Name: Meraki
Alias/Producer name: Meraki
Facebook: h3ps://www.facebook.com/merakimusiczh
Soundcloud: h3ps://soundcloud.com/meraki_ofc
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meraki_musiczh/
Labels affiliated with: Trip Records, Renesanz Records
What music did you listen to as a child?!
I was a big fan of Rednex when I was a kid. I listened to the song "Cotton Eye Joe" up and down and danced along to it. As a teenager, bands like the Backstreet Boys and Spice Girl came along, which I adored and wallpapered my whole room with posters of them. My mother is probably responsible for the fact that I always loved Techno music and now it has become my great passion. She always listened to Techno in the car and looked forward to the Street Parade in Zurich every year.
When was the first time that you realized that you liked electronic music?!
When I was 5 years old, a Mini Playback Show was held in our village. I and a friend of mine, who was 2 years older, took part. I was with my 5 years the youngest parTcipant and we deformed to the track of 2 Unlimited "No Limit", which has influenced me very much in terms of electronic music. I remember that I said to my mother that I would like to perform a Boom Boom song, and she played me No Limit by 2 Unlimited.
When was the first time you saw a DJ in a club?!
The first time I saw a DJ playing in a club, I was 15 years old. The club was called OXA and actually I was much too young to be in the club. But a friend of my mother, who was a bartender there, took me in through the back door. I can't remember which DJ was playing, but they were playing Trance and Techno - I remember that exactly. That was an unforgettable highlight of my teenage years.
Which producers/artists/acts inspire you? !
At the beginning of my first touches with techno, where I also dealt specifically with the respecTve producer and DJ, these were: Richie HawTn, Boris Brejcha, Jeff Mills , Sam Paganini and DJ Hell. However, who inspires me in producing my own tracks are producers like: Township Rebellion, Massaro, Stereo Express, Space 92, UMEK, Heerhorst, Layton Giordani, The YellowHeads, Bossta and Danny Avila.
What was the last album that you downloaded/bought? !
The last album I bought was back in the days of CDs. It was the album of the Prodigy.
What is your current production and DJ set up like?!
My current studio setup to produce music is currently still kept pretty simple and not very much hardware available. My DAW that I have is Ableton live 11, an Ableton Push, an audio interface, a Korg Volca Bass, an Arturia DrumBrute, Behringer TD-3-MO-SR, Roland MC-101 Groovebox, a Novation 49SL MKIII and two software synthesizers. But due to lack of space I don't have a studio per se, but I take everything forward as soon as I want to work on my music productions. However, I hope to be able to set up and design my very own studio soon - I'm already looking forward to that. Therefore most of the production is done at a friend's studio, who has all the equipment a producer's heart can imagine. Well, to be honest, I don't even know half of his hardware. And to record my DJ sets and play music, I have an Allen Heath Xone 92, a Pioneer DJM-450 and two XDJ-700 at home, so the conclusion is that I use AIFF files via Recordbox to prepare my DJ sets.
What releases do you have on the horizon?!
Soon another EP of mine with 3 techno tracks should be released. The release date is not yet known. Further I have some tracks in the making, because I never work on only one track but always on 2-3 at the same time. So I work much more creatively and don't get bent on a single production when I'm stuck for the moment. I don't do remixes at the moment, because I don't feel fast enough and confident enough to produce a remix based on another track, i.e. an artist. Because to remix a artwork, which is a track/song for me, of a producer, for that I still want to acquire a little more technical knowhow and skills. But i really hope that soon some collaborations will come up, where you can help and support each other, as well as learn from each other (so probably especially me)
Where can we hear you perform?!
My calendar is currently pretty full with DJ gigs until September. Among them are of course now in the summer many festival gigs, but also some club or daydance gigs. I'm especially looking forward to the event with Space 92, where I'll be playing after him and I'm already nervous that I'll be replacing him at the DJ booth. Next weekend, for example, I'm playing at Zurich Fest, where there's a huge party all weekend in the whole city. There I play 3 gigs during these three days on different stages. In the meantime I'm resident at different labels, namely Grundton (Hive Club), 7 Vibes Journey (Hive Club), Queer Harem (Zurich & Stuttgart) as well as the event labels Trush and Meh Liebii.
Tell us more about the set you made for Trip Records?!
First I searched for tracks that I thought were consistent with each other. Then I put together my DJ set via Recordbox and recorded it with the XDJ. The preparation of the track list took me about 1.5 - 2 hours and the recording another hour. But I could spend hours on music every day, so no time is too good for me. Standout tracks: Rise of the second sun by Stereo Express, System by Massano, The floor is lava by BRAGKEN, Magna Spe by Township Rebellion, Alfa Centauri (Paul Anthonee Virtual Trancer) by Far Distance, but to be honest I love all of them!
The top track in my DJ wallet currently is:
No Day After & PACS - Cover Me (Extended Instrumental Mix)
Youtube: PACS & No Day ATer - Cover Me (Instrumental Mix) Soundcloud: hWps://on.soundcloud.com/ZH4pG
Beatport: hWps://www.beatport.com/track/cover-me/17594257 Spoafy: hWps://open.spoafy.com/track/5nyc4kUie6HcunLpvVrnvC
If I could recommend only one track for you to listen to it would be:
So far the weirdest track I’ve ever heard: WINX - Don’t Laugh
The last movie I watched that I really liked:
My Octopus Teacher
My favourite TV show:
The Walking Dead
