HHV Exclusives 246 Items

Limited to 500 copies.

Kiasmos - Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds and Faroese musician Janus Rasmussen – are returning, renewed and restored, with II. The triumphant follow-up to their universally acclaimed self-titled debut in 2014, which re-envisioned minimal techno with orchestral flourishes and weightless production. They’d made most of that album in just two weeks; this time it’s been 10 years. The making of II was a test of their friendship, but also testament to how great musical chemistry can always go the distance and be just the same as it ever was.

They worked on a lot of II during the lost year of 2020-2021, including a trip to Ólafur’s studio in Bali. “We spent a month there and wrote a few songs that ended up on the record,” says Janus. The pair sampled traditional Balinese percussion like the gamelan and incorporated Janus’s field recordings of their natural surroundings – the sound of birds, crickets and, on standout track ‘Dazed’, echoing the sunrise over the lush landscape.

Kiasmos have an enviable knack for conveying complex emotions and evocative visuals with instrumental music. But this time they’ve got more experience as producers to draw on. The album’s expansiveness can be linked to Ólafur’s intervening years as a Grammy-nominated composer and prominent soundtracker in film and TV. And they’ve subtly shifted from four-to-the-floor to the frenetic broken beats of UK dance music, experimenting more with BPMs, echoing Janus’s time spent DJing in major venues worldwide. There are still those aching melodies that fans know and love but they’re catchier too: tracks like ‘Laced’ and ‘Bound’ have an irresistible, elastic bounce beneath the ethereal palette.

This edition includes an art print only available at HHV. One copy per customer.

Ever since Actress hinted at a new album back in May 2019, we have been waiting with open ears and arms, for Karma & Desire to arrive. With a single 49-minute track '88' uploaded on Bandcamp earlier this year, it was a palette cleanser for what is to come. For this new record, we see Darren Cunningham returning in true Actress form, alongside the now revealed list of mystery collaborators - Mercury Prize winner Sampha, singer and songwriter Zsela, Aura T-09, pianist and conductor Vanessa Benelli Mosell and vocalist Rebekah Christel.

Several of the tracks on Karma & Desire find Darren Cunningham leaning into the sort of hazy, slightly hypnagogic synthscapes which have cropped up repeatedly throughout his output as Actress. Cuts such as ‘Gliding Squares’ have a quality about them which is pitched between dreamy reverie and something more unsettling. It is a sound which means that Karma & Desire can count both Dean Blunt and David Lynch as points of reference. When house and techno beats enter the fray they almost emerge out of these synthetic fogs - even the more lively joints still crackle and hiss with an alluring softness. In this manner, Karma & Desire harks back to previous Actress LPs such as AZD, though there is often a wintry quality to the more beat-driven tracks here which mark them out as unique to this LP.

There are several moments on Karma & Desire where Actress follows his nose to end up in electronic terrain that is difficult to name. The rhythms on ‘Loose’, for instance, draw from juke and ‘Pulse X’-era Eskibeat, but the way in which strange clouds of sound are created from keyboards and Rebekah Cristel’s faraway vocals means that the track is only really comparable to the experiments of Inga Copeland. Furthermore, the points where the piano is played, frequently deliver some of the most beautiful moments here, be they the sparse ‘Public Life (feat. Vanessa Benelli Mosell)’ or the soulful lilt of ‘Walking Flames (feat. Sampha)’.

Karma & Desire brings a surreal beauty to Actress’ typically innovative brand of electronic composition.

Limited to 100 copies.

Dumbo Tracks returns with a second album Move With Intention – the anticipated follow up to 2022's eponymous debut. Philipp Janzen and collaborators deliver a varied collection of nine zoned-out grooves direct from Dumbo Studio in Cologne, with vocal contributions from Portable, Ada, Marker Starling, Rubee Fegan and nothhingspecial.

Looking back to his musical upbringing, Philipp Janzen switched up the recording process from the first record to incorporate more of a live band element. The result is a more eclectic sound which allowed more freedom to experiment, while keeping the collaborative spirit that is a vital Dumbo Tracks trademark.

The genesis of the record began in Italy, where Philipp and co-producer Julian Stetter traveled to jam out ideas on modular synths over the course of a few days. These ideas served as the basis for more instrumental tracks back at Dumbo Studio, where Philipp invited friends to develop the tracks further within a live dynamic. For the final phase of the record, Philipp enlisted the artistry of five vocalists: spoken word frontwoman Rubee Fegan, Canadian singer songwriter Marker Starling, house romantic Portable, Bonn-based haunted pop artist nothhingspecial and Hamburg's techno visionary Ada.

Rubee Fegan contributes her anecdotal observations to four songs, not least on the opening track "Daughter Of Flood" with her poetic remark "sip on the wave of her." It's a vocal style that Philipp had been looking for for ages, and finally found after hearing Rubee's band Smile. Long-time collaborator Christopher Cummings aka Marker Starling lends his lilting tenor to "Slow Despair", an uplifting drum machine and organ workout. Track three "What If" shifts the goal posts, as an acid bassline rises over a swung groove that wouldn't sound out of place in a Manchester warehouse, before we emerge into a clearing of heartbreak and expectation, courtesy of singer producer nothhingspecial.

The title track sees Philipp and crew slow the tempo down to a molasses dreamscape, a beatdown groove that's joined by Paris-residing artist Portable. Portable's emotive voice is the perfect foil for the tracks' invocation to mindfulness, aided by filtered hi-hats and widescreen sequencers. "Mica" takes the synths and drum machines out to the countryside, and finds producer and singer Ada supplying the most sensitive of vocals and flutes to a song that carries the kosmisch torch. Organs spill over rolling drums and dub reverb, underneath Rubee's cosmic voiceover on "A Naked Star", and the album concludes with "My Eyes Won't Close" a chromatic modular descent into despair, vividly described by nothhingspecial.

It all makes for a gloriously eclectic album, an anarchic pop record that follows its own rules. Move With Intention is both electronic yet alive, motorik and pastoral, filled with dancefloor grooves and a krautrock swagger. In this sense the intention is clear: to respectfully rip up the rule book and keep moving forward.

Slow Waves is a collection of multi-layered memories, stacked like grainy polaroids in an old box in the closet or under the bed while the colours fade. A young Rob at the beach or on his first day of grammar school. Images of travels across Europe and Japan, moments slipping in trains or planes while landscapes pass by. Memories so unique to his life, yet so similar to the fading memories of youth and adolescence we all have...

After a series of well acclaimed EP’s, each of them created at very specific moments in the artists life, submerse took the time and sat down to reflect and convert all these memories into his first full length album on Project: Mooncircle.

'Slow Waves' comes out worldwide on limited double vinyl, limited handmade and handpainted cassette edition (both including download code) as well as a limited edition CD including a bonus track via flau records in Japan.

A bright and colourful scenery: Shrill blinding sights, piercing foreign sounds, a fusion of disparate scents blended into a cocktail of curiosity. Fleeting attempts embrace a thousand senses in one single second. Bustling around in the shadows of buildings as high as mountains, an almost eerily overwhelming sense of contentment is omnipresent - but something doesn't appear to be right...
Stranded on a lonely island in the midst of a chaotic metropolis, disconnected - a feeling of drowning in an ocean of overstimulus and importunities of disproportionately inflated personalities, without ever even being registered or taken notice of.
What's left is nothing more than the ghost of a young soul, wandering about and curiously studying the surrounding, forever looking for answers that would otherwise seem trivial.

After “Kidsuke” the critically acclaimed collaboration project with Daisuke Tanabe, “Tokyorkshire” based producer kidkanevil continues his fascination with Japan and readies his latest solo album My Little Ghost. Inspired by a summer spent in Tokyo collaborating, exploring and generally refusing to grow up, the double vinyl is due May 2nd on Project: Mooncircle and features a wide range of guests including PMC's own submerse and Tokyo vocalist Cuushe.

