2007 was a strange year for techno. Dancefloors worldwide were hooked by the minimal craze, vinyl sales were in a massive slump, Europe was gripped by widespread recession and Berghain was relatively unknown to those outside of Berlin. With this in mind, if someone told you they were going to start a record label, and press on vinyl, you'd probably have told them that they'd be mad to do so. But Kr!z, driven by a need for an artistic outlet, had other ideas. Armed with tracks from Inigo Kennedy, Sub Space, Ø Phase and Radial, he pitched his stall and made his statement of a new darker direction that techno could take. Token Records was born and the result was music made for dark basements rather than huge arena's hired by promoter with bottomless production budgets. As the years have rolled by releases from Inigo Kennedy and Ø Phase have continued and spattered amongst them has been EPs from the likes of Oscar Mulero, Go Hiyama, Xhin, Mark Broom and Eschaton as well as the roster additions of Ctrls and Rødhåd, which have been received with critical acclaim from all corners of the techno world and has helped cement the labels position at the forefront of our ever enhancing scene. As we reach the present day, Token Records present us with 'Aphelion' to serve as a celebration of their achievements to date and as a prelude to what the future looks like for the Belgium imprint. Collecting together label mainstays, techno legends and bright new stars was only going to end in something spectacular, covering the expansive tapestry of sounds that make up what we class as techno. There's no warm up as we're thrown straight into what seems like the Army Ants march to war with Ø Phase's 'Insectoid'. Lucy drops the pace with 'Sana Sana Sana Cura Cura Cura' and his subtle use of modular rhythms before Ctrls ups the ante with the frantic progression of 'X.Y.' Rødhåd continues the heady vibe with 'Haumea' and it's trippy synth patterns that intertwine with each other in oscillating waves and slowly enslave your subconscious. 'The 808 Track (Parts 1 & 2)', from Luke Slater's Planetary Assault Systems alias, makes tremendous use of the classic 808 sounds that have been a staple of techno since it's inception. The UK techno legend run continues as James Ruskin utilises almost playful, infectiously jacking programming on 'No Trace' and Surgeon showcases his heavily distorted industrial sound on 'Fixed Action Pattern'. Inigo Kennedy, no less of a UK techno legend himself, mixes heavy kicks and aggressive percussion with emotive lead lines for those late night transcendent moments. Not wanting to go out on a whimper, they've rounded off with one of the most exciting additions to UK techno in the shape of Blawan and Pariah's double act, Karenn, and their 'Pace Yourself' which does anything but. Stabs drenched in reverb overlay gothic bells which perch delicately on top of a relentless 4/4 kick drum to leave you craving more when you reach the final curtain. If this album is to be a statement of everything that Token Records embodies, then they're definitely going with the attitude of put your strongest foot forward. And what results is a structurally sound fortress of techno that could withstand anything nature, or man, could throw at it. It's solid as the day is long and bound together with quality from every junction. The journey to this point has been a very fruitful one for Token and the future is one that should be observed very closely. If you're still not sold on whether you should buy this from our words alone, you can stream the full album from the Soundcloud player below. You can buy the Triple Vinyl + CD pack now from Juno as well as all your other esteemed outlets. For more info on Token Records, head over to their Facebook Fan Page
