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CD
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TOKEN 103CD
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Luke Slater presents Sky Scraping, a new Planetary Assault Systems album. Slater first minted the PAS alias in '93. Since then, a slew of singles and LPs from the industrious artist have made sure Planetary Assault Systems has become a byword for hypnotic, funk-heavy techno in a purist tradition. Toeing the line between heady, psychedelic material and all out main room fare -- Slater's work as PAS captures the very best facets of the genre, with economically selected parts exquisitely arranged and engineered with a shrewd and uncompromising ear for what really makes people move. Sky Scraping is a loud and unabashed celebration of the formative and familiar environments so loved by the electronic music community, the dark clubs and festivals made special by their unique ability to bring like-minded people together. Sky Scraping kicks off in characteristically dense, psychedelic fashion with "Labstract" -- a slice of classic PAS with cavernous low-end and a tight, looping sequence doing the driving work while frenetic drum machine cuts and wide-angle synth sirens shift the track onwards from one phase to the next. Follow up "One For The Groove" showcases the chunkier side of Slater's production as PAS with an infectious 909 pattern propelled on in the high mids by a squelching synth patch. "Bang Wap" revisits the artist's last outing on Token -- a monstrous, unforgiving roller designed with peak time in mind. "Say It Loud" -- the idiosyncratic proto-anthem that accompanied "Bang Wap" earlier in the year leads the LP onwards, before segueing into new recording "Give In" -- a masterclass in dense, funky, face-melting techno. Drums take centerstage on "If I Die", as the artist returns to the 909 for a marginally slowed down cut that really highlights the artist's connection to and natural affinity with groove and drum machine cuts. Coal thrusts the listener straight back down the wormhole -- an extraordinary, driving piece propelled by a guttural lead synth sequence and ghostly drums, before giving way to "Run" -- a dry, pared back recording with plucked, staccato synths that makes for a good contrast to its fathom's deep predecessor. Though not without moments of hysteria in its closing quarter, "The Drag Train", featuring a classic, more mono finish begins the wind down towards the album's close. "Nano Chameleon" ties up Sky Scraping, a track as forceful as anything that has come earlier on the record -- as it approaches its close, a warping lead powers the recording home with shuffling white noise percussion dipping in and out of the sonic main stage before giving way to a delicate, controlled chaos.
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12"
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TOKEN 100EP
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Token celebrates its 100th release with Luke Slater, a legend of the genre, releasing under one of his most iconic aliases: Planetary Assault Systems. For over 25 years, Slater has delivered unparalleled quality in his music -- a formative figure in Techno and instrumental in defining the sound globally, few can touch the Brit for depth, urgency and hit rate. Exhibiting near enough perfect renditions of classic dance-floor moods, the four track EP is a wrought iron rollercoaster through some of the artist's most exacting work. Booming opener "Bang Wap" chugs unrelentingly while a lithe FX line does the bulk of the movement in the high mid-range -- building tension before a satisfying release in the last quarter. "Bolt" is classic Planetary Assault Systems -- hypnotic and driving with a single sequence dipping in and out of view. On the flip, "Say It Loud" could be an idiosyncratic hit waiting to happen -- dry and tight in the drum department for maximum effect, and featuring a recurring vocal sample chopped and skewed for tension. Closer "Shine" takes a deeper, more psychedelic route with shades of the classic, jacking Detroit sound in the pitch bent lead line, but maintains the energy throughout with stylish delay sends upping the ante where required, all in all delivering a neat finish to the EP.
