After his debut EP, Don Kashew delivers his first album on Subject To Restrictions Discs, a conceptual work in which he discovers “Reibung” as a core concept of musical expression.
A loudspeaker causes the molecules of the air to vibrate. Friction occurs and the sound spreads out in the room. Physically, friction is at the beginning of every sound. At the same time, the metaphor of friction describes the core of musical creation. As such, creation is always defined by its reference as well as its demarcation from existing artistic and social positions. In a sense, music is always rubbing against itself, its past and its environment, constantly being honed into new forms.

With “Reibung”, Don Kashew explores friction as a basic principle of musical expression. Inspired by the avant-rock and experimental music scene of the 80s around the Zurich record label “RecRec Music”, techniques are used whose core is the friction of sounds: dissonances, phasing or the preparation of instruments. These techniques are complemented by sampling and recombination of musical forms, existing music and cultural audio products. The idea of “Reibung” is thus at the heart of the production of musical expression. More

Between the Zuri brannt riots and the Needle Park catastrophe, two events that occurred in the eighties in Zurich and that have been underlined in the previous two Dee Dee’s Picks releases, have unfortunately backlashed in today’s world yet have also been sublimated by others in various cultural endeavours.
On a different note: “The edible seed of the cashew fruit is native to tropical climates that is rich in tryptophan, a neurochemical that our bodies turn into serotonin.”

These two subject matters, seemingly unrelated, have been channelled into one person — coinciding to make room for relief from a transformed dystopian-like era that has not without effort risen from its depth. Found from this dark period is a modern-day character that brings to the surface these once very present issues. The music and topical form that occur simultaneously within this release have been created by Don Kashew, a self-described troubadour who acts a natural supplier of your favourite natural antidepressant as well as an eternal fanboy to music from the past, present and future.

An enthusiastic participant to the Swiss underground scene, Don Kashew can be found either helping the Zurcher community or playing obscure and classic records at a regular pace in the Zurich nightlife. The added anecdotal form that this release takes shape is the fact that Don is a city council whose department is to aid in the organisation of the clean up from the consequences of the aforementioned sociological issues. Don Kashew refutes these questions with sounds that evoke feelings of longing for another world, warm and moist, of another place, captured in a modern time. By commenting on the track titles as presented within this edition, Don Kashew’s music also refers to the irony of capitalistic studies and of the monotonous dullness that life presents. With these two aspects, merged together in a swirl, the music within this release is at the time whimsical and ironic, mature yet underlined with childlike humour. This compilation of past and contemporary works is a reflection of Don’s sound development, affected through time and change, environment and empathy, diligence and insouciance, carefully packaged and influenced by his creative procedure. More

Subject To Restrictions Discs presents “Abisso” by Tagliabue. Inspired by the immeasurable depths of the abyss, the Milanese DJ and producer creates a dense and intense soundscape that evokes images of a submerged world of cosmic frequencies.

Prepare to dive into “Abisso”, the latest sonic creation by the talented Joseph Tagliabue. An EP that defies the ordinary and captures attention from the very first moment, “Abisso” is a musical journey through four unreleased and completely different tracks. A1 explodes with the power of a mid-tempo bomb, Joseph’s trademark, while B1 amazes with a thrilling break that transforms into a progressive shaker perfect for the dancefloor. B2 restarts with another eruption of broken techno energy, and the EP closes with a post-peak-time electronic mantra that hypnotizes the listener in a suspended dimension. “Abisso” is a work that leaves no one indifferent, a sonic experience to be lived and carried away by. More

Saeko Killy, Jamie Paton, Andrei Rusu and Anastasia Zems remix “Kraus is the Limit” by the Zurich electronic-wave duo Dâdalus & Bikarus and take the original to new dimensions.

“Kraus is the Limit (Remixes)” preserves the raw energy and emotion of Dâdalus & Bikarus’ live performances while introducing new textures. It is not merely a collection of remixes but an intimate experience that invites listeners to rediscover the original tracks through the lenses of Saeko Killy, Jamie Paton, Andrei Rusu and Anastasia Zems.

Saeko Killy translates Voran into a mesmerizingly timeless journey that is even more kraut-y and space-y. Jamie Paton brings his distinctive style to the table by adding laidback and dubby vibes to Gone and Youri Gagarine. Andrei Rusu strippes down Tous Tes Mensonges, creating a sonic whirlwind that takes the listener on an thrilling and hypnotic ride. Anastasia Zems’ take on Voran lets us wallow in the depths of an acid abyss. A tripped-out experience is guaranteed. More

The Athenian producer Aggelos Baltas alias Anatolian Weapons captures on the album Earth the feeling of an optimistic future that grows on the soil of the sweet bitterness of the present and the past.

