We have released various fine ep's of Minilogue on Traum in the past: "Certain Things", "The Leopard", "Seconds", "Space" and the most recent one: "Let Life Dance Through You". This time we have Sebastian Mullaert's spiritual work of "Direct Experience" pressed on vinyl ! Two very different versions of a techno soul. You can virtually feel him putting hands on knobs and twisting and bending the theme in his delicate and hypnotic way. Who ever has seen Minilogue play live this feeling is captured here by Sebastian in an authentic breathtaking way. "Direct Experience" in its original version is an 11 minute voyage into Sebastian Mullaert's art of shifting and moving frequencies gently from one place to the other without ever loosing touch with the pulsating rhythms that carry all of it into your vein. The music is indeed trippy and demands an appreciation for a hypnotic state we happily approve of. The Dub version on the flip side is even more loose and secluded you can feel the music not touching the ground for a bare millimeter. 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