Craigie Knowes Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Escape Artist makes their label debut on Craigie Knowes with Far Away Places, a 12" that captures the final moments of European summer while embracing the Southern hemisphere's party season. This four-track release delivers expertly crafted tunes, blending deep grooves and soaring melodies, perfect for lifting both dancefloors and spirits. Each track stands out with its own distinct energy, offering a versatile sound that suits everything from underground club nights to outdoor festival stages.

Review: Craigie Knowes are back at it for 2024 with a return appearance from Fader Cap. After a rapid run of first releases in 2022, we've been waiting for a follow-up from the chap and he more than delivers. As the EP title might suggest, he's exploring echo chamber processing on his tracks, but the delay and reverb is teased with precision amidst the shimmering, psy trance tinted tech house vibe he so ably builds on these incredibly accomplished club cuts. 'Kanisza' is an especially hypnotic, subtly broken workout for a more delicate kind of dancefloor, while 'Thinker' offers up punchy arps and flecks of acid for the more up-for-it crowd.

Review: Virginia's Stimulator Jones channels all things jungle on Valley Center, his debut album on Craigie Knowes. Sam Lunsford is multi-talented genre-spanning artist; from songwriting to singing, programming drum machines to drumming, performing live to DJing, Valley Center flaunts it all; Lunsford's seamless genre-hopping skills with the outcome an LP packed with tracks that wouldn't sound out of place on LTJ Bukem's Logical Progression series or in the Metalheadz archives. From the skittery, airy and scratchy off of 'Submersible' to the more-than-deep abyssal movements of 'Kinda Deep' and the penultimate jump-up swang of 'Valley Winds', Valley Center is a full-length swim through a preternatural valley, whose meandering river flows with not only brackish waters, but also impossible liquids.

Review: House-master, Matthias, is the latest producer to debut on the iconic Scottish Minimal/Tech house imprint, Craigie Knowes. Delivering a class EP injected with originality and outright funk, this will be a no-brainer purchase for a long list of DJs and home listeners. On the A side, 'Tube Star' arrives with a throbbing bassline, honey-sweet synths and glinting percussion. For the A2, growling electric guitar melodies meet darkened synthlines and bludgeoning kicks to produce a powerful dancefloor-ready track. On the B-side, we have Ultra Bass on remix duties, offering a bass-stroke-acid-stroke-garage take on Matthais' signature sound - this is undoubtedly a peak time track for those out-of-control moments. Closing things up, 'Wires Around My Neck' slows to a patient pace - a duet of circling synth melodies and chugging drums give this track a delectably wonky, spaced-out vibe. A wonderfully varied release that is surely set to be a favourite for this year's circuit of festivals.

Review: With fine EPs on Seven Hills, Flight Mode, Spectral Bounce and Mephis to his name, Uruguayan producer Molen is an artist on the rise. Here he makes his bow on the admirable Craigie Knowes, an imprint renowned for its high-quality threshold. He sets the tone with the head-nodding, 90s IDM style excellence of 'Machanism' - all 'Selected Ambient Works' chords, spooky electronic textures and manipulated hip-hop beats - before charging towards the dancefloor on the Drexciya style electro hustle of title track 'Machine Dreams'. Over on side B, 'Replicant' sees him bolt waves of psychedelic, early progressive house style acid lines and TB-303 tweaks to a punchy electro breakbeat, while 'Dream 2' is a gorgeous slab of shuffling, mid-tempo electro marked out by attractive melodies, lilting acid lines and immersive chords.

Review: Following outings on Eudominia and Who is Paula, Carsten Fluck and Lucas Lejeune bring their Not Even Noticed project back to Craigie Knowes. Like their last EP on the reliable Scottish imprint, Beneath The Surface has both eyes firmly fixed on peak-time dancefloors. Our pick of a very strong bunch is opener 'Hidden Ground', where razor-sharp TB-303 acid lines, dreamy chords and misty-eyed female vocal snippets ride a rolling techno groove. The quality level never dips throughout, with the warm but spacey tech-house hypnotism of 'Whopper', the deep acid house hedonism of 'Hibiscus' and the electro-fired supernova that is 'Under Your Radar' (whose acid lines are wonderfully insatiable) all hitting the spot.

Review: Pascale Project debuts on Craigie Knowes with her 'Good People Only' EP, a melodramatic exercise in bubblegum kitsch, dramatized synth-organ hums and eerily quantized vocal recordings. The title, of course, takes its namesake from lead track 'Cafe Crazy' - a dance-pop hybrid soaked in a simple viscous formula: good vibes and electronic fun. The three originals making up its bulk come laced with nostalgic lyrics recalling hyperpop, but also carry retroisms of noughties dance-pop and trance, 'Hang Out' being the post-ironic jubilant highlight. The lyrics are, of course, written and performed by Pascale Project, and what's more, 'Cafe Crazy' comes remixed and refoamed by D. Tiffany with additional vox by NAP (yes, your eyes do not deceive you - a remix on Craigie Knowes! What?!)