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Took a bit of a break from demos and releases after extending the family with a cute little boy, but now we're back with some of the best deep techno and house lined up for you! But first, something completely different.
Michele Mininni hails from the south of Italy and counts everything from post- and krautrock over new wave, house and disco amongst his influences. He's been a DJ for years, but only recently released his debut EP on Optimo Trax in Glasgow. He immediately found himself on the playlists of Beats In Space and Rinse FM. We were literally blown away when he sent us his music and didn't hesitate to release it although it's not what you're used to hear from us. It's hard to describe 'Endless Ceremony'. Epic, but not as you know it. Cosmic, definitely.
For the remix we thought of Rocketnumbernine. Two brothers with releases on Soul Jazz, Four Tet's Text label and more recently an album on Smalltown Supersound. Currently touring with James Holden and Neneh Cherry. Their remix could be described as almost dreamy electronica/idm.
We think this is a really special release. The following people already agree: Gavin Russom, Âme, Ripperton, A Made Up Sound, James Holden, Optimo, Deadbeat... First pressing on coloured vinyl!

"Teilstueck" (German for part or segment) is the next excerpt of Jacob Stoy's ongoing attempt to translate his surroundings into music. It's his second EP for Uncanny Valley and is even more multifaceted than his debut "Redenswart" from 2012. With "OMG" you'll get the feeling that something sublime will happen right from the beginning. It's one of those tracks whereby time stands still until a mighty synth-line unfolds in all its glory. "CFM" comes in the same musical vein with a similar and slightly melancholic bass-synth dominating the drumming. By far more cheerful is "MKM". Based on a catchy bass line foundation, Jacob Stoy showcases wonderful synth-effects and sound with the beautifully oscillated pad making the cut. This is House music for machine lovers. The flipside starts with "HIM" and probably the most floor-friendly track on the record. The slowly but steadily rising organ chords prepare things and when the carefully targeted percussion elements come in, it feels like summer will never end. In contrast, "QFL" lives from its mysterious atmosphere and is very good example for Jacob Stoy's preference to use Electronica-like sounds for his House Music. The record is rounded up with "HHM" and a little nod towards past times when he used to play in a Jazz band. With its Delay effects, a fuzzy guitar and a great bass melody it's not far away from Krautrock either. For the artwork Jacob Stoy teams up with fellow student Chris Dietzel.

The outboard loving, super talented young Russian producer returns to Bokhari.

No short clip could ever do Triptych justice - it has three distinct parts which are woven together with immense skill. Not for those who buy tracks for 5 second loops!
A totally absorbing and evolving piece...

Another production masterclass on the flip as 'More' gently builds around atmospheric pads, crisp percussion and a creeping acid line.
Finally Dotylus wrap things up with a bold rework of Tryptich, marrying immersive synth washes to an insistent rhythm track and more than a nod to early 90's electronica

To celebrate the 10th release a download code is included containing five unreleased free tracks of Bokhari artists remixing each other - includes remixes from Gnork, Life Recorder, Semerka, Clarke Sawkill & Gitchell Moore.

Artwork reproduced with kind permission of Sue Wicker.

Audio Plants proudly presents the extraordinary 2 x 12inch compilation of best tunes for home listening and sofa dancing, containing warm electronica, deep drum'n'bass, ethereal art-core and hypnotic broken beats with out-of-this-world vocals. It represents the combined forces of artists without boundaries and borders, connecting together Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Estonia. Like every Audio Plants release this beautiful crystal clear vinyl was thoroughly mastered by well-known artist and sound-engineering wizard ENEI.

After the killer first EP, Somewhen is back with another stunning work on his own label SANA.

The follow up 12' from Somewhen's SANA tetralogie contains four drifting electronic tracks.
On the A side starter "Nimbus" is followed by the rite "Altar". Banned on the flipside electronic killer
"Ecsit" merges the sound of Somewhen while "Koppernigk" isolates our view.

Unknown number, no repress, no digital download.

Green Vinyl Pressing!
Here comes the second EP by our new artist on Echocord Colour, the super talented Roberto Clementi from Italy. Roberto is one of the most inventive and creative electronic music artists currently making his name known in the underground scene at the moment. Roberto is mostly known for his releases on Soma, eps + recently he released his rst album. He has also been releasing on Brendon Moeller's label Steadfast Records. The track Barrel is a super powerfull Techno track full of deepness, heavy staps and dubby elements.Traps is a slower heavy Dub-Techno trip also perfectly for the peaktime hour.This ep also comes with a heavy monster Norman Nodge Remix.

