RIOCAST

Benedikt blending first time only experimental in-house projects by himself & INIT Find the Interview with @https://soundcloud.com/freybenedikt at: https://riolabel.com/riocasts

RIOCAST02 Benedikt Frey - Do Easy Archive

NAVA (RIO06)
https://riolabel.bandcamp.com/album/benedikt-frey-tim-toh-nava
29.10.2021 - Bandcamp Release 
12.11.2021 - Official Release

I dream of you so quietly. Your likeness is not visible, the wind obscures your silhouette. You create spirals and don't know why. A burning star whirling in an orbit of its own. Each today is yesterday's tomorrow, which is now. And now is all I have, in my dream, so quietly… Four new tracks on RIO, catalogue number 006. Conducted, dreamed, in- and exhaled by @freybenedikt and @tohinc , featuring cosmic whisper and aerospace vocoder poetry by Lisa Toh, Tyler Pope, Lukas Diller and Niklas Wandt. Tripping music, dancing with organic Reprazent-break-infinity, saxophone melodies, Neu-Kraut-transcendence, nervous drones, gloomy bass figures, minimal pop and manic computer malfunctioning tones. All wrapped in a warm void of Melancholie, touching the eternal with murky gloves. Pointillist tunes, thoughtfully peculiar, seriously serious. Now is all they need. Now is all they want. Now I dream of you so quietly.

NAVA

Benedikt Frey & Tim Toh - NAVA

Here´s the title track from our next release NAVA by @freybenedikt & @tohinc

Order here:
https://riolabel.bandcamp.com/album/benedikt-frey-tim-toh-nava

Distribution:
https://www.one-eye-witness.com/release/1634121441/Benedikt-Frey-and-Tim-Toh-NAVA

www.riolabel.com

Music Video

Benedikt Frey & Tim Toh - Neu (ft. Lisa Toh & Niklas Wandt)

Glad having one of the finest out of frankfurt am main. Find the Interview with @philip_berg on https://riolabel.com/riocasts

RIOCAST04 Philip Berg - Mountain Goat Mix

Risks Issues Opportunities II 
Release Date 18.02.2022
Distribution: One Eye Witness
Artwork Omnigroup

Pre Order https://riolabel.bandcamp.com/album/risks-issues-opportunities-ii

A1 Syncboy – Tuerkis
A2 Pannotia – Wavering Limits
A3 Twoonky – Primera
A4 Airaboi - Resilience Transmissions
B1 Charlotte Simon - User Work Hard
B2 Willie Burns – I Am Back
B3 Nadia D’alò – D.S.
B4 Bocksrucker - Der Müde Tod

They are here, all over: sudden, random molecular movements. Invisible and yet extremely effective. Perceptible only to those who turn on things from a peculiar outlook. Now Rio unfolds the second edition of “Risks Issues Opportunities”, bringing interstellar musical developments full of little, yet profound molecule advances. Eight mystical fate spinners, with the muscle to shed some light on unanswered questions, that will stay unanswered after all. Monolithic, yet deeply fragile compositions, made by terrestrials like Leipzig based producer Syncboy, Pannotia from Sydney, Italy based dusty drum machines lovers Twoonky, Charlotte Simon, known as one half of the art duo Les Trucs from Frankfurt, Berlin mystic’s like Airaboi or Nadia D'Alò of the duo INIT, Brooklyn based “The Thing” housekeeper Willie Burns and Vienna’s symbolist sound poet Bocksrucker. They all created electric signs for the above. Murky analogue prophesiers without prophecy, bringing headway music against the greedy frontier spirit. Hypnotic tones out of a hazy musical outer space. Like a dream that forgot to dream, they wave around with veiled frequencies full of ray, processed through analogue machine power. Music, that is able to in sight humans to an Atget photography. Able to transmit flashes to the firmament, to stars that wander darkling in eternal space. And yes: to some who listen a sudden physical movement might transpire, despite the fact that all was made without a particular practical value. Art for art's sake. In favor of an alternative to reality. Compellingly haunted by itself. Like stone, that awaits a random molecular movement.

