Never Been is the first collaborative release by Loradeniz and Interstellar Funk, who produced the EP at a Volkshotel artist residency in Amsterdam, in 2021. The record examines the interplay of synthetic melodies and Loradeniz’s vocals, which are underpinned by meticulously crafted rhythms. Steeped in melancholy, many of the tracks on Never Been evoke the essence of departure, complex emotions and fading memories.

‘Freefall’ – which has already been played by DJs last summer – opens with a solid bassline and crystalline melodies. An urgent kick and racing hi-hats intensify the composition, while the dominant topline brings to mind a rapturous dance at twilight. An allegory of communication, ‘Hidden Tongue’ has Loradeniz pronouncing splintered vowels, like a malfunctioning public service recording, over a reverberated snare, deep kick and repeating glockenspiel figure.

‘Fly Me In’ begins with an arpeggiated melody, before slowly combining multiple electric accents and delicate vocals with spoken word passages exploring notions of escape. The heroic overtones of ‘Situational Lullaby’ develop subtly with layers of synths reminiscent of mid-90s soundtracks, while ‘Lurking Orange’ closes the release with its listless refrain and snake-like percussion.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Tsampikos Fronas aka June takes a departure from his dance orientated earlier work. Recorded between 2018 and 2020, Window of Time sees the Berlin-based producer explore sparser arrangements than his previous releases.

The record unravels like a dystopian cyberpunk novel, something akin to William Gibson’s Neuromancer. Both the title track and ‘Stratagem / Predator’ create an increasing tension that builds through repetitive sequences. The arpeggiated synths on ‘Year 2092’ evoke images of sprawling metropolitan city scapes, while the claustrophobic mood of ‘The Master of Electricity’, the first track written for the album, wouldn’t go amiss on a soundtrack to a sci-fi thriller like Blade Runner.

Created using modular synthesizers, analog sequencers and analog polyphonic synths, Window of Time eschews melody in favour of cold, pulsating rhythms. Combined with haunting choral toplines and minimalistic flourishes, such as those on album closer ‘Elegy’, June invites the listener on a free dive into their subconscious; to navigate boundless, unexplored territories.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

For his first release with Artificial Dance, Black Merlin aka George Thompson takes a departure from the hard-wearing techno and intricate field recording work that he has come to be known for. Scape One is a fifteen-minute psychedelic diversion recorded in one continuous live session. While the track’s sonic characteristics may echo dance music from the turn of the millennium, its pulsating rhythm is more suggestive of the slowly evolving landscapes seen outside of a train window as opposed to raves from the late ‘90s.

Appearing on the B-side is Gordon Pohl’s remix of Scape One. Like its source material, this track is long and subtle in the way it develops over time, but Pohl dissects the most salient elements of the original to construct a new rhythmic urgency. The high frequency accent that guides the remix does so at a speed that recalls the rotations of Brion Gysin’s stroboscopic Dream Machine, which taps into your brain’s alpha waves, aiding drug-free hallucinations.

Pohl and Thompson are frequent collaborators and release music together as Karamika. While Scape One is not a collaboration in the strict sense, there is plenty of crossover in the working methodology of the two musicians, especially when it comes to constructing uncomplicated arrangements.

The repetitive nature of their respective tracks locks the listener into a contradictory sensation of travelling whilst staying seemingly motionless. This sensation is not altogether uncommon, but in this instance it’s not quotidian either. The result is a record that unravels slowly, leaving space for the listener to home in on all the available information and, in the process, discover elements that can be just as unnerving as they are satisfying.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Nearly twenty years on from his last solo sortie, Tommy Gillard reemerges as Curved Needle with “Rain Of Molten Iron” - a new six-tracker scoping out the confines between hi-octane body music and FX-riddled experimentation.

After spending most of the decade working in the studio with Oliver Ho alias Broken English Club as Zov Zov, the West London-based producer reignites the flame of trueschool horror electronics with five cuts heaving us into a furnace of post-apocalyptic machine talk by the scruff of the neck, complimented by a remix from Broken English Club.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Half of Manie Sans Délire, June (Mannequin / Suction), turns up on Artificial Dance with his anticipated new mini-album, ‘Horizons’ - following on from his studio companion Trenton Chase’s ‘Planar Array’ released earlier in 2020. True to the signature synth-splattered sound of his and his duo, June’s newest wave-imbued manifesto has us swimming amidst an organized chaos of roughly extruded keyboard wizardry, punk-minded drum programming and a retro-futuristic headspace.

