Best New Releases from May
by Irina Kotik
The summer is upon us, bringing with it a slew of fantastic albums, gorgeous releases, and stunning remixes from the likes of DJ Tennis, Patrice Baümel, Kiani & His Legion, Kettenkarussell, Dixon, Tim Engelhardt, Tuff City Kids, Cleveland, Rampa and Talamanca System.
Kettenkarussell
Everything
Giegling
Kettenkarussell, the German duo of Leafar Legov and Konstantin have once again knocked it out the park with an impressive sophomore full-length album ‘Insecurity Guard’. The album follows up their 2016 EP of remixes of tracks from Kettenkarussell’s 2014 debut album, ‘Easy Listening’. ‘Insecurity Guard’ is an outstanding collection of the compelling and sonically diverse gems.
One of the standout tracks on the album is the elegant and evocative ‘Everything’. It has a timeless and magnetic vibe with subliminally ambient undertones.
Roosevelt
Heart (Cleveland Remix)
Greco-Roman/City Slang
ast year Marius Lauber, a.k.a. Roosevelt, the German producer closely affiliated with Joe Goddard’s Greco-Roman label, released his highly anticipated self-titled debut album on Greco-Roman/City Slang. This May the album will be remixed by Roosevelt’s favorite producers.
“The Scandinavian disco scene was always a big influence on my sound so I’m really happy to have Kasper Björke and the disco-maestro himself Prins Thomas on Remixed 1”, explains Lauber, while "a more dancefloor-heavy and techno-influenced version of ‘Colours’ comes from Tyler Pope, the bass player of one of my all time favourite bands LCD Soundsystem".
‘Remixed 2’ package featuring the work of Hot Chip member and Greco-Roman co-founder Joe Goddard, Andhim, Moscoman, Cleveland, Justus Kohncke, Prins Thomas and Tyler Pope from LCD Soundsystem.
The Luxembourger Cleveland is known for his vibrant live and DJ sets. He brings his signature sound and beautifully hypnotic edge to the package, with his take on ‘Heart’ using infectiously upbeat grooves, warm pads, and a dreamy arpeggiated analog-synth melody.
Kiani & His Legion
Oval Flight
SoHaSo
Brussel-based producer Kiani & His Legion makes a stunning return to Nuno Dos Santos’ Something Happening Somewhere (SoHaSo) imprint with a mini-album “Lima Oscar Victor Echo” guaranteed to transport the listener into a world of words, sounds, phonetic symbols, and hypnotism.
On the release, SohaSo noted: "A mini-album that’s more than the sum of its parts, drawing you in with a story worth to be told. Using a language that doesn’t need to be explained trough words, the symbols merge with their meaning through sound. 'Oval Flight' starts out with the cheeky sound of an electric harp but inside it hides a seed that sprouts to enormous proportions. Beneath the beauty you can feel something sweltering, wanting to expose itself. It links back to the beginning and finally lifts you off with a grand gesture."
Patrice Baümel
Glutes
Afterlife Records
Afterlife Recordings welcomes the ever impressive Dutchman Patrice Baümel to their family for his debut EP on the label. Consistently pushing boundaries and exploring sounds, his music has graced the biggest labels in the underground electronic music scene such as Kompakt, Lost & Found, Crosstown Rebels, Anjunadeep, Correspondent, K7 Records to just a name a few.
On this new 'Glutes' EP, Patrice Baümel brings two brand new smashing dance-floor hits. The title track is a blissed-out and effective cut that combines a rich, dystopian bassline, waves of synth arpeggios, and a brooding melody to superb effect. 'Glutes' has raw emotion that takes the listener on a powerful journey.
Simple Symmetry
Voodoo Your Ex (DJ Tennis rework)
Disco Halal
The highly respected Italian producer and Life and Death label boss Manfredi Romano, better known as DJ Tennis, returns to the helm for two remixes that breathe a new lease of life into the 'Plane Goes East' EP by Simple Symmetry. Titled 'Plane Goes East (DJ Tennis Reworks) transformed the "two original tracks from our favorite Russians into two club monsters”.
Talamanca System
Ocean Grill
International Feel
Following their gorgeous “My Past Is Your Future” EP, released in April, Talamanca System, a thrilling collaboration of Gerd Jansen, Philip Lauer, and Mark Barrott, returns to the Uruguayan imprint International Feel with an eponymous debut album. Their spectacularly diverse, Balearic-influenced nine-track offering delivers a “nirvanic state,” according to the label,” via “delicate chords, cascading keys and effortless groove.”
An ode to the summer, “Ocean Grill” combines classic and new Italo and Balearic house with a deep, funky baseline, dreamy sun-drenched melodies, and subtly textured acid house vibes to reflecting on memories of summers past and visions of summers to come.
Chloé
The Dawn (Dixon Remix)
Lumiére Noire
Paris-based DJ-producer and Chloé has launched her Lumiére Noire label with the two track “The Dawn” EP featuring a remarkable contribution from Dixon. The title track is the lead single from Chloé’s upcoming full-length album due out this fall.
Dixon’s reinterpretation of “The Dawn” is an instant viral dance-floor smash. This massive anthem version takes the listener to a world of adrenaline and uncaged energy.
Tim Engelhardt
When The Distance Disappears
Poker Flat
The electronic music wunderkind from Cologne Tim Engelhardt aspires to break down musical barriers with his new debut full-length album on Steve Bug's Poker Flat, entitled "Moments of Truth". Having released his first record at age of 14, the talented and passionate producer has been unstoppable ever since, with releases on Sincopat, Manual Music, and Poker Flat.
Tim Engelhardt describes his 10-track offering as follows: “It’s mainly songs that I recorded at night, they are memories of deep, honest and vulnerable moments where everything around me disappeared and I was just absolutely lost. When The Distance Disappears’ is the core of the album for me. It was written in just two hours and has only been touched again for mixing afterward. The difference to most of the tracks I made before was I couldn’t say what really happened in these two hours – everything disappeared around me and I was in an intensely focused state of mind that appears only very rarely. With the album, I tried to capture 10 of these moments of truth. It took me some time to build an album around this idea because these moments happen very rarely and most of the times they come very unexpected. After two years of producing almost 40 tracks for the album. I tried to select the best and it turned out, the ones that stood out were the ones that are the result of these moments.”
Rampa
Bimma
Innervisions
The wait is finally over: Keinemusik's finest Rampa is making an impressive return to the German imprint Innervisions with a new solo EP. The three-track 'Hall of Violence' EP follows Rampa's stunning debut on Dixon and Àme’s label last year, contributing the track "Nessesity" to their "Secret Weapons Part 8" compilation.
The Afro-vocal dance floor hypnotist 'Bimma' was first heard on Áme’s Playground 2016 set at Studio Brussel. Rampa works in the fine tradition of melding hypnotically repeated phrases with deep percussive grooves.
Edu Imbernon & Duologue
Underworld (Tuff City Kids Remix)
Fayer
Edu Imbernon’s Fayer imprint takes the listener into a deep house heaven this May with their newest release from none other than the label boss himself and London band Duologue in “Underworld” EP.
The four-piece package consists of the strikingly elegant original song “Underworld” which features the smooth and silky voice of Tim Digby-Bell, backed-up with a slew of stellar reworks from Diynamic duo Undercatt, AUS Music regular Tom Demac, and the prolific German duo Tuff City Kids.
The Running Back co-founder Gerd Janson and Philip Lauer (a.k.a Tuff City Kids) proved to be a perfect pairing once again with their reworked of the gorgeous “Underworld”. They keep the core of the sublime original but add a hypnotic acid-arpeggiated bassline to a startling effect.