Running Back Germany Vinyl & CDs

Review: Remember Digitalism? The German duo formed in Hamburg in 2004 and in the years after Jens "Jence" Moelle and Ismail "Isi" Tufekci went on to make dance music that people rocked to. It came as part of the high energy and highly textured blog house scene but leaned more on electro and made them main stage festival favs who made an entry into the DJ-kicks mix series and plenty of epic tunes. Well now after three years out they return to Running Back - the last label they appeared on in 2020 - for some more raved-up electro bangers.

Review: Chris Barratt aka Eagles & Butterflies possesses the rare ability to unite a larger-than-life peak time personality with the understated production method of comparatively underground records, techno pop and Italo. Bridging such gaps of authenticity and palatability can be a mean feat, but Barratt sacrifices few opportunities on his new 'Heartbreaks & XTC' EP to really think about how both poles can be met. Focussing on skeletal, hands-off mixing and yet apotheotic buildup production, Eagles & Butterflies truly do fly in unison on this stonker.

Review: Roman Flugel has been one of the European underground's most consistent and innovative names over the last 20 + years working on everything from acid to minimal to tech. He shows a slightly different look on this new EP for Running Back with a disco-tinged and happy melodic house cut 'Lucky Charm' taking up the a-side in three slightly different versions. The flip then has three more originals - 'Luv Armour' is a zippy house cut with big percussive energy and 'Whatever This Is' is then a beautifully innocent and playful cut with naive melodies. 'Film 4' is a moody downbeat piece to close out a varied and vital outing.

Review: Sascha Funke is a long time master of the deep who arrives on the always tastefully diverse Running Back label headed up so expertly by Gerd Janson. He brings a slightly different look here with the wonky, twitchy and tech infused rhythmic stomp of 'Reality'. There is more melody on display on 'Fantasy' with its ever rising synth loops glowing bright with a celestial hue and on the flip-side 'Puzzle' pairs some subtly joyous piano chord stabs over prickly disco-tech beats with molten arps underneath. 'Halle Weissensee' then closes down with a nice stiff and rave ready house sound, snappy beats and tight bass.

Review: Dance of Enjoyment seems a perfectly fitting name for an album from Geed. The German DJ, label head, writer and tastemaker is known for his party-starting sets and for being as liked by threads as he is the more casual dance music enthusiast. His joyous selections span sounds and eras with ease and this new collection of tunes does the same. The title cut is a throwback, piano-laced banger, 'Let The Music Take Control' brings some raved-up breakbeats and 'Change of Heart' brings 80s synth energy to lively house betas before 'Digital Illusion' is a glistening and synth-laced disco gem.

Review: In recent times, Krystal Klear's EPs have wholeheartedly paid tribute to a variety of (mostly New York-based) historic clubs, artists and dance music sub-genres. While he's officially broken the spell with The Division EP - his first outing on Running Back - for the most part it's still a heart-warming, retro-futurist treat. He kicks things off with the cheery, Italo-disco revivalism of "Neutron Dance", where throbbing synthesizer arpeggio lines and mid-80s melodies are underpinned by a bustling mid-tempo house groove, before slowing things down via the Balearic synth-pop shuffle of "Division Ave". Turn to the flipside and you'll find more muscular, freestyle-meets-acid house fun (wild and mind-altering peak-time highlight "Shockzoid") as well as the baggy, glassy-eyed Balearic house rush of closer "Moonshake Mike".

