Beats News

Beautiful advanced electronix tracks in the new Testtoon release! Oubys's SQM part II is 1 half of the SQM album release split into two parts. Part 1 saw the light in June 2014, and was equally stunning. Stylistically on the same plan, SQM Part II again delves into abstracted melodic and harmonic grandiosity, counterpointed with integrated blurbs of noise and static. Oubys has a fearless and often unattached approach to composition and sound. Although there's definite references to the claustrophobia of dark science fiction and his approach to melody hints at an inspiration beyond electronic music, his music stands firmly on its own and shuns every sense of political correctness. SQM Part II shares the same futuristic feeling as its first installment. A throbbing undercurrent defines its tracks and gives them structure, a structure that is just as easily abandoned in favor of of noise and harmonic exploration. Great listening trip! (comes in an small edition, so won't be in stock forever!)

Roll the Dice are back with a new full length album, 'Born to Ruin'. The Swedish duo, consists of Malcolm Pardon and Peder Mannerfelt, both established musicians in their own right.
Pardon's background producing scores for film and television is reflected in Roll The Dice's cinematic aesthetic., while Mannerfelt's acclaimed third solo album 'Controlling Body' landed in 2016 and follows on from his acclaimed work as producer for Fever Ray.
In 2013 the pair contributed to the Blanck Mass-curated score for the Belgian horror movie 'The Strange Colour ofYour Body's Tears', while last year they composed part of the score and end
credit theme for the drama series 'The Last Panthers'. The duo have performed live at Sonar,
Unsound, Primavera, ATP, Mutek, Norberg, Roskilde and Semibreve festivals as well as alongside an exclusive orchestral setting at Norrlands Opera.
Compared to the epic, sweeping compositions of the duo's earlier records, Born To Ruin is stripped to the bone - a collection of concise, sharply evocative, jazz-infused music that's more smoky
basement than orchestral hall.
Following the stately orchestral explorations of 2014's Until Silence, the music here is lithe, hollow and furious, evoking a fractured world of economic and political instability.

PPPanorama Bar resident Nick Ho¨ppner gets to Work on his second solo album on Ostgut Ton, connecting the territories of House music with the ease of Alt-Pop.
Work as in labor. An axiom that fuels the capitalist system just as the Techno/House scene economy says that one needs to keep oneself busy to make a living. As a musician, things are complicated of course. It's a long way from the romantic idea of creating music simply for the sake of art to becoming a full time musician. Those who have accomplished this feat often find themselves in a professional loop of writing the music, producing it, promoting it (with an info text like this), releasing it and then hopefully selling it. After leaving his full time job as Ostgut Ton's label manager in 2012, Nick Ho¨ppner went fully freelance, focusing on his musically diverse, deep and dynamic DJing in and outside Berghain's Panorama Bar, but more importantly spending more time in the studio. The result was his critically acclaimed debut album Folk (Ostgut Ton, 2015), various 12' releases and remixes, and now his sophomore LP, Work, which, more than ever, lays out his refined production skills and his talent to work the machines until they reveal their inner ghosts: nine new songs that now dodge the dance floor, then fully embrace it.
Work as in body of work. A record is more than the sum of clocked up hours at the studio, but the result of an artistic-creative process. On Work, Ho¨ppner shows his everlasting lust for musical detail, his increasing technical skills and compositional finesse. Work is a very personal, soulful and deep record that breaks through the usual club/dancefloor narrative by documenting Nick's interest for hybrid sounds and combining elements from varying musical genres. Work's lead single 'All By Themselves (My Belle)' is a very atmospheric, intimate and steadily unfurling IDM piece with ethereal synth and vocal pads; on the album it's contrasted by 'Clean Living' with Tram 78, a modern Ho¨ppner club classic: powerful, kick-heavy, muscular, cheerful and uplifting. It's a very personal track resulting from a recent reencounter with an old friend. Having spent countless hours together in Berlin's clubs in ever changing states of mind a decade ago or longer, things have since changed for both towards a more - clean living'. Connecting to this musical vibe 'In My Mind' follows with a slightly darker tone putting emphasis on bassline, percussion and squeaky sound detailing. 'Hole Head' pays tongue-in-cheek homage to Nick's love for UK club music, when a dashing melody of synths and vibraphone is matched with clattering breaks and syncopation. The dubby, mesmerizing 'The Dark Segment' not only impresses with its hypnotic synth figurines, but also by morphing to a shuffling Jazz rhythm towards it's middle part; 'Forced Resonance' uses Oberheim synth brass stabs to dramatic effect; the percussion- and clap-laden 'Fly Your Colours' comes with an irresistible piano melody atop an energetic kick; and finally the album-closing, shuffling but rhythmic, noisy yet bluesy 'Three Is A Charm' featuring the duo Randweg on clarinet, cajo´n and acoustic guitar is a coherent departure heading towards Indie Pop territory. It sees Nick collaborating with acoustic instrumentalists for the first time in his ten-year- spanning Ostgut Ton release catalogue.
Work as in artwork. Staying in line with the Folk album, the visual companion for this record comes from German collage artist Frank Bubenzer. As with the artwork at hand, Bankentsunami, and his other works, Bubenzer cuts up print magazine advertisements and recontextualizes them into new motifs, removing all human depiction from the source material, here as a commentary on the world of business, big money and the banking crisis.
Work as in work it. As a slogan 'work' has always been one of the genre's most utilized paroles, coined and put on wax by pioneers like LNR, Blake Baxter or Steve Poindexter, to name a few. Not only calling for the crowds to get moving on the floor but also to fully express themselves and their unique individuality inside an all embracing environment. A mindset rooted in House Music that has been an integral part of Nick Ho¨ppner's identity as a DJ and producer from the beginning and all through his decade-spanning residency at Panorama Bar. Work it!

We've had our eyes on Jaures since they formed in 2014. Jaures's drums are neither techno nor electro but something of their very own, making the duo one of the most interesting young production units in Germany right now.

For its ninth release, Italian label Spazio Disponible looks to countryman Marco Shuttle for a first full length. 'Systhema' comes three years after his last album on his own Eerie label and finds him again focussing on an absorbing ambient techno style across eight enthralling cuts. Shuttle layers sound in subtle ways and has a meticulous attention to detail that results in a cinematic techno style that is cavernous and hypnotizing. Always operating in a region where ambient, techno and heady soundtracks become one, with this album Marco Shuttle once again confirms he is one of the finest sonic sculptors out there.

