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LP
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TRAUM 278LP
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In 2021, The MFA returned to the fore once more, when Traum released their Oranges and Lemons EP. Their new album, Lights Out, which could be described as a long time coming, is definitely The MFA's most ambitious work to date. The album sums up what The MFA stands for; their love of electronic music intertwined their love of songs and melody, sometimes banging, sometimes pensive, sometimes longing, occasionally up-beat and happy. Melodic techno-pop-rave then. The album opener "My Desire" pins down the essence of the album, showing some pop sensibility and a healthy dose of that early '90s spirit with longing vocals by Rhys Evans. The track shows from many angles of the intensity of what club culture was about. The track has, for sure, that pop quality which sets it apart -- it is a very complete and rounded and in the true sense, a hit. "Identify This" kicks off with blissed-out sci-fi sounds but commences with 90s rave chords that gets under your skin and creates a fantastic kaleidoscopic picture of moody UK rave with these spurts of emotional uplifting moments which are worth every penny. "Bear Likes To Rave" takes you back to the warehouse days and reminds you of the acid warehouse parties with fanned stroboscope beams and dry ice cannons. It's like looking down on a rave party happening from above, from a bird's eye view, which is in full swing where the euphoria spills over into the audience. "Girl Ahead" is a vocal track exclusively on the digital version of the album, again with Rhys Evans on vocal duties. Here they ponder all the possibilities of the future and the mistakes of the past. Features space toms and grand piano rave chords to evoke a housy feel within. With "Freedom24" a Hi-NRG melody meets nightcrawler sounds ala "Klang De Familie". "Lammas Day" has the chilling exotic quality of 808 State "Pacific State", paired with some phantastic Dr Who sensibilities. "Warehouse" is a wild mash up of impressions which nicely go together due to the melodic string composition and the 303 sequences. "The Snapping Branch" starts with a mash up of sounds and then dives into an episodic snapshot of "happiness" when the serotonin shoots in (just before it drops). "You Make Me Smile" is the third vocal track on the album featuring Rhys Evans on vocals. It has fantastic radical stark mood changes and blatant shifts, therefore throws the listener from one corner to the other. Just like the contrast of day and night. Bits here and there might conjure a Radiohead spirit, but really this is all MFA.
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2LP
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TRAUM 280LP
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Originally released in 2007 on CD and now re-released on double vinyl. Heimische Gefilde was the second full-length release on Traum at that time from Westerwald based DJ, producer, and park ranger, Dominik Eulberg. Dominik has since then expended his activities enormously now appearing as a book author with best-selling books in the German official bestseller list. He is the ambassador of the most popular Conservation Union in Germany NABU, he has created a bird quartet and a handmade insect hotel and appears on national German TV regularly next playing in clubs worldwide and producing stunning music. Heimische Gefilde includes spoken words by the man himself and the release won the price of the German critic awards for music. It is the only compilation that comprises a selection of Dominik Eulberg's best early works and it is for the first time available on vinyl now. As Dominik Eulberg says in his own words: "After more than 16 years, Heimische Gefilde is finally released on vinyl. At that time it was still a daring experiment to combine music with lustful science communication. Quickly one was thrown into the pot of the 'weird eco-techno sound owl'. Today, we are increasingly finding that we cannot stop the impending ecocide in a cognitive way. For more than 60 years we have known about the concrete threats to humanity from global warming and species extinction; yet nothing changes. Many alarmist efforts fail miserably, red lists grow longer and longer each year, and global temperatures continue to rise unchecked. It is becoming clearer and clearer that we have to reach out to our fellow human beings in a positive emotional way in order to make a difference, because we only protect what we love. Then sentimental minorities become majorities that change something. Art and culture are low-threshold vectors to make things majority-friendly. They are a fertile and valuable breeding ground to sensitize people outside the eco-bubble and to let their environment become a co-environment again. Today my transdisciplinary work is inseparable . . . Heimische Gefilde was a valuable cornerstone for my creative work, a very intrinsic work to go my very own way." Tracks like "Die Rotbauchunken vom Tegernsee" and "Björn Borkenkäfer" are included here in unreleased edits that are even stronger than the originals, and as a bonus, previously vinyl-only.
