To kick off 2019 Haven are setting their sights on the farthest reaches of the resurgence in EBM. New Zealand based hardware warrior Body Beat Ritual grew up in the UK exposed to the body music of the 80s and 90s and his experiments in industrial-tinged dance tracks inspired by the likes of Front Line Assembly, Ministry, Subpoena The Past, Nitzer Ebb, and Revolting Cocks were made in complete isolation from, and with no awareness of, the EBM resurgence in Europe's clubland.
This EP represents the first of Body Beat Rituals explorations into this sound. The A1 starts the EP with 'Instinct Primitive' - a certified body moving slammer featuring haunting screams, samples ruminating schizophrenia, a funky bass-line and drum rolls aplenty. The A2 welcomes Poland's VTSS to Haven for the first time with a bouncy gabber kick and distorted tones on her tough remix of 'Instinct Primitive'. The B1 begins the flip with the hectic drum workout, cutting bass and synth programming and political samples of 'Crash Report', followed by the destructive drums and scratchy timbre of Blush Response's remix on the B2. Not one to be missed for fans of dance-floor focused, gnarled industrial techno and EBM!

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Repress!

It's been a busy 3 years since Danny Berman aka Red Rack'em released on his own Bergerac imprint.

Since then he's toured relentlessly, released a whole album of live music based disco/punk funk for Sonar Kollektiv as Hot Coins, managed to completely update his biggest track 'In Love Again' to make it a hit the second time around plus released spaced out, wonky party smashers on Wolf Music, Phonica, City Fly and Telefonplan.

While all this was going on Bergerac was largely on ice but now Berman is turning his energy back to the label with a vengeance.

Wonky Bassline Disco Banger is accurately titled. An uplifting intro breaks down into a slamming disco house number and just when you think you know what's going on…

Then the trademark Red Rack'em wonky bass drops in. 150% Guaranteed party smasher…

Jazzy House Extension is super vintage Red Rack'em from around 2004 - something for the jazz heads out there - cracked out piano and far too loud double bass come together to birth a euphoric yet banging snapshot of a producer learning his chops.

Destined is a slightly demented leftfield house number featuring mangled, pitch shifting fretless bass and vocals samples discussing someones destiny.

A woozy end to the EP.

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Red Rack’em returns with a surefire summer smash ‘Italo Disco Banger’ which immediately evokes the most euphoric festival vibes ever.

The feedback has been INSANE with Gerd Janson immediately responding ‘Sounds like a hit!’ and huge support from a wide range of artists including DJ Harvey, Crazy P, Roman Flugel, Luke Una, Leon Vynehall, Avalon Emerson, Jamie 3:26 and many more.

Italo Disco Banger does what it says on the tin and more. Tailor made for Tisno and Adriatic vibes, from the first few bars of the heart tugging, eyes closed intro, you’re locked into a beautiful, sun kissed joyous ride.

Hotline is another party starter anthem. No soft B sides here. A heads down filtered disco sub bass club wrecker.

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A1 – Illusions
B1 - Sound Crazy
B2 - Ads Mood

Adam Cook aka Tommy Rawson returns to Bergerac with another killer EP of uplifting, tropical deep house, broken beat and Brit funk vibes. Following on from 2018s Gilles Peterson hammered 'Deep Blue' EP, he returns to Red Rack'ems Bergerac label with an absolutely killer 3 tracker which showcases the Watford, England based producers world class musical chops. Surely a contender for THE summer record with a sun kissed Brit funk A side which is tailor made for the WWFM and We Out Here crew. A tropical house and broken beat burner make up an equally strong flip. We are very happy (and relieved) to be presenting to you an absolutely belting EP of UK soulful dance music.

It's nothing short of a miracle that the A side track 'Illusions' has ever made it on to vinyl. Jonna from City Fly remembers 'Adam had this on a CDR at Southport in 2008 and it became our official track of the festival as we all partied together the whole weekend it got played again and again back at our Chalet parties'. But then as these things often sadly go, the funk diamond was lost for a few years in the digital ether. Fast forward to 2014 and Danny Berman aka Red Rack'em is playing a 320 of 'Illusions' everywhere but alas it's just a demo and Adam can't locate the arrangement to complete the track as it's on a broken computer in his Mums attic.

Then finally this year, after many pleading emails and plenty of gentle cajoling, there's some amazing news! Adam has located the broken computer and after a day of digital open heart surgery, and then a re-edit over Zoom (no really) we finally had the killer, classic UK soulful anthem you're listening to today. A voice over from a disco documentary cleverly introduces each instrument on the intro before Tommy pushes the button marked 'biggest bassline of the year' and takes us into boogie heaven.

