Sascha Schierloh - Pegel Freeze EP

News flying in have it that Sascha Schierloh, responsible for the legendary Intrauterin Recordings / Dhyana Records-split "Littlebrutalravebastards Series Vol.1" under the use of his various monikers, is about to unleash a new release via Konzern for those following the digital circuit.

Check the - obviously ultra-obscure - prelistening files here

Reptile Youth - Black Swan Born White Remixes [HFN Music 016 Promo]

Forthcoming soon via HFN Music is the labels next 12" serving club mixes of Reptile Youth's latest single "Black Swan Born White" which is taken to the 4/4-flavored dancefloors by the likes of Terranova and Mark E, both names highly credible and omni-present these days. Whilst the first mentioned are serving two deeply pumping House / TechHouse versions for late night sessions we'll find Mark E focusing on the prime time with a positive and quite aerial vision of layered string and melody arrangements brimming over with joy and positivity, making punters smile and wiggle all over the place, expecting an epic breakdown that never appears. What they get instead is an ever building tension and a quite surprising deepness to be found in the last quarter of the track, changing the mood by the use of transformed vocal snippets and a dreamy bassline alone. Nice one.

Nomads In Sound v3

Announced to hit the digital frontier on June 1st is the new Dubstep compilation "Nomads In Sound v3" put on the circuit via the swedish label Meerkat Recordings that aims to combine and collect bass music talent from all over the world, showcasing tracks from countries like Sweden, France, Germany and places more exotic like Bosnia & Herzegovina or even India. Part of the pack are e.g. the great Mutamassik, highly appreciated for harsh beat abstractions with an undeniably melancholic and dark oriental touch, and Donna Maya of Rudel Records with whom baze.djunkiii created a remix for the Washington-based band Ostinato that was released back in 2008.

eVADE - Timeline [Super 6 Records 076.5]

Another fresh one coming via Super 6 Records these days is eVADE's new album entitled "Timeline" which is a fourteen track journey into the musical realms of so-called Intelligent Techno with a mostly melodic, partly Electro-, partly Detroit-influenced flavor and a deep listening attitude easily bringing up momories of endless rides through animated tunnels and multi-coloured hyperartificial landscapes as we've loved them in !K7's X-Mix-series years ago. And yes, eVADE is a true master in sculpting these land- or better soundscapes, these yet unknown but still warm and familiar spheres no matter if they're calm like the perfectly named "Dreaming" or a bit more floor fitting like the slightly acidic, unpronounceable "Rneg" or the Ambient Breakdance anthem "Bsln"  and due to this fact one might refer to "Timeline" as simply timeless. Or classic to be. Get. But: prepare for the heavy wall of distortion and noise that's served in "Lfb", a furious piece that's breaking out from all the comfortable feel of the album....

dmvssm - atOnal session [Pharmacom Records]

Volume three in the so-called "Recycled Tapes" series released as limited to 15 copies worldwide albums on previously used C90 cassettes is the "atOnal session" by dmvssm which holds the conjunctional studio forces of Sascha Müller and M. Reckers focusing on the experimental side of electronic music, mostly beatless but not unstructured, Ambient but not relaxing, using weird echoes and sometimes not very comfortable feedback orgies for the experienced listener. Four variations of a similar theme are served here, the fourth session even stretched over a whole side of the tape which equals a total running time of 45 minutes for one tune alone. Defo not an easy one to take, especially when listened to at home in one ongoing session but after the first 15 minutes of the tape one might find oneself encapsulated in a sci-fi-esque but trashy aural environment that might be taken from an old b- or c-movie soundtrack made in the "Dark Star" era or even before that time. Sometimes cold and hypnotic, sometimes bringing storming clouds of Noise and distortion and even some kind of melody.... if you want to call recognizable and tonal structures that. Watch out for this one and find yourself a copy via Hamburgs Otaku Records which is afaik the only store and mailorder able to deliver copies of the "Recycled Tapes" series these days.

Sascha Müller & eVADE - A Session Pt.1 [S2200]

S2200 seems to be a new label launched out of Sascha Müllers music laboratories and sees him teaming up with the well-known eVADE that has appeared many times on his various labels. For "A Session" as this one is called, trying to get hold of several genres beatwise and dabbling around with various ideas and different ways to approach this fields musically - including dark, swampy Dubstep tunes, steel drum including pieces of Instrumental Grime and some weird 4/4 workouts somewhat in between all categories. But what is the main point in all these tracks, they sound very raw and unfinished, some even unmixed or -mastered so there's no real point or necessity in putting them out yet unless for documentary reasons, as a snapshot of work-in-progress or something similar. And the questions remains if this legitimates the launch of a new label at all. For die-hard fans only as this one unfortunately does not serve the quality one is used to get from the Müller labs.

Sascha Müller - Mercurius EP [Super 6 Records 076]

The next one to come via Sascha Müllers Super 6 Records-imprint is his very own "Mercurius EP" named after the 11:28 minutes long title track which can be described as slow but continuously building piece of classical Techno - no melodies invlvd but two steadily mutating, meandering signals and patterns and patterns of percussive elements that keep the whole thing moving over its whole playtime - a minimalist approach in its true form without even trying to be Minimal Techno at all. "Phono Mixer" is even more stripped down, built around a small, slightly distorted sound fragment and dry percussions with a bit of an acidic topping. Could've been released on a label like Audio.NL or Studio as well, if one still remembers these. Friends of deeper, more Ambient-flavored styles in electronic finally are about to feel pleased by "Ozon" which is a future classic in ever floating electronics, serving a lovely calmness that's hard to be found in these days releases. Nice.

[aniYo kore] - Pieces Of Conversation [Bob Harris 001 Promo]

Whoever has been wondering what has happened to the once so hype genre of TripHop and especially to its vocalized sub-branch after the mid-90s, whoever has been missing this stuff desperately is highly recommended to ask his local record dealer to track down [aniYo kore]'s recent release "Pieces Of Conversation", a vinyl double album self-released, holding the matrix number BOBHARRIS001 which might be the name of the label as well. But this keeps in the closet. Musicwise there's beats clearly influenced by Instrumental HipHop, TripHop and - partly - Illbient, PostRock-flavored guitars and as main and most important element the dark, longing voice of the projects female lyricist which seems to bear all of this worlds pain and sorrow on her shoulders, deeply feeling all this grief and intensely performing on top of the sparse but not skeletal musical arrangements that hold more than only one surprise samplewise, playing around with field recorded stuff, interview snippets and other unsual textures. Defo check "Money" if you stumble across "Pieces Of Conversation" as this one might be regarded as the deepest and most intense track amongst these twelve plus a few snippets. The world needs more of that.

Frittenbude - Delfinarium [Audiolith Promo]

It's not a secret that the beloved triple named Frittenbude recently unleashed their new album "Delfinarium" via Hamburgs hardest hitting independent label Audiolith Records which has been home to all of the bands albums so far and the sales rates prove that they are on their way to the top - congrats for crashing Germanys album top 100 at rank #14. And they've come a long way in their musical evolution as they're branching out from their well-known 4/4 party bangers, embracing influences of Drum'n'Bass - "Nur Wegen Dem Eiskonfekt" - and even Dubstep - "Dies Das (Riesenlöve)" / "Innere Altmark" - beatwise, fusing 4-2-the-floor with deep melancholia and formerly rare intimate moments, far out psychedelic abstractions - "Aufregende Farben" -, proper Indie songs and, yes, also bangers setting floors,  iPod speakers and panda bears on fire, transforming your local dancefloor into your personal moshpit of choice. Play out "Heute Nur Einmal" or the oldskool piano driven "Heimatlos" with its massive, techy and seemingly Poker Flat Recordings-influenced bass line and you'll know what we're talking here. Defo the most diverse and grown up Frittenbude-release so far that surely will be gaining attention from an audience wider spread and a little older than the bands average fan base which is, in fact, a young one. And this mixture of young and adult is what'll take their album number four to the very top - approximately scheduled for 2014. Maybe. That's two years to go and in the meantime we'll be enjoying our trip to their "Delfinarium" on a regular basis. You're recommended to do so as well.   

