Stage 16, Germany - West

Welcome to stage 16, Germany-West. A day later as planned, partly because Mediafire experienced some major troubles these last days, so a bit of wait and see from my part, luckily things seem to have settled now.
B.T.W.  for those who like to have a closer look at the covers, over at Rho-Xsss  these are displayed fullsize.

When i started this trip i intended 4/5 albums per post, last week it was double that, a bit too time consuming, so today i'll keep it down to six, two each from the Cologne, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt scene/area.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****
West's Techies Bubbles

Thomas Brinkmann - Row ( ' 02 )
Mouse On Mars - Niun niggung ( ' 99 )
DaDamnPhreakNoizPhunk - Take off da hot sweater ( ' 02 )
Anthony Rother - Life is Life is Love ( ' 03)
The Modernist - Explosion ( ' 99 )
Isolee - We are monster ( ' 05 )

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Thomas Brinkman - Row ( ' 02 *325mb)

Thomas Brinkmann (born 1959) is a highly regarded producer of experimental minimal techno music, experimenting with records since the early eighties, he gained wide reputation with his re-workings of material by fellow artists Mike Ink and Richie Hawtin released in the second half of the 90s. These productions were made by playing physically modified vinyl records on highly customized turntables with an additional tone arm (Klick).

Brinkmann's music is deceptively simple, but stunningly innovative. He takes a basic foundation of minimal techno and raw, vintage track house, and adds elements of his elemental razor-scratched vinyl loops. These provide a subtly irregular element that can seem to drift from the beat, but don't-it's hard to explain....

Brinkmann later founded the Ernst record label and introduced his own productions on a series of 12" records taking their titles from female names. He has since expanded his extensive production catalog on his own Max Ernst label, as well as other highly respected outfits such as Traum Schallplatten, Raster-Noton and Mute Records (under the Soul Center alias).

"Row" is a compilation of rare, unreleased, and reworked material from his MaxErnst catalog, many which were previously only available on vinyl., an excellent sampling. Brinkmann always keeps things moving along with a great beat - never falling flat with something that is too cerebral, he is definitely from the less-is-more school.



01 - Corvette (2:09)
02 - N.M.Q.P. (7:07)
03 - Max.E.3 (New Version) (6:57)
04 - Max.E.3 (Another New Version) (6:35)
05 - Max.E.4 (New Version) (4:28)
06 - Isch (4:16)
07 - Loplop (9:06)
08 - Mexico (7:09)
09 - Ribosom (8:06)
10 - Toothpaste (Unreleased) (3:52)

Thomas Brinkmann @ Base
Thomas Brinkmann @ Amazon.de
***** ***** ***** ***** *****

DaDamnPhreakNoizPhunk - Take off da hot sweater ( 02 * 356mb )

Oliver Bondzio and Ramon Zenker aka Hardfloor dedicate themselves under their alias Dadamnphreaknoizphunk to the more relaxed sides of our existence. They rock your soul with their smart and unique mix of hiphop beats and electroid sounds: deep`n`dope stuff with a befitting portion of 303.

As Hardfloor, Oliver Bondzio and Ramon Zenker are firmly cemented in the history of music. They are the longest-serving, most famous and renowned German techno act with a legendary reputation as deadly kicking live players. Mid nineties the world became too small for Hardfloor. Not a bad time to create a new world. Ladies and Gentlemen, Hardfloor presents Dadamnphreaknoizphunk! The first EP in 1995 was titled Harthouse, after which in 1997 a second EP appeared. In 1999 the first album followed on !K7. DJ Oliver Bondzio, who socialized with hiphop and electro, had milked a collection and roasted all samples that burned on his tables.

The story continues with Combination Records. Higher, faster, further according to Dadamnphreaknoizphunk: deeper, phatter, well-hung. Heavy, deep hiphop riddims meet electroid sounds. Dubby dope beats are given a partly technoid arrangement. A whole club night with nothing but highlights on one single sofa evening. Dadamnphreaknoizphunk rock your couch muscles, train your head bobbing..



01 - Intro (0:58)
02 - One Size Fits All (5:19)
03 - Fireresistant Swimmingtrunks (5:13)
04 - Reconstructed Poloshirt (5:29)
05 - Socks And Strings And Sp12 (5:07)
06 - Complex Dinner Wardrobe (5:09)
07 - Another Trenchcoat (5:32)
08 - I Lost My Suitcase In San Marino (4:34)
09 - Isolated Activewear (4:40)
10 - Take Off Da Hot Sweater (3:50)
11 - Custommade Sneakers (5:02)
12 - Silicon Loafer (4:51)
13 - Crocodileleather T.I.E. (3:45)
14 - Outro (1:10)

DaDamnPhreakNoizPhunk @ Base
DaDamnPhreakNoizPhunk @ My Space

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Mouse On Mars - Niun Niggung (99 ^ 286 mb )

Mouse on Mars is a duo from Germany (Jan St. Werner, from Düsseldorf, and Andi Toma, from Köln) who have been making electronic music since 1993. Their music is a quirky and sometimes kitschy blend of techno, trance, disco, and ambient with a heavy dollop of analog synth sounds. Their music also utilises live conventional rock instruments such as drums, bass and guitar.

