Wolfram’s Travels: Playing to the home crowd

Almost exactly one week ago you might have read a review about one hell of a night at the Arena in Vienna. However, the Electronic Beats Festival 2012 didn’t only bring HVOB, I Heart Sharks, James Blake, Squarepusher and Hudson Mohawke to Wien, no, our beloved Wolfram was also present to make sure the transition from sentimental Blake to dazzling Tom Jenkins went as smoothly as possible. Now, as the alcohol fumes still fill the air, hear what he has to say about this exciting night. Imagine the following in his gravelly voice—he’s still being “a bissale” hung over.

For more than four years now, I’ve been kind of an Electronic Beats resident. Whenever there is a good party in Austria, they ask me to play a few tracks and it’s all pretty cool. The whole crew is so nice and I guess it would be fair to say that I’m a happy member of the Electronic Beats family.

So of course I was present when the Electronic Beats Festival 2012 touched down in Vienna. The first people entering the Arena heard the tracks I was DJing and I was among the last to leave the big hall after Hudson Mohawke rocked the shit out of the crowd. It was a great night, and I really liked Anna and HVOB’s opening set, and I Heart Sharks got the people in a good mood—it really got ’em going. I have to admit though, I thought about playing “The Limit to your Love” by Feist after James Blake’s set, but I decided against it.

Squarepusher was great. It’s the work of art as a whole that makes it a unique experience. Like Amon Tobin earlier this year, the visuals and the music just fit perfectly. The funny thing is, I saw Squarepusher a few years ago in L.A. I was in the queue waiting to get in when I noticed John Frusciante and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers standing right in front of me. Later in the club there were only about 50 or 60 people and those two dudes were the only ones dancing, albeit in a pretty weird way.

What followed was my personal highlight: Hudson Mohawke. Right before he started I played “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins and many people believed it was already Hudmo, but it was actually me. This dude is crazy, he tore everything apart, totally brought the place down, even though it sounded more like a DJ set than a live set it was still great! I can’t wait for the next EB family get together, bring it on! ~

Photos: David Bogner

Published October 20, 2012.