Suche:the l bit

MOTOR CITY SCENE, also released as Stardust, by American saxophonist PEPPER ADAMS and trumpeter DONALD BYRD, was recorded in 1960 and released on the Bethlehem label. Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams—and their ace band, including Kenny Burrell, Tommy Flanagan & Paul Chambers—deliver what is one of the finest performances of “Stardust” you’ll ever hear on this album. And that’s just the first track; this is Donald Byrd hitting his first peak, and summoning a band behind him that was formidable, and deft.

Duane Pitre returns to Imprec with Omniscient Voices, an articulate, intense and emotionally resonant set of five pieces for justly tuned piano and electronics.

Omniscient Voices is a uniquely distinct work that follows Pitre's trilogy of releases which culminated with 2015’s Bayou Electric and included the critically acclaimed Feel Free (2012) and Bridges (2013) albums. Where those albums were rooted in long form pieces, Omniscient Voices is a collection of shorter pieces, offering more harmonic variety than previous works, with a unique sound and feel that is still unmistakably the work of Duane Pitre.

In 2019, after a five year period where Pitre did not focus on outward facing music, but instead on his own personal practice, a small idea in the form of a question came to him: would the combination of his latest computer- and electronic-based experiments, used in conjunction with justly tuned piano, produce interesting results; simply put, would it “work”? Concurrently, Pitre was studying a handful of Morton Feldman scores for their focus on tonal clusters, reading a book on Arvo Pärt’s life and work, and contemplating the pulse-based rhythms of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass.

In 2020, with no intention of making a new album, the composer tried to answer this question. The results would spawn five pieces that would become Omniscient Voices. On this new work, Pitre finds himself giving equal priority to both piano and electronics, utilizing his Max/MSP-based generative network to real-time convert precomposed piano motifs, into data, which is then used to communicate with two polyphonic, microtonal hardware synthesizers whose patches Pitre authored; this process generates the electronic component of the album. Pitre also utilizes controlled improvisation to interact with the piano-reactive electronics in a spontaneous and inspired manner, going back and forth between these two pianistic approaches. In all, this approach creates a “musical feedback loop” of sorts.

Despite Omniscient Voices being the culmination of 15 years of hard work and inspiration, this beautiful album somehow materialized in a natural, intuitive and effortless way (like any artist's best work.)

Artist's statement: “When making the pieces that would become Omniscient Voices, I often viewed the piano as human action, a single note becoming a single gesture that has the potential to change the electronic environment, the electronics becoming the environment surrounding that human in the natural world, who then has the power to change their actions based on their surroundings. All actions have consequences. The interconnectedness of everything. Single actions making waves of change.”

RIYL: Arvo Pärt, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich, Phillip Glass
Mastered and cut by Golden and pressed at RTI for maximum fidelity.

OK, it’s taken us to get to our 11th release for some filthy organ funk to grace the label, and who better than The King Rooster.
Hailing from London, The King Rooster are a heavy funk quartet consisting of Ian Stevens on bass, Mark Claydon on drums (both
from another heavy funk band - The Getup), Sam Montero on keys and James Forster on guitar.
Collectively the band have played, recorded and shared stages with the likes of Sir Joe Quaterman, JTQ, Gizelle Smith, Reuben
Wilson, Speedometer Pee Wee Ellis and many more.
The band have released a clutch of heavy duty organ funk 45s on various labels over the last few years (Our Label, FNR, Dinked,
Burning Soul) and a spectacular LP, also on Dinked. But it was when we heard ‘Snitchin’, Stitchin’ & Bitchin’ on Funk Night Records
that we decided 45 Live needed some Rooster funk on the label!
It is entirely evident that the guys all have a deep love for raw funk, that gritty, slightly shambolic garage sound, punchy instrumentals
designed to hit you in the gut, pure soul from the pure funk perspective. It’s all about the ‘nasty face’!
Here we have 2 hard hitting organ screamers kicking off with ‘Snake Bait’ on the A side, a raucous 144bpm dancefloor burner.
Scratchy guitar, thumping bass and manic drums underpin a swirling and ever building Hammond Organ into a firey crescendo.
Whilst over on the B ‘Stickin’ it’ takes some cues from The Meters sound with its trance like organ riffs and bluesy flavour. It’s a raw
mid-tempo head nodder which, like the A side, keeps building and building into such a cookin’ groove.