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12"
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TRAUM 274EP
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Traum release another vinyl 12" with Carsten Halm adding up to the series the label have released with him so far. This EP marks the end of the series, but not the end of the relationship with Carsten. Carsten has been very successful with his releases on Traum starting with his Taubenflug EP in June 2020 followed by Fuchsbau and Hammerhai. As Traum stated with his first EP: "His music has the unique quality to bring people together and experience something very positive." Carsten showed this quality with all of his EPs and last but not least this also makes him a popular DJ. Carsten plays clubs all over Germany but he still sticks to his roots and organizes parties in his hometown Cologne in his own dedicated space which he has rebuild with his friends after it was destroyed last year. The fourth vinyl release with Carsten Halm Licht Und Schatten highlights another cover design by graphic designer Daniela Thiel and shows collages of the animals in a similar graphic context as his previous releases. The idea was to keep the graphic idea of the series but to use only artifacts of his previous designs to create a new cover. The EP kicks off with "Licht" a track that has the quality to embrace you emotionally as well as musically with a massive warm and widening synth sounds that is a true A-side tune. "Chimäre" instead is more jumpy and good natured, resulting in a nice break to carry the listener throughout the track. "Schatten" kicks off with a rather dry drumming but in the course of the track is joined by a merry melody which is pushed aside by a bad ass rectangle synth sound that inflates the track with a techno spirit that is very welcomed at open airs. The EP closes with the track "Notes" a horse ride though valleys of sparse vegetation with a happy sad Morricone inspired soundtrack that is very easy to like.
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12"
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TRAUM 242EP
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Carsten Halm is a German DJ and producer who keeps his doings very much under the radar. With his release on Traum, Carsten Halm drifts slightly towards a different direction which can be described as a blend of techno with melodic elements all done in a minimalist fashion. Powerful and warm sounding... ready to rock the dance floor. The EP kicks off with "Taubenflug" using a classic sequential sound in the beginning that is layered with a catchy bassy synth that soon follows. That can be considered only the beginning of "Taubenflug". The track builds up step by step adding a fast-paced melody and a panoramic spread string melody that give the track its wonderful feeling of elevation. The track is gifted with a very natural progression that can be instantly absorbed and generates a collective feeling of extraordinary happiness. "Herbstnacht" has a tribal sequence running that places you right into an open-air setting at night. The track communicates perfectly the exchange of one's inner self with the things that happen around you. The track has the aura of an epic dance track which seems to defy time since it could go on forever. The flip side of the vinyl offers the track "Sternenfunkeln" in its original version and the remix version by Nils Hoffmann. The original is brooding and mysterious yet it does generate a lot of forward motion that pulls you into the track. The track could be understood as expressing the feeling of dancing below the starts catching illuminating glimpses of stars with their thermonuclear fusion happening while we are too far away to understand any of this but see the radiation into space. Nils Hoffmann's remix is a sensitive composition with melodies that seem to glide, never touching the ground but on the other hand he has an underlying kind of tension running through the track.
