ETИIK Is Bringing His Hard-Edged Style Of Dance Music To Grietfest

Feature || Grietfest 2014

 Artist Profile ETИIK‟

Something‟s afoot in Hamburg. While the past years, decades even, were dominated primarily by the Frankfurt and Berlin schools of Techno, constantly setting the tone and pace for progression of a rather hard-edged style of dance music, the Hanseatic City is increasingly coming into its own. The newest and literally one of the youngest representatives of this blossoming yet adamant Hamburg-bred club music goes by the name of ETИIK. Born in 1992, this prodigious 21-year-old is already being coined the wunderkind of new German Techno. What‟s more, it took him just one gig in Hamburg‟s Baalsaal to get himself a record deal. “It was quite overwhelming,” ETИIK recounts. “My initial plan was to not venture into DJ‟ing before having established myself with a few tracks of my own to show. Though at the time I was familiar with the Baalsaal‟s manager and he invited me to DJ one night. It was actually my first official DJ set. That night an A&R Manager from Warner happened to be among the guests. He saw me, heard me and thought to himself: „Whatever else it is this guy does, we need him!‟ A mere two weeks later I was seated at a table with the folks from Warner and we discovered that we have the same vision and idea of who I am and where I want to go with my music.” And so he signed on with bitclap!, Warner Music‟s Dance label.

A rapid rise to fame? Overnight stardom? Far from it. Despite his young age ETИIK‟s signature sound has been a long time in the making. “When I was seven, I remember hearing Sven Väth‟s „Dein Schweiss‟ for the first time and being stricken. From that moment on I knew that I wanted to do something just like that.” For years he worked on developing his extremely characteristic sound. “I want each of my tracks to boast a strong identity, while also strongly differing from one another. The danger in looking to form a signature sound is that, at the end of the day, many of the productions will sound pretty much the same. I strive to avoid this at all costs.” So it came that ETИIK spent most of his days as a young teenager sitting in his room, refining sounds, beats and dynamics. “My friends and classmates were all listening to Hip-Hop and R‟n‟B. This made me and my inclination towards everything electronic a perpetual outsider,” he remembers. “At the same time I am a big fan of percussion. And so from time to time I catch myself including Hip-Hop-based drum patterns in my Techno.” All that at an age, when others are busy flipping through the latest Harry Potter novel.

But the thing most refreshing about ETИIK is not his youth. It‟s his uncompromising and surprisingly confident sound, backed by a sense of style that is spot-on. ETИIK, which is his real name by the way, grew up in Hamburg as the son of Albanian immigrants, who supported his musical ventures from day one. His aim, from the outset, was to pair Techno with rare elegance. Instead of overloading his music with sounds, ETИIK prefers to omit all that is superfluous and to focus only on the essentials. His music cuts to the chase and shows poise, where most others succumb to irritating effects: Shaken, not stirred! “I‟m an absolute perfectionist, constantly seeking the optimum,” he explains. “It doesn‟t take me long to have 80% of a track complete. The other 20% however can take me months. I may even choose to place an already finished track back in the archive because I suddenly dislike the way the Hi-Hat sounds.” As a result it took ETИIK an entire two years of working on his first tracks before he liked them well enough to upload them to Soundcloud. His efforts have paid off, with his Soundcloud channel currently counting more than 330,000 plays of his uploaded tracks and remixes.

It doesn‟t come as a surprise then, that ETИIK shows an equally steady hand when it comes to his appearance: It just fits. “I really value the big picture. Everything needs to be in the right place to form a unity, bearing within itself a clearly defined character.” His music is inspired by contemporary artists such as Boys Noize, Tiga, D.I.M and Kraftwerk as well as by old-time greats the likes of Johann Sebastian Bach. So encountering a few bars of a violin solo somewhere in his sounds wouldn‟t be that big a coincidence. Or possibly more vocals in the near future: “I really enjoy vocals. They are excellent to play around with. I‟ve already set my sights on a couple of possible collaborations for my future tracks, and it‟s looking good.”

