Beats News

Debut album by Elias Mazian on Job Jobse’s label De Vlieger. A collection of Dutch synth-pop songs about love, longing and heartbreak. "The second release on De Vlieger comes from one of my dearest friends. I met Elias almost a decade ago on the dance floor of Trouw (a now defunct Amsterdam nightclub) and quickly became very fond of him. We bonded through music and discovered a mutual fascination for Dutch love songs. So when Elias told me he had started to write lyrics in his own language I was absolutely thrilled. After a long day spent together in his studio, deep down in the basement of the building right across the street from the place we had originally met, I realised this could turn into something really special. In the two years that followed I’ve seen Elias pour his heart and soul into this project, recording seven beautiful love songs that completely conquered my heart, and hopefully yours too." - Job Jobse

Grey Marbled Vinyl

Clear water hits the surface of a grainy ball. The stream slowly dissolves and flows down the spherical structure until it finally drops on a candle. The flame extinguishes; fragile streaks of smoke ascend until they hit the rough surface of the colossal globe again.
The cover art to Marble Arch, the second long-player of Vienna- and Berlin-based artists Oberst & Buchner, depicts masterly the dramatic juxtapositions the musicians have always been reflecting in their musical outcome.
The massive density of a giant sound wall is contrasted by spacious openness. Fragile sonic details are sparkling out of colossal pitch-black clouds. The songs are filled with gentle warmth and cold roughness, bright digital clarity and deep analogue crackle, ranging in style from pulsating dark-disco over classic pop to experimental ambient.
The duo's two-week artist residency in a 250-year-old house, located in the mystic landscape of the Bavarian woods set this specific mood for the 10-track album which became a mixture of electronic synthesis, organic instrumentals and field recordings. Heavy-weight basslines in combination with bitter-sweet orchestral instrumentation and the minutiae of precise percussion recordings and drum programming are the characteristics that formed the sound of Marble Arch.
Oberst & Buchner's way to deal with tension is in how they compose their song structures as extreme arcs of suspense in a near classical manner. Their intense dynamic arrangements always alternate between rise and explosion or implosion and fall. This way the compositions pick up the motive of creation and destruction throughout the long-player in the same way as the cover-art.
Taken together, all these fragments form the duo`s signature cinematic articulation of dramatic slowed down club music and moments of surprise.

BIO
Oberst & Buchner are two friends and musicians living in Vienna and Berlin. They look back on a mutual musical journey that is as rich in variety as it is more then 15 years long. For one thing, countless high-energy DJ sets in clubs and at festivals all over Europe in recent years have earned them a reputation as a dynamic duo infernale. At the same time, their own productions draw from the full palette of moods and emotions.
Boiled down to the very essence, there's one common denominator running through the duo's musical works: colossally massive elements are masterfully set against a shimmering backdrop of incredibly detailed layers. Each so full of subtle suspense that they feel like the first raindrops before a monstrous thunderstorm. You can literally hear the calm before the storm in every break they build up, then feel the force of the wind in your face when it hits you.
Ranging from pulsating electronica over slow organic sounds derived from both nature and acoustic instruments to deep dance pop ballads, their songs are full of suspense and packed with drama. In their productions, the two friends conjure up soundscapes that are extremely dense and at the same time infinitely open and spacious. Within this framework, they play with stark contrasts of antithetic elements: repetition and improvisation, functionality and emotions, emptiness and overload, clarity and crackling.

Ever since the release of his first solo album more than 20 years ago, German musician and producer Christian Kleine has experimented with blending and contrasting the varying textures and approaches of post-rave IDM, breakbeats, shoegaze and punk. His latest album offering, Touch & Fuse, shows he's continued to refine and perfect that combination, which is less a conscious concoction and more of a natural outcome of the music he likes. From the edgy Aphex-isms of 'Val 2' and the heavily filtered breaks of 'Reverse Angle' to the slowed down grunge meets pure electronics of 'Return of the Underground', this is unique, accomplished stuff.

