Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayBIGxfHCdo

Thrilled to announce Barker's new album Stochastic Drift!

Following 2023’s Unfixed EP and his first full-length release since his 2019 debut album Utility, Stochastic Drift builds on Barker’s singular process to capture life’s chaos and reflect on just how much has changed. If his previous records showcased the artist “using ambient materials to remake techno” (Pitchfork), Stochastic Drift pushes Barker’s approach even further into harmonic chaos and dreamy freeform float.

Utility, the fullest expression of the beatless techno experimentation Barker excavated on his cult classic Debiasing EP, arrived to critical fanfare from The Quietus, DJ Mag, Resident Advisor, and Mixmag (who named it their Album Of The Year). The years since the release of Utility have been marked by intense unpredictability: Barker’s own shifting attitudes towards production, moments of professional transition and, not least, a global pandemic, necessitated somewhat of a reinvention.

Stochastic Drift sees Barker creating tracks with a fresh deftness and appreciation for the unexpected. “I’d been working with an approach that was quite deliberate and goal-oriented before, but I realised this wasn’t so helpful in the context of uncertainty. Being suddenly unemployed and stuck at home for an indefinite amount of time, with one disruption after another, it was like the target kept moving and I didn’t know what to aim at.” Barker reflects. “I noticed this unpredictability starting to creep into what I was making, and tracks were ending up a long way from the intentions they started with. So the challenge for this record was to try to embrace that process, to let go of expectations.” The serotonin-spiking lead single “Reframing,” titled after psychological technique for reinterpreting a situation in a positive way, unfolds like a brittle reimagining of Sasha’s eternal prog trance standard “Xpander” until it begins to drift through uncharted territory.

Throughout Stochastic Drift, Barker dives deeper into the world of mechanical instrumentation. Barker explains: “My interest in mechanical instruments is not to replace a human performer, but to explore the tool in a different way, maybe dehumanize it a little bit and look for the potential outside of what humans have already perfected.” Addressing anxiety about the influence of automation in music making head on, Barker emphasises that, regardless of the technology implemented and how this might enable the artist, machines of all sorts, be they robots, synths or instruments, are simply tools. It’s the creative act that remains resolutely human.

“I wanted to explore the link between my internal and external realities, between the chaos of the time and how that was manifesting in my music and ideas,” Barker says of Stochastic Drift. “It’s a transition between lots of shifting realities, describing a process in a window of time that was full of change.” As though finding comfort in unpredictability, the artist pieces together a new sound and in so doing finds a salve for uncertainty.

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Pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidance as a rave metaphor fits the music of Sam Barker. The Berghain resident and Leisure System co-founder has spent the last few years exploring the euphoric potential of altering key variables in dance music formulas. This was especially true on his 2018 Ostgut Ton debut EP Debiasing, which was flush with unconventional rhythmic chord stabs, melody and percussion but devoid of kickdrums. What seemed like an experimental exercise on paper was in reality equally geared towards the club: tracks that worked for the floor but resisted the genre categorizations that kick drums often provide. This has come to define Barker’s sound. Now, on his debut solo LP Utility, Barker turns his focus toward melding experimentation and dancefloor pragmatism with the psychology behind the musical decision making process. In his own words: “After ‘Debiasing’ it occurred to me that my musical decisions were often unintentionally utilitarian, following an instinct to maximize pleasure in one way or another. It’s sort of unfashionable to admit, but by removing elements that have strong genre associations, this became a natural consequence.” Accordingly, Utility is a playful but non-ironic musical approach to a whole spectrum of utilitarian and transhumanist ideas: from models for quantifying pleasure and “gradients of bliss” to abolishing suffering for sentient beings (not just people) through the ethical use of drugs and nanotechnology. Over nine tracks, Barker’s vision ebbs and flows through waves of deeply psychedelic musical vignettes; free-floating and futuristic melodies and rhythms as targeted brain stimulation. The sound draws heavily on modular synthesis, as well as self-built mechanical instruments and plate reverbs to create atmospheres that are at once alien and emotionally recognizable, functional and utopian. Utility is by no means a concept album. Instead, it is an honest take on music as both pleasuremaximizer and consciousness-expander.

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Pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidance as a rave metaphor fits the music of Sam Barker. The Berghain resident and Leisure System co-founder has spent the last few years exploring the euphoric potential of altering key variables in dance music formulas. This was especially true on his 2018 Ostgut Ton debut EP Debiasing, which was flush with unconventional rhythmic chord stabs, melody and percussion but devoid of kickdrums. What seemed like an experimental exercise on paper was in reality equally geared towards the club: tracks that worked for the floor but resisted the genre categorizations that kick drums often provide. This has come to define Barker’s sound. Now, on his debut solo LP Utility, Barker turns his focus toward melding experimentation and dancefloor pragmatism with the psychology behind the musical decision making process. In his own words: “After ‘Debiasing’ it occurred to me that my musical decisions were often unintentionally utilitarian, following an instinct to maximize pleasure in one way or another. It’s sort of unfashionable to admit, but by removing elements that have strong genre associations, this became a natural consequence.” Accordingly, Utility is a playful but non-ironic musical approach to a whole spectrum of utilitarian and transhumanist ideas: from models for quantifying pleasure and “gradients of bliss” to abolishing suffering for sentient beings (not just people) through the ethical use of drugs and nanotechnology. Over nine tracks, Barker’s vision ebbs and flows through waves of deeply psychedelic musical vignettes; free-floating and futuristic melodies and rhythms as targeted brain stimulation. The sound draws heavily on modular synthesis, as well as self-built mechanical instruments and plate reverbs to create atmospheres that are at once alien and emotionally recognizable, functional and utopian. Utility is by no means a concept album. Instead, it is an honest take on music as both pleasuremaximizer and consciousness-expander.

