This album asks for time and patience. If you give it both, it may lead you on a journey of discovery, perhaps into underground, watery spheres.

It comes as no surprise that Voices From The Lake unites two excellent producers: Donato Dozzy and Neel, one of my favourite minimal artists. Both were established solo acts when they teamed up in 2011.

Listening closely, I hear organic soundscapes emerge. Some capture nature in sound, while others evoke the feeling of something lurking just beneath the surface of dark water, or the play of colours shimmering as ripples spread slowly across the surface. The music carries the depth and darkness of the water, where a subtle life is sensed but never fully reveals itself. Above all, it conjures the quiet mystery of the water and the secrets it keeps, while its gentle flow soothes the mind and brings a deep calm.

HHV Magazine aptly described them as „immaculate sculptors of sound who fuse evocative ambient and leftfield techno into multi-layered soundscapes,“ „using banks of analogue and digital equipment to improvise in the moment.“ It added: „Rather than traditional kick drums, hi-hats or snares, this is music crafted from layers of real-world sound.“ In 2023, More than ten years later, the album was finally released on vinyl.

In „Circe + S.T. VFTL Rework“, a clearer, brighter and more fluid sound emerges from a dark, mysterious drift of water. Over twelve minutes, a dynamic play of moving water unfolds, at first uncertain, then increasingly fluid and driving. A clear formation of water takes shape, and with it a play of thoughts in the mind.

Throughout the album new formations arise spontaneously from the interplay of different rhythmic components. To me, this mirrors what happens in nature, where things react to one another and slowly give rise to something new. From chance encounters, something unexpected is born and begins to grow. This album brings that dynamic of nature to life: sound textures and rhythms recreate what nature does only far more slowly. Slowly unfolding textures spread out, react to one another, and then react to each other’s reactions.

Put on „Mika + H.G.S.“ and see if you can hear what I seem to hear: Bouncing, undulating rhythms begin to grow one by one and, after a while, merge into a shared sound structure. At the climax of their meeting, at 8:10, there is a rupture. It discharges as if everything that existed ist reforming into something completely new. Together, the rhythms gather fresh energy and create something new. For me, these moments, which you can discover throughout the album, take my breath away. It takes patience, but like nature, it rewards those who slow down and watch.

JakoJako has been on my radar for quite some time. I first discovered her at Berghain having been totally blown away by her craft and then soon after i enjoyed her set on an early Sunday morning at Fusion Festival 2023.

I am fascinated by artists who are as concentrated and deeply immersed in their music as JakoJako is. We I saw perform, she barely interacted with the crowd, remaining fully dedicated to her music— continuously building, refining, and reshaping her set with meticulous attention to detail.

JakoJako’s profound musical knowledge is evident in every track she produces. She acquired much of her expertise while working at “SchneidersLaden,” the renowned Berlin synthesizer store, where she quickly became recognized for her technical understanding. There, she taught herself the intricacies of modular synthesizers, creating a setup that now consists of 25 modules. This expertise eventually caught the attention of Daniel Miller, founder of Mute Records, who encouraged her to start producing her own music — marking the beginning of her career as an artist.

Looking at JakoJako’s discography, it becomes clear that she cannot be confined to a single genre. As a resident of the iconic Berghain, she has mastered the art of creating precise, pulsating techno while avoiding the predictability often associated with the genre. Her music naturally embraces repetition, yet within these structures one can constantly discover subtle shifts, intricate details, and unexpected layers that add sensitivity to her powerful rhythms and basslines.

Tracks such as “Impetus” and “Nexus” showcase this approach perfectly. “Impetus” is a peak-time techno banger, relentless in its driving force while creating a layer of tension that unfolds above a delicate and carefully crafted melody. “Nexus” maintains an intense level of suspense through soundscapes that interact in a nervous and dynamic exchange, enriched by abrasive, crackling textures.

However, JakoJako’s talent extends far beyond techno. She also explores ambient music, revealing another dimension of her artistic versatility. While her 2022 LP focused heavily on ambient compositions, she incorporates this side of her work into Verve with “Opak.” The track stands out with its feather-light, floating structure, offering a serene contrast to the intensity of the EP’s techno pieces.

Finally, “Auris” demonstrates her ability to merge the driving tension of techno with melodic elements and subtle dub influences. It serves as a perfect conclusion to Verve, presenting a well-rounded portrait of an artist who combines technical mastery, emotional depth, and a uniquely sensitive approach to electronic music.

