Happy Birthday Cognosco!

Some of my good friends that promote Cognosco celebrate their 1st birthday this month and I have prepared the promo blurb for their forthcoming party. Their parties always go off and I am pretty sure this one will be no different! The guests will be joined by residents Marsden, Dan Hare and David Hulme.

COGNOSCO 1st Birthday with Giles Smith & Lovebirds

Who would have though it – We are One! After a couple of soirees in the Hyde Park Social, Cognosco launched itself into the Leeds nightlife scene with a belter of an opening party at Oracle twelve months ago in the company of Secret Sundaze co-founder and house music boffin Giles Smith. Having rocked the dance floor into the wee hours first time around, we thought it only fair to invite him back to celebrate our coming of age. This time our invitations are extended and we welcome Sebastian ‘Basti’ Doering aka Lovebirds, as he joins us and brings to the table his magic bag of deep house and disco treats.

It’s been a cracking year for Cognosco in our new found home at The Loft and guests such as Florian Kruse, Matthias Meyer and Alex Niggeman have ensured that each and every one of our events has been packed to the rafters. Our Fresher’s party across three rooms in conjunction with Louche and Mono_Cult at the end of September was an unbridled success but it’s back to business as usual for our upcoming celebration as we pay homage to the low ceilings and intimate atmosphere of The Loft once more.

Giles Smith launched Secret Sundaze alongside James Priestly in the summer of 2001 as a outdoor Sunday afternoon party, and their musical talents alongside a knack of booking the highest calibre of underground house and techno artists have seen their parties skyrocket over the last nine years. Voted club of the year in the 2006 Mixmag Awards, Secret Sundaze has continued to grow, and parties at Sonar, Snowbombing and numerous one-offs in Ibiza have cemented the night as one of the ‘must go to’ events in Europe.

Producing alongside Dan Berkson as Two Armadillos, their tracks have been snapped up and released by Steve Bug’s Dessous, Buzzin’ Fly and Four:Twenty records and charted by almost every self respecting house and techno DJ under the sun. Giles’s Resident Advisor podcast in the middle of last year eschewed the formulaic Ableton/laptop route and was instead mixed at home with two 1210’s and a mixer. Needless to say, the raw vibes and ‘live’ feel tickled the ears of everybody that gave it a listen and we are sure Giles will do exactly the same and more when he lands at the Loft for our next party.

‘The Modern Stalker EP’ was the track that really made people sit up and take notice of Lovebirds in the summer of 2007, and after it was rinsed by the likes of Prins Thomas, Ashley Beedle and Jimpster, Bill Brewster named it as tune of the month in I-DJ magazine. Managing to merge deep and melancholic house music sounds with more than a nod back to the underground disco vibes of the 70’s and 80’s, Lovebirds knack of fusing such styles has seen his production efforts released on Freerange, OM and Winding Road amongst many others. Now firmly part of the deep house cognoscenti, it was only a matter of time before he found himself behind the turntables at the Loft and we thought there was no better time to do it than our first birthday celebrations.

It has 12 months for them and everyone involved that is twinged with sadness as head promoter Matthew Mckeown tragically passed away earlier this year at the very young age of 25. I think it is fair to say Cognosco would not be where it is today without his input and this party is held in memory of him. Absolute top guy. RIP.

AN INTERVIEW WITH FLORIAN KRUSE (NRK/NOIR MUSIC)

I recently prepared a short interview with Florian Kruse for the Ugroove website ahead of his gig for Cognosco at the Loft this coming Friday... Check out what he had to say here.


It’s been a very busy last couple of years for Florian Kruse. After a number of years perfecting his studio skills in Hamburg, Florian finally burst onto the deep house scene in 2007 with a number of releases on Om Records, Heya Hifi and SlipNslide. Collaborations with Nils Nurnberg and Stel followed in 2008, as well as a number of solo releases that found their way onto forward thinking dance floors the world over.

Florian’s expert skill in infusing dub influenced melodies with the more conventional deep and tech-house grooves have found his production skills and DJ sets in high demand, with his recent remix of Scope’s ‘This Rhythm’ on NRK holding a top ten place in the Beatport deep house chart for six weeks. This feat was crowned with a headlining set at the Cocoon Club in Frankfurt at the end of January this year.

We managed to grab five minutes from Florian’s busy schedule ahead of his Leeds debut at Cognosco to discover what has been making him tick over the last couple of years.

Hi Florian! We are all very excited to catch you playing at Cognosco on the 26th. Leeds has a reputation in the UK as the clubbing capital of the North; are you looking forward to your debut in the city?

Oh yes, I’m really excited! I met Steve Jones from Leeds last year at Sonar (Barcelona) and he told me something about the club scene. It sounds all good and promising!!! I also read an article in the DJ Mag last week; Leeds – I’m coming! Hahaha....

You were recently booked to play Sven Vath’s Cocoon Club in Frankfurt... surely one of the greatest accolades a DJ can receive! How was this for you?

That was amazing! My studio buddy Nils Nuernberg and I had a good time in Frankfurt, we played with Motorcitysoul’s C-Rock and met some guys from Hed Kandi. We were really pleased to play at Cocoon and totally enjoyed it.

