Browse by Label: K2 (GERMANY)

Artist:	STEADYCAM
Title:	Ding
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 001EP

K2 is a new Kompakt sub-label, to focus on more dancefloor 12" only material. In the words of Michael Mayer: "K2 is a new Kompakt offshoot or better said a 'retention pond' for so much great music we get sent by newcomers and established artists likewise. The mothership Kompakt's schedule is absolutely full with the string of albums to come and a few 12"s in between. What's missing is enough slots for classic Kompakt-style minimal techno EP's - which is unbearable for us...Steadycam is a Swedish newcomer. 'Ding' is his first release -- 4 tracks meandering between Profan-ish sample-based minimal and kicking state of the art techno. Great discovery."

Artist:	HUG
Title:	The Angry Ghost
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 002EP

Second release on this Kompakt subsidiary label. "The digital ideal of life has finally shifted the search for the meaning, the search for a holistic cultural ideal on to a formal level. The digital concept to reality does not propagate any new objectives or visions, but a different kind of reality rapport and the realisation of wishes. Knowing how instead of knowing where. In today's youth culture, the digital concept of reality has reached its virtuoso peak, but at the same time, it is confronted with the traditional concept of an analog life: like a record, the music of life will only start sounding by tediously and constantly struggling through the rills of development. You must accept your own, meandering life script or lifestyle and follow your destiny, even if you are using yourself up and have to accept a kind of painful friction. And only then, you will feel the pulsing life. John Dahlbaeck is not an unknown artist. And we would like to welcome this fresh, young and active guy from Sweden for the first time on Kompakt with his new project called Hug. The Angry Ghost includes three hot tracks showing usually straight John Dahlbaeck from a rather differentiated, almost playful, melodic side."

Artist:	BORATTO, GUI
Title:	Arquipelago
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 004EP

"Thirty years ago, Gui Boratto was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He's one of Brasil's hottest producers, musicians and remixers. Since the middle of the nineties he successfully produces numerous techno, house and pop projects. Also on the international level, he got to a remarkable discography on several labels from all over Latin America. With Archipelago, Gui Boratto releases his first record abroad and seamlessly follows on the new genre of 'elegant techno of taste with dance-factor 8' on Kompakt's successfully started sublabel K2. Both tracks 'Arquipelago' and 'Simetria' fit perfectly in every smart techno set of presence. Slick, pushing, puristic and refined with a not ignorable touch of South America, he keeps the dancefloors shaking. Welcome Brazil."

Artist:	FLORENT
Title:	G-Net EP
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 006EP

Sixth release on this Kompakt subsidiary. Music by Florent Renard. "OK. The great K2 journey continues with a promising new artist from Stasbourg. Florent Renard, a fresh French talent shows 2 sides of his fine musical language. The title track 'G-Net' is a dark and trippy flowing tune with a congenially nervous melody. 'Ritournell', on the b-side shows Renards great feeling for classical sequencer-basslines. A brillant catchy atmosphere between acid and trance, without beeing acid or trance. Catch it."

Artist:	GRINE, BASTIEN
Title:	Where R U ?
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 007EP

"Bastien Grine, also known as Bastien Grino, is 28 years young and live and parties in Nimes, South of France. He has been a DJ for 10 years, producer for four years but, apart from a few releases on Scandium Records, he is still an insider's tip. This may change with this record. Three tracks, characterized by the minimal style of Cologne in the very best sense, they couldn't fit better into a tasty set of a '90s minimalist. Finest, crystal clear structures and straight, streamlined beats. Aestheticism rule, baby. Ten years after, 10 years ahead."

Artist:	MUFO
Title:	C.L.A.U.D.I.A.
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 008EP

"Around the world -- around the world. It looks like K2 is on a world tour to load the young hero's of the new 'the-original-minimalism-is-still-the-best-music-in-the-world' -movement, in the Kompakt Greyhound bus. This time we stop in Vasto/Italy, where the 26 year old Andrea di Francesco aka Mufo pops in. Although he has been musically active for 13 years, this single on hand is his first one. This doesn't surprise much, because for the skilled drummer and professing Profan and Studio 1 fan, it was only Kompakt that came into question. Who listens to these three, dodgy kicking, as well as charming tracks of his debut single, will understand, how thankful we are for his decision."

