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Browse by Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)


Artist: LUCIANO + QUENUM
Title: Funky Dondy/Orange Mistake
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 001EP
Repressed! Cadenza has quickly developed as one of the most advanced electronic labels of the past couple of years..."An effortless first collaboration between Luciano and Philippe Quenum, 'Orange Mistake' is of the deep, blood-red, over-ripe variety. Evoking appreciative nods and quiet smiles in back alleys where decisions concerning your physical integrity are taken in a dialect that seemed understandable before that last kindly offered cigarette. Crescending counterpoint rhythms and a deadly, unsterilized organ hook that sends infectious ripples through your spinal fluid. Go sweat it out before someone spots your jaw moving asynchronously. And don't forget to order two copies, one is bound to get stolen on some hazy morning. 'Funky Dandy', an offbeat downplayed stroll through the distorted mind of what sounds like a French football commentator having a pretty rock-bottom Monday morning dealing with his inner child. Then again, it could just be a very cool b-side. Minimal yet subtly complex with a growling funkiness all of its own. Filled with creeping, hand-crafted chords designed to boost mid-season morale better than an organic hay fever remedy."


Artist: LUCIANO
Title: Cadenza Contemporary 01 & Classics
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 2CD
Price: $20.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 002CD
For its first-ever CD edition, Cadenza prepares something truly special. Spread across two CDs, Cadenza Contemporary 01 & Classics is a distillation of the label's essence -- not just an overview of its past, but also a teasing suggestion of what lies ahead. The first CD, mixed by Swiss producer Luciano, digs its fingers into the label's six most recent records -- plus Luciano's own "Tonerres," from the lone Cadenza Split Composition release so far -- and teases out a single thread, which it rolls lovingly between its fingertips. The mix could have taken any number of different directions, but Luciano's mix takes the snakiest path possible, beginning with the blippy, aquamarine-colored house of Argenis Brito and Digitaline before taking a detour through Petre Inspirescu's sideshow psychedelia. When things get a little noir, he opens the slats on Andomat 3000 & Jan's clattery Venetian blinds, making way for Rhadoo's percussive, mid-day reverie, all swirling dust motes and forgotten clocks ticking in the distance. Alejandro Vivanco brings a momentary wake-up call with his rubbery bass wallop, and then irreality descends again courtesy of Luciano and Pikaya, delivering two of the deepest, most gravity-free tracks in Cadenza's catalog. The second CD highlights Cadenza's early years with a selection of classics culled from the label's first six releases, all of them appearing for the first time on an unmixed CD. Luciano & Quenum lead off with the rightfully anthemic "Orange Mistake," and Luciano & Pier Bucci follow up with the liquid Latin ripple of "Amael." Quenum & Lee Van Dowski's "Extension" is as kinetic as anything the label's ever done, a hall of mirrors and circuit boards, while Luciano & Serafin's "Funk Excursion" goes straight for the gut -- no need to bring your own funk, it's here in plentiful supply. N.S.I.'s "Max Binski" remains at the frontier of Cadenza's outer limits: channeling free-jazz piano into an anxious, bass-heavy groove -- one of electronic music's strongest tracks of the last half-decade. Finally, Luciano closes the disc out with "Bomberos," one of Cadenza's earliest hits and a shining example of his way with a supple, slippery groove. Beautifully packaged in Cadenza's characteristically sumptuous designs, Cadenza Contemporary 01 is a milestone for one of electronic music's most important labels, and a tangible time-capsule to collect and keep.


Artist: LUCIANO + BUCCI
Title: Stone Age/Amael
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 002EP
Repressed. "On this one Luciano teams up with Pier Bucci, his Latin brother in rhythm and melody, offering us more heartfelt vibes on what is emerging as a special label for unique music by talented producers who happen to be friends. Luciano opens with 'Stone Age', a straight dancefloor rocker with some truly mineral sounds. What begins as mild static soon develops into cracking thunder & lightning ripping through the air with an offbeat, wooden bass, then a disembodied voice hollering at you through a megaphone. It's too late and you keep dancing forward, the groove will carry you home if you don't miss the occasional chords for directions, they're like little gps devices. Having now joined the star-studded European Chile-expats club, Pier Bucci continues his collaboration with Luciano with renewed inspiration. As a tribute to Lucien's baby boy, on 'Amael' Bucci dreams up a universe of melancholy with minimal melody, in traditional deep Detroit style as Luciano's trademark synth stabs fade into the background, perhaps quieter than before. Suddenly daddy Luciano, who's providing the backdrop to all this, briefly interrupts Bucci -- and Amael -- at play with a quick display of break science : 'hey I can do this, I can do that, and listen to this bass !'. The kids sort of shrug, 'so what?' then go back to painting mental pictures of a world seen through wide-open eyes. A piece of timeless techno music, if you're into that sort of thing."


