Cerca:wacker

Berlin's own Marco Haas aka T.RAUMSCHMIERE made an irreparable impression globally in the 00's as a sawtoothed, ANTI-rave radical thanks to his immense stage antics and larger-than-life releases on Novamute. Since then, Haas has established himself as a contemporary with emotive, dark ambient tales on his own imprints Shitkatapult/Albumlabel.
KOMPAKT's love affair with Haas goes back to our earliest days. Some of his first tracks were released on KOMPAKT in the form of two raw EP's entitled "Bolzplatz" (KOM021 - 2000) and "Musick" (KOM037 2001). These two formative releases elevated the "Schaffel" sound to raw and shameless places we never could have imagined. The results set a tidal wave in motion that to this day remains one of KOMPAKT's most infamous legacies.
In an off-chance reunion with Haas in his studio, we learnt about what he'd been doing since the "Monstertruckdriver" days. It turned out he's been ever so busy outside of the mainstream working with the likes of Dieter Meier of Yello, Caspar Brötzmann, Andreas Dorau, Fraktus, Ofrin or Barbara Morgenstern and his recent work with Ulli Bomans aka Schieres under the SHRUBBN!! monicker.

On the way out, he passed over his 2015 self-titled album - which proceeded to blow our minds. It was mutually decided that it's time for him to return home.
May 19, 2017, will see KOMPAKT releasing T.RAUMSCHMIERE's new, epic solo full-length HEIMAT. It presents another side of his work which was always there, but never got that much airtime: the artist, the author, the composer with the crystal-clear sound. HEIMAT is a stunning techno album that neither excludes Ambient, nor gets reduced to constant ass kicking. It's perhaps the best recording so far from this man who asks so deeply, so extensively, so much. And at some point even answers.

Blue Transparent Vinyl Limited

Repress of a Deep House Classic. 12inch comes as blue transparent vinyl.

Andy Vaz has a giant passion for cycling, precisely for extensive trips from his Hometown Cologne to Düsseldorf and other destinations around the area on his old school flavoured VITUS 979 Duralinox racing bike. “Bicycle Love” is his personal homage to it.

Der Nachfolger von City of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold's viertes Studioalbum, das selbstbetitelte Album im schlichten Weiß mit Logo, debütierte auf Platz 4 der US Billboard 200 Chart und Platz 24 in UK. Mit dem Fan-Favoriten "Afterlife", "A Little Piece of Heaven" & "DearGod", wurde das Album mit dem Kerrang!-Awards als Album des Jahres ausgezeichnet. Das Album ist auch auf Kerrangs "666 Alben You Must Hear Before You Die" aufgenommen. Für Fans von Metallica, Slipknot & Bullet For My Valentine. Avenged Sevenfold (abgekürzt A7X) ist die amerikanische Heavy-Metalcore-Band aus Huntington Beach, Kalifornien, die 1999 gegründet wurde. Das aktuelle Lineup der Band besteht aus dem Sänger M. Shadows, dem Rhythmusgitarristen Zacky Vengeance, dem Leadgitarristen Synyster Gates, dem Bassisten Johnny Christ und dem Schlagzeuger Brooks Wackerman. Avenged Sevenfold sind bekannt für ihren abwechslungsreichen Rocksound und teilweise für ihre dramatischen Bilder auf Albumcovern und Merchandise-Artikeln. Die Band trat mit einem Metalcore-Sound auf ihrem Debütalbum Sounding the Seventh Trumpet in Erscheinung und setzte diesen Sound bis zu ihrem zweiten Album Waking the Fallen weitgehend fort. Der Stil der Band hatte sich bis zu ihrem dritten Album und ihrer ersten Veröffentlichung bei einem Major-Label, City of Evil, zu einem traditionelleren Heavy-Metal-Stil entwickelt. Mit dem selbstbetitelten vierten Album erkundete die Band neue Klänge und feierte einen anhaltenden Mainstream-Erfolg, bevor ihr Gründungsschlagzeuger Jimmy ,The Rev" Sullivan 2009 starb. Trotz seines Todes machten Avenged Sevenfold mit Hilfe des Dream Theater-Mitglieds Mike Portnoy weiter und veröffentlichten 2010 ihr fünftes Album Nightmare, das an der Spitze der Billboard 200 debütierte und ihr erstes #1-Album war. Doppel-LP, 2025er Pressung in rot-rotem Vinyl!

Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders' score to the zom-rom-com Warm Bodies faced a tall order: their music had to balance genuinely scary moments, romantic moments, bits of comic relief, and convey the quiet despair of a post-apocalyptic world. The duo delivers on all counts: highlights include the quirky, wittily named "Music for Airports," the strangely poignant "Zombie Bros," tense cues such as "Run for It," and hopeful tracks like "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." Elsewhere, "Admission to Dream" and "Looking for Julie/Balcony Serenade" add more depth and atmosphere to the proceedings . Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders have collaborated in creating numerous soundtracks, including that of The Hurt Locker, for which they received an Oscar nomination for the best soundtrack in 2010.

Kein Liedermacher des Landes war so zärtlich und zornig, so wacker und weitsichtig, so politisch agil und aktiv, so streng und zugleich sanft - wie Sigi Maron. Sagen wir, eine bunte Schar von Maron-Fans. Er war über Jahrzehnte der österreichische Protestsänger schlechthin. Im Mai 2024 wäre Maron, 2016 verstorben, achtzig Jahre alt geworden. Hier wird er wieder lebendig. Der Song "Red'n kaun ma boid" eröffnet diese Schallplatte, die - mit einer Auswahl der bekanntesten und beliebtesten Songs von Sigi Maron - ein Denkmal setzen will. Ein programmatischer Auftakt. "Red'n kaun ma boid" heißt auch ein Buch, das gemeinsam mit diesem Tonträger erscheint. Zusammen eröffnen die druck- und pressfrischen Memorabilia ein weites Feld von Erinnerungen, Ein- und Wertschätzungen, Schlaglichtern und Songbeispielen, die das Unterfangen, ein dauerhaftes Bild des Künstlers zu zeichnen, mit- und weitertragen. Denn eines ist klar: es braucht die Lieder, es braucht die Worte, es braucht die Stimme von Sigi Maron, um ihn noch einmal (und vielleicht auf Dauer) mitten in den Raum zu stellen. Und genau da gehört er hin, zumal in schwierigen Zeiten wie diesen. Nie waren Marons Songs brisanter als heute. Die Unbill diverser Lebens-Handicaps, Zeitgeisterstunden und Alltagswidrigkeiten wurde bei ihm Zeit seines Lebens mit dem Rock'n'Rollstuhl entsorgt. 1944 in Wien geboren, wuchs Sigi Maron mit sechs Geschwistern in Gneixendorf bei Krems auf. In den siebziger Jahren reifte er im Umfeld der "Arena"-Bewegung zum sozialkritischen Liedermacher heran. Sein erstes Album ("Schön is des Lebn", 1976) produzierte André Heller. In Zusammenarbeit mit den Schmetterlingen, später mit dem Kevin Coyne-Produzenten Bob Ward und mit Konstantin Wecker schuf er zeitlos gültige Meisterwerke wie "Laut & leise", "He Taxi", "5 vor 12" oder "Unterm Regenbogen". Die Single "Geh' no net fort" rangierte 1985 zehn Wochen lang in den Charts. Maron galt dabei immer als eine der schärfsten Speerspitzen der explizit politischen Kunst. 1998 und 2003 kandidierte er für die Kommunistische Partei für den niederösterreichischen Landtag. Vom beißenden Spott, der zärtlichen Zynik und volksverbundenen Derbheit seiner Formulierungswut blieben aber auch die eigenen Genossen meist nicht verschont. Manche erinnern sich: einst, Anfang der achtziger Jahre, protestierte Maron gegen den weitgehenden Ö3-Boykott der kritischen Liedermacher - die "Musicbox" war eine Ausnahme - vor dem Wiener Funkhaus. Und wurde dafür von der Polizei in die Psychiatrie eingeliefert. Dass er dereinst auch geliebt, gehört, geehrt würde, war damals nicht absehbar. Es ist eventuell eine späte Wiedergutmachung. Diese Schallplatte, die die die objektiv und subjektiv größten "Hits" einer langen Laufbahn versammelt (eine Handvoll Lieder, die drei bewegte Jahrzehnte umspannen), sollte jedenfalls einen Ehrenplatz finden im Pop-Archiv des Landes. Für viele wird die Revue der alten Songs ein Wiederhören bedeuten. Für andere ein lustvolles Neu-Entdecken. Dass es sich keineswegs um harmlosen, schunkelseligen "Austropop" handelt, auch wenn der Komponist und Texter nie dessen oberflächlichen Strickmustern entsagt hat, wird nach dem ersten Durchhören klar. Die Ehrenmitgliedschaft im Verein für deutliche Aussprache war und ist ihm sicher. Es gibt keinen zweiten wie Sigi, behalten wir ihn nachhaltig im Herzen.

