The quiet before the storm. The abyss before birth. The moments that came before everything else. This is Episode Zero, Ben Gibson’s inaugural album on Chronicle. It takes us soaring through a musical narrative, beaming down into vast acoustic valleys of sound. From the very rst notes the intent is apparent, lucidly slipping into a pool of full moon atmospherics. Departing deeper he carefully calculates each and every step, building momentum and pace until the way back is completely forgotten. Tracks like “Foreclosure” reach peak potential with crushed, mangled percussion, while others such as “Symptom” maintain a more seductive yet equally deadly pull. Building upon pillars of 12”s, Chronicle and Ben Gibson are now venturing into a new territory with Episode Zero marking the rst step. Join us.

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An object resists changing its state of motion with inertia. What pushes back must then be even more vigorous in order to create a uid movement. An example of the force that embodies this dynamic can be found clearly on the appropriately titled Inertia, Aiken’s much anticipated return to Chronicle. The Spanish artist has been spending years honing his craft, focusing on sharp, distinct sounds that create a pure sense of kinetic energy. The title track of the EP bolsters a erce disarray of carefully (de)constructed atonal synthwork and a rhythm section that is set to detonate. It is then followed by “Axial”, a track that stays as true to modular miscalculations as it does to stripped down techno, combining both in a subliminal cessation of sanity. However Aiken isn’t done there. He continues with “Magnetism”, which throws a brick in the glass of conventionality with its earth-shaking layers of textured momentum. Phased pads then wash over “Soul Drama”, bringing the entire experience
to an emotionally laced denouement. After the potency of his last record on Chronicle as well as his releases on imprints such as his own label Timeline and the Spanish powerhouse Semantica, Inertia marks a de nitive step forward for an already exceptionally de ned artist.

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There is a way to reach into the pulse of everything. It comes when ideas are stripped down to their bare essentials, blossoming then into massive monoliths that are designed with elegant simplicity. Such is the path taken on our next limited 7”, led by Chronicle veterans Staffan Linzatti and new comer to the stable, Arnuad Le Texier. Entitled “Far Behind The Line”, it embarks with a sense of soaring weightless that only Arnaud can provide. “Radar” is a statement of futurism, thrusting the listener forward and farther into the in nite. It’s sonic qualities mimic radio towers, satellites, and frequencies transmitted from the far reaches of the unknown. “Destination” acts as the perfect counter, disrupting the psyche in all the right ways with dissonant wails and unearthly chimes. Together they come as a distinct package, presenting an impressionistic interpretation of what may come, or what already has.

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Certain sounds inspire us, certain sounds move us, and certain sounds simply propel us deeply and immediately into a place where everything else becomes irrelevant. The latter is the vein of sonic manipulation that can be found on “What One Sees”, Sta an Linzatti’s latest workout for Chronicle. A prelude to a forthcoming album, Linzatti has once again shown his incredibly ability to morph time and space to his liking. From the pressure cooking low end in “Brink of Collapse” to the dissonant twilight zone antics of “Just A Thought”, Sta an works his way through inner space nding the perfect balance of tension and release, discord and resolve. The resolve comes during moments like “Nobody Observes The Ordinary” and “Passing Ceres”, which harmonize subtle yet intricate patterns with chimerical synthwork. It’s a vast feat, and a warning bell for the incoming musical architecture that we are so grateful to share with you.

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Recovering from the gray decay of the winter here in Berlin, we are more than ready to push forward farther into the future. In order to do so the powers at Chronicle have aligned a new musical offering to test the palate of those who know, and those who care. We are pleased to present six tracks from the prolific Arnaud le Texier, who has made waves for years with his Children of Tomorrow imprint and renowned taste. From cosmic interludes to heavy hitting transcendence, Arnaud manages to showcase all sides of his production skills as they translate into a compelling and emotive narrative. Among them stands a tribute to one who was lost along the way that we simply do not want to forget. Only rarely in this life do we stand witness to gures that make a true impression, an imprint that continues to leave a mark long after the original has passed. Max_M was one of these gures, and it is through his music and immensely dignified curatorial prowess that his legacy will live on. Arnaud’s poignant tribute stands as a personal note amongst an EP full of forceful techno suitable for deep space exploration.




