David is a young DJ and producer who has established himself within the Frankfurt/Offenbach house scene.Having played at all of the city’s key venues (Silbergold, Tokonoma, AMP) and as a regular at the legendary Robert Johnson club in Offenbach, he has become a recognised and respected figure in the local underground circuit.
He feels most at home playing early New York Garage or Chicago house records.
In 2024, David released his debut album on the Berlin-based label Loser Records. Later that year, he made his first appearance on CHIWAX (also known as RAWAX), earning strong support from both the national and international electronic music community.
Recently, Loser Records released a remix EP of his album Patience, featuring reworks by DJ Sommer, Longhair, and a Chicago house-inspired mix by David himself.
He also released a two-track EP with Ba.Dido on Tom Carruthers' UK-based label Indulgence Records, which - similar to the remix EP - focuses on the Chicago-influenced side of house music.
Most recently, Pleasant Systems published the Next Stop EP, also featuring remixes by Manuel Darquart and Tilman.
Hey David, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background and what first got you interested in electronic music?
~ Hi, first and foremost thanks for the invite, it’s a pleasure for me! I’m David, 24 years on this earth and currently living in Frankfurt am Main.
I first stepped into music with my grandpa, he used to sing almost everyday with me when I was a little child. At 12 years I started to take piano lessons, then tried guitar but lost interest as it seemed too limited in comparison to the piano; which sound I liked more anyway. That was a nice fundament, thanks to my parents at this point, for the very early (and ongoing) support. The actual breaking point was a vacation to Italy with my family when I was 15. I saw and heard a DJ playing records at a festival and figured that this is the place I want to be and the thing I want to do or at least try. I called my friend Chris, who is crazy good in playing piano, and asked if we want to make beats and play music together. We started with pretty mainstream music, played here and there and had enough fun to keep things going, although I would eventually go solo.
You were raised in Munich and moved to Frankfurt a few years ago. How do you think living in Frankfurt has influenced you both musically and personally?
~ Living in a “smaller“ city helped me focus on important things (not only music related stuff), getting to know the venues and the people involved was very easy - Munich has a lot of venues, which felt a bit overwhelming and I often asked myself where to start, who are the people to connect with. Just after the pandemic I really committed myself to music as I’m doing it now, so I’ve met likeminded people pretty much in 2022, also mainly through the Riviera Records Store. But when I met all these people, I’ve already decided to leave Bavaria, things might have come really different if I’ve got to know these people earlier…
Anyway, everybody in Munich told me that house is a big thing in Frankfurt and that motivated me even more to move. Shortly after I arrived, someone reached out to me who I can now call one of my greatest friends. Phillip Kluge is also into house and digs deep in the queer history of this genre that we both love so much. He taught me many things I didn’t know about the music-related history of New York City and instantly found ourselves digging even harder into this music - and fantasizing. He’s one of the first and greatest influences I experienced when I moved here. I’m also growing as an individual through a wonderful circle of people I’m happy to call my friends. They bring a lot of new, modern and wholesome perspectives into my life; they hold me when I’m close to falling and for that I’m beyond grateful!
What’s a typical day in the life of David? Do you have a daytime job or do you make music full time?
~ My current studio is one of 4 rooms that Anthony Rothers rented in the 90s. While helping me troubleshoot, I took my chance to ask him how could have afforded this. He told me: „well, back then you earned money with making music“.
I wish that was true, I’m supporting myself through daytime jobs, mostly in finance - which might be ironic considering how tough it is to find the right balance between the thing which pays my living costs and music.
Your EP „Next Stop“ came out on Pleasant Systems some days ago, congratulations! How did the idea for the record come about?
~ Pearlstreet was first, and this track is inspired by some MK releases he did between 1993 and 1996. I’m only saying: the sax.
Snapping hands is an attempt at chicago- and jacking house, inspired by another great friend: Ido Toledano. With him, Phillip Kluge, Henry Werk and Marcel Heine, I started Studio Delicious where we produce music, together or solo.
Can you bit about the process?
