Matthias Tanzmann Electrifies the Brooklyn Mirage 

Germany

Matthias Tanzmann 

ELROW New Year's Day - Ibiza

Spain

Amnesia

Solid Grooves

DC-10

Music On

Pachá Ibiza

ANTS Opening Party

Ushuaïa

ABODE Las Vegas

United States

Wynn Resort

With releases stretching back two decades on labels such as 

 is a stalwart of the European house scene. The German artist's impressive catalog is bolstered by residencies at iconic night spots like DC10 in Ibiza and festivals like BPM, Ultra, and Tomorrowland. Tanzmann is also one thiurd of Better Lost Than Stupid with Martin Buttrich and Davide Squillace. We caught up with him as he returned from a short tour of North and Central America to look back on his life and times. 

Tanzmann grew up in Leipzig, in former East 

, hitting his teens just after the Berlin Wall came down, and the Soviet bloc disintegrated. Like many Germans, he found this to be a time of enormous freedom and exploration. 

Berghain

Better Lost Than Stupid - Inside

Matthias Tanzmann, Davide Squillace and Martin Buttrich - or, Better Lost Than Stupid - present Inside. Out now on Skint. Stream/buy: https://blts.lnk.to/InsideFA

Video by wobblylobster.
www.wobblylobster.co.uk

LYRICS

Lately I’ve been thinking that I don’t belong in here, cuz everyone is looking at me I can’t escape the fear -
Inside. Inside.
Lately I’ve been stressing cuz I don’t belong in here.
Would everyone stop looking at me up and down so weird? Maybe I’ve just been sipping to much, I can’t see things clear.
And the tablets in my pocket won’t make these feelings disappear.
And I can feel it inside of me, Oh I can feel it inside of me, Every single part of me,
I can feel it inside of me, Inside,
Every single part of me, Running inside of me. (I can feel it inside)
I’ll try to buy myself some time. Still holding on to what’s left inside. I’ll try to buy myself some times. Still holding on to what’s left inside. (Oooo)
Lately I’ve been thinking that I don’t belong in here, cuz everyone is looking at me I can’t escape the fear -
Maybe I’ve just been sipping to much, I can’t see things clear.
And the tablets in my pocket won’t make these feelings disappear.
I took the long way to get out, I took the long way to get out of here. (I’ll try to buy myself some time, still holding on to what’s left inside)
Inside, Inside.

Keep in touch with Better Lost Than Stupid:

Website: http://www.betterlostthanstupid.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BetterLostThanStupid/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/betterlostthanstupidofc 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetterLostStupd
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/betterlostthanstupid

Better Lost Than Stupid - Inside (Official Video)

“When the Wall came down there were so many abandoned places,” says Tanzmann. “It was a period of restructuring and old factories went out of business. All those places were empty and no one really knew what was going on. The police force had to be restructured so you could do a lot of things that nobody cared about.”

Like Berlin in the years after reunification, these abandoned spaces were ideal venues for raves and celebrations of newfound freedom. 

“There were so many illegal parties. You would just move a very basic sound system into an abandoned place and put in a bar and away you go. Nobody would care – there was no police. It was a time with so much opportunity. It was so new. This is what really got me into electronic music and this whole world.” 

Distillery club, Leipzig | Photograph: martin@distillery.de

Tanzmann started playing house music in local bars before landing a residency at the Leipzig institution 

“It was a big step for me. Distillery was already a legendary club back then. First, I played the basement, which was more techno than house, then in 1997 I had my first appearance upstairs on the house floor, which was a better fit for me. But the crowd was way more open-minded back then. Techno and house weren’t clearly defined. Everything was new and the crowd was super mixed – you’d have queer people, someone in a suit over there, a punk over here, just this really diverse crowd.” 

Matthias Tanzmann @ United We Stream UWS Global #20 Distillery Leipzig

United We Stream Global opens its virtual doors for the 20th time. 

Today live from Leipzig at Distillery Club.

 using basic hardware synths and effects. “From the first money I earned, I bought the most basic sampler you can think of and we had one Yamaha synth and two cheap effects. It was exciting. Now you have all those options in a big studio, but back then being limited to just a few sounds and samples, it was a good thing. We had to focus on the limited equipment we had.” 

Tanzmann and some friends from Distillery founded 

in 2000, mainly as a label to put out their own releases. Still going strong, last year Moon Harbour celebrated its 20th anniversary. “We never expected it to exist for so long or to get so much international recognition,” says Tanzmann. “There was no business plan. It was just – hey let’s do something.”

