Robert Dietz

Robert Dietz cut his clubbing teeth on the Frankfurt scene dominated by the likes of Sven Vath, Dorian Paic, Ricardo Villalobos and Luciano, but the flourishing artist leaps all musical boundaries. His only guiding principle can be summed up in words of Chuck Roberts: House is a feeling! Beatportal hailed Dietz as one of 2009’s Artists To Watch saying he: came out of nowhere to land on some of the scene’s hottest labels. Though it is true that Dietz has made a major impression on A-list imprints including Cadenza, Cecille, Running Back and Deep Vibes the fact is Robert has been honing his musical prowess for years, ever since he was a teenager dividing his time between Frankfurt’s skate parks and the equally frenetic dancefloors of clubs like Robert Johnson and Monza.

His early attraction to hip hop culture transformed into a passion for house music and it wasn’t long before Dietz was experimenting with a borrowed Roland 303, was well as devoting his time to mastering a pair of Technics 1210s. This grounding in the basic tools of classic house forms the basis for Robert’s hypnotic, sexy, nuanced take on electronic music. He always took the ethos of minimal with a grain of salt, preferring to have richness and emotional texture in his tunes rather than simply follow a trend. It is this mindset, coupled with his superb sense of what it takes to make a club explode, that provides the impetus for Dietz’s productions – and his packed DJ schedule. Dietz is a firm favourite in clubs around the globe.

These days he spins at his old haunt, Cocoon Frankfurt, but it is just one stop on an incessent world tour that sees him flit through Pacha, Ibiza; Dance Valley, Amsterdam; Revolver, Australia; Arma17, Moscow; London’s ultra-hip underground Shoreditch warehouse parties and a second south america Tour in November this year. The appeal of his music is abundantly clear to anyone lucky enough to have caught one of his beachside sets at Ushuaia, Ibiza, where he ingnited the crowd with supple, intoxicating, modern house that captured the celebratory spirit of old-fashioned club music fused with sleek, 21st century. His production skills focus on the same meeting place between technical proficiency and pure excitement. Over the past few years Dietz has built up an impressive CV including work with the likes of Loco Dice, Karotte, Ilario Alicante, Davide Squillace and fellow Frankfurt rising star Reboot. His tracks have found their way into compilations for Cocoon, Cecille, Circo Loco and Timewarp, among others – evidence of the high regard other DJs have for Robert’s work.

Dietz found that his ethos also fits perfectly with the aesthetic of Cadenza Records and he is a valued member of the merry dancefloor pranksters the Vagabundos. As well as joining them at Ushuaia and Pacha (Ibiza) with five gigs this season, Dietz has just released his first record on Cadenza: Home Run. A supremely confident label debut, it boasts two combustible tracks – the anthemic, ambitious techno stormer Soup Opera and, on the flip side, the insanely catchy, tribal-tinged Aurel in Wonderland. Both records are set to keep bodies moving all summer – and longer. Selected discography: Home Run (Cadenza), Shunsower (Cécille Numbers), Fym (Be Chosen), The Green Light EP (Deep Vibes), HaLo EP (Cecille Numbers), Forward Snipping (Running Back); Party Faktor remix (Tsuba), Ying Yang EP remix (Safari Electronique) Selected Clubs: Fabric (London), Cocorico (Riccione), Robert Johnson (Offenbach), D-Edge (Sao Paolo), Baraca (Valencia), Studio Martin (Bucharest), Studio 80 (Amsterdam), Cocoon Club (Frankfurt) MAD (Lausanne), La Feria (Santiago de Chile), Rex Club (Paris), Harry Klein (Munich), Pacha (Ibiza), Watergate (Berlin), Sankeys (Manchester, Mint Club (Leeds), Goa (Rome), Space (Ibiza), Cavo Paradiso (Mykonos)