Chris Liebing, of CLR Records “Create Learn Realize/Repeat,” has been a fixture in the Techno scene for decades. Ahead of his set at RE/FORM this September 21st, we wanted to get a clearer picture of where Chris is at in his career and where CLR is heading in the future.
Initially as a part of Frankfurt’s EYE Q records as an employee, Chris Liebing was soaking up all amounts of knowledge from the masters of the early 90s scene as a young DJ/producer, and started fine Audio Recordings soon after. As a scene leader, he is a figurehead of the Schranz movement and also has helped launch many careers and help thrust many young and bright producers into the spotlight with his formative CLR Podcast series.
Recently, CLR has seen a new push towards a fresh and reinvigorated label, once again finding and pushing young noteworthy producers, as well as keeping the world informed of more well-established producers within the Techno scene.
Dirty Epic: There seems to be a mysterious force in CLR now that is so new and fresh with lots of positive energy. What’s going on there?
Chris Liebing: There are loads of fairly new, amazing producers out there right now. Klint, The Southern, DEAS, Risa Taniguchi, and many more produce such awesome Techno. I know that this kind of Techno is not the most popular sound at the moment, but it is what I would call the original Techno sound, at least to my ears. It is absolutely timeless, unlike other hyped genres, so I think there is always a place for it. I’m really excited to be working with these producers, it’s great to be releasing their music.
DE: Has anything happened with you on a personal level after COVID that has boosted your push towards a new energy and refocused your drive as a producer?
CL: Oh yes, most definitely. During the pandemic, I focused on the studio and doing live streams with a lot more time than I usually had, getting into new ways of working on music that benefit my process. At the moment I feel that all the experiences and knowledge I have gathered over the past 25 years are handy for helping new producers and artists find their own ways.
Today I am way more focused on what I know about the music’s impact on the dance floor and about creating the energy I have been trying to develop since the beginning of my DJ days.
DE: The CLR podcast has been going on strong for a while.. Was there ever a pause or break in the history of the series? If so, why did it stop and what pushed you to restart it?
CL: In 2015, I decided to work more on music that was more focused on listening than DJ-related. I started working with Ralf Hildenbeutel, who is famous for creating early works on Eye Q records and producing Sven Väth’s early albums. He is a musical genius. I asked him to help me work on more song-based music, resulting in two albums released on the legendary MUTE label, featuring artists like Miles Cooper Seaton, Gary Numan, and Polly Scattergood (amongst others). It was an amazing time as I was venturing into different musical territories.
At the same time, the CLR Podcast, which I’ve run together with Benny Merkelbach since the very beginning of 2009, was a lot of work to accomplish, so I decided to devote that time elsewhere. As the CLR Podcast stopped, I replaced it with my AM/FM radio show/podcast, a selection of my live DJ sets and much less work-intensive. As a result, I got a lot of extra time to work on my own things again.
Last year, I realised I was missing it! The CLR Podcast process is like a radio show, and I’ve been doing radio shows since 1997. From 2000 to 2003, I was doing an FM show in Frankfurt weekly, inviting international guests every Thursday, and the CLR Podcast was a kind of extension of that. I love sharing music in clubs and over the airwaves/Internet, so when CLR the label came off hiatus, so did the CLR Podcast. So here we are; the podcast and label are back, and I’m more excited than ever.
DE: It seems like you have a particular fondness for breaking new talent and being a mentor to them. Does this go back to your days as a young producer asking a lot of questions about production at EYE-Q?
CL: That’s a very good question, I never thought about that. As a DJ, I believe you can get better at what you do because of experience and routine, but I also think that young producers and artists have a certain type of fresh energy that might go missing as you get older. Maybe I’m trying to feed off this fresh energy, always trying to keep it alive and exciting, and of course, it’s a very satisfying and fun thing to share your knowledge and platform with young artists and help them grow. It’s a culture that needs to be cherished and taken care of. It also means passing down your knowledge and experience to help new artists avoid mistakes as you did and ultimately grow beyond the previous generation.
DE: What impact did André Walter (aka Andrew Wooden) have on your early career?
CL: Oh, that impact was huge. I had no idea or clue of how to produce music, whilst André had his own studio up and running back in 1993/1994. When I was able to join him in 1995, we became a pretty good duo. André had never been a DJ and was kind of lacking the knowledge of what kind of sound was to be produced, and I lacked the knowledge of how to make it. In the early days, there were many combinations of producers and DJs. The DJ sort of knew what sound to make and did not know how, and the other way around, the DJ had what the producer was lacking. In our case, it was the perfect combination for both of us. Without him, my early works, which kind of got my name out into the world and into loads of record stores worldwide, would not have manifested in that way and would not have boosted my early career in the way they did at all.
DE: As a person who has been synonymous with the Schranz Techno sound, what do you make of today’s current trend towards Hardtechno that is more business oriented and image based?
