A fish dreams in a drum machine. Hidden Operator surfaces, soaked in fog and radio hiss. The fever escapes. Kontra-Musik and Kess Kill hold hands in a burning telephone booth—two labels dancing backwards through a mirror, cackling.

This is a record made of riddles and ruin. Dub coughs in the corner. Proto techno slips on oil. UK hardcore gurgles something unspeakable before melting into a slo-mo house groove with a hangover. Lo-fi? No-fi. High-why. Slightly wrong but utterly intentional.

Basslines stagger like drunks in a maze. Snares in existential crisis. Synths whispering conspiracy theories. This is an apparition. Half dungeon, half dancefloor, half pigeon coop.

Understanding is colonialism. Twitch instead.

KONTRAKESS01. Carved in vinyl. Released into the ether. Confuse your neighbours. Alarm your pets. Send postcards from the inside.
credits
releases September 8, 2025

Music: Johan Skugge
Images/text: Mika Hallbäck Vuorenpää & Ulf Eriksson
Mastering: Rude 66 

PREVIEW - In Orbit (KONTRAKESS01)

Kess Kill Records started in 2016. 
Run by Rivet. 
Vinyl distributed by Readymade Berlin.
Digital available via Boomkat and Bandcamp (as well as most other stores).
Qu'est-ce qu'il fait chaud!

EDITIONS MEGO/MIDNIGHT SHIFT/SANDWELL DISTRICT

Rivet’s debut album On Feather and Wire – released 20 years into his career at the end of 2020 on the revered Editions Mego label – surprised and delighted with its punk spirit, industrial pulse, sensual atmospherics, and body music flavor, gave us a better sense of what the Malmö favorite is capable of. Hinted at by his work as the body music enthusiast behind Kess Kill record label and the years honing his production skills, first as Grovskopa and then as Rivet, his current sound has a sophisticated slink and a surprisingly accessible twist of pop, while still recognizable in its dance music lineage.

Winter 2023 saw Rivet’s second album ‘L+P-2′ dropped on Midnight Shift Records, with RA calling it, “A touching and occasionally searing portrait of grief through the lens of post-punk techno.” It came with accompanying remixes by artists Hodge, Nik Void, Hüma Utku as well as other friends and affiliates.
In 2023, he worked with electronic musician and composer Luis Pestana and double-bassist Gregory Vartian-Foss for a special SHAPE+/INTONAL commission and performance.

Always working, Rivet's third album ‘Peck Glamour’, due on Editions MEGO in march 2025, recognizes his dancefloor roots. But his other big release for 2025 will be as a producer and mixer of Sandwell District’s new album ‘End Beginnings’ due the same month.