Acid Placid

Nina Kraviz launches her трип (pronounced ‘trip’) label with a double-EP compilation entitled ’The Deviant Octopus’, featuring a pair of brand new productions from Kraviz alongside material from Terrence Dixon, emerging talent Parrish Smith & Bjarki, and veteran producers Exos & Steve Stoll.

The idea for трип has been gestating for some time with Nina Kraviz, an avid crate-digger and frequenter of numerous second-hand record stores, who has long wanted to begin a label of her own which would build on some of the principles of her beloved 90s techno labels in terms of attitude and aesthetics, whilst looking for forward-thinking modern productions that reflect her core tastes for idiosyncratic electronic music.

The art and title of 'The Deviant Octopus' comes from a single-sentence scenario dreamt up by Kraviz: “Without a moment's notice an Octopus appeared and devoured everyone in sight”. Supplied with this scenario, artist Tombo rendered his own unique visualization for the artwork that adorns the release sleeve. It's Kraviz's own nod to the labels that inspire her and grab her attention while digging through second hand records, the best of which were imbued with the unique personality of the people behind them. This extends to the sound Kraviz intends for трип: dusky, divergent and trippy music to stimulate brains, dreams and fantasies.

In this respect ‘The Deviant Octopus’ is a perfect introduction: Kraviz herself is represented on the tracklist by two new tracks that take up the mantle of last year’s Mr Jones EP by returning to the vocal-flecked hypnotic techno that marked out that release. Complimenting those are two new cuts from a true master of hallucinatory off-kilter techno, Terrence Dixon in his Population One guise.

Joining them will be a pair of names from the techno pantheon who have been huge influences on Kraviz: with a career that’s taken in releases on Synewave, Trax, Novamute and Richie Hawtin’s early-90s Probe Records, Steve Stoll has been mining his own variant on techno and acid minimalism for over twenty years, heading up the Proper NYC label and releasing under various pseudonyms, such as Cobalt, of which Kraviz has been a long-term fan. His counterintuitively titled ‘Pop Song’ sits alongside a 13-minute 90s techno excursion from Reykjavik’s Exos - the only previously-released cut (originally appearing on Thule Records sub-label Plast Trax in 1998) - together illustrating that трип will also live up to its name in the geographical sense: showcasing great music from historically vibrant electronic music scenes outside of the usual Detroit-Berlin axis.

With Kraviz looking to build a small repertory of talent around трип, this first release also makes room for two newer names: Bjarki is an Icelandic talent to keep a firm eye on, who drew Kraviz’s attention in a chance meeting after a gig at Copenhagen’s Culturebox club, after which he passed her a collection of mind-bendingly odd demos; while Parrish Smith is a talented Netherlands-based producer whose short yet impactful sketch ‘1.0 / 8.0 Afrika Genocide’ brings the second 12” to a bewitching close.

All tracks on ‘The Deviant Octopus’ will feature on Nina Kraviz’s DJ Kicks compilation, out in January 2015 on !K7 Records.

Tracklist: 
A1 Nina Kraviz - Prozimokampleme 
A2 Steve Stoll - Pop Song 
B1 Nina Kraviz - IMPRV 
B2 Bjarki - Polygon Pink Toast 
C1 Population One - Out of Control (Vocal mix) 
C2 Population One - Bonus Beats 
D1 Exos - Nuclear Red Guard 
D2 Parrish Smith - 1.0 : 8.0 Afrika Genocide

B1. Nina Kraviz - IMPRV

nthng finally follows up his four stunning EPs with a full album proper, arriving in a whopping 3xLP pack.

Arriving a good 6 months after the LT029.5 album sampler which debuted both Soms and In My Dreams, nthng adds another seven hazy, hooded techno bangers to those to make up a pretty dazzling body of work.

Opener 'Touches' is true ambient bliss, with shrouded, blissful synths fuzzing into view and cut through by a soft low distant sunlight. 

Both Galaxy and Eternal thump into view with a hi-paced drums colliding and clashing with syncopated stabs and smooth dusty baselines, recalling the tender techno-trance precipice danced by Dutch producers at the start of the 90's.

The huge mysterious fan favourite and title track It Never Ends gets it's pride of place with 9 mins of deep, cavernous techno, all rippling with epic string-synths and washes of mountainous reverb.

Even deeper numbers are extracted from the hard-drive, including the pensively, digitally-bubbling computer jam Unity sitting tidily alongside the super deep and subtle rolls of Abyss.

Rounding the album out is the appropriately-titled Last. A dark, shimmering, almost emotionless number that cements a different idea of the future. A hard, pounding, yelping, depth-charged technoid closer.

For us, the album feels like a real masterpiece, conjuring a spectrum of intimate and emotive moods, feelings and nostalgia-tinged memories that float into the mind, like the settling fog in the valley on a crisp winters morning.