Artist: QUENUM AND LEE VAN DOWSKI
Title: Extension
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 003EP
"Hotly tipped Swiss producer with two subtle, efficient and unmistakably European techno tracks that should inflict a correct amount of damage whenever used. 'Xtension' methodically adds layers of complex loops and wild quirky sounds that build up over time into a massive yet refined techno groove -- that could be it, and it would still be worth its salt. But there are these impromptu breaks where everything is flushed down the toilet in an instant, all sounds reduced to an eerie, damp gurgle. Like quicksilver the whole track quickly reshapes itself and presto, bass-heavy minimal techno with a super funky percussion track. The rest is up to you, Quenum & Lee Van Dowski have done their job."


Artist: LUCIEN & SERAFIN
Title: Funk Excursion
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 004EP
"Lucien Nicolet aka Luciano has been a DJ since 1993 and a producer since 1997. In the mid-'90s, he was promoting Sense Club and Encuentros con la Technocultura in Santiago de Chile in the company of many initiators of the Latin American electronic music scene: Senor Coconut AKA Atom Heart, Ricardo Villalobos, Dandy Jack & brother Adrian Schopf, Washington Miranda, Argenix Brito, Microman etc. His releases also appear on the Transmat, Perlon, Klang Elektronik, Lo-Fi Stereo, Cadenza & Bruchstuecke record labels. Luciano's mixed Swiss and Chilean identity shows in his music, a somewhat mystical blend of deep techno and electro that integrates southern elements in rhythms and colorful patterns in sound. His collaborations with Ricardo Villalobos (Playhouse, Perlon, Warp, Force Inc etc.) as Sense Club are especially rewarding, as is his partnership with Pier Bucci and Argenix Brito as Monne Automne. He's also known to rock dancefloors with Carabina 30/30's knee-raising techno fest in the company of Martin Schopf aka Dandy Jack. Mellowing his style as times goes by, getting more experimental and spacey with a fresh style of his own, Luciano's production is destined to the wiser dancefloors. DJ-wise, Luciano's trade relies on groovy and minimal dancefloor techno and house. His releases top recommendation lists of noted European music journals such as de:Bug and Groove on a regular basis." --Beatfreax


Artist: NSI (NON STANDARD INSTITUT)
Title: Clara Ghavami Extended
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 005.5EP
Luciano remix 12", one-sided. Long, intense and quite a bit more desirable than the original -- this record actually exists now, previous assertations to such an existence were riddled in confusion. "NSI returns with 'Clara Ghavami' in all its Oriental and deeply powerful glory and in extra length. A. 'Clara Ghavami extended' written and produced by Max Loderbauer and Tobias Freund at Non Standard Studios, Berlin 2004 edited by Lucien Nicolet and Tobias Freund."


Artist: NSI (NON STANDARD INSTITUT)
Title: EP (Three tracks)
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 005EP
"Max Loderbauer and Tobias Freund, two very experienced musicians, recently ventured upon their first project together, NSI, a.k.a. Non Standard Institut, releasing their first productions on Cadenza. Loderbauer studied sound engineering, one of his latest projects was Chica and the Folder. Tobias Freund worked as a sound engineer for 18 years, is Sieg über die Sonne together with Martin Schopf (Dandy Jack) and releases projects as Pink Elln. They are both scientists in sound returning to where they feel most at home in the analog world. Their puristic approach to electronic music is not only very refreshing, but also very pure and sophisticated."


Artist: LUCIANO
Title: Bombero's
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 006EP
Two 13-minute tracks, on this stunning new Cadenza release. "Luciano is continuing to surprise us with his ability to create a very fresh and dreamy dance environment. He knows how to manipulate the dancer into endurance. ''Bombero's' abstracts and hypnotises at the same time. If you want to cunningly stir up the dancefloor then you've found the right track. 'Octagonal' on the other hand enthrals you with this certain Luciano charm, this charm we've already started to familiarise ourselves with. This track is a sweet and yet clever reflection of his essence."


