Photo Credit: Kieran Behan
Paramida, the Panoramabar resident, founded Love on the Rocks in 2014 as an experiment in musical exploration. Now, for its 23rd installation, Paramida reissues the obscure psychedelic hit from 1993, _Peyote Dreams - State of Mind (Slack Mix)_, for an [EP](https://loveontherocks.bandcamp.com/album/state-of-mind-slack-mix-ft-roza-terenzi-alex-kassian-mixes) that also includes two unprecedented remixes from the queen of psychedelic music herself, Roza Terenzi as well as labelmate and astral explorer, Alex Kassian.
Paramida talked to _Flaunt_ about Love on the Rocks and the process of embracing artists both known and unknown, and music both old and new, by re-issuing lesser-known tracks discovered by her via her DJing, researching, and digging.
Photo Credit: Kieran Behan
**What can we expect of** [**_Peyote Dreams - State of Mind (Slack Mix)_**](https://www.modernmatters.net/music/promotion/lotr023_84hfs/)**, and how did you choose the remixers?**
The process wasn’t very easy as the original tapes were lost. I tried to find them for 2 years. So the challenging part was to find someone who could do the remix without having the actual parts. I think I went through multiple remixers. Roza Terenzi and Alex Kassian got it done in the end and delivered incredible reworks.
**As a Panoramabar resident, can you tell us a little bit about the club?**
The club is great. You get to play 4 hour sets, unless you are doing a closing set. Then it can be double or triple the normal set time. Which is what I love the most about the club. You can really take your time, get into the groove and take the people on a journey. I played my first set in 2015, and I’ve evolved so much from playing there as a DJ. Most people, including myself, really get nervous when they have to play there. So people often think the key is to bang it out and play hard. But the crowd actually really appreciates it if someone plays fun party music. Of course, that also depends on the slot. Having the whole room on fire with high energetic music can be also super fun. And I do have to admit I have played 135bpm at Panoramabar. Sorry not sorry.
**You are also a resident at Rinse FM and Refuge Worldwide, what can you tell us about your experiences there and how you go about putting together your shows?**
Well, first I tried to talk on my shows. But then I realized that sometimes it’s better to shut up and let the music speak. I mostly do fun mixes. Music doesn’t have to be always super serious.
For Refuge Worldwide I decided to do a “Love On The Rocks” show and brought my friends Alex Kassian and Samuel Gieben in. This way we can rotate, or we do it all together. It’s fun to have a group project with your friends.
**Where did the idea for Love on the Rocks come from? What was the inspiration behind it?**
I decided to start a record label when I was working in a record store. We would get swamped by so many new releases every week. I just felt like there was something missing and I knew so many producers back then whose music I loved, so I decided to start my own imprint. I named it after Lama’s “Love On The Rocks”. One of my all time favorite records.
Photo Credit: Kieran Behan
**Tell me a bit about your records and your digging process.**
Interestingly it’s an ever evolving and changing process. I used to love record shops and digging in record shops. Until I started working in one. Then I started touring and it made me actually very anti-social. To a point, where I actually wasn’t enjoying going to record stores anymore. The less I had to deal with people and distractions, the better. So I started to dig more on Discogs. Which was fine for the time I was traveling a lot.
And sometimes I would visit a well selected shop to buy records. There’s just one problem with this whole online digging: the algorithms. And that algorithm chooses what you would like and shows the exact same stuff to another DJ has a similar taste. So when we think, “Oh my God, I just found the most amazing record ever,” who knows how many people think the same and 6 or 12 months later it’s getting reissued.
The whole lockdown thing has made crave social interaction and digging through crates and going to record shops again. And I actually believe that still is the best way to dig for records. Regarding my record collection: I’ve bought a lot of records in the past years. But I have also sold a lot of them. Some I regret, some I don’t. In general, I would like to limit my record collection to 500 super essential ones. And every time I buy a new one, another one has to go. Update: Currently far away from that.
**How did you start Djing? Can you tell us a bit about your formative years?**
Similar to how I started my label. I used to love to go out and dance. I spent the formative years in two places: Frankfurt, and as often as I could as a teenager, in Berlin. Berlin wasn’t the Berlin we know now. It was hedonistic, but more low-key. And not so pretentious as it is now. Frankfurt, or better Offenbach, which is on the other side of the river from Frankfurt, had Robert Johnson. I guess no club ever seemed more perfect to me than RJ. The sound, set up, the view. The perfect thing would have been to have both—the hedonistic, but low-key freedom of Berlin combined with the audiophile and love for the detail designed club (wooden dance floor, etc). Back then the best thing for me about a good party in Frankfurt or at RJ was just the diversity of people: You would have Investment Bankers, Middle Eastern dudes, cool Art School students dancing all together at the same party to the same music. Anyway, while I was spending nights and days in clubs dancing to other DJs sets, I thought to myself at some point: Fuck, why is that DJ playing this now? That track or blah blah would be so much better now. So I just started DJing. This applies, by the way, to everything in life: If you’re sick of something, just be a better example or do it your own way.
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