Tiefschwarz are brothers Ali and Basti Schwarz (the word ‘Tiefschwarz’ is German for 'deep black'). Hailing from Stuttgart, these days their signature blend of house, techno and bass-heavy electrohouse is one of Europe’s biggest draws.

As producers, Tiefschwarz first came to international attention in 2004 with their infectious electrohouse remixes of Spektrum’s ‘Kinda New’, Phonique’s ‘The Red Dress’ and Unit 4’s ‘Bodydub’. Since then they’ve released two mix CDs (‘Misch Masch’ and ‘Fabric 29’), both of which blended tuneful minimal, rifftastic electrohouse and darker edges.

Recently Tiefschwarz have also also started their own label, Souvenir Music, two of whose releases are featured on their top ten (of course!) RA caught up with Tiefschwarz before their latest gig at The Loft in Barcelona. We tried to rope both brothers into our Under the Gun session, but Basti was too interested in his San Miguel beer to do anything but laugh at us. So we shot him.

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Ichundu - Hey

Ichundu – Hey [Souvenir Music]

Ali: "Very egoistic – this is a new project from ourselves. We just started our own label called Souvenir and the first release is an alter ego project of ourselves. Both sides are us – we remixed ourselves. I’m really happy about both mixes. One is a little bit more minimal, and the other one, well, Ivan Smagghe said it’s minimal with a bigger idea. He loves it. He said, “Man, it’s great” – we were really pleased that we got his feedback. We used a different name because we wanted to have a side project. Maybe a little more experimental or just to have no boundaries."

Davidovitch/Maxime Dangles - Speicher 39 [Kompakt Extra]

Ali: "It’s just been released. The B-side is more the shuffle side. It’s a shuffle beat with a very strong melody. It’s kind of deep techno. But both sides are good. One is more minimal, more quiet."

Tightrope - Vibrate

Tightrope – Vibrate [Phela Recordings]

Ali: "It’s Pete Heller – his second release. It’s so tasty and so good. It’s a long builder. It starts very warm and sweet and it builds up and builds up. It’s not a peaktime mix – it’s for late, for after the peaktime moment. It sucks your brain out. It’s amazing, but in a very sweet way. Phela is Heller’s label. I was totally surprised and very happy with it."

Ink and Needle - Tattoorec.com

Ink and Needle – Two [Tattoo Recordings]

Ali: "This is my favourite party track at the moment. It’s techno/electro with quite a funky twist – funky minimal in a way. It has a very bleepy kind of naïve melody and live drumfills. But nobody knows what it is. I heard it from Richie and Sven Vath, they had it, and I just found it by accident and I thought “Fuck, this is big.” Wherever I play it, the people are “What is this?” It has some French house elements in a minimal way. Then there’s live drum fills, which could be something from DJ Gregory, but only for the fills. It’s something really interesting and very catchy."

The Alchemist - The Alchemist

The Alchemist – The Alchemist [White Label]

Ali: "This is one of my top three records. It’s a white label – it doesn’t say anything about the artist. I would also call it deep techno. It just has this warm, very deep building up moment which is so tasty. It hits you right in the heart. And it’s so warm. But there’s not a lot of elements, just perfectly arranged and it’s a very strong record. I’m sure Luciano and Loco Dice and all these people, they love it. It’s amazing."

Eight Miles High - Mutter

Eight Miles High – Mutter [Klang]

Ali: "This is actually from my friend Roman Flugel from Alter Ego, his new record on Klang. I’ve never heard Roman so deep. It’s a very deep techno/house track, quite housey, with an amazing melody. It’s a weird synthesizer melody like he really played it, it’s not just three notes. It gives you goosebumps."

Martin Buttrich - Full Clip

Martin Buttrich – Full Clip/Programmer [Planet E]

Ali: "The new hit of the end of the summer. It’s Martin Buttrich, the producer of Timo Maas and Loco Dice. He sent a track with the help of Timo Maas to Carl Craig and Carl Craig was freaking out and now he’s bringing it out. It’s on Planet E and it’s fucking amazing. Actually it sounds like a Carl Craig record. It’s different to Seeing Through Shadows. It has a very housey touch with very strong keyboards and an amazing break where almost everything goes away – at the end you can’t even hear it properly. I mean he’s such a talent, this guy Martin Buttrich is a genius."

Tom Mangan - Texas [Souvenir Music]

Ali: "Another Souvenir track. We just signed the contract. Tom Mangan is a friend of ours – part of Cass & Mangan from London. My favourite track is Texas – it’s a very playful and lively minimal track with a lot of surprises. The production is very interesting and it has a lot of strong moments, building up and going down. I really love it and I’m very happy that we are able to release it."

Pikaya/Andomat 3000 & Jan - Grune Raufaser/Entr'acte Music [Cadenza]

Ali: "The new Cadenza – I like both sides. It’s another amazing Cadenza Record. What more can you say?"

Raudive - No, no, no

Raudive – No, no, no, no EP [Klang]

Ali: "Last but not least, it’s a little bit old already but I still play it and love it. It’s also the label of Alter Ego. Yeah, it’s this funky weird electro/techo/house, call it whatever you want. It’s just so different and the best part of it is there’s a drum roll, or drum fill, which sounds like you’ve stopped the record, but the rest of the track goes on. So it’s kind of weirdly two layers. One layer stops and the other layer continues, so then people think “Oh, there’s a mistake.” But actually it’s not a mistake. And then they catch it and really appreciate it. Very clever, very interesting record."