The Swedish producer Martinou started releasing back in 2014 through his co-founded label sewer sender. Since then he has been realising numerous EPs. Rift marks the first LP of the Swedish producer Martinou which was released through the Label Nous’klaer in 2021.

At first glance Rift comes forth with an introverted touch: sounds are broken down to its core; low-key and almost hesitant. Once the tracks settle themselves into their main musical pattern, the music will expand itself, thus more and more character will slip through. What might have appeared to be cautious begins to flourish and change into confident material.

Listening to the overall 12 tracks I find myself on a meditative journey, however firstly going through nuances of distress and uncertainty. Once the tracks seem to overcome its distress, I hear both clarity and encouragement.

Listening into “Submerged” and “Thunder Road”: both tracks consist of a clattering rotating pattern. It attracts you, gloomy and obscure as they are. A jingling light melody breaks their dark atmosphere creating brightness and cheerfulness. Musically the quality of each sound pad is extremely rich and full of detail. They overlay and interweave with each other. Deep profound bass lines are combined with rustling floating sounds. A fair amount of tension is created by smoothly increasing or decreasing the volume of each component.

The most captivating and unique sound arrangement of the album is heard in the ambient track “Monolith”. For some it might first appear as monotonous, though listening to it more closely and trying to apply the details as described as above, “Monolith” will come across to be full of diverse structures and density. Once observed all the details, the track has some extremely meditative sensation.

Overall the potential for discovering Martinou’s skilled arrangements seems enormous and of great quality and aspiration. The whole record gives you the opportunity to slow down and discover a lot of detail over its course.

This deep house record has been on my review list since it was published July 2022. A Long Way performed by Jacques Bon and produced by Vincent Drux was released under the renowned label Smallville Records. Jacques Bon himself was running the Paris branch of the Smallville record store for 13 years (2006 – 2019) until it closed down; though the label itself still exists. From the start I was hooked by A Long Way.

When listening to this record you can certainly take A Long Way in the literal sense, though not in a tedious way. Even if the music has a dark and gloom character, the length of the ‚way‘ comes forth in a diverse and agitating sense.

A Long Way splits up into two different styles of tracks that alternate over the course of the album: One character I identify is that of toughness and suspicion, which musically gets transmitted by deep, monotonous bass-heavy patterns. This ‚monotony‘ gets broken up by the second character: enlightening sequences of a celestial ease – influences of ambient sounds and moderate melodies.

Both of these elements are easily discernable in the first track “Distant Voices”. Lucent sounds of bright colours lead into the beginning of the album. The brightness gets cut off by a musty bass drum, sounding as if the bass is still buried underground. With these two sound elements the track forms itself into an atmosphere both hesitant and animated.

The following two tracks “Celeste” and “Mirage” both continue with that dark and even more discomforting effect: thus I hear some of that gravelling tone like in “Celeste” – it is as if somebody is stirring in a big indefinable liquid substance. You are left both curious but hesitant. With “Mirage” the path will carry on even hazier. A monotonous dark bass line in combination with a shrill but muffled, vage melody leaves you feeling intimidated.

The next track “Space Ways” clears up the atmosphere slowly. A strong beat is underlaid with a shimmering spheric sound pattern. Botanical snippets and a soothing vocal ease up the ‚Long Way‘.

The shimmering tone gets carried on in “Radiance”, however it takes on a much more roughness over its course. The main percussion element that starts off slowly sounds more and more distorted and metallic. The same process carries on in “Your Wings” with similar metallic beats, however much sharper and forceful. Once again a lucent soft component will discharge the tension of the track.

Having almost arrived at the end of the record, with “Elevate” we are left with a trotting, deep yet spherical touch suggesting a cool down, though the album ends with its most dynamic track- “Sandstorm”. It insists with a deep but simple techno pattern underlaid yet again with the stirring motive of “Celeste”. Once you find yourself drawn into the driving power of the stompy beat, gentle percussions will decrease the speed cooling off the tempo. But the tempo will change back as it increases one more time, finally climaxing in a joint arrangement with the strong beat form the beginning. Soon they both fade out gently and illusively.

Gentle and illusive – In that sense I experienced the entire journey of A Long Way. For me it is the perfect combination of profound rhythms that come forth sort of mystifying and dark. It consists of great repetition as well as numerous details which make it as diverse.

