One of the rising stars from the well known Cologne minimal house and techno scene and a highly appreciated DJ and live artist, Gabriel Ananda has been a passionate about music since he was a child. A DJ-Set by Sven Vaeth in 1995 was a turning point that made him begin experimenting in electronic sounds. Two years later he had his first release on the German Label Horspielmusik, followed now by over twenty releases on imprints like Trapez, Utils, Substatic, Treibstoff and Karmarouge Records with his biggest hit being 2006's "Miracel Whop" on Platzhirsch Schallplatten. In Gabriel Ananda's productions, techno, house and dub merge, while acoustic elements give a personal note to deep structured electronic music. There are no stylistic boundaries for him, in fact, except his own versatile musical taste and his will to rock the party!

www.gabrielananda.de

With 3 albums, 60 singles and even a DVD already under their belts, Swedish Sebastian Mullaert and Marcus Henriksson have achieved a strong and rare musical partnership. Sebastian was trained as a classical musician playing the organ, piano and the violin among other instruments, whilst Marcus lived on a diet of Kraftwerk and the Human League until realising his true love for techno. They got together in 1996 and after 10 years as Son Kite and Trimatic, Marcus & Sebastian are now Minilogue, an animalistic music concept without the boundaries of genres... playful, ambitious, simple and melancholic, built for peak-time dance floors as well as laid-back listening. 2006 carved out some well-deserved success for the eccentric Scandinavians, with releases on Traum, Audiobahn, and Crosstown Rebels, strong international press attention and support from a huge range of DJs including James Holden, Mathew Johnson, Steve Bug... It appears as 2007 will be as strong with releases coming up on Wagon Repair and an album completed and ready to drop. Out of the studio, Minilogue's live show features a 24 channels mixer, 2 computers and some various sound machines with which they put up a unique live performance every time.

www.minilogue.com

For the Italians F&S the new wave and electronic scene of the 80s are of great influence, and in fact their live performance is characterised by a unique slamming electro touch with synths and samplers. But the crowded dancefloor is their habitat. That's why in 2005 their first track, "Countach" was included in the lucky "Italian EP", published by Relish Rec., the electro-myth Headman's label. And this is why it is also featured in some exciting CD mixes, such as 2 Many Dj's' "50,000,000 Soulwax Fans Can't Be Wrong", "Misch Masch" by Freeform Five and Mixmag 2006 mixed by Soulwax. A few months on and the "Destination/Location EP" and the "Maximum Joy" singles were both released, again on Relish. Now their first album "Acceleration" has just been released, and it's as always rich of collaborations, from David Carretta (Gigolo/Space Factory) to GD Luxxe and Tomas Barfod aka Tomboy (Who Made Who).

www.franzandshape.com

It's no overstatement to say that Chris Liebing is one of the biggest and brightest stars of European Techno, and he is in fact confirmed year by year in the DJ Mag list of Top djs of the world. From early beginnings in the late 80s, working at seminal label Eye-Q, Chris soon started a busy career in club promotion, djing and production. In the early 90s, a prestigious DJ residency at the Omen club in Frankfurt, his expert programming and his succesful releases on his 'Fine Audio Recordings' label, put him firmly on the map of the best electronic dance music. In the mid 90s, his popularity grew bringing further opportunities: a weekly radio show, a new club residency at U60311 and the set up of his new label CLR (and sublabels Clretry, CLAU, Stigmata and Soap). At the beginning of the new millenium, a new successfull challenge has been the collaboration with the experimental techno producer Speedy J. Both artists, in fact, were eager to join forces and play shows which were "dynamic, varied and adventurous and able to keep the crowds attention throughout the entire set". Their 12" for the Collabs 300 series and then the album METALISM, both on Novamute, are among the best techno releases of recent years.

