Rødhåd Discusses Label, Upcoming Resistance Debut, Recent Essential Mix and More!
Berlin’s Mike Bierbach, also known as Rødhåd, has rooted himself as one of the finest artists when it comes to techno. In 2009, he launched his own club night in Berlin entitled Dystopian, which eventually became his label. Resident Advisor featured him in its Breaking Through series in 2012, which is when he released his first EP on Dystopian as well. Since then, Rødhåd has been voted as a Top 10 artist in Resident Advisor’s Top 100 DJ Poll for two years in a row. He has commanded dance floors at clubs and festivals worldwide and has had productions released on his label Dystopian--as well as Monkeytown Records, CLR, Cocoon, Token, and many others. We are very excited to welcome him to the Resistance in Croatia for the first time this year!
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Describe your label, Dystopian.
ADystopian was founded in 2009 as a collective and party brand. In 2012, the label had its first releases and since then artists like Recondite, Alex.Do, Distant Echoes, Don Williams, Vril, Ron Albrecht, Armitage, Gotzkowsky, Drumcell, Jon Hester, Daribow, Stone Edge, and myself have had music released on the label. Our music philosophy is dark, melancholic, and electronic.
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Earlier this year, you debuted a stellar essential mix on BBC Radio One. What went into the track selection for that?
AIn the mix, I wanted to involve as many tracks as I liked from the past and present but not lose the late night, dance floor vibe. So in the two hours, I tried to create a mix with well-known pieces of techno along with some hidden gems and upcoming, unreleased goodies from my friends and colleagues.
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The Croatia festival will be your Ultra debut. How are you looking forward to playing the Resistance stage at Ultra Europe for the first time?
ATo be honest, I’ve only seen pictures of Ultra and the venue–getting excited and nervous at the same time. It will for sure be an outstanding experience.
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How did you come up with the guise “Rødhåd?”
AActually, my first artist name was associated with my red hair, so I tried to keep it similar but with a more unique way of writing it–the end result is Rødhåd.
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Last year, you released a remix of Howling’s “Signs” which has a completely different and unique sound to past releases on Dystopian. What went into that production?
AFrank Wiedemann (one part of Âme) and Ry X from Howling asked me to do the remix and I actually liked the challenge to work on a more pop song to put it into my Dystopian world. In the end, I did more than ten versions and it was really hard to decide which version we should release–somehow I became lost in my own work. Overall, I am really happy with the result. The remix shows another creative side of my music taste.
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Who are some artists that you look up to?
AI still like what Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann are playing these days, but I’m also a big fan of the new French artists like Antigone and the Japanese artist DJ Nobu. Also from the UK, I like Daniel Avery and the old school legends like Ben Sims or Luke Slater alongside Ø [Phase]. There are still so many new names coming up too, it’s amazing.
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After landing in the top 10 in Resident Advisor’s Top 100 chart for the second year in a row, what is next for you, along with Dystopian?
AWell, I try not to believe in those charts–but of course I appreciate the support. I try to keep the quality and focus on taking more holidays this year so I can finish tracks I’m working on and provide more music for everyone.
Catch Rødhåd at the Resistance in Croatia with Solomun, Technasia, Elio Riso, Adam Beyer, and Ida Engberg on Friday, July 15th!
Check out the Resistance Europe Lineup: View Lineup