Situated by the river Spree, known for it’s first-rate lineups of international talent and of course it’s famous wall to wall LED dance floor installation, the Watergate Club in Berlin has quickly become one of the world’s leading dance music clubs. Only 5 years after it’s official opening the club now goes a step further and releases a characteristic Mix CD series delivering only the finest DJ Mixes by some of club’s most exiting residents and guests. With the focus being put not only on the music but also on the packaging and design, this series will quickly become a truly sought-after collectors item and will surely stand out in flood of mediocre music and mixes that often dilute the market.
After successfully exploring the world of Deep House with their last mix by Sebo K it’s now time for Ellen Allien to represent for Watergate. Ellen has been a resident for the Club for a few years now and her BPitch Label nights with the whole label roster as well as her solo appearances at Watergate have always been special nights for us and the crowd. So it is no wonder that after all this Ellen Allien now steps in to mix Watergate 05 showcasing her very own and unique mix of electronic dance music for the followers and fans of the Watergate Mix CD series.

Minimaland Feedback: Essential Listening, huge tracklist!

TRACKLISTING
01 – Dj Yellow – Lost – Plaza In Crowd
02 – John Tejada – The End of It All – Palette
03 – Limp – Music Lover – Contexterrior
04 – Luciano – Celestial - Cadenza
05 – Niconé & Sascha Breamer – Nur Ma Kurz (Philip Bader rmx) – Bar 25
06 – Audiophungz – Pretending – Damn
07 – Aerea Negrot – All I Wanna Do – Bpitch
08 – Dark Unknown – The Dark (Black mix) – RPD records
09 – Juno 6 – Action 2 – Freude Am Tanzen
10 – Matias Aguayo – Bo Jack (Vocal) – Cómeme
11 – Alexi Delano – Molar One – Clink
12 – Royksopp – This must be It (Apparat rmx) – Emi Music
13 – Ellen Allien – Pop The Clock (Uffi rmx) – Ed Banger
14 – AGF / Delay – Connection (Hearthrob rmx) - Bpitch
15 – Margaret Dygas – Hidden Form View (Hidden nsi.Mix) – Power Shovel Audio
16 – Brigitte Fontain & Khan – Fine Mouche (Original Tango Piano Version) - I’m Single

WATERGATE#05
Release Date: 01.02.2010

In his home town of Bucharest, Romania, Pedro aka Petre Inspirescu has long been a pivotal figure alongside his frequent accomplices Raresh and Rhadoo. He started djing in 1999 in a small club called Web Club. Four year ago he became resident at Circoloco, Dc10 Ibiza and since then, his way of feeling and understanding electronic music changed completely. In the last three years, his appearances throughout the whole world have brought his name to many listeners’ lips, heightening interest in the fertile Romanian scene-an unexpected outpost of advanced electronic music.
He set high standards with the track “De Bou” that was released on his own label Arpair which he founded with his friends Rhaddo & Raresh in 2007. The following productions of Petre Inspirescu (his name as a producer) prove that this success wasn’t only a singular case. Thus it’s only fair that Luciano’s Cadenza, one of the most respected labels in the electronic music scene, approached Pedro and signed him right away.
In December he released his greatest release so far, a 3 x 12″ EP with 6 amazing tracks that really show all this guy’s talent. The tracks feature Inspirescu’s trademark slowly-evolving organic techno sound, with a strong emphasis on percussiveness, hypnotic little passages and attention to sonic detail. His productions make me remind a lot some Villalobos or Luciano tracks – like you will be able to notice in tracks like “Astral” or “Sad & Sand” where he inputs a tremendous minimal sense gathered by deep percussions and appealing melodies and they all combine perfectly creating an environment that almost anyone can in what matters to this kind of music and rhythm. All of them are long length tracks and the one I like the most is “Evar” composed by a genuine 4 x 4 beat, an amazing melancholic chords and a percussion that will lead you into heaven. Petre Inspirescu is the example of the state of Romanian scene right now, they have an enormous sense of appeal and I just hope that we can see more Pedro releases coming out really soon. Released by Arpiar, his own label, one of the best EP’s of last year and one of the installments of the decade!

a1 – Actiune!

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b1 – Templet Shout (feat Atena Vioara)

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c1 - Evar

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d1 - Sad & Sand

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e1 – Astral

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f1 – Dezlegat La Capat (feat Peter Inspirescu)

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ARPIAR#007
Release Date: 21.12.2009

Hello peeps, we are ending this year and, as we said previously, we thought Cio D’or album “Die Faser” was the most valuable of 2009! So we wanted to know more about it and for that we had to engage with Miss Cio D’or for the proper interview. Here it is:

Mnmland: Hi Cio D’or First up, let us congratulate you for your excellent album on Prologue. We’ve already said in our feedback that it was one of the best albums of the year; can you describe it to our readers?

