Browse by Label: PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)

Artist:	ISOLEE
Title:	Rest
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 001CD

Year 2000 debut release, repressed after a period of unavailability. "At first there were six singles on Playhouse, the massive 'Beau Mot Plage' being one of them, then came Isolée's debut album called Rest way back in the year 2000. Some say it changed the face of electronic music, well, there was definitely nothing like this kind of alien-pop-music before: Isolée plays with different styles but his music cannot be described as one common style like techno or house or anything known so far. His brilliance is his variety and his lack of fear of being not danceable. Imagine Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder and Larry Heard went out on a trip to the galaxy and came back after several years bringing with them the continuation of electronic pop/dance-music: that's Isolée! The stunning debut album of one of house music's greatest innovators. The revolution of house, techno, electro, well basically every type of electronic music. Rest is one of the most important, best and succinct albums currently available, and above all, when you hear "Rest" you immediately want to know what it is, in fact, feel an urge to have to know what it is. Determining what that is, a rest. The rest of electronic music that remains if you rest, wait, put things into a state of suspense in indecisiveness, in which one must re-decide, re-determine. For those who still don't know how to think, electronic music, house and techno mean having a bass drum as the centre so to speak, as the unquestionable piece of hardware that gets the dancefloor moving. The bass drum, says the first track on his first album, is a part, an element, a word used in software languages, one of the many languages mathematical ensembles we are in the midst of tend to speak in. Distinctly reminiscent of yesterday's minimalism when analogue wasn't an opposite nor by any means a swear-word yet, but a kind of battle cry in which the bass drum and samples began to circulate. Also distinctly reminiscent of Daniel Bell and many others, Isolée dispenses the bass drum in its quasi-classical waveform of one single motion. "Rest" is what you've split up, a term subject to linguistic complexities, one which only then offers space to project things, to create music in such a way as to make tracks out of it. Classically nice, melodious, harmonious, sound-loving, varied, but of an unnerving self-assuredness of unsureness, making Isolée's music sound strange, yet nice at the same time, like a media review expressed in sounds. Like a basis to transport contents, like a vision of horror or fulfilment, because for Isolée mediums are always many different entities communicating with each other, corresponding formats, languages, melodies, rhythms, things within a massive machinery made by the most different types of machines that can never be amalgamated into one."

Artist:	LOSOUL
Title:	Belong
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 002CD

Originally released in 2000, this record has now been remastered and re-released, with new cover art. "It has returned, it`s back: that refreshing feeling which set everything in motion. In the days when house music was still young and its first waves splashed over into the old world, this was initially just an experience. To be dancing off into oblivion along the never-ending mesh of tracks. But for some, this experience also became the key to inspiration. And this is what it looked like: House is not as simple a style of music as polka, but is one of principle, a platform, a feeling. To a DJ and producer, this platform offers the means of formulating one's own emotional demands and expression, without having to make too many compromises and allowing far more subtle diversification than any other genre. And nothing else feels as good and right. When house music was still young, Peter Kremeier was also still young, and in Cologne these first waves of house also splashed over him in '88. Back then, although house was a direct product of disco, it still sounded like a daily step into the future and not like romantic indulgence in filtered retro vibes. Disco-loop sample tracks didn't have a stranglehold on the dancefloors yet, perhaps also on account of the far more restricted sample capacities. Hip-hop, also in the figurative sense, an underground attitude, was in many respects substantially more akin to house than nowadays. A specific house way of life and other formalities weren't so rigidly defined yet, especially not in Germany. A few years later, most people had found their definition of house and Peter Kremeier discovered that his karma was pushing him to Wiesbaden to pursue, intensify and release his interpretations of house under the name of Don Disko and Losoul at a Frankfurt label called Playhouse, where a load of wild-pitching desperados and house-mates seemed to have been waiting for someone just like him. After six 12"s, the release of Belong marks Losoul's first album. In tune with the season, Losoul pushes the windows in the house wide open, tidies up really well, throws out a lot of junk, undrapes some perfectly maintained supporting pillars: the supreme aesthetics of Belong does without any disco, over-indulgent filter sweeps, without any jazz fusion fillers, without any old hat that could 'refer' to anything. Nevertheless this record sounds warm and organic, not to say it sounds phat. His crisp, yet also gruff, at times obscure style neither remind you of the golden disco days, nor jazz brass sections, nor does he try to imitate New York, Chicago, Detroit or Gutersloh. This is something completely different: Kremeier's experience of studios and how to create a certain atmosphere in his function as a producer, enable him to erect a scaffold made of 100%-stable grooves whose construction may at times adhere to strange rules of gravity, yet never collapse. This he wraps up in a foil of human emotion. The material is far from brittle and is kept supple with Kremeier's own secret adhesive, one that the competitors will find hard to emulate."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Famous When Dead
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 003CD

