B1218

Kirk Degiorgio returns to B12 Records!

Available on Vinyl (17th Dec 2007) and MP3 (Jan 2008). Also available on limited edition clear 12" vinyl 500 copies.
Each record has hand engraved messages in the runout grooves.

1st edition released Monday 17th December 2007

More details about this release, including samples of the tracks, are available in our discography.

REVIEWS:

BEN SIMS: Love the B12, charted the A side at no.1, there's just not enough stuff like that around.

JEFF MILLS: "It¹s wonderful."

CHRIS FINKE - ATOMIC JAM / FLUX / SPLIT: WICKED release!! I couldn’t make up my mind which mix to play so I played both this last Saturday at the Drop Beats festival in Birmingham and when the basslines dropped it kicked off. Serious techno, will be caning it and charting it.

FABRICE LIG: Wow! Kirk Degiorgio + B12 = Dreamteam of Techno! That EP is huge, proper techno for the future! 9.5/10 – it’s perfect

COLIN DALE: Excellent.

THE WIRE - Review in January issue: IDM pioneers B12 appear here after years of semi-obscurity; there's clearly a hunger about for early '90s dance-music sounds. Fortunately, their mix is no '90s throwback, but rather a clenched and clattery Techno workout

MYSTERIOUS MR O - DETROIT GRAND PUBAHS / ELECTRONATION: Both mixes of ‘I Do Not Exist’ are superb.

Release Date: Monday 17th December, 2007

B1216

The first new material from B12 for nearly 10 years...

Available on Vinyl and MP3. Also available on limited edition blue coloured 12" vinyl 300 copies.
Each record has hand engraved messages in the runout grooves.
The mp3 version on bleep.com comes with the exclusive track Hall of Mirrors (Digitonal's Strings in Space Remix

1st edition released Monday 11th June 2007 (SOLD OUT)
2nd edition released Monday 9th July

More details about this release, including samples of the tracks, are available in our discography.

REVIEWS:

WARPMART: 'Record of the Week'

VITAL WEEKLY: 'Slope is a very fresh new release and it seems to be taking them in a more updated sound, with glitch like rhythms, but the acid synth is never far away. 'Slope' is a very uplifting piece of music, quite cheery. 'Static Glitch' on the flip is a bit darker and 'Magnetic Fields' falls somewhere in between. It makes perfect sense this record. Like they have never been away and yet easily bridge the gap'

EAR RATIONAL: 'Classic B12 deep-space melodics and Detroit techno influences still shine, with 21st century production'

DJ STINGRAY: 'Magnetic Fields & Static Glitch - !!!!!!! - Thank you Gentlemen!! They will be a fixture in my sets for some time to come!!!!'

INTERSTELLARSOUNDS.COM Well, here it is, the first 12" in over ten years to feature new material from the mighty duo Mike Golding and Steve Rutter aka B12. 'Slope' is unmistakable B12 gear, a remnant from the Artificial Intelligence era, only this is fresh from the guys' Epicentre studio with a 21st Century edge and most definitely designed for the dance floor too. 'Magnetic Fields' is most certainly sci-fi techno for "futuristic minds", with its jaunty bass line and soul searching sound scapes, it could almost be 1992 all over again. Awesome!

BOOMKAT.COM: Hard to believe, but the twelve contains the first new recorded material from B12 since the release of the 3EP single on Warp almost a decade ago. In true B12 tradition the twelve comes in an incredibly limited pressing and features all manner of strange inscriptions on the vinyl - you get the distinct impression these are going to disappear before the week's out. As for the tracks - "Slope" kickstarts the EP with an almost bouncy 4/4 structure, with much less of an emphasis on atmosphere than on pace - a pummelling dance floor shuffle takes over and works a treat played loud - quite a surprise! "Magnetic Fields" on the flip is much more complex and gnarly - a deconstructed feel pummels the track forward before those signature neon chords come in to take you some place else - killer material. "Static Glitch" ends the EP with another nod back to vintage Carl Craig - the sounds of machines tweaking into life deep in space. Extremely limited copies - hurry to secure a copy!

SMALLFISH.CO.UK: B12 finally relaunches itself after all the rumours regarding its rebirth and we kick off with the 3-track Slope EP. In some repsects you'll find this instantly familiar, yet disconcertingly un-B12 like. There's a paciness and groove here that harks back to the old days, certainly, but it almost feels like a more tribal, clubby kind of style. 'Static Glitch' is really a proper techno tune in a lot of respects, but it's beautifully realised and features enough B12 to keep it sounding great. The other tracks have more of a classic sound, particularly 'Magnetic Fields' - my favourite cut. It's almost like they've updated the sounds but not the style, if you see what I mean. Anyway, it's great to have them back and, essentially, this is a splendid EP.

RUBADUB.CO.UK: brand new tracks from b12, available on super-limited blue vinyl. title track "slope" is a 4/4 techno track with a chunked-out wonky bassline, and all manner of shuffles and blips that keep it shuttling along nicely. proper b12 techno for the club. b side opens with the darker "magnetic fields", a haunting, twisting track, with an almost-dubstep bass sound beneath lots of fragmented percussion and fx. closing with "static glitch", an awkward track with many scuttling shards of noise and an insistent pulsing hook that retains an unsettling intensity throughout. after 16 years in the game, and the first new material in nearly ten years, b12 are back with some awesome new sounds, and a stunning live show to boot. top notch.