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2LP
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TOKEN 103LP
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Double LP version. Luke Slater presents Sky Scraping, a new Planetary Assault Systems album. Slater first minted the PAS alias in '93. Since then, a slew of singles and LPs from the industrious artist have made sure Planetary Assault Systems has become a byword for hypnotic, funk-heavy techno in a purist tradition. Toeing the line between heady, psychedelic material and all out main room fare -- Slater's work as PAS captures the very best facets of the genre, with economically selected parts exquisitely arranged and engineered with a shrewd and uncompromising ear for what really makes people move. Sky Scraping is a loud and unabashed celebration of the formative and familiar environments so loved by the electronic music community, the dark clubs and festivals made special by their unique ability to bring like-minded people together. Sky Scraping kicks off in characteristically dense, psychedelic fashion with "Labstract" -- a slice of classic PAS with cavernous low-end and a tight, looping sequence doing the driving work while frenetic drum machine cuts and wide-angle synth sirens shift the track onwards from one phase to the next. Follow up "One For The Groove" showcases the chunkier side of Slater's production as PAS with an infectious 909 pattern propelled on in the high mids by a squelching synth patch. "Bang Wap" revisits the artist's last outing on Token -- a monstrous, unforgiving roller designed with peak time in mind. "Say It Loud" -- the idiosyncratic proto-anthem that accompanied "Bang Wap" earlier in the year leads the LP onwards, before segueing into new recording "Give In" -- a masterclass in dense, funky, face-melting techno. Drums take centerstage on "If I Die", as the artist returns to the 909 for a marginally slowed down cut that really highlights the artist's connection to and natural affinity with groove and drum machine cuts. Coal thrusts the listener straight back down the wormhole -- an extraordinary, driving piece propelled by a guttural lead synth sequence and ghostly drums, before giving way to "Run" -- a dry, pared back recording with plucked, staccato synths that makes for a good contrast to its fathom's deep predecessor. Though not without moments of hysteria in its closing quarter, "The Drag Train", featuring a classic, more mono finish begins the wind down towards the album's close. "Nano Chameleon" ties up Sky Scraping, a track as forceful as anything that has come earlier on the record -- as it approaches its close, a warping lead powers the recording home with shuffling white noise percussion dipping in and out of the sonic main stage before giving way to a delicate, controlled chaos.
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12"
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TOKEN 091EP
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DJ Nobu and Katsunori Sawa are Nobusawa. A true auteur of hyper functional dancefloor techno production trades blows with one of the genre's most lauded DJs.
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2LP+CD
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TOKEN 088LP
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2LP version; 180 gram vinyl; includes CD. Continuing on from a series of successful EPs on Token including Ostinato (TOKEN 075EP, 2017), Antigone returns to the label with Rising, his first experiment with the LP format. Rising is an album that exerts itself to stimulate the mind and the body simultaneously. As such, it's a record that gives the dramatic illusion of having a physical pulse. The artist, real name Antonin Jeanson, already has a substantial body of work behind him. Considering his previous releases on Token, Indigo Aera, Concrete Music and Taapion, and his experience as a resident at Concrete in Paris, the level of artistic maturity he possesses while still being under 30 is highly impressive yet unsurprising at the same time. For Rising, Antigone manages to oscillate between great ambient introspections carried by spacey synths and deconstructed rhythms, and elegant techno epics that are suitable for listening pleasure as much as for the pure abandonment of reality. The title track's delicate arpeggios meld into strings with stirring cadences, delivering above and beyond the standard intro, as it breaks and continues for a second round with added depth. "Sands Of Time" stands out with tiny, breathy samples, pitch bent into something ever different from the last. "Lost And Found"'s granulated percussion sits adjacent to a cinematic sea of strings, while "Out There" provides a tasteful fragment of the sci-fi reverence many listeners demand of a techno album. "Duality Of Mind" hints once again at the measured moods of Cantor Dust (TOKEN 053EP, 2015), his Token debut EP. "It Follows" alludes to supernatural horror with call-and-response variants on an almost microtonal theme. "Infinite Limit"'s tension from the offset brings a UK-influenced sound to the record, which continues with the IDM-feeling "Dume" and the equally glitchy and pulsing "Love Field", while the in-between "Irreversible" is an immersive piece with a piercing high-end, guaranteed to induce a physical sensory response.
