Browse by Label: PERSONA RECORDS

Artist:	GEARY, TROY
Title:	Phantoms EP
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$6.50
Catalog #:	PRS 005

"Troy Geary, also known as DJ Slip, has been a techno misfit for the last 7 years. In that time he has released music in the past with dance techno superpowers such as Communique (US), Drop Bass (US), Missile (UK), Kanzleramt (DE), and Music Man (BE). In addition to this busy release schedule, he has managed his own labels: Creation Rebel and Do Something. Always creative, his music pushes boundaries like they don't exist or he's never heard of 'em."

Artist:	WALKER, STEWART
Title:	Live Extracts
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	PRS 011CD

"After years of trying to reconcile the separate experiences of the 'listening techno' he has released on Persona and Force Inc. and the pounding 4/4 jack-trax of his world-renowned live performances Stewart Walker has finally managed to merge both worlds to his satisfaction. Live Extracts is the result of taking the exclusive and never before released sounds from his live show and re-orchestrating them with the full control offered by a home studio."

Artist:	WALKER, STEWART
Title:	Grounded in Existence
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PRS 014CD

American techno-minimalist and producer Stewart Walker returns with his second full-length record crafted specially for the home-listener. Grounded in Existence is the downtempo thematic successor to 1999's critically-acclaimed Stabiles album on Force Inc. After years of talking about the difference between music for the dancefloor vs. music for the home, Stewart Walker had a history making dance-tracks with a minimal bent until he devoted himself to steady techno bass pulses for the home environment. Stabile's minimal and organic orchestration inspired the now-huge genre of simple but effective bass and reverb nod-a-thons. But truthfully, this music was simply a logical progression from Stewart's influences Basic Channel and Mike Ink's "Studio 1" series. When Walker started work on Grounded in Existence he had spent much more time listening to hip-hop and indie rock than techno 12"s, and he wished to reshape those influences into an electronic format making original sounds out of genre-mixing. In addition, he aimed to bring back strong melodies and harmonies into his music, aligning these new tonalities into a more traditional song structure so that each track has multiple instances of quiet and intensity. It all smacks of "post-techno" but let's try not to take ourselves

too seriously.

Artist:	TOUANE
Title:	Awake
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PRS 015CD

New artist signed to Stewart Walker's Persona label. An Italian import to Berlin, Marco Tonni conceived and recorded his first full-length release Awake in his parent's basement in Rimini, Italy. An important advance in Touane's music, Tonni approached this work with a new-found solitude, referencing the disorienting contrast we perceive as soon as we open our eyes in the morning, when the border between dreams and reality is still so thin that we see our surroundings in a different light. Aiming to approach the act of composition with childlike improvisation, he utilized guitars, basses and synthesizers, mouth noises and subliminal vocals, building up organic texture around every melody. However, this doesn't mean Tonni didn't make fair use of the pop element within his electronic compositions -- experimentation to Tonni means nothing if there's not a thread of familiarity. With atmospheric shifts that move between a full range of emotions, Awake can at first be dreamy, then scary; humorous, but also dramatic. The result is work that is immediate and intuitive, easy yet excitingly complex with random errors, mistakes, and nervous reactions.

Artist:	BRING BACK THE BUFFALO
Title:	Bring Back the Buffalo
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PRS 016CD

Bring Back The Buffalo consists of Persona Records Berlin-transplant artists Stewart Walker (USA) and Marco Tonni (Italy). This release is the product of continuous, prolonged exposure to the electronic music streaming from clubs, cars, and the windows of plattenbauten which caused a momentary retreat back into the arms of some older influences. Bring Back The Buffalo was the result of playing live techno on the weekends, and then watching a thunderstorm while listening to Elliot Smith on the iPod in the back of a Skoda. Iconoclastic to a fault, right? This nostalgic album is chock-full of melodic and accessible alternative electronic pop and Stewart decided to combine old and new influences with a yearning for the fabled open spaces of the American West when pioneering individuals and families pushed ever westward to greater comfort and opportunity. Later, in the 20th century this wildness expressed itself via bohemian migrations, freed from the tethers of centralized location by the automobile. Bring Back The Buffalo is a hat-tip to modern campfire songs, including catchy, melodic, and playful cowboy chords. Verses that rhyme and standard song structures combine with electronic and acoustic instruments, creating some of the lushest production of Persona's short but brilliant history.

