Tracklist
A1
A2
B1
B2



Berlin’s ZentaSkai continues his slew of limited-run 200-copy vinyl releases via his Mask Records this July, presenting the ‘JIMMY’ EP, and following up last year’s ‘Bob’ EP and two instalments from his Cuddling Monsters project with Laura Merino Allue.

Across the four tracks on ‘JIMMY’, ZentaSkai delves deep, placing mysterious, foreboding synths over crunchy taped drums and exploring a variety of tempos. Dub influences are rife, its elements echoing across carefully laid-out Techno grooves while minimal shifts subtly build the energy. With ‘JIMMY’, ZentaSkai once again offers a journey through sound already supported by Luke Slater, Blasha & Allatt, Truncate, Elisa Bee, and many more. ZentaSkai (aka No Mad Ronin, Matt Nowak, and MASK) is a German DJ and producer active since 1997. Based out of his studio in Berlin, ZentaSkai runs the Zaijenroots label and, since 2017, the Mask sub-label, which houses his stunning 2023 ‘Architecture of the Mind’ LP as well as his Cuddling Monsters alias - with other credits including a release on Jerome Sydenham’s Ibadan Records and support from the likes of Richie Hawtin, Joseph Capriati, Marcel Dettmann, Luke Slater, Laurant Garnier, DVS1, Ben Sims and Radio Slave.
ZentaSkai ‘JIMMY’ releases via Mask Records 4th July 2025









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Genres: Dub Techno, Techno, House


ZentaSkai and Laura Merino Allue return to Mask Records as Cuddling Monsters with volume two of their vinyl-only house and techno series


Tracklist:
A1 Dark REM
A2 Monster Talk
B1 Event Horizon
B2 Temporal Aura

Arriving on a limited 200-copy translucent orange vinyl, 'Dark REM' on Cuddling Monsters’ second release on Mask Records is a hunched-over and direct dub techno cut with forceful drums and deft percussion, adding texture next to warm, sustained pads.
There's a real sense of urgency in this most frictionless groove, which means it cannot fail to cast a spell on the dance floor. The fantastic 'Event Horizon' is then infused with the aura of deep space - sustained chords with a cosmic edge add vast scale to the well-programmed deep techno drums. 'Monster Talk' is a mid-tempo dub track with underlapping drums and rattling, rusted chords that disappear to infinity. It's cavernous and evocative, with myriad little details occupying the mind. 'Temporal Aura' is another standout sound that blends deep techno, dub, and minimal into a serene soundtrack that encourages inward reflection while driving onwards through the cosmos.
Mask Records founder ZentaSkai and his creative partner Laura Merino Allue are Berlin mainstays helping shape the underground. Cuddling Monsters is a new project that debuted on the label in March. It is all about crafting music with analogue instruments, which they believe "offer distinctive sonic qualities, creative constraints, and genuine sound reproduction”. They explore Detroit-infused house, dub techno and minimal soundscapes with raw edges and a great sense of atmosphere. Cuddling Monsters' 'Cuddling Monsters_CM Vol. 02' releases via Mask Records on 6th December 2024.








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3x12" Gatefold White Vinyl (Download Code Inside)


1. Extrawelt - Dark Side Of My Room (DE-Q20-08-00161)
2. Extrawelt - Wippsteert (DE-Q20-08-00162)
3. Extrawelt - Trümmerfeld (DE-Q20-08-00165)
4. Extrawelt - Must Attack (DE-Q20-08-00164)
5. Extrawelt - Wolkenbruch (DE-Q20-08-00166)
6. Extrawelt - Added Planet (DE-Q20-08-00167)
7. Extrawelt - Daten Raten (DE-Q20-08-00169)
8. Extrawelt - Lost In Willaura (DE-Q20-08-00170)
9. Extrawelt - Kurt Curtain (Skit) (DE-Q20-08-00168)
10. Extrawelt - One Tree Hill (DE-Q20-08-00160)
11. Extrawelt - Messy Machinery (Rough Mix) (DE-Q20-00-01376)
12. Extrawelt - Homing (DE-Q20-08-00171)
13. Extrawelt - Bright Side Of My Room (DE-Q20-22-00014)



Including all the tracks from the original release. But adding "Bright Side Of My Room" to the list as a counterpart of "Dark Side Of My Room" makes this release even more attractive. And to top it all off, as another treat, there's the "Messy Machinery" Rough Mix instead of the Original Mix.

It's all about hooking up our music to the emotional world of electronic music at the beginning of the Nineties, however, without falling for nostalgic references. We don't want to do cowardly Zeitgeist Techno, we want to have the heart to dare big sounds and more melodies. Sunrise scenarios, energy, revolution, and kaput-ness, all these are parts of the Extrawelt." (Extrawelt, 2008)

However, don't panic even if the aesthetics of the debut album of the two Hamburg-born artists Arne Schaffhausen and Wayan Raabe is affected by the attentive observation of electronic dance music over the last fifteen years, the "Schöne Neue Extrawelt" is above all this: Premium Techno 2008! The Hamburg-based producer team has been unmistakably imprinting the last three years' club sound with widely noticed releases on Border Community ("Sooper Track"), Traum Schallplatten ("Doch Doch") and Cocoon Recordings ("Titelheld") as well as with remixes for Gregor Tresher, Minilogue or Alexander Kowalski - last but not least due to an excellent live presence, that resulted in the second rank in the Groove Live Act Charts, even still without the accompanying long-player.

