Search:by design

Composer, improviser, and Buchla Music Easel master Charles Cohen returns to Morphine with a suite of new material.
In keeping with the timbre spectrum of his semi-modular system, Brother I Prove You Wrong is built around pointillist analog tones—Cohen's cosmic "beeps and boops"—that swarm and scatter in mesmeric patterns across four sides. Moving through surrealistic textural overlays and industrial miasma, the album's nine tracks reveal a more introspective and personal side of the artist, following from a retrospective LP trilogy released via Morphine in 2013. Those assembled works, dating back to the late '70s, quickly became essential listening and brought Cohen—at the time largely unknown outside Philadelphia's experimental circuit—to critical renown.

Brother I Prove You Wrong was recorded in Berlin in September 2014 using the Buchla Music Easel, with production help and support from Rabih Beaini. Mastered by Neel and curated and designed by Tank Boys; cover art by Nathalie du Pasquier.

Recorded in 2014, Stranger Than You marks a conscious return to the sounds and styles explored on their debut album Swimming in 1982. There's a strong element of reconnection,' explains singer/songwriter (and bassist) Michel Sordinia. Yet at the same time it's also about developing your own legitimate strangeness, just as the great Surrealist poet Rene Char invited his readers to do. A new mystery singing in your bones.'

Michel and guitarist Marc Deprez are joined by new members Laurent Loddewyckx (drums) and Christophe Boulenger (keyboards and piano). Stand-out tracks include the dynamic title track, Kids On Fire and quickfire Boy With A Gun, as well as more contemplative, elegiac numbers such as Lights and My Angel of Death.

The cover art is an original painting by long term Names associate Benoit Hennebert, celebrated for his work as design director for Les Disques du Crepuscule, with portrait photography by Peter Staessens. The double vinyl edition is housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve and includes a free digital download code.

Following their debut EP for Going Good we have here a rare glimpse of a live action performed by Aquarian Foundation at an unknown location. Existing solely on a discarded cassette tape until now, the "Mind Miniatures" LP finally gets a full limited vinyl (& cassette) release.

This record is designed to get lost in. A departure from the dance-floor. An exercise in deeper listening. Just under one hour of dusted ambient electronic meanderings broadcast live from the depths of the Canadian riviera.

"Mind Miniatures" will be available from all good record stores worldwide early Feb 2015.

The eighth chapter of the Subaltern Records saga comes from Italian collective D-Operation Drop, celebrating their return to the label with a dark menacing EP that has shaken dancefloors all over the world.
Don't Breathe:
The title track opens the EP with an apocalyptic vocal which is quickly complemented by roaring synth-monsters and a stone-cold sub bass. This is the obscure side of D-Operation Drop manifesting, taking you to the edge of the dance with relentless fury.
Flumen:
This unreal collaboration with Subaltern's very own Piezo is a continuously evolving journey. Starting off with gentle harmonies, it quickly erupts into a carefully curated symphony of driving bass and cutting edge mids. Carried by truly haunting atmospheres, Flumen builds up and falls down over and over, until finishing in a mad broken-beat turmoil.

*Don't Breathe (Wayfarer Remix):
British young talent Wayfarer shows his takes on the title track adding his trademark melodies and devastating growls. With his razor-sharp sound design and production the man delivers a tight dancefloor stomper which will pose a challenge for most sound systems, driving them to full power.

