Max HeyraudA decade into his career, British–New Zealand producer and DJ Keepsakes stands as one of techno’s most uncompromising innovators, fusing muscular techno force with a meticulous, forward-leaning artistic vision.
James Barrett, better known as Keepsakes, has been at the forefront of bone-crushing, front-facing techno since he first began releasing music in 2014. Since then, he’s honed his craft to become one of the genre’s most refreshing artists, putting out records across many of techno’s most respected imprints — from Bas Mooy’s Mord and Tiga’s Turbo Recordings to Héctor Oaks’ KAOS/OAKS, Perc Trax, and Sunil Sharpe’s Earwiggle, to name a few.
Although his output has been impressively consistent and practically spotless, he’s never overloaded his discography. Instead, his releases feel carefully considered — a deliberate approach to introducing new material into the world rather than throwing out half-baked tracks to stay visible. This ethos runs through everything he does as an artist. His music, for the most part, is brutal, visceral, brute-force techno — physical to the core — yet it never rests on familiar ground. He consistently pushes things forward, morphing influences from IDM to dubstep into techno packages that defy easy categorisation.
His label HAVEN has also embodied this bold, uncompromising approach. Its roster reads like a who’s-who of new-school techno mavericks and rule-breakers, hosting releases from the likes of Peder Mannerfelt, Ryan James Ford, VTSS, Tommy Holohan, and many more.
As a DJ, however, Keepsakes keeps things traditional: two Technics 1210s and a Xone-92 provide the platform for his barrage of clustered techno, electro, and breaks, ranging from the forward-facing records he’s championing now to old-school, no-frills cuts that still carry that nasty streak and noisy edge. It’s a sound the Southern Hemisphere boss has long channelled and continues to keep alive.
We caught up with Keepsakes ahead of his return to Dublin this Sunday, where he plays Sunil Sharpe’s Seven State party at Tengu alongside Shannen Blessing and Ghoulee, who will present the Samhain Forever live AV show. You can buy tickets here.
You’ve been on tour in Europe for the past couple of months. What have been some of the highlights so far?
It’s been a tour of many highlights so far! But for sure, playing at Tresor twice, once warming up for Surgeon and the other time on a Monday night, was a big honour and highlight. I also played an all-night long in Hannover at Klub PAN (now Weidendamm) in September, which was a very special experience – 7 hours never went so fast! And always playing Unfold in London is a tour highlight every time – I’d rank it as one of my favourite parties anywhere in the world right now.
I’m also super proud that I booked this entire European tour myself, which is a kind of career highlight for me, as it’s the first time I’ve done it. I found every gig, did all the negotiating, contracting, and other organising, all by myself, for 21 gigs in total. I think a lot of artists that aren’t at a super-hyped level could have this approach and find more success than with an agent – especially if you have a sound that doesn’t neatly fit into any one box.
These kinds of extensive tours can be pretty demanding; you’re fitting a lot into a short amount of time. How have you found that approach? It almost feels like a live-band way of touring, but within the world of club music.
It’s definitely pretty tiring. And it also doesn’t help that I make my base in Berlin for the duration of the tour – friends encouraging you to come to Berghain after you land back in the city on Sunday is just too tempting for my own good!
I’ve found it’s key to get as much sleep as I can during the week and make sure I keep up some kind of regular exercise routine. I’ve also tried as best I can to be in the same country for weekends I play 2-3 gigs – that way I can just take a train between shows, which is much more relaxed and means I don’t have to travel too far. I also generally don’t party or drink at the gigs I’m playing beyond a beer to loosen up before a set – this is a pretty hard rule I tend to stick to as touring is just a recipe for burn-out otherwise.
You were based in Berlin for quite a while but recently decided to move back to Aotearoa and are now based in Ōtautahi. What led to that decision? On paper, it seems like a big shift for someone working as a DJ.
It was initially about escaping Europe during the peak of COVID. Aotearoa had the zero-COVID situation for quite a long time – it was hard to get back into the country, but once you did, it was basically life as normal with bars, restaurants, clubs all operating as normal and literally no virus to worry about! It did mean doing a 2-week quarantine in a hotel guarded by the military, but once that was done, it was totally worth it.
