LIMITED DOUBLE vinyl: http://www.somarecords.com/shop/music/soma_lp107/

Lewis Fautzi | The Gare Album [SOMALP107]

1 - Signal
2 - UVB-76
3 - The Other Side Of Reality
4 - Sick
5 - Range
6 - Loudness
7 - Opaque
8 - Hope
9 - Binary
10– Psychiatric
11- Other Planet

Soma welcome the debut album from the ever-growing roster of youthful talent as Lewis Fautzi drops The Gare Album, named in homage to The Gare Club, Porto, where Lewis made his discovery of Techno. A bold 4 track single debut gave rise to the album process midway through 2013 and under the careful supervision of Soma, Lewis has provided a definitive peak in his sound cultivated on the back of years of studio work. A collection of deep, dark and twisted techno awaits heralding a coming of age for the Portuguese native.

A droning, industrial vibe is immediate from the outset as Signal crackles into existence giving way to the cavernous UBV-76 with its concrete swathes of noise. High intensity pings form the depths give a sense of what is to come. Intriguing, broken beats deepen proceeding as Lewis takes things to The Other Side of Reality. A momentarily respite before he begins to open things up. Blocker takes the tempo up a notch with a thumping kick and looped out chaotic synths that slowly build the tension. This brooding atmosphere is carried on into the tweeked out and mesmerizing Sick, the punishing, bleeped workout of Range and the relentless, discord of Loudness. By this point Lewis has really worked up into a frenzy. Tight percussive workouts keep this album firing on all cylinders. A short interlude is offered as Opaque drifts quickly through the chaos of this straight to the floor album. Through the darkness, a glimmer of Hope shines through, albeit a cold and fleeting techno version as Lewis leaves you bare and bleeding. Yet more dance floor action as the elasticated synths of Binary (recently remixed by Spanish techno don Oscar Mulero) tear through the backbone of the album. By far Lewis’ most destructive track. The static buzz of Psychiatric is a welcome come down from the headiness of the previous track allowing Lewis to lead us through the black hole, ending on the Other Planet. It’s swirling, vortex like pads sliced open with subtle percussive, other worldly bleeps. A fitting end to this hyperactive techno journey.

A definite maturity in production shines through on this fantastic LP from Fautzi as he creates a cold and calculating output, clearly focused on the future. The Gare Album has allowed Fautzi to express himself fully through electronic music, a task that he has taken to whole-heartedly.

Mastered by Conor Dalton @ Glowcast Mastering

Released by: soma
Release/catalogue number: Soma LP107
Release date: Mar 24, 2014 

5. Lewis Fautzi - Range [Soma Records]


Release date (3LP, cd & digital format): 3rd of November

TRACKLIST
1. Ø [Phase] - Insectoid
2. Lucy - Sana Sana Sana Cura Cura Cura
3. Ctrls - x.y
4. Rødhåd - Haumea
5. Planetary Assault Systems - The 808 Track (Parts 1 and 2)
6. James Ruskin - No Trace
7. Surgeon - Fixed Action Pattern
8. Inigo Kennedy - Arcing
9. Karenn - Pace Yourself

INFO
It was early 2007 when Inigo Kennedy inaugurated Token. Since that Identify Yourself 12” the Belgian label has gone from strength to strength, integrating both Kennedy and Ashley Burchett, aka Ø [Phase], into becoming integral cogs in the Token machine. In between releases by Grovskopa, Oscar Mulero and Go Hiyama, both Ø [Phase] and Inigo Kennedy dominated Token’s output, but it wasn’t until Burchett’s watershed Binary Opposition that Token received the shower of praise it deserved. Following this, label founder Kr!z issued three remix 12”s of that release which, including Token regulars, took in a profound cast of producers to reprocess “Binary Opposition” by the way of Sigha, Peter Van Hoesen, Planetary Assault Systems and Ben Klock. It was here Token stamped their authority on contemporary techno.

Since then Token has grown exponentially, bringing into their fold artists like Xhin, Mark Broom and Rødhåd, while Ctrls, formally one half of Northern Structures, has seen his solo career flourish on Token with the release of five records to date, and he joins Inigo Kennedy and Ø [Phase] as a label stalwart. Additionally this year, Orphx and Ancient Methods debuted their relentless Eschaton collaboration on Token, and Christian Wünsch’s Spherical Coordinates dalliance with Oscar Mulero has gained even more momentum with a second release called Kinematics Equations. Now, seven years after that debut Kennedy record, Token present Aphelion, a nine-track CD and triple vinyl grandstand of new and exclusive material from label regulars and like-minded artists whom Token founder Kr!z specifically commissioned for this milestone release.

