quête:audio al

Tensor Norm is back. In this ocassion, we visit differents locations of the world geography to bring you an EP full of electro, breaks, acid and IDM.

Side A goes into the coordinates of dark electro in different ways. "Cell Reprogramming" by Clone Theory (one of its members is Heuristic Audio) is a spatial track with smooth percussion, a heavy, oscillating bassline and minimal melodic design. On "Automorphism", Sigma_ALgebra resorts to smooth percussion and a drone-like oscillating bassline to generate a floating feel, over which choppy, lightning-like melodic profiles occur. Finally, north american LectrO cOd-E, speeds up the tempo to expose the military round bass, synth twitches and vocoder transmissions of “Morphology”.

Side B is incided in borderline spaces with the incorporation of acid sounds as main elements. After an opening that programs the rhythmic structure and adds pad atmosphere, "Amenacid" by Liðvarð aka DJ VLR ratchets up the tension through a brief acid line modified steadily but subtly. The EP closes with "Phanaire Luses", a track with typical IDM resources with which, through the accumulation of bleep-like emissions, acid figures, sparks and amorphous sounds, Jaquarius builds a psychedelic track.

Berlin based sound artist Sa Pa delivers AI-33, titled ‘Atmospheric Fragments’. Originally intended as a soundtrack to accompany ten short experimental films as part of a physical exhibition in 2020 curated by Manon Bernard, Atmospheric Fragments was alternatively premiered online as a digital showroom - with its music performed and recorded both live and independently in 2021. 

Atmospheric Fragments was conceived as a collaborative audio-visual project, positing the viewer inside a sonic boom of introspective parenthesis and offering a place for internal dialogues under the circumstances of a largely unknown and rapidly changing modern world. 

Sa Pa’s work presents a fresh sonic reinterpretation of urban landscapes, skylines and modern environments, procuring from its source material a whole new kaleidoscopic world of its own. The record consists of two mixes - ‘Studio’ and ‘Live’ - which demonstrate a deep explorational study of our everyday surroundings, plunging the listener into a realm of heightened sense experience and microscopic detail. Where the ‘Studio’ mix embodies the precision and management of the studio workspace and is more ambient in nature, such intricacies are exchanged for a larger, livelier sound stage and alternative sonic material in the ‘Live’ mix. 

A nebulous ocean of shifting spaces and effervescent textures, Sa Pa augments and modulates field recordings into a fluid and ever-evolving narrative. Seen through a viewfinder of deep and immersive observation, new transients, momentary artefacts and poetry in motion begin to reveal itself. In a world caught in momentary stasis, Atmospheric Fragments is a forensic inquiry into our perceptive environment, with its augmented lens placing us on the cusp of the ungraspable.

Tutto Bene is the new imprint of the North German vinyl digger Hagel. The plan? Release infectious but versatile grooves reminiscent of the nineties with hefty doses of funk - rich in percussion, rolling sub basses, charismatic rhythms, and light-hearted yet odd synths. The first record, 'Too Easy EP', comes signed by AlleyOP, a collaboration project between Hagel and Berlin-based wonder producer Atree, and features two original tracks and two remixes by Lorenzo Chiabotti and Audio Werner.

A side's 'Die Another Day' opens the record with robotic rhythms under mildly paranoid tones proper for dancefloor hypnotization. Lorenzo Chiabotti brings an unexpected melodic touch to the original, completely re-shaping its groove and determinately swapping its freaky tonalities with hopeful scales. B side's 'Too Easy' follows the same path of minimal arrangements and straight-to-the-point drum programming and sampling but opts for warmer sonic tones - making it appropriate for dusk and dawn dancefloor moments. Audio Werner elevates the warmth in scale and ups the vibe by intensifying the breaks and synth atmosphere of the original and shooting it into a stratosphere where melody and detail are elementary.

A trio of Harvey Mason classics reissued on 12 inch - 'Groovin' You' and 'Till You Take My Love' capturing the heyday of the New York discotheque, alongside the emotive, blissed-out 'Modaji' which features Hubert Laws' flute melodies that power it's jazz dreaminess.

Remastered for 12" audio power.

Label says 45 RPM on A side, but it plays well on 33.

BEC returns to Second State with another earth-shattering release containing four raw & atmospheric cuts.

The Berlin by way of Brighton producer BEC has been a member of the Second State family since her first release with the label in 2016. Since then, BEC has dropped 4 EP’s with the Berlin imprint, and regularly appears at the likes of Awakenings, Amnesia, Warehouse Project, Fabrik, Watergate & Burning Man to name a few.

Title track ‘Solitude’ opens with a sharp, rounded kick and crafty drumwork. Metallic swipes and rave stabs are injected to build tension, along with a choppy vocal and bubbling element. Punchy arrangements and rave stabs bring this track to rave territory at moments, before hauling back into the deepness of the cut. Next up is ‘Process Don’t Resist’, easing us in with a crackling bass and a solitary hi-hat, soon joined by buoyant claps and a muffled kick that submerges listeners into a different dimension. Darker, swiping elements are introduced with metallic textures, with the claps becoming more erratic as the track unfolds. An indiscernible vocal gives way to a jarring breakdown halfway through, sending shockwaves through the listener before submerging back into the hysteria.

‘Coming’ follows and initially appears as a break from the heaviness of the previous productions, before transforming into a high-octane stomper. A booming kick, bleeps and spiking vocal build the intensity as the track drives forward and hoover noise wavers menacingly. The vocal and kick bounce in unison towards the close, with a final cry towards the end. The finale is dark, mysterious and entrancing with ‘Fear Parade’. An authoritative female voice utters ‘not afraid’ under a myriad of shakers, howls and vicious synth swipes. The sample gradually takes over with the track building to crescendo, allowing shakers to come to the forefront along with eerie howls and a new, more robotic vocal that utters the initial phrase repeatedly until close in an effort to encourage listeners.

The seventh and penultimate season of the HBO fantasy drama series Game Of Thrones premiered in 2017. The series received 22 nominations for the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards and won Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Peter Dinklage (who plays the role of Tyrion Lannister).

The music for this seventh season was composed by Ramin Djawadi, just like the previous six seasons. The albums opens with a new version of the well-known main title. Djawadi is best known for his scores for Iron Man, Pacific Rim, Prison Break and Westworld amongst many others. For his work for Game Of Thrones, he has won two consecutive Emmy Awards and a nomination for a Grammy Award.