“It was a rainy day at the recycling centre in Leitrim. There, amongst the tangle of discarded kettles and broken-down toasters, I first laid eyes on her…” A few years after her stand-out contribution to our ‘Wacker That’ compilation and following a bunch of purple patch releases for Nyahh Records, TakuRoko, Fort Evil Fruit and Eiderdown Records, Natalia Beylis graces Touch Sensitive with a true landmark album for the label – ‘Mermaids. Recorded both at home in Leitrim and at neighbour Mat Warren’s studio (Studio Moo Moo – a converted cow shed), ‘Mermaids’ was inspired by two salvaged items: a CRB Elettronica Ancona - Model: Diamond 708 E electric keyboard from the local tip and a photo taken by her father found in a pile of old family scraps. Smuggled home in the back of the van and ridded of the nine purple crayons lodged inside, the keyboard sounded perfect to Natalia; “The sounds that come from her when I play always move me like water; swimming in rivers and floating in the murk beneath the surface.” The striking image which would become the cover art features Natalia’s mother and two friends during a dip in the ocean. We see three women hanging out on a large rock – their bad-ass hairdos and poses perfectly framed and saturated in sepia. “There are complete siren vibes coming from the rock. Three women, three girls, three witches, three mermaids. I wish I was one of them. Or friends with them.’ After testing compositions and recordings for months on the rescued keys, the discovery of her father’s image formed the final work: “A confluence of the sounds and the image charged through me, and the album began to flicker into being.” Much like the push and pull of the River Shannon, Natalia’s own local swimming spot, ‘Mermaids’ flow is both organic but unstoppable. Anchored around the album’s hypnotic 17-minute title track, we are fully immersed within this subaquatic suite from the first splash. Alongside the keyboard’s glistening tone, field recordings from Natalia’s expansive archive bring us back up for air; taking stops to check in with the chittering chickens and ducks of Athlone. In keeping with her back catalogue and extensive body of work, ‘Mermaids’ exists within its own imagined universe. This is truly singular work that continues to underline Natalia as one of the finest underground artists of her time. We wholeheartedly encourage you to take a forty-minute sonic dip into a deep, murky, watery world of her own creation.

Verheyen reflects on how he "learned a valuable lesson, from all those years making records and touring with Supertramp. We always lamented that the record was a demo for the tour, because the songs developed so much more on the road. This time I was fortunate to play the music for a year and a half before committing it to CD and vinyl, so the songs feel much more fully realized. It was a luxury recording music we all knew so well."

This is reflected in the musicianship heard on the album, which includes a masterful duet between Carl and Sophia James – of American Idol fame – on Riverboat Sky’s title track. The supporting musicians consist of Verheyen’s regular touring band – Dave Marotta (bass), John Mader (drums) and Troy Dexter (keyboards); who are supplemented by Jim Cox, Alex Acuna and Chad Wackerman.

Dial 303! The new and hopefully also durable sampler series on Running Back is here.

Dedicated to the twang of Roland’s silver baseline box with a varied string of artists: DVS1, Marko East & Jordi Chu (whose collaboration sparked the idea of a whole series), Like A Tim via Prins Thomas, Katerina and I:Cube.

The Parisian put it in a nutshell, too: „Although rinsed to death to the point of becoming a parody of itself, acid will last forever.“ Therefore, his Folie Noire is combining the original recipes with hypnotic European influences, while Marko and Jordi present a rough and direct 303-909 live jam, Prins Thomas puts his wickedest smile on Like A Tim’s Wonderline from 2005 and Katerina sets a lucid dream to sanguine music.

Finally, there is a rare and much desired musical outing by the unique DVS1. A direct ode to Chicago’s acid and beatdown styles and its Midwest companions, it is a heads-down-lights-down late night track made for driving up and down Lower Wacker Drive. Trippy trip artwork by the inimitable Gasius.

Trivia: If the piano is the bread of house music, the acid line is its butter!