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Germany
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“One of Berghain’s longest-serving residents, Luke Slater has been defining bleepy, polyrhythmic, industrial-strength techno as Planetary Assault Systems since the mid-nineties. P.A.S albums tend to come together in their own time:

“External signals and signs combine until the recipe feels right, both musically and from being ‘out there’,” Slater adds. “10 years since I released Arc Angel on Ostgut Ton, and it’s a fitting pleasure to combine live show ideas and studio work for the new album, served up with raw energy” That patience runs through his whole Ostgut catalogue; since Temporary Suspension brought its machine-tooled weight and alien feeling to the label in 2009, each P.A.S. release on Ostgut Ton has been its own quest for discovery, from The Messenger’s search for sounds not yet present in club music to Arc Angel’s focus on melody to the deep hypnosis of Plantae.

His new album, Planetary People has the deliberate imagination and depth of a record that took its time, shaped as much by live rooms and crowds as by the studio.

“Into The Night” creates a haunting, dystopic environment of corroded acid saturated in echo, absorbing from the first second. “Labyrinth” breaks into buoyant tribal percussion, modulated chirps trading off over propulsive drums. “Quadrant 10” is clean, delay-drenched techno, buzzing with noise splatters over saturated thuds. “Sermon Of The Light Tides” scrambles metallic bell sequences that distort and evolve throughout, reminiscent of a dial-up modem crossed with a game of Frogger, squelching between percussive bursts and stripped-back kicks. “Brave Cosmo” is tormentingly menacing, eerie synths panning around buried vocal fragments over frantic percussion. “Retina Burn” rolls on fierce, cement-mixer 909 cycles, rave stabs over a ride that locks you in, the whole track stuttering and repeating before stripping back to a bare echoing kick and building itself again. “Thunder Major” barrels on open hats and reverb-drenched claps ricocheting through twisting wreaths of delay, mesmeric and relentless. “Beton Brut” marches juggernaut percussion stamping through hall reverb so vast you can visualise the room, the darkest and most unrelenting track on the record. “No Ninja” crunches in metallic and immediate, a wiry plucked lead threading through glitch with the bass held low and deep, mixed so precisely you can see every layer stacked in your mind’s eye. “Ha Jam” is danceable techno with plenty of funk and a sophisticated looseness, a vocal laugh bouncing off clanging metal blocks and rave stabs. “Lynx” lowpasses its rave stabs and crystalline beeps, chirpy hats ticking, cold metal repeats, old school and mesmeric. “Generation Slip” closes everything out, ominous and churning, skittering percussion and electrical sparks rattling through steel, a freight train barrelling on into oblivion.

Digital bonus “Presently My Soul Grew Stronger” immerses in a warm sound wash of otherworldly pads, metallic kickless percussion, scrambling leads and a bell carrying something extraterrestrial, sensually intoxicating and hazy.

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“Above The Clouds I Finally Found Peace, the latest work from French artist Quelza (Leo Naït Aïssa) on Ostgut Ton, feels like a homecoming.

A testament to introspection and self-awareness. Rather than adhering strictly to a club-focused approach, the EP marks a step forward in freedom of expression, breaking away from a purely club-based format and instead leading into a broader listening territory. It unfolds as a personal musical journal shaped by perception, memory, and emotion.

As its title suggests, the record carries a spiritual undercurrent. It stands as a sincere sonic statement from a young artist, driven by a clear intention: to express vulnerability and honesty through sound.

The EP invites the listener to let go of expectations formed by previous releases, while preserving the emotional intensity and distinctive sonic identity that have come to define this work in recent years."

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STRICTLY LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!