"Famous When Dead? Already be done in miniature. We acquired fame by ourselves in the last ten, fifteen years of the electronic music revolution and digital storm. Though we still haven't got any screaming teenagers when we peek out of the hotel room in the late afternoon: our apartments are always too small and crammed with records and CD's. And if someone on the street turns around to look at us, then its probably because of the pompously large sunglasses and the unusually high concentration of alcohol fumes that surround us as we walk past. Yet our music is known worldwide, be it the original or a derivative of our ideas. It dances to our beat. We have played a fair part in the language of this world and quite frankly, there's nothing more important for me in life than doing precisely that. Playhouse was (and still is) -- ever since it first saw the light of day in the form of the energetic Holy Garage track 'Surprise' in the early nineties -- a prime example for self-authorisation, private politics and an economic cycle of friends. A survival strategy -- social, cultural and artistic -- that could have filled the term 'New Economy' with more content and future than the information technology companies will ever achieve. The playful changes and reinventions of communal space, of potential fun and music forms, the charitable moment of nightclubbing, all the pleasant sides of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, politics and economics, in short the generally accepted merits of disco, house and techno, are -- how shall I say -- deeply and eternally embedded in labels like Playhouse and the heads and hearts of the people who run and promote them. Everyone who played a part in creating these fifty wonderful Playhouse records should be incredibly proud of their work, their passion and the many lovely days they have made possible for others in doing so. Without Playhouse, Delirium, Aspiral, Ongaku, Wild Pitch Club, Klang and Robert Johnson, where would we be? See what I mean? Thanks. (Text by Tobias Thomas)." Artists include: Losoul, Light Fantastic, Blaze, Holy Garage, Rework, Isolée, Bodo Elsel, Soylent Green, Random Factor, Freaks, Captain Comatose, Villalobos & Dandy Jack.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Famous When Dead Two
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 004CD

Second awesome volume in this series, featuring tracks from: Brooks, Mille & Mr. Hirsch, Weekender, Hi-lo, The Soft Pink Truth, Shake, Swayzak with Kirsty Hawkshaw, Playgroup, E-troneek Funk, Shalark, Hans Platzgumer feat. Catriona Shaw. "The long-awaited continuation of the Famous When Dead series reminds us -- those who refuse to stop believing in the essence and virtue of house -- that Playhouse is perhaps not solely, but nevertheless substantially a DJ label: made by DJs for DJs. Well, and DJs love rummaging around in records, discovering records, and most of all, they love presenting the ones they treasure most to the people out there. To even discern these jewels in times of massive vinyl overkill requires a special kind of sensitivity that seems to have been added to the air we breathe in our Playhouse offices. Consequently, part two does not present an overview of the label-own productions, but an outlook on some of the label organisers' personal top preferences. Therefore this isn't a factory tour, but a world tour, and in this case from the perspective of the man who put together this compilation: DJ Ata. Featuring eleven (club) tracks that have more in common as far as the mood is concerned than the style, the type of tracks you want to remember long after an intensive night on the dancefloor has ended, and thanks to this album you can. It includes relatively illustrious (but still very much alive) names such as Swayzak, Playgroup or Hans Platzgumer -- who helps you to come down from this trip with a beautiful downtempo number -- but mainly (still) fairly unknown formations like The Soft Pink Truth, Shake, Shalark or E-Troneek Funk. Not forgetting Mille & Mr. Hirsch, Weekender and Hi-Lo who complete this dazzling compilation of exquisite deepness. The sound is timeless and unpretentious, and in its abstract diversity as direct and gripping as top-quality soul or funk, hence akin to classic Playhouse acts such as LoSoul or Isolée. Ata has done intensive aural research and found contemporary showpieces of his favourite basic ingredients: phat bass lines, dry beats, warm pads, all set to jazzy-organic sounds. A true bonanza for character DJs beyond happy disco house. But one with an almost serious, ceremonial atmosphere. This reminds us that in the best case, house music can even be healing and holy. It's become pretty difficult to conjure up these kinds of powers nowadays. Ata can do that blindfold."

Artist:	VILLALOBOS, RICARDO
Title:	The Contempt
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 004EP

"The first release in our 'Back Up Classic' series produced back in 1995 this is one of the first Villalobos productions -- and most important -- the first on Playhouse ever. Just starting his career as a professional DJ, Ricardo was famous for throwing illegal parties at pretty unusual locations that time... but even then, he already had mastered his unique style of production that he should become famous for more than 8 years later. The musical journey on side A didn't lose any of its magic or energy until today. This Playhouse classic has not been available for more than six years."

Artist:	REWORK
Title:	Fall Right Now
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 005CD

"Rework are a trio and consist of Laetitia, Daniel Varga And Michael Kübler. It's about pop music, sometimes to dance to, sometimes to dream to, sometimes to sing along to. Accordingly, the new LP, Fall Right Now, is equally eclectic. The album begins with the fierce club stomper 'You're So Just Just' released as an advance single release in November 2002. Who's dominating who? In any case it won't surprise anyone who's heard the track that when it comes to 'sexy accents' French women are even exploited in beer commercials. 'Not Quite Like Any Other' is pleasantly reminiscent of this other Francophile trio, Saint Etienne, though with her husky, slightly off-key sounding vocals Laetitia sounds more like Nico Päffgen than Sarah Cracknell. The next piece, 'October Love Song' (a cover version of a Chris & Cosey song), is the perfect mixture of LIO and Neue Deutsche Welle, German new wave. Next comes 'I Think You Think' with darkest new wave disco and Laetitia amazingly manages to go even lower by one octave. 'Explain Our Sync' has the effect of an electro skit that resets the receptors in your ears. The tribal funkiness of 'Loin De Moi' is followed by the simple, but perfect 'Amoureuse'. Then 'What You Want' fuses Basic Channel, Kraftwerk, Joy Division And Grace Jones. Sixties-inspired 'Le Pop' can be heard on 'Affaire Classée', and with the well-known hypno beat of 'Anyway I Know You' the albums ends. 'Fall Right Now' is really one of a kind. The ten tracks oscillate between different worlds that may seem irreconcilable for narrow-minded listeners but seem to fit together as a matter of course for the members of Rework. Let's go to the arts cinema down the road and watch 'Bonjour Tristesse' with subtitles. Then we can put on black eyeliner and go to the WMF. Sounds good? Then play this record before some copywriter or other turns these influences into a kind of lifestyle, or they take this music to serve in a commercial for a French brand of cigarettes."

