A Conversation With Why Be On Yegorka, The Changing Face Of Berlin And Redefining Modern Club Music
yegorka-why-be
July 03, 2019
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# A Conversation With Why Be On Yegorka, The Changing Face Of Berlin And Redefining Modern Club Music
Yegorka isn't like other labels. Their
catalog---which includes a lo-fi, guitar-driven noise album, intimate
digital ambient played on Asian instruments, and a French touch revival
project---looks, on the surface, like one of the least cohesive around.
But the label's founders, Tobias Lee (A.K.A DJ and producer Why Be) and Dan Denorch (who founded the
highly-influential Janus parties and record label), are
used to being misunderstood. For the last several years, they've made a
name for themselves pushing an idiosyncratic club sound that juxtaposes
hyper-regional dance music with experimental sound design and a truly
"anything goes" mentality.
*Yegorka is the evolution of this same idea. Pushing past hybridized
club music, the label is what happens when the head-rush of
international influences collide and shatter, giving way to new forms. I
met Why Be on a balmy afternoon in Berlin, and, in between discussing
East Asian fashion trends and eating deep-fried fish nuggets, he
explained how he and Dan are reshaping the record label landscape to fit
this peculiar vision.*
[SoundCloud Track (634741275)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
**Yegorka seems to operate on a different wavelength
than other labels. What's your role, and what's
Dan's?****** My role is to find the music and help the artists as much as
possible. Dan's role is to tell me that I'm right about all of the stuff
I'm doing. He's the back end of it, working with distributors and making
sure everything works.
{: .p2}
Everything is based on a common idea that we don't have
to talk about anymore because we've known each other for so long. But we
have to agree on everything. Every decision I make, every idea I get, I
make sure that he's completely in line with it.
{: .p2}
**So it's pretty collaborative**{::}**?**
It is, but in a more telepathic, symbolic way.
We have the luxury of knowing each other. He knows what direction I'm
trying to go in, and if I go too far, he's good at being the realistic
voice in my head. He's also good at seeing something, sharpening it,
chopping off a toe or heel here or there and perfecting it. He's
good getting the essence out
of the work---and helping me limit myself, which I have a hard time
doing.
{: .p2}
When working with the artists, what's your level of
involvement? Every artist has
different needs and their own vision. Some artists want to have a
conversation about every aspect of what they're doing, and some
completely do their own thing. I really try to stay out of it as much as
possible. I don't mind helping someone, but I always want the person
we're releasing to be the brain behind the project. I trust in the
music, and I want that person to flourish as much as possible.
{: .p2}
[Emiranda - Real Life][2]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"}
None of the projects on Yegorka really sound alike.
Do you see the projects fitting together under the umbrella of a
cohesive idea? I do, but I also refuse
to allow myself to define that. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt
that all of the projects fit together. The only "cohesive umbrella"
everything falls under is my gut feeling. They're all people that I
think can do something unique. Besides that, they don't really have
anything in common.
{: .p2}
The only thing I can say is that you could be someone
that I've known for ten years or that I met yesterday, but if I have a
feeling about you, that you can do something special---and if I believe
in you, and I can't always explain why that is---that alone would make
me trust you enough to release your music.
{: .p2}
[SoundCloud Track (610696758)][3]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
Emiranda's My Face is the one project on
Yegorka that, to me, evokes feelings of nostalgia---specifically for the
French house era. Where do nostalgia, progressivism and futurism fit
into Yegorka? [Emrianda][4]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener"} was especially funny to me because Dan
and I are both older than Tove (Agélii, A.K.A
[Toxe][5]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"}) and
Timur (Tokdemir, A.K.A [Mechatok][6]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"}),
and we didn't even have a "house moment" ourselves. It was never
something we explored. So when I heard the first demos, it was funny to
me that they somehow got into it---that they found this pool of artists
and this music so interesting. I know people who are into house that,
when I sent them *My Face*, would mention that the song lengths and
structures weren't right. They're too short, and there's supposed to be
a really specific build-up. They're emulating a sound you could trace
back, but they completely rewrote this style in their own way. That's
where, for me, progressivism or futurism comes in.
