{"id":2915,"date":"2021-04-14T06:46:32","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T06:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uberlin.co.uk\/portrait-mike-shannon-cynosure-recordings-uberlinuberlin\/"},"modified":"2021-04-14T06:46:32","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T06:46:32","slug":"portrait-mike-shannon-cynosure-recordings-uberlinuberlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uberlin.co.uk\/portrait-mike-shannon-cynosure-recordings-uberlinuberlin\/","title":{"rendered":"Portrait: Mike Shannon, Cynosure Recordings : \u00fcberlin\u00fcberlin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Portrait: Mike Shannon, Cynosure Recordings<\/h3>\n

by Guest Blogger<\/span><\/h4>\n
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\"Mike<\/p>\n

by Emma Robertson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mike Shannon<\/a> hates interviews. A DJ, producer and label boss for over 15 years, Mike is the kind of artist that prefers to let the music do the talking. When I ask him about it over coffee at his flat in Kreuzberg, he laughs. \u201cSometimes when art is over-conceptualised,\u201d he says, \u201cIt takes away from the actual art itself.\u201d Luckily for us, his music speaks volumes on its own. <\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that Mike is shy \u2014 in a city like Berlin where everything is in excess, there\u2019s no room for timidity. Mike chooses to stand out in a different way. His particular brand of music doesn\u2019t jump on trends or ride the bandwagon. A pioneer in the Canadian techno scene, his career has seen a steady upwards trajectory over the years and much of that has to do with the authenticity of his music: \u201cFor me, what I\u2019ve been doing\u2026 I haven\u2019t really moved around. I\u2019ve stuck with it, and in a city like this, people appreciate that. Even if it doesn\u2019t make you stand out, it earns you a different kind of recognition: respect.\u201d It\u2019s for that reason that when people write about Mike Shannon, they call him a DJ\u2019s DJ. His technique, creativity, and understanding of music are very special. The art of performance is something he will never compromise.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

As a DJ and a live act, you must experience a lot of pressure in your life: creatively, on stage, in the studio, in the office\u2026 What\u2019s your favourite kind of pressure?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Favourite pressure? I don\u2019t know if I like pressure at all! (Laughs) My favourite would have to be the way we\u2019ve been doing things lately with my live act with David DeWalta<\/a>! We only know more or less half of what we\u2019re gonna do\u2026 Maybe less! The other half is wide open territory! There is a certain amount of pressure when you\u2019re improvising like that that creates the best possible situations. When you\u2019re in unknown territory, it\u2019s amazing what can happen.<\/p>\n

At the same time, though, you\u2019ve talked previously about your move to Berlin lending you a sense of calm, particularly when you\u2019re DJing. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sure. That\u2019s an example of a pressure that I\u2019ve felt very relieved from playing in Berlin. There\u2019s a big difference to the way things are here, as far as DJing is concerned. You play six, seven, eight hour sets. You pace things very differently. You take your time. There\u2019s a different school here for that sort of thing. You play a whole lot differently than you would in an hour-long timeslot, for example.<\/p>\n

Does that sort of energy affect you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Totally. When you\u2019re playing an hour-long DJ set, you have to get to the same point in a fraction of the time. There\u2019s less time to tell the same story. I always prefer the sessions where you have time to build up to those explosive moments.<\/p>\n

Is it difficult to maintain an element of surprise with your sets?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Digital culture has kind of exploded, so it\u2019s definitely hard to pull out tracks that no one\u2019s heard before. People are just generally way more aware of things than ever before. It\u2019s easier to get access, which is kind of cool but it also means that the only way I truly surprise anyone these days is when I play my own things that no one\u2019s heard before.<\/p>\n

We talked about improvising earlier… Does that play into your DJ sets as well?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah! I think there are certain combinations of records that I always somehow go back to putting together. They\u2019re two things that fit together like a glove so it\u2019s hard to separate them, but otherwise, even my DJ sets are pretty much entirely improvised.<\/p>\n

