There are few DJ’s and producers who have worked as hard for their success as Alex Niggemann. Gambling his future career on becoming a success story within the extremely competitive Berlin electronic music scene, this is a man who oozes confidence because he truly believes in what he is doing. No trend chasing, Alex has always tried to impress fans and critics alike with his eclectic tastes for music ignoring genre boundaries whilst applying his relentless perfectionism to all of his projects across the sonic spectrum. Now the head of two well respected imprints, Soulfooled and Aeon we thought we’d catch up with Alex and get him to share 5 pivotal episodes and decisions he’s made in his life that not only shaped him as a DJ and producer but as a man.
Musical development
Although I was the typical Hip Hop boy in my teenage, doing style-writing, breakdance and lyrics, I remember, the first record I’ve ever bought was a House tune. Only now I realize that this changed a lot in regards to my musical perspective. Usually someone who was into Hip Hop never listened to House or Techno at my age, not to mention start buying electronic music. So without even knowing, my passion and love for this genre was born even before I got into Rap music for a few years. At this time I felt that love for music doesn’t know any genre boundaries and that there was so much more to discover. At some point I found myself at my first Techno party, which flashed me so much fresh material and interesting sounds. I got so fascinated by the sound and definitely experienced a feeling about music that I never had before. This experience changed me a lot. I remember everything exactly as if it just happened yesterday. Ken Ishii was playing this night and he did an amazing job; never really taking a break even though he was playing with more than two decks. He moved the crowd like I’ve never seen in any other concert before and everybody went completely crazy. I watched him play for 4 hours that night, and it was then at that moment when I realized that DJing is not only about mixing records but so much more than that and I felt the urge to find out more about this myself.
Moving to Berlin
With this love and passion for music starting very early and growing bigger throughout my teenage years, it was just a matter of time before I felt that I want to create something myself, so I started to produce my own music. I was lucky to have had piano lessons since I was 4 years old, involving a solid classical piano education and musical background which definitely proved valuable when it came to creating some own tunes and helped the creative process a lot. But soon I had to find out that creativity is limited when there’s a lack of technical knowledge. Since I’m well-known for my perfectionism (even today I don’t leave my studio before a track is perfect in my eyes), it was inevitable that the fact I wasn’t always able to implement my ideas would frustrate me. So the wish to increase my knowledge grew bigger and bigger. When my high school graduation came closer, of course the question came up what to do after. Working in a safe position in my fathers company or going the more risky, exciting way of realizing my own dreams? Although I was never sure If I’d be able to turn my passion for music into a ‘real’ job I could live from, I decided upon option 2. The plan was to study audio engineering. Finding out a good university for this was situated in Berlin made my decision easy “what could be better than increasing my knowledge and living in the Mekka of electronic music?!” No sooner said than done, I moved to Berlin immediately, got to know many interesting people who pursued the same dream and shared the love and passion for this music including the crew from Get Physical with Booka Shade, M.A.N.D.Y. and DJ T. being a few of them. My then production partner and I sent them a few of our tunes and they often gave us remix parts of their tracks just to try out stuff and learn new skills. After I finally have finished a first mix, I gave the track to Arno & Walter from Booka Shade hoping to get some feedback and tips, that could help me refining my skills. Contrary to all my expectations they only asked me if I’d be up for appearing on a release together with them, Radio Slave and Tiefschwarz. This was just overwhelming andone of the best days in my life which changed so much! I’m still more than happy, thankful and impressed that they gave me such a chance. Big shout out to those guys!
Paranoid Funk
As an artist and also as a private person I always set myself targets. The first one was to create a remix that was releasable, the next one was to be signed to a label and release my own single… and then, yes an album! Creating a reflection of my skills, knowledge, talent and creativity is something that I feel separates me from being just a DJ or one of many artists releasing EPs. I wanted to go bigger and create a milestone. As so often in my life, things snowballed. I asked Phonique to undertake a remix for one of my projects and we agreed on a swap, meaning I had to do a remix for him as well. So I completed a remix for his album which was about to be released on Dessous Recordings, the deeper sister-label of Steve Bug’s Poker Flat Recordings. Steve Bug was always someone I looked up to and so after the release of my remix I sent him some original tracks of myself – which he immediately signed to be released on his label, so I became part of the Poker Flat family early in 2011. One day I met Steve in Miami for lunch during the Winter Music Conference at which we spoke about some upcoming projects and I told him that a wish of mine is to produce an album. He asked me “so why don’t you do it?” I had never really had concrete thoughts about it until this as I also didn’t want to release it on some random label. He offered me to release my album on Poker Flat if I decided to do one. From this moment on it was clear for me that I needed to start this project immediately because there are things in life you only get offered once and chances like this should not be missed. Poker Flat is a big, experienced and established label, with many great people working there and there was no better timing and platform to release an album. The baby took me 9 long months, but I was and still am more than happy with the result.
