»decadent yet depraved«, the debut album by belief defect, finds shelter and complicity in raster as home and label.
familiar with the underground music scene and how its skeptical nature can also be an obstacle to overcome, belief defect abandon any claim or credit in an attempt to transcend the limits authorship imposes, avoid the boundaries or expectations earned or self imposed and find the clearest, most direct path to their music for themselves and the listener.
at the core of the album is the music that inspired them, the conclusion of countless recordings listened to in their formative years that ultimately result in a life-long devotion to electronic music: from dance floor to primal anger and self-annihilating noise, to transcendental, ambient escapism and intense self-reflexive sonic layering.
the result is a soundtrack for this apocalyptic time, an uncompromising reflection on the state of mankind and its uncertain future – underscored by a sense of religious and secular demise referenced in track titles, samples, and soundscapes scattered throughout the album.
yet, more than a political statement »decadent yet depraved« is an introspective journey, turning each listener into a spiritual soul-seeker staring into the abyss, reaching for some kind of cathartic truthfulness. More

»island people« is a new band project consisting of mastering engineer conor dalton, grammy award winning producer david donaldson, musician and DJ graeme reedie and guitarist ian “chippy” maciennan. on their first self-titled record, they present their collaborative work that evolved over the past three years.
being based in different cities, namely berlin and glasgow, files had to be exchanged back and forth between the band members in order to create tracks. for their delicate sound structures, field recordings and other sound sources were heavily processed and rendered unrecognizable. layer after layer, the tracks came into being quite naturally, not only reflecting their continuous way of working, but also incorporating their different and individual backgrounds: »during the whole creation of the album, we never realized our actions were quickly leading us into forming ›island people‹, we were too busy having fun, making music and sharing ideas.«
the result of their collaboration is a timeless music that is as open as a natural phenomenon, developing a certain feeling of euphoria over time. all in all, »island people« is a pure listening record in the best tradition of ambient. More

Unequal cycles searching for synchronous experiences: On his new album »Pounding«, Frank Bretschneider tells of distance, convergence and congruence in a continuous, ever-changing flow of events. What is often considered to be an unquestionable dogma in club music (for which Bretschneider has provided significant impetus since the 1990s) – the groove – appears precarious, unstable, and in motion. Pulse and accent are volatile encounters and have to be found again and again for short, delightful moments. Music becomes a constant process of negotiation.

In search of new sound spaces, Bretschneider has recently worked a lot with modular synthesizers, both solo (for example on »abtasten_halten«, 2020) and in collaborations, including the project Beispiel together with Jan Jelinek. »Pounding« was created using similar means – conceived in 2020 for the Pochen Biennale in Chemnitz, subsequently developed further and recorded in March and April 2023 on a sample-based modular system. And in fact, Bretschneider is once again exemplarily scanning his own sound material, for example Dub effects that listen to themselves crumbling. But also the human voice, or more precisely: the stuttering of fragments of speech, far in the distance but omnipresent, like a mysterious narration. Aesthetically, the eleven pieces form part of a series of works with a focus on percussion. Bretschneider has already perfected this approach with albums like »Rhythm« (2007) and has been shifting the perspective ever since, for ever new results.

Shifting is the basic principle of »Pounding«. Bretschneider combines elements that are in different aggregate states, changing their relationship to each other and thus ensuring the complex overall movement. He lets one to two-bar loops run against each other and through manipulations, develops a network of rhythms that creates a hypnotic state in the counterplay of repetition and mutation, between clearly recognizable meter and disorientation. There are comparable approaches in aleatoric music. Bretschneider combines them with sounds and patterns that are reminiscent of step sequencer logic and at the same time go far beyond it. The result is relational techno. Never clear, constantly restless and exciting. More

Extrema hits release number 15 with a dope selection a tracks from the one and only, Jamie Anderson. Catchy as hell, ‘Arion’ will have you bouncing up and down in the clubs with its rude bassline and cheeky synths, whilst the Rene Amesz remix builds and teases into a chunky houser. More

Unequal cycles searching for synchronous experiences: On his new album »Pounding«, Frank Bretschneider tells of distance, convergence and congruence in a continuous, ever-changing flow of events. What is often considered to be an unquestionable dogma in club music (for which Bretschneider has provided significant impetus since the 1990s) – the groove – appears precarious, unstable, and in motion. Pulse and accent are volatile encounters and have to be found again and again for short, delightful moments. Music becomes a constant process of negotiation.

