City Weekend caught up with Shanghainese minimal techno DJ and producer B6, as he gears up for this Saturday's slot at VOID's party at The Shelter.

City Weekend: You just got back from a European tour - where did you play? Which countries, which venues? How did euro crowds respond to your style?

B6: I played in Berlin at Haus der kulturen der welt and Tresor Club, Cologne at the Funky Chicken Club, Belgium Gent at Vooruit. I think European people are quite used to this kind of music. But maybe they were curious about a Chinese guy playing minimal techno.

CW: What's everyone playing and listening to in Europe> Is minimal tech still ruling things or is a new sound evolving?

B6: Take Berlin, for example. The whole minimal scene still rules. But new house music is obviously back to being big again. I’m quite sure we will see new house music breaking through this year in China. And UK dub-step is also very big. Many less clubby indie kids are into this instead of indie-rock. There were hundreds of posters in the Berlin streets but the weird thing was, the only rock poster I noticed was a Motorhead tour poster. I would say 80-90 percent of the music in Berlin is electronic. It's an holy electro heaven.

CW: After playing Tresor and large clubs in Europe, what do you think the Shanghai scene needs in order to evolve? Bigger clubs, more promoters, better sound systems, more people who want to dance?

B6: None of the above. I think local producers with original music and also maybe a local label is the most important thing. I don’t agree with calling music a “business” and only importing foreign music but not creating any original work on a Shanghai “scene”.

Even if we had 100 promoters organizing huge parties at hi-end sounding clubs, you can only keep inviting big names from outside China. It’s dead in the water. It's worse than a tourist business. As a Shanghainese, I really don’t want this happen.

CW: Ritght, so you're a Shanghainese DJ in a scene that is dominated by white and foreign DJs. We would like to see more Chinese kids coming out and dancing to techno, do you think this is possible and what do we need to do to get Chinese kids into the underground scene in Shanghai?

This is really hard to answer. I can only say as one of the millions of normal local young men, we need:

1. Less international names. We don’t know who they are so we don’t care.

2. Make local stars. Shanghainese need our own hero.

3. Time is the master. We must be patient.

CW: You put out an album last year and you've been in the studio recently - what's your release schedule like for 2010?

B6: I’ve been working on the new album since I got back to Shanghai. I almost turned down every DJ booking recently just to focus on producing. I don’t have a serious schedule but hopefully it will be finished before May. this will be my next full album with a diverse concept and a brand new texture of sound. I think the plan for 2010 will be centered on this album. What I can tell you now is the new album won’t only stick to club music. I will try putting some of my tracks into the art scene. I’ve been very into multi-media and installation art since last year. Anyway, I’m excited by all the new directions.

CW: You take a lot of cues from Detroit minimal - more so than recent European micro-house or neo-minimal tracks. What have you been listening to recently and what's the last thing you heard that really blew you away?

B6: Recently I only listen to ambient or some '70s R&B and soul stuff at home when I’m taking break from producing. I listen to Harold Budd’s piano compositions a lot these days and also pop ambient from Kompakt. Nothing blows me away but it's relaxing. But, to be very honest, I’d rather not listen to any music, especially after eight hours of non-stop triggering on my software and machines.

I read a lot, by the way.

CW: Vinyl, CDs, Traktor or a mix of the above?

B6: For live performance and DJing? I just use Ableton, Traktor and some hardware. I’ve never DJed with CDs or vinyl. Does anyone still wanna book me? Haha.