Sebastian Mullaert has always been a seeker and an innovator, so naturally his long awaited debut solo album, "A Place Called o Inkonst" presents an unique artistic concept and a thoughtful exploration of the relationship between sound and space. For several weeks, Mullaert spent most of his time at Kontra-Musik's home base Inkonst, an old chocolate factory turned cultural hub in the busy urban area of Mollan, Malmo city. Working in solitude outside the venue's usual hours, he built his live rig in front of the PA, right in the middle of the dance floor. This figurative role reversal between a dancer and performer allowed him to fully immerse himself in a perspective as close as possible to that of the audience during the process of creation. Mullaert's recording studio lies deep within a beautiful forest in the south of Sweden, a setting which has increasingly made its mark on his music: lush, green and spacious. It's a lovely place that makes for equally lovely music, but contentment is art's worst enemy. The complete displacement during the recording process of this album has affected his music profoundly. Mullaert's usually wide horizon of green hills and tall beech wood is more condensed and focused here, taking the form of urban patterns of life. Shades of longing and melancholy run through the album and those hazy ambient parts are no longer modelled on morning mist, they are exuding from smoke machines. The album is an exploration of improvisation, an approach that has become far more than a method for Mullaert: For him this is a way of encountering the present. The tracks are expressions of chance; collisions and collaborations of sound waves caught in the moment by Mullaert, like snapshots of fleeting harmony. The thematics are always distinct but at the same time ever morphing, pulsating and breathing like living entities. As the music changes we accordingly change with it. New patterns of movement and thought emerge and we improvise to keep up. This is the concept of dancing in its purest form, but also of meditation. A place called o Inkonst is made for both. A place called o Inkonst is Sebastian Mullaert's hommage to improvisation - an approach that is central to his work as a musician, as well as his critically acclaimed Circle Of Live event series concept he launched last year. The here and now is always in a state of flux, so improvising is the only true way to experience the present.

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Who is Boelja? Who is Sebastian Mullaert? Who are they really? Are they the finite body and a collection of thoughts? And who are you? Are you your memories or perhaps your projections of the future? Or are you this present moment? What is silence? Is it solely the absence of sound? Or are all sounds springing out of silence and falls back into the same? And what is sound without context? Is it just nonsense? Or is there something more universal to it? Where did the second vinyl go? Is it sitting in an attic or warehouse somewhere waiting to be discovered? Is it being played as you are reading this? Is all of this just a game? Are YOU being played? Did someone make this music or did the music just happen? Where does the process of creation start? Where does it end? And who is the listener? How does the listener affect the music? Is there really any separation between the creator, listener and the music? Are they all one and the same? What is next? Where is all this going?Is there an end? Or are your actions just another event happening in this never-ending stream of consciousness? And to whom is it happening? More

sebastian mullaert, sweden’s long standing techno, experimental and ambient producer, is back on mule musiq with three deep tunes that shake your emotions profoundly. on the a-side the epic track “mirror” seduces with discreet claps, a kind of drunken groove, deeply meditative tones and a twisted melody that arrests your emotions inwardly. on the b-side you find two tracks by the same name: “broken mirror”. b1 is a sensible layered grower that delivers unhasty grooving minimal techno for those who love to dance slow. the second “broken mirror” tune comes as a “wa wu we reflection”, is even more slow, but still deeply groovy and packed with mesmerizing sound particles that stretch your mind and soul endlessly. electronic music straight from the heart. full of human sensitivity delivered with sebastian mullaert’s very own signature feeling for rhythmical journeys full of musicality and details in melody, chords and tones. More

Revered Swedish producer Sebastian Mullaert releases his first exclusive vinyl on Default Position after the huge success of his remix to Vedanta in 2014. Sebastian first made his name as one half of the acclaimed duos Minilogue and Son Kite, but in recent times focuses on his solo career, which sees him appearing at clubs and festivals all over the world and releasing on some of the industry's most respected labels and imprints. Samunnati is a brand new double vinyl EP featuring four original mixes from Mulleart, with remixes from fellow Swedish duo Johanna Knutson & Hans Berg, Belgium's Daniel[i] and label founder Joseph S. Joyce. Its genesis lies in a melody recorded live on Sebastian's Roland SH101 which has been resampled and processed in many different ways, offering several contrasting mixes to suit many different tastes and styles. More