Artist: DIGITALINE
Title: Rubicube
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 007EP
"Digitaline are Laurent Bovey aka Laps and Gregory Poncet aka Gregorythme. The two new talents from Lausanne (French part of Switzerland) starting right at the top with releasing their debut 12″ on Cadenza Records. 'Rubicube' is like a doctoral thesis in rhythm, masterfully arranged with quirky wooden percussion improvisations rotating around a bouncy snare swing and occasional organ chords putting some weight on it. 'Belladonna' on the flip even manages to raise the pressure with another maze of tightly interwoven fingersnappin' beats, rhythmical voice snippets and sparse yet effective sound-fx. This will have you shake your legs like you got ants in your pants."


Artist: VILLALOBOS, RICARDO
Title: Achso
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 2x12"
Price: $25.50
Catalog #: CADENZA 008EP
Double 12" in deluxe gatefold sleeve, over 50 minutes of music. "Minimal techno is generally said to be pointillistic in nature. But Ricardo Villalobos' new EP for Cadenza (his first for the label, and his first new release since the Chromosoul 12" for Perlon) turns its attention to the importance of the line -- not the dots, but the connect. Not the pinpricks, but the thread. (Oh yeah, and 'minimalism' is a dead horse too -- there are more rhythms in 32 bars of one of Achso's tracks than in an entire hour of commercial radio. It's not a 'less-is-more' aesthetic, it's just more things folded into more ingenious hiding places.) Since his epics like 'Easy Lee' and 'Black Conga,' Villalobos has kept stretching out his music, and these songs are longer than ever -- meandering in ever-widening circles, opening up like blossoms from the necks of blossoms, like Terry Gilliam's animated flower in the intro to Monty Python. (To call Achso an EP is a bit of a misnomer: four 12" sides, each at 33 RPM, more than 50 minutes of music. If vinyl records could contain 60 minutes per side, I'm pretty sure Villalobos would start making hour-long tracks for the dancefloor). Instead of techno's conventional 4- and 8- and 16-bar figures, these tracks drift of their own accord; they sound less like standard 12" sides than edits of Villalobos' spiraling live sessions, where loops uncoil into long, slinky springs. Each track feels like it has three or four discrete sections, but you'd be hard-pressed to determine exactly where A morphed into B into C. Achso is a moody record -- contemplative, melancholic, angry, a little bitter at times, and also guardedly euphoric. If most of the floor-filling tracks of 2005 emphasized brazen riffs and strobing sounds, bristling with hooks and fin-de-siecle hedonism, Villalobos has gone down a trap door into a side room of the party, where the dance floor moves at the same pace, but the shadows are darker and the sounds more fleeting. We can be leery of the 'j'-word and still admit that Ach So takes certain inspiration from jazz: not the hard-and-fast signifiers of the blue note and swinging bass, but an emphasis on unfolding structures -- on the overarching importance of the line. From classic ambient music, it derives an attention to timbre, and to the ghost sounds that emerge from chance couplings of machines. There's also folk here -- again, not 'folk,' dressed up in bright acoustic colors, but a kind of placeless folk, a tradition without a history to root itself in. In place of the explicit reference to Chile's '60s of Villalobos' deepest DJ sets, extending Violetta Parra's eerie harmonies into a thicket of drums, Achso emphasizes an all-encompassing psychedelia reminiscent of Krautrock, the Chilean progressive folk/rock of Los Jaivas, and even Southeast Asian string music. Here, psychedelia is a sinew that runs beneath everything else, twisting and unveiling the vein when the music flexes. There's no denying the similarities between these discs and the most rippled, polyrhythmic strains of minimal techno's latest developments; the palette and the pulse both flow from the taut energies of Alcachofa and The Theoreme du Archimede into the dusky web of barbed rhythms that personifies current releases from artists as diverse as Luciano, the Wighnomy Brothers, Trentemoller, or Dominik Eulberg. But Achso is less about proposing a style or defining a genre than in wrapping its arms around a set of ideas and then folding them, Venn-like, into a grey interleaving. A middle space." -- Philip Sherburne.