RIO07 V.A. - Risks Issues Opportunities II

Welcome https://soundcloud.com/garcon from switzerland to our RIOCAST series. Find the interview here --> https://riolabel.com/riocasts

RIOCAST05 Garçon - Flimmer

Splendid Mix by Marijana Croon for our RIOCAST series. Full Interview here --> @riolabel.com/riocasts

RIOCAST06 Marijana Croon - Tanzverbot

@freybenedikt RIO09 // 11.18.2022 // Distr. One Eye Witness

When British Airways got privatized and listed on the London Stock Exchange, somewhere in Canada the first Starbucks outside of the US opened, and the Walt Disney Company signed an agreement with the French Prime Minister to construct Disneyland Paris. In the sky above southern Argentina, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, northern Somalia, and the Atlantic Ocean a hybrid solar eclipse materialized for 7.57 seconds, whilst Margaret Thatcher performed for 45-minutes on Soviet television. Some days later, The Simpsons cartoon first appears as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, Diego Maradona wins his first Italian soccer championship with Napoli, and Eighteen-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust lands a private plane on Red Square in Moscow. In the mists of the world's first conference on artificial life at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Mainland China opens in Beijing, and Prozac gets approved for use as an antidepressant in the United States. Much give way for the future, down there in 1987, the year that marks the title of Benedikt Frey’s freshest mini album, out into the world on R.i.O., the label he runs with some pals in the North of Berlin. It’s a dubby melancholic conqueror, wistfully, repetitive, drilling, absorbing, spooking. It makes you dream. Not particular of the year 1987. But it’s all there: The Red Square, the untouched land of the Val d'Europe, Diego on fuego. Six dark-ish tracks in trance, melancholic dub, downbeat heaven, journey music depths, all full of light and yet so dark. Futuristic dramas linked to a speculative past. In our dreams all might look different. The eclipse may last 27-minutes. You meet Neuromancer cyberpunks and blade running Ghost dogs, all taught to hack by Phrack. Cristal clear melodies, sampled voices, and veiled basslines, analogue scopes, and digital ropes, longing for a past that storm into the future. A time where deep listening widens the acoustics into infinity, while neon glows charm the light smog. Benedikt Frey been down there. Or maybe not. His latest music tells stories from the bygone, vested with the forthcoming. Come in and look out. There is nothing to see, yet so much to hear. ML

A1) Phrack 5:55
A2) Trencher 6:15
A3) ORI 3:38
B1) Attitude 5:45
B2) Dummy 5:43
B3) Steam 5:30

Supported by Initiative Musik gGmbH with project funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.

1987

Bandcamp

RIO09 Benedikt Frey - 1987

@freybenedikt b2b @menqui for the closing! <3

Benedikt Frey b2b Menqui @ Arkaoda Berlin November 19th

Welcoming @timnah-sommerfeldt from the great Amenthia-Recordings-Basel to our Mix Series!

Find the interview with Timnah on our website --> riolabel.com/riocasts

Interview

RIOCAST09 Timnah - Fenna

Here comes DALO’s Interpretation of Pose Dia’s Corner Of The City.
It´s a beautiful melancholic stomach pounder with an acid twist. 
Take a long breath, it’ll take you deep. Out Now on all digital platforms.
@daloworks @pose_dia

Pose Dia - Corner Of The City (DALO Remix)

Here’s Pose Dia’s „Phoenix“ weeded through Benedikt Frey.
Coming coming coming close to the original grinding a sticky 3 note bassline.
twisting highlights in multiple echo chambers. Certainly approved for club use! 
Measured by a heavy track-ID-request-rate. 
@freybenedikt @pose_dia
mastered by @fpeidner @sfblume 
design: @omnigroup
#posedia #benediktfrey #pop #jungle #dub #techno #storytelling #trigger #pulled #playitloud #nottooloud #blazing #remix #outnow #phoenix

Pose Dia - Phoenix (Benedikt Frey Remix)

We are very pleased to welcome @philipp-otterbach to our RIOCAST series!

Philipp also took some time to answer our questions. About him, his music and future projects --> riolabel.com/riocasts

RIOCAST11 Philipp Otterbach - ..Is A Little Bit Disturbed By The Silence Here

@grischgrisch

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” a sage modernist poet previously whispered. And here we go, far out and yet so near, the third edition of “Risks Issues Opportunities” brings frontier reverberations scratching at the edges of dance, pop, downbeat, and other trance- portive sectors. Eight fast/slow propelling tracks. Adventurous, full of grandeur, gratifying the dance floor while equally winning the relaxation zones. Pure emotions crafted by newcomers. There is Milan’s Tagliabue, trancing slow and insightful. Or Cologne’s Grischerr, eloquently Tolouse-Low-Traxing. Some go down the slow burning road, where rhythms hang low, and suspense is in full show. Like London’s Frank Rodas, Garnu Depot from Iran, or Xei Ju from the islands of Micronesia, striking all ears with ghostly transcendental percussive science. An autumnally global voyage, which likewise offers industrialized districts by Italian producer Federico Cassetta, Metropolis minimal wave pop by Japanese musician Saeko Killy, or odd swamp funk by Chilean/German duo 7697 Miles. They all show, how far you can go, without losing your distinct flow.
ML

