Interview for Sound:Frame Festival (Vienna)

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Musical seeds sower: Talking with Jacob Korn

Besides his actual profession on the interface of audio, visual and dance Jacob Korn has also been producing electronic music for what seems like an eternity. Born to parents with progressive dispositions and a record collection to match the path that led him to the 2007 edition of the Red Bull Music Academy in Toronto had long been paved. Early in his career he combined Hip Hop and Techno with elements of Jazz and weird electronics under the moniker Granufunk. Under his civil name he is now focussing predominantly on classic but versatile Techno and House. After releases on Labels such as Running Back, Astrolab or Permanent Vacation and a brilliant first release on Steffi’s Dolly Label (the highly acclaimed ‘Supakrank’) he now belongs to one the spearheads of the German house scene with his live sets much in demand. He has played live or deejayed at numerous clubs and festivals in Spain (Sonár Festival-Barcelona), Holland (Picnic at Night-Amsterdam), Sweden, Norway Denmark, Switzerland (Formbar-Bern), Austria, Czech Republic (Meat Factory-Praha) and Germany (Cookies-Berlin).

 

Jacob, you have releases at many different labels, but which one is your native, which helped you to grow and become known?

Our native label is „Uncanny Valley“ which was founded in 2010 and run by friends. Releases on „Running Back“, „Dolly“ and „Permanent Vacation“ helped a lot spreading the word.

Do you live and work in Dresden now where you were born? Tell us a bit about this city and its club and sound culture. 

I was born nearby, then I moved to Ilmenau for studies and i came back to Dresden 5 years ago. I’m pretty happy with the way things are developing. There is a number of crews that are doing a good job of promoting parties. The crowds are very grateful, and the nights are usually rather intimate, but can there are also bigger events taking place depending on the acts. You usually meet people at clubs like the „Altes Wettbüro“, „Sektor E“, „Sabotage“ or at record stores like ‘Fat Fenders’. This is also where the plan was made to pool the city’s musical potential under the Uncanny Valley banner. I do see a problem however regarding venues that do not cater for the musical mainstream. Clubs of an ideal size have recently closed, like the ‘Galerie Disko’ or struggle with administrative regulations imposed on them. 500.000 people currently live in Dresden – half a million sounds like a lot, but the club scene is still relatively small, compared to close-by Leipzig, which is the same size, but has an organically grown, well educated scene. Dresden still has some catching-up to do here, also regarding its label landscape.

You have many nice collaborations with the other musicians, djs. Do you have in mind some collaboration which you would like to have in a future, maybe with some of your favorite producers?

I was very lucky working with a lot of good musicians and producers the last years. As for the album there were loads of good singers like „Kid A“ or „The Drifter“ involved as well as talented producers like „San Soda“, „Christopher Rau“, „Swede:Art“ or „Sneaker“, „C-Beams“ and „Cuthead“ from the Uncanny Camp. But you never know whats next.

Tell us about your new album at Uncanny Valley. How long did the production take? Is there any tour planned?

Its kind of a concept album that is scheduled for September. The concept behind was trying to collecting the best collaborations from the past years. It took me ages putting together the material since there were a lot of people involved. There is gonna be a club tour after summer but i will play a lot of the tracks during summer for festivals and of course at sound:frame!

What are the other new releases you plan for this year? 

There is a new EP on „Permanent Vacation“ together with „Good Guy Mikesh and Filburt“ to be released soon. Also a couple of remixes for „Hivern Discs“, „Friends of Friends“, „Space Hardware“, „Compost Black“ and „Sonar Kollektiv“ should hit the stores soon.

17.04.12 | Natascha Fuchs
http://2012.soundframe.at/home/
Sat, Apr 21: Jacob Korn live  (sound:frame @ fluc) | Wien