Afterlife 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Given that it was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the 2021 Stephan Bodzin album that shares its name, it is genuinely great to see 'Boavista' finally get a single release. Nestled here on side A, Bodzin's original version is utterly gorgeous - a smooth, life-affirming slab of picturesque house bliss full of rising and falling synthesizer lead lines, trippy mid-range motifs, drowsy chords and crispy drums. Innellea wisely chooses to focus on the more hypnotic and uplifting elements on the accompanying flipside remix, wrapping elements of Bodzin's original version around a trance-inducing groove. Throw in some bold, rush-inducing, progressive trance style riffs, builds and drops, and you have a genuinely terrific remix.

Review: On his first release of any sort since dropping his debut album, 'The Serve of the Abnormal', last year, Denis Horvat makes his bow on Afterlife with an EP that drags tech-house and minimal house in dark, trippy new directions. For proof, check opener 'Cha Cha', a menacing, EBM-influenced affair that peppers a chugging, early morning groove with rising and falling lead lines, creepy counter melodies and rasping, trance style stabs. The EP's inherent sense of clandestine atmosphere comes to the fore once more on shuffling, moody vocal number 'Precious Unica', before the Copenhagen-based producer opts for a more forthright darkwave meets-peak-time-tech-house flex on 'Momentum of the Arapaima'. Closing cut 'Majstor', meanwhile, is an incredibly trippy, K-hole trance number underpinned by a wonky triple-time beat.

Review: While Tale Of Us may have established themselves in the field of tech house, co-founder Mrak is happily exploring techno-trance on his Afterlife label in no uncertain terms. The lead lines on 'Manifesto' and 'Equilibrium' are absolutely embracing the kind of emotive, bombastic composition and sound design more commonly found in the hard trance scene. What Mark does is refigure those tones for a deeper kind of techno rhythm section, keeping all the drama while softening the attack of the tracks and creating some powerful dancefloor moments in the process.