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repressed !

Some people are just not destined to have enough sleep.When you don't sleep enough the world appears to be a different place, compared to the way it is when the mind is fully rested. In such cases very different scenarios may occur.
Starting with a dreamy melody of Roma Zuckerman's 'Sleep not found', which inspired the entire 008 album, and ending with a thirteen minute live recording by a_000, the side project of Alex Backdrop, the entire record has a dreamy and tripped out flow. 008 continues the tradition of gatefold double EPs as conceptual album.All tracks are selected around a particular story, a trip, and presented as a continuous sonic landscape.All tracks are structured in a way that they can be mixed one with another an endless amount of times making a continuous loop, a trip, that needs only end when the party stops. Kraviz works without release dates or deadlines, enabling her to achieve a certain sound bank to shape the story, unmasking the thoughts and unravelling like a dream. A1. Roma Zuckerman - Sleep Not found (North Edit) Apart form the fact that he leaves in Krasnoyarsk in the middle of Russia, very little is known about Roma (short version of the name Roman). But listening to his music and engaging in random short conversations late at night makes it clear that there are really a lot of things going on Romas mind... Minimalistic yet emotionally complex, his music always stands out with it's murkiness and signature moodiness that Roma creates like nobody else.
A2. Deniro - G Deniro continues the record's journey with his new live cut that like pretty much everything he did so far is a beautiful sparse atmospheric groover. He says he wanted it to be angry and it its done with triggering synths from the tr909 and tr808.
B1. Maayan Nidam - Infinite Rattle
Maayan was born in Tel-Aviv. She does not like computers and prefers to record her music live using hardware only. In order to do so she built her incredible studio in Berlin where she recorded "Infinite Rattle'.There is much more to come from Maayan on
B2. Bbbbbb - Prins Polo Caramel milkshake.
Side project by Bjarki-bbbbbb. Like any other normal Icelander, Bjarki really likes ice cream. In Iceland they are absolutely crazy about it.They walk the streets, ice cream in hand, even when its freezing cold outside. But even more than that Icelanders like Milkshakes with all sorts of added cookies and candies. Bjarki's favourite is called Prince Polo after the name of a chocolate bar. He always believed Prins Polo was an Icelandic brand but a couple of months ago somebody proved him wrong.
C1. Exos- dub jazz
In Iceland Exos is a legend. Everybody knows him there. He's been playing incredibly powerful and technically advanced techno sets since the late 90s and releasing delicious dub techno on Icelandic label Thule. Nina always appreciated his subtler, dubbier side, and this short recording a the continuation of it.
C2. Maaayn Nidam - Justice for some
This second live recording was a perfect fit for this album. Maayan has managed to create a particular mysterious night time dreamer here. Sound wise it's even more unique. It took a few times to get the master right, because we wanted to keep the original breathing of the machine that has captured a seriously freaky vibe. Maayan has always been one of Nina's favourite DJs as they share a similar attitude towards music. But after this tune she has also reserved a place in Nina's collective of favourite producers. D1. A_000
This is a side project of Italian native Alessio Meneghello (Alan Backdrop) & Enrico Voltan. . A beautiful 13-minute sonic journey.

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The debut collaboration between techno alchemists Ben Klock and Lucy will probably provoke quivers of anticipation before a single note has been heard. After all, both producers have carved out names for themselves as scene innovators at what they do, and both have already proven that they can more than capably work in a duo format without sacrificing an iota of their unique aesthetics: in Lucy's case, there has already been the sublime Zeitgeber pairing with Speedy J., and Klock has joined forces with the likes of Marcel Dettmann to craft some of the more memorable output from the Ostgut Ton label. This new release makes good on each producer's talent for working with epically unfolding tracks, maintaining a strong command of both 'drone' and melodicism, and envisioning sound as a kind of inter-dimensional mass transit. As the record indicates, things can get very interesting when the two working methods superimpose perfectly, but can be just as interesting when the two fall slightly out of phase with one another.



