“Here’s a little mix I did for the ‘Reels’-podcast-series of my buddies at Retreat. It contains some of my alltime favorite 12″s, some tracks i went nuts on the past few years, two fantastic edits done by my dear friend Jool (under his ‘Edit Piafra’ moniker) besides some later records and tracks from 2009 and 2010.
Thanks to my mate Baaz who allowed me to use his spaceship-like-lookin’ cd-player for this mix.
I hope the quality is not too bad and you guys like it – even this mix is a little genre-rollercoaster in it’s first half.”

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.

It's the R's, baby

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.

Needless to say that Hauke and I are pretty amazed at how things have worked out for our little company: in a year, we’ve managed to put out four quality EP’s which are almost all sold out and placed two songs from the Retreat catalog in compilations from two of Berlin’s major clubs (Watergate and Cookies). Plus we’ve managed to set up what is now a nicely packed monthly party in a warm and intimate location. So yeah, we are very, very happy that the Retreat ship had such a smooth cruise during its maiden voyage. But if it wouldn’t have the following people (and their undenying support) on board, the vessel would have sunken a long time ago:

. The artists, Session Victim, Quarion and Hunee: you’re the reason we’ve started our label. If it wasn’t for your cut-up Discoid House, Nu-Detroit vibes or Post-Afrobeat workouts, there would be no Retreat, pure and simple. Thank you so much for creating such amazing music and giving us a strong identity.

. The designer, Gesine Todt: her input has been invaluable to Retreat. From providing us with the most recognizable “R” in the music-business since Reinforced to designing every single Retreat outlet, Gesine’s work has been nothing short of outstanding, due to the fact that we usually work with such tight deadlines.

. Our guests at the Retreat party, DJ Honesty, Andreas Andersson, Session Victim, Alex Dallas, Finn Johannsen, m50 AKA Area, Patrice Scott, Hunee, Mark August and Iron Curtis: a million thanks for providing us with the ultimate Funk for a non-average thursday night out in Berlin. Even though our budget only allowed us to pay you pennies, you all played from the heart and helped us to set up a monthly base for our musical adventure.

. The mastering engineers at Calyx and Dubplates & Mastering (RTR 01): our gratitude to you for making our records sound so crisp. We like to keep things a little bit dirty and you always managed to pull this feat off, without ever compromising on the sound quality.

. The distributor, Intergroove: thanks for supporting our small label since day one. We’re treated with the same regards as your bigger clients and we really appreciate that. Who knows? One day we might even sell more than 600 copies per release

. The manufacturer, Handle With Care: congratulations on a job well done. Although there were a few f-ups here and there, you always came through with putting our love on wax.

Then of course, we would to give a big THANK YOU to everyone that bought, played or danced to a Retreat record! We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.

So what is to expect from the R in 2010? Well, it’s only january and there’s a lot of planning to do (plus we’re a bit secretive with certain stuff) but we can already announce the release of RTR05: it will hit the shops on the 3rd of march and will feature music from Quarion and Session Victim. Yep, it’s a follow-up to our debut release and will be (quite logically) entitled “Treats Vol.2″. We can’t tell you more, except that there’s a definite disco vibe and that it’s quite freaky (a weird story about danish daughters getting nasty with pepper candy in the midnight hour…ouh!). And watch out for that new cover design

But before this one drops, you’ll be able to groove with us via our Reels page (new mixes coming soon!) and of course via the parties @ Edelweiss. Next up, we’ve got the mighty Mano Le Tough from Internasjonal to give us a disco hand aswell as Berlin’s own Elie Eidelmann who will bless us with a fresh House selection. You know where you have to be on the 28th…

Thanks again for a wonderful 2009 and let’s keep on building in 2010!

Rufus & Chaka – Masterjam (LP – 1979) – MCA: Seems like I’m having a little fixation with everything that involved the pairing of producer Quincy Jones and writer Rod Temperton in the late 70’s/early 80’s…these two legends had a  chemistry that was seldom matched in showbiz. Add the slick groove of the Rufus band with the vocal acrobatics of Chaka Khan and you come up with “Masterjam”, another perfect Funk/pop album. My song-writing partner Jules Etienne knows how hooked I am on “Live In Me”…

KiNK – Trevoga – Undertones: This is off his “Psyche Funk EP” and it’s a monster. A very raw track that blurs the boundaries between House, Hip-Hop, Dubstep and Drum n’ Bass, thanks to its prominent old-school breakbeat. From what I heard of his upcoming tracks, you can expect much more madness from KiNK.

Session Victim – The Keyboarder – Delusions Of Grandeur: The Hamburg-Berlin connection is once again in full swing on this cut-up funk masterpiece due out in a few weeks on Jimpster’s label. The groove is undeniable and the disco strings are catchy as hell !

Sigha – Rawww – Hot Flush 2: This is exactly the sort of hybrid track I knew somebody would come up with : a slowed-down dubstep tune that fits in any House or Techno set. The production is so heavy that you’ll feel the whole dancefloor shaking.

Marcello Napoletano – House Class – Reincarnation: Marcello has been getting a lot of praise these last few months and it’s easy to see why : the man has a lot of bounce in his music! « House Class » is a superb party track that manages to update a formula once mastered by Ron & Chez.

Jayson Brothers – Keep On Dancin’ – Drumpoet Community: a little secret project from the hardest working (young) man in showbusiness that’s due to come out next spring on DPC. My Zürich fam have been hammering the A-side (“The Game”) to death already but in my opinion, the B-side wins again and again. The basic synth loop is infectious and the bassline is just massive!

