Josh bobzin
germany
While I'm still exploring and digging into new house, breaks, electro, and disco sounds...
My focus has shifted more towards ambient, deep, and dub techno through my project, Recorded Future. I believe this change in interest reflects my personal growth, as I now seek more immersive, transcendental sounds that take me on a journey, rather than just pure party vibes.
This shift is also directly influenced by the artists who inspire me—I listen to their music, enjoy it so much, and feel motivated to create something similar, while incorporating my own musical background. For me, electronic music isn't just tied to club culture and festivals; it's part of my everyday life. I want to be able to enjoy electronic music at home, which naturally leans towards deeper, more ambient sounds, rather than "peak time" tracks.
I often hear or read about DJs who say that electronic music is a club thing, and they don't listen to it at home or in their leisure time, which isn't the case for me. I enjoy daydreaming to music in my everyday life, even when I'm working, with it playing in the background. I'm always searching for the right fit for my vibe that day, and sometimes it takes 10-15 minutes to find the perfect set that matches my current mood. I often sit and think about my mood and what I can play, clicking through shows by my favorite radio hosts on NTS, browsing my liked sets on SoundCloud, or considering which LPs I want to put on.
photo taken in Hamburg at Habitat Festival
A lot of festival and club experiences focus on high energy, hedonism, and faster, harder, more intense climaxes. For me, it's also about relaxing and finding calm and stillness. This is what I enjoy about performances like the ones I saw this year at side events during Horst, MNMT, or in events I co-produce, such as Fluid Festival or Transmute. You can sit down and experience it as entertainment, or see it as an opportunity to slow down and reflect. This is what I appreciate about deeper or softer music—it works not only with others but also on a personal level. It allows you to close your eyes, go inward, focus on your breathing, and escape the visual overload, which can be overwhelming at events. For someone with ADHD like me, these environments are full of impressions that can easily cause overstimulation, so I really appreciate festivals or clubs that provide designated spaces for relaxation, where you can sit, maybe have a cup of tea, and enjoy a quieter atmosphere without too many people passing through.
Looking back at rave culture, especially in the UK, there was always a chill floor where ambient sets were played. I wonder at what point this was lost, but maybe one answer is the rise of commercialization. If you can add another dance music floor and book artists who draw larger crowds, that becomes the priority. Ambient and chill dance floors likely didn't attract as many people, and that seems to be the case today. When I produce ambient events compared to parties, fewer people attend, and they usually become smaller, more intimate gatherings.
at an open air in the forest outside of Berlin
Nowadays, I think many people aren't even familiar with the concept of ambient events, deep listening, which allows them to slow down. You can take it beyond the musical context—our society, as Hartmut Rosa has discussed extensively, has a problem with acceleration. With the omnipresence of digital media, we constantly accelerate, feeling both burned out and bored—not just by the tasks themselves, but by the mere fact that we're always rushing. I believe music is a powerful medium to slow down. It helps us. I know some people find it hard to meditate in silence, but with ambient music, I think it's easier for them to reach states of relaxation and reduce stress.
In calmer environments people can also connect better with one another, for example, because they have more headspace to talk, make eye contact, and have meaningful conversations. I feel like when you're in the club on the weekends, you meet people, and while deep, meaningful connections can happen, a lot of the time, the conversations are superficial. I don't need that. So, of course, I'm looking for more meaningful conversations and the connections that might come from them.
I haven't had the chance to attend sober parties yet, but the concept really interests me, especially since I know it's a thing nowadays in Berlin. For example, I was recently at a birthday party with 20-30 people, and the host asked that no one bring alcohol as a gift and told the guests that we wouldn't be consuming alcohol that evening. Since she said it as the birthday host, everyone respected that, and it was so nice. There was never a moment when things got too loud, and overall, it had a different vibe. I think people were listening more—they weren’t interrupting as quickly as they usually do when drinking. Of course, drinking together can be fun, but I feel like it makes people accelerate more, and they have a harder time listening to someone speak for more than a few minutes.
Sometimes I feel like I no longer appreciate how special the environments I move in are because I’ve been going to these kinds of events for over ten years now. Going to clubs or festivals with policies like no photos or sex-positive environments has become so normal to me that I don’t even question it anymore—it’s just part of my life. Sometimes I think, "Well, of course, a lot of people go to these places," but even though it’s grown in recent years, it’s still something not everyone in our society experiences. It remains quite niche and, depending on where you go, still very underground. It’s common for me to be in these spaces where people have the same vibe and are all deeply interested in the music.
I came to Berlin for personal reasons, but I'm grateful for how much the city has expanded my interests and tastes, as well as helped me discover new music. It’s easier here, thanks to the abundance of record stores and like-minded people who inspire and influence you. You also come across many artists, not just producers and DJs, but also for instance painters or people who work with various materials, visual artists from different fields.
I am also grateful to have close friends here with whom I have organized events in the past, and we continue to do so. Berlin is, of course, a challenging environment for hosting events due to the high competition, but we have had positive experiences so far, especially with parties in more remote locations, such as a forest outside the city. I don’t see myself organizing events in larger clubs at the moment, but we are definitely planning something in smaller venues throughout the winter and resuming outdoor editions next summer. Next in line though is our ambient event called Transmute, which will happen early next year.