State-of-the-art techno from Nico Purman. The Argentinean's vision of contemporary club music has always been located somewhere between techno and electro. His Pattern Recognition EP turns out to be Nico's most uncompromising work since his early releases on Vakant and scores with three bold and infectious tracks for the club.
James K is a stranger to obviousness. Over the past few years the New York native has quietly honed her sound and peculiar aesthetic. Equally organic and electronic, her sound is a combination of odd dreams, industrial beats and vocals, both incomprehensible and appealing, with a thick layer of glitter on top of it. James K is a concentrated dose of emotion mixed with sorrowful iciness, which in turn ties together ripped, broken, morphed and enchanted samples. James K stands for a fusion of visual and sonic elements, deeply rooted in conscious art practice and downright freak-out. James K creates a mythology of her own.
'PET,' her first LP due out in early 2016, will be a co-release with Dial and her own label, She Rocks! A special edition of the album with added bonus tracks and interludes with be released on cassette through Canadian label 1080p.
In James K's words: 'The underlying desire of 'PET' divides into two parts: an escape into ethereality and a mischievous denial of my own experience. It narrates my search for honest expression by means of the premature denial- a childish excursion into a world of monstrosity and innocence.
PET reflects my mental state during its production - as a person, I was owned, objectified and hurt by other, and that wound I then unwillingly internalized. I turned to my music as a way to dissect these thoughts. The product became my possession, or 'pet.' In retrospective, this process gives me strength over myself; love—knowledge and wisdom enacted. The arrangement of the music and the PET itself relates to my endless struggle, namely, my attempts to reclaim myself.'
Her 'Sokit' 7' is a double track single for her album, which she released last Spring. James K is featured on the recent compilation released by Dial Records for their 15-year anniversary, and a mini LP of her noise pop project SETH (along with producer Gobby), was also recently released by label 1080p in June, in cassette and digital form. She rocks.
Three cuts of heady, cerebral bliss guaranteed to push any dancefloor a little further out into the interstellar,In Russell's hands, Clay Wilson's "E4" becomes a spaced-out stepper's delight. His rework of Romans' "Coptos" lets the acidic undertones of the original run free while snappy percussion holds focus. And while we're not one to pick favorites, Russell's remix of Zemi17's "Rangda," stripped to its bare essentials, is almost a purer representation of the original than the original itself, designed to lift a willing crowd into a trance state.
Vinyl Only LTD 200 copies Detroit state of mind on the A side with a long broken intro to give kick reward back. A track that never let you down, builded for the Deejays. The flip carry a LOUD dancefloor 4/4 non stop hangar techno, with trippy synths... Not dark, not happy... Just an authentic Techno dancefloor call !
Taking influences from "not old music, not new music, just good music" Random Movement's production skill and DJ technique have pushed him to the forefront of state-side drum & bass.
After releasing the critically acclaimed Sleazy B*tch EP early 2015 on Fokuz Recordings we're glad to welcome him back with the Meat Sauce EP containing two soulful cuts packed with flavour, distinctive drum rhythms and clever basslines.
Following Secret Chapter, Architectural's debut LP, and the release of Amour in 2015 with the Dutch imprint Wolfskuil, we are delighted to bring you release number 7 which continues a saga of EPs that are very effective on the dance floor without renouncing to their atmospheric and experimental roots. Presented in an elegant 10" transparent vinyl, its two tracks, 7.1 and 7.2, share the limelight and will both leave the dance floor in ruins.
In 7.1 Architectural goes back to his roots with marked low lead lines that star in a very intense episode. The resulting sound is dense and compact, and connects the American essence and feel to European abstract futurism. Many will define this track as pure Architectural.
7.2 is not suitable for heart patients. Its intense and rhythmical bassline can put the listener in a hypnotic state for several minutes waiting for something to happen. The repetitive rhythm from the start is so strong it becomes strongly addictive. The track evolves towards an end worthy of a terror movie, where the snare provides an aggressive beat complemented by striking atmospheres.
Both tracks are the perfect weapon for any DJ willing to put to the test the best sound equipments.
finally repressed
Blankstairs is pleased to announce the imminent release of 'Pathfinder', the latest record from Washington State resident Archivist. 'Pathfinder' is Archivist's second release on Blankstairs, following 2015's 'Migration', which Impose Magazine celebrated as offering listeners "the possibility of transcendence." Archivist's new record is no different, featuring three original deep techno tracks along with a remix by The Bunker New York resident Eric Cloutier. With 'Pathfinder', Archivist shows himself to be one of the West Coast's most intense and interesting techno producers.