The classic debut LP by Dub Narcotic Sound System, originally released on K Records and unavailable on vinyl for 25 years. The oddball indie-funk collective Dub Narcotic Sound System was spearheaded by vocalist Calvin Johnson, the former frontman of the legendary Beat Happening as well as the founder of the famed K Records label. Named in honor of Johnson's own Olympia, WA-based basement studio Dub Narcotic, the project was begun in 1994 with a rapid-fire series of funk-, rap-, and reggae-influenced singles including "Bite," "Fuck Shit Up," "Booty Run," and "Shake-a-Puddin'"; from the outset Johnson was the group's sole constant member, although over the course of subsequent releases, including the EPs Industrial Breakdown, Ridin' Shotgun, and Ship to Shore, the revolving lineup grew to include Olympia scenesters like Lois Maffeo as well as Larry Butler, Todd Ranslow, and Brian Weber, all three members of the hip-hop unit Dead Presidents. The first Dub Narcotic Sound System full-length, Rhythm Record, Vol. One: Echoes From the Scene Control Room, appeared in 1995; later efforts included 1996's Boot Party and 1998's Out of Your Mind. Sideways Soul, a collaboration with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, followed in 1999. Trouser Press wrote that "when not delving deep into the usual sorts of ambient studio trickery, the songs hit a '60s R&B stride, bathing in the stoned soul picnic ambience with uplifting spirit."

17th December 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of David Bowie’s classic fourth studio album HUNKY DORY, and to celebrate Parlophone Records is proud to announce release details for a limited edition vinyl picture disc to mark the album’s Golden Jubilee.

On 7th January 2022, one day before Bowie’s 75th birthday and 50 years to the day since the U.K. release of Changes as a single, HUNKY DORY will be issued as a limited edition 50th anniversary picture disc, featuring the 2015 vinyl remaster and a poster featuring the annotated back cover image of the album.

Although now widely acknowledged as one of the best albums of all time, Hunky Dory didn’t make a dent on the U.K. album charts upon its 1971 release. It wasn't until August 1973 that the album finally peaked in the U.K. Top 5 in the wake of a reissue of LIFE ON MARS? following the 1972 release of Bowie’s breakthrough album THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS.

Pioneering Kansas City, MO emo rock band The Appleseed Cast's 2002 Deep Elm release 'Lost Songs' is now available to pre-order on vinyl via Thirty Something Records. Comprised of material recorded after the band's 1998 debut 'The End Of The Ring Wars' and before 2000's 'Mare Vitalis', 'Lost Songs' displays the transitional phase of the band in between the two albums. Carefully uniting old-school and new-school songwriting styles, 'Lost Songs' combines the bitter emotional release of the band's earliest recordings and the meticulous soundscapes crafted through endless hours of studio time on later recordings. Dynamic song structures, hurricane-force rhythms and ultra-vivid lyrics paint bold portraits of disillusion and heartache, while at other points 'Lost Songs' overflows with swells of symphonics, feedback and electronics. The title joins the already released (and still available) vinyl reissue of the band's long out-of-print 2000 Deep Elm sophomore release 'Mare Vitalis.' Ominous, powerful, and magnetizing like the sea, 'Mare Vitalis' is dreamy and charming, and flows from a tide of moody energy with guitars that sweep around complex, precision rhythms. A masterpiece of timeless inspiration, the record is absolutely stunning.

Luigi Grasso rubbed shoulders, when he was twenty, in New York. He then fed on all those artistic possibilities that thrive in the big apple, and bit into it with full teeth, with fierce greed. Jazz was already flowing in his veins, and he was going to enrich this impetuous river of multiple confluences, which he discovered in the prolix underground of the city universe. Meetings, musicians, friends, artists, approaches, differences, additions, mergers, the Italian had found his America for the best and for the sake of it. In words and music. As in Greenwich Village, where he would find a refuge nest in 2O14. In the heart of Manhattan between Soho, Broadway, Chelsea, Hudson. This once bohemian neighborhood, where trees thrive at the foot of red brick buildings, is more often called "the village". Here the young saxophonist from the south of Italy will pose his audacity and his appetite. He will quickly fraternize with the best, in this refuge for artists where gospel, rock, rap, soul and, above all, reign supreme, reign in gospel, rock, rap, soul.

