Maybe you know him from his famous remix of Azzido Da Bass'‘Dooms Night’ in 2000, or maybe for his innovative imprint Rockets and Ponies, or his third and most recent album ‘Lifer’ just at the back end of last year. Whatever put Timo Maas on your individual map, there’s no denying that he has been a fundamental part of electronic music history. Now, 27 years after he bought his first set of decks, this German producer, label head, and experimental artist is still reinventing himself. With an artist of this calibre, boasting such an extensive back catalogue, one can’t help but wonder what inspired his long-standing romance with music.
Give us the five tracks that have been key inspirations through your life. Give us a bit of the history behind them...
Georgie Red, “If I say Stop then Stop” (Ariola, 1985)
I don’t know if this song made it to the UK but in ‘80s Germany it was huge. There was a club called Project in the city of Bad Oeynhausen, near Hannover, famous for playing radical different music in the late ‘80s. Our friends described it as ‘project sound’, and this Georgie Red track masterpiece embodies that. It’s the mix of early electronic influences with some very dirty funk, super heavy basslines and very raw, strange vocals. It’s one of my favourite tracks and it’s burnt in my brain together with moments I had in Project, so it’s a really strong song. The person behind it is George Kochbeck. He’s a film music composer and a keyboard collector. He’s amazing. I still plan to chase him to get the original parts as it’s such a timeless track I’d like to create a modern interpretation of it. It’s still outstandingly strong.
Liaisons Dangereus , “Los Ninos Del Parque” (Roadrunner Records, 1981)
Again I’m looking back to the ‘80s. This was one of the most important times for what I am today, and for understanding music. It pushed me into discovering the strange. It was a hit in the more underground clubs. Very strange, unique, loopy; something I would probably remix, as it has a lot of potential.
Killing Joe, “Love Like Blood” (E.G., 1985)
When I was playing my first club gigs in the ‘80s, it was an integral part of the set up that I played all night long, from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. There were no electronic clubs, as the music hadn’t been properly discovered. This was a trademark alternative song with intense raw vocals and strong lyrics. When I was young I didn’t listen to lyrics as I was always more interested in the music behind them, but this was something completely trademark and unique for me personally back then. I still have the original 12-inch, but I’ve played it so many times it’s completely fucked. I played it to my girlfriend who is English and she was completely blown away. She was like, “What the fuck is that song! I’ve never heard it!” I was like, “This is the music I used to listen to in the ‘80s!”
Material, “Don’t Lose Control” (Celluloid, 1982)
This embodies the very early days of electro and break beat. There’s also something similar which comes to mind, a band called the Jonzun Crew. They released the album ‘Lost In Space’ on a super famous rap-hip hop label, Tommy Boy Records, and that also reflects the very early sounds of this style – 15 years before anyone really named it or was able to define it as a music style. I grew up in the German countryside listening to it, so I have a very special connection to it all. My material stands very much for that sound. My friends at the time were like, “What the fuck is this strange shit you’re listening to? Robots? Science fiction?” They were making jokes of it but I was really digging that stuff.
DAF*, “Brothers” (Vogue, 1986)
You will completely understand when you listen to this why I chose it. It had a very strong electronic influence; we called it “machine music” in the early years! I’m still always looking for disturbing tracks and strange songs – the ones that are really hard to find but when you find them you will keep them for all your life. They might never be commercial but you will never forget them. The music I’ve chosen is almost thirty years old but you can see how much it still means to me.
Kraftwerk were a huge early influence on German electronic music. Does your sound owe anything to them? I always liked Kraftwerk but unlike most German DJs who consider them a huge influence, they were never an influence for me. They blew me away but never in the direction that all these tracks pushed me in. I always liked the raw, stranger stuff.
Which artist would you say is your biggest influence for electronic music? I have to name that in connection to electronic sounds, to really trippy stuff, I really like Jean Michel Jarre. He is still for me the number one influence of electronic artists I ever had. He was probably the first one who was really 100% electronic.
Do you feel your music has been influenced by any other German culture, such as expressionist film or art? I grew up in Bückeburg, a small town in West Germany, at the most important time in my life to form a music taste. I was limited to what I could discover in my own area. I always loved stuff that wasn’t so commercially successful, always touched by something that was different. In all honestly I think music itself was the most artistic thing I discovered in my early years, I was spending every second on it. I was always saving up money for a ticket to Amsterdam to buy records instead of trying to extend my horizons in any other direction.
Were you influenced by your parents’ music tastes? My parents split up when I was just two. I grew up with my mother, but my father used to have a pub with a jukebox in it. Every few weeks he would change the records, and every time he was taking the old 7-inches out of the jukebox and putting new ones in, I was rooting through the old ones, collecting them and taking them home. I started taking the first ones when I was about eight years old; I still have a box of them! So there was a certain influence from that side. Before, I was always sitting in front of the radio and listening to special shows that were playing 12-inches in the ‘80s. There were a few in Germany that were presenting this new phenomenon of 12-inch records. This is where I recorded all my tapes at the beginning. In my very early years, before I was able to afford vinyl, I was playing my parties with tape decks and the tracks I recorded from the radio!
Do you come from a musical background? Were any of your family musicians? My parents don’t play any instruments, so about a year ago I asked my dad, where is all this shit coming from? Why do I think music is the most important thing in the world? He told me that my grandma had played lots of instruments. My grandfather from my mother was also a multi-instrumentalist and he played nearly every instrument. Apparently at Christmas back in the day, everyone in the family had an instrument and they would make music together. I never knew this when I was young. I didn’t really where it was coming from. I always felt that music was my language to talk to people. Some things don’t seem clear at first but when you dig deeper they become clear. It must be in my genes!
You’ve said before that DJing and cooking are very closely related. If you had to sum up your music style in one meal what would it be? It would be a diverse meal, made out of local products but prepared in a very different way. Probably some wild fish experience with a Japanese touch, followed by a spicy dish with very unusual herbs and spices in, followed by some very amazing fluffy sweetness at the end.
Catch Timo Maas on February 22nd at O2's Building Six for Cocoon London: Mobilee vs. Cocoon with Sven Vath, Tim Green, Anja Schneider and Ralf Kollmann. More information here.