Apparat is a German electronic musician living in Berlin and one of the owners of Shitkatapult records. In 2004, he appeared at a John Peel session. The tracks from this session were rerecorded and reworked in the studio and released as Silizium EP in 2005, as a tribute. In 2007 he formed his own band to play the album Walls live. Raz Ohara joined him playing the stage piano and Jörg Waehner on drums. Next to playing these live shows, he continued to play his solo live sets, touring with Transforma Visuals. In May 2009 he released the self-titled album with Modeselektor under the name Moderat on BPitch Control. They have collaborated previously on an EP named Auf Kosten Der Gesundheit which was released as a limited 12″ in 2002. Apparat’s single ‘Holdon’ features in the trailer for the 2010 Teton Gravity Research ski film ‘Light The Wick’.
Facts
1: Yes
2: No
3: Maybe
Questions
What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
hmm. It´s quite a while ago. I´m a very moody person and I think I can only draw inspiration from something if I´m in the right mood for it. It can be anything. A movie, other music or just silence. I seriously think I should not make music for a year. Maybe it´ll get better/easier. I´ll do this when my next album is done.
How and when did you get into making music?
My father was a musician and I already hung out at rehearsal rooms and gigs when I was 5. I started playing drums quite early but gave up when I discovered electronic music.
What are your 5 favourite albums of all time?
autechre – amber
radiohead – kid a
fennesz – venice
plasticman – music
max richter – the blue notebooks
What do you associate with Berlin?
I used to connect my city with grey buildings, green gaps between them and lots of space to make stuff happen but berlin is changing fast and “szenebezirk prenzlauer berg” starts to bore me a bit.
What’s your favourite place in your town?
My most favorite places are outside of Berlin. Märkische Schweiz for example. I love to escape from time to time. I didnt have a motorbike this year. It got stolen in spring, I was touring a lot and didn’t really manage to get a new one but thats something I definitely have to do next spring.
If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
I think something without computers. Something with animals? I could work in a filmcrew doing animal documentaries! If any producer reads this – I would still consider to switch;)
What was the last record you bought?
I think it was the new interpol record but actually I havent really listened to it. First attempts turned out not totally pleasant. I´ll buy the new antony and the john sons tomorrow… 8.
Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Modeselektor and ellen allien. and maybe telefon tel aviv one day. seriously – I have really talented friends.
What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
Really liked a sigur ros gig at columbiahalle in Berlin. Maybe 4 years ago. I think I cried a little.
How important is technology to your creative process?
It gets less and less important. When I started apparat it was pretty much based on technology. Then I changed over the years. I was a nerd for long enough. These days I write songs on a piano. Not every one but it happens. And if my hard drive gets stolen I can just record the same song again. You cannot do this with computermusic. Pure electronic music is oftenpartually idea and partually sound. And sometimes it’s really hard to reproduce a sound. There’s quite a bit of rand omness involved. But its hard to loose an idea. Maybe if I dont stop drinking so much it´ll happen more often in the future though.
Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career?
I have a sister and she started to come to my gigs lately. I mean she came to 2 shows which means it wasn’t too bad for her the first time. I hope.
Our Favourites:
Black water
The dev’ils walk
A violent sky
Links: Soundcloud | apparat.net
