quête:bang bang
New Zealand based EBM auteur Body Beat Ritual makes his debut on Bergerac with an incendiary EP of full throttle intense dark wave bangers. Growing up in North West England immersed in hardcore punk and rave culture led to musical experiments and Body Beat Ritual is his unique splicing of both aesthetics.
Using a combination of hardware, audio samples and midi sequencing, Body Beat Ritual reclaims the moment when underground musicians in Manchester, Chicago and Ghent put down their guitars and picked up drum machines and sequencers bringing the intensity, rawness and aggression of the band environment to the dancefloor. Mortal Sin is a certified smasher. Absolute dancefloor decimation whenever it's played out. No more description necessary. No Mercy evokes the Lost Boys vibe with an equally high octane raw workout. Trent Reznor meets Jeff Mills at a DAF gig on a flatliner. The EP closes with Body Politics which lowers the tempo to a chuggier zone, with an ode to female empowerment which keeps up that Body Beat pressure and intensity.
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A Site-specific Recording Sporting A Straightforward Approach That I've Grown To Love In The Works Of Gonçalo Cardoso. An Album Of Modern Day Exotica, A Genre I Usually Pretty Much Dislike, Yet Cardoso Steers His Vehicle Easily Aside The Trapdoors And Potholes.
Combining Found Sounds, Sparse Playing And Field Recordings He Creates A World That Both Invokes Treasure Island, And An Essay On Exoticism. Indeed Questions Are Raised. But Especially Beautiful Emotions Are Shared. Cardoso Acts Both Like The Journalist And The Aesthetic. Sometimes He Just Registers, As Being The Observer At The Sideline, Sometimes He Alters And Collages The Material Into New Worlds.
The Isle Of Unguja Is The Great Scene Of This Album. We Hear The Sound Of Water, Suddenly Interrupted By Beautiful Chorals Or The Strumming Of String Instruments, A Drum Beat. We Hear The Local Fisherman Talk While The Shortwave Radio Becomes The Symbol Of The White Man Seeking Truth And Direction In The Tropics. Its Dial As A Tool To Reflect. This Album Invokes A Certain Nostalgia For Age-old Enthnographies, Like A Romantic Letter From The Tropics. A Hymn Of Solitude, In Awe Of The Nonhuman And Human Elements. Like Photography, Through Various Compositions - Stills From A Moment - To Shed Light Upon The Unique - Universal Process Of A Place.
"all The Recordings Were Made During Our Month Long Stay In A Beach Hut In The Main Island Of The Zanzibar Archipelago, Unguja Aka Zanzibar Island. Unlike Other Beach/island Locations The Scenery There Was Very Dynamic And Ever Changing. The Colours Would Change With Every Tide Creating A New Washed Out Landscape Everyday.
There Are A Lot Of Recordings Of Tides (they Have 3km Tides Everyday!), Of Walking Around In Low Tide, Of The Tidal Waves Banging Against Our Hut At Night, Of Sailing In Wooden Dhows, Fishermen Talking And Sand Washing Their Dhows, Of Walking At Night In The Village As Well As Some Fm/am Radio Improvs. A Lot Of What You Hear Was Done On The Spot With Some Minor Adjustments Done Later. (g F Cardoso)"
Gonçalo Cardoso Is The Man Behind The Prolific Discrepant Recordlabel And Composes Under His Own Name And The Moniker Gonzo. He Recently Traveled In Middle And Southern America.
Ascetic Limited is shifting gears, focusing on solo EPs dedicated to the artists that form the collective. To kick it off they present an EP from renowned Milanese techno producer Wrong Assessment, who throughout his career in techno has proven himself to be one of the most interesting producers coming out of Italy. From his collaborative works with the late Max_M as Overall Severity to his solo works as Wrong Assessment, his tracks are always unique. Influences ranging from minimal to hard pounding techno bangers, through house grooves and ambient arrangements, he still is able to transmit his sound and vision with his music.