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CD
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TOKEN 088CD
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Continuing on from a series of successful EPs on Token including Ostinato (TOKEN 075EP, 2017), Antigone returns to the label with Rising, his first experiment with the LP format. Rising is an album that exerts itself to stimulate the mind and the body simultaneously. As such, it's a record that gives the dramatic illusion of having a physical pulse. The artist, real name Antonin Jeanson, already has a substantial body of work behind him. Considering his previous releases on Token, Indigo Aera, Concrete Music and Taapion, and his experience as a resident at Concrete in Paris, the level of artistic maturity he possesses while still being under 30 is highly impressive yet unsurprising at the same time. For Rising, Antigone manages to oscillate between great ambient introspections carried by spacey synths and deconstructed rhythms, and elegant techno epics that are suitable for listening pleasure as much as for the pure abandonment of reality. The title track's delicate arpeggios meld into strings with stirring cadences, delivering above and beyond the standard intro, as it breaks and continues for a second round with added depth. "Sands Of Time" stands out with tiny, breathy samples, pitch bent into something ever different from the last. "Lost And Found"'s granulated percussion sits adjacent to a cinematic sea of strings, while "Out There" provides a tasteful fragment of the sci-fi reverence many listeners demand of a techno album. "Duality Of Mind" hints once again at the measured moods of Cantor Dust (TOKEN 053EP, 2015), his Token debut EP. "It Follows" alludes to supernatural horror with call-and-response variants on an almost microtonal theme. "Infinite Limit"'s tension from the offset brings a UK-influenced sound to the record, which continues with the IDM-feeling "Dume" and the equally glitchy and pulsing "Love Field", while the in-between "Irreversible" is an immersive piece with a piercing high-end, guaranteed to induce a physical sensory response.
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12"
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TOKEN 085EP
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Phase presents two striking, no-nonsense techno cuts for Token with Suspended Animation. Each side of Suspended Animation delivers the special kind of face-melter that manages to remain sincere without being overly self-serious. "Stroke B" favors the sensational approach, with a bright and playful lead playing against a hi-hat frenzy in the breakdown. "Stroke C" is more introverted on surface level, but offers pure chaos instead from its depth.
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CD
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TOKEN 082CD
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Inigo Kennedy has released upwards of 100 records since he started in 1996, cementing his esteemed aesthetic and revealing his digital mastery further with each release. This immense discography embraces both the traditional and the ambitious; prevalent fundamentals and established concepts meet discord, clashes in texture and supreme use of space. Kennedy's 2007 record Identify Yourself was Token's first release. Although Kennedy was well-established by this point, that inaugural step taken together, with Token as a newcomer, began the much-needed growth of the label in a period of time when techno music yearned painfully for a refresh. This was the beginning of a close relationship between artist and label that has remained fruitful through the 11 years of Token's existence. Kennedy is now long-recognized as an integral contributor to Token's output; the label is the indisputable natural home for his sixth album, and in turn he continues to play his part in advancing Token's evolving sound with this release. Strata expands conceptually on the idea of planetary layers alluded to in Magma/Mantle, released in February 2018 (TOKEN 079EP). The album progresses through levels of ornate drama, opening with "Clarion Call (Return to Nothing)", a full-length refix of the celebrated introduction from Kennedy's 2015 release of the same name (TOKEN 058EP), showing off the best of his melodic manipulation and creativity in sound design. This delicate grace is cut through spectacularly by the jaggedness of the approaching textures of "Trapezoid", while the elegant and icy beauty of "Stillness Expanded" is impacted by the noisy and epic "Reminiscence", which grand and almost clerical in its resounding majesty. "Shudder" grounds the record in restrained grit and provides functionality, while the opening fanfare of "Breaking Point" advances yet another degree of energy. The record's built-up intensity is broken at its conclusion by the sleepy, acid-tinged "Oblivion" -- one that bumps along with a drowsy breakbeat and invites the mind to wander. With Strata, Kennedy proves once again that his reserves of passion, skill, and potency are far from depleted; that there is yet more to be discovered in the depths of his imagination.
