Our neighbours of the solid label Footjob are celebrating their 5th anniversary with a big bash and a must-have compilation. It was hard to choose one of the tracks to premiere, but after some intensive deliberation, we finally managed to pick up the one which would embrace the essence of the label as a whole.

Label boss, Dirk Bretträger (aka Phonk D), is a respected DJ/producer and one of the responsible for putting Darmstadt on the map of the Nu Disco scene. He is also one of the members of the Pallaspeople: “That’s the name I use with my studio friends when we have produced something together. Phonk D, Sascha Ciminiera, Ise Jr. and Glance, sometimes two, sometimes three”, said Dirk when we asked who the masterminds behind this moniker are. The name of the gang was ingeniously decided just because of their address: “Our studio is located in the Pallaswiesenstraße in Darmstadt”, adds Dirk. If you are in the neighbourhood, pay a visit, by the way.

We talked with Lukas Lehmann, responsible for the remix of the chosen track: “For me, remixing a song is about putting the main idea in a whole different perspective. ‘Black Motive’ had these catching piano chords that left enough room to add some proper synth-action. They were actually screaming for it. So I squeezed a floating arpeggio-line out of my beloved OB-6 and put it on top midway through the tune. I made sparse use of the piano chords and gave a dubby feeling to them to draw a line between the remix and the original. To make it even more extraordinary, I decided to use a broken beat as the rhythmic foundation. To be perfectly honest, I did it to pick on label boss Phonk D in the first place, because he is usually more an advocate of 4-to-the-floor-stuff. But when even he didn’t complain about it, I kept it like that and I still don’t regret it. That’s a rare thing when I look back at my productions, by the way”.

If Lukas is yet to be fired because of this bold breakbeat remix, it remains to be seen, but the truth is that his version is a highlight on this compilation that amasses remixes of tracks previously released on the label. “The idea was that every Footjob-artist would have to remix another Footjob-artist. Additionally, we got a remix from Gerd Janson, who comes from our hometown and has a long-time history with Phonk D”, adds Lukas.

You can find (and buy) this and other music pearls on the Bandcamp page of the label.

Follow Pallaspeople, Lukas Lehmann & Footjob, peeps!