As subtle as you wouldn’t expect club music to be, with DJ Pleads latest EP Relentless Thrills he succeeded to create something extremely deliberate yet captivating. A dense set of different arrangements makes up a total of 6 tracks, however, only a single instrument was needed – the Yamaha ‘Oriental’ keyboard.

Instead of creating big built-ups which might ‘normally’ dissolve by a heavy drop or kickdrum, DJ Plead persistently increases musical tension within the course of his tracks. He implements interesting dynamics between the components. His signature: striking sounds of his Levantine Arab musical origins that resonate to patterns of synthesizers – a unique way to create those Relentless Thrills.

With the first track, RT1, various keys are heard, a bass plays some easy going riff and you hear the recording of the start of an interview in Arabic – altogether these components sound like a rehearsal as if the musicians prepare themselves for the start of a performance – a “thrilling” but also unusual way to open up a record.

If you are not already fazed by the intro, RT2 immediately draws you in by a bombastic dancehall bounce. A reverberating male voice is chanting in Arabic, which leads into singing. His voice meanders around the bounces and drum pattern. Alternatingly, a clarinet sets in, counter calling the voice. As well as the man’s voice the clarinet is of Levantine origin: a traditional flute called mijwiz, which is very popular in Levantine music. It produces a shrill and flattery tone. Even though the musical components come from different origins DJ Plead adjusted each one for them to turn out with a matching flair in which their differences stand in harmony to each other. And yet, a track which leaves you with a thrill as if you’ve just experienced an important chant leaving you with euphoria.

The relentlessness goes on: RT3 expands into a more fluid and sensitive interplay between a flute and percussions, rounded up with abrupt cords of the keyboard. The tempo of the following two tracks, RT4 and RT5, decelerates into a highly sensual atmosphere, in which the clarinet devotionally floats around the some steady percussions – another relentless thrill.

To complete the levels of possible thrills, Plead surpasses himself with his last track RT6: You hear a breeze of what might be the sounds of the mijwiz defending its position towards the sounds of a flattery and wavelike snyth pattern, that becomes more and more dominant in comparison to the clarinet. Listening to RT6 I instantly pick up the feeling of getting some strong chills down my back, which is slowly but steady spreading everywhere on my body- a feeling which no longer can be stopped and demands my full attention – relentlessly.

Overflow by Rival Consoles (alias Ryan Lee West) was originally composed for a dance production of the same name created by choreographer Alexander Whitley at the renowned Sadler’s Wells Theatre in 2019. Due to pandemic restrictions the performances came to a hault. They will hopefully be resume performing in 2022. As the dance piece the album Overflow examines our life in the age of Big Data – that being said, when I initially listened to this album I was unaware of the background of his album. Thus, I will not refer to Ryan Lee West’s sociological comment or try to adopt my writing to it, I will stick to my initial understanding of the music and how I perceived it.

Rival Consoles’ music can create some fearful sensation. For instance, the track „Monster” sets off with a pulsating and repetitive deep sound as if you have discovered something extraordinary. Maybe you do not know if further steps will turn out to be risky or safe – but you go on either way out of curiosity or being fully captivated. The same structure is applicable to „Hands”: Obtaining its deep profoundness, it sounds like a cautious walk – a walk through some wide open space but with less gravity. Jingly sounds produce enlightening and gripping tension.

„Touches Everything” falls into the same pattern, however, it highlights the darkest set of mood on the album. It contains a dark pounding bassline combined with high pitched shrilling synths where a dystopian feeling becomes realest.

Additionally, there is another side to Rival Consoles’ musical approach. His tracks also transmit a moving sense of cheerfulness and confidence. Listening to „Pulses of Information”, in my imagination I see pulses of molecules and enlightening colours that emerge through the sounds of reverberating staccato synths who seem to drift back and forth to one another. A similar sensation, yet more floaty and with a vivid pattern, occurs in „Flow State” as it is packed with small but multi-facetted fast-moving elements. Right in the middle of the course of the track, a determined bass will turn the track around into a darker dimension, thus representing a mix of both approaches explained above – on the one hand the unsettledness and dangerous tension and on the other hand the cheerful and encouraging elements.

