Koutaro Fukui - Between Objects [eko004]

I have to admit that I couldn't really connect with Eko's extremely minimal releases so far. With ambient, the movie in your head is even more important than with other styles - and Koutaro Fukui succeeds with this fantastically. He kicks off with a very atmospheric track that sounds like generated from one single synth. With "Fltic", Fukui aborts this extreme minimalism and combines electronica beats with wonderful melancholic piano and strings instead. Later on, he even makes use of an accordion and finishes with nice samples and noise on "Ordinary Kitchen".

4x MP3, 256kbps, 51.0MB ZIP-file (incl. cover):
Download here.

Official text:
Not available...

V.A. - Panorama [dn005]

Dreiton is one of the few of the lately founded netlabels that shows a coherent concept. Release number five is a first overview and an excellent opportunity to invite some well-known acts: Lod from Sinergy and Daniel Stefanik from instabil.org. All together, eight artists show their definitiv of Dub here. Most of them work very deliberate and elegiac, but two tracks appear somewhat unfitting: The contributions by Dieter Krause and Frank Hellmond are contemporary minimal for sure, but feel like candy with red wine given such hypnotic numbers such as Dreiton's "Boom" and Chris Airs "7th son".

8x MP3, 192kbps, 72.8MB ZIP-file (incl. cover):
Download here.

Official text:
We got it: Our first compilation gonna hit the streets! We called it Panorama and it presents artists and projects from the international electronic music scene who have one thing in common: a tendency to reduction, to minimalism, to the essential. Listen and tell!

Buzz - Revelation [pp017md]

Unfortunately, there are only a few netlabels that explicitly cover drum&bass. But still, there is Plain Audio: This is their 17thn release - and it's another highlight again. Three atmospheric tracks with driving beats and hectic percussion. One or two effects might be a bit too much of it, but floating fragile soundscapes compensate with a wonderful ambivalent mood. And it's nice to see which musical bandwith can be covered by three different tracks - keeping true to the genre, of course: "Dragon Love" reminds me of Alex Reece while the dark "Revalation" is a typical reference to Virus.

3x MP3, 320kbps, 48.0MB ZIP-file (incl. cover):
Download here.

Official text:
Another stunning release from Buzz starts off with "Revelation", a piece that truly lives up to its name by providing cinematic soundscapes and eerie effects. Once the bassline gets you, the track grows deeper and deeper, drilling its way right into the heart of darkness.

The second track goes by the name of "Dragon Love" and shows some of that old school droppin' science vibes. Retro fx and strong bass make this a burner. Buzz proves once again that he's capable of building atmospheres like hardly anyone else.

Last but not least there's "The Ninth Wave": a mad beat-shuffling journey reminiscent of Reinforced's glorious days, exploring the possibilities and depths of breakbeat science.