Anja Schneider
The German house and techno prophet lands at Womb

Courtesy of Womb

Recalling a bygone era when Detroit’s Jeff “The Wizard” Mills and Chicago’s Hot Mix 5 radio crew not only DJ’ed but also hosted radio shows to spread the good word of dance music, multi-tasker Anja Schneider is due at the turntables of Womb along with the Tres Vibes party movement.

Berliner Schneider is the very personification of Europe’s dance scene, somehow managing to juggle production duties, running a record label, DJ’ing full-time, and hosting her own radio show, “Dance Under The Blue Moon.” Starting as a media professional at Kiss.fm, Schneider moved to Fritz Radio in 2000 and began, as her blog has it, “the soundtrack for Saturday nights in Berlin, giving hundreds of thousands of listeners a springboard for jumping off into the long, long night.”

Schneider’s broadcasting skills have won acclaim and several awards, most notably her “Loveboat” party project, which features 50 hours of nonstop dance spun by both world-renowned and underground DJs. This knack for catching shifting changes in house and techno has been integrated into her DJ sets and her Mobilee label, which has spawned the likes of Pan Pot, Sebo K and Marcin Czubala. Expect lashings of deep, tech-house beats and the less introverted end of minimal techno, supported at Womb by Japan’s own dance troops Satoshi Otsuki and Moodman...

Those on the hunt for a less four-to-the-floor evening this Saturday should head to Unit, which plays host to the deep and spacey Japanese-cum-Brixton dub instrumentalists Little Tempo. Maestros at fusing reggae, dub, calypso and jazz via downtempo jams or club-based productions, the 13-year-old outfit has previously won the respect of—and shared the stage with—scene lynchpin Lee “Scratch” Perry at London’s Meltdown Festival. They then went on to collaborate with film director Katsuhito Ishii for 2005’s acclaimed The Taste of Tea. Extra beats come from DJ Juzu, a.k.a. Moochy, and rhythms from the strange, intriguing and seemingly didgeridoo-obsessed Goma & Jungle Rhythm Section.

Womb, Feb 15. Unit, Feb 16. See club listings for details.

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