I know you love to just get the gear on stage and see how things go on the fly, particularly with the live act with DeWalta that you mentioned earlier.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny, once we were playing at this Arma17 event in Moscow and we were on after this really amazing experimental jazz band. We changed the plan last minute and just did half an hour of ambient stuff and we had this really long droney intro. The transition that happened there was really amazing. We did it all on the fly, right then and there. It\u2019s funny how those things just work out sometimes.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

Born and raised in the suburbs of Ontario, Canada, Mike\u2019s career has taken him everywhere from Montreal to Santiago. He fell under Berlin\u2019s spell in the mid 2000s: he\u2019s happily made a home here with his wife and seven-year-old daughter, and likewise carved out a niche for the distinct type of techno that he creates, collects, and shares through his labels Cynosure Recordings<\/a> and Haunt Music<\/a>. He hasn\u2019t forgotten his roots, though. His days in Kitchener-Waterloo throwing parties, booking his idols from across the river in Detroit, and cultivating a music community with like-minded friends has done a lot to propel him to where he\u2019s at now.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Do you feel at home here in Berlin?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t imagine being anywhere else really. I\u2019ve planted a lot of roots here. I can\u2019t imagine having the same kind of quality, even in Canadian cities like Toronto or Montreal. There\u2019s no way I would have the culmination that I have here anywhere else.<\/p>\n

Why not?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was always a struggle for me to make a living as an artist in Canada. The sound that I was playing, that wasn\u2019t really happening enough to sustain myself the way that I can here. In terms of success, of course it depends on how you gauge those things. But it\u2019s funny, the grass is always greener on the other side, you know? You become a bigger artist in Canada when you\u2019re away from it. People get excited about something that\u2019s from somewhere else. You\u2019re never famous where you\u2019re from! (Laughs)<\/p>\n

Do you think that your hometown, Kitchener, Ontario, had any influence on you, creatively or musically?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a small town, so there were many moments where you had a lot of time on your hands! We built the scene there. We really built that ourselves! We had our headquarters downtown in a record shop… It was a meeting point for so many people. It became a community. And that was something that really influenced us. You realise how important it is all these years later, to have that kind of community around.<\/p>\n

Can you tell me about the parties you used to throw back then?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We threw all kinds of parties, from warehouse events to art scene kind of nights. We were very lucky in terms of where we were geographically, we had connections with those artists that were just south of our border in Detroit, and they weren\u2019t huge artists at the time either: Theo Parrish, Mike Huckabee, D-Wynn, Boo Williams, Robert Hood\u2026 Those guys would drive up sometimes, you know what I mean? I remember a party way back when Dan Bell played and he was cool with, like, a case of beer basically! (Laughs)<\/p>\n

Wow. Times have changed!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Way different times. Those were the days! We were able to bring in high-calibre people. That\u2019s what made it special, too, just having those deep connections and having those DJs come up and play what they wanted to play. We just kept plugging in the things that we loved and our heroes that we wanted to have play there. Every time we had the opportunity to take advantage of that, we would.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

Like most music producers, Mike is a nerd at heart. His studio space recently relocated to a small room in his home in Kreuzberg, and when he brings me downstairs for the grand tour, his face lights up. He can barely keep his hands off the gear: even when he\u2019s talking to me, he\u2019s tinkering around on his self-built modular system or on his laptop. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"MIke<\/p>\n

Tell me about your studio set-up. What\u2019s going on here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sure, yeah! Everything is based around my computer. I do a lot of sequencing and sound design with computer editing. Next to it, I\u2019ve got this modular system that I\u2019ve been building for years. I add a little bit to it over time, and recently I\u2019ve gotten into building some of those<\/em> elements from scratch, which is really interesting. I\u2019m getting even deeper into the nerd thing! (Laughs) More than ever before!<\/p>\n

Is this where you feel most at home?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Probably! I love being in the studio. For me, when things are getting stressful, or when things are getting to be too much, I disappear in there. It\u2019s the best way to relieve some of my daily stresses. It\u2019s my escape. For the moments that I\u2019m in there, it\u2019s an escape.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

