Tresor’s long-standing connection to Detroit continues with Black Majik - the solo EP debut from Ann-Marie Teasley aka The AM (@amx313), one of the Motor City’s newest techno ambassadors.

Over four tracks the EP takes you on an odyssey of sorts, traversing the big three of Detroit’s electronic music history: Funk, Electro, and Techno

Black Majik, the title track sets us off with a groove bringing to mind a car ride through the city as the sun sets; the looping yet subtly-changing beats reminiscent of road markings and scenery that flit past on our journey, the vocals acting as the road signs that keeps us on our route.

Our next stop is On Joy Road, an Electro-influenced track named after the long, dual-carriageway street that connects the centre of Detroit to Nankin Lake and the enclaves on the city’s west side. Of this personal favourite from the EP The AM says, “Classic electro has never gone out of style in Detroit, and if it's hot outside, or you're at a cookout you're going to hear some form of electro, especially on Joy Road…infamous for its drag races. It can be a beautiful street by day, but it can turn very sinister at night which also influenced the writing of this track.” Third track, Shadow Werk, continues our drive into the night with an all-pistons-firing techno track recalling classic Detroit-Berlin axis tracks like UR’s Punisher or Joey Beltram’s Ten Four.

Our tour comes to an end as we are joined by fellow Detroiter’s Scan7 who turbo-charge Shadow Werk with a remix that adds accelerating trance-induction arpeggios evocative of Techno’s earliest beginnings in Italo Disco and tracks like Number of Names seminal Shari Vari.

As with all releases during Tresor’s 30th anniversary celebrations the artwork is a photograph of significance to the artist; for a release so rooted in its origins, both in terms of genre and theme, it is only fitting that The AM chose an image of Mack & Bellevue, an unassuming brick building disguising a venue that was integral to the city’s underground Techno scene at the turn of the millennium.

Black Majik

Shadow Werk

PREMIERE: The AM - Shadow Werk

Shadow Werk (Scan 7 Remix)

PREMIERE: The AM - Shadow Werk (Scan 7 Remix)

Ambient, Slow Beat, Electronika Mix by DASFAX(for the article The History Of Techno From Berlin)

House Music Mix by DASFAX (for the article The History Of Techno From Berlin)

Tresor Records presents the third radio episode on @refugeworldwide to celebrate the label & club’s 30th anniversary and the release of the Third Phase of @minimalviolence‘s DESTROY ---> [physical] REALITY [psychic] <---TRUST-series. 

Jose Vigers talks to Minimal Violence's Ash followed by a mix, touching base on their influences from punk to minimal synth as well as unapologetically enjoyable, even cheesy, dance anthems that define their relationship with electronic music.

Tresor 30 x Refuge Worldwide | Minimal Violence

Vibrant acid tracks knead muscular electronic dance structures on Gerald Brunson's debut EP. A member of the Model 500 extended family and running Dance Sacred Records, Brunson presents a restless world that beckons forth from the underground of the Midwest, full of bouncing flair and techno passion. 

Hoffman's S.O.S. (Scully, Owsley, Sand) is more than a mere head nod to the alchemists participating in the League for Spiritual Discovery and The Brotherhood of Eternal Love. It induces a pristine acid trip that twists neurons about agitated filtered effects and effective rhythmic structures. Finally, it emerges into wondrous vistas of ever-expanding horizons. Blue Striped Felix worms deep into the groove with the same brawn, its components lean and unceasing. 

Over on the flip side, 2way struts a mean dance, stripping out the previous track's acid melodies into something far more focused on repetition with an electro influence shining through. This electro sound beams forward even more into a mutant funk on Morf. The synths move squeakily as if the machine got jammed into enlightenment. Unexpected beat changes flick over to a four to the floor briefly, before out of nowhere chords invite the closing moments in with an eventual melodic response to the dancing synths. 

Brunson's tracks represent a unique sound. Techno is as real as the person who experiences it, and these tracks come from an enigmatic messenger who is firmly out on a limb.

https://tresorberlin.bandcamp.com/album/hug-your-friends

Hug Your Friends

Hoffman's S.O.S. (Scully, Owsley, Sand)

Brunson - Hoffman's S.O.S. (Scully, Owsley, Sand)

Stepping boldly out of the shadows in which Techno usually dwells, Fireground's second release for Tresor is a refreshing step into the light.

The Neapolitan duo take their influence from the full spectrum of late-90s electronic luminaries, skillfully focusing them into five tracks that surpasses mere homage and feels fresh when contrasted with the darker tones of most contemporary Techno.