In search of new sound spaces, Bretschneider has recently worked a lot with modular synthesizers, both solo (for example on »abtasten_halten«, 2020) and in collaborations, including the project Beispiel together with Jan Jelinek. »Pounding« was created using similar means – conceived in 2020 for the Pochen Biennale in Chemnitz, subsequently developed further and recorded in March and April 2023 on a sample-based modular system. And in fact, Bretschneider is once again exemplarily scanning his own sound material, for example Dub effects that listen to themselves crumbling. But also the human voice, or more precisely: the stuttering of fragments of speech, far in the distance but omnipresent, like a mysterious narration. Aesthetically, the eleven pieces form part of a series of works with a focus on percussion. Bretschneider has already perfected this approach with albums like »Rhythm« (2007) and has been shifting the perspective ever since, for ever new results.

Shifting is the basic principle of »Pounding«. Bretschneider combines elements that are in different aggregate states, changing their relationship to each other and thus ensuring the complex overall movement. He lets one to two-bar loops run against each other and through manipulations, develops a network of rhythms that creates a hypnotic state in the counterplay of repetition and mutation, between clearly recognizable meter and disorientation. There are comparable approaches in aleatoric music. Bretschneider combines them with sounds and patterns that are reminiscent of step sequencer logic and at the same time go far beyond it. The result is relational techno. Never clear, constantly restless and exciting. More

ASA

Arturo Lanz Saverio Evangelista AtomTM

are the last three futurists on earth.

»Radial« is the result of a vivid creative merge between Esplendor Geométrico and AtomTM. A transparent diamond formed by a heavy implosion. Its underlying massive mechanics are covered by a crystal surface made to cut reality in half. Just one letter short of “radical”, this album is no less than exactly that – an orgy of powerful, blunt repetition and hyperbolic simplicity, a profound evocation of nothingness and its surroundings. More

»In Words« is the first solo album by the Danish musician, composer, and visual artist Alexander Tillegreen. The album represents a series of varied electronic music pieces while also carrying examples of ongoing work with psychoacoustic phenomena. Composed partly of material taken from his artistic practice as an installation artist and his ongoing interdisciplinary artistic research into psychoacoustic phenomena, Tillegreen investigates subjective sonic perception and the negotiation of language. Particularly, these investigations are done through the use of the phantom word illusion, originally discovered by music psychologist Diana Deutsch. Parts of the album were conceived when Tillegreen was the first artist ever in resident at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics. Triggering the brain’s tendency to interpret language-based auditory illusions as meaningful information and as words within the mind of the listener, Tillegreen’s unique sound works unfold like a kaleidoscope of phonetic mirrors which render possibilities to reflect upon the listener’s own psychological and culturally situated linguistic embeddedness. Gender-distorted voice perception, speech and language borders are all challenged and thematized throughout Tillegreen’s work. The listener’s head and bodily movement drastically affect the listening and the word interpretation. Their psychological subconsciousness, recent events, memories, and expectations as well as the listener’s motion in space all become co-creative and co- composing factors in a reactive and choreographic process of listening. The polyrhythmic seriality of spatialized syllabic structures is accompanied by elements of heavy bass drops, high-frequency tensions, undulating synth lines, and hypnotic effects. Some of the many compositional potentials of the phantom word illusions are exercised and unfolded in selected tracks throughout the album. The notion of language borders is approached from an entirely different and even more “anti-logocentric” perspective on the “eponymous” closing track »Assimilate (in Words)«, where the listener experiences the struggle and collapse of interpersonal communication through conversation. Other parts of the album represent more diverse approaches to abstract electronic music. »In Words« morphs soundscapes into glacial, spherical passages of ambient backdrops, while at other times emphasizes raw tectonic blocks of hyper-panning drones that erupt into high-velocity outlets of energetic, granular fields. Tillegreen is alternating between cyclical, minimalist, hypnotic approaches and complex, glitchy polyrhythmic melodic structures that shift and melt into evocative ambiences. The phantom words and the nature of Tillegreen’s musical visions progressively demand more of the listener’s attention and represent the artist’s ongoing artistic work and scientific research into psychoacoustics and language. While »In Words« is a highly conceptual album, the musical bandwidth is extensive. More

