Deeprhythms

Starting 2020 with a great mix from Hamza Solim, aka Rubsilent; a DJ I’ve followed since the early days of DR.
A DJ with an exquisite ear for all things atmospheric, deep and emotive – true to his style, he provided a mix running for over 2 hrs. Let’s dive in and learn more about the man, the scene in Turkey, his record collection and his approach to DJ’ing.

Hi there Hamza, thanks for taking the time to speak with me! Let’s start with a bit of biographical detail.

Hello Timo, thank you for welcoming me aboard. I was born in late 70’s in Germany and while I was three years old, my parents decided to move back home to Istanbul. So I grew up in Istanbul then when I was 23 moved to the US for college education and lived there for about seven years.

At the age of thirty moved back home and living in Istanbul since then. I have a white collar job, working as a foreigner trade and logistics manager for a corporation.

I got introduced to your excellent mixes way back when on the Discogs’ message boards. How did you get introduced to dance music?

It was back when I was in my early teen years, one of my older cousins lent me a cassette tape where early 90’s commercial rave-ish, hardcore anthems played in a “mega-mix” style such as T99-Anasthasia, Quadrophonia-Quadrophonia etc. Back then

In Turkey all TV and Radio channels were owned and operated by the state so there was no privately own alternatives and as you can imagine music that I could get exposed via radio etc back then was highly limited, hence electronic music wasn’t being aired only available as such cassette tapes for underage who wasn’t old enough to go to the clubs like me.

Can you tell us a little how you got started with DJ’ing in the early 90’s and what motivated you back then?

Once the privately owned broadcasting began with TV and radio stations home, I started to discover electronic music more and more thorough visionary radio stations and pioneer DJs who played some underground cuts on air.

With the help of a friend also discovered the locations of local record shops and started to visit them. I had no turntable back then my intention of going to the record shops was finding non-commercial dance music on CD format so that I wouldn’t rely on radio to listen to the tracks that I wanna hear, If I find them on CDs I could hear them whenever I wanted and these dance music compilations and CD singles weren’t accessible via regular music stores back then, so had to dig deeper and found the shops first.

Less than a year later decided to take a step to the vinyl room at these shops because didn’t take too long for me to find out that only CD selection/s there was still very limited, it was all about records. That’s how it all started for me in 1996.

First ever vinyl purchase was Todd Terry’s “Bounce To the Beat” (Timo’s note: wha a great record!) under the Sound Design moniker he produced. I was happy listening to these vinyl purchases home on my parents’ belt drive dual record player then felt the need of mixing records home just for fun, first purchased a mixer, still one turntable only then few months later had my first ever 1210 Technics deck, where I could play a record on dual TT first then mix a record into it via playing next track on my 1210, obviously dual deck had no pitch control.

As I was self teaching myself how to beat match (tbh, I wasn’t that horrible in the very beginning) ended up having the 2nd 1210 at some point.

At that time I already knew/met some local DJs thorough record shops as well as going out to the clubs. Long story short back in 1999 had my first residency but at first I wasn’t really dreaming to become a DJ or anything.

Is the dancing as important as the music?

Dance needs music to set the mood and if dance is the movement of the body in a rhythmic way to purpose of expressing an idea, emotion or releasing energy I’d say it’s as important. They go hand in hand.

How has the scene in Turkey evolved during the years? My only touchpoint has been playing at Babylon a long time ago and it was great back then.

In the 25 years of history of electronic dance music and club scene in Turkey there have been better and worse times.

The 90’s scene was much smaller, not many alternatives, but they were more influential times, in the beginning of the 00’s with the help of internet, scene got a whole lot larger only within couple years which wasn’t necessarily the reflection of steady growth, it was more like a flame which obviously didn’t last too long.

Once things started to settle in a better way we experienced terrorist attacks in big cities, which was followed by this coup attempt against the state in 2016. Since then first the temporary state of emergency then both political and financial problems had a huge effect on the club scene in a bad way that we’re a bit far away from the better days now.

