Browse by Label: KARLOFF (GERMANY)

Artist:	FRIVOLOUS
Title:	Somewhere In the Suburbs
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 001CD

"Now the Karloff headquarters show some consideration, bringing this synthesis of the arts called Somewhere in the Suburbs to the deserved, handy CD format, plus bonus tracks. Thus there's finally an album to close the ever gaping gap between the Pulp Fiction soundtrack and the Kruder & Dorfmeister mix CD, which so often caused this perplex mimic of students looking at their flat share's CD rack. This year Frivolous provides the most beautiful music for the current barbecue season, and with his minimal-experimental singer/songwriter house, he has finally made up his very private spot on the map of electronic music. Over are the times of Isaac Hayes as the only patron for romantic snogging, or couple dance being strictly taboo on electronic dancefloors. The time is right for the next big step, and the first artist album on Karloff -- your specialists in noisy crackle rave and whisked instrumental pop. Now you're being administered a bundle of full-grown catchy tunes that seem to remain in your bloodstream forever, knowing no frontiers. Who ever wanted to know how Paolo Conto may sound through vocoder, or your prime minister on weed, now should enjoy himself and stop questioning the fact that aliens need love, too..."

Artist:	FRIVOLOUS
Title:	The Romantek EP
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 002EP

"Vancouver's Daniel Gardner aka 'Frivolous' has released two 12" EPs on Background Records so far, making him known for minimal clicking house with that certain flavour of its own. The current Romantek EP on Karloff now does a further step to his stylistic peculiarity, and turns out to be a true firework of slightly ironic, musical bizarreness, combined with loads of clatter and a reduced, but well-grounded house groove, being particularly effective with the floor-oriented 'Song Of The Kwaning Bird'. Especially the ever unexpectedly emerging fragments of guitars, brasses and vocals contribute to a fresh, disharmonic musicality, somewhere between Texan prairie and the jump-an-run-game-spooky-castle. Scary darkness and that cheerful way of minimalism have never been so close before."

Artist:	SAMUEL, JEFF
Title:	Throatwobbler Mangrove
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 003EP

"He's been a guiding light in dark times for quite a while now: Jeff Samuel, our man for special purposes. His graceful minimal styles already overwhelmed the people at Trapez, 7th City, Lo-Fi Stereo and Pokerflat Recordings, but now he's at it for more: 'Throatwobbler Mangrove' on Karloff combines skilled functionality and poetic catchiness to create some fresh, cutting-edge music, that will teach greedy floors how to move right. You will see: life at night is hard, and it's always useful to have a powerful friend At your side. Why not Jeff?"

Artist:	ARCHITECT, THE
Title:	After What My Boy Told Me...
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 004EP

"Jay Haze aka The Architect belongs, no doubt, to the most exciting activists of the current minimal techno league, with this ever unpredictable tightrope walk between experimental minimalism, straight beats, electronic dub and all kinds of musical absurdities. His labels Contexterrior, Tuningspork, Future Dub and the netlabel Textone.org are standing for an uncompromising crusade against pop, rave, and other musical superficialities, and this Karloff release is no exception. 'Inside Out' drops in as a mighty atmo track, whose seething bass potage gradually spawns a swarm of analogue hornets, until the piece finally gets to a weirdo funkiness through Jay Haze's ubiquitous live jam character. 'Fo Shizzy' switches the styles even more extensively, madly distorting anything that gets in its way. Mr. Jackson's judgment: 'Alright!'. 'Don't Stop' proves itself a bit more gentle, and by awfully few elements Jay manages to carpenter a fresh, funky house piece over a cool, casual groove, easily making it a swinging dancefloor mover. And the bonus track 'Light Friend' finally betrays what the new-Berliner from Philadelphia means by 'Representin' P-Style'..."

Artist:	LUMP
Title:	Polka Paradox
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 005EP

"Lump is Arttu Snellman from Finland, who first appeared on Sub Static over two years ago, and is not to be confused with the Swiss Lump who recently came up on Mental Groove Ltd. Arttu lives and works in London, where he's employed as a cartoonist at Icepics, a cartoon -- an animation film studio in Soho. Those fairly worn-out attributes like 'minimal' and 'dubby' would definitely match his style of music, but this completely radical, however always humorous way Arttu builds up his tracks and lets them turn deeper and deeper, makes the Lump-sound something very distinctive and almost sounds like an auditory interpretation of cartoons. The digitally-masked, but incredibly organic mass of sound gets ripped open again and again by absurd breaks and unexpected found-footage fragments. Lump is a shy, inconspicuous godfather of minimal electronics, to whom the common and respected techniques of his own genre seem to be completely strange.

