Dutch DJ/producer Sander Kleinenberg is dining with friends in Ibiza, Spain’s dance music capital, and admits he’s “very drunk.”
But he sounds pretty clear-headed about “5K,” his first album as an artist, due June 14, in a career that started as a teenaged DJ in the Netherlands nearly 25 years ago.
Kleinenberg opens his “5K” tour ,with Britain’s Desyn Masiello, at 8 p.m. June 2 at Nova Luna Ultra Bar, 2270 Joe Battle. Tickets are $25 in advance at wantickets.com; $30 door. Go to novalunaep.com for more information.
It's part of the club’s participation in the international “We Love ... Music” party inspired by Ibiza’s legendary Space nightclub and celebrated at clubs everywhere from Miami to London to Dubai.
He said the album developed out of a need to express himself.
“I just wanted to make a document that was a little bit more substance,” he said, noting a growing desire to do something more than “just providing Saturday night soundtracks every weekend.”“I have something to say, I guess,” he added.
Sander K’s certainly done well with that DJ thing. He’s been an in-demand house and trance DJ for nearly 20 years, a successful producer, label owner and remixer, winning Dancestar USA’s best remix award in 2003 for his reworking of Justin Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body.”
Kleinenberg also is known for his use of video during his DJ sets, an art form known as DVJing. “It gave me an extra element to play around with, an extra element for what I try to get across,” he said.
But “5K” is yet another attempt to do that. It has a seductive everything-but-the-kitchen sink quality, with accessible melodies, slamming electro beats, gurgling synths and washes of cosmic sounds.
It also features strong vocal contributions from British jazz singer Jamie Cullum on the radio-friendly digital funk of “Remember,” the measured vocal of British country-folk singer Neil Ormandy on the anthemic “Closer,” and the husky melancholy of Dutch singer Miss Montreal on “Wish I Said.”
“The album was a good box to put all those ideas into and shake it up and see what comes out on the other end,” Kleinenberg said.
"5K" is very contemporary in terms of musical motifs and use of technology, but has a subtle old-school electronica feel. The 40-year-old DJ emerges as a producer at the peak of his creative powers with the album, and a skilled songwriter and arranger.
But he sounds a little unsure about how it will be received. Maybe it’s the alcohol talking.
“As a matter of fact, when I ended the whole thing, this little journey, I looked at it and I purposely made the expectation around it as narrow as I could and tried to downplay everything I’ve done,” he said. “There’s probably not a lot of people waiting for me to do this. Most who know me want banging tracks for Saturday night. ... I put this armor on to protect me from the backlash.”
He admits to a certain ambivalence himself. “One part of me wants to see what Saturday night is all about, the other wants to criticize the world or write about personal things. I guess it’s a little bit of both,” he said, joking that he’s a “closet romantic trying to make love with an Uzi.”
“That’s kind of how it felt in the process of this,” he added, a process he had to go through.Whether he’s providing Saturday night soundtracks or expressing deeper feelings, there is a greater goal.
“At the end of the day,” he said, “it’s like this endless search for the perfect night, perfect mix and perfect setting. It’s what I keep chasing every single night.”
Amazing work Mr. Pullen, We are surprised :)
Posted by: Nova Luna Ultra Bar | May 30, 2011 at 01:31 PM
This is going to be an amazing night! Definitely one to rememeber! Thanks Doug!
Posted by: Alex Diaz | May 31, 2011 at 01:20 PM