#multiplex25

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 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].

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…

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.

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…