With House Warming - Andy Vaz returns with his 3rd full lenght album on his own Yore Imprint. Due to Andy's half Indian roots, he is lucky enough to owe a Beach House just outside of Mangaluru, South India in the State of Karnataka. - where most parts of the Album were written over a period of 6 months. In this totally isolated, entirely tourist free hidden spot, which had become Andy's second home over the past years, he found himself away from the usual routines of western life, to find himself in a position to simply sit down and create. The result is House Warming". As the Title suggest's - think of house, sure and no doubt- but here on this album, thought all the way thru from beginning to end. The result then is House Music in all it's aspects: The Soulful, the deep and the raw or if you want - Deep House, Acid House, Garage/Vocal House - the joints range from downtempo, elektro and even hip hop beats. Oldschool you may think Maybe in spirit, as entirely produced with analogue synths & the roland series from 808, 909, 505, 606 to the original 303, but used in a modern studio environment. Andy Vaz is someone who has been around long enough to know how to programme his very personal idea's into the music - without denying influences such as Detroit, Chicago and New Jersey, to create something that goes further than a simple reflection of the past. Deep isn't a genre, it's a feeling. A warm feeling most of all. Be invited to come and see if you'll find it here.
With our first release of 2016, we welcome one of South London's _nest, Dullah Beatz, with his EP "Ballys On". Known to the label for a while, Dullah has been around since Grime started but the availability of a lot of his beats has been sparse. So after a guest appearance on our first album, JT The Goon's "King Triton," we're proud to present Dullah's most substantial release yet. On the A side for the 12th release on Oil Gang, the orchestral minimalism of the title track gives way to the Indian scales of "Time," both of them full of sub and menace. Then on the B side, there's a track called... "Oil Gang". This was Dullah's choice, we're not just going on an ego trip. The echoes of the label's recent styles are there though, a JT style flute riding gunshot hats and amsfeedback. The last track, Floating, rounds up the EP with a bit of tribal space and steel drums riding Dullah's inimitable style. This is the first time theres been a proper Dullah Beatz statement on vinyl and we're really happy it gets to be us at Oil Gang that got to do it.
State001 is a musical adventure through the hometowns of our Artists - A mix of Mannheim, Frankfurt & Berlin.
As the first output of our new label we present you RTGD001: the Won't Cry' EP by Matteo Luis & Lo, both part of the fam & currently finishing the last touches of their upcoming debut album. The young cologne natives offer a warming and moony/dreamy/atmospheric work from their archives to start the labels catalogue as smooth as possible. Alongside Matteo's deeply driven signature sound, Lo's lyrics will lead you into a dreamy state with blue pills in backstreets and babies and pigs in the sky. The original was reworked trice by amongst others, friends of the emerging label as well as long time role models of the label heads Marlon Hofffstadt and Goldberg. The former delivers a drifty and impulsive close to the floor interpretation of Won't Cry, whilst buddy Johnjons remix gleams through percussive sequence sounds and a further deep touch. Besides these two auspicious interpretations, no other than Running Back boss Gerd Janson and fellow Philipp Lauer are highlighting their perspective on the title track in appearance of their renowned and outstanding supergroup Tuff City Kids. The duos' outcome is an ingeniously constructed rework of Matteo Luis and Lo's original that never fails to raise euphoria throughout the whole track. Each copy is fully printed with an artwork of Berlin based surrealist Hermann Reimer.
Jemek was never easy to read: Is he serious or is it all a
joke
With his new album »Jemek Jemowit is Doktor Dres« the one-man
band, DJ and conceptual artist that is Jemek Jemowit moves
between old-school rap, Southern trap and EBM, skillfully
mixed by the infamous hardcore techno legend Marc Acardipane.
Jemowit's anarchistic-dadaistic and often quite explicit
lyrics (there is a sticker on the front of the vinyl record
warning the listener of »swear words«) the, to quote the
artist, »post-patriotic« Jemek sings in Polish, the language
of his parents and in German, the language of the country he
grew up in, he studied in and in which he lives today.
