Nachtamt

It’s all about versatility and mood for dutch DJ and producer Nachtamt. Genre comes second place to the desires of bringing ideas into actuality and his contrast of electronic styles affirms this. The music is one aspect, sound the other. Both are equally important in the creative process. His tracks are sometimes intended to portray an opinion or some dissatisfaction at the world. However, Nachtamt more often lets his ideas flow from an ambiguous creative torrent, giving the listener freedom to interpret his crafted palette of sounds and their use to conjure their own aural impressions in the mind. His musical journey begins in the early eighties. Captivated by the electronic elements and grooves of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album and the synth sounds from the likes of Eurythmics and New Order, a youthful Hans Versteeg develops his interest and love for electronic music. And while piano lessons at an early age enhance his understanding of melody and structure, he begins also to appreciate a broader spectrum of music genres. In particular, he gets into the tougher sounds of early nineties US rap and the intensities and pace of the dutch techno scene. It is at Rotterdam’s infamous Parkzicht however, where his passion for house and techno is truly ignited and his burning desire to create his own tracks is forged. Countless weekends spent at the club listening assiduously and getting down to DJs Rob, Ludie, Ricky da Dragon and Stanton inspires Nachtamt and within a short period of time he gets his first residency at “Twilight” - a night at the club. The release of “Blue Sky” (Twilight Records) by DD Zion, who are colleagues at the club, convince him to get producing and creating. Production techniques at that point in time, are a little different to his methods used today, in that his early material is created on a Commodore Amiga and an old PC using Fasttracker - a sample based sequencing program. Nachtamt continues to use Fasttracker to produce music for over a decade while continuing his DJing around Rotterdam. In 2013, after a change of production software and equipment, he logs onto Estroe’s electronic music advice site, www.estroe-advice.com and starts the latest chapter of his story. During the first session with Estroe, Nachtamt breaks through the compositional barriers and editing limitations of Fasttracker and explores rejuvenated freedoms with his new setup. With that change comes a deluge of fresh ideas for Nachtamt. Estroe picks up on his creative talent and after a few more sessions it’s agreed that he should release an ep on Estroe’s “Rosedale Records”. His “Enhanced Awareness” ep (ROSE010) is out on December 7th 2015. And so begins the future for Nachtamt. 2016 and onwards looks bright for the journey ahead. Music, as always, plays a huge part in his life and will continue to do so.