As one third of the founding trio of revered Cologne imprint Magazine, JENS-UWE BEYER has become an obvious choice for any adept of open-minded electronic music, both through releases such as the one-track-one-hour manifesto "Red Book" (Magazine 008), several contributions to our Pop Ambient compilation series or inspired remixes for Barnt, Dream Weapons and others. Besides this being the same mastermind as the one behind the ongoing Popnoname brand, you wouldn't expect upcoming THE EMISSARY to actually be a debut - but it is, for it's the very first time that we're treated to a full-length offering under the artist's real name. To those who happen to know him personally, JENS-UWE BEYER is already a pretty multi-faceted guy, so it doesn't come as a surprise to them when his new album THE EMISSARY is, too. And what a well-rounded album this turns out to be, delving deep into a highly personal and unique sound cosmos made almost entirely of atmospheric pulses and beautifully textured drones. Layers and layers of minute details float in a cloud of sound, surging and fading in the most organic manner, giving the listener the impression of this actually being a pop album hiding in plain sight. Well... we didn't call it pop ambient for no reason, right? But the connection goes a little bit deeper than just some GAS-infused sample droning with a hint of rhythmic structure - called a "very intimate" album by its creator, this collage of personal sonic impressions doesn't just check the boxes of what normally could be labeled pop ambient. It's a bit like a silent riot, calm on the outside, but seething on the inside, a run against the grain while embracing all the template has to offer. It's "more a question than an answer", says the producer, "and about the freedom to hear your own music in between the recorded sounds". His intention is to "open up spaces" - highly idiosyncratic spaces, pathways into the metaphysical, with "every listener being his own emissary" on this uncharted territory. Time for an adventure! More

As one third of the founding trio of revered Cologne imprint Magazine, JENS-UWE BEYER has become an obvious choice for any adept of open-minded electronic music, both through releases such as the one-track-one-hour manifesto "Red Book" (Magazine 008), several contributions to our Pop Ambient compilation series or inspired remixes for Barnt, Dream Weapons and others. Besides this being the same mastermind as the one behind the ongoing Popnoname brand, you wouldn't expect upcoming THE EMISSARY to actually be a debut - but it is, for it's the very first time that we're treated to a full-length offering under the artist's real name. To those who happen to know him personally, JENS-UWE BEYER is already a pretty multi-faceted guy, so it doesn't come as a surprise to them when his new album THE EMISSARY is, too. And what a well-rounded album this turns out to be, delving deep into a highly personal and unique sound cosmos made almost entirely of atmospheric pulses and beautifully textured drones. Layers and layers of minute details float in a cloud of sound, surging and fading in the most organic manner, giving the listener the impression of this actually being a pop album hiding in plain sight. Well... we didn't call it pop ambient for no reason, right? But the connection goes a little bit deeper than just some GAS-infused sample droning with a hint of rhythmic structure - called a "very intimate" album by its creator, this collage of personal sonic impressions doesn't just check the boxes of what normally could be labeled pop ambient. It's a bit like a silent riot, calm on the outside, but seething on the inside, a run against the grain while embracing all the template has to offer. It's "more a question than an answer", says the producer, "and about the freedom to hear your own music in between the recorded sounds". His intention is to "open up spaces" - highly idiosyncratic spaces, pathways into the metaphysical, with "every listener being his own emissary" on this uncharted territory. Time for an adventure! More

"Red Book" is a live mixed 80 minutes pulsating mantra for home and dancefloor meditation More

In late 2021 the JUBG gallery (run by Magazine's Jens-Uwe Beyer alongside Albert Oehlen and Alexander Warhus) showed the German brothers Schaufler. Matthias, a painter, and Aksel, a musician and DJ (Superpitcher), came up with an exhibition soundtrack that was released back then as one half of an ultra rare drawing / vinyl combination only. (https://jubg.space/editions)

Subsequently, the music caught Barnt's and Crato's ears. The bittersweet pulsating ode to being an artist, sprawling and boundless, complete with voices from the sky, seemed perfect for our label. We are happy to announce that the regular release of schaufler vs schaufler part 1 & 2 will indeed come out on Magazine now.

„Gut malen kann jeder Depp.“ More

Limited Edition 2LP + Book!

