Jayson Wynters returns to Don’t Be Afraid with four more strident constructions. Rooted in classic machine funk and loop craft we take off with the gradually pummelling percussive hypnotiser “Beta” and crash land to the soothing synthesis and deep acid textures of “The Kansei Method”. In between we’re treated to the soft-but-stern swoons of the white knuckle “One Hundred N Forty” and bashed senseless by the warehouse crumbling jacker “Into The Void”.
Karen Gwyer’s indomitable Rembo LP receives remixes from four producers at the cutting edge of house and techno, Via App, Ron Morelli, E. Myers and M/R.
Hamburg’s Achim Maerz arrives on DBA with an expansive twelve track package. Split across a 12″ ep and a cassette, ‘Experiments’ is a collection of live, improvised house jams recorded in the summer of 2015 in the artist’s home studio. The title refers to the fast and rough recording of the material, with the aim of catching a mood before process and self-awareness take over.
Jason Fine makes his full DBA debut with the Moonscapes EP after remixing Typesun for the DBA Dubs series.
Karen Gwyer returns to cement her reputation as one of the most individual and daring voices in dance music with ‘Rembo’, her first full LP for Don’t Be Afraid. Reflecting the sheer energy of Gwyer’s improvised, undulating and unpredictable live shows, ‘Rembo’ captures Gwyer in her element as a techno producer not afraid to smudge both the physical and emotional edges of what we may have come to expect in the club.
Detroit native MGUN aka Manuel Gonzales returns from a two year break from releasing to unveil his debut LP for Don’t Be Afraid, marking the UK-based label’s first artist album. In drawing from these recordings and methods developed over such a long period of time, Gentium captures the growth of a modern electronic artist in a way few albums do, charting the evolution from an unknown quantity in the birthplace of techno to the DJ & producer widely admired today for the fresh immediacy of his approach.
”About half of these tracks were made in my childhood home between 2007 and 2010. Most were recorded on cassette then digitized on a Windows millennium edition PC. I would record these to the standard WAV recorder you can find in the sound preferences, which from there it was possible to use primitive effects to manipulate the audio file.” ”The other half were produced in my current home studio, using somewhat of the same system I used back then, one take for the most part. There is hardly any multi-tracking involved with any of my productions. I use a basic WAV editor to manipulate recordings as well as various analog recording mediums beforehand.”
Don’t Be Afraid imprint welcomes back DJ Bone under the Differ-Ent guise. It’s a sombre tone that sees the Detroit icon return too, with both these tracks produced by Bone in the immediate aftermath of his mother passing away after battling cancer. The 10-minute “M.O.M.” is something of a throbbing, pulsating techno delight, with the Detroit veteran adding colossal organ chords and mind-altering electronics to a stomping, brain-melting groove. Bone goes deeper on similarly epic “The Final Driver”, combining shuffling techno rhythms and alien electronics with warm, deep chords, and the melodic ethos of Omar-S style Detroit house.
Mr. Beatnick returns to DBA after a two year hiatus following his Synthetes Trilogy series, with a new direction and a 4 track EP which represents his most floor-focussed work to date. Opening cut Stutter is an immaculately crafted deep techno bomb which features the trademark sound familiar to fans of the London producer’s work, whilst title track Formed In The Stance and flip-side Obsidian Morning explore an eyes-down, moody, broken sound which will no doubt ring a bell for devotees of the seminal Co-Op nights.
Following the release of DBA015.5 in 2014, DBA present another vinyl-only various artists excursion, once again mixing up new arrivals to the label like Detroit’s Radio Brovold, New Yorker Max McFerren and Paris’ Ben Cohen, with established label favourites like Halvtrak of Tampere, Finland.
Don’t Be Afraid have released the latest album from US based artist Eecee(a.k.a. Doubt), called Cosmic Trigger. The album has been released as a cassette and free download via Don’t Be Afraid’s Bandcamp page and as expected, it’s an experimental leaning affair and a beautiful, mostly ambient journey through mesmerising textures and atmospheres.
Speaking to Resident Advisor recently to accompany his podcast, veteran Detroit artist DJ Bone looked to clarify the distinction behind his new Differ-Ent project, stating it is “darker, more aggressive and straight to the point but still manages to remain beautiful in a very twisted way.” This statement is fully qualified on the two track for Don’t Be Afraid that make up this excellent debut 12″ from the Differ-Ent project. “Differ-Ent (Hrall)” is the more musical of the two, with Bone teasing minor keys and acid squiggles over a stripped back, yet still quite forceful rhythm. “Differ-Ent (Ity)” is where that dark aggression is let loose and is the sort of ominous techno you crave to hear deep into the night.
Versatile techno three tracker by CEOL, A moniker adopted by Glasgow’s Dom Cappello and Lee Duncan. Dom’s productions as Hutton Drive have appeared on cult labels like Soma and Frantic Flowers, whilst as half of Harri & Domenic he continues to hold down the residency at Glasgow’s legendary Sub Club. Fellow Glaswegian Lee Duncan records as Leeon and debuted in 2012 on the cult Seventh Sign label. Lee will also return under his solo alias later this year.
The first of a number of various artists eps from Don’t Be Afraid. The Room Below debuts with the crisp, low-slung acid gyrations of ‘Work’, and Manuel Gonzales aka MGUN rubs out the bright, creamy Detroit lather of ‘Risqué’. Ali King also debuts with the warm, sub-heavy swing and jazz-wise palette of ‘Session 24’, and Italy’s Deep88 drops the breezy pipes and Rhodes chords of ‘Sunday Morning’.
Effective drum machine rocking techno tracks by the unstoppable Mr.G.on the Don’t be Afraid Special Editions series.
“Shortly after the Dust Under Bridges ep was released, Henri sent us nine tracks which he had previously recorded to tape, not thinking that they were worthy of release. On the contrary, these are nine tracks of beautiful, brooding, leftfield house and techno, and we decided immediately that they ought to be available to the public, and that they formed a perfect appendage to Halvtrak’s debut 12″ release, Dust Under Bridges, written, as they were, during the same period.”
Farah (formerly Darling Farah), joins Don’t Be Afraid for his first release of the year, and his first under the newly shortened pseudonym. The itinerant young producer adopts a uniquely non-conformist approach to house and techno on this EP, as evidenced by the arcade game-sampling Cloudy Apple and the deranged funk of Lockhead. Speak On The Spotlight meanwhile presents a deeper option, whilst Humming and Pieced Apart hint at Farah’s sound design credentials.
Neville Watson ends 2013 with a club-focussed 12” and the second in the DBA Special Editions series. Since remixing DBA003, and thereby providing one of the most requested tracks in the label’s history, it has only been a matter of time before the legendary UK producer joined the DBA camp for a full 12” release. In keeping with the remit of the Special Editions sub-label, all three tracks are …
Finland’s Halvtrak joins Don’t Be Afraid’s burgeoning family for his debut EP. Across four tracks, Scandinavia’s latest musical export explores the house sound of Chicago via Tampere, offering four outstanding dancefloor options with a unique and very personal twist, whilst touching on some familiar UK-centric tropes.
The Hipodrome Of Music 