VIDO's way of independence with her first vinyl release on her own label. Coming from Frankfurt(Main), over many milestones to Berlin. "With limited given medium, creating something".

Enjoy the journey of a trippy, meditative, still a bit obscure danceable record of the VIDO Alias and her Alter Ego "M-Drive" that shows the last track with a voice insert.

The third release on U-TRAX in 1993 was also a third debut, this time by Natasja Hagemeier and Jeroen Brandjes. Early in their career, they used several artist names, but became most commonly known as The Connection Machine. With their debut mini-album The Dream Tec Album they more or less described their style: dreamy techno. It became an instant Dutch techno classic and U-TRAX is proud and delighted to offer a fully remastered re-release, including three never before released bonus tracks (one of which is digital-only).

Natasja and Jeroen resided in Utrecht back in the 90s. In 1991 they assembled all their ideas and recorded the track "24 Hours" with DJ Paradize. Soon after this experience, they started to buy their own gear, all strictly MIDI (which wasn't too obvious in those days). In their early recording years, they had three producer-names (Syndrome, The Connection Machine and Bitch&Bites), that were all collected under the The Utroid Machine Missions umbrella, which was used for their debut on U-TRAX.

All tracks on The Dream Tec Album are The Connection Machine's earliest works, from the 1991/1992 years.

"An Overflow of the Mind" is a beautiful, dreamy track with almost divine sounds and strange voice-samples that serves perfectly as an introduction to their entire repertoire.

Their first production was "24 Hours", and what a brilliant one it is! A well-known jazz-musician talks about a "24 hour party going on", on top of a sinister and trancey rug, woven of sampled sounds from pioneers in electronic music and nailed down to the floor with a deep pounding bassdrum. At the time they made this track, 141 bpm was unbelievably fast...

"Evilish Cosmos" is all about a very sad and personal emotion, so everything we say about it will be absolutely wrong. Just listen to the meandering piano line, distorted voice samples - and feel it.

The first bonus track on this release is "Recognized Pain", which was intended to be part of the original The Dream Tec Album. It had appeared on the Phuture Classical Section C cassette in 1993, on the famous Drome Tapes label that formed the roots of U-TRAX. It truly is an amazing track: pure sonic terror with haunting rhythms, psychedelic synth lines and shards of voice samples that make the listener feel slightly uncomfortable.

"X_Manray" is many electronic music lover's favorite track. It is sooo deep that it is hard not to get hypnotized by it. Warm strings are coupled with deep beats that show up and disappear every now and then. Could serve perfectly to start off any DJ's set, as long as she or he has the guts.

Though "Braindrain" is probably the most danceable track on this album, it is carefully designed to tease the listener. Everything in this track drops in too late and every tone, melody or loop last exactly a few bars too long. Designed as a DJ-teaser and so it is.

The second bonus track, "Cafe d'Anvers", is another previously unreleased work, of which unfortunately no master recording was saved. All that is left, as far as we know, was an old VHS Hifi tape from the U-TRAX Archives. And that is where this bonus track was taken from. Mastering engineer Thee J Johanz managed to restore the quality of the recording somewhat, while at the same time maintaining its dark, clubby sound, a tribute to the famous club of the track's name in Antwerp, Belgium.

"Dream Affected Dream" is one of the most recent productions on this album. It was recorded with CNN playing live on top of it. At this exact moment, CNN was having an interview with David Koresh, the leader of the infamous Branch Davidians sect from Waco, Texas, while they were under siege by an armed police force. Natasja and Jeroen were just ready to record Dream Affected Dream, and spontaneously decided to mix in the audio from CNN. Not very long after that, the cult members set fire to themselves. A very strange and oddly funky track, that also serves as a time-document.

The final track is another bonus track. Like Cafe d'Anvers, "Voight-Kampff" is taken from on old U-TRAX VHS Hifi tape and masterfully mastered into a lovely relaxed dreamtech piece. Very suitable to start the Sunday after a long night of clubbing. This track is available for free to buyers of the complete digital album only.

Original release date: July 1993.