Cio D’or: Thank you***! Music and fabric have perplexing similarity. Both are sensual and emotional. A “Faser” in German means a single String, like a single sound in music, that’s the basic material that is the origin of any fabric. The analogy here is the track structure, which is then made into a piece by adding dramaturgy and structure. The coloring of the material then finally creates the mood of the piece. That’s very similar in music, it’s created from single notes and tones, which in their unique combination with other sounds ( woven in with other facets ) becomes its on form. Arranging a track is analog to designing a piece of fabric in that sense. This album is impression, emotion & vision, closely connected to a small part of my life between 2008 and 2009.

Mnmland: In Die Faser you show two sides completely different in you, one more subtle and passionate that we can listen in tracks like “Angora” or “Seide” and the other one completely directed to rough underground deep feelings like in “Brokat” or “Pailletten”. The question is, will we be able to listen this both sides in your sets? We sure hope to.

In my sets & mixes I love to start with an ambient or experimental track. At my gig in Tokyo @ Mariananight/Warehouse 705 a DJ named Craig/C_Olvrin, was playing 1 hour of amazing, only Ambient &tripped Music, so it was just perfect and easy for me to start ambient & looping “blubbs&bleeps”&other trippy sounds up to more powerful Techno. I just played 125bpm – the Crowd was dancing all the time and recognized betwhile building up the set more the “powerparts” in my Set. Techno can work in a sensitive way, too! But it depends of course also how much open-minded a crowd is! So..yes, you can hear both or also more sides in my sets.

Mnmland: How long did it take you to create this album?

I was working a long time on some melodies (for Goldbrokat) or sounds (Pailletten/Brokat/Organza/Mohair) before I started the mainly creation of my album. I spent 3 month every day from the morning 10 o’clock until the night. Good food, some friends or running into a wood were the only activities on the side. At the end of producing, I was working ca 4 weeks on “fine mixdowns” after my friend Emanuel Geller heard it with his “golden Masterears”! After the music was done, it took also a longer time to find the perfect Label for my Ideas how to present the Idea (with Remixes, Vinyl& Ambienttracks) & Prologue understand luckily this vision. Also to combine and to talk to the Remixers, Promoter Pullproxy Team and about the Visuals for the Videos from VJ Heiligenblut (Goldbrokat), Mo / Aiko Okamoto (Seide/Tränensalz) and Ateate (Wildseide) took a while and not to forget the Graphics from Jun Frogosa and all the Website Work from Wolf/Wolfgang Pöhler. Altogether this “Album work” it is a very long process like ca. 6-8 month!

Mnmland: Do you consider this your best installment till this date? And do you feel totally satisfied with it?

For me it feels like a time document &… when I stop to create a track: that means: it’s finished…for this little story and time only, but I am never finished , always in progress and never satisfied. I am not looking to long to what I did yesterday without forgetting the past. I have already some new ideas & wishes in my mind, but it’s quietly growing until I will find the perfect time to start a new creating time. A track is like a small story, an Album a little book & the whole work at the end of the days like a serial of life. I can’t say, what was my best track until today, because every track, that I did have a special feeling for a special moment.

Mnmland: “Goldbrokat” or “Cotton” are fabulous grooves that will have a tremendous effect in the dancefloors. But what are your favorite tracks of the album? What were the ones that gave you the most pleasure to produce?

My personal favorites are in this moment Pailletten, Goldbrokat, Mohair & Organza, because I was working very excited on these sounds. But I created every track with all my being! The ambient tracks I loved to do, too….because I was very interested to give emotions only & to create sounds for my visual minds and visions, too.

Mnmland: We’ve read that you are used to sample everything… can you tell us a little bit more about that process, and give us one or two examples of where you used those samples in this album?

Well…sometimes on journeys I am very inspirited from sounds around me, so I sample them & for some tracks I used them. I started with an MPC 2000 it is one of the optimal machine for samples! It was a shame in Japan:I heard that many interesting sounds around me, but I didn’t had enough space to bring my micro & minidisk to the trip. My Album is primarily made of sounds i developed myself, and melodies i performed,and recorded. On top, in some tracks i’m using synth samples to add depth and space to the music, for example in “Zellulose Wind, Goldbrokat, Mohair (2Samples by Gabriel Ananda), Brokat or Cotton.

Mnmland: You started doing music pretty young in a Jazz Band. What got you into techno then?

