The squiggle, this mysterious little icon in front of the label name hints at a wide variety of possible appendices, it leaves the listener free to conjure up his own interpretational addition.
~scape is defined and shaped by its basic premises: inimitability, minimalism, electronics and the influence of certain musical styles - e.g. dub, jazz, hip-hop, funk -- these are the maxims under which ~scape will always operate.
Since its first release in 1999, ~scape has moved onward and upward, expanding the reasons behind their postulations. The compilation series Staedtizism is a good example of this development. Still, the (sound) journey carries on -- label founder and A&R Stefan Betke aka Pole will see to that. ~scape stays an open forum, a platform for all types of unique, extraordinary music. Other artists include: Deadbeat, Roam The Hello Clouds, Jan Jelinek, Frivolous, Deadbeat, Mapstation, Cappablack, Portable, Stephen Beaupré and many more.
www.scape-music.de
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SCAPE 059CD
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This is the third album by Mapstation. Since 2001, Stefan Schneider has been working under this moniker. Nevertheless, this new release marks a premiere for the Dusseldorf-based artist: it is the first album produced by Schneider himself. Delving deeper into the sounds and subjects already explored on his previous outings, Map Of Africa (2002) and Loin D'Afrique (2006), this record expands on Mapstation's tentative love and study of the African continent. Like his earlier aural collages, The Africa Chamber treats this region not only as a geographic location, but also as a symbol of unknown terrain, of distant shores awaiting our exploration. Unfettered by the fetish of authenticity, but rather bolstered by various encounters on neutral, diasporic grounds like European Internet cafes ("Unitel"), African beauty parlors ("The Protector") or folkloristic kitsch figurines ("Return Of The Hunter"), Schneider prefers an associative approach to music. His Africa Chamber becomes a fanciful wunderkammer of would-be African sounds. In this spirit, the album retraces the subconscious cultural amalgamations that shape our contemporary mainstream culture and reciprocal influences, from the digital replication and recreation of jungle ambience for the Antwerp Zoo ("Nocturama") to the illustrated Swedish porcelain gracing the cover, heavily influenced by African art. In a fitting twist, Schneider's inimitable Mapstation sound, conjuring up broad and expansive soundscapes from a bare minimum of synthesizer arpeggiator, has started to incorporate more and more analog percussion for a coarser, less predictably-textured sound. Amplifiers are miked up. Distortion, overamplification and feedback claim their rightful space. Besides a plethora of percussive hollow-ware like vases or pitchers and prepared piano passages -- recorded in the studio of Dusseldorf-based pianist and composer Volker Bertelmann aka Hauschka -- the album relies mainly on digital synths, reawakened and injected with new warmth. Continuing his tradition of collaboration, Schneider also invited an eclectic range of master musicians to join him on this sonic journey. Annie Whitehead, on-stage staple of Robert Wyatt, Afrika Express/Damon Albarn or James Blood Ulmer and a welcome addition to Schneider's previous album, fleshed out two tracks with her spellbinding trombone. Nicholas Addo-Nettey also contributes percussion (he played alongside Tony Allen for the seminal Fela Kuti Band in the 1970s). Drummer Thomas Klein (Kreidler) completes Mapstation's trio of collaborators.
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SCAPE 058CD
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This is the debut full-length release by Groupshow, an all-star cast of electronic producers including Andrew Pekler (Sad Rockets), Hanno Leichtmann (Vulva String Quartett/Static/Forest Jackson), and Jan Jelinek (Farben). Groupshow is a blitz through the year's best music genres, in less time than it takes to read the newspaper. Groupshow is a personal listener to advance your career, selecting the 2% of sounds that can make a measurable difference in your life and in the work you do. The tracks collected here re-live the most memorable moments of approximately 200 gigabytes of improvised jam sessions and contain an impressive arsenal of low-quality effects pedals. Pekler (guitar, effects), Leichtmann (drums) and Jelinek (electronics) switch instruments on a regular basis, resulting in a free-improv, Krautronic assemblage of silence and noise. These 12 tracks give you enough juice for a lifetime of enchantment, while raising a few eyebrows. Safe, effective, annoying vibrations.