Earthen Sea is San Francisco-based musician Jacob Long. SinceA 2006, Long has released music on a variety of formats on a number of labels including Lovers Rock, Imminent Frequencies, and Other People. The music has been noted for its swirling low end, pulsing melodies and propulsive barely-there rhythms and his work has also been described as having a knack for texture that creates a disorienting, lost-in-your head sensation that allows it to work as both trippy ambience or immersive dance music. - - - SSX represents the Silent Season 10 Year Anniversary Compilation, a series of 12"s celebrating a decade of deeper electronic music. The series features artists whose music continues to inspire the Silent Season journey.

After the Lost Tapes, the Found Tapes and the Hidden Tapes, Electronic Emergencies releases the Closet Tapes - a compilation of queer electronic music on pink vinyl. Spacemaker and Leather E have rounded up an unorthodox and fierce combination of queer legends, contemporary queer heroes and future queer stars. These include Andy Butler from Hercules & Love Affair, Eddy De Clercq, Bezier from the Honey Soundsystem and Hard Ton together with our own Popsimonova. We are proud to be queer and this is what we love.

"Alpha percussion", recorded in 1985, is a cult groovy ambient album of acoustic percussion, pleasant to listen to and full of samples and break known very well by Djs and artists likes Danny Brown (which uses a sample in "Really Doe", a song of his latest album on Warp Records).
Giovanni Cristiani is one of the most prepared and complete Italian percussionists. Born in Rome in 1952 he graduated in percussion in young age and began playing professionally in Italy and abroad. In 1979, after years of activity at the side of the most popular jazz musicians, constitutes the Music Workshop A.D.E.L., playing drums and percussion courses. Pentaflowers (BEAT Records sub-label and publisher) asked him to make a solo percussion library music album in full artistic freedom that was pressed in limited edition for insiders; so was born "Alpha Percussion", a gem now finally accessible to all thanks to Mondo Groove label.

Take a trawl through Mushroom Projects' ample back catalogue, and you'll immediately be struck by their constant artistic progression. Throughout their career, Giorgio Giri and
Marco Lentano have refused to stand still, with each successive release offering a subtle signs of musical evolution.
They're at it again on Rivea Corymbosa, a sophomore set that's markedly different - albeit similarly minded - to their 2013 debut album, Undergrass. That album bristled with psychedelic intent, offering fuzzy, thickset fusions of dub-disco grooves, gritty funk-rock guitar licks and acid-fried musical fourishes. It was in marked contrast to their early 12' singles, which offered a nu-disco-era take on the pioneering Cosmic Disco sound
developed in the late '70s and early '80s by fellow Italians Daniele Baldelli and Beppe Loda.
With Rivea Corymbosa, the Parma-based production duo has moved on once more. For starters, it's far breezier and more positive in feel than many of their previous releases.
The claustrophobic atmosphere and drowsy textures, so noticeable on Undergrass, have been replaced by the kind of lazy, sun-kissed vibe that evokes thoughts of Adriatic
sunsets and afternoons spent by the pool on the Italian Riviera.
Even more startling is the duo's expanded musical repertoire. The album features a much wider array of elements, from the title track's darting Rhodes keys, vintage synth solos and wah-wah guitar fashes, to the humid pedal steel lines of Baiano', and the
husky spoken vocals and spooky fute solos of the sparse, bongo-laden Pulsacao'. They're not afraid to utilize their own feld recordings, either, as the children's chatter underpinning recent single Dirty Bolas' perfectly proves.Throughout, the percussion feels loose and organic, the guitars casual but funky, the
keys sumptuous and sensual, and the bass lines warm, rich and intoxicating. It's the sound of two confdent musicians, comfortable in their art, making music to soothe minds and gently tease punters towards the dancefoor.

- Triple CD edition of 500 copies , housed in a custom printed tri-gatefold Stumptown Printing CD jacket. NON -RETURNABLE.
- Photography by Daniel Menche, with art and design by Faith Coloccia (SIGE Records, Mamiffer
, etc).
- Daniel Menche has a career spanning nearly 3 decades and has previously released albums with labels such as Touch, Editions Mego, RRR, Important Records, Sub Rosa , etc.
- The album was made using a variety of Menche's homemade stringed instruments, Farfisa organ, field recordings, electronics, etc.
- Aside from a lengthy career as a solo musician Menche has also collaborated with artists such as
Kevin Drumm, Aaron Dilloway, Mamiffer, Andrew Liles, Joe Preston, John Wiese, Mike Shiflet, KK Null
, etc

On Sleeper, Menche plunges into the harmonic dissonance and glassine minimalism found in the historical works of La Monte Young and Charlemagne Palestine. Never one to be static, Menche drapes his ephemerally half-melodic loops and unfurled sonic tapestries onto a distant, iron-clad thump as a rhythmic spine. The ghostly frequencies that flare out of from his drones almost always evolve into sharp and blinding coronas of sound, embruing the album with an unnerving tension.

'Daniel Menche does not create albums in as much as he creates atmospheres. Once you're in Menche's work tends to keep you there, waiting for the next subtle shifts within his generally overwhelming musical framework. Menche is a wizard of tone and a master of pacing, toggling expertly between tedium and restlessness, a linked pair that's something of a holy grail in such long-tone experimental fare' PITCHFORK

'Seriously, there aren't many artists still capable of scaring us witless, but Menche's self-styled "beastial soundworks" here really are the stuff of nightmares. His precise methodology is a mystery to us, which only makes his work more visceral.... For fans of adventurous, up-in-your-grill sound art, this is a must' - Boomkat

Deconstructed EBM from the Nous affiliate Spoiled Drama kicks off the new Science Fiction compilation - 10 tracks of crazed machine grooves further diversifying the Science Fiction's exploration into synthetics. The opener driven simply by an obnoxiously saturated digital drum machine and a mechanical body music bass loop simultaneously hints to late 80s darkside Chicago roots with hard flanged hi-hats and a detuned string machine.

