This is $upra – A Labelcompilation Vol. II

and here it is: the second labelcompilation of my little label ‘$upra Recordings‘ is ready for your ears & for download – how incredibly beautiful is that? 🙂

‘This is $upra Vol.II’ has again become an eclectic & genre-bending adventure with a huge bunch of different artists from nearly all over the world.

stilistic we drive thru house, indie-electronica/pop, downtempo/idm, dubstep, witchhouse/drag and even jazz from artists like f.e. the rorschach garden, trian kayhatu, ghosts in disguise, takt3, shawdams, the von duesz, dub mars, phantomsignal, the hobby of ed, ylva fred, white diamonds, medicine, zérophonique, valera igla, etc etc..

this time I didn’t prepare 1minute audiosnippets of each single track, it’s by far better than that: this time you have full-length previews of each tune! how incredibly incredible is that?? 😀 – let’s start the music!



1.) PUCH – Not Far Away

last years compilation-rear light has turned into this years compilation prelude: it’s cara mcqueen, dub mars & me – or short: PUCH.

we are currently working on our upcoming 6th longplayer and here comes a brandnu tune from it.

Not far away‘ creeps into your ears in some kind of weird 80’s slomo funk/soul-fashion – a heavy beat, a filtered deep bassline and extraterrestial vocals that sound a bit like prince on valium. 😉 check it out!

puch on myspace

2.) The Hobby of ED – Copetta

ED is back! one of my last years compilation doublefeatures and good mate Edgar Winterhoff seconds ‘This is $upra Vol.II’ with a fresh & lush easy listening tune named ‘Copetta‘.

‘Copetta’ let’s you forget this years missing summer and kidnaps you directly into the sun – fields with flowers, icecream, smilie faces, the sea – ‘Copetta’ seems like an unknown hidden place somewhere beneath paradise where all your wishes may come true – as long as you have wishes… 🙂

taken from his latest albumrelease on $upra-Rec ‘the hobby of ED’.

3.) The Von Duesz – Von Güte

we are now approaching the first real ‘band‘ on ‘This is $upra’ – a band that turned from my hometown Bielefeld’s best hidden secret into an audience-bewitching, musical-magic-phenomenon that is hard to describe with words – because it’s a full body&soul experience.

The Von Duesz‘, consisting of Henning (keys), Ismail (sax & sounds) & Florian (drums & electronics) are not what you simply could call a pop or rockband. they’re taking the legacy of very early kraftwerk and kraut in general, mixing it up with club/disco/dance and jazz & funky elements and creating livesound-sorcery while bringing it all on a new & unique level.

their tune called ‘Von Güte‘ is just a small glimpse on what I’m talking about – cause thats the problem: describing The Von Duesz with words is just as impossible as trying to describe a feeling – you have to experience it/them for yourself!

maybe listening to and buying their longplayerDynamo‘ might be a good step into that direction on
The Von Duesz Website 😉


4.) TAKT3 – Dusty Tune

they’re back – cara mcqueen’s & mario christofferson’s deep house project ‘takt3‘ is breaking some borders again.

already busy working on their third lonplayer (which will become fantastic I promise!) they gave me their mystic ‘dusty tune‘, a minimalistic but melancholic deep-italo-acid hybrid which put’s a spell on you within seconds.

smooth & hypnotizing.

also checkout takt3’s latest releases on $upra-Recordings


5.) Zérophonique – Make up your mind

another fresh new project on ‘This is $upra’ is the nice three-piece pop-projectZérophonique‘, consisting of anke egging, jonas tölle and marc karlheim straight outta my hometown Bielefeld.

creating smooth & minimalistic synth-electropop with house & techno influences & charming vocals, ‘Zerophonique’ will stick to your ears already after listening to the first chorus.

make up your mind‘ is just a small but beautiful reminder not to look back in anger and let new impressions & situations into your life without prejudice, even when it seems hard – there’s always a possibility to press your very own internal reset-button and start something new.

Zérophonique


6.) Medicine – Move

we take a small step on the map out of Bielefeld straight to DüsseldorfTurgut Kocer’s subversive danceproject ‘Medicine‘ is back with some great new stuff.

his catchy new tune ‘Move‘ is a biting ironic piece of electrohouse about the strange importance of moving in general and the resulting impact of the mover’s coolness and state of mind when moving to obviously cool places.

Turgut’s awesome lyrics sum that up pretty much:

you
you are here / you are there
you never move to berlin
you are here
you have to be tough
you have to be in school now
you go to berlin
you go to cologne
you wanna live in new york
you have to be tough
you have to be cool
you have to be right here

checkout ‘Medicine’ on $upra Recordings and buy the neat vinyl – there are still some pieces available!

