originally published by workshop records in 2014
2014 double EP “Music For The Uninvited” was widely praised and featured heavily on many of 2014’s ‘Best Of Year’ polls including DJ Mag (#3), Mixmag (#6) and XLR8R (#3). Resident Advisor called the album “one of the most eclectic and rewarding house records you’ll hear all year”.
PAN is excited to announce the release of Objekt’s debut album, Flatland. Written between 2012 and 2014, Flatland follows up a succession of dynamic single releases from his base in Berlin, including the recent split 12” with Dopplereffekt on Leisure System, Cactus b/w Porcupine on Hessle Audio and three 12” singles on his eponymous white label series. His recorded work so far has toyed with techno and electro conventions and has turned dancefloor tropes on their head, tickling the boundaries of what can or can’t constitute an effective club record. Approaching the album format on its own terms, Objekt makes full use of the larger canvas to explore a framework of competing truths, multiple perspectives and conflicting accounts. Flatland imagines a world in which any scene can be seen from every angle at once. Sem- blances and cross-references entwine the eleven original tracks and Objekt’s existing record- ings, shaping a powerful and absorbing album that weaves between the alien and the haunt- ingly familiar. This is an effervescent body of work, its sound design evoking vivid imagery and conveying the same unmistakeable sense of detail and movement for which Objekt has become known. On his first attempt, Objekt has constructed a mature and multilayered album with its own story to tell, from whichever angle you choose to approach it. The album is mastered and cut by Matt Colton at Alchemy, pressed on a double 140g vinyl & CD. It features photography by Joe Dilworth and artwork by Bill Kouligas & Kathryn Politis.
Steffi | Power Of Anonymity | ostgutcd32/lp18 Berlin-based DJ and producer Steffi returns with her second album Power Of Anonymity on Ostgut Ton. “I wanted to start working on my new album without any personal or external expectations and I was seeking an emancipated, unshackled approach in the album’s construction. I intended to include Electro and IDM elements as these are my roots: it's the music that I first started djing. After almost 20 years I got the feeling that I've come full circle, so I wanted to make an album that I, as a DJ, would like to carry in my record bag. My first LP – Yours & Mine (Ostgut Ton, 2011) – is very conceptual, it has a certain vibe that not only fits the club but also works on a stereo or in the car. Power Of Anonymity is much more about how I see the dance floor these days, and my aim was to take that vision into the studio. I asked myself what would happen if I could produce day after day without DJ gigs and travel interrupting my flow. These long stints in the studio allowed me to divide my time into three single blocks: initially I would only do jams and make sketches, followed by a phase for arranging and editing all recordings, and then a mixdown period for the album. Concentrating on creating Power Of Anonymity has inspired me to carry on tapping deeper into my creative vein. I'm looking forward to the next time when I can step into the studio. Being focused is the key.” – Steffi, Berlin, August 2014 – The new approach to her songwriting and production sees the 40-year-old Steffi being as on point as ever. Power Of Anonymity features laid-back, melodic cuts like “Pip”, “Fine Friend” and the break-heavy title track next to more straightforward, hypnotic dance floor pieces such as “Selfhood”, “Bag Of Crystals”, “JBW25” and “Bang For Your Buck”. Besides her solo instrumental productions, Steffi's collaboration with longtime friends Dexter and Virginia on the uplifting, percussion-driven vocal track “Treasure Seeking” is the icing on the cake. Just like “Power Of Anonymity” as a single piece of music, the album itself lives on an industrial-resonating structure of 808s, crisp synth stabs, pulsing staccati and dark, percussive drumbeats. With her second album Steffi recalls classic, landmark Detroit Electro, while creating her very own modern, retro-futuristic sound.
‘Punish, Honey’ the follow up to Vessel’s critically acclaimed debut album ‘Order of Noise’ finds the always unpredictable Bristol based producer continuing to challenge himself and listeners alike. Wishing to move away from working with archetypal electronic sounds, with ‘Punish, Honey’ Vessel sought to create something that felt more organic even if the sounds themselves didn’t always feel inherently organic. That lessening interest in electronic sounds was concurrent with a burgeoning interest in natural sounds, in particular, how the physical body has a direct effect on the nature of the sound, whether it be harsh or pure, messy, violent, seductive, or strange. Using sheets of metal as percussion, sawing up bikes to make flutes and creating harmonic guitars all by his own hand, Vessel created his own set of crude instrumentation exclusively for this record. Combined with an interest in notions of national identity, Vessel asking himself the question ‘What does ‘Englishness’ in music really mean?’ ‘Punish, Honey’ is an uncompromising and dizzying experience. Traversing the queasy glam stomp pf ‘Red Sex’, the chugging, cinematic soundscapes of ‘Anima’ and the medieval industrial tones of ‘Euoi’, ‘Punish, Honey’ is the by-product of an artist striving to create his own unique lane.
On his first album in 13 years, Richard D. James, the godfather of cerebral electronic music, is in top form. This isn\'t a comeback, nor a departure of any kind: *Syro* sounds like highly concentrated, classic Aphex Twin, a singular aesthetic that dates all the way back to 1982: beat patterns wiggle into the foreground, then disappear; analog synths snap, crackle and pop; moods vacillate between aggressively percussive and smoothly melodic. These tracks – they work together like one long set -- demand to be listened to with excellent headphones, the better to discern their highly intricate sequencing, arguably some of James\' most ambitious. Each tune is teeming with juicy noise, all of it gleefully arranged. What comes through most is joy: it sounds like James is having so much fun.
As an original member of Flying Lotus\' Brainfeeder collective, Mtendere Mandowa has seen his production style grow right alongside the richly hued paintings he\'s had featured in galleries worldwide. And while music is a more recent pursuit of his than visual art, both mediums benefit from Mandowa\'s distinct voice: one that\'s warm, polychromatic, and collage-ish, as if he\'d somehow bottled L.A.\'s smog-battling sunshine and sold it back to us via broad brushstrokes and bold sample banks. The latter of those is decidedly lean, to the point where it\'s nearly impossible to identify the guests on Mandowa\'s second proper Teebs LP, from his Sons of the Morning studiomate Prefuse 73 to Jaga Jazzist bandleader Lars Horntveth. Aside from the Toro y Moi double takes of \"Holiday\"—a rare vocal track featuring Jonti—*E s t a r a* is very much Mandowa\'s show, a laid-back affair led by light guitar lines, rattled field recordings, and skittish beats. Step back and take a long look, though; like a paint-splattered canvas, its many layers demand repeat visits to truly reveal themselves.
Chris Clark is the quintessential Warp Records artist; his electronic palette wanders between melodious piano loops and abrasive synth squelches, pummeling techno and eerie ambience. His eponymous seventh album may be his most virtuosic work yet. The caustic throb of \"Unfurla\" gives way to the metallic ambience of \"Strength Through Fragility.\" \"Snowbird\" is an arrhythmic collage of chirps and chimes, while \"Beacon\" is one long, raging arpeggio, a live wire showering sparks. For a record this peripatetic, it\'s surprisingly cohesive, conjuring visions of a sci-fi future full of machines on the fritz and sunsets tinged with industrial smog.
Following the liquid beats of his 2010 breakout, *Swim*, Caribou’s Dan Snaith has fallen further in love with the dance floor. In his entrancing follow-up, *Our Love*, Snaith blends house, hip-hop, garage, and vintage soul. On “Can’t Do Without You,” Snaith flips a slowed-down soul sample into a vocal mantra that eventually bursts amidst rave-ready synths, while on late highlight “Mars,” he mixes intricate drum patterns, hip-hop samples, and one very nimble flute melody.
