There must be something mighty energetic in the air over in Berlin. Why else would every techno-wielding Torontonian make the journey across the Atlantic to set up shop there? Peaches, Chilly Gonzales, Jeremy P. Caulfield and, most recently, techno-pop up-and-comer Jake Fairley, have swiftly found success and support in Germany's most infamous city.
So what's the big schnitzel?
"Berlin is pretty much the techno capital of the world," says Fairley. "So as a place for me to live it has its good and bad sides. I get to meet a lot of cool people involved in the scene and get to hear all the latest music, but I can't escape it when I want to. They play techno in the fucking bakery over here!"
A founder of Toronto new-rock upstarts Uncut, Fairley split with the band after realising his own work would always take top priority. Relocating to Berlin for most of this year and last has allowed him to seriously pursue and expose his unique and addictive brand of techno-pop.
Now, with his strikingly original and endlessly catchy debut, Touch Not the Cat, dropping on Paper Bag Records in North America and Jeremy P. Caulfield's Dumb-Unit label on vinyl overseas, Fairley had better be prepared to make legions of fans outside of Berlin and Toronto, which he's returning home to this fall for a stay and some gigs.
But in the meantime he's enjoying the delicacies of being a techno performer in Berlin. "I got a big fat lady that sells American style hotdogs for one Euro not three blocks from my apartment. You can get chilli or cheese on one of those for only a few cents more," says Fairley. "She boils them, which is against the rules in my book, but it's still a good deal."
So what's the big schnitzel?
"Berlin is pretty much the techno capital of the world," says Fairley. "So as a place for me to live it has its good and bad sides. I get to meet a lot of cool people involved in the scene and get to hear all the latest music, but I can't escape it when I want to. They play techno in the fucking bakery over here!"
A founder of Toronto new-rock upstarts Uncut, Fairley split with the band after realising his own work would always take top priority. Relocating to Berlin for most of this year and last has allowed him to seriously pursue and expose his unique and addictive brand of techno-pop.
Now, with his strikingly original and endlessly catchy debut, Touch Not the Cat, dropping on Paper Bag Records in North America and Jeremy P. Caulfield's Dumb-Unit label on vinyl overseas, Fairley had better be prepared to make legions of fans outside of Berlin and Toronto, which he's returning home to this fall for a stay and some gigs.
But in the meantime he's enjoying the delicacies of being a techno performer in Berlin. "I got a big fat lady that sells American style hotdogs for one Euro not three blocks from my apartment. You can get chilli or cheese on one of those for only a few cents more," says Fairley. "She boils them, which is against the rules in my book, but it's still a good deal."
