Quarion‘s “Moons Around Jupiter” is due to come out next week…but you can already listen to this exclusive teaser! This is a bizarre experiment where the Q-man shortens his whole EP into 5 mins, adds extra fx and has a voice-over giving facts about certain celestial objects. The whole piece sounds like a Science Fiction movie trailer…more “Dark Star” than “Avatar” though!
Category: Blog
Promotion the old-fashioned way…
“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…
Back in stock!
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.
Summer Time Gone
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!
More goodies!
Our online shop was looking a bit dull these days with 40% of our releases out of stock, but since last week, we’ve got some pretty neat new items in the Retreat bodega!
First of all, we’ve finally received represses of RTR03 and RTR04, so if you’ve missed Quarion’s classic “dusty fingers” ep or Hunee’s essential “barrio payment” ep, now is the time to complete your collection!
But what we’re the most excited to reveal is our own line of selfmade turntable slipmats! Available in 4 different flavors and crafted with love by Gesine at the Retreat HQ, these DJ essentials will help you cue, spin and scratch your records … not to mention make your fellow vinyl nerds drool with envy over the classic RTR design! These are available only on the Retreat webshop … don’t sleep!
Out of the Ice Age
Phew, it really feels like eons since I’ve sat down and wrote some nonsense for our blog…then again, it’s not like I’ve been lazy: I’m known as der Pressemann, the one in charge for all the release sheets, party infos, Reels descriptions and basically every written text that is related to Retreat, so there has been some stuff to rant about, but fair enough, my last proper blog entry was in November. Back then, I was moaning about the tough Berlin winter but now, believe or not, the sun came back! My brain still has trouble processing this new information and I was indeed training to live in this Ice Age for the rest of my life (dressing up with 5 layers, being really cautious not to slip on the road, mumbling instead of talking so that my lips don’t bleed)…but hey, the ice is gone, the birds are singing and the days are getting longer so I guess I can ditch those adamantium gloves.
So what’s new at Retreat HQ? Well, in case you didn’t notice, we have a new record out entitled “Treats Vol.2” which is getting some major airplay. It’s a hot split EP with two cuts from Session Victim and 1 track from myself. You can read about it here and there but also just make up your own mind by listening to it. Session Victim are now busy working on RTR06 but if you’re a fiend for their groovy cut-up approach, i would strongly recommend that you check out Matthias Reiling‘s excellent “Das Gespenst Von Altona” on Giegling. This Mini-album from the talented producer who makes up 1/2 of Session Victim has Funk stamped all over its 3 House tracks and 5 Hip-Hop Instrumentals. Being the ageing b-boy that I am, my preference goes to the 5 little gems: intricate yet bouncy beats that seem to be tailormade for MC’s like DOOM or Kool Keith. Hot ish! In fact, if you’re in Berlin tonight, be sure to check Matthias out at Farbfernseher, it’s about to become pretty steamy in this little place!
That’s it for now peeps, more news and the usual q-nonsense will follow shortly…
The Making of RTR05
Thanks to Gesine, we managed to get a few pics during our latest promo action.
As usual, we stamped every one of the 60 Test Pressings with the Retreat logo (three times!) and a small “RTR05” banner. Alongside evidence of our unadulterated geekiness, you’ll also have an exclusive peek on the brand new sleeve design!
Back from down-under
As you might have noticed, I generally leave the writing to Yanneck and take care of the administrative stuff at Retreat HQ . But I just returned to Berlin after spending three weeks in the sunshine in Sydney and felt the need to thank all my friends and music lovers down-under for looking after me. Special thanks to:
Jimmi, Ken, Richie and Adam for the excellent Mad Shuffle Party. Chad, Nathan and Jay from Future Classic for hospitality, great times at the beach house (and forcing me on the surf board) and hooking me up with some gigs. Sinclair and Simon Caldwell for inviting me to your radio shows.
one year of Retreat
Yes, I know it’s a bit late for a 2009 round-up/2010 forecast, but hey, we were both busy Hauke and I: the Haukster was packing his bag and deciding which suntan would be more appropriate for the tough australian beaches while I was recovering from extreme NYE parties and rehearsing for my first ever gig as keyboardist and background singer…
But we’re now on a roll again and we wanted to give you all a little résumé of our first ever year as a vinyl-only label, plus a little teaser of Retreat’s future. Continue reading “one year of Retreat”
Autumn Madness
It’s going to be my fourth winter here in Berlin, but I still can’t get used to the following natural phenomena: how fast the sun is setting between 4 and 5 in the afternoon. It’s almost as if you look out the window, write some nonsense in 140 characters and when you look out again, bam, darkness crept in… Continue reading “Autumn Madness”