The penultimate record before Aphelion was a second Token 12” by Rødhåd, another artist adding to the cultivation of the label’s sound and roster, and for this compilation the Berliner supplies his cosmically inspired “Haumea”. Joining the Dystopian founder on Aphelion are three of the UK’s most influential techno artists: Surgeon, James Ruskin and Luke Slater under his Planetary Assault Systems alias who provide Token with solo material for the first time after previously appearing on the imprint in remix form. Entirely new names to grace the label via Aphelion include Stroboscopic Artefacts founder Lucy, and Blawan and Pariah's Karenn project, while label faithfuls Inigo Kennedy,  Ø [Phase] and Ctrls naturally commit three Token defining productions.

Casting one’s eye over Token’s back catalogue and it’s clear to see the label is a staunch advocate of absolute techno, remaining steadfast in issuing quality material that remains true to classic strands of the genre regardless of its popularity flux. In that respect, Aphelion - a word used to describe the point in orbit when a planet or comet is farthest from the sun - provides a simple analogy that the magnetic force of Token, unfazed by the shadows cast by popular opinion, will proudly shine light on their artists and given styles. 

“We started in an era where our genre was very unpopular,” Kr!z explains. “And in the end that seemed a big advantage for us, because when everyone was giving up, we started our mission.” Regularly hosting label nights in prominent clubs around the world, Token has become a label supported by a wide-ranging body of artists like Âme and Ben Klock to Efdemin, Truss and Ancient Methods. With the label now branching out into album and compilation territory, Token’s duty to techno may not yet be accomplished, but it’s been a job well done.

www.tokenrecords.com
www.facebook.com/tokenrecords

Surgeon - Fixed Action Pattern

GERMAN CARRIZO - NOISERMAN

Reality (75% finished)

"Side ways"  on Sonic Groove

"Dark light blind" on Sonic Groove

b.1 "Relative perspective"  Sonic Groove 2012

"Relative perspective" / Relativismi ep on Sonic Groove

Release date (vinyl & digital format): 17th of March 2017

After the success of the broad and powerful second LP Alone In Time?, Ø [Phase] continues his ongoing connection to Token with the Submerged Metropolitan EP.

The title track enters with Burchett’s own brand of unease; the lead is tense and discordant, moving over a bumpy, rolling kick. Brushing off-beat hats rush overhead and play delicately with this unease above the thunder. A vague spoken word sample adds texture and contributes to the cerebral edge.

Ethereal swells and intense rhythmic play introduce Fallen Columns, which delves into atonality with keys that add a controlled recklessness to the composition.

This Absent Mind takes on a hypnotic, dubby form with a confidence that belies its complexity. A sublime breakdown introduces the heavier second half of the track, which enters impressively and batters on to the end.

TRACKLIST
A. Submerged Metropolitan 
B1. Fallen Columns 
B2. This Absent Mind

www.tokenrecords.com 
www.facebook.com/tokenrecords

TOKEN71 - Ø [Phase] - Submerged Metropolitan

Power Of Lust

Joy Of Rapture

Unknown Landscapes Vol 2 / Mixed and selected by Christian Wünsch

Memoria (Original Mix)

As Planetary Assault Systems, @Luke-Slater is an innovator of psychedelic mindfuck techno. Across a lengthy catalogue that stretches back into the 90s, the music’s bleepy, polyrhythmic loops are as recognizable as they are genre-defining. ‘Plantae’ is Slater’s first release as PAS on Ostgut Ton since ‘Arc Angel’ (2016) and covers the spectrum of PAS’s different strains while remaining grounded in Slater’s uncanny funk and knack for developing oblique melodies and rhythms over longer stretches. Deepness and hypnosis come as much through duration as sound design.

For Slater, ‘Plantae’ is made for Berghain, where he is a long-standing resident. In his own words: “I’m sure it’s no surprise that when it comes to putting together a release on Ostgut Ton, PAS takes on its more mind-altering, otherworldly quality by natural cause, quietly reflecting the dark sweaty nights and days at the club; at the point, the common neural coupling, of us all together. PAS has been part of Berghain and Berghain part of PAS for a long time. All of these tracks needed to pass the Berghain test in my sets first stop.”

Surgeon - Fixed Action Pattern

Token Records