It’s a longer process I went more & more into electronic music for my own dance_choreographies. Classical & electronic Music gave me the optimum for inspiration for this kind of Graham Modern Dance Techniques. Also I was more interested to create a whole creation of a track than just to learn one instrument. I learned a bit of guitar, piano, flute, kalimba, kongas, but to hear just one instrument all the time bored me after a while. For this I adore Jimi Hendrix or Miles Davis!

Mnmland: What would you prefer, Playing for 50.000 people that would swallow anything you would give them, or playing for 100 people that would absolutely murder you for the mistakes you (could) make during a set? (We are not taking any sides here)

I love to play for open minded people & on a great soundsystem! I can be the same glad with lots or less people, it depends of the people.

Mnmland: What artists, producers & labels are inspiring you at the moment?

I am inspired mainly from sounds. But also this inspiration can change from time to time! It depends what I am looking for! & I am nearly sure, that I will forget to list many artists or sounds (also from the past), that I love! But exactly in this second I think about:

Sir Simon Rattle Film musicians

Xhin (Stroboscopic Artefacts), I love especially his Experiments & I am looping some sounds for my Set.

Milton Bradley (Do not resist the Beat/Prologue) did a Remix for my Organza Track (will be released in February on Prologue) & there are some Sounds inside, that it´s the future for me.

All Sounds from Artists on Prologue (Giorgio Gigli, Donato Dozzy, Dino Sabatini&Modern Heads, Milton Bradley, Obtane, Claudio PRC, Iori, Juho Kahilainen, Samuli Kemppi)

All Artists on Sandwell District Monolake on Monolake Sleeparchive (nearly all Tracks&Remixes) Zzz

Former Plasticman & Richie Hawtin Records

Some Troy Pierce Records BVDUB (nearly all tracks)

Basic Channel

Some Tracks from Jichael Mackson

Hubble

Mike Parker

Nuel

Pendle Coven

Xyramat

Kevin Gormann

Echospace&_cord

Jens Zimmermann

Modern Love

Son. Sine

Mnmland: We take you as a quite mysterious person! Who are you outside the music? In what do you like to spend your time?

For the outside of music isn´t that much time, but in these times I love to be very private within: Silence, diving and snorkeling, running in unknown forests, brilliant dinners, friends, colors & forms, architecture, nature, films & documentations and Design, reading, writing.

Mnmland: Some quick questions now… What are the places you enjoy playing the most?

All venues with a good soundsystem, an open minded crowd, sympathic Organizers, interesting rooms and beautiful Visuals (like Heiligenblut or Mo) were amazing & it´s always a cooperation between the crowd, all surroundings & me, if the night is great for all of us! This year I remember some very special moments also @: “Mariananight/Warehouse 705” in Tokyo/Japan “The Office” in Stockholm/Sweden “G” in Okinawa/Japan “Klickklackklub/Artheater” in Cologne/Germany “Fusionfestival” in Lärz/Germany

Mnmland: Analog or Digital?

I played 10 years Vinyl only& switched to Tractor Scratch Pro at New Year 2008/2009 @ Klickklackklub/Artheater Cologne. I was very nervous, but it´s working very well and I found many features, that makes sense to me. I was always dreaming to play the best moments of a track only (some tracks are perfectly allaround for me of course,) & for these ones, that I just like a part of … I just loop that favorite part! But I will love forever the haptic feeling with vinyl, too! For producing I was dreaming always from a analogue Studio: all in one…and I started with the MPC 2000! To this time I am working on a computer with Sequencer Programms. At the End I love the best Technic but less as possible, because to much Programms and equipment could keep you away from creating & ideas.

Mnmland: Favorite record of all time?

In this moment: Plasticman _ Consumed

Thanks a lot for the interview, minimaland.com wishes good luck to you and your productions. Bye

Read More about “Cio D’or – Die Faser”, our album of the year, here!

“I like hypnotic techno, it gives
people this sense of endlessness,
this infinity that trance doesn’t achieve.”

We don’t really know how often Jean-Vincent Luccini has been asked for the reasons to christen himself „Sarah Goldfarb“, a name chosen in honor of that old lady on speed from the congenial movie „Requiem for a dream“. What we do know, however, is that the producer from Marseille loves puns, genredefying credentials and synthetic sounds with lots of thrust. Since 2003 Jean Vincent produces quality techno under his always slightly irritating monicker, endowing a long-ranging array of labels old and young with his hypnotic beat patterns, and now he’s set to release his first artist album on Treibstoff. „Heartbeat City“, labeled after the seminal album by 80s New Wave band The Cars, isn’t just the next logical step in a wellfunded career, it’s the result of a labour of love and the need to evolve musically.