Optimo Music is usually known as a 12" label, but occasionally something rare and dangerous comes our way that compels us to release a full length album...

It's not exactly a dance album, although there is music you can dance to on it. It's more filmic in nature, with gads of references to wonderful directors like Kubrick and Carpenter that will enthrall a film buff, particularly if they're interested in electronic and dance music. There's a sleazy and unsettling feel to much of the tracks ("Tina Weymouth" is a sleaze-floor monster groove...), but we hope it will intrigue and delight!

The film references are directly relevant as Felizol and The Boy are film directors Yiannis Veslemes and Alexandros Voulgaris, who live in Athens, Greece and have composed music for numerous feature films. They also perform live in house clubs, heavy metal dungeons and hippy-friendly festivals...

They have this to say about their release: "We had a loose concept for this album and we compiled tracks that we've recorded the last 3 years that have to do with the cannibalism. Literally but also as a metaphor for the blessing and the tyranny of paying homage and influenced from music and films (and directors and musicians).

So these are songs about the agony of creating something new and personal when so much information and influences are fused in them."

Trek With Quintronic are the duo, formed from the ashes of prog rock band Masque in 1979. They recorded two pioneering albums of unique electronic rock. 'Landing Plus' compiles the complete discography of Trek With Quintronic on a double vinyl for the first time in over 30 years. Trek With Quintronic wrote songs with a powerful sound, myriads of compositional ideas, synthetic noises and catchy melodies. Paul's rather unique vocals lie somewhere between David Bowie and Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs.nThis collection highlights a lost duo with a big sound on par with Ultravox, Human League, OMD or Devo

Earlier this year, Micha Acher and his band The Notwist returned with their latest full-length 'Close To The Glass' and received rave reviews around the globe. Yet, it's not the only album he's going to release this year, since Acher's about to introduce his latest musical entity - the Alien Ensemble. It's an all-acoustic line-up, devoid of electronic enhancements. And even though all members have a background in jazz, this is no classic 'jazz music' either - there's simply no need to show off technical skills... Since you'll hear anything from Minimal Music to Krautrock influences, from delicate brass sections to the sound of New Orleans, it's pretty much impossible to pigeonhole Alien Ensemble's sound or slap a genre term on it.

Guillotine is an electronic music duo from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Saulo Pais (Dada Attack) and Zeno Mainardi. To create these tracks, they used a heavy setup of analog electronic equipment. This resulted in three raw eclectic techno tracks with a sharp edge. Equipment: Korg MS-20, Roland TR-808, Simmons Clap Trap, Serge Modular System, LinnDrum LM-2, Roland CR-8000, Roland TR-707, Star Instruments Inc Synare 2, Lell USD, Moog Voyager, Moog Opus-3

Recording artists Jimi Tenor & Nicole Willis, husband and wife team whom together brought you Call of the Wild on Tenor's Out Of Nowhere, (Warp, 2000), Feeling Free on Willis' Keep Reachin' Up, (Timmion Records, 2005), release their follow up album of project COLA&JIMMU, to album Enigmatic, (Herakles Records, 2013). The album is featuring their production as well as compositions. With instrumentations by Tenor and beats procured from the vintage gear of Jori Hulkkonen in his Turku studio, Alppihouz by Willis, the album has a warm feeling and yet sufficiently exciting for the electronic house heads. There are plenty of string pads, flutes and flute pads, etc to prick up your ears. COLA&JIMMU once again capture the genuine, old school sound.

The eighteenth Theomatic installment comes courtesy of Amberflame. The A-side Unique is a lean towards the early-naughties dancefloor-oriented French electronica with a certain amount of delicate synthwork and contemporary crisp blended in. The laidback and melancholic Ultraviolet, on the flipside, would, without any doubt, make a perfect soundtrack to a sunset drive down the coast... with a beautiful lady... in a convertible.

Pink marble vinyl / Sleeve artwork by ' The 'Warm'
Friendly Feeling Embodied in a Red-Pink One 1961 by Mcdermott & McGough.

