Releases

Here´s the title track from our next release NAVA by @freybenedikt & @tohinc

Order here:
https://riolabel.bandcamp.com/album/benedikt-frey-tim-toh-nava

Distribution:
https://www.one-eye-witness.com/release/1634121441/Benedikt-Frey-and-Tim-Toh-NAVA

www.riolabel.com

Music Video

Benedikt Frey & Tim Toh - Neu (ft. Lisa Toh & Niklas Wandt)

A1 Holes In My CV
A2 Time
A3 Snowglobe

B1 NRGY
B2 Module
B3 N.O.D.

INIT is Benedikt Frey & Nadia D’Alò. We are delighted to present their long delayed vinyl and digital album, NRGY.

Born out of various art performances and installations, INIT states a logical outcome of Berlin based duo Nadia D'Alò and Benedikt Frey. With heavy use of analogue synthesis and drum-machines, INIT rethinks its genre's sonic approach, unfolding a unique and organic, yet alienating sound, somewhere in the mysterious midst of Acid, Techno, Ambient and Kraut-Rock. 

This is INIT's third album, following two releases on Hivern Discs, and performances at clubs such as Berghain, Robert Johnson and Pudel Club.

INIT say - 

Module, NRGY, and Time were reverse extracted out of our live set and re-recorded and re-arranged after we realised how well they work in clubs. It is the first time we worked this way as we tend not to play our compositions live, like we produced them. Mostly we just extract loops out of our production to mess around with in a loose live project. 

Snowglobe, Holes In My CV and N.O.D. were more built up from a studio jam plus a bulletproof-ish arrangement afterwards. 

Tried and tested on dance floors this is a surefire hit album on the dancefloor, and at home. NRGY!

Released on vinyl (and digital) on 27/05/2022. Distributed by Kompakt.

OM LP 22 - INIT - NRGY album sampler (vinyl / digital)

SETR008 V.Ö. 14.10.

A) TIFFY L’AMOUR - FOLLOW ME (FREY & MENQUI Glockenspiel) 
B) DIE GESUNDEN - Filmmusik (FREY & OTTER Dive)

Serious Trouble label presents a mind bending record that brings together forward thinking jams from the early 80’s into present time with reworks of Tiffy L’Amours’ „Follow Me“ and „Film Musik“ from Die Gesunden. Both received an editorial treatment by Benedikt Frey, Menqui & Philipp Otterbach. With kind allowance by the original composers this 12“ marks the editorial spirit of Serious Trouble and waves tribute to moist cellar jams.
The A-Side „Follow Me“ Rework by Frey & Menqui is a wild extension of the original which gently adds a weird drummy cowbell intro before it introduces the chanting eccentric original. That got enhanced with an extra electronic bass recording and relooped cut & phrases emphasing you to hit the bell just one more time.
On the flip side „Film Musik“ Frey & Otterbach dived into the artists main motive and layerd it with a lyra, sh101 and external drums in an 8 hour session. It respectfully keeps the spirit of the playful original. In comparison to that though they managed to built a seamless endless „escheresque" staircase to mad mountain. An Immortal Acid exploration.

Die Gesunden & Tiffy L'Amour Reworks (Benedikt Frey, Menqui, Philipp Otterbach)

@freybenedikt RIO09 // 11.18.2022 // Distr. One Eye Witness

When British Airways got privatized and listed on the London Stock Exchange, somewhere in Canada the first Starbucks outside of the US opened, and the Walt Disney Company signed an agreement with the French Prime Minister to construct Disneyland Paris. In the sky above southern Argentina, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, northern Somalia, and the Atlantic Ocean a hybrid solar eclipse materialized for 7.57 seconds, whilst Margaret Thatcher performed for 45-minutes on Soviet television. Some days later, The Simpsons cartoon first appears as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, Diego Maradona wins his first Italian soccer championship with Napoli, and Eighteen-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust lands a private plane on Red Square in Moscow. In the mists of the world's first conference on artificial life at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Mainland China opens in Beijing, and Prozac gets approved for use as an antidepressant in the United States. Much give way for the future, down there in 1987, the year that marks the title of Benedikt Frey’s freshest mini album, out into the world on R.i.O., the label he runs with some pals in the North of Berlin. It’s a dubby melancholic conqueror, wistfully, repetitive, drilling, absorbing, spooking. It makes you dream. Not particular of the year 1987. But it’s all there: The Red Square, the untouched land of the Val d'Europe, Diego on fuego. Six dark-ish tracks in trance, melancholic dub, downbeat heaven, journey music depths, all full of light and yet so dark. Futuristic dramas linked to a speculative past. In our dreams all might look different. The eclipse may last 27-minutes. You meet Neuromancer cyberpunks and blade running Ghost dogs, all taught to hack by Phrack. Cristal clear melodies, sampled voices, and veiled basslines, analogue scopes, and digital ropes, longing for a past that storm into the future. A time where deep listening widens the acoustics into infinity, while neon glows charm the light smog. Benedikt Frey been down there. Or maybe not. His latest music tells stories from the bygone, vested with the forthcoming. Come in and look out. There is nothing to see, yet so much to hear. ML

A1) Phrack 5:55
A2) Trencher 6:15
A3) ORI 3:38
B1) Attitude 5:45
B2) Dummy 5:43
B3) Steam 5:30

Supported by Initiative Musik gGmbH with project funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.

