For almost twenty years Thomas Koch – DJ T. – has been a vital part of the techno and house scene. In a range of different capacities: among others, Koch worked and works as a DJ, producer, promoter, club operator, publisher and journalist. In 2005, he relocated from Frankfurt to Berlin.
Blame it all on the disco ball. Born in 1969 in the city of Dusseldorf, at the tender age of nine Koch succumbed to the glistening seduction of black vinyl. By this time, his family had moved to Frankfurt, ‘disco’ had reached its zenith and Koch’s parents continued to ply him with early vinyl compilations, triggering what would become a serious and lifelong collection streak. T.’s burgeoning obsession went beyond disco and hi N-R-G – Village People, Donna Summer and Evelyn Thomas were soon followed by early rap music (via Grandmaster Flash) and finally – from 1983 – electro funk and its seminal protagonists Afrika Bambaataa, Planet Patrol, Newcleus and Mantronix. Their tracks had everything Koch craved: glam, funk, beats and bass. They were the soundtrack to a new dance culture. To Koch, this was love at first sight and he decided to take up breakdancing. Until this day, many of DJ T.’s own productions preserve the musical spirit of this period. Some loves do last forever.
Like many of his fellow DJs, Koch’s career on the decks began with trial stints at private parties, back in 1985. For his first professional gigs two years later he adopted the pseudonym DJ T - a moniker he retains to this day. Early fare on his turntables: black music in all its variants. Spinning at a range of different clubs in and around Frankfurt, T. soon found himself swept away by the powerful acid house wave that hit the city with the opening of Omen in 1988. Caught in the surge, Koch switched to straight beats and soon moved the crowds with early house, EBM and techno tracks, followed by his first residency at Frankfurt’s seminal Music Hall. Throughout the 90s, he played almost all of the city’s essential clubs, including extended stopovers at Plastik, Dorian Gray and The Box. By now Frankfurt, one of Europe’s foremost epicentres of electronic dance music, has become indelibly linked with the name DJ T. In 1999 Koch, Patrik Dechent and others opened their own club Monza and, for the next five years, Koch played a decisive part in shaping its profile. Impressive names like Steve Bug, DJ Hell, Ricardo Villalobos and Tiefschwarz were among the venue’s welcome and frequent guests. Run without Koch since 2004, Monza continues to claim its place among Germany’s foremost clubbing locations; its offshoot at Space/Ibiza counts among the island’s hippest events.
Moving back in time, in 1989 Koch founded the influential German-language magazine ‚Groove’. Until this day, Groove remains Germany’s most important and high-quality publication for the electronic aspects of life, alongside ‘De:Bug’. According to Koch, it was all about “creating a magazine that would meet my own needs. I assumed there were many others with similar needs out there.” And history proved him right. Besides serving as Groove’s publisher and author for fifteen years, he also contributed to anthologies on club music, among others ‘Localiser 1.0’ and ‘techno’.
Places of euphoria
In 2002, Koch and friends decided to start their own label, Get Physical Music. By now, the label’s popularity and fame has spread well beyond its Berlin base – reaching #4 (of favourite labels) in the annual Groove reader’s poll in 2004, Get Physical also claimed the coveted ‘label of the year 2005’ slot of British club bible DJ Mag. One would be hard-pressed to find a single techno/house DJ around the world who does not reach for at least one Get Physical track when things get hot.
Featuring six seasoned veterans of electronic music and club culture, the label collective also includes DJ and production team Patrick Bodmer and Philipp Jung (otherwise known as M.A.N.D.Y.) as well as producers and studio owners Booka Shade (Walter Merziger, Arno Kammermeier, Peter Hayo). Focussing on A&R, Koch tirelessly scours the scene for new talents, soaks up demos, establishes contacts and takes care of those already signed and their current productions. And yet, besides all these activities, Koch still finds time pursue his own artistic endeavours.