Artist:	TEJADA & ARIAN LEVISTE, JOHN
Title:	Fairfax Sake
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 006CD

"Tejada and Leviste might be California's best-kept secret. For over a decade, the two have been turning out some of the state's -- and, yeah, the nation's, or even the world's -- deepest, most inspired dance music, with records on Playhouse, Pornflake, Moods and Grooves, and Tejada's own Palette imprint. Collaborators for 11 years, their joint productions date back to the late 90s; Tejada himself has proven one of electronic music's most prolific artists, with records on Palette, R&S, Multiplex, Organized Noise, Seventh City, deFocus, Mosaic, and many more. But Tejada and Leviste have come up with a sound that doesn't really belong to geography: it might be rooted in Detroit techno, but it's scattered with Chicago jack tracks, SoCal G-Funk, Cologne microhouse, New York disco, even a smattering of East Bay Hip Hop, reconfigured for a four-to-the-floor vision of musical inclusiveness. Tejada and Leviste's style makes a sound you'll be hard put to name, right in the sweet spot between house and techno, breaks and 808s, plucked strings and patch cables, edits and immediacy. It's sunlight and silicon; it's a breath of fresh air. Can you feel it?"

Artist:	CAPTAIN COMATOSE
Title:	Going Out
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 007CD

"Can Oral is Khan -- this is the name he's been known by for many years. As an authority in the international house, techno and electro scene, his productions are innumerable, as are his pseudonyms, but there's a leitmotif in all of Khan's work: no matter what style he happens to prefer at any given moment, it always has an irresistible groove to it, it has soul and it's sexy. Khan, born and bred in Frankfurt, until shortly living in New York, has now returned to Germany, choosing Berlin as his new domicile, armed with another new project: Captain Comatose. Khan shares the place at the helm with his music partner in crime, DJ Snax, who he met at a fashion show in Berlin back in 1996 -- only to find out they were virtually neighbours in New York. Three 12" releases on Playhouse in the last three years gave a hint of what to expect on the first Captain Comatose album: a sleazy mix consisting of disco, electro and house, a rhythm that gets your hips swinging and soulful vocals that hold you spellbound. Thanks to Captain Comatose, the world of electronic music has gained two more super heroes -- two artists who casually and sexily fuse the very best the different worlds of dance music have to offer: cool soul with funky techno and trashy disco meet pushy electro and housey beats. An album which has ever more to discover, multifarious and ravishing. And a project that's especially impressive at live performances -- in Khan's own words: 'We're definitely a disco band in the true sense.' The journey has only just begun."

Artist:	VILLALOBOS, RICARDO
Title:	Alcachofa
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 008CD

Repressed; genre-defining album from Villalobos, circa 2003. "Welcome to the New Profundity. Ricardo Villalobos is one of the foremost producers in that Zone That Has No Name -- minimalism that's too rosy-cheeked to be minimal, techno too slinky (and dare we say: feminine) to be techno, house too adamantly anti-anthemic to be called house. On singles for Playhouse, Perlon, Frisbee Tracks and more, Villalobos -- both under his own name and as half of Ric Y Martin, alongside Martin Schopf (aka Dandy Jack) -- has broken open techno's crank-case and reconfigured its motor to run on nothing but pebbles and honey, silicon and grass. Less minimalist than profoundly, proudly, regally restrained, his music is full of pauses, patience and white space; he overlaps genres until only their outlines remain, like a kind of subtractive synthesis used to blot out all but the essence of a given combination of tones. Which brings us to Alcachofa, an album that, like its namesake -- the humble artichoke -- peels away in layers, stripping back rubbery leaves to reveal a sweet, pulpy interior crowned by a halo of thorns. 'Easy Lee,' the album's opener, is perversely delicious, pure dancefloor introversion. Graced by plangent, computer-modified vocals, the tune -- a staple in Richie Hawtin's afterhours sets -- is at once stark and darkly romantic, surface-bound and curiously hollowed, hyper-sexed and dead to the touch. It expands upon Villalobos' interest in processed vocals, introduced with 'What You Say Is More Than I Can Say' on an earlier 12" Play 62 -- here in an edited version, which offsets rubberized techno stomp with delusional robot groans to produce a uniquely sensual disorientation. Not all of Alcachofa is so introverted, but most of it is marked by the same kind of restraint, not hesitation. 'Theogenese' juggles South American syncopations, minimalist click-tracking, and '80s synth-drums, all suffused in a delicate sunrise aura, until every beat glows golden. 'Bahaha Hahi,' traveling under a name suggesting some tropical imbalance, dresses up subconscious vocals in clicks and gurgles -- the sound of snorkeling while stoned. A simpler rhythmic experiment is 'I Try To Live (Can I Live),' an excursion into flattened-out funk and artificial mouth harp. But the record's crowning glory must be 'Dexter,' which steadily cycles through a series of improbable chord changes like a cat prowling one of M.C. Escher's surreal staircases. Pensive, poignant, moving like water under ice, the track sucks you in and holds you deep in the heart of things -- and in the heart of Alcachofa. This isn't techno as we knew it; it's a biological experiment, a Petri dish of private elation and muttered damnations, a morphology of voices and tones and exhalations rubbed raw with salt and gravel. Alcachofa presents metamorphosis in play: restless, irrevocable. Wrapped in rubber, green and meaty, the world sounds different now."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Famous When Dead III
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 009CD

"The common grounds of the tracks on Famous When Dead 3 lie less in the technical side of the production. Because Isolée's future swing on 'Can't Sleep All Night' fuses so many broken and straight beats, beeps and vocals until the tracks almost explode at some point. Or Villalobos' summer hit 'Easy Lee' that's catchy and at the same time as complex as a closet full of forgotten tunes. Melchior Productions produces ever-surprising proof with 'Let's Go Deep' just how compelling constantly repeating the basic beat can be and how exciting slight changes in the embellishment are. With Rework it's similar. The upbeat way the drums come in on 'You're So Just Just' illustrates their typical severity. The depth of their bass is surprising. In contrast to the sweet as sugar Vocoder sound of 'No Under On The Ground' by the Visitors. Captain Comatose's groove on '$100', which will probably kick off just as well in some strange revue as in the club. Then there's the extraordinary, almost fluid track 'Inside The Freakbox' by Spektrum: freestyle, a house bastard.

