Ben Klock
by Polly Lavin
Has Ben Klock Come to Save The Day?
My first encounter of Ben Klock is on a Sunday afternoon in a bitterly cold yet beautifully snow-covered Berlin. It’s pretty easy to see why he is likeable. For the boys he weaves and spits out a vortex of minimalist techno sounds so eloquently that the floor in Berghain continuously reacts; for the girls, chiselled Germanic good looks and steely gaze make him a hit, evidenced as a girl lingers to talk to him after his set finishes. I spend the Saturday night before in ‘Watergate’, another equally important Berlin den of iniquity; it overlooks the architectural gem that is the ‘Oberbaum bridge’, a late 19th century bridge gothic in design and due to its location between the two districts of Friedrichsain and Kreuzberg divided by the Berlin wall; became a key crossing point and pawn in the games of control played by the US & Soviet military factions. Tonight the ‘Spree’ river is an abyss of black and navy with mammoth shards of ice floating and bobbing on its surface, only warmed by the massive neon ‘Universal’ music offices sign on the other side of the river. After witnessing the minimal sound of Sebo K, the loopy electro of DOP and the pulsing techish sound of Hector bring some love and chaos on the floor, it comes to 7am and I decide to sleep for a few hours. I sleep then wake because I CANNOT sleep, I know Berghain exists and I know I need to make the effort to see this much–hyped venue. By the time I roll up to this industrial looking building it’s nearly 2pm on a Sunday afternoon; sitting at the bottom of a dis-used road beside a massive supermarket and little else I wonder to myself am I at the right place? I cannot see any other revellers, I cannot see a door open, and I cannot see any kind of life existing. Full stop.
“And then it hits me...” The bass, the reverb, the incessant driving filtering sound of techno that is quietly pummelling against the walls of this archaic looking building. A smile comes across my face because I know whatever is going on in there is not what would be going on back home. In fact didn’t they try to kill this back home? Isn’t that why we drag our asses to clubs like this in Berlin now? I’m all for being pro-European Mr. Irish politician but doesn’t that mean we should be embracing some of their policies in regarding to dancing and club opening hours? I get to the door, there is no sign of life so I am unsure if I am at the right one, I go looking for another door and I realise while my back is turned the door opened. Ok. I get this. There is a button on the outside and you press it to get in. I go back, press it and hey presto the gates of heaven have been opened. Now, 'St Peter' is standing there eating a pizza and for the heavenly price of €10 he tells me I can rock my socks off. For this experience I have no problem with silver crossing our palms.
“You are in the presence of 1500 volts of power” As I walk towards the entrance there are large black and white etching’s of canvas like art on the walls that reflect the daytime usage of this building as an art gallery. My first impression of the building is that it’s almost like a massive squat, worn out bodies are lying askew in some awkwardly positioned sofas and seats. I walk upstairs and into the main room and what greets me is difficult to describe; I feel I have walked into a scene from the Fritz Lang movie ‘Metropolis’. The height of the ceiling is incomprehensible as I gaze upwards I can barely see it, giant industrious steel cogs, the remnants of the buildings former function as an electrical power station are leaned against strips of illuminated coloured light on the walls and a huge Funktion One sound-system sits atop. On those walls lie messages of communication written in German warning “You are in the presence of 1500 volts of power”. It refers to the building’s prior life but part of me believes it’s also talking about the Funktion One sound-system. The sound is engaging, inviting on the senses, you hear every musical moment, every single instrumental layer that is in the harmonies of each piece of recording that Klock plays. There’s no aggression in this driving but lifting sound and as the warmth is pushed through the speakers they open from being passive to being worked; an EQ-ing DJ trick that Klock shows his skill in applying. He weaves the sound so you cannot hear flaws with musical style changes from minimal to acid influenced sounds to Chicago house to techno blended so effusively that all you hear is an industrious, dark, rolling sound that in its ability to hypnotise you are dancing incessantly. My ribcage does not shake in my body like some systems experienced that are just too big for the size of the room hosting them and my ears do not want to burst from the over zealous use of the ‘tops’ control on the mixer that some DJ's are fond of. When I sit down I cannot help but sway and my body and my mind feels like it wants to dance, in fact you literally kneel to the sound-system humbly as if it’s a god.
”Get off your ass and dance”
In the dark recesses of this massive space on a Sunday afternoon there are still about 250 people dancing. Recession? No money after Christmas? Berliners know how to deal with this; they get their ass on the dance-floor and make this club kicking. The sound envelopes my body & mind and I stomp my legs wildly on the floor as I stand directly in front of the speakers, like a cog, everything fits perfectly; the room dimensions, the acoustics, the sparse thrashed décor and most importantly the people fit. These are the free spirits of Berlin society saying ‘F**k you’ to ‘The Man’. Leather cowboy pants and village people style moustaches adorn some guys who crush against one another, a couple lies in a cubicle that is built into the wall; they curl against each other trying to catch some physical rest for their body before they move to the Panorama bar for the rest of the night. A German blonde beauty that is statuesque wears a heavy chain belt strung across her ass against black silk trousers and a classic white ribbed vest, smiles at me and demands I dance with her. Another guy with flat top hair, topless covered in sweat, flexes his pecs at me and jerks forward to say ‘get off your ass and dance’, smiling at me all the while, not something I can refuse to do easily.
