9/18/2011

Vadim Svoboda just released his first record on his own brand new label “Makesense”, titled Supercharged.

During one of his visit to New York we sat down in front of a tea for an interview before he rushed to rehearse for his gig tonight:  

Virginia: When, where and why did you start djing?

Vadim: I started djing quite a long time ago, in Paris, when I was younger, around 2002. I felt in love with electronic beats, genius grooves, deep rhythms. I really found a way to express myself with it. I was only doing piano at the time. In 2004 I bought my first drum machine.

In may 2009 I’d do my first full analog live* in New York. (*with drum machines and synthesizers) . Since then, I kept focusing more and more on analog live sets.

V: You had the chance to play internationally, in cities like New York, Paris and Berlin, among others. What scene do you like best and why?

V: There’s many places I’ve never been and I like to think that my favorite is one of them. But for now, the Sundae Party (organized by DJ Celine) in Paris is my favorite playground, it’s “comme à la maison.” (It feels like home)

The main reason I love those parties is because they started from our love to sharing deep music, the music you rarely hear in nightclubs right now in Paris. The conditions are just perfect, always-sunny, open air party, by the Seine river, in the center of Paris… I played at the first one, we were 200 people. Last time I played there, it was more than a thousand!! 

V: You launched your own label, “Makesense”. Can you tell us more about it? Who are the other co-founders and how would you describe the type of music you guys produce?

V: Makesense won’t have a specific style but just a coherent way to produce original grooves. Jules (a talented nyc new comer) and I founded a record label because it’s a really good motivation engine for producing, learning from others, link cities and artists, and have them express themselves. I think it’s a beautiful experience that it’s just at the beginning. 

V: You currently live in Berlin: what’s the life like for a DJ over there?

V: It’s very pleasant, I have to learn some German, which is a little more unpleasant, but life is of course way slower than NYC or Paris. It’s obvious that Berlin is very cool to live in for artist: lots of spaces, lots of shows, lots of trendsetters.

V: Who are the DJs and producers who inspire your work?

V: There’s so much but in electronic music the most recurrent is Villalobos. I’m also a big fan of Matt John, Isolée, Kalabrese, Ark, Pronsato, Troy Pierce since the first track I heard by him. I love a lot of thing, I love deep sweetness, I hate when the instruments are over clubby, loops layered with loops, when mastering is so clean, I like it deep down and original. I think everything could be inspiring, even small resonances in that specific track you don’t like. 

My all time Ricardo’s (Villalobos) are “Chromosul” and “True to Myself”, both released by Perlon.

V: The best and worst aspects of being a DJ?

V: Sometime you can miss a flight 🙂