The heat is on!

so hot it will melt your chocolates
so hot it will melt your chocolates

It’s that time of the year again: the sun appears for the first time in months, Berliners are in a better mood and the Retreat HQ is buzzing with activity after a long hibernation!

But to be honest, the people behind your favourite vinyl-only label were actually quite busy these last few months: Hauke has been on an extensive touring schedule with his mate Matthias Reiling as Session Victim, smashing club after club in Europe, Russia, the USA and Canada while still dropping essential remixes and tracks for Wolf Music, Compost Black and Retrofit. Quarion on the other hand worked hard in the studio and finally delivered a follow-up to 2010’s “Moons Around Jupiter”! Introducing 3 monster tracks that cover a wide spectrum of Dance music, the “Shifts In The Environment” EP is a return to form as well as a departure from the traditional House sound associated with the producer. Expect the record to hit the shelves in mid-june, but of course, we’ll keep you posted on this one.

Actually, RTR13 is only the first out of six releases coming out this summer. What?!!? Well, sort of: we’ve decided to finally repress some of our earlier catalog on full quality 180 gram vinyl! Needless to say that you might run into a lot of Retreat wax in the shops these next months as most of the EPs were sold out until now! But if you want to secure a copy of “Pepper Candy”, “Move Me So” or the classic “Good Intentions” (yes!) you can also go straight to our webshop, put in a preorder and receive the records as soon as they’re hot off the press! Oh, and we’ll even throw in a special present for those looong summer afternoons at the festival, open-air afterparty or biergarten!

It’s getting hot in here so stay tuned for more news!

Iron Curtis/Quarion/Session Victim – Treats Vol. 3 – RTR09

After a short break, Retreat is back in full swing with its first 2011 release: an essential new installment in the infamous Treats series! Featuring exclusive tracks from Iron Curtis, Quarion and Session Victim, Treats Vol. 3 represents a fascinating snapshot of each artist’s current musical evolution, whether it’s Iron Curtis’ own take on Detroit Techno, Quarion’s stripped-down House with a twist or Session Victim’s endless quest for the perfect groove.

You, On A Friday Night begins flat out with one of the dirtiest square wave bassline this side of the Atlantic, promptly followed by tambourine beats and offbeat FM stabs. It’s a rock-solid foundation and Iron Curtis unfolds it delicately for a good minute and a half before introducing the breakdown with a piercing synth chord. As the rhythm kicks back in with extra percussive elements, the iron man gets down to work on the bassline by twisting, filtering and stretching it in a very impressive manner. The beat drops once again while the sharp Juno synth reveals a proper chord sequence, bringing an unexpected emotional feel to the entire track. After an exciting build-up, the drums reappear and an additional hi-hat implements the final touch to this bouncy masterpiece.

Quarion deliberately ventures in tooly house territory with the super-effective groove of Mysteries Of Time. This tune highlights dubby chords revolving around a heavy 118 BPM rhythm and a strong sub-bass. Although pretty basic in its form, Mysteries Of Time has a very live feel as the beat seems to drift in and out of the foreground while someone speaks about the confusion of our awareness of time. The madness happens after 3 minutes as Quarion flips the script on time manipulation and introduces a bold tempo change! But you won’t be bobbing your head for too long as the track soon goes back to its original form and concludes as enigmatically as it began …

Turn the record over and the shuffling beat of Good Intentions will instantly pull you in Session Victim’s realm. The groove provided by these dusty Rhodes licks is nothing short of addictive and it will get your hips moving in no time. Subtle vocal snippets and a flowing drum programming lock the whole track on rails while keeping your behind on the floor. Your excitement grows as the SVM boys filter the main theme and Jupiter chords appear from the background. No doubt that you’ll be sweating that last shot of Tequila when the drums slam you back in the track and the loop makes a glorious comeback! But you’ll be able to catch a breather when a sweet synth melody plays along these dusty keys until Good Intentions reaches its well-rounded conclusion.

A1 – You, On A Friday Night
A2 –Mysteries Of Time
B1 – Good Intentions

[audio:http://www.retreat-vinyl.de/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/RTR09-A1.mp3,http://www.retreat-vinyl.de/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/RTR09-A2.mp3,http://www.retreat-vinyl.de/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/RTR09-B1.mp3|titles=You On A Friday Night,Mysteries Of Time,Good Intentions |artists=Iron Curtis,Quarion, Session Victim]

Release: May 25th 2011
(RTR-09 Releasesheet)

Retreat moves on to film production…

Well not really, but we couldn’t resist bulding another “trailer” for our upcoming release, “Treats Vol.3”, which features 3 banging tracks from Iron Curtis, Quarion and Session Victim! Each tune is edited down to 2 minutes and the whole EP is once again sequenced as a trailer, hollywood-style!