DIN Label

Artist: Node
P: 2023
LTD 300
When synth supergroup Node first surfaced with their eponymous album in 1995 they, more than anyone else, nailed “that sound and vibe”, which had become the obsession of so many others. They seemed to encapsulate the very essence of the early German electronic music pioneers such as Tangerine Dream but with production values to die for courtesy of Node founder members Ed Buller & Flood, who were of course internationally renowned producers in their own right. But it was another 19 years before their follow up album appeared on DiN as “Node 2”, to be closely followed (by Node standards), with their live concert album performed at the Royal College of Music, London.Up to that point that was the total canon of their work except for the EP “Terminus” recorded at their infamous Paddington Station gig. Surely they must have more material hidden away in their vaults and indeed this is exactly what the album “Singularity” is, the legendary “lost” Node album. Recorded at the same time as their original sessions in 1994 this has DiN stalwart Dave Bessell join Buller & Flood alongside original member Gary Stout who was later replaced by Mel Wesson for the two DiN releases. Presented here for the first time, mastered to modern standards but otherwise untouched and in its original form and recorded to two track with no overdubs. As a bonus the track “Terminus”, mentioned above, is included in the release.The music is a snapshot in time 29 years ago when Node were first powering up their huge banks of vintage modulars and sequencers to create a tapestry of electronic sound. At times raw and almost out of control and at others delicate and ethereal this quartet of fabled musicians can create atmospheres and soundscapes like no other. The crackling energy of the sounds they coax out of these steam driven behemoths positively pulsates with life and organic energy and will be a real treat for aficionados of the Berlin school style of electronic music.Another great release from the DiN imprint released in a beautiful Digipak CD edition with a special 8 track booklet with photos taken at the time of the original recording sessions.

Artist: Surface 10
P: 2023
DIN 77
LTD 300 Copies
Surface 10 is the moniker of Californian electronic musician Dean De Benedictis. He has previously released albums on the DiN label with In Vitro Tide (DiN8) & Surface Tensions (DiN24). Finishing a hiatus of over a decade, which saw him pursuing several film projects, he returns to DiN with a stunningly original new album, “A Stray Ending” (DiN77).

The DiN label has always actively encouraged the blurring of genre boundaries and with this new opus Dean has certainly done that with influences as far flung as Electronica, Ambient, IDM, Berlin School, Glitch, Progressive Jazz Fusion, World and Cinematic music. Such a heady mixture is immediately apparent on the opener “Neverheart” with its achingly beautiful and haunting chordal themes overlaid with an intertwining tapestry of percussion and glitched out effects. The album rises and falls through layers of dazzling sound design and compositional complexity to reach its apex with the freak-out intensity of “Azz”. The following track “Dorothy Spearhead” is perhaps the most concise piece on show here, with its vocal melodic hook and danceable drum groove. This leads into the spectacular “Non Fi” which propels the listener on an epic tour de force of electronic invention before the album closes with the melancholic shimmering beauty of “Universal Winter (Rework)”.

This new album from Surface 10 is almost beyond categorisation and is full of so many inventive and detailed sonic and musical elements that it will give the listener something new to focus in on each and every listen. Another truly unique addition to the DiN catalogue.

Artist: Parallel Worlds
P: 2022
DIN 76
LTD 300 Copies.
Greek synthesist Bakis Sirros who records under the name of Parallel Worlds has become a familiar name to followers of the DiN label. His debut release was “Obsessive Surrealism” (DiN26) back in 2007 and since then he has released a further solo album, “Shade” (DiN32), as well as several collaborative albums with different artists including DiN label boss Ian Boddy & Node guru Dave Bessell.
“Plector” (DiN76) is his third solo outing on the DiN imprint and continues the deep dive into organic, analogue modular excursions that this talented musician is so adept at. Throbbing, deep bass lines are accompanied by sparse drum patterns and beguiling melodic synth lines. The album has a beautifully cohesive, dark and brooding atmosphere. Hints of a John Carpenter like synth soundtrack lurk around every corner but the sound world that Sirros creates is very much his own. At times the raw beauty of his synth patches grab you whilst at other moments the delicate, glitch like sound design details hover just out of sight. The album is built upon two groups of three rhythmic tracks interspersed with the dark drone of “Atmoform” and the beautiful, almost Enoesque final track, “Harmonic Pathways”.
Lovers of Electronica, Dark Techno, Downtempo & IDM will find much to admire in “Plector” and this new album once again showcases the unique talent of this highly individual musician.

