Press Info:
Traversable Wormhole returns to CLR after a huge success in the techno scene with the digital releases and remixes of volumes 1 – 5. The present offering on CLR contains all songs from volumes 6 – 10, originally released on 12“ vinyl only.
The first anonymously produced ink stamped vinyls under the mysterious guise Traversable Wormhole appeared in the global techno scene in spring of 2009. At this time nobody knew who was behind the project and the mystique continued to grow with each new record until volume 6, when Adam X finally revealed himself as the creator of the much hailed productions in a Resident Advisor interview in 2010.
One crucial anecdote which eventually led to the digital releases and the massive remix project on CLR took place at the Berghain club in Berlin, where Adam met Chris Liebing and asked him about some highly positive remarks he had made about the mysterious act on Twitter. Chris immediately guessed that Adam was the originator of those tracks and insisted until he actually had to admit it – making Chris one of the very first persons to know the key to the mystery. It´s quite significant that this conversation took place at the Berghain, as it was the club and its infamous residents that originally inspired Adam X to write this music.
The story of Traversable Wormhole is the remarkable story of a well-known artist who successfully bypassed all possible preconceptions by just bringing out the music he wanted to hear in his favourite club under a new and unknown moniker. The concept worked smoothly, as he had the complete scene stunned and wondering about the origin of this exiting sound from day one. He had instantly convinced everybody with innovation and quality, even those who might not have given him as the artist Adam X a proper chance at this very moment. It´s simply one of those stories of doing the right thing, the right way, at the right time.
Needless to say that the quality of the tracks continued to be consistently excellent and the genre-crossing mix of straight-up, post-modern techno and industrial music beyond trends and hypes works just as well in the present volumes 6 – 10 as it did in the volumes 1 – 5. Stripped-down, sci-fi laden productions with unconventional beat structures, bass, rhythm and noise – a formula that has in one way or the other always been the essence of Adam X´s artistic output.
The latest endeavors from Traversable Wormhole will now be available for the first time on digital format. Included in this digital foray of sound will be a full length CD of all the latest TW songs mixed by Adam X. CLR is very exited to present you this new chapter of one of the most striking tales in the recent history of techno.
Info (English):
Olympia is an album of transformation. Though it has only been two years since Austra’s 2010 debut Feel It Break, it presents a quantum evolution in the Toronto-based band’s sound, structure and style.
After three years of non-stop international touring with the likes of the XX, Grimes and the Gossip, when it came time to record Olympia, Austra had evolved into a complex collaborative effort between its six members. “Previously, I would flesh out songs before I brought them to the band, but this time I left them bare and let the others fill them in” explains Katie Stelmanis, the principal songwriter/vocalist.
Olympia is also the first confessional record for Stelmanis as evidenced by the heartfelt lyrics of piano driven lead single “Home” (stream now). “Home” expresses the anxieties of waiting up all night for a lover to return. “I was mad and upset and the song just wrote itself,” says the singer. The album touches on a range of sentiments that stem from a relationship ending, a relationship beginning, and friends’ struggles with addiction and motivation. Despite the sometimes dark lyrics written in collaboration with band member Sari Lightman, Olympia is bubbly and buoyant— fundamentally a dance record, which Stelmanis says was the band’s aim all along. “We are really into dense harmonies and big beautiful melodies, but I also love techno and dance music. I wanted to bring those elements together.”
Though Olympia is filled with electronic and synthetic sounds that reference everything from Trax Record classic cuts to Yazoo’s Upstairs At Eric’s, it’s free of programming and loops. Everything was played live by the band in the studio and all of the percussion including a wild set up of marimbas and congas was performed by drummer Maya Postepski. “Maya played a huge role in the production of the album,” says Stelmanis, who has been playing with the drummer for eight years since their previous band, Galaxy. “There is a major percussive element running through every song,” Stelmanis laughs, “this is the album where we discovered rhythm.”
