Hard Riub

vol xix. rapid techno

Fallin' in Love

Alignment - Projection

Somewhen, Bibi Bourelly - Bricks

Buy here: found.ee/exhale-va005

Release: 26th July 2024

It’s almost impossible to believe that a label with so much international notoriety is still within its first ten releases. Still, Belgian Techno protagonist Amelie Lens’ EXHALE imprint is set to make even more noise with its ninth release. Following a spate of well-received singles from Amelie and the latest offering from fellow Antwerp native BYØRN, EXHALE prepares itself for an impressive fifth VA, featuring 14 selected cuts from 16 artists in total. A slew of internationally recognised names and rising new-age talent, welcoming back some familiar faces alongside some debutants, including two collaboration tracks.

Led by Amelie Lens’ ‘Underneath The Strobelights’, featuring her trademark vocals she paves the way for EXHALE VA005. Fellow Antwerp local NOVAH debuts on the label, after her notable b2b sets with BYØRN of late, her track ‘Inner Odyssey’ is followed by VENTUR’s ‘Let It Kick’, a track that lives up to its name. Young Irishman Luciid also makes his first appearance with the epic cut ‘Era Of Us’. BYØRN is back with another massive offering in ‘Our Destiny’, followed by SWART, who also returns with ‘Extazy’ a hard hitting pacy vocal peak timer. Teletech resident Alex Farell makes his debut alongside Farrago, in their first collab together on ‘All Systems Go’, with its spoken vocals and pummelling bass, before French producer ARDL at just 21 debuts with ‘Hyperactive’, with his focus on raw sounding techno.

Another duo of back-to-back debuts sees the elusive FLKN drop ‘Rumble’, influenced by 303 sounds, he makes things dark and distorted. UK-based Aaron Hibell with the vampiric ‘1999’, its bouncy fast bass it makes it the grooviest techno track of the VA. Berliner Afem Syko’s known for his unpredictable, vibrant sets offer his track ‘Slingshot’, backed up by returning American powerhouse and Terra Novae label founder Chemtrailz who become loved for his trance-inducing techno hybrid sound, teams up alongside Hani with their track ‘Goddessblood’. Italy’s Rian Wood comes in hot with penultimate cut ‘Anima’, as he expresses his passion for music through hard techno, neo rave and old school influences. Closing off the colossal VA is French talent, La Kajofol who recently released on ARTCORE. She seals the release with the irresistibly signature ‘Black Rhapsody’. Her music brings a unique style of her own which she calls ‘Mystical Techno’, infusing hypnotism into psytrance and techno with her eerie vocals.

Championing the diversity of the modern-day techno paradigm, EXHALE’s latest VA dips its toe into a myriad of genres, with nods to psytrance, breakbeat, hardstyle, classical and even drum & bass across thirteen freakishly heavy dancefloor-primed stompers. It’s everything you’d want from a release that showcases artistry in its simplest form.

BYØRN - Our Destiny

44008

Cryptic

2 Night

Destination Music

Unleash The Beast EP

Stop Talking

CARV - Stop Talking [Revised Records]

Taken from Vortek's forthcoming EP on Taapion.
To be Played Loud in Stereo.

Shlømo & Vortek's - Dam Dam Dam

No heart is a stone unburned. Even the darkest soul must know of the light — to confront it, to reckon with it. In passing through time, the shadows cast by the light change shape and direction. They dart out in front, skew their strange angles, and creep up behind.
Once, the light felt like a distant echo in the past, a wan energy barely able to penetrate the fog of the present. But behold the threshold and the new shadows cast as you pass through it. The light on the other side feels different — cast in viridian, heralding change, growth, but not yet warm.

The archway is cast in fluorite. Old expectations refract and splinter — prismatic illusions that struggle to form the forgotten self-image. The negative space which opens up around aches with new possibilities. Ambiguous outcomes inspire cryptic emotions — where once there was only resistance, now comes fragility. Lessons reveal themselves in unknowable shapes, every step another evolution of the shadow self.
The latest single from I Hate Models heralds a new chapter, shedding old habits and embracing a broader emotional palette without losing the fierce momentum of his thunderous, maverick techno.

Full Release Date: Dec 19, 2024

FOREVER MELANCHOLIA

Move With The Sound

Bookings:
lruiz@wmeagency.com
Management:
neil@republikmanagement.com

Move With The Sound

MILO SPYKERS