ETИIK surprises with concentrated beats, thrilling by omission rather than stoic stomping, choosing broken rhythms over straightforward four-to-the-floor beat patterns. All of the latter enhanced by a healthy dose of “crackle” and homemade Sawtooth synth sounds, bestowing upon his relentless tracks a certain analog fragility and thus a soul. But above all, ETИIK‟s trademark are his badass drops, catching you unaware and knocking you off your feet. Leading us to his philosophy: “In your face, but in style, please!”

In his music, he values quality over quantity. And this attitude has led to his success. People just loved his sound, one of them being SCNTST from Boys Noize Records. Meanwhile SCNTST and ETИIK are friends and have released music together on the in-house record label „Boysnoize Records‟. “That is all part of the larger plan,” ETИIK explains, “not to settle with one label, one direction, one business deal. I like how contacts and opportunities grow naturally and I want to put all these chances to use.”

ETИIK‟s increasing popularity as a producer is mirrored in his undeniable talent as a DJ, where he equally values extensive build-ups and clearly nuanced scripts. Just playing one track after the other is not his thing. Instead “it may come down to me playing a 90-minute-set with 50 or even 60 different tracks mixed and delivered to the people. And, what‟s most important, with no loss in tension.” With all that said, ETИIK simply considers himself an entertainer with a coherent master plan. In case you were wondering: The inverse И in his logo is actually part of a visualized Sawtooth wave, as used in his tracks.

ETИIK, the artist with a signature, has already clearly positioned himself in the Techno scene. A young man, highly recognizable in sound and appearance, he produces a style of Techno quoting the genre‟s history and bringing it up to date so skillfully that many of the quotes used only become apparent after repeated listening. The five tracks featuring on ETИIK‟s upcoming EP “Neon Daze”, to be released on November 19th in Germany via bitclap! / Warner Music, lay further emphasis on his range and caliber as a producer. “Neon Daze”, the title track, is a massive stomper with elaborate beats, an agonizingly intense bassline and skillfully sprinkled vocal samples. “Nixon”, as yet, is possibly one of the meanest marching versions of Future-Tech-Funk around. “Vault” is a brilliantly unfriendly tune to be played in the spanking early morning hours, right as the temperature in the club is about to hit the ceiling. “La Nuit” masterfully plays with distorted melodies and disturbing background noises, while “Boaws” concludes the EP, taking it back to the intricate Electro sounds of the 90‟s with spheric keys and zero gravity. Five tracks, five drafts and one clear purpose: Right on the mark, full speed ahead, but always in style.

This has also been recognized by many a colleague in his genre. In 2012 he was invited on a big tour of Australia, while also supporting deadmau5 on his tour of Germany, playing in front of a thousand plus people each night. Yet, the following experience proved to be even more momentous: “One day, friends told me that Skrillex had posted a remix of mine on his Facebook fanpage. He then followed me on Twitter and let me know that he liked my productions, which led to us communicating regularly up until today.” And now his upcoming EP “Neon Daze” will be released in the USA via the Skrillex-owned label OWSLA. As a young Techno producer with a clear vision and big goals, these days it is hard to imagine a bigger honor or accolade one might even say. But ETИIK is far from done. “Neon Daze” will be accompanied by a music video directed by Anto Hinh-Thai. The same director that previously realized Gesaffelstein‟s “Viol”. And with another international tour in the making for 2014, well, let‟s just say this young man is only getting started.

Connect:

•  Etnik 
•  Facebook 
•  Twitter 

Catch ETИIK playing at Grietfest 2014.

We giving you a chance to win a set of double tickets.

Click here !!

GRIETFEST FB Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/GRIETFEST?ref=ts&fref=ts  

EVENT FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/530287087077968  

BUY TICKETS: http://www.grietfest.com/tickets