#Multiplex25 blog

1995 - 2020

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The Story Of Steen Kong & 10 Thousand Records

40 years of digging vinyl and 25 years since the inception of Multiplex Records

RPM Records celebrated Multiplex' own Steen Kong by publishing a massive interview on his 55th birthday!

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Time schedule for the electronic stage at Roskilde Festival 1997.

DJ Kong and Cai Bojsen-Møller live opening the tent at noon after another incredible line-up the night before featuring: Slam, Carl Cox, Daft Punk, St. Germain, Deep Dish, Dimitri From Paris, Jori Hulkkonen — as well as some local heros: Kjeld Tolstrup (RIP), Jet (Sølvpil) and Tanja (Mantra).

We miss this...

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We love coming across Multiplex tunes in mixes — especially when it's Juan Atkins who drops Cai Bojsen-Møller's "Exotic Poses" from his 1996 EP A Night In The Pit [approx. 6:47 min. in].

Cai’s latest double EP The Spirit of Man and Machine is available on our Bandcamp page. 

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The lost Planet Ultra album

In 1996 Orlando Voorn contributed his brilliant track “Bells” to the Get Lost compilation under his Ultra moniker, and later the equally great “Barwork” to the Past-Present+Future comp. This later turned into talks of an album release on Multiplex – Unfortunately, that album was delivered only as Multiplex went into almost two decades of hibernation. And although Steen Kong made several attempts to get the album released, it just never happened. However, some twenty years later all but one of the tracks would actually end up in circulation – so consider this post a nerdy guide for Ultra fans…

The original Planet Ultra tracklist from 1998 (and the label and release years):

Teflon (Multiplex 2019)

Plasma (Multiplex 2019)

In The Galaxy (Multiplex 2019)

Planet Ultra (Minifunk 2002, Cache 2006)

Ultra Light (Multiplex 2019)

Spank (Minifunk 2002)

World Wide Players (Electrofunk 2003)

Something Playin In My Mind (Minifunk 2002)

Solar System (Central Electronics 2018)

Bells (Multiplex 1996)

Bass Rock Xpress

Open (Multiplex 2019)

As mentioned above “Bells” is found on the Get Lost project from ’96 – both the double CD and the first of the three subsequent vinyl releases.

Kong moved to Barcelona and in 2002 managed to get an EP out as a test pressing on the local Minifunk label. That release never came out as a genuine release, but a few copies of the white label promos are still out there – and very much sort after. It contained the album’s title track “Planet Ultra” as well as “Spank” and “Something Playing On My Mind” on the B-side.

Flash is one of Orlando Voorn’s most memorable, early releases. It came out on KMS in 1992, but when it was reissued on Electrofunk Records in 2003, the B-side had a new addition. The track was “Players Anthem” which is actually “World Wide Players” from the Ultra album under a new name.

“Planet Ultra” got released as a single in 2006 on the Cache label, this time as Orlando Voorn, not Ultra. That release also featured an updated version (“2006 Hardmix”) by Orlando and a remix by Pacou who ran the imprint.

Fast forward to 2018 ‎– The Electrocute EP is released as Orlando Voorn pres. The Stalker on Central Electronics. The last of the four compositions on that record is “Solar System”.

Finally, in 2019 Multiplex releases Planet Ultra - The Lost Tracks featuring “Teflon”, “Plasma”, “In The Galaxy”, “Ultra Light” and “Open”. This record also contains “Barwork”, which was not part of the album, but had previously only been available on CD.

The only track left unreleased to this day is “Bass Rock Xpress”, a super jazzy, baseline-driven, garage-ish tune – maybe someday…

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Here’s a great 1997 review of the Multiplex double CD compilation Past-Present+Future in Danish:

Det københavnske selskab Multiplex er efterhånden blevet tre år gammelt, og har fra starten fastholdt en rendyrket stil med velproduceret techno og house, som har sikret selskabet en kvalitativt høj profil, som tydeliggøres på Past - Present + Future (Multiplex MPCD 05), der blander et skønsomt udvalg af selskabets bagkatalog med kommende udgivelser.