Listeners familiar with the classic kosmische feel will be taken immediately by the opening gambit "Bliss," whose feeling of floating through the coldness of space is accompanied here by nicely warm production values. The bassline that introduces the subsequent track ("War Lullaby") is close to being a continuation of the opener's leitmotif sequence, although with a change in atmosphere that will keep curious ears from turning away too soon: an FX-shrouded voice delivers a monologue at once seductive and foreboding, followed by a confident kick thump with ephemeral trailing clatters in tow. This affective orientation pulses through the whole record well, building up to the second rhythmic track ("Santeria") which is the busiest and most engaging of the bunch. Here a variety of sonic flavorings are ritually thrown into the pot and allowed to simmer - fleeting snatches of conga, phasing zaps and rhythmic ricochets all make for a rich concoction that epitomizes the progress that has been made in techno music within this decade. The closing "A Ghost Love story," like the opener, is a non-'dance' piece, but is no less compelling for that fact: as a foam of white noise pans between the listener's ears, a slurred / pitch-bent refrain conjures the feeling of either entering or exiting from some erotically tinged hypnagogic state.



Speaking of which, the overall impression given off by this record is that of a special kind of reciprocity: that is, of dreams influencing reality and reality feeding back into dreams. The rhythmic intensity of these tracks, at once an indicator of a hard and immediate reality, is regularly complemented by oneiric flourishes that make the partitioning line between these two realms of consciousness less distinct. As the next chapter in the Stroboscopic Artefacts saga, and in the personal journeys of both Ben Klock and Lucy, it will contribute to the ongoing mission of all these parties: giving longtime fans what they want while expanding their consciousness and inquisitiveness.

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Dawns Early Shadows By Berlin's Ubahn Platforms, Desperately Running From His Own Shadow Into The Arms Of A Lover Not Found. Eva Is A Warm Soul From The Past Trapped In A Ice Cold City Reliving A Modern Neues Sehen. We Are Proud To Present His Fragile Story & Namesake Ep / Single Title 'einsam' Which, In Our Opinion, Is A Romantic-wave Masterpiece. Flip To The B Side, The Beginning Of Eva's Loveless Story Actually Starts Here With 'the Gitter' Gearing To Machine Funk Territory And A Naive Outlook On What Could Be In-store For Him. Finally P808 Takes Us Into The (sub) Consciousness Of His Mind, Just As The 808 In The Name Suggest, Toms Pulsate Like His Brain Scanning Neurons Over And Over, Searching For The Answer, 'who Will ...who Will Love Me'

Celebrating a Decade of Dark Entries with a compilation titled ‘Tens Across The Board’. We revisit our roster and chose 10 songs from 10 bands from 10 different countries spanning the years 1981-1993. The songs flow in chronological order and have never appeared on vinyl, with 7 of the songs previously unreleased.

The compilation begins in 1981 with Parade Ground from Belgium, the duo of brothers Pierre and Jean-Marc Pauly with help from Patrick Codenys and Jean-Luc of Front 242. “The Light’s Gone” was one of their earliest experiments and employs a stark minimalism with modular synthesizers, guitar reverb and tape delay. Next we venture to Granada, Spain in 1982 to meet the trio of Diseño Corbusier. Influenced by Cabaret Voltaire and Dadaism, “La Esperanza está en Antenas” was the band’s take on melancholic pop fueled by a robotic DR-55 bass-line. Sailing the Mediterranean Sea to Athens to meet Greek electronic goddess Lena Platonos who shares a demo from 1983. “Μια Γάτα Σασ Περιμένει Στη Γωνία” translates to “A Cat Is Waiting On The Corner” and is possibly the witchiest sounds we’ve shared yet, ending with a blood curdling scream. Frozen in 1983 we cross Ionian Sea to Messina, Italy and visit Victrola, the duo of Antonino “Eze” Cuscinà and Carlo Smeriglio. They’ve unearthed a melodic instrumental version of “Luca” fueled by a Korg Polysix and TB-303. Traveling across the Adriatic to Slovenia circa 1984, where Borghesia are working on their album ‘Ljubav Je Hladnija Od Smrti’. “Magla” translates to “Fog” fitting for the thick, somber electronics of Aldo Ivancic providing a dense atmosphere for the baritone vocals of Dario Seraval.

