progressive psy

Released on 22nd August, TEUTON’s ‘Make It Blow’ EP delivers an ominous trio of Hard Techno and Psytrance-laced dancefloor weapons.

Following an impressive first offering on ARTCORE earlier in the year with ‘Lose Control’ as  part of the label’s ‘Miami 2024’ VA, the cryptic silhouette of TEUTON returns to Indira Paganotto’s exponentially rising imprint with a solo three-track monster titled ‘Make It Blow’. Backing up an impressive catalogue of self-releases sitting either side of his ARTCORE debut, it’s no wonder TEUTON is back on one of the industry’s fastest-growing platforms, bringing a worthy sacrifice to the altar across a trifecta of blistering main-room stompers. 

The title cut ‘Make It Blow’ comes in rough and ready with a rip-roaring barrage of psy-infused flavours driven by rave synth shots, pulsating bass notes and a catchy vocal hook, carving out an enthralling signal of intent for what’s to come across the rest of the EP. 

‘Bonkers’ is next to appear, delivering an onslaught of even more racy and euphoric elements. It combines pumping grooves and dreamy melodic pads, offering dynamic contrast to its gritty, rippling lead and bassline combo, all brought together by another fast-paced, hooking vocal component. 

‘Bass In Your Face’ brings the EP to an impressive close with a knockout finish. Weighty and assertive from the first drum kick, it fuses an array of sinister harmonic facets and another catchy vocal hook with an industrial-sized groove pool of thumping kicks, corroded hats and rolling low-end percussion to round off the release in a potent fashion.

Teuton - Make It Blow EP [ARTCORE Records]

TEUTON - Make It Blow EP [ARTCORE Records]

Indira Paganotto Launches ARTCORE’s First VA – ‘Face To Face Miami Week 2024’

DJ, producer and label head, Indira Paganotto will release ‘Face To Face Miami Week 2024’ on March 21st via her ARTCORE label. The ten-track album features an alchemic brew of hard dance styles concocted by a stellar cast of talent. In 2022, Indira launched her forward thinking imprint to further establish her brand of pulsing, high-intensity techno and to celebrate those artists who share her musical philosophy. After 7 releases, she looks to further make good on that promise with her label’s first VA.

BEC has reached the top of her game in a short time, after being head hunted by Pan-Pot, following plays at Burning Man, Tobacco Dock and The Warehouse Project. She is a ‘self confessed’ studio geek and wastes no time in setting the pace with opening track ‘Loca’. She constructs an Arabic-infused soundscape by juxtaposing enchanting vocal and flute melodies with rotating techno percussion. 

Luca Agnelli and Rian Wood collaborate for ‘Kiss Like This’ which for all its glossy vocal retains a visceral rawness amongst flashes of synth and unrestrained bass. Both hailing from Italy, Rian has drawn his influences from Hard Rave, Old School and Gabber. Luca is the founder of his Eturia Beat label since 2010 but has been featured on many more including NineTimesNine, Blackworks and Soma.

The appropriately titled ‘Lose Control’ by emerging new alias TEUTON does exactly that harnessed by the Digital Mindz original he applies his own take on the hardstyle number. A man behind a mask, mysterious in his identity, he started his music career over 30 years ago in the hardcore and goa trance scene.

Returning ARTCORE producer CHRS’ ‘Skeptical’ and brand-new artist PARKERSTRANGE with their track ‘123’ traverse a rave-psy-techno tightrope melding elements of each genre together in a cauldron of caustic electronica. Rich in style, and bold in its application of samples and atmospherics. The whole VA is intelligently executed, and this couldn’t achieved without artists like Italian multi-instrumentalist Giorgia Angiuli whose track ‘Ego Is The Enemy’ glides into life ascending through a melodic mist of fluttering dance motifs and monastic ambience. Giorgia is a live artist, and a classically trained musician who’s performed at Timewarp and Ultra.

Ecuadorian artist Lara Klart continues this vein of haunting but beguiling musicality on ‘Aleluya’ employing Miriea Clua on violin to instil a chordophone elegance atop a driving, deep techno pattern. 