Det er et dobbeltalbum, der byder på både stemningsmættede kompositioner og kontant rytmiske kropsgrooves. Man finder nattemørk, funk-inficeret house fra Morgan Geist, makkerparret bag Multiplex - Kong og Cai Bojsen-Møller - med jazzet elec-tronica med kontrabas, Ultras pulserende, melodiske og metallisk raspende ’Barwork’ og Mark Brooms sugende, minimale house. Less is more-æstetik og sofistikerede sammensmeltninger side om side.

Past - Present + Futures anden cd er ét langt mix af tidligere udgivelser, angiveligt formet som en komprimeret klubaften, hvor der sømløst og smidigt turneres hurtigt gennem genrer og drive - med rig mulighed for at blive revet med af den kraftfulde puls og de mellemgulvsskurrende basangreb.

— words by Ralf Christensen, Information 27.11.97 (Full article)

The mix (above) from the second disc was featured by The Ransom Note last year and you can get a physical copy of the CD release at our Bandcamp page.

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2020 marked the 25th anniversary of Multiplex Records and we had big celebratory plans – of cause they all went out the window along with every other part of life for artists, DJs and label owners alike.

Multiplex did manage to do a couple of things – we released the second part of Cai Bojsen-Møller’s The Spirit of Man and Machine early in the year, and we just managed to get The Grind by El Agua Es Profunda out in November.

We created a Bandcamp page and started releasing our music digitally, as well as selling vintage CD albums and T-shirts. Also, we put this blog together as a collage of memories from the history of the imprint.

Multiplex launched a couple of months into 1995, so technically our twenty-fifth year isn’t over yet (that’s our story and we’re sticking to it) and we’ll do our best to round it off with something really special for our fans – but more on that later…

For now – we wish everyone a very happy new year!

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Obey The Night is a concept release thought up and curated by Steen Kong. Inspired by the quote of Homer from 800 BC – the idea was to pit two great producers from different places and generations against each other. They would both supply an original track befitting of a dark dancefloor and then remix each other’s work.

The choice fell on Multiplex veteran Orlando Voorn, who had previously released on the label as Ultra – and Luca Lozano as the younger artist, who (like Voorn) has a varied and interesting back catalogue and a novel approach to music production.

The corporation resulted in a four-track EP which sold out in no time – so if you missed it, you’ll have to head to our Bandcamp page for a digital copy.

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Goto made the music for the performance group "Kom De Bagfra" and their visualization of the Renaissance in the performance "Faber Mundi". The piece "Creation" was the closing track where Venus is born and arrives into the world through smoke, fireworks, spectacular light and naked ladies, a 3D interpretation of Botticelli's legendary Renaissance painting spiced with a techno soundtrack.

The track was later released as the Faber Mundi EP a 12” with two other pieces from the performance on the B-side.

During the applause, Mr. Kong and a mobile DJ set-up was pushed forward onto the stage along with a bar and it was transformed into a club where the audience was invited up for free drinks and dancing — That’s how we rolled in the 90s…

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Despite the name, El Agua Es Profunda is actually the alias of Danish producer Jacob Funch. Inspired by the 1990s MTV show The Grind he created this beautiful, evolving, anthemic, dance track and the accompanying visual.

Multiplex just released the 12” vinyl with an intense rework by Kasper Marott on the flip side. Pernille W. Ferdinandsen has created the video for Kasper Marott’s Flexi Trip version of The Grind.

The physical release is available in good record stores worldwide and the digital can be found exclusively on our Bandcamp page.

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Cartoon caricature of the rave scene and how outsiders perceived it as a gateway to hard drugs — Drawn by Jacob Boeskov and printed in the 1990s Danish fanzine "Salon Kitty" which was co-created by Kong.

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Steve Pickton is widely regarded as an ingenious producer and one of the unsung heros of the early UK electronic music scene. He worked under a range of different monikers but is best known under his Stasis alias.

Mainly active between ’93 and ’97, he has released albums and EPs on labels such as B12, Peacefrog and Pure Plastic.

Stasis has also delivered one of the most sought-after Multiplex releases. The 1997 EP "Sound of Stas”, which consists of three beautiful, tripping house tracks.