Under his pseudonym Anatolian Weapons, Baltas combines polyrhythmic percussion and wailing tones of Greek folk music with a thrilling and open Krautrock attitude. The album Earth takes us on a mystical journey through the northern Greek highlands, backed by Baltas’ unique machine-assisted folk, infused with psychedelic drones and exuding an aura that is neither then nor now, neither there nor here. Instead, it exists in a small pocket of its own cosmos. A crossroads of dimensions. A mystical offering to nature and the divinities.

Baltas has explored and reframed various Greek scenes of yesteryear in the past, such as with his Fantastikoi Hxoi project, which created Krautrock mutations from 60s and 70s pop, but Earth is an even more far-reaching expedition. It is a folk reckoning with ancient Greek musical traditions with a modern upgrade. The album reconstructs a sonic narrative of ancient traditions, enhanced with psychedelic and space-rock elements. In the reverb cycle, one hears a certain agrarian reinterpretation of the world, filled with harvest rituals and celestial incantations.

It is with great pleasure to welcome Anatolian Weapons to the label. During a longer stay in Athens, a friendship developed that led to a variety of musical projects and ideas. One of them is the release of the album Earth. More

The White Series continues after a little pit stop. Tankwart is at the start with four tracks of wave, triphop and kraut and leads us into a cosmic slipstream. As one half of Dâdalus & Bikarus he is already known to us and now shows a more danceable side of his productions. Tankwart is known around here for his versatile DJ sets, which always surprise us with a pinch of the unexpected. We also find this in his music – Tankwart gives the supposedly familiar a new and sparkling twist. More

“As I walk between the shadows I can see my full light” is the mantra and story Anna Vs June tells on “Ersi”, her debut on Subject To Restrictions Discs. It is about personal thoughts and experiences on topics like faith and motherhood. Beginning with “As I Walk” as the clumsy state of any beginning, it continues with “Between The Shadows” where Anna relives her years as a teenager. Continuing the narrative with “I Can See”, we listen to what it was like to grow up, finally ending with the yearning acceptance of the unknown on “My Full Light”. Anna Vs June’s musical language is based on her exploration of traditional Greek music, which she learns and whose characteristics she reinterprets in her own production. This album was produced in Anna’s studio in Athens during the months of lockdown. More

After his debut EP, Don Kashew delivers his first album on Subject To Restrictions Discs, a conceptual work in which he discovers “Reibung” as a core concept of musical expression.
A loudspeaker causes the molecules of the air to vibrate. Friction occurs and the sound spreads out in the room. Physically, friction is at the beginning of every sound. At the same time, the metaphor of friction describes the core of musical creation. As such, creation is always defined by its reference as well as its demarcation from existing artistic and social positions. In a sense, music is always rubbing against itself, its past and its environment, constantly being honed into new forms.

With “Reibung”, Don Kashew explores friction as a basic principle of musical expression. Inspired by the avant-rock and experimental music scene of the 80s around the Zurich record label “RecRec Music”, techniques are used whose core is the friction of sounds: dissonances, phasing or the preparation of instruments. These techniques are complemented by sampling and recombination of musical forms, existing music and cultural audio products. The idea of “Reibung” is thus at the heart of the production of musical expression. More

Powerful beats that evolve over time – repetition as the core idea, instruments and voices used for expression and dynamics. These timeless musical ideas inspired Dâdalus & Bikarus to create their album “Kraus is the Limit”.
The duo is part of the bubbling Zurich alternative scene and has been playing clubs and festivals in Switzerland for quite some time. The fact that the two are already wowing audiences before their first release makes this record a long-awaited work. On their debut on Subject To Restrictions Discs, you can expect early electronic, kraut and wave with psychedelic-tinged vibes. The tracks on the album take time to build and evolve around recurring patterns. To preserve the mood of their live shows, they recorded all tracks as a live session, capturing the raw energy and emotion of their performances, making the album an intimate experience. More

YNV joins Subject To Restrictions Discs with six unique tracks. Following his releases on Lurid Music and Neubau, Western Paradox is YNV’s third vinyl release. The EP traces back to his Middle Eastern roots, featuring his own signature twist. Despite the completely analogue approach, the music sets a warm tone and engages with the listener’s emotional state. Each track explores a specific rhythm with the intention of finding the right pattern to put us in a pleasant state of trance. More

Electro, EBM and experimental wave are brought together on the upcoming STRD release. Coming from the thriving Zurich music scene, XINDL manifests an analogue yet very familiar sound and delivers a nostalgic 90s feeling on its debut album “11”. More

Limited to 100 copies!

For the second release on Subject To Restrictions Discs’ White Series, Los Pashminas from Fribourg deliver a four-track sound experience for dance floors.

The complexity of the human experience has led to many theories, which tried to explain the emotional activity of our everyday experiences. In the ’60s Paul MacLean formulated the ‘Triune Brain’ model. This theory proposes a very simplistic organisation of our brain, which would be too easy to accept since the very notion of ‘change’ is difficult to give credence to. The wiring between our primary and emotional behaviour is much more complex and subject to plasticity and transformations. What if the very essence of music could follow the same path? Maybe music could take conscience of its own environment and develop its own wave, independently from the human will.

