our flashy new 2012 logo...a bit posh, don't you think?

Happy New Year everybody!

You’ve turned 2011 into 12 very special months for Retreat so we wanted to thank you for your unlimited support!

There were many highlights this year: our first Retreat tour outside of Europe (in Australia of all places!), the exponential growth of our online shop, the mad success of Session Victim‘s “Good Intentions” (which even landed on RA’s “tracks of 2011″ poll!) and the enthusiastic reviews of Matthias Reiling’s “Escape The Room”.

We’re thrilled that our vinyl-only imprint is getting some props, although to be honest, our goal was never to get a piece of the hype pie with the help of charts or reviews. Retreat is, and forever will be, a label that cares most of all about music, hence our erratic release schedule: a new Retreat record only happens when Hauke and myself feel 100% happy with the tunes!

But the attention we received in 2011 has definitely proven that quality prevails over quantity: Retreat had only 2 records out last year but they might have had the most impact out of our whole catalogue! So thanks again for your endless support!

Now what is to expect from Retreat in 2012? Well we’re still juggling with different ideas, namely a new Quarion EP or the next volume of “Treats” so we won’t announce RTR11 yet…

But one thing for sure is that there’s a lot of action going on for Retreat artists OUTSIDE of Retreat in the form of debut albums: Session Victim have put the final touches to their longplayer for Delusions Of Grandeur and are prepared to drop this groove masterpiece before the summer! Iron Curtis is also working on his first full length for Mirau and the album is due to surface some time in the second half of 2012!

As you can see, everything is pretty much under wraps at the moment, but rest assured that more info on all these various projects will pop up on this blog when the time is right.

Enjoy the beginning of 2012 for now and stay tuned!

Records? Somebody wants records?

Back in 2010, we released two records that sold out quickier than hot pancakes: the “Treats Vol.2″ sampler featuring tunes from Session Victim and Quarion followed by a 12″ from Session Victim entitled “On The Roll”. Since then, we’ve been constantly asked to repress these EPs and after much delay, we finally ordered a fresh batch of RTR05 & RTR06!

We were so excited to have ALL of our productions back in stock that we also took the opportunity to upgrade our webshop page with a broader display, an embedded SC player and dope new releases out of the Frank Music, Fried Tofu, or Lurker camp!

Thanks for your ongoing support, signing off for now!

Needless to say that neither Hauke nor myself fully realize yet how far we’ve gone. Back in 2009, I envisioned Retreat as a hand-stamped, Vinyl-only white label. Flash-forward to 2011 and here we are, putting out records with proper sleeves, proposing label-merchandise and touring all over the world … with Retreat label parties in Australia, of all places!

But hey, despite the ups and downs of swimming with the sharks of the music biz, the most important thing is that Hauke and myself have faith in our label and most of all in the music that we put out. So for vinyl n°10 we’ve got a special treat coming your way: a 4-track EP from Matthias Reiling that is quite unlike anything Retreat has released so far … hence also a proper full print cover, courtesy of designer extraordinaire Gesine Todt!

As you know, we like to keep things on the hush-hush tip so we won’t reveal more information now…but you can be sure that a trailer will surface on this site very soon!

We’re also excited to offer even more choice for all you vinyl junkies out there via our dedicated online shop: apart from the full Retreat catalog and selected artist-related releases on other labels, you can now order Frank Music’s first output (featuring a killer rework courtesy of Iron Curtis) as well as the indispensable Fried Tofu edits, a series of Disco reworks that are known to turn any dancefloor upside down!

Stay tune for more news coming soon!

How are you supposed to go to work after such a breakfast?!!!?

Phew, it’s been so long since the last post, it almost feels like a resurrection!

As always folks, I’m the one to blame: maybe it’s a renewed love affair with music that keeps me inhouse with my beloved instrument? or maybe it was a relaxing stay in Australia that infused a delicious-but-dangerous slackness in my work ethic, long after I rotated back to Berlin? Anyway, I haven’t visited WordPress in a while and now there’s a lot to say!

Concerning Australia, the Session Victim boys and myself had a wonderful stay at the other end of the world a few weeks ago: great gigs, great food, great friends and all in all just a bloody great time! Special thanks to Mad Racket, Christian Vance, Future Classic and all the aussie crew for setting up Retreat’s first international tour, we’ll be back soon!

