The sonic partnership of K15 and Emeson originated in the days of MySpace. A future of combining their skills was inevitable, and now in 2017, it's time to unleash their debut studio album into the ether.
The solo-projects of Tottenham-raised Kieron Ifill (aka K15) date back a decade, but were truly kick-started on labels such as Kyle Hall's Wild Oats and WotNot Music, with a number of genre-crossing releases dropping ever since, including the WU15 project (along with Yussef Kamaal's Henry Wu, on Eglo Records). Additionally to his production work, he has established himself internationally as a DJ, from the Jazz Cafe to the CoOp parties.
Partner in Profusion, Emeson, has many skills to his bow - singing, songwriting, producing, promoting, DJing (under the alias Ed Nice) and acting. As a musician, his varied skill-set has seen him work with Chico Hamilton, Carla Duke, Karmasound, Uzo Madu and Chris Jerome. A frontman for soul-jazz groups LifeSize, The One and Saturn's Children, he has featured on releases for BBE and Tokyo Dawn, and appeared live on stage at the likes of Ronnie Scott's.
The debut single was supported by tastemaker blogs Wonderland, XLR8R and Stamp The Wax, has been bumped by selectors such as Lefto and Jazzie B, and played on NTS, Worldwide FM, Mi-Soul, LeMellotron, Balamii Radio, Itch FM, Invader FM, Soho Radio and various stations across Europe and the US.
This album is full to the brim with summery sun-soaked synths, drifting across the warmest of basslines and heavyweight beats. Emeson's rich vocals gracefully ride atop of K15's delectably bruk twist on neo-soul sonics and electronics, this is some seriously classy contemporary London soul music, that manages to incorporate flashes of various dance music techniques, sound-system etiquette and jazz-tinged rhythms. As future-thinking as it is subtly retrospective, it doesn't lend itself to one genre, it intentionally embodies the best of many. An array of everything that is great about British black music in 2017. The message the album conveys itself couldn't have come at a more poignant time. Where do we begin
Profusion - an abundance of something rich indeed.
This highly anticipated release by Los Angeles based artist, AXKAN, delivers a powerful message to the techno underground, letting everyone know this record hasn't come to this point by mistake. With powerful remixes by Luis Flores, Pinion and RolandoHödar to support, AXKAN delivers a strong statement with 'Tension', a techno masterpiece with broken industrial rhythms that is bound to shake floors, and crack the surface. He masterfully creates some true and raw emotion, with his dark, sinister and gritty sounds that is guaranteed to grab attention from the beginning. Axkan's self-confident creativity, however didn't come alone. Techno heavyweight Luis Flores provided a remix that is nothing short of spectacular. He encapsulates Axkan's raw, dark noises, and completely manipulates them into a gnarled and twisted rendition. Pinion's remix perfectly complements the release in a cohesive way to get the dance floor moving. His unique characteristics include a deadly vicious groove with glitchy vocals combined with deep melodies. Aerotek founder, RolandoHödar, had to get his hands in there, with his industrial techno breaks remix to add to this ferocious ride. With all tracks united together, this EP is rooted with serious energy and will undoubtedly tear speakers apart. It exploits experimental to traditional 4X4 percussion workouts and is definitely worth listening.
MAIN MAIN MUSIC is a record label and event management from Slovenia at the moment based in Berlin.
The word main main is from the Malay language, which means to be playful, playfulness .
"Main Main Music" wish to create a harmony in a word of music and outside of it, which is very important for a success and a great vibe as well as excellent being at our parties.
With our story, we want to put all energy and focus in a quality sound and music made with passion, organic elements, analog sound, true feelings, and character. Through our vinyl releases, we would like to present wide styles of deep, minimal, tech house music with already known and young talented producers from the whole world, which works in a creative way and wants to be recognized for their unique sound.
For our first VA CONNECTION Vol.1 release, we have prepared for you various artists feelings from different countries of the world. On this excellent compilation, you can listen to four original tracks which are flowing between deep warm after hour sound, minimal feelings, tech house groove, organic elements with spacey atmospheric pads and dance floor rhythmic.
With our first opening release, we are introducing you our label boss and producer MARTELLI ( Berlin ) with his uplifting, hypnotic, spacey and organic track A1. " Trippin Birds "which contains a beautiful voice of Slovenian singer AVA LOON combined with live-recorded elements of guitar, percussion and sounds of nature. Our next artist on the board well knows producer GORBANI ( Moldavia ) deliver to us dancefloor killer tracks. " Tanzweise " with very clear sound and spiced with old school tb 303 acid groove. The third artist of our selection is label owner of Mumble records / Druzhba records, JUST_me ( Berlin ) who made it for us really nice deep flow track B1. " Sputnik " which is perfect for some after hours sessions when the music takes you away. The last and not the least is Switzerland talented producer NAHSTE ONER with his super groovy dirty track B2. " Wet " which will definitely stretch your body on the dance floor.
Panorama Bar resident Nick Ho¨ppner gets to Work on his second solo album on Ostgut Ton, connecting the territories of House music with the ease of Alt-Pop.
Work as in labor. An axiom that fuels the capitalist system just as the Techno/House scene economy says that one needs to keep oneself busy to make a living. As a musician, things are complicated of course. It's a long way from the romantic idea of creating music simply for the sake of art to becoming a full time musician. Those who have accomplished this feat often find themselves in a professional loop of writing the music, producing it, promoting it (with an info text like this), releasing it and then hopefully selling it. After leaving his full time job as Ostgut Ton's label manager in 2012, Nick Ho¨ppner went fully freelance, focusing on his musically diverse, deep and dynamic DJing in and outside Berghain's Panorama Bar, but more importantly spending more time in the studio. The result was his critically acclaimed debut album Folk (Ostgut Ton, 2015), various 12' releases and remixes, and now his sophomore LP, Work, which, more than ever, lays out his refined production skills and his talent to work the machines until they reveal their inner ghosts: nine new songs that now dodge the dance floor, then fully embrace it.
Work as in body of work. A record is more than the sum of clocked up hours at the studio, but the result of an artistic-creative process. On Work, Ho¨ppner shows his everlasting lust for musical detail, his increasing technical skills and compositional finesse. Work is a very personal, soulful and deep record that breaks through the usual club/dancefloor narrative by documenting Nick's interest for hybrid sounds and combining elements from varying musical genres. Work's lead single 'All By Themselves (My Belle)' is a very atmospheric, intimate and steadily unfurling IDM piece with ethereal synth and vocal pads; on the album it's contrasted by 'Clean Living' with Tram 78, a modern Ho¨ppner club classic: powerful, kick-heavy, muscular, cheerful and uplifting. It's a very personal track resulting from a recent reencounter with an old friend. Having spent countless hours together in Berlin's clubs in ever changing states of mind a decade ago or longer, things have since changed for both towards a more - clean living'. Connecting to this musical vibe 'In My Mind' follows with a slightly darker tone putting emphasis on bassline, percussion and squeaky sound detailing. 'Hole Head' pays tongue-in-cheek homage to Nick's love for UK club music, when a dashing melody of synths and vibraphone is matched with clattering breaks and syncopation. The dubby, mesmerizing 'The Dark Segment' not only impresses with its hypnotic synth figurines, but also by morphing to a shuffling Jazz rhythm towards it's middle part; 'Forced Resonance' uses Oberheim synth brass stabs to dramatic effect; the percussion- and clap-laden 'Fly Your Colours' comes with an irresistible piano melody atop an energetic kick; and finally the album-closing, shuffling but rhythmic, noisy yet bluesy 'Three Is A Charm' featuring the duo Randweg on clarinet, cajo´n and acoustic guitar is a coherent departure heading towards Indie Pop territory. It sees Nick collaborating with acoustic instrumentalists for the first time in his ten-year- spanning Ostgut Ton release catalogue.