'Sound Crazy' on the flip is another one of those classic Afrobeat tinged Tommy rollers. Big room vibes but with a lot of soul. Rolling broken drums and a huge bassline combine with plenty of spicy, tropical atmosphere on top. The trademark Rawson uplifting chords begin after an anticipatory vibe filled breakdown, taking you to the stratosphere.

'Ads Mood' is the most 'classical' broken beat track on the record, but they are all playable in multiple environments and transcend mere genres. Heavy bass and extra funky syncopated beats climax into a beautiful almost orchestral feel to close off an exemplary EP of higher quality moods and emotions. Don't sleep.

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Red Rack’em is back with a new series devoted to the beautiful, self torturous art of overthinking, With the whole world stuck in a funk of uncertainty, it feels like a good time to blast away those cobwebs of uncertainty and release some music inspired by procrastination, quadruple guessing, agonizing over mixdowns (he’s never happy), using volume automation, channel gains AND bussing to create a melange of engineering cross purpose and take the writer even deeper into an artistically redundant mental cul de sac, which bears witness to countless stalled 3 point turn attempts. And that’s on a good day.

‘Train Of Thought’ is a 10 minute opus taking the listener on a head trip across the shattered mind of a post rehab, rave casualty struggling to piece together the last 20 years of memories. Wonky synths, banging breaks, ragga vocals and a 5 stage journey track ensure maximum value per minute. This is a feature length track with zero filler.

‘New August’ is a homage to Dannys smoked out jazz hip hop teen years put through the 2021 blender. Dusty samples and subs mix with an almost 2 step feel. Plenty of sudden changes and a biblical ending with Moses chiselling out the tablets over the top of an insistent beat.

Final thought ‘Overthinking’ closes with a neverending trance inducing arpy synth playing a demented chord sequence before the beat kicks in. Sometimes it’s hard to know when to stop thinking.

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In March 2018, Danny Berman aka Red Rack’em left behind the grey insanity of Berlin and headed off to the idyllic Devon Analogue Studio for the first of several productive musical retreats, giving him unprecedented access to high end synths plus the time and space to create without distraction.
After a solid 18 months of activity post album, which combined some serious air miles, relocation back to the UK (after nearly a decade living in East Berlin) some pretty magical moments, he’s back with a heavy EP of genre crossing magic which ushers forth a more edgy, psychedelic sound.
Like its disco leaning predecessor, Wonky Techno Banger is just simply a track that you have to have in your life. Combining a demented fairground melody, flappy off beat bassline and manic peak time flavour, it’s an absolute thumper which has the potential to radically transform your night/life.
Devon Analogue 4.2 comes from the same session and sees the Bergerac boss man go into euphoric electro funk mode with distorted claps, an ‘ecstasy’ synth and live slap bass.
Meanwhile back in Berlin, Rack’em was also working in Iron Curtis studio while he was on tour in the US so final track Nave Gazing was written using just the Waldorf Nave for a thoughtful ambient number to close off the EP. WIBES.


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Estonian pioneer Raul Saaramets exists in many parallel musical universes and this is reflected in his stellar output as Ajukaja, mining a rich furrow of stand out, oddball yet eminently danceable, groovy house and beat experiments. As the program co-director for Estonia's national radio station Raadio 2, he's given his country unprecedented access to some of the hottest music on this planet. He's also made some of the finest underground dance records over the last few years including 'Stranger', 'Benga Benga' and "Rare Birds' (made with long time production partner Andrevski) which were hammered by the scenes elite. His Bergerac debut has been a long time coming but well worth the wait. Mhmhmh is a super vibey late night burner which quite obviously gets its title from the faintly Germanic, sleazy vocal sample which goes 'um hum um hum'. Sklad trips you out even more with a mangled, ecstasy tinged fading in(tro) which gives you 'that' feeling. Ajukajal puts his disco hat on for side 2 with Ekleeer. A super danceable disco cut rolls out until the vocals drop in and you realise that David Lynch is on the remix. Walk previously saw light as a tape only track but it's playful scuffed up jiggery pokery cried out for a vinyl release so here it is..