2000 saw the release of his first production with ‚Monsterbaze’, a Steve Bug co-production on the latter’s Pokerflat label. Ever since - discounting a co-operation with Freestyleman on Moodmusic - Koch has stayed true to his own label. After five years as a musician in his own right and a move to Berlin, Koch was ready to unleash his first album ‘Boogie Playground’ (2005), a reverence-laden and referential piece of music paying homage to T.’s own past and all those variants of early club music that had shaped his future path. Balancing all these citations and moods that gave classic funk and electro as well as disco, italo and acid house their good name, ‘Boogie Playground’ wraps them all up in contemporary sound design. A new album is in the planning for 2007: moving beyond Koch’s 70s and 80s roots, we can expect a strong Detroit and Chicago slant.
In addition, Koch’s talents as a remixer have not gone unnoticed. His interpretations of acts like Spektrum, Mylor or Newcleus plus remixes for labels like ArtofDisco/Yellow, 20:20 Vision, Simple and Naked Music have moved critics and crowds alike. Berlin daily ‘taz’ on his recently released, first commercially available DJ mix ‘Body Language Vol. 2 ‘ (2006): “Koch combines tracks from the most varied of genres. And yet, his goal is aligned to the mix’s ideal location – triggering the most disparate of euphoria-soaked locations, he touches on the different wave forms of twenty years of party bliss.” An apt description of DJ T.’s club sets. Whether, like every weekend, somewhere in Europe or on one of his extensive tours of North and South America, Australia or – soon – Asia: T.’s sets are invariably stirring and extraordinarily varied. In this Koch is most certainly no ‘style fascist’, but rather something like a bass and groove addicted club historian with a firm grip of the present. His sets turn 25 years of electronic music history into one fine, homogenous blend, reminiscent of expansive narratives that transform the significant links between genres and ages into a physical experience. Yet despite all this track-inherent party spirit, Koch also knows how to send 6pm crowds into veritable danceathons – the tireless Watergate and Panoramabar favourite can probably tap it out in Morse code.
Michael Saager
Influences
Mr. Robot
Sounds Like
August Chart
1. Jona - Take Five
2. Ame, Schwarz &Dixon - D.P.O.M.B (Version 1)
3. Daniel Mehlhardt - Fata Morgana
4. Texi - Texi (DCI 001)
5. Jamie Jones & Simon Baker - Full Moon
6. Gel Abril - Spells of Yoruba
7. Transform - Transformation (Tobi Neumann & Matthey Styles Remix)
8. Meat vs Wood- No Sad Beat
9. Layo & Bushwacka - Now Is The Time
10. DJ T. - Outbreak
February 08
15.02.08 - Residenz, Paderborn (DE)
16.02.08 - DIY@Uebel & Gefhrlich, Hamburg (DE)
22.02.08 - Motel, Athen (GR)
23.02.08 - Roof Club, Darmstadt (DE)
28.02.08 - Dedge, Sao Paulo (BR)
29.02.08 - Confraria das Artes, Florianopolis (BR)
March 08
01.03.08 - Pacha, Buenos Aires (AR)
07.03.08 - Aura, Monterrey (MX)
08.03.08 - Move Club, Mexico City (MX)
14.03.08 - not available
15.03.08 - not available
19.03.08 - Cabaret Voltaire, Edingburgh (GB)