Your releases have been championed in house and techno clubs the world over in the past couple of years. What releases and remixes do you have in the pipeline?

Lately I’m doin’ a lot together with Nils Nuernberg. We are joining forces and sharing a studio in Hamburg. We are pretty busy at the moment and have a long list of remixes and originals upcoming. I’m so proud of the new releases for example 'Drenched’ on Kolour Recordings including remixes by Motorcitysoul, Kris Wadsworth & Don Melon and the remix we did on Will Saul’s Simple Records. We have an 2 track EP upcoming on Slip N Slide including remixes by DJ Sneak & Scope and a lovely release on Noir Music called 'Lovers n Fighters' coming soon with a fantastic floor filler remix by DJ Madskillz. We also did a remix for Santos and there are a few other things coming. We have no reason to slow down... hehe ;-)

Which artist’s productions find their way into your record bag? Which track is really doing it for you on the dance floor at the moment?

Well, there are a few good artists around. Really hard to mention names here. I’m so flashed by the track of Hermanez called 'Soms’ at the moment, this one is massive for the maintime. For the warm up set Shur I Kan’s upcoming release on Dark Energy really hits me, especially the track 'Joe’s Joint’. Just brilliant!

And what is your favourite record of all time? Do you have a ’never fails’ record that always keeps its place in your bag?

Yeah, there is one tune from Irfane called 'Just A Lil’ Lovin’, I don't have this in my bag anymore, but this record was in there for a long, long time!!! It’s such a positive vibe and a secret weapon for special hours ;-)

You’re most well known and respected for your house productions; how did you get into the electronic music scene initially?

My older brother is Vincenzo, so I've always grown up with house music ! I’m still his biggest fan ;-)

In the UK, Germany (especially Berlin!) is known as almost some kind of house/techno ‘Mecca’. How do you feel the UK compares to your home scene?

You are right, Germany is known for good electronic music and we have a big scene especially in Berlin, but I think that the UK, for example, London, can compete with it. You have so many big labels in the UK and a few good clubs. It’s funny, but I’m actually working more with international than German labels and most of them are coming from the UK (Simple, NRK, Slip N Slide, Urban Torque...).

What has been your favourite gig over the last 12 months?

Cocoon, for sure, but I also enjoyed last year the party at Sonar at 'La Terrazza’. I played with Marc Romboy, Shur I Kan and Mike Monday, that was big fun...

And finally; what does 2010 hold for Florian Kruse?

I’m goin’ to marry this year. I wanna play live’ and hopefully see many places in the world I’ve not been to.

Read the Interview here at Ugroove.TV

COGNOSCO WITH ALEX NIGGEMANN DECEMBER 5TH

Some of my friends are throwing a rather good party on the first friday in December at The Loft in Leeds, with Alex Niggemann headlining proceedings. I put together a quick press release for the night with a little help from Alex's Myspace and Resident Advisor profiles.


Cognosco

Friday 4th December 2009

Loft (Ground Floor) [Formerly known as Northern Light]
Cross York St, Leeds, LS2 7EE

ALEX NIGGEMANN (SUPERNATURE/2020 VISION/8BIT)

Paul Kaminski (mono_cult)
David Hulme (Resident)
Dan Hare (Resident)
Marsden (Farmhaus Records)
Luke Benson (Guest)

After the rip-roaring success of our first party at Oracle with Giles Smith, Cognosco returns in December at The Loft with another stellar line-up. There was more than a few tears shed when The Northern Light closed it’s doors two years ago, with many people proclaiming it to be one of the best club venues Leeds had ever seen. After much legal wrangling, cries of joy could be heard echoing around the city when the venue reopened again this autumn and Cognosco quickly stepped up to the challenge of taking the venue back to it’s former glory.

With rising star Alex Niggemann at the helm of the proceedings and support from some of Leeds finest purveyors of house and techno, the low slung ceilings and intimate surroundings of The Loft Basement (formerly The Velvet Underground) promise to make it the perfect venue for Cognosco’s December soiree.

Originally hailing from Dusseldorf, Alex relocated to Berlin in 2005 to study audio engineering and refine his knowledge in the art of music production. The move to the ‘Mecca’ of Techno proved a very successful one for Alex and before long he was DJ’ing in clubs all over Germany and had seen his remix of ‘Booka Shade –Darko’ released on Get Physical. Further releases in 2008 followed on the likes of Sport Club, Meerestief and Micro.fon and it wasn’t long before he was signed to Supernature Records, where his massive ‘Black Rose EP’ was released.

Nick Curly and Gorge immediately recognised Alex’s obvious talent for producing sublime house music and snapped him up for a number of releases and remixes on label of the moment ‘8 Bit Records’. With DJ requests coming in from all angles, a remix of Thomas Schumacher in the pipeline and forthcoming EP’s scheduled for release on Supernature and 2020 Vision over the coming months, Alex is someone pushing all the right buttons in the house and techno scene and it is an absolute pleasure to have him gracing the Cognosco decks in December.

Check it out here for more info - Alex Niggemann @ Cognosco