Tape Lab & Brillman (Collaboration)

East Hampton, NY / Near Oslo, Norway — March, 2024
Born from Kaoss, but carefully composed, Brillman & Tape Lab’s electrifying first colLABoration, Crash Course [Trakor Mix] bridges two distinct realms of the techno spectrum. With roots on both sides of the Atlantic—Brillman near Oslo, Tape Lab in NY/NC, the collaboration highlights a fruitful fusion of sensibility and style.

At the heart of their connection is a shared love for the Korg Kaossilator, revealing a mutual respect for innovation and a penchant for distinctive sounds. As a nod to this shared instrument, Crash Course [Traktor Mix] is imbued with the Kaossilator's unique sounds, adding a layer of trance-like, ambient texture that sets the track apart. Worlds collide, a crash course if you will.

Brillman is an OG and has maintained a prolific musical output for more than 20 years in every genre, while Tape Lab is newer on the scene, releasing music since 2019. Recommended for its raw, unfiltered and fearless approach, Tape Lab brings some wonk and twists to Brillman's refined, technically sophisticated sounds. The blend of immediacy and polish in Crash Course [Trakor Mix] showcases a collision of sounds only they could deliver.

Crash Course [Traktor Mix] is a head-on explosion of ideas—concentrated and intractable—away from the isolating effects of solitary production to a more collaborative, dynamic process. The track benefits from Brillman's experience, patience, and skillful mixing/mastering shining through.

The collaboration saw Brillman taking the lead, meticulously crafting the track's backbone, melodies, and arrangements, while Tape Lab infused the project with a touch of madness—contributing samples from the Moog Subsequent37, modified drum patterns, and elements from the Korg R3 (text by Tape Lab).

Tape Lab & Brillman - Crash Course (Traktor Mix)

Brillman x Tape Lab back at it again, this time with some small changes, just a few minor edits, nothing big, just a — microTWEAK. Building on an initial and explosive creative clash. Tape Lab & Brillman have delivered another melodic, composed and unexpected 2nd collaboration piece. 

Transferred at the speed of light (115bpm) across the Atlantic Ocean. Initial melodies were recorded via the Yamaha RM1X with space/reverb added from the Korg Kaos DJ Pad. Basslines were recorded on the Moog Sub37. Brillman remixed with additional drums/synths/sounds including the brilliant microFREAK. But, ultimately, the star of the show is Brillman’s expertly composed and eclectic sonic palette and, definitely, skills as a mixer and master-er.

Fearlessly, new sounds echo in and out, ricocheting off of other beats and bloops, a confetti of sounds raining down (text by Tape Lab).

Brillman & Tape Lab - microTWEAK (Traktor Mix)

Tape Lab x Brillman, Bad Weather 26.06.24:

It's getting hotter, drier, wetter and more extreme every day. Little by little. An omnipresent haze of unseen greenhouse gas. Bad Weather getting worse. Bad Weather you believe it or not. An incremental, subtle centigrade of decimals. Sound swirls, a high-pressure system of atmosphere and entropy.

Two things taken together: Brillman x Tape Lab and global warming. Both coming at you all the time on all sides. Unavoidable yet often ignored.

If you don’t feel it, just wait. Echoes from the past, thought long lost to the ice, thawed and dislodged - glacial gifts as artifacts frozen for the future. A yawning and unexplored expanse of liminal space in between the calm and calamity - a cocooning cacophony.

A cyclical ricochet reverb bounced back and forth across a rapidly warming earth.

Layers of samples compose an atmosphere, insulating from and for chaos and Kaossilator. Words concealed as sound speak volumes behind a Vangelic vision (Text by Tape Lab). 

Btw, we made this one downloadable. 
Ps. Please listen on decent headphones as the stereo spread helps to survive the chaos:)

Tape Lab & Brillman - Bad Weather (Traktor mix)

07.07.24: Received Tape Lab’s mix a while ago and it already sounded good in it’s original state. “Capacity Bus” included a moog bass, nice synth lines/melodies and the sample “i have the capacity to change…”. Loved it immediately. Now I only had to find the correct bpm and a track to blend “Capacity bus” with. Enter my old track “3 Scenarios” that chugs along with a hip hop style beat and includes the vox of climate scientist Will Steffen. Using Traktor/S8 the 2 tracks lined up perfectly and really complement each other. They form a kind of synthesis where our individual parts blend together as one musical shape/form moving in perfect synchronicity.