'My Little Ghost' comes out worldwide on limited gatefold, double, pink vinyl (including download code (on the insde of the cenetr fold)) as well as a limited edition CD including a bonus track via flau records - http://www.flau.jp/ in Japan.

Limited to 200 copies.

Limited edition of 300 copies on colored vinyl in gatefold sleeve.

Dive deep into the new harmonics of 40 Winks. Field Recordings takes you on a new sonic journey. On the road with their favourite Tascam, accidental recordings get implemented perfectly to 40 Winks’ meticulously chopped signature sound. Jazz, soul and gospel influences float beautifully to the surface throughout this LP. Sit back and drift away on this trip...

Limited to 1000 copies on clear vinyl in occasion of HHV's 20th birthday.

20 years HHV: our team has selected an album from each of these years that is particularly relevant and precious to us. On a monthly basis, we release exclusive and limited pressings of these records in collaboration with some of our favorite labels.

’See You Soon’ is the third album from Tokyo-based UK native submerse on the Project: Mooncircle imprint. A mélange of Slow-Jams, R&B, Hip Hop and Soul created while on a steady diet of 90’s NBA basketball and Dreamcast games. ’See You Soon’ features collaborations from fellow Tokyo-based artist Fitz Ambro$e and L.A.-based Devin Morrison and Pink Siifu.

‘Inner Sea’ comes out worldwide on limited double blue vinyl (300 copies) including download code & digital release.

“Inner Sea” is a journey inwards, delving into the hidden ocean of unconscious dreams and memories. Melodies tell stories of key moments, anchoring certain points in one’s life and the experiences and sensations they reflect. Giving them sounds to breathe and mirroring the soul in unseen depths, these memories are stored eternally in a shelter floating within this inner world.

“All these memories lay in the depths of my inner sea. It‘s surface reflects pictures of all the worlds that I want to dive back into, over and over again.” – Takeleave | Nicolas De Araújo Peixoto

HHV and Too Good are happy to present this exclusive color run of 1000 red copies of Tommy Guerreros 2014 album "No Mans Land". Back in print for the first time. Only at HHV. As a special treat you can pick up the poster with the artwork of this album in our bonus section.

Limited edition of 300 copies on orange vinyl!

In the span of just over 5 years, Rob Orme hast released 5 individual EP’s and a full length LP with Project: Mooncircle. Due to high demand and the fact that all of his releases are out of print, we decided to release “works”, a best-of compilation with some of his best and most prominent works, including 4 entirely new and unreleased songs.

“A collection of works created between 2011-2016. The tracks sum up where I’ve been at for these last 5 years. It’s a checkpoint. It represents many influences and the way things were for a period of time. For me personally “works” are memories.” – submerse

A darwīš is a religious monk dedicating his entire existence to the advancement of faith and meditation. Although he believes in Allah, he can be described predominantly as a mystic. Refraining from any form of material wealth and even societal appreciation, holy enlightenment is his true aim.

After finishing up their semester at University, Nicolas and Jonas – or Parra for Cuva & Senoy – decided to pack all their gear into their camper and go on a road-trip down to the eastern coast of Spain.

The car filled with all kinds of gear, from synths to speakers, guitars, and percussions amongst other tools and toys, three creative weeks ensued, creating music with a view out to the sea.

While taking everything in and doing daily trips, the two were able to create enough song ideas in three weeks to spent the rest of the year at home in the studio to finish all arrangements and mixes.

Inspired by the Spanish way of life in a small and historically rich port town, a stark contrast to life Berlin, and soaking up diverse musical influences, the individual titles are highly personal and reflect on specific emotions or intimate experiences.

During the arrangement of the title-song, the percussion track was accidentally dragged to infinity, which resulted in a trance inducing meditative sound that gave them the idea for the title. Watching turkish dervish dancers while listening should therefore enhance the listening experience.

The meaning of dreams usually stays hidden in stacks of abstract layers, obscuring their essence in surreal and bizarre imagery. Exploring the depths of our subconscious, they lead us from stories of lighthearted innocence to our most gruesome ghastly fantasies, making us live through multiple scenarios each and every night. While in sleeping-state, we are at our most vulnerable and at a total loss of control over mind and body. At the same time, we feel most free and safe during REM, with none of our worldly worries breathing down our neck while our minds find ways to cope with exactly these worries.

For his debut full length “Too”, My Panda Shall Fly decided to collaborate with a variety of singers from all over the globe to explore their subconscious anxieties and fears together. Giving away control over the songs himself, he was only amazed by the results of this process that took over more than a year until final realization.

Just like in Ursula K. Le Guin‘s classic sci-fi novel “The Lathe of Heaven”, you can shape your dreams by becoming aware of the inner forces that invisibly guide you every day.

‘Too’ comes out worldwide on limited 2LP red vinyl, CD, MC (including download code) and digital.

Limited edition of 300 copies on black vinyl!

‘A Part Of Me‘ is the debut album by Ivan Arlaud alias 1954, a young musician from Lyon, France. It’s an immersive journey between nostalgic and synthetic sounds, melancholia and hope, fears and confidence. He contrived to describe all the bright, warm, cold and dark moments of his restless imagination in rhythms without being intrusive. As the title says, it’s his personal disclosure.

‘Kellion’ is the story of a young boy who was born into a mysterious world he explores with his curious eyes, ears and hands. Every new experience lets him grow as a person and also expands his knowledge of the world that surrounds him. His young mind is sometimes blurrying the lines between imagination and reality, dreaming and being awake, reality and fantasy. Making sense of this world in its very own unique way, his world is filled with fantastic and surreal magical creatures and quirky characters.

Over the course of the ten songs many different little adventures unfold and await the young boy, slowly building his character while he explores nature in all its varieties and learns to appreciate it. He lives through new emotions and gets to learn about his own feelings during the process. The title track ‘Kellion’ represents the very inner world of the kid – it is his cocoon where he can always return to and be safe after his journeys and adventures.

„I was trying to live his life with him together and feel what he felt. I tried to understand and recollect what it feels like as a little boy walking around in this big world. I attempted to see the world through his eyes, to experience his fears and happiness and in doing that, just helping him to be a kid.“ – Long Arm

‘Kellion’ is the long awaited sophomore full length album by Long Arm and will come out worldwide on double vinyl in a beautiful gatefold cover as well as on CD and cassette tape, all including download codes.

Immensely inspired by the beautiful simplicity embodied by the laws of nature, especially the number Pi and the notion of the golden ratio, Michał Lewicki has always been searching for new ways to implement mathematics into his music. But aiming for the perfect proportions while making the music feel natural and complex at the same time has been no easy feat. In the creation of “Ton” he applied a very technical approach, utilizing various random midi generators, midi delays, polyrhythms, pitch shifters, scales and more in order to create something that posseses a live on its own, bringing him as close as possible to a naturally occurring chaos we can find in the surrounding nature every day.

“One of the basic rules of aesthetics – man’s senses enjoy objects that are properly proportioned. He referred to the direct relationship between beauty and mathematics, which is often measurable and can be found in nature.” – R. Fisher on philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas

After painstakingly accurate and detailed editing of these generators, they would create something unique and different upon every single run. The result are unique non-recurring snapshots as foundation for most tracks, a quasi-mathematical experiment in audio-randomization. Now Michal really started his work, creating arrangements and progressions based on the simple sines and natural convolution, giving the track dynamics, adding layers of synths and instrumentation.

