Rico Puestel [Interview]

Rico Puestel is an early trained pianist, self-trained guitarist, drummer, musicologist, Zappa enthusiast, struggler, neurotic, martyr of art and, most-notably, genuine, perpetually driven producer and performer of electronic music in all its facets, soaked into one highly character-propelled guiding thread throughout it all. Spending his childhood days as socio-psychological observer, he developed into a holistically shaped yet rough- around-the-edges human being, following a catalogue of self-elaborated principles that stand on their own - continually keeping with his motto: "Give me stick and stone and I'll build you a home." Same for all the endeavours of working himself into the art of melting separated records into coherent yet irrational stories when he was around 11 years old, leading to the initiation of his public DJ performances from the age of 13. Different monikers, labels, phases, over 80 vinyl records, singles, EPs, remixes rolled by, leaving a continuously prospering legacy of expression.

This week finds Rico unveiling the second sampler of his forthcoming 'All Day I Steal This Album' LP. Back in 2021, this album happened to be his last finished work before he lost almost all of his left hearing after being assaulted out of an ambush. That changed a lot and the album became something truly unique and special for him, now finally to share with the world in a new context and with a distinct message to convey.

Progressive Astronaut caught up with Rico to learn more about the release of 'All Day I Steal This Album', Growing up in Germany, and much more. Enjoy.

Hi Rico, thanks for talking to us today. Now that we’ve started the new year, how was 2024 for you?

Thanks for having me. 2024 has been like a non-seatbelt rollercoaster ride somehow entering the home stretch while not being sure if it actually will be the final lap…

Let’s look back on the year, what gig of yours has stood out the most and why?

Weren’t many – so even one stands out. I share a club und festival scene with many people who master influencing way more than anything musical.

Now let’s look at tracks, what is a track or tracks which have come out last year that have impressed you the most and why?

I honestly didn’t really listen to any new Techno or House track released in 2024. I may have heard some by accident, but wouldn’t be able to name them.

What is a song/track you’ve never stopped listening to since childhood? And why has it stuck with you this long?

“Frequencies” by Buzz Fuzz. Because it’s a powerhouse and it sampled the immersive hook from “Vector” by Deck 8-9 alongside some other cultural references from the Thunderbirds series to Ish Ledesma.

For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you?

I’m not quite sure if this is still true. A few artists (surely declining) go the burdensome way as I do for 30 years now, still actively learning and growing. It’s mostly shortcuts today. I’ve inhaled so much inspiration from each direction and had a long, long way coming – it has been exhausting and invigorating at the same time and it still is.

Talk to us about growing up and living in Germany, how has it affected your musical taste and the music you make? It was quite an interesting time in electronic music and particularly in Germany with DJs like Sven Vath rising to prominence from his sets at Dorian Gray, Omen, E-Werk and more. Are you old enough to be familiar with this? And if so, did this time influence you at all?

“Growing up and living in Germany” would be a full book. Of course, my childhood evolved around this phenomenon of electronic music rising in Germany and I found something interesting in any genre or style there. Unfortunately, I was surely born too late and when I saw (for example) Marc Spoon or Monika Kruse in the late 1990s, I was 12 to 13 years old – which basically was illegal. Anyway, I reprocessed almost all the music before me and generally started very early. I bought many records (still got them). You can only know where you are and where all of this is going if you truly know where you’ve came from – where it all came from. (Regarding music in general, this would spread hundreds of years back.) Without ever having heard any set by Sven (Väth), I somehow seemingly had this deeper connection to those diverse developments throughout the 90s (I played many same records as him without knowing when I started as I recently noticed) as I released those four EPs on Cocoon Recordings that combined all those spiritual origins and the musical courage from back then.

Who from Germany inspired you the most early on and why were they inspirational for you?

I took my inspiration out of so many artists from back then – those who really had something to say or delivered something special and lasting. There has never been “just one” – this would have been too monodimensional for me.

What are some of your best memories from first going to clubs? Were there specific nights or sets that really made you feel you wanted to pursue electronic music?

After watching several events on music television (when it still existed) or listening to it on the radio, I had quite a good impression of how it might be – my imagination has always been sparkling. My first club visits were actually connected to me playing there – I started at 12 (some days before my 13^th birthday). The physical and emotional concept, whether being behind or in front of the decks, was staggering back then. No phones, no pre-recorded sets, no jumping-jacks or pie-throwing (mostly) – just music and lights to experience.

You’ve had some high profile releases over the years, projects for Cocoon and Harthouse come to mind, when you look back over your career can you pinpoint pivotal moments to the success you’ve achieved today?

I think, the true success lies within myself: Evolving to a point of creating on a steadily growing level, pushing boundaries – creatively and technically, still following my ideology of less-is-more (equipment-wise; getting to this later) and still being able to do so (although having some health setbacks over time). For sure, my releases on Cocoon Recordings for example have been something to stand out, but increasingly looking back or getting stuck in past moments risks stagnation sneaking in – so I’m better looking forward on what has to be done from my artistic point of view.

