"Initially the motivation behind our new compilation was to build a sequel to the 2003 'Silent Season Dub' compilation - to blend warm ambient with minimal dub concepts. But during the phasis of collecting tracks we figured that this compilation will turn out more experimental, more rough than than the reference. So we decided to put things into a new context, that would either underline the variety of concepts but also stand for each artists own formular of sound: 'Crossways'.
Herein, electronic music with rather minimal rhythmpatterns are crossed with spheric ambience, in different moods, different slopes and different colours. The listener is able to find warm ambient pieces like 'Warm Night Lullaby' by Transient or more dubbed out ambience with Zen Savauges 'Sunken Streetlights'. You can lose yourself in the organic cycles of Boris Heizmann's 'Azure' or drift along with 'Scrap of Truth' by Selffish. But If you feel like enjoying some darker felt material then you'd like to explore the realms of Sgnl_Fltr's chamber dub in 'All Form' by or listening to the crickets resting in Kenneth Kirschner's 'June 8, 2003 (excerpt)'. Generally said, if you're interested in the contemporary minimal electronics of 2005 you'll definately find the one or other piece within this compilation that will suit you fine.
As the music crosses the flash artwork of this releases does so, too - if you reload the page you'll figure changing background pictures of the cover artwork. The pictures were taken in several countries where Joerg (Digitalverein) has performed in a Thinner context. Note that this compilation is split into 3 parts, each part about 60 minutes of length. If you want to enjoy the compilation mixed then you can download the Crossways Mix by Selffish." (From the Thinner's release page)

"White Plains, Comfort Rooms
When winter draws a deep cold breath over fields and forests the human adjourns to his sitting room, retiring back to warm places and looking at the world outside. The glass window is the required artificial separation that lets us survive from the mortal power of coldness. Behind the window we can build up our private little universe with plants and flowers which need southern heat normally. Within this little world everything is put in the right cultivated order, everything is all right.
Building up a secure room we can lean back and contemplate the course of the world, the well-stabilized harmony between nature and culture, which we have built up. But the precondition for this little paradise is separation. In order to conserve the state of life, securing our spirit conceives new separating techniques again and again. With glass we may construct a winter garden to conserve summer state, with photos and videos we may remember past times and with recording techniques we even may hear formerly faded sounds. The conservative attitude always looks back in order to conserve a certain state of life, to stop the course of world.
But life with its seasonal eclipse always goes ahead. Janus, the ancient deity of transition and passage dominates the brumal season. He has two faces, one looking back and one looking forward. The first has a contemplative and conservative mindset and the second a planning and visionary one. At the conservatory we may learn something about right techniques and a former way of living. But we should realise it as our everlasting challenge for our future.
Contemplation is the condition for vision. So join our musical invitation and lean back in contemplation to draw breath for an exciting new year." (From the Stadtgruen's release page)

"Small Creatures, Large Effects
In times of forests dieback and global environmental disease it seams to be controversial to praise these three litte creatures.
The bark beetle appears when a forest is diseased and it will make the situation even worse. But thus it contributes to the regeneration of nature. New plants will grow on the ground when the work of this little bug is done. Bugs always drive us to reconsider a deadlocked situation and so we have to start anew. They have survived times long before humans crossed path, and they will always remind us that we are not able to hold a system stable.
And even if we think that we can pluck things from time, that we can make furniture from wood, the next little creature will remind us of finiteness: the wood worm. It will dig its own system into our stolen infinteness until it's finished. Silent, unseen, cryptically the wood worm performs its task. Do we recognize the inappreciable change of time?
Sometimes if we catch a little lady bird, this symbol of happiness and felicity, we may at the same time catch an insight into the truth of our existence. It's the slight smiling upon our face when the lady bird goes its way after a little rest. And we may consider the same smiling on our face if we look into the eyes of our children.
So, if you shake your christmas tree and a little creature will crawl away, get the smile!" (From the Stadtgruen's release page)