We have released various fine ep's of Minilogue on Traum in the past: "Certain Things", "The Leopard", "Seconds", "Space" and the most recent one: "Let Life Dance Through You". This time we have Sebastian Mullaert's spiritual work of "Direct Experience" pressed on vinyl ! Two very different versions of a techno soul. You can virtually feel him putting hands on knobs and twisting and bending the theme in his delicate and hypnotic way. Who ever has seen Minilogue play live this feeling is captured here by Sebastian in an authentic breathtaking way. "Direct Experience" in its original version is an 11 minute voyage into Sebastian Mullaert's art of shifting and moving frequencies gently from one place to the other without ever loosing touch with the pulsating rhythms that carry all of it into your vein. The music is indeed trippy and demands an appreciation for a hypnotic state we happily approve of. The Dub version on the flip side is even more loose and secluded you can feel the music not touching the ground for a bare millimeter. More

Romanian composer and DJ, Ada Kaleh, reveals a more intricate and textured side to his compositional dexterity, releasing a new album ‘Nodus Tollens’ on the legendary ambient label, Apollo Records. Composed and recorded between 2010 and 2020, ‘Nodus Tollens’ finds Ada Kaleh departing from the confines of minimal house and techno, and instead exploring the many facets of ambient electronica and minimalism. Drawing inspiration from minimalist artists such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley, four expansive compositions are offered up, each one transcending the boundaries of dance music dogma, and focusing on natural free-form rhythms; meditative and healing frequencies intertwine with special textures, resulting in soothing psychedelia. Questioning the linear nature of time, each production guides the listener though whirling soundscapes, DMT realms and time loops, creating an aural safe space in which to explore. Propelled by a passion for 60’s & 70’s spiritual jazz, afro-beats and other psychedelic inducing textures, Ada Kaleh describes these musical endeavours as Quantum Techno. Across two slabs of 12” vinyl, and four distinct passages and states of time (Future, Past, Present and Entropy), ‘Nodus Tollens’ is a seamless listening experience that heralds the development of the composer’s musical journey, which has to date afforded magnetic releases for labels like Dialogue, Rawax, R&S Records and his very own Ada Kaleh Romania imprint. Sleeve artwork on thew album comes courtesy of the super talented artist Anca Popa, now based in Cape Town after a move from her native Romania. More

Apollo / R&S are delighted to welcome back The Primitive Painter, aka the duo of Roman Flügel and Jörn Elling Wuttke for a timely reissue of their 1994 lost classic self-titled album of sonorous IDM More

Apollo are delighted to welcome Steve Legget & Mark Hand to the fold with their lush new single ‘If You Cannot Try’ featuring the dulcet vocals of Greg Blackman. Originally released as an uplifting bumping house track on Ramrock Records Blackman sent the stems of the release to longtime collaborator Steve Legget for a rework. Legget tore the original to pieces, deconstructing it into a much more ambiguous form. ”I’ve never been a fan of a chorus in a song,” Legget muses. "I like songs that are not direct that leave room for your imagination - Mark and I ended up building a new song around the texture of the original.” Hand and Legget met in the early 90s at the Northern College of Art in Middlesbrough, and have collaborated at various times in the intervening years, through a shared love of Detroit techno, experimental electronic music, jazz and funk. Their creative process involves sending audio files back and forth - “The release was written in collaboration over the internet Greg in Colchester, Mark in Hartlepool, and me in St Albans." Hand added spaced out textures and riffs from his collection of vintage Fender Rhodes and classic synths - taking the track into sunny space funk realms that comes on like a lost release from joe Claussell’s Spiritual Life label or Basic Channel jamming with Herbie Hancock. Using their new version as the seed - Hand decided to try his own ’Teesside Techno’ version - "I wanted to give the track more of a 'machine funk' vibe with my rework” he explains. “I generally like to work by jamming with hardware - the bass line is generated by triggering the arp on my Juno 6..using triggers from a TR606 kick drum and hats replaced by a TR909.. the result being more of a jackin' electronic funk mutation!" This continuing game of musical pass the parcel has indeed born some juicy fruit - as Legget summarises "Our version started as a rework, but then Mark's is a rework of the rework, its all very meta!" More

