Selected Files - Best Of Poker Flat Digital Vol.1 [Poker Flat Recordings Promo]

For the first time ever since Poker Flat Recordings launched their - now ten releases strong - digital sub-branch a selection of four formerly digital-only tracks is now available on 12", pleasing all vinyl junkies and introducing a new vinyl series as the cat.no. PFRX001 suggests. The first tune to be found on here is MANIK's "Pure Liquid" which sounds just like mercury or liquid chrome on the dancefloor, ever evolving and modulating on top of a solid pumping chicago'esque foundation. Next one to come is Daryl Stay's "My Groove" remixed by the main man Vincenzo serving a decent tool featuring mad sirens, sparkling melodies and nice string constructions vibeing off on a deep tip - play this when the sun rises and the crowd is going to love you forever. The flipside holds Jay Tripwire introducing his 8 Channels alias surely in "Control" of what's to be filed as hypnotic, dark'ish TechHouse that might well accompany productions by the likes of Traversable Wormhole or Sandwell District in underground basement clubs due to its very basic stripped-down attitude whilst Russ Gabriel's "Prey Tell" - the B2 on this - serves a quite uplifting synth hook alongside tribalistic percussions and raw, thrilling offbeat snares providing a proper oldskool flavor - defo my personal favorite out of these four.

Steve Bug & Cle - Seven Hills [Poker Flat Recordings 120 Promo]

Finally Poker Flat Recordings hits the 120 12" releases mark and sees two longtime heavyweight champions in electronic music teaming up once again, four years after their last collaboration release "Silicon Ballet". Yes, we're talking Steve Bug & Cle here and I guess none of them needs any further introduction. On the A-side of their forthcoming 12" we've the title track "Seven Hills", a very basic and stripped down TechHouse workout featuring ecstatic strings and a quiet trancey breakdown that'll surely drive punters mad not only when played out at one of the several open air parties and festivals about to happen this summer. Plus: the extended play time stretched out far beyond the usual 6 minutes is another bonus win. "Monkey Shoulder" on the flip is on a deeper tip, more rollin' and obviously influenced by Secret Cinema's technoid evergreen "Timeless Altitude", using similar aesthetics and sounds, referring to the oldskool and providing something good and useful for all jocks out there.

Total Solitude - Besatt [Dark Meadow Recordings]

Cat.no. DRMF 013 of Dark Meadow Recordings is Total Solitude's eleven track album entitled "Besatt" serving two sorts of tunes of which one can be described as a form of deep, ritual and shamanic dance music influenced by DubHouse, PsyTrance and Drone strictly made for the dancefloor - if you're following the musical development of the Dubstep-/ 4Beat-related producer Orphan 101 you're likely to appreciate these, too. The other musical direction on this album are spooky tunes of a (Dark) Ambient / Illbient character, providing a kind of frosty, alienating feel that could well fit into the score of some sci-fi movie or - talking those tunes that feature some guitars - documentary covering some strange and secret religious cult yet unshot, music that will appeal to you if you love the music of DJ Spooky or, partly, the sound of the former NYC-based imprint Wordsound Recordings.

Syrinx - In The Shadows [Dark Meadow Recordings]

Responsible for cat.no. DRMF011 of Dark Meadow Recordings is Syrinx who comes up with his epic Dark Ambient / Drone piece "In The Shadows" here, a single piece track that is as long - or even longer - than some albums itself, running for 56+ a bit minutes and serving a warm, embracing and most of all cinematic Deep Listening experience slowly evolving into an unresting crescendo of screaming metallic sounds that can be filed under the flag of Uneasy Listening for those who really know. Close your eyes while listening to "In The Shadows" and it won't take long until pictures of foggy hills, twilight meadows, alien swamps or abandoned industrial ruins appear in front of your inner eye. Good one.

