remastered & produced by jimmy page

when looking for music to be released on magazine, our guideline has always been energy. the key question remains the same: does the artist have something important to say? does it have a sense of urgency? alex played us these tracks while visiting the magazine studio in cologne earlier this year and we were consumed by unadulterated rage. this is anything but a conceptual release, alex has not released this kind of music before. a side of alex manifests itself through these techno tracks, that most might not have known before. brutal yet beautiful, furious yet fragile. a berlin native who shaped his sense for techno by striving through his hometown and its infamous raves, alex is now one of the prominent protagonists of that scene – not only when regularly playing at berghain. the ep harnesses this experience perfectly, fully preserving the energy of the creation process by recording directly to tape. most productions may have suffered from this primitive method of locking sound into position, but not these tracks from a techno master.

magnetik north is live drum electronics. drum performances are fed through processors, samplers and sequencers to produce layers of rhythmic patterns that interact with each other. other instruments are melted into different textures so that only the harmonic content remains. this is a new project from ian tregoning, engineer and producer for artists as diverse as yello and fela kuti. now working with jaki liebezeit, the legendary drummer from can, to add his endless evolving rhythms. jaki s in a world of his own as he balances technical brilliance with subtle restraint. recording started in the summer 2006 in an old jazz studio in the south of ko&#776,,,,ln. jaki arrived with a minimal drum kit including customised cymbals, a snare and a huge gretsch floor-tom from the can days. all of jaki s performances are complete takes with no drop-ins, loops or edits. the backing tracks for evolver were recorded without using key changes. each song features one key which is held continuously while other instruments and effects are blended with the key. drums (also tuned to the same key) were added last which is another unusual technique. as jaki says they re often overlooked as tuned instruments in their own right . the finished results are a minimal blend of industrial and classical. like listening to a raga in an earthquake.

so, who is this mysterious afefe iku? after absolutely destroying the dancefloors all year long with his infamous bootleg of radioheads >everything in its right place<, which he smartly put out in extremely limited amounts of vinyl around the same time his mentor, osunlade, featured his cover of that very same song on bbes >exit music: songs with radio heads<. in all honesty afefe remains a mystery even to us. so, let us start by saying who afefe isnt. unfortunately, for those who thought he was osunlade, you are mistaken, but dont feel ashamed, because afefe creates at osunlades studio in santorini, which makes sense to pinpoint him as osunlade.

the second release on the newly formed barcelona label they are changing it comes from barcelona based american dj/producer fluen. on this ep fluen gives us a glimpse into his production range delivering an ep that has a clear chicago/ny house influence , but manages to avoid the conga fever that has swept the scene as of late, and at the same time sounds very current. on the a side, things take off with better days, fun and very dancefloor oriented. the second track on the b side, mary says stands out right away thanks to a catchy piano riff and female cut up vocals,reminiscent of old chicago records. on the b side, fluen mixes things up a bit with a song that catches you from the get go. music remains starts very basic, with a dreamy piano line and a kick that lay the foundations for a song that could easily be a hit, simple, beautiful and very dancefloor friendly. the vocals wisely remind us that >people come and go, times do change and allà. but the music remains<. limited edition of 500 units