Techno

techno

zzsssxs

Masses

Winter 2014>2015

Ten Walls - Mongol

Max_M / Fabrizio Lapiana - 1001
A: Max_M - 1001A
B: Fabrizio Lapiana - 1001B

(M_RECLTD1001 - 10")

Release Date: February 2014

OVERVIEW:
Driven by the inherently political nature of techno, M_Rec Ltd. launches a new series of 10” vinyl editions aimed exclusively at showcasing quality techno tracks. As straightforward black label 10” records, with the tracks info etched on vinyl, these releases offer Max_M and his label the opportunity to quickly distribute new exciting productions to dedicated djs and vinyl lovers.

On this very first release, label owner Max_M and Attic Music founder Fabrizio Lapiana explore the dark corners of techno with two hypnotic cuts. Stirring away from the techno-tool formula, these tracks are fully formed narratives, journeys that seem to pay tribute to the vinyl format itself, meant to be played in their entirety.

Max_M’s cut is abrasive and moody. A forward driving and rich bassline meets a set of sharp drones, along with a glacial melody setting the undertone for the whole experience. It’s a track dedicated to no-light dancefloors and late night sessions. Experimental and impactful at the same time.

On the flipside, Fabrizio Lapiana offers a crafty cut. With melody and drum work growing together, the track brings ambient soundscapes and complex beat programming into total harmony. What comes out is an affective and uniquely melodic techno track that mixes old and new, a touching listen on and off the dance floor.

With this new 10” series M_Rec Ltd. creates another output to convey and preach its vision and passion for all things techno.

M_RECLTD1001 - Max_M / Fabrizio Lapiana

Boris Brejcha - Lost Memory

http://igetrvng.com/shop/swisher-blondes/

. Bora Bora

New release on AFFIN, which will be released on April 14 2014!

Make sure to follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KeithCarnalNL 

Prospect (Original Mix) | Affin145

Release Date: May 2014
Format: Vinyl & Digital

Refracted's contribution to a V/A release on the italian label Shades.
https://soundcloud.com/shades-records/shades-004-takaaki-itoh



Stimulus

GusGus - Crossfade (Maceo Plex Mix)

Delta Funktionen - Nebula

MORD Records 2014
Second Life EP 
https://www.discogs.com/fr/UVB-Second-Life-EP/master/889385
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ6EK6KJP7M&index=1149

UVB - Mixtion

.Bethink of the roots of the music which fascinated us right from the beginning.

Talking Machine

BX 3 (Original Mix) - Len Faki

permvac 125-1 Locked Groove " Thesseus " ep incl. Clockwork Remix 

Locked Groove - Thesseus

Sandwell District - Immolare - Function Version (1)

Taken from: Barnt - Magazine 13. (Magazine 13)
https://magazinecologne.bandcamp.com/album/magazine-13

Barnt - Cherry Red

Plastikman - Spastik (Dubfire Rework)

get it here: http://www.beatport.com/track/too-far-marcel-dettmann-definition-1/3129210

Morphosis - Too Far (Marcel Dettmann Definition 1)

We have a very special guest for this episode. Man of the moment and one of the artists that sets the course for techno as we speak, Shifted, is on duty for episode 19. Noone knows exactly who is behind this mysterious monnniker, all we know he is no newcomer to the electronic arena. His debutalbum 'Crossed Paths' on Luke Slater's Mote Evolver label, is a stunning collection of tracks: rich in textures and with an almost physical ambiance. He made this podcast especially for his appearance at the first edition of BALANS at Melkweg on friday the 6th of july. Enjoy the darkness and make sure you don't miss him in Amsterdam!

As always, we had our Q&A with the mystery man:

01.What is you relationship with Balans?

No relationship to mention really, i'm just a fan of both the label, which is putting out consistently great music and of Darko as a producer.

02.What do you do to try and stay in balance? Any tips & secrets you would like to share with us night folks?

Try to eat well, not drink to much and enjoy life. Stress is the cause of so much ill health, I think if you have a healthy mind then your body follows.

03.About the podcast, can you tell us the story behind the mix?

I just wanted to do something more aimed at the Dancefloor. the intro and the outro also have some processed field recordings that i added on top to make it a little more interesting.

04.What gear did you use to make the Balans podcast?

Usually i'm playing vinyl, but i just recently moved to Berlin and as a result have no Technics here at the moment. I put this together in Ableton Live.