Coming this winter via the Berlin, Germany label Project: Mooncircle, is KRTS’s second full-length LP, Close Eyes to Exit. Inspired by recent world events, each of the album’s 12 tracks dwell upon the world we live in now, a world struggling to rid itself of corruption, hate, bigotry, and ignorance. The resulting record is equal parts raw, emotional, dense, and danceable. This is KRTS at his creative peak.

“White Privilege” is a perfect example. Elegant melodies and a speedy jungle beat will have you bopping your head without a care in the world.

“My Head is Jumpin’” features Charles Larson and Tito Ramsey of the Brooklyn-based indie-pop act, Legs. The track is a biting meditation on our internal struggles and the many different bodies that encase them. How do we process the hurt, the pain, and the unreal? How do we manage these feelings living inside of us?

“Serve and Protect” features Sacramento MC Mad Flows. It speaks to the media’s portrayal of death in the black community as an unjustly “normal” occurrence. Mad Flows spits out fear, rage, and loss—a direct response to the policing of America.

Your head will spin. Move to the rhythm within the chaos and let it lead you through. Your head is jumping. The world is bigger than you or I. Keep moving. Turn up the volume. Close your eyes. Exit.

This record took me about 3 years to complete, and I feel like in many ways it’s a return to my roots of introspective, mellow, instrumental electronic music, a “home listening” record instead of a club or dance record. I’ve always tried to not pay attention to trends in electronic music and just make what I like, and this record is the result of going strongly in that direction – I’m making music for myself, and am inspired way more by older music than current trends in electronic music or the latest production techniques. My aim is to make music that stands the test of time.

‘Presidio‘ is very organic – I used a lot of real instruments throughout: rhodes, guitar, bass, melodica, and more. Not many overdubs were used: I was after a loose, human, unquantized feel in much of it. However, I still use a lot of synthesizers and drum machines – I love the contrast between perfectly timed electronic sequences and loose, human, even “sloppy” timing.

About 2 years ago I moved to a remote, forested part of San Francisco – the Presidio, and the isolation of living in the forest next to the Pacific Ocean strongly influenced my approach to recording. My home studio is near the ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge, and is surrounded by miles of trails and foggy eucalyptus groves. At night I hear foghorns, owls, and coyotes. I think living in a place like this has made me more introspective, more creative, and more willing to take my music in directions that are very personal.

Fog is a regular fixture in San Francisco, but it’s especially omnipresent the closer you get to the ocean. Fog and reverb are closely related in my mind – I like creating dense washes of sound in my music, where all of the elements bleed together into a beautiful gaussian blur of sound.

The meaning of dreams usually stays hidden in stacks of abstract layers, obscuring their essence in surreal and bizarre imagery. Exploring the depths of our subconscious, they lead us from stories of lighthearted innocence to our most gruesome ghastly fantasies, making us live through multiple scenarios each and every night. While in sleeping-state, we are at our most vulnerable and at a total loss of control over mind and body. At the same time, we feel most free and safe during REM, with none of our worldly worries breathing down our neck while our minds find ways to cope with exactly these worries.

For his debut full length “Too”, My Panda Shall Fly decided to collaborate with a variety of singers from all over the globe to explore their subconscious anxieties and fears together. Giving away control over the songs himself, he was only amazed by the results of this process that took over more than a year until final realization.

Just like in Ursula K. Le Guin‘s classic sci-fi novel “The Lathe of Heaven”, you can shape your dreams by becoming aware of the inner forces that invisibly guide you every day.

‘Too’ comes out worldwide on limited 2LP red vinyl, CD, MC (including download code) and digital.

The meaning of dreams usually stays hidden in stacks of abstract layers, obscuring their essence in surreal and bizarre imagery. Exploring the depths of our subconscious, they lead us from stories of lighthearted innocence to our most gruesome ghastly fantasies, making us live through multiple scenarios each and every night. While in sleeping-state, we are at our most vulnerable and at a total loss of control over mind and body. At the same time, we feel most free and safe during REM, with none of our worldly worries breathing down our neck while our minds find ways to cope with exactly these worries.

For his debut full length “Too”, My Panda Shall Fly decided to collaborate with a variety of singers from all over the globe to explore their subconscious anxieties and fears together. Giving away control over the songs himself, he was only amazed by the results of this process that took over more than a year until final realization.

Just like in Ursula K. Le Guin‘s classic sci-fi novel “The Lathe of Heaven”, you can shape your dreams by becoming aware of the inner forces that invisibly guide you every day.

‘Too’ comes out worldwide on limited 2LP red vinyl, CD, MC (including download code) and digital.

I was heavily inspired by Chris Marker’s film Sans Soleil (Sunless) just before I began recording the EP. He talks about remembering and memories; we preserve our recollections through photographs, films, literature and in my particular case, music. Each track on the EP is essentially a memory preserved.

The EP deals with ennui or just the overlying feeling of listlessness that usually props up when one thinks life is futile. Again, like my last release, this EP is quite melancholic in nature except the themes are more mature. I’ve focused on the artificial gratifications such as drugs, sex and what these temporary distractions can do to you and the relationships around you. I tend to take these dark subject matters and try and transform them into something beautiful, it’s incredibly cathartic. This is why I find it amusing and overwhelming when people call my music “ethereal” or “uplifting”.

I really love Dostoyevsky’s work or just any Russian author to be honest. His novels are incredibly detailed and meticulous, everything is palpable. I want any release I put out to feel this way. When people listen to my music I want them to be able to really feel the sounds, as if they can touch them: I work really hard to try and accomplish this. Lastly, I think what inspires me the most about being a musician: is the story telling. To be able to project your stories and memories through sound knowing that there’s at least somebody out there that will listen to what you have to say.

Featuring production by such renown producers as Go Yama, Insightful, Laplace and Galimatias, ‘Falstrati’ comes out worldwide on limited clear vinyl in December 2014.

‘Memoosh’ is the collaborative project between William Yates (memotone) and Soroosh Khavari (Soosh).

Without any pre-planning, the project started to grow and develop a life of its own as soon as the first session started. Over the course of more than eight weekends spread over a year, the two visited each other for recording sessions, not relying on modern modes of communication. Making all the music in person to keep to the collaborative nature of the project, leaving more room for improvisation and opportunity to jam out all their ideas.

The album is a mixture of live instrumentation (guitars, piano, cello, zither, drums, clarinet, synths and numerous others) coupled with effect boxes, samplers, vocals and field recordings, influenced by everything from random static and buzz, to a beautiful early morning rain or the bass thud of a closing door. The whole album being more an exploration of their approach rather than anything conceptually thematic, representing both characters and personalities in the music.

“To be honest, had we not been asked by Project Mooncircle to make the album we probably would never have met to make music. Thankfully they did ask! And it has been a very fruitful conquest. Not only has the album created music we are proud of, but in it’s construction it created a new and lasting friendship.“

‘Memoosh’ comes out worldwide on limited grey-marbled double vinyl, limited handmade and handpainted cassette edition (both including download code) as well as a limited edition CD including a bonus track via flau records in Japan.

All tracks written, performed and produced by William Yates and Soroosh Khavari. Vocals on ‘This Hush’ by William Yates. Recorded in the Soosh Studio, Brighton. With Thanks to all our close friends, family and the team in Berlin.

Limited edition of 300 copies on colored vinyl!

‘There Be Monsters‘, the sophomore full length effort by Samuel Evans, or Rain Dog, is an auditory exploration into the unchartered regions of his own mind and the edges of experience. Dealing with many personal changes which continuously prolonged the creation process of the album, Evans channelled and processed a variety of experiences into a highly personal album. Essentially coming full circle, ‘There Be Monsters‘ attempts to draw a map for your mind – it is on the fringes of consciousness that the interesting things happen.

David Foster Wallace wrote ‘loneliness is not a function of solitude’, paraphrasing Marianne More: ‘the cure for loneliness is solitude’. A common thread throughout the album.

