INPUT presents HOSH

He might have been touring the world and turning out essential productions for more than a decade now, but in 2017 HOSH is more vitalized than ever. Part of the reason for this is that the German born artist recently moved to Ibiza. Not in pursuit of the party life, but instead for the natural peace and beauty the White Isle offers. It has meant he has found himself happily locked away, making beats for months and taking a break from touring. Not worried about whatever anyone else is doing, he has instead focussed on what makes him unique, and that is to be equal part DJ and producer. As such, with his most recent project he has focused on exactly this symbioses of his production and DJ skills. The result is Stories From Sa Talaia, a free to download double album presented as a DJ mix that is made from all his own new and exclusive beats. This working process has given HOSH the freedom to really explore a wide variety of sound and makes for a two hour opus that finds Holger Behn dipping into many different moods and grooves, all in a coherent fashion and tied together with his own particular style: that style is one that tells one grand story rather than offer brief highlights. It is a style that has taken him to headline gigs all over Europe, Asia, Australia and both Americas in about every major club, including his own party in Ibiza and too many festivals to mention. There, he aims to play sets that, “hypnotize and mesmerize the people and get them lost in sound.” Of course, that has been his mission for years now. Mainly as a founding part of the “incredibly talented” Diynamic crew with family members Stimming and boss Solomun, he has carved out his own melodic house and tech niche across a series of fine EPs and LPs. With that label he has also nurtured younger, new school artists and has always stayed ahead of trends. This new DJ mix album was made in many live studio sessions, when he laid down beats in one take using a hands-on approach, rather than by clicking away with a mouse. It has lead him to realize that there has never been more synergy between HOSH the producer and HOSH the DJ. “I would say the sounds of the mix go more hand in hand with the sounds I’m playing in my sets,” he says. “As a matter of fact, I now play all the tracks that I produce and have never had as much fun as doing so. So the new album feels more like the sound of the real me rather than any new direction.” The Stories From Sa Talaia mix will come on his own new label, fryhide (or in German ‘Freiheit’), which will also put out five separate EPs featuring the tunes from the mix. The label will also develop into a platform for other producers, albums and vinyl releases. As HOSH says, “I love to be in contact with other artists and help them to develop their talents. The label’s name is a fictive word but stands for ‘freedom’. I also like that it contains the word ‘hide,’ which suggests there is something hidden and more to it, and that’s what I like in music as well: a hidden, below the surface world of emotions and feelings and messages that listeners find on their own.” The mystic, enchanting, personal photography of Sandra Bildstein that makes up the label’s artwork will further reinforce this point in pleasing visual ways. By now, you might notice the dots are gone from HOSH’s artist alias. It is just another subtle sign that 2017 is the start of a new chapter in this exciting artist’s ever evolving career.