Grischerr - Wreak Havoc

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” a sage modernist poet previously whispered. And here we go, far out and yet so near, the third edition of “Risks Issues Opportunities” brings frontier reverberations scratching at the edges of dance, pop, downbeat, and other trance- portive sectors. Eight fast/slow propelling tracks. Adventurous, full of grandeur, gratifying the dance floor while equally winning the relaxation zones. Pure emotions crafted by newcomers. There is Milan’s Tagliabue, trancing slow and insightful. Or Cologne’s Grischerr, eloquently Tolouse-Low-Traxing. Some go down the slow burning road, where rhythms hang low, and suspense is in full show. Like London’s Frank Rodas, Garnu Depot from Iran, or Xei Ju from the islands of Micronesia, striking all ears with ghostly transcendental percussive science. An autumnally global voyage, which likewise offers industrialized districts by Italian producer Federico Cassetta, Metropolis minimal wave pop by Japanese musician Saeko Killy, or odd swamp funk by Chilean/German duo 7697 Miles. They all show, how far you can go, without losing your distinct flow.
ML

Garnu Depot - The Root

Please welcome TM Solver to our RIOCAST series.

Thomas who is responsible for the 10th release on R.i.O. gave us the permission to release his live recording he played on our Labelnight at Arkaoda back in 2022. Read the full interview at --> riolabel.com/riocasts

Listen to the Album: https://riolabel.bandcamp.com/album/tm-solver-subtraktiv-additiv

RIOCAST12 TM Solver - Live at Arkaoda

Artist: @daloworks
Mastering: Falko Paul Eidner & Sebastian Blume
Distribution: One Eye Witness
Album releases April 26th

All those creatures, standing there, making time. Fury eyes, golden dust on artificial fog. Dancing on glass, repetitive poems, looping long after the last loop looped away. Oriental acid, frenzied samples, low hanging film noir suspense. This is DALO. Or not. She is many. Dry maniac downbeat is her craft. Or dark-ish pop-not-pop. There is dub, trance, techno, too. She is known for releases on labels like ESP Institute, WARNING, or Tresor. She is part of bands like INIT. She played them all, those clubs, that matter, and those that matter more. Live. Alone. As an artist. With a band. Here she comes with her first album. On the R.i.O. sphere. Her homebase. A trusted zone for experimentation. She brings “Duster”. Seven tunes twisted in different dreams. Fast, slow, veiled, enchanted, haunting trenchant. She sings. These songs. To dance. For a different, stripped-back trance. DALO. Her record longs for a stage. Exporting grace, face to face. A work like a mirror. Hypnotizing. A psychedelic portrait of a performer. Nuanced industrial veils ceremonial journey music. Claps, Jungle. Desolate vocal snippets. A whirlwind of words. All those chords, hanging there, kick drum time. Fury eyes, golden horns amid acid fog. Dancing on glass, cyclic synth-lines. DALO. Duster. A-round-and-a-around. Circulating the ritual.

Text: ML

DALO - Shovel (RIO14)

Artist: @daloworks
Mastering: Falko Paul Eidner & Sebastian Blume
Distribution: One Eye Witness
Out Now

All those creatures, standing there, making time. Fury eyes, golden dust on artificial fog. Dancing on glass, repetitive poems, looping long after the last loop looped away. Oriental acid, frenzied samples, low hanging film noir suspense. This is DALO. Or not. She is many. Dry maniac downbeat is her craft. Or dark-ish pop-not-pop. There is dub, trance, techno, too. She is known for releases on labels like ESP Institute, WARNING, or Tresor. She is part of bands like INIT. She played them all, those clubs, that matter, and those that matter more. Live. Alone. As an artist. With a band. Here she comes with her first album. On the R.i.O. sphere. Her homebase. A trusted zone for experimentation. She brings “Duster”. Seven tunes twisted in different dreams. Fast, slow, veiled, enchanted, haunting trenchant. She sings. These songs. To dance. For a different, stripped-back trance. DALO. Her record longs for a stage. Exporting grace, face to face. A work like a mirror. Hypnotizing. A psychedelic portrait of a performer. Nuanced industrial veils ceremonial journey music. Claps, Jungle. Desolate vocal snippets. A whirlwind of words. All those chords, hanging there, kick drum time. Fury eyes, golden horns amid acid fog. Dancing on glass, cyclic synth-lines. DALO. Duster. A-round-and-a-around. Circulating the ritual.