Artist: LUCIANO
Title: Yamoré Rmx/Harmonics Crashes
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 009EP
"You don't know how lucky you are to have this record in your hands. The remix of 'Yamoré' is not only one of the rarest records in Luciano's discography, but it's also one of the best remixes he's done, ranking up there alongside a certain 'Amelie on Ice' as one of those sought-after treasures that have sent fans scurrying to eBay, hoping to get their hands on the original vinyl. A staple in Luciano's own DJ sets, 'Yamoré' was originally released in 2002 as part of a 5x12" box set of remixes of the Malian musician Salif Keita's album Moffou, limited to 1500 numbered copies. In his remix, Luciano pulls out all the stops, drawing from his considerable stylistic range to create a summertime epic that touches upon minimal, deep house, Afropop, and the unclassifiable rhythmic experimentation that defines Luciano's most feverish dancefloor anthems. Despite being four years old, it still sounds ahead of its time, and stands as an important precursor to the newly invigorated psychedelia of today's most exciting house and techno. 'Harmonic Crashes' -- credited to one Pepe Bombilla, a mysterious character last heard from on Luicano's killer 'La Limonada de Pepe Bombilla,' released on Mental Groove in 2003 -- is simply one of the freakiest floor-fillers you'll hear this year. Abstract voices -- chanting, ranting, singing scat, who knows -- urge a handclap-riddled rhythm ever deeper into the darkness, from which Daniel Aimé's haunted, almost agonized harmonica wails out like a banshee. Now, the last thing that most of us want to hear in a 'minimal' track is a harmonica, but the way it rips across the soundfield here makes the bluesy beast sound more like a tortured oscillator squealing as the screws are turned ever tighter."


Artist: MELCHIOR & LUCIANO, THOMAS
Title: EP
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 011EP
2 long collaborative tracks (total time: 26 minutes). "A few doors from Hardwax, Luciano's studio: on any given afternoon half a dozen people might roll by, from the Exercise One guys in the studio next door to like-minded Berliners to whoever might be in town for a gig. Some people need to lock themselves away in a sealed bunker, but Luciano's place isn't like that: as I wrote in another story, it feels more like a salon. And with the speakers buzzing, the machines fired hot, and the hour growing fuzzier with each spliff, sometimes it can be quite an alchemical combination, the stuff of everyday life being spun into gold circuitry and filigreed beats. These two tracks are a lot like that. They're the work of Luciano and Thomas Melchior, a longtime Playhouse and Perlon artist and wry-smiled philosopher who doubtless needs no introduction. These two tracks are 25 minutes of the purest wordless communication, like two Scuba divers trading hand signals 10 meters down, or a locked gaze on the dance floor. You can hear bits of each individual in the mix-Melchior's characteristic skip and swing and his dexterity with vocal samples, Luciano's gliding polyrhythms and soft, seamless ruptures-but here their signatures blur into a fluid scrawl all its own." -- Philip Sherbourne.


Artist: PIKAYA/ANDOMAT 3000 & JAN
Title: Grüne Raufaser/Entr'acte Music
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 012EP
"After the recent deep, psychedelic excursions, the label tilts the spotlight towards the disco ball and gives us a breather in the form of two simple, spangled groovers. Even more intriguingly, Cadenza 12 sees the label family expanding with the addition of two virtually unknown production teams -- Pikaya and Andomat 3000 & Jan -- who have the unique honor of releasing their recordings on one of electronic dance music's most adventurous labels. Pikaya are the trio of Christian Kaske, Daniel Ramm and Frank Greiner. Beginning with haphazard, rolling toms, 'Grüne Raufaser' quickly builds to a gentle lilt with mournful chords reminiscent of Plaid, some rollicking trap-work, and jazzy little keyboard stabs that flash into full-blown dub echoes. Swinging like Benny Goodman on the playground, it's at once nimble and brooding, starry-eyed and tear-stained. At nine minutes long, you barely notice its subtle changes, but DJs will want to play this one all the way through to the run-out groove: it's perfect for slow-dancing with a lover at the after. Andomat 3000 & Jan are the duo of Jan Iwanitz and Andreas Wiegand, another couple of kids born in the halcyon days of free love and feathered hair. Andomat 3000 & Jan's 'Entr'acte Music' is a dark, housey number that clearly takes inspiration from Thomas Melchior: fans of Melchior's productions for Aspect Music, Perlon and Playhouse will lose themselves in the echo-drenched swirl and unhinged vocal chirps. Like those fabrics that change colors according to your body temperature, 'Entr'acte Music' is a moody chameleon: congas and upbeat keys spell tropical bliss for those in the mood for sunshine, and for those dancers with a penchant for the dark side."