Brillman & Tape Lab - Capacity Bus (Traktor mix)

“So called tipping point”…

[preGalia] What started as a long jam session recorded by Tape Lab's 2yng2smpl was hastily exported to be listened to on the way to a Coastal Elite Gala. As is common, albeit obnoxious, 2yng2smpl, in turn, shared the raw 25-minute mess with Brillman. Ever patient and delightfully tolerant, he crafted and honed the sound while retaining the bursts and bounce of the original bop.
[on what should be, but isn’t, a straightforward explanation] Beaten Earth, well-worn and warning. Do you "shhhh" the drowning for interrupting your lunch while you look around for a lifeguard? Is it annoying to announce alarm again and again. It's so fucking hot the water is on fire. Is that a platitude? ARE YOU SCARED?
[beating earth i + ii] Two do too much, twice as many and multiplying. We're on the way to the party, melting into jet fuel, longing to land on long island, along .wav away from just outside Oslo. The method is madness, and it's made, in patchwork in precision. Recycled and downsampled, a tedious task, mastered masterfully.
[visually arrested] The Old Universal, that scion of soft power scratched and scrawled on the sub-conscience. We were born to fly, not drudge the bus. We are the They you can’t put your finger on (we’ve got security). Earth is Obsolete, obl0ng. An Egg and we’re beating it.
Served twice because we don't have to decide. We're already working on new shit, so keep your shirt on about quality control. (Text: Tape Lab)

Heaphones are obligatory to make sense of the chaos:)

Tape Lab & Brillman - Pregalia (beating earth)

Brillman has been an electronic online musician during the last 20 years using many different names: Brillman, Controlfreak, freakcontrol, Red Karma, Atmosphere, Zero Loop, Pan64, Randomcontrol, geometric delay and Superfreak! Brillman mainly creates original sounds from hardware synths but also uses guitar, samplers, vocals or even poetry. He primarily utilizes a 4 to the floor approach. The aesthetics behind the music is about finding a balance between minimalism vs. depth & improvisation vs. programmed.

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Influences: Eno, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, The Associates, Joy Division, Roxy Music, Bowie, Chemical Brothers, Frank Zappa, Hendrix, ELP, Polygon Window, G. Mahler, A. Bruckner, L.V. Beethoven, E. Satie, FSOL, The Orb, Laurie Anderson, Vangelis, Underworld, Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher, Miles Davis, Massive Attack, Black Sabbath, Prince, Sade, Etienne de Crecy, Daft Punk, Plastikman, Monolake, Japan, Pink Floyd, Resistance D, Talking Heads, Hawkwind, Gary Numan, J.M.Jarre…

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Synthesizers used (past or present):

Kawai K4
Korg Wavestation
Korg Wavestation SR
Kawai K3m
Kawai K4r
Yamaha AN200
Yamaha DX-7
Yamaha TG-500
Oberheim Matrix 1000
Roland SC-55
Roland JV1010
Roland JV1080
Roland JV2080
Korg M3r
Korg MS-20 mini
Roland D-110
Roland D2
Roland MC-505
Roland MC-09
Roland MC-808
Roland TB3
Korg ER-1
Korg MS2000r
Korg microkorg
Korg Kaossilator
E-MU Mophatt
E-MU Planet Earth
E-MU Proteus 1/2
E-MU Proteus 2000
E-MU Virtuoso
Vermona DRM-1 mk iv
Waldorf Blofeld
Waldorf Pulse 2
Moog Subharmonicon
Moog Labyrinth
Moog Mavis
Freebass FB-383
Behringer TD3
Behringer Neutron
Behringer model D
Behringer K2
Behringer Syncussion SY-1
Arturia Microbrute
Arturia Minibrute 2s
Arturia Microfreak
Elektron Cycles
Elektron Digitone
Behringer Crave
Behringer Edge
Novation Mininova
Clavia Micro modular
Clavia Nord rack 2
Access Virus Snow
Twisted Electrons MEGAfm
Data Duo
Blip Blox