Rod B. & Alvaro Garfunk bring you the Miami Underground Movement




HEARTTHROB Biography
 
Currently one of the brightest stars in the Minus firmament, Heartthrob aka Jesse Siminski
has arrived on the scene with a fresh new take on the minimal sound. It’s not just his ear for a
killer riff that makes him such an exciting prospect it’s also his natural ability to convey a sense of
drama and humour through his music. There’s an infectious energy in his sound that rubs off on
his audiences but it can also be heard in his musical collaborations. Heartthrob brings something
new to the table - be it quirky melodic hooks or twisted vocals - that manages to inspire those
around him to even greater heights.  
 
Growing up in the remote and rural town of Marquette, Michigan, situated about 6 hours North of
Detroit, music was a vital part of his upbringing. Dad played guitar in a number of bands that
regularly practiced at their house and this healthy diet of rock, funk and reggae together with his
older sister‘s obsession with Prince, shaped his appreciation of dance music from an early age.
Erotic City, Laid Back’s ‘White Horse’ and Kraftwerk‘s ‘Tour de France’ are still huge influences
from that time. Jesse discovered techno music around 1996 through a magazine called
‘Massive’ that covered the new rave culture exploding in the Midwest. Plastikman’s ‘Gak’ was
one track in particular that opened his eyes and motivated him to visit his first Rave. Needless to
say, he was totally hooked!  He immediately bought turntables and started looking for
synthesizers to make music, starting out with some retro 70’s gear handed down from his father.
 
Next to studying art and painting, music rapidly became his true passion although it was never
something he seriously considered as a career option. All that was to change when he hooked
up with Magda in New York in 1999 and was immediately taken by her warm nature and
fantastic musical sense. She and Troy Pierce had started working on music and introduced
him to Ableton Live. Shortly after, Richie Hawtin moved into the same building as them, it was
a very natural situation during which this dedicated band of producers and djs began laying
foundations for the future. Since then the learning curve has been steep. Jesse swapped New
York for Paris in 2005 to focus his full attention on production and performance and by his own
admission it’s been an incredible experience. Being invited to use Richie Hawtin’s studio and
remixing Depeche Mode’s  ‘Personal Jesus’ are two major moments that particularly stand
out for him since arriving in Europe however ‘Baby Kate’, the memorable opening to 2006’s
min2MAX compilation is the track that has come to define his sound.  
 
Heartthrob describes his approach to music as “a messy ‘stream of consciousness’ daydream”.
The challenge for him is to make something unique and personal that speaks for itself, regardless
of whether it stays true to form or not. The traditional functionality of Techno music must always
be present but for Jesse it’s all about taking risks and trusting his instincts, which is why his own
particular style is so varied, covering a whole lot more than just glitches, bleeps and sound
effects.  
 
Melody plays a significant roll in his work, often providing the focal point around which the rest of
the track orbits. There is also an inherent darkness to his music but just as it’s always darkest
before the dawn, there’s often an uplifting, cathartic side to it that celebrates the unified spirit and
generates such a positive vibe on the dancefloor. Music also allows him to document his
experiences and with the cast of characters that surround him, inspiration is never far away.  
With tongue firmly fixed in cheek, he often creates fantasy personas that get documented
through vocals or song titles, like a secret tribute and with such an impressive collection of
releases and remixes already to his name (both as Heartthrob and alter ego Vivienne
Projects), it can only be a matter of time before the tributes start flowing back the other way.


Special Thanks to Mr Meike Nolte,Rudy Delgado & Richie Hawtin
 
http://www.m-nus.com/
http://www.plus8.com/
http://www.contakt-events.com/ 

Rod B. & Alvaro Garfunk bring you the Miami Underground Movement

Rod B. & Alvaro Garfunk bring you the Miami Underground Movement






TROY PIERCE Biography
 
Growing up in the quiet farm town of Muncie, Indiana four hours drive from Chicago and
Detroit, it was hard to ignore the rich sounds emanating from these House and Techno
strongholds. Troy was among the first to pick up on DJs like Derrick Carter, Jeff Mills
and Richie Hawtin and was always out and about at parties in Detroit, Ohio and across
the Midwest. Strangely enough though, he never thought about picking up a pair of
headphones himself, preferring to leave the DJ duties to his friends. This way he could
fully immerse himself in the music, especially the experimental ambient tones of the after
hour chill outs.  
 
This all changed in 1994. He moved to New York to study photography and like every
student worth their salt, blew the remainder of his cash on a pair of turntables. He’d
been toying with the idea for a while and as luck would have it his flatmate was also the
manager of Temple Records so there was an endless supply of quality tunes on hand
from labels like Perlon to satisfy his growing vinyl addiction.  
 
