Function will always follow form in a sonic landscape conducted by DJ and producer Solaris. Between a minimalist sound aesthetic and structural simplicity, the Norwegian artist has trained all his efforts on establishing a fluid relationship with the dance floor through his sets and his music. The tall lynchpin behind Oslo’s Det Gode Selskab collective, Solaris is a prevailing fixture on the Norwegian electronic- and DJ music scene today, as a DJ, promoter, festival curator and label partner.
Christian “Solaris” Berg has had a lifetime working within electronic music and DJing in Norway and beyond. A graffiti artist in his youth, it was breakbeats and hip-hop that lured the precocious Solaris to DJing through crossover artists like Dorfmeister and Nightmares on Wax.
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Moving from Bergen to Trondheim, he started DJing in 1999, with the versatile and thunderous sounds of LTJ Bukem and Photek inspiring his early sets. He arrived at his DJ alias from Photek’s LP of the same name, paying homage to that LP and the artist and defining his own intentions as a DJ and a producer.
Chris moved to London where he would find his voice as a DJ and an artist where DJs like Steve Bug and tracks like Robotman’s Hypno Freak would become the pinnacle of musical inspiration for the burgeoning DJ. He met people like Lee Burridge at Phonica who introduced him to the sounds of Halo and Hipp-e and DJs like Zip, informing his continued pursuits as a DJ and his first tentative steps as a producer.
He found some early success with a remix of RL Burnside, which got some
love from Annie Nightingale on BBC1, but it was only after moving back to
Trondheim that he would eventually nurture the biggest aspect of his music
career today. Back in Trondheim he would meet Terje Dybdahl aka Tod
Louie, establishing Det Gode Selskab collective that today marks a DJ scene, a residency, a festival and a label. It’s through the label and working closely with Karl Fraunhofer in the studio, that Solaris would revive his production work, covering remix duties on the label’s early releases, before establishing his own solo career.
A successful advertising agent by day, music is a purely leisurely pursuit for Christian Berg, a pursuit that he can indulge purely for the sake of the art form in a sonic aesthetic that he continues to cultivate across records, remixes and his DJ sets.