The Artists Formerly Known As The Connection Machine (Utrecht, Netherlands) go raw and mean on this one! If the underground The Hague-style from the 90s is your thing, this 12" is your cup of tea. 4 hectic 808/303 trax, all mixed in a dirty way, with loadsa fx on the 303.

The Connection Machine/Cray Emoticon is the multi-talented duo of Natasja Hagemeier and Jeroen Brandjes, who debuted on U-TRAX in 1993 with their instant classic and much sought after 'The Dreamtec Album' (catalogue no: 3 UTR UMM 1). They went on to create another epic release called 'The Black Hole EP' on U-TRAX (catalogue no: 5 UTR UMM 2), but not after they presented 'Bitflower', a true work of art on Planet E from Detroit. Later they released the CD album 'Painless' on Down Low Music and in more recent years two 12"s (shared with The Lost Trax) and an album on Tabernacle Records from the UK.

The title track is originally meant as a replacement for the original game music of level 9 of the 2nd episode (E2L9) of the computer game Doom. The artists thought the original score wasn't doing right to the intensity of the game and made their own apocalyptic soundtrack. 'Gnawing The Heart' already proved its usefulness on many a dancefloor, whilst 'Choice Chip' will satisfy the ultimate speed freaks amongst you. If you're not into drugs or mushrooms, 'I Wish My Zapper Was A Gun' can deliver you the same effects: it's a psychedelic space-acid trip, built around a sample of the sitcom 'Neighbours'.

You can't get wrong with this vintage and merciless dance floor material from the mid-nineties.

Original release date: October 1995.

By the time of their second album, 1989’s ‘Unfinished Business’, EPMD were firmly cemented in the rap stratosphere. With one certified classic album under their belts, they proved they were no one-hit wonders, with the sequel possibly even better. A concise 12 tracker once again produced by the artists themselves, it saw them adhering to the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ maxim, while going somewhat ‘bigger’.
In other words, guests started to appear – not just on the records, but in the videos – and marketing budgets were higher. None of which watered down their sound. In fact, this is the ultimate EPMD record: a beat that’s simple but perfect, and two top-of-their-game MC’s going back and forth. But the appearance of NWA in the video for ‘The Big Payback’ hints at their reputation at the time – and at the cordial relations between coasts before the deadly beef that was to come.

‘Payback’ takes both its title and core sample from James Brown’s ‘The Payback’ from 1973, and then weaves two more JB elements with it, including the addictive stabs from ‘Baby, Here I Come’. It’s a golden track from the golden age.

The B-side is another gem from the same album, and only released before on 7” in a very rare, limited pressing. ‘So Wat Cha Sayin’ was the album’s lead single, and shows EPMD’s wide sampling palette. There’s bits of BT Express, a whole lot of Funkadelic and, brilliantly, some drums lifted from Soul II Soul’s gem from just the year before, ‘Fairplay’. Lyrically, it’s just all about threats to sucker’s MC’s – what else do you want from EPMD?


• A certified Hip Hop classic.

• Samples James Brown’s ‘The Payback’ from 1973.

It’s incredibly easy to get a remix wrong — as the back catalogues of far too many major labels, whose slapdash commissioning of the latest hot remixer half-guarantees an unsympathetic mangling of the song, can attest. At their best, remixes can make you look at an artist as though positioned from a different angle or using a different camera; sometimes hearing a song in a different context gives it a completely new meaning. “So you take a piece of a vocal…blah” says master remixer David Morales. “That’s a remix? That represents the artist? That doesn’t represent the artist, it represents you.” In the hands of the insensitive a remix is like chucking a song into the washing machine for a 100 extra spins.

In the hands of a master, things are a little more complex. Heavenly was all but founded on the art of the remix; our departed friend Andrew Weatherall remixed the first ever release, and the label has built up an immense catalogue in the intervening years that demonstrates all that is good about the art form.

Assembled on this compilation are twelve sterling examples of the remix, from Hanspeter Lindstrøm’s reading of Doves’ ‘Jetstream’, which turns their glistening pop into Lieutenant Pigeon meets Italo-disco (in a good way), to Andy Votel’s gentle folk-funk version of Halo Maud’s délicieuse ‘Des Bras’. We delve deep into the vaults for Saint Etienne’s ‘Filthy’, Monkey Mafia turning it into a rump-shaking groove perfectly suited to Q-Tee’s rap, while more recently, Flying Mojito Bros, purveyors of Tex-Mex house groove, reimagine Katy J. Pearson as a lonesome Lone Star lover.