12.06.2011 Pure Garage & Silk @ Landgang / Hamburg

file under: UK Garage / Speed Garage

decks:
baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings]


doors: 21oo CET

Landgang
Neuer Pferdemarkt 3
20359 Hamburg
Germany

The M.S.P. - Hate [Dark Meadow Recordings]

The M.S.P. are responsible for cat.no. DMRF001 - a sub-series? - of Dark Meadow Recordings which is the nine track album "Hate" - a title that fully accomplishes the musical content that can be described as amalgamation of hammering Hart-/Speedcore, Breakcore- and Freetekno-influences, nerve wrecking feedback noises, epic string constructions and atmospheres accompanied by hate-filled vocal parts here and there plus some fully distorted electric guitars glimpsing through from time to time. If there's one release out there that could be filed under the flag of Anarchcore it must be "Hate". Pure mindfuck for the headstrong.

Playing With Nuns - Frolicking Through The Meadow [Dark Meadow Recordings 012]

Another four tracker served via Dark Meadow Recordings is provided by Playing With Nuns as the labels cat.no. 012 entitled "Frolicking Through The Meadow". Starting with the short, ever repeating and hyper-hypnotic opener "The Quiet Grass" all following tracks share various layered and delayed loop structures of slightly different speed as characteristic feature which, in its best moments delivered in "Meadow In My Mind", remind of Oval's 1996-released masterpiece "Systemisch" released via Thrill Jockey / Mille Plateaux, providing an atmosphere of warmth and dithering calm, balanced unrest and a feel of alienating intimacy whilst a tune like "T.V Static (Insoluble)" can be described as deep, settled and embracing although there are - as the title suggests - pieces of static noise to be found underneath and amongst the slowly pounding pulse and Ambient drones. Finally there is "The Lost Field Recording On Vinyl" seemingly based on melodic, defragmented guitar sounds and other ghostly loops for those who know. Recommended.

To-Bo - Malaria [Dark Meadow Recordings 009]

Responsible for cat.no. 009 of the diy-imprint Dark Meadow Recordings is the german Industrial / Noize artist To-Bo which is coming up with his mini album "Malaria" here including four tracks with a playtime in between one and nearly 23 minutes, serving a dark, grinding maelstrom of what 98+ percent of the population would not even consider to call music. But, even if one regards the fact that Noize as a genre is not expected to be musically structured, the tracks to be found here seem to be recorded and played live without any additional re-editing done before they were released which is the reason why the tracks don't seem to go nowhere, why there's a lack of any recognizable direction within the tunes. Which is sad because especially a track like "Endstadium Tot" unveals the harsh potential lying within To-Bo's music. Only for die-hard Noize addicts.

Alex Niggemann - Lately

Well, declaring this kind of lo-fi'ish and surely interchangeable club shots to be an "official music video" might not be the smartest idea ever as there is an evident lack of any kind of artistic visual statement, but that does not change the fact that Alex Niggemann's recent single released via Poker Flat Recordings is a proper club tune anyway that is about to rule several prime time sets throughout this summer. Listen, enjoy and hope for a proper video to come with his next one.

Risk Risk - This Is 1983 [Astro Chicken Records 003 Promo]

Düsseldorf's finest imprint Astro Chicken serves its third release these days which is Risk Risk's debut LP named "This Is 1983" - a limited to 300 copies piece that's gonna see a huge - yes, HUGE! - feedback from allover the SynthPop, ItaloDisco and SynthWave scenes worldwide as it's fully packed with anthems only. No matter if it's the uptempo opener "Are We On Air?", the sing-a-long tune "Limousine Talk", the robotic "Streetwalk" or the smashing "Wake Up" - these tune exactly serve what the album title and the cover artwork suggests: the original neon glitz of 1983 combined with production standards of today. Defo a must have, a sought after item of the future and for sure on heavy rotation @ forthcoming BETA-ZERFALL shows. Recommended.

