Riley Richard Reinhold better known as Triple R (DJ and journalist), Started Djing in 1984 in bars in Cologne and on electronic dance parties in 1989.
In 1998 he worked in the KOMPAKT record shop (home of Mike INK /Profan) developing the international mail-order section and many international contacts for Kompakt.
He created and worked with lots of newcomers in the field of music and favoured to work close with the artist.
He introduced Christian Vogel and Thomas Brinkmann to electronic scenes, made the contacts to Richie Hawtin as well as Adam Miller of Mute and excellerated their careers.
In 1998 he founded with his girlfriend Jacqueline Klein/ DJ anima, the Labels, Traum and later Trapez/Trapez Ltd. and his new imprint My Best Friend/ MBF Ltd.
On TRAUM 50 records were released so far plus 15 CD’s.
The sublabel TRAPEZ has released 40 records plus 22 Trapez Ltd. records and two CD’s.
Right now 2004 he has established the TRAUMFABRIK (across Kompakt building) a space where the music and videos for Traum and Trapez are developed, together with Jacqueline Klein, Steve Barnes and Yvette Klein.
Contains the drink water of Cologne something strange? ‘Cos, it’s THE mnml city in Europe... It’s your home town and that of Miss Yetti, Wassermann, MIA and a couple of others... People talk ‘bout the “Cologne sound”
The water tastes hard and dry, due to the fact that there is very much lime in it! The tea does not taste right! Smooth things do not survive here, also no wine can grow here!
On the other side, the provincial attitude and the international face of it,
the art gallery, centre of Europe till a few years back have lead to a friction of expectations by artists and tourists/clubbers/intellectuals , that never were really fulfilled . That situation has lead to music that has always a functional side, as experimental as it is. You will never hear music like Autechre from Cologne, there is no room for this playfulness!
We try to create our own sound because we have nothing "really solid" we can build on. Ok we have the "SENSOR" club,on the other side of the river were we do a party every 4 weeks, called "Kämpfer", but that’s it.
How do you feel ‘bout that, any chauvinistic feelings? Is there any competition going on with Berlin for example?
You know the understanding of situations is difficult,. Berlin had a very pragmatic fuelled past. The downfall of east Germany provided them with locations for hundreds of clubs. On the other side the Berlin sound was never developed until recently by labels like Bpitch and Shitkatapult, Basic Channel were on their own....
The “Cologne techno scene” never had a good club scene, and still it is a fight to find a good spot /location, to perform there and be self confident about what we do. I started in about 1989 to build up a scene in Cologne, that was attracting more guitar interested people, playing early Warp, Chicago and Detroit, the new promos by Mike ink, “sweet” Reinhard…. And in this scene the “Cologne” tracks were appreciated and sometimes these places were better for listening and dancing to this music than the few other clubs.
With people like Mike Ink (aka Wolfgang Voigt, together with Riley 1 of the pioneers in the Cologne Scene), that were more interested in ideas/fusions of pop and techno, pop/art etc… than making money with music, the opinion derived that our scene was/is a bit snobbish, too proud of themselves to just make plain techno.
Well really a bit of a misunderstanding. I think these things tend to get
less, but Berlin is a special town and people who move there tend to rank it higher then all other towns in Germany, understandable, the access it easier and the town offers more possibilities.
You own together with your wife Jaqueline Klein, ”Traum Schallplatten” & “Trapez” those labels are with Kompakt probably the most appreciated mnml labels in Europe. Still you offer rather unknown names a chance to release on Trapez, (fe. Studiogemeinschaft, Marcos Cabral, Lea Klus,...) a special philosophy?
The philosophy was till now to develop a face of our own, rather than signing people which have had success on other labels. With Trapez the interest is in techno as a pure form of music by its own...artless by its outer appearance and form, as we think: art lies within all of these tracks. The sexy understatement of Chicago, with Santonio, Tim Harper,,, well all these were heavy influences.
Trapez LTD is supporting youth culture even stronger, rough tracks , not really finished by artists can be put out together with finished ones. The motto of Trapez is youth and street culture. Simplistic but so sexy.
