Most DJs arrive at a recording with a bag they've spent the week agonising over. Eric Cloutier arrived with nothing. The Detroit-born, Berlin-based Tresor resident came in an hour early, went through the racks at SEVEN Community Record Store, and built his set on the spot. Every record in SEVEN Mix 102 is one you can walk in and buy. We caught him straight after the recording, before the mix lands on Sunday 29 November.
How was the set? It's not the first time you've played from a collection you've just found in a store.
I walked in and I know some of the records. For the most part it's me just doing what I do as a regular connoisseur: digging and listening to stuff and being like, "I could put these together. I've only heard them for maybe 20 seconds but we'll figure it out." I've been doing this long enough to have the confidence to be like, "Just hand me a record, I'll mix it." It's kind of that vibe.
Have you ever done that live at a club, played someone else's collection?
Years ago, back in Detroit, me and a friend would do back-to-backs. We would bring our own records, but every once in a while we'd be like, "You know what? I'm going to go through your bag and you go through mine." So the concept is there, but it's not the same as being blindly handed something. I have had people give me a record while I'm playing. I listen to it quickly and I'm like, "Okay, let's just play it right now." It's great for them as an experience too. Similar, but not the same.
What did you make of the selection in the store?
It's great. It's got a lot of my vibes to it. I'm more of a techno DJ overall, but when I get an opportunity to play more housey things and dubby, groovy things, this is exactly what I'm like: "Oh okay, I could buy half of this. Take my money, please."
You took three records home. Which ones?
Lee Burton's Acid Breeding, Mardel's Awakening EP, and a test pressing of Andu Simion's The Wrong Train, which is coming soon on A.2AUM. I remember listening to the Lee Burton and the Mardel when I was pulling for the recording. I was like, "I'm going to play them both," and then I just happened to mix them together. I was like, "Oh yeah, these are coming home with me." They were really good.
- A12nd8A · A min135 BPM0:00
- A2Acid Breeding8A · A min117 BPM0:00
- B1Flux6A · G min130 BPM0:00
- B2Gaba5A · C min131 BPM0:00
What's it like buying records in Berlin now?
You have a billion options, new and used, but there's a lot of crossover between the shops. Obviously everybody wants to sell stuff that makes a profit, but I do miss some of the fully secondhand places. With the newer, new-release-focused stores, you see the same thing in multiple shops. And I've struggled to find a lot of new releases with the same quality as when I was buying in the late '90s and early 2000s. It's like promos: I'll get 100 and download 2. It's not the shops' fault. I'll listen to 50 records in a store and buy 2. Back in the day I'd listen to 50 and think, "I don't have enough money, I want to buy 48 of them."
Anyone can press a record now. Does physical still matter?
There's not the gatekeeper thing any more. You can get the free version of Ableton and make an album with it. But I still feel there's a necessity for a physical version of something, good or bad. Especially these days, as we get closer and closer to the robots winning, I need something tangible in my hands. Otherwise, what is it? A bunch of ones and zeros. I've done digital-only sets, but I feel naked. I feel like I've been amputated in some capacity. It's boring.
You seem happy to share what you play. Has that changed over the years?
Maybe it's just getting older, but you want to pass the information down. Ten years ago I'd be like, "I'm not telling you anything." Now if somebody asks me for a track, sure, I'll tell you what it is. You can own it, you can buy it, but you're not going to DJ it the same way I do. So just share, pay it forward. If you're going to spend your time in the shop instead of on Spotify, I will give you all the information you want, because we're a dying breed. If people want to invest in it, I'd rather it be something you build a community around instead of being a snob.
How big is your collection?
About 4,000 here in Berlin, and that's a lot of kilos when you live on the fourth floor. Whenever I move, everybody suspiciously has a hair appointment or a dentist appointment that day.
Any Berlin shops you'd give a shout-out to?
I'm a Hard Wax guy, because I'm more of a techno person. I love Soundmetaphors as well. I know it's probably your biggest competitor.
(They're great friends. We buy from them and they buy from us. There's room for everyone.)
And if I could get one place back, as much of a nightmare as it was, I miss Record Loft. I could go in there and find insane stuff. I'd spend hours in there and go home needing a taxi.
The records in SEVEN Mix 102
Every record Eric played came off our shelves on the afternoon of the recording, pulled in the hour before he started. Here are all 18, in the order he played them. They include two from his own label Palinoia, a SEVEN release from CRYME and a classic from Aphex Twin.
- Roman Lindau, Herb Politics (colorcode009)
- Daniel Paul, Rollo (cab 62)
- Terry Francis, Digitec : Addendum (SUSH80, white marbled vinyl)
- SND & RTN, Jawa Dubs EP (KNT-46)
- OK EG, Rivulets (OYSTER52)
- CRYME, Laser Beam Dancer (SEVEN7013)
- Gideon Jackson, Helpless / Sales In the Wind (GEMS006)
- Satoshi Tomiie, Thursday, 2am (Ron Trent Remixes) (AA014)
- Various Artists, BOOOoo! VA5 (BOO05)
- Konduku, VALA 5 (VALA005)
- Silverlining, Forgotten Chorus (i) (FnC001)
- Skudge, KOR011 (KOR011)
- Skudge, Source EP (SKUDGE015)
- Aphex Twin, Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (AMB LP 3922)
- Eric Cloutier, Apeirophobia EP (PALINOIA005)
- Andu Simion, Heavy Glow EP (PALINOIA004)
- Lee Burton, Acid Breeding (BLCH001)
- Mardel, Awakening EP (CIRCUITS04)
SEVEN Mix 102 by Eric Cloutier goes live on Sunday 29 November.