DJ Hell mixes Kern Vol. 2

Apparently you spent time digging through the records in your basement to find tracks for this mix. Can you tell us about that process? My collection is all over my house and in no specific order, so it takes me days to pick up and listen to all the vinyl. I have been collecting vinyl since the late '70s and I have spent most of my DJ fees on fresh vinyl or hard-to-get stuff. After collecting like a maniac for all these years, I wasn't missing many of the early Detroit and Chicago releases. How does your Kern Vol. 2 mix compare to your 1995 effort X-Mix 5: Wildstyle, which has gone down in folklore? When I was asked to undertake the second Kern mix for Tresor, I wasn't thinking about the X-Mix 5 concept. That mix was made in '95 and was very much based around the videos that accompanied the single tracks used on the mix. (For X-Mix we used VHS to show the video and the music.) The Kern series has a very strong concept behind it: I think combining older classic material together with the new generation of house and techno producers, who are themselves influenced by the older heroes of electronic dance music (not EDM, please!) makes this mix a special one. It also reflects me as a DJ, playing with lots of different genres. In Germany, we were experimenting with loops within techno more than 20 years ago: it feels great to see younger producers still pushing the limits of our art form to the max. The unreleased version of Daniel Bell's "Blip" is an interesting inclusion—how did you come across that? Dan is an old friend and I just sent him an email about using one of his amazing tracks, "Blip," on Kern. Dan wrote back and sent over a previously unreleased "Chicago Style" version that I had never heard before. He's a master at what he does, and I'm really proud to call him a friend. What else have you got planned for 2013? A new Hell single just came out called DJ Hell presents Klaus Nomi-Cold Song, which is out on Gigolo. Our new compilation Gigolo Music Ltd. 14 will also be coming after the summer with old and new label material. I also remixed the great Westbam single called "U Need The Drugs." Finally, I am also going re-release all of my older material from the '90s. This will happen after the summer.