       The atmosphere is what forges the bond between the tracks on this compilation. Playhouse sounds sophisticated and elegant in all its facets and colours. Stylish. Regardless whether a record rocks or prefers to cuddle. We can hear the quality and the amount of work the producers put into it. There isn't any cheap showmanship, nothing's overhasty, everything seems balanced. Playhouse records want to sound good and they manage to convey a feeling of certainty that it is a good thing if a track doesn't appeal to you one hundred percent. We sit down on the couch and notice: The tracks follow one another so cleverly that they don't ever become boring, not even after listening to the record a zillion times -- despite having danced to them at the club often enough too. The fact that they're danceable goes without saying, that's crucial. If it says Playhouse on the outside then there must be house in it. And the fact that Famous When Dead 3 still sounds fresh, even though some of the tracks are already a year old, is equally important. The retrospective has to assert itself here and now. A label that releases bittersweet songs such as 'Say Goodbye' by Khan and Julee Cruise, the embracing final tracks of the albums, does have an advantage. And so does a label that doesn't pursue any fads and fashions, instead opting for finding and cultivating a style of its own.

       Playhouse is regarded as one of Germany's most important house labels, partly also because it's always on the lookout for ways of integrating new sounds and structures from the aspect of danceability. Ways of being innovative. And thus Playhouse's catalogue of harmonic colours is constantly expanding, becoming bigger and more vibrant, between black and white."

Artist:	SPEKTRUM
Title:	Enter the Spektrum
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 010CD

"We had only just come to terms with the fact that the 80's have meanwhile been exploited to death. All the references and quotations were fun, and, in many a place, the pop and the dancefloors were driven to a frenzy. Yet can one revive it all anew? Can one shed one's experience of NoWave Funk, bone dry bass and vocoder vocals once more and rediscover the whole thing? Of course one can. It happens almost automatically, if you encounter the right kind of music. Music that, with its magnitude of ideas, self-confidence and energy, in other words purely by its mere existence, wipes away any dust that may have gathered. Spektrum stood in front of a mirror and saw themselves smiling in it. But soon the mirror warped under the strain of retro-styles and got stained because pop history spat on it. Spektrum, however, began to scrape at the surface with one or two 12"s and noticed that the smile was still there. Luckily, many people noticed this too. Breaker and Freefall took over the clubs, DJs sighed 'My salvation!', and 'Freakbox' subtly drew attention to itself in such an irresistible way that the general nodding of heads meant not only dance but also approval: yes, one had to experience it. Spektrum smashed the mirror. Splinters. Enter The...Spektrum."

Artist:	BLANKO, BENNY
Title:	8 ft. In the Air
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 012CD

"The style of Brixton's best bearded artist always lies somewhere on the edge of straight funky house tracks and really heavy hip hop instrumentals like 'New Baby'. With the latter's catchy and infectious sound, Benny even won a drum machine contest in London. Honestly. 8 ft. In the Air is one of those albums that certainly grows on you and is just as much fun and befitting in Stevie Wonder's teagarden as in the damp cellar of a certain Pal Joey."

Artist:	LOSOUL
Title:	Getting Even
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 013CD

"Getting Even is definitely not typical house music, and yet it picks up and expands on a certain mood that people experienced for the first time and in its purest form in Chicago twenty years ago. Kremeier always seems to find the perfect balance between a distinctive signature, in other words a unique, very organic sound he compiles from all sorts of sources he finds from God knows where, and a complex link to the overriding history of funky dance music somewhere between disco, house and electro. Getting Even is, therefore, never overbearingly euphoric, but rather pensive and melancholic, but, in its desire and longing for that definitive groove, ultimately always takes the (dance) floor."

Artist:	CAPTAIN COMATOSE
Title:	Up In Flames
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 014CD

"The last-standing disco band invite you to join them as they go Up In Flames. Drinks will be served and served and served until the last disco fan is left standing or comatose, whichever comes first. On hand to orchestrate the debauchery will be your hosts, Khan and Snax, the two mavens of clubland who make up Captain Comatose. An arch dancefloor provocateur, Khan is soulful and remote, like his music and his Turkish-Finnish heritage. Originally from Washington DC, Snax is a party-hungry funkateer with an affecting falsetto who is driven by the sound of go-go and garage punk. His kinky afro teases out a clue to the thinking behind the duo's new album, Up In Flames, which finds disco taking rock on at its own game. 'Musically, I'm interested in that weird period in the late '70s when rock went disco,' explains Khan. 'It sounds retarded but things like Rod Stewart and the Stones; their disco records were some of the best albums they ever did.' When the asceticism of punk made it un-cool to indulge oneself, rock's old guard simply continued their hedonistic ways behind closed doors, in the anything-goes atmosphere of clubs like New York's Studio 54, and made records that reflected that mindset. The sound of the new album takes its cue from one of the songs that closed their last, 2001's Going Out; a deranged cover of Iggy Pop's 'Baby,' powered by a pounding club beat. It finds its match in 'To My Song,' the opener on Up In Flames, whose hypnotic rhythm sounds like the Beach Boys gone techno or Kraftwerk meets Motown, depending on which of the two you ask."