Hoist - Gravity [Dark Meadow Recordings 007]

What at the first sight seems like a whole length album is a collection of three Hoist EPs - "The Unsavoury EP", "The Metro Gnome EP" and "The Unspoken EP" - plus two additional interlude tracks (5, 10) not even mentioned in the track listing, all merged into a longplay format and put on the circuit via Dark Meadow Recordings, showcasing the musical vision of Hoist that includes Mutant HipHop instrumentals, Illbient, isolated pianos, slo-mo beat abstractions, Spunk Jazz, TripHop, cut-ups and Plunderphonics, all mixed, amalgamated and layered on top or next to each other. Recommended to those who still love and remember the legendary "Spunk Jazz"-compilation or other relases put out via the former late 90s PIAS offspring iLL, early editions of Mille Plateaux' "Electric Ladyland"-series, artists like Chicks With Dicks or labels like the belgian Sub Rosa-imprint. Defo would love to hear music like this on huge club P.A.'s again some day and due to that nostalgia strikes as I don't see that many artists these days who're willing to take the risk to experiment as I did in the late 90s or even early 2000s. Explore new fields, mix up genres and don't be afraid to frighten or unsettle the people listening to your music.

Proxenus / Glowingpixie - Elapidae [Dark Meadow Recordings 004]

Following the idea of a kind of collaborational / remix work this release put out via the UK-based CD-r imprint Dark Meadow Recordings is based on a Drone piece performed by Proxenius uploaded to the web with the intention to invite artists / bands / projects to serve a remix, reinterpretation, cover version or whatever they can think of doing with this musical piece. That's the basic idea behind what's called "The Elapidae Project" and this track of approximately 29 minutes play time is what Glowingpixie - droney still, but with a gnarling feel, featuring cold, isolated, metallic texures adding a rhythmic structure but not a real rhythm, the sound of falling rain and at least a bit of warm embracement provided by what seems like processed strings or decelerated flute sounds. Isolationist music for dark months - recommended for deep winter listening.

Watch out for more reviews on Dark Meadow Recordings-releases soon as they kindly sent out a whole bunch of their releases to be featured on these pages.

26.05.2011 Wax Unlimited @ Klingel 3 / Hamburg

file under: Armchair Techno / Minimal / Electro / NeoDetroit / Electronica / Broken Techno

decks:
baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings]
Knospt [Golden Pudel Club]

doors: 10 P.M.

Klingel 3
Friedrichstrasse 36
Hamburg St. Pauli
Germany

Free Download EP: Dadajugend Polyform - A Fair Trade

Dadajugend Polyform are giving away their new four track EP for free via soundcloud including remixes by I Heart Sharks and Teleplay which is my personal favorite out of these. Enjoy.

Ante Perry - Flashing Disco Sounds II [Moonbootique Records]

It's been three years now since Ante Perry introduced not only himself to a wider audience with the first issue of "Flashing Disco Sounds" but also a new concept, a new format to the world of music which can be described as intertwined artist album / DJ-mix compilation, showcasing both DJ- and production skills at the same time. And this is what "Flashing Disco Sounds II" - scheduled for June 6th - is doing again, a sequel with a lust for electroid glitz, discoid vibes and classic House stabs when it comes to the mix featuring the likes of Spirit Catcher, David August, Kölsch or even a - odd and quite soulless - rework of Ultra Nate's uber-hit "Free" or Osunlade's anthemic "Pride" remixed by Johnny D. Talking the album, which is CD2 of this double package, there are eleven full length tracks to be found here, five of them collaborations with either Kolombo - including their joint forces and well uplifting remix of Jennifer Rostock's "Du Willst Mir An Die Wäsche" - or Mr. Perry's long time production partners Tube & Berger, all of them perfectly suited DJ-tools for his very own sets, able to keep the crowd moving or lead them to another peak or even home - see "God's Gift" as an example for a very nice closing track. And this is what makes Ante Perry somewhat special from and more accessible than others - listen to his sets and you know exactly what kind of music he produces, listen to his music and you know what to expect from his DJ-sets. No surprises, no artsy experimentalism.

incite/ - Dare To Dance [Hands Productions Promo]

incite/, Hamburg's main suppliers of Greyscale Electronica with a phunkee, danceable twist, have a new album lined up for release via Hands Productions in the nearest future and they're ready to get dancefloors moving with their unique mixture of fragmented, partly cut-up beats clearly influenced by genres like Glitch or Breakcore and surprisingly subtle, growling but still anthemic basslines adding some extra thrill. Dancers watch out, these beats are about to twist yr legs. Plus: For those who like to twist their brains as well, two videos showcasing the audio-visual overall concept of incite/ are featured on this one, too.