On his last »hyper-patriotic« (Jemowit) EP »Tekkno Polo«
which came out on the Polish Label Oficyna Biedota in 2012,
Jemowit focused on Polish culture in Poland. On the Polish
market the Pole with a German passport, presenting music that
was recorded in Italy and which had used the Polish sub-genre
»Disco Polo«, the Polish equivalent to »Euro Dance«, as
template was an exotic. Subjects Jemowit touched were
national dishes like bigos or bizarre figures of Polish pop
culture. Was he serious or was it all a joke
Until today Jemowit finds it »remarkable«, without taking
sides, that Poles in Germany »so easily adapt, they seem to
merge into German culture so quickly«. On his new album
»Jemek Jemowit is Doktor Dres« which is released on the
Berlin-based label »Martin Hossbach« Jemek embraces the role
of the Pole in Berlin. In Polish, peppered with new word
creations and grammatical mistakes, he states that his alter
ego »Doktor Dres« (Dres is the Polish word for tracksuit)
leads a better live in Berlin that he used to do in Poland.
He often switches into the German language, too. In an
interview with label founder Martin Hossbach Jemowit said:
»I'm the perfect Pole in Germany who goes shopping at the
most expensive warehouse in West-Berlin, the KaDeWe, without
reproach and my German is pretty good, too!« He has now
become the person that »Tekkno Polo« reacted against with its
»hyper-patriotic« approach. Germany is now the sacred land
and on album track »Oryginalne Adidasy« he invites his fellow
Poles to come and visit him, he who »grew up between The Wall
and Moschino«, in Berlin and have Polish dumplings (pierogi),
made by Gucci at KaDeWe. »Endlessly bragging / Style without
class / Deutsche Mark / Oryginalne Adidasy« - this is Doktor
Dres' slogan and the read threat for Jemek Jemowit's new
album.
On his album Songs from Okinawa, Sven Kacirek explores the traces of a unique traditional music from the famed Pacific islands south of Japan. He recorded a wide range of local musicians - both amateurs and well-known figures - and carefully wove in his own instrumentation: marimba, xylophone, and piano. The result is an album of timeless beauty and quiet elegance. The southern Japanese archipelago of Okinawa has a complex and turbulent history, particularly shaped by the conflicts between Japan and the United States - an aspect thoughtfully outlined in the liner notes by Mina Mermoud. Over the centuries, this layered past has given rise to a rich and distinctive musical culture. During the U.S. military occupation of the islands, Okinawan musicians began blending traditional forms with Western styles. Today, Okinawan music is recognised in Japan as a genre of its own. "I"m fascinated by the sublime simplicity and precision of Okinawan music - from its orchestration to the phrasing of the singing voice," says Kacirek. True to this admiration, he keeps many of the original vocal and instrumental recordings intact, gently adding his marimba or percussion without ever pushing himself into the spotlight.
Adam Beyer's Drumcode imprint welcomes wAFF to its roster with two thudding techno tracks. British producer wAFF has been making waves in recent years, reflecting on a diligent 2015 spent playing across the likes of Europe, Africa, Asia and the States, when not making routine appearances at Paradise, Ibiza.
As a producer he's dropped several lauded releases on Jamie Jones' Hot Creations imprint, not to mention Matthias Tanzmann's Moon Harbour and Sven Väth's Cocoon, with his next outing landing on renowned Swedish label Drumcode run by techno titan Adam Beyer. Laying down hard hitting kicks from the off, Holographic churns out an undulating synth combined with shuffling hats and a cavernous low-end, before Vibrationz employs a low-slung groove fashioned from a sultry bassline, floating chords and a sinister vocal..
Drew McDowall's back story reads like a primer of psychedelic fiction woven into statements of the unbelievable, superhuman and outright insane. Somewhere in the chaotic madness, comes an artist such as McDowall with total control and absolute calm within his songs and artistic method.
Growing up in the gangs of 1970's Scotland, Drew McDowall started to shy away from the daily violence once punk took hold of the counterculture youth. Drew McDowall quickly scrambled to form his own punk band in 1978 with his then wife, Rose McDowall, called The Poems. Shortly lived, the Poems released a single and various tracks but more importantly, the band allowed McDowall to network with other local musicians in Glasgow, such as Orange Juice, and allowed him to travel down to London thus forming friendships with Genesis P-Orridge, David Tibet and countless others, bringing Drew into the fold of the experimental revolution happening in the UK brought upon by Throbbing Gristle and executed by bands such as Psychic TV and Current 93.
