‘Passion is a basic requirement when you’re making music. And you always need to have hope that you can live from it one day.’ These wise words were said last summer by John Muder, one of the founders of Berlin-based electronic label SUOL. Back then NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION took a closer look on the label, it’s artists and the special spirit that bounds them all together. After giving a lot of their acts the deserved attention in the past years Muder and his musical partner Chi-Thien Nguyen are now ready to unleash their very first studio album under their alias CHOPSTICK AND JOHNJON.
Twelve is the name of the longplayer that arrives on April the 4th and features the two producers on top of their game. Gentle house music beats with a certain soul appeal and a few surprises. Chris James, for example, whose vocals are part of most of the songs. CHOPSTICK AND JOHNJON are bridging the gaps between club music, pop and old soul flair. Once you listen to their tunes you can understand why these guys and their friends at SUOL don’t necessarily think in specific genres. We’re quite happy to habe these two German gentleman on board for their very own NBHAP Guestmix. And it’s filled with a lot of old favourites as the duo tells us in the following litle chat.
You chose a specific selection, aside from your usual club set up – tell us a bit about the atmosphere of your mix?
Eversince we started making music together 12 years ago we loved playing vocal tracks and we always had favorite tunes throughout the years. So we thought it would be cool to make a mix only with these tunes … vocal tracks from back then and also some new ones.
Do you sometimes try to include some of these classics in your regular DJ-sets?
Of course … every now and then one of us plays one and it always has this ‘shit, almost forgot about this’ effect.
What’s your favourite tune from this selection? Maybe you have a special relationship with one of these tracks.
The first CHOPSTICK AND JOHNJON classic in our DJ-Sets back in the days was CHELONIS R. JONES I Don’t Know which we put in this mix. It was such a big inspiration for us.
Your first album is about to get released. What was the main challenge compared to your usual EP and single-focussed output?
For the album production we completely changed our routine and workflow of how we produce our tracks. Normally we finish our tracks completely (ready for mastering due to our analog gear) before we start the next one and we never go back to the previous. For the album we took a different approach. Early last year we put together ruff song ideas and then started recording different instruments and vocals for all of them right aways. At the point where we thought we had enough material we put it aside for a couple of weeks to get some distance. Then at the end of the year we went through all the material and finished all the tracks for the album in one go.
We enjoyed great music by SUOL last year. What can we expect from your label during the next couple of months?
Thank you. First of all we will have a remix EP coming out for DANIEL BORTZ’ album featuring reworks by TUFF CITY KIDS, BOSTRO RESOPEO and ACID PAULI. After that our newcomers TENDER GAMES will release their album in summer. Also we will have the Summer Daze compilation again and last but not least FRITZ KALKBRENNER will come with his new album this fall. Of course in between these ‘bigger’ things we will have 12” by all family members of SUOL. Ah, and ANDRÉ LODEMANN, QUARION and FEW NOLDER are working on remixes for our second album single Run Slowly … can’t wait for those!
Before everybody hits ‘Play’ – what’s the perfect scenario to enjoy your NBHAP Guestmix?
Summer in Berlin or anywhere else ;)
01. PASKAL & URBAN ABSOLUTES feat. PETE JOSEF – Take The Fall
02. LUCA C & BRIGANTE feat. ROISIN MURPHY – Flash Of Light
03. FLIGHT FACILITIES feat. GROVESNOR – With You
04. MARIO & VIDIS feat. ERNESTO – Changed
05. JAZZANOVA feat. PHONTE – Look What You’re Doin’ To Me (Motor City Drum Ensemble Remix)
06. CHELONIS R. JONES – I Don’t Know
07. DJ KOZE feat. APPARAT – Nices Wölkchen
08. CHOPSTICK AND JOHNJON feat. FRITZ KALKBRENNER – A New Day
09. RUNNING YOUNG – Out Of Time
For all visitors of Berlin on the upcoming weekend. CHOPSTICK AND JOHNJON will hold a fancy release party at the Watergate Club on Saturday, March the 29th. Featuring a live performance of the duo and their guest singer Chris James. Find all infos right here.
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