Terminal V Podcast 036 || Naty Seres

 

Playing regularly at a club such as Berghain is one thing but to be inducted into a collective of artists such as Ostgut is quite another. That is exactly what Naty Seres has just accomplished and judging by already impressive working accomplishments to date the next stage in the evolution of the Berlin institution is an exciting one. Having cut her teeth in the music industry at an early age she has started at high BPM’s and is currently working her way down the scale.

From psytrance and d’n’b in her pervious life to techno and in recent lockdown times she is now exploring more slow broken beat and introspective sounds. Naty’s productions combine a great many influences that have seen projects such as Atmophile Electronics and Never Not Now now all add to the unique sound palette she has at her disposal. So, without further ado we introduce the next generation of Ostgut and a true star in the making…

 

First of all we would like to congratulate you on becoming a fully-fledged member of the Ostgut family, tell us how it all came about?

Thank you! I’m very happy to be joining Ostgut, it feels like a big family already. How did it all come about? I’m friends with a few people behind the scenes of Berghain/Ostgut. Knowing the team and knowing how they work, I had dreamed of joining the agency. It was important to me to work with an agency with more to it than just bookings and email exchanges. I’m very good friends with my agent, she knows my music since the very beginning, so it felt very natural to work together.

Time passed and after a few months of working quietly together, it’s now official.

It is safe to say that this is a big step in your career but what does this mean for you as an artist?

It definitely is! To have a residency at Berghain allows you so much artistic freedom, as well as allows you to gather knowledge by getting to play regularly on the same sound system. By playing different slots, you can also try out different styles. This experience will help me when I’m DJing in other venues.

Playing at a venue such as Berghain how do you make your sets standout from the top artists at the party?

By playing what I like! I always try to be versatile with my DJing. I’m into so many different genres, and my sets reflect what I’m most excited by at that time.

Do you have any great stories from your time playing at The Big House?

The second time I played, Oscar Mulero was playing after me. When my set was about to end, I said to him “hey this is my last track, are you good to go?” He said he is ready. Then, when my track finished and I turned around to do the handover he wasn’t there. I asked Mike, the artist host, if he knows where he is he said “he doesn’t”. I freaked out thinking what to do now, what track to put on, until Oscar Mulero came out from hiding behind the curtains onstage! I must have been making a funny face when I saw him gone, as he and Mike were both laughing so much!

Going back towards your beginnings, how did you find the transfer from drum and bass to techno?

I was playing psytrance for a long time after my drum and bass days. In terms of BPM, psytrance is closer to d’n’b and so it felt fairly natural. From the technical side, the way I mix now is completely different to when I played d’n’b or psytrance, which was all about rapid mixes, using breakdowns and being constantly on the move. Techno is more about telling a story. You can go places where the sounds have time to unfold.

Was there a particular night / friend / track that introduced you to techno?

I moved to Berlin around 12 years ago. It’s cliché I know but here is where I really got into techno. I knew a bit about the scene before, and had been to some events, but it was in Berlin that I began to dance to techno for endless hours, weekend after weekend, listening to long closing sets. It was my friend Ziska who took me to Berghain for the first time and that’s where it all really began!

Do you find that you can combine the two genres in your sets or is d&b in the past for you now?

I love to combine them! I play a lot of breakbeat and electro in my sets, but to play pure d’n’b belters takes some introducing and slow buildups, as well as a carefully structured track selection to get there. You can’t just drop a d’n’b tune to a techno crowd and be like “hey, here you go”! I mean of course you can, I just wouldn’t.

It’s all about playing the right slot at the right party, and working with the crowd to slowly introduce a different rhythm to reach the right BPMs. You have to give the audience time to adapt, and at some point you will have the dancefloor following you. Then you can drop pretty much anything and they will (mostly) enjoy dancing to it. It’s all about slow introductions, choosing the right moment and not overdoing it.

Moving onto your own music projects, tell us what is the latest news from Atmophile Electronics?

The label was closed in the beginning of 2021, we just didn’t see a vision for continuing it anymore.

You recently launched a new project Never Not Now can you give us the lowdown on NNN?

NNN is all about friendship, hanging out, nerding out, getting high and going dancing together, showing each other music and supporting one another! It really comes from within a close friend circle and has no genre boundaries, we just release what we like.

Does NNN have a physical space as well as the virtual one that the music occupies?

Unfortunately not yet. I play a lot of records so not having our music on that medium can feel like something is missing. But with the pandemic it has financially been tight for all of us. Also NNN is a small label and today’s market for record sales is tough. It’s hard to break even.

With the label having several different sounds to it how do you choose which direction to go in next?

We release what we like. It’s just a feeling.

What other new music have you been working on recently?

I have been working on an EP that I’m very excited about. The pandemic brought a change into my productions. I was all about writing dancefloor stuff before. But with the lockdown and no parties to attend, I didn’t feel like writing dance music. My productions slowed down and almost fully lost the dancefloor focus. It was kind of like hitting a reset button. I got into producing softer music, stuff you’d rather listen to at home, at a lake or when you have a dinner evening with friends. There are more melodies, vocals (not mine), manipulated samples, evolving chord progressions and sliced drum breaks.

Of course we need to discuss your mix for our podcast series, what was your chosen weapons for recording the mix? (what gear did you use?)

I used the same gear that I use on stage which is a xone92, 2×1210 Technics & 2xCDJ-2000NXS2

Tell us about the tracks that you have chosen and the inspiration when choosing them?

The inspiration was to show what my sets sound like when I play at a party. I pretty much stripped down a 3 hour set to a 1 hour mix. It includes a mixture of recently released tracks which I have been playing lately, and some of my favourite 90s to mid 2000s classics. Enjoy!

 

Interview by Stu Todd