Artist:	DB
Title:	Gdansk EP
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 006EP

"Always a good deed to be done: after the recent releases by lump, the architect and Jeff Samuel, who partly came up on Karloff with their deepest track ever, Vienna's Daniel Bemberger is now back to condense his minimal-mutant-funk even more than he already did on his previous EP Petrzalka. The hot spots are the small little details, which are not to be overlooked, but even at a first glance dB's tracks provide the blueprint for the most amazing out-of-body experiences. The head is meant to stay, but don't be surprised if it places these seductive, uncommon 4/4 electronica back on its feet, as a cramp in the calf is to be prevented. But dB always knows a way out of any absentminded situation, and no dead end can ever hold back his ever rolling hybrid groove. He sails around every sand bank and knows to avoid any kind of flat-titude. Jazz and house have never been this close, while never permitting just touch of pleasingness."

Artist:	FRIVOLOUS
Title:	Coquitlam BC EP (1 of 2)
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 007EP

"If the last beach boy would trade his surf board for a laptop, this wouldn't keep him from writing pop songs for the eternity. Unfortunately frivolous now steals a march on him, by releasing Coquitlam BC, the first part of his two-EP-set on Karloff, which will surely make this world a better place. Being known for his previous releases on Karloff and background, the man from Montreal has secretly raised the level to the highest stage, while all those slick, snippet-moving sound nerds have already suffocated from their latte macciatos. As a result we get hip house with some extra hop boggledop for the plush disco at home, but also being loudly welcomed by this world's advanced dancefloors. Still open is the question, who gave the vocoder to Paolo Conte, as well as our dance recommendation: couple dance, along with champagne on Asperol -- this vitalizes and stimulates the libido."

Artist:	T-POLAR
Title:	Splatter-haus
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 008EP

"T-Polar is from Belfast, and without further ado he defines his home town as the new bubble metropolis of an alien nation living on the deepest ground of the ocean. After his recent sensational album on Morris Audio Citysport, he now lowers the oxygen gauge to an extremely dangerous level, turning out to be a Drexciyan agent on a downright deep mission. Like Tron on Sedativa, the mumbling beats are rolling through the gangways, finally gathering to a kind of sirene house, that would never remind you of red-haired backs or pints of Guinness beer. However one could imagine that the latter one has been enjoyed a bit too much, at least this would explain the certain extra loss of reality, and who ever stumbled out of a pub having that blurry tunnel view maybe considered himself as a gill breather already. However you are warned for your own safety, that surfacing too quickly leads to an immediate lung collapse. So better stay down."

Artist:	FYM
Title:	Friendship EP
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 011EP

"The fat is on fire in the anthill. Anything having a chitine corpus and more than four legs is scrubbing its antennas and chirping of excitement, according a hearty welcome to the king of cybernetic cabaret: FYM, being an appreciated greatness already due to his various exhibits on Telegraph and Boogizm, he now blesses Karloff, the first address for molecular pataphysics and quantum-symbolism, with some very special samples from his collection of absurdities. Bouncing random noise paving the way to the metropolitan dancefloor, while waterdrops as huge as skyscrapers are crashing down between the dancers in slow motion. These swarming grooves have never been as irresistible, maybe due to the firm hand which speared the ultratight beats, stabilizing all that sonic scrabbling around. Definitely the most relevant insect funk ever. And as this rocks through the microscope already, how do you think it's going to be on the luxury PA in your favourite club?"

Artist:	DAPAYK SOLO
Title:	Marek & Das Polenpony
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 013EP

"A virtuoso of beat-defined noise-gothic makes his attendance: Dapayk Solo, a busy pathfinder on the sideways of newer dance music, now on Karloff rekordings, causing a hectic replacement of the speakers in the listening lounge, as it seems that Mr. Bad contact is coproducing again. But we'll leave the raising of the eyebrows to the others, especially when these egregious sounds are jumping so straight to your face, like ugly alien puppies elsewhere. As known from his exceptional & up-rising label Mo's Ferry, Dapayk is preaching a spooky, scratched-up failure-funk with ominous vocals, never forgetting about the basics of going nuts, in his role as the king midas of glitch-rave. His rattling drum patterns truly seem to run on diesel, yet they easily achieve the evil efficiency of a streamlined Ferrari, but without that silly warpaint. Which is simply not required when you descend this deep to bring such wonderful tracks to the light of day."

Artist:	FRIVOLOUS
Title:	Impermeable Disguise
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 014EP

"After his incredibly beautiful 'Buffet Haraja' Frivolous now tenders the next jewel, once again taking the freedom that his inclinated pop needs to attain its full effectiveness. A four-tracker of brilliant eccentricity is awaiting the listener, and once more you will never guess which catchy inconsistencies this Canadian prankster will come up with next. The unheard becomes hearable, and this way Frivolous accomplishes the oldest paradigm of electronic music, without ever lapsing into theoretic approaches, rather cultivating this visceral and slap-happy way of production that you can rarely hear anywhere else."