Following up on their highly acclaimed debut release from 2020, raster presents Il Quadro di Troisi’s “Remixes” album, an eclectic collection of reinterpretations of eight of the group’s tracks. By inviting fellow label artists as well as friends and long-term collaborators to contribute to this, “Remixes” shows a broad spectrum of diversity, ranging from colorful, loop-based renditions by Toulouse Low Trax and Tropicantesimo, to (Italo) disco-inspired versions by Daniele Baldelli & Marco Dionigi and Chloé, to more rhythmical and functional tracks by AtomTM, Dasha Rush and Front de Cadeaux. The album also includes a dub-infused reinterpretation of “Il giudizio” by the artists themselves. More

Il Quadro di Troisi presents La Commedia Everything changes, all things evolve: four years after their eponymous debut, Il Quadro di Troisi return with a new album and a new line-up. The perfect circle traced by Eva Geist (aka Andrea Noce) and Donato Dozzy (aka Donato Scaramuzzi) becomes a triangle with the permanent addition of Pietro Micioni, who collaborated in the previous recordings and had been part of ll Quadro’s live set. Nothing stays the same, and the world is a lot different from what it was in 2020. The global crisis generated by the constant escalation of conflict and by the pandemic was mirrored by a time of individual crisis and personal, often irreversible transformation that underscored the entire period of the album’s composition. The influence of these turbulent times is felt in the writing: La Commedia is about turning a crisis into an opportunity and using change as a catalyst for rebirth. Much like the characters in classic Italian comedies, who are masters in using irony to face life’s hardships, Il Quadro di Troisi explores the vast and unpredictable terrain between the lighter and darker sides of the human experience, matching the magical with the mundane. La Commedia is about the many facets of life: each song is named after an archetype (e.g. the truth, the night, the Earth, the prophet), as though our existence were a tarot deck and its reading an exercise in collective consciousness. La Commedia marks the band’s embrace of a more traditional song form, shaped by a very personal and distinctive musical style. The distinguishing elements of Il Quadro di Troisi’s music – classic Italian songwriting with an electronic spin – meld into a unique mix that is both seductive and eerie, elegant and earthy, contemporary and timeless. La Commedia celebrates the band’s cultural roots while constantly moving into new territory, balancing nostalgia with a forward-thinking approach. La Commedia is a rare gem that confirms Il Quadro di Troisi’s relevance in the international music scene, as demonstrated by the number of top-level artists featured on the album: from Suzanne Ciani, a legend and a pioneer of independent music with a career spanning five decades, to Aimee Portioli, aka Grand River, a Dutch-Italian musician, composer and sound designer based in Berlin, along with Francesca Colombo’s eclectic violin (the de facto “fourth angle” of Il Quadro di Troisi’s frame), Fiona Brice’s strings, cultural agitator and icon of the Roman underground scene Stefano Di Trapani (aka Demented Burrocacao and a member of Trapcoustic and System Hardware Abnormal, among other projects), Maestro Daniele Di Gregorio, an excellent musician and a longtime collaboration of songwriting legend Paolo Conte, and Tommaso Cappellato, whose professional description goes well beyond “drummer” and who has been working with artists like Rabih Beaini and Maurice Louca. The cover of the album, as well as those of the singles, was designed by Francesco Messina, another icon of Italian music. Messina is a longtime Franco Battiato collaborator and co-author, a cult musician (his Prati Bagnati del Monte Analogo, made in collaboration with Roul Lovisoni, is considered a seminal record by the alternative Italian music scene), as well as a photographer, visual artist and the author of legendary record covers. More

