RADIO.D59B / VIKTOR RANKOVIC #4

The story .. so far
In the beginning of the 1990s four guys got together in a basement studio on Bornholm (small island in the Baltic Sea) and founded Merv. The members at that time were Brian Oldenborg, Jan Christiansen, Johnnie Schmidt and Thomas Gylsen. Demo tapes were recorded on DAT and sent to a label in Copenhagen. The label was Mainline Records run by late Henrik Möll and Daniel Mortazavi. The label consisted of several sublabels including Dancecop, which was the label aiming for underground techno releases.

Merv debuted with the EP "Melted Vein" and despite a bad vinyl quality and sound at that time, the record attracted attention enough for years to come. In the following three years follow-up EPs were released, but it never really took off and the band started working with other projects. 

After several years of hiatus (17 years to be exact), a Berlin based label Styrax contacted Merv with the idea of doing a repress of two specific tracks - "Dust" and "Melted Vein". The guy behind the label was Steffen Laschinski aka Rising Sun.

It should not just be a re-press of the originals, but a remastered edition fixing all the audio flaws that were present on the old recordings.

In the meantime Johnnie Schmidt and Thomas Gylsen had left the band. Brian Oldenborg and Jan Christiansen met in the studio once again to look for the old DAT tapes containing the tracks. Luckily they were still intact and were recorded digitally and audio artefacts removed before they were sent to final re-mastering. The EP was named "Re-Melted" and the mastering was done at Dubplates and Mastering which was founded by none other than Basic Channel.

The original was not pressed in large numbers so the news about a repress with enhanced audio was very welcomed by the dub techno collectors. 

The reissue got so much attention that it was obvious to introduce Merv again as a band and in the following years Jan & Brian started producing tracks again.

It was a challenge to get the same vibe since all of the old equipment were long gone and replaced by software based synths and drum machines.

To reproduce the vibes of the Merv sound, analog mixer and synths were brought back in the studio together with the same effects units that shaped the sound in the 90s. 

The journey up until today has been quite a ride with lots of releases on dedicated vinyl labels like Minimood, Ranges, Subwax, Kontakt and many more. 

The ride is not over so stay tuned !

https://www.discogs.com/fr/artist/99174-Merv

https://kontakt-records.bandcamp.com/album/merv-meticule-ep-stojche-andr-kronert-rmx

https://kontakt-records.bandcamp.com/album/merv-remain

https://www.deejay.de/Merv_Form_MINIMOOD022_Vinyl__959061

Phonons Podcast 077 Merv

Ambient & Interieur 39 with @sstarkss
this was live on Radio F.R.E.I. 96,2 MHz

Ambient & Interieur 39 [Jon Starks]

April Live Verdant Session for Timeline Music 

https://www.timeline-music.co.uk/home/

Toku Fuko /What Will Enlightenment Bring Me? (Lowless)
Utopia Cloak /Summer Holiday (Imaginary Museum)
Citizen Maze /Strange Array (AAR)
Bespoke Cutter /Zones (Novac Music)
Mohloa /Cut [Dorisburg Remix] (Hypnus)
Grau /Kylao (FdF)
Rod Modell /Kingston (Echocord)
Sebastien Mullaert /Samunnati [Wa We Wu Simplification] (Default Position)
JS Zeiter /Regenerate (Kontakt)
Gimmik /Untitled (Toytonic)
Octal Industries /Automatik [Blue Lagoon Mix] (Transistor Rhythm)
El Choop /Beauty Warp (Etui)
Donato Dozzy /Cassandra (Claque Music)
El Choop /Woman [Night] (Etui)
Luke Hess & Sascha Dive /Polyphonic Minds [Steve O'Sullivan Remix] (Minimood)
Grad U /Sirens (Redscale)
Moody Waters /Hindsight (Were Going Deep)
Delano Smith /On The Run (Sushitech)
Scott Grooves /Classsic 909 [Panther Dub] (Natural Midi)
El Choop /Insane Sends [Sven's Angelic Sends mix] (Echocord)
Takashi Himeoka /Clouds (Saga)
Konduku /Ayva (Nous'Klaer)
Vril /y7/10 (Delsin)
Priori / 2 See (NAFF)
Elio Terzi /Coefficents (Kavalanic Languages)
????? /Priority (Exalt Fallen Entertainers Series)
KA One & St Sene /Temporary Expression (Finale Sessions)
Janeret /Midnight Soul (Finale Sessions)
Monotix /Octave (Sound of Sound)
Stojche /Tunnel (Tangible Assets)
Paperclip People /The Climax [Basic Reshape] (Planet E)
ASC & Sam KDC /The Inevitable (Auxiliary)
Skee Mask /MBAss 123 (Ilian Skee Series)

VR - April 2021 

enjoy comment & share

Verdant Session 21_4 for Timeline Music

New York City–based producer Ford Scott makes his label debut with four club-ready weapons that fuse deep minimal grooves with high-energy drive. Drawing inspiration from 90s house while adding his own modern edge, Ford has caught the attention of some of the scene’s biggest names with his innovative basslines, meticulous sound design, and relentless dancefloor focus.