Wrong Assessment's 8th Floor EP is comprised by (A1) Asceta - an ambient downtempo immersion that washes over the listener in preparation for what's to come. (A2) Empire, is a clear example of the great sound that Wrong Assessment has developed throughout the years, winding synth lines and driving techno beats with a great minimalist approach to sound. The title track, (B1) 8th Floor - a bouncy, playful track filled with great ambiance that can fit into any DJ set and will drive the audience to the dance floor. Ending the EP on a heavy note, (B2) Radial brings heavy kicks and strong ambient works mixed with intense techno beats and brooding synth lines that will have the dance floor going insane.
Ascetic Limited presents Wrong Assessment's 8th Floor EP as their 5th release and second EP on the label
Longtime friends and production partners Ali Çakir and Soren Jahan launch their new label Hörru with a 4 track EP. Hörru will focus on releasing vinyl from Düve as well as personal projects from Soren, Ali and friends. Konsekvenser is a reduced house banger for the club, 808 live jam style. Nej takes things a step back and with a little more attitude, saying no to you in the crowd. Uzay Kök is a hard dripping trance exploration. Beluc closes the EP with a dialog between voice, flute and Eliot Bates on the oud.
Garage Shelter aka Signal ST is a french producer who did mainly tracks for skylax under the name Garage Shelter that has been praised by BEN UFO, MOVE D or MAD REY (D.ko). He signed also some eps on Midi - deux & House puff (DJ Steaw). He's also behing the Bleu Blanc House project (with hardrock striker label's head honcho). We've been following him for years now, the result is obvious : another storming disco house classic. Bangers ! SKYLAX RECORDS 4 EVER
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* Arikon is a solo project of Berlin-based drummer & producer, Arik Hayut - half of doom-tech duo Gainstage with Pierce Warnecke. Loyal to the sonic concepts of Gainstage, Arikon presents The Prophet's Blood Is Boiling, a solo enterprise into deepest 'drum & drone'. Hypnotizing distorted polyrhythms puncture through shards of fragmented melodies, producing potent mixtures of desperate tin can banging, a panoramic sonic scope, and the bleakest of soundsystem nightmares. Across the album, Arikon deploys an arsenal of samples plus electronic, acoustic, and self-constructed percussion instruments, constructing eight powerful productions that manage to embody both brute force and delicate decay.
* Formerly active in Tel Aviv's leftfield experimental scene during the 90's, Hayut made Berlin his permanent home for working on his own projects while composing and performing music for off-theater and contemporary dance. In 2004, a severe health crisis initially threw Hayut into crisis, slowing down his activity to a standstill. However, the precarious process of his fortunate recovery contributed to Hayut involving himself more deeply with concepts of time, death, and decay.
* Inspired by the decadent still life paintings of the Flemish Baroque, the cover artwork for The Prophet's Blood Is Boiling comprises a bowl of decomposing fruit. Like the music, its aim is to illustrate the beauty and perfection of the decay process, whilst also referring to the West's hyper-capitalistic, technology-centric culture. In recent years a new form of 'digital life' has been born, whereby all data - regardless of its worth or importance - is mummified, reproduced, and distributed with no real disintegration or loss in quality. This new digital life is resulting in a sort of 'frozen death', ending the hitherto natural cycle of life.
* The songs on themselves are inspired by the 'beasts of holiness' - mythological monsters that appear in the Hebrew bible and the Jewish apocrypha (non-canonical scriptures). There's the punching of bassy thuds out of an oceanic ambient swell throughout 'Tanin Gadol', named after the ancient water monster of Babylonian times. The dense net of fumbling scrapes and amp-busting hits of noise on 'Nahash Akalaton' similarly refer to a titular sea-snake monster, its tendrils lashing out of the speakers aggressively. These demons symbolize a force of evil equal in power, yet in direct opposition to the monotheistic deity of their time. They were therefore neither acknowledged nor canonized in much dominant scripture. Arikon invokes these demons across The Prophet's Blood Is Boiling, setting them loose across these gnarled noisy chambers of pummeling percussion and cracked sampled detritus.
Second Circle is proud to announce it's tenth release to date with a new EP from L.A. producer Benedek. 'Earlyman Dance' was recorded at Benedek's studio in Koreatown, Los Angeles and fuses mechanistic rhythms and synth work as well as live percussion and trumpet played by friends Chris Parise and Anthony Calonico.
