Straddling house, techno and disco, Berlin imprint Clæep Visions already caught our attention with it’s credible yet eclectic output, so we invited label head Ion Vulcan along for a chat about the label, and a guest mix on the radio show with Just Her.
Hey Ion, welcome to CC 🙂 Firstly, what is your background and how did you get into music?
Hi, thanks for having me! In the end of the nineties I danced to techno and house music but worked more as a singer in two Funk Rock & Disco bands. I studied musicology and music business. Around 2012 my soul got back into electronic music scene. Also I am working the subculture scene network in Berlin.
You run the label CLÆP VISIONS. Tell us about the label, where did the concept come from and do you have a music policy?
You know, it’s a just little label and I founded it in 2019 with friends as artists. We don’t have so many releases at all but well selected I think.. Parallel I run an event series called “EXIT LOVE“ in Berlin with a little Disco Edit sub label in the back called EXIT LOVE DUST. All in All our roots are in disco, old-school house, rave with a wider view into contemporary electronic music and techno. The A&R is more a deep personal feel of my and my music taste. I am very close to my artists and often they become friends or we have a close contact. Matti Julius is a classical composer and music producer (Founder of Techno orchestra VKKO). He gave us the beautiful track Gibraltar from the new “Split Love EP“ (Out 6th May 2021).
Where are you based and how has your home country or town influenced your music & the sound of the label?
I am based in Berlin but my roots are in the north-eastern part of Germany at the baltic sea in Stralsund (if somebody knows that beautiful hanseatic medieval town 😀 )
My musical Influences are going back to the late Nineties. We went to Raves, and acid techno parties in ruins of the Coloss of Prora (massive Nazi Building) on the Isle of Rügen. This enormous lost place or bunker is located directly at the seaside of Prora. The contrast of the building and the baltic sea was breathtaking for us and in a nostalgic view maybe our little Detroit of the north-east of Germany.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to start a label?
Grow a bit as an artist and then found a label or try tob e be a bit more innovative and find your USP in sound as a unknown label and of course go out and do label parties.
Do you have a visual element to the label and how do you feel art ties in with music?
That’s a good question. In my opinion art and music belongs together. It’s like eating a gourmet meal. Well prepared in a design kitchen before and then you you consume it with your ears while looking on the beauty of the artwork. Haha :-DSince 2019 we had graphic designer Szymon from the techno promotion channel HATE. He did quite all artworks and flyers and nearly everything for us. Recently, we have a new desinger Tatiana from studiogleich12 in Berlin. She’s a close friend of my wife and very talented in my opinion. In her creative career she worked for Hugo Boss. She designed our newest cover artwork “Split Love EP“ and hopefully a bunch of forthcoming releases.
What inspires you?
Humour, positive energy, sustainability, fashion, art and a various good music taste.
What do you have coming up in the future and what are your long term goals as a label?
We discovered a new outstanding talent his name is AWL. We will rlease an EP. We cant wait for it. Our goals are quite simple fort he moment. We want to get back to the dancefloor with a bunch of new sound. Be surprised.
What is the coolest, wildest or worst gig or label event you have ever played?
Our first Prototype Party of EXIT LOVE I curated as a fashion shooting on two different dancefloors. I invited two Berlin designers to design the floor and do a 3 minutes shooting while the crowd was dancing. 😀 haha that was amazing. Nobody from the crowd expected it. It was a big surprise for everybody. It was located in a little private club in a backyard of Kreuzberg. Elbee Bad play there as a headliner a fabulous Vinyl DJ Set. He is a genius. That was so much fun. 😀
Tell us about your guest mix on the radio show – how did you put it together and what have you included – any exclusives or surprises?
Firstly, thanx for the invitation to do a Constant Circles radio show. We really appreciated it. This mix a musical journey of our label back-catalog and our contemporary musical influences and a little surprise. The mix starts with a stunning tribal tool track from Sischke – Sonor from our Vinyl Release back in 2019. Around Minute 41:00 you can listen to an still unreleased ravy techno stomper from AWL – Anchor. It will be released quite soon on an E.P. Watch out for it. Stay tuned. Thank you , Claire.
Check out the CLÆP VISIONS showcase with Just Her on Constant Circles Radio: