Tresor

Release date (vinyl & digital): 14th of October 2022

TRACKLISTING:
A1. Tripartite
A2. Ascension Chain
B1. Bass Model
B2. The Burning Roundtable

INFO:
With a first appearance on Token through a remix for PTTRN’s ‘To Disapear Completely’, Mike Parker fully debuts on the imprint with ‘The Burning Round Table’ for 4 corrosive tracks of unforgiving power. Highly skilled in crafting cavernous ambiances and sharp tension, the American virtuoso offers a record emphasizing just that: imposing cuts to be selected with intention. 

Parker immediately introduces the EP with gravitas through boiling, acidic A1 ‘Tripartite’. This first track stomps its way through an aquatic ecosystem with the occasional stab to reaffirm the vast dimension of the track. Parker uses texturally abstract atmospheres that dive the alert listener into its mysterious environment. The kick pummels onto Parker’s next piece ‘Ascension Chain’, which carries its name well. A heavy low-end clears space for a mesmerizing stepped lead in this track that evokes a similar size as its predecessor’s. Quick hi hat sections hurry the track along into the other side of the record that meets the listener with a clear transition. Part 2 of the EP begins with ‘Bass Model’, where Parker flattens the dimension of his project with a strong, operatic bassline and rhythmic syncopation. Movement is now prioritized in a B side that sets a convincing balance between techno and Detroit electro through a highly effective use of minimal elements. Closed hi hats are uplifted through sections of rolling rides to keep the pace persistent and the track tunneling. Parker then guides us to the final pillar of ‘The Burning Round Table’ with his title track as B2, a logical continuation to the song before. A sustained and highly saturated bassline pushes through head bobbing percussion with a vintage sounding vocal sample to wrap up the artist’s sonic trip.

TOKEN111 - Mike Parker - The Burning Roundtable

Step into the kaleidoscopic realm of sonic experimentation with "Cut & Rearranged Vol. 2," a compilation that defies conventional boundaries and takes you on a transcendent journey through the intertwined worlds of 90's vintage drum & bass and techno. This auditory opus manifests as a harmonious fusion of Mexican artists who fearlessly wield their creative prowess to reshape the sonic landscape.

"Cut & Rearranged Vol. 2" serves as a portal to a dimension where boundaries are mere illusions, where familiar rhythms are distorted, and where uncharted sonic territories are explored with fearless abandon. Each track, meticulously curated from the minds of these Mexican sonic pioneers, serves as a testament to their ingenuity, pushing the limits of what electronic music can be.

Vintage drum & bass elements intertwine with pulsating techno beats, giving birth to a new hybrid sound that is at once nostalgic and forward-thinking. Distorted basslines intertwine with ethereal melodies, as glitched-out rhythms and mesmerizing synths collide in an intricate dance of sonic experimentation. These artists skillfully wield their tools, cutting and rearranging samples, crafting a sonic tapestry that is simultaneously disorienting and captivating.

As you immerse yourself in this extraordinary compilation, you will witness the transformation of the familiar into the extraordinary. The artists behind "Cut & Rearranged Vol. 2" fearlessly navigate uncharted waters, transcending genre constraints and daringly reshaping sonic narratives. With every track, you embark on a thrilling expedition, guided by these audacious Mexican creators, who are unafraid to challenge conventions and embrace the avant-garde.

Happy 4 years of Ineffable, fam.

Bandcamp

Seli - RRCRUZ

Twenty-three years on from its original release, the debut album of American artist Mike Parker stands proud as a blueprint for deep, hypnotic techno in the new millennium. Originally published as a CD-only edition on Parker’s own Geophone label, Field Records are now giving Dispatches the first full vinyl release it so richly deserves - spread across six sides and reproducing Parker’s distinctive artwork at scale. A stealthy classic spoken about in hushed tones by techno connoisseurs - this new edition should gain the wider recognition it rightly deserves. 

Charting the course of Parker’s career reads like the evolution of deep techno itself - moving from early collaborations with Donato Dozzy to appearances on seminal labels such as Prologue, Semantica and Spazio Disponibile. The essence of his approach was forged early on, honing techno’s propulsion into a raw essence without losing any of the weight. It’s an exercise in minimalism, but the sound is still monolithic and engulfing, crystal clear in its intention and devoted to the power of subtle pressure. When the decay on a reverb opens up a fraction, Parker’s music leaves enough space for you to notice. Incremental shifts become monumental in his hands and his commitment to subliminal layering reveals hidden depths the further you submit to his hypnotic sound. 

