When You Find a Stranger in the Alps

After a string of acclaimed EPs on Heist, Dirt Crew and Quartet Series, Amsterdam's Nachtbraker presents When You Find A Stranger In The Alps, his first long-player on his own Quartet Series imprint. The good-humored Dutchman, tongue always firmly in cheek, has always refused to stick to the "sound du jour" and the industry's conventions, following his own path instead, continually willing to step out of his comfort zone. When You Find A Stranger In The Alps, a nod to his favorite Coen Brothers movie, is testament to Nachtbraker's studio prowess and drive to explore new sonic pastures and styles. The album consists of thirteen tracks, made over the course of two-and-a-half years in his studio. Constantly shifting through different settings and moods, the album feels like a deep dream, with vivid details, blurry edges and a warped sense of time. The word "stranger" in the title references the dream state in which one can sometimes be a stranger to oneself. Opener "The Dream Sequence" sets the mood with a lo-slung hip-house groove that relies on field recordings, like the sound of one of the capital's trams. "Flambo", a delectable slice of up-tempo French-filtered house, is aimed straight at the dance floor. Nachtbraker dims the lights on "NSFW", cleverly manipulating samples from adult-oriented flicks, and turns in a hilarious skit with "LOL". "Randy", a quintessential Nachtbraker track, morphs from a Balearic, tropical disco shuffler to a dance floor banger. "Driving Me Lazy" starts out as a down-tempo number but changes into a full-on drum-n-bass workout. The driving "You Can't Run" features drunken chords over a sober beat, conjuring up visions of running circles in a dark maze. "Just Doing My Thang" rides a classic broken beat, while Nachtbraker pushes the boundaries again on "Innaspace", which starts out as an instrumental hip-hop track yet finishes on a jungle tip. "Aliens" is a choppy, heads-down groover with cheeky UFO-geek samples that wouldn't be out of place on a mid-90's West Coast deep house compilation. "Horsepony" finds Nachtbraker on a sultry Nightmares On Wax tip. Finally, it ends with where it all started, the moment "When You Wake Up". The album was recorded and mixed at Nachtbraker's studio in the Amsterdam Volkshotel. All 13 tracks are run through 2" tape on a Studer A800 and are mastered at Q-lab in Basel, Switzerland.