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RESIDENT ADVISER REVIEW:
"La Fraicheur's "Processing," taken from her label House Of (S)PUNK's newest compilation, takes the monolithic framework of techno and makes it feel dangerously unstable. With the kick pattern constantly assaulted by strange, staticky ripples from the left and right, and a chime melody that never quite slots into tune with the rest of the track, it reflects its title well—the feeling of trying to work through emotions, bad feelings and traumatic experiences while keeping yourself upright. Creaking noises in the distance add a tinge of horror, but the beat remains at the center, holding everything together in spite of itself."


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GLXGLS
Opening this VA is ”L’Extàtic Desordre del Silenci”, an ambient piece by non binary trans Catalan artist glxgls (she/they) which plays with the ever changing contrasting movements of emotional journeys. A soft and serene atmosphere enveloped in textured pads, accentuated by stable rhythmical sounds grounding this first state of being, sees it stillness broken half way through by the noisy irruption of chaotic percussions and menacing floats of dissonant sounds. As the intensity builds, chaos is empowering itself to take over, like an unstoppable force that will swallow everything. Yet right when it feels like we lost it all, the music starts reorganizing itself, like a living creature taming itself with melodies and stridents chords, both dissonant and back right where they’re supposed to be.

MANEL DE AGUAS
“Wet Land” is a story of healing. An intimate family road trip in the wild nature of Asturias as a mean to recenter yourself and lick those grieving wounds is at the starting point of this song, a loving ode to the blessings of family and light. The queer trans-species artist, whose skull implants allows to hear the weather, has included recordings of diluvian rain, autotuned cows and car engines passing by to set the sonic landscape of this emotional Hyperpop escape created as a “sanity keepsake” for the cyborg artist : once back in the city where the pressure of life weighs differently, they would be able to come back to this song and the peaceful state of mind that trip was able to give them. Creating and listening to this piece would work like an empowering self-directed ex-voto for their intimate pains.

LA FRAICHEUR
Joining the VA is House of (S)PUNK founder and label head La Fraicheur with “Processing” an eerie gloomy trip through grieving times and the complexity of the feelings living in those parts. Like making your way through a dark muggy dense jungle with therapy as your machete, La Fraicheur creates a complex landscape where sinister howls, creepy rasping and menacing sound designs like a fluttering flock of angry bats battle melancholic loving reminiscence and flimsy fragile pings of hopes, like dying ambers. “Processing” is the emotional techno reminder of the need to relentlessly move forward as the only way out is through.

STÖRUNG
First appearance with HoS, Argentinan DJ and producer Störung releases with “Dracko”, an authentic invitation to her world and core values. Founder of Shadowland, a multidisciplinary horror-goth project, her visual, sonic and personal identity is the rehabilitation of darkness as a healthy integral part of oneself and the world. Society plays with the concepts of “good” and “bad” or “darkness” and “light” in a restrictive morally judgemental binary vision of the world while Störung embraces that the universe as a whole is the ever flowing balance of both and survival is a matter of acceptance and cohabitation. You can even celebrate them through dance, and that’s where “Dracko” comes in.

KOTIK
Half of Neorave duo AC2, cofounder of party series Gomorra, Latvian-Catalan Igors aka Kotik has become a post pandemic staple of the Barcelona scene. Today under his new moniker, he starts a solo creative journey into his own groovy and ravy sound of which “Amuni” is the first taste bite. Meaning “Let’s Go!” in Sicilian, the track encapsulates the high energy punk spirit of old school Hardstyle with menacing barks and screeches grinding in and out of a playful bounce.

EUYINN
Argentinian producer and DJ, Euyinn made a name for herself with her industrial infused Hard Techno. For her second appearance on House of (S)PUNK, she brings her signature heavy kick & dirty rumble combo on “BOOOM”, a frantic track running amok, pumped up by a distorted vocal like a robotic emergency PA announcement urging everyone to run to the nearest escape pod of your spaceship going down in flames. Blaring alarms, raspy metallic sounds, ominous pads create a tense scene of intergalactic battle gone awfully wrong.

HOUSE OF (S)PUNK is the record label founded by La Fraicheur and home to the young queer, trans, femme & cyborg electronic scene of Barcelona. Its mission is to highlight the talents of this generation who grew up in a melting pot of techno, trance, hardstyle, makina, breakbeat, gabber or eurodance they spit it back out blurring the lines in a special playful blend of fast-paced neo-rave sound.

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