vanta 004 comes from Alex Cortex, an artist who has been producing music for over 20 years now and who has been featured on many Killekill releases already.For this release he delivers two monumental tracks in his very own aesthetics: although both tracks are straight at first sight, their complex beat structure makes them shift and drift. And also their sound is distinctive: crystal clear and without any of the reverbs that you hear so often in modern techno they still have an incredible depth and sound more psychedelic than most of the other stuff that you hear nowadays. Killer! More

Alex Cortex delivering the heat!! Mr Cortex is kicking hard with a direct and mental techno tracks! Oscillon, A1, is a bleepy affair, direct and repetitive, but please, play it loud and watch. Rheometric is in the same alley as Oscillon but bringing the bleeps and glitches trip even more in your face. Combined with the fat but quirky bassline, it does the peak time techno thing extremely well. B1's title "Shear Wave" does the track justice. Backed by a fat downtempo beat, the distorted 303-reminiscent synth line cuts through the mix in a way that's impossible to ignore. Strain Rate Tensor rounds up the previous three cuts, also in a very dancefloor-friendly manner. Bubbly main lead and anxiety-inducing pad sneaking in the background seem to be the main thing, until another synth hits you as a counterpoint and flips everything upside down. Proper no-nonsens stuff!! (comes on 180grams vinyl) More

After a career in electronic music spanning more than twenty years and so far yielding over fifty vinyls under a host of guises, ALEX CORTEX now delivers his latest treat, his own label, RANGE. It will be home, of course, to his own music, but will also welcome guests that in some way played a role on his path. No specific rules have been set as to musical styles, very much alike the diversity ALEX CORTEX is known and respected for. The thread holding it all together is authenticity. More

Legendary techno rebel Alex Cortex joins TRUST for an EP that wears his nonconformist creed proudly on its sleeve. 'We Run Your Life' takes center stage here, a massive electro banger and electronic warfare anthem for a dystopian future, its programmatic vocals striking a fitting resemblance to UR's most political output. Bouncy beat experiment 'Foam Rubber Landscaping' and dizzily spiralling 'Memory Overload' complete this triptych of techno rebellion. First release in TRUST's new 'Covert Systems' series, limited quantity.