Artist:	BORATTO, GUI
Title:	Sozinho
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 009EP

2nd Gui Boratto 12" on this Kompakt sub-label. "It was just some months ago...Our Brazilian bomb, Gui Boratto, came through with his brilliant debut Archipelago on K2. And now, continuing with his unrestricted flavour, Sozinho seamlessly connects us with his previous outing. This charming brilliant accent, of which Gui Borrato nonchalantly speaks in our universal language of minimal techno, of what continues to cause fervor and excitement. His music is forceful and grinds like hell -- truly a union of European hipness that mingles with the lavishness of his South American roots. Gui Borratto is the Ronaldo of minimal techno -- make no mistake."

Artist:	STEADYCAM
Title:	Knock-Kneed
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 010EP

"You may still ponder, what one can expect of a good, playable techno single... Which falls somewhere in the category of being, traditional but innovative. Most of the time we conclude... 'I just wanna be surprised!' alright -- then that's the way it will have to be. K2 began with 'Ding' that was also the first release from Steadycam. A masterful retrospective of '90s minimalism during it's most Spartanic period. Bursting with robust, forward-thinking flavor. Let's talk about today. As the music moves forward. Ten years later. K2 -- ten records later. We present again... Steadycam 'Knock-Kneed' could be a strange Swedish saying, but now serves as the title track for his remarkable new single. Enter that ever-dependable off-beat bass line. In ample time, a re-socialized 'rave-bridge' ensues. Then elevate yourself to the melody of thrilling build-up, yes, that hair-raising crescendo... you can only dream of what comes next. The B-side. 'Rotums Kanoner'. Imagine the most desirable hybridization, of Cologne minimal techno and hot chocolate. Finally we leave you and absolutely promise, 'Knock-Kneed' has no trace of karneval-ism."

Artist:	HERVE AK
Title:	Part Time
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 011EP

"It's higgledy-piggledy somehow. With impenetrable 808 drums, adorned in psychedelic decorations, that's what some say. When one attempts to explain this mammoth new sound. But in fact what you hear is not that new... it feels new. Yes, beloved children, thanks to that good old, ever-dependable secret language called: between-two-bassdrums-cosmos-exists. Nicod Herve aka Herve AK is another French guy we welcome to K2 due to his convincing craft of this language. These warm, important and of course timeless ice-breakers. Somehow higgledy-piggledy."

Artist:	HUG
Title:	The Platform
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 012EP

"A massive alternative to the enormous flood of similar sounding minimal techno records where you often can't differentiate between the 'original' and the 'imitation,' Hug is real music that one feels and needs. Hug is the glamorous Baroque techno derived from a hyperactive, exceptional talent. It's the third release from the Swede John Dahlback for Kompakt's super-correct-techno-sub-label of hearts, K2. And these three delightfully skillful and elegantly grooving tracks on 'The Platform' are as smart and competently selected as the two forerunners; The Angry Ghost -- K2 02, and The Happy Monster -- K2 05. And if anybody thinks that this is 'minimal,' ok then."

Artist:	HUG
Title:	Sam the Same
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 015EP

4th John Dahlbäck 12" on this Kompakt-subsidiary label. "I feel I'm fallin' apart 'cos I know I've lost my guardian angel. A fleetin' glimpse of your heart losin' right from the start -- no return an' things will never be the same. I feel I'm fallin' apart 'cos I know I've lost my guardian angel...Try to find the words that show I sympathise words of comfort words that never criticise though I know you simply laughin' at me I just can't stop an' simply let it be. Where are all those feelin's of my yesterdays feelin's now I have bring back those bad ole ways. Though I know you wanna turn an' blow I just can't stop an' simply let you go. I feel I'm fallin' apart 'cos I know I've lost my guardian angel... Let me see you smile once more that special way warm as summer on a chilly winter's day though i know you're simply laughin' at me I just can't stop an' simply let it be. I feel I'm fallin' apart 'cos I know I've lost my guardian angel."

