Seth Troxler - the Lab 03 - out now!

The Lab, NRK's mix series devoted to the world's most cutting edge DJs and forward thinking sounds, returns this week with an instalment compiled and mixed by undoubtedly one of the scene's most talented and brightest stars.

Hailing from the suburbs of Detroit, Seth Troxler has made an incredible journey over the last few years, from the local DJ spots at Detroit's The Works club and behind the counter service at the famous Melodies & Memories record store, to the most top drawer nights and clubs across the world, such as Fabric, Panorama Bar, DC10, The Rex et al. With a youthful enthusiasm and leftfield charm, Seth has become a huge favourite of clubbers and party freaks, so much so that he was voted the 3rd most popular DJ in Resident Advisor's poll for 2010. But behind the public perception of Troxler, he is seriously dedicated and passionate about quality underground electronic music, taking giant leaps with his latest Visionquest project, a collective of friends and fellow artists such as Ryan Crosson, Shaun Reeves and Lee Curtis. His productions and collaborations with esteemed artists like Deetron, Matthew Dear and Tiefschwarz, and labels like Crosstown Rebels, Circus Company, Wolf & Lamb and Wagon Repair show an artist deeply in tune with the cutting edge electronic music that endeavours to push the envelopes of dance music.

Seth Troxler - The Lab 03 is out now on 2CD (Mixed), 2CD (DJ friendly Unmixed), digital album and various 12" vinyl samplers.

More info at http://www.nrkmusic.com/thelab

The Lab mini-site
The Lab on Beatport
The Lab on iTunes
The Lab on Whatpeopleplay.com
The Lab on Traxsource

00Deep - A Review Of The Decade - 2009

2009 was a testing time for NRK, with the label having to downsize and restructure itself, and so the year started slowley, with those involved taking some time to reorganise and evaluate the future of the label. However, you can't keep an old dog down for too long, and the label fired out a serious contender for "compilation of the year".

Planned in 2008 and finally released in April 09, Loco Dice, the infamous DC10 resident and doyen of deep grooves, compiled and mixed the first in NRK's new mix CD series, The Lab. Designed to let the selector experiment with music, the Lab 01 found Loco Dice rejuvinate his love of pure deep house, and so his double CD spanned the more techno orientated sounds that he is know for as well as some classic deep house sounds from the likes of Nick Holder, 95 North, Tyree Cooper and many more. The Lab 01 was a great success, Loco Dice scooping the front cover of British dance bible iDJ, and the album appearing in the Resident Advisor Top 20 compilations of 2009.



September of this year saw The Lab reappear, this time with fellow German-based DJ/producer Steve Bug at the helm. Notorious for his labels Poker Flat and Dessous, Bug mixed up a double CD delight for The Lab, again pushing the sound towards the deeper end of the spectrum, as Loco Dice did. Choice cuts from MCDE, DJ Koze, H.O.S.H, Ben Klock and Joris Voorn made this compilation a must have for lovers of the deep tech groove.

Back In The Box also carried the torch for retrospective compilations, this time it was Chi-town legend DJ Sneak who got to ransack his record collection, all in the name of creating a mix that will drag you down memory lane to some of house music's most memorable years. Sneak literally slayed the turntables on this double mix, including blinding tunes from the likes of Daft Punk, Ian Pooley, Cajmere, Bob Sinclar, Cricco Castelli and Global Communications. Sneak showed us a masterclass in jackin, boompety house, with flawless mixing and tune selection.



And Belgium's Spirit Catcher offered us a brilliant mix in (the last of) the Coast2Coast series. A superb, contemporary mix of great electronic dance, Spirit Catcher selected great music from the likes of Carl Craig, Johnny D, Jerome Sydenham, Matthias Tanzmann and Motorcitysoul.



NRK got back on the singles racks in September of 09, after an absence of a year, with new singles by Scope (including a massive Kruse & Nuernberg remix), David Durango (with Tony Lionni and NRK's Nick Harris on the mix), Spencer Parker and a new single from Detroit's Kris Wadsworth (enlisting David Alvarado and Nick Harris for remix duties).

David Alvarado returns to the fold

David Alvarado, the LA based house veteran, makes a welcome return to the music scene this month with a remix of Kris Wadsworth's "Direct". Alvarado has been a long time associate of NRK Music, and released the ultra deep mini album, "Transiguration" on the label back in 2004.

David has been a consistent favourite on the house scene since his early productions for Strictly Rhythm, Groove On, Yoshi Toshi and Ovum in the 90s, as well as productions for legendary labels such as Peacefrog, Guidance and Plastic City. Recent years has seen David taking a back seat from the wheels of music production, but it is hoped that his remix here for NRK will spark the flames of musicality for more productions to come out over the next year.

His remix of Kris Wadsworth's "Direct" is in classic Alvarado style, heavy tribal beats, dubby reverberations, trippy deepness, and dense and engaging production. His remix is already picking up support from the likes of Dixon,Rocky (X-Press 2), Paul Woolford and Jay Tripwire.

Wadsworth's new EP comprises two tracks, "Direct" and "Full Body", both treading similar paths of stripped back, raw house tracks. Bleepy yet with plenty of deepness, it's refreshing to see a producer out there not following suit, but producing an individual sound. Certainly these tracks are intended for those who like their house deeper than the black hole!

The package is completed by a remix from NRK's Nick Harris, who neatly moulds "Full Body" into a more club firendlier version, utilizing some of the original's chords and bleeps and turning out a solid, hypnotic rework.

Kris Wadsworth "Direct"/"Full Body" is released on 30th November as a digital EP, with the vinyl release concentrating on Alvarado's remix of "Direct" and the original Wadsworth version.

Direct (David Alvarado Remix)
Direct (Original Mix)
Full Body (Original Mix)
Full Body (Nick Harris Remix)