{: .p2}
Where do you see bod **\[****包家巷****\]** fitting in to all of
this? [bod \[包家巷\]][7]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"} doesn't fit in anywhere, and that's why I love them. There
are so many things I don't understand about bod \[包家巷\], like their music and the person
they are. And that's also where a lot of my attraction to it comes
from.
{: .p2}
To me, their music, especially
the stuff we released, sounds so much like the
European post-rock that I listened to in high school. There's something
about the motion and the subtlety, this longing in the tracks, that's
super post-rock. But it was created by a Chinese person from Arizona, on
Chinese string instruments, singing and playing by themselves. When I
first heard it, it felt so specific to me, but I also couldn't place it
anywhere. They're also unpredictable, and they work so hard. When we got
in contact, they'd already planned a video and offered to release three
times as much music as we eventually ended up releasing. Someone
who works their ass off will always have my respect.
{: .p2}
[SoundCloud Track (541024929)][8]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
Yegorka does something I've rarely seen before: You
drop a single track as a catalogued "project." What's the reasoning
behind this? Sometimes artists only
send one track. If an artist goes in a new direction, sometimes an idea
only drives them to make one or two tracks, but those one or two tracks
could be amazing. This is a way to let an idea exist.
{: .p2}
We like to look at every release as existing on its own
premise. We've even let people limit their output to the essence
of the idea. But it's always tailored to who you are. Every release is
different. People are different, and we don't believe in telling anyone
what to do.
{: .p2}
So you don't want to water down ideas just to
stretch them out. Take [Oxhy][9]{:
target="_blank" rel="noopener"}'s "Psalms Of The Khori-Puma (ft. [Elysia
Crampton][10]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"})", for example. It was a
very specific vision he had for one track. The track, idea and aesthetic
were so on point. I'm not going to turn it down just because I, as a
label person, would prefer to have a full EP. I will let that piece of
music exist in its own reality.
{: .p2}
We basically try to look at it like how would we want
to get released ourselves. We may be too idealistic about it, but that's
the goal. Everyone from the person who masters it to the person who
makes the cover art has to be happy about it and not feel used. I would
not have started a label if that wasn't the goal. That's also why we
don't do physical releases. That's just not what we care about. If the
goal wasn't at least to pursue a new model, we wouldn't have done
anything at all.
{: .p2}
[SoundCloud Track (513243954)][11]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
How do you feel about people viewing your
progression from the club space to a more open-ended, experimental
atmosphere? Do you feel like the club is still the home for this
music? This curve is definitely the
general assumption of how my and my peers' careers have evolved, but to
be quite honest, we started like this---in the open-ended, experimental
way. When I started DJing, I didn't even DJ. I was only DJing my weird
noise music because that was the easiest way for me to play it, and that
was the only way a lot of us started to get bookings.
{: .p2}
The club side of our music also had a different feel
about it when we started, which is also why the Emiranda thing was so
interesting to me. It was a club moment that wasn't mine. It wasn't a
moment I'd generated, and it wasn't something that I could directly
understand. I never got what Timur and Tove were trying to do, but it
was their moment.
{: .p2}
I have the general belief that you can play whatever
you want to in the club. None of my friends have ever depended on a
four-four kick to get something going in the club. It's the DJ's or the
artist's job to stitch it together in a way that can trick people into
dancing to it or thinking that it's club music, but if you listen to
half of what people play, it's not even actual club music.
{: .p2}
So for you, the club is just the best way to
showcase something on a larger, more streamlined scale?
From a European point of view, clubs are
spaces that are open forever, have good sound systems and tolerate a lot
of ratchet behavior. I'm not saying you have to be into that or
participate, but I love that it's an option.