Artist:	ISOLEE
Title:	We Are Monster
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 015CD

Widely hailed as 2005's greatest electronic music album. "There were rumours, there were whispers but nothing seemed to be forthcoming. People use the term 'long awaited new album' far too flippantly but in Isolée's case that term doesn't even begin to do it justice. Five years ago, after a handful of 12'' singles (including the now bona fide classic 'Beau Mot Plage'), Rajko Mueller released the Rest album which blew minds around the world. House music had been stagnant for so long but Rajko found new ways to breathe life into it and made it sound as exciting as the day it was first born in Chicago. He also did something else, he created something entirely new and fresh-sounding and made one of the few 'dance' albums that stood up to long term listening. To this day it sounds like it came from another world. In the intervening years there have been a few more singles and several acclaimed remixes along with a few whispers that the next Isolée album would see Mr. Mueller go disco. And now that day has come and We Are Monster is here. So, yes it is a bit wonky and yes it is a bit different and yes it is a bit disco. Not disco in the conventional sense but some mutant 21st century hybrid of beautiful, melodious but disjointed melodies, space noises from another galaxy, strange basstones and percolating drum patterns. It also goes far further than just disco as while that music is designed specifically for the dancefloor, We Are Monster is making a fantabulous soundtrack to my movements around the city and my spacing-out time at home too. Beautiful music from one of the greats. The wait was worth it." -- Keith McIvor/Optimo.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Famous When Dead IV
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 016CD

State-of-the-Playhouse-art compilation, featuring Villalobos, Isolee, Losoul, Tejada, Lindstrom, Spektrum, Recloose, Captain Comatose, etc. "Is it not true that it no longer matters nowadays whether an awesome Detroit track was played on tape at Motorcity, or compiled in Cologne, Warsaw or Buenos Aires? We think so and are looking forward to meeting the Belgian musician in Brooklyn, while feeling the epic atmosphere of the universe's vast expanses in cold, distant Norway. In London, Andrew Weatherall and his swordsmen unpack their guitars and drums once more and even in Hamburg Isolée is willing to get out his 6-string for 'Schrapnell' to create emotive sound foundations on Recloose. Long-runners such as Tiefschwarz's remix of Spektrum's floorfiller rub shoulders with tranquil electro-pop from Rework. My My in Berlin display a similar approach as the two gentlemen in California by the name of Tejada/Leviste. Two captains who want to set the disco boat alight with us and Max Mohr's 'Old Song' tastes like the first sip from a glass of good wine. And finally, Losoul, one of Playhouse's very first artists, creates a 10-minute house track with singer Malte that avails itself of the German language without even feeling awkward. That's what it looks like, our Playhouse. Variety is the motto on Famous When Dead IV, a representative cross-section of the best tracks in recent years. No more, no less."

Artist:	ISOLEE
Title:	Western Store
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 017CD

CD compilation of earlier 12" releases. "Perhaps Isolée had breakfast on the same disco planet as Morgan Geist or Daniel Wang, the action he has taken as a result of this is completely different. Though synthie-pop, EBM and hip hop may well count as influences, they are not really tangible and impossible to pinpoint in his music. The four-minute track 'Cité Grande Terre' (Play 022) doesn't sound like anything you've ever heard before. Nonetheless you instantly take a liking for it. So Isolée proverbially plays in a league of his own. And he has always done so right from the start. Western Store underlines this theory. Compiled by one half of Alter Ego and Sensorama, Jörn Elling Wuttke, Western Store includes a range of 12" works by Isolée. What a funny coincidence that the record comprises exactly 12 tracks. Some are from Isolée's early days, for example the beautiful New Orderesque 'Initiate II' or the hypnotic deep dub reggae disco on 'Monitor' (both on Play 014). On the other hand, works such as the maze-like and mystical 'Lost,' Rajko's last Playhouse 12" before the latest album release, or the enchanting 'Beau Mot Plage' version of Freeform Five that could also have been concocted by the hazy minds of the Idjut Boys. Yet don't get me wrong, Western Store is anything but a random patchwork. Held together by ice crystals sparkling in the sunlight such as 'Simone Rides' or the spellbinding futuristic music of 'King Off' (both on Play 018), Western Store comes across like the missing link in the chain of albums between Rest and We Are Monster. So it makes no difference whether the year they were created was 1997 or 2003. With his openness and flexibility, Isolée evades any distinct identification with regard to his music, making him a nightmare and blessing for the music journalists worldwide. A nightmare, because the pigeonholes jam whenever Isolée's tracks are played. A blessing is their effect: Western Store is one of the few exhibits of our time that stimulates dancefloors and our minds alike, without playing one off against the other."