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SCAPE 057CD
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After the great response to ~scape's first survey of the creative cross-fertilization of dubstep and techno, Round Black Ghosts enters its second round. Yet again, Stefan Betke (Pole), Barbara Preisinger and Tim Tetzner join forces to scent out exceptional examples of dubstep skirting the boundaries of techno and other flavors of electronic music. The result: eleven defining and definitive tracks of a musical (r)evolution that has moved far beyond its London origins, reflected in the huge variety of nationalities assembled on this CD: from L.A. and Bristol to Bucharest and St. Petersburg. The emergence of a creative "axis" between London and Berlin adds to the relevance of this compilation. Among its figureheads: former Londoner and new Berliner Scuba, who jumped the Channel in 2007 and contributes a previously-unreleased track, "Bleach," to Round Black Ghosts 2. His club night Sub.Stance, at Berlin's legendary techno-heaven Berghain, has become THE point of reference for the latest techno/dubstep crossover. Other contributing producers with strong collaborative ties to Berlin's musicians, labels and mastering studios include Appleblim and Ramadanman. In this growing and ever-evolving network, ~scape fills a pivotal role: with in-house legend Pole, collaborations by artists like Shackleton and Peverelist and, last but not least, this vital compilation.
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After producing several remixes for other artists and labels, Pole releases two deep tunes that move between dub, dubstep and techno. "Alles Klar" was already part of the ~scape compilation Round Black Ghosts (CD only). "Alles Gute" is a new piece that already excites the crowd during Pole's current live sets.
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From day one, the pursuit of dub's influence on contemporary electronic music has been one of ~scape's guiding principles. Round Black Ghosts continues this tradition and, at the same time, adds a new facet to the mix. This CD, compiled by label owners Stefan Betke (Pole) and Barbara Preisinger together with Tim Tetzner (the heart and mind behind Berlin's Dense Records shop), throws a spotlight on dubstep, a relatively recent genre, oscillating within and beyond its own fluid boundaries. Originally a London phenomenon, dubstep pursues a different path from Berlin's trademark dub techno. Where dub techno borrows from the more traditional forms of dub and the corresponding mix techniques, dubstep not only lays claim to the strongly dub and reggae-influenced legacy of British rave culture, but also draws on various other styles without missing a step. Now, an entire generation of young dubstep producers have started to explore the genre, inventing some new, previously-unheard sounds. Round Black Ghosts presents a concise overview of the latest developments, ready to take these new sounds to a wider audience. The artists on the compilation debug and recycle the aesthetics of techno, playfully merging dubstep bass lines that shake your bowels with the feedbacks of the echo chamber. While Martyn takes a detour to Detroit with his warm synth chords, Syncom Data's quietly pulsating track proudly pursues the paths of Berlin's dub techno legacy, and Elemental takes inspiration from the harsh sounds of IDM and acid house. Yet despite their different approaches, the overall mix sounds impressively coherent. Beyond the genre's unifying and characteristic bass lines, all tracks leave plenty of room for deep delves into their own, private soundscapes. Other artists include 2562, Untold, Pole, Ramadanman, Pinch, Peverelist and Pangaea.
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Frivolous presents two energetic dance tracks and a gorgeous acoustic version of "Island Of Sanctity." The revolving bass lines of the two dance versions of the song keep plowing the dancefloors -- until the dancers decline in satisfaction. The interaction of Frivolous' musical sensibility with the demanding dance grooves creates a very special excitement and energy.
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The final part of Pole's Steingarten Remix series comes in red vinyl with outstanding remixes from Deadbeat, Ghislain Poirier and Gudrun Gut. Deadbeat moved "Sylvenstein" to the dancehall while Ghislain Poirier turned "Winkelstreben" into what he describes as "cosmopolitan bass and chunky digital dancehall." Gudrun Gut refused to twist Pole's music out of shape, instead highlighting, cherishing and reflecting its essence with some killer girlie vocals. Pressed on clear red vinyl.