In the end, we decided to stay as we discovered a really fertile and emerging creative scene in Ōtautahi – it’s been slowly recovering from a large earthquake since 2011, and it’s gotten to a point that a lot of young people and creatives from around Aotearoa are now moving there to be a part of things. Everyone was super welcoming to me and HAVEN and just happy to see more fun and interesting parties happening in the city – the impulse in Ōtautahi is a lot less competitive and more collaborative and supportive compared to a lot of other cities.
You’ve also been running a lot of local parties and are really vocal in supporting your local scene. How has that change of pace been for you?
It’s been a lovely change of pace, actually! Techno has always been a more niche dance music genre in Aotearoa, but it feels like the scene has grown a lot even in the last 6-12 months, and it’s been super satisfying to be part of that. Within Ōtautahi alone, we have a lot of amazing local talent – such as our HAVEN residents Ebb, Mr Meaty Boy, The Rat, and Hunter, or the people involved with the likes of Echo Train, Queer Horizons, Tender Buttons, Informant Dance Club, Hang The Saints, and so many I’m forgetting.
Sometimes it feels like half of the world’s talent in techno is raring to move to Berlin or another major European centre (something that I did myself), and in a way that’s a shame because it stops a lot of smaller local scenes from developing more effectively. It’s something Dimitri Hegemann, the founder of Tresor, talked about a lot in his Red Bull Music Academy interview from years ago – and I totally agree that sometimes it would be better if people focused on developing their local scenes rather than focusing on their individual careers and how best they can fit in to the wider European scene. I think it leads to more interesting music, too, with distinct local sounds emerging.
Do you feel like you’ve managed to step away from the European techno rat race to some extent? I imagine there must be something nice about being removed from that side of the music world for a good part of the year.
I definitely feel pretty removed from the worst sides of the techno ‘industry’ these days – and being so physically far from the majority of it helps that. For sure, being able to mostly focus on developing my local scene, HAVEN as a party and record label, and even going way deeper on my production is preferable to all the distractions being right in the belly of the beast gives you.
I do love having the opportunity to come over and get involved in the chaos once a year, though! But now my personal connections with clubs and promoters are so good that I feel like I don’t have to play the same ‘games’ that many artists might have to, so I still feel pretty separated from the toxic side of the dance music industry while I’m in Europe.
Do you think club nights in general would be in a better place if the ecosystem weren’t so reliant on headliners?
For sure they would be – and I think in a lot of places this is already happening. In Ōtautahi, for instance with our HAVEN parties I think the majority of people are coming for the party itself and the vibe and experience it provides – we have a very particular behaviour and no photos policy that is designed to protect the space for people that sit outside the societal norm who aren’t interested in commercial nightlife which people have responded really positively to. Half the time, they don’t even know our international guests but just trust our curation enough to come check it out.
There was a great edition of Scuba‘s podcast where the booker of Tresor, Paul, spoke about how big names often don’t work in terms of drawing a crowd in Berlin these days, and the clubs need to provide something beyond a reliance on big headliners to pull people consistently. I think this is why clubs like Berghain, with its incredible atmosphere and vibe, and Tresor, with its deep history and often unexpected curation, are still so successful today. They provide something beyond hyped names, which I think has been key to all the successful underground events I’ve seen internationally in the past few years.
You’ve always repped the industrial end of techno quite heavily, though the genre seems to have dipped in popularity post-COVID. What’s your take on that?
For sure, that one take on the ‘industrial’ sound, which basically just meant harsh and distorted, is totally dead now, and to be honest, was always a big misinterpretation of what industrial as a music genre and movement was meant to be about. The roots of industrial music in the 1970s were far more inspired by modernist art and literature alongside experimental, avant-garde music, as well as being critical and aware of the darkness of the world in a rather tongue-in-cheek way. And you can see this in the multitude of musical directions a lot of the original industrial artists, particularly those involved with Throbbing Gristle, followed after their initial experiments in harsh and intense sounds.
