Cerca:a drive

In 2012, the two moved to an abandoned funeral home in rural southern Illinois where they founded Rose Raft, an artist residency and analog recording studio. This was done in part to alleviate the financial stress of being an artist in an expensive city, and it has allowed them to remain totally immersed in their craft, not unlike Dead Moon or Low.

“The biggest reason we were motivated to make our own studio is that it was the only conceivable way we could keep things going. We started as a band so trashy and raw and ‘low-fi’ is because that’s what we had access to.” says Jessee. The studio is all analog, and the pair has once again found how to find freedom in constraint, using the limitations of the process to think creatively and to inform their songwriting. Tracked entirely live, the new record celebrates the magic and physicality of analog recording, leaving in raw sounds and charming artifacts, like their dogs Junimo and Joja Cola barking at the tail of the keeper take of “Velvet Cash”.

Glow in the Dark Flowers finds Philip and Jessee reinventing their sound with maturity, grace, and poeticism, but without abandoning the fuzzed out sound and studio adventurousness of their earlier work. The album's intimate opener “Growing Cosmos” is propelled by an unquantized drum machine that stutters in and out of tempo, accompanied by enveloping hard-panned bass guitar. “Still Close To Me” recalls the duo’s effortless and hypnotic pop sensibility that made The Funs such a captivating live band in Chicago’s then thriving DIY scene. The albums closer “When The Leaves Have Fallen”, originally composed for a performance by the artist Lise Haller Baggesen, continually builds on its original theme until the drums drift out and gives way to cascading distorted guitars folding in on each other.

The band's new album represents a new level of their devoted partnership that continually produces raw and beautiful music. Glow in the Dark Flowers is a true representation of their passion and dedication to their drive for creation.

Modular synthesizers / electronics + a drum kit enhanced with triggers and sensors: on its self-titled debut album, the duo hÄK / Danzeisen creates a sonic energy that oscillates between high-precision rhythm patterns, analogue sounds and frenzy climaxes.

One must imagine hÄK / Danzeisen as a man-machine apparatus. A collection of cables, resonating bodies and restless limbs that together question all routines. Who overthrow conventional role of instruments and explore the possibilities of a new sound language. Bernd Norbert Würtz alias hÄK operates modular synthesizers, self-soldered circuits and control knobs. Philipp Danzeisen plays a drum kit enhanced with triggers and sensors. These two poles are connected to an interdependent whole in which a constant musical dialogue takes place. The dependencies within this system have been meticulously defined by hÄK / Danzeisen: Drum rolls and sound modulations are interconnected in such a way that there is no contradiction between the strict technological structure and the creative outburst that is possible at any time.

What drives hÄK / Danzeisen is the basic idea that the contrast between acoustic drums and synthetically produced sounds must be overcome in order to create a new experience. Würtz, Danzeisen and their combined instrumentation simultaneously rub up against the same edges, finding a single, piercing voice.

Ideal manifestations of this approach are the duo's live performances: raw energy that oscillates as precisely as it surprises between drones, abstraction and noise attacks, driven by an impudent take on jazz. Constantly oscillating between the registers of "composed" and "improvised", each performance by hÄK / Danzeisen ultimately becomes one of a kind. (Arno Raffeiner)

Portuguese techno figurehead Lewis Fautzi returns to Soma with the Properties Specifications EP. A mainstay on the Soma roster for 10 years, Fautzi has progressed through the global ranks to become one of techno's most recognisable acts. A consistent and competent producer, Fautzi's sound has evolved through the years yet remains modern and as on point as ever.

Density is a visceral yet hypnotic opener, its subtle drive is pushed via its instantly building, electric synth hook. Severity continues down a dark and hypnotic patch as polyrhythmic percussion guides a pulsating and incessant groove. Malleability once again displays Fautzi's control over specific elements, each grafting over the other to create new depths of rhythm throughout the track. Tension closes out the EP but does so in emphatic form. The most driving track on the release, thumping low end and crisp percussion are backed with twisted synths and dark atmospheres that swell throughout.

