De Ambassade have dropped the ‘De’ and are now known as Ambassade. Optimo Music will be releasing their second album in 2023. Ahead of that is this glorious 2 track 12” featuring music that took our breath away when we first heard it. Both tracks are exclusive to this release.
On this third, consecutive 7” for Knekelhuis they showcase a slightly darker side, undoubtedly influenced by these current viral times. Still, shadows are always in need of light. These two anxious tunes are full of metal clanking, eerie synths and rolling basslines taking you straight into industrial territory, albeit with avant-pop leanings. De Ambassade will firmly hold their ground in the dead of night until the smoke clears and the agony of daylight returns.
Something was brooding in the furthest outskirts of Amsterdam. The isolated concrete suburbs of the western part of the city constituted the ideal dwelling place for the writing of De Ambassade’s debut album Duistre Kamers. Pascal Pinkert, accompanied by bass player Timothy Francis, searched for new horizons and managed to find them on this next chapter in the evolution of De Ambassade. Icy electronics display a love for NDW, ragas and raves. Beneath the surface lies a deeper Dutch language narrative celebrating free speech and thought, starkly in opposition with a world where alienation and solitude create ever more distance between all beings. After releasing two, by now classic 7” ep’s, a long player will shine brightly. The album release will feature a long awaited live performance with additional band member Mian.
The term ‘cruelty’ is so limiting according to our cultural expectations of it, an act may give perceived ‘good’ to the perpetrator and ‘bad’ to the victim. It may give good in the long run and bad in the short run or vice versa. The unifying factor to all forms of cruelty is Ghoulia.
After releasing Dollkraut’s second album one year ago, Dischi Autunno presents now these three superlative remixes. Subversive Berlin duo OTTO take the lead with a warm, Arabic twist on the album opener ‘Bonnie Says’ by lifting the groove with a little organ-squeezing spring while maintain its faraway haze and mystique. Accurately hyped Romanian-also-in-Berlin Borusiade follows with an overwhelming floor-ready update on ‘Have I Told You’. Already a familiar face with the label, she weaves a chasm-like new-wave narrative that sucks you deep into the mix and galvanises the pundit attention she’s getting right now. Finally Mannequin Records founder Alessandro Adriani joins the party with a tunnelling twist on the somnambulant aesthetic of ‘Valium’. Flipping the dreams for a much darker 3am reality, it will leave your dancefloor pining for more.
Charlois welcomes back label inaugurator Dollkraut, this time in company with De Ambassade. The label grants permission for them to share this 10” and create their own world, so they can coexist and share stories about lost love, condolence and isolation. On the A-side they come together in a dark room anthem about sex, lust and worship. It oozes with cold, heart-stabbing melancholia, yet carries the artists idiosyncratic warm and crunchy sound. The flip side scratches open the wounds left by the first song and sees Dollkraut drop his soft touch. What follows is a hypnotic voodoo track, summoning dark spirits with unsettling synths, shamanic vocals and tribal Jewish harp.
‘Verloren’ is like a late night pink Dutch sky after a long day of heavy rain, a sign that a warm summer’s day is just ahead. It will make you sweat tonight. This long awaited follow up 7″, will be released in the same form as the first: a beautifully designed disco sleeve with cardboard artwork. The vinyl will feature perfect-not-perfect, melancholic yet very danceable tracks. The machines in here take you back to the 80’s, but sound very contemporary nevertheless.
Amsterdam based artist Dollkraut (Pascal Pinkert) is back with his sophomore LP on Dischi Autunno – new label founded by Jennifer Cardini and Noura Labbani. “Holy Ghost People” sees Dollkraut delve deeper into his recognizable lo-fi and organic sound, inspired by old movie soundtracks, creating gritty atmospheres mixed with the purest of melodies. Album opens with instant hit “Bonnie Said”, where Pascal’s vocals magically merge with the darkest of bass lines. “Valium” continues the journey, increasing the tempo but confirming the feeling of being in a lost sci-fi movie soundtrack. On “Oblivian”, the rhythm slows down again, allowing us to dive even more in this twisted yet candid universe.
In the grayness by concrete of the Amsterdam suburbs we find Pascal Pinkert (Dollkraut) working on his darker wave salvation, going by the moniker of De Ambassade. DIY in sound and design, the arrangement of De Ambassade catalogue blend perfectly on Knekelhuis Records. This debut EP forming an alliance between the past and the present deliver one take recordings, drowned in reverb, using preferably older recording methods. The result are poppy wave tracks that shiver your spine and let you chant along to lyrics from the dutch lowlands.
Accurately describing the sound of Dollkraut, aka producer Pascal Pinkert, has always been tricky. Over the years, his sporadic 12″ singles have variously touched on analogue disco, krautrock, deep house, Italo, nu-jazz and beatbox electro. This belated debut album – released some five years after his debut 12″ dropped – continues this theme. It flits between styles at will – bold African rhythms, post-punk, soundtrack schtick, Serge Gainsbourg style sleaze, odd guitar-laden lo-fi rock sketches – whilst retaining a unique dustiness and aural sensibility. It’s a fine set, all told, and in the circumstances holds together remarkably well.
Early electronics fetisjist Dollkraut continues delivering heat for the freaks. Three unique cuts that go from vocoder electro with live percussion to african inspired synthesizer disco.
Dollkraut, Amsterdam’s analog wizard with a love for fuzzy 70’s space age records, prepares two rough and driving electro cuts for Permanent Vacation with haunting vocals that will dominate your dreams. On Remix duties are New York’s Invisible Conga People, who bless us with some of their rare outcomes and they can do no wrong: A cristal clear production with a lot of ping pong pang and swish swash swoosh.
New Tape release by Amsterdam based Dollkraut. Heavy analogue, drummachine driven house tracks. Influenced by some classic Asian B-flick action, Dollkraut’s long awaited drummachine driven ‘Theme Of Fukoyama’, full of synthesizer layering takes you back into the mid eighties where machines took over. This mini OST to a non-exsistent movie ends with a collaboration together with Bernard Crochet who took care of the analogue synthesizer sequencing of the ‘End Titles’.
The Hipodrome Of Music 