quête:special k

Marco Passarani has been at it for over 25 yrs. Masterclass business from the Roman machine wizard - another special one for Dusseldorf's OFFEN. TIP!

This the first release of this newly formed label, product of the studio collaboration between the experienced music duo.

A1 holds a special place since it was one of their first productions, defining their sound and workflow in the studio. Driving energy, crispy drum sounds and well crafted pads make this one a perfect track for the early morning hours. B1 is one of these tracks that stay glued in your mind and you can't stop humming their melody. Evolving basslines, forceful kick drums and an elegant lead make 'Backup' one to remember. B2 is showcasing the duos attention to detail when it comes to minimalism in music making. Few elements arranged in a way that make the track progress flawlessly to a proper mind bending groove.

Focus and hard work ethic are the key elements of this collaboration. During endless studio sessions the duo has defined their characteristic sound and more material will be coming out soon. Staying quiet. Working hard. Together

Kalita's obligatory Record Store Day offering is something rather special: synth-funk visionary couple Emerson and Leora Sandidge's mythical unreleased album finally sees the light of day, following Emerson's sole private press seven-inch single release way back in 1988. Those two tunes ("Sending All My Love Out" and "Why Are You So Cold?") make the cut on this belated debut set, alongside six other previously unreleased recordings from the same sessions. Their take on electrofunk, boogie and '80s soul is colourful, soulful and synth-heavy, with the included tracks veering from up-tempo club workouts (see "Raw Deal Cocaine Kills") and fizzing dancefloor pop workouts, to sugary ballads and seductive slow jams. In other words, it's a more than tidy selection of rare and unheard gems.

New EP by Odopt, delivering their secret remakes of hidden soviet-sonic basement tracks! Dystopian celluloid trips visiting painters of Belgrade, St. Petersburg’s errand boys and japanese antagonists.

A product of the transformative power of dance music, Ede moved Berlin after he experienced something magical while dancing to Ame at
Berghain. So enchanted was he by the pivotal moment that he set his sights on making music to be released by Innervisions… And that happened
three years later when his track ‘Jenny’ made it into the label’s ‘Secret Weapons 11’ compilation. Ede’s dark, new wave style has also
piqued the interest of Jennifer Cardini, who signed his music to a V/A on her Correspondant Music label recently. Now the producer joins the
TAU family for a full EP, featuring four original cuts.
‘Raum’ jumpstarts the collection with menacing allure. Whirring analogue forms the core of this deadly track, keeping it tight in the low end
while various layers of synth fizz and snarl. An urgent riff joins the fray, adding depth and energy. Across almost 10 minutes Ede showcases his
ability to create a dark atmosphere and imbue his music with spinetingling theatrics. Fans of the riff will be pleased to find a beatless version of
‘Raum’, which will be useful for creating dramatic moments during DJ sets no doubt.
On side B, ‘Zeit’ brings the pace down slightly. A melancholy synth line evokes feelings of sorrow, while the beat pumps along. Ede uses the full
8 minutes of this track to really build the tension, finally unleashing it halfway through. This could easily be used on the soundtrack for a cyborg
action movie set in the future.
Last up, ‘Unendlichkeit’ is a further demonstration of Ede’s love of futurism, new wave and film noir circa 2080. Here he tells a story with the
machines, each one adding their contribution to the narrative which gets more and more chaotic as the tune progresses.
A very impressive EP, and we’re sure you’ll agree it’s something quite special.

Initially a duo formed in Berlin, FITH have since multiplied and expanded to become a revolving collective of musicians and poets spread out across a Paris/Manchester/Berlin axis. The project, currently comprised of members Dice Miller, Enir Da, Rachel Margetts, ChrIs Lmx, & Arnaud Mathé gesture towards notions of the literary salon, expanded cinema happenings, and the ancient traditions of Greek oratory and religious sermons. Driven by the spell of the spoken word, minimal percussive refrains, oneiric textures & deep melodic synths, FITH channel cinematic imagery, enigmatic narratives & spiritual frenzy.

