(Above photo courtesy of Matthew Wood)
Blint (aka Felix Nisble) is a veteran of the DJing world, based in Bochum and having played all over Germany. He is the founder of the label Blintmusik, of which the current releases seem to revolve around a theme of hypnotic, broken, and bass heavy techno – all of which should be checked out. We are Mantissa were lucky enough to catch up with Blint to have a few words with a mix he created for us.
Hi Blint, it’s great to be able to have a chat with you, so let’s get to it. How long have you been in this music scene and how long have you been DJing and producing?
Hey, thanks for having me! I lately realized that I’ve been djing now for about 10 years. Producing started a bit earlier, although the first years it was really just toying around with my computer making Beats. But it quickly became somewhat of an addiction. For a long time I was only making Beats and instrumental Tracks and from time to time I made a small album that I would give to my friends. Just about 2 years ago I founded Blintmusik as a plattform for my own releases, started to release on Vinyl and took things a bit more serious.
What was the first record you ever bought and how do you think your music taste has changed since the beginning?
I think the very first record was a german Hip Hop 12“ from Luke & Swift. I mainly bought it because I liked the Beats and it had Instrumentals on it. My first Techno records I got from a close friend who passed away a couple of years ago. Back then I was already into Jungle and Drum’n’Bass and he connected me with the world of Techno, Detroit and Acid. He gave me my first Robert Hood Record, Plastikman, Emmanuel Top or Records from the Peacefrog Label.
In a way I was always into a broad range of music, but I guess in the beginning I was a bit close-minded when it came to certain styles of music. This changed over the years, I think I am more open-minded today and I really enjoy all different styles of music.
When producing tracks, what do you use as inspiration and who would you say are your current influences?
I try to take inspiration from everywhere, art, photgraphy, graffiti, illustration, people I meet, rainy days in Bochum, books, films, concerts etc. I also try not to get too clouded by all the media content that we are facing everyday. It can be a source of inspiration too, but I also like the quiet moments in life where you can take your time to think and reflect on things. Most of the time the inspiration then will present itself.
A big influence also comes from working with my bandmates from Tired Eyes Kingdom. We all come from very different backgrounds which is very inspiring and I am learning a lot about creative processes from that. Also working with the artists and teachers from the institute where I studied had a big influence on my music lately.
How would you say your production has evolved since you started making tunes?
Well for a long time it didn’t really evolved, simply because I didn’t took it seriously enough. 2 years ago I was at a point in my life where I realized that if I want to go somewhere with my music I’d have to make some changes. Luckily at that time there was a freshly openened masters programme at a university of arts which gave me the opportunity to fully concentrate on writing and producing music. It was a tough process and felt like catching up with 10 years where I should have already been doing this, but it was totally worth it. I realized a lot of stupid mistakes that I was doing for years which kept me from achieving a certain sound or express a certain feeling in a Track. Now I feel more confident with my productions which gives me space to explore new directions and learn new things.
Are there any emerging DJ’s or producers that you would recommend to us? And what is it about them that has caught your eye?
To everybody who havent heard of him already I can really recommend Leibniz from Leipzig, Germany. He has some really sick productions out there with a very unique style. Another producer who is already been around for a while now but is blowing my mind again and again is Frits Wentink from the Will&Ink Label. I also really like Pessimist and Simo Cell lately. And I recommend everybody to check out my friend Sonae from Cologne, she’ll release her second album soon which I bet will be full of beautiful tracks again.
We’re extremely grateful that you’ve put a mix together for us to compliment this feature, can you talk us through your thoughts behind the mix and your tune selection?
Whenever I compile records for a mix I try to create a selection that will not get boring during the 60 minutes of listening. Also it is not too important for me that all the Tracks are super up-to-date. I try to focus more on the characteristic and the sound and choose tracks that somehow can speak to each other. If I have decided on a track selection I just go ahead and record the mix on two Turntables and a Mixer.
And finally, what are your plans for the near future both production and DJ wise?
On September 8th we will release our first 12“ with Tired Eyes Kingdom. A Mini-Album that we’ve been working on lately. For my own Stuff I’m sketching and recording new things right now, so hopefully I can drop Blint003 later this year.
For Djing I always have phases, where I have a couple of bookings and then there’s really quite months. So I’m working on that to become a bit more steady at some point.
With Tired Eyes Kingdom we are playing some shows and Festivals in Germany in the end of this summer, so I guess having a good balance between playing live with the band and djing will be the plan for the near future.