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2LP
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KEPLARREV 015LP
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Last copies, reduced price. Arovane's Icol Diston compilation on vinyl for the first time. Icol Diston, released in 2002 on DIN, comprised the three first EPs released by Uwe Zahn under his Arovane moniker. This expansive reissue sheds a new light on Zahn's first two outings as a producer on the I.O. and Icol Diston EPs on Torsten "T++" Pröfrock's legendary label as well as highlighting his radical inventiveness as a remixer with the two renditions of Pröfrock-produced material offered on AMX. Taken together, these musically complex and emotionally rich electronic compositions form the prologue to an artistic story like none other while also documenting a very specific era in cultural history. The energy running through Berlin and its boundaryless electronic music scene at the end of the 1990s is reflected by and refined through these eleven tracks. The Yamaha QY700 would become his sketchbook that allowed him to experiment with different patterns, creating polymetric figures out of discrete musical elements. Zahn's sessions, recorded live in stereo and straight to DAT, resulted in two very different EPs of original material. His debut I.O. showcases a playful and gentle, albeit dubby and at times moody aesthetic. The four tracks are exercises in sonic worldbuilding, creating vast spaces and filling them with a plethora of intertwining melodies and rhythms. Its successor Icol Diston drew on similar parameters, but painted a very different picture in terms of atmosphere and mood. The AMX EP features two remixes of tracks originally produced by Pröfrock under two different guises. "Außen vor" had been released under his Dynamo moniker and was reworked by Zahn after having been introduced to his label owner's Studio 440 sampler, sequencer and drum machine. With his remix of "No. 8," released under Pröfrock's tongue-in-cheek pseudonym Various Artists, Zahn followed a more radical approach which led him even deeper into dub territory. Widely different from the original version, it perfectly translated the spirit of this singular masterpiece into another stylistic idiom. The Icol Diston compilation is imbued with a forward-thinking spirit that remains exhilarating until today. It captures the sound of one unique artist, but also electronic music during that time more broadly. This is the sound of opening a new chapter, the willingness to venture into the unknown. Remaster and cut by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering. Cover art by Jim Kühnel based on a photograph by Uwe Zahn. Die-cut sleeve; poly-lined inners; includes download code.
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LP
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KEPLARREV 014LP
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Arovane's third album on vinyl for the first time in almost two decades. Arovane's acclaimed 2004 album Lilies has been out-of-print on vinyl for nearly two decades. Lilies was a follow-up to Tides (KEPLARREV 010LP) in every sense, exploring a trip to Japan and drawing on shimmering textures and the sort of melodies that you might need some time to recover from. There's a hugely evocative sense to these tracks, emotionally driven, free of complexity or conceit, piano melodies providing the central focus for a twilight cascade of light that seems perfect for the Tokyo skyline -- just as the sun sets. It's an album that radiates warmth and vulnerability, fusing the technological might at the heart of each track (and at the heart of the city) with an age-old understanding that certain echoes of sound, small melodic changes and cushioned lullabies can imprint sounds on your mind like childhood memories -- remembered forever. Like a dreamlike score, or maybe even an alternate soundtrack to Lost in Translation (2003) -- the sort of music that intertwines with images and stays in your mind indefinitely. After coming back from Tokyo and completing the production of Lilies, Uwe Zahn disassembled his studio in the big flat in an old building in Berlin's Prenzlauerberg district and stored it away in boxes. He needed a break from making music. Lilies was the last album prior to a nine-year hiatus for Arovane, ending in 2013 with the release of Ve Palor. All tracks composed and recorded by Uwe Zahn. Vocals on "Pink Lilies" by kazumi. Originally released on City Centre Offices in 2004. Remaster and cut by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering. Cover art by Jim Kühnel based on a photograph by Uwe Zahn. Die-cut sleeve; poly-lined inners; includes download code; edition of 500.
