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Mit ihrem aktuellen Album "Gods Verging on Sanity" (2020) haben BLACK NAIL CABARET ein musikalisches Ausrufezeichen gesetzt. Obwohl die geplanten Touren der letzten zwei Jahren natürlich auch ein Opfer der Umstände wurden, ist es der Band allein durch Mundpropaganda dennoch gelungen, gestärkt aus der Krise hervorzugehen. Dies bietet eine hervorragende Gelegenheit, um ein frühes Juwel ihrer Bandgeschichte in neuem Glanz erscheinen zu lassen:

Als Sängerin Emèse Árvai-Illes und Keyboarder Krisztián Árvai das Album "Pseudopop" im Jahr 2018 auf ihrem eigenen Label veröffentlichten, hatten sie bereits Kunst, Pop, dunkle Harmonien und aufregende Elektronik organisch miteinander verschmolzen. So vergab der ungarische Journalist Mariusz Bari (Planet Damage) die Höchstpunktzahl (10)/10 und schrieb: "BLACK NAIL CABARET waren schon immer auf dem Weg, sich selbst zu perfektionieren, und dieses neueste Album ist der perfekte Beweis dafür, dass sie weder den Anschluss noch die Kontrolle dabei verloren haben."

Was BLACK NAIL CABARET markant von anderen Bands in ihrem Genre abhebt, ist ein Faible für sexuell explizite Provokationen. Dabei gelingt es den Ungarn niemals peinlich oder schlüpfrig zu wirken, sondern ihre gelebte BDSM-Wirklichkeit mit hohem ästhetischen Anspruch künstlerisch abzubilden. Wer in den Rohrschach-Klecksen auf dem Albumcover einen Frosch sieht, sollte vielleicht noch einmal hinsehen.

In eigenen Worten klingt das bei dem Duo wie folgt: "'Pseudopop' ist die Gesamtheit aller musikalischen Einflüsse, die unsere Leben beeinflusst und geprägt hat", schrieben BLACK NAIL CABARET. "Unabhängig von der Stilrichtung haben wir einfach unser Köpfe frei gemacht, uns vom Genregedanken verabschiedet und losgelassen. Es ist ein Hybrid aus dem Chaos, das in uns beiden steckt, und wir möchten meinen, dass im Ergebnis dabei avantgardistischer, zeitgenössischer Pop mit dunklen elektronischen Wurzeln als herauskam."

Bei der Erstveröffentlichung hatte "Pseudopop" bereits fast alles, was ein außergewöhnliches, hervorragendes Werk ausmacht. Es fehlte dem Album lediglich die Reichweite, um auch international die verdiente Beachtung zu finden. Mit dieser Neuauflage durch Dependent mit sorgfältigem Re-Mastering und einem Bonus-Track wird endlich das verdiente Rampenlicht auf BLACK NAIL CABARET und "Pseudopop" geworfen.

Peter Shaw - ein Mörder? Ganz bestimmt nicht! Da sind sich Justus und Bob sicher. Können die beiden die Unschuld des Zweiten Detektivs beweisen?Peter sieht ihn fallen, doch die Teufelsklippe gibt ihn nicht wieder her. Verschluckt von den tosenden Wellen bleibt der Mann verschwunden ... Was ist passiert? Ausgerechnet der Zweite Detektiv wird beschuldigt, Paul Forsters ins Meer gestoßen zu haben. Im Verhör wird Peter bis ins kleinste Detail befragt. Justus und Bob versuchen derweil mehr über den seltsamen Fall herauszufinden. Können die beiden ihrem Freund helfen?Sprecher:innen Erzähler Axel MilbergJustus Jonas, Erster Detektiv Oliver RohrbeckPeter Shaw, Zweiter Detektiv Jens WawrczeckBob Andrews, Recherchen und Archiv Andreas FröhlichDetective Ella Neda Rahmanian Officer James Sascha GutzeitMr. Shaw Michael Grimm Paul Forsters Achim Buch Esprit Matthias KellerAnthony Spring Douglas WelbatButch Tom PiddeInspektor Cotta Holger MahlichBlacky Heikedine KörtingGodween André MinningerPolizist Frank Meyer-BrockmannProduktionshinweise:Buch und Effekte: André MinningerRegie und Produktion: Heikedine KörtingRedaktion: Maike MüllerTitelmusik: Simon Bertling & Christian Hagitte (STIL)Musik: Constantin Stahlberg, Jens-Peter Morgenstern, Jan-Friedrich Conrad, Betty GeorgeCover-Illustration: Silvia ChristophDesign: Atelier SchoedsackBasierend auf dem gleichnamigen Buch von Ben Nevis, erschienen im Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart. Mit freundlicher Genehmigung der Universität Michigan. Based on characters created by Robert Arthur.Die drei ??? © 2022 Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. KG.(P) & © 2022 EUROPA a division of Sony Music Entertainment GmbHAuch erhältlich als MC 19439931694 und LP 19439931691.

IRIS sind tot, lang lebe IRIS! Obwohl die beiden Protagonisten Andrew Sega und Reagan Jones seit Ende des letztes Jahres offiziell getrennte Wege eingeschlagen haben, müssen ihre zahlreiche Anhänger keineswegs die Köpfe hängen lassen.

Mit Einverständnis der Band, legen Dependent das längst vergriffene dritte Album "Wrath" in zwei speziellen Ausgaben neu auf. Dieses Highlight aus dem Werk von IRIS wird mit neuem Mastering erstmals als limitiertes 12" Vinyl mit verbessertem, hochaufgelöstem Cover-Artwork erscheinen. Außerdem kommt "Wrath" als limitiertes Doppel-CD Artbook heraus, welches neben dem remasterten Album eine exklusive 10-Track Bonus-CD, Live-Fotos und Liner-Notes von J. Ned Kirby (STROMKERN) und Dependent-Chef Stefan Herwig enthält.
J. Ned Kirby, der IRIS mehrmals live auf Tour unterstützt hat, erklärt die Gründe für die Wiederveröffentlich von "Wrath": "Jedes Album von Iris stellt für sich genommen ein Hauptseminar ein Sachen Songwriting und Produktion dar", schreibt der Amerikaner. "Mit seinen zehn unvergleichlichen Arrangements für zehn perfekte Songs erreicht 'Wrath' aber das Niveau einer Meisterklasse. Von der explosiven Eröffnung durch 'Land of Fire' bis zur hoffnungsvollen Coda von 'Delivered One' klingt so eine Band, die aus allen Rohren feuert. Auf 'Wrath' ist kein Element fehl am Platz, kein Akkord zu abgegriffen und kein Song auch nur eine Sekunde zu lang - oder kurz gesagt: Dieses Album ist fantastisch!"

Auf 'Wrath' fusionierten IRIS erstmals ihr prägnantes Sounddesign mit immer prominenter hörbaren Gitarren zu großartigen Songs. Dies ergab zusammen mit Reagan Jones markantem Gesang einen Shoegaze-Effekt, der IRIS weit aus der Masse beliebiger Synthpop-Acts herausgehoben hat. Mit der aufwändigen Neuveröffentlichung von "Wrath" zollen Dependent einem exzellenten Album Tribut, dass selbst nach 15 Jahren nichts von seiner ursprünglichen Faszination eingebüßt hat.