Has Ben Klock come to save the day? I think we might just have a new hero. He winds his set down at 5pm and the clubbers move from the main room to Panorama Bar and we get talking. He sits neatly at the end of the bar delicately sipping a small cup of coffee. I ask him how long has he been playing tonight; “I started about 8am, That was a 9 hour set’. A 9 hour set! I’m pretty startled. How do you sustain that? Physically and musically? “Well, I have to prepare the night before and set my records up for the opening, once I get the opening tracks right I’m happy, I think of ideas about how I’ll start the set. It takes me a few hours to pack my record box, I don’t plan the whole set, I like to story tell but I also like to see where it takes me”. Klock holds a monthly residency so I ask him ‘How do you tell a different story every time? You must go through a lot of music in a 9hr set?’ He looks at me and pauses to think. “The challenge is to show something different every time, because I play once a month people really know me. Personally I think it’s good to have a residency like this, it keeps me awake and musically I have to stay on top. I have some new tracks of my own or some edits that I try out and I find innovative ways to put those edited loops and new tracks into the set. I also find new or old music that works correctly in the set but new doesn't always have to mean really new it could just be something that I never played before; sometimes I create a track just for one certain night. If I always only had the typical international 2-hour sets I wouldn't be satisfied. It can be perfect to play 2 hours but I really need the long sets from time to time. You start to experiment more and play deeper music that you don't play in an intense set’
“Berghain works as a perfect space for the hypnotic sound”
A guy comes between us; ‘Ben, I really enjoyed your set’ he says with an American drawl to his accent, ‘I just want to show some respect’. Klock continues to sip his coffee and shyly looks at me, no show of arrogance, no posthumous over-flapping of ‘Thank you, Thank you’, just a slight nod downwards of his head and then a very quiet ‘thanks’ is uttered from his mouth. The tough image guy is quite humble under it all. When they finish I’m still fascinated by this 9hr set so I ask him does he go through a lot of genres or styles in that time, does he work his set around the crowd and does he think he is pigeonholed into the techno sound or is that just the genre he loves. “You get deeper into a certain vibe playing that long; basically I always call the vibe techno though it varies between genres of techno and a bit of house. I play Chicago tracks which aren't really deep but are very physical and sexy. I'm definitely someone who looks for some deepness and some darkness in the music and some sexiness in the sound. That deep bass and a dark groove is sexy, it takes you to another place. I mean as a DJ I feel the music the exact way the listeners and dancers do and I want that, I want to be connected. It’s like having a dialogue between me and the floor but it’s important that I play what I want to play. I would never play tunes just because I think the crowd wants something. Sometimes I play vocals but rarely.
“I prefer logic for making music”
Talking of productions I ask him what he uses in the DJ booth and the studio. “Well” he say’s “I don’t use any laptops in the DJ booth. Generally, I use two Technics turntables, two Pioneer CD players and a Redsound loop machine. I don’t use Serato, Final Scratch or anything else when I’m DJ-ing. I’m not interested in them. Looking on a screen, scrolling through MP3’s or even WAV’s is not an alternative for me. I do play a lot from CDs but only for the unreleased stuff. I really love my vinyl. I’m also a visual guy as I’m a freelance graphic designer for the last few years (I’ve designed for companies like EBAY & Telekom) and I need to see covers when I go through my records to relate to the music. In the studio my favourite sequencer is Logic for making music.” To me there is an obvious trend in Europe around vinyl and DJ’s continuing to use it yet the Americans are progressively embracing digital technology and everything about it. I ask him his thoughts on the differences in approach by the two continents, he disagrees that there are differences and tells me “I don't know if you can say it like that. In Europe lots of DJ’s use the digital stuff, most of or all of the younger DJ’s use it. I can understand it's so much cheaper and a lot of the records in techno are coming from Europe now so for a DJ in the USA to buy them they are really expensive. The only thing about digital is the sound quality in an MP3 or even a WAV file it sounds digital, vinyl is warmer ’. I have to ask him ‘Do you think that most of the clubbers in Berghain for 9hrs are on drugs? Do you differentiate in your set for that or those not on drugs?’ He’s a bit taken by this question. I think uncomfortable maybe but he answers ‘Is there a difference between a straight clubber and someone on drugs? It’s not something I focus on. Doesn't really matter if there are on drugs or not; there’s a certain hypnotic vibe in the sound the later the night gets and it draws you in whether you are or not. Berghain works as a perfect space for the hypnotic sound’’. I am curious to know more about the Funktion One speakers that straddle the walls in Berghain, what works on them sound-wise and what does not. He says ‘I’m not a technician but the soundsystem is EQ’d for techno. But the venue is also used for live bands, theater, exhibitions and ballet performances, which I think is great.’ I ask him if he is straight down the line in his musical style and what is in his record box that we wouldn't identify him with? “Well I’m not a nerd or a purist! I would listen to Radiohead or Johnny Cash at home. Growing up I listened to all kinds of music from classic to rock, jazz and hip hop. I had lots of stages but as a DJ - I love to play techno”.