Over the course of a nearly 50 year romantic and creative partnership sound artist Annea Lockwood and the late pioneering electronic composer Ruth Anderson have shared space on a number of significant releases of early electronic and tape music, including Charles Amirkhanian’s trailblazing 1977 anthology of women electronic composers New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media, a 1981 split LP on Opus One, a 1997 CD for Phill Niblock’s XI imprint, and 1998’s Lesbian American Composers compilation on CRI. The couple additionally taught a course on the history of women’s music-making, at Hunter College, called Living Women, Living Music. Throughout their time together, they co-authored a number of Hearing Studies designed for people with no formal musical training, which were collected for a 2021 book publication by Open Space Music. They spent most of their private life between Crompond, NY and the house they built themselves at Flathead Lake, Montana. Although Ruth passed away in 2019, the composers’ dialogue continues today with Tête-à-tête, a collection of unreleased archival and new material spread across an LP and a single-sided 10” record.

It all began with a telephone call. In 1973, Ruth Anderson was seeking a substitute to cover a yearlong sabbatical from her position as the director of the Electronic Music Studio she had founded at Hunter College in New York City. Her friend Pauline Oliveros too was on sabbatical, but recommended Ruth call Annea Lockwood—then living in London—about the post. Already drawn to America by the work of the visionary composers with whom she would soon be labelmates on Lovely Music, Annea jumped at the opportunity and within days of meeting in person the pair were, in her words, “joyously entangled.”

Over the next nine months, while Ruth was living in Hancock, New Hampshire, the couple would speak daily by phone in between visits. Ruth recorded these phone calls and, in 1974, surprised Annea with a cassette containing “Conversations,” a private piece she composed by dexterously collaging fragments of their conversations alongside slowed and throwed snatches of old popular songs: “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby”; “Oh, You Beautiful Doll”; and “Bill Bailey.” The centerpiece of Tête-à-tête, this side of intimate musique concrète extends to its listeners a rare invitation to eavesdrop on the halcyon phenomenon of two people falling in love. Tender and playful throughout, “Conversations” comes to its zenith with a cut-up of relentless laughter of a contagious beauty that is, for once, properly convulsive.

“For Ruth” is Annea’s elegy to her life partner. In 2020, Annea returned to Hancock as well as to Ruth’s resting place at Flathead Lake to make field recordings, which she wove together with further excerpts of the couple’s 1974 conversations for a commission presented as part of the 2021 Counterflows Festival in Glasgow. A consummate field recordist, Annea imbues the simple sounds of church bells, birds, wind, and the bodies of water that permeated her time alongside Ruth with an otherworldly depth and sense of narrative akin to that of her celebrated sound maps of the Hudson, Danube, and Housatonic rivers. An oneiric, subtly tonal evocation of a meeting at the shores of existence.

The collection opens with “Resolutions,” Ruth’s last completed electronic work, from 1984. A meditation for the individual listener composed as the result of her study of Zen, it’s a rigorous, process-driven piece that charts the very slow, smooth descent of a 5th from the octave above middle C down to sub-bass frequencies. Minimalist in execution, yet powerful in effect, it glides by almost imperceptibly, with new tones arriving and hovering or levitating upwards, seemingly out of nowhere. A healing piece, it harnesses the highly focused energy of pure tones as a means to, in Ruth’s words, “further wholeness of self and unity with others.”

Tape transfers by Maggi Payne, master by Giuseppe Ielasi and lacquers cut at Dubplates & Mastering, with domestic photos and liner notes provided by Annea Lockwood.

Hailing from the gatekeeper city of Malmö towards the European continent - Bathouse story is a long one & a tale of progress. Starting out as a duo venture back in the mid-10’s & then put on hold, Bathouse re-surfaced in 2020 with the release of their self-titled debut album.

Making themselves known as a must experience live band in Malmö for their intense delivery & crushing volume - Philip Lindskog (drums), Jesper Olsson (vocals & guitar) & Denise Madsen Hult (bass) went into Studio Sickan again in 2021 with Joakim Lindberg (MF/MB) and recorded a scorching 13 minutes worth of noise, worthy anyone of the heavyweights. 



’Helping Bats Helping People’ is Bathouse 
sophomore album & will follow the two singles ’Enjoy’ & ’Ideal Specimen’, taken 
from the album.