Artist:	RICE TWINS, THE
Title:	Reach For The Flute
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 016EP

"The marvelous Rice Twins are Valdemar Gezelius and Jesper Engström who hail from Sweden. We know them already from their brilliant debut 'For Penny and Alexis' on Speicher 33. Both of them have a unique ability to conjure exuberant melodies and in a refreshingly unabashed way, place them inside functional dance-beats. Take the tracks 'For Dan' and 'Rome' -- these two pop-techno tracks provide more than enough evidence to support this theory don't they? 'Poppers' sets off recalling a classic Kompakt track from our early releases. On which spools a cosmic harmony in which it's far too easy to lose your ground. Just imagine yourself spinning in a circle with eyes closed and suddenly stopping still. Spin baby."

Artist:	HERVE AK
Title:	The Closer
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 017EP

"These days we scarcely dare to use that strained term 'minimal,' In order to describe our all time favourite music. But with this record on hand it's unavoidable and inevitable. Motivated by the classic Finnish cool elegance, Hervé AK subtly connects, to those good old days of when the magic 808 was immersed amongst one or two microbe flickerings of sound. He proves this path is more than enough to set the dancefloor on fire. Two tunes of noble, French constraint, these jewels shouldn't be missing in any Luis Vuitton DJ case."

Artist:	BORATTO, GUI
Title:	Gate 7
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 019EP

"There he is again. At the moment we can't get enough of our favorite Brazilian. On our new single it's going off a little bit more seriously. 'Gate 7' is the title track and is a masterpiece of minimal. The crispy-elegant sound-design is reminding a little bit of John 'Hug' Dahlback, but with this South American touch that makes that typical 'Boratto-Beat.' On the B-side 'Chains' smashes straight forward. Techno-toughness meets sexy hip action. Berghain meets Copa Cabana."

Artist:	GATZIGRISTOS, GIORGOS
Title:	Basics
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 020EP

"The Greek-born but Holland dwelling DJ and producer Giorgos Gatzigristos moves forward with his second single on K2. Compared to its tasteful and laid-back predecessor (Skip Tutorial), Basics shifts up two groove-charged gears. The title track flourishes on an unstoppable oldschool bassline that is destined to touch all who come near it. Not unlike the sway of the Bolero, frequencies and melodies precisely shift through a hypnotic groove. Eight minutes of blissful escape are guaranteed! 'Caustic' reaches for the big-room. He succeeds to reach the caliber of a classic techno track, that would be expected of a producer to create in order to play in the techno Olympics. No doubt that Giorgos Gatzigristos easily qualifies and would be certain to go home with the gold!"

Artist:	ZIMMERMANN, JENS
Title:	Tranquillité
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	K2 022EP

"The ways of the Lord are inscrutable. We mean the ones of Lord Zimmermann, a veritably spectacular personality of the techno history. To be honest, when Jens Zimmermann showed us his real face we were astonished. The elderly people out there might have got the point already a while ago. In fact Jens' roots go back to the glory days of the Frankfurt DJ Dorian Gray, where in 1988 he was a techno pioneer with the sadly short-lived DJ Torsten Fenslau as Out of the Ordinary Acid. When this team a few years later conquered the charts with 'Culture Beat,' Jens started being in a rather bad mood and said good-bye to the circus of hit parade. Simply entitled as Zimmermann, he released three cool singles on the Darmstadt label Room Recordings last year and now enters at Kompakt's talent forge K2. Both tracks have this Zimmermann-typical heavy hypnotism. The feeling for time and space is cancelling out in a very nice way and the tension crackles like fresh aluminum foil. Despite thrifty instrumentation, Zimmermann is banging away like once Luke Slater as Planetary Assault Systems!

Artist:	BURGER, JORG
Title:	Polyform 1
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	K2 023EP

"Jörg Burger, also known as The Modernist is a man of the first hour. Since the bass drum is straight, the Cologne primary rocker is always varying his sound in different ways. His unmistakable rhythm as well characterizes 'Polyform 1.' 'Novacheck,' on the A-side is pleasantly oldschoolish. Over the cool and bouncing techbass, a trustingly tripping organ-theme is boring in your spoiled ears. The new liability to the moments of surprise is gallantly laid over the good old straight-forward minimalism without throwing it off the track. The title track comes quite housey without being house. With chic bleeps and decorated with restrainedly dubby chord-scheme, 'Polyform 1' comes with a few new sound facets, with smartly kicking popper techno from the very chic new sound laboratory. Somehow this record has a very relaxed self-confidence as if it would want to say: techno will never die. Timelessly beautiful."