After his highly acclaimed debut album “Two Words” in 2014 (BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 3, BBC 6 Music, Boiler Room, Red Bull, Thump, XLR8R) Rain Dog comes back to deliver his sophomore full length ‘There Be Monsters’. Avoiding the plight of the second album and keeping his signature sound while also not repeating himself, the album is the result of years of work, scrapped previous projects and simplifying his writing process and gaining experience by creating soundtracks for Vice Documentaries. The track titled ‘Eyes On The Aether’ is representative of a turning point and each track has particular relevance to a point in Sam Evans life over the last few years.

‘There Be Monstes‘ comes out worldwide on limited vinyl (including download code).

Late night music from the back seat. ‘Are You Anywhere‘, sophomore album from Tokyo based UK native submerse blends early 90’s slow-jams and instrumental hip hop wrapped in smooth DX7 keys hybridized with his own unique sound. ‘Are You Anywhere’ is the second full length release from submerse on Project: Mooncircle with features from fellow Tokyo based beat maker fitz ambro$e.

"Awake" is a soundtrack for roaming around vast city landscapes between late night and early morning. A lone wolf observes the scenery and watches over people, their heads low, on the path home to sleep. Inspired by 1980’s movies, drone and video game soundtracks, Rob Orme aka Submerse returns with an update to his signature sound.

Original photography by Repeat Pattern.

Created at the foot of Mount Taranaki, 'Hewn' is the sophomore release by Wellington, NZ based producer / musician Groeni. Representing a departure from one idea in order to rediscover and understand another, the record deals with the interactions of two sets of people, paralleling and contrasting them. Throughout the record, the lines become blurred - subjects merge and intertwine, adopting combined, often confused perspectives.

“There are links between the songs, things tie together and reappear at various points. Certain words, subjects and sounds are cut up and redistributed between the five songs.” - Alexander Green / Groeni

While retaining the melancholic / dark-pop quality of his previous EP, this record further explores UK bass music from a south west pacific perspective. Using elements of lo-fi mixed with clean production and resampling field recordings and digital synths through tape players and old microphones, Groeni creates an intimate and eery atmosphere that will draw in and mesmerize his listeners.

‘Hewn’ comes out worldwide on limited vinyl and limited handmade cassette edition (both including download code).

‘Absolute Presence‘ is about losing connection with the physical world and exploring a much deeper place in your mind. It’s about experiencing a significant transformative state from which one can either come back to the physical world, or fade into death. In this enhanced state of consciousness, one may feel entirely weightless, at peace, and removed from their physical body. It’s the feeling of all of existence hitting you at once, and distinct emotions and identifiable feelings fading into irrelevance. How does one approach their day to day life after such an experience? This is what ‘Absolute Presence‘ attempts to address.

This EP is the outcome of a five month spanning transition between warm and bright summerdays to dark and dusky winterdays resulting in a change of moods that accompany this shift from lights, colours and sounds perceived everyday. It is a soundtrack made for commuting between different places in large urban spaces, filled by swarms of people shoaling and funneling across intersections, subway stations and central hubs like corpuscles pulsating in the cities veins, conducted by invisible algorithms in the symbiotic superorganism that is a metropole.

“I took a lot of inspiration from 3 main points of Tokyo City. There are traditional parks and shrines/temples that really take you away from the high rise buildings and make you feel like you could be in the countryside. Next, there are typical shops, neon lights, offices and general city life, and lastly, there is the red light area which is a great place to see all walks of life, from gangsters, working girls and strange things behind closed doors. I’m fascinated by this place, It seems like another world to me, I’m always drawn to it out of curiosity and the feeling I get while passing though is really inspiring.”

The EP also features a collaboration with Sorrow from Birmingham, UK, who has been making a name for himself in the scene since 2010.

When listening to "The Branches" it will stimulate diverse brain areas, creating short movies and stories in your mind's eye. From Soviet era hand-drawn animated fairy tales in winterly forrest-landscapes to narratives of urban struggle or even classical tales in dark and gloomy basement bars – let the record spin and your mental cinema flow.

This album made it into the radio shows of Mary Anne Hobbs (XFM) as well as Gilles Peterson‘s “All Winners” show on BBC Radio 1, his personal list of favorites of the year 2011, alongside various other highly respected stations across the globe.

For the 2012 winter season we decided to give "The Branches" a proper repress treatment, not only pressing a new batch for all our listeners that weren't able to acquire a copy yet but also spicing it up and making it a true collectors item for anyone that already owns a copy.

Therefore, the – now gatefold – artwork / transparent 2LP vinyl version, originally drawn by Bioniq was colourized by Roman Pokrovsky and, besides everything being remastered and including new work from Long Arm himself, we also added a second vinyl with various remixes by on the one hand like-minded artists like Hidden Orchestra, Dday One and 40 Winks, with whom Long Arm also shares artistic relationships and friendships, and on the other hand more genre-overarching and experimental remixes from such acclaimed artists as Robag Wruhme, Sieren, Yoko Duo, Berry Weight, Empt and Speck from CYNE, which will surely make for a unique listening experience.

A darwīš is a religious monk dedicating his entire existence to the advancement of faith and meditation. Although he believes in Allah, he can be described predominantly as a mystic. Refraining from any form of material wealth and even societal appreciation, holy enlightenment is his true aim.

After finishing up their semester at University, Nicolas and Jonas – or Parra for Cuva & Senoy – decided to pack all their gear into their camper and go on a road-trip down to the eastern coast of Spain.

The car filled with all kinds of gear, from synths to speakers, guitars, and percussions amongst other tools and toys, three creative weeks ensued, creating music with a view out to the sea.

While taking everything in and doing daily trips, the two were able to create enough song ideas in three weeks to spent the rest of the year at home in the studio to finish all arrangements and mixes.

Inspired by the Spanish way of life in a small and historically rich port town, a stark contrast to life Berlin, and soaking up diverse musical influences, the individual titles are highly personal and reflect on specific emotions or intimate experiences.

During the arrangement of the title-song, the percussion track was accidentally dragged to infinity, which resulted in a trance inducing meditative sound that gave them the idea for the title. Watching turkish dervish dancers while listening should therefore enhance the listening experience.

Slow Waves is a collection of multi-layered memories, stacked like grainy polaroids in an old box in the closet or under the bed while the colours fade. A young Rob at the beach or on his first day of grammar school. Images of travels across Europe and Japan, moments slipping in trains or planes while landscapes pass by. Memories so unique to his life, yet so similar to the fading memories of youth and adolescence we all have...

After a series of well acclaimed EP’s, each of them created at very specific moments in the artists life, submerse took the time and sat down to reflect and convert all these memories into his first full length album on Project: Mooncircle.

'Slow Waves' comes out worldwide on limited double vinyl, limited handmade and handpainted cassette edition (both including download code) as well as a limited edition CD including a bonus track via flau records in Japan.

A bright and colourful scenery: Shrill blinding sights, piercing foreign sounds, a fusion of disparate scents blended into a cocktail of curiosity. Fleeting attempts embrace a thousand senses in one single second. Bustling around in the shadows of buildings as high as mountains, an almost eerily overwhelming sense of contentment is omnipresent - but something doesn't appear to be right...
Stranded on a lonely island in the midst of a chaotic metropolis, disconnected - a feeling of drowning in an ocean of overstimulus and importunities of disproportionately inflated personalities, without ever even being registered or taken notice of.
What's left is nothing more than the ghost of a young soul, wandering about and curiously studying the surrounding, forever looking for answers that would otherwise seem trivial.