Artist:	TOUANE
Title:	Guess EP
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	PRS 017EP

The Guess EP is Marco Tonni's first release for Persona produced entirely in Berlin, and the dried-out funk of the three tracks makes that obvious. "Guess" sets the tone with a variety of syncopated elements pulled together on top of ticky metronomic kick/snare combos. Suggestive whispers coincide with stroboscopic crisis pads, shuddering and copulating with a filthy bass line. Funky as he never was, Touane keeps exploring with an even sharper groove called "Ten." Subliminal vocals and funky, noisy percussion combine with dub-depth bass lines, and Marco's soon-to-be-trademarked square-wave melodies. "Croma" is a dense, nicely layered composition where counterpoint expresses itself in new ways. All in all, another great accomplishment.

Artist:	WALKER, STEWART
Title:	Spend The Day Frozen EP
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	PRS 018EP

American techno-minimalist and producer Stewart Walker eschews the black hole of minimalism and firmly wears his heart on his sleeve on Spend The Day Frozen. The first track compresses four kickdrums and six snares, heavy metal guitar samples, and adds screaming crowd noise on top of it all. The second track is mellow and dubby, with strummed guitar chords and Stewart's first recorded vocals for a techno track. The last has a fat bassline and can certainly rock a freaky dancefloor. Locate it somewhere between the Brighton-sound and Patsy Cline.

Artist:	TOUANE
Title:	Zimmerman Lieder
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	PRS 019EP

Italian import to Berlin Marco Tonni (aka Touane) presents us with his most floor-friendly production to date. Written during his short tenure as a bloody-handed carpenter, Zimmerman Lieder captures the continuation of Marco's progress from pale-skinned basement wizard of Rimini, to pale-skinned nightclub Nosferatu of Berlin, passing out white labels to unsuspecting DJs. Filled to the brim with deep bass, dark, minimal murk, textured house and crazy dancefloor experiments.

Artist:	WALKER, STEWART
Title:	After This I'll Never Sleep
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	PRS 020EP

American techno-minimalist and producer Stewart Walker presents three new Persona melodies. "After This I'll Never Sleep" comes in deep and moving with seamonster funk -- his first official "acid track" recorded with the aid of a Devilfish-modified TB-303. Also add musique concr�te, kick drum aesthetic, muted trumpet and foghorns with a fat kickdrum and broken shuffle percussion. The next track is driving, with flashes of synthesizer and resonant bass slurps. Finally, "Crabgrass vs. Monkeygrass" reflects the new Walker sound: delicate shininess and light. Pleasure and happiness. Maybe it's the yearning for the first green shoots of grass at the Volkspark.

Artist:	WALKER, STEWART
Title:	Persona's Progress
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PRS 021CD

American techno-minimalist, producer and Persona Records label-head Stewart Walker returns with his first full length mix CD. It's been just over a year since Persona Records transplanted its home base from Boston to Berlin, Germany. In that time the Persona sound has developed through its interaction with the "Berlin sound." Persona has consistently tried to ride the path between these hedonistic and sober approaches. In light of this transition, the label thought it wise to represent Persona's progress as a continuous mix, which allows music lovers to judge for themselves how the label and the artists themselves have changed. Includes music from Stewart Walker, Touane, Gregory Shiff and Gustavo Lamas.