Game Of Thrones Season 7 is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on smoke coloured vinyl, is housed in a gatefold sleeve and includes an insert.

• 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
• GATEFOLD SLEEVE
• INCLUDES INSERT
• PVC PROTECTIVE SLEEVE
• MUSIC BY RAMIN DJAWADI (WESTWORLD, PACIFIC RIM, IRONMAN)
• GOT SEASON 7 RECEIVED 22 NOMINATIONS FOR THE PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS AND WON 2 (OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES AND OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES FOR PETER DINKLAGE)
• GOT SEASON 7 RECEIVED A GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATION FOR BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
• LIMITED EDITION OF 1000 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON SMOKE COLOURED VINYL

Welcome to BM-18 the biokinetic realm created by Dana Kuehr, a lush audio environment where organic and synthesized matter coalesce. As we float disembodied above this verdant pixel plain, Dana offers us shifting repetitions and sequences in disguise, each track a landscape within a world created in the utmost detail, from the minute bleeps and chirps to the enveloping and bumping bouncy basslines. Flickering drums explode like dandelion seeds in a breeze, searching for a place to lay, grow, and flourish. Sounds are captured (fingers tapping, rain patter, Belgian parakeets released from a '70s zoo, vocal oohs and ahhs) and hybridized with patterns, samples, and musical manoeuvres (jungle breaks, west coast hip hop, layered drums, IDM crunch and twinkle, reverb, delay, '90s R&B, underwater video game soundscapes). As in any imaginary sphere, there are characters who exchange and converse: rivers, coasts, clouds, lakes, echoes of dolphins, and peaceful frogs. Amidst their complex chatter, the sounds of BM-18 extend an invitation to dance, to feel our bodies alive and present, to acknowledge the impulse of movement and the pulsing heartbeats of each track. An ode to the Taoist consideration that all creatures live together in mystic unity, co-evolving and feeding each other, Dana brings together cloud ethereal with earth pounding, and like an orca's tail upon a restless sea, it slaps!!! All tracks written and produced by Dana Kuehr between April 2020 and November 2021 in Brussels, and mixed by Dan Piu at Checkpoint Charly Studio in Zurich between November 2021 and March 2022. Mastered and cut by Stefan Betke at Scape in Berlin. Original artworks by Camiflage and text by Ailsa Cavers. A1 was first digitally released on Ojoo Music. Dana thanks Michiel, George, Jakob, Camiel, Ailsa, Tania, Victor, Jill, Karen, Daphne, Arne, Oscar, Joe, and Gwenan for the love and inspiration. True voyage is return!

• 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
• GRAMMY AWARD WINNING HIP HOP PRODUCER FOR THE FUGEES, CYPRESS HILL AND HOUSE OF PAIN A.O.
• FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE NY D.I.T.C. CREW
• INCLUDES THE SINGLES “THE HIATUS” AND “J.D.’S
REVENGE” AND FAN FAVOURITES “5 FINGAS OF DEATH” AND “THIS ONE”
• FEATURING GUEST PERFORMANCES BY FAT JOE, PETE ROCK, BUSTA RHYMES, PHIFE DAWG, BIG L, LORD
FINESSE, AG, SADAT X AND TERRORIBUL A.O.

Bronx-born hip hop artist and producer Diamond is known as one of the founding members of the New York collective Diggin’ in the Crates Crew. He produced for a number of artists, including Cypress Hill, House Of Pain, KRS-One, Xzibit and won a Grammy Award for his production of the title track from The Fugees’ iconic album The Score.

In 1997 he released his second studio album Hatred, Passions and Infidelity. Included are the tracks “MC Iz My Ambition” and “No Wondah”, which were built around the lyrics from De La Soul’s “Stakes Is High”, released one year earlier. The album features many guest performances, including Don Barron, John Dough, Gina Thompson, Phife Dawg (A Tribe Called Quest), Pete Rock, Big L, Lord Finesse, AG, Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes, K. Terroribul and Sadat X.

AVNU (UK) follows up his fantastic recent single on Ellum Audio with a long-awaited and hugely adventurous new album, ‘Tough To Love But Worth The Effort’.

AVNU (UK) is based on the East Coast of Scotland and has been deeply immersed in music for twenty plus years. He has a love of everything from rock, soul and blues to disco, electro, techno, trance and rave. All of that comes out in his innovative sounds, which range from sweat-inducing club tracks to hooky and feel-good grooves. This album finds him working his magic across 15 tracks that bring plenty of fresh perspective to house, electro, synth, techno and pop. They add up to a storytelling record filled with left turns and tracks that work in a range of different contexts.

'Surprise!' opens with a glossy electro beat and shimmering 80s synths that set the tone for the whole record. 'I Love You' brings a French touch influence with plenty of filtered synth loops and crisp drums under a soulful vocal, then 'Supaflake' cuts loose on an old-school funk vibe with nods to early Daft Punk. This most colourful of records plays out through the likes of sombre cosmic techno offering 'Bad Karma,' the longing chords and heavy-hearted electronica of 'Odyssey Jam' feat Mariel Ito and distorted bass of 'Phlegm In The Street' which comes with laser-like synths and menacing vocals.

The future styles continue on 'Yo E, Check This Out' which collides jungle breakbeats with brain-melting sine waves, while 'Wilkie' is a moment to catch your breath amongst bright and shiny synths and deeper drums that suspend you in a celestial sky. 'Proud You’re Mine' is a perfect electro-dance-pop gem that has potential to be a summer festival anthem and the title track closes down with six minutes of enchanting and mystical synth lines and hypnotic drums.

‘Tough To Love But Worth The Effort’ is a spectacularly broad and accomplished album that lives in a world of its own.

Sometimes it only takes a short getaway to the beach at the beginning of a new romance to open your heart to the wonders of the universe. On this record CV Vision taps into the ebb and flow of the sea, the cycle of coastal processes, and repositions the library sounds he’s mastered so well somewhere on the other side of the bay.

White noise washes like gentle waves up against analog synths and acoustic guitars, while the full spectrum of holiday possibilities are reflected: Surf’s Up (Let’s Trip) captures that roadtrip excitement, albeit with some psychedelic twist. But it’s not all sunshine - CV Vision makes sure to show the grey clouds too, with the sweet melancholy of Rainy Days.

Somewhere between dune rides and underwater dives, camp fires and sunsets, CV Vision captures a weekend at the beach in song. After a short moment of reflection (and some hallucinatory assistance), he wrote the lyrics and pieced the record together in the following weeks, to create what you see and hear now.