This EP is an essay in which symbolic samples are organising themselves into the genesis of a new form of conscience, a result of a survival-mode experience that pushes the music itself to create its new form. This sound journey was created during the 2020 Pandemic. More

The music by Yan Kruau & Michele Ottini was first released in 2017 on 60 tapes only. Subject To Restrictions Discs makes them available on vinyl for the first time. Very raw, somewhere between darkwave and electro with soundtrack elements, the 6 tracks on “L’ultimo Di Noi” explore a yet not so common musical world. This release is limited to 200 copies. More

For its 10th release and 7th vinyl edition, Subject To Restrictions Discs presents another musical journey from Angelo Repetto. He has dived deep and resurfaced with these four heavy, emotional compositions. Together with wonder drummer Nicolas Stocker, Repetto turned his story into music. On the A-side, ‘Panther’ and ‘CP Verletzung’ let us drive through the night, perhaps with the last drop of the enthusiastic feeling of the last dance. Right on the other side, we experience the ‘Sundown Explosion’, hard-hitting all the emotions we have left. ‘No Access’ points the way to our next, as yet unknown, journey. More

Gerd Janson, Lexx, Bell Towers, Belia Winnewisser, DJ Kaos and Never4ever remixed Ethimm’s By Night EP.

We all know Nights are nicer when you are with your friends, so Ethimm asked some of his old friends and favorite acts to remix his recent EP ‘By Night’. Quite a few hopped on the bandwagon: Germany’s most prolific remixer and DJs DJ Gerd Janson turned Ethimm’s ‘Lies’ into a relentlessly deep and driving house cut with drums reminiscent of New Order. Balearic boss Lexx stripped the track down to its bare vocal and rebuilt it with a 90ies New York vibe. Bell Towers added his prototypical leftfield approach to ‘Don’t Go Away’, while Berlin’s legendary DJ Kaos remade it into a classic acid stomper. The remix EP is completed by newcomer Never4Ever’s breakbeat treatment of the same track and swiss experimental queen Belia Winnewisser’s treatment of ‘Island Jam’. More

Ethimm scratches the pop, does a pirouette and then takes another direction. Both on stage and in his productions, the young producer from Zurich shows his unique style. After three releases on the cult label Light of Other Days he now shows himself more danceable and club-oriented than ever before. ‘Don’t Go Away’ has already been approved in clubs several times. At peak time the track shows all his power. On ‘Lies (feat. T.A.V.)’ Ethimm speaks directly to us. His pitched voice perfectly intertwines with the beat and the melodies. The slow groove of ‘Island Jam’ is peppered with a penetrating bassline and playful sound snippets. This EP is for DJs and home listeners alike.

Produced by Elisabeth Thimm. Vocals on A1 by T.A.V. Bass on A1 by Reto C. Gaffuri. Vocals on B1 and B2 by Geraldine Roth. B1 written by Warren Doris, Deirdre Heart and Elisabeth Thimm. Mixed by Hannes Bieger. Mastered by Reto Muggli.

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Three artists discover the wider field of dark electronic dance music. Although young, these producers already have a big understanding of sound. A sound which is past-oriented but every track has a certain twist which makes the music contemporary and timeless. On A1 – Dein Letztes Hemd – Nicola Toma from Berlin combines acid cuts with German Vocals (by Camila Strasdas) and a pushy bassline. Nothing else needed. Zurich’s Prioleau opens up a totally new world on A2. ‘Never Trust A Mirror’ is an energy driven tune without compromises. A dark new wave-y and kraut influenced masterpiece. On the b-side are two tracks produced by Hesychia369, a well-known producer from Zurich under a new alias. With ‘Dmbrisded’ and ‘Diffspherez’ he shows his love for acid basslines and fast rhythms.
Nicolai Toma - Dein Letztes Hemd feat. Camila Strasdas
Prioleau - Never Trust A Mirror
Hesychia369 - Dmbrisded
Hesychia369 - Diffspherez More

For its second installment Subject To Restrictions Discs presents a split EP by two of Switzerland’s most underrated producers. First there is CCO. A modular wizard known from his involvement in groups such as Wavetest and Savage Grounds. He presents two Techno cuts that are bound in organic sounds and filled with driving energy. The three mellow cosmic wave tracks on the back are coming from Narco Marco. He’s active in Bern’s music and nightlife scene for almost 30 years. His music knowledge is legendary and shows itselfs in his productions which are filled with sparkling details. More

Six composers compiled on one EP. Everyone with its own approach stepping into the long history of New Wave, EBM and Synth-Pop from Switzerland. For the first release of the newborn label ‘Subject To Restriction Discs’ focus on analogue production with all its variations. It all began when gearheads from all over Switzerland came together to indulge their love for analogue synthesizers and drum machines. This led to a project at which end a tape compilation resulted. Only 70 tapes were made and almost got forgotten. Now is the time some of these tracks find their way to a new medium and a bigger audience. More