First, Jean-Vincent wasn’t to keen on writing a whole album, as he deemed the dance floor and the 12“ to be the best fit for his tracks, but the idea stuck with him since. It even developed into a personal challenge, meant to broaden his own horizon. So he invited a good friend and neighbour to his studio, the highly talented but virtually unknown Jean-Christophe Hallary, to climb this mountain with him. It took them both over half a year of intense bricolage, but we at Treibstoff are not the only ones to think that they reached the top several times in a row. The final product, as detailed as it is accessible, is a multilayered and danceable beast of an album, offering perfect dramaturgy and pinpointed kicks galore. It’s the album we’ve hoped for the label, the floor and last but not least Jean-Vincent himself, who arrestingly proves how well the fan and the artist can go hand in hand.
Sarah Goldfarb: not a junior anymore.

Minimaland Feedback: Heartbeat music

TRACKLIST:
1. Here we come
2. The noise electric
3. Jacki
4. Just a holiday
5. So long
6. Lights at night
7. Back in town
8. Golden sun
9. Never stop
10. Heartbeat City

Release Date: 18.01.2010
Label: Treibstoff
Catalog Nr: Treib-CD10

Time for the first album on Prologue ever. There was only one artist they could think about to do that: Cio D´Or. Her sets Emotional, extravagant and charismatic. She doesn´t just play music, she lives it. At 17 she was already playing congas in a 7-person jazz band, and her staged dance choreographies were inspired by the likes of Brian Eno and David Byrne. Encounters with Acid Maria, Electric Indigo ( whom she joined for Female Pressure), Tobi Neumann and Richard Bartz let to her infamous residency at the legendary Munich club „Ultraschall“, while she also started to run her own night „Nachtwind“ in Woandersclub and Harry Klein. Thus began her autodidactic studies of sound technology. She sampled everything and everywhere. Kitted out with minidisk and MPC 2000 she travelled several times to the Sinai. She selects her co-productions according to musical proximity and friendship – Donato Dozzy, Paul Brtschitsch and Gabriel Ananda. Most of the album consists of Cio‘s melodic minimal stylings, with deft but subtle touches of delay and reverb lending themselves to her trippy sound that makes up different kinds of fabric, from Brokat to Pailletten and Wildseide. Prologue also won the lucky draw with upcoming “Die Faser” remixes by Sleeparchive, Donato Dozzy, Milton Bradley, Pendel Coven, Samuli Kemppi, and Claudio PRC. In addition VJ Heiligenblut visualized “Goldbrokat‘. Cio also peppered the debut with three short beatless cuts („Zellulose Wind“, „Angora“ and „Seide“), adding to the drama for listeners who will want to take the album in from start to finish. Cio´s famous encouraging passion united in “Die Faser” creates a deep transparent sound architecture with the right sense of love and creativity for electronic music experiences – as expected – including a breath of ambient feelings and encapsulation into the other worlds. Lie down and release yourself to the touch of our Cio D´Or

Minimaland Feedback: Die Faser starts strong from the start. As I was listening the Intro track i already noticed that this would be a great album. Cio D’or sounds are completely different from everything else. While you’re feeling a great sense of underground music, full of strong basslines and hypnotic samples, you’re also feeling all her love for music. The way she builds her tracks are indistinguishable, and tracks like “Goldbrokat”, “Brokat” or “Pailletten” will be the delight of everybody in the dancefloors, while tracks like “Angora” or “Zellulose Wind” bring harmony to the album. For me the album of the year and a really good surprise!

1. Zellulose Wind (Intro)
2. Goldbrokat Cio D’Or
3. Mohair (The True Blue)
4. Angora (Mystic)
5. Brokat
6. Organza (Transparent Dub)
7. Seide (Tranenensalz!)
8. Pailletten
9. Samt
10. Cotton (La Petite Geisha)
11. Wildseide
12. Pailletten (Bonbonus)

Label: Prologue
Release Date: 7th December 2009
Useful links http://www.ciodor.de/
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Cio+D%27or

The world we live in, on a very fundamental level, is flawed. On the eve of my tenth album release I’m still writing my own bio and wondering if I should refer to myself in third person, analyze the past 15 years and justify bad career moves as artistic integrity, and promote myself as the unsung hero of techno and house; a mere victim of poorly timed strokes of genius (numerous!) and being born in the wrong part of the world.

