Julian Bainbridge has quietly carved out his niche in Berlin’s underground house scene: a vinyl-digging DJ/producer, label-founder of Sounds Over Seas and one committed to the deeper side of house music. With the release of his debut LP ‘Directions’ recently under his belt, he steps up not just as curator but as artist, diving into emotional textures, rhythmic nuance, and sonic exploration that extends beyond the dance floor. He stopped by for a chat to explain just that and beyond!

WWD: ‘Directions’ is your first full-length on Sounds Over Seas. What motivated you to make this leap, and how did you decide “now” was the moment?

I think I never had the actual motivation to make an album, it came together pretty organically. Around two years ago I was working on new music and at the time things were flowing really well for me creatively, so I quickly had a whole collection of solid demos to choose from. That is when I first thought, maybe making an album is possible. 

WWD: The album is described as “pushing certain boundaries, whilst maintaining the spirit of the genre through feeling and utilising melodies and rhythm.” What specific boundaries were you interested in stretching, and how did you balance that with the core deep-house spirit?

For me deep house music is about feeling but also about innovation. 

On the feeling aspect it was easy for me to tap into my current emotional state and transfer that into the sound selection in the early stages of the production process. A lot of the sounds I was favouring for this project had a moodier vibe to them, so this fit the sonics of deep house on an emotional level.

Regarding innovation, I hear a lot of the same samples used and recycled over and over again in a lot of music releases in general. This motivated me to take a different approach and make an effort to challenge the listener by using sounds and samples which are maybe not that common and also implement these sounds into the groove in a way which is not so conventional.

WWD: Across the nine tracks you incorporate jazzy tweaks, minimalistic rhythms, haunting melodies and ambient/global sounds. Was there a unifying emotion or narrative you had in mind, or did each track come from its own world?

I take my musical inspiration from a lot of different spaces and places, so on a day-to-day basis the sounds I select for a song might differ in accordance to what I am currently vibing with. Each of the songs definitely comes from its own world emotionally. My goal was to unify them sonically into one project while still inducing all my varying musical influences.

WWD: You enlisted collaborators for mixing (Manolo on tracks 1, 2, 7; matuli on track 8) and mastered with Manolo at Superbueno Studios in Neukölln. How did these partnerships shape the final sound of ‘Directions?’

Manolo’s expertise in mixing and mastering brought the sonic of ‘Directions’ to another level. We spent many long hours at Superbueno Studios fine tuning the tracks and exchanging different directions for the project (Pun intended). During this whole process I was simultaneously mixing tracks by myself while letting Manolo mix others where I felt out of my depth. Having a reliable partner throughout the entire post-production process really made a gigantic difference.

Matuli assisted me with the mix on the track “Nana’s Hands”. I had done a rough demo mix but his work really made the track more complete and polished. I have a strong personal connection to this track, so having it sound right was very important to me. 

WWD: As someone who’s been DJing since your late teens, grounded in vinyl culture and deep cuts hunting, how did your DJ experience inform the way you produced and sequenced this album?

I think being grounded in Club and DJ culture and having had many deep and liberating experiences through this, the dancefloor has had an immense influence on the way I make music. I always considered myself a DJ first, so being able to tap into the production side was a great way to extend on my DJing and explore into a different side creatively. 

Almost all of the tracks on ‘Directions’ have a dance groove to them and emanate from a dancing environment. Having a strong groove is something I cherish in the tracks I play out, so I attempted to replicate that in my own production. 

I really cherish a well told story in a DJ set, so I tried to sequence the album in a way that it has a certain coherence and takes the listener on a trip.

WWD: Outside of the record, your role as label-founder and community-builder in Berlin is central. How does releasing your own LP feed back into your vision for Sounds Over Seas and the scene you’re helping support?

I believe that creating a sonic foundation through a project like ‘Directions’ gives people a better understanding of the platform Sounds Over Seas as a record label and resonates with artists who see themselves under that same sound and who share the sample moral principles for music and society. Also my strong ties to vinyl culture and my involvement in Open Tiny, a community project in Neukölln, connect me directly to the people that want to partake in this space and who through their involvement help lay a bedrock for art and music culture in Berlin. 

WWD: Looking forward: with the album now set to release, what comes next for you—as Julian Bainbridge the artist and Sounds Over Seas the imprint?

Solo, I am finishing up some smaller singles and EPs which will see the light of day in the near future. And I am working on a collaborative project with some artists close to me, more info coming soon.

For Sounds Over Seas we have a 6 Year Anniversary Compilation coming late 25 early 26, with many great artists I am lucky enough to call friends. So stay tuned for that. 

WWD: We definitely will! Thanks for the chat 🙂

The ‘Directions’ LP is available here