Nottingham's Origin One returns with another bass heavy anthem. Traversing roots reggae, hip hop, dub and steppers this is a perfect example of Origin One's style of production, eclectic in influence and heavy on the bottom end. As the title may suggest the track is a tribute to the herb, delivered by Ghanaian born MC/rapper Kweku (K.O.G) who absolutely destroys the track. Already getting spins on some of the UK's biggest soundsystems, this should see some heavy rotation!
Just as magnified record grooves reveal dust constellations and lunar landscapes, so too does Godblesscomputers' third album. 'Solchi' is a deep search into previous moments in Lorenzo Nada's lifetime, influenced by the presence and power of music. His process began with the recovery of some old cassettes, mixtapes nearly forgotten, audio recording of voices from his childhood, and lots of dusty jazz, soul, and hip-hop records. As the starting point of this travel merge with its end, past and present combine to form GBC's current sound. Warm electronic production rooted by grooving bass lines form the core of a kaleidoscope of sixteen tracks, colored by synthesizers, guitar echoes, scratches, samples, fading voices and kalimba. The album is a collection of sixteen stories, sixteen soundscapes; each of them GBC's tribute to the path taken thus far, an homage to his love for music. The recording and studio work took place over a year, with the adding and subtracting of many elements.
Ep number four of this series of eight remastered tracks with remix-tributes to the techno legend Christian Morgenstern is here, and kicks off with D_func's remix of Steigreider on side A. Creating a warm grayscale atmosphere, the track is carried by a heavy sub kick groove that's saturated with the modern industrial energy that proves Kowalski's skills as a techno craftsman. As a contrast, Jeroen Search's remix of Aces High on B1 is a more minimal interpretation, carried by a slowly developing beat and playing skillfully with the most recognisable elements of the original. The final track, a remastered version of Morgenstern's Lydia To The Edge Of Panic is a timeless classic, painting a Morgenstern-typical distant and dream like landscape and opening up into a widescreen chord progression, with an epic build up.
We celebrate our number 30 with a double pack, featuring one of the creators of techno in Spain: Groof.
Roberto Gemelin, from Madrid, is Groof. He's Robert Calvin too. No matter which of his alias you know him by, he's one of the most active producers in the Madrid arena.
Aka Robert Calvin, he released materials with Turbo (Tiga's label) in 2004, having previously collaborated with Star Whores in a joint release with Alek Stark (2002).
Also important are the remixes he did for Disko B or for Sindicato Records and MSX, paying tribute to Megabeat with his recreation of the great classic Strange.
His background as Groof is even more extensive, as his early steps go back to the times of Minifunk (the cheeky and shameless label from Barcelona that was then managed by Omar and Dj Loe). With them he recorded Mambo! (1999) and I want you (2000). He has also recorded with WarmUp, Fieber, Rainwaves or Shareware Records.
At the end of the ninetees Groof shared Quite Unusual with Oscar Mulero: the start of a deep friendship that nowadays brings us WU30 mini-album.
'Angel exterminador' is on the A side; modern and dark techno, based on cemented beats and deep synth work. A track that is constantly growing and evolving; quality and punch in one track.
'Diagrama esporadico' goes next: relaxed BPM, 909 beats, spacey arpeggios, and analogue synth percussions for a mental feeling.
'Gummy' starts with weird flanged noises, fed with distorted drums and drones that create an elastic feeling, hence the gummy name. Scientific techno.
'Amb' goes back to darkness, subtle ambiences and drones, fixed sequences and a clever arrangement.
'Vac 04' continues on the same mood: obscure synths, classic drum machines, sharp hats and white noise.
Closing the release, 'Islands' is a liquid track based on lush keyboards, and a dubby feeling with those endless delays. A classy number.
A nice mini-album which is diverse, complex, classic and futuristic at the same time.
The Berlin based Alexander Kowalski is responsible for projects like DisX 3 (Tresor, Konsequent), Mr. Discoteque (BCC), as Double X together with Stassy (Sender Berlin) and last but not least under his real name Alexander Kowalski exclusive for Kanzleramt. After his debut 12inch for Kanzleramt titled "Live" featured two unchanged live recordings, Alex released his second 12inch "Dark Soul" in 2000 which includes the first solo-studio-recordings for Kanzleramt. This 12" gives you a taste for Alexander Kowalski's follow up LP "Echoes". The acutely harmonic tracks on "Dark Soul" are a tribute to the dark side of Alexander Kowalski and may belong to one of the best productions without a doubt in 2000. Alexander released his really successful long-player "Response" in 2003 and his 12inch release "Alexander Kowalski With Funk D'Void And Joris Voorn" on Kanzleramt at last.