By 2007, with Moon Harbour firmly established as a deep house imprint, Tanzmann was DJing small shows around Europe when CircoLoco invited him to play at the iconic Ibiza club 

 and a few other gigs in Ibiza before this. Then in 2006 I released a track that was played a lot at DC10, so they invited me to play a New Year’s Day party as a try-out.” Then disaster struck. “I was playing a New Year’s Eve gig in London and my luggage was lost on the way to Ibiza.” Tanzmann had some records on him, but the lost luggage meant he was late for his CircoLoco show. “Because we were so late, they took me from the airport directly to the club, opened the back door and shoved me into the DJ booth and I started playing immediately. I didn’t have a chance to get nervous.” 

 for the 1997 Ibiza summer season, and he remains one of CircoLoco’s most frequent guests. Tanzmann had found his home away from home. In the subsequent 15 years, he built growing international renown playing deep house, minimal, and tech house, learning to craft his sound, whether playing small clubs with 300 people on the dancefloor or huge parties of 10,000 people. But for Tanzmann, the house sound continues to inspire him. 

“House is always going to be interesting. It’s so self-referential – you have these cycles where it sounds like the ’80s again, then it sounds like the ’90s TR-909 rave sound,  and now it’s the very melodic stuff. I don’t even know where house is right now – there are so many different scenes. But that’s good – it just underlines how big house has become.” 

Matthias Tanzmann @ elrow Amnesia Ibiza 2019

Watch the full set at Clubbing TV
https://clubbingtv.com/shows/view/2188/clubbing-experience-with-matthias-tanzmann-elrow-amnesia-ibiza/

Ibiza remains one of Tanzmann’s favorite places to play, but he also shouts out South America, especially Argentina, Peru, and Chile. “You have such a responsive and educated crowd in these places, it’s amazing to play there. Recently, I was also able to play again in the US, which I love. And hopefully as the world opens up I’ll be able to play more. I had some great times in Switzerland during the pandemic, as it was one of the few countries that allowed clubs to stay open most of the time.”  

As lockdowns end around the world, Tanzmann splits his schedule between producing and DJing. His latest release on 

 is a collaboration with long-time friend Steve Bug. He’s also working on remixes for 

 recordings. Most of all, he looks forward to the festival circuit ramping up again after two long and quiet years. 

Rony Seikaly

Black Circle

“I just came back from a small tour in Mexico, Costa Rica and the US. Hopefully the pandemic will slow down and we’ll see each other at festivals and clubs soon. This is what I really hope for.” 

Gray Area Spotlight: Matthias Tanzmann

With releases stretching back two decades on labels such as Dirtybird, Poker Flat, and his own imprint Moon Harbour, Matthias Tanzmann is a stalwart of the European house scene. The German artist's impressive catalog is bolstered by residencies at iconic night spots like DC10 in Ibiza and festivals like BPM, Ultra, and Tomorrowland. Tanzmann is also one thiurd of Better Lost Than Stupid with Martin Buttrich and Davide Squillace. We caught up with him as he returned from a short tour of North and Central America to look back on his life and times. 

Read the full Spotlight: https://grayarea.co/artists/matthias-tanzmann

▪️Follow Matthias Tanzmann▪️
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/matthiastanzmann/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/matttanzmann
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/matthiastanzmann
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/6bxLLapj6NByiP5cr6jMeK?si=G4TPWfURTaCjUU6PtAHKMA
Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/matthias-tanzmann
Beatport - https://www.beatport.com/artist/matthias-tanzmann/5658

Connect with Gray Area:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/entergrayarea/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/enterGrayArea
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/entergrayarea
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@entergrayarea
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3nGJIfQ
Website - https://grayarea.co

Gray Area's mission is to build a bigger house music community in North America by helping fans discover exciting house music artists, event brands and festivals that are new to them. 

Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:23 - Early childhood music
01:40 - Leipzig music scene
03:44 - First DJ gig
04:29 - Distillery residence
06:38 - First alias
08:15 - Bedroom producing vs modern producing
09:28 - Moon Harbour Recordings
10:57 - Ibiza residency
13:36 - How his music taste has changed
15:43 - Influential track
16:33 - Thoughts on the current house scene
18:42 - Approach to producing now
19:38 - How not playing live affected his production
20:40 - Performance location aspirations
22:14 - Streaming during the pandemic
23:35 - Speed round

#grayarea #matthiastanzmann #housemusic

Gray Area Interview: Matthias Tanzmann

With releases stretching back two decades on labels such as Dirtybird, Poker Flat, and his own imprint Moon Harbour, Matthias Tanzmann is a stalwart of the European house scene. The German artist's impressive catalog is bolstered by residencies at iconic night spots like DC10 in Ibiza and festivals like BPM, Ultra, and Tomorrowland. Tanzmann is also one thiurd of Better Lost Than Stupid with Martin Buttrich and Davide Squillace. We caught up with him as he returned from a short tour of North and Central America to look back on his life and times. 

