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12"
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KOM 464EP
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The formidable Rex The Dog returns with his first single for Kompakt in three years, Change This Pain For Ecstasy, a slow-burning disco-glitter stomp that's charged with analog energy. Pushing his self-built modular hardware set-up to its limits, "Change This Pain For Ecstasy" is taut and thrilling, stripped-back and pulsating, with sweeping chords shimmering through a classic Moroder arpeggio, as a delirious voice sings out a psychedelic raver's plaint for liberation, pleading for you to "take away my sorrow and this pain". Deeply emotional, it's also a masterwork in tension and release, dizzy with snare-rush peaks, and dark, humid valleys where Rex is bound to the patch bay. On the flipside, Rex gives us "Moto", which tickles your ear with cymatic phenomena, its gentle vibrations building, beautifully, into a monster-piece of stealth techno. Rex's DIY synths work overtime as he chases patterns and phases through circuitry, wielding the tones until they erupt into a spray of pointillist pizzicato. The sounds here crackle and corrode, the textures so tantalizing, so sensual, you can almost grab hold of them with your hands. It's great to have Rex The Dog back, making livewire, yet deeply human techno, alive and bursting with electricity.
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12"
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KOM 403EP
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Here is Vortex... so when Michael Mayer listened to the demo, he tripped and banged his head on a cupboard. When he woke up he said: "... Do you remember the first time you saw colored lights blinking, a blasting smoke machine and lasers cutting through the room? I was so fascinated by that first experience that I started spending all my spare time and pocket money on music and lights . . . Looking at Rex The Dog's self-made modular gear always opens a vortex of childhood memories. Disco music and flashing lights... it just never gets old."
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12"
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KOM 385EP
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Hey, Rex The Dog is back and his lasers are stronger than ever. Throw your hands in the air and watch your fingers drop one by one. No, you won't feel pain. As much damage "Crasher" does -- it's cause and relief in one. Like analgetic trance? You said the t-word! And the a-word, too. Right.
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12"
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KOM 353EP
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Rex The Dog presents two brand new jams on Teufelsberg. "Teufelsberg" starts off lean and mean, quickly establishing momentum with propulsive beats and a simple, but seriously effective bass line - the track's main protagonist, however, is a sweeping melody blowing up for the track's entire run time, an utterly scenic synth job that doesn't even flinch from a ground zero break. "Shortwave" is an industrial-infused banger - another relentless piece of prime-time techno that is as monolithic as it is playful.
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12"
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KOM 343EP
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Following his triumphant return to Kompakt with 2015's Sicko, Rex the Dog digs deeper into the circuits of his custom-built modular synth to deliver a powerful trio of sharply contoured jams. A true master of expressive might within a limited set of sounds, the acclaimed producer introduces the title-track with breezy, shimmering arpeggios that are soon joined by a weighty, throbbing bass drum. The raw, pounding synth stabs of muscular acid-fest "Musik Hypnotises" precede "Wasp Factory," which pairs raspy synths with kinetic drum rolls and boldly cut-up vocal samples in another deceptively simple arrangement trimmed to perfection for maximum effect.
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12"
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KOM 322EP
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A growing intimacy with analog gear has led Rex the Dog to design and build his own array of modular synthesizer components, including a sampler fittingly called RTD-001. Armed with this barn-storming DIY attitude, and using gear he made with his own hands, Rex pulls two strikingly muscular rabbits out of his hat: "Sicko" is a raw, pounding cut-up fest that builds a scary amount of tension with just a few distinct elements, while "Korgasmotron" loads up its bleep-ridden chassis with a succulent, sweeping vocal and some well-placed acid drops. A leaner, cleaner, but also meaner approach to dance music.
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12"
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KOM 145EP
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This is the third Rex The Dog single on Kompakt. Rex has baffled all with his shimmering blend of glam-techno and Euro-disco that could only be derived from the UK, and his ambitious and extravagant personality has officially made him Kompakt's favorite family pet. Following a massive streak of remixes, we now arrive at Maximize. Our detail-obsessed, four-legged friend returns with no restraint, and has kicked us out of the techno chair to make it their home once again. "Maximize" recalls the dog we all know and love, whereas with "Sequencer," we are positive all will welcome this spookier side to our furry friend. Then there's the last track: he speaks!? He sings!? Maybe we said too much... so, dearest dog-lovers -- it's true. The best things do come in threes.
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12"
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KOM 102EP
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"Without exaggeration we can say: there were (and are) two summer-hits on Kompakt, on whose everybody can agree. On one hand, Justus Köhncke with his terrific 'Timecode' (kompakt 95) and Rex The Dog -- 'Prototype' (kompakt 92). Both tracks have one thing in common. An almost hymnish, pompous superstructure of melody, that, even though coloured with the trendy eighties touch and freaky souped-up, is totally retro-free and incomparable. Rex The Dog is attending with his overdue follow-up 12" single, and of course seamlessly ties up to the antecessor. While the titletrack -- 'Frequency' -- charged with a good pinch of acid -- enhances the 'Prototype'-formula, the B-side delights with elegant vocal-lines carried by lustrous harmony bows. I look into Midair -- trickles like a prickling laburnum, through the clouds on the dancefloor. That makes us look up happily."
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12"
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KOM 092EP
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"In the often-quoted 80ies, they would call it a 'smash hit'. A term as British as the mysterious guy from London who sends out his dog to take this monster hit into all the clubs around the world. The dog's name is Rex and 'Prototype' is his message -- and it's probably the most trendy prototype of a brand-new digital format ever. Imagine someone, after having started his time machine, flying over the mountains and valleys of music history at bright sunlight and his dog snatching at everything that looks somehow interesting. A little bit of 1984, a little taste of 2011 and a long, extended free flight over 1990. At times when the human voice was replaced by bleeps and clonks and bands like LFO, tricky disko and sweet exorcist labelled the hysteria arising from techno music as glam pop 'made in England'. 'Prototype' -- definitely not retro at all -- forwards one of the currently most beautiful quotation plug-ins. And it is also a prime example that techno music has already gone down in history and still is the planet's most exciting style of music."
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