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2LP
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TRAUM 233LP
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Philippe Cam is the Thomas Pynchon of the electronic music world. Little is known about him and only a couple of pictures have been put online since he emerged on this planet to write his first and only album in 2001 (TRAUM 003CD). All that's known is that he worked as a sailor and that's it. If you dig deeper you might find out that he worked as a DJ in the beginning of the '90s in Brussels and began to study electronic music there and also began to write music for theaters and ballets. So what's new with his music? Basically, the art of filtering is still his passion. Maybe he can be less associated with techno and the themes of his new tracks emerge in a more distinctive pattern? The energy of his early techno days in Brussels have returned here in a fierce way with some of the tracks. The rhythmic movements are classy and stick with you. Whereas other tracks look for a distinctive relaxation of some kind. The album kicks off with the mellow and soothing "Cocoa Beach". A gentle beat that moves like bodies swaying in the hot summer sun. "Manga" feels like an acceleration to the moon, the contemplative moments come in spurts and hide in the intervals of the chords which are on the loose. "Short Summer" is heavy and violent. As intensive as it is, it knows when to stop and disappear. Be prepared for "Vermillions Sands", some Terry Riley might lure around the corner to offer you some oranges on a silver plate, but don't eat them. Maybe the best ambient track ever written. Rotterdam was home for Philippe Cam for a long time but not anymore. "Rotterdam" seems mechanical and rusty and spooky and divided. "Bis" is a short episode of a track, and before you can comment on it, it is already over. "The Game" is a mule of a track. It has a quiet stubborn sequence that bites and kicks you in the back without any change in near sight. "Ultimate Fly For Halloway" somehow orchestrates how you might feel after you climbed a 8000 meter high mountain and reached the top. "Last Track" is a true minimalistic piece of music that manages to make contact with other genres and does this with elegance, determination and a lot of soul. Cover art by Yvette Klein.
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12"
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TRAUM 211EP
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Dominik Eulberg has been playing the unreleased "pop" track "Dream Machine" in his sets and it has created a big stir in the fan community. Traum release the track here on a limited one-sided vinyl. "Dream Machine" was written together with German musician Essáy. Together they have written this club hymn! "Dream Machine"'s captivating quality is its compelling friendliness. A smooth track incorporating a flute and a floating beat, which is very untypical for Dominik. The release manifests in a clear transparent vinyl. Includes separate artwork by Miro D'Oro.
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12"
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TRAUM 204EP
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Dominik Eulberg has chosen three jewels that carry animal names. "Taubenblut" starts off with an excursion into massive deep baseline spheres, all dubby and minimalistic by nature. A seductive melody shines like a turning crystal while delivering simultaneously fine and deep cuts to your skin. "Falkenauge" expresses an explicit feeling of wanderlust, advocacy and longing. It is a walk through nature all picturesque and colorful and if you listen closely, the sequences seem to "talk" to you. "Katzengold" describes an atmosphere of perfect harmony with nature, no hardship, no self-destruction. Artwork by Miri D'Oro.
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12"
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TRAUM 200EP
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Mario Hammer And The Lonely Robot present two remixes and one original from their album L'esprit de L'escalier (TRAUM 036CD, 2015). Extrawelt's remix of "Mono No Aware / L'esprit de L'escalier" starts off very quiet, then weaves in accelerating techno beats and electro beats. Cologne born artist Thyladomid aka Charles Thiemann teams up with Jonas Mantey. They present a sensual low-key melodic remix of "Sirimiri (Hammersche Modularverschaltung)" that forgets about stunts focusing on a fine blend of sounds. For the last track, Mario Hammer has written a slightly different version of his album track "Misodoctakleidist" adding piano parts.
