Motor City Drum Ensemble: een Duitse grootheid, verborgen op de Oudegracht Motor City Drum Ensemble: een Duitse grootheid, verborgen op de Oudegracht

“I doubted if I wanted to continue like this: travelling all the time and getting even deeper in not feeling comfortable with it. That’s when I decided to take a break.” Danilo Plessow, a.k.a Motor City Drum Ensemble, prepares coffee in his small, cozy apartment while he talks about a difficult period in his life. His Dutch girlfriend, who is finishing her master in Utrecht, is hanging the laundry to dry. The reason for moving to Utrecht was romantic: he met his girlfriend in Amsterdam and moved to the Netherlands to be with her.

When the photographer arrives and everyone’s provided with something to drink, we descend to Danilo’s studio. It’s an imposing cellar, with what looks like medieval castle steps leading down to it. The studio is stacked with loads of vinyl, drum computers and synthesizers from another century. Danilo resides here most of the day, working on tracks that get a massive response in the dance scene. Would he say Utrecht contributed to his creative process? “There might be something subconsciously happening but it’s not that I noticed doing something very different. I must say that the way of living here is quite inspiring to me. For instance, in Germany it was really hard to find the right records, while here it’s like heaven with all the record stores, flea markets and kringloopwinkels. I do miss Germany sometimes, now is a really cool time to live there. The Germans are very aware of their bad history and learned from it. We are all brought up in a way that when there is something slightly racist everybody is reacting supersensitive.  If you look at Europe and the political situation, Germany is doing pretty well. It’s not too conservative - there are no crazy right wing people with big political influence like you have in Holland, like Geert Wilders. Even Merkel’s party, which is the right wing party, is picking up all the left wing stuff like green energy and gay marriage. I like that and miss that a bit, but at the same time Holland had that ten years ago and right now you’re going back to a more conservative direction.”

With the djing on a relative low level with three or four shows a month, Danilo has loads of time to work on his productions. With his approach his underground studio has become an analog bastion in a digital world. “These days everybody uses Ableton and downloads the same samples on the internet. So naturally the end results are quite similar in a way. There is also a certain expectation from people how things should sound. For example if you play out some crowds expect that the bass drum has a certain level, that it cuts through and is really punchy. I don’t want to produce like this because it has the maximum effect and it’s the simplest approach, enough people out there do it already. If you play a set with all these modern type techniques, more analog orientated records really cut through the mix, because they sound different. That’s why I still like to produce in that way. These days not many people do it anymore.”

When the interview comes to an end Danilo gives one last performance on his synthesizers and his rare drum computers, which he calls ‘machines with balls.’ Though he’s not even trying, it’s an impressive and mystifying experience. Characteristic for Danilo is the extreme enthusiasm when he talks about records or plays with his drum machine. With more time, less travelling, this passion blooms on the Oudegracht and will probably resound in his productions and gigs for a long time coming.