For her debut on Ostgut Ton, Isabel Soto presents Morphosis, an EP defined by an elegant, hypnotic sound that has guided her vision from the very beginning. Morphosis represents an ongoing evolution, a transformative journey in both sound and feeling. As her first Berlin-produced EP, Morphosis draws inspiration from the new experiences that have shaped the artist both personally and creatively since her move to the city. The EP explores inner landscapes of emotion, memory, introspection and perception. Across six tracks, including a digital bonus, individual stories unfold and merge into a dreamy narrative. Minimalist in design, yet cohesive in every detail. Morphosis spans a wide spectrum of soundscapes — rich with abstract textures, deep rhythms, and trippy elements. It moves from dance-floor energy to ambient and downtempo spaces, creating a transportive atmosphere; hints of nature and the cosmos are ever-present. Awakening the senses to a new realm: the body unwinds, the mind opens, and the spirit shifts. A sophisticated release, storytelling on its own and emotionally crafted, Morphosis lets magic flow through, leaving a profound effect long after the music fades. The album cover, also created by Isabel Soto, features two flower photographs she took in Amsterdam (2018) and Berlin (2025), capturing the duality of past and present as they morph together — a visual reflection of the EP’s transformative journey and the connection between her music and visual art. Morphosis rises as a rebirth, fully embodying Isabel Soto’s creative essence and marking her most significant work to date.

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First pressing sold out on presale - repress coming on the 7th of novemember!

After a six-year hiatus, Efdemin returns with POLY — his fifth studio album, released on the recently revived Berghain-affiliated label, Ostgut Ton.

As the title suggests, POLY explores multiplicity: of rhythm, texture, style, and emotion. Across eleven meticulously sculpted textures, the album weaves a multidimensional web of sonic references, nodding to the origins of techno while pushing resolutely into uncharted terrain. POLY feels like an afterglow—of decades on the dancefloor, of restless sonic exploration, and of a profound connection to the spaces and communities that have shaped Efdemin’s sound.

Over the course of 60 minutes we are taken through different territories and landscapes of sound. Mysterious and swirling, abstract and droning textures over at times fast and stoic rhythmic concepts. Sometimes the sunlight breaks into the opaque and mysterious soundscapes before the pulse is taken over and sucks us back straight into the club.

The overall tone of POLY is mild and playful, introvert and at times dreamy. The music is rich in sonic expression and breathes the spirit of musical concepts that have been refined over the course of decades. What Sollmann has condensed here feels like a culmination of his multilayered and polyphonic personality situated between Club, Museum, Studio and Academy.

The album cover features a striking photograph of a human ear by renowned German artist Isa Genzken. Known for her radical visual language, Genzken’s work here functions as a metaphor for deep listening. The ear symbolises the layered complexity and immersive quality of the music on POLY — an invitation to perceive sound in all its depth, fragility, and force and unlock it’s potential to unite different voices in a distorted reality.

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English:
Fünfzehn + 1 is a commemorative compilation celebrating 16 years of Ostgut Ton – and the first glimpses of light at the end of a long dark tunnel for parent club Berghain. Originally planned for release in 2020, the music focuses on the interwoven nature of the label and the club in its multitude of different spaces and musical facets. Ostgut Ton artists and close affiliates worked together in pairs to make music dedicated to five different floors, each represented by a specific 12" vinyl. The result is a diverse selection of sometimes functional, other times more abstract sonic tributes; musical homages to spaces they have both influenced and been influenced by. With the pandemic having forced the club to close temporarily, the collaborative nature of the 5x12" boxset represents an attempt to transcend varying degrees of isolation and to wrestle with memories of music and space that had been inaccessible. But certainly not forgotten.

German:
Die Compilation Fünfzehn + 1 feiert 16 Jahre Ostgut Ton – und das Licht am Ende eines langen, dunklen Tunnels für sein Stammhaus Berghain. Ursprünglich zur Veröffentlichung im Jahr 2020 geplant, reflektiert die vorliegende Musik die Verflechtung von Inhouse-Label und Klub bzw. dessen unterschiedlicher musikalischer Facetten. Ostgut-Ton-Künstler*innen und -Freund*innen arbeiteten gemeinsam an Stücken, die fünf Floors gewidmet sind – und im Vinyl-Boxset fünf 12"es zugeordnet werden. Die 20 Stücke sind musikalische Hommage an Räume, die die beteiligten Personen sowohl beeinflusst haben, als auch von ihnen beeinflusst wurden. Das Ergebnis sind mal funktionale, mal eher abstrakte klangliche Näherungen. Nachdem die Pandemie den Klub vorübergehend zur Schließung zwang, stellt der gemeinschaftliche Charakter dieser Compilation einen Versuch dar, unterschiedliche Maße der Isolation zu überwinden und mit Erinnerungen an Musik und Räume zu ringen, die lange Zeit unzugänglich waren. Doch sicherlich nicht vergessen.

English:
Fünfzehn + 1 is a commemorative compilation celebrating 16 years of Ostgut Ton – and the first glimpses of light at the end of a long dark tunnel for parent club Berghain. Originally planned for release in 2020, the music focuses on the interwoven nature of the label and the club in its multitude of different spaces and musical facets. Ostgut Ton artists and close affiliates worked together in pairs to make music dedicated to five different floors, each represented by a specific 12" vinyl. The result is a diverse selection of sometimes functional, other times more abstract sonic tributes; musical homages to spaces they have both influenced and been influenced by. With the pandemic having forced the club to close temporarily, the collaborative nature of the 5x12" boxset represents an attempt to transcend varying degrees of isolation and to wrestle with memories of music and space that had been inaccessible. But certainly not forgotten.