This EP was made during a period where my whole outlook on everything was transforming. The Voidloss project started as an investigation, I was conducting a lot of research and study on the mind, the occult, on different thought modes, and the Voidloss project represented this. The idea was about a leap in to the void. A leap of abandonment into the dark, with total acceptance, total commitment. The idea was to lose myself to the void. This was mainly a spiritual journey for me, and could be best explained by 3 things, the void of Miyamoto Musashi from Go Rin No Sho, The concept of the Tao from the writings of Lao Tzu, and the concept of the abyss from the works of Aleister Crowley. Part of this journey deep inside the self was frightening and horrific, the total loss of self, of all identity and ego, and part of it was beautiful and enlightening. I wanted the music to reflect this, and I wanted the music to change as I changed, as I went to and through all these interesting places. In essence this was about freedom. So fast forward some years and I felt I had sharpened my mind quite effectively, the music had twisted and changed and flowed with me. At the point I began making the music for this EP, I had grown quite angry with the amount of conformity I was perceiving in life. Politically, socially, musically, there was this drive of conformity in the world. I think part of it, and only a part, comes from the prevalence of social media, the need to belong and to be liked, the idea of judging yourself and your works through the perception of others. Musically I felt that within techno there was a tendency for the music to fit within a set of confines dictated by fashion and hype, and this was reducing the diversity of the music, it seemed also that the practices of commercial music were seeping in to techno as the music became more popular. Hype and business driven decisions, brand building and so on. I always felt techno was more about art, and I began to get frustrated. Equally I felt that politically there was less and less choice, as all decisions seemed to lead to the same outcomes. I became more interested in the concept of anarchism, of the idea that government was no longer needed. I have always in my life had a drive to question everything. I've always been 'naughty' and rebellious and done things my way, to my advantage or my disadvantage, I could never accept being anything other than myself all the way. If everyone walks in one direction, I will walk the other way, even if it takes me over the edge of a precipice, just to see what is there. All this stuff influences my music, and during the period of making this EP I was angry, kicking against the things I no longer liked or wanted, screaming dissent. There is a lot of anger and rage, and of course rebellion. I wanted the music to capture that unbridled fury you have when you are in your late teens, when you just start learning about yourself and you start rebelling and questioning things around the time the world is really pushing you to conform. I was soundtracking my own philosophical riot. Previous to this my Voidloss stuff had been more introverted, more pensive and melancholy, more self destructive, more cerebral. For this new music I wanted something more immediate but without being too obvious. In terms of the choices I made I still leaned more towards broken rhythms for beat structure. I find it very difficult to do anything interesting with 4x4 kicks any more, it's too rigid for me, it limits my freedom. I like the looseness you get from more 'drummer' like beats, I guess probably because I have been playing drums all my life. The challenge is to get the same rolling power from broken rhythms as you get from 4 to the floor. It's not easy, there is a ridiculous amount of trial and error and the rejection percentage is high. I also was trying to use less 'synthy' sounds. I wanted to try to take a more acousmatic approach to sound design. With the current modular synth revival in techno I was hearing a lot of 'old' synth sounds re-emerging, and this didn't seem like a progression to me. I wanted to make sounds that were hard to source for the listener, where they weren't sure if it was synth or real world sample, digital or analogue. This involved a lot of experimentation. My process involved a lot of field recording, especially with contact microphones, which open up a whole new world of interesting sounds. You are effectively recording sounds through objects in the environment, 'hearing' the world as these objects hear them, I was using guitars, feedback loops, handmade instruments as well. So I was combining this with different synthesis, granular synthesis, sample synthesis, physical modelling, FM synthesis and of course analogue. Everything was reprocessed and re-synthesised, I tried hard to obscure the source and make something new as much as possible. The stuff on this EP was part of my live PA for some time, so as I learned how the music worked live I could go back and make changes, sometimes the environment I was playing in transformed the sound as well, and so I would try to go back an incorporate this in to the music. For remixes I wanted to choose artists that I respected for their vision as well as for their output, so my list of people I wanted was extremely short. Inigo Kennedy has always been an artist I have respected greatly. His music has always been unique to himself, he remains outside of fashions and trends even though his name has become very big recently. He takes risks with his work, experimenting and exploring, yet remaining relevant to the club, and just tirelessly forging ahead, seemingly for the sake of art above all else. And he's just a really nice guy to deal with. His remix is everything I expected it to be in that it is the unexpected. Regis is another artist who forges his own path in music, you cant really even begin to discuss the avantgarde in techno without including his name, he is one of the foundation stones for artistry and the outsider mentality in techno. His music is always unique to his own vision, and along with it comes an interesting artistic philosophy taking in situationism, post punk and industrial ideology and a good dose of tricksterism ala PT Barnum, all of which comes out in his music and the way it is presented. The man is a truly singular force and it is an honour to have him on this record. Overall the concept here is that of rebellion and dissent. Of asking questions, following your own path, of maintaining some place in yourself that burns like a forest fire.