Gigi Masin's second coming after the wondrous Music From Memory retrospective back in 2014 has been one of contemporary music's most heart-warming stories, with the ever-smiling Venetian embracing new musical endeavours and friends. Alongside the Gaussian Curve album recorded with 'Young' Marco Sterk and Jonny Nash, Masin brought a degree of considered pedigree to the Lifted project on PAN. Outside of all this however, Masin has cultivated a strong musical bond with compatriots and Hell Yeah founders Tempelhof, with this album Tsuki arriving two years on from the trio's first LP-length sojourn together. Some nine tracks long, Tsuki will entrance Masin fans as the three musicians lead you on a gentle, warm and enveloping saunter through kosmische, new age and sounds reminiscent of the Japanese minimalist electronics pioneers.

Following a strictly limited tape edition of American Zen, Lee Bannon aka Dedekind Cut links with Hospital Productions for an expanded new vinyl edition clasping a sublime bonus single collab with Alex Zhang Hungtai, who's better known for his maudlin pop bewts as Dirty Beaches. If you like your ambient music intangible and synaesthetically olfactory, huffable, you're encouraged to check this one without delay...

American Zen finds its centre in quivering, pensive drones and fractured small sounds, but is rent with an oceanic sense of scale, deploying splashes of distant percussion, extreme panned vocal snippets and slowly escalating harmonic space perfused by crackling radiowaves and that intangible timbre of an old TV turned on somewhere, but you can't quite pick out its location.

It unfolds at a glacial pace in five parts, crossing lines/waves comparable with Chino Amobi & Rabit's ultraviolent mixtape, the nostalgic Americana yearn of Torn Hawk, and even The Caretaker's hallowed aether zones, perpetually out of reach, submerged or hardly there, but feeling as though he's close, breathing quietly in the background and watching you listen.

In addition to the original 5 tracks, including the formerly tape-only Folsom Lake 04, you'll now also find a rare outing from Alex Zhang Hungtai infiltrating the finely graded and diaphanous silhouette of I'll Give You The World on the final side, serving to complement and temper Dedekind Cut's broader strokes with fluctuating microtonal infidelities and a gauzier, anaesthetising and almost pastoral atmosphere that's a real pleasure to drift off with.

* Subtext presents Clear Stones, the first meeting between two distinct voices from New Zealand. In a unique collaboration, Maori sound artist Rob Thorne (Ngati Tumutumu) and Berlin-based electronic composer Fis dismantle boundaries in space, time, and genre, juxtaposing Thorne's living, breathing practice with the weight of modern sound systems.

* Recording sessions at Berlin's Red Bull Studios were the starting point, committing Thorne's traditional Maori instrumentation to tape. Made of wood, stone, bone and shell, the instruments of taonga puoro (translating to 'singing treasures') include various oblique-style flutes, horns, percussion, and objects spun above the player's head during performance. Amongst the instrumentation deployed by Thorne on Clear Stones is the Putatara (conch horn), Purerehua (bullroarer), and Tumutumu Kohatu (stone percussion). However it's the Putorino that features most regularly throughout; an instrument that is both flute and horn, both voices captured in one single take by Thorne on mid-album epic 'Glurn Herrin'. Thorne has been performing in New Zealand for some 25 years, and the release of his debut solo album Whaia te Maramatanga on Rattle Records in 2014 garnered wide critical acclaim, including a nomination for 'Best Maori Traditional Album' at the 2014 Waiata Maori Music Awards.

* Since his debut on Tri Angle Records in 2013, Fis has released a string of acclaimed albums, including his Subtext debut From Patterns to Details in 2016, ending up in end-of-year lists at both FACT magazine and The Quietus. Starting with Thorne's taonga puoro recordings, Fis sculpts bold new settings for the music, mired in deep bass and vast synthetic tones, at times pushing Thorne's wood, stone, and bone into total transformative saturation. The conversation that emerges between these two artists encompasses technology and nature, computers and physical instruments, historical narrative and the present, perceived secularity and sacredness, framing them all as aspects of one single, conscious whole.

ISLAND OF THE GODS is back, with the first in the series of the 'Island Explorer' Lps. London based artist Black Merlin delivers with the atmospheric HIPNOTIK TRADISI LP - 300 copies.
Black Merlin ventured to the wild lands of Indonesia. Exploring Bali and the neighboring islands. Working closely with the old world musicians and sounds of the magical Bali. Recording Gamelan, Gong, Bamboo and a number of field recordings from around the island. Jungles, sea, island wildlife and everything in between were recorded, capturing the atmosphere of the Islands.
The raw recordings were then taken back to his studio in London, where he crafted the recordings; re interpreting them into a full Lp. Taking on a soundscape and hypnotic sound, which embodies the spirit of Indonesia through his own vision. A tropical Voyage captured on the beautiful LP.

What is Amateur Space Jazz One could call it a Lo-Fi Minimal Wavish version of Cosmic Space Jazz and anything closely related to it...from spiritual soul, G-FUNK, ethiopian jazz to ambient and everything in between...no knowledge of musical theory is required...Played with a D.I.Y punk approach on crappy digital synthesizers - preferably with dubious renditions of real instruments. Warmed up to the right temperature with some offbeat effectsbox. Multitracking is a technique widely used...to Create a "one person band with all its members oneself's multidimensional copies in time.".......Comes with a 24 page graphic novel written and drawn by Danny Wolfers himself and a Nightwind Amateur Space Jazz gummy domed sticker.......Let's enter world of Amateur Space Jazz!!!