Work as in artwork. Staying in line with the Folk album, the visual companion for this record comes from German collage artist Frank Bubenzer. As with the artwork at hand, Bankentsunami, and his other works, Bubenzer cuts up print magazine advertisements and recontextualizes them into new motifs, removing all human depiction from the source material, here as a commentary on the world of business, big money and the banking crisis.
Work as in work it. As a slogan 'work' has always been one of the genre's most utilized paroles, coined and put on wax by pioneers like LNR, Blake Baxter or Steve Poindexter, to name a few. Not only calling for the crowds to get moving on the floor but also to fully express themselves and their unique individuality inside an all embracing environment. A mindset rooted in House Music that has been an integral part of Nick Ho¨ppner's identity as a DJ and producer from the beginning and all through his decade-spanning residency at Panorama Bar. Work it!
A few years ago we received an anonymous email with a link to three tracks and a simple
message: 'Hi, maybe you would be interested in this music.'
It's easy to be skeptical of yet another link from yet another artist in a world overcrowded with them, but listening is our job and so we do it. The songs were instantly striking: extraordinarily slow, somber, and spacious, each vaulted cathedral chord reverberating poetically into the distance, the melodies rolling out like fog across a cemetery.
Captivated, we requested more, receiving a single word in response: Yes.' Then, nothing. Eventually, three months later, we received another email with slightly more information: a name (Irma Orm), a location (Stockholm), and a bit of context (she worked alone, and progress on music was slow but steady ).
Fast-forward to mid-2016: we're informed the album is complete, and it is breathtaking. Hermetic gothic swan songs conjured from funereal piano, twilit ambience, minimalist percussion, and spellbinding vocals.
The mood is lulling and lush but lost in sorrow, stark grey structures looming in the night. Majestic open spaces between notes heighten the melancholic grandeur of Orm's arrangements, blurring the line between lament and lullaby. The songs less end than ebb away,succumbing to their own downcast beauty.
Coming hot on the heels of Samuel Rohrer'sRange of Regularity album are two EPs of striking reinterpreta- tions. These new remixes provide an intriguing parallax view of the original tracks, using the percussive eclecticism of the parent LP as a starting point from which to journey into soni- cally vibrant, feature-rich territories. The production specia- lists on the first EP include Ricardo Villalobos and Vilod, the collaborative duo with Max Loderbauer. Villalobos, has alrea- dy formed a strong working relationship with Rohrer's AM- BIQ trio, lends his talents to both of these new EPs. The se- cond one will be completed by a remix of Burnt Friedman. Each individual remix has its own character, they are all united in their ability to provide a quick cure for fatigue with the common loop': they are strung together from fleeting phra- ses that evolve as if they are taking on a life independent of their creators.Villalobos' compelling take on Lenina' pulsates from start to finish with a kind of voluntary anxiety, a commitment to painting every corner of the sonic surface with clearly defined pointillist touches. While this kind of approach would cause less confident producers to collapse at their editing worksta- tion, Villalobos takes to the task with gusto - leaving see- mingly no corner un-animated by sound, he pieces together something surprisingly funky and hyper-real from a catalog of distinct percussive hits, time-reversed ephemera, and playful kitchen sink' ambience. Vilod's Uncertain Grace' remix, though marginally more laidback than the flipside, is no less engaging. A buzzing beehive of activity powered by an organ- like refrain, this is one of those pieces that will induce a fee- ling of perpetual movement into even the most still of physi- cal surroundings. This is especially true when, after four and a half minutes of flotation, a straight-ahead techno rhythm ta- kes over and all the disparate hovering elements fall into place.
Deconstructed royal-court music from the forgotten kingdoms of the Buganda, reconstructed electronic wedding music, fluorescent pink African pop, crunched 8-bit drum machines and a 10-foot long monster xylophone are just a few of the many sounds of Ennanga Vision.
This post-modern African soundtrack follows London producer Jesse Hackett's heady musical journey into the heart of Uganda - recording with chief collaborator, multi instrumentalist and singer Albert Ssempeke and featuring assorted vocal legends from the north of the country. The music blends a fully electronic sensibility with unusual, hand-crafted, African one-string fiddles, a 200-year-old harp and an enormous, group-played xylophone. It mixes traditional Ugandan folk songs and modern pop forms into a new PLASTIC ORGANIC VISION.
Hackett is influenced as much by the music of the African continent as he is by European electronic compositions and soundtrack scores. The sounds of hauntingly-dark vocoded vocals, crushed electronics, and poly-rhythmic drum machines sit alongside chiming African fiddles, rippling harps and children's laughter. He is a member of Owiny Sigoma band having sung on and co-written a lot of their work spanning three albums. He is also touring keyboard player for the Gorillaz and has released records on Stones Throw, Honest Jon's and DEEK Recordings, to name a few.
Albert Ssempeke is the son of a prestigious royal court musician who played in the days of the old Buganda kingdom - one of more than twenty five musical siblings, Albert is simultaneously an educator, performer and preservationist of this intricate and complex traditional form of music. Here he plays over ten traditional Ugandan instruments including Amadinada (xylophone), Ngindidi (fiddle), Endongo (harp), Ennanga (flute) and many more
Deconstructed royal-court music from the forgotten kingdoms of the Buganda, reconstructed electronic wedding music, fluorescent pink African pop, crunched 8-bit drum machines and a 10-foot long monster xylophone are just a few of the many sounds of Ennanga Vision. This post-modern African soundtrack follows London producer Jesse Hackett's heady musical journey into the heart of Uganda - recording with chief collaborator, multi instrumentalist and singer Albert Ssempeke and featuring assorted vocal legends from the north of the country. The music blends a fully electronic sensibility with unusual, hand-crafted, African one-string fiddles, a 200-year-old harp and an enormous, group-played xylophone. It mixes traditional Ugandan folk songs and modern pop forms into a new PLASTIC ORGANIC VISION.
Hackett is influenced as much by the music of the African continent as he is by European electronic compositions and soundtrack scores. The sounds of hauntingly-dark vocoded vocals, crushed electronics, and poly-rhythmic drum machines sit alongside chiming African fiddles, rippling harps and children's laughter. He is a member of Owiny Sigoma band having sung on and co-written a lot of their work spanning three albums. He is also touring keyboard player for the Gorillaz and has released records on Stones Throw, Honest Jon's and DEEK Recordings, to name a few. Albert Ssempeke is the son of a prestigious royal court musician who played in the days of the old Buganda kingdom - one of more than twenty five musical siblings, Albert is simultaneously an educator, performer and preservationist of this intricate and complex traditional form of music. Here he plays over ten traditional Ugandan instruments including Amadinada (xylophone), Ngindidi (fiddle), Endongo (harp), Ennanga (flute) and many more
5th Birthday comp featuring a host of artistst who've graced the label over the perioid.. Exclusives from Tolouse Lowtrax, Geena, Iueke, Domenique Dumont, . Inoue Shirabe, Raphael Top-Secret and more... Gatefold Sleeve. TIP!
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Made of 14 sketches - each reflecting one of the many shades of the label's catalogue - Five years of Loving Notes features new names as well as those of artists who have been involved with the label since it's very beginning, like Geena or Iueke - responsible for the first 12' released on Antinote.