For this weeks podcast CLR add a new face to their ever expanding list on contributors. He may be a debutant on the series, but to readers fo the SDD blog, Rødhåd will be no stranger. Firstly, as a DJ, his residency at (and a founder member of) Berlin's Dystopian night, and more recently his appearances at Berghain, have seen him become a firm favourite in the eyes of the people of the German capital. But as was inevitably going to happen, he's now getting the recognition he thoroughly deserves in territories outside of his homeland. And with two releases (and a third on the way) on Dystopian's record label, his productions talents are there for all the world to see. It was only a matter of time before he found his way on the CLR Podcast and he's announced himself to a wider audience with a mix full of hypnotic textures and deep dub techno vibes blended with driving techno to leave you wanting more. As a DJ who's made his name with sets than keep you dancing for many an hour, none of that set building quality is lost by condensing it down to under 65 mins. You can subscribe to the CLR Podcast in iTunes or you can download and listen to the mix on the CLR Website. Tracklisting
1) Dadavistic Ocestra - De kunst: Star Dot Star [Dust Science Recordings] 2) Rødhåd - [Unreleased] 3) Levon Vincent - Stereo Systems [Novel Sound] 4) Analog Solutions - The Concept Sampler [Analog Solutions] 5) Reeko - Dystopic Furture [Pole Group] 6) Shifted - Bloodless [Mote Evolver] 7) Pär Grindvik - Rudy [Stockholm LTD] 8) Vice - Noise Reduction [Tresor] 9) Truncate - 10th [Truncate] 10) Nina Kraviz - Best friend (DVS1 forever mix featuring Naughty Wood) 11) Arnaud le Texier - Ingredients [Children of Tomorrow] 12) Rejected - For the People (Ben Klock Remix) [Rejected] 13) Phase - Transantarctic [Token] 14) The Plant Worker [Limited 02] 15) Dimi Angélis & Jeroen Search - One on One [A&S] 16) Recondite - EC10 [forthcoming on Dystopian] 17) Reeko - Segmento 3 [Mental Disorder]
More info on Rødhåd can be found on his Facebook Fan Page. If you want to see him performing live and happen to be in Zurich on Saturday he'll be playing at the Hive Club with Nick Höppner, Tamo Sumo and more. Full event info here. Back in Berlin he'll be playing at the next Dystopian party on the 29th Jan and then at Berghain on the 9th Feb (click on the links for the RA event pages).
Those of you that have been following the blog for a while will know that we're big fans of the Berlin party throwers that call themselves Dystopian, so when they uploaded a 2 1/2 hour mix from one of the their residents, Rødhåd, we knew it was going to make for a special afternoon's listening. The mix is a live recording of his set at the Nation Of Gondwana festival, in Berlin last July, and covers what feels like the entire history of techno. You can download or stream the mix from the soundcloud player below
More info on Rødhåd can be found on his Facebook Fan Page. If you want to see him performing live? he'll be in New York alongside Mike Dehnert next weekend (info), then in October he'll be at Berghain on the 6th (info) and in Hamburg on the 13th (info)
First up tonight it's one of our favourite Berlin promotions, Dystopian with their event tonight at Arena Club, headlined by our previous SDD guest, Redshape. Their last event featured UK producer, Sigha, and they're continuing to give the UK techno scene some more love this time with Shifted. Fachwerk Records artist Roman Lindau and Dystopian resident, Rødhåd complete the line up. Doors open at midnight. Full info can be found on Resident Advisor Event Page
Next up we return to London and believe it or not, Redshape appears again. It's going to be a busy weekend for the masked wonder as he headlines Bread & Butter's next event at Basing House. He'll be joined on the night by a selection of B&B residents and special guests. Tickets are still available on Resident Advisor otherwise it'll be more on the door.
To get you in the mood for this one check out Shed's superb Wax Treatment Podcast 030. We gave it a listen yesterday and it's seriously epic. Doors open on Sunday at 8pm, more info can be found on the Resident Advisor Event Page
After the huge weekend in Berlin clubland just passed, there's no letting up this week. Dystopian is a party that we have big respect for. Putting together line ups including acts such as Regis, Lucy, Ben Klock, James Ruskin, Redshape, Shed and a few more besides.
In their own words (roughly translated by google) "Dystopian wants to illuminate the harsh, melancholy, dark side of electronic dance music by linking people, things and music with each other". They will hope to achieve this with the help of some more of techno's top names, in the shape of Pfirter, Staffan Linzatti and Don Williams (check out his superb remix of Resoe's 'The Black Void Of Space') all joining the Dystopian resident Rødhåd at one of Berlin's best venues, Arena
