Podcast #23, Bruno Morphet

Bruno Morphet has supported some of the biggest international names in techno, playing with the likes of Seth Troxler, Lee Burridge, Steve Bug, James Zabiela, Butane and Luciano on their tours of South Africa.

Bruno is  joint resident at Killer Robot spinning minimal and deep techno sounds every Friday and introducing SA to some of the finest underground talent on the radar. Cutting edge international talent and artists such as Bodycode, Butane, Ryan Crosson and Seth Troxler have all graced the decks at Killer Robot.

About You – Biography
My first gig was at a tiny venue in Cape Town called the Magnet. I was really into the jazz/latin/house hybrid sound that was coming out of London and Japan at the time and started off with this sound. I got hooked on deep house down the road at The Funktion though and this became a bit of a passion for me, the deeper the better. The first major club I got involved in was called Isis, playing uptempo big room house stuff, trying to squeeze in a deep tune here and there. From there I moved on to a few other places playing that style, always looking to play a bit more specialist, but at that time the deep house scene was locked down by a few people who played everywhere and were very wary of outsiders, so gigs playing what I really loved were hard to come by, but I got a few.

Eventually the now legendary More opened and I set up a night called Return to the Deep with Matt Carkeek playing very deep, purist house music. I guess the minimal aesthetic started here actually. A lot of those records verged on techno in their simplicity. I only really got my name out there properly through these nights, cos after that the bookings came a bit easier. I went to New York in 2000 and played there, and did a few gigs around SA. When More closed I found a residency at Deluxe with Jack Gorton, which was really great and gave us both a lot of leeway. After two years there, we were ousted by some characters who thought they could do a better job, and I only played the odd party, getting more and more into the minimalist techno sound. I met Ivan when we started playing together at some parties Trevor Mitchell was throwing and a short time later, Fiction opened.

We put together a concept called Killer Robot for their Friday night and became residents there alongside AK47. It took off almost immediately. Its been an amazing treat to be there for the last three years. I’ve played all over the country and abroad, and we’ve booked some of the best techno artists in the world and played alongside them, names like Butane, Troxler, Alex Smoke, Ryan Crosson etc. Personally I’ve opened up for the likes of Luciano, Guido Schneider and Steve Bug, all of them complete legends.

Can you describe your personal sound in a bit more detail?
Somewhere between house and techno I guess. It can be quite tough or quite lush, but its always got deepness. Thats what I look for when I buy music, that deep edge.

What/who have been Influences in your life?
The Funktion nightclub was a massive influence creatively. The key event was seeing Chris Brann and Deep C playing a gig there in about 1997. I had never been affected by dance music like that before. Other than that, so so many…Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Public Enemy, Jeff Mills literally endless list.

Who are some of your favorite producers?
Butane, David Alvarado, Shaun Reeves, Ryan Crosson, King Britt, Donato Dozzy, Glimpse, Matt Jonson, Lee Curtiss… lots.

Who are some of your favorite DJ’s
Butane, Garnier, Mills, Francois K, Weatherall, Seth Troxler

Best memories as a DJ?
Playing alongside all the amazing guests we’ve had at KR. Butane, Troxler, Crosson, Caulfield, Smoke, all of em. Doing a back to back set with Burridge and I think opening for Luciano had to be a high point as well.

What equipment do you use?
I play off Serato with turntables.

What can listeners/dance floors expect from a typical set of yours?
Depends on the time of night and my condition:)

Take us through this mix/set
1. Ryan Crosson – Slow Down – unreleased
Ryan sent this recently and I’ve been looking for the right place to use it. Its an awesome use of excursive jazz.

2.Jan Jelinek – Tendency – Scape
Jan Jelinek aka Farben has a very unique production style. He remakes old jazz records into ambient compositions. This one is a particular fave.

3.STL – Silent State – Smallville
Julius Steinhoff runs Smallville and is really going places with it. He played at KR in 08 and was utterly sublime. Glad to see Stephan Laubner aka STL recording with him.

4.Farben – So Much Love – Klang
Farben is the housier pseudonym of Jan Jelinek, and was a very important sound to discover for me. Respect to Keto of the late great Fat Circles for introducing me to him.

5.David Alvarado – Sunstone – Peacefrog
What can I say about David Alvarado. The man made the lushest, deepest house on this earth. This is a fairly old record, but still stands up credibly today.

6.Aaron Carl – Crucified (Rod Modell Like a River mix) – Millions of Moments
Aaron Carl meets Rod Modell…greatness.

7. 51 Days – Paper Moon – Touche
To me this WAS deep house in the 90′s. Not some guy with a sax and a diva screaming in your ear. This is the stuff I live for, but the majority of ‘deep house’ dancefloors have no patience for music like this. A shame.

8. Pheek – 5am Little Surprise (Butane mix) – Archipel
Butane is the after hours king. There is NO ONE who does after hours better.

9. Pablo Denegri, Sebastian Cohen – Lonex (Kate Simko Belgrano Yoda mix) – Igloo
Kate Simko can produce anything from ambient to banging techno. Right on.

10. Lee Curtiss – Vibrant Member – Cityfox
I met Lee at a crazy afterhours gig in Barcelona. He is a complete character and a makes records from the heart.

11. IA Bericochea – Wait – M_Nus
Bericochea is probably the last bastion of credibility in the M_Nus camp right now. Nuff said.

12. Hatikvah – Modern Times (Efdemin remix) – Baalsaal

13. O/V/R – Interior – Blueprint
This is James Ruskin’s new project and a great continuation of his deep techno sound. This one doesn’t let up.

14. Joel Mull – Soursweet (Petar Dundov mix) – Spectrum

15. Bloody Mary – Black Pearl (Sascha Funke remix) – Contexterrior
Beauty.

16. Arp Aubert – Actress (Alexander Polzin mix) – Mirau
had to end off with this. I’ve been in love with this track for years and recently started playing it out again. It has a lot of personal significance.

Concluding
I’ll be touring Germany in July, with a gig at Distillery in Leipzig lined up alongside Daniel Stefanik.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Downloaded 360 times

Host: Internet Archives
Filesize: 110 MB
Bitrate: 192KBPS MP3