Artist:	NIGHTCATS
Title:	Inside
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	K2 024EP

"Nightcats is the new side project of our good-old friend Jonas Bering and his production comrade Thierry Mbaye -- half of the group Molair of Static Discos/Sushitech fame. They debut with 'Inside' -- a noble stomper sustained with the hint of vocalized song. Sounds twirl around a siren of unknown origin in a blanket of warm, rocking bass. Bring on the B-Side... 'Ginger' is the epitome of all that Kompakt's music exemplified on it's maiden voyage. The dedicated fan will be sure to link this nu-anthem to the very first Kompakt 12", Jürgen Paape 'Triumph' -- need we say more? Why not. As always characterized by Bering, Nightcats provide captivating music delivered in the most tasteful way possible. Yeah, right."

Artist:	STEADYCAM
Title:	In The Moog For Love
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	K2 025EP

"Steadcam on KOMPAKT/K2. The bizarre and sometimes mystical art-disco from precious David Janzen floors us again and again. His sweet musical promises attract the unconventional cosmos of time with the smartest laid out groove. 'In The Moog For Love' is based on a remissly swinging Moog-bass, coolishly decorated with rhythmic sound flakes and sparingly set emo spheres that somehow recall Hot Chocolate. The B-side track, with the meaningful title 'Klyftans Prakt,' comes off across initially as being... quite minimal. Then, a ridiculously catchy melody slides in, somehow folk-y!? Driven by an uncommon combination of accordion and spinet. Great track. Good fun."

Artist:	RICE TWINS, THE
Title:	Can I Say
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	K2 026EP

"Sorry to disillusion you, but The Rice Twins aren't twins or even blood-related, although as individuals the two Swedes Valdemar Gezelius and Jesper Engström do sound very much alike. Their melody-rich tracks have always been quite opulent and exaggerated in the most likeable of ways. We start with the piano-opera 'Can Say,' a complete public display of thrashing out the possibilities of the technically manageable. You get the impression that more denseness in harmony can't be more audible than here. A bathing for a surging crowd on the dancefloor. 'Goatee' on the B-side is a little bit more transparent, but not less unconventional. A strange beat, graceful harmony. Call it a Nordic melody. As up north, they're free."

Artist:	INTUS
Title:	Absolut/Mescal
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	K2 028EP

"You might think that we're still drunk when you listen to the new Intus. Whoever remembers the B-side of the Speicher 50 knows what we're talking about. The 'Absolut' side lives up to its name. As the title implies, the psychedelic out of tune slide guitar dances around the beat like intoxicated moths around a light bulb. With 'Mescal,' the trip continues to the Mexican coast. A nicely blurred trance hook shift back and forth over a nice fat disco beat, becoming indistinct like the flickering of heat in the wide desert sand. Very mescal."

Artist:	BURGER, JORG
Title:	Polyform 2
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	K2 030EP

"Ever since the sound of Cologne emerged in the mid-'90s, the name Jörg Burger works as a synonym for beauty in techno. His elegant yet propulsive sequence-driven techno under guises like The Modernist or Stardiver has become a force of its own. For his second release under his real name on Kompakt's dinghy K2, he deflates his trademark pop appeal in favor of darker tendencies -- which, as we all know, works perfectly in clubs. It's what scary movies, roller coasters and techno have in common: the more nasty it gets the better! But Jörg Burger wouldn't be our friend if he'd just let us stand in the cold dark. On the flipside, he gently turns up the radiator and reminds us that its predecessor Polyform 1 is actually one of the most touching neo-deephouse tracks ever written."

Artist:	BABICZ, ROBERT
Title:	Don't Look Back
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	K2 031EP

"Robert Babicz is a remarkable person. His discography is approximately as long as the Mississippi between Meeman Shaelby State Park and Memphis City. Where as others start repeating themselves or just lose it completely Robert Babicz continuously manages to excite and surprise us. Cheers to that! With his second coming on K2 after 'Mr Head' he reconnnects to the housier path he started there 2 years ago. In comparison to the musculous, techy works for Systematic Babicz is aiming for a more discoish, warm and groovy approach. Both tracks are perfect springtime tracks, so just tuck this 12" away for a moment. This winter is almost done with!"