The music on this compilation covers a wide spectrum of moods and atmospheres, from the dark and raw excursions from Tolouse Low Trax or Iueke to the lush instrumental crafted by Nico Motte and Syracuse's Antoine Kogut; however as the listener gets deeper into the compilation, the whole of the tunes, sitting side by side on the records, start to make sense as they all seem to point towards the same direction. If one should try isolating a common trait from all these songs, one might come to the conclusion that it lies in the way they all speak directly to the listener's emotional receptors, unvarnished and without abusing of producer's 'tricks'.
We'll let the tricky question mentioned before in your hands once you will have been through this 63-minute long testimony of exclusive music by the artists who have been shaping Antinote's sound for five years; from the opening Latvian arabesques from Domenique Dumont to the Pink-Floyd-ian ending from the latest addition to the label, Alek Lee, via Leonardo Martelli's smoggy electro and Raphael Top Secret's ominous talk-over.
(Locked Groove, Nuno De Satos remixes) Something Happening Somewhere and Mary Go Wild combine their forces for a very special record, containing two cuts by Presk and remixes by Locked Groove and label honcho Nuno dos Santos.
Something Happening Somewhere and Mary Go Wild combine their forces for a very special record, containing two cuts by Presk and remixes by Locked Groove and label honcho Nuno dos Santos. The original A1 side has already been released on SoHaSo last summer on their SOMEWHERE compilation, but has now found a place on delicious black gold and is further enriched with a fresh B-side and aforementioned remixers delivering quality reworks.
2BXPRZD is an ode to the celebration of night life and the diverse spectrum of people that move within it. The club has always been a place where people from every background, religion and gender imaginable can meet and express their being through Dancing. It doesn't matter in what way you move, only that it's authentic and respecting towards the fellow dancers around you. Presk provides all the necessary ingredients: the funkiness in the drums melting with the dark and sinister bassline and pitched vocal perfectly assemble the conditions for such an interaction to take place.
Locked Groove takes this celebratory dance and turns it into an even darker and hypnotizing affair. Stripping the original to its bare essence with a pounding kickdrum to lead the way. Pulsing atmospheres and emotive pads swirl around and behind, granulated in a way that they almost fall apart. This is further reinforced by the stream of voices that are processed to sound like a field recording from beyond the iron curtain in Soviet times, anticipating the unavoidable collapse that follows.
The B sides provides a little more uplifting environment with Starets, unsettling melodies and dissonant atmospheres propel forward before restraining the whole thing and letting broken chord stabs seep through the system. Again reworking the original material into a more skeletal structure, Nuno dos Santos adds a poignant arp melody that is typical for his melancholic style. Driving yet breathing with emotion, it's the perfect accompaniment for a night drive while floating through clear skies. This records proves a delightful combination, containing something imperative for every soul feeling the need to express themselves in a unique way.
Killawatt returns on Tommy Four Seven's 47 imprint for its sophomore single artist EP.
UK's Killawatt made his debut 47 appearance on the first Various Artist EP, 47001 in 2015 with his contribution, 'Tensile', alongside Kwartz, Isolated Lines and Tommy Four Seven. Following his appearance at 47's new event Numerology in Berlin, Killawatt steps up to deliver the label's second solo artist EP, 47010, which combines deadly broken rhythms, futuristic soundscapes and cutting textures to create 4 solid techno stepping experiments.
Plexus Records & Meyso present M.A.J.. This is the first full length effort by French producer Meyso, after a bunch of projects and collaborations including productions for Lomepal, Fixpen Sill, Equipto, Sameer Ahmad and more!
Meyso first appeared on Plexus Records cassette project from 2013, then on the Kapla album on the same label with Mr Hone, Maodea and Oteest. He's been since producing for several French and Belgian rappers and started to be the DJ on tour
for famous French rapper Lomepal. On M.A.J., Meyso confirms his skills and delivers a very rich and dense album.
Influenced at first by producers such as Dilla, Madlib and Dj Shadow, he develops now his own modern approach of beatmaking, incorporating elements of trap and electronic music. With guests such as Caballero, JeanJass, Veerus or Ndobo Emma, the album balances between deep instrumentals made of rare vinyl samples and some catchy rap and soulful tracks.
This LP comes in a limited edition of 500 copies, all hand-numbered and pressed on
180gr, 12''x12'' insert included. Original art is a painting made by Natosito.
3LP Album Move D, Jonah Sharp, Juju & Jordash build the new supergroup The Mulholland Free Clinic. Their self-titled debut LP release is the recording of their second ever improvised, allhardware live set which emphasizes the ongoing paradigm shift in live electronic music. Tracklist A Vital Signs B Boneset C Gone Camping D Ebb & Flow E The Dawgs Are Alright F1 Dr. Leary F2 Pillow Therapy Even though they've only played together on three occasions since 2013, The Mulholland Free Clinic has already been praised as one of the ultimate collaborations when it comes to underground and improvised electronic live music. Move D, Jonah Sharp, and Juju & Jordash build this so-called super-supergroup by combining their individual and mutual projects rEAGENZ and Magic Mountain High. Using an armada of analog hardware, The Mulholland Free Clinic's self-titled debut album is the product of a live set recorded at Berlin's emerging party series AWAY at ://about blank in August 2016. Consequently, the connected vinyl label Away Music is set to release its first long player following four 12-inches with appearances by Joe Claussell, Mr. Ties, Move D, Discrete Circuit, and its very own AWAY Soundsystem. Their three-hour long, totally improvised jam session was edited down to a little over
'Next up on Aus Music is the return of label boss Will Saul working alongside long term label favourite Komon. Together the duo line up 'Harmonise' - a smouldering single that comes backed up with an almighty pair of remixes from Osgut Ton mainstay Nick Höppner and analogue aficionados Juju & Jordash. The title track kicks things off with glowing, interweaved synths and a pattering tom line. Vocal snippets and trippy delays suffuse a purposeful bass tone before the 101 Dub Version rolls out with punchy drums and a sharp, darting acid line. Berghain regular Nick Höppner then does what he does best with his remix in building a rich, hypnotic groove that steadily develops with intricacy and depth. Dekmantel and Golf Channel regulars Juju & Jordash then drive a warped, rumbling synth line through spacey atmospherics rounding off another fine addition to the catalogue'.
Piotr Bejnar, the owner of Otake Records is coming back with a debut album. The album is composed by 12 tracks where each track is telling different emotional story. Piotr invited to cooperate the most recognizable voice in Poland - Krystyna Czubowna, very talented Polish producer and singer Baasch, Kasp who is accompanying on the guitar and other guests.
Brendon Moeller has essentially spent almost everyday of his life since 1994 in a home recording studio. Through research and practice he has evolved into a prolific producer with 10 full length albums under his belt and dozens of singles and remixes. He has performed live and DJ'ed at Fabric, Berghain and Cielo and then some. His love of a hybrid of hardware and digital resources for production shines through. His music has been championed by the likes of Francois K, Speedy J, Danny Howells, amongst others. An eclectic sensibility stemming from a love of many genres of music is always evident in Brendon's work. - - - SSX represents the Silent Season 10 Year Anniversary Compilation, a series of 12"s celebrating a decade of deeper electronic music. The series features artists whose music continues to inspire the Silent Season journey.
A new My Rules release from the always on-point Justin Van Der Volgen featuring two previously unreleased remixes that showcase his varied and unique style.
The A-side sees him take both the original and Spencer Parker remixes found on the the 2016 Shit Robot single Lose Control and through editing, blending and layering of FX concocts one serious bomb of a mega mix .
Think classic DJ bootleg remixes on legendary labels like Razormaid, Disconet and Hot Tracks.