Well, sarcasm never really did become me, and irony works only if unnoticed. Double fail. It’s easy enough to google up some old Jori Hulkkonen bio with real biographical info, or check out my discography from my website so I’ll spare you the boring details of my “career”. Ever since the late 80’s when my obsession with all things music started to manifest itself with an increasingly versatile record collection and eventually some synths and experiments in songwriting, it has been quite clear to me that I’m destined to create my life’s work within the business. The problem is that as an idealist cynic with tight grip on realism I’m well aware that ‘the biz’ is a sinking ship more or less, and I’m already dancerously close to the waterline. But the good news is that I stopped caring.

Here’s why:
Having released my first proper artist album in 1996 for the French label F communications (defunct now since 2008, with my album “Errare Machinale Est” as their final release -coincidence?), I’ve managed to do something I never thought would be possible, something that I’m the most proud of all things in my career: never becoming popular. After nine albums, dozens of pseudonym releases on super hot labels (like Rekids and Get Physical just to mention a couple from the past few years), close to a hundred remixes, my own radio show on national radio for more than a decade (in Finland though, so it may not count), thousands of DJ gigs all over the world under my belt (OK I never actually counted but a quick calculation tells me it must be close to 2000 now), producing and writing songs for the likes of Tiga (whom I created in the first place), and having a reputation as a producer who can make an 808 kick drum sound like a jazzy flute, you’d expect that there was a time when I was The Shit. But I never was!

Sure enough there’s a lot people who never were “big”, but are they still working? Releasing albums, singles, getting remix requests and DJing all over after 15 years? No. But I am. And this I see as my greatest achievement and there’s a lesson to be learned everyone: If you never become trendy it’s impossible for you to become untrendy. Will all this change now though with my hotter than hot new album on Turbo, or the buzz around my Acid Symphony Orchestra (a piece I wrote for ten tb-303’s and a 707, conducted by me)? Or the rumored collaboration with Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys? It remains to be seen but I’m dedicated to give my best shot to not let it happen. Man From Earth, my tenth studio album, is the first “Jori Hulkkonen” album not released on the now defunct F communications.

How will this change of label affect my sound? Is this the end of ballads, jazz and ambient? Of course not – not even for me – but the album is a deliberate (as in not forced) departure from the bedroom vibes with focus on jams for the dance crowds. Recorded at my alppIVhouz studios, most of the tracks were intended for 12″ singles so they are not album tracks as such, therefore the album is maybe not as coherent and subtle as some of my previous efforts. But what it may lack in atmospheric synthpads, “Scandinavian mooddesign” and social commentary it makes up in catchy basslines, sizzling hihats and semi-danceable tracks.

Minimaland Feedback: Massive musicality

Tracklisting
01 I Am Dead feat. Jerry Valuri

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02 Boying In The Smokeroom

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03 Dancerous

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04 The Other Side Of Time

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05 Re: Last Year feat. Villa Nah

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06 Ridge Over Troubled Forrester

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07 Musta Gunilla

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08 Undercover feat. The Dove

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09 I Dance To Your Bass, My Friend

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10 Bend Over Beethoven

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11 My Brother Went To Space And All I Got Was This Lousy Vacuum

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12 Man From Earth

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Release Date: 02.11.2009
Label: Turbo Recordings

Read here Jori’s Hulkkonen overview of his tracks

Situated by the river Spree, known for it’s first-rate lineups of international talent and of course it’s famous wall to wall LED dance floor installation, the Watergate Club in Berlin has quickly become one of the world’s leading dance music clubs. Only 5 years after it’s official opening the club now goes a step further and releases a characteristic Mix CD series delivering only the finest DJ Mixes by some of club’s most exiting residents and guests. With the focus being put not only on the music but also on the packaging and design, this series will quickly become a truly sought-after collectors item and will surely stand out in flood of mediocre music and mixes that often dilute the market.

Sebo K has long been a key figure in Berlin’s music community, starting his DJ career in the early 90s at Alec Empire’s Bass Terror nights, Berlin’s first UK-style breakbeat parties. By the mid 90s he had discovered his love for Chicago house and Detroit techno – a passion evident to anyone who has heard the vintage depths many of his tracks nod to – and at the turn of the decade began playing regularly at legendary clubs throughout Berlin. Now he’s becoming an unstoppable force in the electronic music scene. One of his first tracks for Mobilee, “Rancho Relaxo” was an instant classic, establishing Sebo as an up-and-coming act worthy of extreme attention. To declare that Sebo has lived up to expectations would be an understatement to say the least.

Minimaland Feedback: One of the best Watergate mixes till now (along with Sascha Funke), Sebo K didn’t relaxed in his performance, it has a little bit of everything: mixing skills are near perfection, great selection of tracks (including a couple of unreleased edits) creating a nice mood on a cd that it’s worth to buy. The artwork keeps it’s originality… Watergate mixes are here to stay.

