Off the Wall

>> Framing the big picture of Berlin's Jazzanova collective

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Two years ago, Austrian downtempo dons Kruder & Dorfmeister dropped into Sona and played a remix of an Ian Pooley track called "What's Your Number?" Once all jaws had been collected off the floor, the question became, "Who the hell was that?"

It was as much the magic touch of remixers Jazzanova as Pooley's original material that set things off. Montrealers suddenly wanted the scoop on this Berlin-based collective of DJs and producers, masters of all things jazzy, Brazzy, housy and afro-funka-Latin-groovy. Was it just us, or did this track do likewise everywhere it was played? "You bet!" exclaims Daniel Kong. "It was elected 'best remix' that year by Muzik magazine in the U.K.--and we're pretty proud of that!"

Explaining Kong's position in the many-headed Jazzanova amalgamatrix, and its expanded auxiliary Sonar Kollektiv, and all the other projects and team-ups and one-offs and whatnot associated with Jazzanova, would involved complex grids and pie-charts and stuff. So let's just say he's part of the whole Jazzanova thing, and that that's a good place to be.

When in Berlin, a good place to be (Thursday nights, anyway) is their Kaleidoskop sessions at a club called WMF. The Kollektiv offers a wide rotation of Jazzanova DJ talent, sandbagged by guests like LTJ Bukem and live Brazilian funk-jammers Azymuth. "We always had our own nights in Berlin. Before April '99 we had the Circle, and since then Kaleidoskop at WMF. Our goal is to present a variety of quality music, so we invite many friends from all around the world, who we think are great! Wonderful! Superb! Our nights are a platform for a kind of music which is hard to describe but simply delicious to listen and dance to."

All well and good, but where does this big picture fit into the even bigger picture, that of Berlin's rapidly changing post-Wall nightlife? "Oh, oh," says an overwhelmed Kong. "So many things are changing over such a short period of time. Whether you like it or not, you have to believe in what you do and keep on rocking--okay, I'm getting a little pathetic here. It's always hard to tell what the future holds, but since it's possible for many different scenes to arrange themselves in friendly coexistence, we're really looking forward to seeing what will happen."

Jazzanova's Claas and Dixon join Fauna Flash at Cabaret on Thursday, Aug. 31, 9pm, $15