Text: ML

BANDCAMP

DALO 2 £

Airaboi who released one track on our second compilation "Risks Issues Opportunities" is a berlin based musician and created an hour long mix to give us insight on his current personal favourites. Listen and read his answers to our questionaire here --> www.riolabel.com/riocasts

Listen to his track: https://riolabel.bandcamp.com/track/airaboi-resilience-transmissions

RIOCAST13 Airaboi - Gemini

Long time in the vaults, soon out in pop heaven: Andrea & Alexander, a handsomely nostalgic pop project by Andrea Noce aka Eva Geist and Alexander Arpeggio. Originally launched in 2014, revitalized in 2023, the project originated as a live set-up consisting of synthesizers, effect pedals, and analogue drum machines. From there it slowly metamorphosed into a crew of songs with raw minimal-wave grooves and romantically haunting English and German pop lyrics, loosely evoking the aura of Siouxsie Sioux, Gudrun Gut or Nadine Bal. After becoming a live mainstay in the Berlin based underground club Sameheads, they went on a tour through Lithuania and soon after several unfortunate troubles led to the break-up of the band, prompting both Andrea and Alexander to focus on their solo careers. Andrea became Eva Geist and released for various international labels, played live and formed the female duo As Longitude. Alexander founded his own label Eine Welt, took over the management of the renowned underground festival Camp Cosmic and created two musical projects with Cid Hohner, Otto and Aufgang B. Now, years later, almost becoming a Soundcloud corpse some Andrea & Alexander recordings caught the attention of the R.i.O. folks and just seconds later they offer six freshly recorded cuts of Andrea & Alexander tunes that stood the test of time as authentic, soulful pop music. “What are we going to wear for tonight’s party?” Andrea Noce asks in their song “Tiney Party”. The answer is “Loved Up” a musical celebration outfit of six sincere recorded, emotionally accorded songs, who make the dance, give verve a chance, to be there, in that moment of all moments. An album for the listener that likes to dance. In his head, on the local carpet. “Loved Up” humming Andrea & Alexander tunes.

Artists: @andreanoce & @alexanderarpeggio 
Text by ML
Mastering by FPSF
Design and typography by: Omnigroup
Distribution by Word & Sound

Andrea & Alexander - Loved Up

Andrea & Alexander - Amazing Grace

All those spirits, those walks of life, all those sound journeys between worlds, between continents. Australian duo KXB is back at R.i.O., bringing a follow up to their first record “Areas of Uncertainty”, released in 2023. This time an exquisite collab. With filmmaker and vocalist Thrush, member of the feverish band Concentration. The duo from Melbourne, and the singer from Berlin bring a collection of tracks, dubs and versions - written and produced over the last two years with the tape format in mind. Inspired by fabled underground cassette labels like New Zealand-based late 1980ees/ early 1990ees sensation Xpressway and mixed continuously as a nod to 90s jungle bootleg mixtapes like the Yaman tapes by LTJ Bukem, DJ Hype, Randall, or Peshay. Distinctive vocalist Thrush travelled South, and spent two sweltering afternoons with KXB in Melbourne, doing free-spirited improvisations in the studio, that were later pieced together into the resulting album. 13 variations in sound, in which Thrush's lyrics explore chasmic spaces and energies common to both Germany and Australia. Her voice dances partly on trip hopping rhythms and indie-tronics, while technoid vibes, alternative house zones, and vivid trips into kosmische top the collaboration off. A piece of art formed by a clique of like-minded souls – gathered their walks of life between worlds into explorer music of unexplored districts. 

Text: ML
Graphic: Omnigroup
Mastering: FPSF
Artists: https://soundcloud.com/kkxxbb

The album will be available digitally and on tape on Feb 21st.
Limited edition of 50.

I FEED YOU (SINGLE MIX)

Co-Label Owner of Avec Plaisir, full blood Selector and good friend since more than a decade now @hendrik_stein gifted us with a 3 hour deep dive and answered some questions about his musical socialization & his youth. have the full read on our website.

--> https://riolabel.com/riocasts

INTERVIEW

RIOCAST14 Hendrik Stein - Guten Flug Baby

All those spirits, those walks of life, all those sound journeys between worlds, between continents. Australian duo KXB is back at R.i.O., bringing a follow up to their first record “Areas of Uncertainty”, released in 2023. This time an exquisite collab. With filmmaker and vocalist Thrush, member of the feverish band Concentration. The duo from Melbourne, and the singer from Berlin bring a collection of tracks, dubs and versions - written and produced over the last two years with the tape format in mind. Inspired by fabled underground cassette labels like New Zealand-based late 1980ees/ early 1990ees sensation Xpressway and mixed continuously as a nod to 90s jungle bootleg mixtapes like the Yaman tapes by LTJ Bukem, DJ Hype, Randall, or Peshay. Distinctive vocalist Thrush travelled South, and spent two sweltering afternoons with KXB in Melbourne, doing free-spirited improvisations in the studio, that were later pieced together into the resulting album. 13 variations in sound, in which Thrush's lyrics explore chasmic spaces and energies common to both Germany and Australia. Her voice dances partly on trip hopping rhythms and indie-tronics, while technoid vibes, alternative house zones, and vivid trips into kosmische top the collaboration off. A piece of art formed by a clique of like-minded souls – gathered their walks of life between worlds into explorer music of unexplored districts.

