PlainMag

Free Download: Franksen & Tom Wax – Rhythm Section

plainmag — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:32:43 +0000

While Tom Wax took his way via Techno, Tech-House and Electro from scratch in the late 80s, Franksen loves his 90s house und US deephouse structures. Their fusion: Driving house and techhouse beats, organic percussions, electronic funk or global vibes, it’s all in there. The strict goes with the playful, the rhythmic with the melodic and the organic with the electronic. Working together they basically extend and merge the loose ends of their common radio work in their home zone, the Rhein-Main-area. For six years Tom presented the weekly show SOUNDS at Frankfurt’s public radio YOU FM. As a radio-host Tom’s playlists boast cool contemporary techy clubsounds between trend und tradition. Today he is host of the “PHUTURE SOUNDS” Radioshow on Big City Beats FM keepin’ up the proper work with his well chosen guests from Ellen Alien to Gregor Tresher or from Timo Maas to Super Flu! As a producer in the 90s he released and worked as A&R for “Harthouse”. He established himself a cornerstone in every techno-history, with still legendary projects such as Microbots, Arpeggiators or AWeX. As resident DJ at Frankfurt’s very own “Dorian Gray” he belongs to the heritage of the Frankfurt sound. Franksen is „On Air“ since 8 years, hosting Germany’s longest-running DJ-radioshow. Today’s YOU FM CLUBNIGHT offers all the flavours of house- and techhouse: with groovy tracks, a vibrant presentation and well-chosen guests. From Jamie Jones to Loco Dice or John Dalbäck, just to name a few from last year’s live guests at Franksen’s studio. As a DJ Franksen plays house weekly makings sure with his fierce mixing skillz that the groove never stops. Their first artist album „Full House“ will be out on at the first of April and that is no joke. The double Mix CD as well as the downloadversion boasts a wide range of House-and Tech-House flavours. The album’s title is programmatic. Everything goes… apart from arrange and composition which clearly hone electronic programming and function it is their talent to tell a little story within each track and let the sounds travel with your mind. In The Mix, all of this is even more palpable. To get the first impression of the current “Frankson & Tom Wax Sound” you can just listen to the track “Rhythm Section”.

Free Download Link: Rhythm Section.

Bucher & Kessidis – Live On (Plastic City)

plainmag — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:31:10 +0000

Tom Bucher and Christos Kessidis are no strangers to the deep and tech house family of germany and moreover to Plastic City. Their first Plastic City release as mp3 “The Dark Night” in 2010 and the following single E.P.´s “Time”, “Fate” and “Saratonga” showed where sound and style of Bucher & Kessidis are aiming at. Their sound as a platform for romanticism and functionality includes playful melody lines as well as strong beats and rhythms. The style mixture of detroit, britain and german house filled with colourful pictures everytime searches for the one truth hidden between every beat.

Tom Bucher & Christos Kessidis, both started Djing and producing in the early respectively the mid 90ies. While Tom startet his career with Michel Niepenberg and Jacek Darnowski under the alias Tojami Sessions, a project that is still alive Christos started solo and released on labels like Exun Records, 8 Bit, Plastic City and Aenaria Music.

With their first mutual album, including the pre-released singles “Time“ and “Fate“ the team proves its ability to arrange and produce deep-tech-house tracks hitting the zeitgeist absolutely. An enormous depth designs every track while storytelling and functionality stay in the foreground. Tracks like “Léon“, “Faction“, “Lowdown“ or “Misson“ are as pure as freshly pressed juice while “Melina“, “Live On“, “Nónda“ or “Release“ convince with cautious professionalism and perfection. Tom and Christos who released on famous labels like Dessous, In Between Entertaiment, Separe and Raum…Musik fuse their sounds and elements, rhythms and basses to a breathtaking and unbelievable conglomerate emotions and expressions. Well done boys!