German:
Die Compilation Fünfzehn + 1 feiert 16 Jahre Ostgut Ton – und das Licht am Ende eines langen, dunklen Tunnels für sein Stammhaus Berghain. Ursprünglich zur Veröffentlichung im Jahr 2020 geplant, reflektiert die vorliegende Musik die Verflechtung von Inhouse-Label und Klub bzw. dessen unterschiedlicher musikalischer Facetten. Ostgut-Ton-Künstler*innen und -Freund*innen arbeiteten gemeinsam an Stücken, die fünf Floors gewidmet sind – und im Vinyl-Boxset fünf 12"es zugeordnet werden. Die 20 Stücke sind musikalische Hommage an Räume, die die beteiligten Personen sowohl beeinflusst haben, als auch von ihnen beeinflusst wurden. Das Ergebnis sind mal funktionale, mal eher abstrakte klangliche Näherungen. Nachdem die Pandemie den Klub vorübergehend zur Schließung zwang, stellt der gemeinschaftliche Charakter dieser Compilation einen Versuch dar, unterschiedliche Maße der Isolation zu überwinden und mit Erinnerungen an Musik und Räume zu ringen, die lange Zeit unzugänglich waren. Doch sicherlich nicht vergessen.

1.Rimba7 by MMM 05:25
2.Champu Princess by Avalon Emerson / Roi Perez 06:36
3.An Ode To Audre by Tama Sumo / Lakuti 06:05
4.Session 2 by Substance / Soundstream 07:35
5.Temple Of Love by Len Faki feat. Honey Dijon 09:52
6.Años Perros by JASSS / Silent Servant 07:28
7.9/8 Gumbo by Luke Slater / Barker 06:45
8.A Friend Of A Friend by Ben Klock / Etapp Kyle 06:09
9.The Call by Marcel Dettmann / Norman Nodge 05:36
10.Untitled 15+1 by Pom Pom 07:20
11.Ever Given by Oren Ambarchi / Konrad Sprenger / Phillip Sollmann 10:14
12. Reset Walking by Martyn / Duval Timothy 04:50
13.Iteration by Jessica Ekomane / Zoë Mc Pherson 05:35
14.One Final Thing (Not Zero) by Atom TM / Tobias. 05:00
15.B-Section by Answer Code Request / Gerd Janson 06:31
16.Fontane by Ryan Elliott / André Galluzzi 06:41
17.Ride Out The Wave by Paramida / Massimiliano Pagliara 06:42
18.Labskaus by nd_baumecker / Nick Höppner 06:08
19.Cigarette Glow by Terence Fixmer / Phase Fatale 06:23
20.Remember The Future by Comets 06:32

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English:
Fünfzehn + 1 is a commemorative compilation celebrating 16 years of Ostgut Ton – and the first glimpses of light at the end of a long dark tunnel for parent club Berghain. Originally planned for release in 2020, the music focuses on the interwoven nature of the label and the club in its multitude of different spaces and musical facets. Ostgut Ton artists and close affiliates worked together in pairs to make music dedicated to five different floors, each represented by a specific 12" vinyl. The result is a diverse selection of sometimes functional, other times more abstract sonic tributes; musical homages to spaces they have both influenced and been influenced by. With the pandemic having forced the club to close temporarily, the collaborative nature of the 5x12" boxset represents an attempt to transcend varying degrees of isolation and to wrestle with memories of music and space that had been inaccessible. But certainly not forgotten.

German:
Die Compilation Fünfzehn + 1 feiert 16 Jahre Ostgut Ton – und das Licht am Ende eines langen, dunklen Tunnels für sein Stammhaus Berghain. Ursprünglich zur Veröffentlichung im Jahr 2020 geplant, reflektiert die vorliegende Musik die Verflechtung von Inhouse-Label und Klub bzw. dessen unterschiedlicher musikalischer Facetten. Ostgut-Ton-Künstler*innen und -Freund*innen arbeiteten gemeinsam an Stücken, die fünf Floors gewidmet sind – und im Vinyl-Boxset fünf 12"es zugeordnet werden. Die 20 Stücke sind musikalische Hommage an Räume, die die beteiligten Personen sowohl beeinflusst haben, als auch von ihnen beeinflusst wurden. Das Ergebnis sind mal funktionale, mal eher abstrakte klangliche Näherungen. Nachdem die Pandemie den Klub vorübergehend zur Schließung zwang, stellt der gemeinschaftliche Charakter dieser Compilation einen Versuch dar, unterschiedliche Maße der Isolation zu überwinden und mit Erinnerungen an Musik und Räume zu ringen, die lange Zeit unzugänglich waren. Doch sicherlich nicht vergessen.

