Sebastian Mullaert has always been a seeker and an innovator, so naturally his long awaited debut solo album, "A Place Called o Inkonst" presents an unique artistic concept and a thoughtful exploration of the relationship between sound and space. For several weeks, Mullaert spent most of his time at Kontra-Musik's home base Inkonst, an old chocolate factory turned cultural hub in the busy urban area of Mollan, Malmo city. Working in solitude outside the venue's usual hours, he built his live rig in front of the PA, right in the middle of the dance floor. This figurative role reversal between a dancer and performer allowed him to fully immerse himself in a perspective as close as possible to that of the audience during the process of creation. Mullaert's recording studio lies deep within a beautiful forest in the south of Sweden, a setting which has increasingly made its mark on his music: lush, green and spacious. It's a lovely place that makes for equally lovely music, but contentment is art's worst enemy. The complete displacement during the recording process of this album has affected his music profoundly. Mullaert's usually wide horizon of green hills and tall beech wood is more condensed and focused here, taking the form of urban patterns of life. Shades of longing and melancholy run through the album and those hazy ambient parts are no longer modelled on morning mist, they are exuding from smoke machines. The album is an exploration of improvisation, an approach that has become far more than a method for Mullaert: For him this is a way of encountering the present. The tracks are expressions of chance; collisions and collaborations of sound waves caught in the moment by Mullaert, like snapshots of fleeting harmony. The thematics are always distinct but at the same time ever morphing, pulsating and breathing like living entities. As the music changes we accordingly change with it. New patterns of movement and thought emerge and we improvise to keep up. This is the concept of dancing in its purest form, but also of meditation. A place called o Inkonst is made for both. A place called o Inkonst is Sebastian Mullaert's hommage to improvisation - an approach that is central to his work as a musician, as well as his critically acclaimed Circle Of Live event series concept he launched last year. The here and now is always in a state of flux, so improvising is the only true way to experience the present.

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Who is Boelja? Who is Sebastian Mullaert? Who are they really? Are they the finite body and a collection of thoughts? And who are you? Are you your memories or perhaps your projections of the future? Or are you this present moment? What is silence? Is it solely the absence of sound? Or are all sounds springing out of silence and falls back into the same? And what is sound without context? Is it just nonsense? Or is there something more universal to it? Where did the second vinyl go? Is it sitting in an attic or warehouse somewhere waiting to be discovered? Is it being played as you are reading this? Is all of this just a game? Are YOU being played? Did someone make this music or did the music just happen? Where does the process of creation start? Where does it end? And who is the listener? How does the listener affect the music? Is there really any separation between the creator, listener and the music? Are they all one and the same? What is next? Where is all this going?Is there an end? Or are your actions just another event happening in this never-ending stream of consciousness? And to whom is it happening? More

sebastian mullaert, sweden’s long standing techno, experimental and ambient producer, is back on mule musiq with three deep tunes that shake your emotions profoundly. on the a-side the epic track “mirror” seduces with discreet claps, a kind of drunken groove, deeply meditative tones and a twisted melody that arrests your emotions inwardly. on the b-side you find two tracks by the same name: “broken mirror”. b1 is a sensible layered grower that delivers unhasty grooving minimal techno for those who love to dance slow. the second “broken mirror” tune comes as a “wa wu we reflection”, is even more slow, but still deeply groovy and packed with mesmerizing sound particles that stretch your mind and soul endlessly. electronic music straight from the heart. full of human sensitivity delivered with sebastian mullaert’s very own signature feeling for rhythmical journeys full of musicality and details in melody, chords and tones. More

Revered Swedish producer Sebastian Mullaert releases his first exclusive vinyl on Default Position after the huge success of his remix to Vedanta in 2014. Sebastian first made his name as one half of the acclaimed duos Minilogue and Son Kite, but in recent times focuses on his solo career, which sees him appearing at clubs and festivals all over the world and releasing on some of the industry's most respected labels and imprints. Samunnati is a brand new double vinyl EP featuring four original mixes from Mulleart, with remixes from fellow Swedish duo Johanna Knutson & Hans Berg, Belgium's Daniel[i] and label founder Joseph S. Joyce. Its genesis lies in a melody recorded live on Sebastian's Roland SH101 which has been resampled and processed in many different ways, offering several contrasting mixes to suit many different tastes and styles. More

