There. Is. Nothing. Better. Than. A. Clear. Blue. Sky. After The Storm. Taken literally, the track listing for Barem's debut LP represents that fleeting moment when nature puts its house in order, when calm and clarity triumph over chaos. Of course it also works perfectly as a metaphor for those fuzzy moments of self-reflection while sprawled on a hotel bed after another mind-blowing night at the controls, or while taking stock of a musical journey that's about to culminate in a debut album for the internationally renowned label that motivated you to start making music in the first place. This is the vinyl version of Barem's debut album, with five specially edited tracks for all vinyl-lovers. Barem has always offered a more laidback counterpoint to the edgy sounds of some of his label mates. His decision to progress in a deeper, percussive direction began with the Kolimar EP (M68) and apart from the dark, ambient intro There, this vibe dominates the first half of the album. Is and Nothing really showcase his skill at concocting instinctive, percussion driven grooves, expressing a natural inner rhythm that exploits the full stereo field. Rich, rounded drum fills puncture the hidden space behind the beats, shimmering reverbs drench the cymbals while the bass lines remain reassuringly fat and familiar, gently hypnotizing as the LP settles into its groove. By the time we reach Better the low pressure is beginning to break. Additional elements gradually make their presence felt as the beats continue to flay and splinter, phasing strings heighten the suspense and a delicate one note riff skips and bounces through spot effects and sprinkled vocal snippets as Barem coolly maintains the growing intrigue.
As if to highlight the evolving nature of the LP, the transition to the more dubbed-out Than goes almost unnoticed as the gentle undertow begins pulling us into more familiar Minus territory. Disorienting percussive delays start jarring into the void, indiscernible vocal slurs reverberate out into the corners of the room and warm, acidic bleeps start tapping at the doors of perception. By the time we reach A, the psychedelics have well and truly kicked in. The percussive onslaught of the preceding tracks gives way to a deeper, mystical atmosphere driven by shakers and hats and offset with cavernous delays and detuned pads that warp and envelope the collective consciousness in the orange-red glow of some ancient tribal ritual. Having broken through to the other side, the eye of the storm is upon us. The last four tracks are all about the future. Clear gives ground to an abstract, subsonic groove that hisses and crackles like the dying embers of the night. A twisting motif then emerges from the flames rolling back and forth across the dance floor like some great bird stretching its wings before taking flight. Circling higher and higher, it is reduced to a distant speck before Blue - one of the definite standout tracks on the album - embarks on a spiral dive that represents Barem's new unity of sound in one magic bullet. With an audacious swoop it scatters the storm clouds, fusing together all the contrasting aspects of his repertoire that make the album such an intoxicating journey. Sky then announces the final ascent with a long, seductive intro that crystallizes into an elegant melody, while the throbbing bass line generates another ecstatic rush of dark energy. And then the clouds part, the sun breaks through and we're left with the sensation of After The Storm: after the turbulence and the tumult, we're greeted with tribal rhythms, muffled brass section and superb fretless bass riff all benefitting from a shift in 6/8 blues time signature that gives the album finale a fittingly reflective sensation - what Barem himself describes as that feeling of beauty when the dust is gone and everything is finally clear.

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You may already know Barem (aka Mauricio Barembuem) from his releases on (un)Foundsound, Pariter and Phonocult or from his remixes on Resopal, Mo’s Ferry and Einmaleins. If so you, won’t be surprised in the slightest to find him surfacing on Minus with Never Better Than Late to round off what has been another groundbreaking year for this ubiquitous label. More