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2LP+CD
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TOKEN 082LP
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Double LP version. 180 gram vinyl; Includes CD. Inigo Kennedy has released upwards of 100 records since he started in 1996, cementing his esteemed aesthetic and revealing his digital mastery further with each release. This immense discography embraces both the traditional and the ambitious; prevalent fundamentals and established concepts meet discord, clashes in texture and supreme use of space. Kennedy's 2007 record Identify Yourself was Token's first release. Although Kennedy was well-established by this point, that inaugural step taken together, with Token as a newcomer, began the much-needed growth of the label in a period of time when techno music yearned painfully for a refresh. This was the beginning of a close relationship between artist and label that has remained fruitful through the 11 years of Token's existence. Kennedy is now long-recognized as an integral contributor to Token's output; the label is the indisputable natural home for his sixth album, and in turn he continues to play his part in advancing Token's evolving sound with this release. Strata expands conceptually on the idea of planetary layers alluded to in Magma/Mantle, released in February 2018 (TOKEN 079EP). The album progresses through levels of ornate drama, opening with "Clarion Call (Return to Nothing)", a full-length refix of the celebrated introduction from Kennedy's 2015 release of the same name (TOKEN 058EP), showing off the best of his melodic manipulation and creativity in sound design. This delicate grace is cut through spectacularly by the jaggedness of the approaching textures of "Trapezoid", while the elegant and icy beauty of "Stillness Expanded" is impacted by the noisy and epic "Reminiscence", which grand and almost clerical in its resounding majesty. "Shudder" grounds the record in restrained grit and provides functionality, while the opening fanfare of "Breaking Point" advances yet another degree of energy. The record's built-up intensity is broken at its conclusion by the sleepy, acid-tinged "Oblivion" -- one that bumps along with a drowsy breakbeat and invites the mind to wander. With Strata, Kennedy proves once again that his reserves of passion, skill, and potency are far from depleted; that there is yet more to be discovered in the depths of his imagination.
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12"
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TOKEN 081EP
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Banke delivers a profound debut for Token. The Totem EP's tempered sophistication and clear sense of purpose belies Banke's neophyte status. The tense introduction of "Simenon" is met with understated, yet unmistakable fragments of Detroit in the form of a hypnotic, high-end glissando, rolling drum work, and built-up tasteful stabs. The delicate trill of "Cheerlead" is mimicked and answered in a hypnotic call-and-response over a carefully measured low-end. "Totem" has a traditionalist opening that's purposeful and composed, Banke patiently building tension throughout. In "Strattera", the hyper-focused mid and off-beat brushing hi-hat opens out to become disorienting, multi-layered trip.
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12"
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TOKEN 079EP
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Token mainstay Inigo Kennedy had no fewer than three collaborative tracks on Momentum, the release put together to celebrate ten years of the label's output (TOKEN 078CD/LP, 2017). The similarities between "Magma" and "Mantle" are almost as striking as their individual qualities. "Magma", with a refreshingly candid lead, is soaked in reverb and sprawling with variations that gradually increase in complexity, carried by diffused sub-harmonic pads. "Mantle" is more percussion focused. Much of its movement is dictated by a pitch-bent woodiness that meanders in stereo while the composition rumbles on and opens up to a powerful crescendo.
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3LP+CD
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TOKEN 078LP
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Triple LP version. Includes CD. Over the last ten years, Token Records has grown steadily, both in size and stylistic breadth. The aptly-titled Momentum comes as a celebration of the close-knit family of artists amassed throughout the label's running. The record is a fitting collaborative project, with every track on the album produced by two longstanding and well-respected artists from the label's roster and especially commissioned for the release. On the development of the label's sound, Token founder Kr!z comments, "Inigo delivered quite the statement with the first release Identify Yourself (2007). I think identity was and still is key in the development of the label and the artists." Inigo Kennedy's involvement in Token has been profoundly influential and spans its very existence; with three collaborative tracks on the record, it's easy to hear his trademark cinematic sound throughout. One such offering, "Amalgam", is co-produced by Kr!z himself, which is a first step for the label head into releasing his own music after years of taking the back seat. Token's identity has been clarified through its curation over the years as each new artist has joined the label family. Ø [Phase] has been a staple since 2007, providing cerebral sustenance for the most discerning of listeners. Rødhåd's trademark composure was a similarly early addition, and although his Spomeniks EP (TOKEN 030EP, 2014) was a step aside from his own ongoing Dystopian project, he has remained an important member of the Token collective. Ctrls was a Token affiliate from early in his career, and has to date provided nine solo EPs. His class of jarring, inorganic techno adds an atypical feel to the label's output, while Antigone's 2015 double EP Cantor Dust paved the way for another strong artist/label relationship. There are some artists who, although better known for long releasing careers with other respected outlets, have become important in bolstering the label's character in particular. Oscar Mulero's reputation as an institution of electronic music precedes him, and Tadeo has been releasing his Detroit-leaning and avant-garde sounds since 2004. Sigha's involvement with Token came after a varied discography, his Metabolism album (TOKEN 070CD/LP) marking an integral progression in the label's direction, providing a firm expression of complex musicality and contemplative form. Features Rødhåd, Sigha, Ø [Phase], Antigone, Inigo Kennedy, Kr!z, Tadeo, Ctrls, and Oscar Mulero.