Artist:	BORATTO, GUI
Title:	Anunciación
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	K2 032EP

"Since his debut 'Arqipelago' (K2/4) Gui Boratto has achieved almost everything a techno artist can achieve these days. His album Chromophobia, including the omnipresent single 'Beautiful Life' has been a firm favorite amongst DJs from every angle. It's the rare combination of brilliant technical skills, an uncanny ear for catchy hooklines and this razor blade-sharp grooves that make him an exceptional figure in techno world of today. With Anunciación, he's back where everything began: on Kompakt's dinky K2. Soundwise, it's a wee bit darker than Chromophobia but hey -- that's this winter's fashion. But don't worry, there's still a fair amount of soulfulness involved."

Artist:	RICE TWINS, THE
Title:	The Signifier
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	K2 033EP

"According to Saussure (1857-1913), a sign is composed of the signifier (significant), and the signified (signifié). These cannot be conceptualized as separate entities but rather as a mapping from significant differences in sound to potential (correct) differential denotation. The Saussurean sign exists only at the level of the synchronic system, in which signs are defined by their relative and hierarchical privileges of co-occurrence. It is thus a common misreading of Saussure to take signifiers to be anything one could speak, and signifieds as things in the world. In fact, the relationship of language to parole (or speech-in-context) is and always has been a theoretical problem for linguistics (cf. Roman Jakobson's famous essay 'Closing Statement: Linguistics and Poetics' et al.). He is also important in emphasizing that the relationship between a sign and the real-world thing it denotes is an arbitrary one. There is not a natural relationship between a word and the object it refers to, nor is there a causal relationship between the inherent properties of the object and the nature of the sign used to denote it. For example, there is nothing about the physical quality of paper that requires denotation by the phonological sequence 'paper.' There is, however, what Saussure called 'relative motivation': the possibilities of signification of a signifier are constrained by the compositionality of elements in the linguistic system (cf. Emile Benveniste's paper on the arbitrariness of the sign in the first volume of his papers on general linguistics). In other words, a word is only available to acquire a new meaning if it is identifiably different from all the other words in the language and it has no existing meaning. Structuralism was later based on this idea that it is only within a given system that one can define the distinction between the levels of system and use, or the semantic 'value' of a sign. That much on the topic of semiotics. The Rice Twin's music talks for itself. Please file under emo-house."

Artist:	STEFAN, NICOLAS
Title:	Time Is Over
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	K2 034EP

"It's every A&R's dream come true: someone from around the corner (Solingen, in this case) sends you a demo. You open the envelope and bing! You instantly fall in love with the music coming from this hardly known bedroom producer. When Nicolas Stefan's Time Is Over was played for the first time at Kompakt, nearly everyone in the office asked 'hey, what's playing?' This is awesome! Indeed, 'Time Is Over' is a nasty little heartbreaker. Soundwise, it's not too far from the second wave of Border Community artists like Ricardo Tobar, but with an extra hint of sweetness and pop. This slightly corroded absent-mindedness makes us want to launch a new genre name: indietrance! It's fragile, but at the same time there's enough punch and euphoria to set every open air party on fire. Here's our secret weapon for the sunny season. Oops, now it's not so secret anymore."

Artist:	CHALLENGE
Title:	Zimmer
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	K2 035EP

"You won't find anyone at the Kompakt headquarters that never had crush on a Tim Paris track. His Marketing imprint gave birth to some instant classics that probably also saved your day/night/morning at some point. His sound is difficult to pigeonhole as it oscillates between abstract, disco, '80s retro pop, minimal house, afterparty techno and uhm... whatever you want. It diffuses an earthy scent of unperfumed bodies which can be a nice thing. We're talking about natural fragrance rather than old sneakers. There's a lot of truthfulness in this music. It gives you the impression that you're at the right party. Challenge is Tim Paris with his friend Pete Herbert. They joined our family with what we call an anthem. Check out 'Zimmer' and wait until that men's choir kicks in. It can make the sun shine at day and night likewise. We've never heard something like this before and we never ever want to be without it anymore. This is buddy house."

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Artist:	HUG
Title:	The Happy Monster
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 005EP

Artist:	SCSI-9
Title:	Railway Sessions
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	K2 018EP

Artist:	MAXIME DANGLES
Title:	POF 807
Label:	K2 (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	K2 021EP