The A-side opens with Watch Out, a crafty, rolling bassline paired with sleek, layered synth work and captivating sound design. Next up, Work That Body delivers suspense-filled builds and explosive drops, pairing hypnotic vocal chops with a punchy bassline for a full-throttle dancefloor weapon.

On the B-side, The Message channels 90s hip-hop swagger into a groovy, bass-driven cut with intricate melodic textures and fluid, evolving atmospheres. Closing out the EP, Can’t Sit Down turns up the heat with futuristic synth stabs, a driving low end, and a tightly-wound arrangement that refuses to let the energy drop.

Watch Out

Buy on bandcamp

Red Richards & Onetram - Code

Sequence

We have SH2000 for our new episode of Paraffin Podcasts, Anton Zap aka SH2000 is a well know sound artist and music producer from Russia, Paraffin Tehran is extremely happy to have him for this episode, enjoy the journey.

Paraffin Podcasts

Paraffin Podcasts - 011 - SH2000 (Anton Zap)

More Spiritual Contents from Grandma's Handbag

Antoni Maiovvi /Emotional Trigger (Tusk Wax)
Robert Leiner /Aqua Viva (Apollo)
Acid Jesus /Turkey Skank (Klang Elektronik)
Cignol /Guidance Releases (Distant Worlds)
Spin Fidelity /To Tha Outta Limits (Magnonic Signals)
Nemo Vachez /Lila’s Secret Diary (out soon on Mindhelmet)
Lief /Rumex (Tio Series)
XDB /Moveya (Dial)
Dorisburg /House Organ For The Lonely (Phonica)
Luigi Tozzi & Claudio PRC /Lira ( 012 )
Red Planet /Cosmic Movement (Red Planet)
Whoo Whoo /?????? (DAP)
Nail /Sentipede (out soon on Ornate Records)
Justin Cudmore  /Train Dance (Phonica White)
Eric Van Den Broek /Primerose (De:tuned)
Alison Marks /Control  (Verdant Recordings)

December 2020
VR

Phonons Podcast 075 Juliano

https://soundcloud.com/ohm-599575574, one of the main figures of the Icelandic techno scene, makes a visit with a great set of dubby techno. Neither of us knew how to swing these padel thingies, so we played some music instead.

First hour by OHM:

01. The Sun Children Project - Flux [Peacefrog Records - 1998]
02. Bluetrain - Midnight Creeper [Bluetrain - 1997]
03. Round Two - New Day [Main Street Records - 1995]
04. Round 3 Featuring Tikiman - Acting Crazy [Main Street Records - 1996]
05. Bluetrain - Street Sadness [Bluetrain - 1997]
06. Maurizio - M 4,5 [Maurizio - 1995]
07. Convextion -  Matrix 1 (B Side) [Matrix - 1995]
08. Pelon - No Stunts Part 2 [Chain Reaction - 1996]
09. DBX - Losing Control [Accelerate - 1994]
10. Basic Channel - Q1.1 [Basic Channel - 1993]
11. Polygon Window - Polygon Window [Warp Records - 1993]
12. Aphex Twin - Analog Bublebath [Mighty Force - 1991]

Second hour by Kiskelfacit:

01. Bandulu - Trinity [Blanco Y Negro - 1996]
02. Jeff Mills - Gamma Player [Axis - 1997]
03. Luke Slater - The Secret Garden [Kickin Records - 1994]
04. RAC - Root [Warp Records - 1995]
05. Unknown Artist - Läsk Afro Disco 02 [Läsk - 1999]
06. Gemini - Campanula [Substance - 1997]
07. Octave One - Night Illusions [430 West - 1997]
08. James Ruskin - Beyond [Blueprint - 2000]
09. Surgeon - Black Jackal Throwbacks [Tresor - 1999]
10. The Blunted Boy Wonder - Timessquare [NovaMute - 1996]
11. X-101 - Rave New World [Tresor - 1991]
12. Kosmic Messenger - Eye To Eye [Elypsia - 1997]
13. JB3 - Presence [NovaMute - 1996]
14. Adam Beyer - This Is Code Red [Code Red - 1998]
15. Marco Carola - This Is Code Red [Code Red - 1999]
16. Hiroaki Iizuka - Tera [Tresor - 1999]
17. Oliver Ho - Seduced [Meta - 2000]
18. Takkyu Ishino - Polynasia [Ki-oon - 1998]

Hjärngymnastik 109: Patellaluxationspadelomgång med OHM

Phonons is a non-profit organization supporting electronic musicians and selectors. It is based in Marseille - France and has strong connections in Europe , Asia and in the USA. It was founded in 2011 at the initiative of Nahim Bendjilali, Philippe Gray-Lopez and Vincent Telandro.

Phonons supports sound artists by providing expression spaces: we organize parties and showcases :: we promote the artists' work through our podcast and events. We mainly focus on electronic music.