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MaRC hellneR
pulseprogramming’s heartbeat goes solo.
Words: mark pytlik
What’s youR favoRite ChiCago institution? Mark Hellner: Millenium Park. It’s a big beautiful park
in the middle of downtown on the lake, with a pavilion designed by Frank Gehry.
Few North American cities can cop to having a
musical support system like Chicago’s. Just ask
Marc Hellner, a wandering solo artist who’s made a
career out of collaborating with the city’s numerous
fireflies. Formerly of L’Altra, and one of the founding
members of the waylaid Pulseprogramming,
Hellner’s currently preparing for the release of his
new full-length Marriages (Peacefrog), which–despite
being a solo record–relies heavily on collaborations
with members of bands like Tortoise and Telefon
Tel Aviv. “There’s a lot of musicians on it from the
jazz scene around here,” he says. “It’s a little more
composition-oriented. I wrote string arrangements,
so it’s much more live and string-oriented, but
there’s a lot of programming and processing as
well. If you’re familiar with the Pulse stuff, you’ll
hear a bit of that in it.”
Indeed, Marriages might be the closest we get to
a proper Pulseprogramming follow-up for quite
some time. Although the Aesthetics label is releasing
a remix record (with contributions from Nudge,
Laub and Ghislain Poirer) this month, Hellner says
the multimedia collective has been on hold for a
couple of years now with no immediate reunion
in sight. “We’re not completely finished but we’re
not working together, and we haven’t since [2003’s]
Tulsa For One Second,” he says. “Everyone’s doing
their own thing. It was a collaborative group and
my own work kind of took over.”
In keeping with his contemporaries’ herculean
output levels, Hellner’s got a number of other
plates in the air. In addition to assembling a touring
band for an imminent Marriages tour, he’s
recording with a local classical pianist, engineering
a solo album for L’Altra’s Lindsay Anderson
and working on another solo record of contemporary
classical string music. It’s an energy and
work ethic that the former Oregonian attributes
to his current surroundings. “Oregon is really
beautiful, but it’s a bit sleepy and hard to get
things done. In Chicago, there’s a wide-ranging,
hard-working array of musicians and talent and
labels. It’s really unique in that you can just ask
people to play and they’ll play. It’s not competitive
like other cities can be.”
www.peacefrog.com, www.aesthetics-usa.com
konCePt and MeiotiC
two promoters make sure techno has a home in house city.
Words: tomas palermo photo: auBrey edWards
Marc Martin (middle left) and George Moreira (middle right) with friends Albert and Matthew
Frankie Knuckles and Marshall Jefferson. Green
Velvet and DJ Heather. Trax and Dust Traxx. If
you like electronic music and didn’t know that
Chicago is House City you’ve been living under
a rock or had amnesia for the past 20 years. But
Ol’ Mama Disco begat two children to the modern
dance era: house and techno. While the latter
is more commonly associated with the city of
Detroit, the entire Midwest shares a passion for
pounding drums, and Chi-town is no exception.
For the past six years, two Windy City club production
pillars have made sure the techno scene
is properly represented: Koncept Promo’s George
Moreira and Meiotic’s Marc Martin. But how easy
is it to promote techno in such a house- and hiphop-dominated
city? “We have a very strong, loyal
fan base,” says Moreira. “That’s something we’re
very grateful for.” Martin concurs: “[Compared]
to the respective scenes throughout the United
States, [it’s not out of line to say] that Chicago’s got
one of the strongest communities Stateside.”
The communal strength is reflected in Koncept
and Meiotic’s close working relationship. The two
run the bi-monthly Your Formula Life event at
Tini Martini, which has featured DJs like Todd
Sines, DJ Shift and bootymaster DJ Funk. And
the word has spread far and wide. “We have kids
regularly coming in from Iowa, Wisconsin and
Detroit to check out our events,” beams Moreira.
“It does seem like more electronic music
enthusiasts–be it house, IDM or even the new
dance rock kids–are discovering techno/house
tracks,” says Martin of the music’s expanding fanbase.
“People are finding out that these Kompakt,
Perlon, Playhouse, Spectral and UR tracks are
beautiful…I love that!”
Koncept and Meiotic’s strong community has
also helped them weather the ups and downs of
nightlife–from The Station fire disaster in February
2003 that killed 21 people to 9/11’s effects on booking
DJs to more mundane things. “We booked
amazing three-deck DJ Cristian Varela from Spain
[and he] became friendly with the club’s attractive
bartender, who challenged him to keep up with her
in the shot department,” relates Moreira. “When
it was his turn to get on the decks, he played three
records, [threw up] and proceeded to fall in and
out of consciousness. We laughed about it after, but
quite a few fans were left disappointed.”
The disappointment doesn’t seem to last long
with their audiences. “Our crowd is so damn supportive,”
explains Martin. “It’s [that] Midwestern
soul–Chicago gets down!”
www.konceptpromo.com, www.meioticpromotions.com
What’s youR favoRite ChiCago institution? George Moreira: Barney’s one-stop, Ray Barney’s record store and the headquarters for his legendary
label, Dance Mania.; Marc Martin: Chicago loft parties and Harold’s Chicken Shack.
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