2012 will see Cari Lekebusch’s H-Productions label take a giant stride forward in the world of Web 2.0 with the launch of the label’s ‘I’m A Hybrid’ microsite service. This new initiative will benefit the labels most loyal fans by giving access to music, including lots of exclusive content, first and in a unique, enhanced way. The site is live now so go check it!
For a fixed charge per product, ‘I’m A Hybrid’ users gain access to their own account as part of H-Productions ‘I’m A Hybrid’ microsite; a special place for the labels über-fans to hang out and enjoy our music within a specially constructed multi-media environment.
Users will automatically be notified on delivery of our new releases each month. Audio can be accessed via the HPX player, which streams audio from within the microsite and also via WAV and MP3 download ZIPs.
So what do you get for your money a month? H-Productions will release an album a month through 2012. Projects include artist albums, various artist compilations and DJ mixes. Content will be drawn from all eight HPX artists and will include re-issues / remixes of classic tracks alongside tons of new music. The 2012 release schedule is detailed below.
Hybrids get more than just music though! The microsite will be designed to operate as the labels own online magazine full of bespoke editorial, created each month around the new projects as they happen with exclusive news, announcements and competitions, interviews, artist biopics, artist blogs and charts all viewed within project branded page. Having set a high standard for video content in 2011 with a series of “on tour” video’s from showcase events in Amsterdam, London and Zurich, the microsite will see this aspect of the label marketing enhanced with in depth artist interviews, studio / production tutorials, promotional videos and more behind the scenes footage from HPX tour events. I’m A Hybrid users will also be able to access a variety of merchandise and multi-media bonus gifts around each release. These gifts will be specific to the projects and will include things like downloadable artwork prints, screen savers and desktop avatars as well as bespoke merchandise lines themed around the creative ideas behind our music. By creating this bespoke, interactive environment which is tailored to the needs and wants of our fans and built to enhance their enjoyment of our product and involvement in the H-Productions brand we hope to further shorten the gap between our artists and fans and in the process deliver a product which is desirable, collectable and value for money.
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Mutations 101 Various Artist compilation. 17 tracks + DJ Mix Excavations 1: Cari Lekebusch DJ Mix compilation 19 tracks + DJ Mix Rejuvenations – Cari Lekebusch & Jesper Dahlback Remixed Cari Lekebusch Album Excavations 2: Alexi Delano DJ Mix compilation The Advent Album Recombination’s: Symbiosis – Various Artist Collaboration Compilation Excavations 3: Tony Rohr DJ Mix Compilation Alexi Delano Album Cari Album Remixes Excavations 4: The Advent DJ Mix Compilation The Advent Album Remixes
2011 saw the launch of a new way of working for Cari Lekebusch's H-Productions label. Motivated by the dual inspirations of the label's original name -- Hybrid Productions -- and the brands long legacy within techno, a concept was born which would bring together a select group of artists whose musical taste complimented one another and whose heritage matched that of the label. This deliberate hoarding and nurturing of creative forces within a group dynamic has breathed new life into a label whose first release hit the shelves of record stores in 1994; enabling the H-Productions legacy to continue to be a home to the artist who have helped build the brand over the last seventeen years and provide a launch pad for like-minded talent of the next generation.
Like the label itself, this debut release of H-Productions' Mutation series is also a hybrid. Born out of a spark of inspiration, this various artist compilation is an evolution of the often tried and well tested 'annual best of compilation' concept; a collection of brand new, original tracks crafted solely from the separated production parts of H-Productions 2011 back catalogue. Having collected numerous samples of percussion, keys, strings, pads and effects from the 40 tracks released in the last year a gene pool of audio. This mass of parts and stems was made available to the H-Productions artists, with all eight members of the roster invited to consume the individual parts in order to regenerate them into original productions of their own. Result? The seventeen tracks listed below...
A unique, set of genetically modified music created by combining and mutating the sonic DNA of the label's 2011 output. A bold experiment to challenge the creative elasticity of the producers on the roster by inventing a hyper-artistic working environment that would allow for the group to be inspired by each other while expressing themselves individually. Creatively free to select parts from whichever track they wished, a controlled but random process began to take shape. Take a hi-hat from Alexi; grab a bassline off Cari; throw in Jesper's kick drum; add a sample from The Advent & Industrialyzer's synth; play around with Joel's melody and sprinkle it all with Tony's crazy effects. The potential combinations were endless and we believe the outcome is nothing short of phenomenal.
H-Productions draws 2011 to a symmetrical close with Part 2 of the analogue-only production experiment between Cari Lekebusch and Jesper Dahlbäck. Having opened the years schedule with Part 1’s exploration into the creative capabilities of a pair of Roland 808’s, this time the pair focus on the Roland TR707 and TR727 drum machines; bunkering themselves away in Dahlbäck’s studio for a week-long session, pushing the combined output of the machines to their limits to create four eye-widening tracks. This digital only release consists of Bongo Slush, an unashamedly old-school rhythm track complete with whistles and drum roll fills; Latinator, a pacey and pulsating ride through compressed sub-bass and echoing effects; 6 Bit Massacre is a sparse yet shimmering construction of percussion and spacey ascetics; and 1985 Again, that combines trippy, off-centre tones with crisp beats to create a wobbly, hypnotic and mechanical excursion through robot funk.