Buy vinyl direct from the B12 shop
Buy high-quality MP3 & FLAC from Bleep.com

Release Date: Monday 11th June, 2007

B1215

First recorded in 1996...only test pressings existed...remastered and now finally committed to a full vinyl release

Available on Vinyl and MP3 and a 300 limited edition red coloured 12" vinyl.
Each record has hand engraved messages in the runout grooves.
This record has the bonus track 'Ecliptic' that was not on the 1996 test pressings.

1st edition released Monday 11th June 2007 (SOLD OUT)
2nd edition released Monday 9th July

More details about this release, including samples of the tracks, are available in our discography.

REVIEWS

WARPMART: Record of the Week

VITAL WEEKLY: Somewhere covered with dust I have the B12 CD that Warp released some fifteen years ago...I never parted from it. In 1996 B12 disappeared from the music scene when some 12"s never got beyond the stage of test pressings. Eleven years later they return. The first 12" is the one from 1996, totally remastered and with a bonus track. Big time dance music, with great keyboards lines and beat that hooks any non-dancer to the floor. Stuttery beats but they work fine. Detroit viva. Five sweet tracks of a highly varied nature.

BOOMKAT.COM: Hard to believe, but B12 are truly back and one of the most collectable UK techno labels of all time is finally operating again. This first release was originally issued back in 1996 in a limited run of 5 (5!!!) test pressings only - after which the label and b12 disappeared in a cloud of smoke from which they've only recently emerged. This incredible 12" tells you pretty much everything you need to know about why B12 where so influential and sought after - the signature sound (in tune with the atmospheric techno variations of vintage Detroit techno), the limited vinyl runs, the obscure etchings on the vinyl - all the things that have made pretty much all the b12 releases go for silly money in recent years. As for the tracks - the EP opens up with the sublime tundras of "Practopia", setting the scene perfectly for whats to follow. "Solitude is a different beast altogether, a padded bassline and pristine hi-hats riding alongside mournful keys - a sound not unlike Carl Craig's immense "How The West Was Won". It's pretty much the best track here and worthy of the price of admission alone. "New Age" opens the flipside with another track that could have been lifted straight off Kirk Degiorgio's seminal ART imprint - all lilting melodies and super-spacious production - hard to describe this material as anything other than lush. "Ecliptic" ends the twelve with another reflective emission - a descending catharsis that utilises another soothing sound palette to accompany the padded 4/4 into the run-out grooves - gorgeous material. One other thing that hasn't changed - these new B12 issues have been pressed up in strictly limited quantities - if you want a copy, act FAST!

INTERSTELLARSOUNDS.COM The famous unreleased B1215, originally composed in 1996 and finally released as the first 12" in the relaunch of B12 Records. Spacey, ambient, introspective stuff as you might expect from a Redcell release. Includes the bonus track, 'Ecliptic'. Sublime!

CLONE.NL: No words can truly describe this music. Absolutely stunning.

HARDWAX.COM: The return of the legendary early 1990s UK ambient techno crew - Highly Recommended!

SMALLFISH.CO.UK: Well, what better way to restart one of the finest electronica labels from the '90's than by treating us to this barely get-holdable gem. B1215 was always a legend and here we get to enjoy this blend of Motor City influenced general wonderfulness. Everything you'd expect from B12 and their Redcell pseudonym is here... 5 tracks of sweet chords, clanking DX sounds and beautifully authentic percussion and rhythm programming. I always loved B12 and this record is proof of exactly why there were / are so good. Brilliant.

Buy vinyl direct from the B12 shop
Buy high-quality MP3 & FLAC from Bleep.com

Release Date: Monday 11th June, 2007

Sonic Sunset B12 special

B12 RADIO SHOW DOWNLOAD

Last September Sonic Sunset Radio broadcast a special B12 show. Here's what they said:

"A retrospective set of London's B12 Records. We've been wanting to do this show for many years, and decided no better time in space than now: "Expressions of the Future" as viewed in 1991 from B12 in London, through a lens that built on Detroit's original foundation, but angled the sound into a unique British unknown. Michael Golding & Steve Rutter crafted this vision under numerous artist names on their B12 imprint, releasing one of the pillars of the Artificial Intelligence era, Electro Soma (primarily a collection of their early 12"s), on Warp Records. We love the 12" philosophy they adopted, with super-limited coloured vinyl among an already-limited total pressing. The records have gorgeous cutting jobs with massive etchings before and after the grooves, not unlike the look of UR/Red Planet records from that same era. B12 was a key first step for UK's clinical twist on soulful circuitry, we dug deep to play many of their originals we had."