The second sampler of your ‘All Day I Steal This Album’ has just been released via your Exhibition imprint. Tell us a bit about the EP and what sort of vibe you were going for on the tracks, and how do they fit into the story of the full LP?

Back in 2021 (when I worked on the album), I wanted to preserve the purest essence of my production aesthetics from the past century (the 2010s). I kind of “quoted” the sound aesthetics of my own works and some of their sounds itself. It was just a very clear moment in time with one somehow lucid flow. This album should have been the debut Rico Friebe album named “A Different Story” – but more about this later…

Let our readers inside your studio for a moment, what is your current setup and what studio tools are featured heavily in your recent productions and more specifically on ’All Day I Steal This Album’?

I’ve got an electric piano, some old keyboards, drums and several guitars, recording on a 16-track desktop hard disk workstation recorder – mostly for my Rico Friebe projects, acoustic songs aso. A tidy setup to find there. Many single instruments on “All Day I Steal This Album” have been recorded in a similar way while the final production and mastering is happening on one very old computer from 2001 and/or laptop with a DAW from around 1999 – still. I don’t need fancy new plugins or virtual instruments – it’s all buried in the process of creativity, the physical basics of sound itself and some inventiveness along the way. Know your tools and they might take you anywhere.

Was there an initial goal of writing an album or did this happen organically in a way?

Absolutely organic flow on this one. It has been the aftermath to its creation that revealed an exciting and somehow dangerous magic to this whole project.

Was there ever a consideration to release the album on a label other than your own? Tell us about the thought process there please.

Absolutely not. This album could never have happened this way – with these tracks, the title, the artwork, the release plan, done on vinyl aso. The whole concept would have been taken apart by any label. And: Albums are dead.

How did you end up with the final track selection? And how difficult was it deciding on the flow from a listener’s perspective?

Back then, I produced the tracks sequentially and exactly in that final order from some kind of slowed-down (because I could not produce it in about an hour, but I could try) point of view as a listener itself to create a specific immersive flow, step-by-step.

How would you feel about these album tracks being remixed? And are there plans for this?

It’s not planned right now, but maybe someone steals them?

This album was actually recorded some time ago, in 2021 I believe, just prior to you losing almost all your hearing in your left ear, please tell us about that and how this changed your perspective of the album project going forward.

This album has been a huge turning point with everything else happening shortly after its completion. For instance, I had a mysterious dream about its artwork a few days later: A black and white portrait of a woman's face - a woman I've never seen before. Two months later, I surprisingly met this woman and suddenly remembered my dream. I asked her if she'd like to be the face of this album - she said yes and I sent her some listening snippets. She was the only human being who ever heard parts of the music until now. Three weeks later, she disappeared and the tragical extent of her life (choices) unfolded. I cancelled my plans to ever release the album and named my first (different) "Rico Friebe" album after her: “Jenni” - the album mainly aimed to raise awareness to the topic of violence against women. The partial hearing loss has been the result of a vicious physical assault by night – the known offender got away without any penalty or sanction. As the album was done for me anyway back then, I had to struggle with re-collecting and re-arranging my way of still being able to make music.

Do you think the digital era changed the way we perceive artist albums? Do they still carry the weight they once did or should? Is this something that perhaps depends on who (record label) is releasing it as well?

Any streaming playlist seemingly has a stronger meaning nowadays than any album. There simply is no span of attention or will of immersion left in one disposable society. Albums are dinosaurs. But who doesn’t like dinosaurs?

If you could set up an event with a line-up of five artists of your choice, who would you book and what set times would you ascribe to the artists? (Do not include yourself)

22.00 – 00.00: hanisii

00.00 – 02.00: Urs Kuehren

02.00 – 03.00: DJ Heartchore

03.00 – 04.00: Sophie Hoffmann

04.00 – Open End: BOWMN

I guess, the event would be called NAIAYT – Not As Important As You Think

What’s something people do not know about you?

More than they never thought they could not know.

What TV series have you been enjoying recently and what are some of your all time favourites?

I’m not much into TV anymore, but series like “Twin Peaks” and of course “The Simpsons” (until season 7) have brought up some uniquely timeless art, humour and (even if its drawn) humanity.

Apart from music, what makes you happiest?

When good things happen (which became so very rare these days).

What can we look forward to from you in 2025? Any releases or gigs you are looking forward to?

Of course, “All Day I Steal This Album” will be a pivotal happening in 2025. Besides that, the connected singles “Foolchella”, “Kaifuuu” and “Don’t Let Go (Of Everything)” will mark the definite culmination of the Puestel/Friebe collaborations. I am also looking forward to some of my “special interest records/singles” in the first half of 2025: “Minimanimalistics” and “The Love Acid”. And I’m surely looking forward returning to Konstanz’s Techno College gig with a live-set in March – an event series hooked up to a rarely coherent tradition for more than a decade now!

'All Day I Steal This Album Pt. 2/4' is available now via Exhibition: https://tinyurl.com/bdeja7y2