Preeminent avant-garde composer Felicia Atkinson weaves myriad, filigree electro-acoustic and non-musical metanarratives in her totally absorbing follow-up to A Readymade Ceremony (2015)
- a remarkable album which attracted much acclaim worldwide and pushed her to the core of the modern experimental sphere.
Hand In Hand is a very worthy successor to that record; one consolidating her consistently refined palette of modular and MIDI electronics with ASMR voices, field recordings and instrumental
improvisation to subliminally affective degrees, whilst conveying the ambitious complexities of her sound art with a harmoniously organic, spaciously poised appeal.
Where A Readymade Ceremony emerged fully formed from a protracted period of experimentation and research whilst based in The Alps c. 2013-2015, Hand In Hand finds Félicia building a
metaphysical playground on its foundations, meshing recordings and lyrics - found and composed between her home in Brittany and Stockholm's EMS facilities - into a finely sculpted and dreamlike web of subtle sensations and hyperstisised fiction.
In the process she brings closer together a wide-range of her artistic practices, incorporating elements of sculpture and painting along with sound installation, multichannel diffusion and live
performance into her ever-expanding sonic vocabulary and grammar. Whether consumed on headphones or loudspeakers, it's clear to hear this sharply honed sound sensitivity come into play as her carefully hushed vocals are bathed in placid yet suspenseful tones and almost imperceptibly underlined by an attention to timbral detail and those infrasonic frequencies normally ignored or blithely unattended by other composers within the ambient field.
In the best way this is a record that is immediate and enduring; transparent yet oblique, riddled with nuance and underlying layers that keener listeners will discover in their own time.

* Subtext presents Clear Stones, the first meeting between two distinct voices from New Zealand. In a unique collaboration, Maori sound artist Rob Thorne (Ngati Tumutumu) and Berlin-based electronic composer Fis dismantle boundaries in space, time, and genre, juxtaposing Thorne's living, breathing practice with the weight of modern sound systems.

* Recording sessions at Berlin's Red Bull Studios were the starting point, committing Thorne's traditional Maori instrumentation to tape. Made of wood, stone, bone and shell, the instruments of taonga puoro (translating to 'singing treasures') include various oblique-style flutes, horns, percussion, and objects spun above the player's head during performance. Amongst the instrumentation deployed by Thorne on Clear Stones is the Putatara (conch horn), Purerehua (bullroarer), and Tumutumu Kohatu (stone percussion). However it's the Putorino that features most regularly throughout; an instrument that is both flute and horn, both voices captured in one single take by Thorne on mid-album epic 'Glurn Herrin'. Thorne has been performing in New Zealand for some 25 years, and the release of his debut solo album Whaia te Maramatanga on Rattle Records in 2014 garnered wide critical acclaim, including a nomination for 'Best Maori Traditional Album' at the 2014 Waiata Maori Music Awards.

* Since his debut on Tri Angle Records in 2013, Fis has released a string of acclaimed albums, including his Subtext debut From Patterns to Details in 2016, ending up in end-of-year lists at both FACT magazine and The Quietus. Starting with Thorne's taonga puoro recordings, Fis sculpts bold new settings for the music, mired in deep bass and vast synthetic tones, at times pushing Thorne's wood, stone, and bone into total transformative saturation. The conversation that emerges between these two artists encompasses technology and nature, computers and physical instruments, historical narrative and the present, perceived secularity and sacredness, framing them all as aspects of one single, conscious whole.

'Kunst' marks the first collaboration between these two heroes. John Cunnane, p.k.a. dgoHn & Jodey Kendrick, a.k.a J.K., Black Narcissus, Lord Of The D. Both gentlemen have appeared on Rephlex and Weme Records. It's strikingly original, great listening but hard to describe accurately with attention-grabbing pidgeonholes: ''From ambient, moody soundscapes to rinsing, hi-tech workouts.. and beyond.''

The danish label Echocord Records was formed 15 years ago this year by Kenneth Christiansen. It will now be celebrated with a compilation plus a big tour around it. We are super happy and proud that we can still continue releasing quality electronic music.
The compilation contains 10 tracks from 10 artists that all have been releasing on Echocord and Echocord Colour before from veterans Mikkel Metal, Deadbeat, Fluxion to newer signed artist Arovane.
All tracks are new and unreleased.
"15 Years With Echocord" covers the typical Echocord sound. From ambinet/chillout by STL, stoned dub by Beat Pharmacy, to typical Dub-Techno and House from Fluxion, Resoe and XDB, to the more dancefloor peak tracks by Mike Dehnert and Deadbeat.
Lets do another 15 years .

This EP is the result of troubled times. Because the music can speak by itself, we will just attached it to the ending part of « Howl » poem by Allen Ginsberg.

* « Visions! omens! hallucinations! miracles! ecstasies! gone down the American river! Dreams! adorations! illuminations! religions! the whole boatload of sensitive bullshit!

* Breakthroughs! over the river! flips and crucifixions! gone down the flood! Highs! Epiphanies! Despairs! Ten years' animal screams and suicides! Minds! New loves! Mad generation! down on the rocks of Time!

* Real holy laughter in the river! They saw it all! the wild eyes! the holy yells!

* They bade farewell! They jumped off the roof to solitude! waving! carrying flowers! Down to the river! into the street! »
From Collected Poems 1947-1980.

Leben, Lieben, Lachen. Schmerz, Schamgefu¨hl, Schuld. Trauer, Trost, Tatendrang. Hoffnung, Heilung, Hilflosigkeit. Einsamkeit, Egoismus, Entta¨uschung. U¨bergangslos erleben wir eine harmonische Verbindung all dieser und vieler mehr Emotionen, die uns hypnotisch in den Bann ziehen. Hier wird man mit der Wahrheit konfrontiert. Einzigartig clever verpackt mu¨ssen wir uns am Ende vielleicht eingestehen, dass das, was wir von der einen auf die andere Minute fu¨hlen ko¨nnen, zwar aufbrausend und einnehmend ist, dass uns aber genau diese Eigenschaft menschlich macht. Die zehn sehr unterschiedlichen Titel, die differenten Sprachen und Sprichwo¨rtern gewidmet sind, nehmen uns mit auf eine Reise durch die Gefu¨hlswelten des menschlichen Daseins. Oder darf der Interpret an dieser Stelle psyochologisiert werden und stattdessen sprechen wir wohl eher von der Reise durch sein Gefu¨hlschaos
Denn durchaus verarbeitet Mario Hammer in seiner Musik eine Zeit des Nachdenkens und Gru¨belns. Er selbst nennt das Lebenserfahrung. Wir du¨rfen Teil dieser Erkenntnis werden und vielleicht wird uns
bewusst, wie oft wir uns doch selbst beim Ho¨ren der Musik wiederfinden ko¨nnen.
Es ist sowohl die Kreativita¨t, als auch das enorme Feingefu¨hl fu¨r To¨ne und Klangfarben, die dieses
Album ausmachen. Vierzehn Monate hat Mario Hammer in Zusammenarbeit mit Josef Steinbu¨chel ein Emotionen- und Klangkarussell entwickelt, dass nicht nur unsere Sinne beru¨hrt, sondern ebenso Gedanken anregt.
Bereits das Debu¨talbum L'esprit De L'escalier war ein voller Erfolg und bescherte den Ho¨rern eine
wunderbare Andersartigkeit. Am 02.06.2017 erscheint nun das neue Album Je L'ai Ca^lisse´e La` von Mario Hammer And The Lonely Robot bei BineMusic.

