Moritz von Oswald
Moritz von Oswald (* 1962 in Hamburg ) is a German musician , record producer and record label owner . He became known in particular through the projects he founded with Mark Ernestus such as Basic Channel , Chain Reaction , Main Street and Rhythm & Sound .
Life
Moritz von Oswald comes from the Bismarck family on his mother's side . He is a great-great-grandson of Otto von Bismarck . His parents were Countess Mari Ann von Bismarck-Schönhausen (1929–1981) and the Hamburg merchant Egbert von Oswald (1925–1988). He has three siblings, including the music producer and musician Alexander von Oswald .
He studied orchestral percussion at the Hamburg University of Music and Performing Arts .
Musically he made his first appearance in 1983 as the drummer of the NDW formation Palais Schaumburg . After the band broke up, he worked on various projects until he published dubbige techno productions from 1992 under the pseudonym Maurizio . The first releases Lyot EP , Ploy EP and especially the Domina EP were enthusiastically received internationally and are now considered classics of the genre. Under the name 3MB , von Oswald then produced with Thomas Fehlmann for the well-known Berlin Tresor Records label.
At this time the close collaboration with Mark Ernestus, founder of Kumpelnest 3000 and Hard Wax began . The techno labels Basic Channel and Chain Reaction , founded by Ernestus and Oswald, became known to a wider public . Basic Channel in particular is one of the most important German techno labels of the 1990s. The label's releases have all achieved cult status and are considered rarities, especially in North America. The pieces were mostly characterized by the targeted use of reverb and noise effects . The noise in particular is a characteristic style element of their productions, with an unusually high recognition value for the genre .
With each new creative period von Oswald and Ernestus founded further labels, for example Main Street for Vocal House . The releases of this label surprised critics and fans. Instead of the minimalist techno sound, the first release I'm your brother was a classic house song with vocals by British Andy Caine and had a certain pop appeal due to the catchy chorus.
In the further course of Oswald and Ernestus made more reference to dub music and produced more pieces on Main Street in collaboration with the Dominican Paul St. Hilaire ( Tikiman ). Since then they have consistently continued this development and founded the Burial Mix and Rhythm & Sound labels . Especially the releases as Rhythm & Sound show a clear influence of the reggae production method. Since 1998, the producer duo has been working with different Jamaican singers on every record. The highlight of this collaboration is the one riddim album See Mi Yah , released in 2005 , on which a single minimalist riddim , which essentially consists of only two repetitive bars, by individual vocalists such as Willi Williams , Sugar Minott , Ras Donovan or Paul St. Hilaire is interpreted differently.
With the founding of the labels Imbalance (1993) and Chain Reaction (1995), both also offered other artists such as the Finn Vladislav Delay a platform for the publication of experimental techno pieces. In addition, von Oswald also worked as a mastering & cutting engineer at the Berlin studio Dubplates & Mastering from 1995 to 2008.
In 2008 von Oswald suffered a stroke while traveling by plane.
Together with Carl Craig , von Oswald released re-compositions of Ravel's “ Boléro ” and Mussorgski's “ Pictures at an Exhibition ” on the Deutsche Grammophon label in 2008 , based on recordings by Herbert von Karajan . Together with Max Loderbauer and Vladislav Delay , the musician founded the Moritz von Oswald Trio in 2009 , with which he released several albums on Honest Jon's Records. The Nigerian drummer Tony Allen became a new member of the trio for the album Sounding Lines in 2015 .
Since 2013, von Oswald has been working with Juan Atkins again on the Borderland project initiated by Dimitri Hegemann .
His marriage to Anne Schreiber had two daughters and a son.
Discography (selection)
Note: for works co-published with Mark Ernestus, see Basic Channel Discography
- 2008: Carl Craig & Moritz von Oswald - ReComposed ( Deutsche Grammophon )
- 2009: Moritz von Oswald Trio - Vertical Ascent (Honest Jon's Records)
- 2010: Moritz von Oswald Trio - Live In New York (Honest Jon's Records)
- 2011: Moritz von Oswald Trio - Horizontal Structures (Honest Jon's Records)
- 2011: Moritz von Oswald Trio - Fetch (Honest Jon's Records)
- 2013: Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald - Borderland ( Tresor Records )
- 2013: Nils Petter Molvær & Moritz von Oswald - 1/1 (EmArcy, Universal Music Group)
- 2015: Moritz von Oswald Trio - Sounding Lines (Honest Jon's Records)
- 2016: Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald present Borderland - Transport ( Tresor Records )
- 2017: Moritz von Oswald & Ordo Sakhna - Moritz von Oswald & Ordo Sakhna (Honest Jon's Records)
Web links
- basicchannel.com
- Moritz von Oswald at facebook.com
- Moritz von Oswald at Discogs (English)
- Moritz von Oswald in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The sky-blue eminence of techno at welt.de, accessed on April 10, 2015
- ↑ What bothers you about interviews, Herr von Oswald? at faz.net, accessed April 10, 2015
- ↑ Bismarck's great-great-grandson rules the club at zeit.de, accessed on April 10, 2015
- ^ The Quietus | Reviews | Juan Atkins & Moritz from Oswald Present Borderland. Retrieved July 23, 2016 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Oswald, Moritz von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German label operator and music producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1962 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamburg , Germany |