Instrumental interludes brush up against ballads and field recordings, to paint a wonderfully rich audio postcard from deep within CV Vision’s heart.

First striking us with his exhilarating ‘Yakka’ EP, Bambi OFS has continued to surprise us with his musical output ever since. (…) The Belgium-based producer is carving out an almost unique take on dance music with a heavy debt of gratitude to the endless rhythms and percussion-centric styles of Gamelan, and other styles of music native to Indonesia and further afield (…) the revised ‘Kwon-9’ EP goes for the jugular and ties together the percussion-heavy originals on vinyl alongside phenomenal remixes from Don’t DJ, Georgia, Icon Template and Broken English Club.” Inverted Audio Super excited to bring this killer release on vinyl with a brand new remaster and remixes by Broken English Club, Georgia, Don’t DJ and Icon Template! Meshing together industrial mirages and ethnofictional mindscapes, Bambi OFS provides Antibody with a new suite of polyrythmic spins. Extending on his first ep YAKKA, KWON-9 blurs the line between the synthetic and the organic while pushing the Brussels-based producer’s interest in uneven grooves and mixed meters into sharper detail. Mirrored by the puzzling archaic-futuristic alphabet featured on the cover, this new set of trax softly draws the listener in an elusive and multi-faceted experience. Bambi OFS is Cédric Dambrain, composer, electronic musician and virtual instruments designer based in Brussels, Belgium. Dambrain’s approach to music is motivated by an exploration of perception thresholds, psychoacoustics, and the physiological impact of sound. This diversity of themes is matched by a wide range of productions which include electroacoustic computer music, compositions for ensembles, noise, sound installations and, more recently, club- oriented polyrythmic explorations. Dambrain has also been composing extensively for performance artists and music theatre.

Clear Vinyl

Tacit Group is an audio-visual group founded in 2008 with a vision of creating new art for the 21st century. Based in Seoul but working globally, the group comprises composer Jaeho Chang and electronic musician Gazaebal(Lee Jinwon).

With audio-visual art as its core content, Tacit Group has expanded in a contemporary and experimental way in multimedia performances, interactive installations, and music installations. Representative works such as ‘Hun-Min-Jeong-Ak,’ ‘Game Over,’ ‘Morse ㅋung ㅋung,’ combine a systematic worldview weaved through intuitive materials and technology inspired by normal everyday activities such as games and text chatting. In particular, works that utilize the beauty and communica- tion power of characters are among their most striking.

“It’s like wind chimes,” says Tacit Group’s Jeaho Chang. “The creator makes the pipes, but the wind makes the music.” He’s talking about the algorithmic music that Tacit Group creates. Jaeho and Gazaebal create audio/visual systems using code that the pair work within to unleash their utterly compelling AV performances, each show, each track, as unique as a snowflake. The pair met at Korea National University of Arts in 2006. Jaeho Chang was a media installation artist and composer who’d studied classical composition in Korea and electronic music at Den Haag’s Conservatoire. Gazaebal, who’d moved to the US as a teen, had worked at the renowned Quad group studios as a sound engineer, recording acts including Rage Against The Machine, Wu Tang and Janet Jackson. Returning to Korea, he had found success as a K-Pop producer, (founding the act Banana Girl, and writing their No.1 Korean hit ‘Shake Your Ass’) and DJing under the moniker Gazaebal, before deciding to go ‘back to school’ to learn to create more challenging music.
The quiet and reserved Jae and the more outgoing Gazaebal bonded over a shared vision, forming Tacit Group in 2008. And until recently, everything they have done has been through the medium of their globally acclaimed live shows, playing all over the world from Lincoln Center in NY, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, MMCA (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art) and Nam June Paik Art Center in Korea, Aarhus Festival in Denmark, Stereolux in France and NYU Abu Dhabi.

Each show an utterly unique and compelling event, a synthesis of music and visual art that has echoes of the concept of synesthesia: “we love the idea that the audience can ‘see’ the music.” says Gazaebal, “the way that you can hear a painting like Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’.” The frameworks and systems are created in advance using code such as C++ and max/M- SP(sometimes combined with analog and modular synthesizers), often growing out a of a simple idea (one of their first composi- tions, ‘Game Over’ explored the idea of a Tetris gameplay as a musical score) while on stage the pair react to the audience, creating new inputs and variables that can lead the performance in ways that are unexpected and even self sustaining - some of their installations could in theory continue to evolve and run on into infinity.

For Tacit Group, the process is as important as the outcome, and every bit as fascinating for the audience, who’ve been known to react like the crowd at a rock band gig to tracks / installations like ‘Hun-Min-Jeong-Ak’ which sees abstract geometric shapes based on the Korean alphabet evolve (through the process of live text interchanges between the pair) to become almost an immersive call and response.With that in mind, the duo have long been reluctant to commit to the idea of releasing via a ‘fixed medium’ it was actually the release of an acclaimed (and beautifully designed) book Tacit.print0_Anthology that convinced them to share their work more widely through an album.

James Asher is known for his individual and and distinctive approach to creating tribal drum music. He has had multiple library album releases for Bruton Music, Dewolfe, Abaco, Southern, Girasound and this year KPM/EMI with the album Global Village Percussion. He combines a confident grasp of fusion and worldbeat with a crystal clear audio production style. For the first time since Asher`s best selling releases « Feet In the Soil » and « Shaman Drums », Sleepers Records are delighted to be the first purveyors of his work in vinyl form, with six dazzling tracks which are earthy, grounded and compelling.

Mastered by Gwyn Mathias @ GBdb

"We Are Power", Galaxian's first album in over a decade, cuts a new path. On this Foul-Up and Shipwrec joint release, Kastner presents a rumination on the confrontation and power clash between humankind, nature, the spiritual and mechanistic industrial growth societies. What is authentic power? What is granted power? What is innate natural power? How is power accessed, wielded, utilised, felt? On this album the blistering beats and razor-edged rhythms that characterise the Glaswegian's productions have been softened, the menace melted, the angst soothed (well almost.) Across eleven tracks, distinct audio vistas are surveyed. The human form takes centre stage from the opening monologue of "Out of Balance" with the entire record searching for balance between humankind, nature, orthodox culture & the machine. At times the machine wins. "We Are Power" is a corruption of voice, samples chopped, sliced and fed into controllers and sequencers to produce a dense decibel wall. That wall grows ever higher in the terrifying drone of "Anatomy of a Modern Lie." At other points, a perfect symmetry between artist and tool is found. The racing interchanges and pulses of "Universal Truths" give rise to dawning reprises and warmth. For those after an electro fix, Galaxian abides. The speed snares of "Messianic Delusions" or dripping drums of "Fields of Meaning" are soaked in the history of machine music, yet they are grander in their delivery and more nuanced in their composition. Fresh territories are explored, the playful solar dreams of "Without Form" or the cinematic grandeur of "In Reverse". This album is unmistakable Galaxian, it marks a high-point and brings with it a culmination of intense expression.