With his Arjunamusic label and a growing catalog of category-defying releases, Samuel Rohrer
continues to quietly, yet confidently, make a name for himself as a genuinely unique figure within
the European electronic music realm. Over the past decade he has assembled a repertoire of
music that fills a sadly neglected gap in the modern musical landscape. That is to say, he has
made a number of “electronically”-aided works that never seem to make “electronic-ism” the main
selling point or raison d'être. Rohrer understands that we inhabit a networked media landscape
that no longer sees a novelty value in every synthetic or technological sound, and by realizing
this, he makes a music that fully engages with the present without completely disregarding the
exciting speculative sensibility that has allowed electronic music to solidify into a tradition. His
latest solo album, Hungry Ghosts, again shows the high quality of sonic design that can be
achieved by conceptualizing musical passages as living, breathing entities rather than as
signposts to some still distant reality.
Maybe more so than any of Rohrer’s solo records to date, Hungry Ghosts is the one that
most unambiguously displays the artist as a kind of inspired sound “cultivator” or landscaper
rather than just a straightforward “producer”. The emphasis here seems to be biological growth
processes rendered in musical form, and in fact some track titles namechecking the biodiversity
of the external world (“Slow Fox”, “Ctenophora”) and neurochemistry (“Serotonin”) lend some
additional credence to this interpretation.
As with previous outings, Rohrer starts with his skills as a genre-resistant percussionist
and builds from there, with dense clusters of drum hits and icy cymbal exclamations leading the
way into a wide-open atmosphere full of fragmented phrases, marked with strange reversals or
compressions of time. The percussive portions and other ambiences merge together in such a
way that the latter seems like a kind of shifting, holographic camouflage for the former; an effect
which makes for a greater than usual number of shifts in mood. Rohrer’s already established
ambiguity and mystery are the moods that permeate throughout, to be sure, but there are also
surprising moments of humorous whimsy (the flourishes of cartoon mischief and teasing silences
on the tracks “Human Regression” and “Bodylanguage”), reverence (the optimistic organ swells
and steady sequencer guiding “Ceremonism”), and meditative focus (the slow-motion spectral
waltz of “Treehouse”). Also notable here are very brief etudes, such as “Window Pain,” whose
dark, lush ebb and flow actually seem tailored to repeated or looped listening.
It’s particularly remarkable that almost all of this material is recorded solo and in a “live /
no overdubs” mode, given how much it feels like well-rehearsed ensemble playing, and given the
impeccable timing involved in continually exchanging the sounds at the very forefront of the mix.
And here we come full circle to the idea of “electronic music” mentioned at the beginning here:
instead of making us feel that we are in the presence of some fully-realized form brought back
from “the future,” Rohrer invites us instead to witness fascinating processes of transition and
mutation, and to value them for what they are now as much as for where they are headed.

Es gibt kein Entkommen vor der Motherlode - diesem ewigen Kontinuum aus hohem Drama und überhitzten Ampstacks, die geeignet sind, den Puls zu erhöhen und die Stimmung zu beleben. Es ist die unverwechselbare Bandchemie, die basischen harten Rock in Edelsteine verwandelt. Stockholms Lugnet beherrschen diese alchemistische Kunst. Dampfwalzende Grooves und grandiose Hymnen, gebaut auf einem 70er Jahre Felsen. Der Urstampf der frühen Deep Purple, die apokalyptische Predigt von Black Sabbath und die filmische Majestät von Rainbow können leicht im allmächtigen Sturm und Drang erkannt werden.Doch dieser Sound wird mit Charisma und eigenwilliger Energie bereichert, der mühelos frisches, lebendiges Leben in eine klassische Form bringt. Der Funke wurde 2009 entzündet, als Fredrik Jansson-Punkka (Drummer Angel Witch, Witchcraft, Abramis Brama und Count Raven) den Bassisten Lennart 'Z' Zethzon auf dem Sweden Rock Festival traf. Drei Jahre stießen die Gitarristen Bonden Jansson und Mackan Holten und der Sänger Roger Solander hinzu.Auf dem zweiten Album wurde Solander durch Johan Fahlberg ersetzt, der den verwegenen Charme der Dio/Coverdale-Tradition mit ganz eigenen Schnörkeln und Persönlichkeit verbindet, während Bonden Jansson dem Gitarristen Wunderkind Matti Norlin Platz machte. Nach dem Sweden Rock Festival 2018 kam Mackan Holten (Troubled Horse) als neuer Gitarrist noch hinzu und Lugnet hatte die ideale Form gefunden. Was auch immer die Zukunft für Lugnet bereithält, diese Maschine feuert aus allen Rohren, und Rocker aller Art wären gut beraten, an Bord zu gehen oder aus dem Weg zu gehen.

"Rob wollte, dass sich die Welt von The Northman rau und ungemütlich anfühlt, als wäre es mit Schlamm und getrocknetem Blut bedeckt, also war es wichtig, dass die Musik dies widerspiegelt." Die Komponisten Robin Carolan (Tri-Angle Records) und Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel) wurden vor eine Aufgabe epischen Ausmaßes gestellt, als Regisseur Rob Eggers (The VVitch, The Lighthouse) sie bat, die Filmmusik für seinen ehrgeizigen Film The Northman zu schreiben. Sie mussten eine Filmmusik schaffen, die sowohl die immensen Recherchen zur Authentizität dieses historischen Stücks aus der Wikingerzeit würdigte; als auch den filmischen Maximalismus des Films für ein modernes Publikum ergänzte. Die Künstler gingen bis an die Grenzen ihrer Kreativität und das Ergebnis ist ein wunderschönes Klangbild, das den Hörer mitten in den Film versetzt. Beim Arrangieren der Partitur zogen die Komponisten den Musiker und Ethnographen Poul Hoxbro zu Rate, um sich inspirieren zu lassen und einen Einblick in die Geschichte der Wikingermusik zu erhalten. Da Robin und Sebastian aus dem Bereich der elektronischen Musik kommen, waren sie keinerlei Beschränkung auf eine kleine Auswahl von Musikinstrumenten unterworfen, nutzten diese aber als Ausgangsbasis. "Elektronische Musik hat ein fast grenzenloses Potenzial, wenn es darum geht, Klänge zu erzeugen, und das ist natürlich eine unglaubliche Sache, aber man kann auch in ein Wurmloch geraten und sich darin manchmal verlieren. Diese Gefahr besteht nicht, wenn man nur ein paar Hauptinstrumente hat, auf die man zurückgreifen kann" so Robin Carolan. Sie benutzten traditionelle Instrumente wie die Tagelharpa, die Langspil, die Kravik-Lyra und die Säckpip, um die filmische Welt von The Northman zu erschaffen, aber sie nahmen sich auch kreative Freiheiten, indem sie Instrumente wie Trommeln hinzufügten, von denen einige Wissenschaftler glauben, dass sie in der Musikkultur der Wikinger keine große Rolle gespielt hätten, einfach weil es keine archäologischen Beweise für echte Trommeln gibt. "Eines der Stücke sollte den Klang eines Bullroarers nachahmen; ein uraltes Instrument, das in heiligen Ritualen oder in der Schlacht zur Einschüchterung von Feinden eingesetzt wird. Es erzeugt einen wirklich verwirrenden, röhrenden Vibrato-Sound und tiefe Frequenzen, die wahnsinnige Entfernungen zurücklegen können." sagt Robin auf die Frage nach einem der einzigartigeren Aspekte der Partitur. Alle Beteiligten haben so viel Mühe in ihre Recherchen und ihre Kreativität gesteckt, und dieser Reichtum ist in jedem Stück offensichtlich. Das Album als Ganzes ist ein cineastisches Meisterwerk aus Klang und Atmosphäre, wunderschön und verstörend zugleich, genau wie der Film, den es so wunderbar begleitet.

"Rob wollte, dass sich die Welt von The Northman rau und ungemütlich anfühlt, als wäre es mit Schlamm und getrocknetem Blut bedeckt, also war es wichtig, dass die Musik dies widerspiegelt." Die Komponisten Robin Carolan (Tri-Angle Records) und Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel) wurden vor eine Aufgabe epischen Ausmaßes gestellt, als Regisseur Rob Eggers (The VVitch, The Lighthouse) sie bat, die Filmmusik für seinen ehrgeizigen Film The Northman zu schreiben. Sie mussten eine Filmmusik schaffen, die sowohl die immensen Recherchen zur Authentizität dieses historischen Stücks aus der Wikingerzeit würdigte; als auch den filmischen Maximalismus des Films für ein modernes Publikum ergänzte. Die Künstler gingen bis an die Grenzen ihrer Kreativität und das Ergebnis ist ein wunderschönes Klangbild, das den Hörer mitten in den Film versetzt. Beim Arrangieren der Partitur zogen die Komponisten den Musiker und Ethnographen Poul Hoxbro zu Rate, um sich inspirieren zu lassen und einen Einblick in die Geschichte der Wikingermusik zu erhalten. Da Robin und Sebastian aus dem Bereich der elektronischen Musik kommen, waren sie keinerlei Beschränkung auf eine kleine Auswahl von Musikinstrumenten unterworfen, nutzten diese aber als Ausgangsbasis. "Elektronische Musik hat ein fast grenzenloses Potenzial, wenn es darum geht, Klänge zu erzeugen, und das ist natürlich eine unglaubliche Sache, aber man kann auch in ein Wurmloch geraten und sich darin manchmal verlieren. Diese Gefahr besteht nicht, wenn man nur ein paar Hauptinstrumente hat, auf die man zurückgreifen kann" so Robin Carolan. Sie benutzten traditionelle Instrumente wie die Tagelharpa, die Langspil, die Kravik-Lyra und die Säckpip, um die filmische Welt von The Northman zu erschaffen, aber sie nahmen sich auch kreative Freiheiten, indem sie Instrumente wie Trommeln hinzufügten, von denen einige Wissenschaftler glauben, dass sie in der Musikkultur der Wikinger keine große Rolle gespielt hätten, einfach weil es keine archäologischen Beweise für echte Trommeln gibt. "Eines der Stücke sollte den Klang eines Bullroarers nachahmen; ein uraltes Instrument, das in heiligen Ritualen oder in der Schlacht zur Einschüchterung von Feinden eingesetzt wird. Es erzeugt einen wirklich verwirrenden, röhrenden Vibrato-Sound und tiefe Frequenzen, die wahnsinnige Entfernungen zurücklegen können." sagt Robin auf die Frage nach einem der einzigartigeren Aspekte der Partitur. Alle Beteiligten haben so viel Mühe in ihre Recherchen und ihre Kreativität gesteckt, und dieser Reichtum ist in jedem Stück offensichtlich. Das Album als Ganzes ist ein cineastisches Meisterwerk aus Klang und Atmosphäre, wunderschön und verstörend zugleich, genau wie der Film, den es so wunderbar begleitet.

"Rob wollte, dass sich die Welt von The Northman rau und ungemütlich anfühlt, als wäre es mit Schlamm und getrocknetem Blut bedeckt, also war es wichtig, dass die Musik dies widerspiegelt." Die Komponisten Robin Carolan (Tri-Angle Records) und Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel) wurden vor eine Aufgabe epischen Ausmaßes gestellt, als Regisseur Rob Eggers (The VVitch, The Lighthouse) sie bat, die Filmmusik für seinen ehrgeizigen Film The Northman zu schreiben. Sie mussten eine Filmmusik schaffen, die sowohl die immensen Recherchen zur Authentizität dieses historischen Stücks aus der Wikingerzeit würdigte; als auch den filmischen Maximalismus des Films für ein modernes Publikum ergänzte. Die Künstler gingen bis an die Grenzen ihrer Kreativität und das Ergebnis ist ein wunderschönes Klangbild, das den Hörer mitten in den Film versetzt. Beim Arrangieren der Partitur zogen die Komponisten den Musiker und Ethnographen Poul Hoxbro zu Rate, um sich inspirieren zu lassen und einen Einblick in die Geschichte der Wikingermusik zu erhalten. Da Robin und Sebastian aus dem Bereich der elektronischen Musik kommen, waren sie keinerlei Beschränkung auf eine kleine Auswahl von Musikinstrumenten unterworfen, nutzten diese aber als Ausgangsbasis. "Elektronische Musik hat ein fast grenzenloses Potenzial, wenn es darum geht, Klänge zu erzeugen, und das ist natürlich eine unglaubliche Sache, aber man kann auch in ein Wurmloch geraten und sich darin manchmal verlieren. Diese Gefahr besteht nicht, wenn man nur ein paar Hauptinstrumente hat, auf die man zurückgreifen kann" so Robin Carolan. Sie benutzten traditionelle Instrumente wie die Tagelharpa, die Langspil, die Kravik-Lyra und die Säckpip, um die filmische Welt von The Northman zu erschaffen, aber sie nahmen sich auch kreative Freiheiten, indem sie Instrumente wie Trommeln hinzufügten, von denen einige Wissenschaftler glauben, dass sie in der Musikkultur der Wikinger keine große Rolle gespielt hätten, einfach weil es keine archäologischen Beweise für echte Trommeln gibt. "Eines der Stücke sollte den Klang eines Bullroarers nachahmen; ein uraltes Instrument, das in heiligen Ritualen oder in der Schlacht zur Einschüchterung von Feinden eingesetzt wird. Es erzeugt einen wirklich verwirrenden, röhrenden Vibrato-Sound und tiefe Frequenzen, die wahnsinnige Entfernungen zurücklegen können." sagt Robin auf die Frage nach einem der einzigartigeren Aspekte der Partitur. Alle Beteiligten haben so viel Mühe in ihre Recherchen und ihre Kreativität gesteckt, und dieser Reichtum ist in jedem Stück offensichtlich. Das Album als Ganzes ist ein cineastisches Meisterwerk aus Klang und Atmosphäre, wunderschön und verstörend zugleich, genau wie der Film, den es so wunderbar begleitet.

HEAVY TEMPLE donnern mit ihrem Debütalbum wie ein röhrendes Mastodon über die Prärie. "Lupi Amoris" hat das Zeug zum Meilenstein: So progressiv, aber unbefangener als BARONESS, und so heavy, aber draufgängerischer als FU MANCHU, setzt das Trio aus Philadelphia alle Hebel der metallischen Riff-Maschine in Bewegung. "Lupi Amoris" ist ein One-Way-Trip durch die amerikanische Weite und tiefe Wälder. HEAVY TEMPLE wurden zur Wintersonnenwende 2012 aus purem Spaß an der Heavy-Musik ins Leben gerufen, was sich in den Pseudonymen der Gründungsmitglieder widerspiegelt: High Priestess Nighthawk, Rattlesnake und Bearadactyl. Zunächst spielte die Band nur lokale Shows in Philadelphia, was dem Trio schnell einen exzellenten Ruf einbrachte und zu Einladungen auf Touren mit RUBY THE HATCHET, MOTHERSHIP, ROYAL THUNDER und CORROSION OF CONFORMITY führte. Auch namhafte Festivals klopften an die Tür, wie neben vielen anderen das Maryland Doom Fest, Psycho Las Vegas und Decibel Metal & Beer. Es spricht Bände über das Riesentalent von HEAVY TEMPLE und ihre packenden Live-Shows, dass die Angebote weiter eintrudelten, ohne dass bisher ein Album vorlag. Obwohl HEAVY TEMPLE alle Merkmale des traditionell männlich orientierten Heavy Metal anhaften (bis zu dem Punkt, dass ihr Sound einen stolzen Vollbart tragen könnte), bringt die kraftvolle Präsenz von Frontfrau und einzig verbliebenem Gründungsmitglied High Priestess Nighthawk weibliche Stärke ein. Ihre lyrischen Konzepte erreichen literarisches Niveau. "Lupi Amoris" bedeutet "Wölfe der Liebe" in Latein und handelt davon, dass sich die Band aus Philadelphia mit Rotkäppchen verbündet, das sich von den traditionellen Fesseln und der Erwartungshaltung an Frauen befreit hat. HEAVY TEMPLE demonstrieren mit "Lupi Amoris" eindrucksvoll, dass es durchaus möglich ist, titanischen Stoner-Doom mit den Realitäten des Lebens zu verbinden, statt im Eskapismus zu verharren. Bei dieser Lautstärke kann die Welt gar nicht anders als zuzuhören.