I’ve also felt like being engaged with music in an ‘industrial’ sense meant being ‘industrious’ in working to push sound forward and experiment with new ways of doing things in a particular genre, or even just within your own artistic practice as a musician. In this sense, I still feel quite connected with industrial as a musical movement – I’m not necessarily making music that’s as dark and hard anymore, but I am always trying to discover new avenues of sound design and new ideas I want to bring to my music. My main hope is that the music doesn’t sound too much like what anyone else is doing!
How are you feeling about techno more broadly at the moment? Are you still finding music that excites you?
Of course! I’m pretty critical of people who just relentlessly bag on techno as a genre right now – I can’t stand seeing these huge names from the 90s and 2000s relentlessly complain online yet not really do much themselves to support new artists coming through who are taking things into new and interesting directions.
My record buying habits are pretty evenly split between older music and new releases and I find a lot of new music that’s exciting to me. The whole Latincore movement has been super exciting to watch, and a lot of the new UK break-beat-driven techno is also very music up my street. Even a lot of the new wave of both funky/groovy and minimal/hypnotic techno coming out right now has a lot of interesting paths being explored.
The fact is, the technology keeps improving every day, and with it, there’s always interesting new music being made.
Your label, HAVEN, has always sat on the forward-facing edge of techno. Is releasing music that pushes the genre slightly ahead something you consciously strive to do?
For sure, we’ve always tried to release stuff that’s a little bit different to the norm on HAVEN. There’s no way I could release a record that was just 909 drums and a couple of bleeps – it’s territory that’s been covered pretty extensively already. I think I just naturally sign music that’s relatively forward-facing and a bit different – I’m always listening out for something that surprises me while still being well produced and effective on the dance-floor.
You’ve also played at Tresor many times over the years. Does that space align with how you want to present your music?
Yes, Tresor have been kind enough to support me for over 8 years now – the first time I played there was in 2017. To be asked to regularly play such a foundational venue in the history of techno is one of the great honours of my career to date. The space also certainly suits the music I play – you can’t deny the atmosphere you get in a concrete bunker surrounded by prison bars and how well it suits techno!
I also have been really appreciating Tresor’s booking direction as of late – it feels like the venue in Berlin where I’m most likely to get something surprising or unexpected on a line-up, which is something I’ve not experienced much lately. The Globus floor especially seems to push in some very interesting directions sound-wise – the broken-beat and Latin and African-inspired rhythms you get at the oku showcases up there is something I love to stumble across as a raver!
You’re playing in Tengu this Sunday for Sunil Sharpe’s party. What’s your relationship with Sunil like?
Sunil was actually one of the first major DJs to check out and kindly give me feedback on music I’d been working on way back in 2012-13. We’ve stayed in touch ever since and have always caught up when we’re in the same city at the same time. He’s always been a big supporter of the HAVEN records and a lot of my Keepsakes records, which led to me releasing a VA track on Earwiggle on one of the last VAs he put out.
Beyond that, I’ve always just had a ton of respect for him as a flawless vinyl DJ – he is literally one of my favourite DJs of all time (alongside Jerome Hill, Helena Hauff, Boris and Surgeon) and one of the few whose new mixes I check out every time. He delivered one of my favourite sets ever at Berghain pre-pandemic. Seeing his huge contribution to the techno scene in Ireland has been a big inspiration behind what I’ve been trying to do in Aotearoa too – especially his work with Give Us The Night on trying to liberalise the opening hours for clubs in Ireland. That kind of work is super tough and must feel thankless at times – so it’s super admirable to watch him push forward with it all.
What can punters expect from your set on the night?
A special vinyl set bringing together a lot of the music I’ve been enjoying playing on this tour so far! I’ve been buying a lot of old hard tribal techno records by the likes of Mike Humphries, Cristian Varela, or Michael Burkat, which are featuring pretty heavily in my sets right now. I’ve also been loving a lot of new loopy techno releases (such as the Axel Karakasis record on Blue Hour), but also like to drop in the odd crazy surprise every now and again – stuff like the HR101 record on Sunil’s Earwiggle label is perfect for those moments.
I’ve also got a couple of fresh HAVEN test pressings in my hands that I’ll definitely be giving a spin on Sunday!! Only a handful of people have these tracks, whether digitally or on wax, so it’s going to be one of the few places in the world people will be able to hear that music right now!