1.Rimba7 by MMM 05:25
2.Champu Princess by Avalon Emerson / Roi Perez 06:36
3.An Ode To Audre by Tama Sumo / Lakuti 06:05
4.Session 2 by Substance / Soundstream 07:35
5.Temple Of Love by Len Faki feat. Honey Dijon 09:52
6.Años Perros by JASSS / Silent Servant 07:28
7.9/8 Gumbo by Luke Slater / Barker 06:45
8.A Friend Of A Friend by Ben Klock / Etapp Kyle 06:09
9.The Call by Marcel Dettmann / Norman Nodge 05:36
10.Untitled 15+1 by Pom Pom 07:20
11.Ever Given by Oren Ambarchi / Konrad Sprenger / Phillip Sollmann 10:14
12. Reset Walking by Martyn / Duval Timothy 04:50
13.Iteration by Jessica Ekomane / Zoë Mc Pherson 05:35
14.One Final Thing (Not Zero) by Atom TM / Tobias. 05:00
15.B-Section by Answer Code Request / Gerd Janson 06:31
16.Fontane by Ryan Elliott / André Galluzzi 06:41
17.Ride Out The Wave by Paramida / Massimiliano Pagliara 06:42
18.Labskaus by nd_baumecker / Nick Höppner 06:08
19.Cigarette Glow by Terence Fixmer / Phase Fatale 06:23
20.Remember The Future by Comets 06.32

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Giving form to a broad personal project of continuous inquiry and existential expression, A World Of Servicemarks the Ostgut Ton debut of Spanish producer, DJ and artist JASSS aka Silvia Jiménez Alvarez.

The evolution of A World Of Servicehas curved around genre collapsing and unexpected metamorphoses. Formerly the name of the monthly radio show JASSS hosted in Berlin, and soon to be the title of her expansive multi-sensory touring concept in collaboration with Ben Kreukniet, here A World Of Serviceis powerfully concentrated in sonic form. Throughout the album JASSS muses on the especially current human and technological barriers to interconnectivity; both lyrically and musically she deconstructs the self, unmasks anxieties and interrogates the insufficiencies of language as applied to gender, identity and interpersonal relationships. Forming her own fluid, nuanced lexicon in response, JASSS seeks a deeper understanding of her multiple selves, emerging through unbridled adolescent rage and the wisdom of maturation, traversing liminality with abstract electronics and baroque industrial pop. Visually this is underscored by Matt Lambert’s uncanny floral cover portraiture, as well as the record’s distinct scent of wet earth, flower and woods developed for the album by Meri Bonastre and applied to the vinyl innersleeve.

Following the imaginative nostalgia of Weightless, her 2017 debut album for iDEAL Recordings, as well as her series of blistering dancefloor 12”s for Whities/AD 93, A World Of Servicefolds personal and societal concepts in on themselves, not seeking answers but rather luxuriating in the unique friction that questions create. JASSS is intensely focused yet musically unbridled; this is reflected in tonal shifts of A World Of Service. Through the computerised yearning and bruising of a heartbreak on “Luis”, to the jagged and wordless tundra of “Vapor Dentro”; the intriguing juxtaposition of warm, alluring Spanish vocals against rigid pillars of industrial heft and bass grind (“Camelo”), and the soaring maximalist industrial popof the album’s closer, “Wish.”

As intensity rises through the pandemic-era trip hop of the album’s title track “A World Of Service”, JASSS sings: “Pleasure / Is nowhere to be found inside this world of service / I call to be my life.” Pleasure may remain elusive to her, but in the determination to make peace with her various identities in this technological age, JASSS offers a compelling glimpse into an essential type of artistic voice.

Tracklisting
1. JASSS Birds You Can Name 00:02:54
2. JASSS Camelo 00:03:21
3. JASSS Luis 00:03:36
4. JASSS Busto 00:03:46
5. JASSS A World Of Service 00:04:40
6. JASSS In Your Mouth 00:03:35
7. JASSS Vapor Dentro 00:04:09
8. JASSS Wish 00:03:56


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On 1972, veteran producer and live musician Tobias Freund offers up four tracks of layered and meticulously-crafted techno using his extensive archives of tape recordings collected since childhood. Referencing a mix of profound political events in German history and esoteric meditation guides, the Berghain resident's warm, detailed sound edges beyond the floor toward brain-tingling home listening and wanderlust autobahn escapism. The EP begins with the titles track’s buzzing synths panning rhythmically across the stereo field like a hypnotist’s pocket watch, while a somber, sampled string melody pushes further into cosmic territory before concluding with a bi-lingual eulogy. “Schism” soars with a never-ending snare roll and sparse kicks – an entire track floating on a break that never lands. On “The Wisdom Of No Escape”, Freund combines soft, polyrhythmic bleeps with esoteric vocal samples on an inward path of hallucinogenic internal discovery. EP closer “Electric Storm” makes a turn for the ultrastoned, with hats and writhing vocals disintegrating and reforming over a soft, round steady pulse. Overall, 1972 features a sound that Tobias. has honed for over 30 years, having initially made a name for himself mixing various pop hits in the 80s and 90s while simultaneously producing experimental electronics under various pseudonyms including Metazone, Phobia, Pink Elln, and Zoon. On his own Non Standard Productions imprint he has regularly collaborated with the likes of Max Loderbauer and Ricardo Villalobos and most recently with visual artist Valentina Berthelon as Recent Arts. His releases and lengthy live techno sets with AtomTM continue to set the bar high for improvised electronics.

