Barem

Opening 
Mike Swelles

Lounge 
Charles Mazzola & Gary Kim

Barem
 

Barem has made himself a key member of the Minus family in recent years, despite growing up on the other side of the world from the Berlin based label. The man born Mauricio Barembuem spent his youth playing blues and rock guitar, but quickly took advantage of the digital revolution in which he was living, soon getting to grips with programmes like Ableton and Reason to start crafting his own electronic sounds: a keen individualist, this form of musical expression was the one Barem really enjoyed away from playing in bands.

Influenced by imprints like Perlon, Spectral Sound and 7th City as well as, of course, Minus, he began on a long journey honing his own unique sonic fingerprint. It wasn’t easy in Buenos Aires, however, and but for a debut release, the Kleine EP, on free net label Unfoundsound Records in 2005, Barem might not be where he is today. “Suki” from that EP was picked up by a number of internationally acclaimed DJs and re-released on vinyl label Phonocult 2 years later, with more releases on the label coming before first getting signed up to Minus on the label’s Min2Max compilation with “Opal”.

More releases followed on Minus, forever making Barem a more and more vital cog in the label’s wheel, all the while with his style evolving from stark, digital and abstract into a more organic tech house sound as exemplified by his Kolimar EP. Following a break away from production in the following years, Barem focused on DJing around the world at important festivals like Mutek, DEMF, TimeWarp, Tomorrowland and many more across North and South America, Europe, South Africa and Japan.

Says the man on his production aims... “I love Bass. That's where my tracks are sustained and where I concentrate most energy. I'm not really the melodic kind of producer. But somehow melodies happen on a random secondary layer by the interaction of elements. I love percussion and that's my second main resource. Most of my tracks are very loopy and groovy. I like when the groove pushes you to dance with no effort while the loop gets you hypnotised. My favourite songs ever are all very simple and that's what I try to do with my music.”

The crowning glory in this producer’s discography to date is his full-length album, After The Storm. Released in June 2011, the album goes deeper and deeper into Barem’s percussive driven grooves, natural sounding rhythms and rich, well-defined sound palette. A genuine journey from start to finish that touches on dub, takes cues from acid, but always remains warm, and mystical, the album has also spawned another world tour which saw the man play live across the world for the first time since 2008 having previously focussed on DJ shows. Accompanied by mesmerising lights and visuals to help elicit that feeling of calm after the storm, it cemented Barem as one of the scene’s keenest sonic inventors and finest live perform