Artist: LOCO DICE
Title: Harissa
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 2x12"
Price: $25.50
Catalog #: CADENZA 013EP
"Following the success of his enigmatic singles 'Seeing Through Shadows' for Richie Hawtin's Minus label and 'Flight LB 7475' for Ovum, Düsseldorf's Loco Dice returns with a monster four-track, co-produced with Hannover's Martin Buttrich, the man behind one of this fall's biggest hits -- 'Full Clip,' released on Carl Craig's Planet E. The four cuts on this doublepack EP are monsters all, between eight and 13 minutes apiece. Coming hot on the heels of similarly sprawling releases from Ricardo Villalobos and Luciano & Thomas Melchior, they confirm Cadenza's commitment to stretching electronic dance music's form to fit a more expansive frame. These are anthems, but they're anthems of a different sort. While too many hits beat their riffs like dead horses and treat their listeners little better, Loco Dice turns their attentions to gauzier, wispier elements: ghost melodies, feathery percussion, iridescent timbres that flash once and are gone. These are tracks for clubbers who like their bumping subtle; they're cuts for headphone listeners who want to follow a corkscrewed groove until the g-force tugs their lips into a private smile. The four tracks sound simple at first -- easygoing house rhythms, skeletal melodies, agreeable sounds and textures -- but the more you listen, the deeper they get, multiplying their inner dimensions exponentially. 'Raindrops On My Window,' opening with clopping hooves and twittering birdcalls, feels like a journey through the forest back to civilization: a male voice mutters monosyllables, a female singer wails a near-Eastern lament, and the track's taut machine rhythms box in an unruly bassline that cuts corners with every bar, refusing to slot itself in 4s. The whole thing is dead simple, unabashedly dark, and delectably funky. 'Paradiso' is one of the gentlest tracks you'll hear this year, braiding keening keyboard lines and unfolding like a flower caught by time-lapse photography. Romantic melodies meet Afro-Latin polyrhythms."


Artist: DIGITALINE
Title: Anticlockwise
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 2x12"
Price: $25.50
Catalog #: CADENZA 014EP
"Tick tock, you don't stop: presenting 'Anticlockwise,' the debut album from Digitaline, aka the Swiss duo of Gregorythme and Laps. After their debut single 'Rubicube,' released in 2005 on Cadenza Records (Cadenza 7), 'Anticlockwise' is the label's first attempt towards a more comprehensive view on the creative production of the duo. Digitaline have honed their craft with extensive stage experience. Performing locally at institutions like Zürich's Street Parade and the legendary Dachantine, and internationally at clubs like Panoramabar, Fabric, Rex and Cocoon, the pair has flipped their groovy, minimalist studio experiments into a kick-ass live show that's as 'mega' as its details are 'micro.' It's probably not surprising that Digitaline are Swiss: you don't find timekeeping this diamond sharp anywhere else. But if their structures move like clockwork -- precise configurations of smooth arcs, straight lines and right angles, like a black and white Mondrian -- what they fill in around the grid is anything but rigid. Spontaneity and flux are key. Bright harmonics shower everything in sparks, and tiny plaintive sounds plunge like diving birds. Drum tuning and delay timing are in constant motion; everything modulates everything else. These aren't the ubiquitous clicks and glitches of minimal, but something far more inspired. Fans of Akufen and Pantytec will recognize in Digitaline a similar sense of color: dynamic, chameleonic, iridescent. But it's not just the sound design. Digitaline's beats offer a sense of groove that's frankly irresistible, a classic jacking vibe kitted out in alien tones and melodies that dance on the edge of melancholy. Informed by their live sets, Digitaline's sense of structure balances compact, efficient rhythms and the long, sprawling arc: not so much psychedelic as narrative -- narrative at its most surreal. This is epic house at its most understated: not overblown drama but a modest tale passed mouth to mouth, bar to bar. This is fireside funk."


