Session Victim Vinyl

Hauke Freer and Matthias Reiling AKA Session Victim have an unparalleled energy and passion that translates into their renowned live performances and vinyl-only DJ sets. Now in their tenth year of DJing and producing together, they started releasing music as Session Victim when opinion was firmly stacked that vinyl was dying and embracing digital was the only way to sustain a career as a producer. Their success is workable proof that if you’re making music from a foundation of true passion and friendship, you can go against the grain, stick to your principles and still win out. With their own vinyl-only record label Pen & Paper, they release a varied series of EPs from the dancefloor focused to low slung dub. Influenced by Pen & Paper role playing games from the late 70’s and 80’s like ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ in which the players input to the game yield wildly different results, the label is a fitting expression for the impassioned musical output of two self-confessed studio geeks who frequently spend days and nights locked in their Hamburg studio, working on productions, jamming with other artists and playing pinball. Following three well-received LP’s released on Jimpster’s Delusions of Grandeur imprint, 2020 will see Session Victim release their fourth LP, Needledrop on Night Time Stories (sister label of seminal after hours imprint Late Night Tales). ‘Needledrop’ takes significant inspiration from the lavishly textured and subtly layered jazz and soul compositions that found their way into late 90’s trip hop and features a collaboration with USA singer-songwriter Beth Hirsch (who lent her talents Air’s Moon Safari album). The LP provides a suite of both uplifting and easy-listening moments, refined and understated individually, yet cohesively crafted with the organic groove and inarguable credentials we know of Session Victim.