Jonathan Kaspar has just woken up from his pre-gig nap when we meet in the lobby of his hotel, just a few hours before his debut at renowned Stereo Montreal.

‘I’ve heard a lot about Stereo. To some people I know, it’s the best club in the world,’ explains Jonathan, whose all-nighters at institutions such as Gewölbe in Cologne and Volt in Milan have become quite the attraction. ‘The expectations are pretty high, but let’s see what we make out of the night…’

Whether it be the shock-absorbing floor or the massive booth monitors, which he’s known for turning all the way up from the get-go, Jonathan is thrilled as we discuss his preparation for the set promised to last at least 8 hours.

‘I start really really slow, even without beats, just to get into it and welcome the people walking in with a mood. For me, doing the warmup is the main discipline you have to learn as a DJ, and I love doing my own. I decide when it’s time to start off, to go left, to go right. Playing all-night is the ideal format, the best way to showcase all the music that I love.’

Originally opened by Angel Moraes back in 1998, Stereo was modeled as a wink to New York’s mythical Paradise Garage, one of the blueprints for house music worldwide. Through its legacy spanning over 20 years, it has found a place in the heart of DJs who play the best rooms in the world on a weekly basis. Whether they be household names Hernan Cattaneo, Danny Tenaglia and John Digweed or more recent converts such as Kölsch, Patrice Bäumel or Frankey & Sandrino, the choir echoes: Stereo is the real deal.

A match made in heaven for the DJ and producer who’s also collected the highest of accolades since his debut EPs on Catz ‘n Dogz’s Pets Recordings and Dennis Ferrer’s Objektivity in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Since then, he’s added about each and every top label to his pedigree: Mano Le Tough & The Drifter’s Maeve, Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels, Rampa’s VOD, Sven Väth’s Cocoon… and of course homeside Kompakt in Cologne.

Born in Bonn, just a few thirty 30 kilometers down the Rhine river, Kaspar always had the label’s famed double-headed eagle in his sight, initially being featured on sub-label ‘Kompakt Extra’ in 2016 and 2017. Established in 2002, Kompakt’s little brother’s aim was to ‘bring back the narrative aspect of techno to the forefront’, according to co-founder Michael Mayer in an interview with Turkish magazine EDHID a few years back. It is then no surprise that the emotive progressions and drawn-out textures of the Supine and Rantou EPs found their home on KX.

Since his debut on KX, Kaspar then released countless times on the main imprint, on top of releasing an highly-touted remix for  Rex The Dog’s ‘Change This Pain For Ecstasy’ at the tail-end of 2023. This was followed with his adaptation of Tiga & Kolsch’s ‘Hand In Hand’ on Turbo Recordings back in January. ‘These two tracks were my summer anthems of last year. They were not easy to remix, because I liked so many elements in the tracks that I didn’t want to throw out’, explains Jonathan, adding that removing elements during production is a main part of his process.

‘For me, less is more at the moment, but I don’t know what it’ll be like in two weeks’, he chuckles. ‘In the beginning, I used a lot of percussion, but nowadays my main focus is to reduce. If you mute a stem during the production process and you don’t miss it at all, then it’s a good sign, you don’t need it.’

Something the performer has also changed is mind on is the way he apprehends back-to-backs, which he wasn’t the biggest fan of in the early days. ‘Every DJ has his own way, own steps to follow. It’s hard to mix it up with somebody else. But since I started going B2B at Hawa with my guest (Open-air event taking place at the visitor’s terrace of the Dusselfdorf airport), I really like it. You both have to move closer to the other’s way and it’s interesting what happens.’

Nonetheless, one main influence remains since the Colognian started DJing close to 20 years ago: his love for hip-hop, which he developed playing basket-ball in his teenage years. ‘Raw drum loops & hi-hats, that’s what I really dig. I use it a lot to begin my productions’, he states, remembering days of listening to the likes of Nas and Notorious BIG in the locker-room.

‘That’s what it’s about for me, getting the people excited with tracks they don’t know.’

It is with this new found insight on the man that we follow along as he walks up the stairs to the club’s main room. Right as the headliner steps on the fully wooden floor of Montréal’s longest-standing venue for electronic music, his face relishes in astonishment: ‘Perfect floor, perfect room. I cannot wait to hear the sound system. Amazing.’

As the awe dissipates, the DJ gets down to business. He sets up his TEILE reverb module, scrolls through his USBs and cranks the monitors, delighted by the shock absorbing carpet supporting him. ‘Cameras off, sound on,’ he winks, pressing play and greeting the early-arrivers with close to an hour of dreamy atmospheres before the first beats timidly creep into the room, just north of a 100 beats per minute.

Kaspar then gradually accelerates the pace for the next hour and a half, really opening things up around the 2:30:00 mark, each transition bringing a new level of excitement to the floor.

The next 6 hours then go by in a blink as the crowd cheers the variety of never heard before music, original material from the man himself and even an unknown edit of Technotronic’s Pump Up The Jam.

The clock now closes in on 9:00am. The expert selector puts the finishing touch with Kasper Bjørke’s ‘Tears We Haven’t Cried’. The remaining dancers give the German visitor one last clap as the last notes tail off into silence, ending a night which will echo in the memory of the attendees for quite a while…

Relive Jonathan Kaspar’s journey 9 hours journey at Stereo Montreal, exclusively on When We Dip:

Jonathan Kaspar: Soundcloud // Instagram
Stereo Montreal: Soundcloud // Instagram