For fans of The Hospitals, At The Drive-In, 
 Unsane, Bent Spanner Arty Banner & 
 Bathouse.

Marlon Plein also known as Driven By Attraction, one half of Watching Airplanes is releasing a new solo EP on klakson! Watching Airplanes' 'blue is dope' was already one of the pleasant surprises featured on the klakson 20in20 compilation and the journey continues with 'Last Days Of Innocence'. 4 distinguished contemporary electro funk driven dance floor stompers with an ultra deep twist. Mandatory for serious record bags!!!!!!

Since his last outing on Control Freak with the sold-out Bunzunkunzun EP, Syz has built a reputation as one of the UKs most distinctive club producers, weaving playful, percussive techno with soundsystem-driven bass music. Releases via Shanti Celeste’s Peach Discs and more recently on Banoffee Pies have cemented his position as a rising star of the UK scene.

Much of this acclaim started with 2020’s Mindforms - a self-released mini-LP which saw the young producer step away from the dancefloor to explore an expansive sonic world, ‘balancing the tranquility of the ecological world with the immediacy of the digital one. Tropical botany meets ethereal cyberspace through a fusion of styles, influenced by UK techno, hip hop, ambient, acid, and sound-system-driven bass music’.

The original release was accompanied by a highly limited run of just 10 dubplates. Deeming this 6-tracker too good not to receive a proper pressing, Control Freak are proud to present the first ever complete vinyl run for Mindforms, housed in full-colour centre-cut sleeves featuring an adaptation of the original artwork by Jamie Fallon (Ghost Cell), reworked by London-based designer Blixa Aguerreberry.

Alongside the record, Syz & Control Freak have curated Clubforms, a collection of remixes available digitally from some of our favourite producers, each bringing the original release firmly onto the dancefloor with their own production flourishes.

Limited Vinyl

Polly Records, the new Hamburg based music imprint kicks of with a 2 Track 7'' record added by 3 digital jams called "Bumpers". On this release, producer Speckman captures a part of his 2020 outlet, which includes a heavy UK influence, driven sound-textures as well as fast and shaking beats. At some point it might feel like you would touch the power supply with wet fingers. The producer and Golden Pudel Club resident Speckman also happens to be a member and co-founder of the Polly Records Crew. Accompanied by his fellows and partners Natalie Andruszkiewicz and Malte von der Lancken, who both are heavily involved in the Hamburg club and art scene, they built the group behind the promissing new label. Andruszkiewicz, graphic-designer and artist, known for her exquisite and unique style in colors, forms and typography evolved in a surrounding of bands and musicians, her talent and high demand led into works such as Booklets, Party-Flyers and Album-Covers for bands like Aroma or Pool. Malte von der Lancken, does bookings for the highly reputed club Uebel & Gefährlich and is responsible for tons of great parties that clearly pushed the landscape of electronic dance music around the city of Hamburg since years.

With forced powers the trio is now setting up Polly Records, a label that is willing to push boundaries and provide a platform to artists that really try to outbreak specific genres or styles, visually and audio vise. Aware of a long-lasting tradition of great hamburg based institutions such as Smallville Records, Dial or the Golden Pudel Club, Polly will certainly continue that road but perhaps in another vehicle for example a sportscar with butterfly doors.

After Speckman's "Bumpers" EP which is going to be released in late summer, the label wants to introduce another hamburg based talent, that been kept hidden for too long. Stay tuned.

Impetus verbindet als Vinyl-Ausgabe die 3-Track Single 'Passive Restraints' mit den Songs 'Pile Driver' und 'Impetus'. Als 25th Anniversary erscheint diese 12" auf weissem Vinyl und auf 300 Einheiten limitiert.