CL: Well, there is quite a range of Techno out there. It ranges from gimmick Techno to very solid Techno, and even if it’s harder, I don’t mind that. But in every music genre, specifically in every Electronic music genre, the image and what you represent through social media is now sometimes more important than the music itself. I don’t want to sound like a bitter old man, yet yes, telephones and social media have taken away a lot of the spirit we had in the early days and replaced it with 30 second clips created to get the highest number of clicks. In return, there is a lot of music out there which is made to work as 30-second clips. This takes away some of the experience that people could have when a DJ would take them on a proper journey, which requires just a bit more depth and time. Depth and time don’t really work very well on the internet; everything needs to be fast and on the surface.
Still, I am hopeful that people who get into Electronic music because of social media and the images might, at some point, long for a little bit more depth and time and let themselves be taken on a little journey by a DJ. I hope those musical journeys will remain an art form that will never be lost in DJ sets.
DE: Do you believe the sound of Hardtechno has deviated from the original concepts of what Schranz was about?
CL: Yes, of course, I think that. I even think the term Schranz got highjacked by the Hardtechno scene. But maybe that’s just what happens when genres keep developing. Either way, it’s funny to me that this term is still around.
DE: Where do you see yourself as a Techno musician fitting in within the Techno scene to date?
CL: Do you really need to fit in anywhere? To be honest, I have to tell myself repeatedly not to compare myself with others. You should never compare yourself with others because you are unique, and every artist is unique. I now see myself as being almost a niche artist, as the Techno I am playing, at least at the moment, is not the music that generates the most clicks on the internet. Even though this would be nice, it shouldn’t be the goal. The goal should still be the same one I had 20 or 30 years ago, to just put people on a journey on a dance floor, and as long as there are still people who want to be put on this journey, I will be happy to be out there to provide that.
DE: Where would you want your music to go or what boundaries would you like to push musically?
CL: I don’t really see myself as needing to push any boundaries. I think with Techno we have pushed quite a few boundaries over the past 25-30 years. I want to develop my craft continuously, enjoy my time in the studio, and constantly learn more to achieve what I am trying to accomplish as a DJ in a more precise way. If this means ‘pushing any boundaries’, I don’t know. Some weeks I think I want to do some Tool-y Techno, and some weeks I want to do a song with a vocalist, like I have done with Ralf Hildenbeutel on the albums for MUTE. I have always been doing just what I wanted to do, and I don’t care if this pushes boundaries. I simply want to explore more and more of the sound design possibilities as a DJ, which has been a continuous quest for almost three decades.
DE: What do you feel is the key for longevity for a musician within the Techno scene?
CL: Staying true to what you are doing is the secret to longevity in any profession and art form. Not to follow any trends and not to follow any hype for quick bits of fame and clicks. I am not saying that it’s not possible to do it that way. I am sure that there are quite a few artists out there who have successfully ridden a lot of hype and are very good at that, maybe that’s an art form in itself.
I have always preferred to constantly develop my skill sets, add to my knowledge and my experience, and most importantly to enjoy what I am doing no matter if it takes me through failures or successes. I think it’s a certain mindset, and mine is constantly challenged, but ultimately I always get back to what I enjoy most while possibly dismissing other things I could do for short-term gain.
DE: As a label AR, do you curate a particular sound for CLR to push Techno as a whole, or do you try to see what talent is out there and highlight it?
CL: Oh, I think it’s a good mix of both. I am always looking for new talent, new names that pop up with constant releases that I pick up on and enjoy. And because of today’s nice networking and social media via my CLR Podcast and of course the label work, you ultimately run into those artists who have a common taste and passion for the music. I am very very happy to provide a platform for them. However, one of the main goals of the label is to push my idea of Techno, and that’s why I stick to a thorough selection process for the tracks. Since three or four years ago, I have also been mastering all of the releases myself because there is a certain sound aesthetic that I want the label to be known for.
DE: More often than not, CLR is releasing lots of 2-track singles in a time when people are calling what used to be a 5-track album an EP. Is this a strategic decision for CLR?
CL: I have been thinking about that a lot. In the old vinyl days, it was always good to have either two strong tracks on 12″ or four decent ones; either way, you got something for your money. In the digital age, I have realised more and more, especially in the fast-consuming times of electronic music, that if you release three or four tracks on a single release, most of the time, the third and the fourth tracks are just kind of fillers or maybe a variation of one of the main tracks, which is fine, but I have decided to stick to two tracks for now. And if an artist, a case that has recently happened various times, is offering four really strong tracks to release, then I’d instead bring out two single EPs instead of “wasting” them on one release only. Most people only check out one or two tracks and don’t even realise that there is way more potential on the release. I think this way the artist and the music get maximum attention possible.
DE: As a DJ, you’ve been known to never just sit behind a pair of XDJs and have always been a big proponent of Traktor since its early days. What about Traktor keeps you so interested in using it as a DJ?