The album was produced by Austra with additional production by Mike Haliechuk, vocal production by Damian Taylor (Bjork, the Killers), engineered by Bill Skibbe and Leon Taheny and mixed by Tom Elmhirst (Adele, Erasure, Hot Chip).
Austra is Katie Stelmanis (lead vocals), Maya Postepski (drums), Dorian Wolf (bass), Ryan Wonsiak (keys), Sari & Romy Lightman (backing vocals).
Info (German):
Mit dem Debütalbum Feel It Break landeten Austra 2010 einen Überraschungshit, der sich eher von hinten durch die Brust ins Auge, denn mit einem Knall ins Bewußtsein der Nation gegraben hat. Kaum einer, der diesen Ohrwurm nicht schon irgendwo gehört und nicht mehr losgeworden war: “Don´t wanna lose you, don´t wanna lose….” Der Spiegel schrieb sehr treffend: “Dieses Lied kennt kein entkommen. Es ist bekloppt, nervtötend und großartig. Wer es einmal im Kopf hat, bekommt es tagelang nicht mehr heraus.”
Nun legen Austra mit Olympia am 14.Juni ihr zweites Album vor. Olympia ist ein Album der Transformation: obwohl seit dem Debütalbum “Feel It Break” erst drei Jahre vergangen sind, hat sich der Sound der in Toronto ansässigen Band in Struktur und Stil extrem weiterentwickelt.
Nach drei Jahren ununterbrochenem Touren um den ganzen Globus mit Bands wie The XX, Grimes und Gossip haben sich die drei ursprünglichen Bandmitglieder zusammen mit den drei Begleitern zu einer perfekt funktionierenden sechsköpfigen Einheit entwickelt. “Previously, I would flesh out songs before I brought them to the band, but this time I left them bare and let the others fill them in” erklärt die treibende Kraft, Sängerin Katie Stelmanis.
Olympia ist außerdem ein Album, auf dem sich Katie Stelmanis als Songwriterin erstmalig emotional entblößt. So handelt etwa die pianolastige Single “Home”von der Angst, die ganze Nacht darauf zu warten, dass die Geliebte zurückkehrt. “I was mad and upset and the song just wrote itself,” sagt Stelmanis. Das Album berührt neben schmerzhaft vertrauten Themen, wie dem Ende einer Beziehung, auch gute Seiten wie Freundschaft oder Verknalltsein. Auch wenn die Lyrics, die Stelmanis zusammen mit Background-Sängerin Sari Lightman schrieb, häufig düster sind, so ist das Album dennoch ein sprudelndes Dance-Album: “We are really into dense harmonies and big beautiful melodies, but I also love techno and dance music. I wanted to bring those elements together.”
Obwohl Olympia vor elektronischen Synthiesounds geradezu übersprudelt, hat die Band dennoch alles live im Studio eingespielt, unter anderem mit Maya Postepski an Marimbas und Congas: “Maya played a huge role in the production of the album,” so Stelmanis, die schon seit acht Jahren mit der Schlagzeugerin Postepski zusammenarbeitet, unter anderem in ihrer vorherigen Band Galaxy. “There is a major percussive element running through every song,” erzählt Stelmanis lachend, “this is the album where we discovered rhythm.”
Die Produzentenarbeit übernahm die Band selbst mit Hilfe von Mike Haliechuk, Damian Taylor (Björk, The Killers), Bill Skibbe, Leon Taheny und Tom Elmhirst (Adele, Erasure, Hot Chip).
Austra sind Katie Stelmanis (Gesang), Maya Postepski (Schlagzeug), Dorian Wolf (Bass), Ryan Wonsiak (Keyboard), Sari & Romy Lightman (Backgroundgesang).