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CD
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TOKEN 078CD
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Over the last ten years, Token Records has grown steadily, both in size and stylistic breadth. The aptly-titled Momentum comes as a celebration of the close-knit family of artists amassed throughout the label's running. The record is a fitting collaborative project, with every track on the album produced by two longstanding and well-respected artists from the label's roster and especially commissioned for the release. On the development of the label's sound, Token founder Kr!z comments, "Inigo delivered quite the statement with the first release Identify Yourself (2007). I think identity was and still is key in the development of the label and the artists." Inigo Kennedy's involvement in Token has been profoundly influential and spans its very existence; with three collaborative tracks on the record, it's easy to hear his trademark cinematic sound throughout. One such offering, "Amalgam", is co-produced by Kr!z himself, which is a first step for the label head into releasing his own music after years of taking the back seat. Token's identity has been clarified through its curation over the years as each new artist has joined the label family. Ø [Phase] has been a staple since 2007, providing cerebral sustenance for the most discerning of listeners. Rødhåd's trademark composure was a similarly early addition, and although his Spomeniks EP (TOKEN 030EP, 2014) was a step aside from his own ongoing Dystopian project, he has remained an important member of the Token collective. Ctrls was a Token affiliate from early in his career, and has to date provided nine solo EPs. His class of jarring, inorganic techno adds an atypical feel to the label's output, while Antigone's 2015 double EP Cantor Dust paved the way for another strong artist/label relationship. There are some artists who, although better known for long releasing careers with other respected outlets, have become important in bolstering the label's character in particular. Oscar Mulero's reputation as an institution of electronic music precedes him, and Tadeo has been releasing his Detroit-leaning and avant-garde sounds since 2004. Sigha's involvement with Token came after a varied discography, his Metabolism album (TOKEN 070CD/LP) marking an integral progression in the label's direction, providing a firm expression of complex musicality and contemplative form. Features Rødhåd, Sigha, Ø [Phase], Antigone, Inigo Kennedy, Kr!z, Tadeo, Ctrls, and Oscar Mulero.
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12"
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TOKEN 077EP
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Sigha's lauded Metabolism album (TOKEN 070CD/LP, 2017) is further commended with a remix EP. Wata Igarashi's demonstrates different areas of focus with two new versions of "Black Massing". The "Daylight Breaks" remix opens up the high-end, expressing the original's delicate harmonics. The "Dusk Falls" remix instead hones in on the deep and anticipatory nature of its foundation. Marco Shuttle's foreboding "Morning Star" remix feels skillfully subtractive, magnifying elements by adding space and drawing focus to its melodic asides. Function plays with the contemplative nature of "Down" in his version, adding dynamic percussion and energy while retaining its expression and depth.
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12"
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TOKEN 076EP
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Neel joins Token with the four-track EP Calcata. The title track falls within our expectations of exquisite ambience, with fluid, rhythmic mids, and a delicate interplay of organic and unnatural noise in the high end. The opening shuffling hats in "Re. Vox" cement the release firmly in Token territory, while the staggered exaggeration of a synth line falters between beats and more crafted waves of noise increase the stress. "Bassiani" evokes its Georgian namesake in hypnotic bliss, while the murky bass of "Treja" follows a dizzying theme overhead.
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12"
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TOKEN 075EP
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After Time Enough At Last (TOKEN 068EP, 2016), Antigone returns with Ostinato. The record is thematically accurate, adhering to its title's suggestion. The tracks play with layering techniques, gradually building a spectrum of sound around their respective persistent motifs. Antigone shifts these insistent base elements, allowing them the foreground before masking within a blend of processed and organic-sounding details. "Ostinato 1" is mild and disconcerting with strings that seem unnatural in their high pitch. "Ostinato 2" is more traditionally dramatic, the space filled with keys that follow the theme, building to an ostentatious crescendo reminiscent of the roots of trance.
