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When Humans Ruled The Earth

by w1b0

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Gatefold sleeve with neon green, black & white print, 180 grams double green vinyl album. Total playing time 62 minutes.
    Vinyl version does not include Alternate Reality Interface, Mixed Matter Fluctator, Synthetic and In There, and has the Human Form remix of Program Yourself To Feel, and Ectomorph remix of Pilex Driver, instead of the original versions.

    Includes unlimited streaming of When Humans Ruled The Earth via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      €7 EUR or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    The limited edition CD, with 15 tracks and a total playing time of 75 minutes, comes in a beautiful six-panel digipack. This CD version contains 4 tracks that are not available on the vinyl edition of this album, plus the original versions of Program Yourself To Feel and Pilex Driver (and not the remixes).

    Includes unlimited streaming of When Humans Ruled The Earth via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    edition of 150 

      €6 EUR or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Limited edition on-shell printed cassette, packed in a Maltese cross cardboard sleeve. This cassette version contains 16 tracks, including the remixes by Human Form and Ectomorph, plus 1 cassette only bonus track: the previously unreleased track I Wanted You. The cassette does not include the original versions of Program Yourself To Feel and Pilex Driver.
    Total playing time 85 minutes.

    Includes unlimited streaming of When Humans Ruled The Earth via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    edition of 50 

      €12 EUR or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €12 EUR  or more

     

1.
Acid Whip 05:53
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Synthetic 02:56
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Pilex Driver 03:58
12.
13.
ForNan 05:59
14.
In There 03:53
15.

about

Wibo Lammerts’ sudden death on August 15th shocked the worldwide electro community, and also left the record label, that had been working on the debut album with the artist known as w1b0 for the past two years, dumbfounded and in grief.
Wibo had jokingly always called his upcoming debut album ‘his legacy’, which now sadly has become a painful truth. With the support of Wibo’s family, U-TRAX is now doing the only thing that doesn’t feel totally wrong: proceed as planned, and release ‘When Humans Ruled The Earth’ on November 11.
W1b0 made quite a name for himself with heavy electro tracks that he released on labels like Bass Agenda, Hilltown Disco and Discos Antónicos. Standing at 202 meters, and combined with a cheerful character, most people remember him as the gentle giant of electro.
For this album, Wibo wanted to steer away from the dark and heavy electro he mostly made until then. The idea of having a platform to create delicate electronic music in different styles, and make it a showcase of his versatility, was very appealing to him. And that is where he and U-TRAX found each other.
The full-length album (over 75 minutes on cd and digital) comes after ‘The Pilex Program EP’, released in October, that featured a remix by Detroit’s Ectomorph of ‘Pilex Driver’ and saw ‘Program Yourself To Feel’ remixed by a well-known Dutch producer that recently created the new ‘techno alias’ Human Form.
As usual with U-TRAX, the album comes in three different editions, with the 11-track double vinyl version containing the Ectomorph and Human Form remixes. The CD and digital version boast original versions only, plus four additional tracks: ‘Alternate Reality Interface’, ‘Mixed Matter Fluctator’, ‘Synthetic’, and ‘In There’. The cassette version more or less has the same track list as the CD/digi version, but has both aforementioned remixes and a bonus track in the incredibly hypnotizing ‘I Wanted You’, a track that unfortunately couldn’t be on the CD and vinyl versions.
Buyers of the physical releases get treated on superior quality products, another trademark of U-TRAX. The vinyl edition boasts over one hour of music, on two 180 grams, green vinyl discs, in a black & white & neon green gatefold sleeve. The eye-catching artwork is created by Utrecht artist Leffe Goldstein, known amongst others for his psychedelic beer can designs for Utrecht brewery Maximus. Wibo, being the beer lover he was, had zero doubts about having Leffe Goldstein do the cover for his album. The CD has a total playing time of 75 minutes and comes in a beautiful 6-panel digipack, while the cassette will have full-color on-body print and comes in a plastic-free Maltese cross fold-up sleeve.
Opener ‘Acid Whip’ is one of the oldest compositions on this album, in which a dark 303 bassline hums over layers of spacey strings. Wibo named it after the legendary Whip It party in Amsterdam’s De Melkweg. ‘Alternate Reality Interface’ then presents bouncy rhythms toying around with all sorts of analog (bass) synthesizers, before we go really deep with the epic ambient techno track ‘Wandering Souls’.
Then things get a little lighter spirited: ‘Mixed Matter Fluctator’ is an electro track that builds on sounds created by Matt Buggins. It has very strong Detroit influences, the city Wibo loved so much and that he made a pilgrimage to with a group of friends that called themselves ‘The Techno Tourists’. The tempo goes up a notch in ‘Program Yourself To Feel’, that halfway opens up in wide science fiction strings that evoke memories of Star Wars, the movie series that Wibo was a great fan of, and that was the source of many of his tracks’ names. The Human Form remix opens the vinyl edition of this album and is a downright belter of a track.
Next is a somewhat experimental intermezzo named ‘Synthetic’. Erratic beats and pounding bassdrums get accompanied by very subtle eerie-sounding strings, before melancholic synthesizers and piano chords take over. This is an excellent prelude to the epic ‘Hologram Computing’, a track that is one of our favorites. It slowly and softly builds and builds, before a pounding bassdrum breaks loose and a hypnotic arpeggio takes you to higher planes.
Not ready to letting the listener relax, w1bo then serves ‘Beilstein Reference’, which again presents his trademark cocktail of down-to-earth electro rhythms and catchy melodies, covered in all sort of little sounds and noises, giving the song a lot of energy. What follows is ‘Hit me’, a track loosely based on a song by Dutch indie rock band Mr. Joe Abe. Wibo met the band’s singer on a camping site while being on holidays and the two decided Wibo should do a remix of one of their songs. Nothing was left of the original except the vocals, and the result is a remarkable cheerful, poppy electro song.
‘Anticipated Input’ is one of the more recent tracks Wibo made for this album, combining electro, acid and, yes: epic strings. But not all is peace and quiet on this album, as ‘Pilex Driver’ shows. This is w1b0 going experimental in a danceable fashion: Industrial sounds make the track sound like we’re passing a construction site that is playing loud electro music. On the vinyl version of this album, Ectomorph totally decomposed the original and made it into a mysterious, almost subdued, and totally brilliant electro track that sees a main role for the retro Roland CR drum machines sounds.
TFHats, Wibo’s fellow member of the Transhumanism collective, added lyrics to ‘Cartesian Coordinates’. His vocals add a pleasant New Wave flavor to this song, that has breaks that remarkably reminds one of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. What follows is the most personal track on this album. ‘Fornan’ is a song that Wibo made for his wife Nanette, and was added as the last piece of the puzzle that creating an album is. The warm Detroit techno atmosphere in this electro song couldn’t be a more beautiful tribute to his love, and mother of their two young boys.
The album then takes a surprising detour through a 1980s landscape with ‘In There’, that features the Joy Division-esque vocals of another one of Wibo’s friends, indicated only as Vincent. The super slow and gloomy track is a treat for anyone that loved the darker side of New Wave. The album has a worthy closer in the sensitive, yet playful ‘Schlegel Diagram’.

credits

released November 11, 2022

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about

U-TRAX Utrecht, Netherlands

Independent Dutch label, based in Utrecht. Released 20 leftfield techno/acid/house/electro records between 1993 and 1997 on U-TRAX and its sublabel Phoq U Phonogrammen.
After a soft re-launch in October 2018, U-TRAX is back with re-releases, re-presses and fresh new music since 2021.
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