Nicolas Lutz

Lutz' originality, apart from being strictly a DJ so far (even Raresh has a few tracks out) is his ability to revisit forgotten wax from the late 90s/early 00s with a really fresh approach, and literally bring the light on records and artists that weren't either cult, popular or even noticed in the first place. That's his genius, to make you reconsider things with a fresh vision: after witnessing him DJing and listening to his 'casts online, a shift of values operates, where everything that's too "charged" production-wise suddenly sounds passé (even big classics), whereas unknown production with sparse, breathing and clear sound values become suddenly like an evidence, and therefore extremely sought-after. A new paradigm like there's a whole new world out there with hundreds of old cheap records suddenly becoming exciting, edgy and futuristic. The most troubling is that, probably because it is a new take on old material, the whole thing doesn't feel like a trend or a hype or even a 'revival' at all, merely a new approach on quality stuff that was just lying here unnoticed or misunderstood. Take the quite generic and generally unconsidered "tech-house" tag: Lutz will choose only the most spaced-out, dubby, stripped-down tunes, mix them together with some obscure electro, breakish, Detroit or minimal stuff to reveal the depth and possibly timeless quality of records that remained under the radar for a good 15 to 20 years since they were released, and considered "functional" at best. The key thing being that the vast majority of his sets his made of "oldies", stuff digged here and there in bargain bins year after year, plus secret weapons he's probably been playing since Day1, as he is clearly no noob in the DJ game. Hence the hysteria around every track IDed from his numerous sets and podcasts available online, and the now strong following of shark speculators on this sites's marketplace, ready to multiply salesprice by 15 as soon as another tune is made public. Of course this generates the usual irritating "fanboy/nerd" thing, and generally I would say that his style is perhaps at times a little too "autistic" and lacking "fun factor" for me, but overall the rate of unknown exciting tunes is still super high and quite a blessing imo. This new game brings two conclusions: one, the golden age of buying cheap used "blind" grouped orders on Discogs is coming to an end, with prices and speculation burning day after day, especially as a new internet-raised generation is mainly using this site as a second-hand records buying source and doesn't have the "real" shop digging culture, where more patience and finger dirt is required. And two, people will tend to be more secretive on IDing tracks and reviewing "unnoticed gems", to avoid participating this absurd speculation game, made mostly by and for people who want everything immediately, would that cost them much dole. From a quite open yet elitist "connoisseurs" game, with secretive information on still-cheap secret weapons shared between the initiate through reviews and forums, we are now shifting to a quite questionable market-based scene, where only the richest will afford the records which IDs are revealed or passed on by sellers "in the know" to increase their own 2nd-hand stocks' values. This fact made me hesitate to post reviews here in the past months, but perhaps it is just something to accept and live with, or shall we only review records that are already "burned"? (I don't resist here to mention Transparent Sound's "Punk Motherfucker", part of his wondrous RA podcast, which took me months to ID - it's too late now though ;) In short: excellent DJ balancing the subtle and trippy with the frankly driving.