Press Release

Octave One celebrate their over 20-year journey creating groundbreaking music for their own label 430 West by revisiting and reshaping classic tracks from their own history. This special retrospective album ventures into both the extensive back catalog of 430 West, that spans from 1991 on, and beyond. ‘Revisited: Here, There, and Beyond’ isn't the normal look back however, as the title indicates, this record was made with 2011 in mind, thus instead of a re-run of previous glories we're treated to brand new re-workings from some of the Burden brothers’ favorite producers working in electronic music today. Some of these tracks are already club proven gems having been released as part of a four volume 12" series over the last year, here those 12" cuts are combined with additional new material to create a new look at one of the strongest catalogues in Detroit Techno history.

The album starts with two seminal Octave One tracks remixed here by the Burden Brothers themselves - ‘Meridian’ (from 1995's "Detroit Techno City" EP) and ‘Dema’ (from 1994's "X-Files EP). Next we find the Burden brother’s debut ‘I Believe’ (1990) being given a very special rework treatment from an enigmatic and mysterious Techno unit that is at the forefront of breathing new life into the genre -Sandwell District. This collective have been creating a stir this year with releases like their acclaimed "Feed Forward" album. 'I Believe' is a true timeless Techno classic originally released on Derrick May’s infamous Transmat imprint, it features vocals from Lisa Newberry and was co-written and produced with Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir.

Aril Brikha, the Iranian-Swedish master behind the boundary crossing massive hit ‘Groove La Chord’, lays his unique touch on ‘Daystar Rising’, from the monumental 1998 limited released record "Aztlan / Daystar Rising' originally released as a collaborative effort by Underground Resistance and 430 West. Staying tin the Scandinavian zone, we also have German-Swedish producer Cari Lekebusch reworking of the Octave One's ‘Love and Hate’ which was originally released on thew 2006 Octave One live DVD ‘Off The Grid’ released by Berlin’s seminal Techno label Tresor Records. This is Lekebusch's previously vinyl only “Revealed Mix.” Continuing on with another Tresor (and Kanzleramt) artist, Berlin resident Alexander Kowalski restyles ‘I Need Release’. Featuring vocals from Ann Saunderson, the original was the first released on Octave One’s last artist album, 2009s ‘Summers on Jupiter’ album.

From the debut 430 West Records release, “Octivation EP, Planet E /Tresor/Delsin artist, Vince Watson, offers his melodic take on Octave One’s ‘Nicolette’. 20 year+ legend himself, Ostgut Ton/Novamute artist (and London’s own) Luke Slater takes to a more recent O1 club gem and re-evolves 2010’s ‘The Greater Good’. R & S/Sony’s Japanese Techno pioneer Ken Ishii also looks to the roots of the label and finds inspiration in Octave One’s ‘Nicolette’, offering his own club pushing remake. From Octave One’s native Detroit comes the keys behind Underground Resistance/DJ Rolando anthem 'Knights of the Jaguar’, Gerald Mitchell, and his Los Hermanos remix of ‘Somedays’. This also features the vocals of Ann Saunderson, taken from the Octave One album ‘Theory of Everything’. Rounding out the remixers are Roman Fluegel and Joern Elling aka Alter Ego, the producer’s of the dance floor killer ‘Rocker’ and remixers of The Human League, Primal Scream, Chicks on Speed, Sven Vath, Baby Ford and Cabaret Voltaire among others. They contribute their great talent to the forever Octave One classic ‘Blackwater’ once again with the vocals of Ann Saunderson.

The album, Octave One ‘Revisited: Here, There, and Beyond’, takes the original productions to the next level, interweaving the characteristic sound of each remixer with classic Octave One.

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ARIL BRIKHA DISCUSSES HIS REMIX
When / Where did you first hear Octave One ?
The first time i heard of them was with "I Believe", not sure when I heard that track but I do remember the first record I bought from 430 West, "Generations of Soul" and the track "Transition".....still classic, thanks for reminding me. I'm going to post it on my fanpage now....to teach the kids :)

What's your favorite Octave One track ?
Maybe I have to go with "Transition" because that was the one I really fell for. But then again, we have the classics but I'm sure I dont need to mention them. I cant name one single track, I really got into the Direct Beat stuff as well thanks to them.