Whether or not I have succeeded I guess is down to the listener, I'm never happy with my music, I keep wanting to move forwards, or somewhere else, and am constantly trying and failing to capture some essence of perfection. But like Bukowski said
'It's the only good fight there is'

Requiem for a dreamstate. It's possibly somewhere between heaven, hell and high water, down the Thames Delta towards Eden. It may involve techno and a distorted state or simply mates sat listening to music together, drifting on the open sea of their minds. This is Jon Hopkins' world, not so much joining the dots as colouring the whole damn picture in.

After releasing his debut album 'Opalescent' at the rookie age of 21 in 1999, he's gone on to work with Brian Eno and David Holmes, produced King Creosote and via Eno, worked on three Coldplay albums. He released the breakthrough album 'Immunity' in 2013, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

The story arc with which Hopkins succeeded on 'Immunity' makes its appearance on Late Night Tales too with a perfectly sculpted excursion on this widescreen mix. . Opening with the unreleased 'Sleepers Beat Theme' by composer Ben Lukas Boysen, ghostly pianos skip elegantly hither and thither, among rising strings, as on Darkstar's 'Hold Me Down'. Nils Frahm is here, his sonic palette perfect for the job, while labelmate A Winged Victory For The Sullen contribute 'Requiem For The Static King Part I'. Sigur Ros offshoot Jónsi & Alex's heroic 'Daniell In The Sea' sends us forth towards the Baltic with tears streaming.

Beats occasionally appear, as on the Grace Jones-sampling 'Yr Love' by Holy Other or the pair of Black Country acts Bibio and Letherette, whose 'After Dawn' is almost spry in comparison to the minor key symphonies on display here. The perfect contrast to this comes from Alela Diane's wistful 'Lady Divine' or even Four Tet's mesmerising 'Gillie Amma I Love You', with its enchanting kids' choir. Exclusive to this release, Jon Hopkins provides a startlingly vulnerable new piano version of Yeasayer's 'I Remember'.

Poet and fellow Brian Eno collaborator (their joint album 'Drums Between The Bells' was released by Warp in 2011) Rick Holland narrates the exclusive spoken word closer 'I Remember', underpinned with additional sound design by Hopkins.

"Putting this album together was a unique opportunity for me to present music that I have been listening to for years, free from the constraints of a club setting or from trying to stick to one genre. I chose tracks not just because they have been important to me but because of how they sit together, putting as much thought into the transitions and overall narrative as I did into the track choices. I mixed by key and by texture more than anything else, using original sound design, pivot notes, and often recording new synth or piano parts to link things together in a way that flows as naturally as possible." - Jon Hopkins, December 2014

Following the digital premiere of the track 'Nobody knows' at the beginning of September, myr. is an artist who remains shrouded in mystery. His debut EP 'Nobody knows Avalon' is set to be released through recognised Cologne label PNN on January the 19st, yet as the title suggests, still very little is known about the man behind the music.

myr.'s wish to withhold information is made obvious through the choice of track names on the EP: 'Nobody Knows', 'Avalon' and 'Homii' are all titles clearly designed to provoke the listener's curiosity, whilst upholding a sense of the enigmatic.

Although some might argue that such conscious obscurity is little more than a publicity stunt, surely at a time when the cult of DJ and celebrity are often intertwined there is something refreshing about myr.s decision to step-back. You only have to look at the homemade, monochrome videoclip that accompanies 'Nobody knows' to realise that myr. is about as removed from the glitz of DJ culture as it is possible to be.

It is this determined distancing from the norm that comes through is his music. The minimal sound is carried through by an underlying warmth, a grittiness that sets it apart from the often near-perfect production of popular techno. The first two tracks 'Nobody knows' and 'Avalon' create a sense of anticipation, with minimal, ambient beats that build, the listener is left with itchy-feet and a hankering for more. In the final track on the EP 'Homii' there is a change in tempo, the monotone beats make way for some slowed-down, trippy vocals that open the listener up to myr.'s versatility as an artist.