Becoming a label owner
Founding my own label has always been a dream that I’ve had. Creating a platform for artists I like and releasing music I’m 100% behind.
To run a label and release music is one thing but to release stuff with a certain quality that you personally like and would buy yourself is another thing. Becoming a label owner was another interesting and challenging experience in my life. I created my labels to become platforms for a crew of talented artists, who share the same thoughts and feelings about House Music and its way of life as I do. Everyone involved has to want to create a platform to release music that stands for quality. Now 3 years after my first label Soulfooled was born, I look back and it’s so nice and interesting to see how this shaped up to great things – starting in 2010 with almost no experience in A&R work, label management, PR and no idea about distribution and all other necessary things, I’m now more than happy and proud to see where we are today. Soulfooled was kind of a training horse for me, patient and sympathetic, growing with me step by step. Of course there are a lot of things that I would and actually am doing differently today but all in all I am happy with how everything developed. In addition to Soulfooled, I founded AEON, my second label earlier this year. After having a few years experience in being a label owner, it was nice to being able to start this new imprint in a more professional way from the very outset. I’m also working with lots of great people who are as professional and experienced in the field as I am. Now, about 6 months after my 2nd label was born, I can say that both of them are doing super well and contrasting perfectly with each other. Soulfooled is for softer, melodic housey, dreamy tunes which touch your heart immediately, AEON characterizes the early “rave culture”, classic and timeless House/Techno combined with the technical possibilities and influences of today. Think “mid 90s”, “Chicago”, “Detroit” and “Techno-House”.
Besides this, another important factor was to build up my labels not only as a platform to release music but also as a brand and home for the artists I like and want to push. In my opinion there’s much more behind running a label than just releasing one EP after another, like many labels do nowadays. It’s important to build a team, that’s what a label lives from. Of course I can be successful very quickly by releasing the right names and go with the hype and chase trends but the question is how long this type of success remains. In the past it has always been proven in my opinion that things which are built up slowly but constantly with the right decisions at the right time – in the end give you a better and longer-range success. I want to give newcomers a shelter and be someone for whom they can always ask for advice, I’d like to share my experiences with them, help them to develop themselves, save them from doing the same mistakes that I did when I was younger, give them support and help them grow bigger in this constantly enlarging music-industry-jungle both inside and outside of AEON and Soulfooled.
Being diverse
As you might know already, my style of music and producing is hard to describe and to classify, since it has always been changing and developing throughout my career. In the beginning of my career this did not always help me to grow as an artist as many people expect you to do the same style / genre over and over again, so in the beginning it might’ve be better to go into one my definitive direction to build up a fan base quickly. As mentioned before, I’m not adverse to taking a less easy path. I’m that kind of person who always needs a challenge, be it in my private live or when going to the studio, to prove my skills, create something that has never existed before – this is what motivates me and keeps me feeling alive. At the first stage this is my personal luxury and I only do this for myself, secondly another thing that is important for me is the critique of my peers. The ultimate for me is for musicians and producers that I admire to show love and props to what I do. This includes showing them to be able to produce a lot of different styles without losing quality. Perhaps this is a relic harking back to my old Hip Hop days: Gaining respect / props – but whatever it is, it makes me happy. It wasn’t easy for me to build up a fan base and this was anything but a fast process. Of course you can go with the hype and produce what the mainstream wants to hear. This would fill my wallet pretty easily and much faster for sure but I like to be honest with the people and I want them I want them to like and appreciate me for doing what I really want and love. After 6 years of my career there’s one thing I can say: Being diverse to gain a wider audience & long term business thinking has definitely been my key to becoming who I am.