Medicine Website


7.) Pas De Parisiénnes – L’instrument sur le cote droit

we appreciate Medicine’s suggestion about moving and take a huger step on the map right out of germany and straight to france – but not to paris, as the name already says.. 😉

Pas De Parisiénnes‘ is the beautiful frenchhouse-project of jaques depot (not to be mistaken with jaque’s weindepot 😉 ). it’s truly his realname and he resides in the small french province foix, far away from paris but right beneath the spanish border.

jaques’ passion for true oldschool frenchhouse is what you can experience in his incredible tune ‘l’instrument sur le cote droit‘ (in engl.: the instrument on the right side).
it isn’t possible to hold your head & feet still while listening to this groovy and classic housetune.


8.) Dub Mars – Misses Stoned

dub mars aka mario christofferson (one half of ‘takt3‘ & ‘phantomsignal‘ and 1/3 of ‘puch‘) is back in full dub effect and we are going to break down the overall tracktempo to ca 90/100 bpm.

busy working on his third longplayer he provided me his fresh tune ‘Misses Stoned‘ – a deep but smooth dubstep piece with an overall warm & chilling atmosphere.

magic track.

dub mars on myspace


9.) Valera Igla – Showering with sunglasses

valera is back too – the guitarman of ‘7 Days Awake‘ and brain researcher from kasachstan take’s you again on a trip to your very own brain, even more psychedelic as you could possibly imagine.

showering with sunglasses‘ bursts out in an apocalyptic soundblast in full stereo – always an eye on good ole dopey breaks spiced up with classic blues influences, valera is the perfect acoustic moviemaker for your very own private horrormovie.

valera is going to release his very first digital E.P. later this year on $upra-Recordings.

valera on myspace


10.) Ylva Fred – Dudelidej call my name

and we take another huge step back on the map away from germany straight into the uk and meet ylva fred. ylva (born in stockholm, sweden and living in london) infatuates your ears with her slightly eerie & spooky music.

dudelidej call my name‘ is a mysterious witchhouse/drag-influenced piece of music – subtle arranged with her incredible voice inside an overall sinister atmosphere.
the tune catches you within the first seconds and kidnaps you deep inside ylva’s soul.

deeply haunted track.

ylva fred on soundcloud


11.) Phantomsignal – Bandsättigung

back to the good old bielefeld/herford connectiondub mars & me are back with our brandnu & dark grooving project ‘phantomsignal‘.

dim the light, put your headphones on and dive with us into a technicoloured, multilayered sounduniverse.
the principle: every track is unique cause it is half arranged/half improvised.
the result: complex interwoven atmospheric tunes.

we call our sound ‘tripstep‘ as it combines elements of triphop/downtempo/illbient/dopebeats/glitch with dub/dubstep/techno & noises.
our tune ‘bandsättigung‘ evolves from a minimalistic groovestructure to a dark & dreamy-rolling shapeshifter.

checkout the teaser for our upcoming ‘Testbild E.P.‘ on $upra Recordings.
also checkout our Remix for ‘The Von DueszHERE!


12.) DE▲D††BUT††DRE▲MING – Frail

it’s grim up north – again we take a huge step back, this time it’s norway, and meet hans luegeheu. hans’ witchhouse/drag outlet ‘DE▲D††BUT††DRE▲MING‘ takes you down into the gloomy realms of sadness – you might also hear hans’ passion for john carpenter movie-soundtracks.

‘DE▲D††BUT††DRE▲MING’ is one of the newest artists inside the $upra roster and it’s by far the most outstanding one. (read more about DE▲D††BUT††DRE▲MING HERE)

his track ‘frail‘ lumbers slowly and monotone – slightly out-of-time-beats with heavy 80’s synthbasslines and depressed synthpads, all recorded live and in a row on good old tape, provides a hopeless mood – imagine yourself standing in an endless field of ruins & debris – the perfect soundtrack for your very own decline.

DE▲D††BUT††DRE▲MING is about to release his selftitled longplayer later this year on $upra Recordings – stay tuned for updates!


13.) The Rorschach Garden – My cheap tricks

back in bielefeld again we meet my longtime friends & diverse musicians Phillip Münch & his wife Babsi Teichner aka ‘The Rorschach Garden‘(on pic above with former third member Natascha Ruf in the middle). well known thru his and her different other projects like f.e. Synapscape (with Tim Kniep) or Mandelbrot (with Babsi Teichner again and different changing guests) Phil & Babsi providing a beautiful piece of retro-electropop and I’m very happy & proud to have them on ‘This is $upra – Vol.II’.