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SCAPE 050CD
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This is Berlin-based producer Stefan Betke's (aka Pole) third release on his own ~scape label. Originally a string of four limited colored vinyl 12" releases, the Steingarten Remixes now assembles all tracks in the series on CD. Remixing Pole is a bit of a challenge. Carefully assembled, piece-by-piece, his seamless, highly-acclaimed Steingarten exhibits no gaps, no ornaments, no superfluous flourishes. And a closer look at the tracks' underlying structures confirms: any additions would only distract from their delicate balance. Steingarten's eclectic assembly of equally eclectic remixers were well aware of this tricky challenge -- and none have opted for unnecessary embellishments. With plenty of respect for Pole's pared-down appeal, they nevertheless imbue the new versions with their very own signature sound. While Betke's minimal approach sets the overall mood, subtle nuances add different flavors to the mix. Rarely has a remix project been this coherent. An assembly of reworkings by friends and colleagues, the resulting tracks achieve the rare feat of reinterpreting Pole's music without ever drowning out their singular clarity. While Dimbiman, for example, starts his version of "Achterbahn" with a bout of gently bouncing beats that evolve into a springy house groove, Mike Huckaby takes a more angular approach, yet both remain true to Steingarten's bare essentials. From Deadbeat's sharp, dancehall-inspired beats to Shackleton's sizzling dub grooves and Gudrun Gut's subdued vocal samples "a recited A-Z of girl's names," the resulting works refuse to twist Pole's music out of shape, but highlight, cherish and reflect their essence. Here, Betke's distinctive sound finds itself clothed in a wide array of contemporary electronic guises, from deep house to dubstep. And, best of all, despite their sometimes dizzying level of abstraction, all tracks are extremely danceable. Other remixes by Peverelist, The Mole, Ghislain Poirier, Frivolous and Melchior Productions.
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SCAPE 048EP
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Pole's Steingarten inspired friends and colleagues to produce a series of remixes that are now presented on 4 limited colored vinyl 12"s. The second part of the Pole Steingarten Remix series comes as limited orange vinyl 12" and features remixes by Canadian artists The Mole and Frivolous. The Mole transports "Pferd" into a warm, disco house hymn. Frivolous' fresh way of approaching the dancefloor is reflected in his interpretation of "Achterbahn." Pressed on clear orange vinyl.
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SCAPE 045CD
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This is the debut recording by Australia's Roam The Hello Clouds, a group made up of members Laurence Pike (of Triosk), Dave Miller and Phil Slater. Near Misses is a rare combination that will make many lovers of jazz and/or electronic music delirious. At a glance, some might mistakenly classify it as jazz/electronica mainly due to Slater's soaring trumpet (reminiscent of Miles Davis circa Bitches Brew) in combination with Miller's subtle electronics and Pike's untethered drumming. The musicians used chance and error as their modus operandi, inviting the unknown and then manipulating it into something cool and free, from abstract to electronic. In October 2003, Sydney-based drummer Laurence Pike was paired up with Perth laptop artist Dave Miller in a musical blind date for a performance at the Sydney Opera House. It turned out to be the meeting of kindred spirits. Pike called upon trumpeter Phil Slater to complete what he thought would be an ideal musical partnership for a one-off collaboration. And he was right -- about the partnership, but fortunately not about it being a one-off thing. The following year, a second performance was scheduled, and with only two gigs under their belts, the band set about trying to capture the intuitive nature of their exciting live performances in a studio situation. The result is this album of unrehearsed group improvisation recorded in a single day. What you hear is a live band; playing and processing and recording in takes, much the way they used to do in the '60s. Even Dave Miller's sound sources came almost exclusively from live on-the-fly sampling from the band's previous gigs. They fuse together with a breathtaking musical rapport, yet always retain their individual characteristics.
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SCAPE 046CD
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This is Montreal-based Deadbeat aka Scott Monteith's fourth full-length release on the ~scape label. Since the release of his previous outing, New World Observer in March 2005, Monteith has spent the vast majority of his time on the road, honing his skills as a master craftsman of genre defying electronic dance music. Though fans of Monteith's previous ~scape full lengths might find it difficult to envision his music as the soundtrack to a rollicking dance floor, Journeyman's Annual is the first to showcase an updated version of the Deadbeat sound that has quietly been overtaking his more meditative work over the last year and-a-half. This is modern bass music of an entirely unique sort, crafted with the intention of moving asses as much as stimulating minds. Easily the closest stylistically to his previous work for ~scape, the opening two tracks employ minimal techno's careful ruminations on endlessly repeating groove structures, while sitting comfortably in dubstep's doom-filled, 140 bpm pocket. For the album opener, Monteith enlists the aid of violinist and fellow Montrealer Sophie Trudeau (ex-GY!BE, A Silver Mount Zion) to craft what is potentially the darkest song in his entire catalog. "Melbourne Round Midnight" combines a lurching funeral organ line with vaporous horns and a thunderous one note bass drop to create a chugging dub monster. Along with Trudeau's string arrangements, Monteith also calls upon vocalists to expand the album's sonic palette. This record also features Bristol-based Bubbz, who spits a fiery tale on "Refund Me." "Deep In Country" marks the triumphant return of Moral Undulations, whose bad man vocal stylings provide a rhythmic assault. "Gimme A Little Slack" features Montreal's DJ Jah Cutta, and the dynamic duo craft a piece of pure heavyweight bashment, filled with searing percussion, impossibly low bass, and a vocal hook that will stay in your head for days. Finally, as a bonus to this already fine set, this record includes Deadbeat's much sought-after remix of Saul Williams' "Black Stacey" from 2005. Previously only available on an incredibly rare promo-only 12", the track has been a trademark finisher of Deadbeat live sets and has driven the floor into a frenzy each and every time. Easily his most diverse album to date, Journeyman's Annual is a far reaching account of new creative connections and rhythmic inspirations drawn from the four corners of the globe, and a spectacular sign of things to come from one of electronic music's premier low-end prophets.