Artist:	CALI, DAVIDE
Title:	Freak Fable
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 015EP

"It's time to return to some tasty grooving Minimalism, delightfully constructed by a real newcomer from Italy: Davide Cali. His relaxed funk stands out due to friendly massaging basses and precisely accentuated field recordings, blending into a perfect warm-up. That's the true feeling: you're walking around in the woods, in search of an open-air venue of your choice, and behind the trees, the bassdrum's faintly pumping, coming closer and closer. The anticipation grows, while you're hearing dripping water, chirping crickets and even some bicycle riding through the branches. All at once, the glades lay before you and a real summerly boneshaker rolls through the loudspeakers, while the people start dancing: you've arrived and you're happy."

Artist:	DB
Title:	De Han EP
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 016EP

"He's back on track: dB, the man far out who injected free jazz into techno. And here he goes another step beyond. Such candid jamming has rarely been heard before, but still the concentrated precision remains. Three unbelievable tracks, that will crack your skull and reboot the system, waiting for bold adventurers travelling into unknown territories. If Stanley Kubrick were alive today, he would already have found the soundtrack for his next masterpiece. This music proves that the head indeed is ball-shaped for letting the thoughts change their direction. Sounds that remind you of a damn good conversation, aside an extraordinary red wine. But that's one of the things friends are there for, right?"

Artist:	ARCHITECT, THE
Title:	Warm Soul Pt. 2
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 017EP

"There's always a shivering with cold in winterly Berlin, especially in all the unheated basement laboratories of the electronic community, whose members keep staring at their pale-shimmering screens with red eyes and snotty noses, in order to conceive that one formula to raise the inner temperature and to bring down the inhibition threshold. It's a strange job, but some just seem to do it better than others. The Architect, infamous for his sonorous brain therapies anyhow, appears to be an expert arctic explorer and thus used to life-threatening low temperatures. In the middle of icicles and frostbites, he manages to grow subtropical plants in his private sonic hothouse, winding scurrilously between the electric circuits and releasing a completely different warmth than that cup of bourgeois chicken soup. This music is so highly interspersed with unarrested hot flushes, that your forehead gets sweaty just by listening to it. This way the pure science of minimalism also becomes a strategy of survival under the circumstances of real existing ice age: Maximal effect at minimal consumption of energy."

Artist:	DAPAYK SOLO
Title:	Effessefedepp
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 018EP

"After his devilish ride on the 'Polenpony,' Dapayk Solo returns to the underwoods, wading deeply in the beats and calibrating his ears close to the limits of perception. He still knows how to induce strategic black-outs, but this time the fog breaks up to clear the way for more bouncing stuff on the plate. Grainy emery funk fuses with primary dancefloor stimulation to present some of the straightest floorkillers ever made by this guy. While the blood-freezing breaks keep stumbling through the weirdest sounds, especially 'Salieri' sets up for this evil wave leading back to bleepy business. Captured in this deep impression one wonders what just happened, but it's been dazzingly beautiful to take a header. It's still always impressive to see that what one can only dream of, just takes the twinkle of an eye for others."

Artist:	FRIVOLOUS
Title:	Frivolous vs. The Phantom Power
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 019EP

"The great hero of little miracles is back: Frivolous returns from another big expedition on the seven seas to present Karloff all kinds of obscure and beautiful floatsam. The Cousteau of glitch pop has descended into unimagined depths once again, to uncover real pirate treasure of at least three centuries, in the middle of singing whales and chirping jellyfish, ready to enchant visitors from Bucarest to Buxtehude. Handicraft, backbone and pure genius are the characteristics that a real adventurer needs, and this man has enough of all that to last for whole generations of oceanographers. But beware of the tentacles: once they have adhered, you'll have a hard time getting rid of them again."

Artist:	MISKATE
Title:	Chuggin' Slug EP
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 020EP

"A new drift is emerging from America and she's in the middle of it: Kate Iwanowicz aka Miskate is not only co-founder of the highly respected Foundsound-label from Philadelphia, but also a high-definition producer in its own right. After several EPs on hers and others labels like Microcosm Records she now pays a visit to Karloff to expand her boundaries and fuelling the eclectic cut-up-funk she's already known for with solid, defined beats, boosting the focus on the dancefloor as another target to be aimed at. However the steady drive obtains the required substance through interspersed well-crafted distractions like filleted choirs and hymnal strings, constantly winding through the structure and blazing it up. Brilliantly reflective and ecstatic at the same time this record gives you more than just a seasonal tempest in a teapot."