Liberation is the latest evolution by David West, a dedicated underground dweller and traveler with his groups Rat Columns and Rank/Xerox and previously spotted in Lace Curtain and Total Control. Many familiar elements of West's songwriting creep out from the speakers this time around, albeit in a sonically more adventurous and personal manner. Swathed in analogue and FM synths, pinned down by near-funk drum machines, and with a vision expanded into the past and future. While in previous incarnations, West's alienated and fragile vocal has battled with jangling guitars and distortion, Liberation sets free his woes and ruminations into space. Taking inspiration from the heyday of Mute Records, the beginnings of electronic dance music's rudimentary sampling, broken and sound art, Liberation's debut LP is 10 songs of the road, about the nameless ghosts on the highway, accidental lovers, the alienation of the stranger in a strange land, the unbearable weight of freedom.
Beginning with a curveball, Liberation's first vocal sets out the position of the forever-cuckold, the sad lover hanging on: Looking For A Lover combines a Roland 707's loping mid-tempo with creeped-out synth lines as West intones his intentions close to the ear. Continuing in a more baroque manner, Move Me makes astounding use of string samples and space, with esteemed engineer Mikey Young's (Total Control / Eddy Current Suppression Ring) production prowess making for a distilled yet inviting loneliness. Forget is the night-drive centerpiece of the album, a 7 minute that erupts into a nihilistic sub-disco darkness. A constant theme of Liberation is the friction between West's characters: a frustrated love in victim-status paired with a menacing intent. The adorable, fragile stalker in the moonlight, illuminated by Whatever You Want, a
subjugated protagonist offering they have while the city burns. The brightest pop moment of the album has this in abundance: Cold And Blue, a classic synth pop jam to be played on repeat til the end of time, like New Order played by one man in his bedroom, with no drugs for a cushion, coming down the stairs, she looks like a perfect fear and Im a monument to your existence. But West has moments of touching sincerity that speak direct to the listener, as in album highlight Leaves Falling; a sparse string arrangement frames his vocal, "why do I keep falling for you I must just really like to be alone." Liberation is the freedom from attachments, about how sometimes they're what you want most.

blue marbled vinyl

Tim Reaper ​returns to ​Lobster Theremin​ with a weighty masterclass of all things old school jungle, rave and D&B. 2020 has been a massive year for the rising London-based DJ/producer Tim Reaper, with an impressive output of twelves on labels such as 7th Storey Projects, Repertoire, Beyond Electronix & his own imprint Future Retro. On top of this, Reaper was also nominated in the ‘Best Producer’ category at this years DJ Mag awards, as well as the ‘Best Remix/Edit’ category. 2020 has paved the way for what is set to be a massive future from the versatile producer, his infectious brand of high energy jungle & D&B is making him the producer on everyones lips. His latest outing ‘Teletext’ EP for London based record label ​Lobster Theremin ​explores deep all things bass driven, head high rave breaks sit on top of euphoric vocals and synth patterns, creating a feel good masterpiece. Tim joins forces with long time friend & collaborator ​Devnull​ on two tracks, blending both of the producers individual sounds into a hybrid mash up, which works oh so good.

2023 Repress

The record that kicked of the International Chrome label is back due to popular demand. The Hacker & Jensen Interceptor combine their powers with Trigger Zone - three fresh tracks of machine funk.

Gold Vinyl

Lael Neale still has a flip phone and there were no screens involved in the creation of her new record Star Eaters Delight. The album is her second for Sub Pop and reveals an expansion of her sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Guy Blakeslee. In April of 2020, in the wake of transformations both personal and global, Lael moved from Los Angeles back to her family's farm in rural Virginia. Looking at the world from a distance and getting in tune with her own rhythms, she wrote and recorded steadily for two dreamlike years, driven by a need to make order out of chaos. Forged in isolation, Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She says, "Acquainted with Night (recorded in 2019, and released in 2021), was focused inward, amidst the loud and bright Los Angeles surrounding me. It was an attempt to create spaciousness and quiet reverie within. When I moved back to the farm, I found that the unbroken silences compelled me to break them with sound. This album is more external. It is me reaching back out to the world, wanting to feel connected, to wake up, to come together again." Album opener and lead single "I Am The River" melts the ice with a dynamic explosion of minimalist transcendental pop clearly descended from the Velvet Underground's branch of modern music's family tree. Blakeslee's spare yet cinematic arrangements create an ambient space in which Neale's clear and unaffected voice can explore familiar themes in an unexpected way. Subtle but potent references to Shakespeare, Emerson and the Bible (which she hasn't read) swirl together with deeply personal musings and touches of wry humor, always more optimistic than cynical. While this is a record about polarities- country vs. city, humanity vs. technology, solitude vs. relationship - the deeper intention is to heal; to come to terms with our differences and put the broken pieces back together again. Lael's affinity with the Transcendentalists has to do with her quest to hold onto sovereignty over her own mind. In a time when our devices are constantly flooding us with information, opinions and propaganda, Lael is intentional about what she takes in - hence the flip phone and the cassette recorder. Neale identifies as a minimalist "not because I don't like things, but because I value freedom more."