ISNISNT offers it's second release of forward leaning electronics with a diverse group of modern techno from label head Jesse Siminski. Acting under his Heartthrob guise, Jesse initiates the release with 'Someone Called Again' a tough, but funky, bass driven tune that marries detailed production with his signature ominous melodies to great effect. Subtle modulating percussion work against harder, swung snare and synthetic drums workouts, as surprising analog synth bursts glue things together. Building smoothly into a headfirst groove, the track pressurizes and never loses it's drive as heady synth riffs keep things musical and emotionally interesting. In an even funkier tangent the two mixes of 'Cougar Juice' draw together an irresistible bass line with pushing breakbeats and precise synth stabs. These horn like synthesizer bursts mark surprising turns and recall similar moments in classic Hip-Hop jams or even tracks from Detroit's Anthony Shakir or Robert Hood- two of Jesse's production heroes. The 'Driving Past the Jail Mix' incorporates these synth stabs hypnotically within the melodic structure, while the 'Reduced Dub Mix' dials things back and focuses on the bass line, drums and dubbed out flourishes. With their funk driven momentum constantly moving forward, either mix will bring something unique to either a house or techno set. And finally 'Let Them Go' rounds out the group in a deep, yet still driving fashion. It splices sub bass pulses, a melancholic synth atmosphere, absurd bleeps and submerged voices amongst stripped down drums into a steadily building hybrid cut- not quite house and not really techno.

A unique piece of work by another new project, this time by some industry veterans.
Next up is a unique piece of work by another new project, this time by some industry veterans.
Petwo Evans features live drumming accompanying some dinky electronic magic.
Each track differs in pace and style, sharing similar idiosyncratic qualities as Swim-era Caribou, Shackleton and maybe a hint of Border Community in there too Great, in other words..

In the wake of Blocks & Escher's recent outings on Metalheadz, Critical, and Zomby's Cult Music, Narratives present the first solo
excursions on the label from one of its founders, Blocks. Varied, emotive and beautiful, the Séance EP is innately Narratives Music in sound and yet unlike anything the label has delivered previously. The Séance EP fleets between ethereal vocals, forlorn strings and analogue bursts of glassy synths, while drum machines dance with live kits that would be fitting of 90s Mowax records. Bass lines loom heavy throughout, simple and driving rhythms that bed the delicate keys and story telling harmonics above. As immersive as it is succinct, Blocks has created an extended player awash with feeling and juxtaposition; again displaying why Narratives Music has been lauded across electronic music from the likes of Goldie and
Com Truise to Zomby and Rob da Bank. Forming the veritable gem of the collection, is the vocal laden 'Haven', a collaborative piece between Blocks and the hugely talented Jennifer Hall. Live instrumentation of bowed strings and bass provide canvas for the heart wrenching tones of Hall. Doc Scott describes the track as 'Deep, deep blues'. More akin to a personal reflection of the artist than the frenetic speed of a club, more Twin Peaks meets Portishead than dance floor energy; this is music at a Drum & Bass tempo by a producer that doesn't want to be caught in a debate on style or subgenre. In essence it seems to emphasise a recent quote by Blocks, 'Drum and Bass is anything you can get away with'. Label support from Goldie, Kuedo, Doc Scott, Rockwell, Benji B, Paul Woolford, Zomby, Friction, ASC, Jubei, Teebee, Pedestrian,
Rob Da Bank, Midland, Kasra.

Luciaen, AKA Lucien Nicolet, presents the second chapter in his Basaec series, with Origins. The new label from the Cadenza Records boss looks back to the roots of his production career, whilst presenting a wholefully futuristc take on electronic dance music. Origins (Wild Origins) leads release #2, a collosal twelve minute piece of neo-classical electronics. Waves of arpeggio synth dominate the beatless track, its mighty stabs and light percussion propelling the track along at great speed and urgency. The heads will no doubt hear inspirations from Detroit techno in here, but you can't put this piece in any genre box, rather it's a huge musical showcase from one of dance music's most enigmatic figures. The Great Amael finds Luciaen in more familiar territory, a lo-fi bubbling groove and dusted Hammond organs hustle along whilst the live percussions shine through. Energetic and infectious, the tone softens with the oceanic pads that provide its classic melody and threatens to envelope the listener in a wall of beautiful sound.

Having kick off 2014 in spectacular fashion with their Episode #5 collab, Superfiction label chiefs Italoboyz and Blind Minded join forces again to deliver the next instalment from their popular label series.

Lead track Paradise Adventure effuses a sense of mystery with its psychedelic guitar rhythmically tripping between beats and electronic blues licks heightening the intensity while never reaching boiling point. This adventure bubbles brilliantly.

Christian Burkhardt is drafted in on remix duty and takes us on a march with his strong groovin' bassline. The German allows the sweeping atmospherics to play their part and brings the stunning guitar riff to the fore, allowing us to get lost further in the rhythmic groove.

Champagne Kisses closes the release and the bassline rule again as Blind Minded fly solo, weaving a heavy slice of bottom-ended funk. The vocal playfully chases the key changes to create an excellent sing-a-long club cut that could easily have lead the release.

Two strong originals and an excellent remix make this an Episode not to be missed!

