By: Burak Atınç | 27 June 2010 | 

Robert Solheim is one of our favourite producers,he is an electronic music composer from Norway. Since his first album back in 1997, he has released 8 critically aclaimed albums as a solo artists onthe labels Origo Sound, CurrentMusik and now, Aquavit Records, which he runs together with Michael Snyder, his partner in the project Aquavit. He has been nominated several times and his releases have been called extraordinary creativeworks by the critics. In 2006 he released his last album as Current leaving the ambient side of electoinica, concentrating more on the dance-floor releasing under his own name. You can tell when Robert Solheim’s on the decks. That’s why Robert Solheim is so respected as a dj: he knows how to truly work a crowd, delivering again and again, yet taking them somewhere they’ve never been before. That’s what comes with vision and, just as importantly in Solheim’s case, experience. In March 2009, “Candy Coated Crime” (The Opiates) has been released on Dj Hells Gigolo Records compilation “Eleven”. Later in 2009 his first solo EP “Around 4ʺ″ hit the floors with the tech-house floor-burner “Bliper Fever” beeing favoured by many djs. In 2010 he’s creating some deep and techy house with fellow artist and DJ Baldo from Malaga on “The 12 Hour EP” and releasing his second dancefloor bomb “Love & Vinyls” with remixes from Shaka and Baldo. The industrial-lounge project Aquavit released their first and much anticipated work together, “Telapatia” in 2008 applauded by both critics and the public. He has also composed and produced the music for The Opiates together with the German singer Billie Ray Martin. An advance of the work was presented in a concert in the mythical shop Rough Trade in London in March 2008.  With the event, they also released a 10 inch vinyl with the title “Anatomy of a plastic girl”. The EP was selected album of the month in countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark as well as released on compilation albums. DJ Hell said about “Candy coated crime” from the same album “ist die Bombe!”.Currently working on his next EP “Tripping” and his first full lenght album to be released later this year, expect some and deep and techy house and techno for the dance-floor as well as for your listening pleasure. 

What happened in your career before you started CurrentMusik ? 

I had a track on a compilation CD in 1994 which led to my first album release on Origo Sound 1997. ’Enter The Dream’ was released with the slogan Future Proof; they called it music that would stand the test of time. Origo Sound was Scandinavia’s most important label for underground electronic music and had other artists like Biosphere and Circular. Apart from ‘Enter The Dream’ I had two more releases on Origo, ‘Musik’ in 2001 and ‘Communion’ in 2003. Before that I have played and sung in various bands and Djing since the early 80’s. We almost got a contract with BMG in 1989 with a project called ‘Paul is dead’, me on vocals and synths and a friend of mine of synths and other keys. Turned out it were just big words (as usual…). By that time I started to compose more dance oriented music and got a contract with Origo. They labeled the music ambient-techno.

Can you please tell us about the launches of CurrentMusik and Aquavit Recordings How these come about ?

CurrentMusik came about after spending all my time doing promotion and selling my music and not being the owner ofmy own art. I thought I might as well release it through my own label since I am doing all the work anyway. Aquavit Records was and idea Michael Snyder, the other half of Aquavit, and I got a couple of years ago through our collaboration project ‘Aquavit’. 

So what were your initial ambitions for the two labels and has it met your expectations over the years ?

My ambitions with CurrentMusik was, as I said earlier, to be my own boss so to speak and have control over my productions and also have the freedom to release what I wanted to release and not being tied to a contract. Aquavit Records is to take this step a bit further and release our music as well as other artists that have the same philosophy, electronic music that is completely unrestricted, meaning that it’s not limited to a certain genre, but rather a mix of genres such as ambient, indie-dance, house, techno, IDM, ect. And yes, they have definitely met me expectations.

Why you are putting out your new tracks from Aquavit instead of your own label CurrentMusik ?

Aquavit Records is our present and future label and I won’t do any more releases on CurrentMusik, It often gets confused with another project doing new-age, which I do not see as an advantage and it often gets misspelled, and people don’t find it. Also, I think that Aquavit Records is more unique and I like the philosophy behind the name, Water of Life.

Who showed you the ropes of production, did you attend any training or did you learn on your own ?

I had a great experience working with Erik Wollo who produced my first release ‘Enter The Dream’ and picked up quit a few tips and tricks there, but most of it I’ve learned on my own through the years.

How would you describe your sound and Aquavit’s sound ?

I think the sound is pretty organic even though I mainly use synthesized sounds. Critics have said from the beginning that Current has a distinctive sound and when I listen to the music I have done though the years I have to agree. Many people say that every time they listen to my music they discover something new. There are a lot of details in it. I guess that applies to Aquavit as well, but the difference in Aquavit is Michael Snyder. He has a way of finding sounds that are pretty unique.

Can you please tell us about the new developments at Aquavit records ? What artists are you currently promoting/launching and excited about ?

Aquavit Records is still a very young label, and we are working on getting good promotion and distribution which, I am pleased to say, is coming along very well. We are currently promotion collaboration between Baldo, from Neovinyl Recordings, and me. Our next release will be my second solo EP. Michael is working on a release with his solo project ‘Eidetaker’ and we also recently signed an artist called Rubeck to our label and his first release will be at the end of March.

We are also looking for new collaborations and artists and we have a drop-box here: http://soundcloud.com/currentmusik/dropbox/profile

How do you stay true to your art in an industry that so heavily emphasizes commercial success ?

I find that pretty easy, I have to like it and I usually do not like commercial music very much.

Please tell us about your live shows ?

I’m running some backup tracks and effects in Ableton Live which I control with a Novation controller and I have a Xio synth for melodies and stuff and a Korg microX as a second sound source and controller for a bunch of samples in Live. Michael is also doing wonderful visuals and we are working on combining the two. He is planning an exhibition in San Francisco later this year and I’m going to do an Aquavit Records presentation at his exhibition.