20 YEARS OF MUSIC FOR MARCEL ODENBACH

Richard Ojijo’s music for the films of german video artist Marcel Odenbach not only underscores and accentuates the imagery and motion, but also serves to propel the narrative too. The compositions are auditory distillations of the visual and create a synergy between music and image that draws the observer ever deeper.

With Odenbach’s and Ojijo’s collaboration now entering its 3rd decade, Ojijo was recently inspired to revisit and remix some of the themes contained within the extensive body of work.

— Matt Karmil, Aug 2021

Die Musik von Richard Ojijo für die Videoarbeiten des Künstlers Marcel Odenbach sind eindrucksvolle Beispiele dafür, wie Klänge Filmbilder nicht nur untermalen oder deren Wirkung atmosphärisch verdichten können, sondern neben dem Visuellen ein gleichberechtigtes Eigenleben entwickeln, das auf das Gesamterlebnis des Films zurückwirkt: plötzlich auftauchende innere Bilder oder Assoziationen, die das Gesehene mit noch größerer Komplexität und Mehrdeutigkeit versorgen.

Wenn sich etwa in „Innerer Sicherheit“ oder „In stillen Teichen lauern Krokodile“ sphärische Flächen und Soundeffekte ausbreiten, erinnert dies zuweilen an elektronische Stimmungen der späten 90er Jahre, obwohl die Thematiken der Filme in gänzlich andere Richtungen weisen. Dabei wird nie der Spannungsbogen der filmischen Dramaturgie vernachlässigt. Vielmehr kommt es zum Wechselspiel von dienender und freier Funktion, in dem die Musik nicht nur ihre schöne, sondern – den Themen der Filme angemessene – beunruhigende Wirkung ausbreiten kann. So tauchen wie aus dem Nichts Stimmen auf oder Geräusche, etwa von Stiefeln in „Beweis zu nichts“, die parallele Narrationen auf die Audiospur legen, um die zum Teil bedrohliche Wirkung der Bilder zu verstärken und womöglich Bereiche des Unterbewussten zu berühren.

Die Zusammenarbeit von Ojijo und Odenbach dauert mittlerweile über 20 Jahre an. Ojijo hat nun seine Arbeiten für die Filme Odenbachs neu zusammengestellt und neu gemischt. Die Platte erscheint im Herbst 2021 aus Anlass der großen Odenbach-Retrospektive im Düsseldorfer K21-Museum. Dort werden auch sieben Videoarbeiten zu sehen sein, von denen fünf in Zusammenarbeit mit Richard Ojijo entstanden sind.

— Michael Kerkmann, Aug 2021 More

The first time I heard of Mattes Schwarz, someone called him “Stecken-Mattes”. Stecken was a defining, if almost secret, Cologne dance music venue of the 2000s and early 2010s, a minuscule basement without curfew and seemingly any other restrictions, where the up to twelve hour long DJ-sets felt like a tightly knit circle of friends just playing records to each other: The selectors from the night before and the one after reliably sitting right in front of the just over one meter long stretch of the bar that formed its booth, never missing out on a chance to see their mates play, heads nodding and hands clapping through the smoke-filled air, until someone started to sing along, and eventually everyone got up for a few hours of moves on the 15 square meter dancefloor, on a grey Wednesday or Saturday morning at 7 or just as well 10 am.
Mattes Schwarz started DJing in 1982 at age twelve, inspired by, as many West-German kids, the GI-DJs of the roller skating rinks around US army bases. While he got heavily involved in Cologne’s BMX scene of the 90s, he never really stopped, and during the main years of being known as Stecken-Mattes and playing there each Friday night, he coincidently lived in Magazine record’s homebase, North- Eastern Cologne’s old harbour. One day after Stecken’s closure had sent restructuring ripples through the city - I imagine him getting up in the morning and taking a deep breath - he decided to send Magazine a few tracks. “I Don’t Know” is Mattes Schwarz’ first release. More