>> @nthngnthng

BUY RELEASE

LT029 // nthng - It Never Ends

JT014 / Pisetzky – Tears Of A Rough Machine LP


Pisetzky’s full debut album on Just This, “Tears Of A Rough Machine”, is an exploration into contemporary techno music, fines ambient works and unique broken pieces.
An intense mixture of warmth, weird fluffiness, mystic trumpets and high uplifts, the album is interspersed with short ambient and fragmented interludes, each just a few minutes long: ‘State of consciousness’ and ‘Tears of a rough machine’ are serene and reflective tracks that give the listener time to breathe and bringing him/her back to more dance floor focused tracks of the LP like Viridis, Bakwas
and Wand. 
The result is a magic story, a history in eleven chapters that the listener is guided through, like the landscapes of a mystic journey, with a twist on the melodies and hidden effects behind every deep bass sound.
Mixed and mastered by Neel at Enisslab Studio, Rome.

TRACKLISTING:
A1 - 01. Vahana 
A2 - 02. Streams of ancient wisdom 
B1 - 03. Viridis 
B2 - 04. Bakwas 
B3 - 05. State of consciousness 
C1 - 06. Wand 
C2 - 07. Odalesque 
C3 - 08. Tears of a rough machine 
D1 - 09. Rite of shades 
D2 - 10. Medea 
D3 - 11. Scrying

www.just-this.it

Tears of a rough machine LP

Odalesque

A1 from ARCS-04, the upcoming 12" by Cassegrain.
•••
In quick succession to ARCS-03, which boasted remixes by The Mover, Shifted and Peder Mannerfelt, Cassegrain keep up the pressure with a new EP of originals on ARCS-04.

Returning to their tunnelling hypnotic trademark sound over three focused, club-ready trips, the Arcing Seas heads channel varied and irrepressible moods into each track. Built on solid dancefloor foundations and rich in colourful, non-conventional sound design, they scan through tribal ritualism with A side 'Shahmaran', moving to the pumping urgency of 'Caracal' and the rolling post-acid workout of 'Vulpine'.

ARCS-04 is a straight-up DJ-friendly 12'', something that's conveyed in the record’s more minimalist artwork. The sleeves have been hand-screen printed in Berlin by Alex from Cassegrain.

Cassegrain - ARCS-04
A1 Shahmaran
B1 Caracal
B2 Vulpine

https://arcingseas.bandcamp.com/

Release date:
23 June 2017

ARCS-04

Cassegrain - Shahmaran

@Boxia To say this release has caused a bit of a stir would be an understatement! If you were lucky enough to find yourself at closing sets at Movement Detroit, Pressure Glasgow, Junction 2 London, Summer Story Madrid, Governors Island New York, Rebel Toronto, Awakenings Amsterdam or Glastonbury, there is no doubt you would have pulled a face when you heard 'Point of No Return' for the first time. We've lost count of the amount of fan videos, ID requests we've received on the whole EP.

The euphoric anthems have gained considerable support from techno heavyweights from across the globe. DJs, promoters and punters concur there will be no return from this point in Boxia’s auspicious career.

Point of No Return

BUY NOW

Boxia - Point Of No Return

Drumcode returns with its 6th installment of the internationally celebrated A-Sides series. Renowned for fostering a shared space between industry tastemakers and rising talent alike, the careful curation that goes into each volume is a fine example of why Beyer’s brand continues to go from strength to strength.

Techno titan Adam Beyer has grown Drumcode into a force to be reckoned with; the label has become synonymous with forward-thinking, functional techno and even after 20 years, Drumcode continues to find new boundaries to push, and ways to solidify its legacy as the world’s number one techno label. 

2017 is no exception, with Beyer’s imprint hosting it’s first stage at Tomorrowland, not to mention the expansion of the critically acclaimed Junction 2 where the Drumcode stage is the centrepiece and Adam plays the key role of festival director. The Drumcode phenomenon continues to grow each week, chiefly fuelled by Drumcode Radio, Adam’s radio show that’s broadcast in 57 countries via 86 stations and to a global audience of 16 million techno fans per week. 

The A-Sides series acts as a perfect vignette of Drumcode’s cutting-edge sound; functional yet inspired techno, all tracks tried and tested by Beyer himself. Vol. 6 continues this tradition with a collection of 16 multi-faceted cuts from a mixture of both emerging artists and experienced label friends. 

The heart-throbbing bass in Amelie Lens’ electrifying piece ‘In Silence’ sets the tone for the dark and dance-floor-ready energy that Vol.6 carries the whole way through. Other standouts include Mars Bill’s rough’n’ready ‘Mohave’. Pulsating and precise, ‘Mohave’ has highlighted many of Beyer’s sets recently as has Wehbba’s monster track ‘Fake’, which fans have been anticipating the release of all year. 

Label-favourites Dense & Pika also feature on ‘A-Sides’ Vol. 6 with their hard-hitting ‘Just a Beat’ and a huge track from Beyer himself who has joined forces with Enrico Sangiuliano to bring us their undeniably infectious ‘Preset Heaven’. 

With many more notable selections from the likes of Julian Jewell, Timmo, Tiger Stripes and Pig&Dan, A-Sides Vol. 6 is another impressive addition to the label’s prolific release roster and a testament to why Drumcode remains at the forefront of the electronic world.

Acid Placid

Thom:Rider