How Patrice Bäumel’s Music Journalist Father Influenced His Ear as an Artist
Patrice Bäumel’s enigmatic style incorporates a wide variety of influences into house and techno, styles in which creative tunnel vision often stifles creativity. It makes more sense when you consider his father, a music journalist, exposed him to a vast array of sounds from an early age.
Patrice often woke up to his father playing freeform jazz records around their house in East Germany. “He simply played a lot of music at home and invited me to listen, to be curious, and develop my own taste,” Patrice told Electronic Groove. “There was never any ambition to groom me into something, he was simply sharing his passion.”
“My sound evolved organically; I soaked up everything like a sponge and followed my interests,” he continued. “At some point, you arrive at a place, wondering how you got there. It’s a random process.”
Random or otherwise, Patrice has been able to trace back the influences at the heart of his present-day style. “What my music really encapsulates is the very machine-like, mechanical backbone juxtaposed with human warmth on top of it,” he told Beatportal. Even though they aren’t a German band, the Depeche Mode sound — their DNA — I can hear in so many of the East German DJs; even Marcel Dettmann’s music, which is a little harder.”
The wide range of influences present in his early years unquestionably helped Patrice Bäumel succeed as an artist. Take, for instance, his 2008 single “Roar.” Despite breaking from musical convention, the song’s engine-like sounds made it an overnight success on dance floors. You can’t help but wonder if early exposure to freeform jazz primed him to take the kinds of risks that paid off handsomely in the case of this record.
In Patrice’s own words, “I create happy accidents that lead me down surprising paths.” When you look at where he came from and what sort of ideas were planted in his head along the way, the origin of this long and winding road becomes obvious.