{: .p2}
A lot of people that didn't feel popular in high school
now have a space where they can exist the way they want to exist. They
can look the way they want to look and sound the way they want to sound.
In those terms, the club is a very important part of what we do. And
since the clubs, more and more, are opening up to something that isn't
just tech house---and as long as the space can be used in our way---they
are important spaces to me.
{: .p2}
Do you feel like Berlin is Yegorka's home, or could
the label exist anywhere? It could
have happened anywhere, but on the other hand, Dan and I wouldn't have
become friends or collaborators if it wasn't for Berlin. Neither Dan or
I are German or from here, so Yegorka is an inherently Berlin thing. Had
we not come here for whatever reason we did, he wouldn't have booked me
in the early days. Berlin created the foundation for us to be able to do
what we do in this way.
{: .p2}
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[@\_tadleeh\_ -- Kalix \[YGK006\] ☆☆☆][12]{: style=" color:#000;
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A post shared by [ Yegorka][13]{: style=" color:#c9c8cd;
font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal;
font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"} (@yegorka.de) on
Jun 26, 2019 at
9:53am PDT
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How do you feel about Berlin and the way the music
scene has changed since you first came here? I literally change my opinion about it every six months. I
can't say anything definite about how I feel about it because it keeps
changing. That's probably why I still like living here. If I knew what
was going to happen in six months or a year, I would probably get fed
up. Anyone who's ever had a career or creative boost here has also had a
point of time where they had to deal with the opposite. Berlin is a
great place for you to get to know yourself dealing with different
situations---creatively, financially or existentially. It's not always
that fun or educational or meaningful, but you figure out how you feel
in both your happiest state and darkest hour. And there's a rawness here
that I love that I can't find anywhere else.
{: .p2}
Have you fully transitioned into being a label
manager, or do you see yourself releasing on Yegorka in the future? I have so many friends running their own
labels that I have so much respect for, but looking at the overall
environment, I would definitely say that the next place I see myself
releasing would be Yegorka.
{: .p2}
I spent so much time on the label in the beginning that
I forgot about myself. I woke up and realized I hadn't done anything for
like, six months. That's what I live from, and the fact of the matter is
that no labels are making money---plus we particularly are not gaining
much profit. It should be a healthy division, but for now I'm happy to
bleed for the cause.
{: .p2}
Is there anyone that you're excited about right now
or people that you see doing interesting things? Yeah, there are two people that I've been really curious
about. I'm always impressed with people who do things that are easy to
fake or emulate but at the highest level. [Pope][14]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener"} and [0comeups][15]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"}
both do this beatless noise-ambient that's currently very popular, but
to me they are doing some of the best. I can listen to their stuff over
and over again, which is unusual for me. Any ambient or noise music that
actually catches your ear is always special. It's so easy to warp out a
sound and put some white noise and distortion on it. I find it
interesting that I love every single track that they make.
{: .p2}
[SoundCloud Track (498830199)][16]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
Where do you see Yegorka going in the future?
I have stuff lined up, but we have no idea
what direction it's going to go in. That's part of the idea behind the
label. We have so much passion and so many ideas, but we're not settling
on anything. Dan and I have a very specific way of doing things, and as
long as we're both smiling and breathing, I think we'll figure it
out.
{: .p2}
I want to make every project as ambitious as possible
but tailor it to who we're releasing and what they want out of the
relationship. Sometimes people are insecure or introverted and not
really trying to get in everyone's faces. Sometimes you can push them
out there, while some people push themselves. I just want to keep it as
open as possible.
