Who is Jascha Hagen?
It’s me, i mean, my actual Name, and i have been producing and playing live under it for almost 12 years now. It has been a long musical journey starting of from mostly producing house and disco edits and DJ’ing to now playing a fully improvised liveset with weird semi-modular synths and a guitar and producing music that is far off from where I started at.
Tell us about your forthcoming LP on Oath?
It is a 42min album which is the maximum length for a Single LP, with 21mins on each side. I was putting a lot of love and time into it to, hopefully, make it a coherent listening experience that you could enjoy on your couch at home, or in a club on high volume!
What was the first thing that attracted you to the world of electronic music?
I was 17 and went to a techno club in bremen called „Zucker“ and Format B was playing a vinyl set on the larger floor. The crowd went crazy and i was just completely amazed by literally everything – people are dancing to this kind of music? super high? What’s going on here? Loved it. And still loving it.
Who are your greatest influences?
Vegyn
Tristan Arp
Crash Course In Science
How would you define your sound?
Somewhere between solid house music and more experimental approaches.
How has your sound evolved so far?
My first Vinyl-Release was an Edit of Wu Tang Clan’s „Gravel Pit“ (lol). So, it definitely changed over time. Now i am really into noise modular synths, distorted guitars or melancholic synth patterns. I don’t know how that happened (lol), but it floats my boat anyways.
What is the scene like in Leipzig at the moment?
To capture it in one sentence: „The Nineties are back!“
What else can we expect from you over the next year?
New music. For sure!
For the label’s third LP release, Oath are extremely proud to present this extraordinary sonic journey from Jascha Hagen, one which continues to showcase the producer’s penchant for defying expectations and finding consistency in flipping switches and moving from one form of expressionism to the next.
Who doesn’t love a record which seamlessly moves from one side of the audial spectrum to the other, whilst seemingly filling in all the gaps that persist inbetween? Well this has been the career trajectory that Jascha Hagen has set himself out on since 2008, and his discography speaks for itself in this regard. Operating within the realms of House and Deep House, Hagen has made it his mission to push out the boundaries of what feels possible within the genre, deconstructing the meaning of rhythm and melody to really stamp his own sense of identity on proceedings. Each release speaks to this concept, with differing tones and beats stretched out and impeccably built upon as a means to provide an enriching experience and first and foremost, a balanced and beautifully curated one. His ability to weave the notions of house into other genres has become more prevalent in recent years, taking in Downtempo and Techno leaning vibrations into his already deeply engrossing sound.
With releases on imprints such as Shh, Auditive, Mana All Nite and his own imprint Physical Pleasure, there is so much goodness to dive into if you like your House music ever shifting and ever illuminating, along with the comforting knowledge that the next release will only add to the ever engaging soundscape Hagen has conjured up so far.
Two years after his debut LP effort ‘Harmonies Romantiques’, Hagen graces us with the presence of ‘Songs for a Future Generation’. Continuing on with a similar vein of musical exploration that occurred on his debut LP and records such as the highly vibrant ‘A Touch of Cold Water’, Hagen turns on the style in regards to creating a deeply compelling series of sounds that all for one but deeply individual all at the same time, with the micro evolutions that occur throughout giving much over to the idea of creating a rounded and fulfilling experience. The album begins and ends with two uptempo numbers in the form of ‘QQQ’ and ‘Slide Through the Valley’, both of which allow for a release of sorts through the inspired use of live instrumentation and the layering of elements which makes the music feel so very alive. Quiet spaces are found in the cuts ‘Rivers of Absence’, ‘Too Far’ and ‘Swaying’, all of which persist between the rhythms impeccably and act as these thoughtful, beautified interludes that touch upon the question – what will the future look like? All of which is answered in three differing tonal ways. ‘L7 Dreams’, ‘Gem’ and ‘XX Blues’ all shift between the other vibrations, exploring in their own exciting ways a very conceptual manner of being, and it caps off the experience beautifully.
Jascha Hagen has always had a knack at making the extraordinary feel effortless, the in-sequential feel complete and whole, and the wide reaching feeling laser focused and total. This new record is testament to these notions, and from the moment you press play until the record wraps itself up, there is a deep satisfaction to be had, a journey that merits revisiting time and time again. So why not take a little meander, and loose yourself within an audial experience of such quality…