Tape

Lael Neale still has a flip phone and there were no screens involved in the creation of her new record Star Eaters Delight. The album is her second for Sub Pop and reveals an expansion of her sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Guy Blakeslee. In April of 2020, in the wake of transformations both personal and global, Lael moved from Los Angeles back to her family's farm in rural Virginia. Looking at the world from a distance and getting in tune with her own rhythms, she wrote and recorded steadily for two dreamlike years, driven by a need to make order out of chaos. Forged in isolation, Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She says, "Acquainted with Night (recorded in 2019, and released in 2021), was focused inward, amidst the loud and bright Los Angeles surrounding me. It was an attempt to create spaciousness and quiet reverie within. When I moved back to the farm, I found that the unbroken silences compelled me to break them with sound. This album is more external. It is me reaching back out to the world, wanting to feel connected, to wake up, to come together again." Album opener and lead single "I Am The River" melts the ice with a dynamic explosion of minimalist transcendental pop clearly descended from the Velvet Underground's branch of modern music's family tree. Blakeslee's spare yet cinematic arrangements create an ambient space in which Neale's clear and unaffected voice can explore familiar themes in an unexpected way. Subtle but potent references to Shakespeare, Emerson and the Bible (which she hasn't read) swirl together with deeply personal musings and touches of wry humor, always more optimistic than cynical. While this is a record about polarities- country vs. city, humanity vs. technology, solitude vs. relationship - the deeper intention is to heal; to come to terms with our differences and put the broken pieces back together again. Lael's affinity with the Transcendentalists has to do with her quest to hold onto sovereignty over her own mind. In a time when our devices are constantly flooding us with information, opinions and propaganda, Lael is intentional about what she takes in - hence the flip phone and the cassette recorder. Neale identifies as a minimalist "not because I don't like things, but because I value freedom more."

This album is a soundtrack for an unfinished science fiction film made in the Fylde coast area some time ago. The music is a behind the scenes journey exploring the movie and the central character Phocus, each track an exposition into the duality of actions, on and off screen.
Warped and detached audio set to atomic shot on video era visuals represents the atmosphere to this low budget thriller’s vivid running commentary.
The album arrives on heavy weight vinyl with screen shot artwork from the film. Audio mastering by Bola.

Als Pioniere des Goth 'n' Roll suchen THE 69 EYES seit mittlerweile 33 Jahren die Bühnen dieser Welt heim und wurden somit zu einem wahrlich unsterblichen Teil der Dark Rock/Metal-Szene.

Allgemein auch bekannt als die Helsinki Vampires hat das Quintett mit Kultalben wie "Blessed Be" und "Paris Kills" mehrmals Platin erreicht und in ihrem Heimatland Finnland nicht nur die Spitze der Single- und Albumcharts dominiert, sondern auch allgemein die Welt in einen
sündigen Kosmos aus Liebe, Tod und Melancholie gestürzt, und dabei mehr Langlebigkeit als jeder andere Act bewiesen, der damals aus dem Goth Hype der frühen 2000er entstand.

Mit der Weiterentwicklung ihres Sounds in Richtung Sleaze Rock auf "Devils"(2004) und "Angels"(2007), der majestätisch-dunklen Stimme und den Elvis-Moves von Sänger Jyrki 69, hat sich die Band mit ihren 12 Alben weltweit eine große Fanbasis aufgebaut und durch
unablässige Touren in Europa, Amerika, Asien und Australien weiter gefestigt. Mit dem neuen "Death Of Darkness" eröffnen sie ein neues Hard Rock Kapitel ihrer langen Karriere und bleiben ihrem Sound weiter treu.

