Tresor Resident Marcelus Delivers a Pulsing Debut Album, ‘Vibrations’

Over the past 25 years, Tresor has become one of Germany’s greatest techno institutions, but when it comes to techno, there are no international boundaries. So to celebrate the organization’s 25th anniversary, and the border-crossing spirit of the genre, they’re releasing the debut album from one of their club’s foreign-born residents, the French DJ Marcelus.

On Friday, the producer born Cédric Bros will be releasing the pulsing and insistent Vibrations, a stunning collection of tremorous tracks that embraces both the genres more austere and more playful sides. He’s streaming the album below right now, alongside a Q&A about his history between scenes and his longterm relationship with Tresor. Dig in right here.

THUMP: Do you recall when you first became aware of Tresor, as a club or as a label?
Marcelus: I discovered the label first. I spent awhile looking for an unknown track I heard once in a mix. That track turned out to be “Instant” by Joey Beltram. When I finally found out what it was, that was the first time I saw the Tresor logo. Later on, I learned there was a club in Berlin called Tresor too.

Is it by design that your first album is coming out during the label’s 25th anniversary? Or just a happy coincidence?
No, there’s no coincidence. Of course we discussed it with Paulo, the label manager. We thought it would be a good opportunity to make something bigger this time, plus I was going to turn 30 myself, so it really sounded like a turning point in my mind. So the idea came up like that.

How does the Berlin techno scene compare to the Parisian one you grew up in?
For me, Berlin is the techno capital. For artists in general, it’s a very nice place to be because it’s cheaper to live there, you have space, and it’s right in the middle of Europe. This way it’s much easier to develop your own thing.

The scene is big and strong there, and has been for quite some time. You have lots of great parties and you have this relaxed vibe in the city which is quite unique. Perhaps you can find the same type of feeling in Amsterdam, but in general it’s not really prevalent for big cities like that.

There is a strong relationship with electronic music in Germany, with Krautrock that inspired many Detroit Techno pioneers. You had the fall of The Wall too, obviously. It made new spaces available for experimentations and discoveries, which was the perfect match with Techno music. I believe it’s deeply cultural there and they are really proud about it.

About Paris, when I grew up the scene was normal, I think. Nowadays, it’s much bigger and it’s really cool for sure. It’s really happening all over France. Lyon is big too. I’ve played so many cities here and I believe it has never been this massive.

It’s just that it takes more time in France for music to really touch people. In terms of music culture, here we have always been more into French songs, rock or disco than electronic music, even if we did some of course. Maybe we are more conservative about it. Anyway, when people finally get it, they get it very well and party hard.

How did you try to make your album stand out against the almost 300 other releases in the Tresor catalog?
I never thought about that. i don’t have this approach at all, I just did my thing and that’s it.

You’ve also contributed to Marcel Dettmann’s MDR label. Are you ever tempted to go play up the street at Berghain?
Actually, I’ve already played Berghain once. It’s a very nice club. Some friends came down it was great. Alex, a night manager from Tresor, was there and he was coming and asking me if I needed anything, bringing me drinks and so on, so actually it felt like home.