Meetsysteem's 2020 album Cr:GO remixed. Rotterdam techno veteran Speedy J transformed 'Noch de Sterren van de Hemel'; a masterclass of synth wizardry, noise and fluctuating patterns, creating a fictional universe on its own that could be both heaven and hell. Mary Lake is back on Nous'klaer with a powerful, driving four to floor remix of 'Fkg Hoofd'. Konduku takes a deep dive with 'Sidda' and turned it into a 90 BPM dub version. To finish it off, Speedy J and Meetsysteem made collaborative remix, perfect for after hour ambient floors

Son of Chi returns to Astral Industries, alongside Spanish artist Clara Brea, for the collaborative release of AI-29. A product of fate, chance experiments, but most of all, sensitive artistry - ’The Wetland Remixes’ exists as a confluence of two kindred musical spirits, a wayfaring epic that draws together a rich archive of ecological field recordings, live instrumentation and higher inspirations.

Ahead of Hanyo’s concert at Calma (Madrid) at the end of 2019, the curators organised a special dinner and arranged the meeting of Clara and Hanyo. As Hanyo recalls,“It was like stereochemistry. There was an instant match and understanding, and basically we decided in a split second to exchange recordings and to collaborate on future live and studio experiments.”

The auspicious meeting of the two ignited a remote exchange of materials and ideas, as the world descended into a series of pandemic-related lockdowns. The first of said recordings included the stems of Clara’s ‘Wetland Project’ - a site-specific audiovisual project originally produced for Eufonic Festival (Spain), using field recordings from the Ebro Delta nature reserve (one of the most threatened regions of climate change on the Iberian peninsula).

From this initial impetus, Hanyo began working on the first sketches of the album back in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Just like their meeting in Madrid, the project developed naturally and spontaneously with extraordinary ease. Later, Hanyo started adding field recordings from the Magic Cave and Wetlands of the ‘Kallikatsou’ (Patmos, Greece) as well as organic and acoustic overdubs, featuring bass, drums, percussion, guitars, oud, piano, hammond organ, wurlitzer, flutes, bells, and mouth harp.

In the distance, the sound of birds peak through the effervescent wash of the wetland soundscapes. The pass of running water flows deeper into a land full of secrets never told. On the strike of dusk, the silhouettes of shapely trunks and foliage melt slowly into the impenetrable darkness. As darkness passes, light emerges, with exquisite moments of tranquility that seemingly emerge from nothingness.

Beneath the shimmering veneer of textures, wildlife and melodies, one may hear the deeper references of ’The Wetland Remixes’. With credit to Clara’s input, for Hanyo the album process became a kind of refuge, and ultimately inspired the return to the core of Abstract Sound - what the Sufis call“Saut-i Sarmad.”Such references allude to the spiritual quality embedded in the music - the autonomous process of self-expression, the great mystery. Hanyo: “An ambience like this cannot be created by routine. There is no blueprint. The music has to find you. It’s like a blessing if it happens. You should not interfere, just observe and be impressed...”

Deep, luscious mind trips as per the classic Chi sound, ‘The Wetland Remixes’ beautifully correlates the interconnecting dots of geography, ecology, and mythology’s forgotten lore.

White Vinyl

Greyscale's most personal release and perhaps the most important for label owner grad_u aka Aleksandr Martinkevič. Earlier this year, Alex was diagnosed with cancer. Certainly a horrible thing to hear and there has definitely been some low moments in certain stages of the journey. At just 36 years old, many of us are shocked that such a young person can develop cancer. After some research he found out that younger and younger people are randomly getting cancer studies show. An alarming trend to learn about. However, there has also been a lot of other learning and different new levels of appreciation for the simple things in life as a new higher level of inspiration in making music has manifested. And this new release encapsulates that. Alex has also felt a duty to make things better for others. Focusing on what can be improved as he wants to highlight research, treatment and the overall communication of this disease to more people in the electronic music scene. Part of the proceeds from this new album will be donated to the National Cancer Institute in his homeland of Lithuania.
Alex wants everyone to know that catching these signs early and getting regular checkups are your best chance at beating cancer. Thankfully Alex did this also and his treatments have gone well. Alex plans still stay steadfast with his label and his life. Simplifying things with the love from his family and friends, focusing on his hobbies
along with making sure he makes his health his #1 personal priority.
The name for this full length release is titled 'T2NO'. grad_u's most introspective work yet features 8 emotional tracks overall. The honesty expressed in this album is blunt and to the point. These tracks take you on an audio journey thru grad_u as he expresses his feelings thru the entire process in each stage.
Beginning with two wonderful ambient tracks named 'Genetic Mutation' & 'Carcinogen'. In the opener, Chords rain over you as a beautiful ambient melody peeks out underneath it followed by a more stark and hazy field of interference. From the gentle opener to the more tension filled follower, the personal journey of grad_u is
developing before your ears. The b-side of 'Neoplasm' is a bit more somber but also has a ray of light in it.
Introspective as it can get, this is a true journey through an uncertain future. 'MRI scan' needs no explanation....
The second half of the album begins the understanding of what grad_u was going thru. 'Malignant Transformation' gives off that feeling of the human body working thru the science. Fight or flight becomes the theme for this track. 'Adenocarcinoma' almost gives off the sound of cells rebuilding themselves. Sci-fi meets real life in this epic battle. 'Resection' continues this scientific sounding reflection on the body healing with sounds of movement and time. As if the body is working itself out. Lastly and triumphantly comes the closing
track 'Waking up to a New Life'....
The emotional journey of this album isn't for the faint of heart. It leaves nothing to the imagination. It works thru all the emotions that can come with such and life changing event like having cancer. We want to thank grad_u for sharing his story with us. This story can happen to anyone...
"I would like to take this opportunity to express my great gratitude to doctors A. Dulskas, G. Jurevičienė, V. Sidorov and all staff in Abdominal Surgery and Oncology Department at NCI. Thank you for your expert care and for saving my life.
Also, big big thank you my family and closest friends for all their love and support during this difficult period of time and always being there for me."
Special thanks to Lithuanian Council for Culture, associations AGATA and LATGA for support of this special project.
Part of proceeds from the album will be donated to National Cancer Institute, Lithuania

Exploring hybrid music styles and outernational, borderless musical influences, DJ soFa’s Elsewhere compilation series continues with a sixth instalment, and the second to appear on Kalahari Oyster Cult.

