Awo Ojiji Mix
Polyrhythmic finks, broken beats and atmospheric textures - Awo Ojiji is the solo project of Timo Bürgler, who is up next for Tapes #68.
Strongly inspired by the UK bass genres, Awo Ojiji has a preference for booming bass, dub chords, cuts from juke and jungle and technoid funk. The results are playful tracks with physical impact.
Tracklist
aya - Emley Lights Us Moor feat. Iceboy Violet
Bruce - Sweat
Smerz - Oh My My
Oyubi - Xanthine
re:ni - Revenge Body
Design Default - Koinos Kosmos
Jurango - Drolle Prosse
RVSHES - #30
Huna & Joe Polar - Tengo
Joe - Club Scared
E-Unity - Late Tate Tale
GiGi FM - Senstronaut (MYO)
Siete Catorce & Amazondotcom - Twice Silenced (Siete Catorce Version)
Less-O - Bumblebee
aya - I Will Not Come At Your Beck And Call I Am At Home Preemptively Mashing Up The Dance That Is Where I Am
Air Max `97 - Xhrinicibles
Wordcolour - Breathless
King G - Chopping
Timecow & RTKal - Elephant Man
Awo Ojiji - Glyph
Big Hands - Calix’s Head
Ploy - 5G Bats
TSVI - Sospiro Sospirando
Ido Plumes - Noise Water
Jai Paul - Jasmine (demo)
Hey Timo, thanks for getting involved in our tapes series! Can you start by introducing yourself?
Thanks for having me. Quite a tricky one to start with, haha. I got into electronic dance music back in 2008/2009 I think and from there it just grew quite slowly and naturally. I started out DJing and at some point fiddling around with DAW’s. Later on, my good friend and overall schnitzl-person Simon (Sun People - check his music if you don’t know, it’s killer) pushed me a bit to send it out and voila.
What was the inspiration behind the mix? When and where did you record it?
Nothing special really. It was recorded at home quite a while ago with some borrowed CDJs and a Mixer (thank you Forum Stadtpark). I just put a load of favorites, old and new ones, into a playlist and started to record the mix. It came together quite naturally. I tried to cover a wide range of styles and tempos. As a listener I really like DJ Sets where you don’t really know what to expect around the next corner. So it’s a bit of this, a bit of that. It’s definitely no club set, although there are a few bits in there which I played out many many times.
Tell us more about your collective disko404, what’s the party scene like in Graz?
I met them together with Flo, my longtime DJ partner, sometime in 2010 I think. At this point, disko404 was already a couple of years old and my favorite crew in town to go to. Over the years we put on some parties, and some concerts under the “bigMAMA” umbrella and also started a label back in 2012 as the logical evolution at this point. After a couple of releases, it went into a hiatus, but recently due to the pandemic struggles, we started to dig it out again and release some music. The first one was a 7” by DJ Paprika and the second 7” will be out at the end of the year (hopefully) with more to come. This year disko404 turns 20 which is crazy. Let’s see what the future will bring.
The party scene in Graz is really diverse and small. Unfortunately, there is a huge lack of space for smaller, intimate parties. And it’s quite difficult to reach out of the city to be honest (thank you dear internet though). Graz tends to cook its own soup, which also has a good side to it in terms of variety. It’s quite resistant to trends and people just do their thing. There are a lot of great DJ’s and Music Producers for such a small city. Over the last couple of years the IEM (Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics) spilled over into the Scene too, with people trying to merge the academic side with the hedonistic side, which resulted in a great mindset for experimentation and it really pushes the boundaries of what’s possible and appropriate in a “Party/Club-Setting”.
Personally I really like living here, as I don't get too much FOMO and I can just concentrate on my work and making music. hehe
And your latest release ‘Mantecatura EP’ on Scuffed Recordings - how did you get involved with the label?
I think it’s how most things happen these days if you don’t live in cities where the label is based and you just bump into people in everyday life. I reached out and sent them some demos after my first release with Robin on Eternal Ocean (Big Up!) with one track (Woozy) landing on one of their compilations. Later that year they asked if I had any more music for them and we settled on the four tracks which came out last June.
What's the story behind the name?
I don't really remember. I just needed a name to put on a flyer and looked for a weird one with no obvious meaning, diving down some internet rabbit holes and ending up with this.
Favorite label right now and why?
Puh difficult. Too many. But to name one which comes to my mind right now on the spot and maybe isn't too obvious: Oscilla Sound run by Owen and Joel. I just like everything they put out and the attention to detail with the artwork and the music is just crazy good! Love it. Also discovered two of my favorite Producers, Big Hands and Significant Other, through them. Temet by Simo Cell is another one in that direction. But there’s obviously loads more, also outside of the club context.
Any other projects working on at the minute?
Yes, I did the sound design and music for a performance/theater piece in spring for the first time which was really interesting. But generally just writing music, playing music, trying to figure it out more and more, and then trying to forget it again to free myself up so I don't feel too restricted. Other than that: there’s a 12” forthcoming really soon. 👀
Thanks for being a part of the Tapes series!