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12"
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TOKEN 074EP
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Inigo Kennedy's refined, courageous sound continues to be a definitive element of Token's output. After the NCG EP (TOKEN 062EP, 2016) and Surrender/Castles In The Air (TOKEN 067EP, 2016), Kennedy is back with a three-track EP. "Tornado" is vast and cinematic. A thundering kick becomes ripe with swelling strings followed by a bright, wistful lead and long, suspenseful breaks. "Glacier" is more measured in its expression, with icy keys playing out a restrained sentimentality over an earthy groove. "Voyager" is energetic; crisp and crunchy percussion melds into an ever-moving melody that wavers in-and-out of the foreground.
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12"
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TOKEN 073EP
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Johannes Volk goes above and beyond with his first Token offering, the four-track EP Designing Evolution. The title track rushes in with meandering, staccato synth-work while the gradually opening hi-hat and subsequent ride advance frenetically overhead. "Escapism" is sparse and roomy. With more melodic wandering, grand swells accompany a pleasant, digressive bell, forced ahead with functional percussion. The subdued lead of "Cosmic Clockwork" takes you straight to 1995 Detroit and expands as the track shuffles onto full power. "Sleeping On A Razor Blade" is a bouncy, unconventional contribution with an off-kilter kick pattern and jazzy accents.
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12"
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TOKEN 072EP
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Routing is Ctrls ninth solo EP. "The Shortest Path" starts with flitting high-end precision accompanied by a gracefully deviating tone. It takes on new life with a sparse and ultra-synthetic groove. "Rush Hour" is gripped by an acute yet almost-imagined drone that builds intensity before going all in. The oddball break takes it down and whips around to shuddering effect. "Crash" is a full-scale collision: strange and discordant percussive details, a fierce bass teased by semi-conscious accents. "Highway" comes in on a half-step, straightening up with a muted klaxon crescendo into hypnotic transit. Routing includes two staggering, driving locked grooves.
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12"
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TOKEN 071EP
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Following his second album Alone in Time? (TOKEN 057CD/LP, 2015) Ø [Phase] continues his ongoing connection to Token with the Submerged Metropolitan EP. The title track enters with Burchett's own brand of unease; the lead is tense and discordant, moving over a bumpy, rolling kick. Brushing off-beat hats rush overhead and play delicately with this unease above the thunder. Ethereal swells and intense rhythmic play introduce "Fallen Columns", which delves into atonality with keys that add a controlled recklessness to the composition. "This Absent Mind" takes on a hypnotic, dubby form with a confidence that belies its complexity.
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2LP+CD
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TOKEN 070LP
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Token present Metabolism, the sophomore album from Sigha. The album marks James Shaw's third release on the Token label, following his singles Our Father/A Better Way Of Living (TOKEN 056EP, 2015) and Christ Figures/New Puritan (TOKEN 063EP, 2016). Metabolism represents an arrival: the artist offers his definitive statement on a production aesthetic that has been in development over the last few years. Shaw's work as Sigha has always placed the listener at a centrifugal point that invites a clandestine hypnosis rather than an abject hysteria. Cavernous low ends fixed firmly and effectively in a mono space, tether the music to the body, while exquisitely executed white noise patterns and crystalline pads warp and hiss around the stereo environment. This keen ear for distinction within the frequency spectrum acts as the central theme on the album. Metabolism encompasses a power dynamism that departs from the explicitly greyscale finish found on his more conceptual work as Sigha and as A Vision Of Love for Guy Brewer's Avian label. Though elements of Metabolism maintain a driven, corrosive quality, each searing sequence or mordant drum machine hit occupies its own space. On high-energy dancefloor moments and abstract tracks alike, Shaw's approach to distortion is one that sets out with an objective to separate components rather than to bind them. This creates a matrix of aural stimuli that remain heady and inherently propulsive, but are realized in a fashion more akin to high-fidelity sound design than processes traditionally associated with the techno genre. The record possesses a powerful musicality beyond this acute attention to form and structure. In the past, Shaw's productions have often married high-energy drum work with subtly shifting minor keys spread around the sonic periphery. On Metabolism, emotive leads sit squarely and comfortably in the foreground, and build towards rapturous crescendos that are crisp and omnipresent throughout the mix. These careful layers generate the extraordinary tension that has since become a hallmark of the British artist's work. Metabolism is a techno album, but its frame of reference is generous, drawing on the finest facets of the artist's own varied discography and the wider electronic music landscape. Cohesive and modern, Shaw's latest work eschews a handful of riffs on a single idea in favor of a multi-faceted, fully-realized expression of what the genre can be. 180 gram vinyl; Includes CD.
