Sven Väth - Unofficial Discography

About Sven Väth

Sven Väth, 1995 (Taken from X-MIX-5)

Note: The infos here are taken from interviews and reports with and about Sven I've seen on TV and read in magazines, from the official biography published on the Official Sven Väth Page, and finally from miscellaneous information bits reached through various medias the way to me.

Sven Väth is a well-known DJ from Frankfurt / Main, Germany. He was born on the 26th of October 1964 in Offenbach and grown up in Obertshausen both near Frankfurt. After finishing school he did an apprenticeship as a building fitter. At the age of 18 he got a chance to DJ at "Dorian Gray", a big and well-known club in Frankfurt.

Then later in the 80s Sven became the frontman of a group called "Off". He formed it with Michael Münzig and Luca Anzilotti, who later became Snap, and were previously known as "16 Bit" (Sven was also involved in at least one '16 Bit' production). Matthias Hoffmann (aka AC Boutsen) joined Off later.
Their biggest hit was 1987 "Electrica Salsa (Baba Baba)". I don't like the Off stuff, be warned, Sven's 'singing' is terrible - in my opinion, of course :-)

In 1988 he opened a club called "Omen" together with Michael Münzig and Mathias Martinsohn. It was one of Frankfurt's biggest and most famous clubs. After 10 years it closed in autumn 1998.

In 1989, Sven cancelled his Off-image and together with Matthias Hoffmann (aka AC Boutsen) and Steffen Britzke (aka Stevie B-Zet) he started the project Mosaic. As Mosaic, the trio released a number of successive club hits and remixes until the end of 1990.

Article about the foundation of EYE-Q (Taken from a 1991 issue of Groove magazine)

Between summer 1991 and spring 1992, he founded the label "EYE-Q" together with his manager Heinz Roth and Matthias Hoffmann. It was divided into the two sublabels "HARTHOUSE" (for a techno/house style) and "RECYCLE OR DIE" (featuring electronic instrumental/experimental/ambient music) and the the "EYE-Q Main Label" (for everything that doesn't fit into the other catagories).

Sven Väth, 1993 (Taken from TEEX booklet)

Ralf & Sven, 1993 (Taken from TEEX booklet)

At the end of 1992, Sven met up with Ralf Hildenbeutel, who from then on would never move from his side behind the mixing tables. Together with ralf, he produced the first album under his own name, Accident In Paradise. The first single release, L'esperanza, charted in 1993. As a consequence, EYE Q and HARTHOUSE got their first major deal. At the end of 1993, the second album called The Harlequin, The Robot And The Ballet-Dancer was released. It was Svens's very own combination of techno, trance and house influences with classical elements. Touch Themes Of Harlequin - Robot - Ballet-Dancer, the pertinent remix album with interpretations by Underworld, Speedy j., David Holmes and Hardfloor among others, was released one year later. In the same year, an album of Väth's side project Astral Pilot, Electro Acupuncture, where he and Stevie B-Zet lives out their harder club sides, appeared on Harthouse.

Stevie & Sven as Astral Pilot, 1996 (Taken from HH Chapter 8)

1995 turned out to be the year of major personal changes for Sven. The first lasting relationship with a woman made him quiet down a bit after all these long years of sex, drugs & techno. He changed his look and began to prepare his costly and ambitious event project turned into a financial disaster which forced sven to freeze the project for the time being. Personally, though, Sven jumped the next hurdle. Together with Stevie B-Zet, he produced the soundtrack of the thriller The Cold Finger which opened in may throughout German movie theatre's.

In early 1997 the changes climaxed. Sven separated from his business partners and left EYE-Q. Around June '97 after moving to Berlin the German label wasn't able to pay their bills and filed a petitition for bankruptcy.
I've heard that just before that, they've renamend themselves "Cheyenne", probably to keep the names EYE-Q/HARTHOUSE/ROD 'clean' during the bankruptcy proceedings.
EYE-Q UK is still alive and releasing new records, but this has nothing to do with Sven and the 'good old days'. At the end of '97 the rights on the name HARTHOUSE has been sold to UCMG (Undercover Music Group). In February '98 they released a Retrospective HH compilation.

Sven, on his own, moved to a new Frankfurt office and started the first german booking agency named Cocoon Booking which is considered one of the most important in the country by now.

In January 1998, Sven's 3rd 'solo' album 'Fusion' has been released on Virgin Records. The album's title track 'Fusion' is as the name already says a sound concoction of various influences. Trip Hop, Electro and Big Beat are poured together, spiced up with some Soundtrack Music and other orchestral elements. 'Scorpio's Movement' is a rather gloomy, mysterious techno track. Here, Sven for the first time consequently creates the sounds he has promoted as a DJ for years. Looking at all these various elements, it is not all self-evident that the new album is indeed again a typical and distinct Sven Väth piece of work. If you listen closely, you will realize that on a number of tracks he has the translated consciously or unconsciously - the sound of frankfurt into the sounds of the late 90ies. He can't escape himself. The moods created are something like old acquaintances which is good. Isn't there anything more valuable to any artist than being recognized in any he does?!
So, on Fusion, too, driving beats and spherical sounds are arranged in the typical Väth wild pitch style to create the desired atmospheres. The touch of worldmusic that one hears in a lot of what Sven Väth and Ralf Hildenbeutel have written stems from certain influences as e.g. grom musicians such as Joe Mubare or Peter Gabriel. Many times the tracks remind of soundtracks or they could very well be used as such. they are not really tracks but songs that tell stories. It's part of Sven Väth's nature that these songs tend to be a bit bombastic at times it's as if Trevor Horn had been there looking over Svens's and Ralf's shoulders.

For March 2000 his new album 'Contact', produced by Johannes Heil, Anthony Rother and Alter Ego, is announced to be released on Virgin.