This definitive edition of Dispatches looks at the vinyl singles which accompanied the album’s original release and creates a more complete picture of the area that Parker was exploring at the time. It’s the first time that the alternate take of icy depth charge ‘Copper Variations: CV1’ appears on wax, as goes for the pneumatic tension of ‘Reduction’ and evocative miniature sound sculpture ‘Blue Equals Black’. Expanding the album beyond its original CD form, epic rarity ‘Dissolution 99’ presides over the final side, while the standout Voiceprint release is now represented in full with the inclusion of heavyweight stepped techno workout ‘Voiceprint: Voice Two’. 

Able to sustain his own creative vision without cowing to the trends or expectations of any scene or clique, Parker’s music has progressed on its own terms. What this reissue demonstrates is how fully formed his vision was - even at a relatively early stage. In an era where the deep techno scene is thriving, Dispatches feels all the more relevant, undiluted by time and still unmatched in its immersive perfection.

Mike Parker - Reduction

Stockholm repper Patrik Eriksson is a proponent for deep and loopy techno; under his Dold moniker, the DJ/producer delivers all manner of introverted compositions, moments designed for home and club that resonate with an evocative and redoubtable simplicity. His catalogue of releases on the co-run label Arsenik are an ongoing dialogue with live partner Kuf and a selection of well-known peers, stripped-down techno that conveys a cogent message with its straight-talking approach.

The Revival Recordings (BAS 014) is another vinyl feather in Dold’s cap, a five-track release that takes the relay from his developing opus and sprints assuredly on. A1 Work Me pairs mercurial hi-hats with subaquatic squeaks, while its successor keeps tempo and switches its leitmotif for hollow, metallic repetitions. The temperature rises with Solid Solitude, the A3 banger that’s likely to make its way into many a closing set towards the end of summer. The B side takes a darker turn with Insight (B1), a slower, more philosophical entry suggestive of breezy Scandinavian nights. B2 points its arrow in another direction, still more urban, more club floor, shuffling acid beats that tie the record and Dold’s many-faceted influences together in a neat package. There’s a bit of everything here, and a hint at both Dold’s capacity as a producer and what might be yet to come. A promise of compelling techno from the north that’s sure to put his star on the rise.

All tracks written by @ddoldd
Mastered at Hardgroove
Mastering by Paul Mac
Art direction and Photography by Tengiz Begoidze;
Words by Pablo Martin-Ortiz
Distributed by Triple Vision

B2 At A Loose End / Power Moves

Careful, Not Trending

Strahlemann

To speak to Luca Daniel Schwarz aka LDS about his music is to be enthusiastically guided into a complex world of his own creation: clean and powerful techno which pulses with life from the textured patterns and drum sequences that have fills and accents that would make anyone who's picked up a set of drumsticks envious.

Yet this ecosystem of noise is deceptive; Schwarz's process for making music is very different to how a live drummer would create the same subtlety of performance. Forever researching new technology, Luca got deeply interested in different programming languages, and created a series of probability based music tools for manoeuvring sounds and sequencing.

Manipulating those probabilities takes a skillful alchemy, needing understanding of both musical structure and how the tools he devised work. To return to the drummer analogy, if the drummer is focussed and intentional in the moment of playing, then the method used in LDS tracks is almost diametrically opposed, with all of the intention coming in the assembly of the instruments, potential paths, and gateways; once play is pressed the music flows, following all the rules that were set in advance, not unlike a domino run or Rube Goldberg machine.

And like a domino run, the results are fascinating and, ultimately, fun: staccato vocals pop in and out in 'zipp prompt'; laser-like synths pulse; background noises sweep across the aural plane of the dub techno of 'diff, blockmix' and 'pow' adding texture that brings vitality all-too-easily missed out when complex mathematical processes become entwined with music creation. The high sensitivity to texture and rhythmic detail in Stadion Progg is multiplied further on Jean Redondo's remix - whose track, Hypersonic, was the backbone of 2023's 'yet' compilation on Tresor.

The balance between technology and a sense of fun might also come from the maker; it's not easy to overstate Schwarz's passion for what is now his favourite way to make music, "it never gets boring. There's always a moment of anticipation to see what actually emerges." And the true "power of 2" comes into play when the resulting music can be fed back through the system again and again, potentiating the music in exponential ways.

