This post comes to us by the am/pm boss himself, Mr. Chris Liebing. Chris has always stood for solid Techno. A bit deeper on the spectrum side though. While his DJ sets are full tilt, they are sonic journeys between darkness and light. And, as always, far from the beaten tracks of the musical mainstream. From humble beginnings in Giessen Germany, Chris has gone to spread his sound and smile to adoring fans around the world many times over. Chris started out playing a mix of genres but the underground beckoned. He opened up his first venue in 1994 called "SpinClub" to express those feelings and also played at the legendary Omen club in Frankfurt in the mid to late 90's. He ran a few notable record labels, "Audio" and "CLR" and pure remix label "CLRetry". Chris produced weekly Internet radio shows that were heard across Europe and also produced music along side Andre Walter as "Stigmata", Speedy J as Collabs 3000 and a few others along the way. His current podcast "am/pm" is a re-brand of his previous CLR series which purely focus's on him rather then spotlighting other artists but still puts forward great music and live sets weekly.
This night, SHURE Needles had Bill and I come out to record Chris's set and mic the crowd using some of SHURES equipment as it was going to be aired on XM Satellite radio. This was also a night that Shure was hosting a "Toys 4 Tots" event along side Smartbar where Bag End Sound had brought out some speakers to set up for the show that night. Chicago's own CZR and Alex Peace opened up the night and really brought the vibe. Part of their set is up on our Mixcloud page if you want to check it out HERE. I think this might have also been the first time Chris played Smartbar as well. I know that he had played at raves in Chicago before because I remember seeing his name on flyers around this time.
Chris was using Final Scratch at this time which later became Traktor Scratch and was only the third DJ we knew of up until then that was using or even had it. The only other two were of course Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva. They had a big part in the ongoing development and spreading the word as it went public. I think I remember hearing that Hawtin asked Chris to be a Beta tester or something to that effect and that's how he got involved with using it. You can see an early version of that set up in the first picture up above. He also had a Red Sounds FM Cyloops sampler, the white device next to the turntable, that he used to loop samples and have a bit more freedom when mixing tracks both in and out of each other and create some cool effects.
As the set starts, you hear Alex Peace get on the mic and get the crowd going as Chris's first record begins to play. This set was recorded during Chris's Hi-Octane "Schranz" phase, a phrase and style he has long since left behind. It basically was the name he gave to the type of music he was playing around this time. Hard hitting, dirty, gritty Techno. Not to different from what he's doing now, Chris has admitted, but a bit slowed downed. Chris went on to play about an hour and 45 minutes of unrelenting music to close the night out. Looping in and out of tracks, letting them flow freely throughout the mix. With the crowd not knowing when one started or the other ended. Chris definitely had the crowd eating out of his hand by time the night was over and enjoyed every minute of it!
We decided to only post an hour of the direct mix as to keep it special. I've done some searches online and haven't seen anything on this set so we're glad we can share it, the story behind it and some pictures from the night with you all here now. This was also another show that I have never seen the flyer for so if anyone has it, please feel free to hit us up so we could add it to the post.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we all did that night!
Hope you enjoy it as much as we all did that night!
If you haven't already, click on "Live Sets Chicago" or like our Facebook page at the top right corner of the blog to keep up to date. Get links to other DJ mixes, view classic and current party flyers and event links for shows we're supporting or recording. And of course, be sure to check out Chris Liebing for more info on what he has coming up, tour dates and support what he does. After all, if it were not for the artists, none of these posts would have been possible.
Hope this finds you all well.
Cheers!
Gus "Audio"
Bill "The Datman"