Sticker Love & World Domination: Tube Hamburg

Although the last ones of these stickers were put on the streets more than two years ago it seems like they'll never disappear from the cityscape of Hamburg. This one was found and captured by my friend Ribanna while traveling one of the cities tube lines a while ago and it seems like this one might still be sitting there. So if you see it - or any other baze.djunkiii-related sticker somewhere in the world - someday, please take a picture and send it in.

Sascha Müller / Ohrchitekt - Split [Pharmacom Records]

Sascha Müller and Ohrchitekt serve their first split-release via Pharmacom Records. First to be found is Sascha Müller's "Thermonuclear", a ever-evolving and modulating piece with a live-jam feel that somehow reminds me of the gooey, semi-liquid mating calls of extraterrestial swamp insects in a place far far away from our very own galaxy whilst Orchitekt's "Up And Down (Trip Dub Set)" explores musical structures not exactly related to Dub but to clearly HipHop-influenced Electronica, in a sense in which the likes of Funkstörung and Autechre are influenced by HipHop beats, and some sci-fi'esque instrumental Mutant HipHop wizzardry. One can easily imagine an MC like El-P or Sensational spitting some sick rhymes on top of these tunes. Plus: Ohrchitekt adds a bit of DarkJungle / Breakcore-flava to the very end of his workout. Interesting and - at least partly - phunky.

Jay Zoney - Lost In The Hive EP [Super 6 Records 064.5]

The next to come via Super 6 Records is Jay Zoney's "Lost In The Hive EP" - a three track piece vibeing off on the borderline of Tribal, Progressive, TechHouse, NuSkoolBreaks-influences and a touch of grinding Acid, made for large areas and huge warehouse raves. No matter which track you pick, all of these are epic and far beyond pure functionality and about change some ravers lives for sure, especially "Seven Minutes From The Sun" with its massive evil bassline is a tune no-one will ever forget after experiencing it on a big P.A. .

Sascha Müller - Krankenhaus (PINK) [SM Traxxx 009]

PINK is the colour in Sascha Müller's recent "Krankenhaus"-series on SM Traxxx and once again this release provides two tool'ish tunes for your local underground basement party. "Krankenhaus (PINK) 1" is a nice HypnoTech piece with a touch of Intelligent Techno whilst "Krankenhaus (PINK) 2" is a on a hypnotizing Acid trip and defo able to re-adjust your braincells.

Talking Acid - if you're happening to be in Hamburg on May 14th and up for some banging Acid sets just add this event to your calendar - Mr. Müller is part of the line up as well.

Sawoff Shotgun - For Our Sanity [Sevenahalf Records Promo]

If you're a fan of lively anthemic happy-go-lucky IndiePop with a bit of sing-/shout-a-long attitude you're well recommended to check out and buy "For Our Sanity", the latest album of the austrian sister-triplet Sawoff Shotgun that hit the stores about two weeks ago on April 15th and is well-ready to mash up your local Indie discotheque with a well positive vibe brought on by a fusion of the mentioned styles with some electronic backing and some fresh ideas - see the piano / crescendo track "My Fresh Dress" for one of these or the Electronica-backed "Sexfront" for another. This album's defo one to be on heavy rotation throughout the next months and all Indie-headz longing to see bands to be big soon at an early stage of their career are recommended to check out their small tour announced which is mostly happening in Austria but includes three dates for Germany as well...

May 11th @ Kaffee Burger / Berlin
May 13th @ Astrastube / Hamburg
June 11th @ Theatron Festival / Munich

baze.djunkiii Charts 05/2011

01. Tropic Of Cancer - Be Brave [Downwards 008]
Limited and numbered clear vinyl 10" that can be filed under the flag of feedback driven DroneWave melancholia. Flipside features a great hypnotizing instrumental remix provided by Richard H. Kirk that truely can be referred to as his best work in ages. Gonna be a sought after item soon.

02. Tyree - Nuthin Wrong [Mojuba Underground Series 001]
Classic House music gem originally released via Dancemania in 1995 and now put back on the circuit via Mojuba. Raw, anthemic and timeless so it perfectly fits in to any contemporary DJ-set still. All those up for some experimental beat wizzardy and strange effects are recommended to check out the inside out cut "Ron Hardy Dedication Side" which sees the whole track running backwards.