Always ahead of the tide, the Kalahari Oyster is a fine specimen when it comes to the discipline of next-level sound-snooping. Meticulously curated by Belgian sonic globetrotter soFa, Elsewhere XX showcases a dozen outstanding tunes, each dwelling in their own personal space between the imaginary worlds of post-kraut, DIY synth-punk and odd-pop ballads.

Melting these genres with contemporary club music is the mission here. Doused in a thick fog of arcane machine talk, tribal rhythms and cosmic synths, Elsewhere XX is an invitation to escape the hall of LED-backlit mirrors that we’ve so mistakenly come to call our “reality”.

Gathering artists from all corners of the globe – including Radio Hito, Anatolian Weapons, Eylul Deniz, Dame Area and Electronic Body Girl – soFa’s curation lays the groundwork for a unique and thoroughly immersive listening and dancing experience. Through a carefully selected suite of like-minded, yet diverse joints, we run the gamut from distorted funk (“Anita”, “Confiture") and cross-pollinated electroid blueprints (“Walk Away”, “An Abhainn Mhor") to oddball synthpop (“Credo” & Twin Peaks cover "She Can't Die"), reverb-soaked audio safaris (“Fifty Fifty (Anatolian Weapons Dub)") and static-filled postpunk (“Umani”).

soFa's Elsewhere series started in 2017 and this is the sixth compilation to date. Shifting focus with every new instalment, the compilations have previously appeared on labels likes Music For Dreams, Emotional Response and Crevette Records.

Sisko Electrofanatik's Gain Records recently had a chart-topping hit with the label boss’ track “Only One”, and is back with a new collaborative EP by Roberto Pagliaccia and Dubskull.

Along with the three original tracks, the EP also features a remix from T78 who in addition to releasing on his own label Autektone Records has also featured on Filth on Acid, Intec, and Suara.

Roberto Pagliaccia and Dubskull are both Italian artists. Dubskull whose dark and atmospheric style has been a feature of labels like Reload and Riot, and this is their third time featuring on Gain. Roberto Pagliaccia is an exciting new talent, and this is only his 3rd release after a recent debut on Lapsus Music, Blackboard with AudioJack remix.

T78 has had a recent hit track made in collaboration with Space92, and in addition to his many hard-hitting solo releases, he has also worked with A*S*Y*S, Raito, and Maxie Devine.

With brooding tension and twisted euphoria, this release has a peak time energy with acid tones.

“Skil” opens the release with a slow-building tension before the uplifting energy of the lead synth, then T78 lifts the tempo of Skil with his explosive remix. “Loris” has a dystopian atmosphere filled with dark suspense, and “Acid Jungle“ closes out the release with its rubbery lead synth and modulating tones.

The heat is rising with our 5th instalment coming from the volt of Meister Bert Ashra veteran from Berlin's 90s underground scene and active still in the city with his Mastering & Sound Design Studio and experimental audio production and studies.

The solo project B. Ashra has existed since 1993. B. Ashra is a live act, DJ, composer, sound designer and mastering engineer. The style is pretty cross-genre and ranges from ambient, experimental, soundscapes and trance techno to deep house and electronic jazz.

For his pure techno and house productions he uses the pseudonym Robert Templa and for the extremely experimental music, trash and gabba he calls himself Hackbert.

Furthermore, B. Ashra is active in several music projects and bands, including: Psychotikum, Cosmic Octave Orchestra, 70db, Morphon and Brain Entertainment Laboratory.

The collection is a double LP With a variety of sounds spacing between Ambient and Minimal - Techno vibes with deep bass-lines and layered melodic progressions written with special care to the evolution of the harmonies such to maintain those hypnotic feeling until the structure comes back together and releases a powerful groove.

A rich Album and a landmark in the growing of the label.

Audionik hit back with their eagerly awaited return, Flantastic EP a solid collaboration from Yaya & Nacho Bolognani alongside heavy hitters in the remix bussines: Steve O’ Sullivan and Mahony,
Early Support: Priku, Andrey Pushkarev, Arapu, Franco Cinelli,
Do not miss this one!

We’re excited to be launching a new release series: “Melodies Record Club”, a string of DJ and artist curated mini compilations in loud 12” format.

The first instalment was put together by Four Tet, selecting two big peak-time Jazz tracks he used to spin regularly at Plastic People.

On one side, we’ve got all time jazz greats Jackie McLean and Michael Carvin’s De I Comahlee Ah, taken from their seminal album Antiquity recorded in Denmark back in 1975. A year and a half ago, we visited Steeplechase, the original label in the outskirts of Copenhagen. They informed us that at the time, the track was cut short as it didn’t fit on the full LP. They were kind enough to provide us with the tape of the full original recording, allowing us to release for the first time the full extended version capturing twelve and a half minutes of studio magic. Speaking with Michael back in November, he told us that every song on that album was recorded without any overdubs. They had taken their shoes off and organised the studio in such a way that they could move from instrument to instrument during the take (!!)

On the flip, we have Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath – MRA. Back in 70s London, the Brotherhood had brought together musicians who had sought refuge from South Africa’s apartheid regime and the best of a new generation of British jazz musicians. Music journalist Richard Williams, who had originally reviewed the band in the 1970s tell us: “They made music that appealed in equal measure to the head, the heart and the feet, taking the jazz legacy of Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus and adding to it the fantastic dance rhythms and gorgeous harmonies of the townships and untethered collective improvisations of the new free music”.

Four Tet’s instalment is out early May in 12” format and digitally (stream & download), first press comes with a folded A2 insert with words from and about the artists. Graphic design by Studio ChoqueLeGoff, illustration and animation by Nevil Bernard and for the audiophiles out there, remastered and cut at half speed by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios!

The second instalment curated by Ben UFO is scheduled shortly, which will be followed over time by a string of releases including selections from Hunee, Mafalda, Floating Points, Anya & Julia from Javybz, Daphni, Josey Rebelle, Charlie Bones, Gilles Peterson… and more, stay tuned!