It’s a bit late for this one, but we still wish to express our gratitude to everyone that has supported our label in 2010: it’s been our best year so far so we thank you all for helping us promoting the vinyl cause! Despite the fact that more and more labels are doing only digital releases and that Technics has (apparently) finally stopped producing the world’s best turntable, a certain “vinyl-niche” (with vinyl-only labels and vinyl-friendly DJ’s) has definitely settled in the music underground and we’re proud to be part of this movement…

So what’s in store for Retreat this year? Well, since we’re sometimes eager to continue with our traditions, we’ll start the 2011 catalogue with another edition of the “Treats” series…which brings us now to volume 3! Iron Curtis, Session Victim and Quarion have all submitted an exclusive track for this record and while we can’t divulge more info at the moment, we promise you that “Treats Vol.3″ will be the best episode so far! You can also expect some hot new music from Session Victim and Quarion on Retreat later this year as well as exclusive podcasts and a few surprises…

And don’t forget that if you’re looking for previous releases from Retreat’s two main artists and their affiliated projects, our webshop has got all the goodies! From Session Victim’s first bangers on Real Soon to Quarion’s classics on Drumpoet Community via Matthias Reiling’s recent masterpieces on Giegling, you’ll be able to complete your collection at a very fair price.

Before signing off, we’d also like to mention that our super designer Gesine Todt has just finished crafting an open font for Google’s Web Fonts API! A very classy typeface that you can download here.

Thanks for your ongoing support, we promise to hit you up with more news very soon!

ps: our special heartfelt thoughts go out to our followers in Japan, as they are facing a terrible crisis. We wish you a lot of courage and hope during these tough times…

ever wanted to start a hand-stamped white label? This is what you need!

“Stumbled Across” was released a few weeks ago and has since received a sizeable amount of praise from the DJs and the media, including getting tipped as one of the month’s highlights in the december issue of De:Bug. Well done Iron Curtis!

Back at Retreat HQ, we’re actually working hard to finalize our last 2010 production. You see, we wanted rtr07 and rtr08 to follow each other pretty fast before our yearly break at the beginning of 2011. So after receiving the test pressings, we’ve just finished stamping and inserting the release info in the sleeves for the happy 50-ish who will get a promo copy of rtr08…

But what sort of record is it then? Well, it’s a 4-track EP by Quarion and it’s a winner. We can’t say much about it now, except that it’s called “Moons Around Jupiter” and that it’s definitely out there. Expect a pretty original teaser to appear on this site very soon!

If you can’t wait to get your hands on this fantastic record, you can already complete your Quarion collection via the webshop: we’ve got now the Q-man’s early releases on Drumpoet Community in limited quantities, including the super-classic “Karasu” which started it all…

We wish we could have our own pressing plant...pretty hard to fit in an appartment though!

Since the beginning of 2010, we’ve noticed that the stock of Retreat 12″s has been slowly but surely decreasing. Before we knew it, our 2009 releases were all sold out and we started receiving e-mails from people asking us to please repress those earlier records…

Well, we’re happy to inform you that RTR01, 02 and 03 are now back in stock! Packaged in a new, mat-black sleeve, these records sound as fresh as if they came out yesterday. From the heavy “Treats vol.1″ split EP to Quarion’s PBar classic “Turn Off The Light” via Session Victim’s highly praised “Out On Love” release, now’s your chance to continue your Retreat collection or start it from scratch!

Available at your favourite record store or via Retreat’s own webshop.

our own little retreat in the countryside...Changdeokgung in Seoul

Well, I was beginning to enjoy slacking around with my flip-flops but now it seems like I’ve got to wear thick socks again…Bam, that’s it, summer is gone, the show is over, time to get back to work. Thankfully, the bittersweet J-pop of Mai Kuraki prepared me for this doomsday: there was no way in hell you could have missed her new single if you were in Shibuya during the last week of August…

Indeed, I was lucky to spend the last days of summer travelling between Tokyo and Seoul: seeing old friends, meeting new people, performing in front of the ocean, eating the best food on earth and just enjoying this incomparable pacific vibe…yup, it was the good life. Special shout outs to DJ Kent, Udo and Baya for the amazing moments!

Now I’m back in cold, grey and rainy Berlin…but what the hell, I love this city! It’s still bubbling with creativity and for what I’ve heard in various home-studios or work-in-progress demos, there should be some spectacular music coming out soon!

Here at Retreat HQ, we’re particularly excited about our new artist, Iron Curtis. This young man has been hammering out track after track of old-school-tainted-yet-still-contemporary House but guess what: he actually kept his most bugged-out music for your favourite vinyl-only label! Hauke and myself were blown away by his demo and we’re very looking forward to release his EP in the upcoming weeks. Expect RTR07 to hit the stores some time in October!

Speaking of stores, we’ve also decided to add more material to our webshop, including other music labels who are also following the “strictly-vinyl” philosophy. It’s the age-old “united we stand” motto but it’s particularly suited to this tough business.  So as of this month, you’ll be able to purchase the mysterious Skylevel imprint, a label that specialises in quirky edits and whose etching on the record proudly proclaims “vinyl till we die”. Our kind of people…

More news coming up shortly so stay tuned!