Tracklisting:
01 – DOP – Intro (Watergate Records)
02 – Rick Wade – Night Station (Music Is…)
03 – Koljah & Oliver Deutschmann – Eaten Back To Life (Exclusive Watergate Edit) (Konsequenz)
04 – Mood II Swing – Move Me (Music For Your Ears)
05 – DOP – Cold World (Watergate Records)
06 – Session Victim – Contribute (Retreat)
07 – Daze Maxim – Strange Things – Hello Repeat / Patrice Scott – Excursions ( Reprise) (Sistrum Recordings)
08 – Blagger – Strange Behaviour (Perspectiv)
09 – Agnes – Who Cares (Eklo)
10 – Martyn – Elden St (Sebo K Watergate Edit) (Watergate Records)
11 – RNDM – Wake_eld (Exclusive Watergate Edit) (Dial)
12 – Je Davu – Music Got You Movin (Exclusive Watergate Edit) (BangBang!)
13 – Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts – The Pussy Sheppard (Musique Risquée)
14 – Sid Le Rock – Naked (Dj Koze Remix) (Cereal Killers)
15 – Nina Kraviz – Voices (Underground Quality)

Release Date: 12.10.2009

Jay Haze – homme fatale, madman, exceptionally gifted composer and producer, owner of labels TuningSpork and Contexterrior, and mastermind behind numerous other musical projects – has done it again. The big surprise. Something no on expected. After two singles (plus remixes for Telefon Tel Aviv and Kiki), Jay brings Fuckpony back to the BPitch stable, offering a full-length album with intentions no less than world dominance. Sure, house music has always been king, but even if (as these days) some poser waiting around the corner claims his name is Jack, the subtlytrained ear can hear the difference, and the wheat is separated from the chaff. And instead of coasting comfortably off the success of his recent Fabric47 mix CD, Jay strikes again with what may be his most mature, cohesive artistic statement yet.

Hardly anyone knows the legacy of American-style house as Mr. Haze does. Despite a sense of tradition, this guy’s intention was never just to reproduce a well-known sound. His nonconformist principle has always been a recurring theme throughout his diverse projects as he crosses given boundaries. Futurism as a conceptual basis and Chicago as grammar, but even a bit more special than what is currently being rehashed with these ideas. And what Jay as Fuckpony has always excelled at is opening up to – what one would call commonly and from a distance – “pop”. Pop in the best sense, though: as an abstraction of accessibility, one that strikes your cheek gently while scraping stubble.
The slightly shifted, forward-driven syncopation in the title track “Let The Love Flow” would be a prime example. Angular, sharp-edged pop, on whose surface you could light a match – so much soul is pushing through that the dancefloor seems like it is about to collapse. But it won’t, because “Let the Love Flow” doesn’t become a pure dance album, at least not in its entirety. Instead Haze meanders into a strange realm somewhere between the gleam of Saturday night (like in the track “Orgasm On The Dancefloor Saturday Night”) and the pale daylight of a Sunday morning (as in “A Pill’s Medley”). The listening experience provides a sort of afterhours party for lovers, only that here the sweet taste of the club never dissolves away from the tongue. Everything stays positive here: despite the high altitude, Fuckpony lands in the crate softer than ever, with house tracks that resurrect old feelings, but despite all the grace and emotion, kick sharply with a super-tight bass drum. A collection of small epics that are never for a second flat or cheesy, despite their catchiness.

Because this album seems to be so sentimental and tender, it almost sounds as if Jay Haze has discovered his feminine side on BPitch Control. You could call it house with heart, an entire album without samples, made from scratch with his own two hands. The horns, the drums, and of course the dominating piano – all of these emanate from the mad spirit of the master, sustaining his genius, his unmistakable handwriting ever present. Only the vocals in “Fall Into Me” and “I Know It Happened” are not sung by Haze himself, but rather by Laila Tov and Chela Simon. The latter has already lent her voice to Kiki’s “Good Voodoo”, and her contributions to this album offer a few soulful moments, instantly making your arm hairs stand on end. Yes, it comes full circle- Fuckpony’s long-player for ravers in love and for raved out lovers who are still going long after peak time. A self-contained album with powerful melodic arches and a great dramatic underscoring of house, embedded in tradition but not dwelling on the past. Ten tracks, each unique and self-sufficient, held together through love: the love of music, of house, of Berlin, of parties, of all of you out there. So in this sense, love it also! Real love is forever…

