Green Lashes EP

Artist :
Title : Green Lashes EP
Release Date : 24. February 2023
Catalog ref. : 022

Never hesitating to play to their strengths and tap into the techno capital’s hidden talent pool, Sound of Berlin kickstarts 2023 with a 29-year-old upcoming producer Marie Tjong-Ayong’s debut ‘Green Lashes EP’, out on 24 February. Sonic forest bathing packed with minimal, percussive lushness, it is a release that sometimes evokes the abstract polyrhythms on Bambounou’s ‘Final Conference’, at other times the glitched-out grooves of Facta’s ‘Emeline EP’. At its centre, the EP reminds us of the power of electronic music to create headspaces no other genre can – even enable us to become one with nature amidst the modern concrete jungles. “Overall, the EP represents for me a kind of transcendence, nature and body,” she described her debut.

Putting the best foot forward, the opener ‘Kick In The Garden’ does exactly what it says on the tin. Minimal techno without the bells and whistles, reverb kicks dominate the lower end and syncopated doubles of rimshots propel the beat forward, chopped-up chords chirping and panning around as if you were playing tag in someone’s backyard. “Kick In The Garden is a very playful, groovy piece,” Tjong-Ayong described the track. “I hope it animates to dance.”

A different ballgame entirely, ‘Than Sadet’ is a 7-minute scenic drive named after the National Park on the island of Koh Phangan off the east-coast of Thailand. “Than Sadet is a journey,” Tjong-Ayong summed up. “I produced this track within one day in Thailand, on a beautiful island. It represents the many colours and sounds of the island as I perceived them.” At 118 BPM, bottom heavy with juddering baselines and thick organ chords held for full eight bars at a time, Tjong-Ayong keeps the track ebbing and flowing through the subtle melodies, holding the energy, and then releasing it one gigantic wave – the Balearic vibes in Tjong-Ayong -style.

“These tracks are my first finished ones as a producer. I wanted to give myself complete freedom to create something with my possibilities,’ Tjong-Ayong explained. “To enter a new musical space and leave old habits and feelings behind when making music.”

For a lot of people, pandemic was a blessing in disguise. Ayong was one of them. “During the pandemic, all possibilities to play live broke away, new ways opened up,” she recalls. “Since I had been listening to techno and house for a long time and started to collect vinyl, I also started to deal with the production of this music. Ableton was pulled onto the computer and the first drum machines and synthesizers were procured.”

Prisma EP

Artist :
Title : Prisma EP
Release Date : 27. August 2021
Catalog ref. : SOB 009

The EP, consisting of two tracks, “Prisma” and ”Glitch Behaviour”, showcases DJ T-1000‘s versatile style. The leading track ”Prisma” is convincing with its groovy beats and hypnotic yet glitchy synths. The second track is honoring its title with heavy fast-paced beats, glitchy sounds, and a mesmerizing rhythm that feels out of this world.

Now based in Berlin, Alan D. Oldham, aka DJ T-1000, has been dubbed ”Detroit‘s Renaissance Man” by Muzik Magazine. A lifelong cartoonist and graphic designer, young Oldham published his own indie comic book “Johnny Gambit” in 1987 to local notoriety. Hired that same year by his childhood friend Derrick May to illustrate several memorable pieces for his new Transmat label, this led to Oldham’s very first involvement in the fledgling techno scene. More art requests quickly followed, most famously from the Djax-Up-Beats label (NL), where his art took center stage for many years. At the same time, college-student Oldham was hired at local radio station WDET, hosting Detroit’s first-ever all-electronic radio program, “Fast Forward,” introducing artists like UR, Richie Hawtin and Carl Craig to local airwaves.

Five years later, Oldham found himself under the tutelage of UR’s Mad Mike Banks. Initially hired as UR’s “Minister of Information,” working side-by-side with Rob Hood and others in the office, Oldham was eventually tapped to replace his departing friend Jeff Mills as DJ on UR’s world tour, and DJ T-1000 (and his label Generator, distributed by Submerge) was born. For a year afterwards, Oldham toured with Banks in the UR techno boot camp. Since those long-ago days, a solo Oldham continues to rock crowds in Berlin (with an unofficial residency at Tresor), Milan, Barcelona (unofficial residency at Moog), Madrid, London, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and all points in between with his own no-nonsense brand of bangin’, funky-ass techno. When DJ T-1000 is on the flyer, fans know he’s bringing the ruckus.

In 2004, Oldham finally left a flagging Motor City for the Midwest boomtown of Chicago. And in 2005 he finally established his permanent European base in the world’s latest electronic music

capital, Berlin. When he’s not behind the decks or in the studio producing electronic dance music for labels like Tresor Berlin, Inzec (CH), Minimalsoul (CH), or his own Pure Sonik and Generator imprints, Oldham has provided artwork for the electronic music industry for almost 20 years. His drawings and large-scale paintings have been on display in art galleries in Chicago, Berlin, Paris, Los Angeles, and most recently a sold-out opening in Amsterdam.

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