The B-side is an altogether different affair where Justin dispenses with all of the original music and only keeps the vocal from Felix Dickinson's 2014 acid jam 'Burning Flame'.
What comes out the other end sounds like Lee Perry and Murk made a tune once they got back from a sleazy NY after hours.
Early plays and support from Gerd Janson, John Talabot, Tim Sweeney.
Coloured Vinyl
Iona Fortune is a composer and producer from Glasgow and presents the 'Tao of I' album as her debut release.
Inspired by Eastern Philosophy and slated to be the first in an 8 album series exploring all the symbols of the I Ching, her music is influenced by oriental sounds and features a palette of instruments that includes the Guzheng, Gamelan and Synthi AKS.
The overall effect is a singular and beguiling sound that loosely fits in with the Fourth World concept imagined by Jon Hassell, and indeed Iona Fortune has also contributed a track to Optimo Music's new Fourth World compilation 'Miracle Steps'.
The initial vinyl edition will come on a translucide pressing with inside sleeve and original artwork by Iona Fortune.
Irish label Fatty Fatty spreads its wings with their 'International Disco Mafia' EP.
Extending from Dublin out to Drogheda and Galway and onward overseas, the EP provides something peak-time for all tastes.
The lead off track sees label top dog Pablo going off on a solo tip, delivering an end of nighter take on an eternal UK street Soul classic. Chopping together many different mixes to create an epic whole, this one has been road-tested thoroughly, and always brings the house down.
While Pablo was fiddling around endlessly with that one, usual production partner Shoey slithered off with newcomer Kellser to produce a dreamy, stretched out take on a late 70's staple , another guaranteed winner, and possibly the most bliss inducing song ever to run at 130BPM
The international part of the EP comes from Italian edit king Belabouche, who delivers a lovely take on 'Willie and The Hand Jive'.
Last but not least, Galway boy Island Time makes his bow with a straight up, brassy slice of soulful Disco aimed straight at the dancefloor...
German producer Christian Burkhardt teams up with fellow countrymen Chris Wood & Meat for a three-track release on Jamie Jones' Hottrax this May.
Burkhardt has been flying the flag for minimalist electronic music for a decade now, releasing on labels such as Cocoon, Oslo and Pressure Traxx. Likewise, Freebase Records founders Meat + Chris Wood have been purveying deep and minimal cuts individually since the '00s, joining forces in 2009 before releasing on labels like Desolat, Housewax and Tiefschwarz' Souvenir. Between the three of them they've continually garnered support from the upper echelons of House and Techno, making regular appearances in the sets of names like Ricardo Villalobos, Sven Väth, Seth Troxler and Jamie Jones.
Intricate percussion and a compelling bassline make up the foundation of 'Closer 2 U' as an echoing vocal and tense strings operate throughout. Meanwhile, 'Plain' is a more downtempo cut in comparison with its dusky atmospherics and distorted spoken word samples that subtly permeate throughout the mix. On the flip, 'Trumpad' is deep and dubby whilst integrating trippy synths and mesmerizing effects for a rhythmic conclusion.
Never before reissued, this legendary 1968 EMI recording is a revered Indian jazz rarity, a collectors' holy grail. Raga Jazz Style is an original Indian excursion into Indo-jazz fusion. A one-away recording from the almost unknown Bombay jazz scene, it is among the few jazz LPs to hail from the subcontinent.Closely contemporary with the UK-based explorations of Amancio D'Silva, John Mayer and Joe Harriott, Raga Jazz Style takes the melodic, scale-based raga system of Indian classical music and marries it with a swinging jazz rhythm section assembled by Bollywood's most highly acclaimed musical directors, the soundtrack composing duo Shankar Singh and Jaikishan Panchal.Singh and Panchal were a dominant force in Hindi film music from the late 1940s onwards. Shankar had been trained in classical tabla, while Jaikishan was an expert harmonium player. They worked together on well over a hundred films, and their innovative compositions and orchestral scoring revolutionised the music of the nascent Bollywood industry. Central to their sound was regular collaborator Sebastian D'Souza. From 1952 onwards, D'Souza would work on every Shankar Jaikishan soundtrack, eventually becoming Bollywood's most coveted musical arranger.
Originally from Goa, D'Souza had cut his teeth in the dance-band era, arranging and playing with his uncle's jazz bands in Lahore and Quetta. After Partition, he had moved to Bombay to follow the reliable work provided by the film industry, where Goan musicians had become the mainstay of Bollywood's film studio orchestras. Goans were also the core of Bombay's thriving dance-hall and hotel-based jazz scene, with artists including saxophonist Braz Gonsalves, guitarist Amancio D'Silva and trumpeter Chic Chocolate all working in the city during the post-war years.
The team assembled for Raga Jazz Style were drawn from this inventive and forward-thinking milieu. Pianist Lucilla Pacheco, saxophonist Manohari Singh and guitarist Anibal Castro were all fixtures on the Bombay jazz circuit, while drummer Leslie Godinho is reputed to have taught Joe Morello the 5/4 'Take Five' beat when they jammed together during Dave Brubeck's State Department tour of India. To this jazz backbone was added the sitar of Ustad Rais Khan, scion of long line of classical instrumentalists, and nephew of the renowned sitarist Ustad Vilayat Khan. Bombay's jazz modernists had been experimenting with the fusion of ragas and jazz since the 1950s, long before American or British jazz musicians had tuned in to Indian classical music. But very little of this exciting scene was ever captured on record. Raga Jazz Style offers a rare chance to hear the innovative sounds of the Indian jazz scene, as peerless composers Shankar Jaikishan and arranging supremo D'Souza join with veteran Bombay jazzers to explore classical themes in a jazz setting — eleven ragas to a swinging beat!This is a highly impressive inaugural salvo by Outernational Sounds, using original masters and beautifully rendered facsimile artwork, with 180g vinyl pressed at Pallas, in Germany.
Lunar Disko presents...
Time marches on with two Various Artist EPs to celebrate the 20th release on Lunar Disko Records. Eight tracks encompassing the modus operandi of the label since the beginnings
Part 2 features another selection of Lunar Disko favourites, with the return of DJ Overdose and Raiders of the Lost ARP, while two of Ireland's finest in Tr One and Automatic Tasty complete this stellar line-up.
..and time is still marching on
Berlin's own Marco Haas aka T.RAUMSCHMIERE made an irreparable impression globally in the 00's as a sawtoothed, ANTI-rave radical thanks to his immense stage antics and larger-than-life releases on Novamute. Since then, Haas has established himself as a contemporary with emotive, dark ambient tales on his own imprints Shitkatapult/Albumlabel.
KOMPAKT's love affair with Haas goes back to our earliest days. Some of his first tracks were released on KOMPAKT in the form of two raw EP's entitled "Bolzplatz" (KOM021 - 2000) and "Musick" (KOM037 2001). These two formative releases elevated the "Schaffel" sound to raw and shameless places we never could have imagined. The results set a tidal wave in motion that to this day remains one of KOMPAKT's most infamous legacies.
In an off-chance reunion with Haas in his studio, we learnt about what he'd been doing since the "Monstertruckdriver" days. It turned out he's been ever so busy outside of the mainstream working with the likes of Dieter Meier of Yello, Caspar Brötzmann, Andreas Dorau, Fraktus, Ofrin or Barbara Morgenstern and his recent work with Ulli Bomans aka Schieres under the SHRUBBN!! monicker.
On the way out, he passed over his 2015 self-titled album - which proceeded to blow our minds. It was mutually decided that it's time for him to return home.
