With the advent of the long-awaited by all of spring and the first appearance of the sun, we bring you a character named Benjamin Fehr. The Berlin based artist, owner of a respected label Catenaccio, prepared for us an original mix with the mysterious sounds, as defined by himself as 'groove noir'. To find out what was behind this exciting date, we invite you to listen to the mix, and to read the exclusive interview.

TRACKLIST
1. Daniel Johnston - I Picture Myself With A Guitar - Homestead Records 1986
2. Losoul - Exorzismus - Klang Elektronik 21 
3. Nina Kraviz - Pain In The Ass - Rekids 45
4. Toby Deschamps - Tranquilizer - Gruppenzwang Part II comp. - Catenaccio 11 
5. Tolga Fidan - Downer - Eklo 03
6. Benjamin Fehr - What Do You My Track(Seuil Remix) - Nervmusic 03
7. Butane - I Don't Know - Alphahouse 10
8. Maetrik - Fused - Resopal 
9. Benjamin Fehr  - Do What You Lie! - Tic Tac Toe
10. Cheap & Deep Productions - Cheap & Deep 01
11. Dennis Ferrer - Hey Hey - Objectivity 04
12. Santigo Salazar - Arcade - Macro 11
13. Benjamin Fehr Feat. Bianca Rampas - A Love Supreme Part One - Nervmusic 03

BIOGRAPHY

since 1993 he is working as a dj in lots of clubs and radioshows. he was resident in several clubs, like ostklub frankfurt (1997-2000), robert johnson offenbach ("electric circus" with roman flügel, zip, heiko m.s.o. and krystyna, 1999- 2001), schmalclub (an experimental clubconcept between art, performance and music hosted by william forsythe) and the kiosk (ffm). numerous national and international bookings followed (like panoramabar, init, wmf, watergate, bar 25, club der visionäre -all in berlin, pudel club hamburg, lounge hamburg, sushi bar paris, kunsthalle innsbruck, arttheater cologne, babyland NYC, harry klein münchen, vrstck dortmund......).  after some experiences in running a pirate radio station in frankfurt (with sascha benedetti) since 1994 he played regulary in several radioshows (rdl freiburg, dj night  & twen arena on radio x frankfurt...). since 2004 he has his own monthly show that is called "catenaccio - the radioshow" on radio x. in his adapted home frankfurt am main (while studing arts and grafics) he was an  activist in organizing illegal parties in hidden places and buildings in frankfurt and  offenbach.  in 2002 he run the charming, one year existing club kiosk (schutzkontakt.com), that  invited lots of famous and beloved people like ricardo villalobos, zip, roman flügel,  closer music, akufen, lawrence, luciano or benno blome in a personal and familiar surrounding.  in 2004 benjamin fehr started his label catenaccio.  artists like ricardo villalobos, falko brocksieper, jay haze, bruno pronsato, pikaya, dana ruh, fym et diane, butane or the labelhead benjamin fehr I ffwd are working perfectly together  towards the definition of "groove noir", which is the final destination of the label. basses well under the radar, buzzing sounds, subtle darkness and stumbeling grooves grow together to the special irritating and hypnotizing idea of catenaccio, that is also brought to you through the special weird artwork of the covers. you will find the catenaccio tracks in charts and cases of magda, ritchie hawtin,  dinky, luciano, zip, jeremy caulfield, karotte, mia, chloe, jennifer cardini and many others.  since 2005 benjamin fehr lives and works in berlin. since 2008 he has a regular "groove noir night" at "club der visionäre", one of the best summer locations in berlin, where he and his guests are going deep into dark electronics. in the last two years he made records on catenaccio, like the well noticed "my favourite shop is me ep" on catenaccio, the "better thrill ep" on brouqade, "benjamin fehr...explains freedom ep" on lomidhigh lmtd and some more.

at the moment he is working on his project "the result" that is a coproduction with falko brocksieper (sub-static, karloff, leena, tuning spork). the actual catenaccio 10, the "niagara ep" is out now. inspired to create a laid back environment between improvisation and restriction, the two are exploring ways to join their different views on shared passion for deep, dark and organic and abstract techno. the next release of the result will be on brouqade records, a cool berlin-based label. benjamin fehr will release soon records on labels like: klang elektronik, stock 5, nervmusic,tictactoe, lomidhigh, microlabel and brouqade.