From the ruins of the birthplace of techno ...
Detroit Underground returns with this, their twenty second release, in a catalogue that has come to define the outer limits of experimental electronics while still adhering to dance floor basics.
This edition sees DU label boss Kero return to the spotlight in collaboration with LA based sound designer and interactive director Drasko Vucevic, aka Drasko V of Los Angeles based DRASTIC Music + Technology. Drasko has recently created, among other things, sound design for a promotional featurette for the Academy Award nominated film Gravity.
Given the label's long time fascination with the intersections of music, art and technology the collaboration is as fitting as it is fruitful.


Side A ups the collaborative ante as this 12'' comes blasting out of the gate with two very strong remixes, Exponent is the subject of a relentless 4/4 treatment from LA techno exponents Drumcell while Superheavy gets an acid-style work out from Canadian producer Jesse Somfay's Borealis project.


It is not until the second side that we hear the original versions of Exponent and Superheavy, both of which reveal themselves to be undulating masses of hip hop tinged beats over dark, bass rich undertones, with the latter offering some brighter tones as well - in other words pretty much what you might expect out of a Drasko V and Kero collaboration.


Side B is further rounded out with a couple of remixes from England's Si Begg and Valance Drakes the former coming in with a super compressed, squelched out, electro inspired take on Exponent while Valance Drakes chills us back out with an impossibly mellowed out version of the same

On the back of an exciting debut album in 2012 that saw him perform live at Sonar festival and later with his band at Vienna's Volkstheatre, before disseminating music on Permanent Vacation, Suol and Connaisseur Recordings, enigmatic Basque Country producer El_Txef_A returns with his sophomore longplayer 'We Walked Home Together'.
El_Txef_A (pronounced 'Elchefa') has crafted a work that just like its journey-conjuring title, charts a shifting palette of sounds and moods, exemplifying its creator Aitor Etxebarria's breadth of skill.
Produced entirely in Aitor's homeland of the mountainous Basque Country, the album showcases the talents of not just its creator who producers, sings and plays piano on the record, but also some of the Spanish region's most outstanding musicians.
Local artist Biskonti is one contributor, whose vocals coat a brooding bed of rough-cut drums on the ice-cold slice of electronica 'I'm Going to Paint You', while Hannot lends his pipes to the moving 'You Left Us In This Physical World' that sweep over a delicately crafted brew of guitars and keys. Both Basque vocalists featured on El_Txef_A's debut 'Slow Dancing in a Burning Room'. Sublime title track 'We Walked Home Together' turns into a family affair, with Aitor's brother Hibai playing the grand piano.
A graduate at 2013's Red Bull Music Academy in Madrid, El_Txef_A has an impressive array of sonic strings to his bow and the Detroit techno inspired 'Claim of Planet Earth' deliciously rubs shoulders with the album's single, the alternative slice of pop 'The Love We Lost' featuring DFA's Woofly.
Elsewhere, Aitor paints a dream-like soundscape with the sublime shoegaze-inspired trip '0730' that seamlessly bleeds into 'Every Day Is Blue Monday', with its atmosphere-heavy swirl of subtle acid lines, floating synths and evocative vocals delivered by Suol records contributor Meggy.
An artist whose music is inextricably connected with his homeland, the album concludes with the stirring 'Mugarrirantz' sung in the native tongue of Euskera by country folk band Napora Iria. It's proof that El_Txef_A is equally adept at doffing his cap to tradition as moving a dancefloor with his inspired brand of electronica.

Nomine's third release on Tempa, following last year's spooked-out Nomine's War, is Enma / Zen Circle / Mindfulness. Containing his most expansive and exploratory music to date, pushing his already intricate and varied sound to new depths of atmosphere and intensity.
As their titles attest, the three tracks here are intense meditations as much as they are club firepower. Drawing equally on his love of UK sound system music and formally experimental composition and sound design, they further highlight Nomine's status as one of the most adventurous new producers operating in electronic music today.Lead track 'Enma' blasts from the tracks in flurries of metallic drums and plucked sino-grime esque melodies, an atmosphere heightened further on 'Zen Circle' whose reedy pipe motifs stalk through the mist like figures through a haunted forest. 'Mindfulness' rounds the EP out with shadowy, delay cloaked digital dub, riding out atop clustered kickdrums and roughly effected drums.