Their first album, Vulvaland, was released in 1994 on the British record label Too Pure. This is considered their "straightest" and most focused album, mixing ambient and techno. Their second album, Iaora Tahiti, has a much more playful feel and encompasses a wider variety of electronic dance genres. Over the years, their sound has increased in warmth and playfulness. On this their fourth album Niun Niggung, the live instruments start to become more prominent. Idiology, their fifth album, has continued this trend while their sixth album Radical Connector, has a more "pop" feel. Both of these albums also increasingly include vocals, primarily by touring drummer Dodo Nkishi. On their newest album Varcharz their sound has veered back again to a firmly experimental electronic foundation.



01 - Download Sofist (2:28)
02 - Yippie (5:30)
03 - Pinwheel Herman (4:46)
04 - Super Sonig Fadeout (4:37)
05 - Booosc (3:13)
06 - Diskdusk (3:50)
07 - Gogonal (5:07)
08 - Albion Rose (3:32)
09 - Mompou (1:55)
10 - Distroia (5:16)
11 - Wald F.X. (4:49)
12 - Circloid Bricklett Sprüngli (2:18)
13 - Untitled (14:37)

Mouse On Mars @ Base
Mouse On Mars @ MySpace
Mouse On Mars @ Amazon

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Anthony Rother - Life is Live is Love ( ' 03 * 535mb )

Anthony Rother grew up in the town of Frankfurt, his earliest instances with electronic music were during the rise in popularity of seminal electronic outfit Kraftwerk. For Anthony this was “just music” - he was yet to identify it as being music of the electronic variety. “Kraftwerk was the first electronic music that I listened to, but I did not know it was electronic music when I first listened to it.” In 1984, Anthony started to produce music and discover all the techniques and concepts behind electronic composition. Stressing the fact that good music is purely that - just good music - his personal tastes range from pop, to techno, to classical, pushing all genres aside and listening to every sound for what it is. “My musical range is so wide, I listen to every kind of music, it doesn’t matter if its pop, classical, electro, techno, house whatever, its just music that I like and that I think is interesting.” Having grown up listening to Kraftwerk and then established his own sound, Rother then reworked Kraftwerk. The classic Trans Europe Express was given the Rother touch, and the response? A European club hit with almost every DJ in the world giving it a spin.

The cerebral stimulation of a resonating beat or digital tone that plays with your head and helps you listen with your eyes. Can he see sounds? “Images are the way I make music, that’s what I like about it. To have, like, a movie in my head, it gives me inspiration, I don’t know how it happens, I can’t explain it, I don’t know how it works, but it works. I have fun in the studio when this happens...to hear and see what’s going on in my head is really nice.”

With a 200kg rig consisting of 3 keyboards, 3 drum machines, synthesizers, a mixer, a microphone, a laptop, and efx units, one must ask about the complexity of playing with so much equipment as it is not unusual to see someone walk into a club and click away at a mouse button to play live. “For me playing live is like body talk and I need to have this with my machines, total control over all my songs.” Anthony seems to thrive on the instant call and response environment of a live set and the concept that the communication between man playing live and man playing with machines are two very different worlds. “The show is always different each and every time, it’s never the same show, because with the set up I have now and the way I play, over the years I have learned to have communication with the people. Which means when the people are yelling and dancing, they are showing me what’s going on. When I play live it’s not just me, its me and the crowd…

Life is Life is Love, Rother mixes his own electro tracks here. The mixing is fine, the tracks are what make this a must, however. Rother creates an rich, dark, evil, and funky atmosphere with these electro tracks. He probably does this as good as anyone working in techno or electro since Derrick May. Alas there's no aural sense of the crowd here - a mistake i think, and inconsequential considering the above statement..it's me and the crowd....