The totality of the many in one: Cologne Tape, an on and off gathering band from all over the world, did not call their second album "Welt" without reason. The collective incorporates the nucleus of the label Magazine and consists of the artists Ada, Barnt, Jens-Uwe Beyer, Jörg Burger, John Harten, Philipp Janzen, Mario Katz, John Stanier and Axel Willner. All members live scattered between Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg. They meet rarely and abruptly, but each of them always has the feeling that something relevant needs to be done. The ensemble’s name represents a city and the musical recordings that are made in it. Their first release, "Render", marked the start of the label Magazine in 2010 and found the way into DJ sets by famed artists like Dixon with music, which does not necessarily have the dancefloor in mind. Subsequently, little, absolutely sublime pieces of Cologne Tape appeared in the public. More

We've had our eyes on Jaures since they formed in 2014. Jaures’s drums are neither techno nor electro but something of their very own, making the duo one of the most interesting young production units in Germany right now. More

ZON - PALACE Since more than ten years close friends and metal heads Phillip Tielsch (von Spar) and Mario Katz (Cologne Tape) met for guitar sessions, trying to " nd the essence of their favourite metal records* and digest in their own sound“. Quite ambitious but without any release plans so far... Magazines Jens-Uwe Beyer found out about their project and pushed them to produce an uncompromising condensate of their raw material. Beyer cut here and there, contributed some additional production and also got John Stanier (Battles) in the boat for the drums. So ZON became a band and "Palace" became the most intense and sharp edged instrumental metal set you probably heard in years! Crato's B-side counterpart, a 27min drone ambient interpretation of the ZON material, completes this literally thrilling album and makes it – wrapped up by John Harten's unique artwork series – another MAGAZINE release at its best.
Mastered by Matt Karmil. - 45 min playtime
- Endless loop on side A; B-side cut inside out More

We did not intend to release remixes of Barnt's debut album "Magazine 13." – but here is why we had to change our minds: After Tale Of Us heard "Cherry Red", they asked for the stems with the idea they would craft a version for their sets – as luck would have it, Recondite happened to pass by the studio at just the right time, and together they ended up finishing a driving and vital interpretation of Barnt's melodic masterpiece. Around the same time Jens-Uwe Beyer had been quietly reshaping the same track. Prolonging the already massive breakdown towards the end of the track, his remix has been a highlight of Barnt's DJ sets over the past few months. The final piece of the puzzle came when Crato proposed the possible cover art – a bold remix in itself, reworking the original cover. The elements were in place, it became obvious this release had to see the light of day ... So here is Magazine 131. ! More

Luxury vinyl edition containing 2x180g vinyl and CD in gatefold sleeve. More

The long awaited debut album by one of the most unique producers in Dance music these days More

Wolfgang Voigt returns on MAGAZINE as WASSERMANN, one of his best known aliases since the famous "W.I.R." (1999) Believer in the unconventional ! An enthusiast of the new ! WASSERMANN is reputed as the original rebel of the zodiac. WASSERMANN pore deep over what makes the world tick and can be trusted to come up with ideas and hypotheses which seem to be way ahead of his time. This is why he is attracted to the new and different. Highlights: Good Traits: Good story-teller, charismatic, idealist, humanitarian, cordial, open-minded, issue-oriented. Bad Traits: distant/aloof, childish, thoughtlessness, antisocial, obstinate, unemotional Likes: Fighting for causes, dreaming, planning for the future, thinking of the past, good friends, and having fun. Dislikes: Full of air promises, excessive loneliness, the ordinary, imitations, and unrealistic ideas. Things Associated with WASSERMANN: rebellious, distribution, breaking boundaries, all fruit trees, orchids, independence, self-potency, freedom, rhythm, definite, loyalty, support, fellowship, rainbow, congress, commune, Utopia, science, meditation, electricity, computers, chaos theory, peacocks, large flying birds. Strengths: Electric attitude Weaknesses: Know-it-all attitude. More

"Red Book" is a live mixed 80 minutes pulsating mantra for home and dancefloor meditation More

Barnt orchestrates his profound knowledge of true cosmic sound design in the most convincing manner More

Rückverzauberung (Reverse Enchantment) is a label-travel-project of Wolfgang Voigt that started in 2010 and appears at irregular intervals on different labels and formats. Having visited Kompakt, Profan and the Berlin Arts/music label EN/OF, Rückverzauberung 6 will now appear on the Cologne Label Magazine More

180g high quality vinyl,heavy sleeves,black paper bags– limited Vinyl edition contains free CD Album. More

The whole EP is pockmarked with overflowing melodies - sometimes well structured, sometimes wild & wooly. More