Heinrich Dressel – The Styx Swamp [BAR014]

DRESSEL, Heinrich - The Styx Swamp

Roman producer (and a force behind MinimalRome label) Valerio Lombardozzi known as Heinrich Dressel returns to Barba with a second release for our label, titled “The Styx Swamp”. Heinrich has a unique way of combining classic techno and electro sounds with elements from the beloved Drexcyan universe and John Carpenter leitmotifs, and making them come together in a manner that both moves your body and pushes your mind beyond the point of awareness. “Gray Slope”, “Sailing The Nether Waterways” and “The Styx Swamp” are all quite moody and deep, rich with sound and thick with vibe. However, the tracks feel equally at home in 4 am techno situation and a heady afterhours affair. He truly is a master of crafting hybrids whose influences get so flawlessly embedded that it’s hard to point them out. If that’s not enough, “The Styx Swamp” got a treatment by Nigel Rogers aka Perseus Traxx, a multi-faceted producer and a mighty live act performer. Nigel stayed respectful to the original but made the original’s bouncy groove into something more direct and reduced, while retaining the same feel conditioned by lead synth’s hypnotic quality.

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Heinrich Dressel – The Styx Swamp [BAR014]

Antoni Maiovvi – It Isn’t All Peach Cream Buddy [DM002]

The second Driftmusic release coming from Antoni Maiovvi. Further explorations of the deepest roots of Avrokosm, where occult still means hidden. Three cuts of electronic will, from the primordial ooze with a desire to simply be. Out of the gate, crown of light, come on, come on, this is now. Twisted 808s, melodic tripmuzik seduction, like the flares of 1000 suns. Swim through space with us.

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Antoni Maiovvi – It Isn’t All Peach Cream Buddy [DM002]

Carl & Carol Jacobs – Yonge Street Jam Band [ERC042]

An update of Robot Jam’s music and riddim in a true Caribbean sense, Yonge Street is a freestyle remix and comes in the original’s Parts 1 & 2, plus a special Discomix by rising tape manipulator, Jonny 5. Following Robot Jam on Crosby Records, the Jacobs’ husband and wife team released a series of soca 12”s for Eddy Grant’s Ice Records in the following years. However, come 1988 and they decided to return to the electro flavours that had garnered considerable interest, reworking the Robot Jam tapes to create a new version for release on Straker’s Records in Brooklyn. Running for over 30 years from the early 70s to late 90s, Granville Straker’s label was a cornerstone of the soca scene releasing main stays, reggae stars and what have become highly sought rarities such as Yonge Street and The Rebles’ Sweetest Taboo. In Yonge Street again the cut-up samples are there, topped with a fresh bass line and Carl’s own rap attack. While Part 1 acts as straight up vocal version, Part 2 swerves towards scat-megamix stylings that work in their own right. However, as with the ”Disco Giant” series of 2015, this one-off return hands the tapes over for a modern reinterpretation. With acclaimed releases for Bahnsteig 23 and Power Cuts, plus an upcoming EP for Pleasure Wave, Jonny 5 has finally made the leap from respected CBS Forum oracle, DJ and collector with a penchant from dub to obscuro European cold wave and post punk oddities to finally sit in the producer’s chair. After sending the label a personal mix made for his own use, he was hauled in to the studio to officially cut, mix, arrange and dub a long-form Discomix in the truest sense that perfectly creates a dance floor retake that might well be heard from boat parties off the Dalmatian cost to the open air street parties of Sao Paulo and all over festivals across the green fields of Europe.

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Carl & Carol Jacobs – Yonge Street Jam Band [ERC042]

Francisco & Cosmo – Lineabeat Vol. 4 [SLOMO031]

The fourth volume of the strictly for retro club use series Lineabeat sees two of our most prolific producers deliverer the goods on a double a-side release. A pair of slick electro-disco chuggers that blend the familiar with contemporary and will fit into a wide variety of DJ’s sets.