01 - Machine World (9:26)
02 - Modular Dee Jay (5:30)
03 - Hacker (5:12)
04 - Alpha One (2:58)
05 - Generation Electro (5:39)
06 - Die Macht (5:49)
07 - Live Is Life (9:20)
08 - Self Control (5:31)
09 - Little Computer People (12:50)
10 - Self Control (Original) (6:24)
11 - All We Want (4:16)
12 - Goodbye Electro (5:43)

Anthony Rother @ Base
Anthony Rother @ MySpace
Anthony Rother @

Anthony Rother Vid the Hacker @ YouTube
Anthony Rother live @ YouTube

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

The Modernist - Explosion( ' 99 * 322mb )

Under a multitude of monikers including Burger Industries, Triola, the Bionaut and the Modernist, Jorg Burger has established himself as one of the figureheads of Cologne's influential minimalist techno scene. Although his Modernist alter ego suggests a fascination with the present and the contemporary, Burger has (perhaps surprisingly) cited a love for the classic indie pop of 80s UK illuminati such as Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, Scritti Politti and the Smiths alongside his more expected techno-love. The Modernist's melodic minimalism is steeped with perfectly poised guitar harmonics and meticulously placed vocals. Despite this fondness for "classic pop", Burger describes 1988 the year acid house overtook the dance-floors of Europe, as his year zero. 2 years later he had released his first tracks via Thomas Fehlmann's Teutonic Beats compilation. One year beyond this, he founded the Trance Atlantic and Monochrome labels, releasing tracks by permutations of himself and his friend & partner Wolfgang Voigt aka Mike Ink. Immersed in this electronic music culture, Burger founded the Cologne department of the Delirium record store (which was to subsequently mutate into Kompakt) and the Eat Raw label, ran a magazine, House Attack, and established a graphics and artwork agency called Granit.

Jorg Burger released the highly acclaimed Bionaut album Lush Life Electronica in 95 . Two years & several releases later, hestarted his own label with Sony music. Burger was to subsequently birth the Popular Organization , and released his The Modernist - Explosion in 1999. The ensuing Kangmei (2003) included a track entitled "Protest Song" and Burger was seemingly making a protest/political assertion in giving his release a title that translated as "resist America". In fact it was a further variation on the everlasting ambiguity of his relation to America as an artist.

2004 saw his return to his former friends & partners from Kompakt, where he released the listening album "riola im Fünftonraum, a state-of-the-art update of his musical concepts as the Bionaut through the 90s.In early 2006 the Kompakt studios were built & Burger´s now working alongside Reinhard & Wolfgang Voigt, Jürgen Paape, Michael Mayer & Superpitcher. His latest album release is a mix & mash up-cd for Stefan Struever´s new label faith recordings, called: collectors series pt.1 -The Modernist, released in august 2006.



01 - Victor Ludorum (The Winner Takes It All) (5:19)
02 - Fade Like Glenn (5:34)
03 - Header (5:14)
04 - Inspiratio (4:22)
05 - Mrs. New Deal (6:03)
06 - Crown (5:52)
07 - Manson Soup (6:13)
08 - Global Entertainment (5:09)
09 - Alphatier Brain (4:28)
10 - Love Among European Moderns (4:44)
11 - Faceworking (Original) (5:29)
12 - Liverpool 8 (5:02)
13 - Architainment Pt.1 (5:03)

bonus Orange Coloured Sky E.P. ( 98)
14 - Orange Coloured Sky
15 - Victor Ludorum
16 - Apple Electronics (Club Mix)
17 - Eurojah

The Modernist @ Base

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Isolee - We Are Monster ( ' 05 * 310mb )

Isolée's Rajko Müller is a minimalist house producer whose throwback tracks evoke the advent of indie electronic pop of the early '80s, as well as ambient techno from a decade on. Thanks to the international success of his single "Beau Mot Plague," Müller became the most famous of the producers associated with a collective of funky, minimalist, experimentalist labels. Isolée’s first album Rest is one of my favorite minimal techno records. Slick with cold sweat, running its fingers through electro, early 80s avant-electronics and micro-house, its balance of down-time blue and genuine anthem (“Beau Mot Plage”) still injects liquid bliss up the listener’s spine. Rajko is one of the most original 'house' producers out there. Actually his microhouse music is hard to describe : intricate melodies, extremely rich textures, stylish post-cinematic atmospheres create a very personal, poetic, colourful, deep universe.

We are monster, his follow up album..after 5 years, has such a glut of musical ideas, tricky and elaborate structures, and grand scale gestures that it could not be described as a simple minimal/micro house record. Each track is like watching a mutation in process, where motifs are often born and then die on the spot, never to be returned to again. It kind of makes me wonder if Mueller was writing a new potential melody for this record every other day for years.



01 - Pictureloved (4:37)
02 - Schrapnell (5:23)
03 - Enrico (5:14)
04 - Mädchen Mit Hase (6:56)
05 - My Hi-Matic (5:58)
06 - Do Re Mi (6:22)
07 - Face B (5:44)
08 - Jelly Baby/Fish (4:52)
09 - Today (4:33)
10 - Pillowtalk (10:00)

Isolee @ Base
Isolee @ Amazon

***** ***** ***** ***** *****
* All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !