14.01.2007 Astoria Frühclub @ Astoria (ex-Tanzhalle) / Hamburg

ATTENTION FRÜHCLUB!!! DOORS OPEN 5 a.m. !!!

baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings] + Astoria Frühclub Posse

file under: TechHouse / ElektroHouse / Progressive

Astoria
Silbersackstrasse 27
Hamburg St. Pauli
Germany


New location: former Tanzhalle @ Silbersackstrasse !!!

11.01.2007 Le Wünderwelt @ Neue Heimat / Hamburg

decks: baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings]

file under: Ingenious Dilletantes, (No)Wave, ElektroPunk, SynthPop, NuBeat, ItaloDisco, MashUps

doors: 8.30 pm


Neue Heimat
Neuer Kamp 19
20359 Hamburg
Germany

09.01.2007 La Musica Obscura @ III & 70 - Ground Floor / Hamburg

file under: SynthPop , (No)Wave, ItaloDisco, Ingenious Dilettantes, NuBeat, EBM, ElectroPunk ...

decks: baze.djunkiii (Intrauterin Recordings)

doors: 9 p.m.

III & 70 - Ground Floor
Schulterblatt 73
Hamburg
Germany

29.12.2006 Adventures In Electronic Music Pt. 3 @ III & 70 / Hamburg

decks:

baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings / Rudel Records]
Headless & Topless [Society Rulez!]

file under: Techno / Minimalism

doors open: 10 pm - 5 am

III & 70
Schulterblatt 73
Schanze
Hamburg
Germany

Grime r_port vol. 15

“Make Way For The S-O-V...” . Lady Sovereign’s massive “Love Me Or Hate Me” has been put out on promo circuit via Cajual / Def Jam / Universal lately and is about to kill every dancefloor no matter if it’s gonna be HipHop- or Grime-related. Flipside holds a remix featuring Missy Elliott but it’s still the original tune that works best. Check.

Hamburg’s very own Grime Not Grime-specialists The Boy Group recently released their “Nike Monkey E.P.” on the Doxa–imprint, which includes the massive, sing-along title track “Nike Monkey” plus the anthemic “Mathematically” from their first ever 7” on the A-side, both alone reason enough to grab this one, but we’ve a flipside, too, on which Egoexpress transform “Love Is A Frequency” taken off the bands debut album into a more Minimal Techno-based tune that is pure and functional. Furthermore the so-called 635-csi Mix of “Mathematically” turns out to be a shuffled version that is based on very raw, nearly unprocessed sounds which seem to be recorded semi-acoustic while “Memories Of A Jukeboxer” – another one relying on the magic 4/4 bassdrum – presents an incredible kind of what u might call anti-funk for connaisseurs. Nice one.

Mordant Music have seen the release of their cat.no. 014 recently – a split-10” between Skull Disco’s Ritual Grime- /MythStep-pioneer Shackleton and an artist of the same as the imprint Mordant Music‘s name. While Shackleton gives another example of why his fusion of lose voodoo percussions, unbelievably deep basswaves and mystic samples coined an own subgenre of Dubstep that fast which is still miles and miles away of being copied as it is so unique and far out, Mordant Music steps paths that might be might be more familiar to followers of Electronica and Rhythm Industrial as his dry beat structures and sweet soft melodies come close what Cranioclast’s limited to 500 pieces only 10” named “Carl’s On Acit” on Auf Abwegen delivered back in the days to open minded lovers of freeform dance music in 2003.

Straight from the Ghetto - News on HipHop, pt. 19

“HipHop Is Dead”. At least this what Nas feat. Will.I.Am proclaims with his latest 12” on – guess what? - Def Jam UK which is taken from his forthcoming album of the same name. Musicwise he proves wrong as his tune is to be filed as a solid club banger of the classic kind. Although there’s a bit of Rock’ish attitude to be found with sampled guitars and a sung chorus the beats are straightforward and oldskool, even featuring parts referring to the essential Apache-loop. As long as tracks like this are written and played out on dancefloors we see the physical state of HipHop as: still alive.

Jay-Z’s new single “Kingdom Come” has been put on promo circuit shortly via Def Jam / Roc–A–Fella Records, a nice, chilled and slightly funky tune that’ll work well in tiny venues with an original intimate club vibe. Flipside holds the album version of “Trouble” which is more of a banger featuring thrilling psycho tones and laid back piano sounds – original G-Funk vibes.

Akon’s upcoming album “Konvicted” is to drop soon and now we got the first single “I Wanna Love You” doing first rounds on the decks, which features gangsta legend Snoop Dogg on guest vocals. Expect a cool, laid-back mixture of slick, booming 808-based DigiSoul and typical Snoop-styled raps. On the B-side there’s also two versions of “Shake Down” coming up with a pseudo anthemic attitude and some Crunk / Dirty South elements which are – in the end – nothing but cheap so file “Shake Down” as filler not thriller.

Another double-A-side promotional from the Def Jam-stable showed up in my postbox these days featuring Young Jeezy’s “I Luv It” taken from his forthcoming album “The Inspiration” and Ghostface Killah’s “Good” as well as “Ghost Is Back” from his longplayer “More Fish” which is also piped for 2007. While Young Jeezy delivers nothing more than average MTVIVA-styled BlingHop, Ghostface Killah comes up with more individual and surprising stuff. “Good” is based on some weirdo high speed Disco and / or Funk-samples which ain’t my cup of tea at all but at least different to most of the tunes around these days, but finally it’s “Ghost It Back” that wins by far due to its oldskool attitude referring to the late 80‘s / early 90‘s when HipHop was still dance music and b-boying / breakin‘ not a crime. Best track on this 12”.

Longplay love 40.0

Wolfgang Raspe's "Try To Keep The Balance" has been released recently as cat.no. 019 of Super Six Goodies - an album that basicly deals with a style that might (or should?) be called Intelligent / Ambient / Armchair Techno. Deep grooves, long tracks, strings, sometimes minimalistic and influenced by Tribal or Ritual Music that causes a natural state of hypnosis - if you remember the legendary album "Record Off Breaks" by Psychik Warriors Ov Gaia you'll know which kind of musical language we're talking here. No more words necessary - check that one out and don't miss.

"The Sun Behind The Dustbin" is the title of the forthcoming Beehoover-album which is scheduled for release on Exile On Mainstream on January 22nd - an exciting project able to create the tension of a whole (Skate) Metal-group with only being a two piece project consisting of bass, mic and a regular drumkit. Creating songs with this specific and minimalistic approach the two members named Claus Peter Harnisch & Ingmar Petersen come up with at least 10 compulsory tunes somewhat between the borders of down-to-earth Doom, smokey Psychedelia and a slight similarity to early relases of Vienna-based Mucky Pub which partly ruled the european Skate Metal-scene in the early 90's, at some point even with touch of dark Folk, which seems to be the new "everything matches with..."-genre of last - check "A Nice Romantic Evening" to prove this. If you're up for a nice piece of extraordinary music file "The Sun Behind The Dustbin" as one album to ask yr local dealer for in January as this one seems to get better everytime you listen to it, which is one characteristic point of every album that'll be referred to as "important" in the future.

Mike Patton's very own imprint Ipecac Recordings comes up with the first album of re-formed two piece band Hella, now back and re-born as a bunch of five musicians which teamed up to produce "There's No 666 In Outer Space". Piped for February 9th the album with the more than mysterious title is going to catch attention of lovers of more Experimental or Progressive Rock Music that are used to bulky, not easily accessible songs and structures plus a kind of more artsy, GlamRock-related attitude. Surely not the one to be Ipecac's most successful album but as their release politics are not focused on commerical success anyhow this won't matter at all.