Though not purposely themed, beyond being judiciously chosen as the catalogue’s finest gems, there’s a tiny hint of psychedelia about this set that is hard to ignore. Firstly, there are the acid contributions from Gabe Gurnsey, who knows his way around a coruscating bassline, and from Graham Massey, whose impeccable credentials in 808 State are brought to bear on ‘Valleys’, by young turks Working Men’s Club (acid house being modern psychedelia, whether the rock press approves or not).

Jono Ma, meanwhile, flips Night Beats’ amazing ‘Sunday Mourning’ into ‘Warm Leatherette’ on benzos, creating a disorienting glimpse of a dystopian Sunday that most definitely doesn’t include a genteel read of the papers and a nice cup of tea. On the other side of the miasma is Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve’s redemptive re-interpretation of M. Craft’s ‘Chemical Trails’, which, alongside Boy Azooga’s ‘Face Behind Her Cigarette’ (Mikey Young remix), Gwenno’s ‘Chwlydro’ (R. Seiliog remix) and and Katy J. Pearson’s ‘Take Back The Radio’ (Flying Mojito Bros Refrito Dub), is issued on vinyl for the very first time.


This dozen tracks — each one curated, remixed and delivered with love (and a teensy bit of impertinence) — is just a glimpse into the catalogue of one the UK’s finest indie labels.

In the alternative reality in which I’d prefer to exist, this what Top of the Pops might sound like; or, at the very least, the jukebox in the Korova Milk Bar. Pop disruption at its best.

Dating from 1974, and following on from the re-release of Legend, this is the second in our series of vinyl reissues of the original Virgin albums. Geoff Leigh had left the group and Lindsay Cooper joined on Bassoon, Oboe, Flute, Soprano Sax. The mix was more 'live' than Legend, with the drums much more up front. The first half is highly composed material, with some of the Cow's best loved tunes, like Half Asleep Half Awake and Bittern Storm Over Ulm. For the second half the material was all written in the studio, using loops, varispeed tapes and electronics, and superimposing live improvisation and composed passages.

The second and, as later would turn out, also the last release in Heinrich Tillack's critically acclaimed Tick Trax-series. The first Tick Trax-release by this talented producer from Braunschweig (Germany) was released as Volume 1 on U-TRAX in 1994 (cat. no.: 13 UTR SYS 1). It was a very successful record, however a bit too 'rough' for U-TRAX. Therefore, Volume II is launched on the U-TRAX sublabel Phoq U Phonogrammen, that has a more raw approach to techno, acid and electro.

Heinrich is a bit of an enigma. Having released some 12"s on Detroit's Plus 8 Records (as Sysex), Force Inc. Music Works (as Absolute) and Disko B (as Festival) and his own label Jakpot (both as Festival, as well as Co-Jack, together with Olivier Bondzio aka Hardfloor), he more or less disappeared from the face of the earth. It is said that he is a developer of children's apps for mobile phones nowadays.

This second Tick Trax release has 6 tracks, all in the distinctive raw Chicago-style that Heinrich uses only in his Tick Trax-identity. For minimalists, the CR-78 orientated beats on 'Samba Track' (from '93!) will be the track to go for. For heavy pounding floor fillers you can rely on 'Heavy Weight Track' and 'Super Heavy Weight Track'. Our personal favorite is 'Rush Track', another minimal track, but heavy and dark at the same time. The power is the drive in this one!

Original release date: October 1995.

The third release on U-TRAX in 1993 was also a third debut, this time by Natasja Hagemeier and Jeroen Brandjes. Early in their career, they used several artist names, but became most commonly known as The Connection Machine. With their debut mini-album The Dream Tec Album they more or less described their style: dreamy techno. It became an instant Dutch techno classic and U-TRAX is proud and delighted to offer a fully remastered re-release, including three never before released bonus tracks (one of which is digital-only).

