http://www.worlddj.com/article/feat...w.wdj?id=172431

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Ahead of his first visit to Australia, one of Switzerland's most talented Techno DJ and producers Rapha�l Ripperton spares some time to discuss the upcoming tour and his future in solo and collaborative producing. Inspired in his early days by listening to mix tapes of new beat and acid house, Ripperton was influenced greatly by seeing legends of electronic music like Louie Vega and Tony Humphries behind the decks. Now well over a decade later he has begun moving up in the scene with both his productions and DJing, touring over the world and releasing on some of the biggest minimal and techno labels. Capping of what has already been an enormous year; Ripperton has just recently released his new single on Connaissuer Superior 'Zugunruhe,' quite a unique techno number, it reflects that "Ripperton" sound, "I'm just trying to get the good sound, the right balance and most of all the true emotion." With 2007 seeing the end of his fruitful partnership with Mirko Loko under their "Lazy Fat People" alias, the two have seen themselves released on such highly respected labels as Border Community, Planet E and Wagon Repair. As many other producers also have, Ripperton and Sam K have been busy running there record label "Perspectiv Records," which has seen solid success in the past twelve months and features new talents emerge in the form artists such as Agn�s, Minz, Masaya and more. It wasn't until 1997 that Rapha�l Ripperton set out on the road to become a producer, acquiring his first sampler (an MPC3000) and some synthesizers, from then he hasn't looked back. Looking at the modern studio's of numerous producers from the 90s, they more often then not have a certain affinity to working with Hardware over Software, Ripperton is no different using a combination of the two, "you can't compare the sound of a real moog or a machine drum with the plug-ins," adding "With the new technologies you can produce in the plane or at the hotel room with a laptop. That's really funny." But in the end it's the one behind the controls and not the wares themselves, "you produce what you are and what you want to explain to the audience." It hasn't always been easy explains Ripperton, back in the 90s getting a record deal was much more difficult, now running his own one in the present day he's always excited about releasing new talent and most especially, the music he likes. Asking him whether or not he still enjoys the same music he did a decade a go, he replies "Oh yes! Good music is good music," adding "It doesn't matter when it was produced...It's not a shame to play some old records; it's a sign of culture and respect." Keeping that in mind, he also feels that house music is making its way back again, "I mean the real house, like from Chicago and Detroit in the early 90's." But all things go round and round, he admits minimal, house and techno are always in good form and it will be - for a long time. Starting of with more band type projects, Ripperton has previously worked with "Soul Merge" on Chic Records and "Reasons" on Lovearth Recordings, his first record label. Although at the time slightly more vocal house projects, using instruments, it wasn't until 2005 that saw Rapha�l release under his own name, since then he has released under guises including "Rayon" and "Ruppert Town." With "Rayon" being specifically for Crosstown Rebels, "they asked me to take a name of a texture for the artist alias and a name of animal for the track," a second release saw Ripperton present the name (as most knew him under his name "Ripperton" name). "Ruppert Town" however has only been used for tracks using "more funny" samples, although for the future he is focusing on his own name "but who knows maybe with some surprises." Quite probably his most famous alias or collaboration has been "Lazy Fat People," which he stated in 2005 with Mirko Loko, after meeting at the Caprices Festival where they were both playing, "We started to do some stuff in my studio, and the first label who was interested was Border community...Can you imagine that?" Unable to find the answer anywhere else, the question had to be raised, 'Where does the name come from,' and unfortunately there's still no public answer "A personal joke. I can't explain that here sorry." Despite "Lazy Fat People" continuing with just Mirko, Ripperton has moved on and is not only focusing on solo productions but working with fellow artists from his "Perspectiv" label, "Agn�s" and "Masaya," with releases planned for the future. DJing since 1993, Rapha�l Ripperton's indefinable style can often sound like House or Techno, but are reflective of mostly reflective of his smooth and deep production sound, how does he program his DJ sets? "Well I'll take all my favourite tracks of the moment and I'll do my selection live. I work like that with the instant feelings." With gigs in Sydney and Melbourne, including an appearance at one of Australia's biggest music festivals Rainbow Serpent, Rapha�l is excited about the tour, admitting most of his gigs are on the other side of the planet - in Europe, "I'm a little afraid about the travelling...I hate planes and airports. Funny for a DJ isn't?" Indeed he also has hopes of gaining some inspiration for his artist album, "It's not finished yet, and it will be really long to do it. I need to produce more and more." Playing at Soma Corp as Robert Babicz did when he wrote his track about Melbourne, there's a chance Rapha�l has come to the right place. In the near future - amongst the plethora of bookings he is receiving, Ripperton gives a sneak peek into his release schedule. "I did my new EP, who will be released soon on "Perspectiv" with two remixes from Radio Slave and Anders Ilar," not only that, but there's Raphael's work with Agn�s to look out for, as well as releases and remixes on Sthlmaudio, Liebe*Detail, Caravan and a remix with Masaya on her new record label MINA recordings. Not only that, but hopes are still there for that elusive artist album, plenty of Rapha�l Ripperton to keep your ears open for.

Last edited by Dj_Es-Dva on Jan-24-2008 at 12:08