Following the success of the teaser mini-album “One Year & A Day – The 5inch Files” that gained worldwide attention despite its limited pressing (a hand-numbered limited edition vinyl release, and the first ever 5inch series!), Equinox Records finally drops its second full length album, the second part of the sound exposure compilation series: “One Year & A Day – A Sound Exposure Vol.2”.

„This album is one of the biggest projects in my career. I have put together everything that defines my work for the label as well as what defines me as a DJ and a record collector. I am more than happy with the final result!” (DJ Scientist)

Handpicked from a motley stack of demos and promotional CDs, Günter Stöppel (aka DJ Scientist), the founder of Equinox Records, assembled a product that features 14 outstanding tracks by some of today’s most cutting-edge artists and producers. Spanning various genres and aesthetics, the compilation is as breathtaking in its breadth as it is in its execution. Whether it be a folk-rock inspired breakbeat banger such as 2econd Class Citizen’s “Wishing Well,” the forward-thinking electronic prog-rock tune “Times Like This” by Free The Robots, the original post-instrumental Hip-Hop track “Tibetisches Gutenachtlied” by Aqua Luminus III., or the thrilling “Octobre” by electro/IDM-wunderkind Geste, the second volume of the series succeeds in representing the pioneering ethos Equinox strives to uphold. Likewise, Arcsin’s rock ballad “Scarlet Fever” juxtaposed with the bitter-sweet lyrics of Deadpan Darling’s pop song “Laugh Track,” Emynd’s inexorable electro tune “Identity Through Alterity,” or the classical cinematic introduction by the famous 60s rock group The Peddlers, the “One Year & A Day” compilation covers a diverse range of styles and genres, illustrating the amalgam of sound Equinox is known for, resulting in nothing if not one of the most distinct and forceful collections of songs within the past several years.

The Peddlers – A Year And A Day (Metamorphosis)

This is the song that gave this compilation its name. Recorded in 1972 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and released on the Album “Suite London” it was sung by the legendary composer and lyricist Roy Phillips. His unique and inimitable voice makes it the perfect intro for “A Sound Exposure Vol.2”.

Vangel – A Different Direction

It’s time for a change and we’re back: bigger, better, and louder. Equinox 2008. “A Different Direction” is the wake-up-call of this album.

Free The Robots – Times Like This

“Times Like This“ is an insatiable drum inferno that leaves you begging for more. Taken from the very limited Free The Robots debut-cd “The Prototype”, this track is THE electronic progressive rock song for the year 2008 and beyond. The vocals are sung by Phil Nisco.

2econd Class Citizen – Wishing Well (Re-Wyred Mix)

2econd Class Citizen is the master of contemporary electronic folk rock, and “Wishing Well“ is the genre’s prototypical hymn. In true postmodern fashion, because of a harddisk crash, the final version of this seemed to be lost forever. Now, one year after the release of an unmixed version on his EP „Wyred Folk“, we finally get the official version of this classic. Descry or rediscover: “Wishing Well“ is one of these songs, that won’t let you pass by unaffected.

Arcsin – Scarlet Fever

Since the label’s early days, the music of New York’s Arcsin accompanied me and Equinox. Who said he was too progressive and dark? His most recent album “Oculus Fang“ is a paragon of perfection, and though the noteworthy anthem “Scarlet Fever“ might be more accessible than most of his other work, the song still reflects the cold, brazen sound of post-9/11 New York. This is this album’s love song.

Brenmar – Cavernous

“Cavernous“ is not a merely skit, but an awe-inspiring and fascinating fragment of sound–full of tension and energy, blazing with anger and stirring your blood to just let you return back into a fair and beautiful dream.

Deadpan Darling – Laugh Track

Deadpan Darling is the music of Kingston and Ian Taggart a.k.a Blue Sky Black Death with the vocals of Ceschi Ramos of Toca and Anonymous Inc.. Ceschi travelled with Equinoix on the 2007 Tour and “Laugh Track” finally solidifies him as a recorded part of the label, making him the first vocal artist on Equinox. The bitter-sweet lyrics and the dallying-minimalistic production make it one of the album’s centerpieces. “Laugh Track” tells the story of somebody trying to escape reality; a story about battling the monotony of life. Wouldn’t it be nice to be constantly followed by laughing or a soundtrack in your head – something that nobody else could hear – a little push to get you through our often mundane reality?

Aqua Luminus III. – Tibetisches Gutenachtlied

Aqua Luminus III., producer of the obscure 88:Komaflash, is one of the most challenging composers of the German abstract hip-hop and electronic scene. Who is layering ancient rap heroes’ vocals on brutal beats better than him? “You try to run away but you can’t!”

