Native Dutchman Danny Wolfers, otherwise known as Legowelt, is arguably best known for his outlandish blend of Italo-Disco, Chicago House, New Wave, ‘80s Electro and Ambient leaning productions. Under his many, MANY aliases and collaborative projects, which date back as far as the early ’90s, Wolfers’ musical creations have been picked up by such labels as Clone, Technicolour, L.I.E.S, Bunker Records, Crème Organization and his own Strange Life Records, to name a few.
In his own words, Wolfers describes his musical style as “a hybrid form of slam jack combined with deep Chicago house, romantic ghetto technofunk and EuroHorror Soundtrack” and that sentiment is certainly mirrored in the spectacular hour and a half mix he has recorded especially for our series. Alongside Danny’s wild and eclectic mix, he kindly agreed to answer a few short interview questions too. Check it all out below!
Check out the previous mixes in the series here:
Hey Danny, thanks for joining us! First up, can you please shed a little light on the mix. Were there any particular themes behind it?
No theme behind it, just songs I love put in a musical narrative that makes sense, from quite slow to a rather fast tempo in the higher 130’s and back.
Are any of the records in this mix recent discoveries? If so, where did you stumble across them and what drew you to them?
There are only a few records, most of the stuff is digital from bandcamp, promos, music from friends etc. The vinyl records included are mostly the old stuff I collected in the 1990s like the Fanon Flowers Serenity track on the U-TRAX side label PHOQ-U! and the X-PLAIN on Bunker. Really excited to play some of the digital era dub/dancehall stuff like Natural Vibes life inna prison is no nice – such an awesome track. Also, I made some disco edits myself heavily inspired by Peter Slaghuis’ Disco Breaks II discomix, which is the greatest discomix ever made, around 1980. He would take the cool breaks of the disco records and loop them with a reel-to-reel tape, its so sleazy cut, almost chaos, not perfect that makes it so tense and full with energy and passion. I tried to emulate that a bit in Ableton just slightly cutting them on the wrong place and throwing lots of delay over it. I love putting delay over tracks to intensify certain parts… like you are grabbing the tracks if they were physical things, shake them around and throw them, or rather sprinkle them into space. Something I learned from dub music in the 1990s.
I discovered the Isabella – Pined track on the b-side of a Liquid Asset release on Acidetch recordings. Liquid Asset played before me at the Sustain Release festival in upstate New York a couple of weeks ago. I had never heard it before and was flabbergasted on how good it was. So when I got back I tried to get all the Liquid Asset material on bandcamp like the superb Inviolate Light Being album. I wanted to put one of those tracks in this mix but in the end, the Isabella track fitted in more somehow after the X-Plain track so I will save the Liquid Asset tracks for some other mixes.
Let’s talk about the clubbing culture over there in the Netherlands – how do you feel it differs to things over here in the UK?
In the UK the crowd always goes a little bit wilder it seems, a bit more raw, very talkative and will know every record etc. I guess in Holland too but a bit more subdued… I don’t know I am really bad at these questions that’s not really stuff I think about a lot 😉
What does the future of the Netherlands’ electronic music scene have in store for us and who are the newcomers we need to keep an eye out for?
Newcomers uhhh… this The Hague artist called Jeans with his ‘Lul Geen Kalmte’ EP and the Animistic Beliefs duo from Rotterdam.
Anyone who knows your work will be aware of your love for vintage synths. Could you share with us a couple of your all-time favourite pieces of gear that will always remain in your studio?
My old Juno 106 has always been in the studio, it’s been transformed into a KIWI 106 for a few years, with all new livery decals and Jupiter 8 like the front and wooden sides. I am sure the 106 loves it.
With your music spanning so many different shades of electronic music, we wondered what your usual approach is when it comes to starting a new track?
Hmmm you just start tweaking with synths, playing a melody or laying down some rhythms, it goes very organically.
What’s your preferred method for finding new music – do you still enjoy digging around in dusty crates or are you more of an order online kind of guy?
online kind of guy definitely, I am a digital digger. There is so much, an almost infinite amount of material out there to take your pickings from. I have absolutely no problems with digging digitally, its great, fun and instantly gratifying, you always find something new that’s so out there and refreshing. And in the comfort of your own couch! I buy records sometimes, most of the time to have the physical object to put in the living room as a piece of art almost. Records are nice to look at when they play on the turntable but also the covers…it gives such a homey cosy feeling, just like books or a fireplace or something.
What else does the rest of 2018 hold for you? Are there any exciting releases coming that you’re able to tell us about?
The Rising Sun Oberheim Space and Legowelt – Omnibus Babylon releases just came out on vinyl.
In the coming months, there is a new Legowelt EP on Clone records called STAR SIMULATION II (which is in the mix too!) there will be a Sammy Osmo – Schaduw Horizon soundtrack re-issue on vinyl via Utter with gatefold cover and all sort of stuff. Some tapes coming up too on my own Nightwind records, hope to have them ready before Christmas. In December I am going to play in China for the first time, and after that, I go back to Japan and Korea.
Thanks, Danny!