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CD
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TRAUM 036CD
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This full-length CD by Mario Hammer and the Lonely Robot might come as a surprise -- but Mario has left traces of his skill before, particularly with his modular contributions to Traum's Tour de Traum series and his work as RWAC. Listeners have since caught up to him -- Robert Babicz asked him for remixes -- and Mario has been inspired by DJs like Dominik Eulberg to leave the path of dance culture and simply work with sounds. The result is a 60-minute non-dance full-analog piece of modular music: L'esprit de L'escalier. Mario has been a fan of old analog synths for most of his life and, for some of this album's tracks, has teamed up with Josef Steinbüchel, who shares a similar love for synths. They wrote the album's 13 tracks over a year, with many ideas born in the writing process. Only "Metaphysical Orchestra" and "Sirimiri (Hammersche Modularverschaltung)" are previously released, and appear here in different versions. The album is loosely organized around BPM by following the speed of LFOs and arpeggiators to make the experience totally soothing. The album can be divided roughly into two parts; the mood switches about hallway through when "Yugon" introduces a beautiful and darker side. The pulsating "Mono No Aware" sets free a stream of sounds not unlike a focused, intensive, golden sunbeam before moving toward gracefully archaic melodies. "Chakwira" starts with a polyphonic melody, dazzling in its melancholic tone, then blends into the soothing and warm "Hyggelig," with an enveloping sound as gigantic as the legendary synth sound on Vapourspace's "Gravitational Arch of 10" (Plus 8, 1993). "L'esprit de L'escalier" is one of two almost-ten-minute tracks, and it makes use of a spectacular melodic sequence. On "Sirimiri (Hammersche Modularverschaltung)," Amon Düül, Klaus Schulze, and Cluster spring to mind here. "Symphony of Pulsing" follows in an incredible transition before "Yuyin" calms things down with a loose, improvised feeling. "Eigengrau" catches the remnants to form a track that connects to "Sirimiri," but in a different direction. The final minute of closer "Nefelibata" is enhanced with a sound that Mario Hammer came across, bringing the album to a beautiful analog end.
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12"
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TRAUM 188EP
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After eight months of playing numerous DJ gigs, setting up his studio, and plenty of bird-watching, Dominik Eulberg delivers joyous, heartwarming, and life-affirming electronic music. Eulberg has been described as a "sound sculptor" by De:Bug magazine, and as a madman by himself; he spends months turning his tracks upside-down and adding details. What sounds easygoing and light is the result of endless studio sessions. This EP's title, Spülsaum, can be translated as "drift line." The title refers to Eulberg's work as a park ranger, directing daily guided tours along drift lines in Wangerooge (Nationalparkhaus Rosenhaus, Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer).
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12"
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TRAUM 184EP
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Sebastian Mullaert's spiritual work of Direct Experience features two very different versions from a techno soul, with Mullaert twisting and bending the theme in his delicate and hypnotic way. "Direct Experience" in its original version is an 11-minute voyage into Mullaert's art of shifting and moving frequencies gently from one place to the other without ever losing touch with the pulsating rhythms that carry it all. The music is indeed trippy and demands an appreciation for a hypnotic state. The dub version on the flipside is even looser; you can feel the music levitating a millimeter off the ground.
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12"
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TRAUM 181EP
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Traum selects tracks from Egokind & Ozean's Transition album (TRAUM 032CD) for this single. "Mega" is a joyous Balearic tune that keeps slight dissonances coming and going. "Every Time You Smile" is an energetic piece of warped music which swells and then is diminished to small islands of voices. "Light Realms" flows into "Silverbird" with no pause: "Silverbird" then opens the curtain and lets the sun fill the whole room with yellow golden rays. Egokind & Ozean then unfold a garage house track which makes small turns but stays very organic and warm. And "Everybody Dance Now" by its title makes things very clear.