Artist:	TOUANE
Title:	Spree Baptism
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	PRS 022EP

Touane's Spree Baptism is a tribute to the town which adopted him, and a tribute to the epic beauty of dawn breaking over the Spree, the river which flows through Berlin, where the music never stops and the DJ doesn't want to leave the console. "Spree Baptism" expresses this feeling with a slow minimal rhythm blended with powerful waves. A slow but danceable cadence, where music breaks through and fills the space with melody and melancholia. "Fahrrad Control" follows with a faster marching cadence, hyperbolic climaxes, psychedelic effects, and a sense of suspense. "Ikea Dog Parking" has acid elements and dry percussion that opens into chords and spacey atmospheres. The melody on "Drops" is constantly revisited and reinterpreted, letting the dramatic effect rise and explode with a new spin. Touane follows Persona's credo of spreading music that won't fade after the night is over.

Artist:	REYNOLD
Title:	My Favorite Film, Remixed
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	PRS 023EP

In anticipation of the forthcoming My Favorite Film album by Reynold, Persona presents some compelling remixes by DJ Donato Dozzy and Stewart Walker. Donato's "Over There" has an ambient intro, and as the intensity of the track builds, you realize this is that rare jewel of a track which floats love, intimacy and a feather touch over live 909 kicks and toms. Stewart Walker's mix of "Persian Indigo" builds on the original mood while nudging the emotions into a happier and more carefree shape. Atmospheric piano chords, Brian Eno's pads, and Reynold's guitar-work will make you jump for joy.

Artist:	REYNOLD
Title:	My Favorite Film
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PRS 024CD

This is Toulouse-to-Berlin transplant Sam Rouanet's first full-length release for Persona Records. Continuing in the path of recent releases such as Touane's Awake and Stewart Walker's Grounded in Existence, this is an album of iconoclastic electronica which balances production skills and musicality to create sounds with timeless appeal. Based on a lifetime of film and music appreciation, and the desire to create the perfect soundtrack for his own internal movie, Sam sat down with his guitars and synthesizers and got to work. Influences range far and wide here, from Tortoise to Brian Eno on the popular music side, and from Bernard Herrmann, Lalo Schifrin, and Jonathan Goldsmith on the film-scoring side. And though the album was assembled digitally, all acoustic instruments were played live, either by Sam himself, or by his friends (including Rob Mazurek on trumpet) and family (his father Jacques Rouanet on Rhodes). As a result, the album combines the moods and production techniques not only from recent electronica but also the warmth of '60s and '70s-era jazz and easy listening.

Artist:	TOUANE
Title:	Prosa
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	PRS 025EP

2006 has been a banner year for Touane, with releases on Persona, Dumb Unit and Trenton Records. Showing a remarkable range of styles, Marco frequently twists the archaic instrumentalism of '70s cocktails and wife-swapping into space-age dance music. "Wisdom Tooth" kicks off the A-side of this EP like a nitrous mask strapped to your nose, eyes heavy-lidded and fluorescent lights spinning disco ball patterns on your retina. "Previsioni" puffs out an oscillating cloud of suspension and threads of melody cruise past like a Wurlitzer's stripes. "Poesia" and "Prosa" represent the yin and yang of harmony and rhythm, or poetry and prose. Themes are built from reversed guitar, with sweet melodies marking a more contemplative tone, bolstered by sturdy bass lines. Touane is a master of making organic tones out of synthetic sounds.

Artist:	REYNOLD
Title:	La Cit� d'en Haut EP
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	PRS 026EP

Reynold (Sam Rouanet) made his first Persona appearance with the album My Favorite Film. Sam now presents a 3-track vinyl which further illustrates the Persona style of emotional dance music which embraces the heart and stimulates the dancer. La Cit� d'en Haut was inspired by the L'Incal series of graphic novels by Moebius (Jean Gireau) and Alejandro Jodorowsky. In those books we are introduced to a dystopian underworld filled with thieves, mercenaries and the like -- familiar territory for techno music.