Tell us your new studio album you are working on ? When is it going to be released ?

It has been a slow process because I have been so busy with other things the lasts years. Setting up the label, doing the music and producing ‘The Opiates’ and Djing. Nevertheless, when going through ideas and stuff that I have been working on in between, I have a lot of ideas and many tracks that are more or less finished. I am selecting what is going to be on the album and what is more suited as single releases. As it is a t the moment I probably have a couple of EP’s coming out first and I hope to have the full release out this autumn. It will be a mix of deep techy house, downtempo, electro and probably some ‘ambient- techno’…:)

What are your plans for the direction for the label over the coming year ?

I would say we already have a direction to follow up on; to release quality electronic music.

Do you turn down a lot of project with the overabundance of offers that you are receiving ?

Yes, I tend to always like something in everything that I hear, but through the years I have become pretty sure of what I want as well. I find it extremely difficult and from time to time I find myself in situations I would rather not be in.

Do you have any advice for new producers who are just getting into making music ?

If you like what you do, don’t give up. There’s a lot of information on the internet on how to mix, EQ, even doing your own masters, although I would recommend leaving the mastering part to a professional mastering engineer/studio.

Does enough money trickle down to the producers to amount to at least a few hundred bucks for an average performing track ? What percentage of cost of a song does the artist end up with? Let’s say I buy a new release for $2.50 US how much does the artist get after the label deducts costs ?

The money in the music industry is in Rapid Share… Seriously, what produce most money is playing live and Djing, and radio play. Of course, you earn money through sales, but in the end, you have to be out there performing so that people will know who you are.The percentage of a song depends on your distribution and the shop. It can be anything from 30 % to as much as 85 %. As for the labels, our intentions are as much as possible for the artist.

Do you think there is much promotional value in a blog like LWE or its peers ?  Do you read many blogs ? 

I do read blogs but not on a daily basis. I think Resident Advisor and LWE are good platforms and I do think they are important. Personally I like to spend time in records shops since I usually buy my favourite music on vinyl. I also tend to spend time on Soundcloud since I have my own music there.

You will be extremely busy this year with a lot of upcoming releases from Aquavit records can you please tell us about them ? 

We are currently promoting ‘The 12 Houre EP’ from Baldo and me. My next solo release ’Love & Vinyls’ is due our pretty soon with some wonderful remixes from Baldo and Shaka , both of these are melodic deep/tech-house. Rubeck’s first release on AR will be a re-issue of his album from 2008, ‘Gorgeous and wet (is how we roll)’, we’ll follow up that release with a maxi-single of a track called ‘Zeitgeist’ from that album including remixes from me and Michael and other to be announced. Rubeck is probably best described as electro/techno. Michael will release his first solo EP under his moniker Eidetaker, the album ‘Myrkur’ is a mixture of IDM, ambient and techno. Then, my third EP ‘Field Tripping’ with remixes from Thomas Soerlie, Echoplex and others. I am also working on a project with a Norwegian singer. I knew she sang opera in Oslo Filharmonikerne and I didn’t really think that she was into electronic music, then she started talking about her favourite musicians like Anne Lennox and Imogen Heap and I was simply astonished by her voice. Hopefully we’ll have something ready this fall.

I’m also very happy that The Opiates album ‘Hollywood under the knife’ is finally coming out in July this year. Not on Aquavit Records but on Billie Ray Martins own label Disco activisto. Rubeck ‘Gorgeous and Wet (is how we roll)’ real dark technoish oldschool thingy and will be out very soon on all digital outlets!

‘Gorgeous and Wet (is how we roll)’

and Baldo (Neovinyl,VIM).

Available on Juno!

Some feedback:

cool tracks. will deffo play one of the versions on proton.
dave mothersole
Quality deep!!! im sure ill play this at my deep sessions!!
steve parker
Loving the whole releases!!! Full support!!
Carlo
Full Support!!
Sebastian Roya
All tracks are quality - Top draw, drop down deep house. Yes indeedy.
Ant Plate (Rhythm Plate..YSE)
Shaka remix is the winner for me!Wiched track!
jesus gonsev
Liking the baldo mix, will try it out.
Giom
love & Vinyls Shaka remix is a nice track! beutiful ambience. Will play.
Yaya (Desolat)
se sale el track 2 , lo pincho en mi seseion sunset seguro..
toufik
i like the acidy baldo mix best
dj morpheus

Also available at Dj Shop, Dj Download and most other shops…..

eidetaker, for artist Michael Snyder, is a moniker born out of a journey to recall and define audio/visual events that are as accurate as if he were still viewing or hearing the original occurrence.  The galleries contained within, depict his visual • audio • motion • design > experiences. All rights reserved.

please visit:

http://eidetaker.com

First release on Aquavit Records is Robert Solheim’s own
EP ‘Around 4′.  The 3 tracker launches its elegance with
strongdeep techno showcasing impeccable details. The title track
Around 4, an unstoppable dynamic track, is full of energy and
sensations for the well trained ear. Bliper Fever, a shorter more
playful and sparkly tech-house track with addictive and original
metallic sounds enticing for the dance floor. The third is Between,
a long and hypnotic deep-techno track with layered percussions
and a tearing bassline that’s both a carrier and a leader.

Availabel at:

Juno Records, Dj Shop.de, Track It Down,
Dj Download, Dj Tunes, iTunes, Fnac

We are excited to announce that we have launched AQUAVIT RECORDS label and to express that we are onto new > exciting > forms of sound and vision.

Please stay tuned … more to come ~

Many thanks

and Digipaks are available at CD Baby

Aquavit will release Telepatia on Friday, March 28th, 2008

It will be available to buy both in CD and Digital formats