Natasja and Jeroen resided in Utrecht back in the 90s. In 1991 they assembled all their ideas and recorded the track "24 Hours" with DJ Paradize. Soon after this experience, they started to buy their own gear, all strictly MIDI (which wasn't too obvious in those days). In their early recording years, they had three producer-names (Syndrome, The Connection Machine and Bitch&Bites), that were all collected under the The Utroid Machine Missions umbrella, which was used for their debut on U-TRAX.

All tracks on The Dream Tec Album are The Connection Machine's earliest works, from the 1991/1992 years.

"An Overflow of the Mind" is a beautiful, dreamy track with almost divine sounds and strange voice-samples that serves perfectly as an introduction to their entire repertoire.

Their first production was "24 Hours", and what a brilliant one it is! A well-known jazz-musician talks about a "24 hour party going on", on top of a sinister and trancey rug, woven of sampled sounds from pioneers in electronic music and nailed down to the floor with a deep pounding bassdrum. At the time they made this track, 141 bpm was unbelievably fast...

"Evilish Cosmos" is all about a very sad and personal emotion, so everything we say about it will be absolutely wrong. Just listen to the meandering piano line, distorted voice samples - and feel it.

The first bonus track on this release is "Recognized Pain", which was intended to be part of the original The Dream Tec Album. It had appeared on the Phuture Classical Section C cassette in 1993, on the famous Drome Tapes label that formed the roots of U-TRAX. It truly is an amazing track: pure sonic terror with haunting rhythms, psychedelic synth lines and shards of voice samples that make the listener feel slightly uncomfortable.

"X_Manray" is many electronic music lover's favorite track. It is sooo deep that it is hard not to get hypnotized by it. Warm strings are coupled with deep beats that show up and disappear every now and then. Could serve perfectly to start off any DJ's set, as long as she or he has the guts.

Though "Braindrain" is probably the most danceable track on this album, it is carefully designed to tease the listener. Everything in this track drops in too late and every tone, melody or loop last exactly a few bars too long. Designed as a DJ-teaser and so it is.

The second bonus track, "Cafe d'Anvers", is another previously unreleased work, of which unfortunately no master recording was saved. All that is left, as far as we know, was an old VHS Hifi tape from the U-TRAX Archives. And that is where this bonus track was taken from. Mastering engineer Thee J Johanz managed to restore the quality of the recording somewhat, while at the same time maintaining its dark, clubby sound, a tribute to the famous club of the track's name in Antwerp, Belgium.

"Dream Affected Dream" is one of the most recent productions on this album. It was recorded with CNN playing live on top of it. At this exact moment, CNN was having an interview with David Koresh, the leader of the infamous Branch Davidians sect from Waco, Texas, while they were under siege by an armed police force. Natasja and Jeroen were just ready to record Dream Affected Dream, and spontaneously decided to mix in the audio from CNN. Not very long after that, the cult members set fire to themselves. A very strange and oddly funky track, that also serves as a time-document.

The final track is another bonus track. Like Cafe d'Anvers, "Voight-Kampff" is taken from on old U-TRAX VHS Hifi tape and masterfully mastered into a lovely relaxed dreamtech piece. Very suitable to start the Sunday after a long night of clubbing. This track is available for free to buyers of the complete digital album only.

Original release date: July 1993.