1987

Bandcamp

RIO09 Benedikt Frey - 1987

Single Release of "Attitude" out today on Bandcamp! It comes with a hot music video by Californias' one and only Jennifer Juniper Stratford. 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUGfEFBYApo
Buy: https://riolabel.bandcamp.com/album/1987

RIO09 // Benedikt Frey - Attitude

Title Track of Benedikt Frey's debut EP on Malka Tuti.
Record is released 17/01/2023

Recall

Benedikt Frey - Recall

Emotional Response completes its 10th anniversary by welcoming Benedikt Frey to the label with a special release, a fantastic dub-psychedelic cover of Joy Division, delivered in multiple versions, including a wonderful dub-meets-prog reinterpretation from Lucas Croon.

An established producer for over a decade, with a releases for a myriad of respected labels like ESP Institute, Crème Organisation, Hivern Discs, Live At Robert Johnson and Serious Trouble, plus Frey’s own excellent R.I.O Records that is quickly becoming label to watch, it’s pleasure he joins Emotional Response with a fresh, but respectful remake.

Alongside PiL Ltd, Joy Division were the ultimate post punk band, the music, design and untimely passing of lead signer Ian Curtis, creating a mystique around the band that survives today. Opening their second, and final, album Unknown Pleasure, the song is a big part of their history. Frey’s version – with secret vocalist Carla Koller – offer a wide-screen retake, the dub bass and modulated snare wrap around lyrics, while haunting guitar adds to an unease.

Starting with a classic, but perfect Vocal Mix, there is an accompanying Instrumental that together highlight a propulsion and incessant groove, allowing the space between to herald the production’s beauty.

This is backed with a live remake by Lucas Croon. A label fan since his appearances in Stabil Elite, BAR and The Kloom, this Dusseldorf fraternity member continues Emotional Response’s long-standing association with the city. With celebrated releases on Aiwo Recs and Themes From Great Cities, his fireside remix begins as some dub-psyche odyssey before morphing in to a steppas-delight rock out that will capture the open ears and minds.

To close, Frey returns with his own Dub. Possibly the EP’s stand-out, this half step remix sucks the listener to the spaces between, as vocals dissipate and collapse within, bass bins distorting to distraction, the pull of a true and worthy dub symphony.

BANDCAMP

Benedikt Frey - She's Lost Control (ft. Carla Koller)

https://soundcloud.com/freybenedikt
https://soundcloud.com/esp-institute
🛒 https://freybenedikt.bandcamp.com/album/fastlane
🔊 https://youtu.be/nVzU6dgMxek

Close your eyes and merge into Benedikt Frey’s 'Fastlane'. Imagine sitting in the driver’s seat of a an automobile, one with exceptional horsepower and torque, as you stare out the windshield at the red light, warping in fata-morgana a mile down the road. It’s a straight-away, a black top with two lanes, and against your better judgment you decide to floor the gas. No hesitation in your muscle, your ankle or the ball of your foot, which you now realize is some kind of universal pivot, the first point of contact fusing your body with the will of machine. In this moment you’re in awe that you, a human, an animal, grew from pond scum into something so advanced as to engineer this thing, a mechanical beast capable of overwhelming power and exhilaration. But you also feel a seductive dread, an outside force diverting you from caution toward a dangling carrot of curiosity, asking yourself, ‘How far can I take this thing?’ The dread, now a constant, is numbed, equalized by an adverse intoxicating gratification. You feel both sensations in real time, however, rather than take responsibility for yourself, friends, family and innocent bystanders, you cement your foot to the floor and lean your head back. Noise around you fades to mute. Smell the benzene-scented air, feel the wind on your face, the menacing vibration of the vessel you control beneath you and every grain of asphalt under its tires. This mile has now lasted an eternity and you’ve left your body for some objective view, as if watching climax of a film. Past the point of no return, you embrace abandon and lean into fate. The film becomes slow motion, a crawling pace so mesmerizing you convince yourself of an option to eject yourself from this madness, but as you finally let go of your last morsel of fear, you run the red light head-on into the nucleus of a fantastic glistening sculpture of torn metal, glass, oil, broken dreams and heartache. 'Fastlane' may be just drum machines and synthesizers if you’re timid, but listen harder and know the catastrophic reality of existence, a wreckage so gruesome we dare not rubberneck, but afterall it is our nature to stare.