Artist:	WALKER, STEWART
Title:	Druid Hills EP
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	PRS 027EP

Druid Hills is the great foreshadowing of Stewart Walker's new album. A1: "Fernbank 1991" has gotta be the hittin'est dancefloor track Stewart has dropped in recent history. Big kicks, big snares, and then at the climax, a smear of hi-hat mosquitoes and echoing synthesizers collide with the windshield of the bass lead. "Foreshadowing" is like sitting in the dark and listening to an old woman tell a ghost story. Whispering in your ear, and then the sound of scissors. Immersive reverse pianos. The last track sounds like a real mute-unmute track, but there's a soul to be found in its Kraftwerkian rigidity. Or maybe in the melody which drizzles like rain on a sunny day.

Artist:	WALKER, STEWART
Title:	Concentricity
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PRS 028CD

American techno-minimalist, producer and Persona Records label-head Stewart Walker returns with his third full-length record, after having traveled around the world at least twice in the last 12 months, performing in locales ranging from rural Australia to New York City; Tokyo to Szcezcin, Poland. Commemorating Walker's 10th year of making records and performing, Concentricity contains 10 all-new tracks of detailed electronic dance music representing the many facets of his musical personality, some of which we've heard before and some which are completely new. Downtempo, techno, ambient... he's been there and left his mark in every area with recordings on such legendary labels such as Minus, Tresor, and Mille Plateaux. But aside from the history, aside from the old touchstones of "Midwest techno," "Berlin" and "minimalism," here's the new stuff. Artists must choose to grow or to languish. Concentric circles grow upon each other. From the core of early innocence grows layers of experience. An interest in music grows into studying synthesis, drum programming, and then multi-tracking. Spreading from the studio to the stage with live shows: first with hardware when everybody else was DJing and computers couldn't hack it, and presently with the newest tools. In 2003 came Live Extracts, a testament to this love of live. Rumors circulated that Stewart was working on the follow-up to that landmark, but what grew out of the early idea of a sequel was something else entirely. Not content with the "flatness" of so many contemporary tracks, the orchestration grew more baroque, with a rebirth of structure and dynamics. More highs and more lows, and a broader timbral palette. Finally, the individual tracks were then combined into a perfect mix despite warnings from the industry that "nobody wants mix CDs these days." Techno is made to be mixed. He even threw in some reversed kick drums as a way to say "what's up, Richie!" Mixing the personal touch and the propulsive rhythm, this is the future of future-music, and this is what Persona Records brings you.

Artist:	WALKER, STEWART
Title:	Concentricity
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	2LP
Price:	$16.50
Catalog #:	PRS 028LP

Double LP version. Commemorating Walker's 10th year of making records and performing, Concentricity contains 10 all-new tracks of detailed electronic dance music representing the many facets of his musical personality, some of which we've heard before and some which are completely new. Downtempo, techno, ambient... he's been there and left his mark in every area with recordings on such legendary labels such as Minus, Tresor, and Mille Plateaux. Not content with the "flatness" of so many contemporary tracks, the orchestration grew more baroque, with a rebirth of structure and dynamics. More highs and more lows, and a broader timbral palette. Mixing the personal touch and the propulsive rhythm, this is the future of future-music, and this is what Persona Records brings you.

Artist:	TOUANE
Title:	Figura
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PRS 029CD

This is the second full-length release by Touane (aka Marco Tonni). After his relocation from Italy to Berlin in 2005, he quickly found success as a producer after a series of 12"s and his first album gave him a name and identity in the European electronic music community. This success came from his own perspective on music which emphasizes the organic, the colorful, and the surprising in an era when most music seems to present minor variations of a monochromatic theme. His first album Awake, released in 2005, presented a spectrum of new ideas which placed him at the periphery of the minimal techno world. With his follow-up album Figura, he brings his narrative even further. Inspired by the jazz records spun during his legendary dinner parties; cooking up linguine con scampi, with a bottle of Pinot Grigio close at hand, and Weather Report, John Coltrane and Miles Davis on the hi-fi, Marco took more elaborate composition techniques and restructured his own palette into new hybrid shapes. Figura presents a series of vignettes for the listener about the imaginary life of an imaginary girl. This feminine muse provided him a starting point from which he could build his own narrative. Not a story per se, but an emotional mirror upon which he can direct our senses, and shape our understanding of her, la figura. Across the 13 songs, Marco knits a day in her life using acoustic instruments, field recordings and his lovely singing voice, immersed into the strangely-now-traditional computer synthesis, sequencing and electronic percussion. Those of you who loved Awake, and are aware of his recent techno productions know to expect his music to imperceptibly entwine itself into your daily life in such a way that one day you find that you can't imagine your life before it. That's how you know it's a classic.

