Assistant shelf digger reporting for duty
Remote
breaque
@breaque@icosahedron.website
mastodon 4.6.8Finnish guy, "Berlin based" since back when it was supposedly cool. Posts on music, DJ stuff, demoscene (as Break/mfx) etc. Research software dev in real life. No love for fascists, bigots or "AI" grifters.
348 Followers
534 Following
44 Posts
Joined November 11, 2022
Soundcloud:
Mixcloud:
Bluesky:
Hahaha no
Wtf, thanks to all who voted me to 1st place at #boozedrome <3
The voters must've been drunk though, my two personal favourites (Madksh2 and JCO) didn't even make it to top 3?!
..just kidding of course, everyone did a great job. I had no use for the lower-end scoring options when voting!
This is relevant to my interests. Genesis crew back in Coppi on October 10th with an acid event. Ought to be a good one.
64k is so a thing again! #revision2026
#DiggingInTheShelves No. 64
Halvtrak - Dust Under Bridges EP
Don't Be Afraid (2013)
https://www.discogs.com/release/5065881
The debut EP of the frankly underrated producer from Tampere.
"Finding Yourself" is a dark acid house track I enjoyed a lot back then. Clever production with layers of chords and synth lines fading in and out of the dry acid groove.
The rest is no less effective. Every track brings its own twists to the usual acid blueprint. Quite melodic and - dare I say - soulful, while maintaining good energy levels. Hard to pick a recommendation as there is no filler here. "A Thousand Years" with its amped-up tempo and Middle Eastern influences might just be my new favourite.
So damn good. Premium quality release from the music to the Matt Colton mastering. No peak time bangers, but plenty to like for the heads.
Selected: A Thousand Years
https://halvtrak.bandcamp.com/track/a-thousand-years
#DiggingInTheShelves No. 63
Joss Moog - Hitting Switches
Minority Music (2009)
https://www.discogs.com/release/1918645
He goes by "Joss Moog" but mostly uses an MPC instead of a Moog. False advertising much?! Just kidding. Let's check out this house EP from the reliable French producer on Hector Moralez' label.
"Rhodes Trip" was always my favourite here. Hard beat, catchy Rhodes loop, simple bassline and an understated vocal clip whip up a tasty stew from basic ingreidents. I could still cook with this.
The rest is more ordinary cut-up jazzy sample house. "Tropical Hangover" deserves a mention for its darker sound and dubby approach, avoiding the worst archaisms.
Yet another case of "decent tools, it's alright". These are the hardest to write about. Can you tell? I'm doing my best though!
Selected: Rhodes Trip
https://jossmoog.bandcamp.com/track/rhodes-trip
The recently widowed older gentleman downstairs seems to have developed a weekly ritual of blasting 70s and 80s disco hits at a loud volume in his apartment every Friday afternoon.
Good for him. Also, they're mostly bangers tbh
Replying to
@jruoh@mastodon.green Koskee myös muita kuin eteläeurooppalaisia. Ei vahvalta näytä, kun täällä Berliinin leveysasteillakin alkavat kesät pikkuhiljaa tuntua elinkelvottomilta.
My very special guest mix will be on etc radio tonight between 17-21 CET. Streamed through the following services:
http://www.twitch.tv/waxncats/
https://datafruits.fm/
https://www.virtualpublic.net/
https://channel-app.com/
Replying to
I mean, I'm privileged enough to actually get paid to do something I find fun and stimulating. Why wouldn't the owner class want to fuck this up for me?
Replying to
Also, just so we're clear on this, promotion of fascist-built LLM tools also counts as slop.
It's the year 2031. Chat Control has just been defeated for the 3876th time. A Danish lobbyist is working to get it reintroduced within the next 17 minutes.
Fediverse Assembly implies the existence of Fediverse Boozembly
Oh well, got to figure out a distro to replace Ubuntu for my daily desktop use at work then. It was (mostly) good while it lasted.
Welp, caught a cold so no Automaticamore or BDSM for me this weekend.
On the plus side, it's a mild one (so far at least) so I'm at least able to concentrate on home "studio" shenanigans..
In case you missed it live (I did!): Mule Driver live at Dreams of Neon on #IntergalacticFM
Looks like the full lineup for #IntergalacticFM Festival 2026 is out, can't wait for the annual trip to The Hague.
Big up to our man in Utrecht @teemup@ravenation.club for getting himself in there!
I got left behind and it's pretty sweet back here. If you ever visit behind, hit me up. We can grab a beer or something
Replying to
@enfys@wetdry.world I'm still looking for my jaw which dropped somewhere on the E-Werk floor.
Hausaufgabe 187: Electroshock to the system with Silicon Scally, Freddy Fresh, DMX Krew, Luke Sanger and more.
