Tag: Quarion

Quarion – Busted Moniker EP – RTR16

RTR_Label-16Finally putting to rest a one-year break, Retreat is back in full swing in order to bring more heat this summer thanks to the “Busted Moniker EP” from Quarion! With four tracks that showcase a jazzier, somewhat wilder side of the Retreat co-founder, “Busted Moniker” has the stamp of a producer on top of his game, squeezing out all of the funk from his machines and letting loose without too much over-thinking. Can you handle it?

The ambient introduction “Lost Coordinates” represents a direct follow-up to Quarion’s offering on the “Treats Vol.5” Compilation. Built around a circular four note theme, white noise percussion and a distant choir, “Lost Coordinates” evokes a ghost spaceship that is drifting through the void, his destination unknown and his point of origin long forgotten.
The bumpy house beat of “A Thousand Questions” teleports us back to a more familiar territory: this is proper club music with a sweet jazzy touch. Not holding back on his skills as a musician, Quarion treats us with a Rhodes bassline, deep piano chords and many drum fills. The tune moves along nicely and just when you think it couldn’t get any better, Quarion surprises us with a break that introduces energetic Juno stabs and a booming new bassline. Slick!

“Burnin'” is maybe the EPs hottest track (all puns intended) and is sure to light fires on dancefloors all over. Beginning with a deep bassline atop a shuffled beat, the groove becomes irresistible as soon as the cheeky vocal samples arrive, but it’s the entrance of an infectious and offbeat Rhodes loop that is sure to make the dancers go crazy. As the track gets stronger, the theme breaks down in descending chords and we’re left with just the kick drum and a percussive noise. The loop soon emerges anew from the background now coupled with a phased cymbal for one more everlasting burn… Ouch!

“You Were The Only” is the EP’s conclusion, a jazzy Broken Beat workout reminiscent of what came out of West London at the turn of the millennium. Starting with a catchy synth, the track truly opens up when the additional sub bass and skippy Juno chords come into play, but the real magic happens after a short break. The bassline evolves into an 8-bar sequence with beautiful chords to match and we’re instantly taken on a jazz journey with sprinkling keys, ethereal strings and more Juno stabs. A perfect finish to a very juicy EP!

A1 Lost Coordinates
A2 A Thousand Questions
B1 Burnin’
B2 You Were The Only

Release: August 17th 2015
(RTR16_Releasesheet)

 

Communication Restored

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Slipmat 1: “Hey, let’s take a selfie with the Tokyo Skyline in the background!” Slipmat 2: “Have you grown a pair of hands?”

« The Rise And Fall Of Retreat »: what appears to be the title of a cheap gangster movie is actually the script that Hauke and I seemed to have unknowingly followed in 2014.

The rise was gradual and smooth : the label reached the small milestone of being five years old, we put out a compilation on double gatefold vinyl with exclusive music from some of our favorite artists and we went on tour around Europe to celebrate Retreat’s 5-Year anniversary. But the fall was sudden and abrupt : our distributor Intergroove filed for bankruptcy in july and this struck an almost fatal blow to our finances…

So for the first time in the label’s history, we took its name literally and folded back. Retreat moved away from the spotlight in order to heal and calmly prepare the next move.

Thus after consolidating our relationship with a new distributor (Word And Sound), sanitizing our finances and most importantly spending countless hours in the studio, Hauke and I are thrilled to announce that Retreat will be back in the summer of 2015 with the help of not one but two releases!

RTR16 by Quarion will be available in July while RTR17 by Session Victim is expected to drop mid-august. As you can imagine, there are still a few details to finalize but we thought it was important to get back in touch with all of you and announce that Retreat will be introducing year n°6 with a double summer slam!

More information to follow of course but in the meantime, thank you for your support and please stay tuned!