Gerd Janson B2B Prins Thomas (4hrs) | G-Ha & Olanskii | Skranglejazz DJs 

In a tropical paradise under ten feet of snow stands two monoliths, back to back, illuminated under the incandescent light of an ersatz sun, glowing red, blue and green. Gerd Janson and Prins Thomas occupy one booth, for one night only, together in the clutch of our wood-lodge bunker. Skranglejazz join Frædag at the bottom of the slopes, after going off piste for one of the biggest events at Jæger this season. Outside, resistant bamboo shoots fight an arctic frost while the ghostly sounds of a distant summer bounce between wood and steel under the guise of the Skranglejazz DJs, G-Ha & Olanskii and Olefonken. 

#house #techno #balearic #acid #electro

Prins Thomas

Prins Thomas has all the right ingredients one could look for in a DJ: great skills, humbleness, productions and remixes other people would kill for and most of all, the ability to play records in a way that makes them not only sound good and expedient, but also makes punters dance. 
Back, way back in time, he started playing around as a DJ at a puerile age. Viewed as an extension of his break-dancing efforts, belt-driven turntables where enough to support his mix of hip hop, electro and an array of Arthur Baker’s and Shep Pettibone’s jewels. But as soon as he picked up the bass and played in more bands than Norway has trees, the joy of the turntable took a back seat. Until the early nineties arrived that is. Prins still didn’t have his reliable gang of coconspirators, but he picked up a weekly residence, where he championed sounds as far fetched as Miles Davis or The Doors together with the craze that was started by Phuture’s “Acid Tracks”. Dance music was happening again and DJs like the aforementioned Strangefruit did their thing to inspire our hero who is currently more excited about new music than ever before. “I like to mix up the styles. The old with the new, the minimal cuts with the Balearic beauties and my own classics on top of it in order not to get bored”, says the master himself and if he would not be too shy for it, we would call him an edutainer (courtesy of KRS-One).

Gerd Janson

Gerd Janson is one of the most highly respected DJs in the world of house and techno. Quite often, “highly respected” goes hand-in-hand with “underrated” but over the past few years, audiences around the world have also found out what insider types already knew: Janson is a DJ that reconfigures the classics you already knew in an unexpected way – and introduce you to new classics, a few months (or years) before you’ll hear them played everywhere else.

Janson is one of the most modest DJs you’ll find, and he’ll very often point toward his frequent DJ partner Thomas Hammann as a reason for this versatility. Together with Hammann, Janson has held down a residency at Frankfurt’s Robert-Johnson club since 2000. They’ve brought artists like Theo Parrish, Kenny Dixon Jr. and Maurice Fulton to the club, and through their curatorial choices have helped to ensure that the club remains one of the world’s finest (in 2012, the venue was voted #3 in Groove Magazine’s Best Clubs list).

Gerd Janson is the brain behind the Running Back label, an imprint that has been a home to numerous artists over the years. It’s testament to Janson’s curatorial instinct that music both popular – Tensnake, Todd Terje – and cult – Maurice Fulton, Theo Parrish – feel right at home. In addition to his work helming Running Back, Janson has also teamed up with Philip Lauer under the Tuff City Kids alias. Originally taken on as a remix project, the partnership has quickly evolved to include original productions that have seen release on Unterton and Delsin.
Their work together is classic-leaning – unpretentious and hugely effective on the dance floor.

It is similar in many ways to Janson’s work as both a DJ and a label boss – it’s the type of stuff that sneaks up on you. Quality, without being flashy. Wonderful, without announcing itself as such. In short, Gerd Janson is one of the increasingly worst kept secrets in the world of dance music. A DJ versatile enough to rock just about any dance floor. A DJ who cares about the profession of DJ. A DJ worth hearing.