Published in the July 2007 issue of DJ Times Magazine
Volume 20 - Number 7
By Jim Tremayne

     As the German DJ/producer duo Tiefschwarz, brothers Ali and Basti Schwarz have rolled with a decade of dance-music changes. Beginning as arty experimentalists, the Stuttgart-raised duo became deep-house purists and then eased into the crunchy electro-house sound that emerged around Y2K. With cuts like 2000’s bomb track “Isst” and remixes for stars (Madonna) and underground faves (Booka Shade) alike, Tiefschwarz have managed a studio career that has also allowed them to tour global hotspots with regularity.

     Now based in Berlin, Tiefschwarz is celebrating its 10th anniversary as DJs, party promoters, producers, remixers and Souvenir label owners with Tiefschwarz present Black Music. The double-CD the includes one disc of influential tracks—Recloose, Ralphi Rosario, even Marianne Faithful—and another with remixes of their own recent work like “Original” and “Troubled Man.” We caught up with the brothers Schwarz from across the pond.

DJ Times: Now that you’re celebrating your 10th year with this release, what are your most enduring club memories?
Ali Schwarz: Can we have four?

DJ Times: Sure, go for it.
Basti Schwarz: On-U. It was the first club we did in Stuttgart—a very free musical platform, between art, sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, more performance-based, freestyle. It was a crowd of people celebrating themselves with each other. There was no music TV, no Internet, no mobiles at this time, so this was a great form of musical expression. A different type of partying together—a private party for everyone. It ran from 1990 to 1993. It was more like an arty thing. This is where we started to get a bit of recognition. People from the art scene, people from the music scene, all partying together. You could listen to anything—jazz, hip-hop, techno and reggae.
Ali: Then Red Dog, the development after On-U, which ran between 1993-97. After that, we only focused on house music. We had to change it—the first was open, the second was only about house music. We had Masters at Work, Tony Humphries, Mike Dunn, Chris Coco, Ralphi Rosario, Ron Trent, Larry Heard live. It was for 200 people, three floors under the ground. It was a party for digging deep into house. Was so easy. We lost all the money and we were our own best guests, but we did it for the fun of it.
Basti: Also, Cocoon Ibiza and Robert Johnson—the best hosts, the treatment is so good. At the same time, the small miniature club that is Robert Johnson in Frankfurt…we always have the best time there. They are amazing hosts. The club is amazing. The music always sounds better there.

DJ Times: What are your favorite clubs now?
Basti: Fabric in London, Robert Johnson in Frankfurt, Cocoon Ibiza [Amnesia], and D-Edge in Sao Paulo.

DJ Times: In the studio, is there one piece of software or hardware that you can’t live without?
Ali: Apple Logic. We’ve have used it from the beginning. It’s a very simple, profound platform. It’s very…logic.

DJ Times: Which producers really impress you now?
Basti: Shonky, Samim, Ruede Hagelstein, Radio Slave, Carl Craig, James Holden, Ewan Pearson—just amazing producers.

DJ Times: And DJs?
Ali: Ivan Smagghe because he always searches for the different way out, Ata from Playhouse, Hector from Phonica Records in London is a really good, upcoming DJ.

DJ Times: What’s in your perfect DJ booth?
Ali: The most professional DJ booth in the world is Sven Väth’s at Cocoon in Frankfurt. It has everything that you could need—movable speakers, bathroom, every mixer you could wish for, everything in terms of being professional. In terms of perfection, though, even a deck in the middle of nowhere can be the most professional booth if it’s the magical moment.