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SCAPE 043CD
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This is the second full-length release from Canadian transplant to Berlin, Frivolous (Daniel Gardner). Frivolous is a protagonist of the minimal house scene who has released more than ten EPs. Midnight Black Indulgence marks a watershed in Gardner's career. For the first time, influences and inspirations are clearly discernible. Moments of pure dance ecstasy are followed by string interludes or appear next to jazz ballads. The connections Frivolous makes are of a convincing, almost compelling logic, and derive from his many years in the mid-'90s, peddling the new European minimalist sound as a club DJ in Vancouver. Struggling for acceptance amongst a Canadian scene obsessed with U.S. house music, Gardner sent his demos to five renowned German labels, and three of them wanted to release his music straightaway. The advanced minimal sound he has bestowed upon electronic dance music has a new, sophisticated body and generates a feeling for song structure within the house and techno format. At the same time, his understanding of melody and voice does not stem from a threadbare and shop-worn view on '80s pop music (as so often is the case), but from jazz. In his music, jazz and "jazziness" do not work as tacky, transfigured quotations but as snapshots full of character; impressions of feelings materialized as sound. Says Daniel: "For me jazz means a looseness and a feeling that can only be created by humans. It is the anti-machine. Even if it is sampled, it is usually for the quality of a magical moment that can't be graphed with 0-127 on time-code.." And although the tracks on Midnight Black Indulgence never pompously serve as a display for his musical prowess, there is something risky and luxurious about them. The dense and emotional thread which he weaves throughout the album was developed from baroque music, and alongside techno and dance experiments, he also stunningly incorporates classic instruments and vocals into an environment built on experiments with glitchy cut-up funk and found sound.
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SCAPE 042CD
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Cappablack is a duo comprised of Illeven (programming) and Hashim B. (programming & scratching). Influenced by the raw hip-hop sound of groups such as Mobb Deep, Cappablack released their debut album The State of the Night in 1997 from Soup-Disk, which combined experimental beats and noir soundscapes. This album became a classic instrumental album in the Japanese hip-hop scene. Their second 12" The Economics EP was discovered by Pole and they became the first Japanese group to contribute tracks to the ~scape compilations Staedtizism 3, Staedtizism 4 and But Then Again. Comparable in sound to artists such as Prefuse 73, Dabrye and Danger Mouse who mix electronica with hip-hop, and also succeeding in the line of Japanese instrumental hip-hop artists such as DJ Krush, Facades & Skeletons is a deep album that breaks the boundaries between numerous musical genres. The album features vocals by underground US West coast MC Awol One, and the remarkable rhyming skills of up-and-coming Japanese rapper Emirp. This album is filled with riveting, dense soundscapes and appeals to both electronica and hip-hop fans.
