Tracklist 12":
A1. Venus (Sebastian Mullaert Remix Phaze One)
A2. Venus (Sebastian Mullaert Remix Phaze Two)
B. U Special feat. JAW (Brett Johnson Remix)

Short info:
Swiss DJ & producer, Mirko Loko, continued to indulge in his intergalactic persuasions on last year's long player "Comet Plan". Released on Cadenza, Mirko's second album was enthusiastically received and picked up many fans for its collection of blissfull and wide-eyed electronica and techno sounds. Featured guests on the album included dOP's vocalist, JAW, and Francesco Tristano.

12 months on, and "Comet Plan" gets revisited and remixed by two stellar names from the electronic dance community.

Sebastian Mullaert is well known for partnership with Marcus Henriksson as Minilogue, the Swedish duo responsible for killer albums & singles for the likes of Cocoon, Silver Planet and Wagon Repair. Mullaert plumps for a solo remix of "Venus" of epic proportions, split into two versions; "Phaze One" and "Phaze Two". An organic trip through the cosmos, Mullaert tweaks and teases over two seductively trippy versions, showing us a master class in minimal electronics.

Hailing from Dallas, Brett Johnson has become synonymous with masterful jackin house music via singles for Derrick Carter's Classic, DJ Sneak's Magnetic, Freerange and Visionquest. Brett tackles "U Special" featuring JAW, and turn in a very tasty Remix and Instrumental version. Soulful, spacey and groovy in equal doses, Brett delivers the goods in abundance on these mixes.

A tight remix package that bows respectfully to Mirko's original visions, and a timely reminder, to the uninitiated, to check out the album for further inspection.
More

Six years on from his debut album on Cadenza, Swiss DJ/producer Mirko Loko comes with the follow up to 2009's 'Seventynine' as he catapults us into the techno and electronica galaxy with 'Comet Plan'.

"Un voyage entre toute mes influences," Mirko Loko shares, breaking into his mother tongue to describe the essence of his sophomore longplayer that was conceived in Berlin and later birthed in his hometown of Lausanne after a two-year gestation period.

Literally translated as 'to travel between my influences', it's a fitting summation of an artist whose work has respectfully mined early inspiration from Detroit and Chicago that laid the foundations of the emotion-filled productions that we know of him from today.

In addition to this, Mirko sees his connection with Luciano's Cadenza Music, a relationship that's been in existence since dot one and saw the likes of Ricardo Villalobos, Melchoir, Pedro and Rahdoo make up one of the most innovative crews in dance music, as leaving an indelible imprint on his musical DNA to this day.

It's Mirko's strong sense of musical identity that is at the core of 'Comet Plan', a work that's equally informed by the artist's spiritual connection with the Motor City as his halcyon Cadenza roots.

And one thing's for sure; he knows how to captivate: take 'Venus' whose trickles of melody and syncopated drum rhythms increases in intensity with each bar towards an eerie crescendo. Then there's 'U Special' that builds the kind of subtle party vibes you could imagine Luciano dropping to create one of those moments to a heaving blissed out dancefloor.

'Kolor' - the album's early single (also remixed by Carl Craig as part of an excellent EP package) is sprinkled with a dusting of xylophones, chimes and other bells as the melody is driven forward for a heady trip across the electronic galaxy. A few tracks later 'Timeline' sees Mirko draft in pianist visionary and electronic composer Francesco Tristano for an absorbing piano house jam session with a difference before handing the collaborative baton to dOP vocalist JAW and taking us down a murky, slightly menacing house path with 'Danger'. For the finale, the melody-soaked futurism of 'Coelum Piuzis' pours, wave after wave out of the speakers … se termine le voyage.
More

Tracklist 12":
A. Kolor (Original Mix) B. Kolor (C2 Remix Part One)
Short info:
Six years on from his debut album on Cadenza, Mirko Loko returns to the fold with a follow up album ("Comet Plan") and a single ("Kolor"). 2009's "Seventynine" long player helped catapult Mirko's profile, not only as a producer, but also as DJ, regularly spinning alongside the Cadenza crew, and with Detroit luminaries such as Derrick May and Carl Craig. And it's on this single that Mirko invites friend and peer, Carl Craig, to remix under his C2 guise.
Wearing his influences on his sleeve, Mirko is obviously indebted to the techno music of the Motor City, and these classic Detroit tropes are certainly used in the building blocks of the original mix of "Kolor", a sprawling and pacey intergalactic journey sprinkled with a dusting of xylophones, bells & chimes, as the melody is driven forward for a heady trip across the night skies. On the flip, Planet E founder, and highly respected Detroit electronic producer, Carl Craig, weighs in with the first of a two-part remix (part two features on the digital release of the single). Keeping the 4/4 framework of the original mix, and stripping back the percussion somewhat, the C2 Remix Part One is brimming with Craig's trademark sound, from the elastic synths and flanged percs to the heavy low end line that comes in about two thirds of the way through. A perfect introduction to many of the aural treats in store on the "Comet Plan" album out on Cadenza in May.
More

