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FLAT 007CD
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"Okapi is Filippo Paolini, an Italian turntablist and sample cutup artist. Filippo has recorded as one half of the duo Metaxu (with Maurizio Martusciello) and also the trio Dogon, and he's performed on RAI (Italian state radio) and collaborated with noted avant-turntablist Christian Marclay. Where's the Beef? marks the first solo album from Okapi. Okapi uses his turntables and computer to create music completely outside of the hip-hop school of chopped up music. Instead he has created an album that veers from orchestral to lounge to quirky experimental music, while maintaining a delicate and spacious sound throughout. His skill at sample manipulation is really quite amazing. Matt Haines, aka The Rip Off Artist and the owner of the label, has asked repeatedly 'how does he do that?!' (And Matt's no slouch behind the sampler controls!) In fact, before the label would sign Filippo they asked for proof that he wasn't just lifting entire sections of music from other sources. When he sent screen shots of his computer, there it was: hundreds of miniscule sample fragments, all connected into an seamless whole."
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FLAT 006CD
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Collection of work featuring 3 artists: Akufen, Freeform & The Rip Off Artist. "Inflatabl Labl seems to delight in unlikely combinations. Rather than put out the same tired old compilation idea, the label has hit upon something unique and inspiring. Why not get three top-notch electronic producers to make four tracks each, in a style they're completely unfamiliar with? The first of the series, dub tribunL, featured tracks from AtomTM, Small Rocks and label owner The Rip Off Artist. This time around it's cut-up house legend Akufen, the ever unpredictable Freeform, and...er...The Rip Off Artist. (we did mention he owned the label, right?). And the challenge: blues music. Akufen forgoes his house tendencies for a raw, glitchy shuffle, with the voices of the past rising up like ghosts. An ultra-modern structure built on an ancient graveyard, and the spirits keep leaking through. Freeform harnesses his encyclopedic knowledge of world music to create something that is Deep South, Far East, nowhere and everywhere at the same time. And The Rip Off Artist focuses on the core of The Blues: the guitar and the twelvebar chord progression. And then splinters it into a thousand pieces, with rhythms that lurch and sputter, missing a beat here and there, and counting others twice."
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FLAT 005CD
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"Is nuclear power a pollution-free solution to the world's energy needs? Or is it a dangerous ticking time bomb? The answers, of course, are contained in his latest release, New Clear Days. Unlike most people (who have already made up their minds) Matt Haines is not quite sure what to think about all those little subatomic particles zooming around. But rather than lose sleep over it, he's decided to work through these issues on his latest album. This is the tenth full-length album for Haines, but the first to be released on his own label, In Flatabl Labl. From the beginning the label has had a loser-focused strategy: to release music that is structurally and rhythmically interesting, and that has a high ideas-per-minute ratio. In other words, it thumbs its nose at DJ-oriented music and its so-called experimental offspring. The label's motto is 'Say it fast, say it well, and move on'."
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FLAT 004CD
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"Inflatabl's fourth release is Vauxhall44's first full-length album, entitled sub-i . The artist is Yuki Kiba, a Tokyo resident who began playing guitar at the tender age of fourteen . He has seen his share of go-nowhere garage bands, playing experimental rock, jazz, reggae and soon, and didn't start making computer music until he was twenty-one. Sounds like a typical kid from the suburbs, right? What we can't figure out is how this shy, deferential Japanese kid makes such fascinating music. Each track is constantly changing, sometimes jump cutting to the next big idea, sometimes gradually evolving through shifting elements that never play the same way twice. Superficially, there are techno and house elements to his tracks, but there are so many little details that the mind has no chance to wander. This makes sub-i an uncommonly satisfying experience."
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FLAT 003CD
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"Taste is all crunchy crispy noise on the outside, and rich creamy goodness on the inside...just like butter wrapped in sandpaper. Tamas Szoke, one half of the Hungarian pop duo Golden Army, has with this solo effort created something rare in the world of glitchy electronics: digital music with a profound sense of structure. Hdj Tom isn't content to just set his computer on 'loop' and go out for coffee. These tracks won't sit still, but rather will wander off into other rooms, root through the refrigerator while you're not looking, and if you're lucky might even make you a sandwich. And isn't that what we demand of our music?"
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