Artist: ANDOMAT 3000 & JAN
Title: L Delay/Frost
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 015EP
"Hold on to your sunhats, campers, because summer is here in the form of two enormous tunes from Andomat 3000 and Jan. The duo announced their recorded debut last fall with the track 'Entr'acte Music' on Cadenza, a split single with Pikaya. After October's Selfmade EP for the 9 Volt label, they return to Cadenza Records with a double A-side that's got open air and ocean spray written all over it. From its opening horn stabs and rolling, tympani-like toms, 'L Delay' is all about the drama -- but at the same time, its skipping hi-hats and ringing bells suggest a carefree spirit and a supreme lightness of touch. Talk about a duality: a cloak of reverb sucks the track perennially towards the dark side, but from the gleeful syncopations to the cheekily sampled live instruments, everything else opens up to the light like a morning yoga position. There's no funny business here, just tight rhythms and emphatic phrases that command bodies to move. It's a monster of a track, but it must be of the Loch Ness variety, because you'll never see it coming. On the flip, 'Frost' -- haunted by the same high, lonesome string note as 'L Delay' -- might be even more energetic, if that's possible. The high end has been smoothed down, and some of the rough-hewn Chicago edge of its companion tune sanded smooth, but its crazily syncopated standup bass line and distant, answering keyboards is all muscle, tensed and ready to explode. Spacious drum tracks clear the floor for flashes of tambourine and handclaps so dry you can taste the salt on 'em. Again, no nonsense is the name of the game: just raw, unadulterated funk with an ear for playful rhythms and limber moves. Both tracks, a tidy eight and seven minutes apiece, cry out for active mixing, but that's easier said than done: packed with clever drops and an unerring sense of flow, they damn near command you to let them play out in their entirety. Listen to believe!"


Artist: BRITO, ARGENIS
Title: Micro Mundo
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 2x12"
Price: $25.50
Catalog #: CADENZA 016EP
"Doubtless you already know Argenis Brito, whether you're aware of it or not. This versatile Venezuelan musician and singer has blazed an indelible path across the Americas and Europe for over 20 years, first in the Latin American rock scene and, since the mid-'90s, as a collaborator and comrade-in-arms of many of the artists that have given contemporary electronic dance music a Latin twist. Moving from Caracas to New York to Santiago de Chile to Berlin, and having toured the world multiple times, Brito brings a uniquely rootless sensibility to his unconventional brand of house music.Since the turn of the decade, Brito has been the featured vocalist and touring bandleader for Uwe Schmidt's Seńor Coconut project. Alongside Pier Bucci he has recorded two albums and several singles as Mambotur, and with Bucci and Luciano, he co-produced four tracks for Monne Automne's 2003 album. Before all of this there was his groundbreaking work alongside Chilean stadium rocker Jorge Gonzalez in the experimental electronic pop project Gonzalo Martinez, which also featured contributions from Atom Heart, Dandy Jack and Tobias Freund. And most recently, Brito has pursued a dirtier house sensibility, as a member of The Basstards, Krak Street Boyz and Argenix vs. Samim. Micro Mundo, Brito's first appearance on Cadenza, finds him finessing and refining his sound, honing it down to a carefully restrained groove that occasionally erupts into madness, snapping and hissing like a live wire.'Espejismo' sets the tone with a no-nonsense stomp, a hypnotic bassline snaking through it, and eerie flashes of digital noise, aural equivalents of the mirage of the title. 'Amplified' takes those elements and ratchets them up a notch, machine voices bubbling up from the murk and fizzy micro-rhythms zooming across the stereo field. It's not an entirely new sound for Cadenza; in the precision-tooled sound design and the propulsive groove, you'll hear echoes of Luciano, Digitaline, Andomat 3000 & Jan."


Artist: PIKAYA
Title: Kambrium
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 017EP
"Pikaya take to the A-side with a flourish of robes and flashing beams of light. 'Jedi' is not the track you're looking for... wait, no -- it absolutely is the track you're looking for, all mind tricks aside. Kicking off with a sparse drum pattern, it quickly shifts from a measured andante to an easy jog, as resonant synths and sweeping filters whip up desert winds and high drama. High, lonesome counterpoints and a moody chord progression carry the faintest whiff of Ennio Morricone's outlaw music, and playful trills -- you could almost swear they were birdcalls -- suggest a secret oasis hidden just behind the next hill. If you find 'Jedi' cinematic, then 'Fango' will really blow your wide-screen mind. Starting with a rhythmic underpinning that's everything you've come to expect from a Cadenza track -- tight, ultra-kinetic, just a little bit jittery -- Pikaya build up layer upon layer of hazy pads and cool arpeggios that shimmer like the aurora borealis. Bullfrog-throated horns occasionally burst in with a fat, amicable fanfare, announcing the arrival of the peak hour. Great, unison handclaps play off against heel-kicking syncopations: madness ensues. And then everything slowly, imperceptibly smears together and loses focus, and the tune fades flickeringly away. Talk about a double feature!"