"A fresh artist hailing from the British Island is Arrial, whose demo arrived just about 6 weeks ago. His first release for Autoplate consists of three fine classic guitar songs mixed up with sparse, yet playful and effective electronic elements.
"I got my first spanish guitar at the age of 5. No idea what prompted me to want it but it's been my lifelong companion ever since - even through the years that it spent in its case gathering dust in the corner of an unused room while I fiddled around with synths, samplers and all that gubbins. Eventually I returned to where I started - the sounds of the spanish guitar. Realising that you don't need to spend hours looking for a brand new sound in the dark recesses of some complex sound module was an epiphany, and I haven't looked back since. I began recording guitar tunes, layer them, loop them, feed them through malfunctioning effects units and mix them up with various beats. There's no sound more beautiful than a freshly strung spanish guitar. I love to play the spanish guitar, I love to dance, I live in the city but dream of the sky and of the sea. I am always striving for the feeling of stillness that you get when you are underwater or when you are standing at the edge of a mountain. You can hear this in the tracks mixed in with the tension and claustrophobia inherent in living and working in a hyper-urban environment."
"Mar, Revisitar is a reworking of one of my first ever tracks - the first time I realised that you could write a good tune just with a classical guitar and a drum machine. It's completely pure without a single treatment of the guitar sounds at all. Elements of Chicane, Globo and Happy Mondays intertwine to evoke the insistent, gentle lapping of the sea at your feet in the night- time."
"Blank Holiday Monday originated in a melody I love to play and often makes my partner melt. It's about feeling dazed after a particularly heavy night and lying on a couch, or better still in a hammock, watching the day go by. When just thinking about the night before makes you smile and gives you palpitations and you crave just a few mouthfuls of curry. And then have to lie back down again."
"Shiver. That shivering sound comes from my mixer feeding back - maybe it's warning me off doing any more tracks verging on being rock ballads. Or maybe it was as excited by the melody as I am. Maybe the shiver is what happens when you are waiting for the night bus home. Or maybe it's that sigh and sudden rush of goosepimples you get when your lover strokes you with a feather."" (From the Autoplate's release page)

"After Thinner's summer holidays we welcome the next batch of Thinner releases with a remix compilation for Benfays versatile warm summer breezed ambient/lounge/ dubhouse album "One Touch Button Music". Since Benfay is a long time Thinner artist and had presented a playful and decent album in April, we felt it would become an exciting experience to ask our artists for their point of view on his tracks.
This result "One Touch Button Remixes" is a compilation that features reinterpretations of the most wanted Thinner artists, moving in between the multiple genres of modern relaxed electronic music the original album had provided.
Mikkel Metal, recently showing up with a new 12" on Kompakt, opens up with a sticky chemical interlude of "Elfenblond", that loses the downbeats and creates glueing lava textures out of the sensitive original sounds. Thinner's Joerg Schuster, aka Digitalverein, prepared an exotic melange of the mellow ingredients "Segelflieger" provided, utilizing tricky dub beats instead of the linear programming of the original, while Joerg, being Lufth, did a deeply filtered mix with stargazing dub chords and lush snaredrums.
The easy-listening "Allein Unter Den Arkaden" received a concentrated transition by krill.minima, keeping the mellow emotionality of the original by directing the attention to the fragile riding cymbals and carefully placed fading melody dots.
Paul Keeley felt inspired enough to do two totally different remixes for "The Carribean Bar" - proving the diversity of the original material. His "Wet Coast Mix" is a shallow and soothing downbeat jam, while the "Starlight" mix features the clicky midnight deephouse spheres we use to get seduced by Paul.
The fairytale "Jack And Jill" seemed to be perfect source material for Thinner's latvian lounge specialist Selffish, whose reinterpretation turned out more dashing and windy in relation to Benfays work.
The steamy "Oak" received a Pheek treatment, whose beats are more earthy, with clever shifting beats and rattling percussions, while "Blüten-Konfetti" got reworked by TPolar, whose splatter houze bonus beats are foreground shaking, with the original pads fading over in the background .
Jason Corder, with his recent Thinner album in the backpack, did a stunning microhouse cut of "Flussbett", with californic filter sweeps and easy dubs. And our old friend from Switzerland, Niels Jensen, gave the subtle "Bluestone" his unique uplifting, yet carefully arranged pattern twist that shine through his hardware production skills.
The remixes by Dennis DeSantis and Mateo Murphy turned out floorfilling, concrete and late night essential tools with pounding hit potential. Enjoy!" (From the Thinner's release page)