Known for his sublime releases on the venerable Kompakt label, Cologne’s DJ Shumi has been championing soulful, deep house productions and blissful DJ sets since the ’90s. Before making his U.S. debut this week in New York City on a pair of shows presented by The Duchess Of Brooklyn English — Bossa Nova on November 7 with Ital and Nooka Jones and Kinfolk Studios on Movember 8 with Sexy Lazer (Reykjavik and Copenhagen — we talked to the German house hero about playing the Big Apple for the first time, the launch of his new label, Low Hanging Fruit, and National Geographic EP.
Tell us a bit about your U.S. jaunt. What are your experiences like playing in NYC and America?
DJ Shumi: This is the first time I will play in the U.S. so I am really excited. It’s always a great challenge to play for new people with different musical culture backgrounds.
You’ve launched your own label, Low Hanging Fruit. What led you to start this endeavor?
I started the label with a good friend from Cologne and another friend from Chicago. It’s a dance music Label with a little twist. The influence comes from Cologne Krautrock, Chicago house, and Detroit techno. We just felt that it was a gap on the the market for this kind of music label. And our distributer, Kompakt, was very helpful.
Will the label focus on a particular genre/sound?
Fresh and new dance music from arround the world.
Any new releases in the works?
I will release some tracks under the name Truffle Shuffle together with my good friend and great DJ, Marc Lansley. The tracks will be released next year on Low Hanging Fruit.
What else are you up to this year?
I will have my third anniversary with my resident party Risky in Cologne at end of the year. I had guests like Simian Mobile Disco, Michael Mayer, Axel Boman, Trentemöller, etc. I am also DJing around in Europe quite a lot and, of course, I have to take care of the label [smiles].
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