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Märtini Brös – Moved By Mountains (Mole Listeing Pearls)

plainmag — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:06:27 +0000

Partners in music for over 12 years, Berlin based duo Clé and Mike Vamp are the inimitable Märtini Brös. They released 3 full length albums and countless singles with a rich, playful and catchy electronic sound that helped dPartners in music for over 12 years, Berlin based duo Clé and Mike Vamp are the inimitable Märtini Brös. They released 3 full length albums and countless singles with a rich, playful and catchy electronic sound that helped define a movement for a generation of more refined club-goers. Now the Brös are back with their fourth longplayer; a majestic, dextrous voyage through the many styles and zones the pair share a passion for. ‘Moved By Mountains’ is a fully-fledged achievement in both sound and songwriting. Settling in to the peaceful and positive vibes of ‘Overture’, the album gets underway with the amazing textures of ‘Jericho’ – a sentimental slow jam which sets the tone for the warm electronica elements found throughout the album.

Quickly flipping the switch with the modern pop of ‘Stay Amazing’ feat. Manye Thompson’s distinctive vocal message, a veritable treat lies in store with addictive, post-modern songs like ‘Jolly Good Time’, ‘Why’ feat. Louie Austen, or the spine-tingling ‘The Door’. The smokey tones of Eric D. Clark are spread thickly over ‘Physics’, once again carrying a unique message; synth pop moments flow with ‘Gang Of Two’, full of uplifting, positive moments, while the more experimental electronics of ‘Beautiful Children Of Mumu’ or ‘Little Nemo’ highlight the duo’s skills behind their collection of analog gear. The astounding work draws to a close with the simply epic ‘Yellow’ and ‘End Of The Year’ which really brings out Clé’s singing voice – which features on many of the album’s songs. Over 14 songs, casually and expertly merging production skill and seasoned ears with beautiful melodic passages, guest instrumentation and choice vocalists, ‘Moved By Mountains’ is surely their greatest achievement to date.

Naomi – Dragon Tree (Mole Listeng Pearls)

plainmag — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:23:43 +0000

It’s never been easy to climb the Dragon Tree. Ever felt that life is a long and steep road, a neverending fist fight against an invincible opponent, a romance against all odds? Bernd Lechler and Nico Tobias still show the odd fit of incurable melancholy, but this time any world weariness comes clad in choruses that make you want to shout “Holy Kylie!”. The overall sound of the album reminds one of… well, nothing else, really. Massive backbeats carry scratchy guitar riffs, buzzing synths cut through gentle electric piano lines as the Berlin duo digs deep into the pop vocabulary of the past four decades.

The Naomi Single Dragon Tree comes along with a brilliant remix from Chris Zippel, who wrote with the Pet Shop Boys & Ich und Ich, produced and remixed with Robbie Williams, Schiller and Snap and with his very own project “Genuine” he launched the Nu Ambient Scene.The Berliner Chris Zippel has now occupied his very own sweet-sounding enviroment on the island Ibiza, where he is remixing and producing new Genuine Songs and different Film Scores.

Video: Naomi – Dragon Tree (big | small)

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Tojami Sessions – The Next Ten Years (Plastic City)

plainmag — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:21:57 +0000

With their new album “The Next Ten Years” Frankfurt based trio Tojami Sessions represent the latest house and tech house music at its best with a lot of references to classic house music. The project, consisting of Michel Niepenberg, Jacek Darnowski and Tom Bucher, was founded by Michel and Jacek in 1992. They always tried to combine all the characteristics of house music. With their releases on raum…musik, Separé, In Between Entertainment and Dessous and as well on Plastic City, they released in the beginning of 2010 the digital EP “Jazzbox” and the digital release “Backup” in spring, they proved their instinct for pure and intelligent tracks . Furthermore their tracks “Music” and “Sun” are featured by the latest episodes of the “Plastic City Radio Show” and “Terry’s Café”.

Starting with the track “The Next Ten Years”, Tojami Sessions are diving into a poetic and dreamy deepness they choosed as the main theme of their longplayer. Garnished with soulful vocals singing “Can you feel it” like in “Soul In Me” or classic organ chords like in “Dry Martini” the tracks create a warm and laid-back atmosphere. Additionally the modern beats and percussion sounds give them power and endurance. Detailed rhythm structures like in “One Step” are the perfect instrument to ground the tracks on the dancefloor, the light and clear sound combinations like jazzy pianos, trumpets or the latin influenced melody of “Cock Fights” offer feed for mind and mood. This album is a diverse discussion of Deep and Tech-House baring all the wonderful facets of the genre.