The album opener, “Fainted Fog,” reintroduces this fuller, panoramic version of Helios. Woozy synths give way to a propulsive drum pattern as the track’s characteristics populate in the haze. A piano plays between the beat, and another synth solos overtop, ascending towards the peak with an exhale of live kicks and looping guitar. For every bold moment on Espera, there are more muted, counter-balancing stretches; “Intertwine” offers one of the most meditative. Strums mingle with keys in the front half before the beat returns to deliver a hypnotic nod.

Kenniff sees each song as integral to the whole — “if you took one out, it would be like tearing a page from a book,” he says — but still functional independently, like a series of self-contained epics. “All The While” best represents this intention; a song in three equal parts constructed on a resonant drum sequence. Shimmering synth notes surface first, then pastoral guitar and piano flutters, converging at the end to evaporate into the ether.

Repress!

Wildly talented keys player Joe Armon-Jones is back with new single ‘Icy Roads (Stacked)’, a head-spinning blend of luminous jazz-funk synths, off-kilter drums and a languorous, ear-worm bassline. Featuring in-demand kit man KwAkE bAsS (who’s worked with Kate Tempest, Sampha and Joey Bada$$) and bassist Mutale Chashi (part of KOKOROKO), this is a tight trio hitting all the right notes. It features killer artwork nodding to Thrustera Herbie Hancock. Plus the vinyl comes backed with an exclusive b-side, the gloriously loose and languid ‘Aquarius’.

It follows celebrated 2018 debut album “Starting Today”, praised by Pitchfork, Loud & Quiet and The Wire, the latter describing it as “bass-rich music hustle straight out of the London soul-jazzdance lineage.” He’s performed on Boiler Room, Worldwide FM and toured across the UK and Europe, including a sold out hometown show at London’s Village Underground. Away from his solo project, he’s a co-founder of Ezra Collective, regularly plays with London peers like Nubya Garcia, and has toured with the likes of Ata Kak and Pharoah Monch.

Brownswood Recordings - Brownswood Recordings is the independent record label founded by DJ, record collector and broadcaster Gilles Peterson. Started in 2006, it’s a platform for new artists and music creatives, as well as an outlet for established acts to do something different. Restless and open-minded, the label has championed independent, eclectic music from the UK and beyond.

The Netherland’s De Ambassade have dropped the ‘De’ and are now known as Ambassade. Optimo Music is extremely happy to be working with them and will be releasing their second album in 2023. Ahead of that is this glorious 2 track 12” featuring music that took our breath away when we first heard it. Both tracks are exclusive to this release.

We asked Ambassade to tell us a bit about the tracks…

“These 2 songs were born after a collaboration with Naama Freedman. She’s an artist from Amsterdam and former member of Ambassade. She brought a couple sketches to the studio and we came out with these 2 songs.

The lyrics on ‘Young Birds’ come from an old traditional English folk song from around 1903. It has been re-arranged a couple times throughout the years by multiple artists. The song reflects our development in sound and arrangement with extended synthesiser parts, less conventional song-writing. Also, us singing in English is a new path.

The pulsing song ‘Palette’ is a perfect combination of sequence and extended legato vocal parts. It creates a tense atmosphere which builds up to the very end.”

N8noface is globally acclaimed as one of the most fresh and raw acts of the United States. For his debut in Oráculo N8noface presents an album where reviews some of his classic tracks exploring his most dark and minimal side, but not forgetting his unique new-punk sound for the likes of Sleaford Mods.

His proposal is extremely minimalistic but effective at the same time with that classic 90’s west-coast attitude that could remind even to the best era of Cypress Hill.

The whole thing surely deserves a place in the best vinyl collections. Presented in a one-off truly limited edition of 300 copies, lacquered pressed on 180gr. high quality solid black vinyl. All tracks have been specially restored and remastered for long cut vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios.

Kelly Lee Owens returns with LP8.2 - a compendium to her LP.8 album from earlier this year, produced by Kelly herself along with Lasse Marhaug (Jenny Hval).

This mini album contains four tracks and 18 minutes of new Kelly Lee Owens music following the abstract industrial beauty of LP.8.