Artist:	LUMP
Title:	Crazy Stereo
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 021EP

"Crinkle-dub with a drollery factor is his thing. After his recent debut album on Jay Haze's Future Dub label, Arttu Snellman aka Lump returns to the mothership Karloff, where he already contributed Polka Paradox, a classic of the label's catalog. The Finn who lives in London and works there as an animation cartoonist, also has a liability to comic-like aesthetics in his music, where he reaches his very own kind of deepness with a dodgy-ironic sound design. With an airy easiness the 4 tracks of Crazy Stereo are still bopping between spooky house and discoid miniature -- a crunchy hot chimney fire for your turntables!"

Artist:	GRUMMICH, PETER
Title:	Fresh Air For Fresh People
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 022EP

"Who needs an obtrusively acting kick drum, when the decent wobbling bassline of 'Breezin' does the job just as good? Right -- nobody. Or, at least Peter Grummich doesn't, whose proverbial deepness constantly gets the floors into rapturous body-rolling. Here, all medium-dated orientation to felt (rather than experienced) standards is gladly left to other persons of great hope, while enjoying the border-crossing between dorky monkeyshine and serious spirit of adventure. Consequently, quick-thinking misbehavior is also the attitude of the B-side, where the horizon gets canvassed for both weird and life-affirming sounds, in grasp of the groove. Summarizing: dance music to breathe deeply."

Artist:	S-MAX
Title:	Lovebombing EP
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 023EP

"His outstanding releases on Telegraph and 7th City are dating back quite a while now, so it's about time for Boogizm boss S-Max to work in the field yet again -- this time for Karloff Rekordings! The positivistic battle called 'Lovebombing' is not just another empty phrase now, but the expression of a naturally grown love for the roots of 'electronic dance music' and the pure joy to praise them masterly in an abstract makeup. S-Max's affinity with for many years, and it sometimes even seems to be part of a life concept -- not least in his recommendable DJ sets. However the guy from Wiesbaden succeeds again and again to put his own twisted, quirky stamp on these weighty influences, while he doesn't waste his time trying to be 'oldschool' in a constrained way. Thus the beats are bouncing casually, bass lines and organs matured in the oak vat create a warm and fuzzy familiarity, and finally the bleeps get along again without effect feedback thunder, and without neglecting their galvanizing purpose."

Artist:	SAMUEL, JEFF
Title:	Return Of The Throatwobbler
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.50
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 024EP

"It's almost 4 years to the day that Jeff Samuel's Throatwobbler Mangrove EP was released on Karloff #03, and even today the four world hits of the record are getting digged out by DJs, when the minimalism needs to either groove or jack again. So now with Return Of The Throatwobbler there's finally an appropriate follow-up by the man from Seattle, erm, Berlin, after he's impressively run riot in the meantime on labels like Spectral, Trapez, Poker Flat, Frankie and Logistic. The A-side 'Terso' is shuffling and twirling and bouncing in such a winsome way that not many can master like Jeff Samuel. Almost like an electric ray -- left and right and left, and without letting any tempting gimmicks take the mind off the straight path. Appropriately enough, 'The Spook' on the B-side comes along a bit more spookily, with a bass line twisting into the brain, ripped up by miniatures of bleeps and chords just at the right moments, and thus leading the track to an agile, exhilarating climax."

Artist:	GRUMMICH, PETER
Title:	Garden EP
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 026EP

"Deep, deeper, Peter Grummich! This man is on a roll right now, and with every new release you have to ask yourself where this is all going to lead to? However with the Garden EP he now already delivers the perfect soundtrack for weeding the beds and waterblasting the terrace -- and for partying hard, of course. 'Beachtrak' prefers its quintessential sub-harmonics to just playing it safe with an up front bass drum, and finally channels its way in a wide arc up to the next level. A hit also for friends of water gardens. On the B-side, Grummich enlarges his melodic skills with a sweet flowery scent of Detroit on the track 'Garden,' and 'It's To Share,' which evolves into a great anthem with just an assumed number of 3 sounds and a couple of snotty claps. We recommend: shoes off and into the record shop!"

Artist:	COALITION OF THE KILLING
Title:	Backwards On Pony
Label:	KARLOFF (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	KARLOFF 027EP

"Record label, party collective and techno flat share -- in San Francisco, this approved threesome is called Auralism Records, and its figurehead is Coalition Of The Killing (COTK), aka Jason Short and Marc Smith. After releases on their own label, now the first excursion to the well-observed European realms follows on Karloff Rekordings. Analog beats, bleeps and white noise -- in sunny California these popular ingredients of minimal techno get brewed together with surprising facility, to a fresh, jacking A-side track with a sturdily nodding groove. On top of that, 'Azizam' doesn't lack a clearly distinguished climax -- for the good of the dancefloor! On the B-side, 'Off My Mind' first appears organically floating within a warm and fuzzy scent of Detroit, before 'Backwards On Pony' finally unwraps classic sawtooth sequencer techno, however properly purged und worked up percussively, to a seething cauldron that you simply have to like!"

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