Hi5 is the latest prank from A Different Jimi, aka Jimi Siebels. It's is a bitchy chicago house smasher in a surprisingly refreshing kinship to New York's hard bop of the 1960s, without ever being in danger of becoming acid jazz. Because in order to create his own definition of jazz-infected-house, Jimi makes no use of already overstrained rare groove samples, but a classic range of instruments and musical friends who he invites to recording sessions in his studio. So we hear RVDS (It's / smallville) at the piano, Hayo Doin (Die Boys / Deichkind) on drums and last but not least DJ Björnski (dérive) on guitar. And yet everything comes together to be pushing electronic music. Hi5 is like the joy of a child over a bucket of water on a hot summer day. And after the refreshment the B side reveals a deep disco pearl in brilliance, plain beauty and a warm, vespertine elegance, that has been created due to the cooperation between a different Jimi and Björnski, the dérive label tycoon himself. 'Hi 5 & Sweet Fancy Moses' is a vinyl-become-south-sea-island in an ocean of tears of joy.

#3 Live Act of 2013 at Resident Advisor, one of the most in demand remixers around, a total of 156 gigs in 2013, releases for Rush Hour, Ovum, Macro; booked out months in advance from Berghain to Ibiza to the main electronic festivals ... KiNK: Arguably the world of dance music has not witnessed anyone else rising so clearly from bottom to top just by the centrifugal force of sheer talent. Being based in Sofia, Bulgaria, without a support network, a campaign or any media hype, his music alone - live and in the studio - created a momentum whose end we have yet to see. Lenin said: 'Communism is Soviet power + electrification of the whole country.' Hardly did Lenin suspect what an inspired take on these words could do: post-socialist techno. A child of 80's late socialism, KiNK grew up on the home computers Bulgaria's IT scientists had created by backwards-engineering Western technology. Fueled by nuclear energy on the edge of desaster, a whole generation of kids was trained to hack. Dance music gradually dripping in through early dial-up internet connections, the acoustic fingerprints of distant parties put Eastern producers from KiNK to Nina Kraviz to Vakula under a spell. Yet KiNK spent years of backwards-engineering the sounds of Detroit, Chicago and early Warp.

117 Presents Forbidden Codes.
This compilation project is compiled and envisioned by DJ Trace, a veteran of UK dance music.New School players Verb and Quartz take on two classics to kick things off.
Mutant and Sonar get a modern and minimal touch up on crystal clear 10" collectors vinyl. Three more 10's continue this sonic experience featuring a group of the finest underground producers in today's scene.Kid Lib, Tim Reaper, Gremlinz & Homemade Weapons, Friske, Fade and Genotype appear over 3 plates.
Artist's on the LP display their 2014 vision which compliments the direction that 117 is heading.This moves far away from the soulless noise that plagues in various electronic dance music genres today. They use in this compilation, modern studio techniques enhanced with a passion and respect for the history of drum&bass.This LP is not to be filed under throwaway music.
Breaks and vibes unite to reminisce the days agone whilst outlining a new blueprint that pushes the boundaries of music technology.The essence of the 117 sound is explored and continues into the 24 digital tracks written by a gifted selection of hand picked talent from around the world.
Now is your turn to be possessed by the sounds of the 'Forbidden Codes' Released 28th April via ST Holdings.Mastered by Beau @ Ten Eight Seven, London.

After two strong releases on Electronical Reeds, the Brussels-based artist Exon Bacon inaugurates Play Label Records with his latest EP, Watching Dogs. Play Label Records is the extension of the collective Play Label that has become a key player in the music scene of Brussels with more than hundreds of events to its credit. This first release sets up the artistic direction of this label that seeks to develope a real dancefloor approach and a strong party spirit.

The release is opened by the original mix that could be summarize with the expression 'powerful bassline, persistent heady voice and burning dancefloor'. The Parisian duo Villanova embarks us into a spin with a darker atmosphere, a deep foreground voice and a strong and repetitive gimmick. This remix reminds us why this Parisian duo knows such rapid ascent on the worldwide electronic scene. The Berlin-based and San Francisco born artist Yooj takes the opposite course to two first tracks with a deeper approach and a lighter atmosphere to offer a sunny and tasty deep house track that will delight all the dancefloor. Lastly, DC Salas, another Belgian talent, filters the voice, redefines the percussion and opens the horizon to take the direction of Tech House track.

This Exon Bacon's EP acts as the foundation stone of a future label to keep an eye on and to follow with a great attention.

