alphacut 002 after a short break including the "credible" fakecore tour with phantomnoise, alphacut strikes back with this 3-track vinyl, supporting once again (and surely not the last time) up&coming artists from all over europe. lxc cooperates with newcomer mze from leipzig, hi-lar experiences his first vinyl release and the hp.stonji guys open your ears for some odd electronics. a1 mze vs lxc - stick em up b1 hi-lar - prod 055 b2 hp.stonji - reej stick em up by mze vs lxc arose from the spontaneous idea of the nearly unknown mze from leipzig to collaborate with lxc. the result is this loaded rave-jungle anthem, which probably won't satisfy the whole d&b crowd, but in the end the breaks-addicted massive will love it. sound designer hi-lar shows what breakbeat futurism is about. prod 055 is progressive and technoid: a special and unusual kind of drum&bass with a sharp sound. cutting edge in effect. the duo hp.stonji exclusively present their track reej on alphacut vinyl. get surprised by their schizoprenic (non)break-work, tearing everything down they never built up. including 8 locked grooves. vinyl cut by sst. record manufacturing by rand. format: 12". white vinyl, labels & package. graphics stamped, sticked & written. catalogue number: ACR 002. number of pieces: lim 500. handmade in east germany. distributed by soundbase. out december 1st 2003. artist profiles mze is an up&coming artist straight out of thuringia, still feeling at home in its local scene. leipzig? whatever should be going on there? he is an addicted home producer forgetting everything around when doing his beats & basses. sounds like strictly nerd stuff – but he is sill in love with drumnbass – uuh. we surely have to expect fresh & innovative stuff from this guy, by the way: this should be a matter of course these days, isn’t it? mze's cru home: www.pltn.org lxc is the man when it comes to hardcore drum'n'bass and weird electronics from leipzig. just armed with an akai and a virus, he's been dropping the ill shit since 1993, killing dancefloors all over europe. today, he enters the stage with an expanded live setup, allowing for drastic noise treatments and making all ears bleed. be aware of lxc's mighty label empire called alphacut, which is obligatory for all dauntless breakbeat scientists out there. since the time when alexdee of phantomnoise and lxc launched their strukturbruch party series, the streets of leipzig were no longer safe. fighting stylistic frontiers, supporting international acts and developing the early and boring jungle vs. breakcore concepts into an incredible fakecore experience, these guys lived up to their ideas. back in 2001, the impressive lxc vinyl debut on phantomnoise 004 emphasized the tendency to more than just lazy 170 bpm loops just as later releases on labels like santorin, alphacut and phantomnoise did, today even more than ever before. make sure you take cover when the one they call the lxc hits your town - because the future certainly won't be silent at all! lxc releases: album: we have to hold apart (plainaudio 012) tracks: lxxxc - ich liebe es ... & others (a-core comp. on minor 014, cca 43 and secret 12") remix: hp.stonji - 247 (phantomnoise 011) session: mandragora - frost (minor 012) single: rave is back (phantomnoise 010) remix: cycom - rude bwoy (alphacut 003) track: the most important (s limited 003) track: stick em up (with mze) (alphacut 002) remix: alexdee - rush (phantomnoise 006) album: the rise of lxc (trash tapes 037) track: dropscience (fk13 000) ep: strukturbruch ep (phantomnoise 004) album: live 2001 (trash tapes 033) lxc home: lxc.info hi-lar, definitely known from all these internet bulletin boards, where he seems to feel comfortable by any meenings. seems like he is one of the next generation kids which fall in love in the worldwide web, but maybe he just gets no choice, living near the germanys so called 'jungle capital' mannheim, both the local scene and he keep on succesfully ignoring each other. he is a true audiophile fetishist in sounddesign, resulting in straight anti-dancefloor tracks, which would fit perfect in bright white rooms at national art galleries plus more or less audience drinking red wine and whatnot. previous hi-lar releases: remix: cube - sound engine (exgene rmx001) track: set one (soulseek 002) hi-lar home: www.ranprod.net hp.stonji are hans platzgumer and e.stonji, two melancholic souls producing artificial music, sharply cut high tek break beats and sinister ambient soundscapes. two powerbooks floating online between their native countries austria & germany, constantly demanding the unexpected. summer 2004: debut 'metic ep' out on spezialmaterial (baked goods) is out now. full lenght interactive cd 'inviton' will follow. hp.stonji home: hpstonji.estonji.com hans platzgumer home: www.platzgumer.net e.stonji home: www.estonji.com press reactions (unfortunatly in german, sorry) de:bug (bleed) verdammt breakfreudige drum and bass tracks von der leipziger szene, die in den zwischenzeiten immer noch für ein stranges oldschoolflair sorgt mit ihren völlig albernen gabbabassdrums mitten im sehr smoothen breakbeatfieber aber dabei dennoch nicht vom killersound abweicht. 