I Know You Want Me
Booty Snatch
In Tune (2009)

This EP brings together elements of different sounds. dub KULT thinks of the main tracks as “booty step” - an unlikely combination of classic Chicago booty house and London dubstep, with an underpinning of Berliner minimal techno, of course.

I Know You Want Me is about the interplay of masculine and feminine. The arrogance of the male voice chant is counter-played with the testing nature of the female voice insisting that he doesn’t have a clue. Perhaps the guy is naive, perhaps his confidence will win her over. But then she comes in with the killer line - “I feel so sorry for you!” Who will win? Well… it turned out to be painfully prophetic with the break up of dub KULTs relationship, especially as the vocals are her voice! Well at least there’s a massive filthy bassline to make up for it.

Booty Snatch borrows a little more from the booty side of things with rude samples bouncy yet jacking beats and a big toffee-chew of a bassline.

In Tune is a revisit of a track dub KULT made in ‘98 and put out on a limited white label 12″ called In Tube Bob. It’s a breaky affair with a big sound and trippy as hell samples, getting more demented as the track goes on. Mmm, I can really cook with one note!

1 - Forcefield
2 - Expectation
3 - Pitchbitch
4 - White There

Vadim Lankov the electronic music producer from Moscow, Russia has been solidly knocking out tracks since 2006. His debut on Living Records brings us an exciting mix skippy beats cut up sound design and wigged out riddims.

The title track, Forcefield, is a perfect example of Vadim’s unique style of solid production, mad sounds and a wigged out groove that somehow keeps the booty shaking. Expectation is a bit more four to the floor but the energetic bassline and off kilter percussion keeps the interest high and the dancefloor moving. When it drops into the second half you can expect Expectation to send the dancers dotty! BIG track this one. Pitchbitch is my personal favourite with it’s phat beat, one note drone for a bassline, scatty FX and irreverent, highly tweaked vocals, it presses all the right buttons. White There is a bit of a classic sounding tracky track. Well, until the huge break down with demented horns lands, then all kinds of spooky hell breaks loose.

The mysterious yet prolific Berliner, Lars Wickinger, returns to Living with this fantastic new EP. Three solid yet mesmerising and catchy dancefloor tracks. Since his last visit to the label Lars has been refining his sound even further. Releasing on more trendy labels than you can shake a stick at and even investing in real life hardware! Oh yes hardware! Remember that?

The awkwardly titled Alicia @ The Wonderland is a tight, rolling, pleasing tease of a song that finally delivers in superb style – one you have to play all the way to the end! When that vocal drops, oh my, dancefloor craziness for sure. Greenland is a tight bouncy number with an infectious groove and well placed vocal snatches and more than forgivable sax samples. The Swing Side of the Moon somewhat lives up to its name with it’s swinging dark vibe – perfect B2 material. Classy stuff all the way through.

A1: Yak
A2: Armadillo
B1: Yak (Taylan RMX)
B2: Aardvark
BONUS: Ixban

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Evirgen a.k.a. Hüseyin Evirgen was born in Istanbul, Turkey and now lives in Vienna, Austria where you will often him find him either DJing or performing his live sets. His study of composition and electroacoustic music at the University of Istanbul and Mozarteum Salzburg have left him in good stead for his creation of subtle compositions and driving flow, giving you both shakey leg on the the dance-floor and noddy head in the living room. His precisely programmed tracks tell of his insight into the functionality of music and the syntax of sounds.

Yak is a solid, percussive track with floaty and at times biting atmospherics, vocal snatches and infectious skippy groove. The intricate arrangement and funky as hell bass line make this hairy animal a dance-floor winner.

Armadillo is, as you might expect, is crunchy on the outside and smooth and warm in the middle.

The Taylan RMX is an insight into a man obsessed with sound. This version is the fourth version submitted. Each one was superb, but there was nothing that could be done to stop him tearing it up and starting again. The mind boggling final result embodies that passion for perfection, cutting-edge sound design and big fuck-off speakers. I can’t get enough of the alien sounding female vocal sound in it.

Aardvark is moody and spacious. Its characterized by an extremely low double bass sound, huge yet invisible reverbs and samples from a dead dictator’s speech.

Ixban, the bonus track, is a lovely deep track and a great way to finish off this massive EP.

Vadim Lankov, the electronic music producer from Russia/Moscow, working in various musical directions, preferring a writing of music in style of a minimalist/techno.

His love for electronic music began in 1999 when he discovered a radio station called ‘106.8 fm’ which played exactly the music that he liked.From this point on his interest in electronic music rose, nurturing the idea to start making music on his own.

Having devoted more than five years to perfection of own skill in a writing of a techno music, it has proved as the original musician, who creates really original sound and ideas, realized in electronic music.

