Muting The Noise

Almost exactly ten years ago, Âme, the duo of Frank Wiedemann and Kristian Beyer, was officially born. The two artists had met a year earlier and began working on music not long after, homing in on a style of house that was classically informed yet totally modern, as inspired by jazz, funk and soul as it was by Detroit techno. It was the beginning of a musical project that would define the next decade of their lives, with dozens of records, countless performances around the world, and perhaps most importantly, the creation of a signature sound that would help define an era of electronic music. Âme Live takes stock of everything that’s happened since then, connecting the dots between early records on Sonar Kollektiv, later works on Innervisions and still unreleased material. It also serves a much simpler purpose: documenting their exceptional live act. Âme started playing live in 2010, and in doing so devised one of the most idiosyncratic performances in club music today. Despite being limited to their own compositions, their live routine is at least as dynamic as their DJ sets: each performance is a vivid sequence of moods and styles, unhinged by genre and tempo and delivered with a kind of mad scientist intensity. The new album is made up of the best recordings from the road, reedited in the studio and woven into a continuous mix. Taken as a whole, it has a way of transcending space and time, with the duo’s lithe productions forming a stage for South African folk lyrics (“Ku Kanjani”), Portugese spoken word (“Insomnia”) and the music of 70’s funk icon Roy Ayers (“Tarzan”), not to mention Âme classics like “Where We At” and the all-mighty “Rej.” Though it’s heavy on familiar tracks, each one takes on a distinct new character in live form (there’s also one entirely new production: the “Beatless Mix” of Gui Boratto’s “This Is Not the End”). For fans, it’s a fresh take on Âme’s celebrated oeuvre. For everyone else, it’s a perfect introduction to one of house music’s most imaginative duos.

All three tracks on this EP were actually made for the Âme live show, but at the end it turned out that we used them in our DJ sets too. Due to the great feedback we decided to put them on a 12-inch accompanying the Âme Live CD. Karl Hyde and James Lavelle on one 12-inch should be something for a lad's paradise and even 'Enoi' sounds brighter than before. Is love silent?

This Limited Edition Collector’s Box (strictly limited on 500 copies) contains Dixon's Live At Robert Johnson Vol. 8 with three placeholders for volumes 5, 6 and 7! Live At Robert Johnson Vol. 8 is the last mix CD in the Live At Robert Johnson series and also Dixon's last mix in the CD format. Not only does it highlight Dixon’s relationship with the Robert Johnson club (a resident DJ there from day one), but also his special abilities to build a night. What you will experience here is the very start point of such an excursion. Postponing the appearance of something like a kick drum for almost thirty minutes, one is led through moments, tracks and songs that draw their inspirations from kosmische musik, ambient, kraut pop from various sources (Hauschka, P.Eladan, Domenique, Barnt) that slowly fade into Agoria and the likes of Axel Boman and the fascinating Cologne Tape before picking up speed with Mark E, Roman Fluegel and the climax that is Âme’s Osunlade remix with Todd Terje’s spellbinding Snooze 4 Love on its heels. Peppered with the notorious Dixon edits and his surgery here and there, Live at Robert Johnson Vol.8 might sadly not be the mix CDs lonely saviour, but it is definitely a testament to the fact that sometimes a little bit more effort makes all the difference – and the one you should get.

Live At Robert Johnson Vol. 8 is the last mix CD in the Live At Robert Johnson series and also Dixon's last mix in the CD format. Not only does it highlight Dixon’s relationship with the Robert Johnson club (a resident DJ there from day one), but also his special abilities to build a night. What you will experience here is the very start point of such an excursion. Postponing the appearance of something like a kick drum for almost thirty minutes, one is led through moments, tracks and songs that draw their inspirations from kosmische musik, ambient, kraut pop from various sources (Hauschka, P.Eladan, Domenique, Barnt) that slowly fade into Agoria and the likes of Axel Boman and the fascinating Cologne Tape before picking up speed with Mark E, Roman Fluegel and the climax that is Âme’s Osunlade remix with Todd Terje’s spellbinding Snooze 4 Love on its heels. Peppered with the notorious Dixon edits and his surgery here and there, Live at Robert Johnson Vol.8 might sadly not be the mix CDs lonely saviour, but it is definitely a testament to the fact that sometimes a little bit more effort makes all the difference – and the one you should get.