"Dreams" EP lays out an almost summery scene from the get-go with French Touch-esque filtered loops and percussion rhythms that would make any 90s UK Techno club come alive. Bright and fresh this music may be, but make no mistake: it still hits hard enough for any dance floor.

Aptly chosen for the final track, Dense Blue conjures the sensation of a sunset falling over the EP, with shades of New Age and Fourth World styles that close out the release with a dramatic change of pace.

As with all Tresor 30 releases, the cover art has been selected from the artists' own collection. Their choice of a photo of sweet treats re-enforces the sense of playfulness and joy threaded throughout the release.

https://tresorberlin.bandcamp.com/album/dreams

Fireground - Baia

Fireground - United

Fireground - Scirocco

Fireground - Dense Blue

english / german:

My love for electronic music started in the mid 80s. In the techno and house clubs in Germany, diverse musical currents developed, whereby the sound from Berlin, Detroit and UK influenced me the most and played a major role in my DJ sets today.
The master keywords of my DJ mixes are house and techno music, but also include influences from other types of electronic music such as Dub, Broken Beat, Ambiant, Post Trance and Nu Disco. The challenge for me is to take the listener or dancer on a musical journey that consists of tension, monotony, seduction and happiness. Your attention to conclude that compliment you deserve.
Kay-Uwe Lenk *DASFAX   |   Techno Berlin 

german:

Meine Liebe zu elektronischer Musik begann Mitte der 80er Jahre. In den Techno- und House-Clubs Deutschlands entwickelten sich vielseitige musikalische Strömungen, wobei mich der Sound aus Berlin, Detroit und UK am meisten beeinflusste und in meinen heutigen DJ-Sets eine tragende Rolle spielt.
Die Master-Keywords meiner DJ Mixes lauten House und Techno Musik, beinhalten aber auch Einflüsse aus anderen Arten elektronischer Musik wie Dub, Broken Beat, Ambiant, Post Trance und Nu Disco. Die Herausforderung besteht für mich darin, dem Hörer oder Tänzer*innen mit auf eine musikalische Reise zunehmen, die über Spannungsbögen aus Monotonie, Verführung und Glück  bestehen. Ihrer Aufmerksamkeit zum Abschluss, dass verdiente Kompliment zu machen.
Kay-Uwe Lenk *DASFAX   |   Techno Berlin

At midnight, on March 13th 1991, a basement door opened at Leipziger Strasse 126, Berlin. Through this door, many passed, on their way to defining new terrains in electronic music. There they found a dance floor in the vaults of a closed-down department store, with a unique sound bound to dense fog, building night after night a history that was also a vision of the future. 

This history has seen in Jeff Mills’ first sets on three turntables, Underground Resistance's first live appearances in Europe, grandiose Tresor Park parties, to various chapters of the Loveparade with Sven Väth in the 90s and since then countless generation-spanning parties. These moments represent the highlights of infinite personal clubbing experiences. It is the manifestation of the Berlin spirit, emerging from its considerable strife. This history is not without its complications - from temporary closure by the authorities and several raids in the early years to closure and demolition of the old location in 2005. What followed was years of wandering in exile and, finally, resurrection in the new home in Kraftwerk Berlin.

These stories, conversations and shared experiences within our walls forge a resilience that drives towards a shared ideal, the Tresor sound: community, resistance, and the world to come. This was observed in the newly re-unified German youth, who danced and celebrated together from the club’s inception, and into the present day through ongoing community work in Detroit. 

Tresor Records was founded in the same year and began to serve as a platform for exporting the new sounds associated with Tresor all around the world. Emergent musicians from Michigan, such as Juan Atkins, Underground Resistance and Drexciya, were pivotal in shaping these early years. Their visits to Berlin would kick-start dialogue between the youth movement in Europe and these musicians. This story is one of friendship and community-building, inextricably linked with cities like Detroit, Birmingham or Edinburgh, where like-minded friends built something truly special, where revelatory rhythms soundtrack decaying industry in corrupted metropoles. 

Tresor Records has been the fertile soil for dozens upon dozens of creative minds, from the very luminaries of the scene who developed electronic music over the last three decades through to contemporary protagonists who are currently defining the sound of the future -  A more than 300 strong catalogue displays an unmistakable identity - the Tresor spirit.

To those that have danced before, and to those that will dance in the future: the light at the end of the long Tresor tunnel is a signal. A flicker amidst the fog. This is our future. This is our place.

New tracks tagged #Tresor30