Linkwood returns to AOTN in 2022 with Stereo, the follow up and part two, to his killer and hyper focussed LP Mono, which turned heads in 2021.

All recorded live at the AOTN studio, he's kept the essence of the first LP which worked so well, but moved it on in a much deeper direction.

Fusing many of his influences, Boogie, Detroit and early 80's synth joints to name a few, stereo has its own identity and showcases Linkwoods ability to write and produce on the fly but maintain that warm, fuzzy and intricate sound we all love him for.

“Mesmerizing Work”

Dam Swindle — Dam Swindle

“Everything with the name Linkwood on absolutely blows me away!”

Jimpster — Jimpster

S Transporter is Izaak S and Ryan Spencer, a pan-American duo of exact origins unknown. With roots spanning from Detroit to San Francisco, the project is somewhere around four years old, though no one remembers exactly when it started. The songs were initially demoed in Ryan's bedroom and promptly forgotten about in the chaotic whirl of both members’ efforts in other music projects, DJing, and party-throwing ventures until Ryan played them at his weekly, Monday Is The New Monday (co-founded with PGS' Ben & Zach). Immediately, the songs burst with new life into our ears, and we excitedly requested to hear more. In a tale every creative can relate to, Ryan simply didn't know if they were any good. We found them extraordinary.

What followed were several months of additional recording sessions in a collective effort to finalize the tracks, done at Ryan's apartment in Southwest Detroit, Izaak's in SF, and the Portage Garage in Hamtramck. Bay area DIY underground luminary Anya Ghiorzi joined the group and contributed her vocal talents to the songs, which began to exhibit a sound representative of the genre-collisions featured at MITNM– from krautrock and boogie to trance, acid, and house– in a way other PGS releases have hinted at, but have not fully expressed until now.

S Transporter is the name of the EP, the project, and all four songs. A maximalist sound with a minimalist presentation, naming the songs - so many years after their inception - would, perhaps, take away from the feeling that struck all three of us the first time we heard them on a club-grade sound system.

Izaak S and Anya Ghiorzi are San Francisco residents, musicians, and DJs in the Loveshadow dance collective.

Ryan Spencer is a Detroit resident, DJ, co-founder of Monday Is The New Monday, and is a member of Freakish Pleasures.

"S Transporter 1"
Uptempo, backspin-laden electro/acid with a winding 303 bassline that reveals itself slowly over the pulsing breakbeat backbone. Immersive, haunting and enchanting.

"S Transporter 2"
Downtempo electro. Slap bass. Heavy boogie. Sensual vocals reminiscent of early Chris N Cosey carry you through this industrial funk heater. Heavy synth lines and rhythmic grooving guitar that is club-ready for dance floors of all kinds.

"S Transporter 3"
A fast paced, percussion forward adventure with balaphone melodies and bending synth pads. Spoken words guide the journey, arriving at a movement inducing Juno ascension that dances into a calm end.

"S Transporter 4"
Encompassing the seemingly disjointed, individualistic styles of S Transporter 1-3, ‘4’ combines elements of the entire release into one final gesture. ‘4’ could be Byrne/Eno ("Regiment"), but it's something else - the product of decades of dance music history, distilled by two musicians & DJs into one song.

credits
releases July 19, 2019

PGS 010
S Transporter
"S Transporter"
EP

2015-2019
Written, Mixed and Produced by Izaak S & Ryan Spencer
Vocals by Anya
Bass on “2” by Lucas De Leon Turner
Percussion & additional production on "3" by Shigeto
Percussion on “3” by Julian Spradlin

Mastered by Josh Bonati at Bonati Mastering
Recorded at Izaak's apartment in San Francisco, Ryan's apartment in Southwest Detroit and the Portage Garage
Records Pressed at Archer Record Pressing, Detroit, MI
Design by Will
MMXVIX

In 2016, After Reissuing Two Bruce Haack Albums, Haackula And Electric Lucifer Book Ii, Telephone Explosion Began Speaking With Ted Pandel (bruce's Lifelong Friend And Business Partner) About Working On The 1970 Masterpiece The Electric Lucifer. It Turned Out There Was Another Matter That He Wanted To Discuss: Finding A Final Resting Place For The Bruce Haack Archive.

We Were Shown Test-pressings Of The Electric Lucifer Board Mixes From His Columbia Studio Sessions, Countless Pieces Of Written Music, A Large Number Of Personal Photos, An Invitation From Raymond Scott Inviting Bruce To Play His Newly Created Electronium
Instrument (now Owned By Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh), Poems, Press Clippings, And, Most Importantly, A Heavyduty Shelf Containing 213 Reel-to-reel Tapes. All Of The Chosen Material On The Preservation Tapes Is Unreleased, Has Only Been Heard By A Handful Of People And Showcases A Relatively Unknown Period In Bruce's
Musical Career Where Bruce Was Recording For Sparrow Records (who Billed Themselves As "america's Best Christian Music Record Label'). Bruce's Signature Farad Vocoder Continues To Feature Prominently, But The Lyrical Content Is Decidedly More Religious.
The Bruce Haack Archive Is Now Resting In The Provincial Archives Of Alberta, In Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada.

Yugoslavian synth-pop band Videotex formed in 1982 but settled on its more lasting line-up in 1983 with Anja Rupel on vocals, Janez Kriaj playing bass, Iztok Turk drumming, and Matja Kosi and Nina Sever both on keys. A year later they broke through with their Videosex 84 debut album and then had another local hit with the follow-up, 1985's Lacrimae Christi. It now gets a first-ever international release, all remastered and on nice heavyweight vinyl. The group had plenty of mainstream hits - two of them are on this album in the form of 'Sivi dan' (or Gloomy Day) and 'Tko je zgazio gospo?u mjesec' (or Who Ran Over Mrs. Moon), played some big concerts and even appeared on national TV before eventually splitting up in 1992.

It’s the unexpected that fascinates us, letting our curiosity grow stronger than the urge for safety and control. The magic of new encounters and unplanned turnarounds helps us switch
off the autopilot of everyday life and grants us an unbiased, curious glimpse at ourselves and the world around us. In these brief moments we accept the chaos surrounding us, allow
ourselves to embrace it and see the beauty of it.
This delightful chaos is the vibrant fabric woven into “Pleasant Clutter”, the debut album of Vienna-based DJ and producer B.Visible. With an endless love for detail, he masterfully
condenses familiar and strange sounds into a fascinating collection of moments, each one in itself as beautiful as volatile – again and again you find yourself wanting to hold on to something
you’ve only just grown fond of, yearning to stay just a little longer. Leaving space for the unexpected, the album bit by bit reveals the beauty that lies in the harmony of the whole.
Using playful little melodies and decontextualized fragments of sounds, B.Visible conjures up a wide range of moods and emotions: he tells mesmerizing instrumental stories full of
unexpected twists and turns, evoking lively images within the mind. In constant flux between weightlessness and dead-aim beats, structures are being broken up and put back together on
the fly – always changing, always evolving.
Change as a constant and the symbiosis of contrasting elements are omnipresent on “Pleasant Clutter”, and beyond that. Running through the entire work of B.Visible, these stylistic devices have shaped the musician’s creative output over the years, and this distinctive sound has long become his trademark. Colorful Illustrations by Viennese artist Daniel Triendl complement the
music and add a visual dimension to the album, making the project’s intentions visually accessible.

"Growing up as a kid in 70’s London, I once unearthed an early 60’s proto plastic toy motorway playset at a suburban jumble sale. The cars themselves were missing, but that did not matter. I instantly wanted the set. The road sections which slotted together to form a figure of 8, were bitumen-black and basic. Devoid of decals, signposts or any sort of detail at all, in many ways the assembled track resembled a satisfyingly minimal, mobius strip sculpture. But it was the evocative box artwork I loved the most. An illustration reminiscent of the bright, futuristic world portrayed in the ladybird books of the time showed a broad 4-lane blacktop with a series of identical untarnished cast concrete overpasses cutting through the rolling green landscape. Down the left-hand side of the box in bright yellow - the single word MOTORWAY in block capitals. The box art spoke of unknown journeys, of the safe efficient expediency and hypnotic, repetitive sights and sounds of the major arterial road.