You just moved your studio back here, right? How important is it to have this space in your home?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a big change for me. There\u2019s certain moments where you have an idea and you can bounce on it right away! Whereas before, the time it would take me to go down the street to the studio, I\u2019d lose the momentum or get completely distracted\u2026 It\u2019s perfect to have this ability to wake up in the middle of the night and work on something right away if I want to. It\u2019s easier to act on creativity in this environment.<\/p>\n

In another interview<\/a> of yours from years ago, you said that, \u201cMy goal is to make a track that won\u2019t be forgotten after one play, a record that you could put on years from now and still get the same feeling.\u201d Do you think your productions so far have accomplished that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not everything has been timeless, no. There are certain things that I slightly regret that definitely sound like they\u2019re from a very specific time. I think if you can put a date on it, then it\u2019s not timeless. It\u2019s not so easy! But I do think I\u2019ve made some tracks that are timeless. I hope there\u2019s one at least!<\/p>\n

\"Space<\/p>\n

Mike is a vinylphile. His record collection spans multiple walls in his office, and it\u2019s not uncommon to leave his place with a stack of CDs or records that he just has to have you listen to. He grew up in a musical household \u2014 a tradition that he carries on in his own home. There\u2019s always some kind of melody floating around, whether it\u2019s a Bohren & der Club of Gore track, a tune he\u2019s working on with his daughter, or the latest release from his label. Ever since buying his first record (Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock\u2019s “<\/em>It Takes Two”) when he was young, Mike was hooked on vinyl. He\u2019s become a regular at Space Hall in Kreuzberg<\/a>, so he takes us on a quick tour of his favourite sections. Flipping through the house and techno crates, he\u2019s completely in his own world.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

I read<\/a> that you used to listen to Thomas Dolby\u2019s The Golden Age of Wireless<\/em>. You said something funny, which was that it was \u201ca record that would fuel your little world.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

It really was! I still have that record in my office! (Laughs) I still listen to it. I put on \u201cWindpower\u201d and it changes everything! I\u2019m moving in the office when I put that on!<\/p>\n

Is there a record that kind of accomplishes the same thing for you today? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I think probably the coolest record that that I listen to endlessly is The Hearts of Empty<\/em> from these guys called Dakota Suite<\/a>. It\u2019s on a label called Karaoke Kalk<\/a>, which is by far my favourite German label. I\u2019m rarely disappointed with the records they put out.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about Space Hall for a bit \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is my favourite record store in the world! I buy all kinds of different records here \u2014 you can buy just about any genre here. That\u2019s the best thing about this place is that they have a massive backstock that really expands all the way through every genre. Their techno and house section is particularly good, which is what I like to buy mostly. The guys that work here are crazy as hell! It\u2019s a very relaxed atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

It\u2019s my first time here and I feel very welcomed. I\u2019m always secretly a bit intimidated coming into record shops for some reason.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve totally been there. People get really scared! Some people get really<\/em> intimidated in record stores, especially these famous shops; you walk in and your tension goes up and you\u2019re scared to talk to anybody. There are definitely certain shops in Berlin that are like that but at Space Hall, it\u2019s way more relaxed. I can light up a smoke in the shop and be completely at ease with what I\u2019m doing there. I can almost always find what I want to find, too.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re shopping, where do you start? Do you know what you\u2019re looking for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, no, no. I almost never know exactly what I\u2019m looking for in there. I start by looking at everything that\u2019s new in house and techno, I look through and listen to all of them. I skip through and I like to shop maybe twice or three times a week. I start there in the morning and go through as much as I can. I could spend days at Space Hall and not get bored.<\/p>\n

\"Cynosure<\/p>\n

There\u2019s definitely a certain romance about wax. Those who love it really love it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s something about flipping through records in my bag or at the shop, something about that whole process that I find way more comfortable than scanning through CDs or files. I try to do that! I\u2019ve had a couple of situations where my records didn\u2019t come and I had to try to play with just burning some CDs\u2026 I couldn\u2019t do it well at all. Totally lost on how I organise myself. With vinyl, you\u2019re touching it and feeling it. There\u2019s something really special about that.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

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