Sonic Playground - tech house

Format:B - Chunky (Radio Edit)

2026-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

Genre and Mood

Format:B make Chunky a cheeky slab of tech house, house and dance music. It is playful, groovy and relentlessly energetic, a track that seems to grin at you from the speakers.

Song Summary

“Chunky” is built on exactly what the title promises: a thick, bouncing bassline with a wobble that sits right in your chest. Around it the Berlin duo arrange chopped vocal fragments from Shorty Long’s 1966 Motown single “Function at the Junction”, crisp percussion and quick stabs, keeping the mix punchy and uncluttered. The radio edit cuts the six-minute original mix down to 2:38, keeping all the swagger while losing the extended DJ intro. Nothing here is subtle, and that is the charm: the low end is so physical that the track works as well on a car stereo as on a club system, and every element exists to serve the bounce. It is dance music as a good joke, told with perfect timing.

Musical Breakdown

Short and punchy, the edit gets to the groove almost immediately and rides it hard.

Intro

Drums and a teasing hint of the bass kick things off, filtered just enough to make you lean in.

Main Section

The full bassline drops in, fat and rubbery, with vocal snippets bouncing around it like a call-and-response with the crowd.

Bridge

A short breakdown strips the groove back to percussion and vocal chops, a breather that makes the return hit harder.

Climax

The bass slams back in with every element firing, the most physical moment of the track.

Outro

The groove rolls on before cutting away cleanly, leaving you wanting another round.

Concepts in Focus

“Chunky” is a lesson in sampling. Shorty Long, a Motown singer and multi-instrumentalist who co-wrote his own songs, released “Function at the Junction” in 1966 as a call to a party that would last till dawn. Format:B take short phrases of his voice, cut them loose from the original band and loop them as rhythmic fragments over their own production. That is why the writing credit includes Long and Eddie Holland next to Franciskus Sell and Jakob Hildenbrand: the vocal hook is theirs, the track around it is new.

The title describes the bassline. In tech house the bass often does the work a melody would do in pop, and here it is the main event: thick, bouncing and rubbery, with the vocal chops arranged around its rhythm rather than the other way round. Listen in the bridge, when it disappears for a few bars, to how empty the track suddenly feels.

This page is the radio edit. The original mix runs 6:04, with the long intro and outro DJs use to blend one record into the next; the edit runs 2:38 and arrives at the bassline almost at once. Compare the same approach in DJ S.K.T – Must Be A Reason (Radio Edit), another house edit built on a borrowed voice.

Artistic Context

Format:B are Franciskus Sell, from Erfurt, and Jakob Hildenbrand, from Berlin, who met on courses at the SAE Institute in Berlin and began releasing 12-inches on Highgrade Records in 2005. They founded their own label, Formatik Records, became resident DJs at Berlin’s Watergate club and released the albums Steam Circuit (2008) and Restless (2011). “Chunky” first came out on Formatik in late 2014 and was re-released by Ministry of Sound on 13 November 2015. Its official video, directed by the Surrender Monkeys, stars a drumming rooster puppet named Benny Hahn, built by Puppets Magic, a silly visual that suits a sample which dares a rooster to crow.

Impact and Reception

The single crossed over from the clubs to the charts, entering the UK Singles Chart at number 29 and the UK Dance Chart at number five, and appeared on Ministry of Sound’s The Annual 2016. For a tech-house tune built on a bassline, that was a remarkable run, and it gave Format:B a wider audience than most underground producers ever reach. It earns its spot here for its irresistible bounce and its refusal to take itself too seriously. Turn it up and try not to nod along.

Klangkuenstler - Soul Digger (Original Mix)

2026-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

Genre and Mood

Klangkuenstler is best known today for hard techno, but Soul Digger comes from his tech house period, and it shows the house roots underneath. It is a tech house and classic house hybrid, groovy, soulful and energetic: a track made for the long middle hours of a club night when the floor is warm and nobody wants to leave.

Song Summary

It is the soulful twin of “Jam Master Jack”, the title track of the same release, and keeps its focus on classic house warmth with a modern, percussive approach. A tight, swinging drum programme does the heavy lifting, while warm chords and vocal fragments add a human glow. Its trick is patience: almost seven minutes in which small changes feel like big events.

Musical Breakdown

Intro

A DJ-friendly opening of kick, hats and shuffling percussion sets the tempo. It is lean and functional, built to be mixed in, but already swinging.

Build-up

Bass enters with a rounded, rolling line, and the groove gains weight. Layers of percussion stack up so gradually you only notice when you realise you have started moving.

Main Section

The soulful element arrives: chords and vocal snippets with a classic house warmth that softens the machine edges. The loop rides for long stretches, hypnotic and steady.

Bridge

A breakdown pulls the drums out and lets the harmony breathe, a short moment of air before the floor gets its reward.

Climax

The kick returns with everything locked in, the groove at full strength, and the track rides that peak with total confidence rather than a cheap drop.

