An artist needing little introduction, having crafted a playful yet impactful sound that is entirely his own spanning house to breaks, electro and beyond, Cologne’s Kolter continues to prove exactly why he’s in such high demand as a producer and a DJ. Following his debut on Up The Stuss back in 2021, his releases since have landed via labels such as Solid Grooves, Shall Not Fade, Pilot, Berg Audio and his own Koltrax imprint, and he picks up right where he left off with a long-awaited return to Chris Stussy’s admired imprint with four cuts that have been in heavy rotation for the label boss for months. From the hooky vocal samples to the rumbling groove and vibrant bass guitar licks, title track ‘That Was Fresh’ brings the arrival of one of the German’s most requested anthems to date. Add in the helter-skelter electronics and glitchy sonics of ‘This Is It’, the breaks-driven and resonant ‘Feel’, and the hazy yet driving ‘I’m Fine, Thanks!’, and the four tracks showcase Kolter at his best as he makes a triumphant return.

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Tracklisting
A1 Kolter - DX7 Together
A2 Kolter feat. Leo Pol - Please Come To My Show
B1 Kolter - Up in the Sky
B2 Kolter - Up in the Sky (Cinthie remix)

Sales Note
Shall Not Fade regular Kolter returns to the label for his fourth EP, continuing with the luscious warm sounds that house fans from all around the world have become accustomed to. This time Kolter welcomes the incredibely talented Leo Pol on track 'Please Come To My Show' where Leo co-produces and also sings on. The B-SIDE also features a deadly remix from the amazing Cinthie!

Please Come To My Show EP drops November 24th via Shall Not Fade. More

Johannes Kolter is Kolter and is also a producer who went under the name DJOKO. He's been busy this year with plenty of goodness dropping including an album and three EPs. Now comes hit sone, again on his home label Pilot. It is inventive stuff that functions well on the floor as it straddles the worlds of breaks, house and plenty more. 'Got High Again' is lively and dynamic with its squealing leads and dusty breaks, then 'Weirdo' layers up leftfield melodies and blurts of playful synth modulation. 'Prospekt' is a wild fusion of rock riffs and high-speed funky breaks and 'Duck Concert' closes with hardcore drum breaks and soulful synths next to mad scratchinG. More

Johannes Kolter is Kolter, as well as being the artist formerly known as DJOKO, and here he follows up on his very recent Between Fragments album with a cheeky three tracker, once again for the Pilot label. This 12" kicks off with 'Techno Life', which ironically is a breaks/electro hybrid affair with all the hallmarks you could ask for from vocoder vocals to electronic cowbells. 'Can't Stop Rocking' borrows some serious chunks from a very famous electro record made by one of jazz music's legends - that description must surely narrows it down - and adds some tempo and the occasional vocal hook. Then we see proceedings drawn to a close by 'Sorry You Had To Wait So Long', every bit as lively as the other two, spaciously produced and peppered with the subtlest of electro flourishes. All round good work, you have to agree. More

Cologne's DJOKO has been exploring breakbeats and electro formations under the Kolter banner over the past couple of years, dropping some serious heat on Talman, Pilot and Body Movement. It's Pilot he returns to for this bang tidy two tracker of taut and crisp breaks which wouldn't sound out of place in a Plump DJs set circa 2005. 'Ying Yang' slips some vocodered spirituality in amongst a punchy beat and warm splashes of analogue synth work. The slightly saucier 'Drop De Tiddies' rides a break and works an old-skool hip hop sample before ripping into some chirpy lead lines, making for a fun and fruity dancefloor delight. More

Four tracks of juicy, cheeky breakbeat action with an underlying hint of skippy two-step synchopation going on, overlaid with elements from the more musical end of house and the most dancefloor-slanted side of P-funk. 'Giftig', with its Bollywood string flourishes, is the most exotic beast among the pack, while 'Cllosing Time' boasts searing 80s disco stabs and some neat tickling of the Hammond very much in jazz funk style. That said, it's all action across all four tunes, so get stuck in. More

It's hard to keep up with the hugely prolific output of UK don Burnski and his several different labels these days but one thing is for sure - Pilot keeps on serving up the goods. For its 15th release, the tech and minimal focussed label welcomes Robin Graham who opens up with the lively and colourful synths of bustling groover 'Check Me Out'. 'Spark Plug' is more business-like - the dry drums and hits overlaid with retro chord stabs that amp up the crowd and 'For You' then gets loose and funky with some twisted and sugar synths over garage-flecked beats and 'What's That' (Refix) offers a jumbled percussive sound full of dynamism. More

North Phase and ADR share duties on this four track split EP, each dropping two tracks, although all four of them are firm dancefloor-filling candidates. North Face's 'Breaks Away' adds a few retro rave flourishes to a beat that's a distant cousin of Zinc's '138 Trek' and a bouncy, bumping bass holding the whole thing together. 'Sound Connection' has a hypnotic charm that nods to Fluke and early Underworld, although choppier and less linear in rhythmic approach. Aside from being probably the best named track we've come across in 2023 so far, ADR's 'Ned Flanders Hot Chocolate' is skippy enough to be 4x4 garage but with its scratched asides and cheeky, funky b-line has a unique personality, while 'Comet Relief' nods to the progressive house of the early 90s with an unexpected xylophone-like twist. It's all good, as they used to say. More