Blind, Chicago soul singer Willie Williams was first discovered performing in clubs in and around the Windy City. He was signed to ABC records by their A&R Director for the Midwest Johnny Pate a former Jazz bassist, independent producer, arranger and songwriter in his own right. Pate was a friend and colleague of fellow musician, songwriter and founding member of one of ABC’s prolific vocal groups The Trends, Tom Dorsey. Pate and Dorsey would contribute heavily as writers and producer throughout Willie’s recording career, beginning with his first ABC 45 release in 1966 “Have You Ever Been Played For A Fool/With All My Soul”. The release’s b-side became a popular radio play at the time with Willie becoming known as Willie “Soul” Williams for a while. Two further ABC releases were to follow “It Doesn’t Pay/Just Because” (1967) and “I’m Through With You/Strung Out” (1968).

Willie’s next 45 release although recorded in Chicago under Johnny Pate’s supervision found it’s way to another major label, RCA, although credited as a GWP Production (Gerrard W. Purcell). The 45 in question being the excellent Tom Dorsey penned songs “Just To Be Loved By You/Name It” released during 1969.

Two Willie Williams 45 releases did appear on the Gamma label but I’m unsure if one or both of these are by the same Willie Williams in question.

Throughout his recording career Willie continued to work the clubs with his own band which was led by his bass guitarist and confidant Bradley (Brad) Bobo a man who featured as a session musician on many recording sessions including the creation of The Notation’s album of the same name for Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom subsidiary label Gemigo.

On the 22nd of December 1970 a recording session was held in RCA’s Studio B, on North Wacker Drive, Chicago with sound engineer Russ Vestuto. The session was financed by Tom Dorsey who amongst other song writing gratuities had been paid handsomely for the 3 songs “Love Machine”, “My Baby’s Love” and “How Are You Fixed For Love” which he had wrote and contributed to the blue-eyed hit group, The O’Kaysion’s “Girl Watcher” ABC album. The result of this session yielded four Willie Williams tracks. Brad Bobo played bass guitar on the session, the composer of the four songs Tom Dorsey supplied the arrangements and Tom’s wife Carolyn (also a former group members of The Trends) joined both he and Brad on backing vocals.

The four songs were then offered to Eddie Thomas who chose two of them to release on a 45 single. The two songs being “Must Mean Love” which was later renamed “The Baa Baa Song “and “Psyched Out” which Eddie then released on his own Lakeside label, thus leaving the two other songs to remain unissued in the can.

Willie has now sadly passed away but in his later life once the opportunity’s for performing artists began to dwindle he chose a different path in his life, gaining a Doctors degree, he went on to become a College Lecturer. Tom Dorsey too turned his back on the music industry apart from his publishing company to concentrate on his family life as well as founding a very successful business involving one of his other great life passions, photography. Luckily for us he never lost the master tape of Willie’s sessions and after several years of tentative enquiries he graciously relented to my request to put them out. So now before you we have the two excellent previously unissued Willie Williams songs that Eddie Thomas passed on, the delightfully soulful “Give It All I Got” backed with the funky, social conscience themed “Do You Understand”, lost early 1970’s Chicago Soul at its finest.

Benjamin is a British pianist, keyboardist and composer who has recorded with Randy Brecker, Frank Gambale, Chad Wackerman, Allen Vizzutti, Barry Finnerty and Mike Miller. Known for his extensive knowledge and experience in a multitude of music genres, he is mostly associated with jazz. At the age of seven, Benjamin began piano and trumpet lessons, later going on to study at Leeds College of Music. After graduating, he completed several contracts on international cruise lines and moved to the US. During this period, Benjamin toured the world twice, and worked with artists as diverse as Belinda Carlisle, Leslie Garrett, The Temptations and The Platters. Benjamin relocated to London in 2012, where he became a regular performer at Ronnie Scott’s, the Jazz Café, Pizza Express Jazz Clubs, The Vortex and others, playing with the finest musicians on the scene. Benjamin also performed in the West End Show, Straight From the Heart, and worked on TV shows such as The Voice and Britain’s Got Talent. In 2018, he recorded for Beautiful South founder Dave Hemingway’s latest project, Sunbirds, and has been working as a session musician, composer and arranger on a number of projects over the years. His upcoming second album, Far and Distant Things, was recorded throughout 2020, an ambitious project featuring legendary musicians from the US.