Outro

Elements fall away in reverse order, leaving drums for the next DJ to blend into, the way a proper club track should.

Concepts in Focus

Soul Digger is built on a house groove: a kick on every beat, off-beat hi-hats and a rolling bassline, the pattern that has driven house since Chicago. What it adds is the warmth of classic house, chords and vocal fragments that sit on top of the machine and give it a human glow.

The drums carry swing. Rather than placing every hi-hat and percussion hit exactly on the grid, the programming pushes some of them late, so a strict electronic pattern shuffles like a drummer. Listen to the intro, where there is nothing but drums and the shuffle is already there.

The big moment is the breakdown. The drums drop out and the harmony breathes on its own; when the kick returns with everything locked in, that return is the climax, no drop needed. Compare the harder, funkier take on the same toolkit in Klangkuenstler – Jam Master Jack (Original Mix).

Artistic Context

Klangkuenstler is a Berlin-based DJ and producer who, before turning to relentless hard techno, released house and tech house on labels such as Toolroom, Suara, Simma Black and Great Stuff, mixing old-school influences, funky hooks and drum samples. “Soul Digger”, credited as written by Michael Korb, came out on 22 February 2016 on Smiley Fingers alongside “Jam Master Jack” on the label’s Jam Master Jack release, and later reappeared on the label’s 10 Years of Smiley Fingers compilation in 2020.

Impact and Reception

“Jam Master Jack” became the hit of the release, and “Soul Digger” rode along as the deeper, warmer flip side that DJs reach for when they want groove over aggression. It is on this playground as a reminder of where a hard techno star started. Press play, give it the full seven minutes, and let it dig.

Nils Ohrmann - In Ya Face (Original Mix)

2026-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

Genre and Mood

Nils Ohrmann plays In Ya Face (Original Mix) as no-nonsense tech house, rooted in house and stripped back with a minimal touch. It is groovy, hypnotic and playful, a track that teases the crowd while keeping them locked to the floor.

Song Summary

As the title suggests, the track has attitude. Ohrmann and his co-writer Ronald Christoph build it around a springy, rubbery bassline, played on bass guitar by Ingo York, tight drums and a cheeky vocal hook that pops up like a taunt across the mix. The production is lean and precise, every element placed to keep the groove rolling, with small changes in percussion and filters doing the work that a lesser track would leave to big breakdowns. At over six minutes it is made for DJs, designed to be mixed, layered and ridden for as long as the room demands.

Musical Breakdown

Like most club tracks, it develops through layering and subtraction rather than verses and choruses.

Intro

A crisp kick and shuffling hats lay down a DJ-friendly foundation, giving space to mix in.

Build-up

The bassline slides in, bouncy and elastic, and the percussion starts to fill out.

Main Section

The vocal hook arrives, playful and a little mocking, riding over the groove as the track settles into its hypnotic stride.

Bridge

A short break pulls the bass away, leaving drums and vocal snippets to tease before the groove returns.

Climax

Everything locks back in at full power, the bass and hook bouncing off each other in the track’s most physical stretch.

Outro

The elements peel away again, ending on drums so the next record can slip in.

Concepts in Focus

The bassline is the star, and it is played, not programmed: the credits name Ingo York on bass guitar. A played bass part has small variations in attack and timing that a sequenced one lacks, and that is where the track’s springiness comes from. Listen in the bridge, when the bass drops out for a moment, to how much of the bounce leaves with it.

The groove develops the way club tracks do, through layering and subtraction. Kick and hats first, then the bass, then the vocal, then a break, then everything together: six and a half minutes in which nothing is ever really new, only added or taken away. That is what lets a DJ ride it for as long as the room wants.

The vocal is a hook in miniature, a few words used as a rhythmic tease rather than a sung melody. It works like another percussion part with a personality, popping up across the mix to keep the crowd’s attention. Compare the way Format:B – Chunky (Radio Edit) uses chopped vocal fragments around its bass.

Artistic Context

Nils Ohrmann is a Berlin DJ and producer who co-founded the Arms & Legs label with Daniel Steinberg in 2011, after cutting his teeth as a resident at the Schnabelbar in Kreuzberg and playing clubs such as Bar25, Sisyphos, Tresor and Wilde Renate. His 2009 track “Le Funk Fatale” on Hula Hoop became a summer anthem. “In Ya Face” opened the Tumbleweed EP, released on Arms & Legs in 2012, a four-track record shared with Steinberg that also included “Higher Noon”, “Money Talks” and “Gokart Disco”. The track returned later that year in a Kristin Velvet remix on Ohrmann’s Bon Voyage EP.

Impact and Reception

“In Ya Face” has stayed in circulation well beyond its release, revisited in remix and still a natural pick for DJs thanks to its instantly recognisable hook and its bounce. It represents a strand of Berlin-connected house that is fun first and serious second, without ever sacrificing groove. It is here because it still works: drop it in a mix and watch the floor respond. Turn it up and let it get in your face.