Their self-titled debut 12' album was released via their collectively run imprint Wanda Portal in November 2016, a 'quietly alluring debut of post punk tempered avant-pop songs' (Boomkat) that laid out the project's foreboding mystique and intoxicating dream sequences with a lurking, devastating sense of purpose and (mis)direction. Other outings have included myriad solo collections of poetry, a two-track release of lurid dissonance and elegiac elevation (Signs / Cornerstone, December 2016) and an extraordinary reinterpretation of the soundtrack for cult film & iconic document of modern alienation Wanda (1971, dir. By Barbara Loden)

With Swamp, their sequel to this activity and their first appearance on Outer Reaches, FITH become a refined force, on a record where all their compelling pluralities and attributes are honed and augmented; everything dilated to delirium. The atmosphere here is one of veiled dread and psychic disturbance, a haunting and macabre psychedelia strewn with echo and dub FX, fragmentary fever dream poetics, elemental drum patterns and volatile synthetic interference. Although the collective conserve the raw crux of their earlier material their execution is, in this special instance, heightened by an intent to broaden and prolong their unique strain of intensity.

Emphatically sinister openers like Forest and Pound present sidereal sequences before building to barrelling, corrosively processed percussion, paroxysmal free jazz and a baleful, concrète-inflected score of electronics, while Swamp introduces phasing currents and a vocal evocative of a chorale from some forgotten giallo film. Elsewhere l'au delà (the beyond) presents a stunning, sombre passage to another state entirely, like some desolate new inflection on Coil's Going Up, before Bialystok shifts into a finale of transportive and meditative evaporation. Together these tracks make for an incredibly immersive and congruous conception; an utterly complete and mesmerising document.

In Swamp's various dimensions perhaps there's comparisons to be drawn with the ritualistic krautrock of Conny Plank and Holger Czukay's Les Vampyrettes, with the hallucinatory, tribal rhythm cycles of Shackleton & Anika's Behind The Glass collaboration, with the primeval drone of Jeremie Sauvage, Mathieu Tilly and Yann Gourdon's France project, with the echoic, disquieting chamber intimacies of Tuxedomoon's Pink Narcissus material and with Lucrecia Dalt's eerie free verse abstractions. But really, we've not heard anything like this before.

Discussing their own inspirations and touchstones the collective cites Franz Kafka, Dario Argento, Lucrecia Martel's La Ciénaga (The Swamp - the film the record is named after) and Yiddish ghost theatre as figures, works and artforms that were prominently drawn upon during the making of Swamp. Yet whilst their imprints could be traced by some, they resemble more of a covert presence within a nuanced whole rather than obvious aspects which moor this record to any familiar setting.

Instead, the acutely unsettling yet poignant spoken word of Miller and the mercurial nocturnes and visitations produced by Margetts, Lmx, Mathé and Da make for a record of strange, novel and striking energies. In revealing the remarkable location and period in which Swamp was recorded Margetts and Miller give a vivid indication as to how these energies are so potently invoked:

'The record was mostly recorded in a caretaker's wing of a 17th century castle in Normandy. It was early March 2018, and our first encounter with the Spring. We had no idea how everything would unfold. There was a lot of tension. Some of us felt compelled to get out the attic room where we had set up our makeshift recording studio and just walk and walk down the vast flat meadows and explore the relics of the wartime barracks, others wanted to keep recording. The outside was serene and inviting, and even though we had been cooped up indoors recording for long stretches of time, we could see from the corner of our eyes, the branches of the trees quivering; an impersonal energy blew through us and then things just happened.'

Repress available in early May.

Faitiche releases a new collaboration between the Japanese sound artist ASUNA and Jan Jelinek: the album Signals Bulletin brings together joint improvisations and compositions made over a period of three years in Berlin, Kyoto and Kanazawa. ASUNA’s meandering organ drones merge with Jelinek’s pulsating synthesizer and field recording loops to create dense superclusters that span broad harmonic arcs.

