It was at Dance Valley 2000 in the Tortured Records hosted Techno tent that I first came across Chris Liebing. And on that blinding hot Dutch afternoon, I discovered a new sounding form of Hard Dance which has unknowingly had a rather large influence on my current preferred musical tastes.
Chris himself has seen his career progress at an alarming rate in the four years that have passed. Working tirelessly around the globe to promote his unique Techno sound, and championing a whole manner of advanced technology in which to expand the sonic impact of his art.
Before I’d discovered Liebing at the turn of the millennium, he’d already established himself as one of the leading players within the European Techno scene. Most notably through the club nights and parties he’d hosted throughout his native Germany and the mass of releases he was clocking up on labels such as Audio, Primate and his own Cl-Recordings and Stigmata. As well as highly respected remix work for artists as diverse as Sven Vath, Marshall Jefferson and The Horrorist. As his career has accelerated throughout the finest clubs and festivals across the globe, he’s arrived at the present day, very much an ‘a-list DJ’ rubber-stamped by his recent position of 23 in DJ Mags infamous top 100 (only bettered in the Techno stakes by Carl Cox…who lets face it plays House half the time anyway.)
2004 has been a busy year for Chris, and it’s here that we are going to concentrate on exactly what has been taking up his time. One of his biggest moves has been the establishment of Meganite, the successful Ibiza party he runs with Mauro Picotto. Ibiza is not foremost known for its Techno nights, and Meganite has been a very successful addition to Sven Vath and Richie Hawtin’s"Cocoon".
"Ibiza has been very adventurous for me this year, something new and experimental. It sustained a level of intensity week after week and shows that techno can be perceived very well on the Island. Carl Cox and Cocoon had put techno on the map and we proved this year what can be achieved. It shouldn’t be underestimated." Chris and Mauro will be back in Privilege on the Island next year and this should well wet the appetite of the UK's Techno loving holiday goers, as this Summer gone saw guests such as Cari Lekebush, Henrik B and Ben Sims join the two hosts on the decks. "We were expecting around 1,500 people and on our first night we had over 2000. We peaked at around 3,500 and were just speechless at the response we got. We can look back on this season as a learning curve, and will be in a position to improve next year and make it even more special."
Techno can be music in its purist Underground form. Intimate and sometimes illegal gatherings are where the roots of the sound and culture lie. But one thing missing for Chris this year were the after hours beach parties. "Due to new regulations they were sorely missed this year and some systems got confiscated. It’s a shame, because having fun is what Ibiza is all about. But I like to think our night helped represent that side of things. We had our own booth built on the floor, so the DJ was on the same level as the crowd and this gave it that intimate underground feeling. We also had an outside chill out area which mixed this atmosphere with the ideal and natural Ibiza setting."
Another venture that has been keeping Chris busy is the release of his Stigmata mix CD. A DJ compilation with a difference. Stigmata the label, was started in ‘99 with studio partner Andre Walter as an avenue for "our hardest production work." "We always felt that we wanted Stigmata to be one musical chapter. Ten releases of Loop orientated Hard Techno tracks. We tried to keep each release stripped down and raw sounding. No tracks that stood out too much, nothing too obvious and all in a similar style. Due to the success of the series we feel it would be a shame to end the label so we decided instead to release the CD as a finale to the first Chapter. And this leaves us to move forward onto Chapter Two."
Stigmata-Chapter One the Complete Collection has been in the pipeline for two years but had been left so Chris could find the time to concentrate on the project properly. The vinyl themselves were packaged in mysterious black covers imprinted with the Stigmata head motif (as is the CD packaging). The first nine releases all feature 4 tracks of the tough driving, yet funky sound while the tenth was a double pack with eight tracks. What sets this CD apart from the norm is that it features all 44 tracks from the label. Flawlessly mixed in a unique way using the Ableton Live program.
"First of all I used the program to cut each track down to around its finest two minutes. And then after working out the order in which they should be presented I spliced them back together to form one big loop." And if anyone should question Chris’s underground credentials with his Ibiza and Top 100 success, one listen to this CD should put all doubt aside.
The bizarre compilation of this mammoth mix was not enough to satisfy Chris’s intuitive ideas, and he has gone a step further offering the chance for people to download the Stigmata parts from his website www.cl-rec.com as well as a demo version of live from www.ableton.com . "Ableton have produced something way advanced of anything else available to the DJ/Producer, and this joint venture is a good form of promoting their program as well as my label. People now have the chance to down load the same audio files I used for the compilation, and will be able play around with them in Live to create a new version of the mix... That may even turn out to be better than the one I have used!"
And this isn’t the first time Chris has encouraged people to be part of his music. His recent remixes project enabled samples of his tracks to been downloaded, with a competition then set for budding producers to remix the work with the best efforts released on his CL Recordings label. "I want more people out there to understand the process’s involved in making music. I took down the barriers so there was no mystery in the hope that people would be able to find their own creativity." Concepts and forward thinking ideas seem to be part and parcel of the artist persona Chris has created for himself. His first artist album "Evolution" released in 2003, tried to take a step away from his 12" "dance floor orientated" tracks and was written and arranged to take the listener on a deep journey encouraging thoughts about the evolution of mankind (apparently inspired by the theories of Stephen Hawking’s!), set to a soundtrack of various different Techno forms. These ideas are also represented in his DJ sets. Chris can quite happily play for as long as six to eight hours with trusty old vinyl providing only a section of the sound. "I’m always interested in testing new technologies and when playing like to combine digital and analogue. Vinyl mixed with Final Scratch and various different effects is the way forward for me, as it enables me to be more creative and means I can create a unique and individual set each time I play."
Having just recently created a promotional tour of America for Stigmata, Chris believes that the future of world Techno is looking strong. "The USA is somewhere I travel with little expectations. Stupid laws have meant they have never really been able to build up a great culture, but this year it was really good. I played some great nights with great vibes and the crowds seemed a lot more open minded." A visit to England this December to play at Antiworld’s massive Paradise City on Dec 4th brings Chris back to our shores which "have always been a little bit of a mystery to me," to co headline the Teknoworld arena, giving us all the chance to check his amazing performance.
Next year asides from Ibiza season two we can expect to see the follow up to his "Collabs" project on Novamute with Speedy J, and Chris also talks of their DJ/Live sets where they use a concoction of decks, laptops, effects and live instruments to perform a live Techno jam. (Now this is something I’d like to see over here!). As well as this, a continued intense touring schedule and many new productions, collaborations and remixes on the horizon, there looks like little sign of Liebing slowing down. Chris is very charming, relaxed and enthusiastic as he talks about his achievements and ideas… I just can’t help sense that this is a man who likes to stay busy!
