Lauer
A smooth glide through celestial house
If you've ever left a club night with an unshakeable grin at the absolute abundance of vibes that have just been experienced then you won't need much more description to get an idea of how special Phillip Lauer and Gerd Janson's set at Corsica Studios in London recently was. In short, they laid down five hours of the most cosmic cuts of disco and uplifting house going.
"There's no question that, musically, Phillip is one hundred times more talented than I am," Janson told The Skinny in reference to his Tuff City Kids partner in 2013. Humble, we're sure, but still a glowing affirmation of the undeniable genius of Lauer.
He grew up around Frankfurt, regularly attending parties just across the river at Offenbach's renowned Robert Johnson club where he "spent a small fortune about the size of a small family car at the bar", before eventually getting his chance behind the booth and establishing himself as an integral member of the RJ family, while working during the week at a distribution company.
The company went bust in 2014, and since then he's devoted his full time work life to music. But he's been quietly killing it with productions for nearly two decades, putting an enviable collection of vintage hardware into action to create sounds spanning across genres from balaeric to italo to 80s synth pop, clocking up releases on labels such as Permanent Vacation, Running Back and, most recently, Futureboogie.
To listen to this audio clip, view the full mobile website.
From his currently dormant label Brontosaurus, which had a mission statement of showcasing his "weirdest musician friends", to his collaborations, which he is a big fan of doing despite joking it's "less fun when getting paid", everything Lauer puts his hand to is instilled with his distinctively intricate yet playful approach to music. Take last year's Tuff City Kids "Club Mix" of Fort Romeau's 'Cloche' that layers on the textures thick, but places an irresistibly bouncy melody at the forefront throughout.
To listen to this audio clip, view the full mobile website.
Beyond Tuff City Kids, Lauer has been involved in deep house duo Arto Mwambe alongside Christian Beißwenger; 80s-synths driven project Hotel Lauer with his brother Jacob (see here for the adorable family photo that adorned their debut release); released collaborations with DJ Sotofett and Tim Sweeney; and more. Quite the discography.
We're delighted to present a Lauer mix to you for our In Session this week. Opening on Omar S' slaughterhouse-sampling 'XSE', it quickly loosens up into a smooth glide through celestial house. Listen below.
'Birsk' / 'Killian' is out now on Futureboogie
Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow him on Twitter here