During the 1980's, McDowall found himself in the ranks of P-Orridge's Psychic TV and collaborating with the mysterious duo comprised of former Throbbing Gristle creator Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson and the enigmatic John Balance who had been creating esoteric and progressive electronic music under the title of Coil. It was during his formative collaborations with Coil that McDowall saw himself shift from occasional contributor to austere full-time member of the arcane outfit. McDowall's impact on the band's sound was apparent as the releases transformed from their previous avant pop signature to a more complex and methodic electronic imprint accompanied by even more abstruse subject matter than previous years. McDowall would continue honing his compositional skills with Coil until the release of the band's two most broad-minded albums, Astral Disaster and Musick to Play in the Dark.
The past decade, Drew McDowall found himself living in New York City and re-appropriating himself within the local music scenes he found himself contributing to. In 2011, alongside his friend and collaborator, Tres Warren (Psychic Ills), McDowall found himself exploring his passion of meditative drone and abstract sound patterns in their project Compound Eye. In recent times, McDowall's production work has provided the music world with some of the most outstanding remixes for bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Azar Swan and Long Distance Poison as well as his well-received scores he composed alongside artist Tamaryn for the works of Bret Easton Ellis. Outside of his collaborative duties, McDowall formed an audience as a solo artist, playing countless performances and showcases around New York's electronic music haunts.
Dais Records approached Drew to solidify his standing as a leading electronic musician with the recording of new material neatly wrapped up in his debut album entitled 'Collapse'. Recorded in 2015 in Brooklyn, NY, McDowall's synonymous modular synthesizer compositions are augmented by obtuse sampling cut-ups and contributions from Nicky Mao (Hiro Kone / Effi Briest) rounding out the lumbering sequential knot work that has become synonymous with McDowall and craft.
Rating 4/5 "Independent UK"
This solo debut by Air’s Nicolas Godin explores various elements of Bach, but without slavishly transposing his music to modern instruments in the manner of Wendy Carlos.
Instead, Godin uses themes and fragments from Bach as the jumping-off point for diverse musical explorations. In “Club Nine”, he borrows the “Take Five” rhythm, brushed out behind a cyclical piano figure, stained with resonant Bach chords on vibes and keyboard; and for “Clara”, the husky Latin croon of Brazilian singer Marcelo Camelo swoons over a stately dub arrangement of strings and woodwind.
The seven-minute “Bach Off” is the most dramatic piece, a suite shifting between interlocking Latin percussion, African highlife sax, stalking piano and harpsichord/woodwind interplay; while the blend of music-box, cellos, French horn, pizzicato and vocal pad makes “Elfe Man” sound like an outtake from Pet Sounds. A rich, rewarding indulgence.
Finale Sessions is really pleased to launch new series Finale Sessions Limited with Berlin up and coming act Arcarsenal. Duo comprised of Alan Mathias and Etienne Dauta, both founders of Bass Cadet Records and its dedicated vinyl store located in the heart of the german capital, they are also active members of the large Underground Quality family. Arcarsenal have already started to establish themselves as proponent of a crossover sound, mixing many influences from jazz, house, ambient to dub and techno. They are always giving a prominence to jam, improvisation and textures work in their studio routine. This EP called « Dark Skies & Wetlands », even if slightly grittier than usual, is no stranger to the rules of the duo. The opening track « Different Planet » is an epic dark deep house cut which develops itself over a course of 8:40. Starting with a stamping ground bassline and hazy atmosphere, the track opens up with synth attacks, dub echoes and slowly brings in a blissful melody that ends up linking all the elements. « Substance Of Arjuna », the following track on the A-side, is a-contrario a short but intense ambient work. Shot in one take, this subtle cut showcases the kind experimentations that Mathias and Dauta can end up doing late at night in front of their machines. The b-side of the EP leaves all the space to « Racoons », one of the weirdest and yet most powerful work of the duo to date. Tribal techno could be a short try to define what they achieved here, but the track goes far more than this. Built on a gritty mental acidic bass and a huge drum kick, the frenchmen bring over aggressive synth work that could sound like an orchestra on rehearsal, pachydermic screams or an overdriven guitar larsen. Underlined by a complex percussion pattern recorded live in their nest and chopped up to the best effect, the track ends up in a looping transe from which the listener might not leave in a normal state.
Optimo Music release THE GOLDEN FILTER's 'PS1103' in late September.
We are very happy to welcome The Golden Filter to Optimo Music. In fact we loved all the tracks they sent us so much that as well as a 4-track EP, they will be sharing an EP release on Optimo Trax too.
