes, this was a really great one. After the whole discussion about the club and its circumstances it´s been a pretty emotional approach this time since I´ve been kinda scared before that I won´t play this booth again. A lot has been said about questionable explanations of closing down fabric in the first instance by the authorities and the stigmatization of a leading player like fabric. All I can say is how sad these circumstances are for sure – you can’t control things like this at all. However, after all I´m super happy to see how everything turned out and fabric is still there. During the set I´ve seen a big logo on the wall that said #yousavedfabric and I was thinking to myself – unbelievable what you can achieve if you really want something.
A few years ago, you wrote music for ballet. Do you see yourself trying that path again (perhaps music for film), or do you prefer sticking to deejaying now?
This project was definitely one of my most challenging but also satisfying projects I ever made. It has influenced my workflow of producing, my way of thinking of doing collaborations and opened up a great chance to discover a new facet in my creativity. For sure I´m a DJ first of all and used to produce mainly music for dancefloors. But I´d love to continue this kind of work whenever I´m going to get a possibility to do this again.
As a DJ and producer, which of the two would you define as close to your heart?
As I said, honestly I see myself more as a DJ then a producer since this is how I´ve got in touch with what I´m doing today. But producing music is definitely also something I don´t want to miss for sure. I do both things with a lot of passion and it´s satisfying me almost equally but in two different ways. DJing is something that is a quite physical experience and mainly influenced by the dancing crowd in front of you. You don´t have this feedback in the studio and spend hours there just by your own. But when a good track idea comes up it triggers you also properly and brings goose bumps in the best cases. In those moments I can´t wait to play this tune finally out.
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