NovaFuture Blog

Artist:
Tobias.

Title:
Leaning Over Backwards

Label:
Ostgut Ton

Cat#:
OSTGUTCD18, OSTGUTLP09

Release Date:
4th July 2011

Format:
CD, LP & digital

Tracklist:
01.
Girts

02.
Party Town

03.
Voices Told Me To Do That

04.
Skippy

05.
Zero Tolerance

06.
Free No.1

07.
Leaning Over Backwards

08.
Observing The Hypocrites

09.
The Key

10.
She Still Calls Me Mister

11.
We Stick To The Plan

12.
Now I Know

Info :
Underwater techno. That could be ‘Leaning Over Backwards’ in just two words. Tobias Freund’s debut album for Ostgut Ton also serves as the long player introduction for his tobias. moniker, giving a fascinating and profound insight into his special world of music and sound science. Having been involved in the music industry since 1980, you could easily fill tomes with his work and creations. Formerly based in Frankfurt am Main and for a few years now happily living in Berlin, tobias. started his quest in sound as a synth experimentalist with a Korg MS20, worked a day job as a studio engineer (for acts as diverse as Milli Vanilli and more recently Aerea Negrot, Ellen Allien, Nina Kraviz and Heartthrob amongst others), remixed, released as Pink Elln or in collaborative projects Sieg über die Sonne and NSI. (together with Max Loderbauer) and runs his own label Non Standard Productions. But that’s beside the point, even if tobias. does bring friends, old and new, on his debut album. Named after a lyric from a Wire song, ‘Leaning Over Backwards’
suggests the feeling one gets when doing exactly that, bent over a rail, testing how long you can possibly do it before gravity takes hold, toppling you over. In this case it can last forever. Amongst other things, tobias. renounces the ubiquitous dictate of computer sequencing. Reduced to a plain recording device, the computer makes way for the classic drum machines Roland TR 808 and a Korg Mini Pops. Known for their stubbornness, the character brought by unpredictability wins over standardised convenience. Tobias’ sound is rewarded with a dynamism that doesn’t forego attention to detail, accuracy of sound or thoughtfulness.

Rooted in jam sessions with just beats and FX units, the mood and sound of the tracks on ‘Leaning Over Backwards’ follow these parameters. The results are sometimes unswerving club tracks (‘Skippy’, ‘Party Town’, ‘We Stick to the Plan’), occasionally an ambient or drone-like atmosphere (‘Zero Tolerance’, ‘Observing The Hypocrites’) or a hybrid of the two, as in the title track. All united by the imagery of “being underwater” that is apparent from the start with ‘Girts’. Take ‘The Key’ for instance; produced in Santiago by Tobias and his long standing colleague Uwe Schmidt aka
AtomTM, you can listen to splintered beats and gloomy pads submerging into the Drexciyan depths. It all comes full circle with ‘Now I Know’. Both fantastical and fey, tobias. once again makes use of Aerea Negrot’s (from Hercules & Love Affair) powerful vocals. As before on ‘Party Town’ or ‘Zero Tolerance’, Negrot is the icing on the cake, turning the album closer into a yearning slice of Blade Runner-esque pop.

‘Leaning Over Backwards’ insists and bewitches with its nonconformity and almost frightening idiosyncrasy. tobias. creates a style of techno that is as far away from the steam roller kicks and traditional rules of functionalism as it is from being purely synthetic. Techno as perpetual motion machine, both above and underwater.

Listen:
click here

Free download:
Free No. 2

Unofficial videos:
“Girts”

“Free No. 1”

Videos by the29novfilms

Record release party:
9th July 2011 @ Berghain, Berlin (Germany)
Event @ Berghain.de

Buy CD:
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deejay.de
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Buy Vinyl:
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Websites:
tobias.
Ostgut Ton

Artist:
Various – mixed by Marcel Fengler

Title:
Berghain 05

Label:
Ostgut Ton

Cat#:
OSTGUTCD19

Release Date:
29th August 2011

Format:
CD & digital

Tracklist:
01)
Emika
Count Backwards
(Marcel Dettmann Vocal Edit)

02)
Peter van Hoesen
Axis Mundi

03)
Terrence Dixon
Tranquility
(Octagen Remix)