'Nobody knows Avalon' is an EP that represents a return to something raw and removed from popular music. As for the mystery surrounding myr. Well if you can't put a face to a sound then the only option is to listen.

Seattle/San Francisco based Techno label, From 0-1 issue "Time Dilation", a 12" vinyl/digital EP by label director, and co-owner Milkplant (Justin Pennell) of the San Francisco Bay Area. Andrei Morant and From 0-1 co-owner Sone join in as remixers. Including an endless groove and two locked grooves, this piece of vinyl is meant to be as utilitarian for the vinyl DJ as possible. 'Dimension 4' starts off the EP with a classic big room percussive Techno vibe, closing in an endless groove. Following is Andrei Morant's absolutely punishing treatment of Dimension 4, a tearing lead, and searing percussion point to the main room. Two locked grooves, one percussive, the other synth based close out side '0'. On the flip side Milkplant's 'Spherical' reps a tight "future-retro" vibe; elements of old Motor City Techno dominate with a bit of grit to keep it dirty. Sone dials in a perfect toned down, more expansive and hypnotic interpretation of Spherical showcasing slowly evolving filters and modulation fit for the wee hours of the morning. 'Plasmic' is included only as a digital extra in this release- tough, noisy, and a little tripped out with a bit of swing to keep them on the floor.


All12" vinyl jackets are custom screen printed by Bloom Press in Oakland, California, with design curation by label art director, Rubidium. Mastering and distribution by Dietrich Schoenemann of Complete USA. Marketing and promotions by Pullproxy Berlin.

The iconic and seminal Amebix album remastered and with sensational brand new design
CD features bonus unreleased live CD
Album has been out of print for some time and has been a constant seller even 30 years after its recording oAmebix reformed briefly in 2009 and recorded the highly acclaimed comeback album sonic mass to global praise
New liner notes by The Baron oUnseen photos

Roberto Auser presents the second installment on his independent label. Auser and his team combine music, video, artwork and performance creating a mindbending experience. Disturbing, horrific and liberating at the same time ... touch your fear! A real Roberto Auser signature sound in a high quality. With previous releases on Viewlexx, Bearfunk and others, this one comes in a carefully designed, beautifully silkscreened and hand numbered artwork by the man himself. Check out the sickest blend of moog music and occultness!

My Panda Shall Fly AKA musician and visual artist Suren Seneviratne, is set to release 'Tropical' It's a brand new 6 track vinyl release.

A kaleidoscope of rainbow textures and rhythms disperse into the exotic soundscape of 'Tropical'. Electronics, real folk instruments and noise-making objects feature here generously on this six-track concept album, blending together a sonic palette influenced by a rich variety of music, people and places.

The material was initially written over the course of a few months during what Seneviratne called "a beautiful burst of inspiration". Working with veteran producer Asier Leatxe Ibanez d'Opakoa (Electric Lady Studios, NYC), Seneviratne then set about disassembling all the songs and re-working them meticulously, enriching the sounds by adding a huge range of live instrumentation, before processing the audio through vintage analogue studio gear.

Suren Seneviratne, born in Sri Lanka before settling in London in 1996, first caught the attention of the music world with a remix that featured on Pitchfork back in 2010. Since then he has released a plethora of diverse records, gaining support from the likes of Clash Magazine, The Fader, Mixmag and Dazed Digital, as well as regularly touring internationally. He has also remixed the likes of The Weeknd, Stay Positive & Little Boots as well as appearing at festivals like BBC Hackney Weekender, Outlook Croatia & Glade as well as performing at prestigious venues such as The Design Museum, Tate Modern & Barbican.

With the release of 'Tropical', My Panda Shall Fly has yet again set himself apart as one of the most unique contemporary electronic musicians around today.

After his wonderful eclectic Fences Album in 2013, John Roberts is back with a brandnew Clubsingle on Dial Records.
Here again the sound design benefits from the acoustical researches and experiments John Roberts works on since years. With the A-side's Ausio he creates an enchanting floorsmasher- highly recommended by the angelic crowd of our favorite clubs Panorama Bar and Robert Johnson.
On the B- Side you will find the classic John Roberts Sound: two soulful groovers, unique and timeless.