Nelly Furtado - Big Hoops (Bigger The Better) [Interscope Promo]

Well, some might war cry "sell out" seeing Nelly Furtado being reviewed on these pages but that lady has always been good for a surprise or two and what she delivers on her newest outing put on the circuit via Interscope to prequel her new album "The Spirit Indestructible" is a blast. Despite the fact that the promotional 12" is served in green vinyl which is always appreciated amongst collectors the quite simple and reduced tune is a monster made of simple but bouncy as fuck beats for huge PA systems, is stripped down to the bone, contains no melody hook at all and sees the first proper use of autotune in ages, stretching her voice into unknown, but catchy spheres resulting in the fact that "Big Hoops (Bigger The Better)" will be stuck in your eardrums for ages. But the most surprising and killing move is the musical switch into Jungle / Drum'n'Bass throughout the last minute of the song after a voice only break announcing "You think the song is over? No, it ain't over yet..." - this must be the work of a genius and this genius is named Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins on production duties who has been already twisting knobs for the likes of Blackeyed Peas, Kelly Rowland, Brandy, Ciara, Janet Jackson and Destiny's Child. Seems that guy knows how to handle a proper studio... 

Rangleklods - Clouds

More Scandinavian talent to discover... so great. And I do love the female chorus appearing late at 02:26 to fucking death.

Tragic Error - Tanzen

Oh how I loved the sound of Tragic Error back in these days... still a preteen but already fully occupied by music. Unfortunately I never managed to get hold of any Tragic Error vinyl which is a real pity.

Straight From The Harp - I'm On Fire Just For You [Rain Rain Records 001 Promo]

Those who've been following these pages regularly already might have discovered the Scandinavian but now Berlin-based band outift Straight From The Harp through their latest video posted here a few weeks ago and you might be excited that they're now ready to roll out their mentioned need for PostWave-influenced DesertRock and Dark Indie on a full length album these days. Still I don't exactly get why especially Danish people are that fascinated by deserts - well, they got a lot of sand,too, and there are dunes on their shores but does that count in as similarity ? - and their specific feel of loneliness but no matter what, the droney, partly intimate feel spread on "I'm On Fire Just For You" does go very well with the characteristic use of the slightly echoeing, than trailing away blues harp which  is one of the main ingredients here and defo responsible for the bands name as well. Recommended to all followers of the likes of Anders Trentemöller, Darkness Falls and their fellow musicians... and to open minded fans of Johnny Cash, although there's not much Blues involved here. But you might like the overall feel.

26.05.2012 30Hz @ Kulturcafe Uni Campus / Mainz

Reptile Youth - Black Swan Born White [HFN Music 016-s Promo]

Forthcoming on Hamburg's recently hyper-active HFN Music is the latest single by Reptile Youth named "Black Swan Born White" being sold as lovely little 7" in all good stores soon'ish. Not as forward pushing and dancefloor smashing as their banging firstling this one has a wider crossover potential to evolve from a secret Indie club anthem with quite a longing but romantic attitude for those know into this summers main melody, recognized by clubbers as well as by big radio stations as the sing-a-long factor is a big one, a song that's not forgotten easily and if "Black Swan Born White" wasn't that good the hyper-seductive vocal hook would be judged as gross by many just for its musical "future hit" announcement alone. Same goes for the slightly darker and more driving interpretation - do not call it "remix" - served by London's S.C.U.M. on the flip which seem to hail from the (No)Wave scene but do defo know that going Pop sometimes is the only way to go instead of worshipping the eternal gods of darkness.

26.05.2012 30hz presents baze.djunkiii @ Kulturcafé, Uni Campus / Mainz

decks:

baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings / Hamburg]
Track Smith [Jump Up The Bassline / MZ]
Tinkerman [Jump Up The Bassline / MZ]

doors: 23oo cet
admission: 5.-

Kulturcafe Uni Campus 
Johann Joachim Becherweg 5 
55128 Mainz


http://de-de.facebook.com/events/217708058341375/

Sascha Müller - Error 404 [Pharmacom Records]