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Francisco & Cosmo – Lineabeat Vol. 4 [SLOMO031]

Marvis Dee – Midnight Dreams [VG003]

Although best known for producing alien electro, Jeremiah R also makes evocative deep house under the lesser-known Marvis Dee alias. Here he pops up on Voodoo Gold with a mini album’s worth of woozy goodness. The Rotterdam based producer brings us again a record full of warm, tape driven tracks. Highly recommended for lovers of a mixture of lo-fi 80’s cassette machine funk and groovy synth boogie.

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Marvis Dee – Midnight Dreams [VG003]

Massiande – Freedom EP [PHONICAWHITE016]

Phonica’s white label series returns with a real deep house excursion by Chilean producer Massiande in the form of his ‘Freedom EP’. The title track ‘Freedom’ launches the EP attempts to recreate an aural scenery of flying exploration centred on a spacey synth line and an almost Detroit techno bassline. ‘Be With Me’ starts with an almost Mr Fingers-esque groove before melodic elements take over.’Straight’ is more of a straight-up dancefloor track with obvious elements from US house from the 90s, clipped Chandler-esque beats, nagging stabs and a vocal sample ‘Gonna take you to another land, where there is no race’, going straight to a place where you can allow yourself to be free on the dancefloor. Many ’90s U.S. American House and Garage influences go through this track, which brings us to the final track, the epic ‘Ode To A Tortured Soul’. Deeply melancholic with an end-of-night feel with its own flute solo, channelling Frankie Knuckles ‘The Whistle Song’ or Flow’s Bottom Line classic ‘ Another Time’.

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Massiande – Freedom EP [PHONICAWHITE016]

Florian Kupfer – Post Present [PRIVATEPERSONS003]

Florian Kupfer returns with a three track EP on Private Persons. This 12inch tells us the story of the beginning of Florian’s career – his travels, dreams and of course love. Title track ‘Post Present’, recorded for the first time five years ago get’s its first cut into wax. Eerie, other-worldly voices reach over a kicking, distinctively Kupfer-esque rhythm track. ‘ I Can’t Love Life Without U’ is a dub drive through retro-futuristic heartbreak and ” an ambient tip into the subconscious.

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Florian Kupfer – Post Present [PRIVATEPERSONS003]

VA – Import Export [CHALICE002]

After a long hiatus the Fasaan Recordings crew finally emerges from their basement to break out a second volume of their Chalice imprint. Functioning as a looser side vehicle to Fasaan, Chalice is a home for rawer and more uncompromising side projects of the Fasaan crew and their extended family. Honing in on a murky zone of cheap-sounding machine rhythms and punchy boogie-influenced proto-house sounds, the Chalice style is in your face and then out the door “just like that”: take it or leave it. As the title “Import/Export” suggests, the contributions for this installment have been gathered from such foreign places as Copenhagen, Bandung, Tallinn, Manchester and Dublin.

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VA – Import Export [CHALICE002]

Black Devil Disco Club – Berlin Disco Club EP [CTC369.002]

BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB - Berlin Disco Club EP

One of the most unconventional techno tracks which were released during the last years. Catchy pop like and unbelievable dark at the same time. H-Friend starts at the peak and then progressively reduces itself into an intro that is actually the outro of this song. (Black) Devil like totally reverted – the start could be the end, the end could be the start. Remixed by Benedikt Frey. A typical project by Berlin based label Private Records that results in a lot more than the single ingredients. A fantastic follow up on the new Closing the Circle label. Get some magic as long as it is available.

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Black Devil Disco Club – Berlin Disco Club EP [CTC369.002]

Holy Ghost Inc – Walk On Air [ISLE003]

Originally released in 1990 the Sun & Moon Mix of ‘Walk On Air’ has taken on near mythical status as a benchmark record that brought together strands of Ambient, Deep House, Techno and Trance. The B side sees the original Amphibious Carbine mix joined by two previously unreleased Dubs unearthed from the original DAT tapes.