2 der herausfordendsten drum and bass tracks aus deutschland seit langem und ein bonusstück von hp.stonji das zeigt was die harddisc sonst noch so her gibt, plus 8 locked grooves. ein muss. raveline (katamin) die zweite alphacut-platte kombiniert das jungelig-komplexe "stick em up" von mze vs lxc, welches, angereichert mit ravigen stabs, oldskooligen vocals-snippets und darkcore-gabber-beats, besonders einer aufgeschlossenen feiercrowd mit einem hang für experimentelle twists gefallen wird, mit den futuristisch-technoiden, knirschend aufgesplitterten klonkcore-klängen von hi-lars "prod 55" und dem knasterndem hochspannungs-schrappern von hp.stonjis "reej". als besonderen bonus gibt es auf jeder seite vier wunderbare drumloops als endlosrillen gratis dazu, die von rave bis experimentalrauschen alles zu bieten haben. 4 points. png (criticale) eine 12inch, klar. das a-seiten-stück "stick em up" der leipziger mze und lxc setzt mit einem Soundsample ein, dass mehr als an photek oder source direct mitte der 90er erinnert. auch wenn mein kramen in den alten sachen nicht zum schnellen erfolg führte, bin ich mir sicher, selbiges in meinem bestand zu haben. die folgenden beats machen auch kein hehl aus ihrem zeitbezug. um erstmal noch weitere jahre in (d&b-)geschichte zurückgeworfen zu werden, packen mze und lxc noch das ravepiano aus. ganz schnell machen sie dann in verbindung mit den einsetzenden bässen klar - hier geht`s um feiern galore. man kann das oldschool oder zeitlos nennen. für mich definitiv die art von d&b, warum ich jahrelang nichts anderes an meine ohren ließ. der erste track auf der b-seite ist vom feeling her ähnlich gelagert, wenn auch technoider und vielleicht kopflastiger. "reej" läßt dann d&b d&b sein und versucht sich in klangforschung. squarepusher läßt grüßen. schönes, mutiges release, bei dem die entwicklungsanspruchskeule eingepackt bleiben sollte. oder, was geben einem viele sonstig aktuelle d&b-produktionen noch? westberlin (raphael) phantomnoise's frisches geschwister-label, die leipziger boys von alphacut, überraschen mit ihrem zweiten Release wieder genauso. lxc trifft auf mze (ebenfalls aus der messestadt) und zusammen bringen sie einen progressiven, gut rollenden elektronischen DnB-Track. der mannheimer hi-lar ist neu zu der clique gestossen, fügt sich aber mit einem abstrakten midtempo-stepper voller ausgefeilter, ungewöhnlicher sounds gut ins bild. überraschungsproducer e.stonji kollaboriert neuerdings mit hans platzgumer (das projekt wird schlicht hp.stonji betitelt) und aus ihrer beiden powerbooks kommen "sharply cut hi-tek breakbeats and sinister ambient soundscapes" - ihr track ist ein basslastiger gut rollender post-jungletune, der keineswegs immer nur geraden rhythmusstrukturen folgt! als Bonus gibt's noch 8 locked-grooves. und das alles auf schönem weissem vinyl. future-music (baze.djunkiii) das leipziger imprint alphacut nun also mit seinem zweiten workout in sachen darkjungle und artverwandten sounds. "stick em up" aus der feder von mze vs lxc kommt als vertrackter, deeper tune daher, der das ursprüngliche intelligent jungle-konzept früher metalheadz-veröffentlichungen mit ravigen signals, dicken hartcore-bassdrums und einer gehörigen portion darkjungle verfeinert. primetime-stuff für advancete dancefloors. auf der flipside kommt dann hi-lar mit seinem track "prod 55" zum zuge, der vor allem liebhaber vertrackter strukturen a la photek oder source direct erfreuen wird. das projekt hp.stonji entfernt sich dann am weitesten vom drum'n'bass-kontext und liefert eine soundattacke, die am ehesten mit luke viberts drill'n'bass-experimenten seiner frühphase vergleichbar sind. dazu als bonus noch 8 locked grooves mit beats und basslines für die toolfetischisten unter uns. urbnet.com (noisemonkey) some quality jungle action straight out of germany on the alphacut label for this triptych of terror. mze & lxc kick things off in hardcore style with a techstepper which threatens your bass bins at every oppurtunity. introing through fractured breaks and eerie backround noise before unleashing some classic organ sounds and a full on gabber beat to break things up. from then on the structure of the track moves through a bassy landscape and techstep beats. visceral synth horizons razor in to your aural vison as the 4 beat break attacks once again. this continues for a little while until the breaks make themselves heard once again and the bass warps away til the end. hi-lar really clangs it up on the flip with some odd industrial beats which stutter in to life with pounding bass. there's plenty of double jointed step with this one as hi-lar gets his hammers out and wacks his synths for all they're worth. It breaks down for a breather somewhere in the depths of the track before setting off again on a more familiar rhythmic pathway and bashments it's way through to the end. hp.stonj really shred every single element of their track pushing the boundaries of distortion to the absolute limit. the beat is simple at first glance but is persistently mauled and battered until it seems completely baffling but is reconstructed to it's original form in fractions of a second. The bass or kick drum is stretched beyond all recognition until it almost snaps but booms back in a pretty ardcore manner. brutal.