Having made a debut on H-Productions back in March alongside regular studio partner, Industrialyzer, this latest three-track EP marks The Advent’s first solo work for the label; cementing an exciting partnership with Cari Lekebusch’s seminal imprint. A new school alliance of old school names that will see the release of The Advent’s tenth studio album in June 2012.
Title track, Higher Learning, sets the futuristic ‘sci-fi’ feel for this EP with its linear robotic groove, vocoder vocal stabs and high-end frequencies creating a synthetic soup of mechanical sounds, bleeps and squeaks.
Distract injects yet more textured layers to the release with a purposeful, percussive groove providing the foundation for bubbling melancholic melodies and drawn out harmonic yawns to craft a deep but driving feel.
The package culminates with Nexus 22; a fusion of unrelenting swinging rhythms and cinematic hooks that flip from sinister, otherworldly mood setting melodies to hauntingly shrill harmonics, floating throughout the mix.
Video filmed and edited by Mantis Oh, in INSILICO. Thank's to Skills Hak for the kind permission. http://insilico.gemini-cybernetics.net/
The Path Of Hybrid is a specially constructed three-disc compilation that has been designed to chart the musical history of Cari Lekebusch's H-Productions label.
Containing almost fifty tracks, the album blends re-mastered tracks from the label's deep catalogue with specially commissioned re-edits and remixes of classic Hybrid tracks and the pick of new music from the current H-Productions roster. The album is presented across two continuous DJ mixes, compèred by Alexi Delano (Past Mix) and Cari Lekebusch (Present Mix), plus a third unmixed disc containing previously unreleased tracks and remixes from the H-Productions vaults.
‘Missed Flight’ see’s two of Drumcode’s most prominent artists, Cari Lekebusch and Joseph Capriati, team up to deliver a four track EP of essential modern techno.
‘Missed Flight’ the track comes on like the perfect theme to the arrival of autumn. The tones are moody and the groove is linear, penetrating and eerily appointed. A Kubrick-esque breakdown of pulses and space is the only thing that breaks the momentum and adds a deliciously creepy characteristic to proceedings.
‘Napoli 4AM’, balances out its darker tinged predecessor with a shuffling 909 funk and playful groove combination that pairs up with subtly delayed hits deep FM synth work brilliantly.
The release features two digital only cuts that come from Lekebusch alone, ‘Entanglement’ and ‘Rockturner’, and they see the Swedish producers penchant for late night, woozy grooves that encapsulate the listener in varying ways. ‘Entanglement’ does the job with a brooding vibe while ‘Rockturner’ employs a more aggressive mood but both are fine examples of Lekebusch’s ability to create enthralling techno.
Ahead of their forthcoming "Path Of Hybrid" compilation, Alexi Delano and Cari Lekebusch come together on this four-track collaboration EP. Constructed over countless remote studio sessions with Delano and Lekebusch swapping files across the Atlantic, the pair got to finish the project via a marathon three-day studio session in Stockholm. The result is a set of mood-soaked techno that reflects the personality of both artists
The 12” of the release opens up with Off World Wonder. Set to a steady marching rhythm, this deep and brooding trip through low bass tones and cut up chants fuses deep tribal flavors with spaciously epic atmospheres. On the flip side, Streams Of Dreams keeps things on the deep, rolling tip with a heavy, undulating sub-bass powering the groove while an infectious vocal refrain loops in the background. Seriously deep and sultry techno…
Two digital bonus tracks complete the EP. System Unlocked sees Alexi and Cari get in a more melodic mood; conjuring up a slow-burning groove of swaying rhythms and lush chords that amalgamate into a hypnotic mood-setter. Out Of Sight closes out the EP with a workout of punchy robotic funk and freaky harmonic organ riffs that makes for a robust but harmonic tool for adding colour and life to heads-down beat drive DJ sets.
Have you ever sat about playing 'Producer Top Trumps' and wondered what a particular studio combination would sound like? Well, here at 8 Sided Dice we don't like to waste our days wondering. We want to find out the facts. Consequently, when we dreamed up the idea of Alan Fitzpatrick going head-to-head in the studio with Cari Lekebusch we immediately packed Alan on a plane to Stockholm and told him to not come home until the matter was settled.
The result was 'First Times'. Unsurprisingly for a Fitzpatrick / Lekebusch production certain elements take care of themselves. Resounding beats, precisely crafted rhythms and a groove that will make the room move, never mind the people in it, are all supplied as standard but it is the giant-sized melodic moments where the pairs skills intertwine to give the most exciting results.
For the b-side, remix duties were handed over to 8 Sided Dice crew members, Rich Jones and Chris Colburn; who formed their own collaborative partnership to give 'First Times' a good old shake about to see where the pieces fell. The rearrangement moves the original into darker territory, toughening up the groove with metallic, choppy beats and freaking out the harmonic elements with off-kilter reverbs and echo effects.
Having originally released Tony Rohr’s Oddlantik Avenue album back in February, Cari Lekebusch’s H-Productions have done what they do best and clubbed together between their tight roster of like-minded artists to come up with a eye-widening selection of reworks for this remixes EP.
Left to their own devises to pick what tracks to remix, the individuals’ own tastes came to the fore. The Advent unsurprising opted for the twisted techno killer ‘Eden Acid’ while Cari Lekebusch jumped at reworking the crazily tripped out ‘RZ-Fun’. Alexi Delano’s low-slung mix of ‘Nightdrive’ is beautifully melancholic and Jesper Dahlback made Oddrangement into a disorientating soup of deeply intense moods and fizzing percussion.
