Hamburg isn’t the first city you think off when you consider global hubs for nightlife, but Hamburg has turned out to be the quiet achiever. Recently named as the world’s number one city for nightlife, Hamburg has well and truly situated itself as a destination for nocturnal activities. And right in the middle of that is local heroes Adana Twins (btw they aren’t real twins)…
Formed in 2006, Adana Twins was forged through a platform of laid-back hip-hop alongside techno. Their 2012 Exploited Records offering, ‘Strange’ and ‘Everyday’, really showcased their wide-ranging musical upbringing (‘Strange’ was a tribute towards 60’s act The Doors) – and also opened them up to a global audience. Since then, the duo has been on a production tear, their deep take on house endearing themselves wherever they play.
Of late, they have started to dabble with a more muscular techno sound, point in case the recent outdoor festival-sounding throb of ‘Uncompromising, released earlier this year on fellow Hamburg producer Solomon’s Diynamic imprint (it also spent a fair amount of time on the Beatport charts).
The duo will be heading to Australia and New Zealand over the new year with dates at festivals like Beyond the Valley and Earth just outside of Melbourne, Space Ibiza in Sydney and also Rhythm and Alps in New Zealand. Other dates include the Tiny Dancer NYD event in Melbourne and Revolver Upstairs the week after. Ahead of their arrival the duo took some time to prepare a mix featuring music form acts like Rodriquez Jr, Margot, Denis Horvat, and recent Balance Selections compiler Tim Engelhardt. Prepare yourself for a double injection of deepness from Hamburg’s finest.
Balance Selections Q+A
Name:
Benjamin Busse, Jan Friso Traas
Location:
Hamburg
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/adanatwins/
Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/adanatwins
Alias/Producer name:
Adana Twins
Labels affiliated with:
Watergate
My last 3 releases: :
What music did you listen too as a child?
My Dad was listening a lot to Bob Marley and UB40. He is a big fan. My mum was totally different and loved tracks from German artists Marianne Rosenberg and Münchner Freiheit. None of them was a musician though. As a really young kid I was totally into David Hasselhoff. No wonder. Knight Rider was a big thing for us German kids 😉 A bit later I got my taste back and went straight to Hip Hop.
When was the first time that you realized that you liked electronic music?
During my my hip hop time. I was totally into electronic breakdance tunes. I’m coming from a small and quite unknown town in Germany called Celle. However, this city was the birth place of the Battle Of The Year. The annual breakdance World Championship. It all started with 200 people in a small school hall and now fills huge sports arenas with capacities of 10.000 and more people.
When was the first time you saw a DJ in a club?
It was maybe 1998 or 1999 at HipHop Jam in Celle. The Location was CD Kaserne and the DJ was called Tha Joka and we all looked up to him as he already had some nice positions in the DMC or ITF DJ battles during this time.
Which producers/artists/acts inspire you?
I was and I am still a big fan of DJ Premier or Havoc of Mobb Deep. All of their tracks were bangers and we were listening a lot to them and spinned their beats during our weekly Freestyle Sessions. In our scene today I really like what Denis Horvath, Patrice Baumel and Ruede Hagelstein are doing.
What was the last album that you downloaded/bought?
It’s from the German artist Trettmann called D.I.Y. !!! Amazing stuff and almost every day on repeat.
What is your current production and DJ set up like?
We use 3 CDJs 2000 Nexus and an Allen & Heath Xone 92 plus an external Strymon Blu Sky Reverb. When we play all night long at our ALLNIIGHT events we also really like it to play on the Rane MP2015. We love it to play music from USB Sticks on CDJs. It gives us the most freedom during our sets. In the studio we do everything in the box. Ableton is the DAW and we use a lot plug ins and VST from U-HE, Cableguys, Waves, or Native Instruments.
What releases do you have on the horizon?
We just finished a remix for Nic Fanciulli and we are more than happy with the result. Stay tuned!! Also, we are working on our next EP for Watergate which is scheduled for early 2018. Then there is an exclusive track from us on the upcoming Fabric mix by Tale Of Us and we are releasing a 4 Track EP on Afterlife next summer. Additionally, we have a big surprise at the end of next year!! We can’t say much more yet 😉
Where can we hear you perform?
We have ALLNIIGHT residencies at Watergate in Berlin and Uebel & Gefährlich in Hamburg. Besides this you can hear us in your favorite club around the world 😉
Tell us more about the podcast you made for Balance?
We made the mix on a laptop with Ableton, playing some of the tracks we currently like the most. Hope you guys like it! ☺
My Recommendations
The top track in my DJ wallet currently is:
Shame on us… it’s an unreleased track from us called “Sequence 01” ☺
If I could recommend only one of my tracks for you to listen to it would be:
Ebrietas! It’s Trance in an elegant way. You will be able to hear it on our parties or sometime next year, when it comes out.
If I could recommend only one track for you to listen to it would be:
Hildegard Knef – Ich liebe Euch.
My favourite Balance compilation is:
Alex Niggemann and Patrice Bäumel
The last movie I watched that I really liked:
Last week: Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Hahaha. It’s so packed and full of cliché. Stupid Saturday night entertainment on a free weekend ☺
My favourite TV show:
Stranger Things.
If I could choose anyone to compile a Balance comp it would be:
DJ Koze
Tracklist
1. Internacional Electrical Rhythms – Furia [Lossless]
2. Amine K – Hyperion [Souvenir Music]
3. Tim Engelhardt – Beyond Time (Fideles Remix) [Poker Flat]
4. Darlyn Vlys – Night Hunter [Beachcoma]
5. A1 – Glide
6. Denis Horvat – Patchouli [AEON]
7. Magit Cacoon – Deadman AF [Muna Musik]
8. Distale – Green Room [Upon You]
9. Rodriguez Jr – An Evidence Of Time (Claude Von Stroke Remix) [Mobilee]
10. Margot – Apple S [Hivern Discs]
11. Joe Goddard – Truth is Light (Rimbaudian Remix) [Domino]