Apollo Records present a masterpiece of ambience and beyond – ‘Calypso’ – the stunning new album by Venetian maestro Gigi Masin.
The LP is inspired by the mythical Greek island of Ogygia and its alleged real life counterpart Gavdos – also known unofficially as Calypso – a place of extreme beauty, which upon visiting had a profound effect on the musician. More

Synkro handpicks three great producers to remix tracks from his ‘Images’ album. Claro Intelecto has been releasing consistently on point deep techno and electro since 2003. His remix is perfectly equipped for dancefloors in 2020. Sad City represents R&S offshoot Meda Fury with a trademark hypnotic beatdown workout and Apollo label mate and collaborator Sieren ramps up the emotions for his remix of the title track. More

Apollo are delighted to welcome the return of Australia duo Albrecht La’Brooy AKA Sean La'Brooy and Alex Albrecht with their blissful new album 'Healesville' recorded in a mud-brick hut on a strawberry crop in the Melbourne countryside.
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Apollo welcome Metalheadz veterans Om Unit AKA Jim Coles and Kid Drama / Jon Convex AKA Damon Kirkham for a 4 track EP of blissed out autonomic dnb. the duo originally met on the DJ circuit, Coles had been a longtime fan of instra:mental, Kirkham's pioneering project with Alex Green AKA Boddika More

Apollo proudly presents the return of SW, joined by partner SVN for a sublime 6 track EP. SW's lush sound design and hypnotic arrangements of 2017’s ’The Album’ had hearts and minds swooning following it’s license from SUED to Apollo. It’s balmy glory won over Pitchfork ('deeply expressive debut album’ 8/10), Rolling Stone (best electronic albums 2017) and XLR8R (Best releases 2017) amongst many others. One year later, SW and SVN have gone into the studio, together; “to make some original music specifically for Apollo. The results are the 6 tracks on this EP,” they share in a typically taciturn statement. Taking inspiration from the iconic house and techno of the mid / late 90s - SW and SVN combine dreamy melodies and mesmeric grooves with unfussy, focussed minimalism, their beguiling, modern take on classic sounds and rhythms remains thrillingly unique and elusive. While SW and SVN are more comfortable out of the limelight, this 6 track EP for Apollo once again proves that they are rightly worthy of the hype that swirls around them.

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An all time classic originally released on the Visions Of The Past album (Apollo 1994). Released on 12” single for the first time. Re-mastered by Matt Colton. Includes a superb new remix/edit from Edward. More

Following the release of Synkro AKA Joe McBride collection of his formative early works earlier this year, Apollo Recordings is proud to present a brand new EP that draws on the rich heritage of library music. Despite having come up during the dubstep era McBride’s music has always resisted easy classification - ‘Hand In Hand’ sees him shift his musical focus in a yet more cinematic direction. McBride explains : "The record was inspired and influenced by my love of electronic 80's UK library records like the Chappell AV series, Bruton, Soundstage & De Wolfe Music library. There’s a lot of synth work that carries on from my album using my trusted Juno-6 / SH101 / JX8P combo with the addition of drum samples via an old akai S2800 I purchased recently. Most sounds I've made from scratch on hardware based on sounds used in the library records I mentioned above along with a few cheeky samples." Synkro's signature expansive atmospherics are still very much present, but now they have been burnished by soaring synth pads and pulsing drum tracks that call to mind the haunted melancholy of John Carpenter or contemporary such as Legowelt or Andy Stott. Rhythmically ‘Hand In Hand’ sees McBride moving somewhat away from his usual off kilter programming inspired by 2-step and garage, embracing the steady pulse of 4:4 which turns out to be an effortless fit. More

A software engineer at Ableton by day, Sieren’s love for UK influenced bass music and field recording and experimental soundscaping resulted in his Apollo debut ‘Static Polymorphism’ a masterly EP of spaced out street-rave soul. Now returning with the five track Ascension EP, Frick has tightened and toughened up his sound somewhat (see the caustic bass glower of ‘Slinger’), augmenting his starry eyed wonder with a firmer percussive underpinning and more driving tempos. However still present are his preternatural grasp of emotion and atmosphere that marked him out as one to watch - perfectly underscored by the heartbreaking beauty of the title track.Fellow Apollo cohort Synkro AKA Joe McBride was instrumental in the curation of Sieren’s debut Static Polymorphism EP on Apollo, hand picking the tracks, as well as road testing them in his DJ sets. This time McBride goes one further, collaborating with Frick on the track ‘Lost You’ to memorable effect - the beautiful pads and ghostly piano are a perfect synergy of their complimentary skill sets. This is richly textured and intricately programmed post-bass music that is sure to satisfy fans of Burial, dBridge, Akkord with its soulful sincerity and warmth. More

