What makes a mix great? It’s a question I ask myself every time I sink my teeth into a new Ostgut Ton compilation. They’re one of the last labels putting out a relevant commercial mix series, and they’ve kept up the CD mix’s luster on the backs of their world class residents. But the fact that so few mixes appear in physical form anymore certainly doesn’t translate into less competition. We’ve never had access to more of them, and as Chris Miller can attest, many of the free, downloadable ones are as good, if not better, than the store-bought variety. What makes a great mix hasn’t changed. But if you’re planning to charge for the thing, it had better be pretty goddamn great.
And that’s basically the only qualm I have with Ben Klock’s Berghain 04. It’s sexy, tough, and quite fantastic, undoubtedly among the best in the Ostgut series. But it’s not mindblowing, nor is it head and shoulders above much of what’s on offer from Fact, RA or us week in and week out. There’s very little, aside from the physical copy you’ll stick into the CD slot on your laptop and then file away into the abyss, that sets Berghain 04 apart from many of the podcasts you subscribe to. (Marcel Dettmann’s recent Fact mix, worlds better than the commercially released Berghain 02, provides a particularly devastating example of this.) On a dollars-and-cents level, I suppose it’d be hard to give the thing more than a soft recommend. And isn’t there something almost maddening about paying a guy with Klock’s reputation not to utterly destroy your synapses?
But when I listen very carefully, I find something very different about the tone and intentions of this mix, and I think it’s one of the reasons this mix is essential, and the series it comes from still potently relevant. All art, to a certain extent, raises an artist’s profile (and in a scene where DJ gigs often pay the bills for producers, there’s an element of this in practically every release). But unlike a mix you get for free, this mix isn’t for promotional use only. It doesn’t accompany an interview or herald a big festival appearance or celebrate an anniversary for a website; it’s a musical statement. Ostgut has always been about placing techno and house above the fray, and that’s precisely where Berghain 04 is simmering. Ben Klock has given us a commercial-free statement on techno executed artfully.
All DJs leave their stamp on a mix, but Berghain 04 finds its selector working very much behind the scenes. After some opening ambiance from Newworldaquarium alias 154, Klock pushes through three deep techno tracks — DVS1’s “Pressure,” Junior Boys’ “Work (Marcel Dettmann Remix)” (RELEASE THIS GODDAMN MASTERPIECE, SOMEBODY!), and Martyn’s exclusive “Mini Luv” — with the smoothest, most hands-offish mixing imaginable. With the lightest tap, he’s put techno into motion. Until an STL locked groove and Levon Vincent’s somewhat raucous “The Long Life” shake listeners out of a deep trance, the mix almost has the quality of a Donato Dozzy set: the music itself recedes into the background, leaving you with a beat and a feeling that feels too natural to be sneaking into your body through your ears. Klock’s near-mystical ability to harness energy from his tracks without the alchemy of huge mixes continues, extending even to some of Berghain 04‘s hardest sections (Kevin Gorman’s “7am Stepper” into Klock’s own “Compression Session 1”; James Ruskin’s “Graphic” through Rolando’s “Junie”). It also lets him handle classic material like Tyree’s “Nuthin Wrong” less jarringly than Marcel Dettmann did on Berghain 02. Instead of lathering these tracks in his DJ style, he inhabits them like a particularly subtle marinade. There’s great confidence in this sort of DJing, and it makes this mix particularly compelling. But it also feels a touch staid. I’ve listened to this mix perhaps dozens of times, and depending on my mood, “hypnotic” can morph quickly into “stagnant.” When a mix isn’t filled to the brim with the exuberance of big-personality DJing, its thread gets pretty hard to find.
But perhaps I’m too used to hearing DJs mixing to impress. We’re in a scene rife with young talent looking to spread their own word, and not many of them have the luxury of not blowing our minds. As long as the Berghain remains open and relevant and mythical, Ben Klock has as much job security as anyone in techno. He doesn’t have to grab us by their ears and sonically beg us to pay close attention to him; he can take a different path toward greatness. Berghain 04 asks that you meet if halfway, and despite the entrance fee, you absolutely should.
(RELEASE THIS GODDAMN MASTERPIECE, SOMEBODY!)
I second, third, fourth, and probably fifth that statement.
I have to disagree with both of you, I think Dettmann’s remix is awkward and dull. The vocals feel like they’ve been tossed on top without much care for fit, the beat is standard issue MD, and he does little else to make it interesting.
C2’s remix of “Like A Child,” now THERE’S a Junior Boys remix.
@Troppy: I think it’s a bit funkier, more club-ready, and more direct than a good deal of Dettmann’s material, and I’m a big fan of that loping bassline and those ghasping vocals you deplore. He’s probably made more sophisticated tracks in the last year, but it’s been around for some time.
We can agree on “Like A Child,” however!
Totally agree with Troppy.
In my opinion you can´t just do your own thing, and then slip in a sample of the track your remixing to call it a remix. This is what Dettman often does, although i quite like some of his own original tracks.
I like the conclusion of this review – the CD does seem to be a lot less of an exercise in flooring the listener than, say, a promo mix would be, and it’s probably more interesting for it (this is on the strength of a couple of listens though – a few more and we’ll see whether it tends towards ‘boring’ or ‘mindblowing’).
On the Dettmann point, I think a lot of people saying that the classic material on Berghain02 was mixed abruptly are missing the point: that’s exactly how late-80s/early-90s DJs would mix things like ‘Just Want Another Chance’, by slamming it in. That’s how the track’s made in the first place! If anything it’s the DJ giving way to the demands of the record, rather than imposing himself on it (if he’d tried to beatmatch it like a techno record then you’d probably have a case).
Saying all that, ‘Nuthin Wrong’ on this mix sounds like a straight-up techno track to me with the way Klock uses it.
while we’re on the topic of JB remixes, how’s about the Alex Smoke remix of In The Morning? It’s beautiful.
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[…] nor the label’s finest hour in purely musical terms, but as Ben Klock revealed on his stately Berghain 04 mix last year, these tracks can do a lot of work. And what is Ostgut Ton if not one of the most […]