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DJ Estroe - Elemental Assets

Delicate techno from Rotterdam

Ever since Estroe (Esther Roozendaal) moved from her tiny Amsterdam appartment to the more spacious comfort of a Rotterdam residence, she had the mental space to create an artist album. Quitting her hospital job certainly has helped her as well to focus full-time on the four to the floor beats. Elemental Assets is a major signpost along a stream of succesful releases that have been caned by the likes of Laurent Garnier, Carl Cox and Ripperton. They fell for Estroe’s fluid and delicate techno: Driven is a shining example of her personal style. Its recognizable and lingering pitched tune plus earth-shaking bassline are not absent on Elemental Assets, Estroe’s debut album after a dozen and a half club releases. It includes fresh and powerful tracks like Late Night Thinking, Inspirited Away and Le Flaneur, which includes guest vocals by Miss Kittin. However, the dancefloor is not Elemental Assets’s only concern, since it aims to please as well in more private environments like the living room or the car. Estroe is not the queen of the pile-driving beats, she excells at sophisticated strings and delicate sounds. In fact, they are the elemental assests of this fine techno platter. 4/5 (René Passet)

Estroe on Elemental Assets:
“Before I started producing in 2005, I spent some years learning and practicing. At first, I was pleased when somebody wanted to release my tracks. The Connaisseur label released Driven in 2007 and they suggested I’d do an album. I produce tracks at a steady pace and Connaisseur picked the ones best suited for the album, in their opinion. The ‘rejects’ came out on other labels and I did various remixes. With half the album finished, I filled in the blank spaces. A chilled track, a vocal track. Producing an album is different from producing a club release, you’re not restricted to making people dance. I wanted the album to have a full sound and some variation in musical style. I have to admit, making people dance is not my forte as a producer, although I quite manage as a dj, thank you. My forte is delicate techno from Rotterdam doing emotive tracks. Of course I’d like to produce a floorfiller, but usually it turns out too deep or too melodic; it doesn’t have that energy. Miss Kittin and Sam Lee Brown are doing guest vocals. I always liked Miss Kittin’s ballads better than her electroclash tracks and I love her singing on Le Flaneur. I wanted her to sing on my album and she did! It’s quite scary to have an album out; you’re standing naked, so to speak. However, the remixers are very encouraging. They’ve set me at ease.”

Elemental Assets will be released on November 6 via Connaisseur; the launch party is at Cocoon, Frankfurt. Remixes by, among others, Steve Rachmad, Ripperton, Rottler & Deer, Patrick Chardronnet and Nuno Dos Santos will be out in the upcoming months.

Estroe will perform at the Dave Clarke presents night at Melkweg on Friday October 23rd with Laurent Garnier, Joris Voorn, and Dave Clarke.

Source: DJ Broadcast

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