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Consider this a warning – tearing out of 2015 on the gale of our compilation with the legendary duo of Jeroen Search and Dimi Angeli´s carrying us on their winds into 2016, Chronicle steps into the eye of the hurricane for its second release this year, by the mighty Mike Storm. A xture in the Dutch techno scene since the late ‘90s, it was when Michael de Winde moved to hardware live sets that he found his true inspiration, continuing to this day
to use only analogue equipment in his restless search for techno perfection. Consistently released since 2012, initially on Subsist, a label notable for
early work of SHXCXCHCXSH and Stanislav Tolkachev, he then moved on to respected underground sources such as Ars Mechanica, Orbis Records, and Belief System, where he released his 2014 album ‘Pulsars’. Supported by Mills, A&S, Arnaud Le Texier, Tadeo, Antigone, and others, we are proud to give Mike Storm the twelfth entry in the series with ‘Where the WolvesCome From’. It begins ‘At Certain Points’, channeling the jazzy mid-2000s Mills of his most abstract era with subtle string swells, cosmic bleep patterns and equally subtle Detroit-style percussion lls. ‘The Day We See’ moves into morning, with its complex, melodic bass gures and shimmering strings taking the nocturnal intro into morning following a tense lead line that enters. Again referencing Detroit but falling closer to the dystopian feelings of contemporary Terrence Dixon, ‘New Light’ is an exercise in tension between taught drum lines, dissonant keyboards, and a metallic sequence pattern. Stripping down for the hunt, the title track stalks more aggressively, razor- sharp hats and growling bass accelerating as the predator closes in on its prey, an eerie forest wind bringing terror in its path until the final struggle.


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For more than ten years Dimi Ange´lis and Jeroen Search have been working together to demonstrate just how they think serious techno should be executed. Their respective careers as individual artists are equally accomplished, but as a pair they have shown a fierce dedication to just the kind of aesthetic principles that define Chronicle as a label, and so it gives us great pleasure to present an expansive EP of six tracks that tunnel deep into the bowels of late night, uncompromising techno. While they have been known to shore up at labels as respected as M_REC LTD, Balans and Smallville, it is with their own A&S imprint that the Dutch duo have shaped out their identity the most in recent years and this new release marks a rare departure from their home turf. There is a powerful economy of elements that feed into Ange´lis and Search’s constructions on “The Order Of Occurrence”, using restraint and poise as devices of tension in the most effective way possible. From the finest slither of string sitting atop the drums to a desolate bleep ringing out in empty space, the suspense that comes from these carefully wielded elements creates as powerful an emotional reaction as any brash studio acrobatics, and that’s where the magic of A&S lies. With just the bare essential elements this pair of accomplished technonauts can say a profound amount, and in that sense they make for the perfect fit with the Chronicle mandate
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More than six years into his career after several EPs and a full album, there isn’t much known about Ben Gibson, and he is clearly keeping it that way with intent. Gibson first emerged on Jeff Mills’ experimental, influential 6277 sublabel but then again vanished into the ether; he only reappeared three years later on Perc Trax, even more surprisingly with a full-length. Since then, he’s gone on to steadily more notice with Perc’s imprint, Sect Records, and most recently M_Rec LTD in spite of the continuing lack of information. Exposure isn’t the most important thing for us at Chronicle though, and after hearing these five tracks, we saw exactly what it is that drew Mills to him from the beginning. It is a sound that we find a perfect fit for the techno futurism of our Chronicle series, and here we offer a platform for Gibson’s more sci-fi, ethereal sounding material, exclusively on vinyl for the fifth edition of our sublabel. It commences mysteriously with the big room drones of Almaz, which clearly references the work of the Detroit pioneer who initially brought him to notice. The textures of the keys slowly morph as they’re interrupted by garbled static pulses, and the tension builds steadily over the duration as the atmospheres become thicker and stark, minimalist techno drums make their entrance to develop alongside the rest. After the opener takes a quiet bow, Cemlins continues mood he has built in a static-laden soundscape of gently shifting rhythm and held tones which move steadily upward to a rousing finale. The second side opens more succinctly in techno territory with Vapour, but it again takes a lighter hand with bell-like tones floating over the rest. Here, the feeling remains optimistic rather than ominous, but he quickly shifts back for Miasma, a subtly uneasy techno track full of unbridled intent. Rhythmic static and low-mixed, funky bass move in a deliberate pace with the delicately developed drum programs. Finally, the almost-vocal sound of the haunting lead in Convey brings this mini-album to its quietly emotional conclusion. While unquestionably subdued compared to the work of many of his contemporaries, Ben Gibson’s music accomplishes expressiveness in its delicacy that is rare in modern techno. As such, it stands in the company of few but in perfect counterpoint with the rest, and as an exciting outlier and addition to Chonicle’s explorations.