Scanning out the gap between Italo, new wave, EBM and new beat, ‘Horizons’ shifts seamlessly from forward-moving, arpeggio-laden circuitry (‘JW’, ‘Infinity Room') to hi-intensity body music (’New Horizons’), through ambientoid spaced-out sonic explorations (‘Uncharted Territories’) and quirky downtempo chuggers (‘Reverie’, ‘Psychic Process’). A kaleidoscope of rhythmic tricks and shape-shifting mirages, June’s scope-expanding six-track voyage vows to play mind games with its listener till all lights have gone off.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Spearheaded by James Dean Brown (also known from Perlon’s Narcotic Syntax) and Victor Sol, and featuring other rotating members, Hypnobeat is a true product of the open-ended spirit of DIY music that proliferated in the 1980s. The prescient project championed deft, machine-powered rhythm programming as its modus operandi long before the practice would become a dominant global cultural form. Since Hypnobeat was revived in 2012 with Helena Hauff joining JDB on stage for improvised live performances based on one 707 and three 808s, there have been a string of archival releases shining a light on the early and more recently recorded works of this forward-thinking venture.
This latest collection for Artificial Dance comprises three freshly unearthed iterations. Long-form A-side track “Polychrome Desert” is a pure percussive exercise, programmed and recorded by JDB in 1986 with a chain of three 808s filling out a stereo panorama. The intention was to create a pure, meditative rhythm drawing on African influences and reinterpreted through what was then the music technology of the future. “Spies In Malaysia” is a live recording from a concert Hypnobeat performed in 1985. Its lurid melodic passages and crunchy percussive blasts formed the closing track of the set, which was met with rapturous response. Recorded in the same year, “Sumatra Railway” was the product of an impromptu session between JDB and Victor Sol. The song finds the pair exploring a more shadowy, surf-inspired sound, laden with echo and freewheeling through seven minutes of sun-kissed, subtly tropical subversion.
With each successive release, the plot surrounding Hypnobeat thickens in a tangle of 1/4” jack cables and ancient effect pedals. From its shifting line-up to the diverse sonic repertoire, it remains one of the wondrous plants of German electronic music in the pre-techno era.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Having debuted with a fine EP by Job Sifre, Artificial Dance has returned to the source for release number two. The 12” pays tribute to one of the most influential figures of original DIY electronic music scene of Holland, Hanjo Erkamp.
During the first half of the 1980s, Erkamp had a hand in some of the most experimental and forward-thinking releases on the now legendary cassette label, Trumpett. Famously, he was a member of two of the label’s key bands – industrial outfit Doxa Sinistra and new wave combo Ende Shneafliet – but during the period he also recorded a swathe of solo tracks as C. Stein, most of which only saw the light of day decades later.

“La Bombe Plastique”, a thrillingly spacey and futurist cut rich in proto-techno rhythms, intergalactic electronic motifs and drowsy choral vocals. For this timely reissue, the superb original version comes accompanied by a fresh re-edit created primarily for DJ use.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Tracklisting
A1 Coco Bryce - One Hundred
B1 Coco Bryce - Saliva

Sales Note
Coco Bryce returns to 3AM Eternal and blesses us with again 2 amazing tunes.

Side A brings us "One Hundred" a rollin' amen tune which switches between beautiful euphoric vibes and full on rave in a way that only Coco can do.

The second tune "Saliva" is pure euphoria, beautiful synth melodies, heavy subs and deep pads. This one goes deep! A perfect follow up to his classic 2021 Cloud Busting/Octopus ep.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Delkom's only known previously released album. Originally released in 1990 by the wonder duo consisting of Saba Komossa and Gabi Delgado. The album is released as a continuous mix with each track delineated on the grooves.
Imagine Berlin in 1990, the wall is about to come down, no social media, no CDJs, new drugs are being standardized and this is the soundtrack to your night out in this debaucherous capital, exploding with energies that anthropology PhD students still haven't been able to fully describe. The entire record sounds like a dub mix that almost wasn't allowed to be released by the record label, unorthodox in its methods, too experimental for most studios yet highly effective on the best of dancefloors. All killer, no filler. Sexually charged lyrics, driving percussive rawness over heftily synthesized bass lines, all boxes are checked for total club mayhem. Pioneers in their own right, clearly marking their territory in Berlin dancefloor culture from its early post reunification days.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Tracklisting:
A1 Frankel & Harper - Counter Strike
A2 Frankel & Harper - Armshouse
B1 Frankel & Harper - Return
B2 Frankel & Harper - Return (Al Wootton remix)

