Pierre Bastien is a musical inventor who, through his delicately anachronistic creations, opens nostalgic spaces for reflection.

Mecanium, Bastien's orchestra, is an assembly of individual, home-made robots designed to play music mechanically. Constructed from meccano and recycled turntable motors, and numbering more than 80 at last count, the oldest dates back to 1977. The robots are set loose on arcane instruments to hit, pluck and bow via an intricate network of gears and pulleys, producing hypnotic loops. The rudimentary, fragile patterns drawn from instruments like the harp-lute dousso'n gouni from Mali, the rubab mandolin from Uzbekistan, the angklung from Indonesia, the Chinese lute, the Morrocan bendir, the Javanese saron, the Japanese koto, the sanza, the harmonium, and the violin, give us a glimpse of analog sequencing from a pre-digital age.

But Bastien does not make purely automated art. Building his loops with the robotic rhythm section, he adds additional melodies, basslines and tone colour for recorded material, and in live performances the musician himself sits amid his mechanised instruments accompanying them on cornet, violin or musical saw.

Bastien, born in Paris in 1953, has forged a life filled with music, invention and surrealism: he made a two-string guitar at ten and a metronome at 15; wrote a doctorate on 18th century French literature from the Sorbonne University, his thesis on the pre-surrealist Raymond Roussel; has written music for string quartets and ballets, and ultimately combined his interests and talents when he created his industrial-era orchestra - the strains of Dadaism permeating all aspects of his project.

In the 90s Bastien and his mechanical orchestra took part in music festivals and art exhibitions in Norway (World Music Days'90), Australia (Tisea'92), Japan (Artec'95), Canada (Fimav'95, Sound Symposium'98), Poland (Warsaw Autumn'95), United States (Flea Festival'96). They have collaborated with a wide range of artists Dominique Bagouet (ballet), Pascal Comelade, Jac Berrocal, video artist Pierrick Sorin, fashion designer Issey Miyake, dj Low, Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit, British singer and composer Robert Wyat, the Trottola circus.

Recent works include Musiques Paralloidres (Lowlands, 1998), Mecanoid (Rephlex, 2001) and the more recent Se Verla al Reves (G3G, 2005), Teleconcerts (Signature, 2005) and POP (Rephlex, 2005)

www.pierrebastien.com

Mapstation offers a guided tour of old and new territory with delicately drawn topographies, a warm and subtle landscape of evocative electronics, minimal pulsing rhythms, delicate melodies and fragile structures, a soulful musical language graceful slow-downs and dub refrains. Mapstation is the solo project of Stefan Schneider, (ex) founding member of Kreidler, and the melodic third (bassist) of the modernist landscape designers To Rococo Rot.

Schneider is a Düsseldorf native, a city that has bred electronic musicians since the 1960s, birthplace of Kraftwerk, Neu!, Der Plan and Mouse on Mars. Schneider's first band was a rock group, Sons of Care, with himself as guitar player and primary member. His next venture, Deux Baleines Blanches, also Düsseldorf based, was an Avant-pop group founded in 1985 by Schneider as a side-project; its members constantly changing. Schneider's earliest published appearance, on a 1987 new-wave pop-rock tape, compiled by Schneider, features Deux Baleines Blanches and other local acts. In the spring of 1994 Thomas Klein, Andreas Reihse and Stefan Schneider morphed Deux Baleines Blanches into the chameleon like post-rock outfit Kreidler.

Mapstation began in 1999, when Schneider began exploring possibilities for randomness in his machines. Leaving creative control to his synths, his dj sets evolved into a complete live production, underpinned by a blend of electronic sounds from the 1950's to Detroit techno, and a cappella versions of reggae singles.

On the strength of his first, eponymous mini album for London-based label Soul Static Sound, Schneider was approached by Staubgold to begin a partnership that led to three Mapstation albums between 2001 and 2003. He made his ~scape label debut in 2006, with material recorded in various places in Berlin, Düsseldorf and London between July 2003 and August 2005, that was finally released as Distance Told Me Things To Be Said. Martin Brandlmayr of Vienna trio Radian is the percussionist, after already appearing on Mapstation's previous Staubgold album Version Train, an record which also featured the vocals of Ras Donovan (Tikiman).

Together with Paul Wirkus and Barbara Morgenstern, Schneider has toured as September Collective. He is currently a visiting lecturer in photography and sound at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) Karlsruhe, Germany.

Schneider was joined for his CTM performance by Video Projection Designer Adi Wolotzky (b.1974). Wolotzy trained at Goldsmiths College in London, and has presented her work at numerous film festivals internationally.

www.mapstation.de
www.adiwolotzky.com

Belfast, the hometown of Boxcutter, is more than 300 miles from dubstep's epicentre in London, providing the perfect environment for excursions away from the conventions of the genre. Boxcutter makes use of his position as an external observer in a playful way: On his debut album Oneiric, he experimented with a blend of dub-step aesthetics, jungle basics, improvisation, breakbeats and and live instrumentation, making it one of the most exciting records of last year.

www.myspace.com/barrylynmusic

Sasu Ripatti is a Finnish producer who is responsible for some of the most brilliant and distinctive sounds in recent electronic music. He is known to many as Vladislav Delay, who, with his stripped-down explorations of rhythm and soundscape scoped subterranean depths on his Chain Reaction and Mille Plateaux releases. To the rest, he is Luomo, the producer of sleek and soulful music from the innovative edges of house.

The lesser known Uusitalo project lies mid-way between the two in Ripatti's non-linear universe. The sound is cleaner, more defined; a techno-inspired exploration of spatial dimensions, with jumpy beats and dancefloor aspirations. Elements of Ripatti's submerged Chain Reaction techno are there, but lighter; his signature collapsing and reforming constructions evident throughout.

