Crack

Somewhere in the numerous strands of foreign culture the British love to stereotype and stigmatise, the Dutch and Germans got a raw deal. Especially when it comes to music.

Long characterised by a swathe of incredibly cheesy Euro-pop hits in the mid-nineties and early noughties, the camp naffness of European pop music was offset at the other end of the spectrum by overblown trance DJ's and highly offensive techno. And then it all changed.

Waking up from an incredibly bad 2Unlimited soundtracked nightmare, the wheel of credibility, as far as German and Dutch electronic music is concerned, has done a 180 degree spin. Berlin can now be considered techno mecca of the universe with every house and techno producer relocating there en masse and The Netherlands has become a hotbed for producers and, in a slightly less hyped way than Berlin, a real underground scene has emerged.

At the forefront of this movement is Joris Voorn. Raised in Rotterdam, Voorn actually started DJ’ing in 1997 and began constructing his own studio. Building a love for electronic music, his debut productions in 2002 found their way into the boxes of major players such as Carl Craig and Laurent Garnier.

His debut album Future History in 2004 was heralded as one of the finest Detroit techno sounding efforts made by someone who wasn’t actually from Detroit, and announced Voorn as a major player on the techno scene. Another album followed in 2007 entitled From A Deep Place and showcased Voorn moving towards a meshing of house and techno, but encompassing soulful and ambient textures and an altogether deeper and progressive sound.

Joris explains: “The groove laden tunes are something that I really enjoy, as it showcases another side to my character as opposed to just playing pounding, pounding techno. I’ve really started enjoying music that makes you shake your hips as opposed to your hands and this has been reflected in a lot of what I’ve been playing out.”

There had been whisperings on these records that suggested Voorn was a slightly different style of producer to many DJ/producers who straddle both jobs by playing out their favoured records of the moment. His ability to create a record was obvious, his remixb skills were in high demand, and as a performer he had begun to offer live sets with just his own material as well as the standard DJ fare. Nothing however, could prepare the listener, when in 2009 he created one of the most astounding mix albums you are ever likely to hear.

Joris explains: “I started off trying to do a traditional mix, with 12 or 15 tracks and found I wasn’t enjoying listening to it at all. It became a bit of an obsession throwing more and more layers and tracks into the mix, so you didn’t know where one track started and one ended. I didn’t really plan it before, but it became a really great way of working and I enjoyed it a lot, even though it took me about four or five months.

“Putting new layers in and taking layers out became more of an experiment than anything else." His mix for the Balance series contains elements of over 100 tracks across two CD’s, incorporating the likes of Flying Lotus, Ricardo Vilalobos, Dubfire, Leftfield, Minilogue, Cobblestone Jazz and a multitude of lesser known artists in a patchwork concoction of music sewn together with total precision.

Representing something of a synopsis of deeper electronic music in our time, Voorn’s record has seen him take the mix CD rulebook and colourfully re-paint it. A 2 Many DJ's mix this is not. Across the two CD’s there are the kinds of emotional strands, strings and depths that few artists could ever hope to achieve.

Joris is hopeful to repeat the feat: “I will definitely do another one at some point as I enjoyed the experiment, but it won’t be anything like the last one. I need to make a different record. It might take another two years.” Making a record similar to this one, would be certainly fraught with difficulty. Making it half as good is likely to be even harder.

Fast forward a year and Crack is at BLOC. After catching the end of Skream and Benga, Voorn has the rather dubious honour of following an hour and a half of bass with his own live performance. A period of crowd transition ensues and Crack convinces friends to stay. After two hours of straddling house and techno textures with consummate ease, many remark on this being gig of the weekend. House grooves sit alongside rolling techno beats and big jump-up moments alongside deeply seductive ones.

Joris was massively enthusiastic about the gig: “It was different following those guys, as it was such a radical switch in styles, but I think I won them over. BLOC was a superb experience for me. Playing at a British holiday camp isn’t the usual, but it was awesome.”

Voorn has also completed the producer jigsaw, by running two record labels, Green Records and Rejected. Green showcases the emotive side of his recordings and has featured the likes of Ripperton and Deetron. Rejected is perhaps more tougher-edged and deeper in its releases and has seen Joris release under the self-titled Rejected brand.

This summer is rammed full of performances and will act as a catalyst for turning more people on to one of the most forward thinking producers working at the moment.


Tune: Balance 14 (Mixed By Joris Voorn)

http://www.myspace.com/jorisvoorn

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