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Music

We Spoke to Henrik Schwarz About His New Compilation, and Working With an Orchestra

"Techno music is the most essential music in the world"

In this hyper-aware world, the discussion of genre, and the omnipresent subject of how the internet has opened the floodgates for generic re-definition, has thrown out a seemingly fail-safe answer that genre now ceases to matter. With such a wealth of knowledge and technology constantly being enriched, why bother with genre? It's a tired concept, steadily being rendered defunct, and we should accept it as so.

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Yet, the idea that genre is not important seems baffling. Our ability to experiment with genre doesn't make genre unnecessary, it makes it a template from which to build something new, and this mind-set has come to define German house DJ and producer Henrik Schwarz. As one of the most revered figures working in house music, Schwarz's remixes of house, jazz, techno and even indie rock tracks have become borderline legendary, and Defected Records are set to honour this by making him the 20th edition of their House Masters series; a retrospective compilation spanning over a decade of collaborations, original productions and those beloved remixes.

Ahead of the release of Defected presents House Masters: Henrik Schwarz, we spoke to Schwarz about the projects that have been keeping him busy over the past two years, the challenges of crafting the perfect remix, and the experience of having his work cemented in the electronic music canon.

THUMP: How did the retrospective compilation come to be?

Henrik Schwarz: It was actually Defected's idea, but when they came to me about it I immediately thought it was the right time to do it. Around two years ago, I had the feeling that I wanted to take a look at a couple of new things for me; just to learn again, and to find some new ideas. That's why I put my release schedule on hold. Now that phase is over, and I look back on this collection and it's given be a backing for everything I'm doing now.

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What have you been working on recently?

Henrik Schwarz: It's all been music. New productions of my own. The starting point was when I was invited to work with an orchestra. I think they were expecting me to just add some beats to some classical music that was playing, but I wasn't at all into that. I thought that was the cheesiest thing I could do in that situation, so I made a serious effort with the project.

How did you manage to navigate that kind of project, coming from an electronic background?

Henrik Schwarz: Diving into that world took a lot of preparation. At the time, around three years ago, I couldn't really read sheet music or write notes. It was a real Pandora's box. In the end, I transcribed ten pieces of music into sheet music, and when they played 'Walk Music' with a twenty-five piece string section, I thought, "Man, this is really something you should go further and explore". I spend a lot of time now reading books about instruments, recording, and listening to a lot of classical stuff. Everything is recorded now with a big orchestra. That's going to be the big feel for my next album, which will be out this year.

Will this work be performed in the near future?

Henrik Schwarz: The orchestral project has been played in big concert halls in Zurich, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Berlin so far. We are planning to do it again, of course, but it's just such a huge production. It's difficult to set this all up, but there's a lot of excitement about it so I'm sure we'll do it again this year. I also have the feeling that I just want to make a proper 12" again that's not part of a huge production, and I'm also working on a solo album too. The material has been completed for about a year now, but I just got too involved in the orchestral work to release it. I just want to keep moving forward.

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I've always found your work has a distinct musicality to it, especially your remixes.

Henrik Schwarz: When I made the remix of Coldcut's 'Walk A Mile In My Shoes', I was just coming back from Bordeaux in France where I was working with a jazz band, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. That was a big thing for me. It was early in my career, and this band has asked me to join them on stage. I thought "Oh my god, they are magicians". I didn't know how I could possibly contribute, and I was frightened, but I travelled there because I was interested. They were so open to anything. We played some of their stuff, and then they asked me if I had something. So, I played 'Leave My Head Alone Brain', and they wrote down the notes and asked me who wrote it. I said that was me, and they were really surprised.

That must have been quite a moment for you.

Henrik Schwarz: That was a magic moment, to have somebody writing down the notes of a production of mine.  There was Cahill who was the band leader - one of the best kalimba players I had ever seen - and very energetic. They had this beautiful horn section too. When I came back from that experience, I was so filled with these kalimba sounds that I just started using the kalimba when I started the Coldcut remix. It came together very quickly, and it turned out to be maybe one of the most important remixes I had ever done.

You clearly enjoy a challenge; I think a huge part of what makes the retrospective compilation such a great listen is the breadth of influences you pull from. Some of your best remix work has been of tracks really removed from house music.

