PRICE:
$17.00$14.45
IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
Soft Pack
FORMAT
CD

LABEL
CATALOG #
SOUVENIR 004CD SOUVENIR 004CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
11/22/2011

Ruede Hagelstein is best known for techno and house, although his heart beats not only for the bass drum. His first album, Soft Pack, invites you to melancholic deceleration, which runs like a thread throughout the album. Yes, Ruede is a resident DJ at Berlin's Watergate club, but here he presents songs he would not play in the club because they are too downtempo and sentimental for sweaty dancefloor nights. In 2004, his first EP Sweaty Balls appeared on Freundinnen Records, the label of his friend and Berghain-Panorama Bar resident, ND_Baumecker. Celebrated in England by the sleazy disco crowd, and licensed by Output Records. The B-side, "Eclectic People," inspired France's electro-clash scene and landed on a Kitsuné Maison compilation. Despite different stylistic orientations, Ruede's choirboy vocal remained the unifying element. This was followed by functional techno hits on Lebensfreude Records, losing the vocals in the process. But Ruede Hagelstein hasn't lost any ground on the dancefloor with his new album. A good example of the arc that spans Ruede between strobe and candlelight is the track "Emergency," which stormed DJ charts and polls in 2010 and will be presented in a downtempo edit on Soft Pack. For most of the tracks, Ruede calls in for back-up, and formed a band, The Noblettes. Together with his buddy Justin Evans, he writes spherical numbers like "Posteriori" and "Leaving The Center," reminicent of Simon & Garfunkel. The most danceable track is "Private," featuring vocals from Aileen Mrkwitschka, although he also composes without beats, as on "Good Night" -- the complex horns are contributed by a friend of Aileen, Mieke Wenzl, who joined the band as a multi-instrumentalist. The blend of these four musical personalities is Ruede Hagelstein & The Noblettes, who managed to create this timeless indie-electronica album.