When you think about it, this messed up the currency exchange rates, the way how Turkish lira dropped against foreigner currencies since past 2 years plays a big role on less and less international DJ bookings from abroad to the number of surviving clubs in town, which supposedly benefiting local talents to shine through but unfortunately, this doesn’t change the fact that such climate only benefits the so-called DJs who are in a circle of close friends’ with promoters, club owners and/or those who got potential to bring 30-50 “friends” to the parties where they spin as many venues suffer from attracting people to go out.

People are more strict about where to spend their money and because of the bad economy we see more and more people staying home instead of going out, even those who go out, find their path to more commercial nightlife attractions.

This probably explains yesteryears’ successful club/event organizations now prefer throwing a party once every 3 months with more commercial names to guarantee ticket sales ,e.g. Dixon, Solomun, Nina Kraviz etc. instead of running a club every weekend and pushing limits a bit harder to introduce someone else to the scene rather than meeting their expectations with big/commercial names.

You are an avid vinyl fan and record collector. Tell us a little about your collection and how you go you on about finding records to buy?

I mostly buy records that I can play out at parties and/or place in a podcast mix they range from deep house to idm, techno to electro, broken beat to electronica, ambient and such. These are pretty much like 99.9% of my collection.

The rest is some additional disco and non-mixable stuff. Since my relocation to home, the internet is my only source for buying brand new as well as used 2nd hand records.

There are no existing record shop left for electronic dance music in Turkey since pretty much everyone converted to digital starting from 2002ish. If you visit Istanbul you can go check various records shops for non-electronic music tho.

Tell us a good story about a club night where you were dj’ing and suddenly…

My 2nd time meeting Tama Sumo (Panoramabar resident) in person and this time I was sharing the decks with her, I was the warm-up DJ. Once finished I stayed there to listen and dance to her selection and two hours later she asked me to put a record on as she had to go to use the restroom. Once she was back offered me to do a b2b session for a little bit.

Luckily I was prepared for such an extended session that we ended up playing together for another 2,5 hrs till the end. We both were playing records together for the first time but we managed to pull off above average session in early hours at this club called Wake Up Call. This came into my mind from the recent past but I’m sure that there are plenty from way back, sorry about my fuzzy memory.

Can you tell us a little about you current musical endeavours, what are you currently working on?

I’ve never tried writing my own music, never been into production or any sorts. Maybe at some point, I need to find some inner strength and get involved with something else musically but for now, the only motivation is digging for records and sharing my musical vision whether out at parties where I DJ at and/or thorough podcast mixes I record and share online.

Do you have any fond musical memories from your childhood?

While I was 2-3 years old in Germany my mother was going for record shopping and she was taking me with her. While she was checking some hot funk-disco records at the shops I was dancing next to her as the music was being played. So dancing started at a pretty young age for me.

What was the first record or a song that made a lasting impression on you?

Depeche Mode – Behind The Wheel

What would you consider to be the five most personal records to you and why?

They’re all timeless masterpieces imho and despite all the years and change on styles they keep making in and out of my record bag constantly.

Lil Louis – How I Feel – Dance Mania

Glenn Underground – Essentials – Cajual

The Wamdue Project – The Deep EP – Strictly Rhythm

Gemini – In And Out Of Fog And Lights – Peacefrog

Choice/Suffle – Acid Eiffel/How Do You Plead – Fragile

I myself think that in the last of 2 or 3 years there’s been kind of an electronic music revival – I mean, a lot of indie labels & artists are releasing super interesting creations without any compromises or commercial ambitions, just doing it for the love of music. Do you share this view?

Yes definitely unlike 90’s no more restrictions like minimum required quantity for pressing vinyl etc. Now with a little investment, like a few hundred euros you can start off your own label, press your own music and distribute it worldwide with the help of different channels like social media etc.

Maybe music these days could be found not as original nor inspirational like the early 90’s but still a variety of music and easy access via the internet makes today pretty much like a golden age to me.

