Various

The ongoing celebration of Kontra-Musik's 10 years' anniversary is basically a recognition of the importance of charisma within the predominantly mechanical sphere of electronic music. To quote label boss Ulf Eriksson in a recent Groove interview: "To release on Kontra you need to have developed a unique and personal sound. If you are one of the machines out there producing electronic music for the dead, look elsewhere." For us, the Kontra-Musik X release was an emblem of our label's history, filled with unique and personal sounds.

But in one instance one may rightfully claim Kontra-Musik's conventionality: our record sleeves are generally black & white. On X Color, however, we decided to make our murky label a bit more colorful by letting a handful of our favorite artists present their own takes of classic Kontra tracks. As a figure of speech, these artists repaint the tracks with their own colors. Sebastian Mullaert and Porn Sword Tobacco, for instance, work with very warm and vibrant colors while Max Loderbauer's choice is much more austere. Dorisburg's palette is lively and trippy while Sa Pa seems to have forgotten the protective mask when blending his intoxicating mixture. Exactly what coloration Echospace went with, we're not sure - the dub layers are so thick the paint will probably never dry - but we love it all the same. And this is true for every contribution of every nuance.

• 1. Jonsson Alter - Brevet Hem (Sebastian Mullaert remix)
• 2. Jason Fine - Workin' it out (Porn Sword Tobacco Conga Wok Edit)
• 3. Mokira - Axis Audio (Echospace Model II)
• 4. TM404 - 303:303:303:606:606 (Dorisburg remix)
• 5. Mokira - Manipulation Musik (Sa Pa Final Descent)
• 6. Tyler Friedman - Wallouian (Max Loderbauer emix)