EB Premiere: Exercise One’s Tales of Ordinary Madness

It’s hard to believe, but Marco Freivogel and Ingo Gansera’s respected techno project Exercise One has been around for a decade, quietly and steadily redefining what it means to be a live outfit operating within club music. Over the years, the pair have put out music on some of the most celebrated techno labels: Mobilee Records, Dumb Unit, Cocoon, Wagon Repair… Suffice to say, if you followed reduced, immaculately sculpted techno at any point over the last decade, chances are you own a record of theirs. Of course, there’s always been something a little different about their music, partly attributable to their spiritual alliance with the storied Kreuzberg DIY scene (Freivogel’s formative years were spent on the industrial and goth scene, Gansera can be found drumming for a Berlin punk band). Consequently, their techno feels disarmingly alive and vital, key characteristics which also guided the direction of their own label Lan Muzic.

To mark their tenth anniversary, they’re releasing new album Tales of Ordinary Madness and a series of remix EPs featuring reworks by Deadbeat, Sigha, Anja Schneider, Ewan Pearson and more. In fact, it’s ten remixers for ten years performing, nine tracks for nine years of releasing records. You can stream the whole thing in today’s EB Premiere. Like what you hear? There will be an album release party at Tresor on November 6th, for details hit up the Facebook event page.

Published October 31, 2013.