"I live too fast to die young, it ain't nothing when your
head's screwed on,? röhrt der elektrisierende Frontmann
Michael Monroe auf seinem zweiten Album für Silver
Lining Music. Ein großartiges Rock'n'Roll Album, "I Live
Too Fast To Die Young" - ein ehrlicher Schrei aus vollem
Herzen.
Zu einer Zeit, wo Spaß zu haben nicht einfach ist,
kommt "I Live Too Fast To Die Young" als gradliniges,
freches Album mit rauer Rock'n'Roll Musik - deftige Songs
wie "Young Drunks & Old Alcoholics?, "All Fighter? und
dem punkigen "Murder The Summer Of Love?. Die
Songs bringen frische, knackige Elektrizität und Melodien,
die sich schimmernd um messerscharfen Riffs wickeln.
Ausgedehnte, Stones-angehauchte Tracks gibt es
ebenfalls wie das "Can't Stop Falling Apart? und
"Everybody's Nobody?, während der Titeltrack genau
zwischen deine Augen zielt, mit einen forschen Back Beat
und einem frechen Chor , wundervoll und großartig in
Szene gesetzt mit Michael Monroes unbändiger,
aufregender Pose - mit seiner großartigen Attitude.
Das Album wurde in den Inkfish Studios in Helsinki,
Finnland im November/Dezember 2021 aufgenommen und
von der Band zusammen mit Erno Laitinen produziert.
Michael Monroe (Gesang und Harmonika) , Steve Conte
( Gitarre und Gesang), Rich Jones (Gitarre und Gesang),
Karl Rockfist (Schlagzeug) und Sami Yaffa
(Bass/Gesang/Gitarre) und einigen Gastmusikern; unter
anderem dem legendären Guns N' Roses Gitarristen
Slash , den man mit einem Solo und zusätzlicher Gitarre
auf dem Titeltrack hören kann.

XFLR-7 - ein geheimes Forschungsprojekt - ist in Gefahr! Unbekannte Gangster scheinen den Diebstahl der geheimen Unterlagen zu planen, doch der einzige Zeuge, den Justus, Peter und Bob befragen können, ist ein Halsbandsittich namens Huxley. Damit die Konstruktionspläne von XFLR-7 nicht in die falschen Hände geraten, müssen die drei ??? ihr Können unter Beweis stellen. Werden die Detektive das Geheimprojekt retten?Mitwirkende: Erzähler: Axel Milberg/ Justus Jonas, Erster Detektiv: Oliver Rohrbeck/ Peter Shaw, Zweiter Detektiv: Jens Wawrczeck/Bob Andrews, Recherchen und Archiv: Andreas Fröhlich/ Kendra Bowman: Sandra Schwittau/ Huxley, der Sittich: Achim Buch/ Matt: Manfred Liptow/ Carol: Gerlinde Dillge/ Trevor: Peter Kaempfe/ Officer: Torsten Münchow/ Reginald: Malte Janßen/ Blacky: Heikedine KörtingBuch und Effekte: André Minninger/ Geräusche: Helge Halvé/ Redaktion: Maike Müller/ Regie und Produktion: Heikedine Körting/ Titelmusik: Simon Bertling & Christian Hagitte (STIL)/ Musik: Jan Friedrich Conrad, Peter Morgenstern, Constantin Stahlberg/ Coverillustration: Silvia Christoph/ Design: Atelier SchoedsackBased on characters created by Robert Arthur. Basierend auf dem gleichnamigen Buch von Hendrik Buchna, erschienen im Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart © 2021 (P) & © EUROPA, a division of 2022 Sony Music Entertainment Germany GmbH

Vier Jahre nach dem Ende seiner Progrock-Band Mess brachte der estnische Musiker Sven Grünberg 1981 das bemerkenswerte Album "Hingus" heraus. Das 23-minütige Titelstück beschwört, mitunter beeinflusst von fernöstlicher Tonalität, mit einer Kirchenorgel, extrem seltenen Synthesizern und außergewöhnlichen Percussion-Effekten faszinierende futuristische Klangwelten. Die beiden anderen, ebenfalls großartigen Tracks erinnern stilistisch eher an die Berliner Schule um Klaus Schulze und Tangerine Dream. Grünberg ist in Estland ein bekannter Bühnen- und Filmmusiker - und ein alter Hase, was elektronische Musik betrifft. 1974, noch während seines Musikstudiums, gründete er zusammen mit Härmo Härm die Progrock-Band Mess. Grünberg war damals der erste Musiker im Baltikum, der einen Synthesizer einsetzte. Mit dem Album "Hingus" (zu Deutsch: "Atem"), das er zwischen 1978 und 1980 einspielte, widmete er sich dem Ambient, versetzt mit einer Prise Space- und Progrock sowie intensiven asiatischen Einflüssen. Basis der Aufnahmen waren die Orgeln der Kirche in Rapla und des Doms von Tallinn. Die sakrale Anmutung wird durch Synthesizer und Percussions gebrochen oder auch ins Rauschhafte gesteigert. Röhrenglocken (die von Mike Oldfield bekannten Tubular Bells), Paarbecken (Piatti), eine Ratsche (Raganella), ein Tamburin, ein ostasiatischer Metallgong namens Tamtam, Glockenspiel und Kastagnetten kommen zum Einsatz. Zudem spielt Grünberg diverse ungewöhnliche elektronische Instrumente, die Härmo Härm und andere teilweise als Einzelstücke selber bauten. Dennoch zählt dieses außerirdisch schöne und zum Teil hochpsychedelische Album hierzulande zu den noch zu entdeckenden Klassikern dieses Genres.

The Ricardo Villalobos / Samuel Rohrer partnership has yielded increasingly interesting results over the past few years, with the former’s remixes of the latter’s trio Ambiq being supplemented by further reinterpretations of Rohrer’s solo work and live meetings at select events like Berlin’s Funkhaus and Radialsystem V. As should be the case with any strong collaboration, this partnership has been based on mutual challenge rather than compromise,
seeing each participant shuttle key technical and emotive aspects of the other’s work to previously unexpected places.
Those who have been closely following this relationship will notice a definite sense of continuity between previous outings and the new collaborative release entitled MICROGESTURES. As with those earlier Villalobos / Rohrer pairings, these four new pieces are defined by a special quality of being many things that once: that is to say, depending on the listener’s own level of focus, these can feel very tightly constructed and disciplined, or playful and freely wandering. That the tracks are equally engaging regardless of one’s chosen listening “mode” is a testament to the level of thought put into them; you could almost imagining the creators poring over some elaborate sketched set of architectural blueprints rather than coolly monitoring the usual multi-track editing software.
Altogether the music here is firmly a-melodic and percussive, but within these deliberate limitations there is still a greater variety of individual sounds than most would bother with. Each track is its own observatory of microgestures clustering together into a dense communicative fog or a sort of robotic sound swarm. Yet while all
these tracks are variations on that theme, each one has its own character and, consequently, its own rewards in terms of the exact sectors of the imagination that it activates.
Take for example “Cochlea” and its twin “Helix,” on which the magnetizing, busy layers of percussion are tempered with mischievously disruptive blossomings of digital noise, as well as sampled radio communications (which again bring us back to the idea of listeners’ attentiveness changing the meaning of this music - these
curious transmissions can either be taken as a purely aesthetic element or as something to be actively decoded).
Club-oriented elements are also not absent from this suite, particularly on “Incus” with its traditional sequenced baseline, crisp synthetic trap and hats, and dizzily sliding set of bell-like tones laid on top.?
Yet this track, too, is powered as much by its restless desire to deviate as by its rhythmic consistency: throughout the eleven-minute running time, a mass of ambiguous and restless machine sounds build a parallel narrative, and will maybe prompt the occasional glance over the shoulder as they seem to be taking on their own life. “Lobule” rounds out the program with the most rhythmically eventful sound set off the five.
What this all adds up to is a confident music which builds that quality from its faith in possibilities rather than firm conclusions: it’s an inspiring addition to both the musical landscape and reality in general

So auch am 2. Weihnachtstag 2019 im „Gruenspan“ in St. Pauli anlässlich des 25jährigen Bandjubiläums.

Sobald OHRENFEINDT die Bühne entern, wird aus allen Rohren gefeuert. Der Kiez-Dreier macht keine Gefangenen. Wer bisher lediglich ihre Studioalben kennt, wird sich wundern, was für eine Schippe die Jungs live nochmal obendrauf packen.