KXB & Thrush - DRIVING THROUGH A TUNNEL THAT IS FILLING FROM BOTH ENDS (Snippets)

sneak peak upfront the full release on Friday Feb 21st. "Driving Through A Tunnel That Is Filling From Both Ends" will be available on Tape (Bandcamp exclusive) and digitally.

⍄ https://riolabel.bandcamp.com/album/kxb-thrush-driving-through-a-tunnel-that-is-filling-from-both-ends

KXB & Thrush - FOR MY SINS [PREMIERE]

R.i.O. welcomes Brainwave Research Center, a NYC-based duo consisting of house/techno producer Chase Smith and documentary filmmaker Christa Majoras. In early 2023 they freed their debut album “figure 1” via their own label BRC. Two more albums followed. All documenting their love for experimental yet charming music of all kinds.

Their influences span a vast spectrum, from Steve Reich, Laurie Spiegel, and Edgar Froese to Martin Rev, John Carpenter, early Kraftwerk, or the ambient techno of Pete Namlook’s Fax +49-69/45046 label. Yet, Brainwave Research Center forges a sound distinctly their own, seamlessly blending analog synthesis with electro-acoustic experimentation.

On “Psychic Antenna”, the duo takes a gentle rawer approach. The tracks range from the manic verbal Die-Tödliche-Doris-like loops of "I Find Myself" to the meditative cosmic trance of "Open Your Mouth." "Orange Drop" and "Transmitter Park" toy with the dancefloor, channeling slow-motion acid trance and krautrock echoes.

The release is rounded out by three remixes: R.i.O.’s own Benedikt Frey delivers a deep, trippy groover full of inner musicality, while close companion DALO crafts a dark, echo-drenched pop rework, and Berlin’s Nathan Dawidowicz injects psyched nu-disco rhythms, expanding “Psychic Antenna” into seven notions of intense neural oscillations.

ML

Brainwave Research Center - Orange Drop

R.i.O. welcomes Brainwave Research Center, a NYC-based duo consisting of house/techno producer Chase Smith and documentary filmmaker Christa Majoras. In early 2023 they freed their debut album “figure 1” via their own label BRC. Two more albums followed. All documenting their love for experimental yet charming music of all kinds.

Their influences span a vast spectrum, from Steve Reich, Laurie Spiegel, and Edgar Froese to Martin Rev, John Carpenter, early Kraftwerk, or the ambient techno of Pete Namlook’s Fax +49-69/45046 label. Yet, Brainwave Research Center forges a sound distinctly their own, seamlessly blending analog synthesis with electro-acoustic experimentation.

On “Psychic Antenna”, the duo takes a gentle rawer approach. The tracks range from the manic verbal Die-Tödliche-Doris-like loops of "I Find Myself" to the meditative cosmic trance of "Open Your Mouth." "Orange Drop" and "Transmitter Park" toy with the dancefloor, channeling slow-motion acid trance and krautrock echoes.

The release is rounded out by three remixes: R.i.O.’s own Benedikt Frey delivers a deep, trippy groover full of inner musicality, while close companion DALO crafts a dark, echo-drenched pop rework, and Berlin’s Nathan Dawidowicz injects psyched nu-disco rhythms, expanding “Psychic Antenna” into seven notions of intense neural oscillations.

ML



Brainwave Research Center - Open Your Mouth

Brainwave Research Center - I Find Myself (DALO Remix)

interview

RIOCAST15 Sacha Mambo - The Escape To Nowhere Mix

(un-official) pt.of our Mutant Radio Show 🗽

RiO Takeover w. Philipp Otterbach, Benedikt Frey & Menqui (Part 3)

The first edition of our Riocast series features a good friend of the label - 

find the interview with @https://soundcloud.com/madlubi on our website --> https://riolabel.com/riocasts

Riocast 01

RIOCAST01 Mad Lubi - Peculiar Time Chariot

R.i.O. is a record label founded by @freybenedikt @menqui & @daloworks . With their shared passion for a broad range of music they established this new outlet in order to shift perceptions of reality.

R.i.O.

Pinned to spotlight

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