The work on "Schöne Neue Extrawelt" started more than two years ago for Schaffhausen and Raabe. "The initial idea was to present an album covering all styles of electronic music between Ambient, Breakbeats, and Techno. When we had 25 tracks for the album ready, we had to realize that this approach did not work for us. Insofar, we finally decided to use the 4/4 bass drum in all tracks except in the little intermezzo "Kurt Curtain". We have tested all tracks live over the last three months and constantly re-interpreted them. So, the 'danceability' is clearly in our focus, but the sound spectrum and the dramaturgy of the titles should not be solely functioning in the club. Our intention was definitely not to deliver an album full of superficial peak time hits."

Those twelve tracks on "Schöne Neue Extrawelt", all unreleased, are therefore primarily representing a pleasurable 'in-between', the organic development of hypnotically compressed dance music that is more than "just" Minimal Techno, reduced Trance or electronic listening sounds of the Warp era - even all those elements have left their marks. From the richly decorated musical-clock-intro "One Tree Hill" via the stereo singing bowl of "Trümmerfeld" to the Asian-sounding creaking of "Daten Raten", Extrawelt celebrate a vision of futuristic melancholy with organic detail richness, which is permanently in motion but is nevertheless seeming to be well-balanced. However, in the Extrawelt universe, one gets along quite well with antagonisms. "We have always been polarizing, not only in the Techno scene but also in the Trance scene. Because in the end, "Schöne Neue Extrawelt" - freely adapted from Aldous Huxley - is now not only a big neon-colored future but is likewise positioned in the often-disillusioning grey of the here and now."





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Back by Popular Demand in a 2025 Re Press Edition in /with Original 50th Anniversary Edition Art and Acessories:

LP, f irst-ever official reissue on vinyl since 1975, , 140G Transparent "Transcendent" Vinyl, 350gsm Quadro Fold Out Sleeve, exactly replicates complex/original OHR die-cut jacket,
A2 Poster, 2x (German and English) A4 Inlay with Original Bio Sheet written by Manuel Göttsching (1970),
Sticker, 50th Anniversary RE-Edition, Re-Cut carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching,

2. GENRE/S: Krautrock, Kosmische, Early Progressive-/Psychedelic-Rock, Early Electronics

3. TRACKLIST:

A. "Amboss" 19:40
B. "Traummaschine" 25:24


Personell:
Hartmut Enke - Gibson bass,
Manuel Göttsching - Electric guitar, Vocals, electronics,
Klaus Schulze - Drums, percussion, electronics

Engineered by: Conny Plank
Artwork: Bernhard Bendig

Recorded in March 1971, Star Studio Hamburg





4. INFO:

Ash Ra Tempel is the eponymous debut studio album by the Krautrock band Ash Ra Tempel.
It features guitarist Manuel Göttsching with drummer Klaus Schulze and bassist Hartmut Enke.
Engineered by Conny Plank it was recorded in March 1971 and released in June 1971 on Ohr Records.
This 50Th Anniversary Album will be Released in Memoriam of all the Musical Contributors to this Release and on Manuel Göttsching´s MG.ART label.
It´s the fourth and headlining edition in this series and was finalised, carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching himself in the late Autumn of 2022.

Much has been written about the record and band.

Having finished a first musical chapter with their Steeple Chase Bluesband and still at very young age of only 17 and 18 years old Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke met Klaus Schulze. Together they started to write and and compose what, to many,
became one the holy grails of Psychedelic Rock and early Electronic Music -
the German variant which was later also named "Krautrock":

Ash Ra Tempel´s self-titled first album "Ash Ra Tempel".

"The trio of Klaus Schulze, Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke decided to abandon conventional composition and song writing, in favour of free-form improvising and developing a new musical language. As such, they became notorious for jams that could exceed 30 minutes." Says Discogs. "Some of these recordings can be found on Manuel Göttsching´s "The Private Tapes" releases", which will be re-released on MG.ART as well, following this edition.


"Krautrocksampler" author Julian Cope mentioned it to be "… one of the greatest rock 'n' roll LPs ever made." (Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage | Unsung | Reviews | Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel". 15 March 2000.)

AllMusic called the album "both astonishingly prescient and just flat out good, a logical extension of the space-jam-freakout ethos into rarified realms."



Here we would like the Band to be heard, for what can easily be said as the first time in 50+ years, with the exception of some early Journalists for whom the young Manuel Göttsching wrote a statement of intent (the original text can be found inside this edition) as following:

"Our musical concept is based on a combination of blues rock and delicate collages of electronic sound. These two elements should remain inseparable. And in their complex unity, the different musical philosophies of each musician find a common sweet spot. Our music is a permanently impulsive experience left to develop as it will, starting from a common fixed point of departure. This is where the difficulty of the music begins: No standardized formulation of our music can and should be possible. Only the constant reaction within the band can determine the musical result. And this requires constant listening with full concentration on the part of the creators. The idea of a particular musician will be - if flexible enough - absorbed by the others, transposed to their own instrument, and reflected back into the music as an individual contribution. This reciprocity within the band is then transferred over to the audience. And this process means that their reaction is not only a contribution to the end result; it actually makes them jointly responsible for the creation of the final musical product.
…
On our album, the track "Amboss" represents the first layer. Conventional instruments communicate familiar music which is in part expanded through electronic means. In the second track of the album - "Traummaschine" - the actual basic sound approach is dissolved into an electronic Nirvana which no longer allows the concrete identification of actual instruments. Innocent, virgin listening, free from any and every association, can finally begin - and the music can be absorbed and processed free from the limitations of categorization. That is the purpose of our music: To convey freedom without any predetermined criteria or traditions.

Thank you for your attention."
(Taken from the original A-R-T Bio 1970)


Hartmut Enke, Manuel Göttsching and Klaus Schulze aka. Ash Ra Tempel travelled to Hamburg in March 1971 to record their debut, with assistance of another Icon, legendary engineer Conny Plank.
The rest is history.



www.manuelgoettsching.com


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