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Mr. Stefanik concludes his “days of old” ep series on KANN with this third and final part. As highly valued friend and artist from the labels neighborhood he locks his diverse journey to its own past with another awesome track collection. As part “one” and “two” already certified, KANN15 teases out Daniel Stefaniks many-faced shining talents in techno and housemusic.
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KILLEKILL 009 comes from ALEX CORTEX again. A techno personality that shouldn’t need no introduction. We are happy and proud to release some of his vintage material recorded in the years 1998-2000, raw and substantial. With FUTURE ACID the A-Side features a bomb acid track recorded live at the legendary HD800 club in Mannheim, which displays the raw power of Alex’ live sets. The B-Side features R-BYTE, a minimalistic Chicago-style stomper and MEM, a hood-like abstract and minimalistic techno piece.
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KILLEKILL herewith announces the start of a sub label focussing the housier side of what we like. KILLEKILL HOUSE TRAX starts with the release of a great track by ALEX CORTEX. Quite uptempo but groovy as hell “Oh Yeah” comes along with a strong reminiscence to classic chicago house with its strong bassline and the catchy vocal sample. TYREE COOPER added a simple but well working piano and packed the original into an even more classic outfit.
Oh Yeah!
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15 years have passed since Alex Cortex began to create his own vision of electronic music - timeless and beyond trends, without a buzz or hype, steadily winning the following of DJs and home-listeners, collectors and critics worldwide. His style can be described as unpredictable to a certain point, while maintaining high aesthetic standards; playful with quotes and references, always low-key and focused on psychedelic immersion into sound
that shifts the attention from the artist to the music. 'Kihon' is a very personal effort, as suggested by the self-portrait on the cover that puts ear, eye, and mouth -reception and production- into context. The carefully elaborated design of this gatefold double LP speaks as a whole and in true minimalist fashion about the passing of time, without ever declaring nostalgia to be a means for itself. This also reflects in the music. Alex Cortex evades large gestures and obvious quotes, but is certainly conscious of locating his album within a framework of references to other works of electronic music that are important for his own musical evolution. In 11 nameless tracks, 'Kihon' takes us on a journey through organic worlds of sound that invites us to flow with the music and connect with the feelings contained in it. The title 'Kihon' that relates to Japanese martial arts translates to 'basics' or 'fundamentals', the training of which does not even cease when reaching master grades. Those basics that are passed on beyond time are also the foundation of this album. By concentrating on the bare essentials, the music begins to speak, turning the album into a harmonic whole. 'Kihon' therefore is also a return to
listening, away from a utilitarian perception of music as a background sound. This does not mean it would not work perfectly well in a club context -in the right hands it indeed does- but more notably, 'Kihon' is a work of art worth your attention and destined to stand the test of time.
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Alex Cortex´ “Unshell” is the follow up to his acclaimed “I Won´t Conform” (POM22) and the foretaste for his upcoming album which is going to be released on Pomelo this coming fall. “Unshell” features 4 modern dancefloor tracks in best Cortex style, characterized by tight rhythmic structures and a unique and irrestistible hypnotic power. From deep stumbling house grooves with piano stabs and a male vocal admiring´Your sexy moves´ and a Chicago Jacker with a repetitive voice on the A Side, to athmospheric dark techno with warped sound effects and breakbeat house layered with modulating 8-bit sounds on the flip, this record shows once more Alex Cortex´ skills to move off the beaten tracks in his very own style.
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KILLEKILL002 comes from ALEX CORTEX solo. The A side track “TACKLE” is an old school minimalistic loop techno track with a weird bleepy melody inside. Made for the late hours on big PAs. B1 track “BEACH BASS” is the hit of this record: a deep house number with a bassline that hits your heart immediately and makes you smile and want to dance. A house hit as it should be! B2 “BOING BOING” is an uncommon, strange electro track that rounds up this ep and shows the wide range of styles that can be expected from this label. ALEX CORTEX has been releasing electronic music of all kinds since 1996 on labels like Source Records, Kanzleramt, Klang Elektronik, Pomelo, Platzhirsch and many more.

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Coming from a diverse background of equal amounts hip hop and rock, the producer behind the alias of nrl:ndr got into dance music late in his musical career. After playing in kraut-oriented bands like So Many Mammals, parts of that group reformed into the live techno outfit Tren Ne´, with the goal of fusing techno elements with live drums. Playing for illegal raves with a punk-like energy, nrl:ndr has cemented his relationship with his machines in service of the dance floor.

But his solo debut on blundar is quite far removed from that scene. To understand this music, one should be aware of the conditions under which it was manufactured. Reluctant to consider himself an artist in the traditional sense, nrl:ndr makes his music free of anticipation and without apparent goals. To glean into this outre´ musical space is like putting one's ear to the boarded up windows of the photograph that adorn the front sleeve.

The album makes extensive use of the Roland JV-2080, a sample-based synth rack from 1996 with a distinctly clean sound. Our producer dives deep into the expansion cards (labeled after genres like “Hip Hop” and “World”) for curious and sometimes cheesy samples. But he also forces the JV-2080 to do things which are not its forte, like the arduous task of programming decent kick drums.

Another technique that is testament to his experimental view on music making, is the idea of using sketches of unfinished tracks with different time signatures, and mash them together into something new - of which the results of one of these experiments can be heard on the closing track and its bilingual conversation between ambient and tribal.

