JTRP – ‘Dungeons’


Germany’s JTRP make house music for the darkest corners of the dancefloor.

The pairing of Philipp ‘Robophil’ Polschikov and Fabian ‘Jorge Takai’ Wolf only have two EPs to their name, both released on Deep Teknologi, but already they’ve built up a distinct aesthetic. Chains clash, drum machines pierce your periphery and then disperse like ghosts, and the basslines creak like the foundations of a haunted house. And, naturally, there are screams.

FACT caught up with JTRP to talk about the group’s background, their dark aesthetic and more.


“It’s about the atmosphere this darker music creates in a club.”



First things first, what’s JTRP stand for?

Fabian “Japanese Tentacle Rape Porn.”

Phil: “Alternatively, Jorge Takei and Robophil. I’m responsible for the lame answers.”

What’s the background of the group? How did you guys hook up?

F: “A common friend introduced us to each other, but we knew each other’s productions and DJ sets before. When we met, we were like “oh yeah, let’s do something together. When we sat down for the first time in Phils studio, we did ‘Dungeons’ in one session.”

What sort of stuff were you making individually before?

F: “I was producing some house, kinda forward stuff like the earlier Dirtybird releases, and did a few remixes before. Today it’s way more relaxed slow-mo house jams.”

P: “Before I was working with another friend. We were doing some kind of old school rave influenced dance music. We had an EP on a small German label and an Italian label. But this was at the very beginning of my production career, so I was just happy to have something finished. Back then it was kinda hard to find my own sound, and it took me a few years to get really into it. After some solo work, I teamed up with Fabi at the right point, exchanged our experiences and were able to transfer our thoughts into the music we´re doing now.”

You – or at least one of you – have clearly been doing this sort of thing a while though, you’ve got those house mixdowns down to a tee, with all the drums cutting through right… Like there’s a slight of hand to your productions that betrays some level of experience.

F: [laughs] “Well, I guess at least one of us is a tech-nerd. We’re just lucky with hitting frequencies.”

P: I’m lucky hitting frequencies! About that Fabi always exactly knows what he’s doing. For me the idea of the track, especially at the beginning of a session is very important, so the final technical shape is more Fabi’s district…”



JTRP – ‘Ceddybu’


Do you start off with quite distinct ideas of what you want to do with a track before you start it, then?

P: “From session to session it differs, but most of the time we first look for the right major sound of the track and build the rest around it – e.g. the main synths in our first EP. The second step is usually the beat followed by the bass…”

F: “Yea it just kinda evolves from one hook. We’re ping-ponging.”

To my knowledge, you’ve only done two EPs so far, both for Deep Teknologi, but you’ve already built up this quite distinct aesthetic. It’s really deep underground, with lots of sharp, metallic edges – it sounds like you’re sampling chains clashing sometimes, and there seems to be quite a big horror influence (titles like ‘Dungeons’, ‘Apparition’, the scream on ‘Ceddybu’). Do you think that’s fair, and is it an aesthetic you quite deliberately set out to achieve?

F: “The sound design before we started jamming was really kinda ‘dark atmospheres’, and to be honest that’s what we had in mind all the time. The jams we’re doing at the moment still have this feeling but [are] a bit more loose in the groove to give it more swing. Horror swing.”

P: “Tracks in this kind of mood always fascinated me, so I think we will never do a happy track.”

Are you big horror fans then? What sort of stuff in particular?

F: “I think we both like weird stuff, which is horror in a way. But it’s not like we’re going to special cinemas each day to see Romanian splatter movies from 1982…”

P: “For me it’s more about the atmosphere this darker music creates in a club. Tracks like girl unit’s ‘IRL’, most of Boddika’s tunes for example can do this really good. It’s hard to describe it, but it gets people going wild.”



Busta Rhymes – Woo Hah! (Got You All In Check) (JTRP remix)


Are you naturally drawn to the darker, more subterranean side of club music?

F: “Not at all – I love people like 6th Borough Project, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Tom Demac, Soul Clap. Full-bodied grooves and warm mixdowns.”

P: “When it comes to our own productions though, yes. I always wanted my own productions to sound like that. So I’m very happy with the output I’ve had with Fabi so far. Regarding our DJ sets there are a lot of exceptions to this kind of sound… There we don’t follow such a straight direction…”

What sort of stuff are you playing?

P: “Solo I’m playing almost everything. A lot of B-more, Chicago house, Dancemania, lots of hip-hop and rap and all the current stuff of course.

F: “Our range varies from pop to UKstuff to house to hip-hop. Like, anything we like…”

P: “Basically it’s all just club music. When we play together it’s a bit more serious and bass oriented, but after some playtime it usually ends up in something we cant predict.”

Tom Lea

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