Just in time to warm the winter months up north (and soundtrack some seriously dreamy summer nights down south) comes a very special remix package for Mirko Loko's album Seventynine, featuring three certified legends of house and techno: Carl Craig, Ricardo Villalobos and Cadenza's own master of ceremonies, Luciano. And when we say "very special," we mean it: these are big tunes with a deceptively subtle touch, and their sleight-of-hand moves are going to turn all types of dance floors upside down. On the A-side, Planet E's Carl Craig tackles "Love Harmonic" and turns in what might just be his most expansive remix since Junior Boys' "Like a Child." Stretching to nearly 12 minutes and following a long, gradual buildup of rolling congas, you might not immediately realize quite how mammoth this tune is. It's only once you're in the thick of things, with those trademark C2 sawtooth drones slicing through a glistening haze of strings, that you feel its full impact: this isn't just a journey, it's a trip around the world in a hot-air balloon. On the B-side, Ricardo Villalobos takes us to a place only he knows how to reach with "Takhtok 'Hilery's Chant' remix (edit)," placing the chanting children's choir of the original at center stage, and framing them with a velvety curtain of fuzzy synthesizers and shirred, crumpled beats. The groove assembles itself around whispering shakers and a crisp handclap, with tiny percussive scraps left floating in the air; everything feels at once close up and faraway. Time doesn't so much stop as congeal into a swirling, bubbling gel; the liquid pulse is inside you and all around you. This is Ricardo at his amniotic best.
More

It's always a special event when Cadenza releases an artist album, given their relative rarity. In fact, not counting copious doublepacks, the Cadenza Contemporary 01 mix CD, and Ricardo Villalobos' counterintuitively titled Achso EP, there has only been one so far: Los Updates' First If You Please. Making things even more special, Mirko Loko's Seventynine is both his debut solo album and his first appearance on Cadenza, all adding up to a triply celebratory moment. Not that Mirko is a newcomer: as part of Lazy Fat People, he lapped up accolades for releases on Border Community, Wagon Repair and Carl Craig's Planet E, among others. And no one can forget last year's Family EP, a collaborative effort by Mirko and Luciano, released on Loco Dice and Martin Buttrich's Desolat. Now, with Seventynine, Mirko takes us even deeper into his musical imagination, introducing listeners to a side of him they may not have heard before. At its heart, the album celebrates the communal ideal of dance music with spirited, percussive tracks offering a clear distillation of what could only be described as the Cadenza sound. But Mirko also diverges from the dance floor, ducking into shadowy corners in search of more private emotions. Rather than scattering energy, that tension between moods helps bind the album into a potent, coherent whole. "Sidonia" opens, immediately announcing that this won't be merely business as usual. With its groaning sub-bass and flickering percussive flashes, the track echoes the dubby, drifting melancholy of classic Warp records-always, in truth, a key influence for Cadenza. Bells and voices lend an atmosphere of shimmering energy that's carried over into "Around the Angel," which sails jubilantly forward, propelled by intricate polyrhythms and uplifting female vocals.
"Love Harmonic" returns its attention to a classic, melodic sound inspired equally by Detroit and Sheffield, as lean drum-machine patterns entwine with loping congas, and lush strings color everything delicate shades of yellow and rose. "On Fire" marks a 180-degree turn, pursuing a scorched-earth policy as blasts of white noise fire off slow, rhythmic bursts. Sirens and electronic squeals only add to the tension, culminating in nearly nine minutes of techno intensity. After that, "Astral Vacuum" offers necessary respite via a short, beatless passage of strings and abstract sound, before Mirko takes us once again into the breach with "Bluebook," a lean, focused groove battered by metallic drums and shot through with voices and bleeps ripped from radio transmissions. (So this, you may think, is how it feels to ride a satellite.) "Shadow" is deep and melancholic, with a booming 808 kick underpinning ragged, gleaming chords and frayed strings; its hard, mineral edge provides the perfect setup for the cottony flux of "Takhtok." The children's chant will doubtless draw comparisons to Ricardo Villalobos' "Enfants," but here childlike innocence turns ambiguous, even sinister, as the repetitions rise over a primal beat; scraps of Bulgarian folk song give the track a weirdly timeless quality, strange and familiar all at once. With "Le Monologue d'Orfeu," Mirko returns to one of his endlessly unspooling, headlong grooves. Spinning like a water wheel, limpid tones wash gently over everything, and a long spoken passage in hushed Portuguese falls over the music like a dream's veil. It's just one of the album's many examples of Mirko's talent for simplicity, for stripping back to reveal the essence of a particular feeling. "Altrove" is another cinematic interlude, two minutes of molten strings and electronic birdcall you wish could go on forever. But there's one more dance to be had: "You Know Where," which rises from a wooden, skippy rhythm into a string-laden celebration of techno at its most melodic. Having twice performed at DEMF, "You Know Where" might well refer to the Motor City; in any case, its deep, sung/grunted bassline serves as the warm, pulsing heart for this massive, man/machine mover. It's a glorious finish to an album that never takes its eyes off the horizon, sending it up, over and beyond. Seventynine is ultimately all about the journey, as it travels between Lausanne, Detroit and outlying points on electronic music's map. Mirko's travelogue bridges the gap between a classic Motor City influence and Cadenza's own nomadic aesthetic, firing up dance floors and fueling the imagination.
Tracklisting CD
1. Sidonia
2. Around The Angel
3. Love Harmonic
4. On Fire
5. Astral Vaccum
6. Bluebook
7. Shadow
8. Takhtok
9. Le Monologue d'Orfeu
10. Altrove
11. You Know Where
More