Roman Flügel "I think the first 5 tracks of the album are simply fantastic"

Extraterrestrial Research is the first vinyl release of Canadian label, Deep Sea Mining Syndicate. A multinational effort that brings the Greek artist Cirkle to the spotlight with 5 narrative sci-fi techno tracks. "Kachira's Cave" and "Underwater research" stand out as a classy peak time driving techno, while track "Landing" shows Cirkle s soundscaping abilities in an otherworldly dirge into the abyss. This is a limited 200 run with the finest mastering from Matt Colton at Alchemy. Supported by Sigha and Exium

What is Amateur Space Jazz One could call it a Lo-Fi Minimal Wavish version of Cosmic Space Jazz and anything closely related to it...from spiritual soul, G-FUNK, ethiopian jazz to ambient and everything in between...no knowledge of musical theory is required...Played with a D.I.Y punk approach on crappy digital synthesizers - preferably with dubious renditions of real instruments. Warmed up to the right temperature with some offbeat effectsbox. Multitracking is a technique widely used...to Create a "one person band with all its members oneself's multidimensional copies in time.".......Comes with a 24 page graphic novel written and drawn by Danny Wolfers himself and a Nightwind Amateur Space Jazz gummy domed sticker.......Let's enter world of Amateur Space Jazz!!!

Vinyl only remix from Kenton Slash Demon - Hot hot stuff from Copenhagen

(en) - Nearly two decades after the last official GAS album release, Wolfgang Voigt returns to his iconic Ambient project with a brandnew full-length.
- NARKOPOP continues the classic GAS aesthetic of symphonic scope and subtle variation, taking the listener on an otherworldly journey to the depths of rapture and reverie.
- Available as luxurious hardcover CD incl. 24 pages booklet.

In the body of work of Cologne artist Wolfgang Voigt - who, like few others, has informed, shaped and influenced the world of electronic music with countless different projects since the early 1990s -, GAS stands out in particular as a saturnine sound cosmos based on heavily condensed classic sequences. Even after nearly 20 years, the sound of GAS doesn't seem to have lost any of its luster, as shown by the commanding success of Kompakt's fall 2016 re-release of the essential back catalogue as a 10xLP/4xCD box set.

The overwhelming feedback from a loyal international fan community and worldwide media outlets attests once again to the sheer timelessness of GAS. Which is why it will feel like hardly a day has passed since the release of the last official album 'Pop' nearly two decades ago, when Wolfgang Voigt resumes this specific creative path with the upcoming new full-length NARKOPOP.

Even in the here and now, the unmistakable vibe of GAS immediately hits home, taking the listener on an otherworldly journey with the very first sounds, drawing him or her into an impervious sonic thicket, down to the depths of rapture and reverie. From wafts of dense symphonic mist emerges a floating and whirling feeling of weightlessness, before the listener steps into an eerily beautiful forest of fantasy, pulled in by the allure of a narcotic bass drum.

While earlier GAS tracks were often based on the hypnotic effects of looping techniques, the 10 new pieces on NARKOPOP unfold their magic in a more entwined manner, sometimes with the sonic might of an entire philharmonic orchestra, sometimes as subtle and fragile as the most delicate branch of a tree with many. A main characteristic of Voigt's oeuvre, the coalescence of seemingly contradictory stylistic aspects such as harmonious and atonal, concrete and abstract, light and heavy, near and far is also a decisive feature of NARKOPOP.

In accordance with the transgressive spirit of his collective work, Voigt carries the aesthetic conceptions of his music over to the realm of the visual. Based on his abstract forest pictures, the GAS artwork addresses Voigt's artistic affinity to romanticism and the forest as a place of yearning. For the first time, a closer look at the cover of NARKOPOP reveals signs of architectural fragments which hint at another, maybe parallel world behind Voigt's forest. Truth is the prettiest illusion.
(de) - Fast zwei Jahrzehnte nach dem letzten offiziellen GAS-Albumrelease kehrt Wolfgang Voigt mit einem brandneuen Langspieler zu seinem legendären Ambientprojekt zurück.
- NARKOPOP setzt die klassische GAS-Ästhetik zwischen symphonischer Grösse und subtiler Variation fort, eine Reise zu den Untiefen von Rausch und Entrücktheit.
- Erhältlich als luxuriöse Hardcover CD- Erhältlich als luxuriöse Hardcover CD inkl. 24-seitigem Booklet.


Aus dem Gesamtwerk des Kölner Künstlers Wolfgang Voigt, der mit seinen unzähligen unterschiedlichen musikalischen Projekten seit den frühen 1990er Jahren wie kaum ein Zweiter die elektronische Musikwelt geprägt, gestaltet und beinflusst hat, ragt sein Projekt GAS, ein auf stark verdichteten Klassiksequenzen basierendes, düsteres Klangkunstwerk, in ganz besonderem Maße heraus. Dass der Sound von GAS auch nach fast 20 Jahren scheinbar nichts von seinem Zauber und seiner Kraft verloren hat, zeigte eindrucksvoll der große Erfolg des im Herbst 2016 als 10xVinyl/4xCD Box auf Kompakt wieder veröffentlichten Backkatalogs.
Die überwältigende Resonanz, sowohl seitens der treuen internationalen Fangemeinde als auch der weltweiten Presse, bezeugte einmal mehr die schiere Zeitlosigkeit von GAS. Daher fühlt es sich auch an, als sei kaum ein Tag vergangen, wenn Wolfgang Voigt nun mit NARKOPOP genau da den künstlerischen Faden wieder aufnimmt, wo das letzte offizielle Album »Pop« ihn vor fast zwei Jahrzehnten hat fallen lassen.