You’ve never boxed yourself inside a genre or style – can you describe a perfect Rubsilent set, what are the ingredients?

When it comes to put a mix together I would try to come up with something unique, without pigeonholed to one style or sound. By saying this, my primary focus is not necessarily playing brand new arrivals in a new selection, sometimes new records just sit around a couple to few months before I start playing them out.

So blending deep with not so deep, house with techno, while the selection is covering today’s freshest tunes as well as obscurities from yesteryear with no interruption in the flow would make me satisfied with the end result.

Also the mix has to be entertaining and technically flawless, whether broken beat is being mixed or traditional four to floor tracks or beatless tracks are subjected to be mixed in I’m a bit perfectionist with mixing records live. So don’t know if it would be qualified as “perfect rubsilent mix” but the non-so-formulaic flow, energetic, entertaining yet educational selection of multi genre tracks where they mixed in flawlessly and resulted in a “storytelling” from start to finish would satisfy me.

So the mix, can you tell us a little something about that?

In recent years I’ve noticed my current taste and vinyl buying habits leaning more towards techno-ish, atmospheric, sometimes a bit more broken beat-ish, acidic, electro territories. So plenty of records that classified old-school house sitting on my shelves with little to none love given to them in the recent past.

Had a great night out recently as Kai Alce was in town spinning at this intimate small club (was my first time seeing him live) so that night with more organic soulful-ish house sound inspired me that following days I dig through my shelves for the more pure house records that I haven’t played for years.

Also, I was invited for a local interview, online videocast recently where I was asked to select some “most treasured records” “privileged ones to save from fire” so had to dig out some more US rarities off my shelves for this exclusive gig/program, so both of these activities resulted in me having a bunch of old and some new records sitting in the middle of my room and as I was pöanning to record a selection for you played these for my appearance on Deeprhythms, hope it was a good decision. 🙂

Many thanks again Hamza, anything else?

Thank you for the invitation again and wishing you the best of luck on your successful label project

Playlist

1. Aqua Bassino – Time To Go Home – F Communications
2. Nu-C·Zn – That’s How Lovers Be (Scott Grooves That’s How Dub’s Be) – Soiree Records International
3. Two Thou – Talking Song (Dub Version) – Uzuri
4. Alton Miller – Time & Space – Guidance Recordings
5. Patrice Scott – Highness – NDATL Muzik
6. Nick Holder – Good Luv – DNH Records
7. Jorge Caiado – Make Sure – Balance
8. Kai Alc̩ РFeeding РNDATL Muzik
9. Boobjazz – Midnight Ceremony – STIR15 Recordings
10. LA Housin’ Authority – Jordan Downs (Love) – Worldship
11. Timedwellers – Untitled – Tak Records
12. Borgman – Bowlfire – Cabinet Records
13. Fusion – Round Six O’clock – Ferox Records
14. Gene On Earth – Lunchbox Music – Limousine Dream
15. Glenn Underground – Forgotten Art (Music) – Strictly Jaz Unit Muzic
16. USG – Ncameu (Main Vox) – Clairaudience
17. Gemini – Ahi – Substance
18. Nuno Azevedo – Deep Inside My Mind – Red Ember Records
19. House Of Jazz – Hold Your Head Up – Urgent Music Works
20. Urban Sound Gallery – Paradise Regained – Future Vision Records
21. Jävel – The Art Of Bad Timing – Anonym
22. Atypic – Henkhisesui – De:tuned
23. House Of Jazz – A Little Boy – Lazyboy Records
24. Nick Holder – Daze – DNH Records
25. Abacus – Relics One Mix Two – Prescription
26. Kai Alc̩ РShut Your Eyes РNDATL Muzik
27. Brett Dancer – Deep Blue (Pt 1) – Track Mode
28. Orlando B – It Ain’t Over – Yore Records
29. Andre L. Prioleau – Groove 2 Swing – Style City Records
30. House Of Jazz – Why Waste My Time – Urgent Music Works
31. Justin David – To Whom It May Concern – Future Monument

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Rubsilent

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