Joining forces on ‘Power Of Silence’ Rhygar and Stëh collaborate for the first time, they provide a refreshing range of techno aesthetics. Including Zeshin’s ‘Sushy Party’, a new psy-trance alias by Mattia Trani, who’s sound is inspired by Japanese 00’s gaming. His track is fuelled by a giddy, anime like charm that stems from the sugar-coated vocals which dance across waves of juddering drums and cooling synths. 

The curtain closer, Joel Bird’s ‘Existentialism’ warps and surges with a celestial resonance amid a fusion of stomping claps a ceaseless percussion the track gently evanesces and fades into a calming ether. Joel is a young 20-year-old producer who’s work has been supported by KI/KI and Theo Nasa, this single marks his first release.

All tracks on the latest ARTCORE VA will be available on the 21st March.

10 Joel Bird - Existentialism (Extended Mix) [ARTCORE Records]

06 Giorgia Angiuli - Ego Is The Enemy (Extended Mix) [ARTCORE Records]

There's no stopping globe-trotting PSYMAMA Indira Paganotto at present. With her ARTCORE event series drawing sell-out crowds across Europe, fans of her atomic blend of psy trance and techno - to which she lovingly refers to as herWARRIORS - have been treated to a myriad of special releases over the last 12 months. And after her debut collaboration with Joseph Capriati, Indira announces the forthcoming 'ARTCORE OFFSónar 2024 Vol.1' this June, making the 2nd on the label since its inception. 

Vol.1 drops on the 27th June, with ten brand new tracks, and nine brand new artists debuting on ARTCORE. It boasts a truly eclectic mix of vocal samples set to a mouth-watering collection of electronic styles. 

Flying hot out of the traps for the LP opener is Buenos Aires born, Aussie-based Scifo with 'Dias De Fiesta' an emotionally charged, psy-imbued delight. The young SCIFO shrewdly chops a famous vocal to suit rapid-fire drumming while retaining the Latin beauty of its trance ancestor. Chasing the euphoric trance spirit, Slovakia's Samuel Andrášik - whose techno offerings are a regular in sets played by Charlotte De Witte, Indira Paganotto and KI/KI - uses powerful accelerating tempos with tense, foreboding synths on 'Return to Zero' to usher ominous, ghostly choir-like chanting before swiftly returning to the sonic pallet used at the beginning. 

The Hamburg pairing of ANDATA up the ante with 'Bianca Rambo' which starts amidst a whirring of breezy bleepy, clicks and sultry vocals only to then switch lanes altogether to introduce a thrashing, rock-guitar led breakdown. As the VA approaches the halfway mark, Italians Gray Cosmo instil a cool wave of progressive nuance subtlety steering the VA away from the psy-spliced-techno chaos it had garnered early on by way of mystical phonics and corrugated, cosmic musicality. The Middle Eastern inspiration continues with Afterparty in Paradise label head, Chris Morgan. On 'Serenum', the Swiss national opens the beat with an enthralling clash of vocals and gentle strumming sitar lines before introducing a galloping, pulsing bass. 

Emerging Belgian starlet, Marhu delivers yet another vocal-heavy, crisply produced, tempo focused gem with 'Bansuri', admixing delightful pan-pipe overtones with motorised percussion for maximum red-line impact. Roni Martinez provides the hardest cut on the VA with the unrelenting 'Desertica'. It's intense, squat-party like vigour brazenly trounces the whispering, goose-bump inducing lyrics that creep between its pneumatic drum rolls. The stirring, chest-beating inception of Arytmia's 'Fortress' will evoke audio imagery of sci-fi anti-heroes such as Darth Vader or Baron Harkonnen. 

The vivacious melody is underpinned by a bleak, darkly cosmos of droning pads and battle-ready percussion. FORBIDDEN's 'Keep The Faith' swiftly roars into existence, like much of the Serbian's work, by way of a fierce, bass driven melody. As the head of PHASE-2 records, and the only artist on this VA to have released on the label before, Italian producer CHRS is infamous for his brand of jarring but ultimately satisfying techno. The Italian's contribution to the VA titled 'Mental Groovy', encircles the ethos of ARTCORE sublimely. Its hyperactive melody is ignited by piercing sirens, tidal like drum work and harsh wintery synth patterns which sandwich an outrageous vocal sample.