Like the parent label, Optimo Trax will release music by new artists and excavate forgotten classics.
Optimo Trax is an offshoot label of Optimo Music for tracks aimed at DJs/dancefloors. Yes, we know there are too many record labels already, but we felt an overriding desire to start another one as so much music that didn't seem quite right for Optimo Music (i.e. music that was specifically designed for dancing) kept coming our way. Like the parent label, Optimo Trax will release music by new artists and excavate forgotten classics.


Michele Mininni is from Southern Italy where he says people are not interested in his type of music so he was forced to reach out to Glasgow where it turns out some people most defintely are. Citing his influences as kraut, post rock, new wave and electronic amongst others, this is his debut release and most accomplished it is too. Lowering the tempo somewhat compared with previous OT releases, Tupolev Love is a sub 100bpm cosmic trancer while Telekomdisko raises the tempo and heads off into sun drenched space territory. The EP is completed by Michele's fellow countrymen, Boot & Tax's great acid-inflected remix of Tupolev Love.

The Tenses is a duo comprised of Ju Suk Reet Meate and Jackie Oblivia, two veterans of the weirdo art collective that is known as the Los Angeles Free Music Society. They also form the core of legendary experimental juggernaut Smegma.

The LAFMS have been a singular force in DIY culture ever since the early seventies and encapsuled an endless string of projects and bands that married a sort of proto-punk with trashy guitars, avant-garde music, tape manipulations, free jazz, improv and absurd vocalizations into a hyper original and singular form of music. They're seen by many as the originators of noise music, and have been an immense influence on bands like Sun City Girls, Merzbow, Wolf Eyes, No Neck Blues Band, etc...

The Tenses is one of the latest vessels for Ju Suk and Jackie to explore the outer realms of sound and space. Compared to the mothership that is Smegma, it is a more compact and intimate project where turntables, tape collages, distorted surf guitar and coronet are used to create elaborate, haunted atmospheres.

After releases on Harbinger Sound and their own Pigface Records, The Tenses now add another chapter to their history with 'Howard', their new LP on Belgian imprint audioMER. 'Howard' is a mind expanding tour de force that scrambles spoken word deconstructions and spontaneous freak outs into a musical non-sequitur; a strange and disorienting trip.

Loops of voices from long lost instruction movies, shortwave radio dramas that get overrun with sirens, various non-instrumental sounds, and an bewildering stretch of Link Wray-like guitar riffs; 'Howard' is a record that oozes paranoia, the perfect soundtrack for making explosives in your basement.

Comes in a limited edition of 300 copies with artwork by Wouter Vandevoorde and design by Wouter Vanhaelemeesch and Jeroen Wille.

William Kouam Djoko returns to Voyage Direct with Deflourished. After a year with a lot of high highs and some deep lows, William found himself on the dance floor listening to a set by Chicago Footwork specialists DJ Rashaad & DJ Spinn.
William experienced what religious people might call a divine moment. All the experiences, emotions and soul searching from the previous year came together in one emotional, energetic moment. William tried to recapture all of this in his studio the next day and within hours Deflourished was created. A pure form of energy shared by William for everyone to enjoy, hopefully as much as he enjoyed creating it.

B-side Behind Closed Doors completes the package; a lot more subtle and refined than it's A-side brother. A synth-heavy, down-pitched and outstretched song that builds heavily on space, both physical and mentally. On his Sophomore Voyage Direct release William Kouam Djoko truly sets out on a voyage to discover his inner-self. The result, whether it's the expressive energy of Deflourished, or the more mesmerising gloominess of Behind Closed Doors, is beautiful to say the least.