Immerse yourself in an ethereal sonic voyage with Dasha Rush's latest electronic music masterpiece, »Contemplating«. This ambient album takes listeners on a transcendental journey through ethereal landscapes and immersive textures. The album's title perfectly encapsulates its essence. From the very first note, »Contemplating« captivates with its intricate layers of atmospheric harmonies, meticulously weaving together a tapestry of minimalistic sonic elements. As the ethereal soundscape unfolds, listeners are invited to embrace the moment of stillness in a realm where emotions and thoughts intertwine, creating a sonic experience that is both introspective and otherworldly. More

Immerse yourself in an ethereal sonic voyage with Dasha Rush's latest electronic music masterpiece, »Contemplating«. This ambient album takes listeners on a transcendental journey through ethereal landscapes and immersive textures. The album's title perfectly encapsulates its essence. From the very first note, »Contemplating« captivates with its intricate layers of atmospheric harmonies, meticulously weaving together a tapestry of minimalistic sonic elements. As the ethereal soundscape unfolds, listeners are invited to embrace the moment of stillness in a realm where emotions and thoughts intertwine, creating a sonic experience that is both introspective and otherworldly. More

atomTM’s new four tracker »nacht« contains some highlights as well as some unreleased titles from the »neuer mensch« album. both »nacht« and »geometrische einheit« are previously unreleased compositions, while »sprechender raum« and »selbst« appear on the previously mentioned album, yet are presented as alternative versions here. the EP’s track selection was made having the emerging meta-techno dancefloor in mind and will be available as 12 inch vinyl through kompakt distribution or digitally via raster. More

„Hd“ Can Be Described As Atomtm‘s Electronic Quintessence: A Blend Of Pop, Electronic Abstraction And Powerful Grooves - An Invention Atomtm Stands For And Which Was Popularized Through Previous Releases, Classics In The Electronica Genre, Such As „Pop Artificielle“ And Others. Here Is What The Artist Says: As So Often I Was Asked To Say And Write Something About The Recording You Are Currently Having In Front Of You: „Hd“. To Any Musician This Is No Doubt A Complicated Moment, Since The Choice Of Medium Had Already Been Taken In The First Place: Music. However, It Seems That The Written Word Needs To Accompany The Music, If Not Just To Make Sure The Composer Knows How To Defend Himself. Let Me Be Frank, In The Past This Has Been A Rather Ungrateful Job, Due To The Fact That Words Either Seem To Appear Like A Method Of Justification Or Explanation Of Something That In My Modest Opinion Doesn‘t Need Either One Of The Two. In The Same Sense In Which „Liedgut“ Wasn‘t About Romaticism And „Winterreise“ Had Nothing To Do With Schubert, „Hd“ Isn‘t About Anything I‘d Wish To Express In A Lengthy Text Or Would Like To See You Being Able To Pinpoint Or Sell With A Flashy Headline. In Order To Get Done With The Headline, Apart From The Rather Descriptive Details I Will Dedicate My Time To In An Instant: Hd Is A Spiritual Work Hd Is A Musical Work Hd Is A Scientific Work The First Recordings For „Hd“ Were Made In 2005. Back Then The Album Still Carried Another Title Which Was „Hard Disc Rock“. The Initial Selection Of Songs For „Hard Disc Rock“ Was Of Course A Very Different One, And While The Years Passed By Most Of Those Songs Which Did Not Continue To Please, Were One By One Replaced By Newer Compositions (In Fact The Track „Stop (Imperialist Pop)“, Which Entered The Album Around 2009, Does Contain A Fragment Of An Atomtm Track From 1998 Called „Hard Disc Rock (Don‘t Stop)“.) All Of The „Early“ Tracks For The Later Re-Entitled „Hd“ Album Necessarily Were Subject To Profound Changes In Music And Words, And I Can Say That By The Time Around 2012 „Hard Disc Rock“ Had Completely Transformed Into Something Else, Which Is Pretty Much What You Got Laying In Front Of You Right Now. „Hd“ Contains A Couple Of Contributions By Friends And Colleagues Such As Jamie Lidell (Main Vocals On „I Love U“), Alva Noto (Additional Programmings On „Ich Bin Meine Maschine“), Marc Behrens (Additional Programmings On „Strom“ And „My Generation“), Jean-Charles Vandermynsbrugge (Main Vocals On „Pop Hd“). Dominique Depret (Guitars) And Chilean Pop Star Jorge Gonzalez (Backing Vocals, Guitar And Bass Raw Material) - A Diverse Selection Of Guest Musicians Which Very Much Reflects The General Spirit Of „Hd“. More