{: .p2}
[1]: https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/634741275
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIas0mih9_8
[3]: https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/610696758
[4]: https://soundcloud.com/3mir5nda3
[5]: https://soundcloud.com/to-xe
[6]: https://soundcloud.com/mechatok
[7]: https://soundcloud.com/baojiaxiang
[8]: https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/541024929
[9]: https://soundcloud.com/oxhy
[10]: https://soundcloud.com/eande
[11]: https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/513243954
[12]: https://www.instagram.com/p/BzLiw5moief/
[13]: https://www.instagram.com/yegorka.de/
[14]: https://soundcloud.com/pope_bg
[15]: https://soundcloud.com/0comeups
[16]: https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/498830199
---
id: ff89b08a-2216-4bc5-b182-fc6a22af1b97
blueprint: article
title: 'A Conversation With Why Be On Yegorka, The Changing Face Of Berlin And Redefining Modern Club Music'
date: 2019-07-03T14:52:47+02:00
wp_id: '168397'
slug: yegorka-why-be
teaser_image: legacy/yegorka-why-be/yegorka-shot-by-hee-seong-han.jpg
contents:
-
type: text
text: |-
<p><em><a href="https://soundcloud.com/yegorkaberlin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yegorka</a> isn’t like other labels. Their catalog—which includes a lo-fi, guitar-driven noise album, intimate digital ambient played on Asian instruments, and a French touch revival project—looks, on the surface, like one of the least cohesive around. But the label’s founders, Tobias Lee (A.K.A DJ and producer <a href="https://soundcloud.com/ristlee2smoeger" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Why Be</a>) and Dan Denorch (who founded the highly-influential <a href="https://soundcloud.com/janusberlin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Janus</a> parties and record label), are used to being misunderstood. For the last several years, they’ve made a name for themselves pushing an idiosyncratic club sound that juxtaposes hyper-regional dance music with experimental sound design and a truly “anything goes” mentality. </em></p><p><em>Yegorka is the evolution of this same idea. Pushing past hybridized club music, the label is what happens when the head-rush of international influences collide and shatter, giving way to new forms. I met Why Be on a balmy afternoon in Berlin, and, in between discussing East Asian fashion trends and eating deep-fried fish nuggets, he explained how he and Dan are reshaping the record label landscape to fit this peculiar vision.</em></p><p><a href="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/634741275" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (634741275)</a></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><strong>Yegorka seems to operate on a different wavelength than other labels. What’s your role, and what’s Dan’s?</strong></span><b></b><em><span class="s1"><b><br>
</b></span></em><span class="s1">My role is to find the music and help the artists as much as possible. Dan’s role is to tell me that I’m right about all of the stuff I’m doing. He’s the back end of it, working with distributors and making sure everything works. </span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1">Everything is based on a common idea that we don’t have to talk about anymore because we’ve known each other for so long. But we have to agree on everything. Every decision I make, every idea I get, I make sure that he’s completely in line with it. <b><br>
</b></span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>So it’s pretty collaborative</b><strong>?</strong><br>
</span><span class="s1">It is, but in a more telepathic, symbolic way. We have the luxury of knowing each other. He knows what direction I’m trying to go in, and if I go too far, he’s good at being the realistic voice in my head. He’s also good at seeing something, sharpening it, chopping off a toe or heel here or there and perfecting it. He’s good<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>getting the essence out of the work—and helping me limit myself, which I have a hard time doing.<br>
</span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>When working with the artists, what’s your level of involvement?<br>
</b></span><span class="s1">Every artist has different needs and their own vision. Some artists want to have a conversation about every aspect of what they’re doing, and some completely do their own thing. I really try to stay out of it as much as possible. I don’t mind helping someone, but I always want the person we’re releasing to be the brain behind the project. I trust in the music, and I want that person to flourish as much as possible.</span></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIas0mih9_8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Emiranda - Real Life</a></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>None of the projects on Yegorka really sound alike. Do you see the projects fitting together under the umbrella of a cohesive idea?<br>