Auch hier und heute verfängt der unverwechselbare Geist von GAS unmittelbar und nimmt den Hörer bereits mit den ersten Tönen mit in eine andere Welt, zieht ihn hinein in ein undurchdringliches Dickicht aus Klang, hinunter in die Untiefen von Rausch und Entrücktheit.
Aus dichten sinfonischen Nebelschwaden entsteht ein Schweben und Taumeln, ein Gefühl der Schwerelosigkeit, bevor der Zuhörer von der Anziehungskraft einer narkotischen Bassdrum wieder hinunter in den schaurig-schönen Fantasie-Wald gelockt wird.

Während frühere GAS Tracks oft auf der hypnotischen Wirkung des Loops basierten, entfalten die 10 neuen Stücke auf NARKOPOP ihre Magie auf verschlungeneren Pfaden, mal mit der klanglichen Wucht eines ganzen Philharmonieorchesters, dann wieder so zart und zerbrechlich wie der feinste Ast eines weit verzweigten Baumes. Das für Voigts Arbeiten so typische Ineinanderfließen scheinbar widersprüchlicher stilistischer Aspekte wie harmonisch und atonal, konkret und abstrakt, leicht und schwer, nah und fern ist auch auf NARKOPOP essenziell.

Im Sinne seines grenzüberschreitenden Schaffens, überträgt Voigt die ästhetischen Konzeptionen seiner Musik auch auf die Ebene des Visuellen. Das auf seinen abstrakten Waldbildern basierende GAS Artwork thematisiert Voigts künstlerischen Nähe zur Romantik und dem Wald als Sehnsuchtsort. Wer einen genaueren Blick auf das Cover von NARKOPOP wirft, der wird erstmalig Andeutungen architektonischer Fragmente entdecken, die eine andere, vielleicht parallele Welt hinter dem voigt'schen Wald erahnen lassen. Wahrheit ist der schönste Schein.

Maiden union between two of Hospital Production's longest
standing collaborators
Full textural spectrum of oiled subbass, abrasive noise and
charged electronics
Edition of 500 copies
RIYL Prurient, Rainfoest Spiritual Enslavement, Kevin Drumm

Following on from that hugely sought-after Green Graves issue by Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement, Hospital Productions re-examine a longstanding tradition of industrial ambient music on this exceptional collaboration between two of the label's most consistently innovative, highly absorbing producers.
Originally released in a private press run of handmade tapes, the collaboration was made in person with both Alberich and Lussuria making use of Digital synths in homage to that distinctly
European scene of the mid 90's that combined hardcore Industrial textures with Ambient pulses.
It's a sound you'll be familiar with if you've immersed yourself in the most unnervingly quiet sections of the last few Prurient albums, building a kind of futuristic soundscape situated
somewhere between David Lynch, Kevin Drumm and a more dystopian variant of Brad Fiedel's distinctive soundtrack to The Terminator.
Alberich's instinct for harsh propulsive rhythms is here tempered by Lussuria's weird topography, the digital rendering adding a kind of artificial foundation quite removed from the throbbing
earthiness you'd find on a hardware session. Instead, the more linear trajectory of so many dark
Ambient excursions is replaced with a constantly shifting landscape, veering from an oddly displaced vocal narrative into pounded, crumbling rhythms at some points, while those sinking
subbass sands keep things resolutely atmospheric for the duration.
There are no concessions to that blackened aesthetic here, if you were into Green Graves or want to immerse yourself in one of the most brutally atmospheric albums you'll hear this year, we urge
you to check it out.

Pocosin is the first full-length album from Loess in over 10 years.

During the last ice age glaciers slowly carved away the landscape creating mineral rich sediment. For hundreds of thousands of years melt water carried this fine-grained sediment downstream to parts of North America. In some areas strong winds carried this sediment and deposited it forming a network of ridges and dunes. These deposits of loose
silty wind-blown, or aeolian, sediment are called Loess.

Flash forward to the present, and the duo of Clay Emerson and Ian Pullman may seem to have gone the way of the glaciers and all but disappeared. Instead, their signature loose aural silt has been slowly and methodically accumulating and now makes up their new full-length Pocosin.

Others may have no point of reference and Pocosin is a welcome introduction to the sound of Loess; in a mere blink of an eye from when they began.

repressed !

GAS remains Kompakt co-owner Wolfgang Voigt's most acclaimed and influential guise in his illustrious music career. Established as a series for his ambient works influenced by his experiences in Germany's Königsforst, he originally released through legendary electronic music imprint Mille Plateaux.
These albums have achieved near mythical status influencing countless musicians including TIm Hecker, Soulseekers, The Field to name a few. GAS has been hailed as "a wondrous high point in the history of electronic music" (Pitchfork) and "some of the most influential albums of the 90s" (The Guardian).
KOMPAKT now prepare to offer our most ambitious and comprehensive release in our history. Long out of print, the four core releases of GAS, ZAUBERBERG, KÖNIGSFORST, OKTEMBER and POP are finally released the way Wolfgang originally intended them to be - original masters uncut and packaged in their original design - a highly collectible, limited edition box set including an art book commemorating the series featuring Wolfgang Voigt's work.

GAS BOX - a long awaited document detailing a period of electronic music that has been lost but not forgotten.