 Third, there is also a contemplative side of his music – melancholic and romantic in equal parts. For „I Like” he uses shreds of words as the main essence. The few words of a field recording, where a voice mumbles ‘I like, and they were like, It’s like, I mean it’s like, like when’ get torn apart throughout the course of the track. Even through the content gets muddled more and more, it still comes along with something meditative and not at all irritating as you might think at first.

With „Noise Call and Response I” he lets tenacious sounds flow in together. Considering the slowness it lets you perceive each element spatially. To me it literally sounds like you can inspect the sound physically.

 It turns out that Overflow strongly speaks to me on a visual level as it enables me to imagine shapes that are in motion. You might perceive the music as something spatial and mentally float around through the music or move along with it.

With „Xiu“, the opener of Yellow River Blue, you are greeted by a melody of a traditional chinese zither supported by a dreamy humming vocals of the artist Yo Su. The atmosphere is that of a warm welcome to her album. Yellow River Blue is based on a journey Yu Su embarked on 2019 back to her homeland China, where she was born but has since lived in Vancouver from 2013. Thus I see the said song also as an invitation to go on her trip which took Yu Su from China’s coast to the Tibetan Mountains. Going back to the track, after a gentle start the melody expands into a richer carpet of sounds. Soft drums and subsequently more and more synths tare together and with the final breakthrough of a beautiful baseline the vivid interplay continues to grow.

„Futuro” takes us a step further. You hear special drum pattern once again indicative ofits Traditional Chinese influence. In between rustling, animal-like sounds can be made out, which set the track into a vivid scene: Am I wandering through a unknown jungle ? The sedative rhythm feels like I must carefully explore my surroundings, however the thrill behind the unknown makes it exciting.

The same exciting atmosphere applies to the next scenery: „Touch-Me-Not” is a beautiful track in which Yu Su puts various flowy synths on to each other. Fore comes an atmosphere as if a river shapes into a glittery waterway on which a breeze of wind is blowing? A bunch of water currents flow alongside each other in which I try to track down each individually and observe this ‚game of water‘.

Then, „Gleam“ will guide you under water into the river through dub sounds rendering everything blurry and unclear yet sprawling water. The track is underlined by a gloomy sound coming from a distance with the twist of sharp and jumping synths. This mixture takes me to a meditative, yet attentive state in equal parts.

In contrast, „Melaleuca” pulls one away from nature. The setting might that be of a bustling city in which you experience some vivid nightlife on a stop of your journey through the country: Yu Su creates a cheerful dance track with a touch of 80s synth pop. In the middle of the track she seizes even more tension with some fast drum pattern boosting my mood even further.

In „Kleid” shows Su Yu experimental side: a voice of a women that seems to monologize the same phrase over and over can be made out. Next to her, drums try to keep up with her, however it sounds like an exhausting task to fulfill. Is it a musical transition of a situation Yu Su observed on the streets somewhere she went?

Our and the album’s journey ends with two calm tracks „Dusty” and „Melaleuca” – at night. A slow tempo enables us to process all these newly found discoveries.

Throughout the album one common thread of how Yu Su approaches her music becomes clear: she merges a variety of different genres from ambient dub, synth pop to downtempo and gives each part its own note with the touch of her chinese roots. However, each track has its own main emphasis which enables Yu Su to generate a diverse set of tension. Above all, which might be the most important, Yu Su enables us to take part in her travels through the musical imagery she creates.

Club Pez marks the latest EP of the New York- based producer and musician Anthony Naples. He is seen as an artist who doesn’t follow any particular genre boundaries and likes to juggle around with numerous influences. Previously he composed an ambient album, released disco focused sounds in his early career, but also offers classic house tunes lying within the so-called Leftfield spectrum. Now, as the name of his latest EP suggests, Anthony Naples takes us on a club night out that, as we all have experienced in the last two years of a global pandemic, have long been on a hault. In his words, the tracks on this EP are supposed to “express a state of optimism and excitement for club and dance experience equal parts and totally imaginary.”

Thus, I invite you to imagine yourself on a night out – finally, after a long period of being restricted not to go clubbing. You have waited more than a year to experience the long expected club reunion. You have prepared yourself to queue up early in front of the doors and take part in the excitement of that pre-club moment: Everyone has dressed up extravagantly, eager to get in. You see people coming out of the club, trying to detect on them of what is going on behind the walls of the club. Thrilled by having passed the bouncer you decent the stairs that will lead you to the main dance floor. You can already hear a deep vibrating, pulsing sound. Once you open the thick doors, that blocks up the outer world from what is happening inside on the dance floor, an enormous wave of heat, thick air, voices and hustle overlaid by the pulsating music hits you. In my mind it is at that moment that I hear the track „Pez Anthem“. Its raw character will push you immediately on the dance floor to join in with the dancing. The track’s perky spirit comes forth through rumbling drums where I just want to bounce to. Its acidy sounds seem to explode and create a sensational moment.

