“The best club music catches you off guard and by surprise. For me, there is no tested formula or any given rules that make a track work on the dancefloor. Be it an infectious bassline, an uplifting and sensous chorus or just a mesmerizing beat – most of the time the tunes that get people really going at clubs are all based on misunderstandings.” – Alex Barck
When Sonar Kollektiv co-founder and Jazzanova member Alex Barck started the Based On Misunderstandings series five years ago, the aim was to illustrate the diversity of tracks he plays in his infamous DJ sets all around the world. A loose collection of songs he collects while travelling the world and meeting likeminded producers and DJs.
After six outstanding and genre-breaking releases (including contributions by Mark E, Paskal & Urban Absolutes, Hannes Fischer, Soulphiction, Eva Be, Phil Gerus, Lars Bartkuhn and Roland Appel), a digital download compilation in 2009 and a regular clubnight by the same name at the prestigious Watergate club in Berlin, it’s now time for a proper showcase compilation of this fully fledged sublabel of Sonar Kollektiv!
By and large, the compilation is a personal journal of Barck’s exclusive trips and stopovers at the most happening clubs and festivals all around the globe. When he played in Toulouse last year he met local visual artist and producer Vect who handed him a CD with “Soulful” on it. A sample heavy, chopped up piece of finest chillwave Barck has been playing out ever since. In Hongkong he encountered the mysterious duo The Horses, who he asked to remix one of his own new productions, “We Get High“. We meet old and new aquaintances troughout this adventerous journey: Christian Prommer (of Drum Lesson and Prommer & Barck fame) shovels in a banger of a non-nonsense house track (“You Belong To Me“). And the new kid on the block, Berlin-based Hannes Fischer, is featured with two tracks (both released in early february on the sixth Based On Misunderstandings 12inch) and an astonishing remix for White Lamp‘s “Make It Good“. All of the contributions by this young and fresh talent direct toward a new definition of deep house and beyond. EnaWadan from South Africa champions two own tracks as well. “Reborn” gets a special enforced treatment by Sandro Bianchi & be.lanuit. “Inner Joys Of Life” sees Paskal & Urban Absolutes take charge by adding their distinctive production flavour to the mix. Barck himself steps in the game with one new original track, “We Get High” (yes, including vocal samples from Michael Franks) and an absolutely crazy remix for the long forgotten and obscure band from still-divided Berlin, Spinning Motion (originally released in 1980 on their album “Confidence In The Future” which will be reissued in 2013, watch out for that!). To round off this marvelous showcase we additionally get offerings by newcomers Pattern Select, Lovejet and Moscow-based wunderkind Phil Gerus.
In the end, almost none of the tunes here have anything in common. Just the fact that they all please Alex Barck’s ears. Ears you can trust!
