Who wrote this?
I had the honour of having a short chat with Motor City Drum Ensemble yesterday. For those not familiar with Motor City Drum Ensemble, this name must immediately make you think of Detroit, after which your first instinct would probably be that you were dealing with a collective of pioneers from this famous music city. All wrong. Motor City Drum Ensemble is Danilo Plessow, a single guy from Stuttgart, Germany’s motor city.
To start off easy, who is Motor City Drum Ensemble, and what does he sound like?
“I’m a producer and DJ from Stuttgart, Germany, now living in Cologne close to the Dutch border. Musically, the project is about bringing back some warmer sound to house and techno music. You know, analogue, raw.. Very much in the spirit of the ‘golden age’ of house”
Get Deep Mixcast Vol 6 – Motor City Drum Ensemble by Get Deep
What do you think of Amsterdam’s music scene? You’ve played here before, do you have any special connection to our small town?
“You guys are quite spoiled for sure. Considering the size of the city there is really a LOT going on. I think Rush Hour have a lot of influence so the crowd is usually quite sophisticated, which I really like.”
Your playing at Het Kabinet in Amsterdam next week, organized by the people of Dekmantel who are known for having a passion for that exact sound you just mentioned. Looking forward to it?
“Yes, very much! I’m good friends with Casper & Thomas (Dekmantel). Aa a matter of fact I met my girlfriend on one of their parties, so I’m sure it’s gonna be great as always.”
Is there any night in Amsterdam in particular that you remember well?
“Well, of course said night where I met my girl, that was at the Stubnitz some years ago. And I also quite liked this years ADE Planet E party.”
Ah, the Stubnitz. We miss that boat here nowadays.. About you, you’re known as a successful producer, but you also DJ a lot. How do you see yourself first? DJ or producer?
“I’ve always considered myself a producer first, as I only started to DJ once I had released my first record, eleven years ago. But to be honest, these days I really play a lot and not necessarily find that much time to work on music, so its kind of hard to say..”
Do you miss spending a lot of time in the studio?
“Sometimes I do, but then again I also love DJing. And it’s not like I can’t work on music at all, there are just no more studio all-nighters five times a week for me.”
Nowadays you DJ all over the world. What is your favourite club or city to perform at?
“There are so many nice places on this planet, really. I’m still constantly amazed by some of the destinations I travel to. This year, my personal highlight was the D:Edge club in São Paulo and I also really liked my Sunday afternoon set at the Berghain garden.”
About your sound, are there any colleague DJ/producers you can specifically appreciate, relate to or get inspired by? Can you name a track that you see a recent genius discovery?
“As a DJ, I love Rahaan, Sadar Bahar and Theo Parrish if he`s in the right mood. Also, Prosumer from Ostgut Ton and Gerd Janson. Production wise, I mostly like older stuff because of the aesthetics, but there is also a lot of good new music being made right now. Today I bought some records for instance; the Arthur Verocai reissue of Kindred Spirits, some boogie from Henderson & Whitfield and that new Daphni aka Caribou 12″.”
Last question, what’s in the future for MCDE?
“I’m trying to work on an album right now, plus there are gonna be new releases on my own label from new artists and myself as well. Also, the usual travelling!”
The hard life of an artist! Go check out MCDE at Het Kabinet next Saturday. You won’t regret it.
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