Collection: Products

Eternal Love

In the endless quest for the deepest, trippiest cuts, the Italian progressive house scene is a steadfast provider. Fingerprints was a one-off project from Gianni Drigo and Maurizio Merli, which resulted in the After The Moon 12" on Mammut Records in 1996. Now Berlin-based label Evasione Digitale is bringing the incredible, immersive beat down of the title track back into the wider public consciousness for a trip like no other. It's incredibly restrained and subtle for a prog house track of the time, perfect for teasing the tension on the dancefloor. The other tracks are equally thrilling, from the dubby acid flex of 'Prints 3000' to the spiky, slower onset of 'Kabara'.

"I got to know visual artist, musician, and producer Guido Erfen and sound engineer, acoustic artist, and percussionist Michael Springer as part of a group of five by the name of SHM1. The members of the group organised concerts at Rhenania, a disused grain silo, where I performed with The Absurd in 1988 and 1989. The band was also featured on one of Erfen's tape releases. Erfen and Springer met when they were still at the same secondary school and soon became close friends and musical allies. With the other members of SHM they built an independent network for creating and distributing music beyond the mainstream in Cologne. Rent at Rhenania was incredibly low, allowing a recording studio to be established there. The first traces of the Ukrainian Underground arrived at Erfen's door via a cassette tape with three bands from Kharkiv and Kyiv, the package including a long essay which detailed the rock scene in the two cities by Sergey Myasoyedow. In 1986, Myasoyedow, together with Sasha Panchenko, had founded the “Novaya Scena“ rock club in Kharkiv, presenting bands inspired by punk, the avant-garde, dadaism, and even medieval melodies. If Erfen hadn't been part of the independent mail-art scene, he wouldn't have had the chance to discover this unorthodox music. It was the summer of 1990, shortly before the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine became an independent state the following year. In 1991, singer and keyboard player Soloveyka from Kharkiv arrived in Cologne and gave Erfen half a dozen cassettes with underground bands from Ukraine and a handful with bands from the Soviet Union. Intrigued by the original music of many of the acts, he visited Ukraine twice, made friends there, compiled a tape with his favourite tracks and finally succeeded in convincing Hamburg label boss Alfred Hilsberg to present underground music from Ukraine on the CD “Novaya Scena“ via his label What's So Funny About (the original home of Einstürzende Neubauten). The album compiled 20 tracks recorded between 1986 and 1992 by 14 bands out of Kharkiv and Kyiv– music beyond the usual Perestroika records, often with jarring dissonances over grooves that fans of Captain Beefheart or The Fall would certainly enjoy. On the other hand, there are tracks featuring flute and trumpet that seem inspired by folk, classical music, and punk. Ghostly chamber prog miniatures by Cukor Belaya Smert (lit. Sugar White Death) from Kyiv featuring, among others, the classically trained pianist and singer Svitlana Nianio (née Ochrimenko) and guitarist, visual artist, and spokesman Yewgeny "Yenia" Taran. Nianio sang in her native Ukrainian, as did two more of the bands. Today, this seems more relevant than ever, more culturally and historically significant from a Ukrainian point of view than it was even in 1993. Young Ukrainians were amazed at that time that rock music sung in their native tongue could work! It is in the aftermath of the “Novaya Scena“ album that the music on this LP was created. About a year after the release of the CD in August 1993, Nianio and Taran came to Cologne to work on music for the dance production "Transilvania Smile" by the dance theatre ensemble Pentamonia2. The seeds for the Traces of Ukrainian Underground in Cologne were sown. Starting in 1994, a series of informal recording sessions took place at Michael Springer’s Phanton Studio and at SHM studio in Rhenania. Together, these sessions formed the basis of the four different incarnations of the Ukraine-Cologne connection heard on STROOMS’s compilation.

Shina Williams & His African Percussionists

BaianaSystem

Rino Gaetano

Inner City’s sojourn at Network resulted in a series of classic recordings. As well as perfectly crafted vocal tracks including “Your Love”, “Share My Life” and “Do Me RIght” it meant that Kevin Saunderson could also return to his Techno roots with underground Inner City tracks. None more so than the wonderful “Ahnonghay” which perfectly joined the dots between electronica and the brutal urgency of Kevin’s Reese persona which helped shape the early Detroit Techno landscape. This 12 contains the Saunderson original plus wonderfully contrasting remixes from Detroit’s Carl Craig and the UK’s Dave Clarke which were equally acclaimed when released on Network’s six6 label. Another reissued gem from Network.

Inner City