"Watching the Japanese sound artist ASUNA playing the organ, some people might be surprised. ASUNA is no virtuoso flying over the keyboard in a rage. Instead, with the calm gestures of an office worker, he cuts strips of adhesive tape to the correct length before sticking them onto the keys of his instrument. In this way, large clusters of keys are held down, creating a dense and sustained range of frequencies, while the sound artist continually prepares further sets of keys or removes tape again. I have rarely seen a more convincing performance concept, with such a power to fascinate.

I first met ASUNA when we both gave a concert at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, his home city. He performed the organ drones as described above and I immediately knew I wanted to collaborate with him. Six years and five meetings later, we completed Signals Bulletin. The album includes both joint improvisations and compositions, recorded in Berlin, Kanazawa and Kyoto.

Whether using prepared organ, Casio keyboards or mechanical plastic toys, ASUNA creates rich textures of sound that barely change over long stretches of time. It is a music without breaks. For a while, I was unsure how my loops made using modular synthesizers and live sampling fitted here – until I realized the role I had to take in this duet: I would provide the rhythmically pulsating foundation over which his dense continuums could unfold.

The result is harmonically drifting superclusters that put us into a meditation-like state. It can perhaps be compared to Automatic Writing – a mode of creative expression floating somewhere between concentration and distraction. Both the structure of our pieces and our approach to our instruments allow a similar “absence”: we let the machines play and repeat themselves – while we, in a mild form of trance, adopt the role of observers, intervening only occasionally.

It is no coincidence that ASUNA owns a collection of Doodle Art – drawings jotted down during conversations or while talking on the phone. It is said that works made like this point to the unconscious and reveal pet motifs – because a doodler always inadvertently returns to his or her favourite themes. The artwork for Signals Bulletin features pictures from the collection, in this case sheets of paper from the pads provided in stationery shops to test out pens. The special quality of such doodles is that the jumble of drawings is the work of a collective whose individual members do not know each other. Layer by layer is added, by someone different each time – until it becomes a dense cluster of lines and symbols ..."

Jan Jelinek, Berlin 2018

There are few people across the globe, who will have not been touched by the work of Frankie Knuckles. Forever regarded as ‘The Godfather of House’ for his unrivalled contribution to the house music we know today; what started as an underground movement in Chicago has grown to international heights thanks to Frankie. His records earned him recognition on a global scale, allowing him to work with some of the globes biggest names including the likes of Diana Ross, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.

Five years ago, Frankie passed away in Chicago on 31st March 2014 leaving behind one of the greatest house music legacies spanning almost four decades. Now he is commemorated by long time writing and production partner Eric Kupper. Eric, himself a seasoned DJ producer and writer, has worked on over 116 Billboard #1 Dance Records and played a pivotal role in a many of Frankie’s productions. Having both worked together for many years they established themselves at ‘Director’s Cut’ from 2011 and set about producing original releases and remixes based on the classic ‘Def Mix’ sound while sharing equal credits for their creations.

Together they re-produced and re-purpose classic cuts for modern dancefloors, with reworks including tracks from Marshall Jefferson, Ashford & Simpson, Artful & Ridney and The Sunburst Band, alongside Frankie Knuckles originals. These releases have now been brought together by Eric to feature on special album called ‘The Directors Cut Collection’ on SoSure Music. It includes the Director’s Cut reworks of Frankie’s classic cuts such as ‘Your Love’ and ‘Take You There’ with Jamie Principle, alongside Frankie’s first #1 single - ‘The Whistle Song’ on which Eric shares writing credits.

Within a multitude of classic reworks, highlights include a previously unreleased version of Ashford & Simpson’s ‘Bourgie Bourgie’ and a huge Director’s Cut Retro Signature mix of Marshall Jefferson’s 'The House Music Anthem (Move Your Body)' featuring Curtis McClain.

The Director’s Cut Collection is a fitting tribute to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Frankie’s passing whilst giving Eric a platform to tell his side of the creative story. This album is to be released in collaboration with The Frankie Knuckles Foundation who work to continuing Frankie’s legacy well into the future.

Compared by many people to Boy Harsher, the duo formed by Ana Schmidt and Kevin Czarnik is the new sensation in the californian synthwave scene; their unique soundscapes, their mesmerizing voice treatments and their punchy analog rhythms promises only but great sensations on the obscure dance temples. 4 tracks that has been selected from their recently released ABSENCE album + a remix by Synths Versus Me will be featured on their very awaited vinyl debut. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem at Prodam Berlin.

Multi-instrumentalist/producer extraordinaire - Flevans has been on fire the last few months. With more plays across the BBC 6Music and Radio 2 than you can count on all your limbs combined, his recent singles have proved to be a huge success on the air-waves.

Following up this early enthusiasm with the stellar LP 'Part Time Millionaire' in March, the album was received very warmly by critics and fans alike.

With source material this good it was time to have some fun and at the end of March we released the undeniably brilliant Art of Tones Remix of Who's Got Me – featuring the brilliant Laura Vane on vocals. Deep delicious disco. That's how we'd describe it but don't take our word for it, listen to Todd Edwards, Bill Brewster, Kraak & Smaak, Hector Romero and Francois Kevorkian – all of whom are supporting it. Or listen to Diplo, Mistajam, Annie Nightingale, and Gilles Peterson who have all supported his past releases on the wireless..

Well good as that was, the fun doesn't stop there as the next instalment of remix magic has disco man of the moment Ray Mang giving the special treatment to It Just Goes (feat. Sarah Scott). He's always been a legend but his re-work of the phenomenal handclap band was THE remix of 2018 for the disco cognoscenti and he has turned in some of his very best work here.

Yes - we like to listen to music online and have the convenience of an endless collection always available but for the masochists who like to break their backs lugging heavy boxes of vinyl round to gigs – don't worry – we got your back (broke) by putting both of these killer remixes on one extremely desirable 12"





[a] A1. It Just Goes (Ray Mang Extended Remix) [feat. Sarah Scott]
[b] B1. Who's Got Me (Art Of Tones Extended Remix) [feat. Laura Vane]

[a] A1. It Just Goes (Ray Mang Extended Remix) [feat. Sarah Scott]
[b] B1. Who's Got Me (Art Of Tones Extended Remix) [feat. Laura Vane]

Schmer Schmer has been looking for the next Prototype 909 since 1995. While they may never be found, we have instead found a few artists that with the same spirit of adventure have taken electronic music to new frontiers of unimaginable creativity. Primary among them is Lena aka Galcid aka Lenacid.

Lena's electrifying live performances utilizing eurorack modular synths with vintage and modern machines follow three simple 3 rules:

NO PCs, NO Presets, NO Preparation!

She has been called Jeanne d'Arc of modular because her style her appearance and her fearlessness.

For Schmer, Lena has created an EP made for the melting of your mind, if it doesn't first melt your speakers.

Lena uses her electronics in the most effective way possible. The classic acid machines are deployed to establish the themes the modular synths bring in sounds that take these tracks to another level. The eponymous track will hypnotize you into the state of focus necessary to allow you to go deep inside. Then the Acid Police show up! A funky drum machine rocker sure wake you out of your trance. Steel Vein has the intensity to rewire your modular mind. bpmf provides an hard driving aggressive take on Melting to help us turn on the switch.
Legendary DJ and producer Hisashi Saito has been making acid and techno since the early 90s. Using his unique
skills this EP has a rare clarity of sound not often heard on such ambitious recordings. Lenacid “Melting EP” opens up a new frontier for acid, for Schmer and for Lena that you are invited to explore with us this spring.

As Galcid, she has played alongside world renowned artists such as Nina Kraviz, Daniel Miller, Oval, DJ Nobu, Isao Tomita, Takkyu Ishino, Ken Ishii, G-man (LFO) among others. In 2016, she was invited by the Japan Media Art Festival to play at the special exhibition, held at the Eyemyth Media Arts Festival in Mumbai, India. Her 1st album “Hertz" received a worldwide release in digital format on the Detroit Underground label. The release attracted the attention of Karl Hyde (Underworld), Chris Carter (Throbbing Gristle) among other well-known musicians the world over. Shortly thereafter, Galcid played at "Boiler Room Tokyo". In July 2017, she embarked on her first EU tour playing shows in Barcelona, London, and Madrid, after she came back, she participated in Iron Island Festival and Mutek Japan garnering high praise in the media. In December 2017, she was invited to headline Future Mix's 20th Anniversary event and workshop in Shenzhen where she performed and held a talk with techno pioneer Mijk Van Dijk.