The playset artwork must have resonated deeply as the same sensations unexpectedly resurfaced a decade or so later when I first encountered Kraftwerk’s seminal Gesamtkunstwerk ‘Autobahn’. Both the artwork and the recording are perfect of course and need no further discussion here. The record oozes what seemed unattainable and romantic; a vision of far-off European cities defining the future through design and speed.

A third epiphany occurred reading J.G. Ballard’s classic novel ‘Concrete Island’; in which a blown tyre sends architect Robert Maitland’s Jaguar plunging down an embankment, ending up on a patch of wasteland hemmed in by three roads. Injured and dazed, Maitland is stranded, unable to attract the attention of drivers above, unable to find a way out. Through Ballard’s words, I came to understand that there were similarities in the uncanny disconnect these non-places evoke the world over: Motorways are spaces we know intimately but will also never set foot on. The ‘no-man’s land’ we see between motorway lanes and intersections are familiar, but unreachable. We pass them regularly, but do not notice them in detail.

Crashing onto the island, Maitland becomes a ‘no-man’; he enters a void and becomes invisible himself.

I wanted to make a record which somehow brought together and reflected these influences and the feelings they evoke in me. And which paid unabashed homage to the sources. This record MOTORWAY is it. I hope you enjoy the journey."

Tenderly propelling and full of haunting melodies: Studio Mule re-issues Sakura Tsuruta’s so far digital only, self-released debut album “c / o” from november 2022.

An evocative first long player by Tokyo based artist, who was trained in classical piano during childhood, played with brass instruments, studied music production, and is today active as a composer, live performer, and versatile dj.

With “c / o” she expressed her personal history in a fluid, around 43-minute long light flooded, yet dark-ish musical vision. eight profoundly composed tracks, melding complex rhythms with emotional airs, tripping arpeggios, and ghostly sounds, slightly influenced by some of her fa-vorite artist like björk, holly herndon, or kaitlyn aurelia smith.

“c / o is a love letter for the experiences, people, and memories i had in the last two years that i spent producing this album. i also like that the letter “c” looks like an incomplete circle, whereas the letter “o” is a full circle.

Angela was the studio project of husband/wife duo Angela and Ingo Werner formed in 1981 in Rüsselsheim, Germany. Ingo had classical training in bassoon and piano at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt from 1966-70. He joined Krautrock band My Solid Ground in 1971 before going on to form his own project Baba Yaga in 1974. In the late 70s he formed the ensemble AIR with Armin Stöwe and Reinhard Karwatky. The project debuted with a a concert at ARS Electronica Competition in Linz, Austria 1980, which they won. Klaus Schulze was on the jury with Wendy Carlos and Robert Moog - but more importantly, Angela was in the audience. Two days later, Ingo told the band he needed a singer, so they asked Angela, and recorded two albums for RCA between 1981-82 before being dropped. Ingo wanted to work on a new project that involved dancers and live video. They recruited American performance artist Jyl Porch, who was living in Munich, to assist with choreography with her friend Kirsten McKenley. Jyl ended up recording her own album first, which gained interest from Klaus Schulze, who helped them secure a deal with EMI in 1983. Later that year, the trio recorded 4 songs that would be released on Angela ‘Fantasy’ single on 7” and 12” formats in 1984.

The music on ‘Fantasy’ was completely created with computer software of Ingo’s own design. The concept of a polyrhythmic, polyphonic, and polydynamic sequencer was realized by Ingo after a visit to Wolfgang Palm in Hamburg. He paired his sequencer with Palm’s legendary PPG Wave Computer System, allowing for more dynamic and nuanced programming. Angela programmed the music, sang, and wrote the lyrics to “Painted Love”, while Ingo arranged and played all electronics and keyboards. Jyl wrote the lyrics for “Fantasy” and the slow and sleazy, electronic disco B-side “I Gotta Little Love”, where she also sings background vocals and the “hot little flame” rap. The original B-side to the 7” version was a cover of the 1967 Hal Hackady and Lee Pockriss song “Kites”, made famous by Simon Dupree and the Big Sound.

