Having just been voted label of the year by Resident Advisor, Ostgut Ton looks set to continue that run with more superb releases in 2009.
‘One’ is the debut album of Ben Klock. With its forward thinking appeal, it smoothly follows on from Shed’s debut this year. Controlling his output over the last decade with care and accuracy, Ben has only released a dozen EPs, rather than falling for an inflationary release policy. Working with Ostgut Ton, Bpitch Ctrl, Memo and his own platform Klockworks only, he chose trust and longevity over quick visibility.
So how does a producer whose 12”s have always been dedicated 100% to the dancefloor, approach his first album? “I haven’t had a prefab concept really. All I wanted was it to work on it as an album. The piece’s atmospheres in itself and in relation to each other were of greater concern than thoughts like ‘do I need another ambient track, or do I need a kick drum to make this work in a club?’ In principle, all of it’s techno, but I don’t see ‘One’ as a pure club album.”
Stylistically, Klock draws on plentiful resources. There’s the dirty techno in ‘Grip’, the sexy intermittent ‘Check Your Pulse’, alongside ambient like tracks like ‘Init One’ and ‘Init Two’, as well as the dubstep inspired ‘Goldrush’. And then there are the outstanding cuts ‘Goodly Sin’ and ‘Ok’ featuring Elif Biçer’s vocals. In comparison to her records with Prosumer & Murat Tepeli, here her voice has been reduced to the bare essentials.
With its rugged bassline and crafty claps ‘Ok’ is even reminiscent of a contemporary version of Nicolette’s early work with Shut Up And Dance, but first and foremost it expands the Berghain sound to include a notion of pop.
‘One’ displays a depth and maturity of sound rarely found in this compactness. In all its stylistic variety, this album oozes with Klock’s traditional understanding of techno. The special sound at Berghain, the low bass, the hiss and the rumble, the economically used melodic fragments and the eerie atmospheres are present at any moment of this recording. The album creates a sealed off space reflecting Berghain as an actual place. Ben Klock defines techno as visonary music knowing about its past, yet appearing completely up to date without ever coming close to Detroit and minimal clichés.
‘One’ is a powerful techno album marking an early highlight in 2009 and it raises the bar both for techno and Ostgut Ton. Not a small feat at all!
Ben Klock’s record release party takes place at Berghain/ Panorama Bar on 21 February 09.
Usefull links: www.berghain.de
http://www.myspace.com/benklock
CD tracklisting:
1. Coney Island
2. Goodly Sin (feat. Elif Biçer)
3. Check For Pulse
4. Underneath
5. Gloaming
6. Init One
7. Cargo
8. OK (feat. Elif Biçer)
9. In A While
10. Init Two
11. Gold Rush
12. Grip
13. Thirteen Rounds
catalog: OSTGUTCD#07/ LP03
date: 23.02.09 (physical) | 9.03.09 (digital)
Nick Curly was considered by one of our members (Flow) one of the producers of the year and there’s no doubt that he has had an huge year, full of nice releases – “Dubnoise Ep” or If U Like Ep – and he is also the owner of Cecille Records, label that has been getting an enormous projection over 2008. In his last work of the year he presents a quite good Ep filled with two original tracks and a remix done by Geddes. In the a side you will listen a perfect “Critical Mass”, a track with a nice melodic loop and some genuine deep house tools flavored up with a nice pumpy beat and a really good bassline. It’s a track that will work perfectly in an after-hours session. B side shows up some different clicks, more turned up to what we consider to be minimal techy sounds. The beat is far more dry and the construction much more simple. “Kalimba” is a track to fulfill everyone’s taste. It’s being supported by Lemos, Villalobos and Raresh, among others. It is a perfect example of the most trendy mnml nowadays, and the one that gets more support in the dancefloors. The remix of this was done by Geddes, the man behind the Mulletover warehouse parties of London, and he shows up a more urban rhythm, more stylish but not as effective. We really support this Ep, it’s a very nice one to offer this New Years Eve… released on Murmur Records.