Oleg Slepak and Shay Raban ( aka DJ Earthian) are Animaltek, Producer/DJ duo that explores the wide range of sound and rythm possibilities for a dancefloor theory and practice. Hitting to the center of the heat in the early fall of 2007 with a debut EP ‘Karmik loops’ on WIR, both sides of the wich on numerous occasions reached an air play from World’s Top DJ’s such as John Digweed, Sasha, Satoshi Tomie, Anthony Pappa, among others, Shay and Oleg are armed now with a battery fully charged with fresh and strong tunes, that are ready to be released and to be played in their unique and energetic live set.

Filterwolf is a Munich based producer and DJ. His début EP, South Disco, has remixes from Tigerskin (Dirt Crew Recordings) and Hrdvsion (Wagon Repair) has already got support from the likes of Coldcut (Ninja Tune), Maral Salmasi (Television Records), Cosmo Vitelli (Imacliche), King Britt (Compost), Zombie Nation, John Acquaviva (Definitive), Tom Pooks (Kompakt), Muallem (Compost), Kate Wax (Output), My Robot Friend (Soma), Ben Mono (Compost) – to name a few! Florian Mendl (Trapez) described South Disco as “Like Kraftwerk for the future”!!

South Disco EP has got something for just about everyone. From the impossibly funky electro-disco musings of the original to the effortless, infectious, housiness of dancefloor bound Tigerskin’s Deep Droid RMX to the beautifully mutilated glitch-fest from the warped Nathan Johnson aka Hrdvsion. The vinyl EP is finished off with aptly titled Luxurious – ooh, I just love that melodic 16th note baseline, and then the synth keys come in - lush! The digital only track, Glitter, is a tad deeper, featuring some of Filterwolf’s trademark melodic basslines and off kilter grooves.

Expect more from this man in the not too distant future.

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A1: Petit Mal
B1: Olé - dub KULT & Paulo dF
B2: 50 Ways
FREE: Petit Mal (44) (right click, save as)

living007 - Relase date: 17th March 2008

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Petit Mal EP is quite varied. Everything from the minimalisch party flavours of Olé to the twisted cut up acid rhythms of Petit Mal to the demented dubby Chicago pulse of 50 Ways.

Petit Mal has seen a few forms in it’s life span from straight(ish) up acid house track to this pretty twisted, slightly cut up version. I was really caning the Native Instruments plugs for this, especially Reaktor and of course the great AudioRealism’s Bass Line for the acid. The title is a play on words of minimal and a petit mal attack. A petit mal is actually an effect I try and induce in my music. According the the Medicine Plus online Encyclopaedia “A petit mal seizure is a temporary disturbance of brain function caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain and characterized by abrupt, short-term lack of conscious activity (”absence”) or other abnormal change in behaviour.”

So I try to affect something similar. A temporary disturbance of the mind, particularly the internal monologue we so voraciously suffer from. Why? Partly to have a taste of thoughtlessness as I think it’s healthy and there’s nothing more “being-in-the-moment” than when there are no thoughts to distract us. I think it’s a healthy respite. Also it might jar someone into an altered state of being, a second attention, from where they can see things from a higher perspective if you like. Stop the World on Arcola from way back in 2002 is about the same thing. The samples in Petit Mal ask us to question how we are not ourselves. When are those times we are not 100% true to ourselves? I don’t mean in some belligerent, getting your own way and stuff everyone else kinda way. But more like those times we hold back for fear of being foolish. Or maybe even the opposite when we give it the all that and act in a over-confident way to cover up the fact that deep down we might actually feel quite insecure at times. Mmm, I wonder if it’s fair to say that ALL of the worlds problems stem from people not being them selves. Quite Possibly.

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Mountain Mermaid
Inerin
Idealogical
Gypsy Flies (FREE track - right click, save as)

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The Russian born duo that make up Animaltek, Oleg Slepak & Shay Raban, currently live in New York and have had a series of spectacular releases on Treibstoff and Wir. Now they proudly announce their début on Living Records.

In their words, they “strongly feel the need to weave the daily stream of emotions and sensations into the art of self-reflection”. This depth of approach shows up in their music - but don’t let that fool you into assuming that their tracks have no nuts. The music is strongly rooted in the dancefloor and they have clearly spent a serious amount of mind-bending hours listening and experimenting with loops in the studio. The result is music that perfectly fits the philosophy of Living Records - music for the mind and body. Oneness.

This EP takes you on journey through quality dancefloor electronics. From the attitude filled, 80s tinged staccato musings of title track, Mountain Mermaid, through to the low slung, cheeky darkness of Inerin to a deeper, darker and somewhat epic experience that is the sublime Ideological. Not forgetting, of course, the digital bonus, available for free from www.livingrecords.info, Gypsy Flies. This is a beautifully crafted track with some fantastic sounds - including an extremely juicey, chewy bass sound, timely drops and an insistent groove.