Full of stunted rhythms and eerie melodies, the unclassifiable nature of the music of nrl:ndr lies somewhere in the vicinity of IDM, classical avant garde and private press synth. From the epic opening track - echoing the post-kraut drumming style of Michael Shrieve - to juggling with chopped up vocal samples and treading into almost trap-like territories on A4, he crosses into a multitude of genres without getting his hands too dirty with nostalgia. More

The duo of Kolorit are probably best known through their respective solo careers - Jens Kuhn under the guise of Lowtec and Gunnar Wendel as that of Kassem Mosse. That the two would have a duo together should come as no surprise, as Wendel has had numerous releases on Kuhn’s label Workshop through the years.

The Kolorit project took shape sometime in 2017 following a night in Bristol where they were both booked for live shows and - on a whim - decided to combine them on stage and see what happened. This laid back and playful attitude would later manifest into the Workshop-released debut album the following year. Crafting unclassifiable mutations of house and techno through live improvisations, the two could join the dots between experimental urges and a dancefloor potential into a vision of crisp drum machines and wobbly melodies.

Lowtec being no stranger to the blundar label (his untitled album of 2015 would be the label’s first,followed by a 12” and a cassette in 2020) it would seem fitting that the duo would continue their journey here with a 2-track 12” further exploring their work. Both tracks here are proper club tools, making this a more compact and focused release than its predecessor. Yet the improvised flavors are present: on the A-side propelled by a jazzy keyboard jam that explores the room like a dancer loosening up their joints. The B-side, while maintaining a crisp motorik beat, bubbles with flourishes of synthesized flutes - somehow both euphoric and unhinged in direction - pierced by the steadfast punctuation of a Brazilian cuica.

It is evident that Kolorit are playing with the color palette of deep house, yet taking things just a notch further with a dry European sense of humor. Exuding humidity and pulsing with heat, these jams utilize the inherent qualities of the right machines without the need for an abundance of filters - making for a stripped down yet fully fleshed out aural experience. More

Across these 7 untitled tracks (as is the modus of all blundar releases) the producer known as Unfinished Portraits crafts a coherent album experience that is equal parts empty space and density. Working in a seemingly collage-like fashion, the opening track juxtaposes rhythmic elements that just barely fit together; declaring upon entrance that all expectations from here on out are futile. Tension builds through a sparse palette of sounds both tactile and atmospheric. Dry, isolated clicks of digital clean trickling through a humming industrial space. Segments are abstract on their own, but stitched together still form an elegant whole. Just when you think you’re getting lost into avant experimentation, something cuts in to surprising effect. It feels “live” in a way only improvised music can.

And there is a conceptual sense of humor in letting the seams of the process lay bare. A string section builds only to be cut short upon completion. A field recording is audibly (i.e. intentionally) looped. The listener is made aware of the illusion and manipulations that ‘music’ creates in the same way Martin Margiela handled ‘fashion’ - with a postmodern kind of wit.

Hailing from Cairo but residing in Argentina, Unfinished Portraits could easily exude upon a dual exoticism in nationalities and climates. This is however not on the agenda, as for where this artist truly resides, is in the hypertextual realm of late capitalism. Identity loss, internet culture, the aesthetic of sadness and the Warp Records catalogue all come into play.

No matter what city, the urban landscape is always concrete and glass. And as the sleeve photo suggests - a picture of a former park turned to rubble in the process of housing developments - all cities are essentially unfinished. More

From Raster-Media; Frank Bretschneider as Komet on Side I, & Olaf Bender as Byetone on Side II - revised versions of tracks from Benjamin Brunn 2019 BLUNDAR7 LP. More

STL machine groove strikes back “blundar” imprint: 180g 12” EP, dub and house rooted cuts, and the expected locked surprise. More

A sacred grove is a place in a forest thought to hold spiritual powers. Throughout history, these sites have been places of worship and ritual. Since the rave boom of 89’ - a new generation has found an alliance with nature steeped in hedonistic abandonment. So it is a befitting alias for the Malmö-based producer Teodor to use in order to serve us these spiritual excursions into ‘open air’ territory. While he has previously donned this mantle to provide atmospheric lo-fi techno on the Japanese label City-2 St. Giga (then as a duo with his friend DJ Natto) - here he hits closer to the deep house palette of his 2017 album ‘Neo Geo’ under the alias Fyodor The DJ.