Looking back on 22 years of buying and collecting music in different formats now, approx. 15 of them including reviewing records for online and print one might guess that I've seen all kind of limited pressings, special packagings and exclusive editions and my collection holds not only a few of those, some pieces even hand-numbered and with personal dedications from labels or artists involved. But still, what flew in a few days ago from Sascha Müller's Pharmacom-imprint is one of the most remarkable pieces, not only due to it's limitation to only 9 - yeah, nine - pieces worldwide but also to the release to packaging weight ratio and to the packaging itself as each individual 3" DVDr is delivered in an old hard drive case and one has to loosen the case screws to get hold of the disc itself which contains 14 .wav files serving a fine selection of Experimental Ambient, Deep Listening Music, Clicks'n'Cuts, chilled Electronica and even some quite classical Ambient pieces for special moments. More of a musical trip created by the maestro Mr. Müller himself than your usual dancefloor weapon but still able to cause some movement on a ChillOut floor filled with experienced punters that already've been around when those floors were still common within the dance music scene, serving some of the finest and most thrilling music ever pumped through a PA system. If you are one of these folks or if you've the legendary HR3 Space Night transmissions to death that played an essential role in Germanys ChillOut-culture you need to find yourself a copy of "Error 404". And you'll need to dig a deep hole to find one...

Atma - Lone Range Drifter

Defo my favorite song from Atma's "Haven't You Had Enough?" album that was released via Golden Lotus Records in 1980 which I spotted at a Hamburg flea market not that long ago, buying it for 1€ only just for the reason of its cover artwork being that obscure. Expected music totally different from what the band serves here as I had less than no info about Atma before but this tune alone is worth the whole album as the Plastic Reggae parts are - well... - unique.

Sticker Love & World Domination: Mannheim

Mannheim kids love my bass - now. And in times of war.

Ghosts In Disguise - Odenwald [Shhhh Records 006 Promo]

Recently released via the Mettmann-based Shhhh Records-imprint is "Odenwald", the latest output coming from the the studios of Helge Neuhaus a.k.a. Hell-G collaborating with Matthew Adams under the name of Ghosts In Disguise serving a four track vinyl plus additional six track CD holding three alternate versions / remixes to please all lovers of dreamy MinimalHouse and Ambient'ish 4/4 warm-up tunes that do no harm but spread a certain foggy, romantic feel that is to be found in the Post-PostRock of Klimek as well as in early Dial-releases and, partly, as well in the classic odes to the german Black Forrest provided by GAS ages ago. That's what we find here and that's what the remixers - as there are Matthias Schaffhäuser of Ware-fame, Bluff, Robert Edwin and more - are providing as well, always keen to keep the original vibe alive no matter how (or how not) dancefloor focused their mixes might be. But still: with that many labels around providing a sound similar to this it might not be that easy for Ghosts In Disguise to break through with "Odenwald", gaining enough attention by the right people to see their stuff being played all over the place and so I think this EP will be appreciated within collectors and specialists circles rather than recognized by the masses. Which is not bad necessicarily.

16.05.2012 Clara Bow "Not Now" Release Show @ Golem / Hamburg

Celebrating the release of their debut album "Not Now" - do not miss for any reason!

Ricardo Redivo - Cone [Addicted To Trance 014 Promo]

Forthcoming on June 8th via Talla 2XLC's Addicted To Trance-label is Ricardo Redivo's latest outing named "Cone" coming as original version accompanied by three remixes from fellow producers Mark Miquel, Dave Moreno and Daniel Mohnberg, serving what the label is known for: Uplifting Melodic Trance with a deeper edge. This especially goes for the original piece which sounds familiar but timeless in its ever floating structures whilst Mark Miquel serves a way techier re-fix for storming primetime sets that should be filed under the TechTrance-flag stylewise, sending hands up in the air with a huge mid-tune breakdown... Next one at the controls is Dave Moreno slowing down things to ElectroHouse-tempo and and riding on a stripped down TechHouse- / Minimal-influenced wave, aiming at a new target audience that might have ignored labels like Addicted To Trance before which is a quite clever move to do as crossing over is the only way to break out of that quite restricted musical ghetto Trance exists in, although it's a big one. Finally we see Daniel Mohnberg exploring the realms of TechTrance as well with his remix that includes a long time no hear ever building snare roll excess and some elements that remind of releases put out by the now legendary classic Trance label Superstition Recordings in the late 90s. Good one.

11.05.2012 90s Rave Radio @emsvechtewelle.de

Our man Sascha Müller at the controls again spinning some 90s Rave classics and long lost Techno gems. Check in online via emsvechtewelle.de or at local FM-frequencies.