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"What binds you to places? To remembering them. Places you can feel, when you feel at home. Places that affirm your very existence. This place for me is the Oderbruch. This album is dedicated to it.” – R.P. The fifth studio album by Shed aka Rene Pawlowitz centers thematically on the Oderbruch region in former East Germany where the producer and DJ grew up and continues to split his time (when not in Berlin.) Both the album and track titles as well as the artwork by Arnim To¨lke [Ectoplasma (Oderbruch)] reflect Pawlowitz’s deeply personal associations with the borderland’s marshy landscape, as well as enormous political and historical changes the region underwent as the last Eastern front during World War II – and, later, following the dissolution of the GDR. Nevertheless, Oderbruch is not a concept album. Instead, it’s an ambivalent ode to the area in which Pawlowitz’s family has lived for generations. It’s a musical reflection on place and personal history: meeting up at the local gas station, a view to the water, techno rattling the closed windows of cars peeling out toward Berlin or the next local party, cruising along rural parkways flanked by trees with fruit ripe for picking, past weeping willows and abandoned factories where industry once thrived. Outside buzzes with the sounds of nature inextricably linked with childhood memories, but also a landscape defined by the bloody defeat of the Nazis at the Battle of Seelow, ushering in the fall of Berlin and with it, the entire fascist regime. The album’s nine tracks are inspired by the intertwined nature of the subjective and historical, which ring through Shed’s idiosyncratic take on breaks, bass, techno, symphonic ventures, ambient and hardcore. But unlike Shed’s previous records, Oderbruch incorporates broad pastoral landscapes – left behind and returned to. Both fit Shed, who under various aliases (Head High, Hoover, Wax, The Higher, WK7, Equalized, The Traveller) has long influenced a number of dance music scenes in Berlin and beyond.

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For their second Ostgut Ton EP, Sunao Gonno and Nick Höppner worked together on three tracks over the course of two years between their respective studios in Tokyo and Berlin – editing, altering and tweaking each other’s musical additions with a penchant toward melodic, multilayered house and techno that floats easily beyond the functional. Accordingly, Lost is defined by the interactive playfulness and unpredictability of their collaborative process, elements often missing from dance music. Höppner initially met Gonno on various trips to Tokyo. But it wasn’t until Gonno came play to Panorama Bar in 2015 that the two first entered the studio together: “I think we spoke three words in eight hours,” explains Sunao of their previous studio jams that eventually led to Fantastic Planet EP [O-TON 95, 2016], describing a flowing musical process in which music succeeded where words failed. On Lost, the duo continue further out into inner space. On “Bangalore”, the duo showcase their mastery of creating expansive long, psychedelic ecosystems of melodic phrasing and rhythmic development; drawn-out techno exploration. “Love Lost” slows things down to a post-disco boogie chug of breaks, bass, dubby synth stabs and sadness. EP closer “Start Trying” is a sweaty, post-peaktime trip of strings and dilated pupils. Swirling melodies braindancing long after the after party.