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With five vibed out compositions of coyote jazz, dance floor fusion and canyon bangers, 'Earlyman Dance' is an ode to the urban and natural landscapes of LA, late night noir and early morning sunrises, accented with Benedek's signature chord progressions, bouncing bass lines, meticulous drum programming and dubbed out trumpet.
For its third release, Here To Hell welcomes Melbourne (via Adelaide) veteran, Rambl, and his incredible groover 'Doss'.
This third release on the label happened purely by surprise, and what a discovery! The track itself is no accident, but the signing took place after a chance encounter. Richard Campbell aka Rambl, who is one of Melbourne's best and most consistent DJs since the last two decades, had developed a small cult following of viewers via facebook, where he had been providing live video coverage of Australia's wild weather in a kind of comedy-weatherman format. Once these updates caught our attention, the magical facebook algorithm placed all of his content at the top of our feed.
One day his video moved away from the wild South Australian coast and into the studio. Rich - who we also know for his huge stature akin to an NBA basketballer, and his brain for Mathematics and Computational Biology - was bopping that giant brain up and down and making his 'bass face', with a mixing desk and some speakers (and some beers) in the background. The soundtrack to this video was completely mesmerising. We sent him a private message immediately: 'what the hell is THIS!!!'
His reply: 'This is one of mine, it's not finished yet but it feels good'. Our reply: 'It feels INCREDIBLE!!! Finish it and let's put it on wax!'
So today we bring you 'Doss' and we expect you'll love it.
On the flipside we've invited another Melbourne man, Sly Faux, to demonstrate why he's appearing in the playlists of Richie Hawtin and Maceo Plex, and why his EP on Nicole Moudaber's Mood was a bestseller. He's also just remixed The Presets and continues to impress with his tight productions. Sly Faux's remix takes the original Detroit-inspired techno-funk and twists it into a different kind of main room banger.
After welcoming Saule with an appearance on SUBALT015, the incredibly talented producer steps up for a full EP on Subaltern - a tour de force of distinctive, dark and original productions.
*A: Gorilla Glue
Starting off the EP with a bang is 'Gorilla Glue', a heavy-hitting collaboration with original Subaltern badmen D-Operation Drop - pressure is the name of the game. A sinister intro paves the way to a stomping bass-line topped up with growling synth layers, which culminate into a captivating melody that will stick with you. Get ready for the ride!
*B1: World 8
'World 8' dives into a video game-like vibe through quirky 8 bit synths playfully matched with a massive wall of bass. Gnarly breaks round off a masterful execution of sub and space alternating in a trippy scenario: Super Mario had a little bit too many mushrooms this time...
*B2: Close Chatter
Moody dark pads set a bewitched vibe in 'Close Chatter' a goose-bump inducing drop will leave you constantly hungry for more. An oddly pleasing journey, this is the typical b side-that-could-have-been-a-side track.
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Techno Industrial Banging pearl !
Good news, kids: Now you can play a different Kitjen record every day of the week, because just as last summer, we have some hot Dutch jams coming your way for Kitjen 007: Utrecht's own Stijn Sadée, who has been making moves in the Dutch scene for a while and runs the infamous Club Sauvage night, brings us three mystically exotic joints that showcase his manifold sources of inspiration and will bang your gong this summer. None other than Hessen's love doctor Gerd Janson stops by to seal the deal by turning "Affetto" into a 12 minute dancefloor journey. Pack light!
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Blocaus series is proud to present 'Alpha Wave', their second various artists compilation includes 4 tracks of different varieties of great raw pounding techno that stretches from melodic / hypnotic trips to industrial bangers along with great grooves and soundscapes featuring the well respected Kangding Ray as well as some of the most talented producers from the new French generation ABSL, Raar and Rubarb. A strong team that brings the solid vibe together in the 5th record of the label.
