Steve Rachmad @ LoFi, Amsterdam

Mentioning releases, remixes, or labels on which Steve Rachmad has shown his craftsmanship is pointless and time-consuming. So is boasting about the clubs and festivals on which he has left his mark. It would just make for another list of names, places, and brands…. Let’s not do that. Feel free to visit the usual channels (Discogs, Soundcloud, Beatport) and take your pick from numerous productions and DJ sets. They all come from almost three decades of dedication, sweat, and polishing a one of a kind talent.

Because as Miles had his horn and Pablo took to canvas, Steve has an unequalled gift for (almost physically) connecting with every thinkable drum machine and synthesizer out there. If the man had kids, boys would listen to Roland or Robert (Moog), and a girl would surely be named Linn, after the machine made famous by Prince and others in the 80’s. Some claim it’s analogue machine telepathy, others say he was born with all the right connectors and inputs hidden somewhere underneath his trademark curly hairdo.

As a DJ he is constantly reinventing himself. Set firmly in the best that techno and house have to offer at the moment, Rachmad draws inspiration from his love for high quality disco and electro from the past. As words can never truly describe music, we’ll end with advising you to go check him out and hear for yourself what Steve is all about.

 Steve Rachmad in Stoor Studio by Sander Voets

We have the pleasure to share with you a mix recorded by Steve at his birthday bash, warming up for legendary Ricardo Villalobos.

Tell us a bit about this mix? Where did you record it and when?

This mix was recorded at the end of December 2019 as part of my birthday bash with Ricardo Villalobos at Lofi in Amsterdam. It was a long planned event where we lost the original location last minute and the show went into the air, to then find a solution only 10 days before the show. It turned out into an amazing event at this, at that time new location.

How does your mood dictate what you play?

A mood can dictate your playing, yes, but I am mostly able to separate my mood from playing. If you are in a bad mood it should not be projected on the crowd. And I think after so many years of experience I can say that I have quite good auto pilot to help me out there.

Can you talk us through some of the records and transitions on the mix?

I was building up from the start of the evening before Ricardo. I started really at zero that night which was nice because I didn’t get to start a night for a while. The first half an hour of the mix is cut out for this podcast though, as it was chiller than chilled out and the mix would have been even longer.It general the set was a mixture between new and old stuff and a few tracks I haven’t played for a long time. I never prepare anything upfront so I never really know where it’s going to before I start.

Music aside, what else is keeping you busy right now?

To be honest it’s mostly music haha. Music is to me not just music but also my saviour and meditation. Music is what gets me through this period we are in at the moment. But next to music I’m learning a lot about life.

What have you been busy working on recently (musically) and what else can we look forward to from you over the next while?

I’ve been working on many different things but nothing concrete or fully finished. I have material for about 3 to 4 different albums. And next to that I also have lots of EP material that I have to record and finish. At this moment a classic Sterac release on Delsin and an EP on Token are confirmed. For the rest there’s a Sterac Electronics remix in the pipeline for a track of Marco Bailey. So a lot is in planning but these are confirmed for now. I have also been busy a lot with more film- like music as I discovered I could actually write classical music too.

Listen the warm up mix recorded by Steve Rachmad here at his birthday exclusively on our Soundcloud.

Keep up with Steve Rachmad
www.steverachmad.com
www.facebook.com/steverachmadofficial
www.facebook.com/STERACofficial