You can download an mp3 of the show here (78 mins, 90 megs)

Tracklisting:

B12 - Soundtrack of Space - Electro Soma (Warp) 1993
Cmetric - Tribeca (B1210) 1994
2001 - Rings of Saturn - Space Age EP (B1202) 1991
Musicology - Telefone 529 (B1201) 1991
Redcell - Paradroid - Redcell (B1205) 1992
Musicology - Bubbles - Outlook (B1204) 1992
Redcell - Phett - Time Tourist (Warp) 1996
Musicology - Boundaries - Hall of Mirrors (B1206) 1992
Redcell - Soundtrack Of A Strange Era - Retreat from Unpleasant Realities (B1207) 1992
Redcell - Interim (B1208) 1993
Musicology - Obsessed - Musicology (B1201) 1991
Stasis - The Point of No Return - The Point of No Return (B1211) 1993
Redcell - The City [Inhabited by Cmetric] - (A.R.T. / B1214.1) 1995
Redcell - Practopia (A.R.T. / B1214.2) 1995
Redcell - In Version - Virtual Sex (Buzz) 1993
Phenomyna - Travellor (Explained By Red Cell) (A.R.T. 5.1) 1994
Redcell - The Silicon Garden - Likethemes (Likemind 3) 1995

Posted: Monday 4th June, 2007

B12 live set download

In July 2005, B12 headed up a showcase of electronic artists from the UK (with Milanese, Posthuman, Digitonal, Kansas City Prophets & others) playing the Kraft Central stage at Norberg Festival. An incredible setting: an abandoned iron mine, in the Swedish countryside, in the middle of summer.

You can download a live recording of the set here (mp3 128kbs, 75 mins, 100 meg)

More photo's from the festival can be found here on Mike's photoblog.

Posted: Thursday 10th May, 2007

About B12 Records

After a decade hidden away, B12 have returned.

B12 Records was founded in 1990 by Mike Golding and Steve Rutter as a vehicle for themselves and other like minded individuals to release electronic music for listening and dancing. Many thought the duo hailed from Detroit, as their sound fused many of the elements of techno coming from the Motor City, alongside labels such as Transmat and Plus 8. Every record was hand-engraved in the run out grooves, with cryptic clues and messages, recurring themes of futurism and science fiction.

Releasing under a series of monikers, such as Redcell, Cmetric, and Musicology, their connections with Kirk DeGeorgio’s A.R.T. Records are well documented, each artist featuring on the others label, and even a pair of split 12”s with a label taking each side of the vinyl. The pair were also snapped up by Warp Records, featuring on the seminal Artificial Intelligence series and releasing two albums and an EP on Warp under the umbrella name ‘B12’

Then in 1996, with test pressings of B1215 in their hands, they disappeared without warning or reason. B1215 never made it to release.

Forward to 2005. Illegal bootlegs of old B12 material are circulating – poor quality, without the engravings in the run-out grooves. Mike & Steve return to play a live show in London to a sell-out crowd (the bouncers had to stop queues inside the building). B12 absolutely blew everyone away, a decade away hadn't dampened their sound one bit. The applause at the end was so overwhelming that the following act was shouting at the crowd to shut up and stop cheering so he could begin his set. They announced there was new material to come, and their intentions of re-mastering the back catalogue for release on a 12 CD box set, with bonus unreleased materials.

Now, in 2007, B12 Records has exactly the same goal it did in 1990, to provide quality electronic music for futuristic feet and forward thinking minds.

Web Site Design and Photography

Web site design by Mike Golding - © Mike Golding and Aisis Design Ltd. All Rights Reserved

All photographs are by Mike Golding. All images are subject to US and international copyright laws and are the sole property of Mike Golding © 2003-07. No photograph may be reproduced, downloaded, copied, stored, manipulated, or used in whole or in part of a derivative work, without the written permission of Mike Golding. All rights reserved.

Please Note: Images displayed here are NOT free to take and reuse. If you would like to use one of Mike Golding's photographs on a personal website, or any other non-commercial project, permission IS required. Alternatively, if you have a commercial interest in any of the images displayed here, please contact Mike Golding directly to discuss licensing and fees. mike[at this domain].com

Legal

The B12 Records web site is the property of B12 Records and Mainframe Music © 2003-07 and is subject to US and international copyright laws. No part may be reproduced, copied, stored, manipulated, or used whole or in part of a derivative work, without the written permission of B12 Records. All rights reserved.

General enquiries: label[at]b12records.com

Any general questions or queries. For any website related issues please contact webmaster[at]b12records.com

Mailing List

Distribution/wholesale enquiries

SRD / +44 (0) 20 88 02 3000

Demos: label[at]b12records.com

Please send mp3s ONLY. We will listen to everything that comes in but cannot give feedback on every demo we receive.
However, if we are interested to release your stuff, we will be in touch!

Live / DJ Bookings: label[at]b12records.com

For live bookings: please let us know the date, location, venue size, proposed budget, & any other acts booked.

B12 are available for gigs up until November 2007, and then after January 2008. Mike Golding is also available for DJ'ing at any time.

B12 Links

B12 official ebay account / B12 on Myspace / B12 on Bleep / B12 on Discogs / B12 on wikipedia / Mike's photo blog