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)

Frank Heinrich aka Reboot is a producer that Minimaland has never mentioned till this date. Despite that fact he is one of the most promissing producers in the tech house scene having previously released some Ep’s on famous labels like Cadenza Records and now, for the second time, he shows up on Cocoon Recordings new edition to deliver a brilliant piece of genuine dance music. This limited edition starts, in the A side, with “Mirasierra”, a long length track that is being charted by Luciano, Nick Curly and many others. I really like this one, it’s a great construction that goes around mnml tech tribal rhythms. In the B side appears “Ronson” with more powerful roots among a step by step pattern, a massive techno beat and a huge bassline… this is something to order the dancefloors to go mad, it’s the most valid tool of the Ep and the most valid reason of this post. A Blue limited edition that all music appreciators should have in their collections

a1 – Mirasierra
b1 - Ronson

samples here

COR#086
Rls Date: 01.04.2009

Finnaly an album from Extrawelt (Arne Schaffhausen and Wayan Raabe), appears on the stores. I must blame Extrawelt for my actual criteria to define what’s good from what’s reasonable since that f*cking (sorry!) Soopertrack! That track still put my skin like a chicken every time I hear it. It’s undoubtedly a classic, a message, and very ahead for that time. Since that magnificent release on Border Community and Electrochoc I must confess it’s really difficult to have a similar feeling with a new track. Some of them are really good, but to reach the level of Soopertrack they must be a magnificent production.

Appart this nostalgic feelings, the fact is that this is the first cd from the duo, their debut cd. You can realize this is strange, but if you understand their career, you can understand why this happens. Their debut track was “Soopertrack” on Electrochoc in 2005 (curiosly, that Ep had Soopertrack and The Sky Was Pink from Nathan Fake, for me, the two best tracks from 2005), and the Ep “Soopertrack” on Border Community sort or less on the same time. Then in 2006 they travelled to Traum Schallplaten releasing “Doch Doch” and “Schmedding 8000″ with “Fernweh/Drehfeller” trough Kompass Music and a few Ep’s in between. In the same year they put a step to Cocoon Recordings, label run by Sven Väth to release “Titelheld”.

Sven’s way in techno world dictates a little bit in what’s happening with Cocoon orientated releases. Who doesn’t remember Villalobos’s “Taka Taka” , artists as minilogue or… I don’t what else to say! And, as I was saying, Extrawelt always sounded almost perfect for me, for what this combination seems very intuitive and brainstormed vibrant. Soopertrack had a magnetic vibrant in every aspects  situated in communication and emotional contexts, delivering soft growing progressive structure trough the air.. and this release by Extrawelt, “Schöne Neue Extrawelt” is magnetizing.

“Schöne Neu Extrawelt” is Magnetizing cause all the tracks seem so different and yet so inter-connected. So vibrants, but still detailed like a perfect tapestry. So simple from far, so enhanced closely. All of them have their own voice, that thing that I usually describe as “connection identity”, or whatever that you feel when you feel a music that connects to you so directly with a strong ID.

Deserves the right approuch, listening to it from start to end to understand this progressive construction in every aspects.

First track, One Tree Hill, its an opening for what is going to happen, the start of this movie and the role playing on the screen. A melody start and progressively things are replaced in a harmony. Second track, Dark side of My Room its the start credits, with the producers and main actors, so now, you’re enjoying more the movie, Extrawelt’s association!

Third track, Wippsteert, is minimalistic beginning with a delaying bass that starts working to a detailed construction with some mysterious sounds and well filled details combining together all the way around. All this is now going more intensively and gaining emotions.
Fourth track Messy Machinery, goes with a lot of simple “old” chords and gaining life, and everything going as planned with details reminding that. Some break details move the track ahead till a constructed hypnotic drive trough the machinery… why not?! From an older way of doing techno, they bring us Must Attack, with a acid rapid basslines and grooves to a very mental sound that works till your last neuron and then the acid, destructive sound, enters again into a point where it breaks to powerful magnetized connections. At the end of this music you can hear the rain falling, as the renewing force of the nature.

Trummer, the eight track, starts with the rain, powerful, going from a beggining to an end defined. This happens in all tracks, almost nothing repeats, I’ve forgotten to say! At this point you’re really enjoying it, always with reverbed bass’s, worked structures and weirdly defined patterns. Then comes Wolkenbruch, again a look in the roots with melodies and tinkly sounds going on and the sequential minimalist sound again, followed by Added Planet, a techno orientated basses and distorced voices going hand-by-hand with distorted sounds to a mental way.
Kurt Curtain (Skit), without 4/4 drum construction, is a little good thing, probably to be used as a dj tool or in the Breakbeat area, that appears interesting.
Daten Raten flows on the traveling bass and the electronic sounds that predict it, always in construction as everything so far. A interesting pack of sound samples and even patterns are merged together in this production.
Exactly the textures and the technic is enhanced in Lost In Willaura. Everything work together and melts together to a hipnotic thing. Starts innusual and then makes its course and now the end is appearing, where things start becoming clear as in a good script.
Finally, Homing, ends it, because everything haves an end, with all the emotions and sensations that we passed trough our journey, beautifully expressed and connected to a final peek of emotions that finish it with kindness.

Perhaps the first thing you feel about Schöne Neue Extrawelt is its remarkable cohesion and inter-connection , that despite its myriad tempo-changes and electronic outfits, makes extraordinary use of tempo without ever really getting down or slow. Is a magnificent production, rich, full and progressive with all the emotions added for the trip you’ll make with it. It’s definitely a must have, wherever you have it. Found hard too see an album that satisfies so much different electronic people as I believe this will do with so accuracy and perfection.
Here, different nowadays labeled tendencies and trendy schemes of doing electronic music seem to not exist, in a clear message that the fusions between good things with study, feeling and dedication normally create outstanding things that put a step ahead some conceptions.
Extrawelt transmit their vision and merge concepts to mess up a little bit more some people’s definitions and join us all together in this flow. It’s Extra… It’s well!

Schöne Neue Extrawelt Press Release (HTML)

Tracklist (Samples)
01 – One Tree Hill
02 – Darkside Of My Room
03 – Wippsteert
04 – Messy Machinery
05 – Must Attack
06 – Trümmerfeld
07 – Wolkenbruch
08 – Added Planet
09 – Kurt Curtain (skit)
10 – Daten Raten
11 – Lost In Willaura
12 – Homing

Extrawelt Website

Release Date:14 October 2008 | Catalog:#COR CD 09

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