Wolfgang Voigt is a man of many means and monickers, having engendered a unique take on electronic expressionism across multiple media - from riotous early 90s acid to cyber-folkloristic techno or the abstract drama of his current Ru¨ckverzauberung project, a pioneering vision to be found on vinyl, canvas or flickering screens. Ranking among of the most dense, hypnotic, atmospheric recordings in his oeuvre, the GAS releases have since become internationally recognized classics with a cult following, hailed as "a wondrous high point in the history of electronic music" (Pitchfork) and "some of the most influential albums of the 90s" (The Guardian). From foggy dub techno to anthemic electronica and loop-based ambient techno, the list of acts, tracks and even genres influenced by the full-lengths and EPs crafted under the GAS umbrella between 1995 and 2000 seems endless, giving these long sold-out original releases even more of a near-mythical quality. Following the much-acclaimed (and out-of-print) retrospective NAH UND FERN from 2008, Kompakt has decided that it's high time for a reissue that features the core GAS albums originally released by the legendary Mille Plateaux imprint in the 90s - the records that introduced the project's trademark sound between Scho¨nberg and Kraftwerk, Wagner and the bassdrum, 'an endless march through the underwoods of an imaginary, misty forest and into the disco.' Inside this comprehensive anthology, listeners will experience ZAUBERBERG (celebrating the 20th anniversary of this essential album), KO¨NIGSFORST, POP and the sought-after OKTEMBER 12", all together available as luxurious 10LP+4CD edition. GAS BOX is the most comprehensive version of these releases ever: the vinyl features edits that were previously unavailable on wax - with each album being presented as 3LP pressing (instead of the original 2LP pressings), for extended playtime and superior sound quality, finally released the way this music was intended to to be heard. This highly collectible box set comes with an art-print book featuring newly processed and previously unreleased photography from the Ko¨nigsforst woods around Cologne, in the style of the legendary, trail-blazing GAS artwork. GAS BOX is to be considered as the definitive take on a unique sound cosmos and an extraordinary period of music. An essential outing for every serious fan of electronic music.

Limited 300 copies. 'Neumond' - 7 inch representing sound researches by Pavel Milyakov, also known as Buttechno

"Neumond" -- 7 inch representing sound researches by Pavel Milyakov, also known as Buttechno"

Composed and recorded by Pavel Milyakov
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi
Label artwork by Ed Emshwiller
(from the movie "Sunstone" 1979)

Ambient power duo Anjou's sophomore statement continues in the vein of their 2014 debut, unfurling a full hour of mesmeric synthetic drift and veiled melodic undertow.

Comprised of Mark Nelson (of pioneering post-rock experimentalists Labradford and Pan·American) and Robert Donne (of Labradford, Aix Em Klemm, Cristal) , the group work largely in long-form suites of sound, alternately spacious and dense.

The new LP's six pieces embrace flux and ambiguity: drones swell and shudder, hushed currents of noise glitch and dissolve, atmospheres congeal and liquify. As with the participants' prior projects, Anjou evoke a shadowed, mysterious mood, variously melancholy and transcendent.

The album is an accumulation of craftsmanship and experience, blurred forms traced in light and fog.

- Composed by renowned swiss artist Marco Repetto (Grauzone w/ Stephan Eicher, Rephlex Records) , - For fans of Fax +49-69/450464, Rephlex, Tetsu Inoue, Electronic, Ambient and Chill Out. - - Strictly limited edition of 500 SADCD copies housed in heavy double digisleeve jacket.

Mental Groove Records is thrilled to announce Bigeneric's new double album entitled 'Spielmanda' in collaboration with the artist own INZEC imprint. Swiss artist Marco Repetto is the chromatic brain behind Bigeneric musical project and has a strong background in the burgeoning scenes of minimal synth (Grauzone with Stephan Eicher), early techno (Synectics on Aphex Twins' Rephlex imprint) and ambient / trance (Planet Love on Superstition). Spielmanda album reflects the artist deep love for nature, psychedelia, health and futurism. The title is borrowed from a book by Berner writer and myths researcher Sergius Golowin and is a fictional legendary and mystic place in the Swiss pre-alps, a place that Marco Repetto explores through the 16 tracks of this album that he has constructed and tested at numerous performances. A truly justified and bright +2 hours long daydreaming walk across the deep forests and infinitively colorful meadows of imaginary Spielmanda's landscapes and beyond, with Marco Repetto's heart rebel signature, a unique and modern mixture of technology driven hippie & punk culture. - 117th release from versatile swiss imprint Mental Groove Records (Donato Dozzy, Bruno Spoerri, Eduardo De La Calle, Kenji Kawaii, Orlando Voorn, Nate Krafft, Sinner DC, Orbe, Lugano Fell, Keiichi Tanaka, Tommasso Cappelato...)

with his third album 'vin ploile' the bucharest, romania based producer, musician and dj petre in-spirescu captured a whole new audience in 2015 and reached out with minimal leftfield ambient sounds to music loving folks, that are not part of the world-wide dance music universe.
well known as one of the key figures of the romanian electronic dance music scene since his first ep 'tips' on luciano's label cadenza, inspirescu stepped away from club sounds that made him famous due to releases on labels like vinyl club, lick my deck or amphia.
also his two solo albums 'intr-o seara organica...' and 'gradina onirica', both released on a:rpia:r, the record label he initiated with his buddies rhadoo and raresh in 2007, do not have much in common with the sound of 'vin ploile' - a mesmerizing deeply musical album that he only tuned in with some elements of piano, string and wind instruments as well as analogue electronics.
at the end of 2015 his nine slow swinging arrangements where celebrated in many polls and now, just a bit more than one year after the release of 'vin ploile' petre inspirescu delivers 'vîntul prin salcii' - another longplayer enlarged with seven, up to epic twelve minutes long arrangements, that continue where 'vin ploile' ceased.
they all listen to the name 'miroslav' and only differ numerically in their title. you can call them ambi-ent. you can call them minimal music in the sense of classic compositions by steve reich or terry riley. they groove - sometimes more, sometimes less. and they spread the sounds of flutes or saxophones, delicate piano figures, organic jazz drumming, arpeggiated analogue synth-lines, mesmerizing strings, choral singing, alienated looped vocals and spaced out new aged spheres.
what unites them all is the way, the melodies dance upon and in each single tune. their beautiful tex-tures ensnare and they are continuously engaged with experimentation. a mystical album full of evolu-tionary music to which each listener is able to paint his very own emotional picture. moody, dark and at the same time light-flooded shape-shifting compositions - made for those who love to surrender them-selves to a gentle dance between experimentation and attractiveness.
the cover artwork for petre inspirescu's album was made again by the illustrator and photographer julian vassallo, who's artistic works fascinate with a touching spirit of distance, that captures the truth in each single motif. just like petre inspirescu's music, only that his art grooves with notes that tell somehow: there is no truth. there is only perception.