Special Remarks: 1 colored green LP in single sleeve with 3mm spine. Printed inner-sleeve. Collectors edition CD album included.

Vinyl (Limited Colored Edition)

Bananarama"s third album "True Confessions" features the smash hit "Venus" which hit the top spot in the US on Billboard Hot 100. The track was a huge dance floor hit across Europe, South American and Asia.
The album includes the singles: "A Trick Of The Night", "Venus", "Do Not Disturb", "More Than Physical".
Bananarama are often cited as the UK"s most successful ever girl group with 5 UK singles and 10 top 10's.
They were the girl group that defined the eighties with their run of pop hits which soundtracked the lives of fans around the world. The news of Bananarama"s reunion, after nearly 30 years, was met with universal approval and saw the band celebrated all over again. In 2017 the trio reassembled for a UK & USA Tour in a pop reunion only dreamt of in the wildest imaginations by many quarters. The band reunited in their original line up for the first time in years. For many Siobhan stepping back into her natural habitat once again is pop"s very own version of Morrissey and Marr re-uniting. The band play their final dates as a trio this summer in a run of gigs including Edinburgh Castle, British Summer Time and Smukfest.

After S3A's 'Deep Love' contribution last year we are stoked to present you this great collection of music! Coming from the French underground S3A aka Max Fader is absolutely no stranger to the scene. With releases on Local Talk, Quartet Series and his own 'Sampling As An Art records' he is deeply rooted in House, Hip Hop, Disco, Soul and Funk serving residencies at Paris clubs 'Concrete' and 'REX' he has become a local favourite as well with his DJ and Live sets. We are more than excited to release this special debut album that showcases some older and recent work, with live acoustic songs from early 2017 recorded at the Paris 'Red Bull Music' studios to new sample based House and Disco infused tracks in the signature 'S3A' style we got to love so much in recent years. 'Fever", 'Friends, 'Joint No. 5 and 'Greed' are all funk fuelled jams composed by Max, re-played and recorded again in several live jams with fellow musicians Nicolas Taite, Raphael Vallade and Pierre Vadon and edited in the studio by S3A afterwards, they breath this special Soul and Funk love Max got into by listening to 'Masters at Work' and old Disco jams. The latter 'Greed' has a special story, it is a cover of an early 'Laurent Garnier' track that got reworked by 'Avril' in the early 00's, here Max wanted to present his own Jazz and Funk perspective on that same track. The club stompers 'First Day With Lucien", 'Lockwood", 'Clarence J. Boddicker' and 'Leaving 19th' are the true party business on this album and range from Deep House to more classic edit style Disco tracks with live improvisations played on top of them.

We swallow asphalt, we travel open heart, we run closed eyes. An hypnotic rhythm, some textured notes from Arp Odyssey, and a guitar that capsizes. Ashinoa. Ashinoa. Ashinoa.A last cigarette. We hang on the wheel. And we surrender on the highway of lights and vertigo, again »Ashinoa is a krautrock dementia that fans of the genre will recognize. An artistic atavism in the footsteps of the post-Stockhausen generation, a kind of round table of geniuses Klaus Dinger (Kraftwerk, Neu!), Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream), Schulze (Ash Ra Tempel)... but also a kosmische musik of modern times, with a touch of electronic influences in the most experimental way.Part of the collective Misère Records from Lyon, which also includes the bands Abschaum (who released its first album in late 2017 on Macadam Mambo) and Pratos, Ashinoa started at the end of 2015 and occupes a special place in the Lyon alternative scene. So it's a real pleasure to welcome on board a band with such qualities from Macadam Mambo's hometown. Don't miss the trip !