Artist:	SOYLENT GREEN
Title:	La Forza Del Destino
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 018CD

"It's some 12 years now that Roman Flügel has been releasing solo music under various aliases like Acid Test, Ro70, Roman III, Roman IV, Eight Miles High, and of course Soylent Green. (Alongside his longtime partner Jörn Elling Wuttke, his various collaborative projects -- Acid Jesus, Alter Ego, Holy Garage -- go back further, at least 14 years to 1992's Remastered One.) Lots of numbers there; infinite formula for the aspiring music fan-cum-lab rat interested in cooking up his or her own acid test; plenty of potential timelines to be read out of more than a decade's worth of vinyl grooves. Dude's been so prolific that it's hard to say which of his aliases are the 'side projects,' the alter egos, so to speak, and which represent the core artistic statement. That's also the beauty of his work: its considerable range -- not eclectic-for-eclecticism's-sake, but merely inquisitive in the extreme. Soylent Green -- in which Flügel since 1995 has pursued classic, stripped-down house grooves of a decidedly Chicago bent -- sometimes felt like a side project. There were until now only a handful of records under the name anyway, and nothing like a full-length. The project felt a bit like a stylistic sorbet, the way Flügel must have cleansed his palette in between Alter Ego's main-room emphasis and Eight Miles High's more studied obscurity, crafting groovy little sketches with his eyes closed and his fingers glued to the pots and faders. Did I use the word 'classic' yet? Because this is it, hands down. Homage, revival, investigation, trip down memory lane: pick your angle, but La Forca del Destino is positively steeped in house's primitivist heyday, less holy garage than Windy City waist-winding, laid out with crisply minimalist drum programming and judicious splashes of keyboard coloring, unafraid to be melodic, but without a single extra beat or note cluttering up the proceedings. Stripped of retro's pretensions, neither resolutely analogue nor obviously digital, La Forca del Destino is classic without being throwback, simply a selection of grooves that, one suspects, have been rolling along forever, quietly circulating through a universe of circuitry, midwifed by nimble fingers turning knobs, but otherwise almost autonomous -- self-winding rhythmic miniatures, perfect little closed systems that do their thing without even being asked. Every B-movie fan knows that 'Soylent Green is people.' But this is no cannibalization. It's too idiosyncratic for that. It's acid without being 'acid,' minimal without being 'minimal'."

Artist:	MY MY
Title:	Songs For the Gentle
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 019CD

"My My are hard to grasp. Sometimes they perform as a threesome, sometimes alone. Often they deejay as a team, sometimes they follow each other. You can think of My My both as a loose entity and a firm collective. It interlocks wonderfully, not only on their records, but also when they are performing live. A DJ set by Carsten Klemann introduces the night and carefully switches over to Lee Jones and Nick Höppner doing their live set, which in turn is followed by Nick and Carsten deejaying for hours and hours on end. It all intertwines effortlessly and one needs to have a close look in order to really know who is fiddling with what knob. Songs For The Gentle wouldn't exist without the hedonistic whirlpool Berlin turns into weekend after weekend just after sunset. Every dancefloor has its euphoric moments -- but no matter if you want polyrhythm and minimalism, something rough and abrasive, deeper shades of house music, or a little darkness, with or without a touch of electro: My My's tracks fit in everywhere. It starts with the steadily paced 'Clean Break,' switching over to the dub-driven raindrop melancholy of 'When It Rains.' 'Eleventh Hour' breaks up its minimal rigidity with a silly yet refreshing sound of a bicycle bell ringing. For 'Reverse Charge' one would have to invent the genre hop house. Then 'Blue Skies' and 'Pelourinho' contribute to a crescendo that culminates in the magnificent and majestic peaktime track 'Propain.' 'Half A Hole' subtly and deeply takes you by the hand, before the hip-hop influenced 'Secret Life Of Pants' ends it nicely. With the idyllic composure of folk music, which one can find traces of here, as well as the sometimes, clear hip-hop influence, Songs For The Gentle is a classic album. These tracks deliver what the title promises: songs."

Artist:	MOHR, MAX
Title:	Trickmixer's Revenge
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 020CD

This is the debut full-length album by Cologne-based Max Mohr. Before moving to Cologne in 1994, Max spent six months in New York, where he studied the entire city while being deeply immersed in a sphere consisting of artists and musicians. This gritty punkness has pervaded his output, even since 2000, when Mohr released his first 12" on Playhouse. The Trickmixer EP has already placed him in the international spotlight, and has been played by BBC Radio and DJs spanning all genres, such as Michael Reinboth, Gilles Peterson and Laurent Garnier. Trickmixer's Revenge starts off with "Diamanten," which sounds like the lively, organic dance of a foreign tribe. "Spellbound" is a beautiful, haunting melody with a suspenseful lift-off that heads straight into volplane. "Mellowmoon 2" emphasizes nice warm chords for the club or the kitchen, while "Lucky Go Wild" sounds like the title track to an '80s science fiction television series, mixed with a bit of Mohr's pop appeal. "Schaben" is a rocket-propelled dub monster for every DJ. This is the track to play in the club to cause mayhem on the dancefloor. From his years in a punk band, to creating giant, padded art installations, to his first tracks using an Amiga 1000, Max Mohr's debut is the culmination of years of experimentation in different mediums and different genres, all executed brilliantly.

Artist:	VILLALOBOS, RICARDO
Title:	Fizheuer Zieheuer
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 021CD

2-track extended CD single of sorts, 73 minutes long. "Señor Villalobos is back again on Playhouse so roll out the red carpet for his Fizheuer Zieheuer monster which is no longer than 37 minutes. Represented here in its full glory, we added Ricardo's special 'stripped down to the bone' beat version, the 'Fizbeast,' to give you the chance to enhance your creative DJ skills and add some extra sugar on top. Fizheuer Zieheuer is around for awhile now and a special secret weapon in Ricardo's sets all over the world, causing mayhem wherever he plays it. 100% pure hypnosis, this track plays with certain sounds that you would not really expect from this minimal master in the first place...But it's the way he's using these East European horns which is done so well and their integration in the beats that makes the track so exciting. There are slight changes throughout the whole 37 minutes, morphing and transforming itself and these twisted melodic horn stabs all the time, sucking you deeper and deeper into a very very special state of mind...It's definitely an experience and worth a try. Villalobos, master of hypnosis, magician of the groove."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Famous When Dead V
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 022CD