04 Gray Cosmo - XTRA (Extended Mix) [ARTCORE Records]

There's no stopping globe-trotting PSYMAMA Indira Paganotto at present. With her ARTCORE event series drawing sell-out crowds across Europe, fans of her atomic blend of psy trance and techno - to which she lovingly refers to as her WARRIORS - have been treated to a myriad of special releases over the last 12 months. After ARTCORE's triumphant label showcase at Barcelona's majestic Castell De Ben Viure, Indira Paganotto announces 'Part 2' of the labels OffSónar VA to be released on 4th July. As the successor to Part.1, the latest VA is yet another collection of robust, diverse, and high-octane electronic tracks featuring 10 exhilarating compositions.

Leading the charge is Interactive Noise. As one of the more senior figures on the VA, the pioneering Mexican producer and live artist sets a high bar early on. His track 'Ninja World' opens with simmering strings and phasing hat effects to a soul-stirring melody shadowed by chanting vocals. ARTCORE affiliate and founder of Overtime Recordings, Valentinø takes the hardstyle reigns of the VA's opener and sets out on an alternative psychedelic path on 'Space Travel'. Blurring razor-edged synth, penetrating bass and warping overtones the Italian producer injects a serious of 'risers' late on to further develop the track's aerospace theme. 

Short, sharp and punchy bursts of bass kickstart Sumia's 'On The Road', with the young Istanbul native weaving raw, industrialised drum claps, coarse 'rewind' and her own vocal samples to make for a slightly tumultuous but ultimately compelling composition. An endearing quality of any ARTCORE VA is Indira's willingness to include established names alongside rising talent, with a prime example being Spain's Ramiro Lopez. The Odd Recordings head, a household name for techno fans the world over, begins 'What U Want' with a playful vocal that morphs into something considerably darker when met with a jack hammer bass and fierce, brain-shaking percussion. 

Thundering into its second half, is the young Void Milano resident R.Korner, who steps up with  'Hell Flags', a hypersonic trance spliced techno effort featuring a curios vocal borrowed from  hardcore rapper Comethazine. Barcelona's Flug, who is infamous for his concrete-like techno  offerings, enters with a rampaging, battering ram of a track titled 'Racing Cars' that features a  shuddering onslaught of 'warning sign' worthy percussion along with vocals from Liz McFarland.  The unsettling vocal samples continue on Queen from AD7USMENT with tightly woven drum  patterns, jungle-leaning breakdowns and acidic hi-hats at its core. The beat takes a peculiar turn late on before reverting back to type. It's a track made unquestionably in the image of its enigmatic German creator. 

The trio of Lørenzø Cøluccia, K4rm3 & IN6N unite on '222' to concoct an unrestrained bass tremor that arrives at its rather regal-mid-point only to crash back into the fire and brimstone of the track's latter stages to a chorus of hellish screams and tense pulsing pads. There's no shelter to be had for those of a nervous disposition when the release chugs towards its final track. Akoriz, who hails from Rome, delivers a sonic amalgamation of styles on 'My Ask' brazenly merging hard-dance codes and admirably succeeding. In the final act of this ARTCORE thriller, Mindstripes presents 'Bipolar Monk'. An uncompromising beat that truly lives up to its name with juddering, jittering basslines, lute-like strumming and menacing monastic vocals.

10 Mindstripes - Bipolar Monk (Extended Mix)

05 R.Korner - Hell Flags (Extended Mix)

03 TEUTON - Bass In Your Face (Extended Mix) [ARTCORE Records]

02 TEUTON - Bonkers (Extended Mix) [ARTCORE Records]

01 TEUTON - Make It Blow (Extended Mix) [ARTCORE Records]

In 2022, Indira Paganotto established ARTCORE with a clear vision in mind. The primary aim behind creating this label was to acknowledge and elevate the unique sound associated with Indira, which, until then, had not found a suitable representation in any existing label. It's widely recognized that this distinctive sound has been gaining rapid popularity and is finally receiving the recognition it rightfully deserves.

However, it's essential to note that ARTCORE will not be confined to a single genre. Instead, the emphasis will be on preserving authenticity and ensuring high-quality musical output. The label will serve as a platform that celebrates artistic expression, relevance, and musical heritage. Also, ARTCORE enables the opportunity for artists to be mentored directly by Indira is at the core of ARTCORE.

02 TEUTON - Bonkers (Extended Mix) [ARTCORE Records]

ARTCORE RECORDS