Daniel Dexter - Storm (Official Video)

This one's taken from Daniel Dexter's EP "Storm" that has been put on the circuit via Poker Flat Recordings earlier this week. 

Matt Springfield - Erase All Data [AKA Music Promo]

Crowdsourcing seems to be a legit way to raise money for new releases these days but Matt Springfield seems to be the first one to fully get into this concept as he managed not only to collect money for his 2010-released single "Things I've Said" but, based on the success of this song, raise even more cash from more people to get his forthcoming longplayer "Erase All Data" done that is scheduled for June 1st now. I am impressed as there've been bigger names failing on a similar attempt. And this album starts out promising - especially "The End Of Life" and "Poplife!" sound like original 80s Dance-anthems from the Miami Vice-era, spreading that special feel and flavour this time is known - and partly loved - for. Proper and well-mainstream flavored Pop music to please a wide audience and well fitting into daytime radio rotations. But - and that's quite sad after opening with two well obvious hits to be - what follows next are only average attempts of kitschy ballads and Pop songs, copycatting what has been without showing a certain face of their own, at least for someone who has been raised in the 80s. I'm sure there is a scene for music like this and maybe there's even some options for Matt Springfield to be featured in some future movie soundtracks as tracks like "Haunted" or "Things I've Said" are perfectly to underline some bittersweet love story but these stories are not really my personal cup of tea. I do prefer coffee.

UFO! - By Will Alone

I still did not manage to figure out exactly what all this Trap / Bass Trap, Moombahton / Moombahcore / Moombahskull thing is about as it seems to happen only on the interwebs and not on vinyl but no matter what, San Francisco's UFO! is able to serve quality still as he always did back in the days when he put out some of the most upfront and advanced Drum'n'Bass-tunes ever. "By Will Alone" is what I'd flag as "Ultra-Tech Music". Heavy.

baze.djunkiii Charts 05/2012

01. Audiolith - Doin' Our Thing #2 [Audiolith Promo]
See review for details...

02. Shin Joong Hyun - Beautiful Rivers And Mountains [Light In The Attic Records]
"Beautiful Rivers And Mountains: The Psychedelic Rock Sound Of South Korea's Shin Joon Hyun 1958 - 1974" as this 2011-released 2xLP is fully titled is another great musical piece I discovered while hanging out at Hamburg's Meine Kleinraumdisko which is not only one of my favorite spaces in town but also a place of musical inspiration and shared knowledge. Plus: the source of navy strength gin and rum. But we're here to talk music, so even without unvealing the whole story of Shin Joon Hyun which is covered and captured in the liner notes of the gatefold cover and additional inlay sheet, the fact that there has been an artist and producer in South Korea catching up on western Pop melancholia, Psychedelic Rock and other styles in that era is more than fascinating and the music itself is top notch and can compete with any western stuff from that long gone years plus there are songs that seem to partly Easy Listening, partly novelty and also exotic as the lyrics are in Korean language as well which - at least for European and US listeners - is not common to come across. Check: Kim Sun "The Man Who Must Leave", Lee Jung Hwa "Tomorrow" and the deep, Nightmares On Wax-like beat structures of  Shin Joon Hyun's very own "'J' Blues 72" to mention only a few of the fourteen contained pieces. Must have.

03. Clara Bow - Not Now [Bow Records / Smarten Up]
Finally it's done. Hamburg's ultra-fine Clara Bow are ready to unleash the box full of being-stuck-in-your-ear hits that "Not Now" is. Originally announced for early 2012 and now coming mid-May all twelve songs are crossing over between raw and uncut Garage-influenced Rock('n'Roll), Happy-Go-Lucky-Pop without any sellout or mainstream attitude and Indie, straight in your face stuff with an average play time of less than 3 minutes per song which is still more than enough to say it all, seduce your heart and move your ass onto your local Indie dancefloor. At least the first bars of each song  are doing the last mentioned job - immediately. And this is one but not the only reason to add "Not Now" to your collection quickly. Plus: if they're selling the CD in good rates there are plans to put their album to vinyl as well. Which would be great. Buy!