TRACKLISTING:
01. R U Feeling Abroad 6:22
02. I´m Burning Inside 9:14
03. I Know It Happened (feat. Chela Simone) 6:25
04. Real Love Is Forever 6:16
05. Orgasm On The Dancefloor Saturday Night 6:33
06. Fall Into Me (feat. Chela Simone and Laila Tov) 5:12
07. A Pills Medley 6:32
08. You Can´t Touch But Feel Free To Look 6:35
09. Always Sunday 5:33
10. Let The Love Flow 3:25

Release Date: 26.10.2009
BPC#204

Minimaland Feedback: If you’re a Jay Haze appreciator than you got to have this album. As it says in the press release, this album really is the other side of mr. Haze, his most tender one. The Cd is great, all the track are quite good and all of them run through deep environments. This is not dancefloor directed, it could easily be played in an after-hours session as it could be featured as the soundtrack of a movie. One after another, the tracks seem to complete each other. I’ve always liked this Fuckpony experience and this release add’s the full guarantee that this project is here to stay for many and many years.

Phil Kieran has been in the upper echelons of the electronic music game for more than a decade, but is only now releasing his debut album under his own name. Known for rocking clubs and releasing a string of killer twelves, Belfast-based Phil has hooked up with German powerhouse Cocoon in recent times. Sven Väth‘s label is now about to release “Shh”, a groundbreaking piece of work that will undoubtedly gain Phil plaudits across the board.

“Shh” seems to not only reference every sound Phil has ever loved in music, but is formulated in a completely fresh and futuristic way. Listen carefully and you can detect elements of dub reggae, old hardcore like LFO, hip-hop, early 90s electronica such as Autechre/Black Dog and other Warp staples, as well as the futuristic techno that Phil excels in. For the album Phil went back to old sound lab recordings dating back to the 1950s and 60s. Utilising some of these sounds in the initial construction, he built up tracks using a combination of old samples sourced from original and weird places and some live new instrumentation as well. There are live drums, some electric/acoustic/bass guitar and live keyboard playing as well as some choice guest vocalists.

“I tried to use all my knowledge from when I first got into music to try and make an album that captures everything I‘ve ever loved about music,” Phil says. Phil has synthesized his myriad of influences into one radically beautiful whole: blissed-out vocal samples, space age electro, cavernous bleeps, fizzy technoid 4/4 beats, glistening glitches, crackers crackles, early R&S sounds, warm keys, acerbic bassline undertows, dense echoes, Orbital cinematics and randy robotics all feature, but really this is an album far greater than the sum of its parts. It‘s very much a home or car listening album, perfect for post-club play, although plenty of the individual tracks contain discerning dancefloor dynamics too.

Cutting his clubbing teeth at Shine in Belfast, Phil now has over 100 dancefloor releases to his name on quality labels like Skint, Soma and NovaMute, and is widely respected throughout the industry among the technoscenti. He‘s also recently broken into movie scoring, creating the soundtrack for recent Steven Soderbergh film The Girlfriend Experience with fellow Irish compatriot David Holmes. To exorcise some demons a few years ago he created a live techno punk band Alloy Mental, variously melding Joy Division basslines onto pummeling punky T.Raumschmiere-style technoid power-drivers. He also has an impeccable DJ rep that‘s won him placings in DJ magazine‘s global Top 100 DJs poll, and a guarantee to promoters that he‘ll inevitably rock the joint to its foundations. But now Phil has just entered the next phase in his career. „Shh“ won‘t be a secret for long: it‘s almost certain to take its place amongst not only the albums of the year, but as one of the landmark releases of the last two decades.

TRACKLIST
1. Cut Copy Waste

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2. Playing With Shadows

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3. Blood Of Barcelona

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4. World On TV

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5. Dirt

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6. R.E.S.P

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7. Raining For Old Friends

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8. Don’t Look Far Away

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9. Bend It Bend It My Dear

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10. Past The Present Future

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11. Foot Of The Hill

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COR CD#022
Release Date: 21.09.2009

Minimaland Feedback: After Extrawelt’s album Cocoon comes back with another great piece. Along the 12 tracks Phil Kieran is able to create a lot of different dimensions and environments showing all his quality as a producer. Tracks like “Dirt” (perfect mnml techno turn-on), “Raining For Old Friends” (Lawrence style) or Never Ending Mountain (great melody, it feels like you’re flying…) show all his potential as a producer and ultimately as an artist! This is a big surprise for me, I wasn’t expecting so much from this album, it’s in my top5 of the year for sure! Strongly recommended…

