Taken from our new album 'JOY'
Buy/Stream: dusky.ffm.to/joy_

Take Me High

return back home

Another Barker masterclass.

Sam Barker asks more from techno. The artist known simply as Barker is one of electronic music's most consistently conscientious and curious producers, challenging listeners to question the norms we accept about our shared culture—whether it's the music that fills the room, the process behind it, or the purpose of the space itself.

British-born yet based in Berlin since 2007, Barker forged a connection to many of the city's leading institutions, including Ostgut Ton, and over the course of a long and fruitful relationship, he carved out one of the more singular paths on the club and label's roster.

Not one for orthodoxy, Barker challenged four-to-the-floor techno framework in favor of melodic experimentation. By decentering or completely stripping away the typical trappings of kick drums and claps, his productions are both light and immersive, buoyant in low-end presence and shimmering in weightless space.

Six years after Utility, his sophomore album Stochastic Drift arrives this month. Shaped by pandemic-driven reinvention, it burrows deeper into harmonic twists and freeform drift. "At some point I became conscious of the process," he wrote of his latest album. "The only thing you can do is embrace the uncertainty and see every change as a potential positive.”

Consider his RA Podcast another sequel. Like his much-beloved 2019 mix for FACT, it's a collage of live recordings and a fitting expression of the artist's own internal spring. RA.982 radiates wide-eyed optimism: percussion cloaked in foggy, swirling pads and trance-like chords, neatly synched in synthetic glimmers. 

All in all, it's an hour of music crafted for contemplation, collective euphoria, or heads-down epiphany—or for that matter, any moment, really, its emotive depth seemingly endless.

@voltek

Find the tracklist and Q&A at ra.co/podcast/982

RA.982 Barker

OUT NOW ツ】ⓟⓛⓐⓢⓣⓘ© ⓐ©ⓘⓓ【ツ】EP out on Blackout Music
Beatport / Apple Music / Spotify / Google Play: https://fanlink.to/PHCPLSTCD

Phace
Like → https://www.facebook.com/phaceneosignal
Follow → https://twitter.com/phace_
Visit → http://phace.space/

Your EDM
Visit → http://www.youredm.com/
Like → https://www.facebook.com/YourEdm

Plastic Acid EP

BUY / STREAM

Phace - Sun Searching [YourEDM Premiere]

Some support in random order:
Joris Voorn: Great tracks!
Oliver Koletzki: in love with ignorance is bliss. I will play that track for sure! 
Noir: Cool release again..... And once again hard to pick my favourite on 1st listen. 
Monika Kruse: hui, another release which is cool on filth on acid!!! 
Karotte: Reiniers rmx is m pick. like it. 
Victor Ruiz: Reinier's mix for me! :) 
UMEK: yeah ! 
Enrico Sangiuliano: very nice tracks, Reinier's version will drop in my sets for sure
------------------
After the astounding success of the first release on Reinier Zonneveld's imprint Filth on Acid, the label follows up with a slightly deeper take on club music. We welcome Mees Salomé, who managed to deliver a unique, balanced blend of breathtaking melodies and grooves. Mees Salomé comes from The Netherlands, and manages to deliver extra-ordinary music while only being 21 years old. 

Equivalence EP kicks off with the title track. Equivalence opens with a sturdy kick and dirty hi-hat, anticipating the mesmerizing melody. Combined with the long break and subtle arrangement this track makes for a very heavy hitter on the dancefloor. Next up is Ignorance Is Bliss. Piercing synthlines and morph into rhythmic arpeggiated progressions while continuously driven by a growling bassline. This track really shows of Mees Salomé's talent for balancing out harmony and dissonance. Followed by Reinier Zonneveld's remix for Forest Fire, which turns the original into a heavy no-nonsense peak-time techno banger with fat kicks and big drums, while leaving the powerful synth brass into place leading the way into a big climax. Forest Fire original stands out by the way all the sounds work together, morphing and interchanging in a very organic way. The brass synth makes this track perfect for melodic peak-time affairs. For the conclusion of this EP we're happy to announce Julian Wassermann, who scored many hits on labels like Stil vor Talent & Katermukke with his signature deeper style of tech-house and deep-house. He takes Equivalence into a more hypnotic direction, using an almost talking drum groove. By introducing strong dissonance between the original synthline and his own added pads, tension builds up to new levels which makes the track very effective for after-party brain melting.

Equivalence EP

Get it here

Mees Salomé - Ignorance Is Bliss (Original Mix)

Feeling Spacious

Clouds on a Sunday

Lost!

Plush

Buy on iTunes

Tiga - Plush (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)

Sam Barker, a Berlin-based music producer, and David Pearce, philosopher and author of The Hedonistic Imperative, join us on a special episode of the FLI Podcast to spread some existential hope. Sam is the author of euphoric sound landscapes inspired by the writings of David Pearce, largely exemplified in his latest album — aptly named "Utility." Sam's artistic excellence, motivated by blissful visions of the future, and David's philosophical and technological writings on the potential for the biological domestication of heaven are a perfect match made for the fusion of artistic, moral, and intellectual excellence. This podcast explores what significance Sam found in David's work, how it informed his music production, and Sam and David's optimistic visions of the future; it also features a guest mix by Sam and plenty of musical content.

Topics discussed in this episode include:

-The relationship between Sam's music and David's writing
-Existential hope
-Ideas from the Hedonistic Imperative
-Sam's albums
-The future of art and music

You can find the page for this podcast here: https://futureoflife.org/2020/06/24/sam-barker-and-david-pearce-on-art-paradise-engineering-and-existential-hope-featuring-a-guest-mix/ 

You can find the mix with no interview portion of the podcast here: https://soundcloud.com/futureoflife/barker-hedonic-recalibration-mix

Where to follow Sam Barker :

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/voltek
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samvoltek
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samvoltek/
Website: https://www.voltek-labs.net/
Bandcamp: https://sambarker.bandcamp.com/

Where to follow Sam's label, Ostgut Ton: 

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ostgutton-official
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ostgut.Ton.OFFICIAL/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ostgutton
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ostgut_ton/
Bandcamp: https://ostgut.bandcamp.com/

Timestamps: 

0:00 Intro
5:40 The inspiration around Sam's music
17:38 Barker - Maximum Utility
20:03 David and Sam on their work
23:45 Do any of the tracks evoke specific visions or hopes?
24:40 Barker - Die-Hards Of The Darwinian Order
28:15 Barker - Paradise Engineering
31:20 Barker - Hedonic Treadmill
33:05 The future and evolution of art
54:03 David on how good the future can be
58:36 Guest mix by Barker

Tracklist:

Delta Rain Dance – 1
John Beltran – A Different Dream
Rrose – Horizon
Alexandroid – lvpt3
Datassette – Drizzle Fort
Conrad Sprenger – Opening
JakoJako –  Wavetable#1
Barker & David Goldberg – #3
Barker & Baumecker – Organik (Intro)
Anthony Linell – Fractal Vision
Ametsub – Skydroppin’
Ladyfish\Mewark – Comfortable
JakoJako & Barker – [unreleased]

This podcast is possible because of the support of listeners like you. If you found this conversation to be meaningful or valuable, consider supporting it directly by donating at futureoflife.org/donate. Contributions like yours make these conversations possible.

Lost!

Gabs