Watermark went through loads of different incarnations before it ended up how it did on the vinyl release in 2012. I was never happy with it.

The vocals were there as a place holder, until i found something I could use to fill the space.

This is a very rough early version with way too much reverb, badly EQed beat and an abrupt end. So apologies for that, but I thought people might find it interesting.

Watermark (early demo version from 2010)

Oderbruch

Nacht, Fluss, Grille, Auto, Frosch, Eule, Mücke

With grace, we move down
Through all that needs healing, way
More than imagined

::

Original music & haiku poetry by Bob Weathers

All That Needs Healing

This is an experiment with Maschine Micro and the CZ101 within Logic Pro and attempting to silence the screaming snails inside my brain. 2025

When We Are All Kung-Fu Fighting About Politics

You Can' T Stop Time

Mininga

DONATO DOZZY - CLEO

Sam Barker (@voltek) has had a long ongoing relationship with Berghain and Ostgut Ton, having released two LPs and various EPs as one half of Barker & Baumecker and hosting regular nights at the club since September 2008 as co-founder of the label Leisure System. 2017 marked the beginning of his solo residency, 2018 sees his first solo release with Ostgut Ton.

Both as a musician and label owner, Barker operates on the fringes of techno, balancing experimentation with functionality. On ‘Debiasing’, he takes a hard look at the musical elements often considered necessary to maintain dancefloor momentum, with four distinct tracks of morphing synth stabs and paired down metronomic rhythms in varying time signatures. While there is no kick, snare, or clap to be heard, the result is not experimental techno deconstructions but driving, hypnotic and unlikely dancefloor tools.

More information: http://ostgut.de/ton/record/217

Buy 12"

Barker | When Prophecy Fails

@voltek 'Filter Bubbles' is a beautifully fluid dancefloor tool formed from fluorescent synths that circle endlessly in head-spinning polyrhythms. Bringing to mind the visionary sound design of fellow envelope-pushers Second Woman, this one's an effervescent bubblebath of sound that you won't want to get out of.

Debiasing EP

Barker - Filter Bubbles [Ostgut Ton]

New Barker [@Voltek] 12” out Friday, June 28. Vinyl only, hand-stamped, peaktime optimised.
New Barker album, ‘Utility’, out late summer on double-vinyl, digital formats, CD and LTD edition.

BARKER001

Maximum Utility

Barker | Maximum Utility

Listen to all tracks from ‘Utility’ in full at https://sambarker.bandcamp.com/album/utility

On his debut solo LP ‘Utility’, Barker [@voltek] turns his focus toward melding experimentation and dancefloor pragmatism with the psychology behind the musical decision making process.

‘Utility’ is a playful but non-ironic musical approach to a whole spectrum of utilitarian and transhumanist ideas: from models for quantifying pleasure and “gradients of bliss” to abolishing suffering for sentient beings (not just people) through the ethical use of drugs and nanotechnology. Over nine tracks, Barker’s vision ebbs and flows through waves of deeply psychedelic musical vignettes; free-floating and futuristic melodies and rhythms as targeted brain stimulation.

Barker | When Prophecy Fails

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