Jon Rundell explains his tracklist selection for ‘Pure Intec 3’

Jon Rundell is a Brighton born DJ and producer, who under the mentorship of one Carl Cox has become a staple of both British and international techno. Now the label manager of Intec and founder of Etch, Jon considers what’s next.

Right now the next step is a bass driven compilation titled ‘Pure Intec 3’. We caught up with Jon to hear his thoughts on some of the key tracks that make the album the monster that it is.

Harvey McKay – Something Good

I’d met Harvey a few times on and off before he sent me in some demos one day, and as soon as I heard this track I new it was a hit. I rang Carl and told him to check it out and that was that. It was one of the most popular records I played that year by far. Harvey’s tracks have his own style and sound, they are powerful yet funky and no one else sounds like him. It’s something I’m always searching for when listening to demos, that different vibe to everyone else, and he nails his.

Carlo Lio – Escobar Season

Carlo is someone I met when we were at similar points in our careers. The first time we met he was resident at Guvernment in Toronto, and here I was rocking up and playing the set before Carl, having never played there before. We spoke after and I explained that I felt bad about the set times they had decided and that one day I would repay him in some way. From this we formed a mutual respect and I’m pleased to say that time came when I was able to offer him a set at fabric to hand over to Carl in the main room, the first time of him playing there. Always keep your word. Anyway, we had already been swapping music for years and had signed the track ‘Coppa’ as his debut on the label, then this came out the blue, a real nice progression and development in style and sound for him. It’s stripped but just has this immense power!

Stephan Hinz & Phillip Ruhmhardt – Kachel

Their manager sent this over to me after a chance meeting in Berlin one evening, he explained he had a new artists he was looking after now and that perhaps we would be interested to hear some music. The quality of it when I heard it was really really good. The style and the vibe was not one I’d overly heard before so this also instantly pricked my ears up; I like hearing different ways of making what we call techno these days, it’s refreshing when an artist takes their time to explore. I played it that weekend and signed it the following Monday!

Ian O Donovan – Gauntlet

I’d been playing some of Ian’s releases on the likes of Bedrock before he sent tracks over to check out one day out the blue. I checked them out and they were a bit tougher to the Bedrock ones previously, so they really caught my attention. I gave them a few spins over the coming weeks and sent them over to Carl. I really liked the raw warehouse type feel Ian was getting with the tracks, with the influences from the early techno days easy to hear. I met Carl a few weeks later to go through everything we had been sent over the months and we both agreed these were for us. I’m pleased to say we have also released more tracks from Ian since this one and look forward to more.

DJ Jock – Raw Love

I’ve played in Croatia for quite some time now, largely thanks to a really nice guy who has been pushing the music for over 20 years there called Pero, thanks Pero! I arrived one afternoon to play a club there with him called Jungla last year and he asked if it was ok for a young lad he knew who had been making music to meet us at the hotel and hand over a demo, to which I said of course no problem. We pulled up and he was already there, he gave me the demo on CD, USB, and cassette, and handed over a sandwich for me too, as I didn’t know but Pero had asked him to bring one along! I offered to pay for the sandwich and he refused, just asking me to listen to the music. The gig was great fun and I went home the next day to check out the demo. I put it on when I got home and I was like Woah! For such a young lad his production level was of a very high standard, and you could hear that he was really thinking about all the nuisances and arrangement in his tracks. I emailed him instantly to sign it along with another track after ringing Carl and blasting them down the phone!

Josh Wink – Talking To You (Jon Rundell Remix)

OK so I had to slip one in I guess, but this is more for the story than it is because its my mix. I met Josh through Carl some 10 years ago out in Oz while we were on a festival tour. It turned out that on the days off from the tour Josh was also going to stay at Carl’s a few days so we got to hang out and I remember just asking him tons of questions about what it is like after that record came out for him. It was really interesting to listen to. Fast forward a decade and after many many times of crossing paths and enjoying talking, Josh asks Carl to do a remix of his latest hit. A year on from that they could not get anyone else to do a mix of it due to the artists’ other commitments. So I just thought what the hell I’ll offer to do it on spec, if he likes it he likes it, if he doesn’t he doesn’t and no harm done. I sent him the second version, as I decided I wasn’t happy with the first, Josh felt the kick drum was too tough, so I changed it, and then basically changed the whole remix as I had gone off the second version. He liked this one and I was over the moon. We ended up putting it out on Intec and had some good fun with it online to with all the plays on words with the title. A very proud moment to look back on for sure, thanks Josh.