03. Shy FX feat Donae'o - Raver [Digital Soundboy 036]
Honestly, I don't feel or purchase much of today's Drum'n'Bass no more as I haven't seen much new or interesting happening in this genre since about 2005 but I always check out new releases coming up on Digital Soundboy as this label seems to have a different approach and doesn't seem to care about whether it's releases are dancefloor fitting or not. And this is the first one that really got me - not only for being a 10". "Shy's Guinness Punch Mix" is a classic DubHouse meets Lovers Rock crossover tune that is about to set any Reggae dance on fire whilst "Breakage Pattern Moschino Remix" on the flip brings back the classic Jungle flavor and will be loved by all Drum'n'Bass-heads that've been around since day dot.

04. Lightbluemover feat. Black Light Smoke [Hafendisko 001 Promo]
See review for details...

05. Dao De Noize / Sascha Müller / Syrinx - Split [ Dark Meadow Recordings Promo]
See review for details...

06. Vincenzo - Whereever I Lay My Head [Dessous Recordings Promo]
See review for details...

07. Om Unit - The Timps [Civil Music 019]
Classic Electro music seems to be on the up and up again after years and years of virtually radio silence but now there's more and more releases to be found in the shelves of your local recordstore that refer to the cold "boom-tschak"-beat rather than to the ever present 4-2-the-floor. This might have to do with the discovery of Juke by a bunch of Dubstep-/Bass Music-producers but no matter what has been the trigger as long as releases are as good as this four tracker I hope there's more to come. Om Unit are coming up with a clean, cold, sci-fi'esque and 'troity sound that is about to please all true Electro headz out there. Plus: with the so-called "Salva Remix" of "Prawn Cocktail" they even manage to create a Dubstep-tune with an electroid feel.

08. Alex Niggemann - Lately [Poker Flat Recordings 119 Promo]
See review for details...

09. The Crystal Apes - Remixes & Versions EP Vol.1 [TCARMX 001]
This one has been in the making for quite a while and finally has been released digitally and as a limited CD-edition of 100 copies which will be available only at The Crystal Apes shows, via their website, at BETA-ZERFALL shows and - on request - via Hamburg's finest record store Otaku Records. This one features two remixes by baze.djunkiii which have already been introduced as dubplate cuts in baze.djunkiii's charts 04/2011.

10. Shifted - Reach [Syndrome Z 002]
Two deep, dark and Dub-influenced tunes om the A-side which are about to be appreciated by all those following labels like Stroboscopic Artefacts and the likes of but the most exciting tune is Szare's rework of the title track featured on the flip which has to be filed as the most thrilling piece of Broken Techno that has been released for months.

Lightbluemover feat. Black Light Smoke [Hafendisko 001 Promo]

HFN Music introduces a new sister label named Hafendisko these days which will be a&r'd by no-one less Tobias Lampe, founder of the legendary former Techno / Trance-imprint Superstition Records and well-established figure in the german electronic music movement since day dot. Cat.no. 001 is provided by Lightbluemover, according to the press sheet a well-known producer exploring new terrains with this new alias, who is teaming up with Black Light Smoke for the A-side tune "Girn" - a ever meandering piece of krauty slow-motion House about to be loved by followers of labels like Prime Numbers, Firecracker and similar crossing borders between House and so-called Cosmic, Beatdown or whatever. Lightbluemover's solo effort on the flipside named "Ddisco" is on a similar tip but adds discoid claps, SynthFunk-influenced stabs plus a drugged out attitude that puts it closer to acts like Emperor Machine than to any of these days House producers. Nice start for this box fresh offshoot that will draw more than a bit off attention with this 12" for sure. Get it.

Sascha Müller - Panrametic EP [Super 6 Records 064]

The ever productive Sascha Müller comes up with his next three track EP released via his very own imprint Super 6 Records and once he explores the realms of raw underground Techno with these tunes. All of them are pure, functional and uncut - not necessarily essential or innovative but proper basic tools to be played out in dark and possibly illegal Techno basement parties. True style.