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Holy Ghost Inc – Walk On Air [ISLE003]

Nick Höppner – Work [OSTGUTLP026]

Panorama Bar resident Nick Höppner gets to “Work” on his second solo album on Ostgut Ton, connecting the territories of House music with the ease of Alt-Pop. Work as in labor. An axiom that fuels the capitalist system just as the Techno/House scene economy says that one needs to keep oneself busy to make a living. As a musician, things are complicated of course. It’s a long way from the romantic idea of creating music simply for the sake of art to becoming a full time musician. Those who have accomplished this feat often find themselves in a professional loop of writing the music, producing it, promoting it (with an info text like this), releasing it and then hopefully selling it. After leaving his full time job as Ostgut Ton’s label manager in 2012, Nick Ho¨ppner went fully freelance, focusing on his musically diverse, deep and dynamic DJing in and outside Berghain’s Panorama Bar, but more importantly spending more time in the studio. The result was his critically acclaimed debut album Folk (Ostgut Ton, 2015), various 12′ releases and remixes, and now his sophomore LP, Work, which, more than ever, lays out his refined production skills and his talent to work the machines until they reveal their inner ghosts: nine new songs that now dodge the dance floor, then fully embrace it.

vinyl / CD

Nick Höppner – Work [OSTGUTLP026]

Mytron & Ofofo – Aircraft One [BAP097]

Mytron & Ofofo debut on Bordello with an intoxicating blend of sleaze and synth, disco and depravity. “Airforce One” smoulders. Dripping in funk, samples and smooth keys are bolstered by burbling bass for a track that glides and slides in glazed steps. “Hewa Kenya” keeps the vocal snippets, building them into fevered points as rhythms rumble. Medlar strips back the original percussion, crisp snares forming a base for shimmering synthwork and cascading chords in a shifting remake.

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Mytron & Ofofo – Aircraft One [BAP097]

Donarra – Les Sentiments De Shiva [SUIT010]

New to the Stay Underground It Pays gang, the tenth release on the label comes from one of the hotest & experimental french producer from Marseille : Donarra. The EP includes 6 cuts, which is almost a mini album introducing us to his astonishing sound. It could be described as dreamy, raw, completely analog, well some kind of proto-techno Chicago new-wave belter.

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Donarra – Les Sentiments De Shiva [SUIT010]

Luca Lozano – King Blade [PELVREC002]

Pelvis Records returns with a breakbeat trip around the train yards of New York, coming to you care of Klasse Recordings’ Luca Lozano. Entitled King Blade, the record is an ode to the eponymous NYC writer, famed for his prolific painting of trains during the late 70s. Featuring an alternate mix from Lozano and remix by Eargoggle.

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Luca Lozano – King Blade [PELVREC002]

Jamie Paton – 4 Revision [EES027W]

PATON, Jamie - 4/ReVision

After a couple of releases for the label, including many notable remixes, Jamie Paton returns to the warm glow of Especial for a collective vinyl only EP of 4 ‘unreleased’ remixes for the likes of Sexy Merlin, Guy Schalom, Gatos Negros and  Blancmange.

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Jamie Paton – 4 Revision [EES027W]

VA – Time Marches On (Part 2) [LDR2020]

DJ OVERDOSE/TR ONE/RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARP/AUTOMATIC TASTY - Time Marches On Part 2

Lunar Disko presents… Time marches on with two Various Artist EPs to celebrate the 20th release on Lunar Disko Records. Eight tracks encompassing the modus operandi of the label since the beginnings. Part 2 features another selection of Lunar Disko favourites, with the return of DJ Overdose and Raiders of the Lost ARP, while two of Ireland’s finest in Tr One and Automatic Tasty complete this stellar line-up. ..and time is still marching on

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VA – Time Marches On (Part 2) [LDR2020]