Audio Interview: Tojami Sessions talks about “The Next Ten Years”

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Zagar – Learn To Fall (Mole Listening Pearls)

plainmag — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 13:34:43 +0000

Zagar is already in the studio working on their eagerly anticipated next studio album. In the meanwhile, they are releasing another single with remixes of two festival favourites – “Learn To Fall” from the album “Cannot Walk Fly Instead” and the previously unreleased song “Sounds And Lights”.

The mastermind behind the band, Balazs Zsager made a statement with their own takes on the tracks. Zagar finally release also their famous Sziget Festival VJ film track, Sounds and Lights, which could only be heard on concerts so far. Karmatronic, the US/Italian producer duo pulled off the perfect chill out remix of this track. They made their name big time with their 2006 Beyonce – Ring The Alarm rmx which topped Billboard charts. Ever since than they did official remixes for the Pussycat Dolls, John Legend or Michelle Williams which were also massive chart favorites.

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Video: Naomi – Dragon Tree (Mole Listening Pearls)

plainmag — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:46:23 +0000

Ever felt that life is a long and steep road, a neverending fist fight against an invincible opponent, a romance against all odds? Well, so does the hero in the video for Dragon Tree, the brilliantly catchy new single by Berlin synth-pop outfit NAOMI. No, make that two heroes – Bernd Lechler and Nico Tobias have a habit of doing everything together, so for the first time in pop video history all members of a band are taking turns playing the main character. And what a day the guy has to survive, involving getting fired, beaten, wet, lost, and knocked out. And when he attempts to regain his pride by trying to get drunk, stoned and laid (in no particular order) at night, the results are mixed, if foreseeable. Quite unlike the place he comes to in the morning, which is higher than he thought he might get. At least he’s not alone. Or is he? It’s never been easy to climb the Dragon Tree.

Miro Pajic – Saturn Drama (Harthouse)

plainmag — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:07:50 +0000

One of the most successful Dj’s and producers of the nineties presents his new album on Harthouse: Miro Pajic. As ‘Miro’ he played at the biggest international raves, under aliases like ‘Hypnotizer’ he characterized rave and hardcore and released on labels like Kiddaz.FM, ToraToraTora, Tic Tac Toe, Proper N.Y.C., Things To Come and his own imprint Laserzlut, of course. With his new album he is blowing up the boundaries of minimal techno. The architecture of his ten tracks is as manyfold as the philosophic interpretations of room and time in general like the physicists are speculating about a multiverse. Every sample, every little designed sound is at its place and could never be somewhere else. Thus Miro Pajic creates moods between reading romantic poems, floating in weightnessless and exploring new worlds of perception. Thus the intro of the first track ‘(Welcome) Bubblehead’ reminds to the first scene of the movie ‘Alien’ where a nearly poetic and romantic music supports the pictures of the awakening crew. Then he sets a highlight with the very sexy ‘Do It’ (feat. Joody). Concentrating on beats basses and science fiction sounds he gives the vocals enough room to unfold their atmospheric effects. Miro Pajic has the ability to give his tracks a certain tightness by giving them a little kick in the ass at the right moments. So the synth line in ‘Evacuate The Equator’, the dry beats in ‘Collide’, the melody in ‘Octopusm’ or the razorsharp percussions in ‘Dusty Star’ are surprising elements. Furthermore Miro gives his tracks a deepness that seems to be bottomles. This album really is a little treasure of minmal techno music where you will explore new things everytime you listen to it.

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Terry Lee Brown Junior – Labyrinth (Plastic City)

plainmag — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 02:32:24 +0000

The pioneer of Tech-House Terry Lee Brown Junior is back on Plastic City with his sixth album. Terry Lee Brown created “Labyrinth” while he released two remix albums of his tracks, two episodes of the “Terry’s Café” compilation series, three mp3 EPs (the latest called “Electric Avenue” released this year) and travelled around the globe playing DJ gigs at the biggest festivals and famous clubs. “Labyrinth” truly is the next masterpiece of Terry Lee Brown Junior. His productions are always very accurate, the interplay of moods, sounds and emotions is functional and sexy, well concidered and perfectly restaged.