CL: I just love the way it’s structured. I am able to see all waveforms on all of the four decks. I see everything that is going to happen, which is awesome. I remember in the old vinyl days, looking at the physical grooves of the vinyl record, you were trying to understand when a break would come, or something else would happen. You would look into the grooves, checking when they would get lighter or darker, to find out those things about the record that was running. Technology has come a long way since then, and even though the CDJs nowadays have much larger displays, you still don’t see everything at one glance, and that’s what I need for the way I play. I often play tracks simultaneously and need to know when the break is coming or something different is happening. Having that at one glance, for me, is one of the biggest reasons to use Traktor, besides all the internal effects. Having all of that on your computer, being able to separate stems in real-time (which is possible in the latest version) and doing all these fun things is fantastic; it’s just an amazing piece of software that only keeps getting better.
DE: How do you feel about Traktor’s incorporation of stem separation technology? Do you feel like it’s going to be a game changer for DJing?
CL: Not necessarily a game changer. I have been separating tracks in my studio for quite a while now, and it has been pretty helpful for studio work, for remixes or edits of old tracks of which you don’t have parts, but honestly, I am not 100% sure how I will be incorporating this as a Techno DJ.
I can see many possibilities for vocal House DJs, DJs who play more with vocals, maybe for music that is rather on the commercial side of things, where you can just quickly separate a vocal or a bass line to have a new experience for the crowd on the dance floor, other than hearing the same, identical track that they know for ages. So, in specific genres, I believe it can be a game changer, but in Techno, it’s yet to be seen.
DE: Some new pop musicians are making shorter length tracks for Spotify and TikTok. Do you feel like this could be a win for DJs who like to remix music on the fly?
CL: I think the length of a track is secondary for the possibility of a DJ remixing it on the fly. It might be a little quicker to analyse the individual parts, and you don’t have to skip over long intros, but I think that even shorter length tracks most of the time contain the same characteristic parts as the track would contain in a longer version. I could imagine that the effort of working with shorter tracks is similar, so I don’t think that this trend is necessarily of noticeable help for the mentioned DJs.
DE: The Collabs 3000 project with Speedy J/Jochem Paap… how did this project originate? It’s been around since the early 2000’s, is that correct?
CL: Yes, I used to run a night called “Es ist Freitag Aaabend” in Frankfurt’s club U60311, which took place on the first Friday of the month. Running this night enabled me to invite all of my favourite DJs and acts to Frankfurt to play with me. One of them was Speedy J, who I’d admired since I discovered Techno in the early 90s. He came for a night in 2001 to play live and we set up a big DJ booth on a stage, where he could set up his live set alongside the DJ setup. We got along well, and when he was done playing, I asked him to keep a loop running so I could mix into it. I mixed in, and he didn’t stop playing.
We had this back and forth for forty minutes. We enjoyed it so much that we agreed to meet in his studio in Rotterdam in 2002 to work on a track, which I think later came out on Novamute as ‘Collabs’. After this, we decided to play together and worked on a setup to make it work before immediately going on an Australia tour together. Our very first Collabs set was in Sydney I think, of all places, where we built the whole setup in an apartment the night before the gig and tried to make it work. Since the beginning, it’s been improvised and super fun, and we’ll be celebrating the 25th year of this project soon.
DE: You’ve been good friends with Truncate and Drumcell in Los Angeles since the days of Droid Behavior. Has the LA Techno scene always been special to you because of that?
CL: I didn’t know a huge amount about the LA Techno scene before 2005/2006, and I played my first party with Drumcell and Truncate in 2007 at a warehouse. I’d played the LA area quite a few times in the late ’90s and early 2000s for a promoter called” One Entertainment” who threw huge Raves in the desert and other outdoor locations and warehouses. Because some of them were big fans of Techno, especially the kind of Techno I was doing in the late 90s, they always booked me and some other DJs like Thomas Chrome on their second floor. The first, big floor was always the Rave floor. They were not necessarily coming out of a Techno scene, but they enjoyed the music, so they booked me and others for their side floors or second rooms. That was a lot of fun. I played for these guys multiple times, and they were amazing. I guess they all went on to get normal jobs at some point and left the Rave scene.
Then there was kind of a gap between 2002 and 2006 for me, when I wasn’t going to LA at all, and then I realised that there was Droid Behavior and a substantial, real underground Techno scene in LA.
You just have to applaud these guys for running the most amazing parties when it comes to underground Techno in this area and for their productions and contribution to the electronic music and Techno world in general.
DE: For your set at RE/FORM what should we be listening for? Do you have anything special planned?
CL: That’s always a good question, as I somehow think that automatically, for every gig that I play, there is something special in store. Especially for gigs that I don’t do regularly, like yours, I do some thinking. For this one, I believe that I will be doing what I am trying to refine at the moment, which is playing the best version of Techno that I know. With this, I mean a consequent evolution from the Techno from back in the 90s, which sounds better today, has more impact, the productions and the sound systems are better, and the possibilities of playing it are vast.
What I am trying to achieve is exactly the same thing it has always been—to put everyone on a great Techno journey, to let loose and forget about all the troubling things on your mind and just have a great time. That is my plan and, hopefully, what you can expect!
-Interviewed by Sean Ocean
Links:
Tickets to RE/FORM with Chris Liebing / Trovarsi / Dean Paul
RA: https://ra.co/dj/chrisliebing
Website: https://chrisliebing.com
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/chris-liebing
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