Lusine – A Certain Distance (LP) – Ghostly International: this release has generated a lot of buzz from all sides of the biz and it’s highly justified. Jeff McIlwain has a very defined sound  and knows how to craft pop songs on a canvas of glitchy and hi-tech productions. A beautiful album that is contemporary yet timeless.

Langenberg – Times (Manuel Tur’s Ground Glass Reflex) – Mild Pitch: To be honest, I often think that the Essen boys release a bit too much stuff and that the quality is not always there. But this one is definitely a winner. Thanks to Iron Curtis, I heard Manuel’s remix for the first time on Horst’s heavy soundsystem and was immediatly hooked by the bassline and the building vocal samples. The ruff, grainy production adds an extra depth to this fine piece of wax.

Jose James – Blackmagic (Joy Orbison Remix) – Brownswood: a beautiful slice of Dubstep-Soul, Joy Orbison’s remix once again proves why he’s one of the new darlings of the scene. The long vocal intro is perfect to set you in the mood until the beats and detroitish pads arrive to take you that bit higher. The Untold remix on the flipside is very good too!

Databoy 78 – Thursday (Lexx Remix) –Running Back: my homeboy Lexx has been adding his subtle but magic touch on this new act coming out on Running Back. The groove will keep you going for days and the bassline will stay in your head forever!

Chiapet – Tick Tock (War Of The Worlds Mix) – Yoshitoshi: this is an old Mood II Swing production I’ve digged from my collection and it hasn’t left my case since a few weeks…I can’t believe I forgot how dramatic, heavy and downright funky this track was! The vibe is so intense, it seems to annihilate every track that was played before it and makes you feel like the party has just started. Get it while you still can!

John Daly – Aurora – IRR: John is the master of slo-mo discoid house and this EP on International Records Recordings (one of the best label names ever!) does not disappoint. The loose beats and “broken” pads give the track a very live feel while the bassline keeps the whole thing steady.

Kasper – Dub 106 – Esperanza: there’s a lot of dub-techno or dub-house tracks these days but this one is definitely one of the best, despite its uninspired name. I discovered this track thanks to Mark and immediately got lost in its perfect loop and panoramic production.

Falty DL – Party – Ramp: Another great Dubstep/House hybrid (this time with the groove changing about 2/3 of the track). This one just rolls and rolls, helped by a very exciting vocal. Also recommended is Falty’s sweet and sour EP on Planet Mu.

Shinedoe – No Boundaries (Martin Buttrich RMX) – Intacto: this tune is more on the minimal side of things but the production is just top notch. The sub bass creeps under your skin while the track builds in intensity with shuffling sounds until everything breaks down in a detroitish break. Great stuff!

This was actually taken in London

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…

I won’t lie, it gets me depressed sometime. That’s why I’ve decided to take german lessons again every morning, so that I can get as much “light” as possible and mostly because I want to master a bit more properly a very difficult language. Although I’m pretty sure that I’m learning stuff that my fellow german co-conspirator doesn’t use (Hauke, wie oft benutzt du den Konjunktiv I??!!?), it feels good to implement new knowledge other than music history, sofware use or geopolitics (what I’m into these days).

But speaking of my Berlin Kumpel, have you checked out his exclusive “Fried and then basted” mix? It’s the first session of our brand new REELS platform and it’s pretty hot! We already have a couple of exclusive mixes lined up for the next editions, including a killer slo-mo House set from Mark August so stay tuned!

On the Retreat front, Barrio Payment has been getting mad support from a lot of cats…and the 12″ is almost sold out! So much thanks to everyone for supporting Hunee and our small family business. The record bags are also about to disappear very quickly from our stock so get them while you can…or just wait until we manufacture some more

you love it already

Quite a busy week at Retreat HQ: first of all we’ve got Hunee’s amazing “Barrio Payment” EP droppin’ at a record store near you, so be sure to cop that one! We’ve also got our monthly party coming up this Thursday with special guest Mark August on the 1’s and 2’s. And…we’re proud to announce that we’ve now set up our own little online shop! Yep, if your favourite wax dealer can’t get you a copy of “Treats Vol.1″ or if you live somewhere with NO record shops at all, you can order vinyl directly from us! Get more than one record and we’ll throw in one of these 100% Cotton bags that come in handy for carrying 12″s, vegetables from the market or just cruising around Prenzlauer Berg pretending you’re a fashion designer or social network developer (don’t forget the tight jeans though). Of course, you can also just order the bags if you’ve got all our records or if you think our music sucks but the design rocks…

The B-side begins with the polyrhythmic action of Barrio Payment: layers and layers of percussion, scattered drums and marimba licks. Is this really House Music? Does anyone care? Similar to the beat freakings of Tony Allen or IG Culture, Barrio Payment rolls and rolls with a solid bassline anchoring the groove. But just when you think it’s just a drum & bass workout, Detroit-style stabs warp the track in another new dimension and turn it into the official soundtrack to Nigeria’s upcoming space program.

To finish off an already amazing ep, Hunee comes through with the super erotic Funk of Amiadar. With its slow groove and hot vocal snippets, Amiadar begs to be played as the last track of the night, before couples continue their dance behind closed doors … Sexy but never vulgar, the tune unfolds at it’s own pace, thanks to moody chords and offbeat percussion. The break is truly ecstatic: with a majestic synth bassline rising from the background and intense moaning, you can only let yourself go as the break resolves in a sweaty beat. Amiadar then reaches its conclusion in a gentle manner while the sexual tension never drops …

A1 – Foundation
B1 – Barrio Payment
B2 – Amiadar

Release: November 4th 2009
(RTR04_releasesheet)