French techno artist Cøncenträte returns for his second vinyl release of Gynoid with a very deep and haunting track Semantika, that also gets a slightly more industrial rework by Jonas Kopp . The second track Timewarp is much fatter with lots of dance-floor punch and a bonus Developer remix.

The EP has already gained support from Ben Klock, Dave Clarke, Deep Space Helsinki, Drumcomplex, Kwartz, SLAM, Philippe Petit, Robert S (PT), Arnaud Le Texier, Rraph, Takaaki Itoh, Amelie Lens, Noaria, Advanced Human, Tom Hades, T-Dok, Unbalanace, Marcel Fengler, Cari Lekebusch.

Rocko Garoni knows what a techno dance floor wants. He’s learned it through countless hours spent on the floor himself as a punter, and through DJing at some of the best clubs and festivals in his hometown Berlin and all over the world. He knows exactly the type of productions that thrill crowds, and he brings this wealth of knowledge and experience to his third EP for Second State, Ammoniak.

The title and first track ‘Ammoniak’ drags you straight into the zone; a pounding, take no prisoners cut laced with stormy synths creating a vague sense of paranoia. ‘Gece‘ cranks the energy up with trancey, bouncing synths and a cool, clipped female vocal. Instantly, you’re pulled into the very sort of club that Garoni knows so well. ‘No Border‘ is the kind of expansive track that seems destined for huge warehouses or vast festival dancefloors. There’s an insistent, brooding bassline, robotic repeated vocals and a mid-track shift in tone that will send the crowd to a heightened state of reverie. The blend of post-punk vocals and eerie beats on ‘It’s All Yours‘, a track featuring Cook Strummer on the vocals, is at once highly unusual and completely compelling. It’s the track to play when the crowd are losing themselves in the best possible way. Closing the EP is ‘Helio‘, another completely different track that showcases the extent of Garoni’s range. Faint, echoed chanting lends the track an almost holy atmosphere. Combined with tunnelling synths and spindly percussion FX, the effect is euphoric, acting as a delicious palate cleanser between heavier tracks.

Put simply, Ammoniak is another first-class EP from a dynamic act who’s fast becoming a Second State star.

RX-101 has quietly been making waves in the IDM/electronic music underground for the past few years, through a series of archival releases — material recorded in the late-90s, but previously unreleased until Suction Records began compiling and releasing these records in 2016. What’s truly mind-boggling about RX-101’s output is the sheer quantity of stunning, top-drawer material that Dutch producer Erik Jong recorded over the period of just 3 years, 1997-1999. Many have suggested that the whole thing is a publicity stunt — some insisting that this is all new material masquerading as vintage, while others have proposed that the material may in fact be a secret alias for Aphex Twin to release gems from his own legendary ’90s audio archive. RX-101 has absolutely nailed the sound, and quality, of early-90s AFX/Rephlex, that much is true. “Serenity,” this latest full-length RX-101 release, is no exception.

Just as RX-101’s last album, 2019’s Dopamine, concentrated on one hallmark of Aphex Twin’s sound — the smooth melodic techno of his Selected Ambient Works 1985-1992 LP — so too does Serenity reference another classic early-Aphex era, but this time it’s a completely different beast. Don't let the title fool you - Suction Records' latest dive into RX-101's 1997-1999 tape archives is not all lush, serene melodies. On Serenity, scorched, crunchy jackhammer beats combine with emotional, plaintive pads, delivering a classic set of vintage-Rephlex-style bliss, à la AFX, Caustic Window, and Cylob. It was Cylob who coined the term Industrial Folk Songs for his classic 1995 LP, and that release is clearly a blueprint for RX-101’s latest collection.

Standout cut Hearts Utd., featuring a stunning music video by Aidan Fantinatto and I Dream Of Wires’ director Robert Fantinatto, not only nails the magic of AFX’s trademark, irresistible jackhammer-beats-meets-plaintive-melody device, it arguably rivals the master at his own sound. As a whole, what could be a harsh and monotonous collection is lifted by RX-101’s subtle diversity and skill, particularly in his ability to create eerie, evocative moods, with gorgeous melodies that speak volumes of emotion.

TAU welcomes an enigmatic, esoteric entity to the fold with this stunning release from the one and only Rico Puestel. Rico’s artisan musings and wild outlook on life has resulted in the production of a stunning back catalogue, full of unique, emotionally-charged electronica. His music has found favour with industry heavyweight Sven Väth and his Cocoon imprint, so it’s a pleasure to have three new classy cuts from this in-demand producer.

The Chicanery EP begins with ‘Plentone’, a chugging atmospheric cut with a deep pulsating low end. Bright angelic twinkles impose a contrasting layer of emotion against the dour bassline. The mood is solemn, yet optimistic, punctuated by a scintillating breakdown. After the drop, ‘Plentone’ keeps pumping along as the expertly-crafted elements combine to create a mesmerising composition.

Next up is the title track, ‘Chicanery’. This one is a little more upbeat and strident, emitting a contagious charge of energy. A symphony of sparkling melodies dance above a groovy bassline. Rico demonstrates his virtuosity with this wonderfully whimsical cut. His playful use of layered melody gives the track depth, utilising his skills to really tantalise the listener.

Track three is ‘Whether’, a bluesy, eyes-down cut with a brooding exterior. A range of organic sounding instrumentation gives this track a very natural tone and appeal. Rico carefully increases the tension, teasing the energy levels up and up and up like a form of audio foreplay, leading us into an orgasmic breakdown. After that track continues its sultry jaunt, hypnotising you with its sensual allure.
Lastly, Theus Mago delivers a simmering remix of ‘Whether’. The Mexican maestro creates a whole new piece of music, with a driving rhythm, an urgent riff and a constant flow of new sounds. Theus’s reinterpretation is dramatic, compelling and deadly. Watch the dance floors explode to this one.

Unknown Pleasures, the debut studio album from Joy Division, was first released in 1979 on Factory Records. Within the first year, the album's atmospheric sound had won over fans and critics with tracks like "She's Lost Control" and "Day of the Lords" and in the thirty-five years since it has more than secured its classic album status. Instantly recognisable by Peter Saville's iconic design, this new heavyweight vinyl reissue replicates the artwork to painstaking detail and features audio from the 2007 remaster, available for the first time on vinyl.

'Bohemian Rhapsody' Original Film Soundtrack

featuring previously unavailable QUEEN performances at Live Aid
and new versions of band classics heads for October 19 release.