</b></span><span class="s1">I do, but I also refuse to allow myself to define that. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt that all of the projects fit together. The only “cohesive umbrella” everything falls under is my gut feeling. They’re all people that I think can do something unique. Besides that, they don’t really have anything in common. </span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1">The only thing I can say is that you could be someone that I’ve known for ten years or that I met yesterday, but if I have a feeling about you, that you can do something special—and if I believe in you, and I can’t always explain why that is—that alone would make me trust you enough to release your music.</span></p><p><a href="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/610696758" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (610696758)</a></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>Emiranda’s <i>My Face</i> is the one project on Yegorka that, to me, evokes feelings of nostalgia—specifically for the French house era. Where do nostalgia, progressivism and futurism fit into Yegorka?<br>
</b></span><span class="s1"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/3mir5nda3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emrianda</a> was especially funny to me because Dan and I are both older than Tove (</span><span class="s2">Agélii, A.K.A <a href="https://soundcloud.com/to-xe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Toxe</a>)</span><span class="s1"> and Timur (Tokdemir, A.K.A <a href="https://soundcloud.com/mechatok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mechatok</a>), and we didn’t even have a “house moment” ourselves. It was never something we explored. So when I heard the first demos, it was funny to me that they somehow got into it—that they found this pool of artists and this music so interesting. I know people who are into house that, when I sent them <i>My Face</i>, would mention that the song lengths and structures weren’t right. They’re too short, and there’s supposed to be a really specific build-up. They’re emulating a sound you could trace back, but they completely rewrote this style in their own way. That’s where, for me, progressivism or futurism comes in.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>
</span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>Where do you see bod </b></span><span class="s3"><b>[</b></span><span class="s4"><b>包家巷</b></span><span class="s3"><b>]</b></span><span class="s1"><b> fitting in to all of this?<br>
</b></span><a href="https://soundcloud.com/baojiaxiang" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span class="s1">bod </span><span class="s3">[</span><span class="s4">包家巷</span><span class="s3">]</span></a><span class="s1"> doesn’t fit in anywhere, and that’s why I love them. There are so many things I don’t understand about bod </span><span class="s3">[</span><span class="s4">包家巷</span><span class="s3">]</span><span class="s1">, like their music and the person they are. And that’s also where a lot of my attraction to it comes from.</span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1">To me, their music</span><span class="s5">, especially the stuff we released, </span><span class="s1">sounds so much like the European post-rock that I listened to in high school. There’s something about the motion and the subtlety, this longing in the tracks, that’s super post-rock. But it was created by a Chinese person from Arizona, on Chinese string instruments, singing and playing by themselves. When I first heard it, it felt so specific to me, but I also couldn’t place it anywhere. They’re also unpredictable, and they work so hard. When we got in contact, they’d already planned a video and offered to release three times as much music as we eventually ended up releasing.<i> </i>Someone who works their ass off will always have my respect.</span></p><p><a href="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/541024929" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (541024929)</a></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>Yegorka does something I’ve rarely seen before: You drop a single track as a catalogued “project.” What’s the reasoning behind this?<br>
</b></span><span class="s1">Sometimes artists only send one track. If an artist goes in a new direction, sometimes an idea only drives them to make one or two tracks, but those one or two tracks could be amazing. This is a way to let an idea exist. </span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1">We like to look at every release as existing on its own premise.<i> </i>We’ve even let people limit their output to the essence of the idea. But it’s always tailored to who you are. Every release is different. People are different, and we don’t believe in telling anyone what to do.<br>
</span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>So you don’t want to water down ideas just to stretch them out.<br>
</b></span><span class="s1">Take <a href="https://soundcloud.com/oxhy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oxhy</a>‘s “Psalms Of The Khori-Puma (ft. <a href="https://soundcloud.com/eande" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elysia Crampton</a>)”, for example. It was a very specific vision he had for one track. The track, idea and aesthetic were so on point. I’m not going to turn it down just because I, as a label person, would prefer to have a full EP. I will let that piece of music exist in its own reality.<br>
</span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1">We basically try to look at it like how would we want to get released ourselves. We may be too idealistic about it, but that’s the goal. Everyone from the person who masters it to the person who makes the cover art has to be happy about it and not feel used. I would not have started a label if that wasn’t the goal. That’s also why we don’t do physical releases. That’s just not what we care about. If the goal wasn’t at least to pursue a new model, we wouldn’t have done anything at all. </span></p><p><a href="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/513243954" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (513243954)</a></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>How do you feel about people viewing your progression from the club space to a more open-ended, experimental atmosphere? Do you feel like the club is still the home for this music?<br>