Artist: Ian Boddy
P: 2022
DIN 74
LTD 600 Copies
DiN label boss Ian Boddy follows up his 2020 studio release “Axiom” (DiN64) with another vinyl album length slice of vintage electronic music synth heritage. Whilst there are many focusing in on the world of possibilities of modular synths to the detriment of form and composition Boddy uses his 40 plus years of experience to create six succinct slices of analogue warmth and emotion.
The title track which opens procedures is a case in point. Boddy crams into its seven minutes more drama than many would manage in a side length track. Soft textural chords soon give way to a pulsing arpeggiator playing from his venerable Roland System 100-M modular. Just when the piece seems to be settling into a cyclical groove a series of transpositions move the harmonic interest along before a climax of percussion and synth textures soar toward a stunning crescendo.
The next piece, “Messiaen M31”, in contrast is a calm, floating track with an unusual harmonic chord progression based on Olivier Messiaen’s music theory with a beautiful Ondes Martenot style solo line. “Rings” features layers of sequencers and arpeggios that twist and turn through various key changes toward another stunning climax. “Teutonium” is pure Berlin School with a thundering Moog bass line interspersed with edgy, glitchy interjections before subsiding to the calm, gentle fluctuations of “Flow”.
Finally “Silver Surfer” is a slice of Synthwave fun featuring the crisp tones of the 100-M set against a syncopated bass line and a beautiful Ondes Martenot duet over a transposing sequencer line. 

Artist: Scanner
P: 2022
DIN 72
LTD 500 Copies
The second album for the DiN imprint by British Electronic Musician Scanner sees Rimbaud utilising a different toolset from his first album, An Ascent (DiN63), released in July 2020. Here he focuses in on several Elektron instruments such as the Analog Four, Analog Rhythm and Digitakt. Whilst his debut album was forged live in his studio during the start of the global pandemic here Rimbaud was after a lighter, more optimistic tone. Rather prophetically Rimbaud states that this album was indebted to the work of the Ukranian film maker Laris Shepitko. Indeed the title of the sixth track “Artemovsk” references the birth place of Shepitko. Furthermore the title of the album, “The Homeland of Electricity”, is taken from her 1968 film which was commissioned by the government to celebrate the October Revolution’s 50th anniversary, but was rejected by the authorities for not being patriotic enough.

Artist: V/A
P: 2022
DIN 70
LTD 500 Copies
INDEX07 is the seventh DiN compilation album and includes two tracks each from the titles DiN61 - 69. The artists on show this time are Ian Boddy, Nigel Mullaney, Dave Bessell, Scanner, Lyonel Bauchet and collaborations between Dave Bessell & Parallel Worlds and Ian Boddy & Markus Reuter. As with the previous six DiN samplers label boss Ian Boddy has mixed and cross-faded the 18 tracks into a continuous ambient mix that not only showcases the albums featured on the release but presents an exciting and varied title in its own right. It also highlights the varied and intriguing music that the DiN label offers on its releases from deep analogue synth grooves through vibrantly melodic instrumentals to powerful, epic ambient atmospheres. An intoxicating mix of the old and new beautifully presented in a slimline cardboard wallet with an extra flap which just adds to the value and collectibility of this release.Since the previous sampler album, iNDEX06 (DiN60) released in July 2019, DiN has not only celebrated its 20th anniversary but has also released its 100th album with “Nevermore” from label boss Ian Boddy. These are significant milestones for a niche independent electronica label with DiN finally getting some of the recognition it so justly deserves.

