If there’s one music producer to keep a close eye on right now, it’s Ottoman Grüw.
Born Jean Grünewald, the Franco-Italian artist recently based in Brussels has made a stop at the Lyon-based label Rave Or Die, the excellent label of producer/DJ Umwelt, which redefines the golden age of 90s rave music. More specifically, he’s featured on Flesh or Die, the sublabel’s more electro-focused branch. Ottoman Grüw, who is both a producer, DJ, and live performer in several projects (such as A Body Without with producer 2+2=5), and more recently the manager of the multifaceted label Mutant Modality, is now delivering four original tracks on his new EP named “Hauptform“.
This record features bold and hybrid sounds, offering a perfect blend of dark electro-techno with muscular EBM influences—distinctly electroclash—and a robotic voice, delivered in a very synthwave style, giving us a hint of live-act energy.
In this record, Ottoman Grüw explores everything that has shaped his style so far, whether through influential collaborations (recently with Inside Blur on Khoinix) or his ability to absorb everything around him to fuel his projects: “I’m someone who absorbs many different influences. My projects are strongly inspired by digital arts, imagery and video in general, but also by literature and conceptual performance. This need for constant renewal is part of my work and incorporates these various non-musical influences; this interdisciplinary dimension feeds my sound research.”
With Hauptform, Ottoman Grüw continues his exploration of the electro-EBM tendency he discovered in Montreal in 2017, which actually evolved slowly in the background through a gradual immersion in the EBM and cold wave scene in Canada. He draws much of his inspiration from Canadian artists such as Police des Moeurs, Xarah Dion, Sarin, and Front Line Assembly, pioneers of 80s EBM. Artists such as The Hacker and Djedjotronic, with a more electro bent, also left a significant mark on his influences, which took root in 2017 during the development of his musical project. This exploration of retro sounds happened with a certain spontaneity: Ottoman Grüw admits that his return to electro-EBM emerged naturally, without premeditation: “It was a bit by chance that I got into the passion for techno EBM and electro, without really knowing their history or aesthetic affiliations. It was only by spending time in Montreal that my perspective sharpened.”
Montreal, a city where the EBM and cold wave scenes developed in relative geographic isolation compared to Europe, played a crucial role in his evolution. “The Montreal scene is vibrant, especially in EBM and cold wave, but it’s also porous to techno and experimental ambient influences. The link between these post-punk genres and traditional techno styles was unknown to me at the time. Being there immersed me in this culture, and the fusion happened naturally.”
Now based in Brussels, this fusion has become the cornerstone of Ottoman Grüw’s musical project, which, with “Hauptform”, returns to something more primal while encompassing these influences into a new aesthetic consistency. The artist seems to have found his balance, an artistic coherence that reflects both his roots and his evolution, thus shaping a sound that is both timeless and resolutely contemporary with these four new tracks.
Ottoman Grüw – Hauptform EP (Rave or Die / Flesh or Die)
Format : Digital + 12″ ltd lathe cut
Release date : 12/08/2024
Order : https://newfleshrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hauptform-ep-fod08-pre-order
Follow Ottoman Grüw :
Soundcloud – Instagram – Facebook
Mutant Modality Label
