Redevice invites legendary DeepChord to Cruquiusgilde

Apr 26, 2016 | by Chloë Arkenbout | Event, Music

About the author

Born and raised in Amsterdam, lives to dance and dances to live on electronic music, has a small vinyl addiction, appreciates a little sarcasm now and then, thinks musicals are annoying and loves those moments where you lose track of time completely.

Redevice had been providing you with quality music for years now. They invited artists such as André Galluzzi, Zip, Eric Cloutier and Abdullah Rashim to our town and RMFK, Anonym and San Proper have released on their label. This Friday they invited DeepChord to their home base Cruquiusgilde. This is a night you do not want to miss. But seriously, DeepChord is amazing. Enough reason for a chat with Frodo, one of the guys behind Redevice.

Redevice Soundsystem (Frodo, Pep and Jobbo) are closely involved with the Redevice home base Cruquiusgilde as well, right?
“Redevice Recordings was established ten years ago as an online label. Soon afterwards, because of our many connections with artists all over Europe, the label also evolved itself into club nights all over Amsterdam in places like Studio 80 and the Flexbar. But abroad as well, like Club der Visionäre in Berlin. While our catalog of releases and the number of events grew steadily, we always had a strong collective conviction that we needed our own club to take things to the next level.”

Accessibility, strong-headed underground programming, extended opening hours and an intimate atmosphere all came together at Cruquiusgilde.

“Things very important to us like accessibility (all people no matter what creed, color or sexual orientation should feel at home), strong-headed underground programming, extended opening hours (which guarantees a certain unobstructed interaction with the acts and their public) and an intimate atmosphere (the capacity was intentionally capped at 250) all came together at Cruquiusgilde in 2013. They also host studios for artists and a fully equipped space with machinery for young handicraft entrepreneurs. All these elements together create a special symbiosis which is greater then the sum of its parts. The fact that this initiative is temporarily (it’s to be demolished somewhere in 2017) gives it its unique momentum.”

Can you guys give me an example of a track that screams Redevice?
“Picking one track seems pretty darn impossible, but since our next event headlines DeepChord, the following track has made us bounce around like a bunch of loonies since 2005.”

You want to narrow the gap between production studio and dance floor. How do you want to achieve this?
“Our philosophy has always to recognize the importance of disconnecting making music of economic interests. Of course it’s fine if you can make a living by performing or producing, but if you come to depend on the mighty dollar as an artist, the danger is that the art suffers. That’s why all our releases are free, which gives our contributing artists a lot of freedom; the only thing they have to worry about is their artistic expression. There’s no reason to think of your music as a commercial product. All releases are set up as a couple of tracks by an upcoming artist, with one or two remixes by an artist who has some more notoriety. For instance, our latest release was by our good friend and talented artist Robin Kampschoer (who’s also performing live at our upcoming event) with two remixes by Brendon Moeller, which made a perfect and exciting fit.”

You guys have been throwing parties for a while now. Can you tell me a few highlights?
“One of our all-time favorite and all-round huggable artists is Zip. The times that he missed his flights because of after-after-after party duties are numerous. He was grinning from ear to ear when his flight was rescheduled while mumbling our catchy slogan: ‘Full power, no shower, after hour’ with a German accent.”

Did you see the Amsterdam party scene in general change over the years?
“Most certainly. What stands out the most to me is how fruitful today’s cultural climate is. Besides a ton of diverse clubs and festivals there are a lot of illegal raves and pop-up events taking place all across, which makes this a perfect era for a twenty-something person about to embark on this thing called electronic music. Don’t forget all the online radio stations and record stores that recently appeared due to the vinyl boom. We live in a time of plenty.”

You guys invited DeepChord to the next edition in Cruquiusgilde! Tell me more.
“What can I say? The man’s a legend in the dub-techno category. If you like your electronics deep, protrusive and obscure, come on down to Cruquiusgilde, you won’t regret it!”