Photo: Press (Inga Mauer)
“I have no idea. Absolutely no idea,” says Inga Mauer when being asked about her plans as a producer and in some way, that might sum up the Russian artist’s approach as a whole. Her Bon Voyage shows for Radio Cómeme and her releases for labels like the Uncanny Valley offshoot shtum or Hivern Discs’ HVNX have shown her as a DJ and producer who travels seamlessly between different genres and epochs, with no fixed destination in mind other than the present. However the outcome is always as coherent as Mauer’s contribution to our Groove podcast, recorded ahead of her DJ set at Berlin’s MIRA festival on May 5th, which blends belting techno with slick electro cuts hinting at her love for the Bunker sound that shaped her youth.
You grew up on the remote countryside of Russia and have cited Bunker as one of the most important record labels in your formative years. How did you get in touch with electronic music, and especially the The Hague style?
My social life was very limited due to where I grew up. I was completely isolated from the outside world and had difficulties finding people who love music like I do. I’m not even talking about only electronic music but music in general. I dreamt of meeting like-minded souls all this time. When I discovered Underground Resistance with their strictly anti-mainstream business strategy it revealed to me a new idea of musicians. When I saw their record had no picture, just a disc, no text – a secret code, in total blackness – this was a major source of inspiration to me, and to Bunker Records as well. I knew that the Bunker artists are my kind of people. So this one day, Guy Tavares (founder of Bunker Records) invited me to visit his party. That was to a time when I didn’t even speak English. But man, I was as happy as a child. As a result, I actually moved from Russia to Den Haag with only 50€ in my pocket. Obviously, this move opened up many doors for me, I entered new horizons so to say, and I wasn’t alone anymore. You know, if someone – any musician – was living in the heart of Russia or in Africa, making music everyday but without anyone to listen to it, he wouldn’t exist. To put in another way, a musician exists only if he is known. This is the reality. I am so happy to I exist as I do, being quite antisocial and a private person, but loving to tour and every single one of my gigs at the same time.
Also your Bon Voyage radio show for Cómeme deals with locations and explorers. How do you usually program these shows?
For over ten years I have been living in different countries with as many different homes. This forced me to be creative while making my radio shows, which I recorded at friends places all over the world, some at airports others in running trains… Bon Voyage just happens on the go.
Your radio shows can be quite different from what is to be expected from your DJ sets or podcast mixes. What was your idea behind your contribution to our Groove podcast?
For me, there is no limit to the choice of music. Bon Voyage was created especially for me making my travels comfortable , it’s music I want to hear for dreaming, passing the time and drifting off into sleep. It is also a collection of my favorite tracks, which I know my friends would love to listen to in their cars while driving. (laughs) We have so many feelings in our life, and luckily we have even more types of the music for each of those feelings. Every song is for a special feeling. And when it comes to the Groove podcast, well for this one I wanted to explore the music I play in the darkness.
Stream: Inga Mauer – Groove Podcast 156
01. Interchain – Plenum
02. Codex Empire – Teize
03. Umwelt – Days of Dissent
04. Codex Empire – Sevde
05. Konsumer – Bodyslang
06. Univac – Direct Leipzig
07. Univac – Unknown Radio
08. Emmanuel Top – Big Ben Dimension
09. Dave Clark – Charcoal Eyes
10. I-F – The Men Who Won’t Come Back
11. Lynx – Call…
12. Sleeparchive – Ronan Point 2
13. Core – Wish You Could See This
14. Drvg Cvltvre – Something Happening Somewhere