May 19, 2017, will see KOMPAKT releasing T.RAUMSCHMIERE's new, epic solo full-length HEIMAT. It presents another side of his work which was always there, but never got that much airtime: the artist, the author, the composer with the crystal-clear sound. HEIMAT is a stunning techno album that neither excludes Ambient, nor gets reduced to constant ass kicking. It's perhaps the best recording so far from this man who asks so deeply, so extensively, so much. And at some point even answers.
Some try it with mouth-to-mouth insufflation and cardiac massage. Others with
psychopharmaceuticals or group therapy. Still others with divorce. By going cold turkey. With a new profile pic and a matching hairstyle. Seen it all at Robert Johnson, already endorsed everything - at least as long as it helps: as a lifesaving measure.
But since the year dot, the Offenbach-based club with its affiliated label recommends to all which are undecided or have doubts particularly one thing: Music. And dance.
Every two years, when life newly blossoms during spring, Live At Robert Johnson opens its windows widely, lets new music out and fresh air into the house. The beguiling scent of nature and aviation fuel blends with the scent of sweat and dry ice fog - and causes sundry healing confusion. As soon as the first tone of the Lifesaver Compilation 3 is heard, the swelling grunt of Vincent Feit's 'X04', the scenery of the dancefloor right at the Main river appears before one's eyes.
On Saint Monday Iconoclasts rebel against the age of self-optimization. A crack goes through the parquet of the dance floor (or the dancing party itself). The post-unambiguities era is beginning. The images become blurred. Bass case. Alternative facts. Resonance hole. No reception. And then it's only the queue answering the club emergency hotline. Finally there is a buzz on the line. 'Just drop the images!', it says.
'It's all not that tragic.' This helps.
The Lifesaver 3 Compilation, the yet most comprehensive package of the lifesaver history, sounds like electro, sharp-edged like the vault in a Hague bunker (Lauer), provides data pop with piano crescendo (Fort Romeau), brings the style characteristics of German Schlager music to the breakdance mat (Rolande Garros), lets the bulky lily-of-the-valley bells clang and sends the reverb tails away with the wind (Benedikt Frey). There are several new names to discover: Felix Strahd, Benjamin Milz, Vincent Feit; and of course there a many old acquaintances: Massimiliano Pagliara, Orson Wells, TCB, Chinaski. Roman Flügel brings us 'Good News', however: 'From Another Planet.' And Fort Romeau feels 'Lost, Again', but in such somnambulistically beautiful manner that you want to get lost with him instantly and jointly find the great joy.
Again and again there are mysterious chants. It's not required to decipher the specific words in order to get the message: Salvation is near. Salvation is here:
* Includes a DIN A2long poster inside the 12" sleeve with edition number and music download code
* Rogue Style 1 EP is an international homage to b-boy culture, where the worlds of breakbeat music and breakdance collide. Sinistarr (USA), Kiat (Singapore), Kabuki (Germany) and HomeSick (Canada) are connected in many ways, now they lay bare their hip-hop roots and give something back with a fresh take through the eyes of drum & bass and juke/footwork. Here is what they have to say:
Sinistarr: "As a teenager I grew up as a b-boy, dancing anywhere I could: schools, parks, festivals, you name it, my crew was there with cardboard and a speaker. I eventually got deeper into DJing and making music and learned to bring a sound that's not just for the crowds and the purists, but also for all the dancers!"
Kiat: "Hip Hop has taught me to keep evolving, to explore new forms in all my art. Progression is the key to evolution. -- I met Sinistarr online thru myspace and we had a musical connection which led to our first collaboration 'Black Diamonds' which is still one of my personal favourite tunes I've been fortunate to be part of it's creation. With Kabuki, i've always been a fan of his work since his 'Makai' alias on No U-Turn, despite meeting him only recently thru the label.I've always known him to be constantly progressing his ideas in his music which I respect alot."
Kabuki: "B-boy culture has always been a strong influence on how I pursued my art, mainly because of its DIY ethos and attitude of perfecting your craft. Incidentally these were also the aspects that drew me to Jungle when I first discovered it in the nineties. -- I'm happy to rub shoulders with Kiat, Sinistarr and HomeSick on this release, as I'm a fan of their music foremost, but also because we became friends through the music."
HomeSick: "I was only a child in the 90s and as a result I feel like my understanding of b-boy culture was experienced second hand thanks to 90s/early 2000s hip hop music. I appreciate the parallels I can see with footwork culture, particularly the similarities to the community mentality of break dancing. -- I know Sinistarr through booking him for our local party night in Alberta, Canada called Percolate. Our city must have left an impression on him because a year later he made the move here from Detroit. Had the pleasure of hosting him as a room mate for a little over half a year, the home was a very potent creative space during this time. Kabuki hit me up a few years ago and we very quickly got to sharing tracks and collaborating together. Mans a master of production and a super important part of the global scene."
The idea for a reminiscence of b-boy culture stem from label owner Booga:
"Why am I interested in this so much I grew up in East Germany and as the movie "Beat Street" premiered in 1985 over here I was age 13 and blown away by the energy, the music, the wit, the style - everything in this movie was better than everyday life in Leipzig. So I started saving for a cassette recorder and taped music shows from West German radio and prepared tapes for school disco gigs to the hope somebody would do the "robot" to Arthur Baker "Breaker's Revenge". Unfortunately that never worked out hahaha. But I was hooked since then and as the wall came down in 1989 I travelled to West Berlin just to buy the Beats, Breaks and Scratches 1-4 vinyl box by Simon Harris. The fascination for breakbeats never stopped and before I discovered Jungle around '94 I was down with the British cut up house thing from the likes of Marrs, Krush and Coldcut as another form of breakbeat music. The "do it yourself" spirit from hip hop culture inspired me to start a local website called breaks.org in 2000 to locally promote the drum and bass scene with emerging producers, djs and mcs for a wider audience and I threw in some interviews with Storm, Kabuki, Rob Playford, Klute and John B. That turnt into a multi author blog called itsyours.info in 2004 which still exists - that is where I had the pleasure to introduce Kiat and Ash in 2007. All these years I was listening and playing drum and bass tunes when the occasional "bboy tune" came up, some were obvious like Alex Reece "B-Boy Flavour", Lemon D "B Boyz", Commix "Change" and some were not so much self-explanatory like Digital & Spirits "Phantom Force" and the remixes by T-Power & Codeine or Fracture's Astrophonica Edit - but I felt the hidden force of breakdancing nevertheless. With the Rogue Style series I have the first class opportunity to ask established and new Defrostatica artists to present a current interpretation of b-boy culture. This is a dream coming true."
Re-issue of the seminal 'Dust On Common' LP, from Led Er Est (Sam De La osa, Shawn O'Sullivan and Owen Hutchinson) was originally released in 2009 by the seminal Brooklyn based record label Wierd Records.
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The band's first full-length release showed the three piece clearly breaking out of the minimal synth underground they have been a vitally integral part of since its inception in Brooklyn to create an undeniably contemporary set of highly crafted and restrained, icily psychedelic pop songs.
Synthesizing countless disparate musical influences from first wave British industrial music to house, disco, and the largely unknown cold wave (aka 'La Vague Froide') tradition in Northern Europe, the trax on Dust fly by, straight out of the frozen hot, lonely cold plains of vocalist Samuel Kklovenhoof's native central Texas. After digesting a few songs of this rich dust, the listener can do no other than lie down in the wild weird Laredo bunker to revel in the refreshingly brisk blast of hedonistic analogue pleasure dancing through the airwaves in the sky above...
