As many around the world fret over the state of the financial markets, AEON Audio’s Alex Niggemann has been careful to invest in what’s really most important: people. Next month his imprint will release a carefully crafted full-length from Jona, who carefully forged his album by collaborating with other artists over the span of two years.
We’re thrilled to world premiere “Transmission Breakdown” featuring The Reverse Engineer from Jona’s Sidetracking Part 1: Prologue EP that’s been deeply remixed by Trevino (the techno alias of d’n’b deity Marcus Intalex).
Listen to the stunning remix and find out more about Jona in the interview below.
Jona’s Sidetracking Part 1: Prologue EP is out January 22 on AEON Audio.
What was your inspiration for making “Transmission Breakdown”? Is there a story to tell?
Jona: I wanted to give it a kind of downtempo/reggae-ish vibe, while still sticking to the overall speed of the album, which can be listened to as a continuous mix.
I made “Transmission Breakdown” together with my friend Dave House [The Reverse Engineer] from Edinburgh, who I actually met at a German class in Berlin! Going to this language school every day, we connected and discovered our common passion for electronic music. When I heard his demos and live sets, it was clear he had a huge talent and I didn’t think twice before inviting him to collaborate on my album. We shared a lot of common influences, especially from the UK scene, and I saw the distinctive way we sounded together as a source of inspiration. I was really delighted with the final result, as I think it shows a true representation of both our backgrounds.
How did you select Trevino to remix this track?
Trevino’s music has been a big influence to me, from his tougher tracks on Klockworks to his earlier deeper tracks on The Nothing Special. It was a personal wish of mine to have him involved in this project, and when I suggested it to AEON, the label was completely on board with the idea. Marcus didn’t disappoint and delivered a fantastic track that completes the EP perfectly, adding a strong dance floor side to it.
Who and what inspired you to make your Sidetracking album?
The idea, at first, was to make a DJ mix with only exclusive tracks from my producer friends. David K, who took part in the album, and I then thought it would become even more special if each one of the album tracks was a collaboration between my friends and myself. That’s how the whole concept shaped into an actual artist album. I’m so grateful that I was able to gather together such talented musicians, among them a pianist and a percussionist, who helped me diversify this record a lot – from housier tracks such as “The Chase” with Usio, and “Over And Out” with Varoslav, to more ambient sounds like in the closing piece, titled “Hidden Away” with Giovanni Verga on the piano.