Legendary Utrecht DJ and producer P.A. Presents (Peter Aarsman) returns with his first new release since 2000 with this vintage techno stunner, Swirling Gas. This EP also marks the first new music on U-TRAX in more than 21 years, kicking the label s comeback into a higher gear.
Peter ironically is the only artist on U-TRAX that actually is born and bred in the city of Utrecht. Even more irony lies in the fact that he hasn t lived in the city (or stadsie in Utregs, the local dialect) for the past 25 years.
Peter knew he wanted to be a DJ since he was ten years old, in a time when this was still a very unusual career to dream about. Long before house music had landed in Europe, Peter was fiddling around with disco and italo 12 -es and all those years of training is what made him the superior DJ that he still is today. In terms of skills, flair, energy and feel for the dance floor, there are probably not a lot of DJs that can rival with Peter.
While the era of house of techno of the late 80s and the 90s brought him countless DJ gigs, his reputation didn t cross the city borders much, until he bought his first gear and started producing techno music himself. Again, his DJ background proved helpful with producing his tracks, as most of his tracks are dancefloor orientated and usually have an impeccable timing.
Peter debuted with the mini-album Salicylic Acid on U-TRAX in 1993, followed by the Flight Stimulator EP a year later. Both are classics today, but neither brought him as much fame as his 12 Entangled did on Deviate, a record label that was started by a couple of our friends from Utrecht a year prior to U-TRAX. Entangled made it to many charts and compilation albums, including Carl Craig s mix CD as part of !K7 s DJ-Kicks series.
Besides two releases on U-TRAX and three 12 -es on Deviate, Peter recorded a full length album for the latter label. Unfortunately, before the album ever saw the light of day, Deviate closed their doors and the tracks remained on the shelves for the next 17 or so years. These tracks still sound surprisingly fresh and original today and we are super excited to be able to release some of them on this Swirling Gas EP!
The title track Swirling Gas obviously gets its name from the documentary sample that the track kicks off with. The almost heartbeat-like electro rhythms, layered choruses and dreamy synths will give you goose bumps all the way to the soles of your feet.
Raw is quite another thing, but way more complicated and sophisticated than the title suggests. An in-your-face electro bass drum pattern supports layer after layer of additional rhythms, some even touching on salsa, and then big fat layers of pulsating synths take you away into deep space. A unique track that will instantly reward the DJ that has the guts to play it for her/his audience.
Drum Magic on the flipside is exactly that: a magic techno trip built around complicated syncopated drum rhythms, which should serve the adventurous DJ well as a foundation for mixing all sorts of weird stuff on top of. We can t wait to see videos appear with creative mixing ideas.
Final track Freaky is opening with some heavy pounding, yet jumpy beats before it opens up into a bit of a space trip around the 3 minute mark. Though the track has a touch of the Basic Channel sound, its echoing synth tones are very distinct and will light up any venue, no matter how big.
All tracks have been revamped and edited into more current lengths by DJ Zero One, blessed by DJ White Delight and mastered by Thee J Johanz. Label art by Bonk Artwork.

Legendary Utrecht DJ and producer P.A. Presents (Peter Aarsman) returns with his first new release since 2000 with this vintage techno stunner, Swirling Gas. This EP also marks the first new music on U-TRAX in more than 21 years, kicking the label s comeback into a higher gear.
Peter ironically is the only artist on U-TRAX that actually is born and bred in the city of Utrecht. Even more irony lies in the fact that he hasn t lived in the city (or stadsie in Utregs, the local dialect) for the past 25 years.
Peter knew he wanted to be a DJ since he was ten years old, in a time when this was still a very unusual career to dream about. Long before house music had landed in Europe, Peter was fiddling around with disco and italo 12 -es and all those years of training is what made him the superior DJ that he still is today. In terms of skills, flair, energy and feel for the dance floor, there are probably not a lot of DJs that can rival with Peter.
While the era of house of techno of the late 80s and the 90s brought him countless DJ gigs, his reputation didn t cross the city borders much, until he bought his first gear and started producing techno music himself. Again, his DJ background proved helpful with producing his tracks, as most of his tracks are dancefloor orientated and usually have an impeccable timing.
Peter debuted with the mini-album Salicylic Acid on U-TRAX in 1993, followed by the Flight Stimulator EP a year later. Both are classics today, but neither brought him as much fame as his 12 Entangled did on Deviate, a record label that was started by a couple of our friends from Utrecht a year prior to U-TRAX. Entangled made it to many charts and compilation albums, including Carl Craig s mix CD as part of !K7 s DJ-Kicks series.
Besides two releases on U-TRAX and three 12 -es on Deviate, Peter recorded a full length album for the latter label. Unfortunately, before the album ever saw the light of day, Deviate closed their doors and the tracks remained on the shelves for the next 17 or so years. These tracks still sound surprisingly fresh and original today and we are super excited to be able to release some of them on this Swirling Gas EP!
The title track Swirling Gas obviously gets its name from the documentary sample that the track kicks off with. The almost heartbeat-like electro rhythms, layered choruses and dreamy synths will give you goose bumps all the way to the soles of your feet.
Raw is quite another thing, but way more complicated and sophisticated than the title suggests. An in-your-face electro bass drum pattern supports layer after layer of additional rhythms, some even touching on salsa, and then big fat layers of pulsating synths take you away into deep space. A unique track that will instantly reward the DJ that has the guts to play it for her/his audience.
Drum Magic on the flipside is exactly that: a magic techno trip built around complicated syncopated drum rhythms, which should serve the adventurous DJ well as a foundation for mixing all sorts of weird stuff on top of. We can t wait to see videos appear with creative mixing ideas.
Final track Freaky is opening with some heavy pounding, yet jumpy beats before it opens up into a bit of a space trip around the 3 minute mark. Though the track has a touch of the Basic Channel sound, its echoing synth tones are very distinct and will light up any venue, no matter how big.
All tracks have been revamped and edited into more current lengths by DJ Zero One, blessed by DJ White Delight and mastered by Thee J Johanz. Label art by Bonk Artwork.

