Its been zehn years, ninety-two 12”; EPs, twenty albums, fourteen DJ mixes, seven Unterton releases, two compilations, one 7 single and one cassette. Within this time, Ostgut Ton has grown as a label not only in terms of catalogue numbers and musical variety, but also in terms of experience, professionality and as a musical haven for Berghains and Panorama Bars residents.
The return of the Third Side trio to Berlin’s foundational Restoration imprint. The Analogue Cops, Lucretio and Marieu, are back on their old moniker with Panorama Bar resident Steffi, with their loose, dusty house-techno hybrids after over a year of hiatus. “Bearing All Gifts” opens the EP with a penetrating techno pulse surrounded by the group’s familiar bundle of circling industrial electronics; the B-side goes more hypnotic thanks to the excellent groove of “Opening The Jar”, and “Elpis” makes for a fine closing tune thanks to its subtle swirls of 303, mid-tempo kicks and intricate bundles of hardware noise.
Steffi revisits her Power Of Anonymity album with three completely new versions of ”JBW25” by Further Reductions and Answer Code Request. Brooklyn-based duo Further Reductions left a big impression on Steffi with their 2014 Woodwork LP on Cititrax. Now Shawn O’Sullivan and Katie Rose turned ”JBW25” upside down and inside out. The original version’s hypnotic synth bleeps are still there, but rhythm-wise Further Reductions live up to their name: Their version is a stone-cold and arhythmic interpretation of ”JBW25” with additional vocals, pushed to the absolute fringes of dancefloor compatibility. Berghain resident Answer Code Request contributes two versions to this release: While his ”Vision” adds a tough drum beat, percussion and a stronger focus on the Ambient textures of the original, his ”Revision” is more break-heavy, melodic and dreamy while setting a darker tone and mood overall. With the original version and its Techno and Electro drive this 12” comes full circle a good fit for record bags travelling to various party settings and moods.
Berlin-based Dutch DJ and producer Steffi returns with her second album Power Of Anonymity on Ostgut Ton, featuring laid-back, melodic cuts like ”Pip”, ”Fine Friend” and the break-heavy title track next to more straightforward, hypnotic dance floor pieces such as ”Selfhood”, ”Bag Of Crystals”, ”JBW25” and ”Bang For Your Buck”. Besides her solo instrumental productions, Steffi’s collaboration with longtime friends Dexter and Virginia on the uplifting, percussion- driven vocal track ”Treasure Seeking” is the icing on the cake. Just like ”Power Of Anonymity” as a single piece of music, the album itself lives on an industrial-resonating structure of 808s, crisp synth stabs, pulsing staccati and dark, percussive drumbeats. With her second album Steffi recalls classic, landmark Detroit Electro, while creating her very own modern, retro-futuristic sound.
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After more than 2 and a half years we are back in Berlin! and of-course we are looking forward to have a lot of fun while being.
Labelboss Steffi hooking up with long-time buddy and musical boy wonder Dexter again. Over 15 years ago they started the Klakson label and the rest is history. Sounding more fresh than ever Steffi & Dexter deliver 3 razor sharp dancefloor bombs that will unite dancefloors worldwide. All the elements are there: aquatic electro arpeggio’s, jacking 808 beats, bouncing analogue strings and basslines, all topped off with that euphoric Detroit techno feel.
The first release on the label Rebalance featuring two remixes by Bleak and Steffi and Bleak for Unbalance.
Esteemed selector, producer and Panorama Bar resident Steffi presents the fifth mix CD in the series, showcasing the variety and depth of sound to be found during her sets at the club. In ‘Panorama Bar 05’ we find a mature and confident Steffi channeling her years of experience as a record collector, DJ and beat-maker into 80 seamless minutes. Reflecting all the angles of her classically inspired, raw and profoundly warm sound, we are guided through a rather grand lesson in House music. Steffi shows off her talents here with a captivating and classy mix of underground House and Techno. All the tracks she included, and the producers she invited to contribute, help to define part of her identity – much like the culture of DJing with records, that she brings to clubs with love, intensity and passion.