04)
Byetone
Plastic Star
(Dr. Walker Remix)

05)
Tommy Four Seven
G
(Regis Remix)

06)
Marcel Fengler
Thwack
(L.B. Dub Corp Remix)

07)
Secret Cinema
Timeless Altitude
(Minneapolis Mix)

08)
Ratio
Double Feature

09)
Gerd
Time And Space
(Duplex Southside Mix)

10)
Seiji
More Of You

11)
Claude Young & Takasi Nakajima
Think Twice

12)
Puresque
001A

13)
Ben Sims
Slow Motion

14)
Vril
UV

15)
Marcel Fengler
Sphinx

16)
Skudge
Man On Wire

17)
Reagenz
The Labyrinth

18)
20:20 Vision
Future Remembrance
(20:20 Livestyle Mix)

19)
Convextion AKA E.R.P.
Vapor Pressure

Tracks 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19 are previously unreleased.

Tracks 14, 17 are exclusive.

Press Info :
Berghain’s Marcel Fengler presents the fifth installment in the club’s expanding mix series. A central resident at the club since its early days, Fengler continually and consistently fires up the Berghain floor with his vast and exemplary collection of Techno, House and Electronica.

Opening with the eerie echoes of Emika’s „Count Backwards“ – treated by Marcel Dettmann – we quickly discover the first exclusive gem of the mix as Peter Van Hoesen’s incredible „Axis Mundi“ sets the tone from here on in: full, lively and not short on drama.

Pushing into darker zones, Regis’ typically haunting mix of Tommy Four Seven’s „G“, or Luke Slater’s L.B Dub Corp mix of Fengler’s own „Thwack“ segue with more classic cuts from Secret Cinema’s „Timeless Altitude (Minneapolis Mix)” and Ratio’s “Doublefeature”.

Fengler keeps the surprise element alive while maintaining tension and pressure throughout. Gerd’s tripping „Time and Space (Duplex Southside Mix)“ mixes wonderfully with UK bass veteran Seiji’s „More of You“ in a glorious mid point throw-down. The mighty Claude Young teams up with production partner Takasi Nakajima on „Think Twice“, which then swells to pick up the tension in a beautiful piano-led hypnotising moment.

With the focus on more current developments in more edgy Techno and House, combined with a hearty nod to the past, the mix continues with newcomers like Puresque showing promise, alongside a weighty new Ben Sims track, and the pounding filtered glory of Vril’s „UV“ – another exclusive for the mix.

Marcel includes a new track that heads straight for the floor with „Sphinx“, while men of the moment Skudge put forward „Man On Wire“. The slow burning house of Reagenz’ „The Labyrinth“ leads us into a psychedelic game of funk, dub and abstraction as the mix winds down.

Before drawing to a close with Convextion aka E.R.P’s stunning „Vapor Pressure“, we’re treated to a UK house classic by 20:20 Vision’s „Future Remembrance (Livestyle Mix)“, in all its analog glory.

In Berghain 05, Marcel Fengler has proved filling floors doesn’t have to be about ticking boxes. This mix is a perfect example of the type of dexterity, sensitivity and scope he possesses as a DJ.

Unofficial videos & listen:
Peter van Hosen – “Axis Mundi”

Reagenz – “The Labyrinth”

Vril – “UV”

Videos created by the29nov films.

more soon

Review (5/5 stars):
2011 is the year of Marcel’s breakthrough. I am sure.

He released excellent stuff on Ostgut Ton and Luke Slater’s Mote-Evolver (#1, #2).

And now he delivers the next instalment of the famous Berghain mix compilation series. It is a great mix… That’s the way we know Marcel playing at Berghain and love him. Nice track selection and perfect mixing. Definitely the mix cd of 2011!

Record release party:
Date 29th September 2011
Venue Berghain
City Berlin
Country Germany
Line-up Marcel Fengler, Norman Nodge, G-Man (live), Sandrien, Ratio (live)
Links ResidentAdvisor | Berghain

More stuff:
Feature @ ResidentAdvisor

Buy CD:
Ostgut Ton
Amazon GER
Amazon UK
deejay.de
djshop.de
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Buy Digital:
Beatport
junodownload
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Websites:
Marcel Fengler
OstGut Ton