Apollo proudly presents the ‘All The Keys Are Here’ EP, Sebastian Mullaert’s beguiling debut on the label following collaborations with Mathew Jonson, Eitan Reiter, Aril Brikha and Ulf Eriksson, as well as releases for Hypercolour, Drumcode, Mule Musiq and Kontra Musik. While most well-known historically for his widescreen melodic techno as one half of Minilogue, Mullaert’s compositions for ‘All The Keys Are Here’ draw on a lusher, more organic palette of sounds, thrumming with intimate inner vibrations. Originating from piano based improvisations, these four musical excursions embrace simplicity through repetition and sparse arrangements that make for an ecstatic, enveloping listening experience.and French horn). Indeed two of the tracks featured on ‘All The Keys Are Here’; “Every Moment I Am” and “Earth Blossom” were part of the concert repertoire. ‘All The Keys Are Here's shimmering sonic panoramas perfectly summarise this exciting new chapter in Sebastian Mullaert’s ongoing musical journey and partnership with Apollo. More

This full length CD album by Mario Hammer and And The Lonely Robot might come as a surprise to you, because you might not have them on the radar. But Mario has already left traces of his skill especially by releasing single trax of modular music on our series Tour De Traum as well as recording under the name of RWAC. Since then people had caught up on to him... like Robert Babicz who asked him for remixes and DJs like Dominik Eulberg who inspired him to leave the path of dance culture and to work just with sounds. The result is a 60 minute non dance full analogue piece of modular music: L'esprit De L'escalier More

After releasing his stunning debut "Diamond Days" on Traum and the follow up "Nothingness EP" Egokind told us he had the idea for an album already sitting in the back of his head. To be able to convert all of his ideas he asked his long time friend and collaborator Ozean to work with him. For both of them "Transition" is their debut album, but both artists can draw on a lot of experience recording music from multiple genres. We selected 4 of the album tracks for the vinyl version... The A1 track "Mega" is a track which illustrates Egokind & Ozean's approach to touch many grounds resulting in something gigantic. The track itself begins rather acoustic inviting you to the private world of Egokind & Ozean, before it becomes a joyous balearic tune that despite its wealth keeps slight dissonances coming and going. "Every Time You Smile" is an energetic piece of warped music which swells and and then in the next moment is diminished to small islands of voices that turn like mad creating a new cosmos almost comical at times, but always very kind and gentle as well. On the flipside "Light Realms" flows into "Silverbird" with no pause: "Silverbird" then opens the curtain and lets the sun fill out the whole room with yellow golden rays. Egokind & Ozean then unfold a garage house track which makes small turns but stay very organic and warm. And "Everybody Dance Now" by its title makes things very clear. Egokind & Ozean have crammed all their skills here into an hi-energy dance track, still keeping one big surprise to come halftime, when they decide to leave the trail of club culture by introducing a fantastic acoustic intermezzo, juggling and bending their sounds to the max. More