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Steffi and Virginia return with an eight-track double EP on Ostgut Ton, inviting us into new dimensions of the sonic world they have crafted together over a number of years. Work A Change is out September 20, 2019 on 2x12” vinyl and in digital formats. Since their iconic 2011 collaboration “Yours” – which became an instant classic – the duo have experimented with new ways to express their unique strand of dancefloor melancholy. Unlike the grand maximalism often associated with vocals in dance music, Steffi and Virginia’s creations use the voice less as a centerpiece and more an integral part of the groove itself, subtle in temperament and equal to its counterparts. Impassioned vocals spiral around melodic leads and warm harmonies, offering a gentle kind of catharsis that deepens with each listen. Work A Change immediately transports us to a parallel aural universe, refusing to settle into one style and merging multiple references into peculiar new formats. Opening track “Be True To Me” is subdued but inviting, working its way into the conscious with harmonic glitches and a deep, grooving bass lead. “Sight From Above” then slows things down for an angular cut of low-slung machine funk. The B-side, “Help Me Understand” lands us on another planet entirely, complete with extraterrestrial synths and animated robotics. Opening up the C-side, “Until You’re Begging” is a molecular construction of fragmented motifs, both precise and hazy at the same time. Similarly, “Internal Bleeding” takes segments of percussive grooves and rearranges them into complex polyrhythms whilst retaining a careful sense of balance. Closing off the release is title track “Work A Change”; one last high-speed voyage into spiralling drums and hammerdrill bass. Work A Change expands on Steffi and Virginia’s aesthetic, merging elements from a number of genres into a cerebral, highly personal release. It also signals a change of direction for the duo's work, voyaging through new terrain while retaining a sound that is undoubtedly their own.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidance as a rave metaphor fits the music of Sam Barker. The Berghain resident and Leisure System co-founder has spent the last few years exploring the euphoric potential of altering key variables in dance music formulas. This was especially true on his 2018 Ostgut Ton debut EP Debiasing, which was flush with unconventional rhythmic chord stabs, melody and percussion but devoid of kickdrums. What seemed like an experimental exercise on paper was in reality equally geared towards the club: tracks that worked for the floor but resisted the genre categorizations that kick drums often provide. This has come to define Barker’s sound. Now, on his debut solo LP Utility, Barker turns his focus toward melding experimentation and dancefloor pragmatism with the psychology behind the musical decision making process. In his own words: “After ‘Debiasing’ it occurred to me that my musical decisions were often unintentionally utilitarian, following an instinct to maximize pleasure in one way or another. It’s sort of unfashionable to admit, but by removing elements that have strong genre associations, this became a natural consequence.” Accordingly, Utility is a playful but non-ironic musical approach to a whole spectrum of utilitarian and transhumanist ideas: from models for quantifying pleasure and “gradients of bliss” to abolishing suffering for sentient beings (not just people) through the ethical use of drugs and nanotechnology. Over nine tracks, Barker’s vision ebbs and flows through waves of deeply psychedelic musical vignettes; free-floating and futuristic melodies and rhythms as targeted brain stimulation. The sound draws heavily on modular synthesis, as well as self-built mechanical instruments and plate reverbs to create atmospheres that are at once alien and emotionally recognizable, functional and utopian. Utility is by no means a concept album. Instead, it is an honest take on music as both pleasuremaximizer and consciousness-expander.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidance as a rave metaphor fits the music of Sam Barker. The Berghain resident and Leisure System co-founder has spent the last few years exploring the euphoric potential of altering key variables in dance music formulas. This was especially true on his 2018 Ostgut Ton debut EP Debiasing, which was flush with unconventional rhythmic chord stabs, melody and percussion but devoid of kickdrums. What seemed like an experimental exercise on paper was in reality equally geared towards the club: tracks that worked for the floor but resisted the genre categorizations that kick drums often provide. This has come to define Barker’s sound. Now, on his debut solo LP Utility, Barker turns his focus toward melding experimentation and dancefloor pragmatism with the psychology behind the musical decision making process. In his own words: “After ‘Debiasing’ it occurred to me that my musical decisions were often unintentionally utilitarian, following an instinct to maximize pleasure in one way or another. It’s sort of unfashionable to admit, but by removing elements that have strong genre associations, this became a natural consequence.” Accordingly, Utility is a playful but non-ironic musical approach to a whole spectrum of utilitarian and transhumanist ideas: from models for quantifying pleasure and “gradients of bliss” to abolishing suffering for sentient beings (not just people) through the ethical use of drugs and nanotechnology. Over nine tracks, Barker’s vision ebbs and flows through waves of deeply psychedelic musical vignettes; free-floating and futuristic melodies and rhythms as targeted brain stimulation. The sound draws heavily on modular synthesis, as well as self-built mechanical instruments and plate reverbs to create atmospheres that are at once alien and emotionally recognizable, functional and utopian. Utility is by no means a concept album. Instead, it is an honest take on music as both pleasuremaximizer and consciousness-expander.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Detroit native Ryan Elliott has made a handful of weighty contributions to both Berghain and Ostgut Ton, including his Rocksteady and Stepmode EPs as well as his Ostgut Ton 5-year anniversary mixtape and the label’s inaugural digital mix compilation, Panorama Bar 06. A resident DJ at Berghain / Panorama Bar since 2010, Elliott’s mixing is technical, confident and fast, stubbornly riding the border hard between house and techno, melody and rhythm, stayed and future classics. It’s also this DJ’s perspective that has informed Elliott’s own analogue productions, with Paul’s Horizon turning its focus toward deep and slick percussion. This is apparent from the get-go, with the title track’s triangle/clap interplay, funky 5-6 kicks per bar, and bleary-eyed atmosphere. From there “Martinsville Morning” slows down into an understated sunrise groover, led by bassline, strings and pads. EP closer “Grafton Road” turns up the pace again with gasps for hats, aggressive punctuating snares, and a modulating synth bubbling-up throughout. Paul’s Horizon – Ryan Elliott’s first EP in six years – falls musically between Berlin and Detroit, between house and techno and between hypnotic repetition and unpredictability, revealing a subtle ear for groove and composition.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Since becoming a Berghain resident in 2017, Dominick Fernow’s risk-taking hybrid live/DJ sets as Vatican Shadow have become conduits for infusing techno with contrasting musical ideas – from noise, industrial and ambient to distorted melodies and rhythms that push the club’s borders in unexpected ways. It’s an idiosyncratic approach to techno rooted not only in Fernow’s 25-plus years as an experimental and noise musician under more than a dozen aliases (e.g. Prurient, Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement) but also in his role as founder of the vital New York-based Hospital Productions, whose discography exceeds some 500 releases. The label – which in 2017 celebrated its 20-year anniversary – is also home to the majority of Vatican Shadow output to date.featuring exclusive tracks by Genesis P-Orridge, Virile Games, Los Angeles Death Cult, Ron Morelli, Volvox, JK Flesh, Alberich, Ugandan Methods | Prurient and Merzbow –