#DiggingInTheShelves No. 19
Petter - Some Polyphony EP
Net's Work International (2006)
https://www.discogs.com/release/785627
No, it's not the rapping Swedish Petter, but the Studio Barnhus cofounding Swedish Petter.
I distinctly recall my purchase decision: I heard "Untight" in a mix by @teemup@ravenation.club and immediately thought "oh shit I need this". How I ended up with the single-sided Italian re-release with 2/3 of the songs on the original is a detail lost in time.
Skipping my usual snarky commentary about how tech house is old hat, these tracks still rule. The raw synth stabs in "Some Polyphony" hit as hard as ever and the pseudo-granular rapid sample repeating approach of "Untight" remains fresh in some strange way.
I'd prefer a double-sided 45RPM 12" instead, otherwise no notes. How come this guy never blew up?
Selected: Untight
https://petternordkvist.bandcamp.com/track/untight
#DiggingInTheShelves No. 35
Jerome Sydenham Presents Jania Carvahlo - Deconstructed House (Phase 2)
Ibadan (2001)
https://www.discogs.com/release/14568
One of the lesser hyped Ibadan releases I guess, done in collaboration with the Brazilian artist Jãnia Carvahlo. Can't remember buying this, looks like a second hand dig.
The concept is "deep house with live instruments" and what you hear is what you get. Smooth guitar and upright bass, mandatory percussion, chanty vocals. Extremely "Balearic". Brazilian Balearic? Is that a thing? Instrumental dub on the flip.
Pleasant and inoffensive, not particularly innovative. Could work in semi-chillout daytime set. Odd choice of 33 1/3 RPM pressing with half of each side empty, though. Why not 45?
Selected: Deconstructed House (Phase 2)
https://ferrer-sydenham.bandcamp.com/album/deconstructed-house-phase-2
#DiggingInTheShelves No. 33
Vernon & DaCosta - On Fire
A Second Smell (2008)
https://www.discogs.com/release/1432213
Belgian house tools on a cheekily named (pun very much intended) sublabel of Aroma. I was buying a ton of 12"s like this in '07-09.
"On Fire" is basically an edit of "Nights" by Billy Ocean. I like the original and recall getting some mileage out of this. Thanks to the gimmick-free production, I feel it could even work in today's house sets without sounding too antiquated.
"Last Night Was Crazy" goes down the route of chopped-up jazz samples in the then-new-school Chicago style. Much more a product of it's time and a tad too cheesy. I like the sax breakdowns though.
Decent but not remarkable, some degree of contemporary DJ use potential in one of the tunes. It's OK.
Selected: On Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D77E-HueV30
#DiggingInTheShelves No. 5
Admin - Spirit Boogie
Omena LTD (2016)
https://www.discogs.com/release/8334878-Admin-Spirit-Boogie
Another one I had totally forgotten about. Maybe I should start grading these on an "amnesia scale".
What a nice surprise it was, too. Pleasant chill house built from dusty jazzy samples, also suitable for listening purposes. Somewhat similar to the works of HNNY (who's also appeared on the Omena label), just less tongue-in-cheek. The sample-heaviness must be why this is a limited edition with no label infos. These are basically edits, not that I'm complaining.
The Alice Coltrane -sampling "Deep Mantra" is my favourite, but they're all winners. Cozy, tasteful stuff. Exactly the kind of "find" for which I started the project.
Selected track: Deep Mantra
https://admnbristol.bandcamp.com/track/deep-mantra
Replying to
@evilpaul_atebit Glad to hear you found it enjoyable! Always happy to tip people into new music.
Other albums I can warmly recommend are "Charmed" (the one which kicked off her cult status), "Destiny" (probably my favourite), "Hex" and the latest "Fantasy". Most releases since "Charmed" have been very enjoyable. The older stuff has gems too, but it was closer to standard lo-fi house and she hadn't quite figured out her signature sound yet.
Replying to
@evilpaul_atebit@icosahedron.website Nice to see my fellow Finns are not the dumbest folk out there. Yet certain actors desperately want to have the country increase its dependency on US "big tech" in critical infrastructure. Funny, that.
Replying to
@evilpaul_atebit But of course:
https://www.mixcloud.com/breaque/hausaufgabe-187-2026-03-04/
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1yCY6FuCjE2zbYPGM_peoFmxuZKi7qaYx
Interested in hints on other hosting options that won't cost me an arm and a leg..
Replying to
@aras@mastodon.gamedev.place Underrated demo, one of my favourites when it was released. Cool to see such an update!
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(*) Yes, I'm aware that her-supposed-brother co-produces some of the tracks and has even received detailed credit in recent releases. It's still presented as a solo project, so I'm treating it as such.
Replying to
@jamesholden @teemup Fair enough. He did end up cofounding a very influental label which is still going strong today. That's already plenty tbh :)
Replying to
(*) Oddly, the runout carvings have the sides reversed. I'm going by the label info and track titles.