Live Dates:
13th March – SXSW @ Vice Land, Austin (USA)
14th March – SXSW @ Hype Hotel, Austin (USA)
15th March – SXSW @ The Mohawk, Austin (USA)
16th March – SXSW @ Elysium, Austin (USA)
16th March – SXSW @ Old Emo’s, Austin (USA)
02nd June – Forbidden Fruit Dublin (Ireland)
06th June – Plaza, Zürich (Switzerland)
07th June – Südpol, Luzerne (Switzerland)
08th June – L’Amalgame, Yverdon-les Bains (Switzerland)
10th June – Bitterzoet, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
12th June – Le Nouveau Casino, Paris (France)
14th June – Lido, Berlin (Germany) >> Tix@Koka36
17th June – Hoxton Bar & Grill, London (Great Britain)
20th June – Music Hall of Williamsburg, New York City (USA)
23rd June – Troubadour, Los Angeles (USA)
26th June – The Independent, San Francisco (USA)
Info:
Electro quartet Ghost Capsules can trace their beginnings back to a Bomb The Bass gig in Vienna. Here it was that Tim Simenon, touring the ‘Back To Light’ album, met his support band that featured drummer Roman Lugmayr and keyboard player Georg Lichtenauer. The three hit it off, so much so that Tim relocated from Amsterdam to the Austrian capital. Here the missing piece for the Ghost Capsules jigsaw was found in singer Laura Gomez, who Tim had booked to play at one of his club nights. Proof positive that there’s no business as sociable as music.
Ghost Capsules make music for the night. Dark chocolate electro, if you like, shot through with a dash of espresso, a twist of chilli even. Their beats and loops are cool and calculated, but emotion courses through each of Gomez’s lyrical statements, wreathed as they are in tales of pure fantasy. Singing of blood red shoes with killer heels, her verses are revealed under the sharply focused points of light conjured up by Ghost Capsules’ music.
Press Info:
The debut full-length album from Berliner act kool thing is united by a feel of escapism, the need to ditch our urban addictions and regain a lost sense of wonderment, even if just for a few hours. With fourteen songs, including two instrumental interludes, kool thing sounds like youth remembered through a kaleidoscopic lens in which each mirrored fact points to limitless futures.
Just like the Hipgnosis-echoing cover artwork (courtesy of photographer John Duncan), this record is full of beautiful juxtapositions, artifice and nature yinning and yanging their way through a dramatic love affair. Rusty guitar licks are found curling up against fractalling synth arpeggiations, with Julie Chance and Jon Dark’s vocal harmonies dancing on the horizon above the thunderous drumming by Valentin Plessy.
“TV Tower”, the lead single (named after the retro-futuristic landmark in Berlin’s city centre), follows the rendezvous of tumultuous lovers, set to a majestic melange somewhere between new wave, new romantic and new age. Elsewhere, “Stories by the Bay” combines a tweaky bassline with smooth, lulling voices to convey both the nerves and bliss that accompany a first love, while “The Sky, The Sea” offers a truly otherworldly moment in which mutated musical elements seem to swim in the atmosphere.
Following the acclaimed Light Games EP and the “Plan.Life.Go” twelve-inch single, as well as their remixes for Austra, Trust and Light Asylum, kool thing is a pastiche of memories that forge a path ahead, not simply a musical journey but a mental one too.
Info:
Our absolute favourite label is Mute Records that was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. The roster include(d) influential and important musical acts such as NON, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderman, Nitzer Ebb, Renegade Soundwave and Yazoo.
It was formed initially to release the Daniel Miller’s single “T.V.O.D.”/”Warm Leatherette” which became a underground hit. As he was also interested in German music, Daniel Miller signed Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft for the first Mute album, “Die Kleinen Und Die Bösen”.
One of Mute’s most famous act were Depeche Mode, which Daniel signed for a single after seeing them as support of Fad Gadget. The connection between Mute and Depeche Mode was very strong and last for over 30 years.
Mute had a several sublabels with different genres and styles like novamute, Future Groove, Blast First, The Fine Line, The Grey Area. Most of them are now defunct but they also have a new baby, Liberation Technologies.
More recent acts are so different artists like Josh T. Pearson, Beth Jeans Houghton, Laibach, Erasure, VCMG, Big Deal ….
To show our love for the label we created a sampler of over 60 tracks and 5h hours of old songs and new stuff (from Mute, Mute US, sublabels). So enjoy!