With Traum we think of illusions, virtual reality, romantic moments, the power of the colours, the sky, the birds and also the trees…. the absurd, the surrealistic, you will see with the forthcoming album of Domink Eulberg
So Traum music goes deeper while the Trapez sound is more a Dj-tool, That’s the main difference between both labels?
You got that right, It is one yes!
I’ve read in your biography that the “Traum Factory” is developing videos? Could you reveal something more ‘bout that?
Yvette Klein produces/writes animations/videos/club installations for the Traum Label. These quicktimes are usually released on the Interkontinental CD´s and also sometimes for individual artists. Her approach is to make abstract shapes and stories, atmospheres she picks up in the music. Her main work is more installation based, it fits clubs, museums and events. Her work can be seen at the present c/o pop festival in Cologne, Traum, Trapez and Kompakt parties. But also at art-events such as solitude/Stuttgart in October`04.
Three examples can be seen on the new Traum web-page.
Begin 2004 Trapez launched a mix CD “Selection 2”, a sort “Best off from Trapez”. In my humble opinion one of the best CD’s from 2004, any plans in the future for another “Best of…” CD, ‘cos Trapez doesn’t release much CD’s..
Yeah, the next CD is in preparation., it will contain a good amount of the current releases plus something new.
You form a producer team with Steve Barnes which has resulted in a few very good EP’s (Mondrian, Freefall, Airfix)
I guess you 2 have each your own music taste/identity, Isn’t it difficult to find the perfect equability between both of your tastes?
Well, I am a Dj since 1984. I have my own special taste, which is based very much on my past. Steve is a producer and no Dj so the project was to bring ideas together and try to go more into the club , work with the things we have learned over the years, but we have not used.
On general request, I’d like to ask you which soft/hardware you use for producing? Which mastering program?
No computer! (laughs)
Besides being a dj and a producer, you also run 6 labels, so we can conclude that you have a busy life, is there any time left for hobbies?
Well, in my spare time, I like to relax.. :-)
How was the Trapez Label Night @ Cologne?
(The 14th of august Trapez organised a party in Cologne, line-up: Ozy, UND, Maik Loewen, Gabriel Ananda, Oliver Hacke, Triple R, Matthias Rahn,… The interview with Riley took place that period)
The party in Cologne was a big success. Wolfgang Voigt (= Mike Ink) was coming to the DJ desk, talked with us about our new artists, them playing live,
”It was superb” We talked about the value of techno in our days.
Right now we have 10 artists in our house, because of the TRAPEZ label party at C/0 Pop electronic festival. There is a spontaneous Trapez/Traum workshop with wine and beer in our flat. Computers are connected, Ozy is playing with Adam Koll, UND from Turin (trapez ltd 15) is programming with Jorge Gebauhr from TRAUM, “The Dirt Crew” is drinking Vodka , Matthias Rahn is creating new drinks with Whiskey, Oliver Hacke is talking about anything but music. Maik Loewen is making plans for a secret event in Cologne…..
Thank’s for the interview and keep up the good work!
No problem, watch out for these upcoming releases:
Dominik Eulberg - "Flora und Fauna" Album - Traum (October)
Oliver Hacke – “Subject Carrier” is out in September.
New Trapez CD end of 2004….
Greetz, Riley.
Some usefull links:
http://www.traumschallplatten.de/
http://www.kompakt-net.de/
INTERVIEW: Ben Clement, exclusive for www.mnml.nl
[Interview] Riley Reinhold / Triple R exclusive for MNML.nl
[Interview] Riley Reinhold / Triple R exclusive for MNML.nl
Last edited by Ben on Wed Aug 25, 2004 1:27 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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This is a total concidence! I just got the Triple R "Friends" CD a couple of days ago and it is brilliant. Nice to read a bit about the guy behind it all.
Thanks again mnml!!
Thanks again mnml!!
Last edited by Rich on Wed Aug 25, 2004 3:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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