VINYL ONLY
Tracklist:
A1. Nibong / A2. Slippery Slope / B1. Thetea / B2. Lotus

Shortinfo:
There are no boundaries for Fun Records when it comes to continue spreading its refreshing sounds beyond trends and predictable beats.That's why this fifth release welcomes Mariano Mateljan, the infamous Croatian DJ, producer and one of the most talented and recognized electronic music artists of the country and abroad. Nibong (Fun 005) comes out with 4 tracks, traced by the analog frizzly details that have been characterizing every Fun's release. But there is even more behind the pristine minimalistic house signed by Mateljan and pressed on both vinyl's side: we can say that this time, Fun's got a bit more serious (just a bit, don't misunderstand us): Nibong EP enters directly to the highest clubbing experience but shaped as only Mateljan could make it.
Listening to Thetea track on the B side will make you difficult to stand still without letting yourself go and stop thinking for a while in order to let your imagination emerge: enjoy the amenity of subtle feelings rising as the dreamy and slightly broken melody develops catching your attention. Lotus, the second B side track, may be the most ethereal one, and both together leave us having fun and feeling sensitive as if the sunset would catch ups by surprise on the beach.
If you want to explore the also funny but darker side, the A side may be like the taoist yin conception, only understandable if yang is magically kept in Lotus and Thetea. And that's the clue of Mateljan's superb productions: Slippery Slope and Nibong's A tracks are well balanced, but at the same time the release has its own balance too. The result has generated a complex but coherent structure that keeps making you feel addicted to the sounds, no matter how many times you play and dance to them.
"Life isn't as serious as the mind makes it out to be." Eckhart Tolle
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Vinyl only Release
Tracklist:
A1. EXP / A2. F9M / B1. F9M (Mike Shannon Remix) / B2. MEV
Shortinfo:
Fun Records' fourth release signed by startling producer Neik represents all that Barem and Alexis Cabrera once expected when they settled their label's playground. Because Nicolas Neik's debut can be considered definitely as unique: his three tracks are like three priceless tickets to explore an enhanced electronic music game based on a limitless creativity balanced with a strict self-demand.
Neik's taste and skills increasingly captivated both Fun founders, but he rarely wanted to share his own sounds. Why? Nicolás Neik studio's basis are far away from sharing everything online, his creative strength invigorates massive brainstormings and only outstandingly stops the work in progress finishing a track.
Therefore, Fun004 must be unveiled, and enjoyed, and Mike Shannon's F9M remix is what grants a last outstanding coup de grâce: ethereal atmosphere, slippery vocals, padded white noise and a feverish bass create an electrifying dialogue with Neik's F9M and the whole EP's direction.
From EXP to MEV, each Neik's track bends straight minimalist sounds to welcome a new vibrant vision of forward-thinking house. Beats, melodies and rhythm have finally got rid of the 4/4 dancefloor Canon, thanks to MEV we are not going to miss it as assumed. By constantly re-editing, redesigning and studying its compositions for several years, Neik's groove attains a misleading complexity that circles and empowers the whole three tracks; surprisingly making us feel as if it was an easy conquest. To exploit its deepness and reach both our mind and body, the beat metamorphoses from ubiquity to intermittence with uprising bursts of intensity.At the first listening, inner emotions may vary speedily, as if collapsing: stop trying to predict what's next, let yourself go and you'll suddenly find Neik's new way to beat the house. The old manual lows its effect; Neik's beatmap will only be disclosed by intuition and dancing.
"The true object of all human life is play." -G. K. Chesterton
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Tracklist:
A1. Alcohpott / A2. Los Confites / B1. Mivi
Shortinfo:
Argentinian producer, live act and tech whizkid Alexis Cabrera is back with a brand new release, a slice of stepping house, laced with minimal aesthetics on FUN records, the recently christened label that he set up with fellow Argentinian Barem.
The label emblem may be just an innocent looking balloon, but the contents of this vinyl release are far from lofty and full of hot air, instead grounding the listener through a mix of organic sound and digital dancefloor rhythms. Alcohpott opens the EP with stripped back, melodic toplines, a track that's been washed with acid, staining it's funky drum pattern and stepping 4x4 rhythm on the break. Snapping beats, wobbling, disorientating swing and digital deviance all in equal measure for this surefire crowd pleaser. The fun continues with Los Confites, bites with a bouncing but lo fi sub bass line creating swing as more heavily processed, analogue drum beats and snapping 4x4 house aesthetics mix with minimal techno groove and drive, before more bleeping melodies arise during the breakdown; serious foot twitching, heads down groove awaits with this one. Finally, bringing this zesty EP to a close is Mivi, the most subtle track of the trio. A steady, mid tempo beat fraternises with deep house organics, blossoming in tuneful harmonic melody while more top-line hooks - slightly eschewed and falling late of the beat - create more swing and in it's dynamic approach to the dancefloor. Alexis and Barem finish the year off in great style as they embark on a FUN tour across Argentina and Uruguay.
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Tracklist:
a: turn on the fun b1 funatics b2 funcy
Info:
Shortinfo:
Globally recognised and respected DJ, live act and producer Barem is pairing up with friend, live specialist and musical partner Alexis Cabrera to start the next chapter of their careers. This comes in the form of a brand new label, FUN Records, which the Argentinian pair are launching as a way to inject some much needed character and humility back into the global dance scene. In previous years, Barem has been closely associated with seminal and serious faced techno label Minus. Its there that he released countless EPs and an album that really announced his talents to the world. Now though, along with Cabrera (who is himself an accomplished producer with credits on labels like Mindshake, Raum Musik and Time Has Changed, as well as an incredible live show), he is evolving away from minimal, and together the pair will focus more on the groove, on human emotion and on inviting house sounds and freestyle techno jams. Their Fun Records label will showcase these styles from friends and like minded artists and present each release with colourful statement artwork. There are also to be charismatic label parties all around the world, each of which to feature, video projections, lively production and lots of smiling faces. "In the end, it's just about good music and having fun, just like the label name suggests" says Barem of his new project. The first parties will be at Club4 Barcelona on July 9, Watergate, Berlin July 15 and The Egg, London on August 23. With the vinyl release date set for July 13 and digital on August 3, the first EP is a collaborative effort between these two friends and features three fulsome cuts of playful and functional techno. Opening track 'Turn On The Fun' features slithering synth lines, a nimble and inviting baseline and plenty of warming emotion. It's spacious and airy and the intriguing melodic patterns really keep your head as busy as your heel whilst the loopy beats roll below. 'Funcy' is a little more rubbery and direct, with clacking perc, freewheeling synth lines and bubbly drums that never stay locked in one place, roaming around and taking you with them. Lastly, 'Funatics' has a sombre minor chord bassline that rides up and down the scale as crisp, clean hi hats dance alongside. Bouncy and jostling, energetic and restless, it's a track that perfectly rounds out this debut EP and shows that Barem and Cabrera are true to their world and really do know how to produce some fun techno funk.