Release Note:
Frankel & Harper deliver the appropriately named "Return EP" on their council work imprint. following on from the "Crouching Tiger EP", CWR005 sticks to the signature Council Work sound, bringing together a fusion of UK Garage, Drum 'n Bass, Breakbeat, Dub and many other flavours. The 3 original tracks feature in the shape of Counter Strike, Armshouse and Return, with the release rounded off with an infectious, stripped back remix of the title track from Trule head honcho Al Wootton. From all out dance floor destroyers, to deeper and more cinematic textures, this collection of beats should easily find a home in many record bags.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Pure Virgin EP, compiling 3 original tracks that were produce by Vietnamese artist "TrinhNu" during the most intense lockdown in Vietnam, is considered as a love letter to the early 90s dance music - unconventional, progressive and fearlessly fun. “A Shout Going Out” kicks off as a quasi-breakbeat House track, accompanied by the nostalgic samples. “The Cliffhanger”, inspired by European proto-Trance, offers a mystical ambience and a darker atmosphere to the club. On the other side, peak-time “Tu Nay” is the journey of ravey sounds with euphoric M1 synth-lines and classic samples. Liquid Earth guides “Tu Nay” into an orbit around a trippier and richer sphere of Tech House.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Few dancefloor tracks can be identified by their kick drum alone, “Blue Monday” is clearly one of them. These mixes seem to paint two very distinct pictures of this classic, yet also very understandable why they were never released – not the easiest thing to digest on a dancefloor. The authorship of these mixes isn't clear, but rumors have it to most likely be some ridiculous late night experiment from the sound engineer interning at the time. Taken from master tapes that surfaced almost 40 years later, (God bless magnetic tape). Some mixes were never released for a reason.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Tracklisting:
A1 TRANCEMAN2000 - Bloodrave (Blue Hour remix)
A2 TRANCEMAN2000 - Summer of 2003 (Bauernfeind remix)
A3 Jonas Kopp - They Live (Alpha Tracks remix)
B1 Falling Apart - 003 A1 (Skudge remix)
B2 TRANCEMAN2000 - G-String (Svagila remix)

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Tracklisting:
A1 Red Rooms - Wide Open
A2 Red Rooms - Artefacts
B1 Red Rooms - Hard Lessons
B2 Red Rooms - Behind Enemy Lines

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Tracklisting
A1 Klint - Falcon
A2 Linear System & Kimahri - Vessel
B1 Rove Ranger - Risk Management
B2 Red Rooms - Line Of Sight

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Tracklisting:
A1 Unknown - Echo From The Outer World
B1 Unknown - Minimalism In Dub

Sales Note
ECHO LTD 10" Series 002: 10" transparent blue marbled vinyl by artist Unknown

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Tracklisting
A1 OFF / GRID - Step Back
A2 OFF / GRID - Layercake
B1 OFF / GRID - Masterpiece
B2 OFF / GRID - Real Deal

Sales Note
OFF / GRID makes a captivating debut on Life In Patterns with his 'Sonic Spectrum' EP. Previously recognized as an underground gem in the techno scene due to his acclaimed, self-released EP, 'Time To Shine,' the Hamburg-based producer has garnered significant attention in 2023 with EP releases on labels like Planet Rhythm, Uncage, DifferentSound, and Entourage Concept.

On LIP009, he presents four meticulously crafted vinyl tracks and a digital bonus track, each a testament to his remarkable talent for creating hard-hitting, euphoric DJ tools. His music is distinguished by cutting stabs, hypnotic acid lines, and a distinct dub influence, all seamlessly woven together with powerful drum sounds.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

Tracklisting
A1 Private Press - Usual Suspects
A2 Private Press - Credit 9
B1 Private Press - Just Give Us Time
B2 Private Press - Slyly Troopers

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore