It’s been a minute since we’ve had any news from Olefonken on these pages, and that’s a minute too long. The drummer, producer, synth wizard, label owner and DJ, is a constant source of new music, whether from himself, his band Hubbabubbaklubb, his DJ sets, or his label, Snorkel and even though we might not have heard much from him recently, he’s still crafting and facilitating good music. It’s like the old adage, if a tree falls in the woods and there’s no-one to hear it, does it make a sound. Yes it does and just like that you can be guaranteed, that Olefonken is tinkering on some project as I type this.
Since we last had Olefoken on these pages, he’s re-issued his classic record, Ubuntu Tutu, put out an entire LP of Hubba remixes and a host of new music from his table of Snorkel residents. We haven’t had him in the booth as often as in the past, but in that he is still a unique presence in Oslo.
For this edition of the Jaeger mix, he takes us deep into the night, with a mix that builds on the energy of each track, as he pursues the dance floor. Those melodic strains of his own music follows enigmatic channels to other musical territories. From balearic isles to squirmy IDM and towards high energy House, Olefonken traces a unique path through his record collection.
It’s time to catch up with Olefonken as we sink into this mix.
*The jaeger Mix returns this Wednesday.
Hey Ollis. It’s been a while since we last featured anything from you on the website. What have you been up to in terms of music on the DJing recently?
Hey Mischa, been a minute for sure. Some new snorkel releases in the pipeline. One bonus 12″ from the remix series of hubba and new dibidim album to mention some.
Last time we talked was with the hubbabubbaklubb release and since then the remix package was released. How did that come together and was the result everything you expected?
It all started after we asked The Codfather (Bjørn Torske) for a remix, which we knew liked the album since he wrote a nice little feedback on discogs. After he said yes, we felt we could ask anybody in the world, which we clearly couldn’t, but we luckily ended up getting everyone we wanted in the end though!
You seem to work in these intense periods on one project with a kind of perfectionist touch, that won’t let you work on anything else until it’s done. What did the Hubbas record mean for your other recording projects?
Well it eats a lot of my creative time I guess – running a record label, writing emails, packing and sending records, answering clients who think we are IKEA, DJing every weekend and so forth is more time consuming then I was hoping for in the beginning. Haha! That being said though, I feel blessed doing it all and we just landed Clone as a distribution, so that will hopefully free up a lot of time for us.
You also reissued your Ubuntu Tutu record on vinyl for the first time in that period, but is there anything new from Olefonken on the horizon?
Hopefully, working on a debut album at least so that’s probably done in 2030 I guess.
And what about Hubbabubbaklubb?
Well they seem to be more busy making babies these days, so maybe something new in 2040!
Tell us about the Jaeger mix. What did you have planned for this one and where did it end up taking you?
As with everything else I do in this business called show, I procrastinated the hell out of it, so planned it at the last minute, but ended up trying to give a good mixture of what I have been playing out and about lately.
The mix lives in the lower tempo ranges and it retains a soothing palette of sounds, even as you ramp the energy. What would be the general theme in sound for this one?
The general theme for this one would be sitting in the uzi seat of my car and listening to my radio. But don’t touch my levels now!
Was there a specific record or records that all the other tracks were programmed around?
No, not really, although some records I bought in Berlin a couple of weeks ago made the mix, so you could probably say they are all programmed around the Maxine – alien record, which has the pleasure of opening the whole shabang.
You’re no stranger to Jaeger but the Jaeger mix is a context we don’t often find you in. How would you say this is different from what you would usually play and how is it the same?
The last time I made a Jaeger mix it was an early slot without a crowd, so I took the advantage and played an ambient set.
This time however I had the 00:30 slot in the backyard, so it’s more upbeat of course, but I still tried to hold back thinking of the mixtape and about listeners outside the club, rather than the dance floor, which is the opposite of what I would usually do of course. So it’s the same, but different.
What do you hope the listener gets out of it outside the context of the club?
A spray tan and a bowl of coco pops!