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CD
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TOKEN 070CD
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English producer James Shaw aka Sigha presents his sophomore album, Metabolism, marking his third release on the Token label following his singles Our Father/A Better Way Of Living (TOKEN 056EP, 2015) and Christ Figures/New Puritan (TOKEN 063EP, 2016). Metabolism represents an arrival, as the artist offers his definitive statement on a production aesthetic that has been in development throughout the 2010s. Shaw's work as Sigha has always placed the listener at a centrifugal point that invites a clandestine hypnosis rather than an abject hysteria. Cavernous low ends fixed firmly and effectively in a mono space tether the music to the body, while exquisitely executed white noise patterns and crystalline pads warp and hiss around the stereo environment. This keen ear for distinction within the frequency spectrum acts as the central theme on the album. Metabolism encompasses a power dynamism that departs from the explicitly grayscale finish found on Shaw's more conceptual work as Sigha and as A Vision Of Love for Guy Brewer's Avian label. Though elements of Metabolism maintain a driven, corrosive quality, each searing sequence and mordant drum machine hit occupies its own space. On high-energy dancefloor moments and abstract tracks alike, Shaw's approach to distortion is one that sets out to separate components rather than to bind them. This creates a matrix of aural stimuli that remain heady and inherently propulsive, but are realized in a fashion more akin to high-fidelity sound design than processes traditionally associated with the techno genre. The album also possesses a powerful musicality beyond this acute attention to form and structure. In the past, Shaw's productions have often married high-energy drum work with subtly shifting minor keys spread around the sonic periphery. On Metabolism, emotive leads sit squarely and comfortably in the foreground, and build toward rapturous crescendos that are crisp and omnipresent throughout the mix. These careful layers generate the extraordinary tension that has become a hallmark of the artist's work. Metabolism is a techno album, but its frame of reference is generous, drawing on the finest facets of the artist's own varied discography and the wider electronic music landscape. Cohesive and modern, Shaw's second album eschews a handful of riffs on a single idea in favor of a multi-faceted, fully realized expression of what the genre can be.
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12"
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TOKEN 069EP
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Tadeo first released on Token in 2015 with the instant classic Terra Incognita (TOKEN 051EP). If Terra Incognita was an interpretation of outer space, The Pit comes from deep in the ground. This is electronic program music; book ended in distinctive Tadeo style with a modal string section that places the record firmly in the avant-garde, The Pit guides the listener through the moods and associations of a classic science fiction narrative. A subdued but powerful low-end to set the pace, disorienting semitone meanderings and organic percussion in the mid, and massive, crashing hats that lift statement sections beyond comprehension.
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12"
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TOKEN 067EP
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Inigo Kennedy is back with Surrender/Castles In The Air. "Surrender" begins with a textured awakening. The inter-mixture of slow swells and attentively-dashed accents in a range of timbres guides the listener blindly towards a shocking, strident interruption when the percussion is suddenly introduced with full and resolute force. "Castles In The Air" retains a similar theme. Gloomy, lingering chords begin and then pause with more than a moment lingering in reverb. When the full arrangement appears, it kicks at least twice as hard as the introduction could ever have prepared the listener for.
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3LP
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TOKEN 066LP
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Steve Rachmad's, aka Sterac, extensive collection of projects over the years has provided a wealth of inspiration in its many forms. Although much of Rachmad's music has been influential on the development of Token from the beginning, there is one body of work in particular that encapsulates the essence of the label, in a classic and inimitable form. Scorp was an alias and label project operating between 2000 and 2004. Although not the best known of Rachmad's many aliases, its importance was not overlooked by discerning tastemakers at the forefront of the techno movement at the time. This compilation contains nine tracks in total, selected from these releases, plus one track previously unreleased from the same period. These ten tracks clearly demonstrate Token's alignment with this classic sound, exhibiting Rachmad's mathematical precision in employing bare-bones percussion to captivate, doing away with the formality of a lengthy introduction and urging a hypnotic state with immediate effect. All of the music has been remastered.
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