The package is completed by a stunning video of Deflourished made by graphic designer Saša Ostaja and animator Niko Lanzuisi. The video will be launched at a special party

*The product of a move from South Carolina to Berkeley, CA and the subsequent extended separation from loved ones, Toro Y Moi's third full-length, Anything in Return, puts Chaz Bundick right in the middle of the producer/songwriter dichotomy that his first two albums established.
*There's a pervasive sense of peace with his tendency to dabble in both sides of the modern music-making spectrum, and he sounds comfortable engaging in intuitive pop production and putting forth the impression of unmediated id.
*The producer's hand is prominent- not least in the sampled "yeah"s and "uh"s that give the album a hip-hop-indebted confidence- and many of the songs feature the 4/4 beats and deftly employed effects usually associated with house music. Tracks like "High Living" and "Day One" show a considerably Californian influence, their languid funk redolent of a West Coast temperament, and elsewhere- not least on lead single, "So Many Details"- the record plays with darker atmospheres than we're used to hearing from Toro Y Moi. Sounding quite assured in what some may call this songwriter's return to producer-hood, Anything in Return is Bundick uninhibited by issues of genre, an album that feels like the artist's essence.
*Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, Chaz Bundick has been toying with various musical projects since early adolescence. Having spent his formative years playing in punk and indie rock acts, his protean Toro Y Moi project has been his vessel for further musical exploration since 2001. During his time spent studying graphic design at the University of South Carolina, Chaz became increasingly focused on his solo work, incorporating electronics and allowing a wider range of influences- French house, Brian Wilson's pop, 80s R&B, and Stones Throw hip-hop- to show up in his music. By the time he graduated in spring 2009, Chaz had refined his sound to something all his own. Music journals across the board touted his hazy recordings as the sound of the summer, and he released his debut album, Causers of This in early 2010.
*Since then, Bundick has proven himself to be not just a prolific musician, but a diverse one as well, letting each successive release broaden the scope of the Toro Y Moi oeuvre. The funky psych-pop of 2011's Underneath the Pine evinced an artist who could create similar atmospheres even without the aid of source material and drum machines. His Freaking Out EP, a handful of singles and remixes, and a retrospective box-set plot points all along the producer/songwriter spectrum in which he's worked since his debut, and Anything In Return is another exciting offering that shows he's still not ready to settle into any one genre.

Heavy Industrial Hardcore Hitters by Dutch pride: SEI2URE!!!

On the A1 side we have: War
The track is called War and sounds exactly like that. Full on Industrial Hardcore Warfare!!

On the A2 side we have: Destroy
Again a title that says it all. Down tempo Hardcore ammunition designed to Destroy Dance floors all over this pretty globe of ours!!

On the flip of this multi collard vinyl release we have: I Am God
A more up tempo broken beat orientated Hardcore slammer making this release that little bit more divers and awesome.
If God produced tracks like these.. Here at PRSPCT HQ we would almost convert to Christianity..

Hope you guys enjoy this release as much as we do and play the fuck out of them whenever and where ever!!!

Repress

PRSPCT XTRM 007 by Dither will be hitting the streets soon.

2 banging tracks of XTRM-ly epic proportion by the handsome, sexy, talented Dutch producer: DITHER

On the A side we have: Digital Chemistry
Need a bomb to get the party started. This 180 BPM monster track is guaranteed to do this.
Industrial Hardcore Drum & Bass designed to put a smile on your face! J

On the flip of this release we have: Adopted The Dark
Dither really adopted the dark on this one. 175 BPM Dark and heavy Industrial Hardcore Power!!!

Hope you guys enjoy this release as much as we do and play the fuck out of it!!!!

MCDE proudly presents the debut works of 22 year-old Canadian, Michael Gracioppo. Featuring a remix from Fred P (Mule / Underground Quality)..very limited edition.
The label's first 10-inch is headed by My So-Called Friends-the Montrealers deeply personal ode to an over-indulgent past lover.

The fluid drum work and violent bass line sit alongside the words of a punkesque inspired vocal sample. My So-Called Friends tells the story of a sincere and vulnerable young woman facing an inner battle between excessiveness and self-restraint. These drugs they are making me so sad I can't stop taking them.

A2 is a testament of Gracioppo's focus on maintaining a balance between songwriting and sound design.
Sailing unpredictably back and forth in tempo, A2 has been left untitled so as not to taint the piece.