Artist: Ian Boddy
P: 2021
DIN 69
LTD 500
It seems only fitting that this release comes from DiN label boss Ian Boddy. Performed live at DiN HQ the performance was videoed and streamed on March 27th 2021 as part of the three day Soundquest Festival. This was organised by ambient luminary Steve Roach and had an audience watching and listening of 1000+ music fans across the globe coming together in these strange days of a global pandemic. This surely inspired Boddy to conjure up a mesmerising tour de force of a live show that shows all his skills and experience built up over a life time of performing..
Boddy’s set up was centred around his large Serge modular system supplemented by three cases of Eurorack. Eschewing the presence of a laptop this allowed him to sculpt and evolve a series of engaging electronic soundscapes. Ranging from the spacey and eerie to beautifully pastoral with his Ondes Martenot style French Connection keyboard featured at several points with its hauntingly beautiful tones. Novation & Moog keyboards fill out Boddy’s arsenal of instruments and the video shows him in constant motion playing, tweaking and sculpting the hour long set. In the two rhythmic excursions “From Here To There” and “Nevermore” one can literally hear Boddy build the complex, intertwining patterns brick by brick before launching out with some inspired solo playing that can only really happen in a live performance..
Released in a limited edition digipak with beautiful artwork by Wendy Carroll this is music that not only celebrates the work of one of the UK’s leading exponents of electronic music but also the label he has curated with such love and care for the last 22 years.

Artist: Lyonel Bauchet
P: 2021
LTD 500
“The Diver” is a concept album in that it alludes to an undersea world many of us will never visit. The five tracks segue into a seamless piece of audio that explore the hidden vistas and dark spaces of the deep sea. Utilising his vast musical experience Bauchet has created an astonishing sound world that ebbs and flows like the ocean currents. The attention to detail and immersive sonic textures sparkle on top of vast oceanic swells that travel from the peaceful and quiet through to darkly dangerous. Once again his use of the Buchla modular is evident with beautiful soaring and trilling Vangelis like lead tones. Underneath the sequencer patterns and restrained percussion bubble & roil building to subtle climaxes before descending back in to the dark depths. The life of a library music composer is very often rather anonymous so it is a great privilege for the DiN label to be able to present this album release from such a talented composer. Dive in to the sonic undersea world of Lyonel Bauchet and lose yourself in this stunning album.

Artist: Nigel Mullany
P: 2021
DIN 67
LTD 1000
Nigel Mullaney for many years has lived a life of relative musical anonymity preferring to inhabit the worlds of soundtrack and library music. Whilst he has been involved with several other collaborative musical projects it is only in the last couple of years that he has started to spread his solo musical wings with the album releases “31 Days” on DiN and “The Navigator” on Behind the Sky Music.
The last year has shown all of us how fragile our existence is and how vital it is to nurture a physical and artistic connection to creativity and those that surround us. The Turning is an album that was forged from the concepts and ideas first explored in the album “31 Days” (DiN61), a desire to capture the raw emotion of a live electronic performance coupled with the expression of Jonathan Jowett’s piano playing and Mullaneys work with the Elemental Chamber Orchestra. Modular & Moog synthesisers were used to assemble a deep sonic palette that reflects the emotional concepts of the album fused with a variety of studio sessions, acoustic recordings and Elektron machines. The tracks were all mixed on to a vintage Ampex ATR-102 using an SSL desk and numerous vintage outboard equipment.
The 10 tracks on this album, whilst dominated by modular textures and sequences take this style of composition to new heights in their truly widescreen cinematic landscapes. The opener “Lost At Sea” is a beautiful example of how to create such a journey in under seven minutes. The following eight pieces take the listener on an emotional travelogue before succumbing to the blissful closing of the album with “Nostalgia Bomb”.DiN label boss Ian Boddy curated the track selection and running order to create an electronic music album full of emotional complexity and hope. 