How did you approach your remix for Octave One ?
I had a girl visiting me at home wondering how one actually do make electronic music and I said its several ways which you can go about and showed simple midi programming, making a beat, a bassline and chords etc. Another way would be when you do remixes, which I actually never do many of. So I took the whole track they had sent me, since I never got any parts. I chopped it up in Ableton live and just played around with it, after 10 min I thought I was onto something. The girl fell asleep on my couch while I layed down the basics of the track, added a bassline and the strings. some days later I just recorded it live, as I always do and that was it. I wish all tracks i make come to me that easy and natural.

What are you up to this fall ?
The usual touring, I have two remixes coming out in October for Kollektive Turmstrasse on Connasiur and one for Joel Mull on Truesoul. Other than that I'm finishing my next release on my own label Art of Vengeace....it will be called "Palma" and should hopefully be out around early november

CARI LEKEBUSH DISCUSSES HIS REMIX
When / Where did you first hear Octave One ?
My story about Octave One goes way back. There was a great record shop back in beginning of 90s, here in Stockholm, that imported almost every single Techno release. Especially the US ones. So I snagged one of the 6 copies of “Believe” they had, right away and after that I collected every single release by Octave One and Random Noise Generation – actually pretty much every label out of Detroit. Saundersons projects, Transmat, Metroplex, Juan Atkins, Underground Resistance, Kenny Larkin...(I could go on for hours). Which was easy since I was working and helping out a friends record shop in the mid 90s. We direct imported stuff from US distributors and build up some amazing quantities during the peak days of vinyl. And I don’t think I’m missing any - I actually have a weird white label that I picked up in London around 1991 or 92 something that I suspect is a bootleg of some odd unreleased record that has “Believe” and another track on it that I don’t know the name of. The vinyl’s so badly worn down now its almost funny! Just like the X-Files double 12 inch – OMFG! We all played that one way too much LOL, Ba-Ba ... BAU-HUII BEEP! I can still with ease recall the synth hook from one of the X-Files LOL - my copy is really torn down like nothing else - oh I actually have double copies of X-Files now that I start to recall! And if I have to pick a fave album it would probably be “The Living Key” or “The Collective”.. but then again the “Theory of Everything” album has some fave’s also. Oh yeah! And “Summers Of Jupiter” is awesome cool also, and had a wicked sleeve/cover! It was some old school type of design if I remember right with some like Jimi Hendrix type of lightnings, pyramids and stuff right? Well maybe Hendrix is not the perfect example but like sleeves from his time period where cool and arcane like that.

In my vinyl vault you can nearly find every single 430 West release, that we imported right from the beginning - as direct as we could - straight into our record shop that was run by Glenn Wilson here in Stockholm. In which some Swedish producers and DJs like Joel Mull, Adam Beyer, Alexi Delano, Jesper Dahlback also were involved in. Oh and Simon Hartley, who moved to Stockholm from the UK back then, was producing some well sweet techno that fitted perfectly on 430 West. I actually have a copy of Simons original DAT tapes of all his 430 West released tracks still in my safe (!). Simon, me and his flatmate, our mutual friend, Jean-Louis Huhta where having plenty of sessions in their huge house they rented together back then. That was a 24/7 house of music like nothing else. Simon and Jean-Louis where also releasing some great records on my label H-Productions during that time period.

How did you approach your remix for Octave One ?
Then we have the huge anthem “Love and Hate” - a remixing task that I attacked in two different ways, since I just couldn’t place both ideas into one remix. The first thought was to try and make a more drum track like alternative hidden version, that isn’t as characteristic as the original. More like a track that a DJ especially could work with more frequently. Since an anthem track is something you have to drop in the exact right moment for maximum psychological effect hehe. So I hid all the melodies into drum sounds, mainly using my favorite studio tool Cubase. Then I also wanted to - make a remix with a more classical approach, by sticking to the theme and pretty much just making it slightly more loopy. I also changed some of the drum sounds around and carved my own arrangement with the elements. It was great fun, and I'm very proud to be a little part of the impressive musical story being unfolded by the Burden Brother's!. Looking forward to the release, that I will be supporting during my fall/winter tour date scedule in Europe, South and North America

ALEXANDER KOWLASKI DISCUSSES HIS REMIX
When / Where did you first hear Octave One ?
I think i´ve heard of tracks when I was out in the 90´s. But the first track I´ve really recognized is "Black Water".