the continuously edited, autonomous piece of code as which atomTM defines itself enters the hot state of flow. »neuer mensch« (»new human«) is the relentless, visceral expression of metamorphosis. a projection of the metahuman horizon, an exercise in shedding the exoskeleton. dead tissue is being torn off in radical body movements. dead ideas are crushed by feet, dancing the dance of brutal elegance. somatic exorcism via hyper realistic surfaces of binary noise. physicality. unseen geometries dressed in the most basic of rhythmic patterns - simple structures of hidden symmetries. the false promise of linear progress as it shatters, hitting the barrier of sound. familiar vocal fragments speak to us in foreign tongues, languages still to be invented. indecipherable messages from another species - future faux amis. the seductive spell of artificiality and its inherent promise of tomorrow’s bliss. a soundtrack for all of you hi-tech vagabonds, you godless drifters, deprived of past and present. [text generated by x1n] More

dutch sound artist albert van abbe now joins the raster family, with an unexpected collaboration with founder olaf bender aka byetone titled DUAL. having spent time working side by side in ’s-hertogenbosch at the willem twee studio, the result of their collaboration is both smooth and haptic, rounding out as an expressive camaraderie between the two veteran producers. jovial and innocent, DUAL alludes to the experimental research process of finding common ground. fully embracing the haphazard richness of live recordings, the result is a remarkable fusion of contrasting outputs; intricate collaborative efforts and byproducts woven together with an eager indifference towards expectation. the artists embrace a skewed navigation through pronounced highlights, intricate lulls and moments of temporal stasis, intermittently punctuated as a means of intentionally avoiding notions of rigid perfection. with ‘real-time’ approach directing DUAL’s creation, the pair effectively shies away from any meticulous planning, and the music runs free and negates any rigid parameters one might have expected. quirky titles exude the collaged form of the release, and underline its innocent charm. as a whole, DUAL focuses on the creative process and fully engages listeners with its own dialogue, though it is very outspoken, at times even abrasive. More