La Freund Recordings presents a new EP from Amsterdam based producer and modular synth enthusiast Sjamsoedin. Three varied tracks and two heavy remixes by Simon Weiss (Rush Hour / Voyage Direct) and Claude (a.k.a. Fulgeance) form the new label's second release.Sjam Sjamsoedin has been around the electronic music scene for over fifteen years, releasing music under various aliases. Since 2011 Sjamsoedin has been experimenting with a deeper and warmer sound built around strong grooves, combined with his love for (modular) synths and effects. Orion is Sjamsoedin's first full length EP under his own name.While "The Drums" and "Pastel" find their inspiration in the Chicago house sound of the good old days, "Orion" has more of a lush electronica vibe to it. Both remixes add a heavier sound to complete the well rounded EP.
This box contains all four solo albums by Bill Wyman, the first Rolling Stone to release a solo record. The first two (from 1974
and 1976, both issued on Rolling Stones Records) were made the help of a galaxy of musical friends like Lowell George, Dr John,
Joe Walsh, Van Morrison, the Pointer Sisters, Danny Kortchmar, Dallas Taylor, Leon Russell, Bob Welch and Nicky Hopkins.
- The eponymous third album was home to Bill's 1981 big hit single (Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star' as well as follow-up hits
Come Back Suzanne', A New Fashion' and Visions, while fourth album Stuff' appeared in 1992, originally in Japan only.
- The albums are now issued on vinyl for the first time since their original release (and 'Stuff' on vinyl for the first time ever),
gathered together in a beautiful rigid slipcase. The new inner sleeves feature all the lyrics and the musician credits.
Tropical Odds is the second album by White Sea, the solo alias adopted by gifted American singer, songwriter and producer Morgan Kibby of M83
Born in Alaska, and now a resident of Los Angeles, Morgan fronted The Romanovs before joining acclaimed electronic music group M83 in 2007, co-writing, arranging and playing keyboards on the albums Saturdays = Youth and Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, as well as completing several world tours.
As White Sea, her first solo album In Cold Blood arrived in 2014, a dramatic debut praised by Billboard for its 'canyon-sized hooks, knowingly grandiose melodies and succulent vocals' and judged 'pop's newest break-up classic' by Flavourwire.
Outside of M83 Morgan has also collaborated with artists such as Greg Kurstin, Panic! at the Disco, Mark Ronson and School of Seven Bells, remixed Ellie Goulding and Britney Spears, and composed the award winning soundtrack to Eva Husson's provocative 2016 movie Bang Gang (une histoire d'amour moderne).
New album Tropical Odds stems from an interactive project launched via White Sea's website featuring digital singles and videos released at regular intervals throughout 2015 and 2016. Explains Morgan: 'Generally being able to create and mix and master my solo material within days has given me the direct freedom to share songs I want people to hear. In short, if I write something that I like, I put it out!'
Now gathered together in album form, the musical moods on Tropical Odds range from the sombre reflections of Gangster No. 1 and Yesterday to the hedonistic rush of Stay Young, Get Stoned and Never a Woman, high drama on Bloodline and Arcadia, and heartbreaking balladry on Secret, One Bad Eye and Lessons.
Ill Camille has been a vital member of the LA music scene for some years. Kendrick Lamar used her vocals prominently for the 'good kid, m.A.A.d city' track 'Sing about me', she has been working with other TDE artists occasionally and spend a lot of time writing for different projects Terrance Martin was involved with.
At the same time Camille was developing her own material with her fellow peers such as MNDSGN, Iman Omari, DJ Battlecat, Like (Pac Div) Georgia Anne Muldrow & SIR who are all featured on her album 'Heirloom' just like TDE co-president Punch. 'Heirloom' productions range from smooth, g-funk esque west coast beats to live & organic soulful beats, working as the perfect backdrop for Camille's powerful, intelligent and thought thru lyrics
The album is deeply personal revolving around the issues that mater in her life from friends and family, her role as a woman and the heirloom of her and her surrounding: 'I feel like everyone are heirlooms of our mothers and fathers. An heirloom is just something that's passed down through a family. We get heirlooms in the form of game, encouragement or wise words. I know everyone has an aunt or uncle that's given them some bars about life in general. I have a village around me that have given me heirlooms in the form of conversations'.
Undefined is back and extending the legend saga with the highly experienced, creative genius Todd sines.
Todd began creating music in the late 80's, ranging from post-punk and industrial, to techno and house. While digging through his material on Discogs, one can easily notice the great variety of sounds he has developed throughout the years, using multiple aliases like .xtrak and Enhanced.
Todd kicks off this EP with 'Coast', easily recognizable by it's complicated drum patterns, vocal snippets and deepness. Shcaa did an amazing job on the remix as well, using some of Todd's elements to form the core of a true minimal pumper. The breaks are scary as hell and will certainly result in a perfect dark atmosphere on underground dance floors.
On the flipside Todd again shows diversity, as he delivers Throwback and Waves of love. Both of them are house oriented and have energetic acid basslines, fitting together perfectly.
t's the utmost honor for Sonar Kollektiv to be in the position to introduce 'Ankhor', the brand new album by Liz Aku. Having recorded all sorts of music with different outfits as well as solo projects over the last fifteen years the Belgian soul singer and highly gifted songwriter definitely earned her stripes and is anything but a newcomer to this game. She seems to have found her own, distinctive voice, after traveling to New Zealand and a far-reaching encounter with Mara TK from Electric Wire Hustle. With 'Ankhor' (a combination of the Egyptian symbol for eternal life 'Ankh' and 'anchor') Aku accomplished a masterpiece of Nu Soul, Jazz and Pop, which will make her join the upper league of the players on the scene. For this cause, several allies and efriended producers have helped her out. With Mara TK leading the way obviously, who co-produced three out of the album's twelve songs. On 'Breathing Underwater' and the sublime, for the whole album groove defining opening song 'The Drum Major Instinct' the native New Zealander duets with Aku
Having come up with an annual-ish drop of 12's since 2010, Even Brenden AKA Chmmr set aside the spring of 2016 to challenge himself to a new format: a full-length album. A true nostalgic, he uses Compass Point-era and early Italo sounds for inspiration and attempts to simulate these styles. This makes for a melodic, chuggy and graphic album that belongs a little more in the living room than on the dance floor. With 10 tracks of dusty rhythms and the honest, naive and spacious themes that is Brenden's signature, it's a record designed to signal that today's technological future may not be as different as yesterday's. Features a nice-looking cover painting drawn by the late Harold Cohen's AARON program - automation at its finest. Hidden behind his Chmmr moniker is Even Brenden, whose summery debut found its way into the world via Norwegian psych-disco label Luna Flicks in 2010. The record became somewhat of a soughtafter item and after making pit stops at Relish, Dødpop and Untz Untz Records, he landed on Prins Thomas' Full Pupp in 2014 and have stayed put ever since, all the while enjoying a steady habit of record jocking and the occasional keyboard duty in Telephones' now-defunct live band. Even resides in Oslo makes odd waves without vowels.
The Band > SCARLETT'S FALL is a duo formed in 2014 by Ruth Childs (British-American performance artist and singer based in Geneva) and Stephane Vecchione (Swiss performance artist and musician based in Lausanne). They define themselves as dirty-girlie-kitchen-pop mixing catchy melodies and repetitive looping with fragile vocals and provocative texts. Out of their playfully ironic and poetic universe you can ear shades of CAN, Broadcast and Young Marble Giants. SCARLETT'S FALL toured their first album all over Switzerland and supported Tricky, Peaches and Anika.SCARLETT'S SCARED' is SCARLETT'S FALL ironically seductive second album. It all started with an (blue) demonstration vinyl entitled 'The Incredible Sounds of the Synclavier II' released by New England Digital Corp in 1981 to promote the first digital sampling system. Its content gave the basic atmosphere for the whole album: each of the 10 tracks samples a specific Synclavier sound. Add haunting melodies, mysterious vocals and fun beats and you get 'SCARLETT'S SCARED' complete. As the title suggests 'SCARLETT'S SCARED' is about being scared and takes its roots from vintage movies such as Klute (1971) and Metti Una Sera a Cena (1969) that deals with phone stalkers, insomnia, sexual tension, vampires, ghosts and explosive watermelon attack!