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With a techno career stretching nearly a decade, Finland’s Samuli Kemppi is a natural choice for the fourth edition of THEMA’s continuing Chronicle series. His intensely rhythmic, futuristic style has been making its mark across Europe since 2004, but it was really four years later, when he was picked up by Ostgut Ton, Prologue, and Kosmisch, that the world found out the true impact of his sound. Since then he’s enjoyed his strongest support from the last of these imprints and, even more importantly, from Luke Slater’s powerhouse Mote-Evolver, a go-to since its inception in 2006 for the freshest sounds techno has to offer. Following the summer launch of his own Deep Space Helsinki label, we are proud to announce Kemppi’s Chronicle debut with Voyager, an EP of deep, science fiction sounds backed by intense beats. Characteristically for the producer, there’s no waiting to unleash the barrage of elastic basslines and layered percussion we receive in Transmission. The steadily-thickening synthesizer textures grow throughout its length, but so does the density of the drum patterning; it makes for an unstoppable catapult launch into alien territory to start the EP. A2 Horizon is more grim and heads-down, an exploration of the cosmic void between galaxies which gradually falls into accelerating orbit around a distant body. B1’s Beacon may move similarly, but it starts with a clearer trajectory and a more hopeful end point in keeping with its title. His signature busy drum machines are at their most linear and smooth here, and rather than disorient the listener they provide propulsion for the mission. The unforgiving rhythmic jack of Echoes has strong gravity, and an optimistic melody gradually swells from uneasier beginnings to finish the voyage. To ease down listeners from the depths of this dense EP, we’ve included an ambient interlude as the closer; starting off with sci-fi themes, it disintegrates into a haze of woozy echoes and rhythmic bursts of static before simply fading into the ether. Taken together, these five pieces clearly chart the continuing outbound path of Chronicle and Kemppi to the interstellar regions of techno’s growing universe.
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Following up after the mental drop by Detroit’s Master of Repetition, Population One, we have a new signing hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun, helping us to set the standards for this new imprint— uncompromised techno funk! Japanese producer Imugem Orihasam has spent the past 3 years slowly evolving. His early work on Ilian Tape and Esperanza sounds like that of an already seasoned craftsman digesting Detroit bit by bit, with a focus on lush textures and swooning eerie melodies. This past year has seen a spike in activity for Imugem, with releases on Patrice Scott’s Sistrum Recordings, Berlin’s Nsyde, and Adam Marshall’s New Kanada—all showcasing a more focused and exuberant approach that has sharpened his reflective compositions. With GEM, Imugem steps away from the supple melodies and tranquil atmospheres for a trip deep into the power plant. Working far from his comfort zone, he has fired off five tracks of puristic, hypnotic techno. We don’t mean template-driven chunky white label Discogs bait either, but something fashioned out of raw sound that places the channeling of energy above composition and cleverness. Opener 521 embodies this aesthetic with driving, echoing percussion and undulating sine waves accompanied by twisted pitch bent tones for slowly evolving static laden acid rawness. A big Sound for Big rooms to say the least for this number. A-side outro, Dissolve does just that, with some of the left over LFO nastiness from the opener boiling off.
On the B side, meditative interlude, Stare eases us into Gemikunat. Here Imugem takes a more subdued textural approach, with layers desiccated pads and modular filigree draped over a low slung broken beat rhythm. Great for opening a set or simply just taking the audience onto a different path, something Imugem does well. The improbably titled closer, Ls-VCR #E0302 brings back some more cavernous acid over some classic metallic warehouse percussion for a full on dance floor crusher.
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