Zwei Stunden volle Pulle Riff-Rock-Hits aus einem Vierteljahrhundert. Drei bis in die Haar- bzw. Bartspitzen motivierte Roggenrohl-Vollblüter ohne Netz und doppelten Boden. Da ist nix gedoppelt, da kommt kein Ton aus der Dose, selbst der Schweiß ist echt.

Zwei Stunden pures Adrenalin, ungeschönt und rau.

The ambient / cross-genres label Concentric Records launches its first solo release as a special edition LP written and composed by the celebrated and influential techno / experimental producer Tobias. It is the first strictly-ambient solo album of Berlin's Tobias. aka Tobias Freund.

Entitled Hall Ov Fame, the 42min. full length album is a rare ambient journey into a sonic world that is full of narrative and cinematic imagination, blurring boundaries between perceived and staged reality, past and future memory.

“I have movies in my head” describes Tobias Freund the source that inspired his new album to fill it with a fantastic life of its very own. Consequently, each of the eight tracks represents a scene out of a fictitious short film, some of them with a claustrophobic and tense atmosphere while others appear light and hopeful on the screen of imagination. What they have in common is an adventurous spirit that is inherent in and played out by three main characters: repetitive electronic and acoustic patterns, voices from far away and field recordings of obscured origin. All the episodes combined introduce this “Hall Ov Fame” as a psyche-cinematic event which resonates with “ambience in its natural shades” to evoke the whole range of sensations that make a proper, suspenseful mind movie.

Tobias. (Freund) is long established as an influential artist and has - since the early 1990s - been working as a professional producer, sound engineer, label owner and strictly live musician. The Berghain resident constantly keeps exploring the vast synth-driven Techno, Experimental and Ambient territories on journeys in-between genres, both as a live act and on his countless releases.
Besides his early solo projects (such as Pink Elln, Metazone or Phobia) he’s also been collaborating with Dandy Jack (as Sieg Über Die Sonne), Ricardo Villalobos (as Odd Machine), Max Loderbauer (as NSI.), Valentina Berthelon (as Recent Arts) and AtomTM to only name a few. With his vast experience, diverse output and interests, Tobias. doesn’t tire to actively push against existing boundaries and explore new areas of electronic music. By this he stands in a long tradition of electronic music, scrutinizing the self while reaching out towards the unknown, approaching sound with an appetite for the new, in the tradition of true innovators.

Hall Ov Fame follows a compilation in three parts that introduced Concentric Records’ roster and exploratory sonic realm over the past year and half, featuring unique and wide-ranging works by (in order of appearance) Pole, Daniela Huerta feat. Cornelia Thonhauser, Samuel Rohrer, Vladislav Delay, Jake Muir, Hotel Neon, Soundwalk Collective, Etapp Kyle, Tragic Selector (Daisuke Tadokoro & Terre Thaemlitz), Kareem Lotfy, Christina Vantzou, Jana Winderen, Echium, Max Loderbauer, William Selman, Petre Inspirescu, Supply, The Waves, HOLOVR, ASWA.

Written and Produced by Tobias Freund at Non Standard Studios, Berlin. Mastered by Tobias Freund. Lacquer Cut by Mike Grinser. Cover Image: TV Caption of Marcello Mastroianni in 'La Città delle Donne' by Federico Fellini, 1980. Artwork by Blackbirds Inc.

Dark Star Safari is a musical entity comprised of Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Eivind Aarset, Samuel Rohrer and John Derek Bishop. Their second fulllength offering Walk Through Lightly is the first to feature all five musicians together in the studio from the outset, making for a more organic refinement upon their already established methodology: gradually sculpting distinct songs out of collective improvisations, or using the raw material from initial recordings as the basis for more carefully articulated compositions. The final mix is one that invites few stylistic comparisons to other musical peers, and in fact few comparisons to existing genres. Though this second offering from the project is frosted over with a Scandinavian sense of spatiality and
melancholy, it’s best listened to without considering any origin points, geographic or otherwise: from the opening moments of “Walk Through Lightly,” listeners will feel as if teleported directly into the middle of an enigmatic film-in-progress.
The album opener immediately and successfully sets the table for what is to follow. The electronic and acoustic instrumentation is pensive, but not passive, with restrained scrapes and stridulations in the background combining with backwards-looped passages and perlescent or granulated sound effects to better emphasize the carefully arranged latticework of guitar, percussion, strings, and bass. In some places, such as on “Father’s Day” and “Measured Response,” the silences or breaths between passages are pronounced enough to be an instrument in their own right (and an elegant confirmation of the fact that silence is also a conveyor of information). This nuanced production, which wisely opts for intimacy instead of relying on overdone "instant atmosphere generators" like lengthy reverb, provides just enough tension to contrast with the sense of elevation provided by Bang’s vocal contributions: smoky, evanescent, and impressionistic recitations offering not snapshots of specific events, but rather complete emotional environments for the listener to hover through and explore.
Within these environments, the lyrical imagery focuses upon coming to grips with sudden transformations on both micro and macro levels (the opening “this was a perfect place / till we lost our way” from “Patria” or the foreboding “Poems that explore / Their silence / Crush their violence / Now their time ends” from “Measured Response.”) It focuses as well upon coming to thresholds or crossings, be they physical crossroads or internal states of mind, or both (see especially the striking turns of phrase from “Murmuration.”) With such things in mind, it’s only natural that there would be consideration of dreaming as well, and indeed four different titles on the LP make different reference to a dream or dream state, seemingly valuing dreams as part of the continuum of consciousness rather than something totally cut off from waking experience.
Given the sense of foreboding, anticipation, and even unease that these kinds of subjects often bring with them, the spare and un-hurried music is all the more intriguing, especially when the eponymous finale arrives and the percolating sound bed seems to hint at a coming resolution, but then leaves the listener with more questions than answers. By competently fusing a mature, economical approach to sincerely romantic lyrical themes, Walk Through Lightly is a rare accomplishment.

The edition that marks the start of the brand-new Comets Coming could not be more suitable: it is that Rodrigo Brandão, like his grandfather Herman Poole Blount, dust of stars that the world knows as Sun Ra, may have his feet on the Earth, but he has definitely a sidereal head.

Brandão arrived recently to Portugal, but already left a strong mark in the most adventurous Lisbon scene, having performed several concerts in which his language has been wrapped in the exploratory sounds of musicians such as Rodrigo Amado, João Valinho, and Hernâni Faustino. The agitator, poet and spoken word artist, brought a vast experience that over the years saw him collaborate with artists as distinct as the members of Metá Metá or Prince Paul (that one!) on BROOKZILL!.

This work, however, came in his luggage, across the ocean, on the rediscovery trip that brought him from Brazil to Lisbon. OUTROS ESPAÇO was recorded in São Paulo in late 2019 with a luxury crew: Tulipa Ruiz and Juçara Marçal added to the microphone, Thiago França played flute and alto & tenor saxophones, Guilherme Granado dealt with the synthesizers and effects, Marcos Gerez measured the overall pulse with his electric bass, Thomas Rohrer played soprano and 'rabeca' (fiddle), and Paulo Santos dealt with the percussion. In addition to the base band, OUTROS ESPAÇO also features some members of Sun Ra Arkestra's current incarnation. Respectively: Danny Thompson (RIP) on baritone and bongo, Elson Nascimento on 'surdo' (tom drum), Knoel Scott on tenor and soprano, with the giant Marshall Allen in a prominent role leading the collective towards the unknown, while playing the alto sax and synthesizer.

In OUTROS ESPAÇO, Brandão reaches for words from different origins, from contrasting times and cultures, all with magnetic resonance imaging: what is not from his furrow comes to him from Candomblé (“Quando Os Orixás Desfilam Sobre A Cracolândia”), from his readings of Sun Ra (“Eu Sou 1 Instrumento” is an adaptation of the poem I Am An Instrument), or from the school's playgrounds (“Jamais Nos Esqueceremos”). And in these words there are teeth and nails ingrained in injustice (“Quantos Coltrane...?, “Todo o Dia Tem +”) and kaleidoscopic delusions that result from the speed of light (“Sol da Meia Noite”).