Deckard – Dignity Of Men

With “Dignity of Men“ Deckard takes his sound to the next level. His typical sequential drums, a pulsing, hummy bass, an energetic guitar sample and a perfect arrangement make it one of the most barnstorming tracks ever made out of a breakbeat.

Geste - Octobre

„Octobre“ was the last track chosen for this compilation and was the first track ever made by the electo/IDM wunderkind Geste out of Paris. To me, it kind of symbolizes the work on this album: the calm before the storm and the storm itself. A story within the story…

DJ Sept - Morning Comes (Revised)

The original version of this track is found on the first DJ Sept demo that I received from a mutual friend. Finishing the revisited version for his EP “A Promise Never Given” was a long, hard endeavour, but it was certainly worth it. In my opinion, “Morning Comes (Revised)“ is a perfectly composed instrumental masterpiece. It has tension, energy, and emotion, all combined in a way that only Sept is capable of producing, fitting complexity with minimalism flawlessly.

Emynd – Identity Through Alterity

Emynd’s quest for the perfect beat isn’t over yet. “Identity Through Alterity” is five action packed minutes, garnished with breaks and 808-claps. This is the grand finale.

2econd Class Citizen – Change & Motion (Outro)

It’s like a movie’s end at the cinema: you don’t want to get up from your cozy seat.

The Equinox 10inch Series was released between winter 2005 and summer 2006. Each of the four parts of the vinyl series was limited to 500 handnumbered copies, including a lovely and exceptional cover artwork and inlay. Now, for the first time, ten tracks of the series are pieced together to form a compilation, on which each artist presents his unique vision of sound:
DiViNCi (the MPC virtuoso of the Sol.illaquists Of Sound) is featured with the incredible “PUSH Beat” and the concluding “Calm Persuasion”, Deckard from Munich presents 3 beautifully arranged downbeat compositions off his “Noir Desire EP”. Then, comprised of frozen synths and hard hitting drums, Arcsin from New York is offering 3 tracks taken from his “Uprock Citizen EP”, and last but not least DJ Scientist, the owner of Equinox Records himself, completes the album with two of his impressing sound and beat collages: “Atarius” and the melancholic “Autumn Leaves”.
This compilation will only be available digitally – for a limited time of 1 year (ending May 2008) – so go and check it out at ITunes, Beatport, Finetunes, and many other digital stores!

Brutal and melodic, two words which often don’t go together, but which perfectly capture the music of Arcsin. Drawing on influences as diverse as Captain Beefheart and Devo, his patterns and textures allude to a time when drums were hot and synthesizers
were cold. With a unique and distinct sound he is able to create music that tells stories while still providing that all too necessary head nod. That “Animal Beat Drums” as he calls it, is found in almost everything he touches, and is as true to New York as corruption and good bagels. By just allowing himself to make the music he feels needs to be made, rather than what others may expect, he’s able to stay fresh and innovative.

Arcsin`s personal notes about Uprock Citizen: “The music on this record was made partly with the intent of bridging some of the gaps that exist between the techniques employed by a lot of urban composers and beat makers today, and those that are found in other styles and genres of music. The main theme behind the music was to basically storyboard some ideas about the future and society in general, and how we are all collectively being bombarded withdifferent chaotic elements and sound sources, i.e. cell phones, mp3 players etc. But out of all this chaos, there exists a melody and rhythm that is so dynamic that it‘s more often just taken for granted. Reliance on machines to play music everywhere, as well as the use of new forms of machinery in order to make it, connects in ways that people are just discovering. Whatever the outcome, the music I like to make and listen to will always have many layers to discover just like life. One dimensionality in music, art, and existence is just a void that I think nobody wants to find themselves in.

“The Tomorrow People” is my attempt at representing this as best as I could. A building and plodding trip into what I feel will be the melody of people to come. It has some sadness, some happiness, and they both exist together in the chaos. And you‘ll be there if you want to be. “Uprock Citizen Brigade” is more of a New York homage to those who are trying to be part of a cultural movement, mainly Hip Hop, but they don‘t feel connected anymore to the people who are representing it now. It‘s basically an anthem to those who get a high off the smell of a fresh pair of fat-lace superstars. “Epileptic Velvet” plays on the same underlying theme of Uprock, but on a more subdued hand clap throwback note. It‘s the type of piece that will float through my mind at night on the subway, or on the bus seeing people randomly going about their business trying to connect themselves to the city. Weird stuff. I think it‘s necessary to slow down sometimes to really see and hear the emotion. “Jar of Mice” has a lot of meanings to me, which I tried to convey and hopefully did. Most importantly that of being trapped in something you cannot escape, and the sound of tension building, that‘s when the madness sets in. The song is filled with madness, anger, redemption… all of that good stuff that makes us alive. The ending is really just a beginning.“