The rather naughty Pilot label is back and ready to take you on a trip to the heart of the dancefloor here as Wodda steps up with more fresh garage, minimal and tech fusions. 'T Total' is a perfectly infectious swinger with rasping bass notes and crisp percussion that will get faces screwed up and floors pumping. 'Aphrodite Curse' picks up with more damn sexy sound designs and super silky grooves that will take any crowd for a cruise. There is some bright and old school piano action to 'With Me' while 'Keep It' then offers a turbocharged future house excursion that is all about the good times. More

Johannes Kolter is Kolter and is also a producer who went under the name DJOKO. He's been busy this year with plenty of goodness dropping including an album and three EPs. Now comes hit sone, again on his home label Pilot. It is inventive stuff that functions well on the floor as it straddles the worlds of breaks, house and plenty more. 'Got High Again' is lively and dynamic with its squealing leads and dusty breaks, then 'Weirdo' layers up leftfield melodies and blurts of playful synth modulation. 'Prospekt' is a wild fusion of rock riffs and high-speed funky breaks and 'Duck Concert' closes with hardcore drum breaks and soulful synths next to mad scratchinG. More

Johannes Kolter is Kolter, as well as being the artist formerly known as DJOKO, and here he follows up on his very recent Between Fragments album with a cheeky three tracker, once again for the Pilot label. This 12" kicks off with 'Techno Life', which ironically is a breaks/electro hybrid affair with all the hallmarks you could ask for from vocoder vocals to electronic cowbells. 'Can't Stop Rocking' borrows some serious chunks from a very famous electro record made by one of jazz music's legends - that description must surely narrows it down - and adds some tempo and the occasional vocal hook. Then we see proceedings drawn to a close by 'Sorry You Had To Wait So Long', every bit as lively as the other two, spaciously produced and peppered with the subtlest of electro flourishes. All round good work, you have to agree. More

After this pair of Leeds residents made waves last November with their first EP for Pilot, Bobby O'Donnell and Reeshy return to lay down four new tracks that definitely stray towards the electro end of the breaks/electro spectrum. There's a sense of continuity, as the first EP's tracks - labelled 1-4, are followed by tracks 5-8, as well as being executed with a proper human touch that not all such machinefunk can boast. '6' is full of spiralling Drexciyan mystery, before being pared down to an LFO-style bass prod. '8' also echoes the former legends of Leeds with its dreamy pads and acid backdrop - something in the local water supply. Definitely funky enough to keep the breaks DJs onside, but with a thorough knowledge of love of 40 years of electronic music heritage at its disposal too, this is one release you should make sure you not miss. More

Cologne's DJOKO has been exploring breakbeats and electro formations under the Kolter banner over the past couple of years, dropping some serious heat on Talman, Pilot and Body Movement. It's Pilot he returns to for this bang tidy two tracker of taut and crisp breaks which wouldn't sound out of place in a Plump DJs set circa 2005. 'Ying Yang' slips some vocodered spirituality in amongst a punchy beat and warm splashes of analogue synth work. The slightly saucier 'Drop De Tiddies' rides a break and works an old-skool hip hop sample before ripping into some chirpy lead lines, making for a fun and fruity dancefloor delight. More

Four tracks of juicy, cheeky breakbeat action with an underlying hint of skippy two-step synchopation going on, overlaid with elements from the more musical end of house and the most dancefloor-slanted side of P-funk. 'Giftig', with its Bollywood string flourishes, is the most exotic beast among the pack, while 'Cllosing Time' boasts searing 80s disco stabs and some neat tickling of the Hammond very much in jazz funk style. That said, it's all action across all four tunes, so get stuck in. More

Pilot comes correct with a third new release in quick succession. We were big fans of the first two and this one is another muscular, action packed slab of wax from North Phase. Once again he draws on many different genres to cook up his floor filling beats. 'Electronic Funk' is a bit of a throw back to when the Plump DJs were good, while 'D1000' then gets more down and dirty on scuzzy bass and electro pops. 'Escape & Evasion' is the most heady of the lot with its sparse atmosphere and old school breaks and 'Halo' closes on a cosmic borne beat wig out. More

Last seen sharing vinyl space with 100Hz and Voightmann on his own E Numbers imprint a couple of years back, Bobby O'Donnell resurfaces via a collaborative outing with Reeshy, a fellow Leeds resident who is seen by many as a rising star of the Yorkshire scene. In keeping with the PILOT label's breakbeat-driven, retro-futurist feel, each of the four cuts on show doff a cap to turn of the '90s rave culture. This is arguably best exemplified by weighty, funky and spacey bleep & breaks jam '2', though the arguably even more sub-heavy, UK garage influenced opener '1' comes a close second. Elsewhere, '3' delivers subtle nods towards Rob Gordon and Richard H Kirk's short-lived XON project (look it up, kids) while '4' is an acid-flecked warehouse shuffler. More