Out now on Rekids: lnk.to/REKIDS192

Although based in Berlin for several years, Dustin Zahn has continued to exert influence over the fertile but steadfastly underground Minneapolis techno scene as part of the Intellephunk collective whilst cultivating a worldwide rep via releases for Blueprint, Token and his own Enemy Records. The ‘Gain of Function’ LP sees Zahn channelling the groove-fuelled techno of the late ’90s and early ’00s and shaping eight powerful but funky contemporary techno tracks that display the decades of experience under his belt. 

Forged from a series of live jams with two drum machines and two synths, the album is a refined collection of raw, purist techno brilliance. Across the A-side ‘Tell Me About Paradise’ brings shimmering staccato chops under bright and airy percussion before ‘Tangie Groove’ picks up the pace with floating pads, vocal slices, and a rumbling bassline. On ‘Lucid Dreams’, scattered percussion plays with hypnotic synth licks, while ‘Smoking in Silence’ sees off-kilter leads dancing between emotive vocals and evolving drum loops.

Opening the second disc is the deep and shuffling ‘Crimson Cheeks’, with trance-inducing samples nestled between sharp drum hits and rolling synthesis, and ‘Days Like These’ takes a darker turn as twinkling arps and droning pads carry the track. ‘Shark Rodeo’ featuring Jeremy Black mangles samples into a dense rolling affair, before closing number ‘Next Level Looseness’ drops the 4/4 pattern for a raucous club track, combining oddball sound sources and unruly production techniques for a trippy finish to the album. 

Since the late ’90s, Zahn’s hypnotic and driving techno has consistently caught the ears of top DJs and labels worldwide, with anyone catching his marathon sets at the likes of Berghain exposed to expansive sets. In addition to his techno-heavy catalogue and DJing prowess, Zahn has lent production and engineering skills to bands and singers, recently working with Poliça and on Carm’s Pitchfork approved eponymous album. Beyond this, his vital work with Intellephunk includes the nearly two decades long running Communion after-hours events, cementing his invaluable contributions to the scene.

Dustin Zahn

Tangie Groove

Dustin Zahn - Tangie Groove

The end of an big transformative cycle. This summer was something magical. I experienced many different depths of perception and feelings. Especially the end was intense and full of deep connective situations. 
Don’t let the end kill you. This is just the beginning of a new and deeper cycle! Enjoy it. 
Much love,
og

Blood On The Leaves

Support <3

Concepto Hipnotico presents the last part of the VAs compilations albums for the celebration of the label's 10 years of life. In this album, we present a collaboration with Culto, the well-known cycle of Buenos Aires events.

This is a powerful selection of artists that need not be introduced, their names speak for themselves. The tracks range from Techno with detroit influences, through minimalist landscapes to the most raw and darkest techno.

RELEASE DATE
May 6th: All major stores.

Title: Concepto Culto I
Artist: Sol Ortega, Jonas Kopp, Mariano DC, Gonzalo MD, Ledd, KØLPØS, The Unborn Child. Sebastian Cohen, Joaquin Ruiz, Rhombic
Format: CD (limited copies) + Digital
Catalog: CHRECVA01

Artwork by Enzo Dinolfo
www.instagram.com/ednlf/

Mastered by RT-60
rt60mastering@gmail.com

Sol Ortega - Ignition

KMS 25TH ANNIVERSARY CLASSICS - 2.5 DECADES OF TECHNO

World Of Deep

At what point does a new tool or technology become so integral to a process as to be intrinsic? And what happens if that technology starts to subordinate its user? 

By reflecting on these questions Machine Alliance, the new EP by Irish producer Kerrie on Tresor Records, connects her music to the sci-fi origins of techno and electronic music in general.

With inspiration from classic books and films of the genre such as The Machine Stops, The Matrix, and Blade Runner as well as modern explorations in art and philosophy like Free Your Mind and Technopoly, the EP's title takes on two opposing but intersecting meanings. 

One, based on the potential for machines to take over or replace humans, is a key idea of sci-fi that seems closer to reality with the arrival of machine learning and real artificial intelligence.

The second has a much more positive view, one where the "alliance" is between the artist and machine to create the music, a process she places immense value on, being both cathartic and therapeutic, whilst also being a vehicle of addition and expansion:


"I feel that it's a collaboration&hellip;the machines are precise in their timing and I add the human touch (literally) in the live performance which adds natural imperfections, so we both provide something the other can't. There's also an element of growth; the machines get updates and so are always expanding in terms of their musical capabilities. And the more I push my own technical abilities I feel we are growing together in a constant synchronised dance."

This "dance" results in four tracks (plus three digital-only bonuses) of classic machine funk which combine the aforementioned ideas in sci-fi with a deep lifelong affection for techno. Tracks like Ode to the D, and Technopoly Dream display this love through her choice of sounds and structure, both intentional and subconscious, while Replicants, and Human in the Loop project into other genres to fully round this release off as a contemporary example of music rooted in both past and future.

BANDCAMP

Kerrie - Human In The Loop

Reached

Reachin' (Andreas Saag Mix)

Layla wa Nahaar

The Code

A2 Binary Digit - Sneaking Out Of The Club

AS FEATURED ON THE 90 MINUTES FULL-LENGTH "INDRUKKEN II" TAPE - OUT NOW ON @revenge-techniques

https://selfreflektion.bandcamp.com/album/indrukken-ii-by-tafkamp-revenge0b

INDRUKKEN II

Binnenweg 2

BINNENWEG 2

Reset EP

Gate

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.