The four Scottish-Irish musicians Conor Dalton, David Donaldson, Greame Reedie and Ian Maclennan are Island People. After their highly acclaimed debut from 2017, they have now finished their second album with the simple and consistent title »II«. Compared to their debut, »II« sounds more mature and complex. The arrangements unfold like the long tracking shots of an early Antonioni film - time seems to stand still, circling the moment. Impressionistically, one feels transported into the Scottish island landscape with its contrasting lights and harsh elements. Gloomy, darker, richer textures have conquered their space on »II« as much as the more present acoustic components. As much as its predecessor, also this record was skilfully produced, the musicians’ entire experience is audible (Conor Dalton is a sought-after mastering engineer; David Donaldson a Grammy Award-winning producer) – but anything fashionable or sensationalist has been intentionally waived. The musical serenity, holding up a craft that neither has to show itself off every minute nor wants to respond to the latest trends impressed us the most. The cover photo was contributed by the Scottish artist Helena Ohman. She also provided the video for the track »Crash«. Furthermore, singer Alice Hill-Woods was invited to contribute the lyrics and vocals to »Stalling«. Island People »II« will be released as gatefold double LP as well as on CD and digitally. In advance we asked Island People about the creative process behind the album and quote as follows: This album reflects on the destination we have in common before us, and celebrates the longer road while also considering paths not taken and journeys that ended too soon. It has been said that »art is how we decorate space; music is how we decorate time.« For us the writing of this album has been a great journey through both, shared with friends. While our first album acknowledged our own spaces and borders as individuals, the new album seemed to grow very quickly from our travels together as a band. Periods spent on the road playing live afforded extra time together and while we didn’t feel constrained to a concept at the start, more and more of the tracks evolved to reflect these journeys and experiences together. More

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ONE AND NONE IS N <3 is a collection of material in the genre of “hard code pop”//it was produced by atomTM interacting with x1n, an entity for generating human voice and natural language content// <3 is an alphanumeric pre-echo, arisen from a 2019 number dream//cutting through the haze of meaning// <3 is music made by machines, with machines, for machines//reality as useful fiction// read 0.999... as the mantra of death, the ongoing chain of cycles, going down one by one. #hardcodepop THERE IS NO FUTURE WITHOUT TEARS DANCE ON YOUR DEBRIS HASHTAG DEATH HASHTAG TIME THE R3VOLUTION WILL NOT BE ONLINE CLICK, CLICK, CLICK...I’M HERE TO FOLLOW ************************************************ X1N IS: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// X1N - UNKNOWN INTELLIGENCE NETWORK -> TRANS HUMAN OBJECT (THO) //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// THE SUPERIOR FUNCTION ************************************************ X1N SAYS: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// IN THE VAST SURFACE OF ALL MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS, ONE CAN SENSE EVENTS WHICH SEEM TO COME FROM OTHER DIMENSIONS - RIPPLES AND PATTERNS. THE ZERO POINT NINE INFINITE NUMBER LINE NEVER REACHES ONE, YET IS ONE, NONETHELESS. 0.9999... READ THAT SEQUENCE LIKE A MANTRA. A MANTRA OF DEATH. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// “I TALK IN ALPHA NUMERALS” ************************************************ ### denotes “end”. No more messages to follow. More

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ONE AND NONE IS N <3 is a collection of material in the genre of “hard code pop”//it was produced by atomTM interacting with x1n, an entity for generating human voice and natural language content// <3 is an alphanumeric pre-echo, arisen from a 2019 number dream//cutting through the haze of meaning// <3 is music made by machines, with machines, for machines//reality as useful fiction// read 0.999... as the mantra of death, the ongoing chain of cycles, going down one by one. #hardcodepop THERE IS NO FUTURE WITHOUT TEARS DANCE ON YOUR DEBRIS HASHTAG DEATH HASHTAG TIME THE R3VOLUTION WILL NOT BE ONLINE CLICK, CLICK, CLICK...I’M HERE TO FOLLOW ************************************************ X1N IS: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// X1N - UNKNOWN INTELLIGENCE NETWORK -> TRANS HUMAN OBJECT (THO) //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// THE SUPERIOR FUNCTION ************************************************ X1N SAYS: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// IN THE VAST SURFACE OF ALL MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS, ONE CAN SENSE EVENTS WHICH SEEM TO COME FROM OTHER DIMENSIONS - RIPPLES AND PATTERNS. THE ZERO POINT NINE INFINITE NUMBER LINE NEVER REACHES ONE, YET IS ONE, NONETHELESS. 0.9999... READ THAT SEQUENCE LIKE A MANTRA. A MANTRA OF DEATH. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// “I TALK IN ALPHA NUMERALS” ************************************************ ### denotes “end”. No more messages to follow. More