Artist:	TOUANE
Title:	Malto EP
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	PRS 030EP

Even if Malto, or malt, is what makes our favorite drink so special, this record is not about beer. Touane used this name to suggest the cumulative organic reactions which render greater complexity. The layering, month after month, show after show, of the elements of these three extremely deep tracks. Suitable for peak time performance as well as at the most intimate afterhours party, Malto's two sides represent what makes Marco's music special: dirty funk meets brilliant sound effects, building up tracks with the unique dynamics and chord sequences that will make you want to listen again once the party is over.

Artist:	WALKER, STEWART
Title:	Concentricity Remixes
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	PRS 031EP

After a hugely successful return to techno with Stewart Walker's album Concentricity, Persona lets loose its beloved friends and family to sharpen their sampling knives to pare the original recordings down to three servings of musical sashimi. Jeff Samuel's version of "We Welcome Utopia!!!" is a chewy rendering, in track of its ambience, rhythms and basslines. Marco Tonni takes his favorite morsels from "Fragile Chemistry" and loops them into a propulsive, mechanical eighth-note stepper. Robag Wruhme takes the super-driving force of "Fernbank 1991" and submarines its rhythms into a most luscious slice of heavenly floatation.

Artist:	GRAND THEFT AUDIO
Title:	Keep Moving
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PRS 033EP

Italy's Manuel Fogliata (Nuel), Alessandro Aresta (Alexander Stone) and Marco Tonni (Touane) are the brains behind Grand Theft Audio, a mind-blowing mixture of deep house and electronic dance music. "Keep Moving" is driven by a sexy bass that could be used to test subwoofers. "Our Band" sounds like rock, with a drum kit and a bass line that could have come directly from a monster cabinet. The subtle production behind these tracks will be the highlight of every party.

Artist:	SARTORI, ANDREA
Title:	Il Tagliacode
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PRS 034CD

This is Bologna-based Andrea Sartori's (aka Deepalso) first full-length release as a solo artist. Sartori has already made his mark in the Italian music world: first, as one of the founders of the Homework Festival and its affiliated Homework Records net-label in 2002. Secondly, as a live performer of unmatched novelty and inspiration, wailing on his synthesizers and drum machines with the fervor of a rock god. Persona first became aware of Andrea's talents through the recommendation of fellow countryman Touane, who had also been an early organizer of the Homework festival, before leaving for Berlin. His is a recreational sound, which reminds one of the frivolity of 1970s funk and fusion, the disengagement of video game and cartoon soundtracks and the Italian genre of "musica leggera" (easy listening). Regardless of his chosen signifiers, what's obvious about this debut is that the man behind it has a full grasp of the history of music and most importantly, knows how to shape the various influences into a unique and refreshing voice without any slavish imitations. Il Tagliacode is clearly a product of the 21st century. Assembled from a large pool of live performances he recorded at a jazz musician's retreat in Foligno, Italy, sonic textures come from female voices, kalimba, live drums, guitar, electric piano, harp, and more. But it is his own skills of collage and composition that elevate the source material of soloists into a comprehensive whole, processing the click/stutter/buzz constants of modern electronic music through ancient spring reverbs, tape delays and distortion pedals to recreate a vintage acoustic space.

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Artist:	SHIFF, GREGORY
Title:	Exit And Entrance 2
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$6.50
Catalog #:	PRS 009

Artist:	DITTMANN, CHRISTIAN
Title:	Mala Cosa
Label:	PERSONA RECORDS
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PRS 032EP