DeWalta

There's a joyful exuberance that comes from improvised music, as pure unfiltered creation meets with talent and skill to create accidents and moments freed from the shackles of structure and predictability. That David Koch's early forays into music were driven by improvisation speaks volumes for the excitement and energy that emanates from him as a producer today.

Any artist will happily regale an audience about formative years spent listening to the family record collection, and some may have even started out with instruments, but in David's case his creative arc began when he first picked up a French horn aged 6. While some spend years or even decades striving to find their calling in life, David was clear in his passion and focus towards music from the moment he was able to comprehend it.

After progressing to the saxophone, David started on a path that would lead him to jam sessions in a 60 year-old jazz bar, where the chance to play with the regular performers provided him with the inspiration that has driven him to this day. Years later in the convivial, collaborative nature of the electronic music scene, he feels the echoes of those formative years spent as a fifteen year old interacting and creating with fellow musicians.

Following years spent studying in respected conservatories in Mannheim and Berlin, David's introduction to the world at large, at least within the confines of underground house and techno, came once he adopted the DeWalta alias. At the same time he launched the Meander label with Fabian Geimer and Jens Körmer, providing an ideal platform for his unique slant on production as well as that of a handful of like-minded artists.

There's a unifying quality to David's music. As with all good artists it's somewhat indefinable, but it exists somewhere between the rattle and tumble of organic percussion, the vibrant lashings of horns and the warm, rounded electronics. There's no escaping the strong and determined groove that propels these tracks, but equally the playful energy and maverick charm belie David's accomplished musical career.

With multiple releases for such respected labels as Cynosure, Vakant, Haunt and Kalk Pets (and of course his own Meander), and tracks snapped up for compilations by such esteemed DJs as Seth Troxler and Cassy, over the past five years David has created a strong identity for himself in the crowded European house and techno scene. It can't be denied that his considerable musical training has had a part to play, as witnessed by his contributions to tracks from Deadbeat, Dave Turov, The Mole and many more. As well as his instrumental abilities, now he is even called upon for his engineering talents, mixing down the last Tolga Fidan album on Vakant amongst others.

Of course the past is influential, but of equal importance is the people you meet along the way and how you let them shape your destiny. In David's case, as a long time Berlin resident it was inevitable that he would cross paths with an artist like Mike Shannon. After they dived into the studio and produced two EPs together, it was a natural progression for David to entrust his debut album to the plucky Canadian, and so "Wander" was brought to the world via Mike's Haunt imprint.

It's not easy to portray the complexities of an artist in the confines of a release, but on "Wander" David has achieved a rich and detailed account of who he is as a musician. Each track deals in a head-spinning amount of detail in between the more prominent beats and melodies, from strange analogue FX to fast and loose improvisations. More than anything though, it taps into that aforementioned exuberance which comes from an artist who has grown up making things up his own way. DeWalta is proof, if ever it was needed, that it's more fun to not compute.