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LP
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KEPLARREV 010LP
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Tides marked a radical change in direction for Arovane. After Uwe Zahn had made a name for himself with cutting-edge IDM rhythms and slick ambient textures on a slew of releases, his sophomore album saw the prolific producer opt for a sample-based approach that resulted in a more organic sound and laid-back downbeat grooves. Having reissued Arovane's seminal Atol-Scrap as a double-LP in 2021, the Berlin-based Keplar label now makes Tides available on vinyl for the first time since its original release in 2000 through the legendary City Centre Offices. It shines a new light on a release for which Zahn quite literally ventured into previously unknown territory -- Tides is an album that emits a timeless, quiet calm and nonetheless stays constantly in motion. Inspired by the landscape of France, especially the coastline and the sea, he made field recordings throughout his trip that were also used on the record, giving it its sensual feel. The foundation of the album however, the loose yet gripping grooves at the heart of every track, result from Zahn working extensively with samples. "I wanted to make use of drum sounds and small excerpts from old jazz vinyl records", he explains. He maintained the unique sound signatures and rhythmic flutter of the source material while building intricate beats with them. Most of the material was culled from the record collection of Christian Kleine, whose spontaneous guitar improvisations over the first musical sketches were recorded and edited by Zahn and can be heard on four tracks. Also employing the occasional cembalo or spinet sound, he worked with a hardware sequencer and a delay to integrate the different, discrete elements into nine tracks that feel both dense and light at once. Silence was also an important stylistic element on Tides and adds greatly to the overall atmosphere of an album that with the appropriately named "Theme" immediately sets the mood with intricate spinet melodies. As a whole, the album mirrors Zahn's trip that took him along the steep cliffs on a foggy day ("Seaside"), to an abandoned house in which he found old maps ("A Secret"), along the coastline during a long car ride ("Deauville"), to a sleepy village and the slowly moving sea ("Tides") and finally back home to his native Germany where he started reflecting upon his experiences, ultimately deciding to translate them into music ("Epilogue"). Originally released on CCO in 2000. Remaster and cut by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering. Cover art by Jim Kühnel based on a photograph by Uwe Zahn. Die-cut sleeve; poly-lined inners; includes download code.
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2LP
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KEPLARREV 005LP
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Restocked. Arovane's debut album, Atol Scrap, on vinyl for the first time. Originally released in 1999. The story of each re-release begins with the original. In the late '90s, Uwe Zahn (Arovane), along with Robert Henke (Monolake) and Stefan Betke (Pole), began releasing music on Torsten Pröfrock's (Dynamo) newly launched DIN label. This was a very inconspicuous undertaking, but fans of the flourishing IDM, glitch, and constantly evolving abstract techno genres quickly picked up on the quality of sound coming out of Germany. After a few successful EPs, Zahn began working on his debut full-length, Atol Scrap. The release was a success, at least in the underground circles, where followers of the melodic harmonies, stuttering off-beat rhythms, and, most importantly, advanced sound design feverishly consumed the imprint's output. There was only one thing missing -- the album was never pressed on vinyl, and for decades remained in the digital domain. The fans, of course, inquired. "I thought of taking everything into my own hands and releasing the record myself," says Zahn, "but at the end of last year, Matthias from Keplar asked me to re-release Atol Scrap on vinyl." The label and its owner revolve in the Morr Music universe, and so it made sense for Zahn to trust the platform to treat the record right. Listening to Atol Scrap over twenty years later it is inane not to admit how well it has held up. Where other genres clearly aged, becoming stale, bland, and dull, the music on eleven tasty tracks still keeps the neurons tickled with each note. Many of the newly evolving techniques are recognizable on the album. "I created the digital artifacts with a digital multi-track recorder, the Fostex D80," recalls Zahn. "The thing had a scrub wheel with which I could achieve wonderful glitch effects by winding through the audio data. I have sampled and further processed these artifacts." And this approach is still embedded in Zahn's sound design. "I still use my 24-track analog desk from Tascam to mix my audio. I love to use hardware synths and samplers. I've definitely built upon my studio experience in the '90s." From this debut to the most recent output, Arovane's sound has evolved to become more intricate, detailed, and pronounced. Remastered and cut to vinyl by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering. Cover art by Jim Kühnel based on a photograph by Uwe Zahn. Die-cut sleeve with full-tone artwork, poly-lined inners; includes download code.
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12"
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ECHO 069EP
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Uwe Zahn aka Arovane debuts on Echocord with the Modul EP. Zahn started out with releases on Berlin labels DIN and City Centre Offices, and is known for being one of the best producers ever within the IDM and electronica scene. In the '90s he listened to the music of Basic Channel, Maurizio, and Fluxion a lot. This sound is timeless. In the summer of 2015 he started to record a couple of dub sounds and beats, and eventually showed them to Fluxion, who liked the tracks very much and got in touch with Echocord.
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CD
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CCO 001CD
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Emitting "future classic" status within seconds of play, this sophomore album by Berlin's Uwe Zahn is filled to the brim with liquid harpsichord euphoria, bridging that gap between early 90s "classic ambient" and more contemporary static like little else known. "Shortly after the release of Arovane's debut album on Din, CCO releases his follow-up album Tides. Inspired by a holiday spent in France by the sea, Tides marks a new step in Arovane's career. Based on hip hop grooves and live played guitars, Tides does not concentrate on digital glitches, but on warm melancholic songs. As Bleed From the German DeBug magazine put it, 'Tides is the iMac of electronica LPs. Wonderful, translucent, somehow familiar, but simply so great that you have to say hello.'"
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