ONE OF the founding fathers of the techno scene in financial hub of Frankfurt, Chris Liebing, is blazing a trail towards the release of his first album in more than three years for Mute this November with a second single drop, “Something Half Way”, which we’ve got for you below.
A chattering, clicking, supremely textural slice of mantric electronica, it’s got all the little corners and sonic glitter you require of a great headphone track, while simultaneously being cool as, quietly epic, a track to lose yourself in communally in the rush of the moment and the scent and the flickering light of the dancefloor; fuzzing, fizzing, demanding you propel forward with a catch of the breath. Tune, in short.
Another Day is the name of the new album, and it’s Chris’s first full-length outing since 2018’s Burn Slow. It sees him once again inviting guests in to bend and mesh his music into new colours, including some returning from that last set.
The album features one of Akron/Family founder Miles Cooper Seaton’s last vocal performances before his untimely passing in a road accident just a couple of months ago; Polly Scattergood takes the lead on a track, and Sink Ya Teeth’s Maria Uzor, fresh from her contributions to A Certain Ratio’s masterful ACR Loco, also lends a hand.
The album launched last month with the surging dancefloor abandon of “Whispers and Wires”, featuring Ladan, the artist formerly known as Cold Specks, which we fell into here.
“With this album, I wanted to take myself out of it as much as possible,” explains Chris, who’s worked dancefloors for three decades.
“I’m a strong believer in letting the moment decide what’s happening,” he says. “If you’ve studied your set-up and you know what you’re doing then you can let the moment take over, because you’re not busy trying to figure out how things work.”
Chris sees the album as being one very much shaped by the aesthetics of those coming aboard to collaborate; and Mute founder Daniel Miller is another big name who’s brought his talent to the record.
“Daniel’s input was just incredible,” Chris says. “He brought his modular setup in our studio and he added this extra flavour.”
Chris has a string of live dates right across Europe coming up from later this week and on towards Christmas, beginning with a date at the Akvarium Klub, Budapest, this Friday, July 2nd, and continuing as follows:
Saturday, July 3rd, Kureni, Kiev;
Friday, July 9th, D! Club, Lausanne;
Friday, July 16th, Blend @Bolivar Beach Bar, Athens;
Sunday, July 18th, Revier Südost, Berlin;
Friday, July 30th, Zero 1 @Victoria Warehouse, Manchester;
Saturday, July 31st, Solar Festival, Roermond, Netherlands;
Sunday, August 8th, 25th Loveland Festival, Amsterdam;
Friday, August 27th, Kilomètre25, Paris;
Saturday, September 4th, Lief Festival, Utrecht;
Saturday, September 11th, Saga Festival, Bucharest;
Saturday, September 18th, Drumcode Malta, Valetta, Malta;
Saturday, October 16th, Secret Project ADE, Amsterdam;
Wednesday, November 10th, Mayday, Katowice, Poland;
Saturday, November 13th, Bonusz Festival, Budapest;
Friday, November 26th, The Vaults, Cardiff;
Friday, December 3rd, Bikini Club, Toulouse, and
Saturday, December 18th, We Love Techno Switzerland, Solothurn, Switzerland.
Chris Liebing’s Another Day will be released by Mute digitally, on CD and on double vinyl on November 19th; and it’s available to pre-save and pre-order now.
