Ismus returns with Time Capsule 002, reviving Berlin techno classics

Ismus did not come back swinging with a fresh batch of studio cuts. It came back by reaching into its own history and pulling out ten tracks that already carried weight in Berlin’s harder, faster corner of techno. Time Capsule 002 works less like a nostalgia package than a sharpened argument: these records still matter, and they matter enough to be recast for today’s clubs, crates, and streaming habits.

The release landed on June 18, 2026 through Bandcamp and Beatport, where it was listed as ISMTC002 and priced at $16.90. Beatportal described it as a ten-track VA LP built from re-releases, and that framing fits the label’s current logic under Charlotte de Witte’s KNTXT umbrella. Ismus is not simply reopening an old imprint; it is rebuilding a lane for a specific strain of minimal-adjacent techno that sits between rave muscle, trance lift, and Berlin pressure.

The tracklist makes that lineage plain. Oposition’s Astronomical Bodies opens with spacey, trance-leaning energy and a buzzing low end, while KRL MX pushes toward bouncy hard techno and KLAMER drives into electro territory. ABEM’s Black Powder adds futuristic FX and stuttering stabs, Introversion goes deep and hypnotic, and 1luu folds Happy Hardcore and Makina into something bright and euphoric. Wallis brings a darker melodic edge, Alpha Tracks adds acid and radio-like textures, and Einsiedler’s AnD remix turns up the psytrance pressure. Bandcamp’s official listing closes with Igor Fedotov’s Stargaze, while Beatport’s artist list also includes Amazingblaze, a reminder that these archival drops can still travel across platform metadata as well as dance floors.

That is what makes Time Capsule 002 more than catalog recycling. Ismus first launched in 2015 as a Berlin techno record label and party promoter, then announced in April 2023 that it would shut down the label and party in May after roughly eight years of parties and four years of releases. The relaunch has already included the all-new NOVAONE in November 2024 and THE HIVE in 2026, alongside Time Capsule 001, which was designed to make older Ismus tracks available for streaming and digital purchase for the first time.

Charlotte de Witte has been explicit about why the label still matters to her. She has said Ismus introduced her to music and artists she values, including KRL MX and Amazingblaze. Time Capsule 002 follows that logic all the way through: it does not just revive Berlin techno classics, it helps decide which ones deserve to sit at the center of the label’s next chapter.