PREMIERE: Benedikt Frey - Crank [ESP Institute]

She's Lost Control (Dub)

Benedikt Frey - Sei Wer Du Bist

Benedikt Frey - Trees

Benedikt Frey makes his debut on Rhythmic Culture Records with ‘Hoover’. The German producer–known for his previous work on labels such as ESP Institute, Hivern Discs and his own R.i.O. imprint–delivers a 4-track EP that is a journey through the breakbeat spectrum with a distinct focus on sonic experimentation. From the hypnotic dynamic in ‘Blue Lights’ complimented by the vocals of DALO, to the intriguing dance floor rhythms in ‘Henry’ and ‘Deadlines’ and downtempo mesmerising track ‘Trees’, ‘Hoover’ puts another side of Frey’s work in the limelight.

Hoover

Deadlines

Benedikt Frey - Deadlines

this house cut never made it on wax, time has proven it still does great magic on the dancefloor. it was compiled around 2013. Out now exclusive here for you on Bandcamp

Benedikt Frey - Clave Me

B1 Geranos

Hot summer rain hits the cracked pavement in uneven rhythms. A neon sign flickers above a café that never seems to close, its warm white light reflected in the wet ground like a fever dream. The air smells of summer and the world hums with an easy tone, as if the city itself is holding its breath. A light flooded film noir-ish scene, that needs a soundtrack like „POOL JAMS“, the new album of INIT, the Berlin based duo, that already caused quite a stir with their albums for Hivern Discs and Optimo Music. This time, they bring their latest creations out on R.i.O. - a label, with whom they are deeply associated. Their fourth longplayer is a playful one. One that brings trip hopping feelings. That has r’n’b grace, without catering regular trademarks of the genre. Dub, trance, drone, is all there too. Yet, nothing is present in pure definition. Rather suggested, interwoven, or newly twisted in a songwriting style, that haunts and
seduces. On top the voice of Nadia D'Alò dances, steps and hums tempting to the grooves she created with her partner in crime Benedikt Frey. Together they fashioned a record, that, as INIT puts it, is „some kind of old photo from an old dry empty pool that got faded by sunlight “. A dreamy, sunny piece of song art, made for endless smoky LA freeway drives, and other adventures that seek for infinite riddance. You can dream it. You can trance it. You can’t escape it, as soon as it rotates in your dream device for sound and vision.

Text ML

INIT - Pinata

Out now: POOL JAMS – the new album by INIT 🌊🌀

A soundtrack for sun-soaked city streets and neon-lit dreams. INIT, the Berlin-based duo of Nadia D'Alò and Benedikt Frey, return with their fourth album — a hazy blend of trip hop, dub, trance, and R’n’B grace, all twisted into something uniquely their own. Released on R.i.O., POOL JAMS feels like a faded photo from an empty pool — nostalgic, seductive, and endlessly replayable.

You can dream it. You can trance it. But once it's on, you can’t escape it.
Now streaming everywhere.

#INIT #PoolJams #NewMusic #RIO #ElectronicMusic #DreamSoundtrack

INIT - Carrier

Two years on since his BR debut in Berlin, our attention is drawn once again to Benedikt Frey and his Lopasura (Love, Pain, Sunshine & Rain) imprint. Since its 2012 formation, Lopasura has housed Benedikt's own releases. Following on from the Connect Four compilation by Drvg Cvltvre, Mark Forshaw, The Acid Mercenaries and Benedikt himself, he now returns with the label's fourth release. Out of the Fog showcases a trio of analogue-laden techno mastery. The title track opens proceedings fittingly. Acid low-tessitura chords hiss continuously underneath while siren synths whir in and out in their grandeur, peaking to symphonic effect before fading back into the dark. A sense of drama that encompasses Love, Pain, Sunshine & Rain comprehensively.

Catch Out of the Fog creeping out of the shadows on 21st April via Lopasura.

Pre-Order

Benedikt Frey "Out of the Fog" - Boiler Room Debuts

Full stream of Benedikt Frey's haunting "Private Crimes," a cut from his new album on ESP Institute. 