Playhouse continues its legendary and notorious compilation series named Famous When Dead with its fifth edition. Conceived to collect and present the label's 12" highlights, this time it features some unreleased rarities by the likes of Isolée, My My and new arrivals Einzelkind and Simon Baker, plus the biggest and most inspiring hits since the last volume. This is a real gem in the 13-year history of one of Germany's most style-shaping and capricious labels and a listening pleasure, par excellence. It starts with Rework's latest 12" title track "Love Love Love Yeah," and then takes one half of Smash TV, adds Dave DK, mixes it well, and you have a haunting, post-LFO house track with "Mono Rain." Einzelkind presents the A-side from their debut for Playhouse, "Spam Bot" and Alter Ego's Roman Flügel is represented twice on this compilation -- like Rework -- for whom he did the 7"-only remix of their little ditty "Joggin Beat," a wonderfully light-hearted pop jewel. But first we hear the title track taken from his last solo album under the Soylent Green banner where he exploits his excursions into solid and groovy house music. Simon Baker's "Plastik" is making quite a splash, getting worldwide club play already by some of the most influential DJs around. Another newcomer is Boardroom member Pete Lazonby, who presents "I Miss U" -- a cool rockin' club smasher to set dancefloors on fire. Losoul took Unknownmix's "The Siren" from 1989 and straightened it in his very special way. This edit is hotter than hot. Max Mohr's "Lucky Go Wild" is taken from his debut album, and Isolée heads off on another beautiful space escapade with the yet unreleased track "The Jacko Theme." Another unreleased track from the vaults is "Southern Comfort" by My My. The smooth and soft drink they pour in the glass here, proves their versatility and is a real listening treat. Famous? Yes! Dead? No way!

Artist:	ISOLEE
Title:	Cite Grade Terre
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 022EP

1998 release in Playhouse's "Classic" reissue form, in stock for the first time.. "For the fifth time Rajko Müller aka Isolée appears on Playhouse and if you thought this guy did marvellous tracks before, he understands to top your expectations once more, reaching a peak where Playhouse has never been before. Easily he breaks musical boundaries, adding French Chanson-like vocals to a futuristic dance-beat, using lovely melodies and deep dub influences to create his own way of pop-house." 5-track EP, including the original version of Isolée's most famous track, the anthemic "Beau Mot Plage".

Artist:	KHAN
Title:	No Comprendo
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLAY 049LP

"Playhouse, in co-operation with Matador, is proud and delighted to present the vinyl version of the Khan album No Comprendo. Khan's debut together with DJ Snax as Comatose Captain on Playhouse was followed by further bizarre excursions into the abysses of New York City. Unlike the Blaze productions, which elucidate the spiritual and self-contained world of deep house, this illustrates the New York of 'White Trash', the burning hearts, the dark cramped basement flats and bizarre encounters foreboded by American myths."

Artist:	TEJADA & ARIAN LEVISTE, JOHN
Title:	Syntax Free
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 052EP

"John Tejada (here in cooperation with his friend Arian Leviste) from California USA, can definitely be called one of thee artists of the year so far. After his big hit 'Western Starland' on his own Pallette Recordings imprint and numerous releases on different labels, for example Dan Bell's 7th City, we are proud and happy to finally present him on Playhouse. Really self confident he musically moves over a cut-up like Funk technique, in a way not unlike to Matthew Herbert's style, into an extremely elastic grooving sound."

Artist:	COMATOSE CAPTAIN
Title:	2nd EP
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 053EP

"Here they go again: DJ Snax und Khan, both coming straight from New York. On their Tour De Force they are travelling through sound & styles and all kinds of night time experiences, going where everything is invented brand new -- or even better, where something fresh is becoming so ultimately fresh that in the end we get pure musical dynamite. This 12" rocks -- Not slightly or seemingly, not cryptic or minimalistic, on the contrary -- it comes with strong background vocals, fat brasses and rocking synthesizer sounds."

Artist:	BLANKO, BENNY
Title:	All The Way Down
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 055EP

2/2002 release. "Fresh from funky London now available on Playhouse! Benny Blanko brings us lots of fresh air to inhale. No doubt that Benny is rooted in an old school styled ground, but his stuff turns out fresh and relaxed. 'All The Way Down' should be entitled 'All The Way Up', thats how good-humoured it sounds. And who could resist his invitation to bounce and Keep Bouncin!? Dobie's bedroom mute mix with its funky snare and a slightly slower tempo than the original is as restful as its title suggests."

Artist:	LOSOUL
Title:	Warriors
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 056EP

"The first 12" of Peter Kremeier aka. Don Disco aka. Losoul after his legendary Belong album (fall 2000) and again with Malte on vocals. After their very successful live-tour in 2001 they finally went back to the studio to produce one of the highest quality tracks they´ve been doing so far. Consequently A1 as much as B1 are both developed out of their common live show and have simply been perfected in the studio concerning arrangement and sound. It´s almost scary how flexible Malte is tuning his voice to fine shades in the music and vice versa, the music supporting the expression of the voice. The perfect fusion of voice and music is creating such an unique atmosphere that is slightly reminding us to the good days of Robert Owens. Losoul."

Artist:	GOLDFISH UND DER DULZ
Title:	EP
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 057EP

"Playhouse welcomes two new talents from Bremen. Goldfish and Dulz, the two precision mechanics from way up north do it in a very filigree way on their debut EP. You might think of Ursula Rucker when listening to the intro of 'Lila', but this is a bit misleading as you will hear. Smallest possible pieces like chopped up guitar samples fit well into a solid frame of beats without having a disturbing effect on the dancers. Music for the next millennium? By no means, it's more likely music for the present, because it's too charming and demands instant listening."