BANDCAMP

LDS - pow

PREMIERE: LDS - diff, block mix

PREMIERE: LDS - zipp prompt

PREMIERE: LDS - stadion progg

PREMIERE: LDS - stadion progg, jean redondo remix

Champignons - La Marche du Tambourin

SANTICORM - WhenTheMindWasBorn

Recorded and first released in 1999, "Drain Hum" is a perfect example of Mike Parker's signature sound.  

Some history of the track is published here:
https://mnmt.no/blog/flashback-mike-parker-drain-hum-1999/

"Drain Hum" by Mike Parker

Northern Electronics 53
Anthony Linell – Alienation from Self EP

Mastered by Neel at EnissLab, Rome
Visual by A.L.

http://northernelectronics.bandcamp.com

Anthony Linell – As They Withdraw

Polar Inertia - Major Axis

‘Berghain Fünfzehn’ sees @Luke-Slater creating new compositions from the Ostgut Ton back catalogue, chopping, looping tweaking and deploying sounds into a mix that is both a playful retrospective of the label and future-facing vision for mixing and dance music.

On April 17, seven exclusive tracks from the ‘Berghain Fünfzehn’ DJ mix will be released on two 12”s and for streaming/digital download. De- and reconstructing the Ostgut Ton discography, Slater’s vision encompasses not only sampling but live electronics and improvisation, resulting in a broad spectrum of heady and liminal dance music: from ultra stripped-back mindfuck techno, vocals and blasts of distortion to breakbeat excursions, minimalistic acid, and rave polyrhythms. In other words: the arc of the label through Slater’s singular hallucinatory prism.

A1. O-Ton Reassembled 1
A2. O-Ton Reassembled 2
B1. O-Ton Reassembled 3
B2. O-Ton Reassembled 4
C1. O-Ton Reassembled 5
C2. O-Ton Reassembled 6
D. O-Ton Reassembled 7

All tracks reassembled by Luke Slater @spacestationzero UK from the following releases:

A1 @Marcel-Fengler “Break Through” & “Mayria” (OSTGUTCD27), L.B. Dub Corp “I Have A Dream feat. Benjamin Zephaniah” (OSTGUTCD29), @AnswerCodeRequest “Field Depth” (OSTGUTLP17), @Nick-Hoeppner “Paws” (OSTGUTLP19), @Virginia-DJ “Subdued Colors” (OSTGUTLP22)

A2 @MarcelDettmann “Barrier” (o-ton52), @Barker-Baumecker “A Murder Of Crows (Part 2)” (o-ton54), Shed “BER” (o-ton55), @Tobias-Freund “Freeze” (o-ton57), Marcel Fengler “Mosaique“ (o-ton60), @Vril_01 “UV” (o-ton51), Planetary Assault Systems “Bell Blocker (@Silent-Servant Remix)” (o-ton53)

B1 @Voltek “Maximum Utility” (BARKER001), @Steffi_official x Virginia “Internal Bleeding” (o-ton122), Planetary Assault Systems “Spell A” (o-ton123), Tobias. “The Wisdom Of No Escape” (o-ton125)

B2 Tobias. “Nucleon” (o-ton96), @Terence-Fixmer “Trace To Nowhere” (o-ton97), Dettmann | Klock “Bad Boy” (o- ton100)

C1 @3024world “Voids Two” (OSTGUTLP29), Tobias. “Single Minded” (OSTGUTLP25), Answer Code Request “Orarum” (OSTGUTLP28)

C2 Shed “Waved Mind” & “Archive Document” (OSTGUTCD06), @Ben-Klock “Gold Rush” (OSTGUTLP03), Planetary Assault Systems “Enter Action” (OSTGUTCD09), Marcel Dettmann “Taris (Outro)” (OSTGUTLP05), Shed “Keep Time” (OSTGUTLP06), Planetary Assault Systems “Human Like Us” (OSTGUTLP10)

D Terence Fixmer “Aktion Mekanik Theme (Marcel Dettmann Leitmotif Version)” (o-ton88), @counterchange-Inland “Sca Fell” (o- ton87), Marcel Dettmann “Light” (o-ton82)

Andreas [LUPO] Lubich at Loop-O Mastering, Berlin
Technical Assistance Daniel Proßegger

Seli - RRCRUZ

Ineffable

Recent comments

kat.beats

MTRK Records

MTRK Records

Related tracks