05.What do you have in store for us (gigs/releases) the coming months?

I have a collaboration with Edit Select that just came out on Semantica, I'm also working on a full EP for them. Aside from that theres remixes for Mike Parker, DJ Skirt & Planetary Assault Systems coming soon. And i'm working on a new Pacific Blue 12" and something for Avian.. No doubt there will be another EP for Mote Evolver this year as well.

BALANS019 - Shifted

Stefano Infusino EON EP [Translucent]

from 'Negative Fascination' [Hospital Productions]

I do not own this! As always, if you like what you're hearing, please buy the release and support the producer. 

Silent Servant - Invocation Of Lust (Original Mix)

#PK7
Available at iTunes: http://hyperurl.co/PK7
Listen on Spotify: http://bit.ly/PK7SpotifyPL
Mothertrucker Video:  http://bit.ly/MothertruckerVideoPK7
Cloud Rider: Video: http://bit.ly/CloudRiderVideoPK7 

Paul Kalkbrenner - Square 1 (Original Mix)

Maetrik - Bottom Heavy (Original Mix)

With ‘Wordplay for Working Bees’ Lucy creates a blueprint, not just the departure point for the full length format according to Stroboscopic Artefacts, but he also lays down new possibilities for the techno album. Refusing the obvious 4/4 route, Lucy traverses the widest possibilities of electronic music. ‘Wordplay for Working Bees’ encompasses IDM that leans towards drone, puckering, dub-filled techno and ambient in its most oblique forms. The beloved character of Lucy’s DJ sets, the way he layers tracks to find unique timbre and tone, is reflected in his studio approach. Lucy’s debut album results in the most delicate and delicious juxtapositions, as the unexplained and unexpected tangle together in the ear.

The search for hybrid structures begins with ‘Thear’. Through Stockhausen’s words Lucy hints at a manifesto: Whenever we hear sounds we are changed, no longer the same. The record is textured with riddling vocals –be it the slither of a UN summit speech to heard on ‘Eon’ or the wisps of Le Corbusier on ‘Gas’— and none are used with idle intent. Just as on ‘Eis’, where the samples appear to be engaged in discussion but the thread of their argument is lost in the granular synthesis, the tracks are abstracted enough to provoke your own interpretations and critical judgements. The vocals’ inclusion gives rise to questions, and the ambiguity of ‘Wordplay for Working Bees’ creates an architecture that facilitates debate.
It’s not just escapist or hedonistic dance music, but a concerted, dissonant effort to challenge the listener’s preconceptions. David Toop’s Sinister Resonances can certainly be heard.

This mood of provocation with no certain resolutions is a fitting description of ‘Es’. It’s a track with a long half life; it resonates, poised and pertinent. ‘Es’, the German for ‘it’, is an apt title for the indescribable mood where the ecstatic meets the melancholic. It’s hard to know what this ‘it’ is, but ‘Es’ transposes it perfectly.
Amid these ambient, dubby tracks it’s rare and also somehow exotic when the 4/4 techno of ‘Bein’ does emerge. Equally ‘Torul’, which sounds as if it samples the swinging of a meat hook, has the potential to be devastating on a big sound system. To close the record ‘Ter’, with its pattering percussive-line full of hypnotic persistence, is a stunning ending. It seems to be the sound of melting ballerinas.

As a body of work it’s cohesive and impressive, a result of Lucy’s process. With the release of the very first vinyl on Stroboscopic Artefacts he began laying down the inital sounds for the album. Over the label’s first year he worked across all eleven tracks. In a way the record charts the development of his sound and the
strengthening identity of his record label. It’s certainly not a portrait of the artist, it’s a landscape. Composed as it is of field recordings from parks, streets and Lucy’s apartment, it’s difficult not to see this as --at least in part-- a depiction of Berlin. ‘Wordplay for Working Bees’ is certainly influenced by the sounds coming from
Berlin’s clubs, galleries and forgotten pockets. Lucy holds a mirror up to the Hauptstadt, only to distort and redefine its reflection. The abstraction and processing of the album’s subject matter has a painterly quality and it’s evident that in creating ‘Wordplay for Working Bees’ Lucy slaved with technology to master it so brilliantly.

Co-mixed and mastered by Artefacts Mastering, Berlin.

Words: Clare Molloy

Function-Descending-Original-Mix

Vitor Novais