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Tommy Rawson releases are sporadic but always high quality. As a former member of the Souled duo who ran the excellent Fresh Minute label – he’s been around the more tropical end of UK house and broken beat for many years and this, his first full release for Bergerac ushers forth a new level in his sound. This whole record is a masterclass in post bruk, forward thinking, shining, bright UK dance music. Unmatched in emotion and vibes.
Deep Blue is quite simply the sound of the summer. Sun drenched, euphoric and soaring. Broken but not broken, 4/4 but not quite housey. Jazzy, soulful….yeah.... It was the highlight of Red Rack’ems Olive Grove closing set at Love International last year when it provided the most halcyon of moments. Live trumpet from Vicky Flint and a whole bag of vibes from Tommy Rawson. This is a classic. Trust.
Past Tense is a super tropical African tinged house stomper which shows Tommys love of sunshine vibes once more with acres of space, insistent chants, dubby pianos and a tinge of Jungle roller bass.
final track Into The Future takes us into almost Blade Runner-esque orchestral emotion but with a kind of Balearic feel tucked in there too. Beautiful, lilting, emotional memories. You can feel so much love in this track.
Such a special record. Buy it. Love it. Treasure it.


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Berlin based Jens Dohle is a man of many talents. An accomplished composer and arranger for theatre productions across Europe, classically trained multi instrumentalist, explosive live drummer for YE:SOLAR, Munk, Hot Coins, Sado Opera. Longtime collaborator with Danilo Plessow aka MCDE and Noema from African Shakedown fame. His first EP as James Dole (a jokingly anglicised version of his birth name) showcases his ability to create a strong mood and use great splashes of melody and rhythm but without ever losing the groove. 'Ex' is a moody monster of a track. It builds and builds into a pounding nightime symphony with a kind of epic-ness which hints at many years spent mining the highs and lows of music, love and life. Big room yet with a gut wrenching soul beneath the slightly flamboyant majesty. Made in East Berlin and well road tested in the cities debauched nightclubs. 'Fantasia' shows off Mr Doles jazz and broken beat background with rolling, funky drums sashaying with hip hoppy live jazz keys. Then those signature euphoric yet melancholic synths appear halfway through the track to create an emotionally halcyon mood. WIBES.
The EP closes with 'Grande'. Super melodic yet cinematic with amazing synth work and a sophisticated arrangement showcasing James's well trained musicianship and artistry. An opus of melody and longing built for Italian arthouse films about unrequited love.


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Danny Berman aka Red Rack'em is back with 2 more burners on his much loved Bergerac label.


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What more can be said about 2016 for Red Rack'em apart from MASSIVE? In March, he released the instant classic Wonky Bassline Disco Banger which has been one of the biggest selling house tracks of the year, picking up praise and plays across the board from Moodymann, The Black Madonna and MCDE right through to Disclosure and Mark Ronson. Repeated Radio 1 plays, festival bookings and licensing from Classic soon followed. WBDB was the first single taken from the Self Portrait LP which is due out in Feb 2017 but before that we have another preview of the first full Red Rack'em long player in the form of Tomato Pope. Tomato Pope is a slamming party banger. Somewhere between house, techno, African music and broken beat, the drums are driving, the bassline is huge and the vocal samples get mangled throughout the track. It's another guaranteed floor wrecker from Red Rack'em and gives a tantalising taste of the LP weight to follow. Ocaj is a demented funky leftfield house jam which twist and turns relentlessly like a Scottish broad without power steering. Imagine a hip hip cats jazzy jam session recorded on a ghetto blaster being diced by a hip hop great. The samples get chopped like garlic cloves in a top chefs kitchen. Bon appetite! Rhodes House closes the single with a dreamy, drifty promise of greater things to come. Named in that super descriptive Red Rack'em style, jazz club samples are meshed with super uplifting Rhodes chops to give you that 'aaah' feeling. You can pull a jazz face to this. It's allowed. The artwork comes from an old school friend Abby Smith who painted a portrait of Daniel from a facebook screen grab. x

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2010 ended with a bang for both Berman and Bergerac with the release of the instant classic first single How I Program, which received massive support from a wide range of DJs including Gilles Peterson, Kyle Hall, The Revenge, Move D and Mike Huckaby. This was quickly followed by the debut Red Rack?em album The Early Years, which was awarded album of the month in De:Bug Magazine and received universal praise from both the press and DJs alike. Since the album was released in November 2010, Danny has been hard at work touring the world and preparing the follow up single Feel My Tears. He?s currently on a sabbatical in Berlin and it?s the perfect backdrop for his current musical direction. The Bergerac label artwork features bespoke illustrations from German artist Silke Eiselt of all the houses Danny has lived in chronologically. The A side Feel My Tears is a warehouse burner on many levels. Perfect for those summer evenings of drug loneliness. B1 Courting is a big room post-post-dustep UK garage-house stomper with a very loud snare drum. The last track on the record How We Do is a strange jazz techno house hybrid, taken from the Early Years album and now available on vinyl due to popular demand.

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