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djmag.com
peaking late in the evening from his East Berlin lab, dark techno king Adam X answers the question of what he's been doing today by replying he, “went and spray painted a piece in an abandoned building.” It's the same answer that he might have given at any point since the '80s when his love of graffiti and tagging started. Adam has been painting for the majority of his life, starting out in the subterranean tunnels of his former home of New York City. With every subway train
a potential canvas, he even paid tribute to the art of bombing in the video to his track 'Sounds at the Siding' from his 2008 album 'State of Limbo'.
Talking to Adam X, aka Adam Mitchell, provides an extensive history lesson and a prophetic look into the future. The worldly musician, with a passion for industrialized techno music, has been a leading tastemaker for over two decades. Influenced by the 4/4 styles of Detroit, Belgium and Germany, his history as a DJ runs deep and rave culture in America would not be the same had Adam, his brother Frankie Bones and Lenny Dee, another New York pioneer, not fallen in love with techno the first time that they heard it at the Wave Club in Staten Island at the end of 1988.
Fast forward to 2013 and Mitchell is busier than ever with a solid DJ schedule, his ever reliable Sonic Groove record label and a steady succession of hours clocked up in his home studio. While analog gear was the norm during the early years of techno production, his current set-up has been stripped back with the aid of modern technology. “It's just my computer, Ableton and two monitors. Everything else is just an add on,” he tells us, adding that his favorite tools include the Korg Legacy package with MS-20 and Poly 6, Native Instruments FM and Ableton's internal instrument rack.
You can hear the results on his latest single, 'Coercive Persuasion', for Germany's Suicide Circus Records. Part of their SCR Dark Series, the new imprint was launched to showcase exactly the kind of pulsing, dark techno Adam delivers, its thundering kick shrouded in crunchy, irradiated layers. Flip over and 'Deprogramming Sequence' burns with the liquefying heat and metallic heart of smelting metal in a forge.
HISTORY LESSONS IN TECHNO Sharing its name with the record shop that Adam started twenty years ago in Brooklyn, and has now also relocated to Berlin, his label Sonic Groove has kept its relevancy over the years by birthing techno compositions from new and established artists. Releasing what he calls, “non comprised techno and industrialized techno music,” SG's back catalog includes notable works from Oliver Lieb, Neil Landstrumm, Kevin Saunderson and Frankie Bones. Always future focused, up-coming material includes releases from Diagenetic Origin and Dasha Rush. “I have a pretty tight roster of great artists; Orphx, Northern Structures, Realmz and Henning Baer to name a few,” he adds. Recently a label night hosted by BLOC in Paris at the Cabaret Sauvage saw him, Dasha Rush and Northern Structures share the stage for an intense journey celebrating Sonic Grooves' signature sound.
Musical experimentation runs in the family. Adam's brother, the equally successful NYC legend Frankie Bones, brought some of the first underground music gatherings to virgin ears in the USA via his STORMraves, breaking a young Richie Hawtin and the legendary Sven Väth. These events spanned the entire American Eastern Seaboard throughout the '90s and became known for their off the radar warehouse locations and an ethos of 'peace, love, unity and respect.' Adam remain humble as to how these parties were created. “The same as any party, scouting locations, putting line- ups together, organizing sound system, and promoting via flyers and local college
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