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CD
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TRAUM 032CD
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After releasing his stunning debut Diamond Days on Traum and the follow-up Nothingness EP, Egokind told the folks at Traum that he had the idea for an album already sitting in the back of his head. To be able to convert all of his ideas he asked his long-time friend and collaborator Ozean to work with him. For both of them Transition is their debut album, but both artists can draw on a lot of experience recording music from multiple genres. Transition combines eccentric and modern-sounding club tracks, interludes which are based on improvisation and composition and mesmerizing downbeat trax. That Transition feels personal is due to their individual approach of not paying attention to establishing formulas but to listening carefully to themselves and developing their own formula. As a result you will not find one sound on the album which has been played with a synthesizer. Instead, all is recorded and transformed, using guitar, Rhodes, piano and manipulated voice. The album starts with "Mega," which begins rather acoustic, inviting you into the private world of Egokind & Ozean, before it becomes a joyous Balearic tune that, despite its wealth, keeps slight dissonances coming and going. "Flying Sparks" is a minimalistic track that connects to post-rock aesthetics of the '80s, using means of collage to give it a structure. "Every Time You Smile" is an energetic piece of warped music which swells and diminishes into small islands of voices that turn like mad, creating a new cosmos almost comical at times, but always very kind and gentle as well. "Mute Memories" is maybe the most melancholic and dark track of the album and the first and only one to really build a bridge between two contrary musical themes. The track plunges without warning into a downbeat that is constructed out of cut-up sounds creating an exceptional slow-motion beat. "We Float Around (And Hang Out on Clouds)" starts with an eruptive downbeat groove that is super-sexy. Heavenly sounds glide and are overdubbed by small improvising bits. "Light Realms" is a delicate and airy minimalist composition that dives into deeper territories, at times using a sonic language, slowing things down so you witness how the sounds blend in real time. "Silverbird" then opens the curtain and lets the sun fill out the whole room with yellow golden rays. "Everything Around You Is Resonating Light" is a track with flickering melodies -- simplistic and melancholic. "Future Fireflies" is a masterpiece with a lively "percussive" rhythm that is separated by harmonic vocal layerings and enriched by happy/sad melodies. "Eclipse" is a short sound experience and a bit like an episode with voices in tremor. "Everybody Dance Now" is a hi-energy dance track, still keeping one big surprise to come half-time, with a fantastic acoustic intermezzo. "Euphoria" is the last track of the album before the bonus tracks "Diamond Days" and "Sinus." "Euphoria" is is a very cool juxtaposition of different motions all lined up next to each other... but eventually leading to a euphoric final passage of distorted orchestral brilliance. "Diamond Days" and "Sinus" (recorded with Ozean) were released on Egokind's first EP on Traum and were added as an extra for you.
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12"
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TRAUM 176EP
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Der Interpret is a collaboration between Arne Schaffhausen from Extrawelt and his long-time friend Marcus C. Maichel, with whom he (and also Wayan Raabe) collaborated under the moniker of The Delta. Opening track "Since Forever" harkens back to the early days of techno and rave, with big, bold chords reminiscent of Inner City's "Good Life" or any other good R&S act of that time. "Landfall" is a sensual paraglider of a post-Detroit track. The "Since Forever Dub" is a phantasmic remix, as it really shows that a mix can create something totally new.
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12"
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TRAUM 174EP
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Hannes Rasmus' EP Musik für fünf Maschinen refers to the equipment he used to write the music. The title of the tracks, however, refer to swimming pools. The opening track "Eine Leichte Brise Weht Über Das Sonnendeck" starts with a touch of early Detroit techno and then suddenly takes a big leap -- a kind of acceleration gaining a momentum of zero gravity and effortlessness. When another nice vintage synth kicks in, a nostalgic desire is expressed by a swaying sound doing all kinds of contortions but showing no clear direction.
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12"
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TRAUM 173EP
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Traum presents a 12" from the partnership of Dominik Eulberg and Gabriel Ananda. "Owltastic" is a mad tune -- a comical and hyped-up track for the hedonistic peak-time moments. A tour de force of sequences and melodies that climb and climb and climb... until they fall deep. But who if not Dominik and Gabriel are there to catch them and throw them back up in the air? "Friend of All That Lives" starts more introspectively but gains that particular vibe of friendliness and relaxation Eulberg has shown in some of his previous works of brilliance.
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12"
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TRAUM 165-5EP
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Dominik Eulberg and Gabriel Ananda share their special energy exchange with two big crowd-pleasers. The title of the first track "The Space Between Us" refers to the energy which happens between them but also shows the differences in their personality, which makes their tracks so special. The music of "The Space Between Us" is 100% techno music, and a perfect club-track. "Dinosaurs in the Sky" is more house in the modern sense than it is techno, so you might enjoy the contrast of these tracks as well.