Manchester's jazz scene has produced some of the UK's brightest and most original jazz groups. Now with its eighth releaseMatthew Halsall's Manchester based Gondwana record label shines a light on another of Manchester's well kept musical secrets, the expansive, brilliant piano trio GoGo Penguin.
Featuring pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Grant Russell and drummer Rob Turner (all still in their twenties), GoGo Penguin, draw on a heady brew of influences from Aphex Twin to Brian Eno, Debussy to Shostakovich and Massive Attack to EST. GoGo Penguin who have already developed a growing cult following in the North West as well as turning in storming performances at the Gateshead International and Manchester Jazz Festival's first came to Halsall's attention when he heard them at a friends night (Norvun Devolution) at the Roadhouse in Manchester. He was immediately drawn to their sublime collective empathy and the seamless fusion of jazz, classical and electronica influences in their music. 'I was blown away the first time I heard them, for me tracks like Last Words and HF are modern anthems and I knew immediately that I wanted to release their music". I am very proud to welcome them to the Gondwana label"

GoGo Penguin met whilst studying music at the RNCM in Manchester. After doing frequent gigs together with various other bands and musicians they started jamming together and started creating new music. They had no specific sound in mind, but just wanted to be free to create freely and honestly. The new band quickly became a vehicle to combine all the best bits from the music they where influenced by and loved. Individually Illingworth brings a lyrical and melodic style influenced heavily by classical piano music and electronica. Turner brings a driving modern style of drumming influenced by jazz, electronica, ambient, classical and dance music. Russell brings a gritty energetic double bass style influenced by the likes of Charles Mingus but also more modern electronic producers. The band's modus operandi is to have one of them bring an idea to rehearsal. Then there's a lot of experimentation, they try out as many different ways to play the piece as they can think of, until it begins to sound like something they all like.
It is their unique ability to synthesis and develop each others melodic and harmonic ideas while drawing on music from classical to electronica that makes GoGo Penguin's music so enthralling and their debut album such a powerful opening salvo from a powerful new voice in UK music.

So you thought U-TRAX was all about fancy, state-of-the-art, absolutely undanceable, hard-to-understand, semi-intelligent techno Well, you're absolutely right, but this U-TRAX-release is just not!

Produced by German Heinrich Tillack, these TICK TRAX VOLUME 1 are just the good old way of making techno. Raw & uncomplicated, in the tradition of the Chicago underground.

Heinrich is a bit of an enigma. Having released some 12"s on Detroit's Plus 8 Records (as Sysex), Force Inc. Music Works (as Absolute) and Disko B (as Festival) and his own label Jakpot (both as Festival, as well as Co-Jack, together with Olivier Bondzio aka Hardfloor), he more or less disappeared from the face of the earth. It is said that he is a developer of children's apps for mobile phones nowadays.

The 5 tracks on this 12" are centered mostly around the 909 drum machine and the 303 bassline synthesizer. While two bulky techno tracks feature on side A, the flipside is completely dominated by acid tracks, most of them receiving high praise when they hit the dance floors in the mid 90s.

More recent techno heroes also know how to appreciate these vintage tracks, like Dutchman Danny Wolfers, aka Legowelt, who had this to say about 'Pump Track' on his Facebook page: "Such a fun track, how it stops and starts, almost falls apart. It's mentally challenged simplicity with a giant hall rave vibe... total dance floor control track. On the super cult U-TRAX, one of the coolest Dutch labels from the 90s!"

Original release date: Fall 1994.