Spenza - acidQuest EP [vxnet001]

Vakant X seems to be some kind of special gift for fans of the straigth-minimal label Vakant. All stuff that does not fit the vinyl edition seems to be given to the web audience – which is a welcome playground for artists. Following the video works of Chris De Luca (one half of Funkstörung) and Spenza himself, the latter strikes back this time with pure digital madness: The first audio-only release on Vakant X is perfect IDM – hectic beats, disturbing noises, crazy sound morphing. According to the title, Acid has to be part of the program ("acidQuest") but for me feels like the weakest part of the EP. "antiStraight" uses Atari-like sounds while knowing to surprise with melancholic vibes towards the end. However, highlight of this EP surely is "rep eat": Starting sluggishly but developing into a sheer fireworks of Electronica.

4x MP3, 192kbps, all together 42.7MB
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Official text:
Fast and packed with breaks and noises. After his videos kunstFehler and schnittMenge Spenza is delivering 4 new tracks in abstract jungle/breakbeat - style.

A.C. Projects - Projections [txtn032]

Textone – run by Jay Haze – is regarded as one of the untouchable establishments of netaudio. One of the reasons for this surely is the popularity of Haze himself and his many vinyl activities (Contexterrior, Tuning Spork) which undoubtedly have helped to introduce the subject of net music to many listeners. However, even pioneers are not immune towards criticism and it has to be noted honestly that there hasn’t been much output by Textone lately. A short time ago, there even was the information that Textone will be closed down since it has passed its climax. Bearing this in mind, this release is totally surprising: "Projections" is one more meditation over the never-ending topic named "minimal" – in seven extracts. Of course, that’s not the latest craze out there – but we shouldn’t expect that from every new release either. Especially not as these tracks here are extremely hypnotic in their slowly developing arrangement and absolutely superb production – might be the perfect stuff for certain moods...

7x MP3, 192kbps, all together 86.5MB:
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Official text:
Too long to quote - see webpage!

And/Or - Snow Effect [mi053]

Bleed has categorized this as IDM ("Intelligent Dance Music") in his de:Bug podcast - but I must admit that I have something totally different in mind when speaking of IDM. However, this definitely is great relaxing music from Japan, no matter how you call it: Very calm and harmonic. Of course, there are strange noises here and there - but after all, it's absolutely blessing for stressed ears. Slowly walking broken beats, deep piano lines and a lot of echo - very touching. Even more astonishing is the fact that this already is Mimi's 53rd (!) release.

4x MP3, 192kbps, all together 31.6MB:
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Official text:
Snow Effects is a collection of 4 melodic minimalist downtempo tunes flavored with hints of acoustic and piano solos. There is also a little IDM/glitch put together by a classically-trained electronica.

Stefan Tretau - Rue De Commerce [brq020]

Broque.de is one of the few labels that practice the fusion of the publishing media vinyl and MP3. Accompanying vinyl release number four by Stefan Tretau, net-release number 20 brings you eigth tracks/remixes. The interesting thing about it is that the remixers didn't hear the original - instead they were only given a pack of samples. The original of "Rue de commerce" is a nice Techhouse track with cool shakers. Phonout transports this into Breakbeat, Georg Neufeld into atmospheric, pushing Techno and Sinus Force's rework reminds me of Gigolo, Bpitch or Lasergun. However, the real highlight of this EP are the four (!) remixes by an artist called "Freund der Familie". Two of them ("komma strüsch mix" and "abakus rmx") are terrific pieces of deep atmospheric minimal dubby stuff. Excellent in production and far ahead...

8x MP3, 192kbps, 66.6MB ZIP-file:
Download here.

Official text:
Suitable to the current Broque.de-record are we releasing a new track by Stefan Tretau, which is complemented by many remixes. What makes this remake special is the fact, that the remixer never heard the original before and had only a sample-package to their disposal. This makes the result much more interesting. You will get music between drifting raving hymn and tasty experimental melting pot.