Magazine Sixty is happy to introduce this interview with the brilliant musician and Affin’s lead protagonist, Joachim Spieth, who for over twenty years has journeyed between dancefloor expression and the innovative sounds of atmosphere and personal reflection.
Welcome to Magazine Sixty, Joachim. You have been creating music for over twenty years. As a musician, is it more important to celebrate the here and now? Or do you find yourself looking forward to what might happen next? Does nostalgia ever play a part in what you do?
Yes, thank you for the invitation!
I try to stay/live in the here and now… and things from the past can certainly be revisited, but they should never reappear in the same form as before… The future always draws from what has already been… Because without a connection to “yesterday,” there is no “tomorrow” either…
What led you away from the beat-driven sounds of Dub and Techno and into the atmospheres of Ambience? Do you find it a more liberating process to create music that doesn’t adhere to certain rhythmic structures?
Yes, that’s how it was. After two decades of music built primarily around beats, I felt the need to explore further (even though I’d already done ambient music before)….
It felt freer than being forced to work with beats all the time. Around 2019, I also felt that a certain tedium had crept into the genres that interested me outside of ambient, and exciting music was becoming rarer.
The funny thing is, though, that I’ve been working with beats again on and off for the last two or three years… but not in the same BPM range as before, and right now, beats are extremely rare. The two are converging… an exciting process for me.
Your excellent new album, Vestige, is fed by a variety of sounds and moods, strikingly on the intense compositions Sonomorph and Iterate. Do you need to find a certain headspace to create something of such emotional involvement? Are you better suited to producing music at night or day?
Thanks, I’m glad you like the album!n I’m often in such intense moods 🙂 especially when making music…of course, I’m not an assembly-line producer who churns out two tracks a day. This kind of music definitely needs preparation and time/space. I consciously give myself time when I feel like I’ve stumbled upon something “new” that needs time to develop. I also like to work on multiple tracks simultaneously, collecting ideas for one while arranging the previous one. This is good for creating variety, which is important to me. I’m very interested in expanding my focus in a comprehensible way, revisiting sounds and techniques that I’ve already explored in other forms. Always doing the same thing would bore me.
The music across the album always feels deeply musical, like it is creating stories. How would you express the conversation between artist and listener, given that there are no words spoken?
It’s up to the listener whether and to what extent they want to immerse themselves in my sounds… I have no influence over that. Besides, to be honest, I don’t think about listeners when I’m making music… I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I’m preoccupied enough with myself… It’s also nice that no words are necessary… that’s what I like about electronic music… interpretation is much more exciting than words… words are often just limiting, especially when it comes to art…
Tell us about the studio space you work in? Are there any go-to pieces of software or hardware you always use when making music?
I always work with Ableton Live, and that’s pretty much it… a few plugins (mostly EQs, etc.) everything else is patience and personal style…. You don’t need much if you have ideas, but you should make an effort to know the few things you do well (although I’m far from finished with that)…. With too many devices or tools in general, I lose focus and ideas tend to fall by the wayside… Let others struggle through 30 synths, etc., I don’t have time for that. 🙂
Given the dangerous nature of the world we find ourselves in at the moment. How do you feel about the place of politics in music and whether the two should co-exist?
I’ve always primarily seen music and art as a space to actively disconnect from the absurdities of so-called politics… Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, of course… but it bothers me that everything is always supposed to be so over-analyzed, especially by people who have committed themselves to this black-and-white thinking… life has shades of gray too… it’s not always a 100 or 0… it’s not that simple… therefore: it’s great when people exchange ideas, but we also need spaces for connection… politics has already ruined enough. I find art and culture far more life-affirming than following these rotten systems and bashing each other’s heads in over them…
Looking at the range of photographs on your Instagram, I wanted to ask if you feel there is a connection between music, nature and architecture?
Maybe. I like nature; it inspires and recharges me. I’m not very knowledgeable about architecture. I find flyer or selfie accounts on Instagram very boring, and I occasionally post things I like without expecting anything from them. Just do it. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?
How do you feel about the future of music in terms of artists generating revenue from streaming services etc, together with the importance of live performance?
Streaming in its current form is akin to digital slavery. Because I believe that 95% of those who stream their music don’t achieve any significant financial or public impact.
This benefits the major labels and a few projects, but algorithms simply can’t replace human filtering. It’s possible that digital systems will be programmed more intelligently in the future… but all in all, this wasn’t developed for us, meaning not for labels and musicians…
Regarding live performances: there are limited options… and not every artist performs live…so they’re all completely out of the running. Otherwise, festivals, concert promoters, and clubs are under considerable financial pressure.
The old system works better in the music industry, even if it sounds outdated to some… but having to choose from limited resources works better in the long run and also increases the personal value placed on things.
Can you describe the positives and negatives of running your own record label in 2026?
What advice would you give to someone thinking about doing the same?
Ideally, a small online shop should be integrated…I believe that niche shops can still work well. Trying to cover “everything” doesn’t seem sensible or feasible to me, as too much business will be neglected… and that will financially hurt the shop…
f I were starting today, I would launch it as a side project, decide what’s relevant to me (orders), and then see how it goes… What’s annoyed me in recent years is that some shops only include records in their presale but never actually order any unless a pre-order comes in… sorry, that’s bullshit.
Better a smaller but more specialized selection…
It’s definitely not easy to start a project like this, so it’s best to see how it goes.
The artwork for each release looks particularly stunning. What can you tell us about how the images are chosen?
Markus Guentner is the more competent contact person for this.
However, it’s clear that we basically start with nature-related images… some of them mobile phone photos, etc. (think Instagram account…). However, these original images are always digitally transformed and mixed in various ways… Similar to our sampling work in the audio field…
Joachim Spieth
Affin Linktree
Download/ Stream Vestige at Bandcamp
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