By this time Panorama bar is beginning to heave with bodies that look beautiful but thrashed also; one girl hangs over the bar, her dark brown eyes rimmed and smudged with black Kohl eyeliner that is wearing off from the night before, her eyelids are drooping heavily and she looks trance like at the barman, yet grabs her beer in a quick snap and is back to the dancefloor, another wears a Venetian style eye mask on his face while a girl who hangs from his arm has an Indian squaw hat on her head. There are a lot of fashionable misfits, society beauties, artists, squatters, punks, boys who like boys... you name it, they’re here. Klock doesn’t seem as fascinated by this as I am which suggests to me he is used to seeing this going on every month. “Tell me about your new album, I hear there is a dubstep track on it. How did that filter its way into a techno DJ’s sound?’’ He says “Well it’s meant to be more than just a collection of club tracks, I only play 2 or 3 tracks off the album in my set, you could also listen to it in your car or at home and it would still have that club vibe. The track “Gold Rush“ has some dubstep influences; it’s a broken beat which is not 4 to the floor. Dubstep has a certain atmosphere, that’s what attracted me to the sound initially. I’ve also been to all the dubstep nights that Berghain has ran so far and I’m buying a bit of music from artists like Martyn, Scuba, Untold and Ramadanman. Martyn sent me over his forthcoming album. That's what I'm listening to at the moment.”
“I am a musician, not a politician. I think it's great that we have Obama now, but does this effect my music? I don't think so”
The album features artwork by Marc Brandenburg, a Berlin based artist that has exhibited in London, Paris & New York. I ask how the link was established with Brandenburg. “He used to bartend in Berghain and I really love his work, I think the art is equally related to the musical content on the album, the relationship made sense to me; the cover is a black & white waterfall that has been drawn in pencil and the original is something like 2.5meters high. There is something really pure and calm about it but at the same time very explosive.“ “The name of the album is also ONE which I think is very puristic” I say to him; is this a bit of symbolism about being born? “You can interpret it all or nothing and I kind of like that, we’re having a big party in Berghain on the 21st February to launch it anyhow”. I ask if like other music artists, external factors such as the Iraq war or social factors influenced or inspired the musical content in anyway on the album or was it an internal process. “There is no direct link to anything, it's a combination of all that has influenced me during the last 15 years listening to techno and electronic music, certainly I'm influenced by people and things around me but I am a musician, not a politician. I think it's great that we have Obama now but does this effect my music? I don't think so”. The obvious difference in the development of this album for Klock was working singularly as an artist. Previously, he worked with Marcel Dettmann in the studio and I ask him did he feel more wary or precious over the resulting art that he created on his own? “I don't know if it's more precious, it's just more personal than working as a duo when you create something like this. You constantly have to make decisions by your self, not like when you are working together on something; as a team you decide which sound you use and how to make the arrangement and stuff. In a duo it's just easier or faster”.
“Wow, new technologies. I haven’t done anything like this yet"
Bodytonic promoter Eoin tells me one of the highlights of 2008 in Dublin was the Klock gig that they ran in December, saying “it was definitely up there as one of the gigs of the year for us”. I ask Klock what this meant to him and how he felt the Irish clubbers compared to the Berliners. “I feel really honoured, humbled and in fact I’ve had really really good parties in Ireland. I think the main difference is that parties in Berlin go on forever and they’re until only 3am so people have to put all their energy into two/three hours of partying but there is a good scene over there, they know about music, I like that”. DJ-ing in its essence is a pretty itinerant lifestyle and travelling to Ireland was only one place Klock visited. I ask him can a DJ have a normal personal life or is it affected by the travelling. “There are a few DJ’s that are married but it’s true it's not easy to really live a "normal" life like that”. Then I say do you think in the future there will ever be a day where DJ’s will have a ‘normal life’ and because of issues like carbon mileage and a growing conscious towards ‘green’ issues they will play virtual gigs that are beamed from their home club in say Berlin into a club say in Singapore? “Maybe in the future it could happen but I think this will only be experimental. It’s not really interesting, playing in a club is more about a feeling for both the clubbers and the DJ, it’s more about being part of something than about "wow, new technologies, I haven’t done anything like this yet".
Whatever his take, it’s clear that Klock wants to ‘be part of something’ and is touring to support the album release of ‘ONE’ on the 23rd February around Japan, the USA and all over Europe. Ben Klock & Berghain saving the day for electronic music in 2009.
http://www.myspace.com/benklock
Photos by permisson of Ben Clock / partly by U. Weißhaupt
Interview/Article by courtesy of Polly Lavin
All rights reserved Polly Lavin
www.myspace.com/pollylavine
>