Als Pioniere des Goth 'n' Roll suchen THE 69 EYES seit mittlerweile 33 Jahren die Bühnen dieser Welt heim und wurden somit zu einem wahrlich unsterblichen Teil der Dark Rock/Metal-Szene.

Allgemein auch bekannt als die Helsinki Vampires hat das Quintett mit Kultalben wie "Blessed Be" und "Paris Kills" mehrmals Platin erreicht und in ihrem Heimatland Finnland nicht nur die Spitze der Single- und Albumcharts dominiert, sondern auch allgemein die Welt in einen
sündigen Kosmos aus Liebe, Tod und Melancholie gestürzt, und dabei mehr Langlebigkeit als jeder andere Act bewiesen, der damals aus dem Goth Hype der frühen 2000er entstand.

Mit der Weiterentwicklung ihres Sounds in Richtung Sleaze Rock auf "Devils"(2004) und "Angels"(2007), der majestätisch-dunklen Stimme und den Elvis-Moves von Sänger Jyrki 69, hat sich die Band mit ihren 12 Alben weltweit eine große Fanbasis aufgebaut und durch
unablässige Touren in Europa, Amerika, Asien und Australien weiter gefestigt. Mit dem neuen "Death Of Darkness" eröffnen sie ein neues Hard Rock Kapitel ihrer langen Karriere und bleiben ihrem Sound weiter treu.

The duo WILDES from the south of Germany, consisting of Jana Pantha and Jenny Tulipa, presents a musical mix of electro-synth-pop, post-punk and dark disco influences. After the release of their first EP “RAWWR” in 2021, their debut album entitled “KLISCHEE” will be released on 3 February 2023. Released via the Kommando 84 label, the album features 11 songs and a musical re-interpretation of German-language Neue Deutsche Welle sounds. The songs combine spoken word passages in which the singers combine a certain irony with word-playful rhymes. In addition to world-political, social issues, the songs revolve around the complexity of the new romance in love - between cosmos and stereo. The strong and experimentally avant-garde lyrics accompany the danceable pulse of the drum computer, melodic synth waves and the shimmering solos of the lead guitar.

The album “Klischee” begins with an electro-pop track that combines consistent grooves with atmo- spheric sound arrangements and a lead guitar that accompanies our journey to the moon. With the chorus’ high-pitched words, „Konsum - leg mich auf den Moon“ (“Consumption - put me on the Moon”), WILDES dryly yet humorously allude to a society that couldn’t fly “higher”.

The following cheeky song Leger in Schwarz combines impeccable post punk with influences from the NNDW scene. A short love story led by the electronic beat of the synthesizer makes the hearts of the night beat faster. With casual reduction, a guitar riff leads through the song. The guitar solo finally rounds off the plea about the longing for a good flirt.

Italo disco shimmers and pulsates on the driving song Capri. With lyrics like “Pack the boats - Vai a bordo”, Capri is a homage to the tried and tested Italo feeling with a cappucino on the terrazza, or indeed on the yacht with a view of the rocky walls of the island. An electric charge of sequencers and synth tracks acts here as a lightness of being in contrast to the porosity of the rock.

An electrifying electric guitar solo kicks off the fourth track with a mysterious invitation to Steig ein translated, get in. Hypnotised by the lights of the road, dazzled in the side mirror, a clearly repeating rhythm leads into the chorus and through the coming verses. English spoken-word lyrics add to the stoicism of the German language. The song’s great power ends with the line Lost in the dark, holding open the finale of the “Night Drive” encounter.

Digital and stereo on all channels, the distinctly tight and robust rhythm sounds in the song Apparat. A clear and simple synth melody is heard as a contrast and the electric bass gives the balance of the machine at points. Hiddenly, WILDES points here to the superior power that can control human action beyond all limits. A piece as a laudation to all the science fiction novels that play with the switching of the individual parts.