Tanzmann grew up in Leipzig, in former East Germany, hitting his teens just after the Berlin Wall came down, and the Soviet bloc disintegrated. Like many Germans, he found this to be a time of enormous freedom and exploration. 

“When the Wall came down there were so many abandoned places,” says Tanzmann. “It was a period of restructuring and old factories went out of business. All those places were empty and no one really knew what was going on. The police force had to be restructured so you could do a lot of things that nobody cared about.”

Like Berlin in the years after reunification, these abandoned spaces were ideal venues for raves and celebrations of newfound freedom. 

“There were so many illegal parties. You would just move a very basic sound system into an abandoned place and put in a bar and away you go. Nobody would care – there was no police. It was a time with so much opportunity. It was so new. This is what really got me into electronic music and this whole world.” 



Distillery club, Leipzig | Photograph: martin@distillery.de



Tanzmann started playing house music in local bars before landing a residency at the Leipzig institution Distillery. 

“It was a big step for me. Distillery was already a legendary club back then. First, I played the basement, which was more techno than house, then in 1997 I had my first appearance upstairs on the house floor, which was a better fit for me. But the crowd was way more open-minded back then. Techno and house weren’t clearly defined. Everything was new and the crowd was super mixed – you’d have queer people, someone in a suit over there, a punk over here, just this really diverse crowd.” 

Around the same time, Tanzmann started producing music under Gamat 3000 using basic hardware synths and effects. “From the first money I earned, I bought the most basic sampler you can think of and we had one Yamaha synth and two cheap effects. It was exciting. Now you have all those options in a big studio, but back then being limited to just a few sounds and samples, it was a good thing. We had to focus on the limited equipment we had.” 

Tanzmann and some friends from Distillery founded Moon Harbour Recordings in 2000, mainly as a label to put out their own releases. Still going strong, last year Moon Harbour celebrated its 20th anniversary. “We never expected it to exist for so long or to get so much international recognition,” says Tanzmann. “There was no business plan. It was just – hey let’s do something.”

By 2007, with Moon Harbour firmly established as a deep house imprint, Tanzmann was DJing small shows around Europe when CircoLoco invited him to play at the iconic Ibiza club DC10. 

“I had played Space and a few other gigs in Ibiza before this. Then in 2006 I released a track that was played a lot at DC10, so they invited me to play a New Year’s Day party as a try-out.” Then disaster struck. “I was playing a New Year’s Eve gig in London and my luggage was lost on the way to Ibiza.” Tanzmann had some records on him, but the lost luggage meant he was late for his CircoLoco show. “Because we were so late, they took me from the airport directly to the club, opened the back door and shoved me into the DJ booth and I started playing immediately. I didn’t have a chance to get nervous.” 

The slot led to a residency at CircoLoco for the 1997 Ibiza summer season, and he remains one of CircoLoco’s most frequent guests. Tanzmann had found his home away from home. In the subsequent 15 years, he built growing international renown playing deep house, minimal, and tech house, learning to craft his sound, whether playing small clubs with 300 people on the dancefloor or huge parties of 10,000 people. But for Tanzmann, the house sound continues to inspire him. 

“House is always going to be interesting. It’s so self-referential – you have these cycles where it sounds like the ’80s again, then it sounds like the ’90s TR-909 rave sound,  and now it’s the very melodic stuff. I don’t even know where house is right now – there are so many different scenes. But that’s good – it just underlines how big house has become.” 

Ibiza remains one of Tanzmann’s favorite places to play, but he also shouts out South America, especially Argentina, Peru, and Chile. “You have such a responsive and educated crowd in these places, it’s amazing to play there. Recently, I was also able to play again in the US, which I love. And hopefully as the world opens up I’ll be able to play more. I had some great times in Switzerland during the pandemic, as it was one of the few countries that allowed clubs to stay open most of the time.”  

As lockdowns end around the world, Tanzmann splits his schedule between producing and DJing. His latest release on Knee Deep in Sound is a collaboration with long-time friend Steve Bug. He’s also working on remixes for Rony Siekelay and P. Diddy and a project with Black Circle for Moon Harbour recordings. Most of all, he looks forward to the festival circuit ramping up again after two long and quiet years. 

“I just came back from a small tour in Mexico, Costa Rica and the US. Hopefully the pandemic will slow down and we’ll see each other at festivals and clubs soon. This is what I really hope for.” 







Matthias Tanzmann

Articles

Luca Rizzello