I (heart) Germany

"Krazeee" by Sylvie Marks & Hal9000 -- Okay okay, I know it seems like all I'm posting these days is techno and dance music, but what can I say, that is what's fueling my DJ fires these days. I just got ahold of a couple new promo cds (and some awesome 12"s that you'll likely be hearing soon enough), one of which is Sylvie Marks and Hal9000's amazing debut full-length, Krazeee, which just came out a month or so back.

They're from Ellen Allien's stable of artists on her hugely dominating Berlin-based BPitch Control label - an earlier single of their's, "Baby I'm Electric," appeared on Allien's weiss.mix cd (which is amazing and should be purchased immediately) - Allien has been friends with these two for some time now, and their close connection shows in the music.

Sylvie and Hal's music straddles the line between techno and electro. Much of BPitch's output is like this, which I'd hazard to guess is true, at least in part, for a lot of the Berlin electronic scene - I love that, at least for the DJ/listener like myself, there are identifiable regional differences in the music throughout Germany. Berlin's got the electro-edged techno down, Köln has the huge techno/house thing locked down, with Kompakt (and their distributed labels like Areal, Auftrieb, Festplatten, Raum, etc.), plus there's the Geneva-Swiss sound, with Miss Kittin & the Hacker, and assoicated labels Goodlife and Mental Groove.

Buy Krazeee direct from BPitch - the whole album is solid, with straight techno songs, electro songs, great vocal work (all by Sylvie) and some solid downtempo numbers too.

Also, be sure to check out both of Sylvie & Hal9000's sites for DJ and performance dates, as well as a bunch of mp3's of songs and rediculous mixes (Sylvie has one almost every month).