Holger’s 7 Tracks That Mean Leipzig

Why write an intro for you when I can let the wonderful Holger guys explain all about this selection themselves?

"Taking our latest release as a starting point (Holger 5: Timoka – Tulgey) we wanted to show some places in the city of Leipzig that more or less have a connection to Holger. Holger is a creative family bringing together artists from auditory, visual and performance art.

It spans from Athens (Dream Weapons) over Rimini (Margot) and Basel (Timoka) to Amsterdam (Lianne van de Laar) – but Leipzig more or less is where it all comes together.

This is where Webermichelson, Riob, Zeugler, Lianne, Carsten Rüger and the Bennemann brothers (Jan & Steffen) live and where most family members met for the first time. Timoka now lives in Basel but got involved in founding Holger during his studies at the art school of Leipzig (HGB)."

Here's their combination of places and sounds for you to enjoy;

1) Westwerk

Westwerk is the place where Timoka had his first atelier in Leipzig. Webermichelson used to have their studio there as well – so this is the place where Benjamin (Timoka) and Philipp (Weber of Webermichelson & Käthe) first met. It's a typical building for Leipzig: Once a factory it's now home to artists, bands, meeting spaces, second hand stores (clothes as well as books), a gallery, a restaurant and a club / concert venue.

1) Map.ache – Carnival – KANN

The KANN boys started their label about five years before Holger and to see them grow by just doing their own thing is probably the most important inspiration within the city. Mapi (Map.ache) is one of the best producers in Leipzig anyway, we could have picked basically any track of his. This one came out on a split release with Mikrodisko, also a very nice label (Kassem Mosse, Mix Mup & more).

2) GFZK Garden

Timoka and Zeugler (Reymund Schröder) both went to the art school (HGB) in Leipzig, that's where they met. They’ve been doing our cover artworks since day one.

Right next to the HGB is a gallery for contemporary art (GFZK). It also has a nice little garden where they used to do a cosy festival in the summer dedicated to all kinds of experimental and electronic music ("Frequenzcamping"). This is actually the place where Steffen first heard Webermichelson – who were playing as "Rocket Science" back then. What a great name, haha!

2) Kassem Mosse – Untitled – Laid

Gunnar (Kassem Mosse) is another big hero of ours – it deserves our highest respect how he just kept doing his thing for years and then suddenly the whole world took notice. Basically all his stuff is great and this track is a big favorite of Timoka.

3) Kolonnadenstraße

This street is a bit weird: Right in city center and in between those typical east-German blocks it's a very green and friendly street. There is a book store, a cute little café, a bike shop, a punk bar – and Reymund's atelier. Especially in the summer this street has an almost balearic vibe.

3) Daniel Stefanik – Reactivity 1 – Statik Entertainment

Daniel definitely is one of the most well-known artists from Leipzig. Most people probably know him for other stuff he did but his dub techno and electronica releases are still among our favorites, especially all the stuff he did on Statik Entertainment.

4) IFZ

This is the studio some of the Holger artists share at IfZ. IfZ is sort of a new creative hub in the city – with a club in the basement and studios, ateliers, meeting rooms and working spaces on the levels above it. The club will also be the home of our label nights in Leipzig.

4) Praezisa Rapid 3000 – Webermichelson Remix – Van Doumen

Doumen Records is another label from Leipzig. They do great things as well – wonderful artworks, interesting music and a very free-form concept that’s open to all kinds of nerdy and weird stuff. We were happy when they asked Webermichelson to do a remix for them.

5) Conne Island

The Conne Island is pretty important for some of us as it has been almost like a second living room over the last few years. It's a center for social and cultural stuff – alternative & leftist. They do concerts and club nights there but also have a café, a political library, meeting rooms for political groups, a skate park etc. The garden is beautiful and it's simply one of the best places to be at in Leipzig.

5) Webermichelson – We got it all (Timoka Rework) – NYT

The Webermichelson album and its Timoka Rework actually was the project that got the whole Holger thing started. Eventually it came out on another new label from Leipzig: NYT. But we are very happy it turned out that way – cause they took great care of the artwork and actually gave it one of the most awesome packagings we’ve ever seen.

6) Auwald

Probably the best and most important thing about Leipzig is that it's surrounded by great nature. There is a wonderful big riparian forest spanning all across the city from north to south. So from almost anywhere in the city it's just a couple minutes by bike to get to the woods. Bike paths can be found almost everywhere and for a couple of weeks in spring the whole city smells of wild garlic – cause it's all over the place then.

6) Koi – Home – Ortloff

Every few years, Steffen releases a record – or a track at least. This one is from 2009 and it’s under Steffen’s dub techno moniker "Koi". It came out on Ortloff, another long-standing label from Leipzig that also always comes with great artwork.

7) Lakes

Another great thing nature-wise about Leipzig is that it's surrounded by lakes – most of them are former coal mining pits that have been flooded. These photos were taken at Markkleeberger See – which is just one of half a dozen lakes very close to the city. Take your bike and in 15-20 minutes you're there.

7) Margot – Trentaseitrenta – Holger

We wanted to include at least one of our own records – this is our first release and also the first music video Lianne van de Laar did for us. So this is where it all started…

Timoka's album 'Tulgey' will be released via Holger on 22nd September, for more information click here. If you want more information on Holger, see their website.