Henrik Schwarz: That's always been my starting point: to look at the total work from a different perspective, and then create an effect from it. For the remix of Ane Brun – 'Headphone Silence', this one helped me to open up, because it was the first remix request that came outside the dance world. I got this track that had nothing to do with dance music at all, but I found that very interesting from the first moment. I chased that feeling for a long time after this remix. I was always interested in getting stuff that came from somewhere else. 

I always felt that when I got remix requests - is this something that needs to be transferred into our world, or is it already there? For a long time, I was of a similar opinion of many other electronic musicians in that it's not necessary to learn instruments. I did everything I've done by self-training - learning scales on the keyboard and so on - but that's very far away from a trained musician. It's also a very common belief amongst producers that if you learn more formal composition techniques, then you'd be limited, and it might stop the creativeness of electronic music. But I've completely changed my mind about that since I've had piano lessons, and with all this contact with music theory. It is just another system. 'Leave My Head Alone Brain' was the first track where I had the feeling that now, for the first time, a production of mine was the melting point of everything I had heard so far. There was jazz, there was techno, there was electronic... I brought them all together in the right way for me.

You also have a collaborative track with Ben Westbeech, better known at the moment as Breach. How did that come about? I wasn't aware that you had worked together.

Henrik Schwarz: Well, yes, you're right, the name Breach is quite new to everyone, but Ben Westbeech has been around for several years now. When he recorded his album a few years ago, he approached me to see if I would produce something with him, and of course I said yes. He came to studio in Berlin  and we wrote 'Inflections' together, and I'm play it nearly every time I do my live show now. It captures such a wonderful energy to me.

And you have your long-term collaboration with Jesse Rose on the compilation too.

Henrik Schwarz: Working with Jesse is always fantastic. We share the same energy. Whenever he comes to Europe, we always meet in my studio. This was a nice collaboration but not as difficult as the others, because working with him always flows so naturally. 

I've always been intrigued by your transition from DJ to producer; having toured as a  DJ for over ten years before putting out any of your own material. What made you want to take that step? 

Henrik Schwarz: I think I always wanted to be a producer, but it just took me years to be able to play music. When I started there were drum machines and synths, but the computers couldn't even handle audio files. It was all just midi. All these things had to be learned, and it wasn't common that you make electronic music. There was nobody you could ask for advice. There was no internet, nothing, but I was fascinated by it so I sat there, in the basement of my parents house for ten years, trying to find out what was going on with all those machines.  But then of course, I was buying all these records too. DJing was easier! It just took a really long. I wasn't at all thinking that this would lead to a career. It was a dream just to release a record, to be honest.

Of the tracks on the compilation, which were the most challenging for you?

Henrik Schwarz: I'd say my remix of The Detroit Experiment – Think Twice was maybe the hardest of them all. Of course, I knew the original track, but there's a very well-known harmony in there that I didn't want to use. I thought it was overdone. I was fascinated by this Marcus Belgrave trumpet solo in the original. At that time I had no clue about harmonies, so I was recording what he was playing into Melodyne, and trying to figure out what he was doing. After trying to get it under control for about six weeks - shifting single notes up and down - it began to have some kind of harmonic environment for me so I could start working. I was sweating my ass off over it because this record was very important to me when it came out; when I got asked to do the remix, I had to make it perfect.

My remix of Code 718 – Equinox was also a hard one. There was a huge line in there which I listened to and played into MIDI notes; I had to almost step through some sounds that I used, but the line was so good you could do whatever you wanted. It can go forever. When we play it as Schwarzman, it's the same. It doesn't matter, you just play those notes and those chords and it's there. That fascinated me from the first moment.

How do you feel about the past ten or so years of your work, seeing it compiled in this way?

Henrik Schwarz: When I look at this compilation, I realise that I've always consciously followed the path of the unexpected. I'm fascinated by taking something from outside the dance world, and bringing it into the fold. I believe that electronic music occupies such a huge space, so if you grab that from another world, even if it's just a tiny little sample, it has all those energies, or connections of ideas, within them. We have the technology to transform work in a way that's accessible for all. Techno music is the most essential music in the world. 

You can follow Lauren Martin on Twitter here: @codeinedrums