The crew that travels through these OUTROS ESPAÇO (PT for "Other Spaces") has freedom as the main fuel, jazz as a measure of their reach, and all swings in the world as maps, so they can lose themselves at the end of the cosmos. There is urgency and reflection, craziness and precision, surprise and well-known ancestral raw material, that makes us vibrate inwardly with the same trembling as the comets that are coming.

The visionary and veteran Scotty Hard was responsible for making everything sound like the music of the spheres, dealing with the mixing from his INGUASONIC SOUND studio in Brooklyn, NY.

And lastly, in January, Rob Mazurek, another frequent ally of Brandão, another notorious space traveler, offered a poem that frames this project. Among other things, he writes:

Make this place sing

Make this place thunder

Make this place shake

It couldn't be in any other way.

Kevin Martins erstes Solo-Album unter dem Namen The Bug seit sieben Jahren könnte zeitlich nicht besser passen: „Fire“ - der dritte, berauschende Teil eines urbanen Triptychons, das mit dem explosiven „London Zoo“ von 2008 begann und mit dem bewusstseinsverändernden „Angels & Devils“ von 2014 fortgesetzt wurde - besteht aus vierzehn Tracks, die die Synapsen zum Schmelzen bringen, die den Körper durcheinanderwirbeln und die Hörerinnen und Hörer auf cineastische Weise von der Beschwörung einer düsteren, abgeriegelten Stadtlandschaft bis hin zu schwindelerregenden, tiefenscharfen Nahaufnahmen der Psyche von Martin, die ihn und seine Kollaborateur*innen an die Belastungsgrenze führen.

Die Aggression, die Attitüde, der beeindruckende Umfang und die destabilisierende, beunruhigende Raserei des Bug-Sounds ist durchweg perfekt umgesetzt, aber „Fire“ ist keine bloße Wiederbelebung der Vergangenheit - für Martin ist das Album sowohl eine Antwort auf die einzigartigen Umstände des vergangenen Jahres als auch eine Chance, seine eigene Reise vom zurückgezogenen Sound-Besessenen zum Familienvater zu reflektieren, und seinen Durst zu stillen - in einer Zeit erzwungener hermetischer Isolation - nach Kontakt, nach dem Chaos, das nur zwischen Menschen, Lärm und Bässen stattfinden kann, die Irritation der Sinne, die stets Bugs Methode und Weg waren, seit er in den späten 90ern aus den tiefsten Ecken Londons herauskroch.

Es ist das bisher beste Album von The Bug, möglicherweise die wildeste und bewegendste Musik, die Martin je gemacht hat, und es berührt immer noch die anfänglichen Sehnsüchte und Impulse, die „London Zoo“ wie eine Rohrbombe durch den Briefkasten in Ihre Welt katapultiert haben. Es ist eine hungrige Platte, in jeder Hinsicht.

Die MCs, die auf dem Album zu hören sind - einerseits langjährige Weggefährt*innen wie Flowdan, Roger Robinson, Moor Mother, Manga Saint Hilare, Irah & Daddy Freddy, andererseits relativ neue Namen im Bug-Stall wie Logan, Nazamba und FFSYTHO - reflektieren unweigerlich den äußeren Wahnsinn einer auf den Kopf gestellten Welt, graben aber auch tief in sich selbst, um nachdenkliche, erbarmungslos ehrliche Darstellungen der Wut, des Widerstands und der Resignation zu schaffen, die das letzte Jahr in uns allen hervorgerufen hat.

Concentric Records presents Radiant, the third compilation of its introductory release trilogy. Featuring music by ASWA, HOLOVR, Max Loderbauer, Petre Inspirescu, Supply, The Waves, William Selman, the album evokes luminous, iridescent and ethereal sonic spaces - a journey that overcomes struggles, spinning upward towards the light.

The album opens with calm, bright and assertive tonalities, evoking mental spaces prone to exploration and wondering. Molecular textures and real-world sounds bring us closer to an intimate and physical sphere, a voice. Ultimately everything dissolves into a synthetic domain of acid-like washes, in a cinematic sense of departure.

MAX LODERBAUER has been an active engineer, producer, and musician across four decades. He first came to notice in the late ‘80s as a member of Fischerman’s Friend. Known then as Daimler Max, Loderbauer’s associates included Stephan Fischer and Tom Thiel, as well as producer Thomas Fehlmann. Once the group went dormant, Loderbauer and Thiel established Sun Electric; one of the leading sources of entrancing downtempo and ambient techno through the ‘90s. During the 2000s and 2010s, Loderbauer collaborated in numerous settings, including NSI with Tobias Freund, Chica & the Folder with Paula Schopf, and Moritz von Oswald Trio with Vladislav Delay and Moritz von Oswald. Loderbauer was partly responsible for some of the most progressive and experimental electronic music released during these years. In 2011, he and contemporary Ricardo Villalobos assembled Re: ECM, a project that involved radical transformations of ECM label recordings by the likes of Bennie Maupin, Christian Wallumrød, John Abercrombie, and Arvo Pärt. More recently he consolidated the collaboration with Ricardo Villalobos via the Vilod project, and with Samuel Rohrer and Claudio Puntin as Ambiq - both described as ‘a fertile patch of inspiration, shaking up the principles of minimal techno with the loose, expressive qualities of jazz’. The album opening track - ‘Harmonic’ - feels like a glowing dream. Composed of stunning electronics in a polychromatic, blinding and shimmering light; harmonious interwoven melodies calmly wind down invoking a serene mental state and grounding peace.

WILLIAM SELMAN was the very first artist ever approached by Concentric Records prior to the label’s birth, back in 2018, following his defining release ‘Musica Enterrada’. A musician and multimedia artist currently based in Portland, Oregon, his work employs analogue and digital synthesis techniques, live percussion and instrumentation, and his own rich field recordings to create compositions and sound art focused on the ideas of place and environment. Selman's recent works have been released on Mysteries of the Deep and Hausu Mountain.

PETRE INSPIRESCU is an extremely versatile composer. As co-founder of the legendary RPR Soundsystem together with Rhadoo and Raresh, he mostly produced club-ready, heavily textured takes on tech-house and minimal techno. In 2015 he released his first album on Mule Musiq, considered a significant departure from his previous work, scoring piano, strings and woodwind instruments for the first time, resulting in a set that sat somewhere between ambient and neo-classical. Since then, he continued to explore further sonic territories, adding in vintage synthesizers and occasional nods to dub techno, resulting in melodious sequences of musical movements that relate to the work of classical composers, American minimalists and ambient legends. ‘The Garden’ is a dreamy, intimate and nature inspired composition, recorded in his home studio in Ibiza sometime in the Summer.

DJ and producer SUPPLY (youngest so far on the label) was born and raised in Gießen, within sight of the skyscrapers of Frankfurt am Main, and has been living in Berlin since 2017. Musically socialised through hip hop, he found his connection to electronic music produced in Chicago and Detroit in the 90s by moving to FFM in 2013. For almost 6 years he has hosted his own events in his hometown. His productions connect the dots between hip hop, retro futuristic movie soundtracks and techno, he recently released on YAY Recordings. ‘Inhale / Exhale’ was created during a time of stress and mental tension, partly self-inflicted, partly result of my surroundings, as it turned out in retrospect. The track tries to capture a moment of taking a deep breath by releasing that tension for a moment. I came up with the first sketch one night around 4am, the final arrangement found its way onto a C60 Chromoxid Cassette - inhale - exhale.’ - Supply

THE WAVES is a post-punk and synthwave-inspired project led by Maayan Nidam, that places her vocals at its front and centre. As a musician obsessed with sound and the technology behind its creation, her workflow places a strong focus on the studio environment. Triggering chain reactions between guitar pedals, drum machines, modular synths and acoustic instruments, generating sounds in unpredictable ways. Drum machines keep a steady groove as to give support to an array of guitars and synthesisers, all topped with The Waves own, mostly unmasked, lyrics and voice. ‘Hold On’ was written by Maayan during the 2020 pandemic as she dived deeply in studio work in Berlin. Her lyrics are featured as part of the art print insert, and have became a central statement to the LP and its narrative - the power to hold on and break through.