Artist: VIVANCO, ALEJANDRO
Title: Madre Tierra
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 018EP
"Cadenza returns to its Chilean roots to spotlight Alejandro Vivanco, who makes his debut appearance on the label. Long established as a musical force in his own country -- first in the underground group Pequeńas Particulas, and more recently as resident DJ at La Feria, one of the cornerstones of Santiago's electronic music scene -- Alejandro has spent the last few years forging connections with the Northern Hemisphere. In 2004-05 he released two 12" singles on the UK's Eukahouse label before developing a long-standing relationship with Cologne's Kahlwild, which so far has put out four of his singles. His work hasn't fallen on deaf ears: the track 'Las Velas No Arden' from his Kahlwild debut, has been included on Loco Dice's Green & Blue, Dominik Eulberg's Kreucht & Fleucht, and Luciano's Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi. Volume 2. 'Lemon Lab' opens the EP with a note of high drama, as great clouds of digital synthesis and bird-like squeals suggest the humid, voluminous interior of the cloud forest. (If we're going to talk about Madre Tierra, this must be the womb.) Slowly, a structure evolves: from the low muttering of a lonely voice arises an animalistic heartbeat played out on high toms. The beat skips, and skips again, and suddenly the mists part, as though an ayahuasca haze had given way to absolute animal clarity. From here on out, we're in it, lithe and prowling, hugging the ground on a muscular 4/4 beat as insectoid sounds and syncopated wood-block accents clatter above. Like yagé, it's not for the faint of heart -- but for adventurous DJs. 'Lemon Lab' promises something far better than early-hour timekeeping: the prospect of a journey. 'Dissolved' is a more straightforward affair, bouncing atop a spring-loaded beat and relaxed, ragged handclaps. Faint flashes of voice, like intercepted shortwave transmissions, lend a touch that's almost comic, or at least jovial, and rolling congas stake out a humanizing space in the light of the fire."


Artist: DIGITALINE
Title: Honolulu
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 019EP
"Mere months after releasing their Anticlockwise album, Digitaline are back with a big, cresting wave of a tune, 'Honolulu,' backed by an equally massive remix by Luciano himself. Digitaline -- the Lausanne/Berlin-based duo of Laps and Gregorythme -- pull out all the stops on 'Honolulu' -- Digitaline's 'Kamehameha I' version. In surfing, you'd call this one a triple-overhead, fit only for long boards. Make that really long boards, as the track is a 17-minute long thrill ride of choppy white water and tubing smooth as glass. Skewed tribal drumming and scattershot percussion kick things off with a generous intro that grows and grows, building tension with eerie keyboard smears and snatches of murmured vocals. The groove is so cork screwed it's almost, well, screwy, silencing the kick drum and coasting on the off beats before diving back into the fray with a splash of hand claps. An insistent bass bounce is the skeg keeping things on course until, roughly halfway in, the low end opens up and whoosh: smooth cruising through deep blue waters flecked silver and gold, as elements tumble into the depths and surface again, spluttering, borne steadily forward on a pulse as regular as the tide. Challenging? You bet, but that's the beauty of it: the sticker may say 'Don't try this at home,' but you simply can't resist riding this one. On Luciano's 'Liliuokalani Remix,' he wrings things out and brings it all back to dry land, focusing his attentions on sticks 'n' stones percussion and nosing his way into a labyrinth of hand claps and delay. Where so much of Digitaline's 'Kamehameha I' track is about subtraction, sucking out the beats where you expect them to be, Luciano's 'Liliuokalani Remix' is its additive inverse, ever-so-subtly laying down layer after layer of chattering percussion and misty delay, until every molecule in the sound field seems to sparkle with energy. Everywhere you listen, in the space behind every note, something is happening; every sound seems fringed with tiny tendrils."