Vocal driven electronica, pop sensibilities and a touch of melancholia is a tried and tested recipe of SILENCE MUSIC cuisine. A new release titled My Holy Senses is no exception. This creative venture joins together a renown Lithuanian multi-instrumentalist and composer Vygintas Kisevicius, an up-and-coming singer and songwriter Markas Palubenka and a versatile SILENCE producer Few Nolder. Original acoustic versions come under the name of Kurak, a project which Vygintas started a couple of years ago with a goal of bringing together some of the most talented young Lithuanian singers and songwriters for something new and exciting. And indeed they managed to produce some well worthy musical material generating quite a few waves of interest and success back home. Few Nolder picked out a couple of tracks from an ever-expanding Kurak's repertoire and threw them onto the sweaty dance floor. Included in the package are two DJ friendly adaptations from David Krasemann aka Dave DK and Vidis. My Holy Senses is a short modern day Love story about Acoustics giving an adoring kiss to Electronica in a dim light of a nightclub.
- Early support from Âme, Tim Paris, Alex Barck, Michael Rainboth, Hannes Fischer and many others

KRAKE is an annual Berlin based festival for challenging electronic music. Krake means - octo- pus' and the festival is organised in a comparable way: reaching out to selected locations during one week presenting the best in electronic music whatever style it is. The festival is not huge, not expensive, does not have big sponsoring deals or four different colour are passes. It's just a good and so far successful try to bring back the focus on artists who dare to step off the beaten tracks.
KRAKE 002 contains mostly exclusive tracks of artists who played at the Krake festival in 2013. The A-side starts with a dark ambient drone by DÄMMERN, followed by a pop-fueled two-step hit by PHON.O. Next in line is Irishman EOMAC with a warm and deep IDM track already char- ted by none less than Thom Yorke of Radiohead, followed by - Resolution', a little melancholic stepper by BILL YOUNGMAN.
The B-side is being opened with a techno track by grandmaster MONOLAKE in his most typical dubby percussive style. For the next track FRANK BRETSCHNEIDER reduces the sounds to the max again to deliver a percussive track as minimalistic as can be. Legendary techno producer CRISTIAN VOGEL, known for his constant search for new values, closes the compilation with an avantgarde piece of noise and drones.
Outstanding, we'd say!

Lopasura again delves into picturesque soundscapes drenched in emotion and melancholy, illustrating a typically dystopian setting for its latest offering. The A-sides opening track by Mark Forshaw is lean and mechanical in its make-up with an off-kilter combination of thick, stuttering bass stabs and percussion; creating a rather menacing undertone.
As a stark contrast, 'In the Smoke' by The Acid Mercenaries is a nine-minute tracky, steam train of clean and crisp scuttling hi-hats and razor-sharp percussion that dance around the relentless 303 acid line and beautifully soft 808 kick to devastating effect. On the flip side, a thunderous bass drum and freakish electronics stalk the discordant and arpeggiated synth that opens 'Hierarchy of Heritage', evolving it into some kind of hellish themed marching tune for the underworld. Frey then rounds off the EP with a typically rugged yet deliciously intricate piece with Gdn, effortlessly maintaining an intelligent groove throughout.
'Connect Four' is a rather fitting title for this EP, given the undeniable chemistry between all the tracks in how a story is told and tension is created; as Frey has done with the two previous Lopasura releases. The introduction of three debut artists on this release has paid off however, nestling comfortably into the label's aesthetic without compromising on the quality.

Limited Clear Vinyl Pressing! Produce by Karl O'Connor & Juan Mendez!

The Hamburg based Hannes Rasmus released a record in 2013 called "Analog Ist Besser" on Gold Panda's precious label Notown which also featured Luke Abbott from Border Community. This put him on the map for minimal electronic melodic music with a lot of tastemakers and friends of melodic techno. Hannes Rasmus who can be described as a shy person who has eveloped a big knowledge for vintage synthesizers over the years. His challenge has been to write music with hardware, sequence und synths. This may sound not so much of a challenge but for "people who know" the analog sound can bear as much beauty as it can be disastrous since it can be pretty much unpredictable and hard to handle as well. So we are talking here about a person who really loves and lives with analogue g
Time led him through various forms/genres of electronic music making, going step by step towards minimal electronic techno and house music. Meanwhile his aim alongside writing music is to build in Hamburg according to his personal demands, so this is as much of a process as doing music and time as he says. When he is not making music you can see him with a soldering iron building synth
with DIY kits or fixing old synths.
His EP on Traum "Musik Für Fünf Maschinen" refers to the equipment he used to write the music... the tracks however refer to swimming pools.

It's now almost two years since German producer Sawlin made his debut on Ann Aimee, but now he is back for a third EP on the Delsin sister label. Entitled 'Niedertracht', it features four more tracks of searing techno in truly uncompromising Sawlin style.