"Ebb", "Pheni" and his Paul Teebrooke mix of "Steel Wind” — Paul W. Teebrooke was his legal name prior to adoption — The original mix of Steel Wind was released on the CD compilation Get Lost.

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After 25 years Multiplex is still putting out music on physical formats. We're now at 35 vinyl releases and six CD albums. Our latest record just arrived in Copenhagen and we can't wait to share it with you. Check out our full discography on our website!

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Tivoli Trax started as a Multiplex series paying tribute to local artists connected to Kong's Mantra night club, while it was based in Copenhagen's “Tivoli Gardens”.

Mantra was Denmark’s first nightclub dedicated to electronic dance music. It open on November 6th in 1993 at “Eigens Ballroom” and ran till May ’94. It then moved to “Pakhus 11″ and various other location before finally finding a home in Tivoli where it ran from 1997 until ‘99.

Kong hosted the club with Henrik Möll and the two was later joined by long time resident DJ Tania. Möll sadly passed away in 2014.

The first Tivoli Trax 12” EP was released in 1996 and Vol. 2 followed in '97. In ’98 came the 12 track CD compilation. With the reboot of Multiplex, the series was brought back in 2018 with Tivoli Trax vol. 3!

The compilations features exclusive tracks from Goodiepal, DJ JSL, Vagn Luv aka. Mikael v. Larsen, cK aka. Cai Bojsen-Møller & Kong, Sølvpil aka. Dub Tractor, Bjørn Svin, Thomas Knak aka. Opiate, Acustic, Tim Driver, Westside Supreme aka. Goodiepal & Kong, Hüebsch Originators - plus Vassdrag, B From E and Dennis Uprock on volume 3.

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A lot of people thought is was some sort of gimmick when the techno label Multiplex released “Scandinavian Supermarket-Music At Its Very Best" by Lindberg Hemmer Foundation. The truth is we really loved it — and sill do. RIP Tykke.

From their entrance together in this set, after the opening acetone beats in 'The Buy Buy Song', right through to the last measures of 'Uhm, Snacks!', Dan Hemmer and Morten Lindberg exhibit a elegance of sound and subtlety of time which is only seen once or twice in this century. Sound and time, however, are not enough; it is what they are used to hold together that makes them of such importance to the music-scene of today. And that is ? Why the melodic line of course; and beyond everything else it is the melodic line that Lindberg & Hemmer woo and win in their music. It isn't difficult to hear, to feel, to dig - any verb that describes your own response will do. As you listen again and again, the melodic lines and the subtle rhythmic push will sweep up and over the level of dynamics to create for the listener a truley fine Hammond & Bass album. While I'm whistling my way to the local supermarket to beg the owner to, not only buy this wonderful album, but also to hire The Lindberg Hemmer Foundation for a live show there, - I must say - I really like these guy's

— Mr. Kong (1996)

The album was later licensed by April Records, who also released the duo’s follow-up album, but we have a few original Multiplex CD copies available on our Bandcamp.

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When Titonton Duvanté delivered his incredible “Futurity EP” to Multiplex, he was still a young and not yet a well known artist, with only a couple of releases to his name. Futurity became the last release on Multiplex before the two-decade hiatus. It’s a massive four track EP blending a funky electro-vibe with acid house. Since then he has produced a great catalogue of 12”s and albums covering various genres of electronic dance music. In 2017 Titonton re-released Futurity on his own Residual Recordings and last year he also remixed “Make Your Reality” by pH 1.

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Making plans for world domination at the original Multiplex headquarters.

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Behind the Sølvpil moniker we find Danish producer Anders Remmer aka. Dub Tractor aka. Jet, who was also one third of Future 3, later to become System – People used a lot of aliases in the 90’s…

As Sølvpil, he produced minimalist, thumbing, dub-techno, exclusively for Multiplex – Always captured in impressive, one take, recording sessions.

Anders released his “500 EP” in 1996, but he also contributed tracks to the Get Lost and Past-Present+Future compilations, as well as Tivoli Trax – The version featured in the video above is from the latter.