Artist: INSPIRESCU, PETRE
Title: Tips
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 2x12"
Price: $25.50
Catalog #: CADENZA 020EP
"For its 20th release, Cadenza turns to Romania's Petre Inspirescu, aka Pedro. He may be a new addition to the label, and for that matter a new name to many listeners. (Until now he's recorded two compilation tracks and one EP, for the labels Vinylclub and [a:rpia:r].) In his home town of Bucharest, Romania, however, Petre has long been a pivotal figure alongside his frequent accomplices Raresh and Rhadoo, and in the last two years, his appearances in Ibiza and throughout Europe have brought his name to many listeners' lips, heightening interest in the fertile Romanian scene -- an unexpected outpost of advanced electronic music whose rise recalls Chile's emergence as a central player in contemporary techno, despite its location on the so-called margins. Just as Ricardo Villalobos' Achso double pack marked a turning point of sorts for Cadenza, leading the adventurous label even further into the unknown, Tips feels similarly pivotal, introducing not just a new name but a whole new way of approaching club music. Tips' four tracks are as sonically baffling as they are irresistibly groovy, as unhinged as they are methodical. In four tracks and just over 40 minutes, Petre offers an infinity of possibilities for getting lost in. 'Mostra' opens the EP with a loping, Luciano-inspired groove that steadfastly refuses to stand still; a rocksteady trifecta of kick drum, hi-hats and snare holds it down while bells and eruptions of static fill in the empty spaces with their fidgety push-and-pull. What makes the tune truly memorable is a long, undulating melody played out on a synthesized harpsichord, swathed in reverb and as eerily suggestive as an afternoon dream. 'Racakadoom' changes up the mood considerably with oompah-shoompah horns that chug away, ad infinitum; the track's hidden hook is an unsettling spoken-word loop -- possibly one voice, maybe two or three -- that's been sped up and slowed down, chipmunked and screwed until its erratic babbling becomes as inscrutable as a mountain spring."


Artist: RHADOO
Title: Dor Mit Oru
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 2x12"
Price: $25.50
Catalog #: CADENZA 022EP
Rhadoo presents four long tracks that forego gimmicks in favor of deepness. What upon first listen sounds minimal, thanks to a familiar palette of treated percussion, slight harmonic squiggles, and not much else, reveals itself to be far more nuanced. Rhadoo's tracks blindfold the listener, spinning you round, until dizziness dissolves into pure weightlessness. Tribal patterns are atomized into boundless orbits, fusing the warmth of acoustic percussion with the shimmering timbres of the digital imagination. These are songs for dancing.


Artist: SCHNEIDER/GALLUZZI/SCHIRMACHER
Title: Albertino and Nora P
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 023EP
Guido Schneider, André Galluzzi and Florian Schirmacher team up for a two-way three way of sorts, resulting in two absolute stormers. "Albertino" is the first collaboration between Schneider and Galluzzi -- a lithe little stepper with funk to spare. Saucy percussion, petulant flange, white noise, and delay lines tease out like a climber's rope. On "Nora P," Schneider and Schirmacher roll out booming toms and Afro-Latin hand drums -- if your hips don't move to this, you're probably dead. 2nd pressing in generic sleeve, unfortunately.


Artist: REBOOT
Title: Be Tougher/Letters
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 024EP
Reboot aka Frank Heinrich is dedicated to grooves both darkly emphatic and dazzlingly polyrhythmic. Reboot released the well-received Charlotte for Frankfurt's Below label as well as a remix for Greek duo Lemos & Kreon, on Be-Chosen. Where Charlotte was suffused with sweetness and light and tentative time-keeping, Reboot's debut EP for Cadenza Records is considerably darker. 2nd pressing in generic sleeve, unfortunately.


Artist: LOS UPDATES
Title: First If You Please -- The Remix Part 1
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 026EP
Los Updates is the latest project from Chile's Jorge González with Loreto Otero. González is one of the country's best-known musical ambassadors. His group Los Prisioneros defined the sound of Chilean rock in the '80s and '90s. In the '90s, he teamed up with the usual suspects in Latin America's expat electronica scene. Los Updates connects the dots between mindbending minimal house and unabashed pop; this first EP in a series of remix packages features an original album cut edit backed by remixes from Ricardo Villalobos and Dandy Jack & The Superhero.


Artist: PICONE, ALEX
Title: Furby/Floppy EP
Label: CADENZA (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: CADENZA 027EP
Alex Picone is based in Padova, Italy, and has previously recorded for Tenax and Mixworks. "Furby" has a warm, spongy sub-bass cushion and some carefree melodic flourishes. Plenty of good-natured bleeps keep the playful vibe flying high, built around a skeleton of polished steel and precision mechanics. "Floppy" is a simple track on the surface, but there's moody clarinets bubbling up and all manner of carefully-tuned percussion. Don't be surprised to find your mind wandering while your body's in motion.

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