'Kontraktion' goes first with heavy metallic hits, lots of industrial machinery found sounds and thumping kick drums. It's lumpy, mechanical and stiff stuff that is slow and purposeful. The surface of 'Padjam' is then covered in squirming, scratchy little effects as syncopated drums swing deep down below. Eventually the thing gets fleshed out with some malfunctioning melodies and slurred vocal stabs yet still it sounds like no other techno out there.

'Niedertracht' takes up the b1 with a spangled techno track that has gurgling synths and fizzing drills all encased in a ravey arrangement of horns and windy howls. The broken sounding 'Weißhaupt' is made up of metal loops, punctured drums and rasping synths that sound like factories in melt down. This is truly inventive electronic music that's laced with a very real and unmistakable sense of industrialism, and proves Sawlin is one of the day's most exciting producers.

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.

Dutch DJ, producer and Wolfskuil label boss Darko Esser is to self-release his sophomore album, Anipintiros, in April 2014. The eight track album comes four years after his debut and is his first as Tripeo, the techno leaning alias he has been working under most often in recent times.

Working as Tripeo has reinvigorated Esser, who under his own name has been producing his unique take on electronic music for a decade now. 'It was liberating to have another persona take over,' says the man himself. 'I have been so inspired and productive ever since that I woke up one day with the thought 'I'm ready to do another album' and started straight away that day.'

Tripeo music is aimed squarely at the dancefloor, and there sure are some full blooded cuts on the album, but so to are there concessions to the listening experience, meaning deep, dark passages and more leftfield experiments help tie the whole thing together into one cohesive and coherent whole. 'Like all albums, this is a very personal statement,' explains Esser. 'It's just me trying to translate the overwhelming inspiration I feel right now into sound. That, and making the record as diverse as possible without losing the purist identity of Tripeo.'

That identity shines through right from the off on the album, which has been made using a knowing blend of both soft and hardware. 'Anipintiros #1' is a firmly rooted, rubbery bit of deep techno that works you into hypnosis and comes detailed with plenty of otherworldly ambiances. From there, Tripeo explores gallivanting techno run through with celestial pads on 'Anipintiros #2' and tripped out, ever shape shifting and dusty minimal sounds on 'Anipintiros #3'.

'Anipintiros #4' channels the widescreen and pumping techno of Detroit's finest whilst 'Anipintiros #5' is a more industrial and muscular track of the sorts that would sound perfect in the bowels of Berghain. 'Anipintiros #6' is one of the busier and more kinked techno rhythms with punchy drums and fax machine like melodies, before 'Anipintiros #7' thumps with real menace and 'Anipintiros #8' hums and hisses, spits and stutters like the suitably epic and melodic comedown you need after such a captivating ride.Everything, though is backed with serene synth work and an otherworldly sense of alien spirit that runs through all great techno.

There is plenty to get lost in throughout Anipintiros and it proves once again that Esser is someone able to coax far more feeling out of his machines than most.

DJ FEEDBACK

Early support from Blawan, Rødhåd, James Ruskin, Reeko, Exium, Mike Parker, Ben Sims, Rolando, Pfirter, Craig McWhinney, Cadans, Sandrien, Nuno Dos Santos

Bavaria is John Tejada and Kimi Recor. While We'll Take a Dive is the first for the duo's newly cemented partnership they have appeared as guests on each other's releases for nearly a decade. The duo decided to exclude any extraneous instrumentation so that Tejada could focus solely on his modular synth programming while Recor took on the role to provide that all-too-vital human element by way of her silky vocal delivery. In theory We'll Take a Dive might sound like an exercise in minimalism, which couldn't be further from the truth. The album highlights the duo's deftness in getting maximal use from their instruments of choice while creating a superb darkly-hued electronic pop album that showcases its own unique strain of affecting tension and restraint.

France proves to be rich pickings once more for the Minimal Wave label with this absolutely superb collection of "ritualistic minimal electronics" from French duo DZ Lectric + Anthon Shield. Crossing paths in Paris in the early 80s, Christian Dezert (DZ Lectric ) and Michel Lecamp (Anthon Shield) bonded over a mutual appreciation of The Stooges, Throbbing Gristle and Suicide and went on to record numerous albums together over a five year period. The focus of Minimal Wave's attentions on the Lickin' LP is the cassette Confessions D'Un Masque the pair released in 1985, with eight tracks lifted and remastered from the original reel to reel tapes. DZ Lectric + Anthon Shield's sparse yet manic approach, described as "challenging and hypnotic" by Minimal Wave, will appeal to fans of CHBB.

Subdivision of Construct Re-Form, the purpose of Ars Mechanica is to explore a more mysterious side of the electronic music, an oniric and spatial travel, an endless dive into the sound.