In April Booka Shade will return with their new album GALVANY STREET. A new beginning in many ways. "We're very proud to have reached a lot with instrumental music. With MOVEMENTS 10 we closed a chapter last year. 2017 is the perfect time for a new start and to mix things up." (Walter Merziger) GALVANY STREET marks the return to their pop roots in collaboration with former Archive singer Craig Walker and a few additional guests like Urdur (GusGus), Australian Yates and Daniel Spencer from London. I was aware of the band before we started working together and really liked everything I had heard. I was introduced to the guys by Martin Eyerer one of the Riverside owners. Martin was really enthusiastic about us meeting as he felt we would have a lot in common musically and he was right. We met up in Riverside and we discussed music we liked past and present and we had very similar tastes. I listened to their back catalogue and was really impressed with how great everything was produced and I loved howmelodically driven everything they did was. (Craig Walker)
The second single from the album is - Numb The Pain , a disco inspired feel good pop song. For the single format Booka Shade created 2 special versions of the song. A much shorter, more instant Single Version and a longer, club friendly Extended Mix, inspired by classic 80s 12inch releases.
Every single from the album will also feature an unreleased exclusive song, again inspired by the traditional idea of a B-Side. In this case it´s the instrumental tech house tune - Fade Away , a hint at Booka Shade´s past. Booka Shade will embark on a European Tour in April to support the release of the new album. For the first time in their career, Booka Shade will be joined on stage by singer Craig Walker. GALVANY STREET is the album we wanted to write for a long time. The collaboration with Craig Walker brings in the perfect kind of vocals to complete the music." (Arno Kammermeier).
We were very happy to be asked by Connaisseur
Recordings if they could put out another album with our
music! Now it's all come together and they've asked us to
do our own press release for it and quite like the album,
we want to do it in our own way, personal and from the
heart. It's been a few years since our last Connaisseur album, and
a lot has happened since. We've built a new studio,
matured musically, acquired new gear, sold old gear, done a
lot of gigs, lost faith in music and regained it again.
The process of making The Loneliest Man In Space (this
album) was a genuinely pleasant experience, as we never
really set out to make an album at all. We didn't
conceptualize or have any grandiose plans, we simply
enjoyed ourselves in the studio.
Inspiration was running high, so we focused on making a lot
of music uninterrupted, rather than signing tracks, which
left us with quite a bulk of unsigned material. The idea to
release these tracks as an album came from our friend
Alex, at Connaisseur. We instantly jumped on the idea,
listened through the material, taking some tracks out and
composing a few new ones, to make it sit more together as
a whole. We tried to come up with a title that would ft
the feeling of the sum of tracks and settled on The
Loneliest Man In Space. As the album, to our ears, sounds a
little melancholic and a little spacey.
We sincerely hope that you enjoy the album either as a
listening experience, a dance experience or something in
between!
Thank you, and much love!
Vegard & Chris // Of Norway
3xLP+CD Artbook
(en) - Nearly two decades after the last official GAS album release, Wolfgang Voigt returns to his iconic Ambient project with a brandnew full-length.
- NARKOPOP continues the classic GAS aesthetic of symphonic scope and subtle variation, taking the listener on an otherworldly journey to the depths of rapture and reverie.
- Available as luxurious hardcover CD incl. 24 pages booklet.
In the body of work of Cologne artist Wolfgang Voigt - who, like few others, has informed, shaped and influenced the world of electronic music with countless different projects since the early 1990s -, GAS stands out in particular as a saturnine sound cosmos based on heavily condensed classic sequences. Even after nearly 20 years, the sound of GAS doesn't seem to have lost any of its luster, as shown by the commanding success of Kompakt's fall 2016 re-release of the essential back catalogue as a 10xLP/4xCD box set.
The overwhelming feedback from a loyal international fan community and worldwide media outlets attests once again to the sheer timelessness of GAS. Which is why it will feel like hardly a day has passed since the release of the last official album 'Pop' nearly two decades ago, when Wolfgang Voigt resumes this specific creative path with the upcoming new full-length NARKOPOP.
Even in the here and now, the unmistakable vibe of GAS immediately hits home, taking the listener on an otherworldly journey with the very first sounds, drawing him or her into an impervious sonic thicket, down to the depths of rapture and reverie. From wafts of dense symphonic mist emerges a floating and whirling feeling of weightlessness, before the listener steps into an eerily beautiful forest of fantasy, pulled in by the allure of a narcotic bass drum.
While earlier GAS tracks were often based on the hypnotic effects of looping techniques, the 10 new pieces on NARKOPOP unfold their magic in a more entwined manner, sometimes with the sonic might of an entire philharmonic orchestra, sometimes as subtle and fragile as the most delicate branch of a tree with many. A main characteristic of Voigt's oeuvre, the coalescence of seemingly contradictory stylistic aspects such as harmonious and atonal, concrete and abstract, light and heavy, near and far is also a decisive feature of NARKOPOP.
In accordance with the transgressive spirit of his collective work, Voigt carries the aesthetic conceptions of his music over to the realm of the visual. Based on his abstract forest pictures, the GAS artwork addresses Voigt's artistic affinity to romanticism and the forest as a place of yearning. For the first time, a closer look at the cover of NARKOPOP reveals signs of architectural fragments which hint at another, maybe parallel world behind Voigt's forest. Truth is the prettiest illusion.
(de) - Fast zwei Jahrzehnte nach dem letzten offiziellen GAS-Albumrelease kehrt Wolfgang Voigt mit einem brandneuen Langspieler zu seinem legendären Ambientprojekt zurück.
- NARKOPOP setzt die klassische GAS-Ästhetik zwischen symphonischer Grösse und subtiler Variation fort, eine Reise zu den Untiefen von Rausch und Entrücktheit.
- Erhältlich als luxuriöse Hardcover CD- Erhältlich als luxuriöse Hardcover CD inkl. 24-seitigem Booklet.
Aus dem Gesamtwerk des Kölner Künstlers Wolfgang Voigt, der mit seinen unzähligen unterschiedlichen musikalischen Projekten seit den frühen 1990er Jahren wie kaum ein Zweiter die elektronische Musikwelt geprägt, gestaltet und beinflusst hat, ragt sein Projekt GAS, ein auf stark verdichteten Klassiksequenzen basierendes, düsteres Klangkunstwerk, in ganz besonderem Maße heraus. Dass der Sound von GAS auch nach fast 20 Jahren scheinbar nichts von seinem Zauber und seiner Kraft verloren hat, zeigte eindrucksvoll der große Erfolg des im Herbst 2016 als 10xVinyl/4xCD Box auf Kompakt wieder veröffentlichten Backkatalogs.
Die überwältigende Resonanz, sowohl seitens der treuen internationalen Fangemeinde als auch der weltweiten Presse, bezeugte einmal mehr die schiere Zeitlosigkeit von GAS. Daher fühlt es sich auch an, als sei kaum ein Tag vergangen, wenn Wolfgang Voigt nun mit NARKOPOP genau da den künstlerischen Faden wieder aufnimmt, wo das letzte offizielle Album »Pop« ihn vor fast zwei Jahrzehnten hat fallen lassen.