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SCAPE 041CD
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The follow up to his highly acclaimed and successful album Kosmischer Pitch from Jan Jelinek, the leading German producer within the experimental electronic music scene. Kosmischer was a drifting loop vortex peppered with subtle Kraut references, and this is the perfect continuation of that highly developed acoustical matrix. The animal is experiencing a renaissance in music. It provides a reflective surface for our notion of the unbridled and irrational, of that Other the philosophers Deleuze/Guattari -- as part of their "Animalisation" -- called the embodiment of artistic deliverance. And yet, how much of a liberation can art actually tolerate? To what extent can music truly throw off its fetters without descending into chaos? Jan Jelinek's new album title provides a first hint of this development: like the above, Tierbeobachtungen (animal observations) is his fourth album for ~scape, and it addresses the issue of release and liberation. Recorded almost in transit, while preparing his move to a new studio, the tracks reveal and relish in their improvisational character, and drifting, lost sound -- yet, they never lose sight of their underlying structure. Tierbeobachtungen might constitute Jelinek's freest and most personal work, with simply arranged tracks based on four to five layered and modulated loops, while his own studio equipment provides the main sampling sources, from synthesizer and guitaret to vibraphone. Jelinek takes on the role of observer on this record, with a level of reflection remaining audible throughout. However, this is by no means intellectual, distanced music -- Jelinek leads us straight into a thicket, an acoustic jungle where sumptuous splendor meets the uncanny. A long tradition of psychedelic music pervades the recordings -- Amon Düül, Cluster, My Bloody Valentine -- yet whatever musical memories might vie for our attention, these are no clear-cut references, just loose associations. On occasion, one might even be tempted to take them for field recordings -- gems discovered, stored and returned from their travels by ethnologists fifty or a hundred years ago. Similar to the pioneers of industrial music, like Cabaret Voltaire or Zoviet France, who experimented with field recordings to challenge Western listening habits, Tierbeobachtungen takes us to new, unknown territories and brims with sounds that defy geographic or stylistic classification, not unlike the semi-conscious state between dream and awakening. Overt romanticism is also precluded by Jelinek's sense of humor, which rears its head in titles like "Palmen Aus Leder" (palm trees of leather) and prevents us from taking the album's mystic overtones too seriously.
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SCAPE 034EP
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Those prone to motion sickness best steer clear of this latest offering from Montreal's Stephen Beaupré, as the swirling clouds of jagged musical fragments contained herein are certain to send you stumbling for the dance floor in the throws of full cranial spin. A devoted musical prankster, as has been clearly documented by his work with Deadbeat as Crackhaus, The Macro-House EP sees Stephen spray painting happy faces and scribbling lewd limericks on the church of minimal's typically pristinely kept walls. Where others may click, he clunks; where others might break, he coasts confidently through the guard rails.
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Behind Mapstation is Stefan Schneider (To Rococo Rot, Music A.M.) from Düsseldorf, and this is his fourth recording and debut for the ~scape label. Distance Told Me Things To Be Said brings us to unknown topographies and familiar surroundings alike. Produced between 2003 and 2005 at various studio and living places in London, Berlin and Düsseldorf, it was mixed by Bernd Jestram of Tarwater. On songs like "Horns Version" and "Warm Distance" we hear wonderful guest appearances by London- based trombonist Annie Whitehead, and Martin Brandlmayr of Vienna trio Radian is once again the percussionist of choice. After his stunning performance on Mapstation's previous album Version Train, Brandlmayr offers polyrhythms that elegantly and effortlessly match with the sequencers. The songs "Valencia Was Asleep" and "Listening to Stockholm" are based on real live recordings from these cities and project a sense of narration -- pockets of silence within amplified streets. On "Loin D'Afrique" we find the other Africa, imbued with a mild ecstatic feeling, the scenery slowly changing from dark green to ochre where circling rhythms and melodic fragments produce afternoon atmospheres and twilight music. Also found here are plenty of electronic sounds, 303 basslines, drum machines, percussion and trombone phrases. By combining low-key melodies with field recordings, a submerged reality seeps into the material: a child is playing somewhere nearby, the window is open, a car is passing by. Then you return to the room to scrutinize the atlas. This is an album of quiet music and secret melodies.
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Recently relocated to Barcelona, Mike Shannon established himself as Canada's most respected techno and house DJ. Involved with the Cynosure and Revolver labels (and artists like Akufen, Deadbeat, Pan/tone), Mike Shannon himself has been actively performing and promoting a very specific genre of minimal house and techno that today is reaching a new level of awareness in the global electronic community. On Possible Conclusions To Stories That Never End, Shannon switches skins, putting aside overt techno nuances he has been punishing parishioners of the dance floor with for well over a decade to explore a different region of actualization. The album commences using field-recordings of a typhoon hitting the streets of Tokyo, and the listener is shunted into an environment where each song is chimeric conclusion bathed in a cinematic light. On "Taken Only Road" (featuring Anais) Mike Shannon's sparse, sedate jazz manifestations form with a subtle electronic prosthetic to make a seamless hybrid of haunting lyrical form and near-ambient formlessness. Anais's vocals wander from sweet supplication to a silky lament over neon throbs of heady keys dappling over a languid bass-line. Atop the springy malleable groove of "Last One Terrified," spoken word elemental Moral Undulations catalogs the soul-stunting elements in North American culture with measured but casual defiance. In addition to Anais and Moral Undulations, Toronto-based jazz drummer Tim-Stokes Reese's smooth percussion ghosts and weaves through the album, serving as beacon points to the thick narcotic groove espoused on this fourteen track offering. On "Tears" Montreal musician Patrick Watson gently flays with piano ripple in time to Reese's drum patterns to make a resoundingly emotional result. The innocuous dread that underlies many of the tracks contains trace elements of influence from cinematic composer Angelo Badalamenti, to Montreal electronic wizards Marc Leclair and Deadbeat. With releases on various imprints worldwide Mike Shannon has consistently maintained an aesthetic quality to his techno productions defining him a key player in the global circuit.