For this second opus, we are pleased to invite the Dutchman Mike Storm, a very promising artist who explores Sci Fi techno sonorities.

He offers 4 powerful tracks to us : Interstellar journey

Alexander Kowalski is someone you should know. Not only is he a resident artist at our club, but with uncountable EPs and several albums on Heiko Laux' label Kanzleramt and others, he has contributed more to electronic music than many others. To have a separate platform for the darker and harder productions of his, he created the alias D_FUNC. a while ago. When he approached us with the tracks that are now on the record in hand, we immediately fell in love with the Mills-like energy of them. Perfect drum programming, driving synth lines two perfect tools for any proper techno set. The Dirt Mix of Revalism which is included in the digital release package puts the original in a more modern jacket with its stompy beat - another proof of how well Alexander knows what the djs need to please their crowd.
Let the dancefloors burn!

Following on from his contribution to the various artists Multi-Dimensional World EP (ASG/DE002) Stanny Franssen returns to the De:tuned stable for a solo release with 4 tracks of floor friendly yet versatile techno.
Stanny has been one of the key players in the Belgian techno scene. Starting out as a DJ in the infamous Montini club, he soon ventured into production; first as part of Propionic and later on solo. Stanny used the moniker 'G-Force' or simply 'GF' for most of his earlier productions. Under this name he released two albums which were very well received at the time: Electronic Lesson Part 1 and 2.
The tracks on offer here are very much in the same vein as the Electronic Lesson albums. Multi-Vintages 2 and 3 have that distinct psychedelic and otherworldly groove that is typical of Stanny's tracks from the 90s. Multi-Vintages 4 reminds us of Umek's old output and features a pounding kick accompanied by a twisted synth stab. Stanny goes wild on the effects in the breakdowns making this a track for the peak-time hours. On the last track Stanny goes into 303 mode. Multi-Vintages 5 is a bubbling, funky acid cut that has all the qualities of a well-produced Hardfloor track.
This release will be available on sturdy 180 gr black vinyl and is limited to 250 copies, stay tuned!

Struments Records opens 2014 presenting ''Fire to the Empire'', third record in 12'' format from this Barcelona label. Following the special dedication referred to the local talent shown by the label in its two previous releases, in this occasion the reference is signed by Clip!, relevant artist in the Spanish electronic scene that, after a versatile and prolific 2013, shows in this publication a new coordinate of their chameleonic sound. Thereby opening the door to more visceral coordinates, opaque and less intense dance that exudes less kindness and infects the club atmosphere with light and dark. The set, consisting of three original songs (Fire, Ash and Bitch), and a remix of ''Ash'' by the British artist Kommune1, discovers on side A two descriptive and powerful snapshots of translucent clubber atmosphere, winding and unfiltered. Proper of the dance hours closer to twilight in the shadows and lights mergers into sensations. While on the B side, the artists pays tribute to the most evasive and escapist concept that music can evoke, forged between the rage of techno and the subtlety of house, when instinct takes control over any convention and presents itself as a purely physical experience between the listener and the sound. Closing the total minutes of the reference, Kommune1 prints cosmic and expansive notes to ''Ash'', as well as he brightens the original version. ''Fire'', the central tune that starts and gives name to this third reference of Struments Records responds to six minutes that shapes a direct and powerful presentation letter. In which you can acknowledge progressive melodic phases and raw vocals that serve as a growing force of initial contact. ''Ash'' continues the incursion between hard and chiaroscuro dynamic, printing analog rhythm coordinations. ''Bitch'' represents the exact balance and highlight of ''Fire Your Empire'' EP, sobriety in enviromental nuances, vocal flare and power high-flying shape a depth completely orientated to the dance floor that condenses much intention in a speech coherently aligned with the sound. Kommune1 sets ''Ash'' with an eye towards fantasy and space, using resources in the original maximalist melodies and rhythmic accelerating phases provide the remix to get faster.


DJ Support:

Alizzz (Mad Decent)
The EP is so well balanced. Loving that analog feeling. 'Fire' makes me
dream, I get in trance with the bass and those pads on 'Ash' and I want
to listen to 'Bitch' really loud in the Berghain. Much support.
Jorge Caiado (Balance/Groovement)
"Excellent and fresh EP!! All tracks are powerful and effective, can't
wait to play them. My favorite is "Bitch" but Kommune1 also did a good
alternative mix to "Ash". Keep them coming Struments!
Kresy (Hivern Discs)
"Great EP. Bitch is my favourite"
Broke One (RBMA/Magic Wire Recordings)
"Aweome EP"