20.03.08 - Lolita, Barcelona (ES)
21.03.08 - The Eye, Gothenburg (SWE)
22.03.08 - Rust, Copenhagen (DK)
28.03.08 - not available
29.03.08 - not available
April 08
05.04.08 - Shape, Perth (AUS)
05.04.08 - Climate Festival, Melbourne (AUS)
06.04.08 - Bondi Beach, Sydney (AUS)
11.04.08 - not available
12.04.08 - not available
18.04.08 - Melkweg, Amstersdam (NL) tbc
19.04.08 - Decadance, Thessaloniki (GR)
25.04.08 - Studio Martin, Bucharest (RO)
26.04.08 - Watergate, Berlin (DE)
May 08
02.05.08 - not available
03.05.08 - not available
09.05.08 - not available
10.05.08 - not available
16.05.08 - not available
17.05.08 - not available
23.05.08 - Get Physical@Gazgolder, Moskau (RU)
24.05.08 - Romy S., Stuttgart (DE)
25.05.08 - Kiesgrube, Neuss (DE)
30.05.08 - Kerrosin, Augsburg (DE)
31.05.08 - Get Physical@ Bootshaus, Köln (DE)
June 08
06.06.08 - Get Physical@Rechenzentrum, Berlin (DE)
07.06.08 - Showbox, Dresden (DE)
13.06.08 - not available
14.06.08 - not available
19.06.08 - Liquid Club, Barcelona (ES)
20.06.08 - Monza&Get Physical meets Cadenza@Raum Open Air, Barcelona (ES)
21.06.08 - not available
22.06.08 - Bar 25, Berlin (DE)
27.06.08 - Op Art, Lisabon (PT)
28.06.08 - not available
July 08
05.07.08 - Kosmos Nash Festival, Lake Island Minsk (BY)
12.07.08 - T In The Park Festival, Glasgow (GB)
12.07.08 - Sub Club, Glasgow (GB)
17.07.08 - Monza@Privilege, Ibiza (ES)
18.07.08 - not available
19.07.08 - not available
25.07.08 - not available
26.07.08 - not available
August 08
01.08.08 - Club Knarz, Kiel (DE)
02.08.08 - Fabric, London (GB)
03.08.08 - Gruenanlage, Hamburg (DE)
08.08.08 - Get Physical Night@Music Unlimited@c/o Pop, Köln (DE)
10.08.08 - Panorama Bar, Berlin (DE)
15.08.08 - not available
16.08.08 - not available
21.08.08 - Monza@Privilege, Ibiza (ES)
23.08.08 - Electrosonic, Burgos (ES)
24.08.08 - Bar 25, Berlin (DE)
26.08.08 - Cookies, Berlin (DE)
29.08.08 - not available
30.08.08 - not available
September
05.09.08 - not available
06.09.08 - not available
11.09.08 - Get Physical Night@Rex, Paris (FR)
12.09.08 - Mood, Karlsruhe (DE)
13.09.08 - Gerberei, Schwerin (DE)
20.09.08 - Reworks Festival, Thessaloniki (GR)
26.09.08 - not available
27.09.08 - not available
October
02.10.08 - X-Club, Herford (DE)
03.10.08 - Tribehouse, Neuss (DE)
04.10.08 - Nasty, Nürnberg (DE)
11.10.08 - Dirty Disco, Leeds (GB)
15.10.08 - Brussel meets Berlin@ ICC, Berlin (DE)
24.10.08 - Qube, Heilbronn (DE)
25.10.08 - Rocker, Stuttgart (DE)
28.10.08 - Flex, Wien (AT)
31.10.08 - not available
November
01.11.08 - not available
08.11.08 - Creamfields Festival, Buenos Aires (BR)
28.11.08 - Bootshaus, Koln (DE)
29.11.08 - Match, Munchen (DE)
December
05.12.08 - PSA Club, Kiev
06.12.08 - Hive Club, Zurich
13.12.08 - Airport, Würzburg (DE)
more dates to follow.....
ALL DATES, VENUES AND TIMES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. PLEASE CHECK WITH VENUE FOR CONFIRMATION. THANK YOU.
please do not post msn / myspaceim / demos / promos / listening requests here.
If you would like your music to be heard:
send 'DEMOS' (CD) and 'PROMOS' (2 x VINYL) to DJ T.
C/O GET-PHYSICAL MUSIC, MILASTRASSE 2, 10437 BERLIN, GERMANY.
thank you/danke.
