Ostgut Ton Germany At Juno Download

Review: One of the greatest things about Berlin club Berghain is that once you make your way past the autocratic glare of the door staff, you are free to act as you want. There are no rules and everyone is treated the same. This sense of egalitarianism may be fleeting, but the club's residents have succeeded in applying a similar aesthetic to their mix CDs. Well-known producers appear beside unknowns, while artists lauded for a particular sound veer off into new, uncharted territories. This approach is audible on this sampler for Marcel Fengler's forthcoming mix. Belgian producer Peter Van Hoesen is known primarily for his bass-heavy, heads down warehouse tracks, but on "Axis Mundi", there's a palpable change. Van Hoesen's usual deft production touch ensures that the arrangement features razor-blade percussion and a lithe rhyhtmic sensibility, but "Mundi" is all about the woozy, trancey melodies filtering their way to its centre. Likewise, Jonah Sharp and Move D's "The Labyrinth" marks a departure of sorts, with the duo's tasteful, jazzy keys teased out over a rough, glitchy backing track. Vril's "UV" is the most obvious sign that Fengler and Ostgut want to maintain the same egalitarian approach as Berghain: this artist, who hasjust two EPs to his/her credit on Giegling, drops a slamming, dubby techno track that simultaneously challenges the bass power of Shed's Wax project and the loose, echo chamber tones of Modern Love. Like Berghain, once they past the litmus test, every artist is an equal.

Review: Two of the best tracks from Luke Slater's mighty Messenger album get the remix treatment. Under Silent Servant's care, "Bell Blocker" is transformed into an esoteric dance floor track. The hissing percussion that prevailed on the original is still audible, but the US producer deploys sonic blips over a pulsing, clinical groove - and offsets its functionality with a dreamy chord sequence. The Black Dog offer even more radical interpretations of "Beauty In The Fear". The Sheffield act's second version has some bearing on the original but once again spacey pads temper the splurging bass. However, it's the first 'Destroyed on Purpose' remix, with its gentle atmospheric ambience, that really rings changes to Slater's tortured techno.

Review: Luke Slater is a survivor. Not in the physical sense, even though he has lived enough for three people, but because two decades after the UK producer started putting out music, his latest album features moments where the listener is forced to admit that it follows a path that few others have dared to venture down. The main reason for Slater's ongoing artistic relevance is down to him opting for a new approach. Whereas during the golden age of UK techno he was writing his own rules as he went, gifting the world "Booster", "In From The Night" and My Wise Yellow Rug", in his modern-day incarnation he has learnt invaluable insights from the output of those he influenced, absorbing their nuances as a starting point. However, he then applies his own wonderfully skewed thinking, which explains the panning, whiplash rhythm of "Bell Blocker", a track that sounds both familiar and utterly alien, or "Wriss", which - unusually for Slater's techno productions - features a vocal snippet. Invariably, comparisons will be made to other Ostgut artists, but it's hard to imagine any of them daring to even imagine a track like "Rip The Cut". In true PAS form, the beats sound like they're exploding from the speakers as the bass patterns build and build to the point of distortion, tempered only by reverberating claps.

Review: Berghain and its residents may be the epicentre of the techno and house universe right now, but they never forget to acknowledge who and what they have been inspired by. Indeed, while Ben Klock's mix CD for sister label Ostgut last year showcased new school European talents like Martyn and Roman Lindau, it also featured a long-lost Tyree classic as well as giving tacit recognition to Detroit's influence on modern-day Berlin techno with contributions from Rolando. While the "Knights of the Jaguar" creator has focused his efforts in recent years on house music, "De Cago" sees him re-explore the middle ground between these styles and fittingly, there's a solemn vocal intoning 'Detroit...Chicago'. This is a familiar trick and one that has gained currency as a lazy crutch in recent times. Thankfully though, in Rolando's hands it becomes an effective weapon as he filters it in DBX-style and it also helps that he underpins it with a dense, drummy groove and chilling, atmospheric chords. "Junie", which provided the outro to Klock's mix, opts for a radically different approach. Like Carl Craig's more introspective work, Rolando favours a mid-tempo arrangement, with the somnambulant pace providing the ideal backdrop for orchestral strings and a sombre bassline. The sum of these parts proves yet again that Detroit artists still have the ability to surprise and inspire, 25 years after the city birthed techno.

Review: Newly ensconced down south in Auckland, Magik Johnson launches his new Neat Music imprint in a dust off with those twisted sisters from New Zealand known as MayaVanya. Echoing the current clubbing climate, "Don't Need No One" is an infectious post UK F rattler, chopping up diwali style handclap beats over layered bass undulations. Add vocals from Silva MC and Rugged Techniques and it's a perfect match. Johnson dons his Magik J alias for a rerub that transforms the track into Dirtybird territory whilst Nightshifters stalwart Rob Threezy adds his own futuristic Chi Town club angle to proceedings. Watch out for those hoover bass washes!

