Five Tracks: Soulphiction

Michel Baumann is better known to most as Soulphiction and Jackmate, a German DJ and producer who has an accomplished back catalogue of music on labels ranging from Perlon to Pampa Records.

In recent times he has become best known for his Soulphiction alias as he put a pause on Jackmate for many years, but recently decided to revisit the moniker for an EP on Matthew Herbert’s Accidental Jnr imprint.

The popularity of that well received release has inspired Michel to continue making new music as Jackmate, and his next release is a three track EP on new label 18437.

Keen to learn more about the Jackmate project, we asked Michel to pick out five of his own favourites. Get the full list below.

The Jacker
Label: Poker Flat Recordings
Release: 1998

This was my very first success on the then newly founded Poker Flat label, and it opened some doors for me too. Steve Bug and his label Poker Flat are since stalwarts on the electronic music scene, and it was a privilege to play a part in the beginning of their journey also.

Airraid
Label: Morris Audio
Release: 2002

This one found its way onto Erlend Øye’s DJ-Kicks Compilation by K7, a nice series of some more eclectic mixes, and that was a biggie for me back then! I really liked how the track worked in the mix, and I was super excited when I first got told It will be featured in the final track list. It’s by far the most trancey track I’ve ever made, but I still like the progression of the pads and it sounds great on a proper system. The occasions to play it out though, are quite limited as I usually don’t play big arenas that much.

8osc7seq
Label: Resopal
Release: 2003

This track has been given a new lease of life, as last year DJ Koze used it as a background track to the vocals of Róisín Murphy’s Sing It Back when he played in Sydney. Was super interesting to hear my track reimagined by simply adding Róisín’s voice! I received a sweet dub plate version from Stefan, where she takes it even further.

The Clarinettes
Label: Accidental Jnr
Release: 2019

This is taken from my recent 12” on Matthew Herbert’s label, and it’s my personal favourite from the release. I was loving the sound of the clarinet, played by Andy Geyer, on a totally different piece of music at a different tempo. It started out as a bit of a challenge, as the instrument’s sound limited what other instrumentation would fit with it, so we tried to build most of the track from that clarinet recording. and I’m really happy with the end result!

Modulation Nightdrive
Label: 18437
Release: 2020

This last selection is the title track from my next EP. It is great to be putting out new Jackmate releases again, and all three of the tracks from this release are ones I am super proud of.