When you send out the first demo of your life, to only a handful of people, and the demo is immediately signed by one of them, and the name of the label is Innervisions, you know you must have done something right. This is exactly what happened to Aera in 2014.
Aera alias Ralf Schmidt was born in northern Germany in the mid 80’s, in a small, grey town just in between the Baltic and the North Sea. In the early 90’s, when one of the first waves of house and techno swept the suburbs, young Aera was right there in the middle of it.
Fast forward some years, skip past the hours and hours spent in record shops and working for a record distribution company, past countless days and days hidden away in the studio.. and arrive in 2010, when Aera started his own label Aleph Music. The records immediately made waves, leading to remixes for labels such as Future Classic and gigs all over Europe. Apart from his releases, Aera has made a name for himself with his intense and versatile live sets. But he is also a knowledgeable and versatile DJ, with a deep record collection and skills to match.
There is also his side project Goldwill, a production and sometimes dj duo with releases on Wandering // Mojuba and their own imprint Socalled, among others. Late 2011, Aera went on the road to travel through South America and write his first long player “Offseason Traveller”, which was released on Aleph Music early 2013 and received rave reviews from all over the board.
That takes us back to the point from which we started: that 2014 signing by Innervisions. That track was |Freak Wave”. And it has been followed this year by a release on Mano Le Tough’s Maeve Records, in the form of “You Know Juno”, an equally impressive state of the art work of production skill. Yes, this won’t be the last you’ll hear from Aera, so take a seat and some time to listen carefully to the mix he made for DHA. Enjoy.