Available on Virgin EMI (Universal) /Hollywood Records (USA)
For the first time ever audio tracks from Queen's legendary performance at Live Aid are being released as part of the soundtrack album to "Bohemian Rhapsody", 20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises' forthcoming feature film celebrating the band, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury. Recorded at the historic Wembley concert in July 1985, these Live Aid songs are among the rare gems and unheard versions from the band's rich catalogue.

Alongside the show-stopping Live Aid performances of Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, Hammer To Fall and We Are The Champions, the album features other rare live tracks spanning Queen's entire career, new versions of old favourites, and a choice selection of the band's finest studio recordings. Among them are some of Queen's biggest hits, including eleven all-time anthems that reached Number One around the world. The track listing is being announced on 5 September 2018, which would have been Freddie's 72nd birthday.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" is scheduled to have its World Premiere in the UK on 23 October before opening across the world in early November. It stars Rami Malek as Freddie, Gwilym Lee as Brian May, Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor, Joe Mazzello as John Deacon, and Lucy Boynton as Freddie's lifelong companion Mary Austin. The soundtrack, featuring all-original Queen recordings and vocals, is released on CD and digital formats on 19 October.

Andrej Lasic (Laseech) is an artist, producer and audio engineer from Štinjan, Pula, Croatia. More intrigued with underground music he started producing music and in 2016 he released his first EP "Grotlo" on Hand Job Recordings and first single "Soulgroove" on famous King Street Sounds.

In 2018 he released his first vinyl single "Remember" on famous Australian deep house label Red Ember Records and singed his first remix for Jan Kincl & Regis Kattie's song 'Florette' on PDV records.
His work support and play world known artists such as Laurent Garnier, Kai Alce, Chez Damier, Scott Grooves, Gari Romalis, Dermarkus Lewis, Mike Huckaby and many more..
By now he had the chance to play on illectricity festival, Slurp! festival, Dimensions and Outlook festival and many other venues and clubs in the region, such as Klub K4 in Ljubljana, Hartera in Rijeka, Podmornica in Zagreb and many more..

From Jazzy, Funky and Soulful to Raw, Groovy, Deep and Acid, Andrej Laseech is considerate to be one of finest Croatian artists from the new generation. 'Can't Get This Feeling' EP represents a deep and meaningful connection between soul, jazz and that classic deep house sound, but also a connection between two artists and friends Andrej Laseech and Jasmina Makota. Syncopated groove, loving jazzy chords with Jasmina's beautiful voice and heart touching lyrics makes this EP a wonderful love story.

Austrian Ken Hayakawa keeps up Stripped Down Records' fine run of form with two new tracks that get remixed by John Tejada and Whitesquare.

Hayakawa's mother is Japanese but he hails from Salzburg. He is formally trained in piano and has performed Beethoven's music in a number of prestigious venues. That melodic, minimalist style still informs his own output and over the last decade has come on the likes of Audiomatique and Upon.You.

Superbly soothing opener 'Sonic Wave' is a brilliantly warm and spaced out deep house track that voyages into the cosmos. Dreamy pads drift by as muted acid lines flesh out the supple, subtle drums. It's a late-night groove to really get lost in.

American tech house titan and long-time Kompakt associate John Tejada steps up to remix and takes things even deeper, with pulsing, sonar-like acid blips and icy hi hats all working on melting your mind as warm, gurgling bass drives things forwards.

It is Italian producer and DFTD, 2020 Vision and Freerange house master Whitesquare who then remixes. He brings plenty of spine-tingling chords to his version, which is deep yet driven, with layer upon layer of rich sound all oozing real soul.
Hayakawa then finishes things off in style with 'Lost,' a brilliantly atmospheric track that is cavernous, dubbed out and finished with exquisite ambient details that cannot help but calm you.

This is a beautiful EP of deep, dynamic house music.

Clikno Is Proud To Present The Second Strike Of Dr.nojoke's Double Ep 'zero'.

'aplose' Is A Straight 10 Minute-stomper, Which Sounds Like A Wild Horde Of Percussionists Clanging And Banging Cans And Pots. The Truth Is The Doctor Just Threw Glass Marbles On A Wooden Floor. Fun-time! For The Hips He Adds A Low Rolling Bassline And For The Head Some Freaky, Randomly Pitching Chords And Off It Goes! Call It Afro-kraut-jazz-tech Or Just Clikno - Aplose Is A Counter-action To Electronic Music Production With Electronic Machines - Marbles Do It As Well!

'kumuestu' On The Flipside Is The Antagonal Piece On Zero.two - More Dark And Deep It Is Music For A Fictional Ritual. Carried By A Hypnotic Fluctuating Bass-figure And Drones The Tune Slowly Mutates Into A Shamanic Rhythm Monster Creating A Resonating Field For Transcendental Dancefloor Action - From Here To Eternity.

Zero.two Is Purely Audiophile Electricity To Twitch Your Body In All Directions. Do The Clikno!

Again Zero.two Is A Limited Vinyl-only Release Pressed On Transparent Vinyl Coming In A Transparent Sleeve - Transparent As Light, As Ideas, As Music And As The World Should Be - No Borders, But Freedom, Peace And Equality For Everyone!

collecting orders for repress...!

"Milan, Italy, 1983. In the midst of the 80s economic boom, which gave an injection of optimism after the heavily political 70s, a group of young local musicians meet every night in a basement to rehearse and record a peculiar breed of Italian disco music. Originated from the ashes of various other projects, and rooted in the broader jazz-funk tradition, the group creates music which is equally inspired by contemporary fusion as well as by the first wave of the italo-disco sound. Over approximately 3 years the band has recorded and played live, until the dismantling of the project towards the mid 80's.
Fast forward 35 years and the genuinely mediterranean flavor of Qvark's demo recordings are still enjoyable, both for the actual resurgence of the Italian disco tradition and for the groovy quirkiness of a project which has been too long forgotten. After an intense work of audio restoration of such tapes, heavily affected by time, Early Sounds is pleased to present a compilation which is an important find to define the sound of late 70's and early 80's Italian club sound."

Eight releases in, Leonidas & Hobbes have honed a mutual love of soundtracks, disco, jazz, house, techno, acid, psychedelic, African and dub sounds.
Web Of Intrigue is one part tribute to lost 70s soundtracks, when music was created on the finest analogue hardware, featuring full bands, session players and lush orchestrations, one part tribute to 70s disco gods Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards (Chic) and one part mid-tempo but nonetheless cosmic house. The three parts fuse to form an instrumental track sounding as fresh as a whole meadow of daisies in 2017 and one that's been going down extremely well with international DJs who have road-tested the material.
Heavy Weather flips the script for a deeper workout in a 3/4 time signature - more of a cosmic waltz. Taking its main cue from 70s jazz fusion heroes Weather Report and The Doors' Ray Manzarek, it incorporates rich African percussion, spaced-out flourishes exhibiting the duo's love for the dubs of Lee Perry, King Tubby et al, and a good old fashioned arpeggio of an acid line - definitely a more esoteric number, all told.
The 'Dawn' and 'Acid Rain' mixes push different buttons for the heads, as suits the mood. It all adds up to a very Balearic confection, fitting snugly in with the burgeoning revival for this somewhat ineffable sound - a trend that seems to be getting stronger/bigger every year, popping up every time the sun gets his hat on and we all remember how to party like the lucky residents of that infamous White Isle....
MORE INFO
London/Edinburgh analogue electronic duo Leonidas & Hobbes released debut EP "Machines, Tapes & Electronic Setups" via the Hobbes Music label back in May 2013, picking up plaudits and support from the likes of Resident Advisor, Mixmag, Erol Alkan, Ashley Beedle, Alan Braxe, Shadow Child, Jimpster, Nick Warren, M.A.N.D.Y., Leftside Wobble, Mr G, Auntie Flo, Sasha, John Digweed and many more... The duo were consequently commissioned to remix the Pet Shop Boys.
Second EP "Mo' Machines" came out on the label in April 2014 and received equally high praise, with i-D Magazine inviting the duo to record a DJ mix which has to date chalked up a whole lot of love on Soundcloud.
Leonidas has released two other collaborative EPs with London-based Japanese DJ/producer Kay Suzuki via his Round In Motion imprint, equally winning fans worldwide, with a track now forthcoming on new label YAM Records' You And Music Volume 1 EP plus much more in the pipeline for 2017. Leonidas also has his own lovetoparty label, releasing edits of much-loved disco tunes on limited edition 12" vinyl format and free download. Previously, Leonidas made a name for throwing word-of-mouth parties around east London on his audiophile 'lovetoparty' sound system (providing some of the inspiration for much-admired late-night watering hole Brilliant Corners).
Equally, Hobbes ran the widely acclaimed Trouble nights for ten years in Edinburgh/Scotland, working with the great and the good from across the soul/jazz/dance spectrum since '02, and championed up-and-coming live talent via his Limbo 'gig-in-a-club' nights at The Voodoo Rooms for nine years since '07. Hobbes has toured his DJing style to the various corners of the dancing planet, including gigs in the Far East, much of Europe and across the UK. The Hobbes Music label has otherwise featured artists as diverse as Auntie Flo, JD Twitch (Optimo), Neil Landstrumm, Craig Smith (6th Borough Project), Ali Renault, iO Sounds, Joe Howe, Debukas, Fudge Fingas, Marco Bernardi, Dimitri Veimar, Mick Wills and Nightwave, with further support from Ben UFO, Justin Robertson, Motor City Drum Ensemble, KiNK, The Revenge, T.E.E.D, Kiki, Groove Armada, Maceo Plex, OOFT!, Domenic Capello (Sub Club), XDB, Ben Mono, Masa Sutela, Bawrut/Scuola Furano, Numbers, John Heckle and many more...

repressed !

RFBCOLOURS 002 bring L'Atelier on board. This pair from Amsterdam bring you a 4 track EP with a digi only bonus. It starts off with Again, which hits that great sample hard and gets the party started on a disco vibe with a house twist. Then theres XTC which carries on where the A1 left off. On the flip we see a serious piano workout on top of a a grooving drum arragement. To finish off the vinyl package we see Times Are Ruff take the remix on a deeper tip with some seriously crunchy basslines and rolling groove. Then if that wasnt enough theres a digital bonus that will warm up any willing club room.

Feedback:

Telonius (Gomma)
'thanks nice one'

Laurin Fedora (Sleazy McQueen (Morris Audio / Paper Recordings))
'I'm looking forward to this vinyl. Nice return to late 90s filter disco!'

kostas tassopoulos (Ekkohaus (2020 vision, morris audio, cargo edition, liebe detail))
'Solid house record, loving it, thanks....'

Harri (Sub Club)
'liking afew of these'

Gameboyz (Clouded Vision / Relish)
'we dont usually play this kind of house music, but this is very nice! will try! thanks!'

Sebastian Wilck (Sebastian Wilck, Watergate)
'times are ruff remix is strong! support'

Jonny Cade (2020 Vision / Leftroom)
'great house ep'

Tensnake
'wow, that's quite a killer, downloading thanks!'

Lauhaus Lanting (Polder / Intacto)
'nice ep guys, also diging the times are ruff mix. thanx!'

Julien Barthe (Plaisir de France, Pro-Zak Trax)
'yeah remmeber 2000'years'

Julien Sandre (Morris Audio)
'nice music'

Doc Martin (none)
'XTC for Me!!!!'

Tom Findlay (Groove Armada)
'great EP, a little bit of everything and in all the right places....'

Andrew Claristidge (Acid Washed (Records makers))
'good stuff...'

Mihai Popoviciu (Highgrade, Fear Of Flying, Hudd Traxx)
'again is cool for me!'

Dorian Paic (Raum Musik)
'xtc times are ruff remix is the one for me ! cheers Dorian.'

Hector Couto (Tribal Sessions)
'full support for this release! good music!!!'

Gianluca Pandullo (I-Robots)
'LAtelier - XTC (Times Are Ruff Remix) ! I-Robots approved!'

repressed !

Having recently joined forces with Dubfire to bring us the third instalment of their successful Elements Series, Ideal Audio boss Oliver Huntemann flies solo again on his latest double-header, Licht & Schatten. Whilst we are all aware of the Oliver's arena conquering techno credentials, his latest work finds the German producer taking his foot off gas, just a touch, and allowing the groove to dominate these tracks. The driving, pulsing and cascading bassline of Licht provides the backdrop to crisply synced, stiffly arranged hi hats and kicks, before dropping into a minimal but funky melody. On the flip, Schatten treads a similar path. The track is anchored by an industrial, mechanised kick and flash-like synth touches before swollen, acidic stabs set the pace on the drop. Both show a different but equally welcome face to Oliver's sound.