Review: The collaboration between Public Possession and Running Back has yielded a nostalgic gem with the release of 'Boli Boli', a track that revives the essence of 80s disco-synth-pop infused with Balkan emotionality. This autumn, Krystal Klear and La Raf present a record that melds cultural nostalgia with contemporary sensibilities. 'Boli Boli' stands as a tribute to the bittersweet and evocative soundscapes of the 80s. The track emerged from a spontaneous session between Krystal Klear and La Raf in London, where the Croatian singer channeled personal experiences of heartbreak into the song's lyrics. La Raf's evocative vocals, paired with Krystal Klear's distinctive production, capture the essence of a bygone era while celebrating the emotional complexity of Balkan self-pity. The production is marked by a seamless integration of La Raf's expressive vocal delivery with Krystal Klear's knack for creating melodies that are both reflective and rhythmically engaging. The result is a track that balances introspection with an infectious danceable quality, offering a unique exploration of grief that is both poignant and celebratory. The release of 'Boli Boli' thus not only revisits the golden age of disco-synth-pop but also enriches it with a distinctive Balkan touch, reflecting the artists' ability to infuse personal and cultural narratives into a universally resonant sound.

Review: Billed as an elusive producer now primarily offering his services to the deep house label Running Back, Mute here reissues and repackages the second in his 'Direct Cuts' EP series, 'Redux'. First released in 2006, the 'Redux' versions clarify a fresh set of takes on older material, hereby the artist Gerd Janson. Continuing to flash, tease and periodise four of many possible glimpses of both Mute and Janson's crafts, this new edition of the first EP, released almost twenty years later, hears a right smattering of hypnotic grooves and tricky temperaments. Our fave has to be the version of 'Vibes', bringing electric movements and nighttime prowls to an already all-analog flavour palette.

Review: Last year saw Gerd Janson and Maurice Fulton shake hands on a deal that Bubbletease Communications fans had long been hoping for, with Running Back penning a deal to reissue some of the producer's digi only work on vinyl. The first fruits came in the shape of the Syclops album A Blink Of A Eye (featuring THAT track) and now Running Back turn to the sublime combination of Fulton on production and Mutsumi on vocals. Both tracks here are taken from the artist formerly known as Mu's 2010 self titled LP. As with most, if not all, Fulton productions, the music here sounds like little else and still totally ahead of the game some four years after it's digital release. Described by Running Back as "hard-hittin-freak-out dance tracks", those looking for the perfect blend of Fulton's squelchy acid instrumentation and Mutsumi's wild vocals are advised to check this post-haste.

Review: Picture a utopian twist on Akira, and you might land close to Nick Nikolov's vision for his NKLV project. With a nod to classic house elements, like bright piano riffs, he blends in the finely detailed sound design of IDM and ambient, adding a playful, French touch-inspired groove. Tracks like 'Speak to Me' and 'No More' dive straight into expressive, textured soundscapes, while the title cut 'Inbetween' radiates with serotonin-charged energy. Mixing the quirky beats of Basement Jaxx with KiNK's raw pulse, Nikolov crafts an escape filled with soul, spontaneity and unexpected joy.

Review: Gerd Janson's Running Back seemingly has no borders or boundaries when it come to the sort of music it will put out. Next up is Partiboi69 with Call of The Void, a zippy outing that kicks off with the psychoactive synth swirls and hurried beats of 'Playin'' while 'Bodies' is a sleazy and ghetto-tinged tech pumper with well-treated vocals and big old school piano chords that endlessly stab away. 'Feel This' brings a subtly celebratory mood with splashy cymbals and wispy cosmic pads darting about up top and 'Call Of The Void' shuts down with a deeper house sound but one still lit brightly by the astral pads.

Review: New to Running Back is the latest record from Raphael Schon, best known for his enduring hit 'Fiesta 2000'; here the Augsburger develops that track's sound with a similarly irreverent set of lub-dubs, six to be exact. Never once skipping a beat (don't panic, palpitators), the likes of 'Baerhit', 'Breathe' and 'Do You Like That' scour the recollective depths of a childhood spent ingesting Italo, house and electro-disco, albeit bringing a modern flair to the mix via warming pad cloaks and janky, intermittent lead synthetic daggers, all to back up the crucial 4x4. Despite its mood of joy, 'Heart Times' was conceived during a very emotionally turbulent time for Schon, owing to its later vocal beltings and emotional groundswells. Danke, Schon.