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Tainted Lunch, the second full-length release from Matthew Patterson Curry (aka Safety Scissors), as mixed in Berlin by Vladislav Delay, shows a healthy but strange diet of influences and thoughts. With widescreen electronic pop music wearing its heart on its sleeve, the Berlin/San Francisco-based artist proves that clever songwriting, frisky arrangements, and slanted dancefloor maneuvers will always trump formulaic thumping and shrill, chilly attitudes. From amnesia to French cooking to transatlantic affairs of the heart, the lyrics sidestep cliché in favor of an awkward vulnerability, deliberate off-rhymes and quotidian details. Balancing smarts with slapstick humor, Curry sets a Rimbaud poem about trench warfare, but calls it "I Am The Cheese" and keeps an eyebrow cocked throughout. When his wavery, emotionally direct voice (think Chet Baker as a sozzled tech support worker) and wry lyrics are combined with brisk, brittle electronic production and twangy guitars, the result adds up to classic synthetic pop music of the kind that makes everybody reach for their New Order and Magnetic Fields albums. But there's a substantial freakiness/funkiness to Curry's production too which takes '80s synth funk stabs, saxophone, a rubber bass guitar, electric piano, kazoo and banjo in stride, and sets beats and basslines spinning in odd directions, as frazzled quakes and dubbed out bleeps fizz through the mix. The cast of supporting characters and guest artists reveal a considerable pedigree: guest singers and co-songwriters include Erelend Øye of Kings of Convenience, Kevin Blechdom, Françoise Cactus of Stereo Total, and Kim West of Crack W.A.R., and there are additional production flourishes from Apendics Shuffle, and Wobbly. On these ten songs the elegant techno pop classicism of Germany is tainted by the prankster freak flag spirit of California, and the results are yummy.
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SCAPE 031EP
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"Limited 7" pre-taster for the the upcoming long-play album Tainted Lunch. This 7" features an acoustic version of 'Sunlight On The Other Side' sung by Erlend Øye and a new version of 'Breastbone.' This will be a collector's item pretty soon."
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Version, Alan Abrahams' (aka Portable) second full-length album, is simultaneously archaic and totally futuristic, avidly exploring the fringes of techno and house. A resident of London via Capetown/South Africa, a superficial listen to Portable will reveal close parallels to the hyper-modern splinter-funk of the likes of Sutekh and his Context label where Portable also released his first record. On this release, futuristic elements that sound like miniscule spikeless particles strung together, pop up and then disappear within the tiniest fraction of a second, but are not relegated to the barrenness of micro-sampling techno. The archaic aspects of Portable's sound become most apparent in the unique sources Abrahams has unearthed for this release: reassembled field recording fragments of ancient African polyrhythms and syncopes. These snippets offer blurred glimpses of the jungle or a campfire, with the crackling taking on the character of ur-beats. Using modern audio software to digitally rework and filter these samples, they are given new shine, while preserving their old heritage -- their lore. The resulting sound is far from the "world music techno" some may have feared. Instead, Abrahams' Version represents a truly unfettered Afro-futuristic variant of techno that elegantly and serenely circumnavigates any prevalent beats, sub-scenes and trends. Abrahams allows syncopated bass drums, like dancehall rhythms, to mess with the static matrix of conventional 4/4 signatures while adding a polyrhythmic flow to the proceedings. Nevertheless, Version is also deep, soft, round and organic. Here "Portable" refers to Alan's home, often no more than the soft glow of a laptop in the twilight of a hotel room, somewhere in this world.
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SCAPE 028LP
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