Noema is a talented German artist who’s a well-respected DJ and producer whose style ranges from Balearic disco to indie dance. He also runs his own record label called The Magic Movement, which he frequents with his own music, but he has also worked with other imprints such as Sol Selectas and Get Physical.
He is a forward-thinking artist who incorporates art and theatre into his latest project called “ONE,” which is a multi-sensory experience that orientates around a 45-minute piece of music. The intergalactic story of ONE is tied together with a comic book, contemporary dance, and costume design that help bring the music to life.
Mixing a live orchestra with sequenced drum sounds, Noema’s new release is something quite unique and innovative with lots of creativity. Excited to learn more about ONE, we invited Noema for this interview…
WWD: Hi Noema, it’s a pleasure to be talking with you today, could you start by talking about your musical style and some of your main influences?
Hello! My musical style is very diverse. As a DJ, I don’t really think in terms of genres, but more in moods. I believe your job as a DJ is to always find the perfect soundtrack for the moment, and those moments are always different of course in terms of time, place and people. I play a lot of indie dance, house music, Balearic and cosmic disco, but also leftfield pop, boogie and some techno. What binds everything together is strong funky grooves and a certain level of soulfulness.
I have a rather “classical” understanding of the art of DJing, so I see myself in the tradition of DJs like Larry Levan, Alfredo and David Mancuso. Their approaches in terms of selection, concept and dramaturgy inspired me quite a lot. I also tremendously enjoy playing all night (or ideally, all day) long. The classic house sets of Ata (from Robert Johnson) had a very big impact on me around 1999/2000 as well as the residency of Dixon at Weekend club in Berlin around 2005.
In my productions I work very organically, and record a lot of elements instead of programming them, like keyboards, guitars, bass etc. I also utilise quite a lot of concrete sounds which I use for drums, percussion and effects. As a producer, Matthew Herbert is a major influence as well as Brian Eno, Quincy Jones, and especially Rick Rubin.
WWD: You are a skilled DJ, where did your career start, and what countries/venues do you often get booked to play?
I started DJing around 1997/98 and kind of instantly became a resident DJ at a club called 2SE in my hometown Wiesbaden. After I moved to Berlin to study music at college around 2003, I was resident in several clubs like Kinzo and Soju Bar. Around 2007, I also became resident DJ at Wilde Renate where I played monthly for about a decade. Funnily enough, I don’t play very often in Germany these days. I still regularly play in Berlin though, as well as Turkey, and often tour in Latin and North America. I have been to play at Papaya Playa in Tulum (Mexico) on many occasions too, which is always a pleasure to go back.
WWD: Tell me about your record label The Magic Movement, and what inspired its concept/musical identity?
I initially started the label after a trip to Brazil I did around 2013, where I got introduced to a collective called Voodoohop that completely blew my mind. They did live mash-ups of Brazilian music with minimal techno on slow BPMs in a completely unique way. At that time, I was playing mostly US house and some disco, then started to get a bit bored with what got released at that time. Every time I went record digging, 90% of the music all sounded like music I already heard years before. But when I experienced Voodoohop, it was the freshest and most exciting thing that I had heard for years. I love Brazilian and African music in general, and also liked slow tempo club music a lot, so for me it was a perfect blend.
By that time, only an extremely small circle of people in Europe were even aware of this sound, and there were almost no labels that released this kind of music professionally. So, I started The Magic Movement with my best childhood friend to give this exciting new music a home.
Now that the label is almost 10 years old, my musical focus has shifted again. As a DJ I rarely play this kind of music these days, and at the label I also started to release up-tempo as well as some more electronica and ambient music. For some reason, people also associate the label with ethnic, organic house, and I receive a lot of demos in this style, which is absolutely not for me.
For me, the most important thing is that the music itself is highly musical, not just beats and effects, and that I have a strong emotional reaction when I listen to it. Ideally that reaction should be good 🙂
WWD: Talking about your record label, the next release features your own music, and it would be great to learn more about it, as it sounds very unique?
My new album ‘ONE’ is a part of a comprehensive art piece, which consists of music, interactive choreography as well as stage design, theatre, videos and costumes. The music is inspired by classical minimal music, especially Terry Riley’s “In C.” It consists of 56 patterns which are consecutively played. In most sections, every player can repeat each pattern as often as they wish, typically around 45-60 seconds. Every kind of ensemble and instrument including vocals can perform the piece. I recorded a version with a 14-piece orchestra with a duration of about 43 minutes.
WWD: I understand that ‘ONE’ is more than just audio, as there is a comic book and theatrical live performance linking to the music you have created?
The centre of ONE is an “Interactive Performance Installation” which we showed at Garbicz Festival in 2022. My idea was to create a place where the audience can spontaneously create an exciting piece of art with only little to none previous knowledge. ONE is an inclusive microcosmos where common people can come together and express themselves creatively. I rarely meet people outside professional music and art circles who have any creative hobbies, which makes me kind of sad. I strongly believe that art is a transformational force, so I’d like to give an opportunity to experience this force first hand.
After writing and recording the music, I created this whole absurd cosmos around it, where Noema is an island-universe that manifests as four Interdimensional Space Voyagers. Because humanity has lost their ability to play and connect with each other, these entities became trapped in our dimension and now put on performances to re-power their portal, so that we can all be interdimensional again. For this I created costumes, texts, videos and a comic. The comic is part of the gatefold 12” vinyl cover too, which is a beautiful collector’s item.
The videos are released one by one on my Instagram page. You can check them out here.
WWD: Will you be touring the ONE concept with live musicians, and are there any places where you already have those gigs scheduled?
At this point I have no new performances scheduled. It’s a pretty big project with a whole team of performers and musicians involved, so it’s not easy to find places who have the space and the budget, but I’m working on it. If anybody is reading this and is interested to show it, please do get in touch with me.
WWD: What else is coming as part of the ONE project, are you planning any remixes?
Yes, there will be two remix EPs to follow, and the first one will be released at the end of January featuring out-of-this-world remixes by Lauer, Kalabrese, Mehmet Aslan, Shubostar and Panthera Krause.
WWD: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, is there anything else you want to mention before we finish?
Space still is the place!