Review: Shan's second installment in his warehouse series continues to deliver the high-octane energy that made its predecessor a hit. The TRACKS perfectly capture the essence of underground raving in forgotten, defiant spaces. The opener, 'Phantazia,' leads the way, blending proto-hardcore vibes with soulful strings reminiscent of Soul II Soul. It's a track that commands attention, demanding action on the dancefloor. '89 Swing' and 'Euphony' bring in breakbeats that nod to the golden era of rave, with the latter evoking the atmospheric soundscapes of The Future Sound of London. 'Elevate' blurs the line between house and techno, creating a pulsating rhythm that's as hypnotic as it is driving. 'Uplift My Spirit' brings a touch of warmth with its break-for-love vibe, adding emotional depth to the EP. Each track on this EP is crafted to fit any rave setting, offering something for everyone, whether you're deep in a warehouse or lost in a late-night set. Shan delivers another potent dose of rave nostalgia, with a modern twist.

Review: Frankfurt producer Victor Shan has long been one of Germany's premier rave revivalists, periodically returning to Running Back with EPs that evoke mental images of turn-of-the-'90s warehouse parties and sweat-soaked basement parties illuminated by little more than red lights. His belated return to Gerd Janson's imprint pushes this sonic aesthetic to the fore, with the title being a reference to the Chicago venue of the same name that helped birth house music. It's full-throttle, hands-in-the-air music from the off, where stab-happy, breakbeat-powered stomper 'Abfahrt' is followed by the 'Apache'-sampling excitement of 'Strobelight' and the surging, Italo-style arpeggiated bass of 'Volume Up'. The fun continues on the flip via the moody 'Textura', the lusciously loved-up 'R8000' and the classic Chicago house flex of 'Shifter'.

Review: The eighth instalment in Running Back's playful Hits! series arrives with a globetrotting batch of quirky dancefloor charmers, spanning interstellar disco, Italo throwbacks and Berlin School eccentricity. Kicking things off, Skatman leans into sleazy synth funk and smoky melodrama with 'What I Am Feelin'', a crooning synth-pop number pitched somewhere between space cabaret and Metro Area. Baron Von Traxian Australian prince of peaktime pompibrings glitzy melancholy with 'If I Only Knew', layering ascending Italo arps and soft pads over a chugging disco pulse. Janis Zielinski and Sowhy3 (both Berlin-based) turn in 'In Your Eyes' twiceifirst as a vocal daydream of euro-pop yearning, then as a sleek instrumental. Morphena's 'Venus Underworld' dials up the noir with icy stabs and new wave propulsion, while Zoe Zoe's 'Palikau Dzemperi' signs off with a Tangerine Dream-style glide repurposed for the club. There's no unifying concept, but as with earlier volumes, that's the point: a polychrome snapshot of Running Back's curious, cosmopolitan world.

Review: Given his profile and the fact that much of his music is released via the Diynamic Music imprint he co-founded way back in 2006, it's something of a surprise to see Solomun pop up on Running Back - a testament, perhaps, to his friendship with RB chief Gerd Janson. 'Can't Stop' is undoubtedly a peak-tine classic in the making - a breathless, non-stop sprint in which waves or raw electronic lead lines, TB-303 driven bass and tech-house flourishes ride a jacking house beat. It comes backed with more percussive, beefed-up 'Dub Mix' and bonus cut 'Follow The Disco Ball', a sparkling blend of stomping house, Eurodance style lead lines and pulsating Italo-disco bass.

Review: Astral techno cosmonaut Space Dimension Controller serves up his vision of acid on this new sampler via Gerd Jansen's Running Back. The storied producer kicks off with 'Kosmische Conga' which has twitchy and sinewy lines lashing about over mid-tempo drums. 'Echopet' has a dubby feel and nice undulating grocers that are coloured with a prickly 303 that gently weaves its way in and out. 'Minehead' gets more manic as the 303s are louder, brighter, and more manic in their approach and 'Carinacid' then slows down to heavy drums and a mutant acid house and techno vibe that is full of late night menace.