04. Kasper Björke - Deep Is The Breath [HFN Music 018 Promo] 
See review for details...

05. Shackleton - Music For The Quiet Hour / The Drawbar Organ EPs [Woe To The Septic Heart! Promo]
See review for details...

06. Human Woman - Human Woman [HFN Music 017 Promo]
See review for details...

07. Daniel Dexter - Storm [Poker Flat Recordings 129 Promo]
See review for details...

08. Richard Devine - Risp EP 2011 [Detroit Underground 016]
Honestly this is the very first Richard Devine record I'm really into, the first one I really get although he has been one of the leading protagonists in Glitch / IDM since the late 90s and I've been following this scene since then, especially in the early years when there was a clear link to Breakcore and many rather unknown folks played on Sunday nights at Hamburg's Golden Pudel Club providing a glimpse to the forefront of sound bending and musical abstraction. I've lost traces on that a while ago 'coze there's been lots of repetition and a lack of innovation for a while but these four tunes have a quite special twist as they are relatively slow but still of a mind wrecking hypercomplexity that is impossible to embrace in only one or two listening sessions. Uber-compressed as well and defo jam-packed with a shitload of musical events per second, uncountable and always serving something one hasn't been aware of before. File under: sound wizzardry.

09. R1 Ryders - Pole Position EP [R1 004]
Funkitek is what the R1 Ryders crew calls their music which is a mixture of hard bangin' 4Beat / 4x4, UK Funky and dirty bassline assaults able to tear up any dancefloor up for what might be named Urban Bass Music as a general term not replacing the old " 'ardcore continuum" but summing up more recent developments instead of reflecting the whole 20+ years of UK bass music culture. Whatever, the R1 Ryders manage to coin a niche of their own musicwise, focusing on techier, tool'ish aspects of their tunes but still adding some little elements, melodies and references to them that keep ravers happy although they're only glimpsing through instead of being present allover. Proper.    

10. JSt*r - Extra Playa EP [JS 017 Promo]
See review for details...

Shackleton - Music For The Quiet Hour / The Drawbar Organ EPs [Woe To The Septic Heart! Promo]

Coming up these days via Shackletons very own Woe To The Septic Heart! imprint is his epic conceptual double feature longplay release "Music For The Quiet Hour / The Drawbar Organ EPs" that hits the stores as limited 2CD cardboard box set including a 12 pages full artwork booklet by Zeke Clout who has worked out and accompanied Shackletons releases from day dot in his very own graphic language. Talking music the first part - "Music For The Quiet Hour" - can be described as Sam Shackletons most ambitious work so far, holding 5 seemlessly woven tracks with a runtime up to 21 - !!! - minutes floating through a ritual universe of deep listening music, mystical as MythStep can be but still different, clearly focusing on the listening aspect that lies within, on Electronica and Ambient parts, quiet episodes and rebuilding tension - a journey in sound, a MythStep-opera, a work of sonic art structured like a piece of classical music and I would not be surprised if someone would announce a video or even stage performance written based on "Music For The Quiet Hour" in the nearest future. A true masterpiece serving some previously unheard stereophonic wizzardry as well whilst "The Drawbar Organ EPs" are not less thrilling musically but of a more tense and driving quality and speed, sucking people in to what is the center point of the dancefloor, grooving to beats of an advanced level, shaking butts and bodies to tribal abstractions and fascinating sonic futurism reminiscing about past incidents bound to the subconscious regions of the human race. A must of have for MythStep lovers and sonic enthusiasts of any kind. Epic. 

Kasper Björke - Deep Is The Breath [HFN Music 018 Promo]

"Deep Is The Breath" is the next single to be taken off Kasper Björke's recent album "Fool" released via Hamburgs HFN Music-label and I'm sure there's a need for all dancers to take a deep breath indeed after partying especially to the excellent and NuSkoolBreaks-flavored "Permanent Vacation Breathless Mix" on the A-side which is not less than a monster fusing thriving beats, the characteristic vocals and uplifting sounds for the raving crew. Massive. On the flip we see the likes of Pillow Talk feat. Tone Of Arc and the Finnish production team of Hannulelauri serving proper House and SlowHouse reworks for tiny, intimate club nights but it's the Permanent Vacation mix that is about to make waves all over the place for sure.