After “Kidsuke” the critically acclaimed collaboration project with Daisuke Tanabe, “Tokyorkshire” based producer kidkanevil continues his fascination with Japan and readies his latest solo album My Little Ghost. Inspired by a summer spent in Tokyo collaborating, exploring and generally refusing to grow up, the double vinyl is due May 2nd on Project: Mooncircle and features a wide range of guests including PMC's own submerse and Tokyo vocalist Cuushe.

Limited handmade and handpainted pink cassette edition (including download code).

In the native tongue of the South American tribe Mapuche, there exists the word ‘MENOKO’. Deep within the Andean Forests there are sacred places, springs of purity known as Menokos. Hidden and untouched by man or animal, they are whispered, home of virgin water. Womb of the natural cycle from which plants and herbs of extraordinary medicinal abilities are nurtured.

Barrio Lindo feels a strong bond to the native tribes of his Argentinian home. Ancestral cultures are of great importance, providing a wealth of inspiration. An instrument maker by trade, using his bare hands he constructs many ethnical instruments like Andean flutes, African harps, string instruments from India and so on. This fascination with indigenous sounds is reflected within his music and themes with the use of samples and tribal instrumentation. While understanding his work is far from that of the native cultures, he finds ways to incorporate these influences through fusions of sounds. Drawing a parallel, worlds both old and new align.

‘Menoko’ comes on limited purple double vinyl (including download code) as well as a limited handmade and handpainted purple cassette edition (including download code).

IIIII (Five Eyes) aka Eugene Chistyakov is a young talent from Ukraine, currently living in riot shaken Kiev. This February we will be releasing his debut album ‘Mother Love’ on limited chrome cassettes and digitally. The album is dedicated to his late mother, who was a great music enthusiast and passed on her appreciation, dedication and talent to him. Soaking in his surroundings like an ethnologist, he used interaction with friends and strangers as inspiration. His music is his way to vent out and deal with negativity wherefore the titles usually give away the events that led to their creation.

Every six lunar months – when Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned – we experience a partial or total lunar eclipse that can be observed anywhere on the night side of Earth. Lunar eclipses can only occur at full moon, that time when the moon is directly opposite Earth in relation to the Sun. Many ancient civilizations cultivated a multitude of myths surrounding these astronomic events, most of them depicting wild animals or mystical creatures eating the moon or crossing it’s path. Tibetan Buddhists say that during a lunar eclipse, our actions, whether good or bad, are multiplied one thousandfold, whereas, in ancient egypt, a lunar eclipse was considered to be the precursor of natural disasters, catastrophes, wars, and diseases and the biggest possible harm would be cast upon the earth if Isfet, the manifestation of the total eclipse and god of injustice and violence, would make the sky fall onto earth and therefore bring chaos upon it.

As the soundtrack for tonight’s lunar eclipse, we selected some exclusive and unreleased songs from Robot Koch, Submerse, Rain Dog, Sieren, Daisuke Tanabe, Lomovolokno, KRTS, and Daixie on this mini-compilation.

Artwork by MN (from Bratislava, Slovak).

Project: Mooncircle & Finest Ego have teamed up to establish a fresh new 12” producer series, entitled “Faces”. On every edition, you will find two different producers. Respectively, each producer will have their own record-side and unique cover artwork by the aspiring Bioniq, known for his surrealistic portraits, blending humans and technology.

On our fourth “Faces” edition we are featuring the two ascending artists Lomovolokno and Sieren, presumably the two most unknown so far. Originally hailing from Krasnodar, Russia and Bielefeld, Germany, one was inspired by naive childhood memories of imaginative creatures seen floating in the nighttime sky, while the other looks into an uncertain future that holds the anxiety of a fresh start but also the ever present risk of failure. The artwork takes these motifs and implements them in a vision of technological enhancements of human capacities and evolvement, forming a futuristic symbiosis that enables for synaesthetic senses heightened to an subatomic degree. But it is unsure, however, if these augmentations can actually expand our human experience or rather amplify our solitary existence and emotional void while traveling across fantastic worlds and the universal vacuum filling the space between.

Krasnodar, Russia: In the midst of grey soviet housing projects, a young boy enjoys playing and improvising his first little melodies on his parents piano. Always being inspired by the nature nearby the city - memories of peaceful springtime swimming sessions in the Black Sea come to mind – Lomovolokno grows up fascinated by machinery like samplers and the rapidly increasing possibilities of modern computers. Delving deeply into twisting melodies, building sounds and crossing notes leads his way to first field recordings resulting in an influx of elements ranging from waves of the sea, the wind, sand, crackling noises, banging and rustling becoming a part of his sound.

Sieren is the maiden name of Matthias Frick’s mother and also his current alias under which he started to release his first free tracks in 2011. Rumor has it that he has a dark secret history of producing experimental techno, albeit his love for UK influenced bass music existed for more than one handful of years. It was not until recently that he began to make the most of his love for field recording and experimental soundscaping and is now throwing his full force into music, while simultaneously finishing a university degree in computer science and design before moving from small town to métropole to follow a new set of challenges and advance to the next stage of his life.

Bioniq is an artwork designer, DJ and producer from St. Petersburg in cold Russia and Project: Mooncircle's special KGB agent. With his drawings he aims to create new horizons on paper and draws inspiration from historic tales, events of the present age but also possibilities the future might hold.

After last year`s critically acclaimed full length album ‘The Other Side‘, Robot Koch is back with a new limited double white vinyl 2×10” LP on entitled ‘Cosmic Waves‘.

The EP features both new Robot Koch tracks as well as collaborations he made with affiliated artists. Instead of going the “usual route” by asking fellow artists to simply remix his music, Robot chose to send out half-finished tunes to his selection of musicians in order to have them finish and complete them in their very own way. To avoid the “name-dropping game” of asking the same intrenched names over and over again, he chose to collaborate with young and upcoming artists he personally favors and whose sound he really digs. For this reason the EP includes collaborations with Headshotboyz, Pavel Dovgal, Kuhn, Submerse and Rain Dog.

The EP also features 3 new solo songs by Robot Koch. ‘Nano’ and ‘Follow Birds’ have only been released digitally and will now come out on vinyl for the first time. The title track ‘Cosmic Waves‘, is a new song in the vein of classic Koch tracks like ‘Lights‘ (‘The Other Side’ 2011).

‘Cosmic Waves’ derives from the very old concept that everything and everyone is connected with and through an universal energy that comprises all that is. The music reflects a deep interest in anything spiritual and mythical but also concepts of outer- and inner-space and the balancing of new digital and futuristic influences with nature and ancient wisdom. Therefore, it represents the idea that every matter in this universe exists in this cosmic ocean of waves, constantly materializing and dematerializing. In the words of Bobby Friction of the BBC, Robot’s music sounds like “artificial intelligence discovering religion“.

While this EP is dedicated to the international scene of beat-makers and focuses on instrumental beats again, Robot Koch contiunes writing new material with vocalist John LaMonica (featured on ‘The Other Side’ as a vocalist on songs like ‘Nitesky’). Robot and John are in the studio right now, working on a new project entitled ‘Robots Don’t Sleep‘, a bandproject that takes the songwriting and melody-focus of ‘The Other Side’ to a next level – more info about this will be revealed soon.

Hailing from Cheshire, Submerse is an esteemed producer/DJ with a distinct and recognisable sound that traverses Beat Music, Ambient, 2-step and Autonomic whilst being punctuated by a myriad of unique and personal influences. The past year has seen him at his most prolific, releasing tracks & remixes with R&S sister label Apollo Records, Med School and many more. Submerse was featured by Pioneer Japan and was also named ‘Band Of The Week’ In The Guardian newspaper (2012).
Amidst a plenitude of productions, Submerse has also seen support emerge from influential media titans such as DJ Mag, XLR8R, Big Up, BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1xtra.