Enlisted on remix duties, the always excellent Fred P flawlessly Reshapes Gracioppo's A1 into a hymn suited for the early morning comedowns.
Fred Ps vibrant pads resonate up and down in frequency and wrap the wavering vocal in warmth and comfort.

freshly repressed!
Leisure System, the collective, label and famed Berghain club night of four years standing, is back with their third release from co-founder and resident, Sam Barker. Known for its genre-defiant lineups, Leisure System's quarterly residency has consistently brought together artists with varying styles. Flying Lotus, Autechre, Afrika Hitech, Jackmaster, Surgeon, Jimmy Edgar, Blawan, 808 State, Dopplereffekt, Clark, Machinedrum, Surgeon, Venetian Snares, Objekt and Egyptian Lover have all graced the decks, showing off the collective's commitment to the exploration of new and experimental sounds in EDM. The development of the label, and now this release from Barker, is no exception. After discovering computers and raves in the late '90s, Barker began making tracks at age 13, building up a sizable collection of vintage analogue synths, paving the way for his future solo work and collaborations with artists like Tim Exile, Clark, Shitmat, Scotch Egg, The Field, Leafcutter John and Jimmy Edgar. Shortly after his 2007 move to Berlin, Barker began collaborating with fellow Berghain resident nd_baumecker, resulting in their ongoing project Barker & Baumecker. Their first EP 'Candyflip', was released on Ostgut Ton in 2010, followed up by a live show tour throughout Europe. The duo is currently readying their second EP and have a long player due out in August 2012. For this new solo EP, mastered by electronic music legend Pole, Barker presents a creative three-track lesson in diversity and highlights Leisure System's ever-evolving aural curiosity. The opener and title track 'Like An Animal' is a number that builds and builds, quickly changing course and mutating into a percussive and texturized melting pot of sounds. Up next the hypnotic 'I Feel', which is filled with moody pads and syncopated breakbeat rhythms, paving the way for the mechanical, yet smooth half-step rhythm of 'Hot Lover'. Siimilar to the collective, this offering pushes boundaries and mirrors the progressive ideals of the collective. Just like Leisure System's first two 12's from Pixelord and Eprom in 2011, Barker's 'Like An Animal' EP is a clear statement of the label's simple and distinct commitment : to be a platform for timeless, thrilling and soulful dance music in the fields of house, techno and electronica, disregarding media hype and genre borders. In keeping with this clear sonic manifesto, Leisure System's design aesthetic is equally individual, with all vinyl releases housed in deluxe die-cut jackets.

As summer falls away, Aconito Records rises again with more experimental sound designs and deep atmospheres on this new limited-edition record, Gaia's Archetype. Featured here are two productions by Hironori Takahashi of Japan, as well as an edit from label owner Nax_Acid. Inspired by the emotions he discovered at Japan's 'Metamorphose' open-air festival, Hironori wished to express feelings of contrasting unity - light and dark, human and nature - in his music.

Limited Repress!
Polarius Man dun' said it in 2002: ''No more tasteless designer music by and for mindless jocks and inbred consumers, but deep and RAW Jams to tear your brain back to where its at

2024 Repress

Hurray! PROFAN is back from the future to complicate things again. But let's have a look back in the past: in the mid-1990s, Wolfgang Voigt, under his innumerable aliases (M:I:5, Digital, Grungerman, Wasserman …), unsettled the minimal world and its straight grooves with his right-at-the-threshold-of-pain abstract techno. As a DJ, you sometimes even thought that the vinyl was scratched. "Distort the listening habits until they break up" has always been the leitmotiv of this exceptional artist from Cologne. In 2000 however, after having created another promising trademark: WASSERMANN - W.I.R. that - in spite of or because of its unconventional structure (abstract beat, German vocals) - ranked among the number one hits in any important club and DJ charts and which was even remixed by Sven Väth, Wolfgang Voigt decided to discontinue the label for a while. PROFAN produced two sublabels each devoted to the refinement of specific minimal variants: STUDIO 1 and FREILAND. FREILAND in particular was and still is one of Voigt's projects that manifests his artistic and deconstrucivist approach to the aesthetics of techno beats. FREILAND's concept is radical: the only reference to techno is the bass drum and a sound reduced to the utmost that is moving around it. No wonder that now, eight years after the last PROFAN release, Wolfgang Voigt is back under his alias FREILAND. With KLAVIERMUSIK (piano music), Voigt continues his way towards atonality and electronic art music. The straight bass drum still is the only pulsatile instrument and sometimes it is not even that. WOLFGANG VOIGT / FREILAND - KLAVIERMUSIK is radical, puristic, uncompromising, elegiac, difficult, defiant, true and absolutely necessary. The record, including artcover designed by Wolfgang Voigt is strictly limited.. Greed sucks.