Jimmy Billingham's HOLOVR project has racked up various releases on some of the most forward-thinking electronic music labels over the past few years, including Firecracker Recordings, Likemind, Further Records, Opal Tapes and his own Indole Records. Though best known for melodic, drifting acid techno and electronica, he's equally at home crafting textured ambient soundscapes. HOLOVR's deeply emotional synth passages and pads will take you on a journey into the outer. 'Melancholy of Time came out of a period exploring ways of producing and recording outside of the grid-based structures that I was previously working with. I wanted to strip it back to what I often find to be the emotional core of a piece of electronic music - ebbing and flowing synth pads - but to push and pull it a bit to create a slight disjointedness, unpredictability and shop-worn texture, as if it's coming apart and fraying, yet retaining a sonic clarity. I recorded it live using looped and layered synth phrases, underpinned by a layer of hiss and pin-prick textures. I find reflections on time and its passing to be a recurrent feature of my work, both in a more straightforward way of harking back to music of a certain period or pieces of equipment but also in a more abstract sense of creating a feeling where time doesn't matter - a deep feeling of now; that escape that you find in music and other ecstatic experiences. Though of course we’re always in - and running out of - time, and hence the melancholy.’ - Jimmy Billingham

Hailing from the German underground scene, ASWA aka Attila Fidan has an intricate, hypnotic style of electro, techno and ambient. Coming from visual arts and not primarily a trained musician, Attila produces under various and multiple monikers: ‘I never really start out knowing which moniker the track will be made under’. Since 2017 he runs a boutique Berlin label named ‘Tape Archive’. ‘Dust Palace’ is a synthetic piece that resonates with a cinematic vastness, closing the LP in an uplifting tone that evokes new departures and new beginnings.

Marcus Schmickler's music is designed for multi-channel sound projections and references German electronic music tradition, spectral music, experimentalism as well as 1990s club music. His artistic practice explores avant-garde trajectories in electronic music composition, formal systems, sonification and psychoacoustics. EMEGO 296 features two new major works from this audacious sound explorer.

Sky Dice / Mapping the Studio premiered at Donaueschinger Tage fur Neue Musik 10.20.2018 having being commissioned by SWR and realized at the Experimentalstudio (EXP) in Freiburg. This is a work for ARP 2500, Publison DHM89B, Publison Infernal Machine and Computer. Taking cues from Bruce Nauman's Mapping the Studio I (Fat Chance John Cage) (2001) the piece draws a fragmented acoustic map of the SWR facility itself; the studio serves as a source-model for the sonic display of historical signal flow graphs. Various acoustic and psychoacoustic effects come into play including the Larsen effect, as well as Style Transfer and Topological Sonification. The result is a daring and dizzying display of disorientating audio. Sound moves in most unusual ways, rising and falling simultaneously, appearing and disappearing like apparitions, nothing here behaves in expected ways. To paraphrase Albert Einstein's now famous quote regarding quantum mechanics, this is spooky audio at a distance.

Fortuna Ribbon is a selection of sonic material that emerged from a research based on how DPOAEs (Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission) can be designed in the context of musical frameworks, augmenting the compositional pallets in regard to spatial hearing. In this manifestation, the materials are presented without context. The resulting emissions from the ear that are excited in varying ways from the 6 examples on display here. Playback in undisturbed acoustic environments is recommended at >82 dB/A.

Schmickler's ongoing investigation of sound matter conjures impossible audio that delight's in the extremity of form and resulting effects on the listener. Schmickler's audio invocations explore the capabilities of contemporary technology resulting in dizzying new worlds of sound.

Thanks to the Experimentalstudio crew, Detlef Heusinger, Björn Gottstein, Julian Rohrhuber and Peter Rehberg.

new quartet by Samuel Rohrer, Max Loderbauer, Stian Westerhus & Tobias Freund In the present era of media saturation, the artist's dilemma has shifted away from the question whether to fuse disparate stylistic elements, towards the decision of which energies to draw upon: a situation most rewarding for those who listen to musicians navigating this limitless terrain. One such journey, the captivating full-length release from Samuel Rohrer's new Kave quartet coming out this May, is bringing together players who are equally well-versed in the quick-thinking mechanics of free group improvisation and the compositional strategies of contemplative / ‘ambient’ electronic music. With Rohrer acting as creative director and most of the quartet sharing synthesizer duties, there’s a strong sense of unified purpose to this set, and a narrative flow that never causes the listener to focus on one constituent part at the expense of the whole. At the same time, the players know all well that cohesion counts for little without those constituent parts being compelling in their own right. Rohrer and Loderbauer, for example, have previously crafted a unique techno-organic approach with the Ambiq trio, and the lessons learned from that partnership are put to inspired use within this new configuration. Stian Westerhus’ contributions on guitar and vocals, along with Tobias Freund’s electronic reinforcements - Freund also has worked since many years with Max Loderbauer as NSI - all conspire to make something that Rohrer aptly compares as “forest”-like. It’s a descriptor that will have vastly different meanings for each listener. For Rohrer, it refers to music that is confident in the “deep-rootedness” of its foundations and defined by a density and mystery easily confused with darkness, while nevertheless proving its bright vitRight away, on the introductory odyssey 'Cambium' the quartet sets out to make good on this metaphor, creating a hypnotic foundation for what is about to unfold during the next 42 minutes, with brooding, slow, 'searchlight in a fog,' synth washes and percussive stridulation. The twin 'Hibernation' tracks show all the unique elements beginning to coalesce: the emotional tenor is one of vulnerability that melts into the determination of 'staring into the void', a temperamental state challenging to represent authentically in music. The atmosphere of psychic challenge effort lessly gives way to the faintly nostalgic glimmers of 'Giant Peach' - a literary reference to the macabre whimsy of Roald Dahl.
The ultimate dissolution of barriers between organicism and synthesis is accomplished on the majestic 'Divided We Fall', a title referring to Westerhus’ smoky vocalization that winds into a double helix formed from electronic surges.
Again, the ease with which it all comes together is mesmerizing, and while there’s an aura of risk accompanying this walk through the woods, there’s a much more enduring impression of carefully orchestrated growth and change.

Samuel Rohrer CONTINUAL DECENTERING
With his Arjunamusic label and a growing catalog of categorydefying releases, Samuel Rohrer continues to quietly, yet confidently, make a name for himself as a genuinely unique Gigure within the European electronic music realm. In the current era, talk of blurring boundaries between musical genres and attitudes is more the rule than the exception, but not always something done with any degree of success. Rohrer is one of those rare alchemical explorers to have truly created a hybrid which is all his own, one that does not just exist to melt distinctions for its own sake, but is a natural result of years of experimentation with both the determination of electronic music and the ludic spirit of ‘free improvisation.’ On his newest offering, Continual Decentering, this vision is applied to a set of mostly in real time (live) performed explorations. 
In keeping with his many years’ worth of fruitful collaborations, the tonal palette on this new record is one that is expectedly rich for those familiar with his work, yet still surprising in terms of how exactly the differing tonal colors come together. Representative tracks like Spondee and The Fringe are brimming with dub pulses, noir shivers and blooming timbral variations that are in many places carefully isolated / focused and in other places blended together in vivid fusions. In terms of the emotional atmosphere created here, the pensive and questioning tone hearkens back to the ‘wide open’ state of electronic music in the mid-late 1990s, yet with a greater clarity and maturity of vision that makes this music feel like a possible answer to aesthetic questions being raised at that time. As with Rohrer’s most recent solo work, like the Range of Regularity LP, Continual Decentering showcases the artist’s skill in turning the drum kit into a lead instrument. While the term “lead instrument” denotes a kind of exuberant “Glash,” or a clear separation from the rest of the voices in an ensemble, we can take the term to mean something different throughout this listening program of 13 short vignettes: that is to say, everything else within the audible environment exists to complement the character of the percussive playing rather than to stand apart from it. It helps that Rohrer has, in fact, developed a unique and complex hybrid system in which drum hits trigger modular synthesizer processes, the use of which makes for an incredibly fluid response time between distinct sonic events. In contrast to the previous Range... LP, this new offering is propelled less by interlacing threads of intensity and more by a shared sense of deep listening. As displayed on pieces like All Too Human, there is a profound sense of attention to silences or thoughtful pauses that maybe hints at another crucial aspect of Rohrer’s style: over the course of this program, we tend to hear the player not only playing but listening, an activity which makes perfect sense given the sense of instrumental dialogue already mentioned. All of the above come together to give Continual Decentering a “live”-ness that will easily translate from recorded document to dynamic performance.