For the 8th instalment on blundar, the artist has worked closely with the label in picking out the right tracks from his vast archives. While the tempo sometimes staggers well towards BPM levels of hardcore techno, the touch remains gentle and soft. This genre-defying characteristic owes a lot to video game music, and especially Japanese games, where Teo finds a lot of his inspiration.

The first track bathes us in tropical field recordings before tripping off into a relentless tribal groove - countered by meandering new age flutes. A2 is a fluid and complex piece, vibrating with a warm tenderness all the while maintaining a minimal progressive path. A3 deals in crunchy breakbeats and layers upon layers.

On the second side, B1 builds through a hazy fog of tape hiss, pierced by the bouncing thud of sped-up bongos and an arpeggio that escalate it all into transcendental euphoria. B2 goes ‘off the grid’ for a heady trek of slippery beats that spill out into small flecks of breaks, all the while gleaming through the doorway to a sombre ambient jazz score. Closing off this 12” is a chilling high-speed chase through a neon-flashing night, propelled by a numbingly hard hitting drum machine sequence.

The artwork for BLUNDAR8 is as always photographed by mutantexture. The photos - which were taken during a hot summer by the Western Harbour of Malmö - were picked out by Teo as this is a place of great significance for him. A place for the daydreams of sun-dazed ravers More

Repress!
After Lowtec, Alex Cortex, STL and iridescence; Swedish label ‘blundar' presents Benjamin Brunn 11th solo album, 20 years after his debut.
BLUNDAR7 comes as a 10 tracks / 38 minutes long-player, coloured cover on a 180g black vinyl. Artwork by ‘mutantexture’

Brunn wrote and produced all tracks between 2017 and 2018; In contrast to most releases that were limited to one or two synthesisers, this time a whole array of instruments was used: tELHARMONIC, Music Thing Modular Chord Organ, Doepfer A-111-3V Precision VCO, 4ms STS, Yamaha DX7, Clavia Nord Modular G1 & G2. The long-player comes after a collaborative album with Dave Wheels out on Sushitech early this year, and will be followed by one together with Move D, via Smallville in 2020. More

Repress!
STL's dream-state modulations, arhythmic takes and that machine groove signature strikes #mutantexture imaged blundar third release.
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Recorded at Wania#1 and Neues Deutschland studios. DJ Sotofett ( Wania, Sex Tag Mania) on Side I, and SVN ( Sued, Acido) on Side II, revised BLUNDAR2 and BLUNDAR5 respectively. 12” 180g 45 RPM, 500 copies.

TRACKS
UNTITLED (DJ Sotofett's Subcortex Mix)

UNTITLED (DJ Sotofett & E-GZR's Subcortex Mix)

UNTITLED ( SVN’s Total Tape Mix) Clip 1

UNTITLED ( SVN’s Total Tape Mix) Clip 2
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Workshop's Lowtec with a stunner for blundar! 12” 180g 33? RPM 300 hand numbered copies. More

Repress!
After 19 years in the game, techno veteran Jens "Lowtec" Kuhn is still going strong. While he's recently been in a nostalgic mood - as reissues of early material prove - Kuhn is still capable of producing fresh, high quality material. There's much to enjoy about this first EP for new Malmo label Blundar, from the loud tape hiss, spooky melodies and weirdo ambient dub intent of "Track 2", to the moody, early Autechre throb of Skam-ish closer "Track 4". Dancefloor-minded thrills come in the shape of hypnotic opener "Track 1" - all unsettling, one-note chords, restless rhythms and distant electronics - and the hard-to-pigeonhole madness of the schizophrenic "Track 3".

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