“The truth is out there“: that used to be the slogan of agent Scully and agent Mulder in the seminal 90ies TV series “The X-Files”. Now it’s 2010 and club agents André and Mirko can finally claim: “Our first album is out there!” On no other label than Oliver Koletzki’s prolific Stil vor Talent the two producers from Berlin that form CHANNEL X now release their debut album after tons of great singles and EPs for Autist, Kassette, Opposum, Upon You and of course Stil vor Talent. “X Files” will be released as continuous mix CD with ten new and exclusive tracks as well as some of the best CHANNEL X tracks that they have released on Stil vor Talent in the past. Also, of course, there will be two vinyl releases accompanying the CD releases, each with four tracks from the “X Files”

CHANNEL X have been known for their combination of very well produced driving minimal techno and tech-house and a very soulful and musical feel to their sound. And on their first long player they stay true to both their thumping club sound, yet remain those eloquent patterns in music production. Creating eleven tracks for the floor this album is a classical producer album – from the club for the club. In the past years CHANNEL X have gained a reputation as a thumping live with their active and transient performance that has rocked so many clubs and festivals. One can clearly hear that they have taken those live experiences onto the record, that the recorded sound take you into the night, or for what it’s worth into the day respectively; welcome to the darkness of the club, the brightness of the lights and the moments in between.

On their album mix CHANNEL X take us right into their favourite club setting: From their groovy minimal house anthem “Against the wall” it’s straight onto the new album track “Monday”. And it’s Monday on this track, quite literally. The hook line of the vocal speaks out of the heart of everybody who likes to extend their weekend until the early hours of the Sunday, at least while the music is a two-steppy tech-fest like on this track. If there were a track to be right for 8 am at Bar 25 in Berlin, this would be it. Effects, percussions, soulful grooves and bouncing minimal tech-house: this 70-minute DJ mix is a journey through the best of CHANNEL X – their music, their sounds, the way they build up tension and release it again. “Beyond the mirror” for example is a perfect showcase of the funkiness that CHANNEL X bring to minimal tech-house: funky effects, short vocal snippets, and some melody stabs that quickly put a smile on our faces. The same customs can also be heard on “Freak Show” and “Circus Bizarre” – two tracks that symbolize why techno in Berlin could as well be set in the Golden Twenties: burlesque-sounding magic circus craziness, weird effects, and drivingly fast melody patterns. But CHANNEL X can also go from light-hearted techy sounds to deep house music. Tracks like “Ghost”, a heavily breathing piece of tech-house or “Spooky Lights”, a soulful tech-fest full of effects, melody pads and of course, tons of hi-hats, snares, effects and percussions, are the perfect examples for this. The tooly vocal tech-house that CHANNEL X also stand for is represented in “Marvel”, “Strange Girl” and the super sweet “Snug Descent” (to be found exclusively on the first vinyl release) where the deep male vocal talks about sinking into a couch at a club, an experience many can probably relate to. The mix highlights in “We love the X”, a vocal-induced tech-house stomper with those typical signature kick drums and an enormous sub bass. On “Falling Stars” the two producers have created a trippy spaced out techno-tool that keeps growing until it explodes into a boom of effects.

Next to these new cuts there are also the best of their old favourite releases like “Against the Wall” – set as the first track on the mix, “Black Coffee” from the “Bug in the Coffee EP”, a CHANNEL X remix of Niko Schwind’s “Fly”, “Mosquito” as well as two unreleased gems: “Ticket” and “My Dear”. The cinematic beginning and ending of this mix are the intro and outro to and of a mix that communicates what CHANNEL X stand for as a live act: intuitive, classy mixing with the feeling for the right moment to drop the right tune. Also, above all, it shows how many great tracks CHANNEL X have produced in the last three years only.

CHANNEL X’s music is so deeply inspired by and set in the club realm that this is as authentic and real as club music gets in early 2010. Actually the word club music becomes a whole new meaning when listening to “X Files”. CHANNEL X have taken the stagnating genre that was minimal techno and minimal house from the mid- and late-naughties into the new decade and have managed to create their very own interpretation of how dance music should sound in dark clubs, at early morning raves and full sunshine afterhours. The truth is now out there!

Catalogue number: SVT045