Parts in the post, pt. 50

Mannheim’s defenders of purest Techno Drum’n’Bass, Tilt Recordings , are about to punish dancefloors again with their cat.no. 005 which is set straight for January 2007. A-side holds Pyro & Jesta’s “Vision” in its repolished 2006 version, a track that originally hails from 2003, was piped on several labels before but for whatever reason never made to vinyl – until now. A dark, massive technoid tune that does nothing except pushing dancefloors to the max due to its straightforward tool’ish attitude and decent psycho stabs after the great halftempo breakdown. On the flipside we’ve got Budoka’s “The Happening” paying tribute to the days when technoid Drum’n’Bass was still new, fresh and not so focused on its own niche as it is today. Thrilling sounds that might have been laid down in the post Virus-era when No U-Turn still was in its early 30‘s and producers like Raiden or Silent Witness started pushing tunes on Barcode or DN Audio – from a personal point of view this was my preferred era of what is now flagged Neurofunk and due to this I’d rate Budoka’s tune as winner out of this two.

Utrecht’s Tribe Tekno posse of Dankan, Scratchaker, Cyclo and Irie Monkey comes up with a new release – cat.no. 004 - on Harkom Records , that keeps the kind of anarchic spirit of free party music alive. Three of the tracks are based on banging beats on approx. 145 bpm and beyond that, fusing Tribe Tekno, UK- Acid Techno, slow pounding Hardcore and some Broken Techno / Breaktek as well as Psy-influences plus weirdo sounds and kinda funny samples that always provide a sense of positivity and joy, no matter how hard the beats are banging to your head. Especially this fact makes the whole genre of Tribe Tekno interesting for open minded DJ’s so keep your eyes open on this 12” as it might be a bit hard to get if your local dealer does not stock a bit of leftfield import stuff. And btw – don’t take Irie Monkey’s tune “City Toppers” on B2 for too serious as this is a good example of how all those Tribe producers still have a nice sense of humour.

All lovers of Steve Bug’s Poker Flat Recordings listen up as the master himself is about to provide his new 12” “Wet’n’Dry” in mid-January. The imprints cat.no. 080, which is on promo circuit now, features two tunes named – as one might guess – “Wet” and “Dry” that both do refer to the hypnotizing power of long and ever building tunes. While “Wet” seems to be a fusion of chicago’esque beats when it comes to the jackin‘ factor plus dark and raw beauty of Detroit-induced melancholia perfectly fitting in late nite sets , the flipside “Dry” will be the cause of a serious brockout on the dancefloor as the whole tune is based on a few raw authentic sounds which in conjunction are the blueprint for today’s generation of Minimal Acid that is not necessarily based on 303 wildpitch madness. Sounds great on a club PA and has to be stored as future classic.

Intrauterin Tapes available @ hamburg-untergrund.de

All backstock issues of the former mixtape imprint Intrauterin Tapes, which has been pioneering Drum'n'Bass- / DarkJungle- / UK Garage-mixtape culture in Hamburg, are now available again via Hamburg Untergrund - a mailorder platform / webstore closely associated with Schmuf Hamburg.

Rudel Records clothing and merchandise can also be found there alongside further HipHop merchandise / mixtapes and vinyl releases of severeal Hamburg-based artists.

Check Hamburg Untergrund now!

23.12.2006 Urban X-Mas @ III & 70 - Backroom / Hamburg

decks: baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings / Rudel Records]

file under: Dubstep / Grime / Sublow / Eski

free entry

doors: 10 p.m.

III & 70 - Backroom
Schulterblatt 73
Schanze
Hamburg
Germany

CANCELLED: 19.12.2006 Pure Garage & Silk @ III & 70 - Ground Floor / Hamburg

ATTENTION: date is cancelled

decks: baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings / Rudel Records]


file under: UK Garage Classics
doors: 9 pm

free entry

III & 70 - Ground Floor
Schulterblatt 73
Schanze
Hamburg
Germany

Parts in the post, pt. 49

Forthcoming and scheduled for January is a split-relase of Drumcell and Acid Circus on Droid Records named "System Error" which is recommended to all lovers of pumpin' Acid and more experimental, bleepy minimalism. Basicly not far away from the aesthetics of artists like the early Cristian Vogel or Rotorik this is high quality specialists music that - as a tool - won't fit kindly into the set of any average DJ but is a secret weapon in the hand of experienced jocks playing out in front of musically advanced audiences.