Artist: Ian Boddy  & Markus Reuter
P: 2021
DIN 66
LTD 500 Copies
Renowned touch guitarist Markus Reuter has been one of the stalwarts of the DiN label, having been there right at the beginning in 1999 with his initial collaboration (Distant Rituals DiN2) with label founder Ian Boddy. Since then he has been involved with several other collaborations with Boddy, as well as with other artists such as Zero Ohms & Bernhard Wöstheinrich. Looking to do another collaboration with Boddy, Markus composed several long soundscape improvisations over the summer of 2020. The duo realised that with the pandemic they would not be able to physically work together in the same studio this time, as they had with all their previous work. Boddy then took these ambient starting points and using his vintage Roland System 100M modular synthesiser started to arrange, cut up and shape these into a coherent album. As well as a CD release this time both artists wanted this music to be presented on vinyl, so the work was conceived as two long 20 minute suites that would take up one side of a record each. Each suite is comprised of three distinct sections that seamlessly segue into each other. The music feels like a sonic journey, opening with the grandeur of “Citadel”, before heading off with the rhythmic slice of electronica that is the second track “Parallels”. Interlocking sequence lines and modular rhythmic treatments of Reuters soundscapes propel this piece along overlaid with beautiful guitar parts soaring overhead. The first suite closes with the title track “Outland” with a gentle, yet slightly unsettling atmosphere.
The second side opens with “Brood”, a huge claustrophobic track, before taking a gentle breath before the journey recommences with the beautiful rhythmic piece “Trails” that once again features Reuters trade mark liquid guitar solos. Finally all comes to rest with the end of the album and “Home”. A beautiful pastoral combination of Reuters exquisite guitar playing and Boddys emotive synth solo using his analogue Ondes Martenot style keyboard.
Composed to make the most of the vinyl format the fascinating musical collaboration between Boddy & Reuter continues to produce music of the highest quality.

Artist: Parallel Worlds + Dave Bessell
P: 2021
DIN 65
LTD 500 Copies
The names of Dave Bessell & Parallel Worlds should be familiar to aficionados of the DiN label with various solo & collaborative albums under their belts. “Phosphenes” see these two well respected musicians team up for their third collaborative release on DiN. Following on from Morphogenic (DiN41, 2012) & Dystopia (DiN56, 2018) this new album builds on their previous work creating an imaginary Synthwave soundtrack. Bakis Sirros the mastermind behind Parallel Worlds provides the skittering rhythmic backdrop to the tracks over which he and Bessell overlay ominous bass lines, twisting melodies and creative sound design that recall a shadow of 1980s John Carpenter film scores. Bessell also adds his unique guitar style that he so effectively uses in his other well known side project with the synth quartet Node. Both musicians make extensive use of modular synth systems but in very different ways that perfectly blend together in these eight atmospheric tracks.The duo of Bessell and Sirros really do have a unique sound that is unlike anything else released in the world of electronic music and “Phosphenes” presents another chance to enter their darkly twisted sonic world.

Artist: Ian Boddy
P: 2020
DIN 64
LTD 500
At the start of 2020 Boddy was asked by the artist Bluetech to contribute a track for an upcoming compilation album (Portals) lovingly curated to reflect the Kosmische music heritage of many of the musicians involved in this project. Boddy’s track “Omicron” with its cascading arpeggios, soaring synth choirs and deep Moog bass proved a heady mixture that was used in the promo video for this release. This got Boddy to thinking that perhaps a full solo studio album in this style would be a creative goal worth pursuing and thus we have the release of “Axiom” (DiN64) as the result of that exercise.
The six tracks on “Axiom” certainly reference Boddy’s musical roots with its pulsating sequencer passages that hark back to the Berlin School sequencing of Tangerine Dream, most especially on the powerhouse track “Nitro”. The self referential track “Boddy Love” is an in joke with a nod to a classic 70’s Klaus Schulze album and features a gorgeous melodic sequence line that steadily grows to a beautiful climax before gently fading into the distance.
Elsewhere “Icon” with its subsonic bass throb and veil of orchestral strings climbs to a sonic summit before crashing down to the sublime and emotional piece “The Fallen”. Closing out the album the title track bookends the albums opener “Omicron” with a slice of Synthwave that has it all from analogue sequences, vintage drum machines and soaring chords for an emotional, joyous journey.