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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Peter Kuschnereit, also known as Substance or DJ Pete, has long been known to heads as an essential figure in Berlin dance music, though he has comfortably flown under the international radar. Born and raised in the central district of Kreuzberg (where he still lives in the same high-rise he grew up in), this year marks the 30th anniversary of his DJ career – and a fitting moment to announce his first solo EP on Ostgut Ton following contributions to previous compilations Fu¨nf and Zehn and his longstanding relationship to Berghain. Locally, his influence has been multifaceted: an employee at the famed Hard Wax record store for some 27 years, Kuschnereit is also one of the core DJs in the legendary Wax Treament party series, helping to unite diverse strains of global dance music – from dubstep, grime, house and techno to Senegalese polyrhythms – all pumping through the KILLASAN sound system. Indeed, eclecticism has become a kind of trademark for Kuschnereit as evidenced on various mid- 90s and 2000s deep techno classics with Vainqueur on Chain Reaction and Scion Versions, a funky Latin techno 12” as DJ Pete on Surgeon’s Counterbalance, recent live collaborations with Sleeparchive as TR-101 and dozens of his online Wax Treatment podcasts. Rise And Shine sees Kuschnereit fusing his deep, industrial aesthetic as Substance with the resonant bass-heavy leanings of DJ Pete, as evidenced on the title track’s off-kilter metallic riddims and multiple, interlaced SH-101 and Prophet 5 melodies. From there, potential set-closer “Countdown” blasts off with relentlessly rattling, scraping breaks, hissing German vox and big chords. The compact explorations of “Bird Cave” and “Distance” offer a more atmospheric take on bass and rhythm, while EP closer “Cruising” re-explores the uncanny, Berlin deep techno cosmos Kuschnereit has helped define, this time in denser form.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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After a seven-year hiatus, the longtime Berghain resident Norman Nodge is back with four new tracks of deep, narcotic techno. Hailing from Brandenburg, Nodge spent the 90s as a DJ, promoter and mentor to the likes of Marcel Dettmann and Marcel Fengler before becoming a Berghain resident in 2005. Since then he has occupied a special place in Berlin techno with a sound that is at once forceful, dubby and hypnotic, evident not only on his Berghain 06 mix and various 12”s and compilation contributions for Ostgut Ton, but also on EPs for Dettmann’s MDR imprint. A lawyer by trade, on Embodiment EP Nodge reflects on decades of observing how dancers develop an intuitive relationship to music and process new sounds. “Tacit Knowing” (A1) is a nod to the feedback loop between the instincts of dancer and producer, combining bassline, breakbeats and Detroit-like strings, which subtly develop into a cavernous techno roller. In contrast, “Discipline” (A2) is aggressive, updated peaktime acid packed with the sounds of metal and overdriven snares. On the flipside, “Gathering” (B1) is a bongo-heavy tribal groover, while “Embodiment” references a more halcyon Ostgut Ton aesthetic – one that resonates not only in the space of the club but also within the bodies of those occupying it.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Downtown E-Style Sound Crawlers

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Repress coming beginning of February.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidance as a rave metaphor fits the music of Sam Barker. The Berghain resident and Leisure System co-founder has spent the last few years exploring the euphoric potential of altering key variables in dance music formulas. This was especially true on his 2018 Ostgut Ton debut EP Debiasing, which was flush with unconventional rhythmic chord stabs, melody and percussion but devoid of kickdrums. What seemed like an experimental exercise on paper was in reality equally geared towards the club: tracks that worked for the floor but resisted the genre categorizations that kick drums often provide. This has come to define Barker’s sound. Now, on his debut solo LP Utility, Barker turns his focus toward melding experimentation and dancefloor pragmatism with the psychology behind the musical decision making process. In his own words: “After ‘Debiasing’ it occurred to me that my musical decisions were often unintentionally utilitarian, following an instinct to maximize pleasure in one way or another. It’s sort of unfashionable to admit, but by removing elements that have strong genre associations, this became a natural consequence.” Accordingly, Utility is a playful but non-ironic musical approach to a whole spectrum of utilitarian and transhumanist ideas: from models for quantifying pleasure and “gradients of bliss” to abolishing suffering for sentient beings (not just people) through the ethical use of drugs and nanotechnology. Over nine tracks, Barker’s vision ebbs and flows through waves of deeply psychedelic musical vignettes; free-floating and futuristic melodies and rhythms as targeted brain stimulation. The sound draws heavily on modular synthesis, as well as self-built mechanical instruments and plate reverbs to create atmospheres that are at once alien and emotionally recognizable, functional and utopian. Utility is by no means a concept album. Instead, it is an honest take on music as both pleasuremaximizer and consciousness-expander.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Leaving established paths to explore mysterious spaces below the surface.
Connecting with the elements to escape the hypnosis.
Drifting on a psychedelic trip to wake up the warrior.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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