February 9, 2018 - Midnight Themes
People know Berlin. The capital of Germany has long been a staple in the world of culture and the arts. According to people who write about culture and the arts, “Berlin’s nightlife [culture] has been celebrated as one of the most diverse and vibrant of its kind.” Berlin has a lot of clubs, and most of those clubs have designated party nights. Marlon Hoffstadt runs one such party night, and it is called “Savour the Moment,” currently held at Salon Zur Wilden Renate, which is considered in the top 10 of cool clubs in the city.
Hoffstadt also runs “Midnight Themes,” a record label that so far only has two releases, both of which are Marlon Hoffstadt releases. This is typical for fresh new audio outlets; Hoffstadt is a tastemaker, and needs to mark the territory the label will occupy within the ever expansive Electronic Music Forrest that exists in the Realm of Audio. Themes From My Future Self is the second outing by Hoffstadt on his label. The tracks do not inherently come together in any meaningful way beyond that they are all dance music pieces, and this is mirrored by the titles.
The first title is in German. ‘Der Merowinger,’ or ‘The Merovinger’ probably refers to the Merovingian dynasty, which were the long-haired kings that ruled the Franks for nearly 300 years. This information definitely does not come across in the track itself. The track itself comes across as a crisp, rolling blend of genres from the mind of a tastemaker. A lengthy percussive intro bleeds into a head-nodding beat-synth marriage. The track isn’t breaking any new ground, but it is expertly mixed and contains just enough of everything it needs to contain.
Unlike the first track, the second track has an English title. ‘Pure Awareness’ is another genre blend, mixing a driving techno beat with some featherlight acid and a spritzing of 90’s trance. It’s not a particularly exciting recipe and is noticeably shorter than the other tracks on the project. The drone synth lead … [that’s it].
Unlike the first two tracks, the third track’s title is a self-aware joke. ‘Second Track’ is actually the third track. It is an evocative piece of dance music that builds on itself to create a “wall of sound.” These types of tracks are definitely hit or miss and this is a big hit. All the elements know exactly when to come in to create feel of undulating speed. Hoffstadt seems to have a firm control on his mixing. ‘Second Track’ fits the bill for being both a sit-down and stand-up piece of music, which I’m always in the mood for. It’s definitely a grower; at lower volumes it works great for casual listening or house party music, but when put out on a big system, it’s a hands-in-the-air-club-dreamscape-transporter. It’s grainy dream pads flow in and out of focus creating a sea for the percussive synth stabs and drum loops to float right on top of.
Though I don’t know him personally, Marlon Hoffstadt is a tastemaker, which makes sense because running a party night in Berlin, releasing on labels such as Hot Haus and Ransom Note Records, and also getting a label off the ground require a lot of taste. Themes From My Future Self may reference what Hoffstadt believes he might make in the future to send back to the past version of himself, but we know that that is impossible, but thats alright because we like where Hoffstadt is currently, and are excited to see what his actual future self gets up to. 🍍