Artist: Scanner
P: 2020
DIN 63
LTD 555 Copies
DiN label boss Ian Boddy who immediately contacted Rimbaud to invite him to produce an album for the highly respected DiN label. Rimbaud thus spent the next few days recording 90 minutes of new music using the very same set up he had used for this YouTube concert. Boddy & Rimbaud then curated these recordings to form this solo DiN debut Scanner album “An Ascent” (DiN63).
The nine tracks form a musical journey ranging from gentle ambient interludes through to pulsing machine like rhythms. There’s always a sense of detail in the sonic backdrop which is just out of reach. A sense of yearning that opens the album with the track “The Ascent” and flows through to the beautiful calm ending of the final track “Counterpointe”.
This is an inspiring album from this totally unique British artist and one that may have never come in to existence if it wasn’t for the strange times we live in. 

Artist: Dave Bessell
P: 2020
DIN 62
LTD 500 Copies
Dave Bessell is a familiar name for followers of the DiN label for his previous solo release, “Black Horses Of the Sun” (DiN47), his two collaborations with Parallel Worlds (DiN41 & 56) and being a founder member of synth supergroup Node (DiN44 & 55). 

Artist: V/A
P: 2019
DIN 60
LTD 2000 Copies
iNDEX06 is the sixth DiN compilation album and includes two tracks each from the titles DiN51 - 59. The artists on show this time are Ian Boddy, Node, ARC, Bluetech, d’Voxx and collaborations between Parallel Worlds & Dave Bessell, Ian Boddy & Erik Wøllo and Markus Reuter & Ian Boddy. As with the previous five DiN samplers DiN label boss Ian Boddy has mixed and cross-faded the 18 tracks into a continuous ambient mix that not only showcases the albums featured on the release but presents an exciting and varied title in its own right. It also highlights the varied and intriguing music that the DiN label offers on its releases from deep analogue synth grooves through vibrantly melodic instrumentals to powerful, epic ambient atmospheres. An intoxicating mix of the old and new beautifully presented in a slimline cardboard wallet with an extra flap which just adds to the value and collectibility of this release. Furthermore this compilation falls in the same year that the DiN label is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary. This is no small feat for a niche independent label and DiN is finally getting some of the recognition it so justly deserves.

Artist: Ian Boddy
P: 2019 
DIN 59
LTD 1000
2018 ushered in a fresh adventure for Boddy with a new invitation to play at The Gatherings. His past performances have found their way on to releases such as Shrouded (his 2000 show) and React (DiN29) with Robert Rich. Several of his Star’s End live sets have also been released on DiNDDL as download only albums. However the trip in 2018 produced what is in Boddy’s opinion, his best pair of performances to date and so he has decided to release a double live album to showcase this trip. The first disc documents his Gatherings show on the evening of 20th October in the beautiful St. Mary’s Church in Philadelphia whereas the second disc is his live radio show on Star’s End performed at 2am on the Sunday morning immediately after his Gatherings show.

The music on The Gatherings disc features some tracks from his previous studio album As Above So Below (DiN51) as well as new material composed specifically for this concert. Boddy performed the show playing analogue keyboards and a modular set up borrowed over in the USA alongside Ableton Live laptop work. Muscular analogue sequenced grooves are overlaid with atmospheric beds of FX as well as grandiose sweeping chords. The music gradually building up to the climax of the track The Thaumaturge from his As Above So Below album for which the audience certainly show their appreciation.

The second disc from the Star’s End show is a more introspective set with atmospheric string interludes over deep ambient soundscapes. The music gradually crystallises into a delicate sequencer on Spire before the full Berlin School sequencer work out of Apostasy. Full of haunting tones the final track Remnants closes the set which works as a perfect companion disc to the earlier Gatherings concert.

Altair thus shows Boddy at the height of his powers playing two very different concerts within a few hours of each other in very different venues. Produced in a beautiful fold out 6 panel digipak this double CD album is a must for both Boddy fans as well as lovers of live electronic music.