</b></span><span class="s1">This curve is definitely the general assumption of how my and my peers’ careers have evolved, but to be quite honest, we started like this—in the open-ended, experimental way. When I started DJing, I didn’t even DJ. I was only DJing my weird noise music because that was the easiest way for me to play it, and that was the only way a lot of us started to get bookings.</span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1">The club side of our music also had a different feel about it when we started, which is also why the Emiranda thing was so interesting to me. It was a club moment that wasn’t mine. It wasn’t a moment I’d generated, and it wasn’t something that I could directly understand. I never got what Timur and Tove were trying to do, but it was their moment. </span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1">I have the general belief that you can play whatever you want to in the club. None of my friends have ever depended on a four-four kick to get something going in the club. It’s the DJ’s or the artist’s job to stitch it together in a way that can trick people into dancing to it or thinking that it’s club music, but if you listen to half of what people play, it’s not even actual club music.<br>
</span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>So for you, the club is just the best way to showcase something on a larger, more streamlined scale?<br>
</b></span><span class="s1">From a European point of view, clubs are spaces that are open forever, have good sound systems and tolerate a lot of ratchet behavior. I’m not saying you have to be into that or participate, but I love that it’s an option. </span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1">A lot of people that didn’t feel popular in high school now have a space where they can exist the way they want to exist. They can look the way they want to look and sound the way they want to sound. In those terms, the club is a very important part of what we do. And since the clubs, more and more, are opening up to something that isn’t just tech house—and as long as the space can be used in our way—they are important spaces to me. <b><br>
</b></span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>Do you feel like Berlin is Yegorka’s home, or could the label exist anywhere?<br>
</b></span><span class="s1">It could have happened anywhere, but on the other hand, Dan and I wouldn’t have become friends or collaborators if it wasn’t for Berlin. Neither Dan or I are German or from here, so Yegorka is an inherently Berlin thing. Had we not come here for whatever reason we did, he wouldn’t have booked me in the early days. Berlin created the foundation for us to be able to do what we do in this way.<br>
</span></p>
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<p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BzLiw5moief/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">@_tadleeh_ – Kalix [YGK006] ☆☆☆</a></p>
<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/yegorka.de/" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Yegorka</a> (@yegorka.de) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2019-06-26T16:53:31+00:00">Jun 26, 2019 at 9:53am PDT</time></p>
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<p><script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p></div><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>How do you feel about Berlin and the way the music scene has changed since you first came here?<br>
</b></span><span class="s1">I literally change my opinion about it every six months. I can’t say anything definite about how I feel about it because it keeps changing. That’s probably why I still like living here. If I knew what was going to happen in six months or a year, I would probably get fed up. Anyone who’s ever had a career or creative boost here has also had a point of time where they had to deal with the opposite. Berlin is a great place for you to get to know yourself dealing with different situations—creatively, financially or existentially. It’s not always that fun or educational or meaningful, but you figure out how you feel in both your happiest state and darkest hour. And there’s a rawness here that I love that I can’t find anywhere else.<br>
</span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>Have you fully transitioned into being a label manager, or do you see yourself releasing on Yegorka in the future?<br>
</b></span><span class="s1">I have so many friends running their own labels that I have so much respect for, but looking at the overall environment, I would definitely say that the next place I see myself releasing would be Yegorka.</span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1">I spent so much time on the label in the beginning that I forgot about myself. I woke up and realized I hadn’t done anything for like, six months. That’s what I live from, and the fact of the matter is that no labels are making money—plus we particularly are not gaining much profit. It should be a healthy division, but for now I’m happy to bleed for the cause. <b><br>