Artist:	WANG, DANIEL
Title:	Panoramic
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 058EP

"Here's Daniel Wang's new stroke of genius in the field of 80's synth dance music: Panoramic, his second release for Playhouse after the legendary Light Fantastic EP. Bubbling acid-basslines combined with 808 claps and toms, and above all, like a spider's web, lies a steady arpeggio and a masculine sprechgesang. With a lot of love for details this is increasing into a full bliss. Perfect! The two bonus tracks suggest an infinite distance of a synthetic world and with their scarcely arranged rhythms create an atmosphere just like the background music in Californian police-porno flicks."

Artist:	FABRICE LIG
Title:	Deep Inside EP
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 060EP

"Fabrice Lig (yeah, you're right, the first white man who released on Kevin Saunderson's KMS label!) delivers with his Deep Inside EP a warm and organic piece of pure black magic on Playhouse; a record which shows his fascination for the Motor City Sound. Lig, who recently released an album as Soul Designer on F-Com, various 12"s on labels like Raygun, Daniel Bell's 7th City and on the Titonton Duvanté related Starbaby imprint, is a producer who's true to the original Detroit/Chicago sound."

Artist:	GOLDFISH UND DER DULZ
Title:	Clubber
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 061EP

"Using the smallest samples on a very groovy foundation, it´s unmistakably their special sound which finds its way right into your heart, leg and ear. But this time the guys from Bremen really go for it! It seems that the sound in its entirety has become a little bit more brusque and direct. There are still all those tiny particles but wrapped up in a 'oh so solid' beat. Acid-like basslines wrap round his body like boas and don´t let go. Plus this slight hint of a melody... just lovely!"

Artist:	SHINTO
Title:	Kibou EP
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 064EP

"Shinto is one of numerous projects of the Austrian musician par excellence Hans Platzgumer in collaboration with the half-Japanese CaMi Tokujiro. Platzgumer, who, since the end of the 80's increased his musical output under such various names as HP Zinker, Aura Anthropica, Seperator, Fingerfood and Cube & Sphere on such illustrious labels like Matador, Thrill Jockey, Disko B, Cheap and Domino. The Playhouse camp feels honoured to put itself on a par with these names! The Kibou EP introduces us to four titles by singer CaMi Tokujiro and Hans Platzgumer with his hands at the controls."

Artist:	REWORK
Title:	You´re So Just Just
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 065EP

"After two splendid EP's, here's Rework's new disc! And it will shorten the time till the album's release. And with these 2 tracks, tailor-sized for the dancefloor, Daniel Varga, Michael Kübler & singer Laetitia show us what's what. 'You're So Just Just' haunting handful of clubs since 3 months, played, amongst others, by no other than Richie Hawtin himself! Rework are on the right track, baby -- and this 12" shows just their clubby-side!"

Artist:	SOYLENT GREEN
Title:	At The Gates
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 067EP

"It's been a while since the last Soylent Green record came out. 'Pass The Coke' leads off in a great funky way, clad in Hi-Tek gear and a very hypnotic effect on the dancers. A sound which goes straight to your head. Side 2 opens with this calm, nearly stoical stomper 'At The Gates'. Super-solid bassdrum, brilliant percussion, and a little echo predestine this track for the use at the start of the night on the one hand; on the other hand, it's also a good choice for the early morning hours--no question. 'Cold Showers' does not give you the feeling that you were having a cold shower, it's more like you need lots of 'Cold Showers' after dancing to it. A vehemently dashing shuffle created by Mr. Flügel and truly a monster to end this capital 3 tracker!"

Artist:	CHRISTIANE F./CHRISTIANA
Title:	Wunderbar/Süchtig
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 071EP

"Original 'Christiane F.-Gesundheit!' US 12" with 'Wunderbar' track found in the record shop of our trust -- stop -- Scepticism. Is it really her? -- stop --Played it at the club in the early morning hours (yeah, those special ones...) -- stop -- Ecstasy! Euphoria! Experience! -- stop -- Attempt to license and release it -- stop -- after 1 1/2 years the original unmastered tape arrives -- stop -- another Christiane F. 12" is discovered in a record store -- stop -- title: 'Christiana-Süchtig' -- stop -- both tracks have to be released -- stop -- 2 wonderful evidences of 80s club music now to be rediscovered on Playhouse."

Artist:	CAPTAIN COMATOSE
Title:	Don't Come Back (Album Version)
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 073BEP

"This is it! This limited 12" is here to whet your appetite for the forthcoming Captain Comatose album. After 2 great EP's for Playhouse, Going Out, which is the album's title, is the logically consistent development of Khan's & Snax' work on their common material. One strength of this sympathetic duo is their live appearance which steals the show from every conventional 'electronic' act due to their fabulous entertaining qualities."

Artist:	CAPTAIN COMATOSE
Title:	$100 EP
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 073EP

"'$100' -- the official single of the Captain Comatose album Going Out. And what a smash! So we decided against the 'classic' a/b side separation and made it a double-a-side. '$100' shows the more vibrant side of the duo which comes to light especially live. Makes us bawl -- I mean sing along right away to the refrain. 'Masoquista' -- exclusively on this EP -- is an instrumental with a slight dubby touch which shows even more the many faces of Captain Comatose, and which can be discovered on the upcoming album." Includes a remix by Electronicat.

Artist:	MELCHIOR PRODUCTIONS
Title:	The Meaning
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 011CD

Artist:	VILLALOBOS, R.
Title:	Halma EP
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 062EP

Artist:	GLOVE FEAT. JULIA W.
Title:	Wunderbar
Label:	PLAYHOUSE (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	PLAY 072EP