All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The EP features the original 1984 cover artwork with a striking photo of Angela styled by Jyl in severe Neue Deutsche Welle fashion, and includes an insert with lyrics and and photos designed by Maycec..

“With my return to Warrington and Runcorn”, says Gordon Chapman-Fox, “The music began to reflect the social isolation of New Towns life. This was mirrored by its creation through two years of pandemic lockdown.

“The music is perhaps the loneliest and most spacious I have created so far - the Open Spaces in the album title taking on multiple interpretations. The focus and feel of the album is not inspired by the architecture of new towns, but the lives lived in them. I think the precise planning new towns and creating specific zones for different activities - working, shopping and living - created an artificial way of life. One that failed to understand the sheer messiness of human existence.

“Musically the canvas is more epic before. The first side comprising two epic tracks, and the second side introducing Euclidean sequencing to create disorientating, evolving melodies.”

Chapman-Fox continues to find the wonder in his exploration of new towns and their impact on the lives and minds who worked and lived there. His Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan output to date has reached far and wide and garnered incredible responses from fans and critics across the world. Resonating with new town locals, architects, designers and anyone who appreciates beautifully constructed, evocative electronic compositions.

He continues to work on further Warrington-Runcorn material while touring Districts, Roads, Open Spaces throughout the UK for the rest of 2022 and into the new year.

The concept behind this split 12” is simple. Two artists who are divided by the Atlantic Ocean but unified by a love of classic New Beat sounds. Andi, boss of the New York City-based Synthicide record label/club night and Aufnhame + Wiedergabe recording artist, combined forces with Sheffield’s Industrialist and lover of underground Body Music, Randolph & Mortimer, to present their own interpretation to the unmistakable Belgian genre.

Thus, “Torque Force” was forged. A landscape where seedy neon-soaked city streets merge with the clang of hammers and of industry: Gotham versus The Steel City. Andi brings pure style to Side A with driving beats and rolling, lo-fi percussion overlaid by seriously funky basslines and ominous samples. Side B is jammed with the unmistakable dancibility found in Randolph & Mortimer’s oeuvre that forces the body to move —with intense, in-your-face synth lines and precise beats, there is no choice but to dance.

The four tracks on “Torque Force” are not just uber cool dancefloor killers, but could easily soundtrack a slew of 1980s dystopian cyber-sleaze movies. She must have violated the program…

The first complete version of »Eye For An Eye« including the two unreleased tracks »Sub Cahra« pt1 & pt2 that were not on the first vinyl release.

»Eye For An Eye« sounds very much like Muslimgauze material from 1993 (»Salaam Alekum Bastard«, »Veiled Sisters«). Much more laid back than their later output. I always considered this to be the best era of Muslimgauze. Sometimes the distorted glitches and rapid stop - start cuts of later releases gets on my nerves. This one, like most of their others sounds dark, dirty and hot. Just the way I like it! It was recorded as a direct follow up to Betrayal, with which this release shares common musical ground. Recorded right after the PLO signed a peace treaty with Israel, which still hasn't become effective. How prophetic can it be?

»I adore this record. For me, so much sameness exists along the lines of 'Betrayal' throughout the catalogue, and some rare, pricey items that suffer, in my mind, from sameness that I can't get beyond, such as »Maroon«. This is a way better record, in my mind. I love what Bryn did in the mix, the cascading echoing keyboard and string, perhaps synthed, cover me and hold me timeless in a place of cascading, crystalline vortices. It's all in the mix. This record makes an adventure of the sameness, breaks it all down, and turns it into texture-fields of tactile melodic density. The timeliness of the title and the current world situation, It's really a cool record, and I'm glad to be able to listen to it.«