Naples‘ instinct to reflect this magical moment are also perceivable in the three other tracks. With the entry „Bonk” he firstly animates the dance floor with a beating baseline and euphoric sythns. „Drops“ brings forth a dark but steady deep drumming pattern with the twist of some ecstatic illuminating synths. „Club Anthem“ marks the peak of the EP, or relative to the peak of a club night. It is packed with screeching sounds, rumbling drums. The track reaches its finale with some acid tunes. „Uni Vibe” might suggest Anthony Naples audible memory of his time at Uni as it recalls familiar tunes that were popular 2 decades ago lying in the typical Tech-House of the 2000s. The last track „Solero” takes on the same vibe, rounding up the EP with some steady deep-house tunes that expand into a darker shade sending off the club guests into the night which probably hasn’t found its end yet.

No words can actually explain how incredibly intense the combination of music and dancing can be. But I will try it anyway. On the occasion of my visit on October 31st at the Staatsoper Berlin I watched the contemporary ballet performance Strong by Sharon Eyal with the music by Ori Lichtik.

I was not only able to witness the exceptional skill set of the ballet dancers. I was also able to observe to what extent the music was a crucial contribution to the dancing: I experienced music and the dance as two equal parts communicating with each other: it seemed like they responded to each other.  Patterns of dance-expressed the music’s theme or spirit: For example, I clearly remember a moment when the track „Strongend” was brought in, creating a temperamental, driven atmosphere. The ballet dancers formed a straight line, closely standing together, taking each other by their hands to make small robotic movements back and forth. Their response to the music was perfectly matched to the music’s unrattled, stiff and conform theme. In contrast, the dancers also displayed movements as if they wanted to disagree with or counteract a certain musical theme: right at the beginning of the concert the track „Struße” set in, which started with marbling voices, that continuously became faster and faster. Out of this ever more hectic buzz of voices, the mumbling turned into a rhythm. The dancers, however, reversely moved to the hecticness of the song by forming a narrow formation making tiny but twitchy moments.

Throughout the ballet performance many of such interactions between dance and music occurred – I only mentioned two moments among many others. Every interaction had its own contextuality and gave room for interpretation. However, although the music was primarily there to support the dancing, it also enabled me to reminisce these movements after the performance ended: When I listen to the music now, it takes my mind back to the performance, even to specific movements.

As I am doing my research for this article, my observations are ’confirmed’ as I read an interview of Ori Lichtik with the theater Sanderl’s Wells:

“Usually we start from day zero together, which is quite peculiar as far as I understand in the dance world. I set up my equipment in the studio and just start playing from scratch. Sharon [the choreographer] is shooting out forms, movements and ideas from her body and I am playing music from my equipment and my computer. Everything we do is being recorded and we have tons of hours of recording. […] It [the music] is being carved until the last moment.”

To me this work process is visible in the performance, you at once realise that a lot of work and accuracy has been put in the process – from all contributors.

Notwithstanding the amazing dancing, the music by the Tel-Aviv composer Ori Lichtik stands out on its own as I listen to Strong EP. Ori started as a DJ and a drummer for parties and raves. Lichtik is seen as one of the founding fathers of Israeli techno in 1996. Since 2006 he works (among others) with the choreographer Sharon Eyal to compose the music for her dances.

„I started from techno which, for me, is a form of minimalist music.”, he explains, “I like to take the essence of other music genres too. […] My influences are stuff that is groovy and to find them out of places that are not necessarily obvious.”

His approach can be heard really clearly in Strong: On the basis of dark techno, he integrates elements of jazzy drumming as heard in “Ouvna”. Moreover for „Strongend” he supplements monotonic rhythms with atonal melodies of a violin and chello. The mood created feels extremely gory and intimidating. This also remains present in the last track „Housekeeper”: it resonates with a sassy and naughty touch. Once the sound of an old, rumbling tube comes in, you get aroused and amazed by this captivating pumping combination of unusual sounds.