INTERVIEW

 Electronicmusic.pl: First i would like to ask You: Do you have enough of snow already? Because here, in Poland it is the real pain in the ass.

Benjamin Fehr: We also had such a hard time here in Berlin this winter. Horrible, no time to breath in between. I felt like springtime in the last days, when it was only around 0 degrees. Really warm and felt like t-shirt weather  ;-) 

 How are you and how was your day?

Eccept finishing this podcast for you i finished the cover artwork for Bruno Pronsato's "thesongsays" label, i am responsible for the design. Also i was listening the first time to the masters of the new record of me and Falko Brocksieper (together we are the project "THE RESULT"), that will come out soon on Brouqade Records. First time that i heard the remix of Marko Fürstenberg, well done.

 Please tell us about your first steps in electronic music, how you got involved, your first influences, inspirations.

I was comimg more from the "indie" site to electronic music, like early Warp Records, but a kind of manifastation then were more the first Sähkö Records and very important the legendary berlin based label "Elektro Music Department", also because they were an alliance between art, music and innovative clublife. And then for sure the Cologne scene with Studio 1 & Profan stuff etc., Underground Resistance and all the Detroit scene and the early veeeeeery snotty Chicago tracks. One of the most important records (not clubby records) were "Systemisch" of Oval, no one used faults better than these guys in these times.

 What kind of performance do you prefer: DJ or live?

I haven't played live yet, but i play a lot of own unreleased tracks. I like djing more, because you can act more free and you can play longer and deeper. The travel is longer and more differenced. I think reaaalllly good live acts are very rare, but i have to work on it for sure.

 What is your first association when you think about Poland? Have you ever been here? Do you know some Polish producers?

Unfortunatly i haven't been in Poland, haven't even played there, i don't know why. A lot of friends and Djs tell me a lot of positive open and innovative and interested people around. So i have ambitions to go there soon. As producers i only know Jacek Sienkiewicz, i don't like all stuff of him, but his very transparent sounddesign in some tracks is amazing (especially some new ones).

 How and where was the mix recorded?

This is my first podcast i did with Ableton live. Normally i play a lot of vinyl mixed up with Traktor Scratch.

 Your favorite track in the mix?

For sure "Do What You Lie", my latest release on Tic Tac Toe Records, and i love the Maetrik track "Fused", again a bomb of tone of my favourite producers.

 How can you describe your own music?

I found the expression "groove noir" that also should describe the style of my label Catenaccio. There is always a dark side in the tracks, but not in a depressive, more in a mystic, hypnotic and also pschedelic way. And for sure a deep groove and subtle crazy sounds are always with me in my tracks. It's not about fun, you know, hohohohohoh (reverb on the laughing please ;-)

 Can you give us some top album picks you listen to at the moment?

So really good electronic albums are very rare and in this format i am listening to a lot of different music. At the moment i like  "The xx" a lot ( i know a little late ;-), then the new record of the German band "Tocotronic", and i redescoverd my all time favourite record "Meditations" of John Coltrane in the last days. Also  i can recommend the Atom tm on Raster Noton, very abstract work of Uwe Schmidt (aka Atom Heart and thousand other alter egos) on one of my favourite labels.

And i try at the moment to fill my gap in the early no wave scene in New York in the 80ies, a very innovative time there.

 What we can expect from you or from your label Catenaccio in the following months?

After the new compilation "Gruppenzwang Part II"  with people like Dana Ruh, Mike Wall & Alex Rath, the unbelievable Toby Deschamps (also in the podcast) and me (aka Harry Gelb) plus a production of Falko Brocksieper and me (aka THE RESULT), there will be before the summer a record of Bitume, a highly talented french girl that lives in berlin, with a remix of S-max, the owner of Boogizm Records (and by the way one of my favourite djs ever).

Then a remix ep of my last record "My Favourite Shop Is Me" remixed by Bruno Pronsato and Pikaya (cadenza, Meander).

The next ones are secrets ;-) , but be sure there will be only pearls. My next release will be on the fantastic moscow label Nervmusic (with a great remix by Seuil - also in the podcast).