It all started with words, and a project for an art book with a CD, acronym for Corps Diplomatiques as a tribute to a special diplomatic elephant called Abul Abbas. A few mundane terms, picked randomly, then coupled with frequencies chosen in a spontaneous way for their presupposed properties or synchronicities, whether in space, orbital rhythms, color spectrum, or electro-magnetic fields. Those free associations became the foundation for a written composition, the reprogramming of recordings of computer improvisations, and a dialogue with the visual elements of the book. It is also based on the deconstruction of the first LP I did and its reconstruction under the auspices of echoes of a joyful brouhaha from a dreamed speakeasy, including the true voices behind the charade. The freedom is given to the listener to connect the dots and name the tracks according to their own state of mind, mood or interpretation. All further informations are in the book !

We are delighted to present our fourth release on 12” format, a very special collaboration with legendary Jamaican trombone player Vin Gordon.
"Bowl go, packy come" is an old Jamaican proverb equivalent to “what goes around comes around”, or in a more positive form “one good turn deserves another”. In this EP it symbolises the migrations and cultural exchanges between Jamaica and UK and back from UK to Jamaica and the rest of the world, pretty similar to the life journey of Vin Gordon himself. The music and the artwork here try to represent that continuum of exchange between both shores.
The Ep contains two uptempo instrumental tracks that are a mix of classic Jamaican sounds with a UK influence, combining classic live instrumentation and modern programming. Each track comes with it’s own dub version mixed analog live by Ojah in traditional fashion.
Also available complementing this release is ALDBS7008 “What Goes Around Comes Around”, a 7” that contains an additional Hammond and melodica solo version and an additional dub of the “Packy” riddim.
Limited edition of 600 copies, 180g heavyweight 12” vinyl, hand-numbered, served in a spined sleeve with outstanding artwork by Victor Castro.

Hammond & melodica recorded by Nik Torp at Squat Sound Studio, London, UK, 2015
Percussion & keys recorded by Ojah at Rollover Studios, London, UK, 2015
Trombone recorded by Jamez at Black Lindy Studio, London, UK, 2015
Guitars recorded by Puppa Shan at Discoinferno, Madrid, Spain, 2018
All tracks produced, mixed and mastered by Oscar Pablos “Ojah” at Alchemy Dubs Studio, London, UK, 2018
Graphic design by Victor Castro

Release number 052 sees the much anticipated return of Phil:osophy. The combined efforts of Philth and Phil Tangent result in their most exciting work to date, aptly titled the Meditation EP. Four killer gems, all completely unique, span cinematic journeys, swing grooves, textured layers, slick beats and a special homage to the original intelligent era.

Mark your calendars now with May ** as the official release of Phil:osophy’s Meditation EP. Launching across all formats, make sure you reserve your limited vinyl copy now to avoid disappointment!

What to say about THE PRESENT MOMENT? they are just one of the best synthwave bands of XXI century, and everyone knows that, maybe that's why some of their previous releases are being sold at obscene prices. After 5 years of painful silence, they are coming back with their 4th studio album, probably their most professional studio project to date, a very mature production where they play with their usual raw synthpop and ebm style but as well with more italo synthesque and even progressive rock ambiences. A truly masterpiece from any point of view. All tracks have been specially mastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem at Prodam Berlin.

ORACULO RECORDS is proud to welcome the enfant terrible of Moscow dark techno scene OBER DADA and his partner in crime LERA FOER whom present themselves to the world with an outstanding EP full of dark energy to get in flames any dance floor. Electro and ebm fans will consider this one a truly holy grail. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem at Prodam Berlin.

ALEATORY CHAOS compilation has been one of the most succesful releases to date at Oráculo Records, both in sales and in pro press reviews. Now it's time to reveal a new chapter including dark synth and dark guitar / post - punk future hymns by newcomers such as Etalon & Snem K, Dissident and Pindrops or by already known projects as Synths Versus Me or The Present Moment. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem at Prodam Berlin.