Listen an exclusive mix from Phil Kieran

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download here
Tracklist:
1.Sei – chinese whispers (A gigolo)
2.matzak – magneto (speicher)
3.ronan portela (barem) – piumino (found sound)
4.onur ozer – vakant limited 1 (vakant)
5.seth troxler(feat matthew dear) – hurt (spectral sounds)
6.phil kieran – dirt (cocoon)
7.jamie jones – snake pitt (crosstown rebels)
8.phil kieran – world on tv (cocoon)
9.phil kieran – past the present future (cocoon)
10.kevi gorman – shaky metallic beats (mikrowave)

“I tried to use all my knowledge from when I first got into music to try and make an album that captures everything I’ve ever loved about music,” Phil says. Phil has synthesized his myriad of influences into one radically beautiful whole: blissed-out vocal samples, space age electro, cavernous bleeps, fizzy technoid 4/4 beats, glistening glitches, crackers crackles, early R&S sounds, warm keys, acerbic bassline undertows, dense echoes, Orbital cinematics and randy robotics all feature, but really this is an album far greater than the sum of its parts. It’s very much a home or car listening album, perfect for post-club play, although plenty of the individual tracks contain discerning dancefloor dynamics too.” (by Phil Kieran)

Celebrating 10 years of refining its highly personal vision of underground electronic dance music, Paris’ Circus Company presents Snuggle & Slap, a two-CD compilation balancing contemporary house music with more idiosyncratic submissions. It’s more than just a label sampler: many of the artists included here appear two or even three times, having been afforded the opportunity to think beyond the dance floor and experiment with new sounds, unusual styles, and secret passions.

Hushed funk, feathery beats and spongy textures characterize Snuggle, while Slap snaps to attention with more insistent grooves straight to the heart of the label’s sweet spot: sumptuously detailed, swoon worthily deep house. Whether you’ve been following Circus Company for the whole decade or are only just now turning on, this collection of new, exclusive material is an essential portrait of one of the most dynamic labels around.

Who’s on board? There are veterans from the label’s very earliest days, including Ark, Nôze, Dave Aju and Sety. There are folks that have joined in recent years, enlarging the label’s sound along with its roster: dOP, MyMy, Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts, Audio Werner, Antislash, Oleg Poliakov, Le K. And finally there are the most recent freaks to join the Circus: Berlin resident Ryan Crosson, New York’s Wolf Lamb-affiliated Nicolas Jaar, and the German jazz/soul band Homewreckers.

Circus Company’s Mathias Duchemin (aka Sety) sums up the project: “The concept of this compilation with to present our artists’ hidden sides. On the Slap side you’ll get their usual, dancefloor-oriented style. On the Snuggle side you’ll have the chance to discover their more ‘home listening’ directions. Nowadays, I have the feeling that labels are neglecting the non dance side.”

The best thing about Snuggle & Slap is the way the tracks fall into conversation with one another. Like pictures at an exhibition, each reflects upon the next, with complementary sounds and recurring themes coming together into a whole that’s far more than the sum of its parts.

TRACKLISTING CD 1 – Snuggle Part
1. Ark – Back to sleep Back
2. dOP feat. Dave Aju – Alligators
3. MyMy – Bonus Jack
4. Nôze – Drums
5. Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts – Odyssee
6. Dave Aju – Hide and Go Seek
7. Ryan Crosson – Slow Down
8. Homewreckers – Chicago Urban Blues
(Live at Café Bohemia)
9. dOP – Turff Blues
10. Nicolas Jaar – Waltz Jazz
11. Antislash – Trafic Jam
12. Ezechiel Pailhes – As We Are

TRACKLISTING CD 2 – Slap Part
1. Nôze – Boredom
2. Ark – Hey Glizz
3. Nicolas Jaar – Love Teacher
4. dOP – Stock Option
5. Destination Danger – Du Rififi au Katanga
6. Sety – Le Bourdon
7. Audio Werner – Bakshi
8. Guillaume & The Coutu Dumont – Peneloppe
9. Le K – Rahan
10. Oleg Poliakov – Keep Blooming

Release Date: 24.10.2009

Minimaland Feedback: During 10 years Circus Company has been one of the major labels of Paris. They’ve introduced several important artists from that city like Noze, Ark, Cabanne, dOP and many more. Circus Company isn’t about a scene, or even a sound. It’s about a kind of spirit, and those who feel it, get it. And this release is all about that spirit, for this they’ve integrated another producers that are very familiar to them like My My, Guilaume & The Coutu Dumonts, Daje Ave or Audio Werner and the result couldn’t be better: two funky cd’s full of ideas and personality and good producers. I can almost say that this is too much good music in only one package. Don’t count on pumpy techno, this is some of the most exquisite minimal out there, in an old school label that deserves lots of respect! Modern dance music is alive!