Vondelpark, although being named after the famous park in Amsterdam, is a trio from London taking the whatever-post-step R&B drama a step further. Other than most music like this exploring the dark side of the musical spectrum, this record maintains a happy feel. Music to listen to in the non-existent European summer.

Back in stock! When Osunlade dropped "Envision" at the DEMF in 2009, Dixon asked him on stage if he could sign it for Innervisions. Now, 2 years later, Âme and Dixon put their remix hands on the original and it's finally ready to lighten up your summer even more. This record is only available here at MTN and includes the MP3 download code inside the vinyl record.

This is the new EP by Âme and Amampondo, exclusive on MTN for three weeks.

Luckily we got this N.E.R.D. edit from another Bayern Munich follower. Quite a few dancefloor friendly versions of Pharell's original are floating around right now. But this is simply THE best. When he passed this on to us, our colleague knew we would handle it with care and do a dope artwork for it. On the flipside we put Âme's remix of the Gotan Project song "De Hombre a Hombre", which was previously released on XL recordings, though only as a download. The mastered vinyl version sounds amazing! We are delighted to be able to add it to the 12inch. MTN webshop exclusive.

De Lorean skidmarks scratching the tarmac. It is 1984 all over again. The most freshestest sound ever - even fresher now. As this is the Sam with the golden Âme! Rough electro boogieness in High Definition. What happened? Running Back, the Goonies of the clublands, unearthed a treasure from the UK Eighties art funk vaults: Nature Makes A Mistake - written and produced by Chris Bishop, originally released on the cassette sampler “Sex & Bestiality", Bain Total, something so much more Streetsounds than Thoughtcrime which was restored and remastered for vinyl in 2010. After that the little diamond was given the treatment by those ueber-couturiers of electrical bliss-dom: Ame (teaming-up with Marcel Dettmann in the mix). The result is probably one of the greatest Ame efforts ever, maintaining the spirit of the original and teleporting it onto the dance floors of the 21st century, the age this piece of futurist art always was destined to have its true rightful place in time. Words by kk.

We immediately said yes when the guys asked at for that remix. Maybe it sounds very different compared to our last remix works but the Skunk Anansie sounding vocal made us enter another path. Dark discoish slow building rework, call it whateva you want. - Kristian (Âme)

Fantastic new remix EP by man of the moment DJ Koze. He took three tracks of one of last years stand out albums, Caribou's Swim, and made them sound even cooler. He extends "Found Out" to a late nite dancefloor jam, turns "Jamelia" into a sweet little pop song and makes Dan Snaith sound even more like Arthur Russell than he already did on "Odessa".

Since their spellbinding debut on Sonar Kollektiv some eight years ago, Kristian Beyer and Frank Wiedemann have become an indispensable part of electronic music. The pair embody more than just the memorable tracks that stay with you after a night out; their music is the result of artistic divination, of applying ideas and themes through everything they do, of using their chosen media to explore the realms of the artist. So you know that whether you have a new twelve inch from the pair in your hand or their latest DJ mix, there is going to be something deeper behind it than the elementary tropes that proliferate the majority of electronic music. Primary Structures is their latest artistic endeavour, a mix that goes beyond the overly familiar, bored to death slapdashery that saturates the market. As the name suggests they have chosen to take things back to beginning, back to a time before technology made mixes too easy. DJ's used to have to work to make a mix; when they DJ'ed it was from reel to reel tapes, they would chop and splice tracks to create new edits and versions of the originals. Paving the way forward sometimes means looking into the past, focussing on the Primary Structures that helped to build the very foundations of the art. This is what Âme have done, tearing apart the fabric of the songs that make up the track list, respectfully reassembling, rearranging and re-editing to create a cohesive, seamless flow of music that emerges not just as a simple collection of tracks mixed together, but as a singular piece of work. Primary Structures drips with the avant-garde psychedelia of krautrock, yet this is no blast from the past or hiding in the shadows of ghosts. Âme forge their way ever forward, tying together an aesthetic of parallel worlds; a timeless mix of music blended with the technology of today and infused with the techniques laid down by their predecessors Working to dispel the lines between the DJ and the producer, the mix and the listener, the art and the music, Âme take us beyond the building blocks in to a space inhabited by inspiration.