Steffi returns with a 12” for Ostgut Ton and shows a much tougher side to her ever-evolving sound. Steffi proves that there is much more to come from her as she produces a fine heartfelt techno sound for this EP, reminiscent of the favorites from not forgotten Warehouse parties where techno and house met on one united floor. On the A-Side “Schraper” combines a clean beat structure and scraping percussion with an epic synth arrangement to hypnotic effect with energy levels cranked right up. The string version of the B-side track “Tank” creates a mellower mood with a deeper bass and subtle bells added for a joyous ride, rounded off with bouncing metallic hi-hats. The beat version of the same track builds with fewer elements, a pumping tool to heat any dancefloor up to boiling point.
The hardware radicalists, that are The Analogue Cops aka Lucretion & Marieu and Steffi, present their unification in the studio as Third Side as an LP including the best productions of the past year and this latest LP serves as both a proclamation of their shared love for the analogue sound and as a breath of fresh air for techno. ‘The Absolute’ kicks things off with rippling snare drums, a warm bass line and a sweet cocktail of atmospherics and effects. Restoration friend, nd_baumecker joins the team on ‘Jackie’, where a chopped up vocal is carried backwards and forwards by an edgy drum machine workout. ‘The Base Of All Matters’ is a progressive, heads-down beat filled with crispy snares and disjointed chords, but the trio really get going on ‘Gauge Fields’ – where a frenetic mixture of synth stabs and effects is swallowed by a montrous, syncopating bass line. Side C begins with ‘Unity’, a powerful techno tool which has recently been remixed by Steffi herself, Blawan and the mysterious Nightjars. ‘Subsequent Stages’ enters lighter house territories but still retains that signature Third Side rawness and minimalism. On the flipside, ‘Fundamental Forces’ introduces a heavy, bumping beat floating over a sea of euphoric voices and distant melodies. Finally, the amptly names ‘Shit On Me’ featuring Virginia (the talented singer and songwriter responsible for the astonishing vocals tracks ‘on the rousing hit Yours’, and on the touching ‘You Own My Mind’, both released on Berlin’s Ostgut Ton in Feb 2011) closes things off with a nasty, twisted percussion which evolves into a more experimental, bass-fuelled anthem for the small hours. Real techno excursions for the coinnasseurs.
Welcoming four new artists on Field, the eighth EP in the vinyl series hovers somewhere between melancholic breaks, authentic deep house, and riveting techno. Upstanding contributions are realized by Dutch connoisseurs Steffi, Mark du Mosch, Artefakt and Area Forty_One.
Aus Music presents a new release by London-based, Belfast-born blogger-production duo Matt McBriar and Andy Ferguson aka Bicep. They’ve released one absolutely killer track after another, snaking through everything from deep disco edits to moody two-step to classic New Jersey House vibes with incredible ease, on some of the most exciting labels out there.
The Third Side, formed of Steffi and Lucretio & Marieu of The Analogue Cops, whet the appetites for their forthcoming debut album together with the Unity Remixes EP which casts Blawan, Nightjars and Steffi herself with remixing the ubiquitous “Unity.” The raw, repetitive, lo-fi and beat down rhetoric synonymous with Restoration is naturally deep in the DNA of “Unity”, a rather gravelly sounding subaqueous techno cut, while Blawan’s juggernaut drum triggering is as foundation worrying as his new productions on that Black Sun 12″. On the flip Steffi lays down a smoothed out variant of the original’s abrasive nature and Nightjars take it in exactly the opposite direction with a demented, smudged out remix.
Tsuba Colours returns for the Orange edition with rising star Jordan Peak who delivers two raw & soulful underground house trax. The remix from Steffi is an absolute stunner, complete with soaring strings and warm analogue production.
Snuff Crew present their fifth release on Snuff Trax, featuring a collaboration with Chicago legend Robert Owens. The Ep includes remixes by Steffi and Andreas Gehm.
The Hipodrome Of Music 