www.cl-rec.com

'In my work, music, graphics, artwork, visuals and fashion merge'. 'Techno is still what I'm about. It's minimal, reduced, deep and rough at the same time. I would say that techno and I have developed together. Sensual'. 'I search for the fulfilling dance. Body, belly and brain start to swing and uplift me/us. Music is the drug - nothing else!' This is what Ellen Allien, born Ellen Fraatz, says of herself. And this is in fact true. But for the electronic audience she is also one of the most (or maybe the only?!) successful woman of both the artistic and the business networks, being at the same time a successful electronic musician, dj and label owner (first of Braincandy and now of BPitch Control). Regarding her style, her music is best described as a distinctive blend of abstract techno and deep electro, which is dance-floor oriented yet at the same time has diverse experimental elements. Regarding her inspirations, it seems that, although she travels extensively, the anarchic artistic culture of her reunified Berlin is what gave her the right atmosphere for her 3 solo albums. The last studio work, Orchestra of Bubbles, instead, is a collaboration with Apparat in which the two move their own artistic borders while interpenetrating and empathizing their discourses.

www.ellenallien.de
www.bpitchcontrol.de

A threatening new collaboration which is a foray into noise/computer music and black metal. KTL is Peter Rehberg (PITA, of Mego) and Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate), and this work came about as the two were composing sound and music for a theatre piece by Gisèle Vienne and Dennis Cooper, entitled 'Kindertotenlieder', Songs on the Death of Children (the title is taken from the original song cycle for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mhaler, where the words of the songs are poems by Friedrich Rückert). Some pieces were recorded in a resistance fortress in southern France during a thunderstorm, whilst others in a wintergarden drenched in sunlight. The resulting CD is, as O'Malley prefers to say, a Digital Analogue Black Metal (DABM) sonic contrast of dark and light.

www.myspace.com/ktlrule

Spektrum are a London-based genre-busting four piece with a multifaceted personality. After their smash debut album, Enter The Spektrum, released on Germany's acclaimed Playhouse imprint, they are back with 'Fun at The Gymkhana Club', their new album, for UKs Nonstop Recordings... which is pure electro-pop with a blur of psychedelia and loads of funk'n'acid grooves played with a XXI century punk attitude. That's why 'Fun...' is irresistible when played live, and Spektrum are now one of the hottest live acts the UK has to offer.

www.spektrum.co.uk

The son of two professional musicians, for 10 years Sebastien attended the academy of music learning technique and musical theory on piano and drums. Soon he began visiting record stores, where he was introduced to a new world of sounds and styles. What he liked most was what he heard from the likes of Daft Punk and other dance electronic music pioneers, and before long he stepped behind the turntables. In 1998 he started creating his own productions - house that spanned into the realms of techno while always retaining a unique element of funk- and in that same year he also published his first EPs under the alias Deaf'n'Dumb Crew. In 1999 his first album 'Atomic Pop' was released. In the years since Sébastien has released more than 30 tracks on many international labels, building his reputation as a key player within the new blood of talented producers. Parallel to this, and to his DJ activity, he is becoming more and more in demand for his remixing skills; working for the likes of Justin Timberlake and Armand Van Helden, and labels including Ministry of Sound, Defected and Intec, to name a just a few. It's only a confirm that in 2006 Sebastien has been nominated 'best emerging dj/producer' by Dj Mag, and in 2007 he will launch his own record label.

www.sebastienleger.net

FM3 is an electronic act based in China, an act known primarily for its minimalist bent and their tendency to subdue live crowds into absolute silence. As such, it only makes sense that they be the act to introduce Staalplaat's Buddha Machine series. The Buddha Machine, then, is a little plastic box that plays music. Specifically, FM3 constructed nine drones, varying from 2 to 42 seconds, which repeat endlessly in the listener's ear until the "track" is switched to the next drone.

The machine has its own built-in speaker, in case one would like to fill a room with the drones, but there is also a headphone jack for more personal meditative experiences. There's a switch on the side that allows for traversal of the tracks, and a DC jack (though an adapter is not included) for those who would like the Buddha Machine experience be truly endless. In a way, it's like the cheapest pre-loaded IPod you'll ever be able to buy. At its heart, however, the Buddha Machine is actually a counterargument to the onset of the downloading age. For one, the entire point of the release is to have the little box. Sure, you could theoretically download each of the drones (which are actually available in mp3 from FM3's website), push "repeat" in your media player of choice, and have something close to the original effect, but you lose much of the aura of the work that way.

Sure, the Buddha Machine is more than a little bit of a novelty. But what's truly special about it is what FM3 has done with a tiny bit of recording space on a shitty little speaker. It's mesmerizing. It's portable relaxation.

www.fm3.com.cn