Berlin-based producer and Second State stalwart Stephan Hinz returns to Pan-Pot’s illustrious Second State label on October 12th with a brand new four tracker. The release showcases once more the producer’s awesome sonic physicality having rendered an impressive collection of dance-floor oriented techno weapons. Today, you can grab a sneak peek from the release exclusively via When We Dip in the form of ‘Hypostasis’. What’s more, Stephan took five to answer some of our most pressing questions around his recent exploits and the new release…
WWD: Thanks for joining us Stephan! Where in the world are you right now and what has your schedule been like this week?
At the moment I’m back in Berlin in my studio/playroom scoring a feature movie and working on a remix for Kaiserdisco. On Friday I’ll leave to Georgia – I will play live at the White Rabbit Club in Tbilisi. I’m very excited because it’s my first time in Georgia and I heard so many nice things about the people and the hospitality there. I learned this idiom „Stumari Gvtisaa“ that means “a guest is sent from god“. That sounds good, right?
WWD: September was a big month for you musically but outside of the studio and apart from behind the decks, where did you spend your time?
Yes, September was very busy but I also had some holidays and spent a lot of time on the nice beaches of Mallorca recharging my batteries.
WWD: Talk to us about the new EP, has it been long in the works?
Yeah, it took me some time to find the right tone for that EP because I wanted to go one step further with my sound and that means re-thinking some of the things you have been always doing. It wasn’t about reinventing myself but moving to the next step and let all the experience I gained from playing live shows affect my productions.
It’s a very interesting process because on one hand I try not to think too much about the fact that I will play a track live when I’m sitting in the studio writing music – especially because I don’t want to limit myself. On the other hand, when I’m playing live I have to reduce the complexity of my tracks. I love those moments but unfortunately that’s non-reproducible in the studio. Maybe I have to think about doing a live EP next time 😀
WWD: What can you tell us about your relationship with Pan-Pot? Where did you guys first meet?
I met Tassilo from Pan-Pot for the first time at the end of 2012 when I visited my buddy Martin Eyerer in Berlin. The two were in the middle of the construction works of the Riverside Studios they founded together with Jad Souaid. I fell in love with the place the moment I walked through the door even though at the time it was just a big room with mountains of drywalls. Despite that there was a great vision of what the place could be.
So I arrived at home (near Stuttgart in the south of Germany), decided to go full time with music. I quit my job, moved to Berlin and joined everyone at Riverside Studios.
Since then I’ve been seeing the guys almost every day because. They’re my studio neighbors and over time we also became friends. Tassilo and Thomas were the reason I got into techno. I have a long history in electronic music coming from trance over progressive house to tech house and minimal but, to be honest, I have never really understood techno until that moment I saw Pan-Pot playing for the first time. That opened a whole new world to me and I’m so happy and thankful about it because techno has almost everything I missed in all the other genres. They somehow saw it and set me on the techno music path and that’s how I became part of Second State too. (Thank you guys! )
WWD: One thing nobody knows about the Second State crew?
We’re not just a bunch of random people who sent music to a label and the label said “yes, lets do it“. Actually the music isn’t that important – well, of course the music is super-important, but more important than this is that Tassilo and Thomas had relationships with all of us before and they trust us to see their vision and to make it our own, thereby bringing it together as a collective to a whole new level. We’re all different, but we all share the same idea about what music can represent: An important part of your being that goes with you through thick and thin and connects you with people and the world we all live in.
WWD: Musically, what do you feel distinguishes you from your label mates?
I’m the most attractive one? 😀 A bit like a young Brad Pitt just without the beard, the muscles and with Kojak’s hairline? (laughing)
I can’t tell but each one of us has a distinct sound and approach to the decks.
WWD: Your three favourite hangouts in Berlin?
1. Riverside Studios
2. Nächtliche Chaostheorie
3. Pizza Nostra
WWD: Looking at the rest of 2015, where does your focus lie?
Finishing the movie I’m scoring at the moment, a couple of remixes, new originals and live playing! Yes, I like to keep it busy 🙂
WWD: Our guilty pleasure – What were your three biggest records of the year so far?
1 Slam – Ghosts Of Cirklon (Len Faki Remix) (Soma)
2 Dense & Pika – Tex (Drumcode)
3 Stephan Bodzin – Singularity (Monoloc Remix) (Life And Death)
WWD: In terms of gigs and music, what else can we expect from you in the coming months?
My “Unsentimental EP“ is coming on Second State on the 12th October. I did another EP with my buddy Philipp Ruhmhardt which is coming on Carl Cox’s Intec label at the end of November. Then remixes for Martin Eyerer, Kaiserdisco and more collaborations and very interesting projects which I cannot reveal at the moment 🙂
Gig-wise, ADE is very close and I’ll have my first year anniversary of playing live – I had my first live set the Second State label showcase during ADE in 2014. One of the best decisions ever – I’ve loved playing live ever since then! Besides that, there are also more gigs coming up like at Ikon Antwerp in Belgium as part of Pan-Pot’s album tour, Baum in Bogota and more shows in Prague, Poland and Germany.
Follow: Stephan Hinz // Second State Audio