ToolBox Records

The debut album by Spanish sensation AZ-Rotator is a detailed-to-the-bone combination of fractal beats, beautiful harmonies and abrupt breaks. Constantly on the move, these tracks are the result of a careful digital trickery, pushing the envelope of what can be re-invented with complex electronic music, and how tasty it can be. “Science of chance” is an album of uncommon beauty, paired with a masterful sense for electronic composition. Uge Ortiz (AZ-Rotator) probably missed a career as an alchemist by a few hundred years. An experienced composer, this Madrid-based musician is a relentless experimentator with a thing for trying out combinations and formulas that one would never think to work on. Making up with the times and trading the philosopher’s stone for a studio crammed with audio hardware, AZ-Rotator has been transmuting beats into gold for some years, a hard labour that gave birth to this accurately titled debut album, “Science of chance”. AZ-Rotator started handing out demos to friends and musicians active in Madrid in late 2004, and quickly caught the attention not only of Ad Noiseam, but also of several promoters who invited him to perform a series of highly regarded concerts in 2005, among others with Venetian Snares and at two of Europe’s biggest festivals for challenging electronic music (Spain’s Decibelio and Germany’s Maschinenfest). “Science of Chance” is a careful selection of tracks written by AZ-Rotator over two years, presenting Ortiz’s range of interest and talent. Dominated by a very crisp and precise sound, these tracks exhibit a new look at a post-IDM composition, prone to change itself constantly, but manipulate the sound wizardry into an expressive ensemble. A counterpoint to the current retro analog touch, Ortiz also unfolds a resolutely digital approach and sound, keeping a scrupulous control over each beats and each hook. There is definitely more science than chance on his album. Hard hitting, but featuring a very melodic core, AZ-Rotator’s music is a matter of strata. Supported by the crystal-clear production and the high dynamic of their sound, these tracks are often moving, sometimes angry, and constantly on the move. Emotive harmonies are here to meet the sharp beats; “Science of chance” is a work as valid when dropped by a DJ as when dissected with an aural microscope.

THE ULTIMATE ANT-ZEN COMPILATION !!!

in december 2003, berlin was invaded by a bunch of rabbits, attacking the audience of a three day festival with a furious noise inferno. nobody knew where they came from - we guess it was from a place that doen't even exist. in october 2004, the same rabbits came to krefeld and unleashed their fury on the maschinenfest audience. the enthusiastic addicts and shocked carrotheads tried to escape from the venue. after their performance they disappeared as fast as they showed up - but photos have been made as a proof that they were indeed rabbits! through mysterious channels, ant-zen received a phonographic recording and a video clip and decided to release it publicly as a document of the aural and visual manifestation of an unknown sort of rabbits - a powerful merciless crescendo of distorted rhythms, noisy loops and unleashed fury. on the video, pictures taken at the above mentioned events have been turned into a stroboscopic montage by one of the rabbits itself. right, inside of a man is a wolf, but after experiencing this release the question becomes, what danger might be hidden inside the rabbit?

On the occasion of its tenth year of existence, talented French project LITH delivers a new album, powerful and committed. “Gaïa” (the Earth) is a call for our planet as the living cradle of everything that is ; in turns dark and desperate, “Gaïa” hints at man as the destructor of nature and species (“Hiroshima”, “Katami”) but also evokes, in an optimistic, hopeful manner, the cultures that have deified the earth and its elements (“Sentinelese”, “Huli”) and that still survive today. Thus, somewhere between nightmare and dream, “Gaïa” ultimately points at the fact that, as the wisdom of sustaining the world about us was immediately obvious to many men as they developed, so it should continue to be obvious to us. For this new opus, LITH continues to explore the way opened by " Tribal End” while succeeding in giving to his sound experiment even more depth and meaning. Mixing aesthetical soundscapes, tribal and trance elements, distorted noises, fast break beats and powerful industrial rhythms in the vein of Somatic Responses, Antigen Shift or Iszoloscope, LITH creates a unique sound atmosphere and clearly confirms his leading position in the French up-tempo industrial electronic scene.

NOISE DREAMS MACHINA is the project of Spanish artist OSCAR MARTIN. Now living & studying in Berlin & Barcelona, he is currently exploring the possibilities of homemade software with free tools for sound deconstrucion and realtime performance. IN & OUT is his first vinyl release and uses a wide range of environmental recordings which are processed digitally in more "electro-acoustic" ways. This leads to a balance between "Drone" and "Electro-Acoustic" where the acoustic potential of conventional reality is enlarged via digital processing. In his own words: "It brings attention to the peripheral zones of the sound phenomenon". Through intense mutation & deconstruction of acoustic materials a new or previously hidden meaning can be revealed for the blind spot of our perception.