The art of synth disco is being kept up by this little designer label called Aube records. Here is their fifth outing with another amazing record of superb quality! Roland Sebastian Faber delivers two electronic disco pop tunes with racing melodies, catchy and haunting energetic. Combined with floating David Gillmore 'esque guitars and stylish 808 beats these are two gems that are here too be enjoyed for many years to come! Very well crafted dance music!

Soda Gong presents “Support Surfaces,” the new record by Alexi Baris, a musician hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia. Baris’ methods are patient and deceptively rigorous, trading in sonics that are at once organized and organic. Synthetic and acoustic elements are presented in sonorous states of perpetual flux, carefully amalgamated into structures of fertile ambiguity. His is a diligent and painterly approach to sound design and arrangement, in which tiny events are magnified and brought up close, and expansive gestures are repurposed and shifted in scale. There is an abiding quality to these compositions, sounds that have been hung in the air with remarkable restraint and left to float there, defined by texture, tone, and their own entrancing spatiality.

All music by Alexi Baris.
Mastered by Kassian Troyer at D&M.
Artwork and Design by Alex McCullough.

“Trash Can Lamb” is a new solo album from Akron, OH-based multi instrumentalist Keith Freund. For the better part of twenty years, Freund has been producing intimate, shape-shifting music on his own and as part of collaborative projects such as Trouble Books, Lemon Quartet, and Aqueduct Ensemble. Here, he concocts a heady, homespun broth of analog synthesis, bit-reduced sampling, piano, standup bass, saxophone, and location recordings, arriving at a loose and evocative set of songs. Throughout the album, we hear 8-bit experimental delays mangling airy acoustic materials, denaturalizing them into primitive loop structures while retaining their golden-hued, melodic cores. The sputters, hisses, and croaks of handmade electronics nuzzle up to wistful piano and saxophone ruminations; the pure pandemonium of chaotic triangle wave patching and filtered noise settles into the serenity of a backyard dusk full of spring peepers (or maybe they’re crickets…). It’s in the space between the ragtag and rough-hewn and the romantic and yearning that Freund situates these compositions; it’s a peek inside a workshop that sits atop the trees, branches scraping on the windows, bluejays who just won’t knock it off, a table fan spinning slower and slower, its cheap blades covered in dust.

All music by Keith Freund, with contributions by Linda Lejsovka, G.S. Schray, Steve Clements, and Corey Farrow.
Mastered by Kassian Troyer at D&M.
Art/design by Alex McCullough and Felix Luke.

Soda Gong presents a razor sharp collection of rigorous and imaginative new music from Moscow-by-way-of-St.Petersburg-based musician and producer Flaty. "Generic TARGZ" places Flaty's precipitously complex drum programming and keen ear for atmosphere and space at the forefront, offering up a dynamic array of techno, ambient, generative footwork, and other tougher to pigeonhole rhythmic experiments. It is a dizzying and cohesive document in which ethereal productions, such as "Praaai" wherein a bewitching vocal pad hovers over delicate, pin-prick percussion, sit comfortably alongside tightly controlled chaos, as with the synapse-knotting "Thread" and heavy-hitting "Horn of Plenty".

Over the past few years, Flaty has released a wealth of diverse and uniformly excellent music under monikers such as AEM Rhythm Cascade, Dada Ques, and Wrong Water. He is most closely associated with the influential GOST ZVUK label, but his work has also appeared on imprints such as 12th Isle, Muscut, and his own ANWO Records. Although Flaty serves as his primary alias, "Generic TARGZ" is only the artist's second full-length under the moniker, following 2016's "New Suggestions", a high-water mark in the impeccable GOST ZVUK catalog. Mastered by Rashad Becker at D&M. Artwork and design by Alex McCullough and Niall Wynne Lewis.