Apollo proudly presents a full release of the stunning debut album released by SW.
SW's lush sound design and hypnotic arrangements nestles snugly alongside the classic 90’s Apollo releases of Biosphere and Robert Leiner in all their balmy glory.
Originally issued on vinyl only via SW’s own SUED imprint, this Apollo re-release represents something of a coup in that it’s the first of the label’s music to ever be presented digitally.
As a label, SUED has formed a reputation for releasing some of the most vital and sought after contemporary dance-floor vinyl, from both SW and SVN, as well as collaborations and comradeship with other analogue obsessed auteurs such as Dynamo Dreesen (who teams up with SVN as Dresvn), DJ Sotofett, DJ Fett Burger, PG Sounds and Club No-No, AKA Snorre Magnar Solberg.
Ensconced in his studio in South West Germany, SW creates in isolation, exploring textures, dreamy melodies and mesmeric grooves within laid back 4/4 structures. ‘The Album’ was the first time anyone had experienced his music over a long player format and allowed SW to delve deeper into his influences.
In addition to the aforementioned sublime electronica 'The Album’ also takes its cues from the iconic house and techno of the mid / late 90s - SW manages to fuse these influences together to create a beguiling, modern take on classic sounds and rhythms that remains thrillingly unique and elusive. Resident Advisor bestowed a rare 4.5 out of 5 on the record, describing it as ‘a lesson in how to put together a dance music album'
Despite his comfort residing in the shadows, SW’s stunning debut album richly deserves the exposure that this broader release on Apollo should rightfully bestow. More

Apollo proudly welcomes the return of Gacha Bakradze (now recording under his full given name) to the fold with the ‘We Must Be Woods' EP, five stunning tracks which represent his finest work since his debut Apollo LP ‘Send Two Sunsets’ in 2015. This has already been a great 2017 for Bakradze, with stellar releases on Fort Romeau’s Cin Cin label and his own Transfigured Time imprint.
Georgia born Bakradze’s music is a cinematic combination of beguiling melodies, exotic instrumentation and oceanic drones. Crafted in the autumn of 2016 ‘We Must Be Woods' sees a maturation and deepening of his sound - deftly programmed rhythms on vintage drum machines, eastern percussion and breakbeats underpin aching synth pads and gooey sub bass. Bakradze explores a range of tempos and moods, playing and recording kalimba, guitar and piano, weaving them into a captivating aural narrative which manages to both soothe and stimulate the imagination.
Gacha’s ability to effortlessly fuse the the warm chords of Detroit techno and UK bass sounds with the dense atmospherics of shoe gaze, and the crumbling, analogue euphoria of krautrock is only growing with each release and should set expectations sky high for his forthcoming LP on Apollo later in 2017.= More

Apollo proudly presents the debut from Haramia Tapes, a new mysterious side project from renowned Hungarian electronic music producer Laurine Frost. More usually known for his refined techno sensibilities, Frost has packed 'Pfunk’ with deftly programmed rhythmic structures and infused it with low slung bass and jazzy textures that make for a sumptuous, enveloping listening experience, ideal for fans of Nonkeen, Jazzanova or Leftfield. Pfunk' contains seven unique beat sessions - smooth funk, crossed with unique broken rhythms, live drums, bass and found sounds - shot through with cinematic melancholy. From the elegiac piano of opener ‘I Am You’ to the twisted drunken breaks of ‘Pfunk’ to the cooled out percussion and spaced atmospheres of ‘Hail’, or the moody spy-movie atmospherics of Farewell Four - this is an album that traverses a variety of moods and textures, effortlessly fusing traditional instrumentation with modern electronics and a perfect addition to Apollo’s beguiling canon of mellowed out grooves. More

Following Synkro AKA Joe McBride 2015’s stellar debut album ‘Changes’, Apollo Recordings is proud to present a collection of his formative early works. This 12” sampler follows the 17 track album which was released on CD and digital formats only. The A-side contains three tracks from the 2CD set and the B-side has three tracks from this period that are previously unreleased but that are in high demand amongst Synkro fans. More