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Format: LP

Tracklist

A1. Letztes Pech
A2. Lament
A3. We Wait
A4. Rau
B1. Reue
B2. Gebet
B3. The Hustle
B4. How We Say Goodbye

Release Info:
The debut album of Istanbul born, Berlin & Copenhagen based artist Nene H (real name Beste Aydin) titled ‘Ali’. In this record Aydin has used her background as a classically trained pianist and her deep, foundational knowledge of musical theory to synergise contrasting electronic compositions and the mental process of mourning the death of a loved one.

Born as a tribute after the passing of her late father, Aydin has found catharsis through a personal odyssey, the reflection of which can be seen through these 8 tracks. Raised in a traditional Turkish family and now living in Germany with its westernized lifestyle, informs the intersections of identity and duality that Aydin exists and creates from within. This consolidation of identity has pushed her to seek solitude and confidence in the power of being able to represent the process of her existence in the scene as a Middle Eastern woman with Muslim upbringing.












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No sales to Japan!

LP: 180g vinyl, half speed mastered, heavy sleeve, obi, gold ink
Genre: Jazz, Fusion, Funk

Tracklisting LP
A1. Shrimp Dance
A2. Kuro To Shiro
B1. Walk Tall
B2. Cat
B3. Romance


Info

We Release Jazz is ecstatic (purrrr!) to announce the official reissue of Hiroshi Suzuki's glorious jazz-fusion-funk Holy Grail Cat (originally released in 1976), sourced from the original masters and available on limited edition 180 gram vinyl mastered at half speed for full audiophile sound, as well as on digipack CD. Both versions come with liner notes by Teruo Isono.
Cat was recorded in October 1975 at at Nippon Columbia Studio, while Hiroshi Suzuki was visiting his home country of Japan after moving to Las Vegas in 1971 to play with Buddy Rich and perfect his craft. Back on his old stomping grounds, the man known as Neko (Cat) immediately reunited with his dear friends for an epic two day session of groove magic. The chemistry was still intact. The skills and style had grown.
The result, Cat, is a smooth masterpiece, a deep and soulful affair where stunning trombone solos by Hiroshi Suzuki flirt with Takeru Muraoka's heavenly saxophone and the sensual rhythm section of Hiromasa Suzuki (keyboards), Kunimitsu Inaba (bass), and Akira Ishikawa (drums).
Celebrated in jazz collectors circles, in the lofi beat scene, and among music diggers around the world, Cat has become one of the most sought-after Japanese jazz albums of all time and, much like Ryo Fukui's Scenery, has fascinated old and young generations alike.

Points of interests

- For fans of jazz, fusion, funk, trombone, Japanese jazz, smooth rides, cats, allure.

- Official reissue of the glorious jazz-fusion album by Japanese trombonist extraordinaire Hiroshi "Neko" Suzuki.

- 10th release from We Release Jazz, following Ryo Fukui's Scenery, Mellow Dream, A Letter from Slowboat, and Ryo Fukui in New York, the soundtrack of Le Cercle Rouge by Eric Demarsan, Stuff Combe 5 + Percussion, Marc Moulin's Placebo Live 1971 and Boillat Thérace Quintet albums. We Release Jazz is the sister-label of Geneva-based WRWTFWW Records (Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass and Lunar Cruise with Masahiko Sato, Pierre Barouh's Le Pollen, Jun Fuka-machi's Nicole, Grauzone's discography, …)
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