Solar & Poppcke

Daniel Solar is one half of Dikso, the excellent edits imprint responsible for many a disco-rinsed dancefloor burner over the last year. The Hannover native is also one of Berlin’s emergent talents, a DJ, producer, label owner and A&R intent on bridging the gap between disco and dance music, while coaxing the techno-loving city’s tastes a little further off the beaten track. As a child of the early 80s, Daniel was strongly influenced by synth pop and dance music, before rap and hip hop caught his imagination and inspired his first forays into production. Once he had finished school, Daniel became more and more and intrigued with house and techno, clubs and raves, and his studio style expanded to take in electro, techno, and deep house. Daniel’s first release, the Hannover EP, emerged in 2005 and since then he has steadily notched up a number of quality releases. In 2006 Daniel hooked up with Mario Aureo, and together they hit upon a successfully skewed take on minimal house; the following year he went into the studio with Marc Poppcke and they developed the tech house stylings of Solar&Poppcke. As a solo act, in collaboration and as a remixer, Daniel has worked with labels such as Diynamic, Sleazy Beats, Nomorehits, Meerestief, Ostwind and Peppermint Jam. In 2010 Daniel slowed the tempo and found his calling with the midtempo house and edits label Dikso, established together with Andi de Luxe. Daniel has released further well-received productions and remixes in this vein for Einmaleins, Keno Records and Kolour’s Undertones, and all the while he has been honing his DJ repertoire, bringing a lifetime of musical knowledge and appreciation to his tightly crafted sets. Marc Poppcke’s life is all about music. Although he appreciates to produce tracks, loves to remix and knows that his productions are cherished, Marc is foremost a DJ. To play the decks is what he is living for. And this is what he has been doing for about a decade. Marc originates in the rather small German town Hildesheim in the middle of the country. Growing up in the mid-90s, his major music influence was the German radio show ‘HR 3 Clubnight’. Listening to the vibes of the electronic music scene he soon became part of it. Back in 2000, he had started to be a DJ and developed a fan community, which got him official bookings in local clubs. His performances on the turntables managed him to become resident DJ at Hanover’s electronic music club ‘H.de.M.’ from 2001 until 2003. DJing at this club was an important chapter in his life: He often got to play warm-up sets for well-known artists and learned much of what characterizes his music style nowadays. From 2002 untill leaving the city he also worked in a vinyl record shop called ‘Street Sounds’ becoming an expert about what the music world kept ready. Then, the native of Hanover made his way from the middle of Germany to the metropolis of music in September 2005: In Berlin he studied at the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) and graduated in 2008 as a Bachelor of Arts. On the musical side, he started to work together with Daniel Solar initiating the project ‘Solar & Poppcke’ in the summer of 2007. As production partners they already have released many tracks and remixes on labels such as ‘Diynamic’, ‘Plastic City’ or ‘Meerestief’ to name only a few. Currently he is working on his Master degree at the Berlin University of the Arts. Now, Marc is about to break through as a solo artist and DJ in his own right. His blend of soulful, groove-laden deepness has won him an army of admirers. His solo releases and remixes for labels including ‘Freerange’, ‘Defected’, ‘Soma’, ‘Darkroom Dubs’ or ‘Stir15’ have found support from the scene's biggest names. This year, Marc will continue to spread the good word and whet the clubbers appetite by sprinkling his magic dust over remixes and productions. Playing in clubs like ‘Watergate’ or ‘Bar 25’ made him become an integral part of the Berlin club scene. By now he has had a lot of international gigs all over Europe showing his vision of electronic club music. Even more, his latest turn has been to set up his own label ‘Soulfooled’ together with Alex Niggemann and Superlounge. No musical boundary holds him at bay to surprise the people on the dancefloor. He is always searching for the striking impulses in club music to turn the hours on the dancefloor into special and lasting moments. He loves to play long DJ-sets benefiting from to be able to show a total range of his choice of music. His style is sometimes House, other times it’s Disco or else it’s Techno. Who cares? – Marc doesn't because it's always about the four to the floor. And whenever the crowd thinks he got his style he is already up for something else. Marc Poppcke is a DJ on his way to conquer the world’s electronic music clubs. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.