Penelope and Stephen originally hail from opposite sides of the planet (Australia and America) but have united to create a distinctly unique electronic sound. Following several previous releases, their sound has progressed into a deeper, richer, advanced hypno-sound with state of the art synthetic sound design and vocal phrases ricocheting around the mix. It's hard to pull off tracks that constantly morph and develop over the course of a few minutes but The Golden Filter accomplish this with seeming ease on the "PS1103" EP.
Music for nightclubs and far beyond.
Following almost two years of driving bass music promotion, in the form of compilation albums, free download round-ups, reviews, guest mixes & mix series CDs, the time has come to transcend from what first began as an online blog into our very own music label. After working with renowned artists such as El-B, Quest, BunZer0 and Phaeleh, as well as fellow promotional platforms FatKidOnFire & Deeper Vibrations - the Albion community has developed and grown to become recognised across the board of the bass music spectrum. This extension of our brand will help in pushing this music even more, enabling us to curate a fundamentally diverse sound beside the culture that we so passionately enjoy.The launch of Albion Collective Recordings is to be set in motion with In Pieces, a collaborative down-tempo effort conceived between Vaun and Jafu which is radiant in textural soundscapes. This particular piece has been doing the rounds as a clip on Deeper Vibrations' YouTube channel since 2013, inducing longing excitement for the song to finally surface.
Bristol based Daniel Brown, aka Vaun, has prospered into one of the scene's most prolific producers, covering multiple styles and turning out numerous releases for MindStep Music, Redshift-One and Soulstep Records. After recently hinting at the imminent release of an album, Brown can also reap in the keepsake of ALBION001 alongside Canadian artist James Fuller, aka Jafu, who likewise has blossomed astutely alongside his soulful Chord Marauders collective.In Pieces falls somewhere amongst immersive trip-hop and jazzy 2-step, an affectional arrangement that makes wonderful use of Marvin Gaye's a cappella in his classic Sexual Healing. The composition will certainly induce healing of the cerebral kind, with its stripped and delicate percussion work, dubbed out horns and soothing string sections. Encapsulated within Vaun & Jafu's musical offering is our label's statement of intent. That is, to champion unique music that emanates elegance such as this collaboration - and such as J.Sparrow's remix treatment. Ryan Wild aka Jack Sparrow, a Deep Medi Musik signee and one half of dubstep extraordinaire duo Author, has granted the scene with his tenacity to build profoundly stunning electronic music. Wild has the tempo notched up for his In Pieces edit but remains true to Vaun and Jafu's approach in the sense of its lavish spatial touch. The atmospherics breeze over with a soft vibrancy, as the electronic guitar solo recording from the original plays over the initial main section charmingly. This is all resulting in a simply sumptuous mix which goes right up there with his top drawer remix work for Annie Drury and De Niro & Y. To compliment J.Sparrow's sublime contribution and to also complete the package, the Black Butter Records assosciated and Bristol-based outfit Sly-One have whipped up an outright banger of a remix. Joe Cannon, Dave Constant and Oliver Read can already boast an admirable set of releases in the four years since they've joined forces, featuring on Shifting Peaks, Lost In Translation and 877 Records. Add that to a rude collaboration with fellow Bristol head & rasta emcee Buggsy and a remix for Bad Mojo on Meanbucket, Sly-One had clearly meant business from the offset - and have shown absolutely no let up for us at Albion Collective. Served with a side order of the trio's classic subtle cowbell hits, their 2-step/bassline fusion works wonders with the vamped-up vocal sample and is ready and waiting to rumble clubs & festivals for this summer and beyond. Early DJ support for the release has been noted from artists including Phaeleh, Quantum Soul, Thelem, J. Robinson, Walsh, K-Man, Nanobyte, Syte, Trashbat, Majora and D-Operation Drop & Foster. Radio airings to date stand at Sub FM on the BunZer0's legendary FOB Show, BBC Introducing showcased the release and Monki played the Sly One Remix on BBC Radio 1 Extra. The almighty
Dubstep duo Truth added the J.Sparrow Remix to their recent 'Chronicles' mixtape on Soundcloud, which was posted to their 75,000 plus following, Biscuit Factory Records owner and dubstep legend Walsh opened the edit on his latest podcast and J.Sparrow is set to showcase the version in a mix for the iconic Deep Medi label. Support is confirmed from digital publications such as FatKidOnFire,
GetDarker, Trusik and MTV Wrap up, which will involve a number of featuresm reviews, track premieres and artist spotlights. A review will also be printed in November's edition of Mixmag on Tomas Fraser's Grime/Dubstep page