After his “They Always Come Back“ EP on Apollo Records, “Tears“ is already his second vinyl release this year. The EP is all about the feeling of solitude you’re in upon finding yourself in a foreign country and a strangely different culture. In this situation the smallest and most usual tasks – simply finding a can of your favorite soft drink for instance – have the potential to become almost insuperable obstacles. Soaking in the atmosphere created by dim street lights on a nightly stroll to explore new territories in a vastly unknown urban space, while contemplating about new experiences and memories of home are activities to indulge in when you’re stranded all alone in an alien world.

Limited edition blue transparent vinyl!

Shortly after the release of his hugely successful album “Death Star Droid” , Robot Koch returns with this Remix EP, that also includes 2 brand new tunes by the sleepless robot.On this EP, Robot gathered some friends and like minded artists from around the globe to flip his original compositions.
The EP kicks off with a brand new original tune from Robot Koch: “Blind” featuring Grace on vocals, who also appeard as a guest vocalist on on Death Star Droid.
Robot and Grace are working on some new stunning material at the moment that will come out sometime in fall 2010.
When Robot played in NY last time, he met Brooklyn based band Body Language, who release on Machine Drum's Normrex label, and shared a stage with them at Coco66 in brooklyn.
For this EP Robot remixed their tune “New day” and they made a surprising flip of Koch's dubstep infused album tune “Gorom Sen” in return.
Robot's berlin mate fLlako, who recently grabbed the attention of the likes of Giles Peterson and Stones Throw, make a nice re-edit of the title track of Robot's album: “Death Star Droid”.
Phon.o (of CLP/Shitkatapult fame) took the club banger potential of the tune “Gorom Sen” to the next level and made it sound like zomby and boy 8 bit jamming it out.
Upcoming beatmaker Shlohmo from San Francisco also remixed “Gorom Sen”, making some noise on the blogoshpere about it prior to the release already.
Loops Haunt from Scotland, who could be found recently in Rustie's Fact magazine mixtape and Hudson Mohawke's BBC Essential Mix, made a ten remix of “Gorom Sen”.
Producer Beat Laden from Portugal, that recently caught attention with his KUBO remix on man recordings gave that original sengalese vocal scatting a rerub and turned it into a solid club banger.
Talen, from Switzerland made their very own unique interpretation of Robot Koch's frenetic original.
And last but for sure not least, UK Producer Blue Daisy made a sublime remix of the song “While” feat. Manya one of the few vocal tracks on Robot Koch's Album. His mix does the cinematic original justice and takes it even further out of space or underwater. A pure sound trip.

Available digitally and on limited chrome cassettes (with digital download code), we are releasing a series of albums and EP’s from talented and promising artists. Expect all facets of instrumental hip-hop, future beats and electronic beat music….

As we pursue our lifes and the relationships it brings with it, it seems as if we just can’t avoid making the same mistakes over and over, chasing one unhealthy relationship after the other. Some say that our choice of partners is strangely predestined and we keep searching for our significant other in all the wrong places. How can we affect these templates seeming to be deeply ingrained in our brains and liberate ourselves from such self-imprisonment to find the right people, friend and partners to join our temporal journey.
Empt is 20 year old Romanian Bogdan Gridan. Always having been into music and playing various instruments, he was introduced to Ableton while still going to school about a year ago. Ever since he has been making music to process and give meaning to his everday life, being influenced by natural and organic sounds and trying to sum up and express himself by means of personal experiences and feelings.

This compilation brings together many different artists from across the globe that are here to get heard and make a predication through their music. Tracks like “Barn Burning” from Mat Young (Bully Rec.), “Brava” from Paten Locke (Therapy) and “Why’d You Lie” from John Robinson (Lil’ Sci) are more like statements from the mind. Mr Cooper brings a new track in the style of his recent album “What Else There Is”… Carlo (Bully Rec.) contributes “Trapped In The Attic”, 40 Winks give “At The Lunar Bar (Live)” and Simon of Jahbitat brings the organic sound from the canopy of the Barcelona night with “Timber (An Ode To Trees Gone)”. Political lyrics & real Hip Hop come from Miami with the group Intifada… Other artists include MF Doom, Aether, Inner Science, The Q4 with Arts The Beat Doctor and many more. All tracks are exclusive… This is the sound of Project Mooncircle for 2009. Speak with your mind, think with your soul & change with your heart! We aim to stop the destructive elements of the music business and bring music back to the people.

Artists: Inner Science, Escher, Therapy, Carlo, Mat Young, Jahbitat, John Robinson aka Lil’ Sci, MF Doom, Aether, 40 Winks, Mr Cooper, Dday One, The Q4, Glen Porter, Lambent, Intifada, Mathematik & more…

Artwork By Gordon of Beta Bodega Coalition Europe for Project: MoonCircle.
Letterings By La Mano Fria of Beta Bodega Coalition.

Limited 500 copies only!

Join 40 Winks on a road trip to anywhere. Bring your music player and tell your honey you won’t be home for dinner. It’s the trip, not the destination.“
About 40 Winks:
No hay banda! (“there is no band”, Mulholland Dr. 2001) pretty much sums up where 40 Winks aims to go with its instrumental hip hop: meticulously chop and paste samples together, to create an atmosphere of beats and vibes which steps beyond unimaginative loops. 40 Winks hit the scene in 2002, with a whole slew of laidback beats. Eager to share their sound with the world, they released a couple of albums independently. The attention they got from this, allowed them to build with people from around the world. One of these independently released albums, More Than Loops, got reissued in Japan on Swamp Records, after that the ball kept rolling. On their first worldwide release, Extended Pleasure on Escapism Records (2005), they reached listeners well beyond the (instrumental) hip hop community with the song “Melancholia”. After appearances on compilations, like Weapons Of Hope on Little-D (2006), they got a chance to do their thing on the renowned label, Merck Records with Sound Puzzle (2007). All this led them back to Europe, where the German based Project: Mooncircle welcomed them with a spot on the compilation Heart On The Right Spot (2007) and a full album The Lucid Effect (2008). In 2009 they took some time off, doing solo stuff and remixes. In 2011 40 Winks is back with a double LP called It’s The Trip (2011) on Project: Mooncircle.
Artwork By Afreux.

Project: Mooncircle, as the name reveals, has been on a journey to the moon since day one, exploring the frontiers of music and art, always looking for new discoveries and giving a different perspective to look at the earth. In it’s 10 year history the label has published roughly 100 releases by equally as many artists from all corners of this globe and, therefore, the selection of sounds on this compilation represents the development of the label from the past, present and going into the future.

Some of the artists featured on this compilation have been a part of the label from its very beginning, like CYNE, Manuvers and Jahbitat, whose song will be the last one he produced and published under this moniker, while others, like Robot Koch, fLako and Long Arm, are outstanding examples of its growing popularity and success. Furthermore, the box also features an exceptional selection of close musical friends and inspirational artists like Jehst, Dday One, Kwala and Ichiro_, just to name a few.

The logo and artwork represent someone who was very close to the label, especially in the early years but unfortunately passed on and whom this box is dedicated to. Featured on the compilation are artists such as Mike Slott x Diane Badié, CYNE, Sweatson Klank aka Take, Jahbitat, Robot Koch, fLako, Jehst, Beat Butcha, Long Arm, Kelpe, Pavel Dovgal, Blossom, Daisuke Tanabe, Dday One, Inner Science, Substantial, Arts The Beatdoctor, Rain Dog, Kidkanevil + Microkorg by Dorian Concept, John Robinson, Sorrow, Rumpistol, The Red Baron, Christoph El’ Truento, 40 Winks, Sina., 1000Names, DZA, Ichiro_, EAN, Tom Dicicco, Headshotboyz, Graciela Maria, Gards From KC, Sekuoia of Kilimanjaro, Sense of The Q4, Sneaky, I.V.A., Empt, John LaMonica, Mike Gao, Bambooman, Manuvers, Krts, Kwala, Soosh, Memotone, Sun Glitters, Called Understandable Souls & Szenario.
The limited box includes 4 white vinyls LP’s with 32 tracks, 13 additional digital bonus tracks, and a poster (with digital download code) all in a specially designed box that features a special light-reflecting varnish, which makes this truly a collectors and music lovers item.

