A cup of beer (or two) in Berlin
I’m off again to Berlin next week and I really looking forward to meeting up with some Berlin netlabelists, musicians, podcasters and bloggers at one of their #tassebier (a cup of beer) meet-ups.
It all started with the interview I did in pcp#344 when I talked to Volker and Dub One! from Id.OEOLOGY and I told them I hoped to be back in the city again soon, and it would be good to talk over a beer.
Well that time has come, and Volker has invited a load of his fellow netaudio friends to join in. It’s even been blogged about on the blog.rebellen.info website by Peter Withoutfield, so if you’re in the area, come and join us:
Time: Monday 23rd May from 8pm
Location: Fire Bar, Krausnickstraße 5, 10115 Berlin Location: Fire Bar, Nick Kraus Strasse 5, 10115 Berlin
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Strobotone – Flashback Forward [iD.067]
This is Martin “Strobotone” Dombrowa’s debut album on Germany’s Id.EOLOGY label. “Flashback Forward” is designed to propel the listener back and forth through the major dance grooves of the last few decades.
The album begins with “Ultimate”, a nice dance groove worthy of anything done by Underworld. Track 2 “Kites” has a nice retro feel, reminiscent of work from Swedish producer Voide.
By the time we make it through “Fission Precision” into “Good Dressed” the grooves are picking up Hip-Hop influences, and by “Paperworks” there are breakbeat and experimental soundtrack themes competing.
“Artificial Intelligence” brings in jazzy & funky beats and “Insensate” lays down a strong techno/house beat that is hard to resist. “Theoretical Romance” has a different house feel and is the last of the full-on tracks, before leading into the more downtempo “Terraform”, which almost breaks into some DnB before gliding into the mellow “Venusian Clouds” to (unfortunately) bring you back into reality.
As an experiment in juxtaposing and interweaving different genres this album is very accomplished. Sure I’d like to have heard something that tips its hat towards dub or dubstep, but that’s my personal preference, not Strobotone’s. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this album whatever your preference.
Deep link to Release Page
PCP#344… Different Ideologies…
with tracks by… Daniel Berges & The Windsurfers, Refpolk, Tiny Fireflies, Dub One!, Tracing Arcs, Kosmonaut, Dr Freebs, Zengineers, Sudio.
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Ain’t That Good News, by Daniel Berges & The Windsurfers . Boston, Mass, USA. [Jamendo]
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Geschichte wird gemacht (History is made), by Refpolk . Berlin, Germany. [Jamendo]
This week’s featured Netlabel is Id.EOLOGY, and we have an interview with Volker, who helps run the label and Dub One! who is one of their artists. Both are based in Berlin, Germany.
The interview in the podcast is the shortened version. If you want, you can just hear the longer or shorter versions of the interview.
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Massive Dub Job (rubber mix), by Dub One! Berlin, Germany.
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So Beautiful, by Tracing Arcs. Ramsgate/Liverpool, England.
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Atmospheric Flower, by Kosmonaut. Berlin, Germany.
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Funkbuster, by Dr Freebs. Preston, England.
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Un Taxi La Nuit (Dub One! La Premiere Fois), by Zengineers. Cologne/Berlin, Germany.
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Sonic Impact (Waves of Adrenaline Edit), by Sudio. Bochum, Germany.
Bedding music by Kaya Project, Oddjob.
[Blogsite] [RSS Feed ] [Download] [Email Me ]This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. .
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Kosmonaut – Utopia EP [iD.066]
Returning with his first release of 2011, Stefan “Kosmonaut” Mader, brings us his new “Liquid Drum & Bass” EP, Utopia, out now on Id.Eology.
It’s no coincidence that the artwork is of a spaceship, as there’s a “spacey” feel to this EP with long atmospheric harmonics forming the backdrop to all the tracks. The EP opens with “Atmospheric Flower”, a smooth, dreamy, piece, which starts slowly and develops a nice DnB groove, starting your journey of Kosmonaut’s utopian vision. ”Sky at 7″ is not a DnB piece, but retains that spacey feel and a slower, funkier bassline and his signature audio clips. ”These Wings” is a slower piece that is still held together by driving beats and bleeps. ”Flying To You” dispenses with any up-front beat and just administers a lush space-age cocktail between your ears. ”Youth273″ starts delicately with synthesized human voice samples, before giving us a solid DnB groove on which layers of atmospheric sound are built.
Utopia is more of a classic DnB collection than Kosmonaut’s last EP, the much more dubstep-oriented “Photon“, but there’s no mistaking its creator. Close your eyes and imagine taking a high-speed inter-planetary ride to the edges of the solar system and back. This EP gives you the soundtrack.
[wpaudio url=”ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/ideology/id066/id066_01_-_kosmonaut-atmospheric_flower.mp3″ text=”Kosmonaut – Atmospheric Flower”]
Deep Link To: [iD.066] Release Page
Dub One! – Blow Dubs EP [iD.065]
Berlin’s Dub One! returns with a varied and genre-bending new solo EP on the iD.EOLOGY label.
The EP opens with some jittery twitches, and transitions into a skanking good groove called “Massive Dub Job”, before settling into a slower, trip-hoppy “Yoni Yogi Dub” that leaves you completely relaxed, like any good massage. Track three is an excellent spacey remix of Jambassa’s “Them Never Love The Flowers” which leads into a flamenco and piano spiced “Salsa In Dub”. The EP ends with “Soundbwoys Shot”, which is like an audioscape of the city at night, infused with swirling brass notes and the sound of an accordion drifting on the breeze.
It’s clear that Dub One! is exploring jazz, jazz-rock and funk in this release, as well as the dub and trip-hop that you get with his early releases in conjunction with Authist. He says “this e.p. will not only stimulate your loins and brains but also affect your hearts and souls, it will in fact be just as fulfilling and satisfying as good sex. Aural sex, that is.” Will it give you a happy ending? You bet!
Deep Link To: The Release Page