Blank & Jones' new album available digitally today

German electronic music duo Piet Blank and Jasper Jones a.k.a. BLANK & JONES will be releasing their latest full length album Relax 4 digitally worldwide through the top online electronic music source Beatport on Friday April 17th.

BLANK & JONES and their longstanding production colleague Andy Kaufhold are excited to release Relax 4 finding the duo in fine chill-out form. Relax 4 is the duos 7th full length release in North America. The 24 track set is the perfect accompaniment to that slightly hung over brunch by the pool. Close your eyes and you are on the beach at Café del Mar. The album has several notable guests including Laid Back (of “White Horse” fame), British superstars Keane, and New York songstress Vanessa Daou. Relax 4 will be released in full CD format as a two disk box set in North America on June 30th.

Relax 4 also introduces Atlanta based soul singer Jason Ceasar on the album’s single release “Relax (Your Mind)”. The single will also be released on Beatport on April 17th with seven mixes including two from Ian Pooley and one from noted Hamburg based DJ Sinan Mercenk.

Beatport is an appropriate release partner for BLANK & JONES as the site named their track, “Miracle Cure (Martin Roth Nu Style Dub Mix),” a collaboration with Joy Division/New Order founder Bernard Sumner, one of the Best Trance Tracks on Beatport in 2008.

“We are thrilled to be releasing our album through Beatport, they have always been very supportive of our music and their users really love us and consistently buy our downloads there,” notes Piet Blank. Jasper Jones adds, “as DJs we love Beatport since you can always find great new music there and use their tracks so easily with the DJ software.”

It all started in 1997 with their debut single “Sunrise,” the first self produced track. Nowadays, one cannot imagine the German electronic elite without BLANK & JONES. 13 of their singles have made it into the German Top 50, and three into the Top 20. Each and every album hit the Top 50, including two which climbed into the Top 10. They also scored a spectacular hat trick in 2002 by occupying the Top Ten album, singles and compilation charts simultaneously with Substance, “Desire” and The Mix respectively.

BLANK & JONES have teamed up with numerous top international stars in their career. The Cure mastermind Robert Smith and superstar songtress Sarah McLachlan have been featured on BLANK & JONES tracks, giving the duo credibility beyond the boundaries of dance music. Further evidence of their versatility can be seen in their contributions to the Café del Mar compilation series and of course their own chill-out album series, Relax.

BLANK & JONES’ roots are firmly placed in DJ culture. Year after year, millions of electronic music fans around the globe feel the heat of their sensational sets at major events like Mayday, Nature One and Love Parade as well as in clubs all over the world. In North America they regularly headline the big rooms at superclubs such as LA’s GIANT, NYC’s Webster Hall, San Francisco’s Ruby Skye, Chicago’s Metro and many others.

BLANK & JONES mix DJ live, making the most of today’s technology.

“We do everything digitally, on the basis of Native Instruments’ Traktor Scratch, which allows us to use our own edits and mixes, nothing comes straight from tape. Every set we play is unique, not only sound-wise but also in terms of what we play and how we play it. Roughly 60% of our set consists of our own repertoire, as where better to present our own material than via the DJ decks.”

BLANK & JONES are global players in the best sense of the word, with a worldwide reputation to match. They are more than welcome guests at the major festivals and raves in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Russia. At the beginning of the year, they played to 15,000 fans in St. Petersburg! They also travel further afield on a regular basis, to Canada, Mexico, South America and Australia.

2008 saw BLANK & JONES spend a lot of time in the USA, on the heels of the huge success of “Miracle Cure”. To give their North American fans more BLANK & JONES will return to LA, San Diego, San Francisco and many more cities in North America this year. Overwhelmingly positive reactions to the BLANK & JONES tour means that the American fans are excited for Relax 4 to be released. Relax 4 will be released worldwide digitally on Beatport April 17th through the duo’s own SoundColours label and on June 30th in CD in North America through DisManic. Relax 4 is essential listening for BLANK & JONES fans, and also for downtempo aficionados.

Take a vacation to Ibiza’s beaches in your headphones with Relax 4 from Black & Jones.