At the beginning it seems Terry’s lounge alter ego nor elle had influence on the production process. Stereoscopic, reduced to the max and with deep atmospheres the first five tracks “Neutral”, “Ego Expedition (with Greg Parker)”, “Black Mountains”, “It Started Right Here (with The Timewriter)” and “Stereopsis” give a dreamy and relaxed introduction to the longplayer. These are moods you can fall in and get carried away. But the intensity of beats and grooves ad rhythmic warmth to the tracks. In the next tracks “Dynasty”, “Andromeda” and “Tribe”, Terry focuses on beats and percussions, he surprises with some laid back melodies before calming down with the interlude “The Eyes Of The Stranger” and the downbeat house track “Sunny Poseidon”.

After this Terry sprays pure dancefloor feeling in the atmosphere with “Baltimore” and “Bohemian Life” before closing the album with “Labyrinth_Reprise”. Terry Lee Brown Junior steps out in his labyrinth with eyes wide open. Searching for new ways to achieve his aims. The result is a very sensitive new album with all the love for music you can expect from Terry Lee Brown Junior.

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DJ Feedbacks:

Ashley Beedle / Xpress 2 / Skint:
“A great mood shifting house album. A rare thing these days. Have not picked my favourite tracks yet but will be playing these out especially with my Darkstarr sets with Dj Cosmo. Big support.”

Ed Davenport / Liebe*Detail:
“That’s a REAL house album. Amazing sound and directions throughout. Lovely. Thanks for this!!”

Thomas Schumacher / Spielzeugschallplatten / Electrochemie:
“Always been digging Terry stuff , from the early days on. A fully accomplished producer. Top!”

Ernesto Ferreyra / Musique Risque / Cadenza:
“Thanks a lot, playing Stereopsis, dynasty and Andromeda …”

Loco Dice / Desolat:
“It´s amazing how an artist go through all that time. It feels like Terry never lost his feeling for deep, warm & full arranged sounds. But the most important thing – his style! I was and I’m still a huge Terry Lee Brown Junior fan”

Tedd Patterson / Vibal:
“Terry Lee Brown Junior is addictive.”

Darren House / Diesel / Xpress 2:
“Great album will feature on xpress2 radio show. Love Neutral!”

Danny Ward / Dubble D / Moodymanc:
“Really refreshing to receive a ‘house’ album which actually flows as an album, rather than just a collection of tracks!!! Lovely vibes!!! All the best with it!!!”

Catel Jean / Supplement Facts:
“Looks amazin again great music! I love Plastic City!”

Laurent Garnier:
“Cool deep dubby atmospheric album”

Maik Loewen / Poker Flat:
“A lot of good atmopheric stuff to discover here! Thanks!!!”

Alex Niggemann / 8Bit / Supernature / 2020 Vision:
“Awesome…Thx!”

Lee Jones / My My / Playhouse / Simple / Just:
“Beautiful listening…”

Chris Gruber / Gruber & Nuernberg:
“Always nice sound from Terry!! I really like his stuff, since i can remember!! Full Support for this nice album!”

Terence / Freak N Chic:
“Love the vibe, sexy and cold deep, rich album, support the whole album!!!“

Clive Henry / Peace Division:
“Another producer that consistently does his thing …“

Lauhaus Lanting / Polder / Intacto:
“Great work!“

Matthew Benjamin / Layo & Bushwacka!:
“Too many (tracks) to choose from – great music”

Modern Pop Lounge (Mole Listening Pearls)

plainmag — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 08:13:54 +0000

The guiding principle behind „Moderner Pop Lounge“ is, apart from being a sound statement, an album with songs, not sounds. Well-established bands and artists such as Naomi, Ohm Square, Lemongrass, nor elle, Alphawezen and Yonderboi are presented with songs together with amazing discoveries such as The Burhorn, Johannes Huppertz, The Casino Royal and Tony Match. The album is rounded off by highlights such as Audio Lotion, Geb.el, Moodorama, Zagar or the Swedish producer J. Axel. The songs on this album don’t babble along but move heart and soul: highly distinguishable and clearly recognisable electronic music. A beautiful album and promising prospects for all lovers of good electronic music.

Available format: mp3.