teshno

time to draw to your attention a label with which you may not yet be familiar… the giggly named, berlin based imprint born from parties of the same name, jackoff, held midweek at watergate; weekends at new space about blank and randomly around europe in-between.

said parties have featured the scene’s classiest house talents, a number of whom now also have jackoff catalogue numbers to their name, including oliver deutschmann and iron curtis, whilst the next three releases include tracks and remixes from patrice scott and quarion, as well as a couple of my faves in october and john osborn.

the output so far has mined a retroistic vein of house music that bares the hallmarks of chicago past but is not overtly weighed down by them, instead coming off like learned developments which build on what went before, rather than simply regurgitating it.

obvious one to start… why start jackoff? what is your intention for the label? what is it born from?

i (elie eidelman) was doing a night called “half off” mostly at berlin’s tape club for over two years with a series of international guest such as quarion, andy stott, ripperton, manoo and many more.

my good friend and dj john osborn was doing a night called jackson (which still goes on at berlins cookies club). we decided to join forces for a series of parties. “jackson” and “half off” became “jackoff”. after two successful years and countless guest artists, it made complete sense to grow the brand into a label which would feature our tastes and be a musical platform for the sounds we were playing at the events.

jackoff plans to grow with regular output of 12 inches over the next year and then hopefully start with full length albums.

and how do you hope the label we be different and have its own identity? is that important to you?

yes, own identity is very important to us. jackoff music can be described as modern dance music with a wink to nineties house. it’s sometimes hard to explain what makes a track fit he jackoff sound but i hope once our audience listens back to the releases together they will hear the connecting line and the sound progression of the label. another aspect comes from the design and id of the label and events. john osborn created the graphic identity which is inspired by the old detroit and chicago look and the deep personal feeling jackoff stands for.

how important is the berlin scene and sound on you and the label?

there is many scenes in berlin and jackoff is one of them. i don’t think is fair to put a city like berlin where most of the dance music producers and djs are based into one category. jackoff artist come from berlin, nyc, copenhagen, bristol, tel-aviv to name just a few. off course they all played or their music has been played in our berlin events.

are relationships with artists important to you or is the music first and foremost?

both! i would say i only work with artist i know personally but knowing someone personally is no guaranty that i will release their music. it’s very important for me to have a good relationship with the artist. i need the artist to understand my vision and to appreciate what jackoff is doing. if there is no understanding then i don’t see the point in working together. since i have been in the music biz for many years i’m lucky enough to have a big pool of friends/producers to work with.

and what is it you are looking for in music you release? anything specific like techniques, ideas, potential, exposure for the producer or is it just about the way a track makes you feel?

mostly it’s the way the track makes me feel. off course the musical concept of jackoff i have in my head is always there. potential exposure dose come to mind when choosing the remix artist but it’s definitely how the artist will fit musically before anything else.

how involved are you in the writing process? you someone to request changes etc before release or do you leave creative control in the hands of the artist?

i don’t get too involved since i usually sign finished tracks i know are good. i might ask the artist to shorten a track if it’s too long or work on the mix if the sound needs a boost.

jackoff boss ~ elie

is the medium important to you? will you do vinyl and digital?

yes. very. we do both. having a finished product in my hand is very important. myself and most of our artist still play vinyl so that’s another reason. we just love the format and don’t want to change! we released a few bonus trax on beatport only which i plan to collect for a vinyl only bonus release in the future.

how much thought went into/goes into jackoff’s visual identity?

i got my bachelor degree in graphic design and my partner john osborn is a full time designer so the visual identity came naturally for us. of course we go back and forth with ideas but the general identity was already created while doing the posters for the jackoff events. so by the time the label came along we knew more or less what we wanted.

how related to the parties of the same name will the label be? what has been the mission statement of those parties?

mission statement sounds way too serious. it’s a party after all. off course the parties and label are related. visually like i mentioned before, and musically we try to combine the releases and the artists that work with us at parties on the label. it’s part of being in the jackoff family…

how difficult is it to be steadfast to your beliefs in terms of the quality of music you want to release? especially if it’s a track from someone you know/admire/whatever…?

it’s not at all. quality comes first and the artists i work with understand and expect that!

how much thought/effort goes into the remixes on your releases? people say nowadays there are often too many and it’s devaluing the art/purpose of them somewhat – what are your thoughts?

i agree that too many remixes for the same release looses the purpose. especially when the style is so similar. i do put allot of thought on my choice of remixer per track. does the artist fit, can he give us a different interpretation to the original etc etc. once i chose the artist for the remix i give him freedom to go his own way. i believe if you choose the right artist to begin with you rarely get disappointed. i also see the remix spot as a chance to work with artist i like but do not fit fully to the musical concept of jackoff. the remix is a place for something else.

who decides on who to target for remixes – you, the original artist or both? what are the sorts of criteria by which people are chosen?

me. but sometimes i will ask the artist if they have idea’s to see who they would like. if we are both on the same page then it’s even better.

do you go looking for new peeps for the label or does music manly come from connections you already have or..?

mostly from connections i already have though sometimes i hear music from someone who blows my mind and i start feeling around to see if they can fit for future projects.

what else is on the horizon for you and the label?

there are some great future releases from james braun and dan m, walker, john osborn and some exciting remixes from the likes of joel alter, october and iron curtis to mention just a few. we also continue strong with the jackoff events at our new location “about blank” and our mid week regular at watergate in berlin.

we hope to take the label nights on tour again after wonderful nights in munich and vienna. as for me i’m still running sweat lodge agency and radio (with james blond) which are both growing rapidly. my dj carer still keeps me very busy and i also plan to get back in the studio and produce myself again. so lots going on.