~ Pearlstreet started with drums, then the bassline (Korg M1 Organ 2) and one vocal sample from „Feeling Free - 2 Degrees Of Seperation“. Then the sax (metaphorically pointing my finger at MK again). This track got a few chapters with a long intro for club use, later a bridge strikes with a different bassline, laidback and hot, and after coming back to the original theme, brass chords ring the end of this track. From time to time, my tracks take on a melancholic yet dreamy character; a natural result of my studio sessions, which often last at least five hours. As the hours pass, not only do my moods shift, but the direction of the projects does too. You can really hear that here.
So Snapping hands started with sampling this Deee-Lite vocal. I got the acapella vinyl last year when Dario aka Lambolove sold some records at a flea market, thank you Dario!
I chose the Roland TR 707 for the drums because for this project I wanted to have a little „chicago-flair“. To fulfil this goal I used my Yamaha Dx7 with a „Solid Bass“ preset. But besides the flute and the pitched Juno 106 chords there was not much more to add. The vocal takes a great space. I remember that I recorded more material for that project, but I kicked some stuff out. The arrangement is faster than in Pearlstreet, but what the two tracks have in common is the part with the bridge and the bassline-change. When thinking about the future I’m eager to dig deeper into songwriting related arrangements; let’s see.
How is your studio looking and which pieces are your favourite at the moment? How do you start a new tune?
~ It’s a 20 square-meter room packed with old keyboards to the left and the right, a 24 Input/Output mixing console in the center. The main brain is my MPC2000 XL. I use it for programming drums and playing synthesizers; everything via two midi-chains.
My drum-gem is the Roland R8; DJ Sommer told me about this machine and I immediately got lost in it; Sommer and me share the opinion that this quirky little plastic thing has one of the best swings when it comes to house/garage music.
Besides this I often use the Emu Proteus or the Roland XV 3080 with the platinum expansion card. We have some 16 bit romplers which are my favourite machines in general. The „toastier“ it sounds, the more I like it.
Most of the time I start programming drums from the R8 + extra drums from the Roland TR 707 or the Elektron Octatrack. Once I have enough drums to carry on, I start with the melodic parts.
Which artists made the biggest impression on you lately and why?
~ I think, as for many people, Kerri Chandler was my door-opener to US Garage. But the one who really blew my mind was Peter Rauhofer aka Club 69. Sometimes it sounds not necessarily like underground music but „Adults Only“, with its sexually loaded storytelling and little surprises here and there, made me think about fantasies and transmitting them through music.
What methods do you typically use to discover new music? Do you still enjoy digging around in dusty crates, or do you prefer to buy online?
~ Almost 95% of the records I have at home are out of dusty crates, once or twice a year I’ll order something from Discogs if there is a nice offer, sometimes I’m discovering nice music on the gram.
I really like sitting down and hearing through a lot of records, I don’t mind if it takes 2 or 3 hours. It’s one of my favourite „forgetting-your-daily-problems“-activity.
How do you approach a DJ set? Do you plan what you will play, or do you decide spontaneously?
~ It really depends… if I want to play freshly bought records, it helps me to sort them in some kind of way. But if there is a stack of records I already know, I’ll decide spontaneously.
Can you tell us a bit about the mix? Were there any particular thoughts or themes behind it?
~ I thought about having more or less of an intro, for that I usually pick two tracks before coming to a more „straight forward“ sound. On this mix I preselected like 7 or 8 tunes but I realised very quick that these won’t be enough (as always). So I added 5 more tunes to it. All in all its a very clubby and uplifting mix; you can be sure that I’ll play some of these tunes in the next months.
What do you have up your sleeve for the rest of the year?
~ There are some, but not many, DJ gigs confirmed yet. The one I want to highlight for now is the first D.I.P.-night in Frankfurt, a group project I have with Phillip and Ido. We are inviting a very skilful and kindhearted person over to Silbergold; which makes us very happy as it took quite some time to make this night happen!
Besides that my second record on Chiwax „Down To Join Volume 2“ might be released soon with an awesome remix by the Parisian garage house wizard Lucas Moinet.
I’m a bit sad that the summer is almost over, but I’m looking forward to spend a lot of time at the studio, play billiard, watch films and making lovely yet blurry memories at the kneipen in trust.