Berlin-based label Project: Mooncircle and it’s two sublabels Project Squared and Finest Ego is an official label from HHV. It was founded in 2002 and is specializing in the conjunction between electronic and organic music. The label, at first envisaged as a compilation project only, soon released the first instrumental and vocal solo releases by such artists as The Q4, CYNE, Mr Cooper, Robot Koch, fLako, 40 Winks, John Robinson & MF Doom, DZA, Krts, Sina., Graciela Maria, Manuvers, Lambent, Lewis Parker, Non of Shadowhuntaz, Strand, Ta-Ku, Mika Gao, Onra, Obba Supa, Asusu, Furesshu, AnD. Kowton or Glen Porter. The work of illustrators and graphic designers such as Bioniq, Dan May, Iain McArthur, Ima One, LNY, Gordon, 44 Flavours, La Mano Fria, and The Binh create images that accompany the acoustic spaces.
Project: Mooncircle with its various producers & vocalist shall be an interesting experience for anyone looking for the extraordinary.

A&R: Laurent Fintoni, Jinna Morocha, Karolina Kaczor, Gordon Gieseking and Malte Tarnow. Mastering by Sven Friederichs. Artwork and original paintings by Gordon, LNY & Bioniq. Webdesign 2006 – 2012 by Thimo Hörster & Hendrik Stein. Animation trailer by Sebastian Muñoz.

Release date: March, 23rd.

10th Anniversary Showcase with Mike Slott, Robot Koch, fLako, Long Arm, Jehst, Arts The Beatdoctor, Sekuoia of Kilimanjaro, & Graciela Maria @ Club Gretchen in Berlin, Kreuzberg – March, 17th!

Available digitally and on limited chrome cassettes (with digital download code), we are releasing a series of albums and EP’s from talented and promising artists. Expect all facets of instrumental hip-hop, future beats and electronic beat music….

Good Paul has been searching for that right sound ever since his career started. Never confining to only one genre or branch of music, he has been looking in various genres, but especially in the gray area between hip-hop and house, drum and bass and dub-step, always being attracted by soulful emotion with bass and broken beats. In these last 14 years he was unable to find that one special sound. This EP, however, is his solution for this neverending search.

In his own words:
“To live well we need to learn and know about a lot of different things. Draw your plans in an attempt to consciously create the future. It turns out that often the decisive moments in our life are found. I have never sought music by artists or genres, but instead, I am just trying to find music that gets to me in terms of emotion.
I hope there will be people who find the music from this EP, because that music found me.”
The artwork was created by Mateusz Kolek, who is known for his playful, psychedelic and dreamlike illustrations, heavily influenced by Soviet science fiction flicks and Japanese anime’s.

Bio:
Good Paul from Krakow, Poland, has spent already 14 years behind the decks and is well known for his musical selection and technical skill. Being a Red Bull Music Academy alumni (Toronto, 2007) and lecturer (Warsaw, 2012), he self-released a free EP entitled „One More Time“ and has been remixing various projects in the advanced futuristic music scene in Poland, in particular for U Know Me Records from Warsaw.

We’re proudly announcing our first Finest Ego solo releases. Available digitally and on limited chrome cassettes (with digital download code), we are releasing a series of albums and EP’s from talented and promising artists. Expect all facets of instrumental hip-hop, future beats and electronic beat music….

Images of classic movies come to mind while listening to the “Hypnotic Machine“ by Vienna-based beatsmith Szenario. Wether a thriller, crime story or action flick, this album will turn your imaginary cortex into a screen for a true cinematic experience.

Mastered by Dj Buzz of Waxolutionists. Original paintings by Simon Walter.

Berlin producer Robot Koch is back for his third full length release, “The Other Side”.

Although Robot Koch has an international reputation as being “One of Europe's finest producers of the beat generation“ (Low End Theory), he is much more than just a beatmaker… “(Post)-dubstep infused Electronic Hip Hop“ is far too constrained a label to understand what this producer is all about. Instead of following the sound of his previous albums “Death Star Droid” (“Essential listening” – Bobby Friction BBC) and “Songs For Trees and Cyborgs“ (“Music for a modern age that has rarely sounded so good” – Boomkat), Koch takes the genre defying ingredients from these previous records to another level. There still are some of those “Galactic ten ton beats and space age melodies“ (Dazed and Confused) that made the previous albums staple drops in the playlists of Mary Anne Hobbs, Starkey, Daedelus and Gaslamp Killer to name a few, but there is a new dimension to Koch's production and songwriting that didn’t show on his previous records.

The cinematic vibe of tracks like “Nitesky”, the quirky and moody feel of “Bugs” and the electricity of “Tapedeck” show how Koch more than ever manages to create intimate and timeless pieces of music that are soulful, deep, mysterious and that will appeal to fans of cutting edge Electronica and modern pop music alike. This is the most personal record of Robot Koch to date. Instead of going for big name features Koch teamed up with lesser know artists like Kansas based vocal talent John LaMonica, long time friend and theatre composer Nielson and mexican singer/songwriter Graciela Maria to find the right voices for his compositions. John LaMonica infuses his whimsical and heartfelt melodies that breathe an air of darkness and nostalgia with Koch's fresh and forward thinking instrumentals to create something that fans of Radiohead, The XX and Jamie Lidell should not sleep on.

After the release of the John Robinson collaboration album (“Robot Robinson” – Project Mooncircle) earlier this year, it seems surprising how extensive Robert’s output is, but don’t be mistaken, this album is a longer term project than just releasing the songs Koch made in the last year. Some of the songs found on “The Other Side” were made seven years ago.

Last year, Brooklyn’s Krts released Remixes for Beards and Flannels, a mix-tape of top shelf classics from hip-hop’s ‘80s and ‘90s heyday. This September, he’ll follow this with his newest and first-ever proper EP release, Hold On, on the Berlin label Project Mooncircle.

With sounds ranging from the eclectic side of Hip-Hop, Broken Beat, Downtempo, soulful Dubstep, Indie Rock, and Fusion Jazz, Krts crafts a soundtrack to an ever-changing NYC landscape, fraught with struggles and flashbacks of what-was, all while letting go of ideals in favor of a new, raw, and heartfelt future. The album’s title track, "Hold On”, concerns the battle of a fleeting love – electronic and psychedelic sounds lead to a heavy, mid-range looped chorus and a deep, rumbling dubstep-style bassline. A taste of struggle is represented in “Whatever”, with it’s 808 kicks, layered snare, eerie and rattling samples, sweeping syths, and improvised piano… all as an ode to the cluttered market of Brooklyn’s indie art scene.

23 minutes in 5 tracks, with a bonus remix of “Hold On” by Afro-House/2-Step artist Glenn Astro. Beat culture thumbed and molded into one emotive EP.

Berlin producer Robot Koch is back for his third full length release, “The Other Side”.

Although Robot Koch has an international reputation as being “One of Europe's finest producers of the beat generation“ (Low End Theory), he is much more than just a beatmaker… “(Post)-dubstep infused Electronic Hip Hop“ is far too constrained a label to understand what this producer is all about. Instead of following the sound of his previous albums “Death Star Droid” (“Essential listening” – Bobby Friction BBC) and “Songs For Trees and Cyborgs“ (“Music for a modern age that has rarely sounded so good” – Boomkat), Koch takes the genre defying ingredients from these previous records to another level. There still are some of those “Galactic ten ton beats and space age melodies“ (Dazed and Confused) that made the previous albums staple drops in the playlists of Mary Anne Hobbs, Starkey, Daedelus and Gaslamp Killer to name a few, but there is a new dimension to Koch's production and songwriting that didn’t show on his previous records.

The cinematic vibe of tracks like “Nitesky”, the quirky and moody feel of “Bugs” and the electricity of “Tapedeck” show how Koch more than ever manages to create intimate and timeless pieces of music that are soulful, deep, mysterious and that will appeal to fans of cutting edge Electronica and modern pop music alike. This is the most personal record of Robot Koch to date. Instead of going for big name features Koch teamed up with lesser know artists like Kansas based vocal talent John LaMonica, long time friend and theatre composer Nielson and mexican singer/songwriter Graciela Maria to find the right voices for his compositions. John LaMonica infuses his whimsical and heartfelt melodies that breathe an air of darkness and nostalgia with Koch's fresh and forward thinking instrumentals to create something that fans of Radiohead, The XX and Jamie Lidell should not sleep on.

After the release of the John Robinson collaboration album (“Robot Robinson” – Project Mooncircle) earlier this year, it seems surprising how extensive Robert’s output is, but don’t be mistaken, this album is a longer term project than just releasing the songs Koch made in the last year. Some of the songs found on “The Other Side” were made seven years ago.

"The Branches" album is a reflection of a world, where human feelings and natural powers are bound together. Everything is correlated in this world. There is no alive-dead distinction. The season change depends just on state of mind. Every move, every wind breath, every sound brings an information, opened for everyone who believes and ready to accept it, who hears and knows how to listen.

Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century Greek astronomer Ptolemy and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. In the sky Cassiopeia sits with Andromeda on the South side. In Greek mythology it was considered to represent the vain queen Cassiopeia, who boasted about her unrivalled beauty.
This album is a mix between different sides of the concept of “Cassiopeia”. It’s about life, the universe, humans and the future. Cassiopeia includes musical approaches comparable to Prefuse 73, Robot Koch and Kryptic Minds. The record is predominantly Hip Hop, but features tracks with other artists that are not strictly part of this genre such as BekBekson, Verhovski and Fancy Mike. Pavel’s music is a trip into a fable and his medium is the music of different genres: Hip Hop, Dubstep, Glitch, Wonky and Downbeat, used to form pictures. His work is free spirited and there are hints of feelings, allusions, enigma and mystery. We won’t get into the inner workings of his music, how it finds its way into the hearts and souls of the audience, the important thing is that it serves its purpose. Tracks such as “LA” or “Andromeda” are very personal statements from Pavel, “Quant Magic” is composed using Overtone, Didgeridoo, Boomerang, Yedaki and other Australian instruments. “Sacred Chants Of Shiva” seizes the listener with a sensation of restlessness.
Pavel Dovgal’s “Cassiopeia”, the incision between intergalactic music and the human soul. The same formula that has been present for over a thousand years.

After last year's release of his debut full length album entitled “Death Star Droid” Berlin stromtrooper Robot Koch kept himself hella busy. In 2010 alone he dropped the new Jahcoozi album “Barefoot Wanderer” on BPitch, released his EP “Listen To Them Fade“ on Project:Mooncircle, did a bunch of remixes and productions for both major and indie artsits and played stunnig live shows everywhere from Low End Theory in LA to the Sonar Festival in Barcelona.

And now he's back to do some serious damage with his 2nd LP “Songs for Trees and Cyborgs”.

The album shows Robot’s versatility as a producer – it mixes and blends fresh, forward thinking electronic beats with heartfelt melodies and organic live instumentation.

On choice tracks Mr. Koch teams up with the likes of Boxcutter (Planet Mu), 1000 Names (Black Acre), Doshy (Robox Neotech), RQM (Baby Sumo) and Graciela Maria (Project Mooncircle) to present the point where dubstep, hip-hop and its myriad of influences fuse into a kaleidoscopic collage of sounds.

Artwork by 44 Flavours.

After last year's release of his debut full length album entitled “Death Star Droid” Berlin stromtrooper Robot Koch kept himself hella busy. In 2010 alone he dropped the new Jahcoozi album “Barefoot Wanderer” on BPitch, released his EP “Listen To Them Fade“ on Project:Mooncircle, did a bunch of remixes and productions for both major and indie artsits and played stunnig live shows everywhere from Low End Theory in LA to the Sonar Festival in Barcelona.

And now he's back to do some serious damage with his 2nd LP “Songs for Trees and Cyborgs”.

The album shows Robot’s versatility as a producer – it mixes and blends fresh, forward thinking electronic beats with heartfelt melodies and organic live instumentation.

On choice tracks Mr. Koch teams up with the likes of Boxcutter (Planet Mu), 1000 Names (Black Acre), Doshy (Robox Neotech), RQM (Baby Sumo) and Graciela Maria (Project Mooncircle) to present the point where dubstep, hip-hop and its myriad of influences fuse into a kaleidoscopic collage of sounds.

Artwork by 44 Flavours.

The tendency towards advanced beats seems to be more and more a global phenomenon. As we already have said: Decentred beats for decentred people. During the last few years arose also in Russia a small, loosely networked scene of people, who have experimented with Hip Hop-beats. But in this case, the young Russians have no examples or references for this kind of music in the musical culture of their own country. All of their inspirations are taken from blogs and from the intensive study of their role models worldwide. The result is an organic, very playful, snappy and jazzy sound, which is carried by a common vibe, but is in the same way as diverse as the finest egos of the artists themselves.

The compilation includes Pavel Dovgal, DZA, Pixelord, Demokracy, Moa Pillar, Arktor, Shawalski, Myown, Nienvox, 813 and Long Arm.

В течении нескольких лет появилось все больше и больше музыкантов,экспериментирующих с хип-хопом.А делать это не легко,так как в России beat культура развита не так хорошо как на западе.Но ребятам удается создавать свой собственный,непохожий на других,стиль,и это не может не радовать.Мы представляем Вам второй сборник серии Finest Ego,с такими музыкантами как Pavel Dovgal,DZA,Pixelord,Demokracy,Moa Pillar,Arktor,Shawalski,Myown,Nienvox,813 и Long Arm.В итоге сборник получился очень разнообразный,некоторые треки звучат джазово и органично,а некоторые наоборот,можно даже отнести больше к дабстепу,чем к хип-хопу.

Design by LGB5. A&R by Jinna Morocha & Gordon Gieseking. Mixed & Mastered by Sven Friederichs.

DOWNLOAD

Even in the land of the rising sun, during the last months the enthusiasm for eccentric rhythms has increased. More and more young beat maker in Japan emulate their models J Dilla, Flying Lotus or Hudson Mohawke. This new generation of beat smiths understood Hip-Hop not as a mere pose, but as an aesthetic principle, in which it is explored, where the boundaries of this music style lie. The artistic crucial questions are therefore: How can you make known subjects in other contexts? How abstract can it be? Some of these emerging artists, we can now gather on this download Compilation. It’s a good way to become familiar with these extraordinary artists. So the Compilation shows the wide range of this emerging beat music scene, the originality of each artists. The title of the records tries to reduce very different types of artists to a common denominator: Finest ego.
The compilation includes BudaMunk, a.z, Daisuke Tanabe, The Astronotes, Dj Olive Oil, FERRARI, RLP, SATO, Ogiyy, ichiro_, Eccy & Himuro Yoshiteru.
Design by LGB5. A&R by Akira Inagawa & Gordon Gieseking. Mixed & Mastered by Sven Friederichs.

DOWNLOAD