Auch hier und heute verfängt der unverwechselbare Geist von GAS unmittelbar und nimmt den Hörer bereits mit den ersten Tönen mit in eine andere Welt, zieht ihn hinein in ein undurchdringliches Dickicht aus Klang, hinunter in die Untiefen von Rausch und Entrücktheit.
Aus dichten sinfonischen Nebelschwaden entsteht ein Schweben und Taumeln, ein Gefühl der Schwerelosigkeit, bevor der Zuhörer von der Anziehungskraft einer narkotischen Bassdrum wieder hinunter in den schaurig-schönen Fantasie-Wald gelockt wird.
Während frühere GAS Tracks oft auf der hypnotischen Wirkung des Loops basierten, entfalten die 10 neuen Stücke auf NARKOPOP ihre Magie auf verschlungeneren Pfaden, mal mit der klanglichen Wucht eines ganzen Philharmonieorchesters, dann wieder so zart und zerbrechlich wie der feinste Ast eines weit verzweigten Baumes. Das für Voigts Arbeiten so typische Ineinanderfließen scheinbar widersprüchlicher stilistischer Aspekte wie harmonisch und atonal, konkret und abstrakt, leicht und schwer, nah und fern ist auch auf NARKOPOP essenziell.
Im Sinne seines grenzüberschreitenden Schaffens, überträgt Voigt die ästhetischen Konzeptionen seiner Musik auch auf die Ebene des Visuellen. Das auf seinen abstrakten Waldbildern basierende GAS Artwork thematisiert Voigts künstlerischen Nähe zur Romantik und dem Wald als Sehnsuchtsort. Wer einen genaueren Blick auf das Cover von NARKOPOP wirft, der wird erstmalig Andeutungen architektonischer Fragmente entdecken, die eine andere, vielleicht parallele Welt hinter dem voigt'schen Wald erahnen lassen. Wahrheit ist der schönste Schein.
In the spring of 2007, musician and producer Paul 'Mudd'
Murphy decided to launch his own label. Named after the house
he grew up in, Claremont 56 would release beautiful music by
friends, associates, collaborators and like-minded musicians.
In the 10 years that have passed since, Claremont 56 has more
than surpassed Murphy's modest expectations. It has built up
a cult following around the world, with listeners responding
positively to the label's combination of magical music, beautiful
artwork, and impeccable packaging.
To mark the label's frst decade, Murphy has put together
a sumptuous vinyl box set of previously unheard material,
produced and presented with the same attention to detail that
listeners have come to expect.
Each copy of Claremont 56: 10 Years contains fve weighty slabs
of wax and a bespoke info sheet, housed in a specially designed,
hand-numbered box with debossed logos on the front and rear.
However impressive the packaging, it's the music that makes
Claremont 56: 10 Years stand out. Featuring a mixture of
unreleased tracks and brand new remixes of vintage label
releases, the highlights come thick and fast.
As you'd expect, some of the most impressive contributions
come from those artists you could describe as legendary',
including Chicago deep house originators Larry Heard and Ron
Trent. Can legend Holger Czukay kindly contributes one of the
standout moments, the eccentric 'Music To Be Murdered By',
from his own unreleased catalogue, while Afro-cosmic pioneer
Daniele Baldelli joins forces with Marco Dionigi to deliver a
typically spacey remix of Bison's 'Familiar Stranger'. There's also
an epic, Afro-tinged dub disco remix of Smith & Mudd's 'Nether'
by Norwegian scene founder Bjorn Torske.
Elsewhere, Good Timin' man Jex Opolis turns an overlooked
track by Paraiso into a samba-boogie killer, Sean P dubs out
Zee Erf's beautiful cover of 'Southern Freeez', and Phil Mison
turns FreshRo's laidback electrofunk cut 'Pacifc State' into a
breezy, Balearic gem. Look out too, for the emotion-rich beauty
of Statues' 'River Darkness' - a track arguably worth the cost
of the box set on its own - and the deep space explorations of
Almunia's Leo Ceccanti.
We could go on, but we're running out of space. Sufce to say,
Claremont 56: 10 Years is a lovingly compiled, curated and
presented celebration of the label's frst decade.
out of Stock
Last delivered 4 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Echoe returns for its first outing of 2017 and fifth release since starting in earnest last year. ECHOE005 marks the first remix package in the label's discography, offering up four stellar remixes of Francesca Lombardo's "Remembrance" song. A clear stand-out in the label boss's inimitable repertoire, "Remembrance" has been given the rework treatment by house and techno stalwarts: Cassy, Laura Jones, Jade and La Fleur.
Cassy offers up the first remix, focussing her reinterpretation around an enormous and insistent bassline, murky and dense in equal measure, that rolls from start to finish. Undulating hats inject further energy, doubling in pace strategically whilst complimenting the 4/4 groove. Utilising the originals' emotional resonance, Cassy creates soft textures and refined arpeggiated patterns, adding a further dimension to the track's impassioned narrative.
Laura Jones's remix comes in the form of a low-slung, jazzy drum work-out, adorned with sub-heavy kicks and a snarling low-end that offers much of the track's sonic weight. Gentle bell-like keys float alongside modulated synth stabs that filter in and out of focus, whilst Jones's drum programming becomes progressively more and more frenetic.
Jade's reimagining sees a broken beat take the reigns, leaving space for soft percussive rhythms and an earth shaking low-end that pushes the song into ghetto house territory. Hi-hat pick-ups and jittery vocal cuts provide further momentum before the groove lands on sturdy 4/4 terrain. Jade's deftly arranged breakdowns, punctuated by panned drum fills and granular FX, adds welcome tension to the track, making a return to rolling drum-patterns and buzzing bass-sequences all the more rewarding as they come back in.
The final remix comes courtesy of La Fleur who delivers the most peak-time, club focussed material on the package. Staying true to the original's hook, La Fleur brings melody to the fore, whilst deploying snappy drums alongside chilling atmospherics and tech heavy stabs, set to keep dancers moving into early hours and beyond.
We are proud to unveil our next vinyl release of 2017 on Dust Audio.
* Mikal takes his first bow for Dust Audio in the form of 'The Spirited EP'. The break and bass craftsman reigns down an assault of almighty weight for the imprint which holds no barred.
* Off the back of his critically acclaimed 'Wilderness' album on Metalheadz, Mikal continues to seek out the dance floor through his precision target and locks on for a serious assault of the senses.* The EP's title track 'Spirited' see's the sinister intro build up and transform into a bass laden drop. The stepping drums and jungle infused shuffles entwine with the ghost vocal, whilst the modulated bass will move even the harshest drum n bass skeptics. Unrelenting throughout.* The flip sees Mikal spread his considerable studio talent over two further tunes of constant surprise.
'Low Note' wastes no time in getting to the drop before you've had chance to take a breath. A thunderous one note bass underpins the mid ranged reece and stabs whilst the chunky drums compliment the tidy percussion nicely. A haunting vocal then sets off another 16 bars of unclouded rawness.* 'Linear' finishes the EP with aplomb. Synth chords open up into what you might expect to be a lovely liquid-esque style roller... think again! Mikal takes that premise and turns it upside down and inside out before bringing the dirty funk. Keeping in line with the 2 tunes before, this isn't for the faint hearted. Definitely one for the drum & bass purest, who may well be dancing, but will also be taking down mental notes!
* Mikal and Dust Audio continue 2017's release schedule in style...