What's your favorite Octave One track ?
For sure that´s "Black Water"! I like the instrumental version. It´s an instant classic! The vocal version with Ann Saunderson put´s it on a new level. Love it!!

How did you approach your remix for Octave One ?
Well... It took me a long time to find the right direction for the remix. I think I started like 5 times with it. I was at a point where I wanted to use more Hardware again. So this was the first song I used my repaired Jupiter 8 again. I also used my beloved NordRack3. It took me around 2 month to finaly record the Main Mix! I put myself under some pressure to do some really good work. I also did a additional Dub-Mix. It took my 5 hours to finish it...

What are you up to this fall ?
I'm just finished some remixes and have 2 more to do. I also gonna prepare the next releases for my label "Damage Music Berlin". Nr.6 is just released. Nr.7 is on it's way.

VINCE WATSON DISCUSSES HIS REMIX
When / Where did you first hear Octave One ?
My first ever memory of Octave One was 'I Believe' on Transmat, but that wasnt one of my favourite tracks...it wasnt until i heard Empower and the Cymbolic Album in 95 that I really got into the grooves.

What's your favorite Octave One track ?
Empower is still my favourite OO track...so simple yet so addictive!

How did you approach your remix for Octave One ?
I knew a lot of the other mixes were going to be modern renditions of old tracks, but I wanted to stay true to the original track, but adding my own sounds to compliment it. I stripped the original down into loops and then carefully edited them in Ableton so that I could filter certain elements out in order to replace them with my own. It was an arduous process as there were no parts at all for this track, but eventually I found the loops I wanted to use and built upon them. All my additional sounds were hardware based. The result is actually my 2nd remix, as I got an idea for the remix after submitting it, so i redid it from scratch.

What are you up to this fall ?
I'm putting finishing touches on two albums that have been on the go for a while, as well as a remix for Steve Rachmad and completing two EPs for a couple of big labels which will be announced soon.

KEN ISHII DISCUSSES HIS REMIX
When / Where did you first hear Octave One ?
I got the 10 Records' 'Techno 2' compilation in '90 - it includes 'I Believe'.

What's your favorite Octave One track ?
Too many to choose one, but I still remember how much I was blown away when I listened to 'I Believe' for the first time. Later I included the track in my very first mix album 'Mix Up Vol.3' on Sony.

How did you approach your remix for Octave One ?
There was no multi track master of the original so it was hard to pick individual sounds to sample from it. I finally sampled the intro part and created the whole track based on it, but it seems like it took the Burden Brothers a bit of time to recognize the part from the original

What are you up to this fall ?
Currently I'm completing my new project's debut album which will be released in December/January. The project is called 'Metropolitan Harmonic Formulas'.

Artist: OCTAVE ONE
Title: REVISITED (Here, There, and Beyond)
Label: 430 WEST
Cat#: 4WCLCD1-500
Release Date: February 7th 2012

01. Dema (Revisited Remix V2)
remixed by Octave One
02. Meridian (Revisited Remix Rebalanced)
remixed by Octave One
03. I Believe (Sandwell District Remix)
remixed by Regis and Function
04. Daystar Rising (Aril Brikha Remix)
remixed by Aril Brikha
05. Love and Hate (Cari Lekebusch's Revealed Remix)
remixed by Cari Lekebusch
06. I Need Release (Alexander Kowalski Remix)
remixed by Alexander Kowalski
07. Nicolette (Vince Watson Remix)
remixed by Vince Watson
08. The Greater Good (Luke Slater Remix)
remixed by Luke Slater
09. Nicolette (Ken Ishii Remix)
remixed by Ken Ishii
10. Blackwater (Alter Ego Vocal Mix)
remixed by Alter Ego
11. Somedays (Los Hermanos Remix)
remixed by G. Mitchell



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Live dates
01.20 LIVE - Club Six, San Francsico, CA
Additional Dates TBA

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430 West: http://430west.com

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