Energetic and versatile: meet Lobster

Picture by Studio Mimik — Picture Hedon Sonance / Annelies Kietselaer

Lobster is certainly an upcoming talent in the underground techno scene. We got to know him through the Orphic events where he’s a resident. With his fast but subtle sound he made it from talent nights to festivals and warehouses like Reaktor, Vault Sessions and Thuishaven in just a few years. But he likes to continue playing smaller sized events as well, for the sense of community he finds there. Now, he uses the relative quiet of the corona crisis to produce his own tracks, something that has always been his ambition.

With restrictions on train travel still in place at the time of the interview, I asked Sem, as he’s known to his mother, to meet me on Zoom for a chat about his history, current and recent work. On my laptop screen appears a guy crouched under what seems to be a bunk bed. He explains it’s his home studio where he makes music, above which he sleeps. He lives on a houseboat near Amsterdamse Bos. “I virtually have no neighbours so I can play out loud without bothering anyone. Except for my roommates but they’re music fanatics as well”.

Lobster presents himself primarily as a techno DJ, taking his cue from giants like Freddy K, Blawan, DVS1 and Ben Klock. But he’s very versatile, as he explains. “I love to do opening sets, starting with ambient tracks and perform a nice and long build up. As an opening act you set the tone for the whole night and I think that’s a beautiful and interesting thing to do. But at this moment due to the nice weather and since I’m not able to play clubs and festivals, I’m listening more to different styles of music including electro, jazz and euphoric house actually. But techno is my main thing for sure”.

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How would he describe his way of playing? “Whatever genre I play, there’s always that unexpected Lobster sauce”, he laughs, “less is more”. “I like to let tracks ‘breathe’, I let them play for a longer time before I change them for another one so I can build some nice layers. I want to create an ongoing groove. Most of the time, I’ve got three tracks playing at once”. I suggest I think his sound is quite subtle and sparse for a DJ playing ‘harder’ events like Reaktor and Vault Sessions. “Well I’m fast, but I like to use quite minimalistic records that use not much more than a 909. I think it’s very important to create some dynamics to keep it interesting for the whole set, not just full throttle all the time. Because when you only play bangers, it doesn’t bang anymore. So I put in an occasional electro/ambient record, bring it back a bit and then hit the gas again”.

Where does he get his records? “I use a lot of unreleased material that people send to me. I always let them know how the track worked on the dancefloor, producers appreciate that feedback. You can wake me up in the middle of the night for new music”, he smiles. “Currently I like to play unreleased bits by Paul Laurens, FLAWS, Franz Jäger and Kaan Pirecioglu for example”.

When playing to an audience, does he prefer to play solo or with other DJ’s? “I can play well with a few DJ’s with a somewhat similar style, like Tromp (another Orphic resident). It’s very important that’s it’s not a DJ vs DJ thing but really a blending of two artists in one. But nothing beats a solo set. I want to bring continuity to the dancefloor”.

What else does he want to give ravers with his sets? “Surprise them with tracks. I like to see surprised faces on the dancefloor”. “And of course”, he continues, “with the organizers I want to create an atmosphere in which everybody can meet and unwind without judgment, whoever they are. The dancefloor is more than a place to party, it’s also a place where you can heal when you’re having difficult times. I really dig the vibe where people have mutual respect. We should take good care of that. The dancefloor is holy in a way”, he laughs, surprised by his sudden seriousness.

What parties does he like to go to himself? “I love the underground parties like Orphic, Embodiment, Frenzy, Extended and Eerste Communie. These organizations just get it. There’s a sense of community there, ravers, organizers and DJ’s are one collective. The music comes first, quality is guaranteed, no matter who plays or if you know the DJ. Then there’s the open, Berlin-like feeling, in which everybody is welcome. You feel you’re surrounded by like-minded people. But you can always find me at the Reaktor and Vault Sessions events for sure”.

Lobster is a resident at the Orphic parties. He got to know the organizers by playing at Our Elite, which was run partly by the same people. It clicked and they stayed in touch. “The great thing about Orphic is that it’s a community of upcoming talents. We help each other developing and learn from each other. Orphic gives unknown talent the opportunity to experience what it is to play in front of dedicated people and how you can connect with a crowd. I really like that.”

Sem started playing around 2015, having moved from the Hague to Amsterdam. His first gig was at a talent night at the Poema club in Utrecht. He acquired experience during the regular Techno Tribe nights in Sugar Factory and later Paradiso. That really taught him how to adapt to different kinds of crowds. His first big festival set was at Day On Festival: “The idea was that I would do an early ambient set. But there were some problems with an extra stage, which meant that I had to change my opening set to a spontaneous B2B with ZIZA. A much tougher style, but I made it through quite well”.

After that day, he was booked more often. Starting out as a DJ, Sem had just put an end to playing top level football, at Excelsior. Does he see a connection between high level sports and DJing? “Well, it’s the dedication to training everyday I guess. Nowadays I spend hours just mixing tracks at home and teaching myself how to become a great producer”.

How did he get his moniker, Lobster? “Oh, I thought of it because everyone called me a lobster when I got sunburnt at a festival back in the days” he laughs. Also the cancer is my star sign”.

So, what’s life like for a DJ during a pandemic? “I do some livestreams (E25 in Quarantine with Orphic, Vice’s Isolation Rave), which is nice, I still find new music that I want to play anyway. But I miss the big sound at parties. I was going to play in Berlin and Liverpool this summer, that’s too bad. But that will all be happening when this whole thing is over. The good thing is I do a lot more producing now. It would be the coolest thing to see a crowd lose its mind to my very own music!”

We asked Sem to pick three tracks that are special to him and tell us why.

“This is a track I like to play at peak time. It makes the energy in the crowd go right back up again. I experienced that myself when Freddy K played it in Berlin, during a 14 hour closing in Berghain. It was Monday morning and there was still 5 hours to go. This track was just what was needed to keep going! Normally I don’t like this acid sound, it gets annoying real fast, but in this track it’s perfect”.

“This one I selected as an ‘alternative’ record. It’s no straightforward techno at all but damn it is sick. Someone in the comments explains it perfectly: Objekt puts more effort into a single track than most producers put into a whole album. So thanks Falco Heres for pointing this amazing futuristic and extraordinary track out to me”.

“This is a very minimalistic rolling techno track, super sexy. Yes, sexy techno. Less is more and here is your proof. It was released on FLOAT Records, which is run by TWR72. He’s also a great producer and has a great label”.

Text by André Kamphuis