More info: https://www.xlr8r.com/news/2017/09/premiere-hear-a-haunting-cut-from-benedikt-freys-debut-album/

@freybenedikt
@esp-institute

[ESP048] Artificial

More info

Premiere: Benedikt Frey - Private Crimes

Out Now! Digital + Vinyl
https://riolabel.bandcamp.com/

Imagine

Keys - Imagine

BANDCAMP - https://craigieknowes.bandcamp.com/album/shadow

Jungle flavours run rampant through CKNOWEP26. This time Frey (aka the prolific Benedikt Frey) joins us to lay down 3 jungle infused rhythms. Title track 'Shadow' and 'D.Y.S.' expertly blend complex drums and morphing synthesis with the haunting and recondite vocals of Nadia D'Alo on the A-side. PI rounds off the record with a more familiar jungle outing but is by all means as unique as the rest of the record. One for the heads, inside! Available 10 August 2020.

Clone - https://tinyurl.com/CKNOWEP26-Clone
Deejay - https://tinyurl.com/CKNOWEP26-Deejay
Horizons - https://tinyurl.com/CKNOWEP26-Horizons
Cold Cuts Hot Wax - https://tinyurl.com/CKNOWEP26-CCHW
Lobster Records - https://tinyurl.com/CKNOWEP26-Lobster
HHV - https://tinyurl.com/CKNOWEP26-HHV
Decks - https://tinyurl.com/CKNOWEP26-Decks 
Juno - https://tinyurl.com/CKNOWEP26-Juno
Bordello - https://tinyurl.com/CKNOWEP26-Bordello

Buy @ Bandcamp

CKNOWEP26 | Frey - Shadow [12"]

+ @riolabel @initinit

Benedikt Frey is many. Or just one? He is a composer. An arranger. A DJ. A ghost producer. A fan. He plays in bands like INIT, or Dolphins or KEYS +++ produced the last two albums for Chris Imler. Downbeat in experimental dub zones. The goat for Edits and remixes. When house was his nation, he used to listen to pen names like Suedmilch or Venedikt Reyf. He still likes the music formed under their umbrella, but today his tomorrow is not echoed in yesterday. His sound signature moved on. Into the open. He founded labels like R.i.O. or Serious Trouble. 

He lives in Berlin. Physically. In mind Benedikt Frey is at many places. Traveling far thru his home studio that is a flat a studio a flat an instrument a record collection a flat a studio. Everywhere gear, vinyl, tapes, instruments, rooms for spontaneous sonic notions, these moments, when a sudden strike of stimulation falls. He is inspired a lot. For music to dance. Music for films. Music for live shows. Music for dancing glows. Techno, house, downbeat, ambient, jungle, electronics outside the norms. Those transportive ones. Jamming with others. Jamming with his mind. In Berlin Wedding, North of the town, where the lights dimmed low, neighbors share the flow, and a small river runs slow.  As a DJ he plays here, there, everywhere. Big clubs, small shacks, festivals, gatherings. From fast to 90 BPM - as he feels. 

For himself. For the crowd. In the spur. He still remembers his club kid days. Going to dance with friends. Down there in Offenbach. Doing the Robert Johnson. Collective emotions for a better tomorrow. These he still seeks. In his music. His shows. His collaborations. You can book him for a party. For enlightenment. For ecstasy or introspective perspectives. Dancing slow, whilst pirouetting a high-pitched show. 

Since more than a decade. His own music is out there, too. Bringing his spirits in sound. On his own labels. On international imprints like ESP Institute, Hivern Discs, Craigie Knowes, or Emotional Response. Solo works. Driving ones. Slow drills. Teased during his DJ dates around the planet. 

The music plays day and night. Inspiration comes. From a simple kick drum. A movie sequence. A bird on the sill. A picture, totally still. Can’t kick that feeling when it hits. Benedikt Frey. In dreams. In streams. In music. Emotions. Situations. At night. In those flashy lights, when it bites.

24.5. b2b with NVST, Kauz Zürich
10.05. Säälchen, Berlin
26.04. Zentralwäscherei, Zürich
25.04. b2b Philipp Otterbach, Arkaoda, Berlin
04.04. Sameheads, Berlin
13.03. Säule, Berlin
22.02. Kegelbahn, Luzern
21.02. Fribourg, CH

---- BYE24

17.12. Kiosk Radio,  Bxl
15.12. Curly Teeth b2b w. NVST, Bxl
30.11. Panorama Bar, Berlin
16.11. La Culottee, Paris
19.10. LAF, Pforzhyme
05.10. Sameheads, Berlin
28.09. Buka, Milan
21.09. Chemiefabrik, Zürich
14.09. Ausland, Berlin
16.08. Salon Des Amateurs, Düsseldorf
21.07. Am Bach Festival, Lucerne
05.07. Kappa Futur Festival, Turin
14.06. Masters, Zagreb
18.05. Outracena, Lisbon
27.04. Arkaoda, Berlin
24.02. Macadam, Nantes
26.01. Sameheads, Berlin

Releases

benedikt frey