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12"
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TRAUM 169EP
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After Ryan Davis' album Particles of Bliss (TRAUM 026CD), it was clear to everyone that he was one of the most versatile artists on the label. There was no electronic playground he did not enter. Now Davis returns with what can easily be referred to as the most powerful EP production of his to date. Opening the doors to newly-embarked soil, the EP kicks off with "Ghosts," an attractive and sophisticated piece of sculptured melodic techno that cuts out the cheesy bits and endless doodling often found in melodic emo music to give them an extra bit of physical strength and deepness.
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12"
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TRAUM 168EP
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Extrawelt are back with a brand-new three-track EP for Traum. The opener is "Breedle," a track that works in a spirit similar to "Doch Doch." It starts with a sequential melody leveling the path for manipulated vocals and strings in an FX box. Enough simmering energy collected along the way, Extrawelt manage to disperse an undercurrent of tension throughout the track. "In Shape to Escape" is a funky and twisted bass line monster of a clubby electro track and "The Inkling" is a bit of a daring sound punisher -- this harsh, contrasting, pounding track will freak people out in a big way.
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12"
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TRAUM 167EP
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Dominik Eulberg, the ambassador of German melodic techno music, releases a 3-track masterpiece of melodic music for Traum. This time it seems to be even more exhilarating and driven by passion. The liveliness of his ideas show up in greater chunks. For those who seek techno realism? It can be found here.
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12"
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TRAUM 162EP
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Max Cooper has teamed up with Nicolas Bougaïeff, who is the creative director of interactive music/software developers Liine in Berlin. He has built the controllers for the Plastikman Live 2010 tour and works together with Richie Hawtin with Liine. This company provides the Lemur App, Remiix Apps and Griid, amongst others. As Max says in his own words: "Nick contributed a load of ideas to this EP, one being this great patch he made using operator, with lots of nice squelch, and some cool melodic frameworks."
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12"
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TRAUM 160EP
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Ryan Davis teams ups for his newest release on Traum with French artist Electric Rescue, creating a powerhouse of cosmic techno. Their debut 12" together is a many-sided prism reflecting different iterations of techno from various angles. These three tracks are spiced up with skillfully-played chord melodies and courageous key changes. The release also includes a remix by Roel Hoogendorn, a sonically-talented producer whose remix contains a hypnotic quality entirely suited to the peak-time dancefloor.
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12"
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TRAUM 158EP
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Microtrauma presents their second limited 12", collecting some of their finest tracks never released before on vinyl. The four track EP starts with "Reflection," a mighty tune. The track is built musically on a sophisticated layering of intricate sounds that are counteracted by slashing snares and sharp sequences. "Pollen Flug" is big and bouncy dub-induced stuff and "Solitone" is a piece of interstellar, planetary, spacious music. Last up is a Microtrauma remix of "Gravity Well," by Max Cooper.
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12"
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TRAUM 156EP
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Ein Stueckchen Urstoff reflects on the sound design Dominik Eulberg developed for his Diorama (TRAUM 024CD/137LP) album, fused with much more hedonistic force, fantasy and tons of wit to go with it. "Offenbach" brings the "collective feel" in dance music to a new level. "Die blaue Sekunde" has beats made from exploding firecrackers and melodies that rotate with brutality. "Microorgasmen im Morgentau" is a cinematic soundtrack with a DJ twist -- a moody, medieval journey.
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12"
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TRAUM 155EP
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The A-side of the brand-new Max Cooper on Traum features Cooper playing with arpeggiators in a whole new way, and the "togetherness" of the soundscape is not very typical for him, either. The flip-side of the record features "Basal Ganglia" and "Gravity Well," two tracks that are more typical for Max and equally brilliant. "Basal Ganglia" is a mixture of roaring bass line monsters and floating sweet sounds, while "Gravity Well" is an organic richness of melodies and sounds.
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