Photo: Press (Jozef K)
I became a DJ because I live to play, my happiest time is not in an expensive restaurant, having sex, or anything special like this. It is when I am playing records in a club and a pure connection is made with the crowd. I feel I am in my natural state, it is beyond words for me. I cannot imagine any other profession I would enjoy more, it is my dream job and I am extremely happy to have found my calling in life.
These days I am using CDJ 2000’s and a DJM 900. I also just tested the new Tour 1 mixer from Pioneer, which is really great!
My first DJ set was at Font bar, Fallowfield in Manchester, 2009. My first ever gig and the first time I ever touched CDJ’s. After learning on vinyl, the mixing was questionable. laughs
What makes a good DJ for you? Embracing the moment. If I see a DJ looking out to the crowd, feeling the energy, letting that be their next decision, that would be a DJ I respect.
What I’ve learned during my residency at Tribal Sessions: As I started playing at Tribal Sessions sessions from a young age, it taught me a lot. Before I hit my twenties, I’d played alongside some of the biggest names in House and Techno, Jeff Mills, Timo Maas, Dubfire, and many more. So I was consuming everything I saw, now I am still learning age 27. I don’t think it ever ends. I don’t want to give away everything my experiences have taught me as I feel it ruins the magic, like a magician unravelling his secrets, however here are two key lessons tribal has taught me that I would love to share: 1. Incorporate a slow crescendo into your set, or some kind of journey, no-one else needs to know it but you do – it gives a cohesion that wouldn’t exist otherwise! 2. Believe in your records, play from your heart and it will come through!
When I’m not DJing, making or finding records.
My 2 secret weapons:
1. Hira Shuriken (Throwing Star)
2. Morning Star (Spiked Mace)
How did you pick the tracks for the mix? What’s the idea behind it?
The mix is a really personal one, it contains some of the records that I love the most in my collection. It is the most personal mix I have ever done and it feels like I am sharing a little piece of my soul. The concept of the mix is sunrise, I created the mix to be heard either at the closing stages of a club night or for arriving back to an afterparty after the club – some emotional records to watch the sunrise too.
Your mix has a good ratio between old and new tracks – is that also reflecting your DJ sets or what balance are you generally having?
Yes, the mixture of new and old is something I often am doing in DJ sets. I like to not be playing in a way that you can hear anywhere else, which means finding older, forgotten records and presenting them in a new way. I also in a nerdy way like to play really old tracks alongside new ones and not have people know the difference in when they were made, I like to be a be a little random I think.
As a music digger, what is it that triggers your searching for your gems?
As a digger I like to find tracks that I have never heard of the artist before and also that I have never heard other artists playing before. And with the records themselves, it is always the same: I just need a strong emotional connection, it can be any style.
How and where did you recorded the mix?
I had been planning to do a „sunrise mix“ for quite some time, I was waiting for the right moment and had been putting records together for it since the summer. I recorded the mix at Make Me A DJ studios in Manchester on two CDJ 2000s and the new Pioneer Tour 1 mixer, which is actually really great for recording mixes as one of the new features is a really great level screen, which helps to precisely achieve level balance.
Stream: Jozef K – Am Deck 31
01. Jozef K – restriction (reprise) [unreleased]
02. Brothers Vibe – Can You Feel It? [Mixx Records]
03. M.E – School Hall [Trax Records]
04. Scion (Substance & Vainquer) – Emerge [Chain Reaction]
05. Cold Trap – Global Warming [Kult Records]
06. Leman & Dieckman – Movement ft. Tyra [Baile Musik]
07. Kim Ann Foxman – UR Magnetic [Firehouse]
08. Jozef K & Winter Son – May The Lord Have Mercy On Us All [Let’s Play House]
09. Wildbirds & Peacedrums – Fight For Me (Manuel Tur Remix / Dixon Edit) [Philomena]
10. Luke Hess – Evidence Everywhere [Echochord]
11. Jozef K & Winter Son – Eternity Is Past [Skint Records]
12. Caze – Mind, Body and Soul [HEAVY]
13. DJ Pierre a.k.a. The Don – Clap Your Hands (Throw Your Hands Up In The Air Mix) [Strictly Rhythm]
14. Trevino – Backtracking [The Nothing Special]
15. Tuff City Kids – Lambsgame [Permanent Vacation]
16. Oni Ayhun – OAR003 [Oni Ayhun Records]
17. DJ Metatron – Oh Ah [Traumprinz]
18. Westbam and Nena – Old School Baby (Piano Mix) [Low Spirit Mix]
19. French Connection – Tait Toi (Mellow Mix) [Creed Records]
20. Eduardo De Le Calle – Quasi-Calligraphic 09 [Semantica Records]
21. Tin Man, Jozef K & Winter Son – Fates Unknown [Acid Test]
