Onur Özer - Watergate 01

After five years at the forefront of Berlin’s clubscene, Watergate has recruited Turkish DJ and producer Onur Özer for their first mix CD. Özer’s association with the famed venue began with his residency at the Dumb-Unit/Vakant label parties, where he quickly established a rapport with both the crowd and club owners alike.Starting out, he fought the cause for underground house and techno as a DJ on the late nineties Istanbul club scene. Last year, his production efforts were fully realised with his full-length debut Kasmir, its use of Arabic and African instrumentation helping him to stand out from the minimal pack. Used in snatches here, Özer’s 15-track mix merges unsettling machine-like clicks and whirrs, shuffling funk and disorientating, cracked vocal samples atop subtly powerful percussion. He works up a tension-filled groove that climaxes brilliantly with Patrice Baumel’s Roar and the dance-floor dynamite that is Johnny D’s Pox remix, before easing into a no-less engaging endgame.