Verve Forecast put the new 12” of Brazilian Girls on promo circuit recently, which is named “Jique”. While the Original LP track and Extended Mix are on a weirdo “Jazz-flavored vox meets dark bassheavy 4/4”-tip that is basicly accessible for a – err... – eclectic audience it is the rework of the new wunderkind named MSTRKRFT, that transforms the whole tune into a bouncy ElektoHouse tune that is functional as f*ck and a tool’ish sureshot for primetime sets. But: if you don’t like cowbells, leave this out.

Detroit Underground are about to release their cat.no. 007 in the very beginning of 2007, which is Phon.o & Litwinenko’s “Big Beaver Road E.P.”, a must have for all those appreciating an advanced mixture of GhettoBass/Booty-influences, lo-fi Electro beats on a HipHop-tempo plus a whole lot of beat splicing-science like Funkstörung provided on their massive “Multiple Grammy Winners” back in the days. Not made for the average dancefloor, but a secret weapon for all those DJ’s out there willing to take a bit of risk to surprise their audience.

Berlin-based Drum’n’Bass-imprint .shadybrain has been quite active on the mp3-circuit since its birth in 2004 and now starts to keep the vinyl buyers busy as well. Their first 12” is to come in early 2007 as a split-concept in which two of their artists – Catacomb and Misanthrop – are remixing each others tunes in exchange. Side A holds Catacomb’s “Buried Alive” reworked by Misanthrop which starts out as a deep athmospheric with a dark, more sci-fi attitude. Beats never fail to be funky, the whole tune isn’t that drop-focused as the most tunes around but works as a slowly building tool instead with a decent stab added in the second half of the track and at least this proves that both – producer and remixer – have learnt their lessons well from the originators of techy Drum’n’Bass and their blueprint album “Wormhole”. On the flipside there’s Catacomb on remix duties for Misanthrop’s “Strange Planet” which is about to please all followers of the so-called Neurofunk with its dark threatening, ever moving bassline and – in contrast – epic and innocent intro.

21.12.2006 Le Wohlklang @ Neue Heimat / Hamburg

decks: baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings]

sound: Downbeat / TripHop / Dub / Headz

doors: 8.30 pm


Neue Heimat
Neuer Kamp 19
20359 Hamburg
Germany

Straight from the Ghetto - News on HipHop, pt. 18

Hamburg-based HipHop-imprint Schmuf Hamburg are about to release their 2nd compilation named "die 2te.com" on december 14th featuring a whole lot of 17 tracks representing the finest of underground HipHop / Rap to be found in Germany's second biggest city. Artists like Bo Flower, Temmyton - watch out for her forthcoming album in '07 - , Schmiddlfinga, Instrumens plus many more serve a top notch mixture of bangin' party tunes - some of them clearly influenced by Ragga / Dancehall / Reggaeton -, conscious HipHop with a kinda oldskool'ish attitude and also a few more like battle-flavored tracks. No bling-bling shit in here, so this one aims at a more adult and advanced audience that still can relate to the early years and values of HipHop culture - if you're one of those you'll surely find some reminiscences to classic beats and samples. Especially watch out for the Schmuf Allstars track "Ooh" which is about to kill every dancefloor and transforms it into a heavily ravin' moshpit. Defo a track that simply begs for a reload - check the massive video + makin' of which are featured on the labels website and, if u happen to be in Hamburg at the date of release, the upcoming release bash takin' place at Prinzenbar featuring all performing artists appearing on this compilation plus a special crumping showcase of Lilith's Daughters which are as well featured in the the "Ooh"-video. If you're about to purchase just one essential HipHop/Rap-related record this month it undoubtedly has to be this one. Recommended.

A nice but neither essential nor necessary release on Eminem’s Shady Records is the 12” teaser for the forthcoming compilation “Eminem presents The Re-Up” which has been put on promo circuit recently. The best track “You Don’t Know” by Eminem ft. Lloyd Banks, 50 Cent and Cashis has been available on promo before and due to that is a waste of vinyl space; same goes – as far as I remember – for Stat Quo’s “Low Down” which is indeed one of his lower quality productions. The only brand new tune to be found is Akon’s “Smack That Remix” featuring Stat Quo & Bobby Creekwater which works well for the ladies but finally is only worth to be played out for warm up’s as full vocal version due to its cheese factor, but the booming 808-based beat instrumental is a proppa tool anyway.