Six different artists, different places, different visions of music – one aim. Equinox Records presents its Sound Exposure Vol.1. A variety of electronic and organic fusions that have been put together to form the sound of Equinox. Neither defined by borders of genres, nor by distance. Vienna, Munich, New York, Philadelphia all merge as the Neo Golden Age emerges:

ArcSin introduces you with his track “Positron Affirmation“. Deep synthesizer frequencies and hypnotic vocals, accompanied by atmospheric Hip-Hop Drums – this is the type of sound that Brandon Sand out of Brooklyn, N.Y. is known for. Besides his work for Equinox Records, he was also featured with two beats on the „Definitive Jux Presents 3“ compilation and has recently released his full length instrumental album “Resonant Murk Tactics“ on the new Def Jux sublabel DRX. On the compilation, he represents the Equinox family with two more of his instrumental productions as well as an Outro that prove him to be a truly gifted and talented musician.

Arc is followed up by Danny Decock, a producer, drummer and instrumentalist currently living in Vienna / Austria. While his two tracks “G.k.S.“ and the short “Obscure“ follow a more electronic and producer oriented kind of vibe, he adds a little live band feeling by the help of his friends on “We Will Come Back“: A mellow downbeat composition with his former band partners on keyboard and guitar.

The B-Side of the double vinyl then leads us to Emynd, another talented and aspiring producer hailing from Philadelphia. Having collected credits for a couple of remarkable underground releases, for example on the famed Anticon Label, he has worked together with artists such as Sole, Passage, Sage Francis and Dose One. Emynd is rather known for straight and mostly slow Hip-Hop Beats. Now he is leading towards a new direction with his up-tempo track “Positive Reinforce-ment”. He shows his love for analogue and melancholic samples but this time combines them with 80s sounding electronic beats to a new and very energetic composition.

After this, Echelon speeds up the tempo even more, just to break it down at halftime and leave you at 80 beats per minute in the middle of “Twilight Zone“. Echelon however appears to be DJ Scientist from Munich, who is the man behind this compilation. The track differs from anything else you might yet have heard of him. But dreamy vocals and flutes remind you that it is still Scientist who provides the distinctive melancholic samples that make up his sound. “Raincoatman“ and the more malicious, guitar heavy “Riding My Nightmare“ are more typical DJ Scientist productions that continue in the vein of his split 7″ release earlier in the Equinox Golden Age Series.

Next on the map is Mnemotrauma from Mainz / Germany with two tracks on the compilation. A hypnotically moaning voice accompanied by a hauling downtempo drumbeat forces its way into the listeners ears on “Waiting for the Sun“. On the second track he doesn’t even need a melody for this purpose. “Alpha Centauri“ is an insistent experience of his capability to combine a minimalistic range of sound to a nevertheless haunting composition with striking drums. Mnemotrauma may already be known for a couple of releases on the avant-garde Subversiv Records. He just recently teamed up with L.A.’s Shape Shifters – a beautiful 7″ release on which Awol One, Circus and Life Rexall dropped their lyrics to his beats.

Lastly there is Aqua Luminus III., also a Munich resident, concluding the Equinox artist roster on this compilation. The member of the mysterious Hip-Hop group 88:Komaflash submits with his pace driven and hectical “OP Wüste“. Being influenced by Britcore groups like HiJack or Gunshot his song expresses the same energy of these times – energy that now needs to burst out when Aqua Luminus pushes buttons on his MPC or freaks synthesyzers on his computer.

This 4-track 12″ EP is the opener for the “Welcome to the Neo Golden Age” series on Equinox Records and – being our first vinyl release – gives a brief overview of what to expect from the upcoming compilation album.
The EP features 4 artists:
On Side A, Arcsin, out of New York City, breaks the ground with “Positron Affirmation”: Deep hip-hop drums and hypnotic vocal samples lay the foundation for this fine composition of shuffling dark synth lines.
Next on the tracklist, Emynd – an aspiring producer, known for production for artists such as Dose One, Sole and Sage Francis – hits us with his up-tempo instrumental track “Positive Reinforcement”. The straight forward drumbeat, combined with powerful analogue samples and the overall 80ies sound will quickly fill any dancefloor.
On Side B Danny Decock out of Vienna sets up a beautiful composition of a shuffled melody, a crashing drumbeat and at the end of the track, takes it away with the gently weeping guitar that Danny played himself.
The EP is concluded by Aqua Luminus III, with his pace driven and hectical “OP Wüste”. With the fusion of head nodding beats and electronic surroundings it is not much of a surprise that he was featured on Funkstörung’s new album “Disconnected” and collaborated with German’s most innovative Hip-Hop group 88:Komaflash.
This limited vinyl release is beautifully designed and comes in clear vinyl. It musically sets the scope for Equinox’ organic / electronic sound.