Der Interpret is a collaboration of Arne Schaffhausen from Extrawelt and his long time friend Marcus C. Maichel with whom he (and also Wayan Raabe) collaborated in early days under the moniker of The Delta. The trax have been recorded in the Extrawelt studio and feature 3 tracks. As Arne Schaffhausen said, Marcus was a mentor to him in the beginning and it was really nice to team up with him again after so long for this special 3 track vinyl. The opening track "Since Forever" brings ideas of early techno and rave, so to speak big bold chords reminiscent of Inner City "Good Life" or any other good R&S act of that time, together with tiny climbing tones that install that certain kind of hypnotic and analog trippyness that melts on top of their beats like snow. A nostalgic moment turns up for sure when the track plunges into the break and gives full attention to the chord melody and so it is a flashback to a great period of time full of euphoria the two have shared here with "Since Forever". The b1 track on the vinyl EP is "Landfall"."Landfall" is a sensual paraglider of a post Detroit track. Carried by a cautiously raised and lowered synth tone sequence it acts as if a step beyond could cause enormous damage. The track then aviates through a cool beat programming which is quite Extrawelt-nesque, keeping that balance nice grooves can achieve... hangs in the air in a good way... only to be interrupted by a loud Detroit - electro synth stab that cuts the track in two parts. All that just lasts for a bit longer than a second, the chord is then sucked into the arrangement to a degree where you could say it is almost absorbed… as if it was the most natural thing to be. The "Since Forever Dub" is a phantasmic remix as it really shows that a mix can create something totally new. So that might be the mix for all of you who cannot relate so much to the old school idea of techno and instead seek a more atmospheric soothing dubbed out version. Feel at home with this version as we think it could easily have gone on forever. Rewind! More

The Hamburg based Hannes Rasmus released a record in 2013 called "Analog Ist Besser" on Gold Panda's precious label Notown which also featured Luke Abbott from Border Community. This put him on the map for minimal electronic melodic music with a lot of tastemakers and friends of melodic techno. His EP on Traum "Musik Für Fünf Maschinen" refers to the equipment he used to write the music… the title of the tracks however refer to swimming pools. The opening track "Eine Leichte Brise Weht Über Das Sonnendeck" starts with of touch of early Detroit techno and in the course of it suddenly takes a big leap, a kind of an acceleration gaining a momentum of great zero gravity and effortlessness and you realize this is just the right amount of a different spirit to make it go down well in 2014. When another nice vintage synths kicks in, a nostalgic desire is expressed by a swaying sound doing all kinds of contortion but showing no clear direction... you know it is an awesome track. The track then lingers on in this mood until it slowly fades out like a piece of paper laying outside in the sun for days. So the title oft he track which translates "A breeze blows over the sun deck" describes it in a tellingly way. A track that perfectly grasps and verbalizes a personal and philosophical feel. The b1 track "Die Rache Der Gummienten" plunges straightaway into a driving analogue sequence that is then joined by a contrasting one, which is a heavenly and romantic sounding melody Hannes played here. This is music with a view... like old seaside resorts still have that feeling in their paint. We feel less of a breeze here but more of a cloud formation marching along the horizon in double speed. Great! "Blicke Über Den Planschbeckenrand" is another great tune and in fact very different to other tracks. The track has a walking bass and stop & go motion. It likes to break down and regain its energy and motion build up before and so it creates a slick kind of waveform gesture all through he track. Or you may say it is a bit like a hand reaching out for a piece of soap that slips through your fingers. The track is equally euphoric as the other tracks but keeps the understatement making it a very charming and forceful tune. More

Following the success of Dominik Eulberg and Gabriel Ananda's "The Space Between Us", in November 2013 on Traum the duo has been in the studio to chuck out another piece of music which has again so little in common with post minimal dance music of now. One can say the guys have found their formula to create euphoria on the parameter of "live and let live". The only exercised discipline is to tolerate each other without restraint. This is possible as their partnership now lasts since 2005 resulting 2006 in "Harzer Roller" and later also in "Kirschplunder & Jasmin Tee Bei Gabriel" and "Eucalypse Now!" And as Domink has put it in his own words: "Gabriel Ananda and I are like two magnets. Either we erase each other or adjusted correctly with N & S pols, then an energy is generated which easily exceeds the sum of its single components. To create the synergy we have developed a formula in which we each only doe what creates true joy. The result is a flow of music (Panta Rhei). We have made the experience that by widening our musical horizons also the synergy grows. Shame, fear, repression, take a back seat. The motto is: all is possible but there is no must!"" More

Advanced Techno from the accomplished artist who is known for his sophisticated productions. More