This full length CD album by Mario Hammer and And The Lonely Robot might come as a surprise to you, because you might not have them on the radar. But Mario has already left traces of his skill especially by releasing single trax of modular music on our series Tour De Traum as well as recording under the name of RWAC. Since then people had caught up on to him... like Robert Babicz who asked him for remixes and DJs like Dominik Eulberg who inspired him to leave the path of dance culture and to work just with sounds. The result is a 60 minute non dance full analogue piece of modular music: L'esprit De L'escalier.

Mario has been a fan of old analogue synths for most of his life and has teamed up for some tracks here with Josef Steinbüchel who shares a similar love for synths and has contributed by exchanging sounds as well as ideas. With "L'esprit De L'escalier" they have written 13 tracks over a period of a year. Many ideas were born in the process of writing. Only "Metaphysical Orchestra" and Simiri (Hammeriosche Modulatschaltung) were released before on Traum and appear here in a different version.

Mario describes it this way: "I had very carefully selected synths to begin with. Each synth for me has an outstanding "color" in its sound. Josef had bought synths I had not and so we exchanged sounds and ideas on 4-5 of the tracks.

The album developed in this way that I started to write a track and I was looking for a transition to connect it too the next track and sometimes ended up creating a full track out of a transition. Sometimes I wrote a cluster of 3-4 tracks which I later completed by adding analogue clicks and noises.

Two tracks I wrote in one take and did not change. I must say I was amazed in how far things found their place... one pice of the puzzle settled into the next one. It was a spiritual moment for me."

The full album is loosely worked around BPMs by following the speed of LFOs /arpeggiators so the experience you get from listening to the tracks is totally soothing and as we know our ears are not made for quantized and compressed sounds in the first place

The album can be divided roughly in two parts as the mood switches about halftime when "Yugon" introduces a beautiful and darker side...

The album starts with the pulsating "Mono No Aware" that sets a stream of sounds free not unlike a focussed intensive golden sun beam. When the track moves towards gracefully archaic melodies, you instantly feel drawn towards them as if your inner self had always asked for them.

"Chakwira" (walking through a muddy place making a squelching sound, African) starts directly with a polyphonic melody, dazzling in its melancholic tone. It blends over into the soothing and warm "Hyggelig". The word derives from the Danish language and means "a complete absensence of anything annoying and the pleasure of comfort" and we can hear this happening here alongside a superb enveloping sound as gigantic as the legendary synth sound on Vapourspace's "Gravitational Arch Of 10" (Plus 8)

Then slowly the title track "L'esprit De L'escalier" cues in. It is one of two tracks with a length of almost ten minutes and the track makes use of a spectacular melodic sequence that changes in tempo and intensity and has feelings running high! The meaning of

"L'esprit De L'escalier" is: "the feeling you get after leaving a conversation, when you think of all the things you should have said."

Some of you will know "Metaphysical Orchestra" from the Tour de Traum X which we releases in July. It appears here in combination with another sequence, which fundamentally changes the feeling of the track. In comparison to the previous track it is very busy, very lively. It almost comes to a point where is virtually boils.

Followed by "Nyctophilia" which constitutes a strong contrast in every way and which seeks comfort in darkness to quote out of the CD booklet. It is the second of the two 10 minute tracks. It was recorded in one take and therefore has a strong live appeal including a gigantic break down about halftime. It might be the most epic track of the CD.

"Yugen" introduces the darker side of the CD with filtered down chords and sound forcefully rising to the surface as well as an oasis of quiet moments of happiness.

"Kaiho" almost sounds Asian in comparison and later when the track turns experimental gains movement which reminds us of early Pink Floyd.

"Sirimiri (Hammersche Modularverschaltung)" is the most Krautrock sounding track, to use a Julian Cope term here. Musicians and bands like Amon Düül, Klaus Schulze, Cluster (Conrad Schnitzler, Dieter Moebius und Hans-Joachim Roedelius) spring to the mind here.

"Symphony Of Pulsing" follows and the transfer is somehow incredible since with your mind still with " Sirimiri (Hammersche Modularverschaltung)" this accounts for a 360 degree change of mood.

We expect "Yuyin" to calm down and indeed the track is more loose and seems to have a stronger improvised end to it.

"Eigengrau" catches the remnants to form a track which connects to "Sirimiri" in style but makes stronger turns into a different direction.

"Nefelibata" is the so called outro track which in the last minute was enhanced with a beautiful

sound Mario Hammer came across bringing the album to an analogous end.

Marcus Worgull and Danilo Plessow (Motorcity Drum Ensemble) are the members of the Vermont project.

With an artist roster as prolific and well-established as Kompakt's, you won't find much downtime that could be used for new entries to the catalogue. That's why we are especially happy to not only present the inaugurating full-length of VERMONT, but also introduce two distinguished producers to the fold that have built their impressive careers in our immediate vicinity, albeit appearing on the label for the very first time: Innervisions' MARCUS WORGULL and DANILO PLESSOW (of MOTOR CITY DRUM ENSEMBLE fame), two floor familiars praised for their gripping club tunes that showcase a surprisingly unwound and novel side to their respective artist personas.

With VERMONT, MARCUS WORGULL and DANILO PLESSOW submit a noticeably mature work that seems to come from a well attuned production duo, effectively concealing the fact that this is their first collaborative effort... and a decidedly informal one at that: these cuts were not conceived with specific aesthetic goals in mind, but emerged from a series of loose jam sessions disclosing the trespassing spirit of the sonic adventurer. It's in the sanctum of Danilo's former Cologne studio, surrounded by an armada of vintage analogue synthesizers, that the two music buffs somewhat inadvertently tapped into the city's collective subconsciousness and minted fourteen sleek soundscapes of almost krautrockish proportions.

Exhibiting high amounts of arpeggiated curiosity and following a factual no-sampling policy, tracks like wonderstruck opener YAIZA, undulating bleepfest DYNAMIK, the cinematic

ELEKTRON or ambient ballad MAJESTÄT are immersed in the enticing allure of freeform sequencing, even deciding to forego the full-blown percussion kits we've come to love in the two producers' main bodies of work. The restricted rhythmic pallet pays off extraordinarily well, as can be heard in the rich, breathing textures of KATZENJAMMER, DROIXHE or EBBE: if inclined to do so, one could label them as introspective synth poems, albeit with a strong sense for structure and dramaturgy that speaks volumes about the musical kinship of their originators - with or without drums.