It's always a special event when Cadenza releases an artist album, given their relative rarity. In fact, not counting copious doublepacks, the Cadenza Contemporary 01 mix CD, and Ricardo Villalobos' counterintuitively titled Achso EP, there has only been one so far: Los Updates' First If You Please. Making things even more special, Mirko Loko's Seventynine is both his debut solo album and his first appearance on Cadenza, all adding up to a triply celebratory moment. Not that Mirko is a newcomer: as part of Lazy Fat People, he lapped up accolades for releases on Border Community, Wagon Repair and Carl Craig's Planet E, among others. And no one can forget last year's Family EP, a collaborative effort by Mirko and Luciano, released on Loco Dice and Martin Buttrich's Desolat. Now, with Seventynine, Mirko takes us even deeper into his musical imagination, introducing listeners to a side of him they may not have heard before. At its heart, the album celebrates the communal ideal of dance music with spirited, percussive tracks offering a clear distillation of what could only be described as the Cadenza sound. But Mirko also diverges from the dance floor, ducking into shadowy corners in search of more private emotions. Rather than scattering energy, that tension between moods helps bind the album into a potent, coherent whole. "Sidonia" opens, immediately announcing that this won't be merely business as usual. With its groaning sub-bass and flickering percussive flashes, the track echoes the dubby, drifting melancholy of classic Warp records-always, in truth, a key influence for Cadenza. Bells and voices lend an atmosphere of shimmering energy that's carried over into "Around the Angel," which sails jubilantly forward, propelled by intricate polyrhythms and uplifting female vocals.
"Love Harmonic" returns its attention to a classic, melodic sound inspired equally by Detroit and Sheffield, as lean drum-machine patterns entwine with loping congas, and lush strings color everything delicate shades of yellow and rose. "On Fire" marks a 180-degree turn, pursuing a scorched-earth policy as blasts of white noise fire off slow, rhythmic bursts. Sirens and electronic squeals only add to the tension, culminating in nearly nine minutes of techno intensity. After that, "Astral Vacuum" offers necessary respite via a short, beatless passage of strings and abstract sound, before Mirko takes us once again into the breach with "Bluebook," a lean, focused groove battered by metallic drums and shot through with voices and bleeps ripped from radio transmissions. (So this, you may think, is how it feels to ride a satellite.) "Shadow" is deep and melancholic, with a booming 808 kick underpinning ragged, gleaming chords and frayed strings; its hard, mineral edge provides the perfect setup for the cottony flux of "Takhtok." The children's chant will doubtless draw comparisons to Ricardo Villalobos' "Enfants," but here childlike innocence turns ambiguous, even sinister, as the repetitions rise over a primal beat; scraps of Bulgarian folk song give the track a weirdly timeless quality, strange and familiar all at once. With "Le Monologue d'Orfeu," Mirko returns to one of his endlessly unspooling, headlong grooves. Spinning like a water wheel, limpid tones wash gently over everything, and a long spoken passage in hushed Portuguese falls over the music like a dream's veil. It's just one of the album's many examples of Mirko's talent for simplicity, for stripping back to reveal the essence of a particular feeling. "Altrove" is another cinematic interlude, two minutes of molten strings and electronic birdcall you wish could go on forever. But there's one more dance to be had: "You Know Where," which rises from a wooden, skippy rhythm into a string-laden celebration of techno at its most melodic. Having twice performed at DEMF, "You Know Where" might well refer to the Motor City; in any case, its deep, sung/grunted bassline serves as the warm, pulsing heart for this massive, man/machine mover. It's a glorious finish to an album that never takes its eyes off the horizon, sending it up, over and beyond. Seventynine is ultimately all about the journey, as it travels between Lausanne, Detroit and outlying points on electronic music's map. Mirko's travelogue bridges the gap between a classic Motor City influence and Cadenza's own nomadic aesthetic, firing up dance floors and fueling the imagination.
Tracklisting do12"
A1 Love Harmonic
B1 On Fire
C1 Around The Angel
D1 Takhtok
More