TRACK OF THE MOMENT: Column - Hostels (map.ache Remix) [Areal Records / IRR]

“The keeping of pets marks humans' attempt at taking possession of a part of reality that is not at their disposal. Dressing a piece of the real that lives according to entirely non-human rules and which only in the saddest case does not resist the discipline of the human symbolic order vehemently and in a sustained matter, is a violent act of protection. Because in the non-place of the real, all that which we are helpless in the face of looms: the non-logical and the nameless, the violence and the noise, yet also the unrestrained and unfiltered desire. The innocuous figure of the pet marks a gateway to an investigation of these eerie milieus, while electronic dance music lends itself to this investigation in an outstanding way. This constellation marks the subject of Column's Pets II. “
Those who like electronic music distinctive, intricate and evocative with a delicate uncanny charge are in for a treat with a second installment of “Pets II” LP, a mini album by the “Cologne-based renaissance man Jan Philipp Janzen, who, as chief emissary of Cologne’s pop internationalism, has been playing the field in various functions and is, in one way or another, been involved in most relevant records coming out of Cologne for the past number of years.” He is also a member of two of Cologne’s finest bands - Von Spar and Cologne Tape. 

“Pets II” LP is a follow-up on Janzen’s 2016 solo debut album “Pets I”. “Sonically,” the label describes: ” Pets II marks a clear development for Column. In its exploration of the thresholds of the real, it sets two points of focus, corresponding with the split in sides A and B.”

The new release spans a total of six powerful mind-transmissions, including Jansen’s collaborations with the PNN label most enigmatic artist and a long-time friend myr. and Cologne-based producer Marvin Horsch. It also features remixes from the Berliner Leibniz and KANN’s label co-founder Map.ache.

Jan Philipp Janzen’s “Hostels” has received an elegant and spatially alluring rework from the depth of map.ache’s digital realm of hypnotic sounds. Masterfully working with the key elements of the original, he draws in a compelling musical alchemy with captivating polymorphic harmonies, breathy textures, and intriguing rhythms, giving it a whole new dimension.