Another release on promo circuit is Rishie Rich’s “Push It Up (Aaja Kuriek)” on TwoPoint Nine Records. A1 is the so-called “Banghraton Remix” which fuses – guess what – Bollywood and Reggaeton. And fails. Same for the Original Version. But surprisingly the Vibekingz Remix Instrumental is quite phat, leaving out most of the original elements but delivers booming, stripped down to the bone beat structures featuring a few bleepy sounds on top – basicly the same formula they used for their infamous “She’s Like The Wind” version. File last mentioned version under: functional for DJ abuse.

16.12.2006 Society Rules @ Astrastube / Hamburg

decks:

DJ's Headless & Topless [Gumbo Frisst Schmidt]
baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings / Rudel Records]


file under: Chicago House & Neo JackHouse
doors: 10 pm

free entry

Astrastube
Max Brauer Allee 200
Hamburg
Germany

12.12.2006 Electric Chill @ III & 70 - Ground Floor / Hamburg

decks: baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings / Rudel Records]


file under: Ambient, Electronica, Chill Out
doors: 9 pm - 1 am

free entry

III & 70 - Ground Floor
Schulterblatt 73
Schanze
Hamburg
Germany

Longplay love 39.0

Holy gosh - is there any reason why some citizen's of an up north country named Finland became so so fuckin' sick? Horna are back with their new album "Ääniä Yössä" on Debemur Mortis Productions and - although the title seems to be funny one to us foreigners - it is the darkest, most evil Black Metal-shit I've ever come across. Four tracks of which the last one runs for 21+ a bit minutes that simply deny the existence of any postivism in this world, there is only darkness out there, not even a colour like grey exists. Should be handed out by doctors as medicine for teenage borderline girlies - they would stop pretending to commit suicide within seconds but really do it instead.

Dom Dracul's album "Attack On The Crucified" has been released on Blasphemous Underground recently, an abum which will be appreciated by the followers of Satanic Black Metal as well as classic, more rocking Metal fans as long as they can deal with satanism anyway. Titles like "666 Drops Of Blood", "Under Black Skies" or "This Is The End" truly speak for themselves and so everyone might guess what kind of sound to expect here: dark, doomy and evil on the one, dark, evil and furious on the other hand. But one question is still unanswered. Why does a guy from Gothenburg / Sweden worship satan when there's so many beautiful blonde women in town?

Quelle Kitsch. Pharmacom Records put out its cat.no. 026 recently which is the album "Brain Tonic" by Peter Hadderley a.k.a. Tofustaggerbush that comes very close to an Easy Listening/ World Music / New Age-edge that was not to be found on the labels former releases before. Hyperharmonic, relaxing strings plus piano plus a lot well-known New Age ingredients make this a good one for lovers of this specific genre but for those not addicted to mental wellness it might be a bit too cheesy at all. Inspired by x-mas?

10.12.2006 Astoria Frühclub @ Astoria (ex-Tanzhalle) / Hamburg

ATTENTION FRÜHCLUB!!! DOORS OPEN 6 a.m. !!!

baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings] + Astoria Frühclub Posse

file under: TechHouse / ElektroHouse / Progressive

Astoria
Silbersackstrasse 27
Hamburg St. Pauli
Germany


New location: former Tanzhalle @ Silbersackstrasse !!!

Parts in the post, pt. 48

It’s been a while since the highly appreciated label Exil-System put out their last 12” , but are now they’re back with a new E.P. entitled “Liebes Grüsse aus Ost-Berlin”. The imprint’s cat.no. 004 features a whole of 5 tracks by artists like Kinder Aus Asbest, Die Sympathische Kommunistin, Hits Berlin, VEB Weltklang (remixed by EKSS) and Mono 45/UPM which all deal with a style that once was referred to as Ingenious Dilletantes or Geniale Dilletanten in german language in the very early 80‘s. Trashy, lo-fi synthesizer music mostly programmed on very vintage equipment and accompanied by weirdo vocoder lyrics that hold – at least sometimes – a subtle and not always positive message in their subtext. Defo a specialists and collectors record but recommended to all those with an open mind for leftfield music.

