Slam City Jams: Flavour Of The Label Mix

Music

Managing a label is no simple feat. The music has to be good, the identity unique. Slam City Jams originates from the minds behind the moniker of Rhode & Brown: the pair have released music on Toy Tonics most prominently across the past four years. Now, however, thay have entered a new world of discovery. The label's first release saw them host Gonima, a Montreal based producer with a penchant for exploring the deeper textures of house music. The EP was accomplished, polished and very relevant.

Based in Munich Friedrich & Stephan have been playing and collecting records for many years, what the future holds for the label remains to be explored. However, there is a promising sense of expectancy around the two who seem to be appearing in all the right places. Listen to the mix and read their interview below:

Please introduce yourself…

Hi everyone. We are Friedrich & Stephan, label heads of freshly founded label Slam City Jams out of Munich. We also release music as Rhode & Brown on labels like Toy Tonics, Rose Records or Let’s Play House.

Who are you, where are you and what are you?

We are a dj and producer duo since 2009 and label heads since this year. Living, laughing and crying in the beautiful Munich in the south of Germany. We had a three year residency at the now sadly closed Kong club and now play here and there in Munich and around Germany. Friedrich also has a solo residency as Immanuel Zanzibar at Charlie club in Munich.

What does your music sound like?

Like sexy love making with a healthy slap in the face from time to time. Sometimes brighter, sometimes deeper…

Can you draw what you think it sounds like for us (an image from the old internet is acceptable)?

Sometimes like this:

And sometimes like that:

What was the inspiration behind the label, and why distance it from other musical projects you are involved in?

Actually the inspiration was the pure desire of doing something on our own. We always wanted to start our own thing, and had the thought in our head for some years already. Now with the artists we discovered for the first few releases and new stuff we produced ourself, it was just the right time this year to finally do it.

We not completley want to distance the label from our other projects, but we want it to stand for itself. It’s a chance to go in new or other directions as well without being pigeonholed because of what we’ve done before. But that doesn’t mean that the things we do with the label will always be different than what we do as Rhode & Brown for example. It’s just a way of start something new for us, which feels really refreshing and inspiring.

What does the future hold for the label?

We don’t want to plan too far in the future, as we want to be spontaneous and surprising with what happens on the label music wise. But for now we can say, that there is going to come out a great and very differenct second release at the beginning of next year by a guy called Kassett. We probably will do an EP with a new project, we will talk about in the near future and there are some new interesting artists we just discovered in the pipeline as well.

Where did the name for the label come from?

It basically comes from a level called „Slam City Jam“ in the Tony Hawk’s Underground game on Playstation 2. We both used to play this like crazy when we were younger and skated a lot ourselfs. So it popped up again in our head when we thought about names for the label. In combination with the great artwork by our friend Noem Held, we are really happy with the outcome.

Where was the mix recorded?

It was recorded live three months ago at Charlie, the best club we have in Munich at the moment in our opinion. These are the last 1 ½ hours of the warm up for Bluntman Deejay who played there with Friedrich that night.

What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?

With your friends at home, when you skip the warm-up in the club and have some drinks instead. This could be a good soundtrack for that and to get in the mood for a fine night out afterwards.

What should we be wearing?

Nothing, absolutely nothing!

What would be your dream setting to record a mix?

There are many great places to record a mix but especially Charlie, where this mix was recored is amazing, with its Rane Rotary Mixer, Technics, CDJs, a nice soundsystem and an amazing location. It was also nice to record a mix at the Back To The Woods Festival two years ago in Munich, managed by our friends from Kellerkind. Great weather, beautiful crowd and a place in the green – couldn’t be better.

Which track in the mix is your current favourite?

Not particulary a current but more an all time favorite is this „Black Jesus“ tune from a guy called Vaskular. Always works a treat and hasn’t missed a set this year.

What's your favorite recorded mix of all time?

Tough question.. There are many great mixes out there. One of our favorites is DJ Sprinkles – Where Dancefloors Stand Still. Actually every Thrushmix that comes out is amazing, too.

If you could go back to back with any DJ from throughout history, who would it be and why?

Oh there are a lot of DJs we would like to spin records with. Omar S, Gerd Janson, Axel Boman, Move D… to name a few. But until now we had the best B2B sessions with Hodini from Cologne – shout outs!

What was your first DJ set up at home and what is it now?

Our set up hasn't changed a lot actually. We have a DJM 800 at our flat since ever, which is still a faithful companion. We used to have two CDJs 400, but we sold them. Now we've got two technics 1210s and two cheaper turntables to mix with or listen to some records on the couch.

What's more important, the track you start on or the track you end on?

They are both important in our opinion. It's important to find a good start into your set especially when we play a 2-3h set in the middle of the night and have to find a smooth transmission from the DJ before us. But when you finish the night off, the last track might be even more important than the first one. The way you finish your set can be a magical moment if you choose the right tune. It’s a chance and our goal to send the people home with good thoughts and in a great mood after a long night. So yeh, we are pretty big fans of finishing off a party. There is always a section in our bag and on our USB sticks for „last tunes of the night“.

What were the first and last records you bought?

The last record we bought was this super nice jazz-funk tune from the japanese singer Yasuko Agawa called „L.A. Nights“. On discogs its pretty pricey but Friedrich found a cheap copy last friday at Munich’s „Best Records“. Which is a tip for everyone who comes here, check out that shop.

If the mix was an edible thing, what would it taste like?

Like the korean treat 'Kimchi', a light and dainty side dish with a whiff of chili.

If it were an animal what would it be?

A sloth, just because we love sloths!

One record in your collection that is impossible to mix into anything?

Hmm.. nothing is impossible 😉 But there are some mean ones! Maybe „Lyman Woodard – Theme In Search Of A Sportspectacular“. Actually it’s not really hard to mix but it’s too fast for everything, gets wilder and wilder and needs to be played in it’s original tempo in our opinion.

Upcoming in the world of Slam City Jams?

The 001 by the amazing Gonima just came out two weeks ago and the feedback is great. We are more than happy that everything worked out as we planned and expected. Now we’re already working on the 002 from an excellent artist out of Antwerp called Kassett. The third one is also in the making and might be an EP from ourself with a new project we want to start. Stay tuned and keep your ears and eyes open for 2017. Also our new Rhode & Brown EP called „Snabsnus“ is just out out Toy Tonics. Go and check that out, too!