Troy eventually hooked up with Magda at the Detroit Music Festival in 2001, who in turn
introduced him to Mark Houle six months later. An immediate chemistry developed
between the three of them and although Magda was now in Berlin, Mark in Windsor
and Troy in New York they started swapping music files over the net. By the time the
Run Stop Restore project finally crystallised into their debut release in early 2003, Troy
had already moved to Berlin. It was a big decision to leave but somehow New York no
longer offered up-and-coming musicians the same freedom of expression it used to,
while Germany and Berlin in particular was setting new standards in minimal electronic
music production.  
 
Since touching down in December 2002, he’s been letting his music do the talking. As
a relative unknown, it’s never easy staking a claim in a new city, especially one with
such a rich musical heritage but sure enough, through a string of successful gigs and a
mixture of impressive releases on Minus (Run and Slacknoise), Underline (Louderbach)
and Mo’s Ferry Productions, Troy has been attracting the right kind of attention and is
now a regular performer on the European circuit.
 
2005 was the year when it all came good. The release of the Minimise to Maximise
compilation and the accompanying tour left a lasting impression on clubbers at such
centres of excellence as Robert Johnson in Offenbach and the Paradiso in Amsterdam
but perhaps the real turning point came in August at pop.com. All those endless nights
on the road and solitary days in the studio came together in one heart stopping set at
the Watergate club. Taking the game to an expectant crowd including fellow producers
and industry types, his uncompromising mix of minimal house and down beat, funked
up techno announced, in no uncertain terms, that he was here for the long haul.
As a DJ, attempts to categorise his style pose more questions than they answer.
Minimalism in its purest form is a tag he more freely associates with labels like
Consumed - ‘super sparse, difficult and totally out there’. Troy on the other hand, has
developed a dance floor friendly hybrid sound that takes the best from the ‘little
movements and micro trends’ that constantly spring up, helping electronic music to
evolve. It retains the mechanical, futuristic sounds of techno but is slower and less
abrasive allowing him to work between the lines, exploit the space between the beats
and push out into the third dimension that epitomises the Minus sound. 
 
Like his label mates, Troy is a strong advocate of cutting edge technology like Ableton
Live, Final Scratch and sample tools like Cyloop. The ability to shift between these
sound sources offers him unparalleled flexibility as a DJ but the benefits don’t just stop
there. He recalls road testing a new track one night in Berlin, getting the thumbs up
from the rest of crew but then receiving puzzled calls the next day because the track
didn’t sound quite the same – he was of course looping in samples ‘on the fly’ and it
was this spontaneous improvisation that really set the dancefloor alight. Needless to say
these overdubs found their way into the final mix.
 
From a production point of view his tracks normally derive from experimenting with his
Machine Drum or expanding outwards from the dark, atmospheric vocal elements that
play a pivotal role in many of his productions. Inspiration often comes through choice
regarding the effects he uses, rejecting standard, tried and tested settings in favour of
unique percussive elements designed to challenge and intrigue. The result is a montage
of scratchy subliminal textures and grinding beats. It’s edgy stuff driven by dark funky
bass riffs that get right under the skin, the perfect tonic for any after hour as sleep
deprivation starts playing tricks with the mind.
 
As it stands, 2006 promises to be an even busier year than 2005. Having provided the
backbone of their releases so far, Troy will wrap up his work for UK label Underline with
the eagerly anticipated Louderbach LP. Alongside this, his growing status as a remixer
(check out his version of Ellen Allien’s Your Body is My Body) will see him reworking the
likes of Lawrence and Donnacha Costello. There’s also another Run EP in the pipeline
but maybe the most interesting development is the conception of a new label - Items
and Things - together with Magda and Marc Houle which should take flight in the
spring. 
 
If that’s not enough, there’s a full-on, five week Minus tour of the US on the horizon.
Richie, Magda, Marc and Troy will set off in May (complete with monster tour bus) for
what can only be described as a next generation magical mystery tour during which
they’ll take in 25 cities. They probably won’t be stopping in Muncie but it’s a sign of just
how much his stock has risen over the past couple of years and confirmation that a
solid work ethic, positive thinking and a total dedication to the cause always bears fruit
in the end. 

Special Thanks to Mr Meike Nolte,Rudy Delgado & Richie Hawtin
 
http://www.myspace.com/168585319
http://www.m-nus.com/
http://www.plus8.com/
http://www.contakt-events.com/