The Austria-based Breakcore / Noize-imprint Hirntrust Grind Media have released cat.no. 005 recently - a onesided, limited to less then 250 copies 7” which features the track “Face Destroy” by Zombieflesheater. Nothing less then around 5 minutes of total destruction are to be found here: distorted and ultra-compressed basslines that are able to send any Drum’n’Bass-producers back to kindergarten, Ambush-style vocal snippets here and there, chopped up highspeed beat structures plus a main room Rave-attitude that kills – no, deletes – every lifeform on the dancefloor within seconds. One of the heaviest Breakcore tunes released in 2006.

2006 comes to an end and the first promos for early 2007 are droppin' in slowly. Scheduled for next year is Hannes Teichmann's "Jäger Remixes" as cat.no. 034 of his very own imprint Festplatten. Sascha Funke, Dave DK and Mr. H. Teichmann on remix duties here, all providing proper funky minimalism with a functional attitude - "disco shit" as one might quote one of the more-than-once-used vocal samples of 2006, which'll work both purist dancefloors as well as more mainstream ElectroHouse / TechHouse crowds (at least this goes for Dave DK's rework) and due to this will be highly appreciated by a wide range of jocks. Defo one to watch out for so ask yr local dealer for pre-orders!

Longplay love 38.0

Another "industry-only" longplayer on the circuit these days is the "2006 Tribal-Tekhouse Sampler" of the canadian imprint SAS / South American Sounds which is another label run by John Acquaviva & Mark Quail. As the CD's name suggests all eleven tracks by artists like Mark Alvarado, Alex Bailey, DJ Spot, Stevens Morales and others which are not yet that well-known in Germany yet are deeply dedicated to classic tribalistic House sounds, percussion-driven, often accompanied by typical Latin-elements like hispanic vox, trumpet stabs amd kind of live-feeling background noises that have been working in this specific genre for ages before. At the very best moments the TribalHouse sound fuses with a dark Progressive drive that immediately sets dancefloors on fire, no matter if played out latenight in a regular club event or in Tribal hotspots like Miami, NYC or Ibiza. Seems like SAS / South American Sounds is another label to watch out for in the forthcoming year as there seems to be a lot of quite hot material piped in their release schedule.

Secret Weapon Records have put their "2006 Techno Sampler Vol.2" on the industry circuit recently which showcases the labels current and forthcoming releases by artists like Chris Zimmer, Sascha Müller, Rafael Aujuro and the likes of, covering a spectrum from tool'ish TechHouse-influenced sound to hornybunkerhard Techno via straightforward anthemic tunes that will drive dancefloors crazy. DJ's watch out to catch those tunes on Beatport.com , while A&R's should try to get licensing deals for their next compilations as this is high quality stuff anyway. Licensing contact is once again the canadian Mark Quail.

Sascha Müller comes up with his new album "6teen Years" on his own imprint Super 6 Records these days, which is an excellent ten tracker serving the essence of what might be called Acid, NeoDetroit and Intelligent Pumpin' Techno / House stylewise. Like in most of his productions that refer to the early, golden days of the Techno movement the sounds are a bit ruff and uncut, tracks are pumping, straightforward and his precise use of 303-lines strictly aim to the dancefloor, adding a bit of extra thrill that turns a hype crowd into a megahype crowd totally letting it off. Especially the vocal driven "I Want It" is so totally oldskool that it might be taken for a long forgotten classic instead of a new production, same goes for the technoid "Waveforms" as well as for most of the other tracks that are to be found here. Defo check this longplayer and totally agree upon that this guy is - not only due to his production experience of more than a decade - a phenomenon as there ain't many artists that are able to cover the whole spectrum of electronic music in their tunes and still being upfront in whatever they do release.