Born in Oulu, Finland (1976) Ripatti trained as a jazz percussionist, and made his living on the Finnish live circuit before selling his gear and delving into electronics. True to his jazz roots, improvisation figures largely in his work, and especially so with live performances. His percussion background also shines through: Ripatti's approach to making electronic music, in all guises, is predominately rhythmic. His music is dominated by very complex bass rhythms developed with strange time signatures and unpredictable anomalies. He has also recorded under the monikers Sistol and Conoco.

Ripatti's earliest releases were as Vladislav Delay, the fist in 1997 (The Kind of Blue, Huume). He started making waves with Chain Reaction and Mille Plateaux in 1999 before baffling fans with his Luomo debut on Force Tracks in 2000. He began releasing work on his own label, Huume, from 2004.

Though very prolific under his most recognized pseudonyms Rippatti has produced only two Uusitalo Albums. In 2000, Vapaa Muurari (Force Inc. Music Works), was released in two versions - the LP followed by a live mix CD. After a long hiatus, Uusitalo was resurrected and Tulenkantaja (flame bearer) was released on Huume in 2006.

The new album's namesake and inspiration were borrowed from a radical literary group that operated 1940's Helsinki, in which Ripatti's grandmother played a key role. The ice-tech album is underpinned by metallic beats and organic rhythms. It inhabits the same space as techno while building intricate structures within, through and around it.

www.huumerecordings.com

In 2004 Elephant Island, the first, barely labelled Sleeparchive 12", appeared in Hardwax - a record of stripped down sound with hand-stamped labels in a plain cardboard sleeve. It was a record of beautiful, sparse beats, the likes of which had not been heard since the mid-90s Sähkö releases, leading to intense speculation about the identity of its producer, the haunting echoes, static and bleeps fuelled theories that it was, in fact, Mika Vainio, or perhaps a new Hawtin project - even a collaboration between the two.

Sometime after Recycle or Research the mystery was more or less solved and it was revealed Sleeparchive was Berlin producer Stephan Metzger, mostly. Metzger hinted that 'another shy guy from Berlin' may be involved in an interview with Philip Sherburne in late 2005, most likely with the fourth Sleeparchive EP Infrared Glow, which caused a new flurry of identity-spotting with its denser sound and movement.

Metzger (aka Roger Semsroth) used to be Skanfrom, who, until 2003 released new-wavy electro on labels like Morr Music, City Centre Offices and Suction Records. Skanform also released on his own, now defunct electro synthpop label A.D.S.R. Television Set is another moniker, the last release Normal Day (12") on Genetic Music in 2004. He is also a member of Bakterielle Infektion, a minimal electronic (whatever that means nowadays) duo with Uwe Marx; their most recent release was the CD Cities Of Glass on Genetic Music in 2005.

All of the records under the Sleeparchive heading, and Metzger's live performances, have an internal spatial consistency, clean lines and wide-open chasms that create extra dimensions with rumbling bass and static blips; danceable atmospheric bleepscapes. Metzger's sound is far from the now loaded interpretation of 'minimal', but it is steeped in the older sense of the word - reductive but full of space.

Sleeparchive will be joined by DJ Pete (Hardwax) aka Substance, responsible for several deep and spacey 12"s on Chain Reaction, and one half of Scion with Rene Lowe. The two will tag together, Sleeparchive live with Pete mixing a few records, and then Pete will continue on into the wee and winking hours.

www.sleeparchive.de
www.djpete.de

Sten, aka Lawrence, is also known as Peter M. Kersten, a Hamburgian of increasing renown in club circles. He is co-founder of Dial records, a consistently brilliant label known for deep grooves and haunting atmospheres; every release is bittersweet perfection from the sound signatures to the sleeve art. In his Lawrence guise Kersten is an in-demand producer, DJ and remixer, Sten is his less visible, more down-to-earth alter-ego.

Sten has kept a straighter, more aggressively beat-oriented construction than his more romantic counterpart (though recently Lawrence has become a bit of an all-rounder). But, whether making music as Lawrence or Sten, the result is always classic and deep.

Kersten started playing the computer and machines in 1997, a few years before his first release on dial as Lawrence, Shoes/i> (dial000). The first Sten 12", TV, appeared in 2002, followed by another, Eccentric, the next year, and the acclaimed album, Leaving the Frantic, in 2004. He made his Sender debut on the Receiving Data compilation with the track Faces and went on to release two 12"s on the Berlin (nee Cologne) label in 2004, Restless and Stalker.

Sten appeared to lay low for some time after that, dropping only remixes (for Pokerflat's Lihmacon, DK7, Pantha du Prince) and with some tracks appearing on compilations of Tobias Thomas, Cocoon and Michael Mayer's Immer2. He returned to Dial with a new ep in 2006. The title track, Take me to the Fridge, combines nonsensical Chicago style vocals (Take me to the fridge...?) and solid beats with percussive antics.

Kersten launched Dial with his flatmate and dj friend David Lieske (aka Carsten Jost) in 2000 and it has been going from strength to strength ever since, already past the 30 release mark. There was a stomping Dial label night at Berlin's panorama bar in Dec 2006, and an all-nighter soon after at London's Süd Yuletide, organised by Alan Abrahams aka Portable.

2006 was a busy year for Kersten with appearances at the 2006 DEMF festival (Ghostly International Party), a live set at MUTEK 06, and in Jerusalem at the c.sides festival in the summer. He also opened a record store and label in Hamburg called Smallville, and its first shimmering release, We Are Smallville, featuring Sten, DJ Swap and Steinhoff & Hammouda, was out in late 2006.

www.myspace.com/lawrencesten