There it is! Four years after his debut-album Mountain, the Berlin-based DJ and producer Andreas Henneberg has released his second album SEVENTEEN, containing 15 tracks, which move freely between Techno, Tech-House and House Music, and are perceptibly designed for energetic and dynamic nights on the dancefloor. This is very good news for everyone who already felt attracted to Henneberg’s work during the recent years, because one thing becomes very clear when you listen to SEVENTEEN: This album is pure Henneberg.
After he started DJ-ing in Berlin’s underground clubs like Tresor and Berghain in 1995, his career has evolved continuously. Nowadays he does not only stand behind the turntables to share his music with the crowd, he has also founded own labels like ‘Voltage Music’ or ‘Snoe’, has his own audio-mastering-Service, and uses these skills in various projects, like ‘Cascandy’, ‘Hennon’ or ‘The Glitz’, where he produces the music that has helped to make the name Andreas Henneberg one of the biggest in the German Techno-Scene.
Henneberg describes himself as a nerdy perfectionist, and you can hear this facet in every single track on SEVENTEEN. All in all, it took him three years to collect the best pieces of single moments, seasons, vagaries and the different phases of creativity to form the audible content of this album, whose name reflects and represents his last 17 years as a Techno-Producer after he published his first serious production in the year 2000.
In comparison to his first album, SEVENTEEN is much more dancefloor-oriented. During the process of producing ‘Mountain’, Henneberg took a three-month-break, in which he didn’t listen to any of the tracks he wanted to integrate on the album. After this break, he took out a lot of these tunes, because, at that moment, they didn’t really fit into his perception of himself anymore. Those were mostly the dancefloor anthems, and that’s why it was also possible to enjoy ‘Mountain’ in your room on a cold snowy (or in Rostock: rainy) winter day, to make a mostly lethargic and sluggish season a little bit more dynamic, but in a smooth way.
In contrast, his new creation fits better to a place that is filled with a positive crowd in need of movement, because it’s rooted in energy and high intensity. But even when you don’t have the chance to gather such a crowd around you and you give it a try alone, it will either lead you to immerse yourself into an imaginary dancefloor or make you create a one-man- dancefloor by yourself in the middle of your room.
On the first track of his album, called ‘Bass happens’, Henneberg only needs a few psychedelic sounds and a groovy bassline to already draw the listener into the acoustic world he created in this album with the help of his masterful production abilities. And this acoustic world is able to transport various feelings and moods.
While his first three tracks are characterised by a catchy playfulness, the fourth track ‘Garden of Go’ marks a first major mood change towards a deeper, more emotional atmosphere. After a steady build-up of tension, we get to the track ‘You better don’t say’, in which Henneberg brings together different emotions, and I, personally, have barely heard producers composing these emotions in such a coherent way than Andreas Henneberg does it. It’s the mixture of enganging psychedelic sounds, upheld tension and a nonchalant sense of grooviness that makes his sound so special and unique.
The second unmistakable mood change occurs with the intro of ‘Bed of Golden Nails’, the tenth track of the album. A slow rhythm and smooth, untroubled sounds are taking you back into the here and now right after the two previous tracks were regenerating a heavy rave- and techno-like atmosphere.
Moving towards the end of the album, you can discover different ways in which Henneberg is able to make you move your extremities by employing flowing basslines and euphoriant synthie- sounds until you reach the end of the album with the tune ‘Kreuzberg Mullets’, which feels lovely and intense at the same time.
Andreas Henneberg himself says that creating an album is also an important format for him to showcase himself and in SEVENTEEN, he does that very straightforward. Even though he moves a lot between different subgenres and different emotions, you can hear that all of the songs are produced by the same person, that all of the audible emotions have their origin this single person. And if you share some of these emotional states with him, you’re gonna have a wonderful time listening to this album.
The Rostock Review 