Camea's latest release on her imprint Neverwhere pays homage to her hometown Seattle's original underground rave warehouse, NAF Studios, where she went dancing in the late 90s and began her journey that ultimately landed her in Berlin. Also where Nirvanna's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' video was filmed (and ironically now a Catholic publishing house), the hedonistic venue is legendary to those who picked up rave flyers scattered on the streets of Seattle and took a chance on an emerging new electronic music scene. Both originals reflect the raw warehouse vibe of this era, and Matrixxman and Markus Suckut have weighed in with heavy remixes. Markus puts his signature on the NAF 97 original with a deep space atmospheric techno banger, and Matrixxman reworks the original 303 recordings in Jack U, sending it into another dimension - and even further.
Presenting 'Envelope'. Album written, produced & mixed by Milan W. and pressed on 180g vinyl, by Ekster. Coming out on the 6th of June 2018, with foil-stamped cover-drawing by Gerard Herman. Mastered & cut by Helmut Erler at Dubplates & Mastering.
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Milan W (AKA Milan Warmoeskerken) is an Antwerp-based musician. In 2015 he released the Slo Mo cassette, on local label JJ Funhouse. The Intact LP a year later. Compositions constructed from gentle, yet persistent, rhythms. Intricately textured downtempo echoes. Brain-dancing, rather than four-to-the-floor raving. 2017`s split with Ekolalis, for The Hague`s BAKK, made clear the direction Milan`s headed in. His contribution being a seventeen minute float. The kick largely removed. The textures cut-up, expanded and magnified. Envelope, for Ekster, builds on this work.
The harlequin turns the handle. The contraption sucks in air, and breathes. Blows out tone poems. Wordless ballads that soundtrack enchanted scenarios. Issues forth magic. A sorcerer`s apprentice casting its spell. Animating the inanimate. To everything a life. Sets the frozen fluttering. Pirouetting in red shoes. Illuminates what was dark. Astma sings a Gamelan lullaby. Summons comforting angels to a post-Industrial landscape. Glaasjes has Jazz ghosts inhabit an empty bar room. Spirits stealing excuse-me`s under its deserted spot. In Limbo amplifies their whispers. Lead soldiers court jewellery-box ballerinas behind shuttered shop fronts. On Heraldic Snippets, a tin infantry marches. Ten thousand men up to the top, and back down again. Keys make-believing that they are massed brass and fife.
The bellows pump, and the pipes all the while wheezing. An automaton philharmonic at the bidding of a steam-punk master. Analogue and digital. Clockwork and glitch. Malady finds sounds isolated, extrapolated, mutated. Orchestral`s organ-grinder moves with urgency, and alchemy. Spinning straw into gold. Snare rolls become bubbling mercury. Metallic, yet fluid. Racing at the speed of flight and escape. Slope is the music of water chasing through crystal caves. Slow Runner, a funeral crawl. Shoved into motion by a drama of strings remembered.
Like the charismatic Rat-Catcher of Hamelin, the harlequin turns the handle, and we bang the cup.
* Following on from last year's debut release on Cold Recordings, Cocktail Party Effect makes a welcome return to the imprint with 4 new genre-melting rhythmical workouts, charged and ready for the dancefloor.
* 'Lemons', the eponymous EP title track, kicks things off, opening with dubbed-out chords and a fidgety, rattling percussive loop which eventually disappears into the background as the breakdown primes itself for the drop. Suddenly, in comes a hyperactive rhythmical workout, rolling at 128bpm but turbo charged with double time percussive flicks. Soon the dub elements return to fill out the sonic, keeping the pace lively and engaging. Quality, effective dancefloor music.
* Following straight on is 'Bangers' which almost sounds like an imagined collaboration between JA rhythms stars of the moment, Equiknoxx and Walton or Batu. Squelchy drums and a t'umping bassline roll things out in fine style.
* Flip the plate then for 'Quite' which brings things back into slightly more familiar territories, utilising a swooping bassline as pitched, deranged vocal stabs swirl about and tight drum programming keeps the pace moving. Last up is 'Flat Football' which returns to a similar form as the title track, 'Lemons'. Manic drum programming is used to create the impression of being in fast forward without moving the tempo over 130bpm! Not for the faint hearted.