Dark Star Safari, a newly formed group featuring Samuel Rohrer, Jan Bang, Erik Honoré and Eivind Aarset, present its eponymous recording debut, an evocative song-driven album. These songs conjure shadows of memory, clouds of dreaming and silhouettes of foreboding through the album’s layered, many-textured fabrics and Jan Bang's silken delivery of Erik Honoré's acute lyrics. Dark Star Safari is the work of four kindred spirits, their open modus operandi, and a remarkably interconnected creative nerve system. Key to their collaboration is an organic freedom that enables the music “to fill itself in", to be self-actualizing via the musicians as medium. The music of the 10 songs resulted from a two-stage process: an initial phase of free flowing open improvi- sation, and a subsequent exploratory phase where hidden potenti- als were discovered and nurtured. The groundwork of the album’s music originates from a session initiated by Samuel Rohrer, who invited Jan Bang and Eivind Aarset to the renowned Candy Bomber studio in Berlin. The ses- sion was run under the imaginative craftsmanship of sound engi- neer Ingo Krauss, who worked in the famous Conny Plank stu- dio, and its recording and mixing employed sophisticated use of vintage analogue equipment alongside cutting edge digital pro- cesses. This meeting opened the door for something larger to emerge. The group did not settle for just the outcome of the initi- al open improvisation. They were driven to dig deeper, to atten- tively examine and manipulate the material, in order to discover what it had to offer. This caused a creational chain reaction, forcefully spreading across the group. During this second phase, Jan Bang, while meditating upon the possibilities and reach of the improvised material, felt a strong urge to give additional shape and colour to it by singing. Thus, he organically stepped into the role of vocalist, a role he had not pursued since the early days of his musical career. He sent the results to Erik Honoré, who immediately was inspired by its po- tential, quickly penning lyrics and providing the project with its name. Honoré composed two additional songs, Mordechai and Fault Line, and thus rounded the project out towards a fully reali- zed opus. The group continued this back and forth process, with Samuel Rohrer and Eivind Aarset bringing in fine-tuning and e nrichment to the song structures and textures.

Max Loderbauer, who has so far made consistently engaging contributions to the Arjunamusic family, is back to lend his unique interpretive skills to the master recordings for the Brightbird album by João Paulo Esteves da Silva, Mário Franco and Samuel Rohrer. Loderbauer has set himself up for a chal- lenge, since the original album's completely improvised flow of small-ensemble, conversational jazz feels complete enough without outside intervention. However, Loderbauer's role as electronics operator in the similarly attuned Ambiq trio has already shown that, through his mastery of tone color, he has a talent for teasing out the additional hidden details within an apparently 'complete' sonic environment. It's a task he mana- ges to accomplish without ever overriding or contradicting the cohesive message provided by his collaborators.

Adding to the challenge here, Loderbauer chooses to re- mix using only sounds from the original recordings. By doing so, it might seem he is willfully denying himself the chance to use his own signature tools and turn Brightbird's source materi- al into stunningly new electro-acoustic hybrid blooms. Yet Loderbauer succeeds here by becoming something more like a translator than an augmenter - he finds a way to make mea- ningful syntactical changes to the trio's rich and versatile vo- cabulary, and once again unveils a verdant world of hidden details in the process.

The A-side 'Trusting Heart/Cosmos' has an anxious tone introduced by a set of Doppler-effected piano notes that seem to melt in the sun, and is soon complemented by a va- riegated, chattering rhythm line. Here Loderbauer builds up a tactile tension between rhythmic certainty and sharp-angled, de-tuned, and occasionally scrambled instrumentation, framing a disorienting (yet engaging) virtual space where ob- jects' bright hues rapidly change as they contract and expand along multiple dimensions. For the b-side 'Noontide', Lo- derbauer switches to a more focused and streamlined idiom with an uncanny ease, riding along steady waves of sequencer patterning and silvery, resonant shiverings. Reverberating, ho- lographic piano again provides the tonal center here, and the notes ring with a forward-thinking optimism not far removed from classics of the 'Krautrock' era.

Current supporters of all the artists involved will find this to be an invigorating synopsis of their work to date, while newcomers will be treated to a soundworld where skillful fu- sion (the act itself, rather than the music genre with the same name) is constantly on display.

The second EP of Samuel Rohrer's Range of Regularity album presents two more striking reinterprations. These new remixes provide an intriguing parallax view of the original tracks, using the percussive eclecticism of the parent LP as a starting point from which to journey into sonically vibrant, feature-rich territories. The production specialists on hand for this project include Burnt Friedman and Ricardo Villalobos. Villalobos, has already formed a strong working relationship with Rohrer's AMBIQ trio, lends his talents to both of the EPs. (RoR REMIXES I - AMEL-EP716). Nonplace label boss Friedman, as well, has carved out a unique space for himself within the electronic world, logging several decades' worth of releases that with dub-wise production sensibility, skewed humor, and riots of tone color. Though each individual remix has its own character, they are all united in their ability to provide a quick cure for fatigue with the common 'loop': though not improvised, they are strung together from fleeting phrases that evolve as if they are taking on a life independent of their creators.
Burnt Friedman's own dramatic interpretation of 'Microcosmoism' pairs up his consciousness of deep bass and analog inventiveness with Rohrer's continually transforming sound objects, making for a flowing and wordless narrative that simply dares listeners to stop paying attention. Feeling more like a collaboration in 'real time' than a remix proper, Friedman brings his characteristic 'mad scientist' wit to the proceedings and delivers an energetic piece that simply glows in the dark.
This is complemented nicely by Villalobos' remix of 'Microcosmoism'. It carries the energy level of the 1st EP over to a new disk, while heavily experimenting with feelings of emotional ambiguity. At some points aggressive and at other points merely curious, this mischievous collage of attitudes feels as inspired by the questing jazz of Sun Ra as it is by continental techno. Contemplative keyboard runs, enthusiastic spring-like percussion and malfunctioning machine chatter all coalesce to make this a most fascinating piece of multi-purpose electronic music.

Coming hot on the heels of Samuel Rohrer'sRange of Regularity album are two EPs of striking reinterpreta- tions. These new remixes provide an intriguing parallax view of the original tracks, using the percussive eclecticism of the parent LP as a starting point from which to journey into soni- cally vibrant, feature-rich territories. The production specia- lists on the first EP include Ricardo Villalobos and Vilod, the collaborative duo with Max Loderbauer. Villalobos, has alrea- dy formed a strong working relationship with Rohrer's AM- BIQ trio, lends his talents to both of these new EPs. The se- cond one will be completed by a remix of Burnt Friedman. Each individual remix has its own character, they are all united in their ability to provide a quick cure for fatigue with the common loop': they are strung together from fleeting phra- ses that evolve as if they are taking on a life independent of their creators.Villalobos' compelling take on Lenina' pulsates from start to finish with a kind of voluntary anxiety, a commitment to painting every corner of the sonic surface with clearly defined pointillist touches. While this kind of approach would cause less confident producers to collapse at their editing worksta- tion, Villalobos takes to the task with gusto - leaving see- mingly no corner un-animated by sound, he pieces together something surprisingly funky and hyper-real from a catalog of distinct percussive hits, time-reversed ephemera, and playful kitchen sink' ambience. Vilod's Uncertain Grace' remix, though marginally more laidback than the flipside, is no less engaging. A buzzing beehive of activity powered by an organ- like refrain, this is one of those pieces that will induce a fee- ling of perpetual movement into even the most still of physi- cal surroundings. This is especially true when, after four and a half minutes of flotation, a straight-ahead techno rhythm ta- kes over and all the disparate hovering elements fall into place.