Welcome to a new and extended feeder insider interview with Jakob Seidensticker and Melina! With Jakob’s background in the electronic band Wareika, and Melina’s skills, their collaboration has resulted in a unique musical journey. From their personal b2b sessions, mixing everything from breakbeat to microhouse and techno, to their shared passion for creating and releaseing exceptional music. For a few years now they have embarked on a new adventure with We R The Aliens label, alongside Snad and Boronas. Their dedication to trippy, weird, and groovy sounds has been well-received by the music community. Join us as we delve deeper into their musical journey, creative process, and what makes Jakob Seidensticker and Melina a duo to watch out for!
feeder.ro: Hi Melina and Jakob, many thanks for taking the time to talk to feeder.ro today. Jakob, you are a member of the Wareika electronic band known for work on Perlon and Mule Music of which we are big fans. You’re also working as a solo artist and nowadays collaborating with Melina both on production and with your label, We R The Aliens. For those who may be unfamiliar still, could you tell us a little about your working together, the ethos of the label and why you chose this name for the label?
Jakob: First thanks for the compliments and for taking the time for this little chat together.
Melina and I met about 6 years ago, we fell in love and found out we have similar taste in music both love djing and producing so we found ourselves in 10 of 10 situations. Both of us are born and raised in Hamburg and met there throughout the nightlife.
Soon we started to play together and developed our pretty personal b2b style, first, it was more house on the one hand and more minimal on the other side… now it’s a gentle Melina & Jaki mix from breakbeat over microhouse and future house to near techno…
In addition, we spent as much time as possible in the studio together and made some EP’s e.g. on Rawax, Housewax, or Feuilleton to name a few.
Melina: Starting my own label always was a dream of Jakob’s and of course, I was in. Even not having an exact idea what that actually meant (laughs). Needless to say, the key point was releasing extraordinarily good music, at least for us.
Speaking of extraordinary: I think our label partner Snad came up with the name We R The Aliens as a form of anticipation or vision about our musical path with the label.
JS: We all liked the pronunciation and spelling of the name as well. But the main idea for me is that people often see and feel mankind as the center of the universe but if you see this planet from abroad or other dimensions maybe it’s us being the alien or foreign life form (laughs).
f: Also, partners in the imprint are some other producers, fellow Hamburger Boronas known for works on the likes of Visionquest and Pleasure Zone. As well as Philadelphia, USA-based Snad, another much love producer who has released on Smallville, Running Back, Kimochi Sound and Balance among others. Could you please tell us about your relationship with the equally amazing artists and how you all became involved in this imprint together?
M: Actually Boronas is Greek, from Thessaloniki. He spent a few years in Hamburg but is now back there. Jakob met Boronas some years ago via fellow Greek friends in Greece when playing some gigs there.
JS: Yes we became super good friends Boronas even moved to Hamburg to also get into the German scene.
M: And you met Snad in Berlin, right?
JS: I met the super talented and lovely Snad in Berlin also while at a gig and it was love at first sight too (laughs)
With this harmonic but diverse quartet of people, it was only a question of time when we would combine forces to release the best music that we could.
f: Thus far there is a small but in our opinion solid back catalogue of material on We R The Aliens, before people check it out themselves could you please tell us a little about the music, your aesthetic direction or the particular sound you look for when signing music?
M: Thank you! We don‘t really go after a certain style.
We generally like trippy weird stuff but also house and techno bangers.
Also, we follow a routine with our releases, I don’t know if you’ve realized. We go in circles with a full ep then various aliens and a split EP.
JS: The sound of We R The Aliens is pretty diverse but has a red thread when you listen to it, e.g. the tracks from Katie Drover combine styles from Electronica to Drum & Bass, and Markus Sommer brings some tropical trippiness. Chklte is more into floating minimal House, Smallpeople delivered classic House, etc…
f: Your next release marks a pretty huge milestone for the label, a single entitled ‘Barbara’ by the Montreal-based artist Ohm Hourani who has worked on Sammy Dee’s Ultrastretch label. Accompanied by a remix from the powerhouse producer that is Ricardo Villalobos. This is an incredible achievement for any label, could you please tell us about how this whole project came to be?
M: Thank you. Yes, we couldn’t be more excited! The story is actually quite simple. We got Ohm’s demo and I immediately was hooked. I found it incredibly interesting! So groovy and has such incredible vocals. It really inspired me to go back to the studio after a period of being a little unmotivated during these corona years. Turns out Ohm had also sent it to Ricardo and Amir and they decided to make a remix which we then could also put on the release.
f: What does the future hold for We R The Aliens after this release comes out?
M: As mentioned the release after this one will be another various aliens. Which is actually a lot of fun curating. The four of us are already gathering a lot of super cool music. Jakob, should we already reveal some of our plans?
JS: Just a few insights maybe. there will be music from the four of us on it. The rest is still in the stars. But: apart from music releases we are planning a lot more merchandising. We’ve just made t-shirts that sold out super fast. So we love the idea of making more of those. Possibly even in collaboration with designers for extra twists.
f: Beyond We R The Aliens, you have also released collaborative material together on the likes of Rawax and Platte International. Can you tell us about your music vision together and if there are more collaborations on the horizon or even any special DJ sets you will plan together?
JS: Melina and I love to go to the studio to express our love for deep and mainly functional electronic music as often as we can. We have plenty of unreleased music from the two of us ready to go into the right pipelines. Just checking whom to send which tracks. Aside from that all the We R The Aliens showcases worked so well that we would love to also check out venues besides Berlin CDV/Hoppetosse or Hamburg Pudel/PAL. Something in UK or France for instance.
And lastly, could you both please share with us something that is brightening up your days these days outside of music? It could be a book that you’re reading, a movie you saw, something you practice or a special place for you right now. Totally open-ended so please feel free to share anything that comes to mind and thank you again for your time!
M: Food of course! I am super lucky Jakob is such a good chef. But I also try to practice yoga as often as I can.
JS: I just rediscovered Tennis for myself. I used to play as a kid but now getting back to it. I am playing once or twice a week with a friend. So much fun! Besides that as Melina said I enjoy cooking a lot so we often throw dinner parties and invite friends over to our place which is always the best when not travelling.
Ohm Hourani – Barbara (incl. Ricardo Villalobos & Javasoul remix) EP is out now on the We R The Aliens label! Save your copy at deejay.de.
Melina on Soundcloud | Facebook | Instagram
Jakob Seidensticker on Soundcloud | Facebook | Instagram
We R The Aliens on Soundcloud | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Discogs
About feeder insider
feeder insider is a series of interviews that explore the universe surrounding music and visual arts while connecting the local to the international creative scene.
