Roman Flugel | Louiv b2b Jack D | Combover | Loft: Italo Disco crew
Schedule
Sat, 22 Feb, 2025 at 09:30 pm to Sun, 23 Feb, 2025 at 03:00 am
UTC-08:00Location
119 Utah St,San Francisco,94103,US | San Francisco, CA
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Roman Flugel comes to The Great Northern!Described as a non-conformist by the press, and likened to a chameleon by fellow
musical peer and Running Back label owner Gerd Janson, Flügel's approach to
music is hard to pin-down – a fact he takes great pleasure in. “I enjoy the surprise”,
Flügel says about his DJing, “that’s why it’s difficult to describe what I do”. As a DJ
rooted in the broad tradition of house and techno, his sets vary between location,
crowd and time; change being his only constant. He is a DJ, live performer,
producer, remixer and label owner. A chameleon with a broad palette of colours,
if you will.
Discussing the contemporary electronic music scene in Germany without
mentioning Flügel's contribution would be near impossible. In 1993, alongside
production cohort Jörn Wutke (with whom Flügel collaborated with on many
projects, having hit records as Alter Ego, Holy Garage and more), he established
the labels Ongaku, Klang Elektronik as well as Playhouse, a now legendary imprint
that released iconic records by Isolée, Ricardo Villalobos and LoSoul. It essentially
set a new cultural marker for European house and techno.
As a DJ, Flügel is someone that honours the music. When playing, each record is
given time to properly breathe, so its form and character can bleed onto the
dancefloor, before giving a deep and progressive mix into the next record. There’s
no gimmicks in his sets, just a great understanding of music and the time,
patience and dexterity to blend the tracks into a smooth, free-flowing and
inspired narrative. Flügel doesn’t just take you on journeys, he is the cartographer,
mapping out the entire musical landscape, before sharing with you the broader
world he inhabits.
As a producer, Flügel has employed many aliases and orchestrated a wealth of
successful collaborations. Brandishing a varied and expressive discography, he
has developed long-standing relationships with some of the most respected
labels and artists in electronic music. Seminal Hamburg imprint DIAL, for example,
has released much of his music over the years, starting in 2011 with his debut
album Faty Folders, a lauded LP described by Pitchfork at the time as ‘a
summation of his career...multifaceted, rich and cagey’. This was followed up by
two further albums on the label; 2014’s Happiness is Happening and the 2016 LP
All The Right Noises, both of which explored the growing diversity of his sound
too much critical acclaim. 2017 saw the release of the Black Acid EP on beloved
London imprint Phonica Records, then the 2018 EP 1995 on Hard Work Soft Drink,
which was followed by Themes, a highly abstract album of ambient drone on ESP
Institute, further cementing his ability to explore the depths of even the most
challenging genres.
On top of this extensive body of work, he is also a prolific remixer, lending his ear
to many of his beloved peers. This has seen him work in recent years with arists
including Daniel Avery, Tuf City Kids, DJ Tennis, Sven Väth, DJ Hell and C.A.R to
name a very select few.
Finally, no tale of Flügel’s commitment to the scene is complete without a
mention of his work beyond the buttons. Since early 2016, he’s curated his own
party series Sister Midnight at clubs worldwide. As someone who still expects to
be surprised when on the dancefloor, Roman displays many colours when he
plays. “I don’t want to limit myself”, he says about his approach to performance.
For him, it’s all about engaging with the crowd, seeing and reading the emotions,
keeping his palette wide open for new paths to wander.
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Where is it happening?
119 Utah St,San Francisco,94103,US, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
