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| the funk train with tom clark |
| 2007 |
| by Sara Girmp |
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After ten successful years of vinyl manipulation and creative contribution to the global and local Berlin club scene, Tom Clark - label owner, DJ and producer - has had a massive influence in both the house and techno worlds.
Whilst growing up Toms磗 musical influences were the sounds of Motown and Philly and the hip hop masters of the yesteryear. 创My biggest influences were hip hop and black music in the early eighties such as Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Prince, De La Soul, Jungle brothers.创 Many describe techno as being the fusion of Kraftwerk and george Clinton; the sterile perfection of the Germans and the funk and loose soul of the African Americans, so it is not surprising that the influence of the hip hop world and artists pushing the new wave sounds led Tom Clark into a career in digital soul. 创Nowadays I get influenced by my friends, my town and the jungle where I live.创 |
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Tom磗 first record label venture started in 1997. It was this year that he founded the Gold Plate Music imprint; a label (now absolete) which was highly influential to the infant record label scene in Berlin. Like many artists trying to push a certain sound aesthetic, Tom kept pushing on with his production, getting into new sounds and developing a fresh approach to house music and quirky beats, so in the year 2000 Highgrade Records and Laufwerk music both entered the house and experimental secenes. 创I started Highgrade and Laufwerk to act as a music platform for me and my friends创. Highgrade is an outlet, which focuses mainly on the deep minimalistic side of house with its dubby basslines and idiosyncratic melodies. 创The aim was to give German minimal deep house some new impulses by adding a typical Berlin flavour into its releases by reducing the house sounds to its purest form - groove and bass - and pumping this to the extreme.创
Tom磗 King Tide EP, on the Morris Audio label, goes through many different freaky beats with each track illustrating a different sound with a raw minimal edge. From some deep mellow soundscapes to a low slung dub bass layered with synths and quirky beats; each has an amazing depth and dance floor groove. So is the dance floor and crowd reaction an important aspect of his productions? 创My DJ sets vary from deep minimal house to electro and funky tech grooves and back to house. Normally I play my kind of style but when I notice the people are not getting it, I try to change the style a little bit, because I don磘 like to play to an empty dance floor.创
With a number of releases and the first Highgrade CD compilation on the way, Tom Clark is Australia bound. Tom wanted to leave us with some words of advice regarding his Australian gigs. 创Get on the funk train and let your self go!创
Tom Clark plays in Sydney at Mad Racket on 10th May, at Chinese Laundry Half Mad on 30th May, and in Melbourne on 24th May at Honkytonks. |
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