</b></span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>Is there anyone that you’re excited about right now or people that you see doing interesting things?<br>
</b></span><span class="s1">Yeah, there are two people that I’ve been really curious about. I’m always impressed with people who do things that are easy to fake or emulate but at the highest level. <a href="https://soundcloud.com/pope_bg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pope</a> and <a href="https://soundcloud.com/0comeups" target="_blank" rel="noopener">0comeups</a> both do this beatless noise-ambient that’s currently very popular, but to me they are doing some of the best. I can listen to their stuff over and over again, which is unusual for me. Any ambient or noise music that actually catches your ear is always special. It’s so easy to warp out a sound and put some white noise and distortion on it. I find it interesting that I love every single track that they make.</span></p><p><a href="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/498830199" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (498830199)</a></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>Where do you see Yegorka going in the future?<br>
</b></span><span class="s1">I have stuff lined up, but we have no idea what direction it’s going to go in. That’s part of the idea behind the label. We have so much passion and so many ideas, but we’re not settling on anything. Dan and I have a very specific way of doing things, and as long as we’re both smiling and breathing, I think we’ll figure it out.</span></p><p class="p2"><span class="s1">I want to make every project as ambitious as possible but tailor it to who we’re releasing and what they want out of the relationship. Sometimes people are insecure or introverted and not really trying to get in everyone’s faces. Sometimes you can push them out there, while some people push themselves. I just want to keep it as open as possible. </span></p>
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# A Conversation With Why Be On Yegorka, The Changing Face Of Berlin And Redefining Modern Club Music Yegorka isn't like other labels. Their catalog---which includes a lo-fi, guitar-driven noise album, intimate digital ambient played on Asian instruments, and a French touch revival project---loo...
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Pushing past hybridized club music, the label is what happens when the head-rush of international influences collide and shatter, giving way to new forms. I met Why Be on a balmy afternoon in Berlin, and, in between discussing East Asian fashion trends and eating deep-fried fish nuggets, he expla...
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But we have to agree on everything. Every decision I make, every idea I get, I make sure that he's completely in line with it. {: .p2} . **So it's pretty collaborative**{::}**?** It is, but in a more telepathic, symbolic way. We have the luxury of knowing each other. He knows what dire...
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I trust in the music, and I want that person to flourish as much as possible. {: .p2} [Emiranda - Real Life][2]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} . None of the projects on Yegorka really sound alike. Do you see the projects fitting together under the umbrella of a cohesive idea? I do...
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Besides that, they don't really have anything in common. {: .p2} The only thing I can say is that you could be someone that I've known for ten years or that I met yesterday, but if I have a feeling about you, that you can do something special---and if I believe in you, and I can't always e...
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They're emulating a sound you could trace back, but they completely rewrote this style in their own way. That's where, for me, progressivism or futurism comes in. {: .p2} . Where do you see bod **\[****包家巷****\]** fitting in to all of this? [bod \[包家巷\]][7]{: target="_blank" rel="noop...
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Someone who works their ass off will always have my respect. {: .p2} [SoundCloud Track (541024929)][8]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} . Yegorka does something I've rarely seen before: You drop a single track as a catalogued "project." What's the reasoning behind this? Sometimes ar...
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I will let that piece of music exist in its own reality. {: .p2} . We basically try to look at it like how would we want to get released ourselves. We may be too idealistic about it, but that's the goal. Everyone from the person who masters it to the person who makes the cover art has to be happ...
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I was only DJing my weird noise music because that was the easiest way for me to play it, and that was the only way a lot of us started to get bookings. {: .p2} . The club side of our music also had a different feel about it when we started, which is also why the Emiranda thing was so interestin...
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I'm not saying you have to be into that or participate, but I love that it's an option. {: .p2} . A lot of people that didn't feel popular in high school now have a space where they can exist the way they want to exist. They can look the way they want to look and sound the way they want to sound...
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