Side One of the vinyl is finalised by a song called La Grande Bellezza that motivates to dance and sing along. The punky pop craft lives through the recurring beat of the rhythm guitar. Here the focus is on the woman in all her facets. The great beauty, una donna, who can do everything as well as wanting everything and nothing...a strong woman who, however, also staggers and wants to jump off the cliff. Clearly and distinctly, the musical accompaniment of the drum machine and the accompanying synth melody reflect hidden parallel worlds and the ambiguity of character - of life? We get a desire for more and turn the round record.

The B side starts with a powerful guitar riff, complemented by a catchy and strong bassline that runs through the song. In this work, WILDES provocatively describes the West’s lust for the much-cov- eted Schwarzes Gold black gold. The song is reminiscent of the works of the band D.A.F. and thus ties in with the electronic punk sound spate.

The driving guitar riff joins in with the reduced synth bass sequence - the electro-pop song with the title Hitze (Heat) came onto the digital music market as the first single from the LP in the summer of 2022. Pulsatingly, the drum computer lets the beats vibrate to the rhythm of heated air. The duo po- etically describes heat with supercooled voices, a clarity in the sky that makes everything flow, that makes the breath dry. The work ends with a melodic synth solo.

Ich lad dich ein, I invite you - we have all said or heard this sentence before. A chance meeting of two people later leads to the altar in love. A far-reaching question that more or less arises in many love relationships at some point “Do you dare?” positions itself in lyrical contrast to the simple ques- tion in the refrain “Do you need sugar?”. WILDES plays with laconic poetry and, full of irony, makes the listeners think about living together. Krautrock contours are skilfully used in this piece. Reduced to the essentials, the chorus immediately sticks in the ear. A cheerful mix of steel drums and infec- tious solo.

Toccami - touch me! We sit on padded leather chairs - “you’re a rocket! Peng Puff Peng” - this song by the band WILDES joins experimental art-punk-pop, electronically with flowing synth waves we take off immediately. Melodically sung, lyrical layers of lyrics dance loosely light and gracefully in the ears of the viewer. The rhythmic beat visualises the feeling of floating in a spaceship. It’s love in the universe - “I love you, my darling” sounds tipsy in the beat-heavy disco refrain.

Hypnotically, WILDES launches into the final song of the entire LP. The title Zone takes us on a journey through time. Inspired by the film Stalker, we find ourselves in a science fiction setting that couldn’t be more present in today’s European events. The musicality of the electric guitar riffs ac- companied by simple new wave drums drives the listener into unknown realms.

Repetition and electronic synth sounds play a compositional role alongside rocking guitar riffs like their forerunners in the NDW scene. Lyrically, each song varies between pop-romantic and politically critical passages. Listeners start pondering about hedonistic life and its consequences. Sometimes it feels like listening to a Tarantino soundtrack in German, other times it feels like listening to an 80s track by a James Bond. Science fiction fantasies and reality add up in dadaistic theatricality to spir- ited synthpunk of the New German Wave from the South. Discoid beats and driving drums in digital are included.

The Hippo Sound System is a collective formed in 2018 by Bristol UK’s notorious ‘samba junglist’ DJ Hiphoppapotamus.
"Origins" is their long-awaited debut album!
Touring the festival scene across the UK and Europe their explosive live performances have earned them a well trusted reputation for blowing up dancefloors, moving feet and uplifting souls! Their tracks have been featured on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 6 by Jeremiah Asiamiah, Don Letts and Craig Charles. Don Letts also included their track “Into The Jungle” on his “Best of 2020” round up.
Fusing their favourite elements of world music and sound system culture, they explore new possibilities between musical cultures, fusing ancestral rhythms with modern dance music.
Percussive rhythms and heavy bass drive this vibe train as this Hippo and his percussionist/production partner, Munki, draw influence from all over, Including Afro/Latin/world music, Jazz, Hip Hop, House, Breaks, Dub, Drum and Bass & Jungle for their productions. The result? A uniquely high energy and psychedelic global bass sound – complete with the flair of live musicians and the exciting builds and drops of bass music!
Passionate about collaboration with both their recordings and performances, they often call
upon guest features from artists such as K.O.G, Franz Von, Simo Lagnawi (Electric Jalaba), MC Spyda, Dr Syntax and many more. With almost no tempo untouched from 70-180BPM, they’re an extremely eclectic and versatile band that can customise sets for most stages and occasions.