Permanent Vacation Germany Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Massimiliano Pagliara returns to Permanent Vacation with his fourth studio album 'See You In Paradise'. The Italian-German artist has his sights set on the sublime, enlisting the help of Snax, Fort Romeau, Init, Curses, Coloray and Vanessa to produce a 10-track album of smoked-out trip hop, house, nu-disco and downtempo. Unsettlingly unwilling to settle on any particular genre, the multifaceted nature of the project reflects Pagliara's many faces, not least as a DJ, producer and ballet dancer. For indeed, paradise isn't a world where we're boxed into one role or genre for the rest of our lives, but rather get to occupy as many as we see fit.

Review:  "It's not really house, more electronica - like a proper album," John Talabot said of this album. . It's an apt description. Fin is clearly rooted in house - and the kind of melody-driven, atmospheric tackle that the Barcelona-based producer excels at - but it's certainly not a dancefloor-focused set. There are off-kilter downtempo moments, slo-mo compositions and twisted beatscapes that recall the impossible-to-pigeonhole antics of Hyetal (circa "Broadcast"), Sepalcure and Instra:mental. Then there's closer "So Will Be Now" (one of two collaborations with Pional), a near-genius chunk of future garage/deep acid house fusion that's so beautiful it almost hurts. As transformations go, Fin is stunning.

Review: Theo Kottis, like many artists, produced plenty of music during lockdown and much of it took on the characteristics of that time. Now he presents six of them here on Permanent Vacation. They provided him moments of escapism during the lockdown and suggest he was listening to everything from pop to Italo to new wave. 'On My Mind' is synth heavy house, 'Piano Dance' is a super happy tune for fun times and 'Cocktail' explores a twitchy disco vibe with throwback feels. The second half of the EP carries on in just as varied and vital fashion. Super stuff.

Review: Snecker offers up some advice on How To Dream here and that is certainly something that is easier to do when lost in the artist's music. This new outing on Permanent Vacation is a real exploration of the outer reaches of the cosmos with 'Kicking & Screaming' laced up with balmy pads and warming solar winds as the crisp hits drive the drums forward. 'High Noon' is adrift amongst the stars with weird sound effects and alien life forms scurrying about the mix then the title cut locks you into a beat that rocks back and forth and has a steamy male vocal bringing some funk. 'Flat Footed Laurence' is the best of the lot - a mid-tempo groove that provides a great foundation for some playful synth work.

Review: Barcelona mainstay Baldo originally released 'Ride The Night' as part of digital single Saturdays Come And Gone on Permanent Vacation in 2022. As a fierce and fabulous homage to Hi-NRG, it showed the most muscular, nocturnal side of Baldo's sound and the track took on a life of its own. Now the label have decided to give the track more prominence with this heavyweight vinyl remix package, which kicks off in style with a suitably throbbing workout from Red Axes before switching to the strutting big room style of Alex Neri. Jennifer Loveless zeroes in to the sensual heart of the track with a thrumming low end and a powerful command of the tension in the track, leaving it to Baldo's original to close the EP out in style.