We’re delighted to finally welcome Dirt Crew and Heist Recordings producer Nachtbraker into the spotlight of our central mix and interview series. The Amsterdam-based producer has been a leading light over the last two years, excelling with an awesome blend of classic vibes and a modern touch. In addition to supplying the ultimate soundtrack to your week, he’s taken the time to catch up running us through his Summer highlights and all the going on at the recently founded Quartet Series!

WWD: Thanks for joining us Maurits! Talk us through your plans for today 🙂

Wake up, play a game of squash with a good friend of mine. Go to the studio, mixing down some new tracks and rendering a few work in progress tracks to try out at my next gig. Preparing a pollo con extra pollo but also of course vegetables for dinner with my Fouk buddies. We need to eat more healthy.

WWD: Heist release Pollo Con Pollo hit number one on Juno Download this week. What did you do to celebrate?

Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to celebrate it, but I will for sure in the next days when I’m in Brazil for two parties!

WWD: Can you tell us a bit about how your relationship with Heist has developed since you first connected with the imprint?

It started with Heist recordings where I did my first 12” (HEIST004, Gute Laune EP) back in march 2014. I booked Detroit Swindle (the label owners) on a party which I was promoting with a few friends early 2013. It was one of their first gigs they did as Detroit Swindle. I stayed in touch with Lars and Maarten and we became friends. I always exchanged music with them from then on, and when they found their label I was happy to do an EP with them. Not knowing Heist would become as big and well respected as it is now. Lucky me, haha. Now I did my third 12” for the label, and I’m with Detroit Swindle the only one with that many ep’s on there. Of which obviously I’m very proud because Heist is one of the best and most consistent house labels at the moment. What I like about Heist and Detroit Swindle is that together we grew, developed our sounds and most importantly kept evolving our sounds. The music coming out at Heist Recordings now is audibly different from the first issues. This is a good thing because the label keeps being fresh and innovative.

WWD: You’re also very close to the Dirt Crew family, how did the relationship with Peter and DC come about?

Just after my first release with Heist, I met Peter (big boss of Dirt Crew) at a part where Lars and Maarten were playing in Amsterdam. I told him I loved the label and wanted to send him some demos. I sent him the stuff on monday, and got an answer back on Tuesday with five track titles and saying that he wanted to do an EP with me. I recently (december 2015) did my second ep there, the Backstabber EP. Did three remixes in total for The Revenge and Kito Jempere and delivered two tracks for the Deep Love compilation. Of which one is coming out early september on the special anniversary compilation Deep Love 100.

I am happy and proud to call my self resident of these two labels;

WWD: You’ll make an appearance on the Dirt Crew Deep Love compilation later this month, what can you tell us about that?

That the whole compilation is just as good and maybe even better than the one from last year. Every artist delivered an amazing track and I think Peter (Dirt Crew label owner) has outdone himself. I can’t tell to much about it yet but my track is about not taking ourselves to serious. This is a theme I like to use often when producing music. Intermezzlow on my new Heist ep is an example of that too.

WWDL You recently launched your own label project in Quartet Series. What’s the inspiration behind the imprint?

I started working on the label two years ago with KiSk. I found a few artists of which i was convinced of their qualities. It started with Saine and Gnork. That was also when I knew I had to find a way to combine these two different sounds. On the one hand the warm house and the other side the more darker raw and dubby stuff. These are also two styles I like to combine and play when I’m djing. So you could say it started with the music and later the concept developed. Giuseppe came with the idea of superheroes, this was obviously when Marvel was at its peak. Fantastic Four was the code name of our project for a long time. However using a trademark like fantastic four is kinda tricky obviously. I decided the number four was a good starting point and this easily led to Quartet. What I wanted to create is a concept in which the records are becoming a collectible item. When you buy one of the Quartet, you are easily tempted to get the others as well. I like this idea of unity in concept. The A side with warm house stuff and the B side with the darker stuff needed to be reflected in the concept of this first Quartet too. Hence The Good Guys (A-side) and The Bad Guys (B-side) taking the fight into the ring.

WWD: From the outside looking in, Amsterdam seems to be an ideal location for an artist in your domain. Have you found it an advantageous base?

Yes and no. Amsterdam is essentially a small city. It has a little bit over 1 million inhabitants. This has its pro’s and cons. If there isn’t many inhabitants, there is less people coming to parties. Also, just like Berlin, we have a shitload of DJ’s living here. All wanting to play at a party. this means more dj’s less crowd. This is why I choose for a residency at ZeeZout. One of the best event promotors in Amsterdam with always a top notch line up. Happy to be part of their crew. Problem is, if you don’t have a residency somewhere.. it’s hard to get a gig.

The advantage of Amsterdam being small is that you quickly get around, its easy to get to know people and lets face it. its nice and cosy.

Another advantage is that Schiphol is one of the biggest airports in Europe, which makes it more easy for me to travel to gigs.

WWD: Is there anything in particular you find the city is lacking?

A 24 hour economy.. for some reason I do not know. Shops and restaurants have to close at 4am.. while in the rest of the Netherlands this is not the case. When you’re in Groningen for instance its easy to get a kebab at 6am. No problemo.. Our capital city though? Nope, you better make sure you got some eggs in the fridge before you go out. The closing times of the entire hospitality industry in Amsterdam are ridiculous for a capital city. Some clubs have to close at 4, some at 5.. This is sometimes way to early..

WWD: If you needed to move to another city anywhere around the world, what city would it be and why?

Well you might have noticed I like Berlin. Would love to spend a summer there. The vibe in Berlin can’t be found elsewhere in the world and I find the city very inspiring. The subcultures there are so vivid and explicitly present, an undeniable charm. Besides Berlin, i love Barcelona. One of Europe’s most beautiful cities, though Amsterdam is the most beautiful :P. Why Barcelona? The climate, the beach, the people, the food.. enough reason i guess.

WWD: You’ve put together a very special mix for us, can you set the scene?

I made a deep one again. Found a lot of nice deep stuff which I wanted to play out but not always get the chance to. So much good music coming out these days, hard to keep up! So you could say I played a little “Bad Guys” stuff :D.

WWD: Before we part, what else have you got coming up on the horizon?

Besides the track on the Deep Love compilation for Dirt Crew I’m also working on a new EP for them but that won’t be out until the end of the year. Then not long after the DC track in september I have another track on a va with Quintessentials which I’m quite excited about. For Quartet Series we’re planning QS003 somewhere beginning November.

Gigwise I’m leaving to Brazil tomorrow :)! Playing around Europe in fall a lot too and doing a second Asia tour this year with this time heading to Bangkok, Chengdu and Shanghai and also happy to be back and play in Tokyo! At the end of the year theres a small Colombian adventure… so, exciting times :)!