My cheap Tricks‘ is that kind of tune you can hardly get out of your brain after listening to it for the very first time. produced only with oldschool analogue equipment this fast, funny & charming minimalistic song has got all the keycomponents of a good popsong. crowned with phil’s ironic-introspective lyrics.

My cheap Tricks‘ is an exclusive track, specially & only produced for ‘This is $upra – Vol.II‘! 🙂

check out The Rorschach Garden on myspace


14.) White Diamonds – All Time

diamonds are the purest, hardest & most expensive minerals on planet earth. the white diamond is on top of it even the most beautiful of all diamonds. it is associated with purity, clarity and high value.

white diamonds‘ is also the name of the new magnificent dreamsynthpop-project of multisided actress mona sharma and myself.

deeply inspired by 80’s synth– , wave– and electropop our song ‘all time‘ glistens thru the speakers. let us embrace you with this warm & melancholic tune, crowned by the beautiful and crystal clear voice of mona.

Mona Sharma’s Homepage


15.) Julienne – Painful World

welcome to the painful world of julienne (aka julienne christofferson, the wife of mario aka dub mars) and also welcome to another sideproject of dub mars. 🙂

beneath her activity of writing horror stories she’s now even making dark & sinister music with her husband mario, which is settled somewhere between witchhouse, dubstep & triphop.
her broken & distorted voice takes you on a trip inside a world of seduction, submission and sweet pain.

Painful World‘ is slow beating beast that comes over you – excellent produced by dub mars.
enjoy the pain!

julienne on myspace


16.) Ghosts in Disguise – Lumen

let’s return to the calmer side of downtempo – let’s also add some ambient & indie-electronica with live-flavours + glitch-elements and meet matthew adams & me with our project ‘Ghosts in Disguise‘.

Matthew & me take you on a smooth & dreamy soundtrip far beyond your imagination. Tho ‘GiD’ is mostly electronic we supply a live-feeling thru jamming with our extensive equipment – our tunes are not arranged, they happen mostly live thru interaction and improvisation around some fixed parts as f.e. samples, beats or basslines. the rest depends on the very special moment.

Lumen‘ is a sleepy-slow and melancholic downtempo tune that unfolds it’s beauty in slowmotion and thru it’s epic length of over eight minutes.

fly away with us!

ghosts in disguise on soundcloud and on tumblr


17.) Shawdams – Railway Exit

we stay a while on matthew adams‘ side, subtract myself and here we find matthew’s new moniker ‘Shawdams‘.

known for his sensitive and dreamy sound, shawdams stands more for the less dancefloor-oriented music but the more couch-inviting sound.

Railway Exit‘ will set you free – it’s a lucid vision, a small revelation – after a long and pensive ride you walk thru the exitdoor and you’re free at last.

shawdams/matthew adams website


18.) hell g. feat. Joe – Time heals nothing (Traumat Remix)

we stay in dreamland as it is the next-to-last tune on ‘This is $upra’ and this is a tune by myself.

but I’m not alone on this tune as I have Joe on guitar by my side. Joe supplied a wonderful guitarmelody and I embeded it inside a slow downtempo body – the rest just flowed.

time heals nothing‘ is just a melancholic, instrumental statement that time is just a tool and not really a measure. so, if once in your life you’ve got f.e. hurt or treated wrong by someone/something it’s only you who can heal the wounds but it’s never time itself.

remixed by traumat and taken on a more glitchy level.

my soundcloud and my space

19.) Trian Kayhatu – A Poem on wrinkled blue paper

last not least we take a small step on the map and enter the netherlands where we meet up with longtime friend and incredible musician Trian Kayhatu.

last year he was a part of ‘This is $upra’ with his beautiful project ‘Trimonia‘ – this year he joins under his real name.
but equal if it’s Trimonia, Chukimai or Ch00kii – it’s all Trian and to describe Trian’s sound is just almost impossible as it is so brilliant, unique & sophisticated you start to hear him out once you start to listen to one of his projects.

a poem on wrinkled blue paper‘ is just like the name says – a moviesoundtrack for life itself – a short musical or stage play. pure beauty and wisdom delivered thru a single tune – and it fits perfectly on the end of ‘This is $upra’.
cause nothing can be placed after it.

fade out.

trian on soundcloud


for those of you dear readers/listeners with less time I also prepared an albumteaser again with all tunes in a row:vvvvvv

you can also stream the whole album in full length and right order on bandcamp.

I hope you enjoyed the tunes and the teaser – you can also purchase the complete compilation or each single tune via my $upra-Recordings download store on ithinkmusic.

visit $upra-Recordings on soundcloud!

One thought on “This is $upra – A Labelcompilation Vol. II

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s