This Saturday (April 4) Nick Höppner, one part of innovative EDM crew MyMy, hops down the rabbit hole with his eclectic electric tune-age in tow. His broad approach to electronic music defies genre and leads to some of the most interesting, creative sets coming out these days.

You got your start in electronic music not as an artist, but as an editor with Groove Magazine in Germany. Can talk about the importance of the press in the electronic music industry and how the role of the press has evolved over the years.

Back in 1999, when I first started with Groove, the Internet was around but it was nowhere near as important as it is today. There was no such thing as Resident Advisor, the blogs and all the other sites. The magazines were so influential; it’s where everyone went to learn about the new music and what was happening.

But today, everything has changed. Most of the print magazines are gone and the Internet has come up in its place. For example, Groove is now publishing every other month. By the time they report on something, it’s already old news on the websites like Resident Advisor. In that sense, Resident Advisor has a huge advantage on the remaining print publications.

But it’s still very important to have the media covering us, so fans and artists can continue to find out about new music and events. So now we have these websites with lots of interaction between the clubbers, the DJ’s, producers and the media. It’s great that I can get instant opinions from fans about new releases and club nights. That’s something we never had back then and it’s very valuable.

So how was MyMy started? Did you guys start the group with some sort of specific intention?

No, not at all. The decision to form MyMy was not thought about at all. It was very spontaneous. We – Carsten, Lee and myself – were a circle of close friends who lived in Berlin. We partied hard and just decided to come together a form a group. Lee Jones came from London to Berlin and originally didn’t even really like dance music. He came here as a chillout and downtempo artist who was already making a name for himself doing that. However, once he got to Berlin, he quickly started liking club music. Before meeting Lee, I had started to do a little producing but it was not really something I was serious about. I started working with Lee and Carsten and it just all came together. Lee brought his tremendous technical skills to the group while I introduced him to the DJ’ing. It just all worked out nicely and we learned about the business as we went along.

When we formed the group, we never decided to pursue a particular sound. We each have our own influences, so that obviously plays into the music we make. In our first few records, I think you can hear us experimenting and trying to find our sound and style. I think a good example was when we started touring after the release of our first full length album at the end of 2006. It was a very good album, but it wasn’t until we went on the road that we realized that maybe it wasn’t so “dancefloor friendly.” It was a great album for listening at home and so we had to refine our livesets for the dancefloors. That’s just something you learn with experience. Our most recent remixes and singles have been much more geared to the dancefloor than that album.

So what’s in store for the next year for yourself and MyMy? Are you sticking with this dancefloor sound or will you go back to producing some tracks more suitable for listening at home?

By the end of this year , hopefully – and I stress hopefully – we will be able to release our next full length album. I think that it will be geared for listening in the home environment, showing a lot of breakbeat influences. I don’t think it will have much of the straight beats and rhythms you hear in club music. We’ve also been listening to a lot of dubstep lately in Berlin and I think that will influence the music, however it won’t be a dubstep record.

As for the future, I have a lot of stuff coming up soon. On April 20th, I have some new remixes coming out. Right now, I’m putting the finishing touches on a remix for Adam Freeland. British DJ and producer Will Saul is releasing the first compilation for his label, Simple Records, and I’ve contributed a track for that. I also have a David Durango remix coming up, as well. So yes, I’m busy and doing a lot of work.

What are expecting from your gigs here in China?

I really have no idea what to expect. All I’ve been told is that I’m playing at the two most-popular underground venues in China, so I’ve brought a lot of different types of music. I don’t know much about the club scene in Asia, so this will all be new for me. I think I will wait to see how the crowd is reacting and what the opening DJ’s are playing. I can play anything from house, breakbeats and minimal so I want to see what moves the dancers. I’m looking forward to playing to a new crowd.

DETAILS
Nick Höppner is playing White Rabbit on Saturday, April 4th