Review: This sampler from Prosumer's Panorama Bar mix should dispel any doubts that the Ostgut stable caters exclusively to jaw-grinding intensity. Hunee's "Leaf for Hand in Hand" sounds like a return to UK house music of the mid to late-90s with a clubbier feel punctuated by a celebratory hook. Fused with a bleeding acid line, it nonetheless serves as a reminder of what a fruitful time that scene enjoyed. "Take U" by Soundstore a is more stripped back affair, focusing mainly on a buzzing bass, edgy beats and heavy claps - although there is some concession towards musicality thanks to some eerie synths - but "Sadness" by Steffi ensures that soul remains on the Ostgut menu. Over understated drums, Steffi lays down a sun-kissed yet somnambulant melody line and the kind of breathy vocals that Tracey Thorn would kill to emulate. These tracks make for one of the most uplifting house releases of 2011 - and reinforce Ostgut's reputation as a purveyor of the best contemporary electronic music.

Review: Panoramabar resident and Klakson co-founder Steffi unveils her debut album, and as you’d expect from an Ostgut Ton release, it’s an enjoyable collection of high-grade house. The Dutch DJ/producer is known for her love of quality analogue tackle (as anyone who has bought Klakson releases will confirm), and it’s this jack-era ethos that’s at the heart of Yours & Mine. "Arms", "Manic Moods" and "Mine" all throb to a Chi-town beat, with the latter’s strings and percussion coming on like a lost TRAX flipside. Steffi also tries her hand at Motor City style machine soul, densely layered deepness and anthemic piano house - all with impressive results. It’s notoriously hard to make a good quality house album that hangs together well, but with Yours Or Mine, Steffi has succeeded.

Review: Steffi and vocalist Elif Bicer make a big impression with this charming, slightly old-school deep house tune on. The fun and playful vocal reminds one of 90s acts like St. Etienne, matching sweet-as-syrup female vocals with house grooves. Released on Ostgut Ton, the label behind the infamous Berghain/Panorama, this is definitely a groove for Panorama, where Steffi is a resident DJ.

Review: As remix packages go, this is pretty darn hot. Of course, most punters will naturally gravitate towards current hot property Lone and his rub of "Arms". As you might expect, it's typical Lone, starting off on a Mr Fingers-ish vibe before exploding into rainbows of vivid colour. Like most of his tracks, it's a veritable orgasm. Staffan Lindberg provides an excellent Sound Factory-inspired take for fans of bumpin' mid-90s NYC house, while The Analogue Cops head for the afterparty on their tottering take on "You Own My Mind". Seriously sleazy and low slung, you could imagine it crawling along the dancefloor in order to gawp up girls' skirts.

Review: In a neat appropriation, Rene Pawlowitz takes the name from his most recent album and goes back in time once again. Every one of Pawlowitz's projects succeed in providing a contemporary spin on classic sounds and styles - and The Traveller is no exception. Instead of reliving jacking house, "Bypass" serves up a dense and almost claustrophobic interpretation of the 303 as paranoid rhythms underpin the gurgling acid. "BER" is a beautiful but somewhat flawed take on Landcruising-era Carl Craig as crackles and static hisses seep through the welling synths. The title track however is this release's piece de resistance. A dense, rattling percussive groove, its firing, driving feeling and eerie synth is reminiscent of classic E-Dancer, viewed through a contemporary German techno filter.

Review: Backwards is the album that veteran producer and former Boney M studio bod Tobias Freund has been threatening to make for many years and the work that so many of his peers aspire to but will never reach. It is clear that a huge amount of thought has gone into this album. From the static crackle of album opener "Girts" to the trippy, Eno-esque ambience of "Voices Told Me To Do That", the devil is in the detail as new ideas and nuances loom at every bar. From the insistent stabby techno of "Party Town" and "Skippy" to the glorious Drexciyan electro of "The Key", Backwards is steeped in 30 years of electronic music history but never sounds dated.

Review: The fascinating (and wholly appropriate) concept behind Ostgut Ton's fifth anniversary compilation was conceived by British born, Berlin based artist Emika. On a night out at the label's legendary affiliate club Berghain she noticed the walls were moving and giving off their own frequencies, such was the ferocity and energy of the music and revellers within. And so Funf was born; with Berghain and Panorama Bar's extensive family of artists given four gigabytes of field recordings taken from within the club after hours - be it humming fridges, creaking doors or unseen footsteps - and asked to make a track using these sounds as their foundation. The results are absolutely stunning, with a disparate yet inexorably linked selection of tracks that range from subtle soundscapes (Emika's "Changing Room") to experimental dubstep (Fiedel's debut production "Doors To Manual"), minimal house (Dinky's "Twelve To Four") and banging techno (Shed's "Boom Room"). Split across seven 12"s, this is an absolutely unmissable slice of contemporary techno history.