On Side B we go down under to Sydney and excavate a hidden Tom Ellard song recorded in 1984 under the alias Lord Metal, an anagram of his name for copyright reasons. “Ga Duum Blitzfonika” is a slow-motion, unadulterated dance groove originally released on the cassette compilation "Independent World”. Skipping ahead to 1986 in Tours, France we salute X-Ray Pop the minimum new wave duo of Didier "Doc" Pilot and Zouka Dzaza. They contribute the hypnotically fragile “Corto Maltese” that originally appeared on the cassette compilation ‘Plop’. Crossing the German boarder we arrive in Dortmund at the apartment of Andreas Sippel of Second Decay who recorded the instrumental demo “Lübeckerstrasse” in 1988 with partner Christian Purwien. Utilizing an TR-808, SH-101 and Arp Odyssey this cold slice of futurism was named after the street Andreas lived on. Traveling westward to England, specifically Basildon, Essex to the teenage bedroom of From Nursery To Misery, the trio of identical twin sister vocalists Gina and Tina Fear and keyboard player Lee Stevens. “Contentment” is an introspective, ethereal pop song with child-like vocals that originally appeared on the Belgian tape compilation ‘Heartbeat Vol.4’ in 1989. Finally, we return home to San Francisco and close out the compilation with Cyrnai the moniker of multi-instrumentalist Carolyn Fok. “Digital Grit Box (Demo)” was an outtake from the ‘Transfiguration’ album sessions recorded in 1993, utilizing dark dance drum beats made with MIDI sequencer programs Studio Vision and Sample Cell.

All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The vinyl is housed in a custom designed jacket by Eloise Leigh featuring our label’s colors black-white-red with connect-the-dots pattern linking the 10 songs via maps/timeline/location, all relating to the reissue process, plus source images from San Francisco, our hometown. For this landmark release we've also printed a 2-sided fold-out wall poster that includes every artist we've released in our first 10 years 2009-2019 in black, red and silver metallic ink, plus an 8x11 insert with lyrics, notes and photos.

Layton Giordani steps up for his first solo EP of 2018. In terms of pedigrees, it doesn't get finer than Layton Giordani.

The Brooklyn-born DJ/producer followed up his lauded debut album of 2017, with a collaboration with Danny Tenaglia to close out the year and marked the summer of 2018 with a three-way collaboration with Adam Beyer and Green Velvet, 'Space Date'.
The period has been a big one for Layton personally, also. From humble beginnings in his native NYC as an Output resident, to being thrust into the bustle of the European club and festival circuit, he's enjoyed a stint living in Amsterdam, growing and developing over this time. All these experiences have had a fundamental influence on him and his music.

The four-track EP 'Phase II' represents a new chapter for this exciting talent. Beginning with 'New York to Amsterdam', a track that draws inspiration from the Yves Deruyter's classic 'Back To Earth', Layton's work packs a memorable punch as tough acidic undertones and brain scrambling synth effects undulate raising the intensity, making it a perfect opener for Adam Beyer when he played Berghain earlier this year. Following this, 'Enter the Stratosphere' is steely electro-tinged techno paired with atmospheric licks of melody, awhile maintaining the artist's trademark low-end chug. On the B side, 'Body Language' follows, a track written when Layton was scrubbed out of touring for a month courtesy of a shattered elbow from a skating accident. Not wasting the downtime, he's crafted a cut that's sleek, sexy and smart, with a seductive vocal and rousing melodic riff that runs throughout. Closing out the EP, 'Black Mirror', stays true to its dystopic name, a stomping rave cut that pummels dancefloors with a menacing lead synth that's purpose built for the cold months ahead. A classy conclusion to an EP from one of techno's brightest talents.

finally repressed !

The Vivus family ends 2018 in style with its fifth instalment in the vinyl-only series VRV. This release brings back some familiar faces in label founder Daniel Broesecke and an old friend in Silat Beksi.

These two close friends who share their passion for music are fresh off their release on Curtea Veche back in September but they bring some raw energy on this one, resulting in timeless and hypnotic music from two creative young artists.

The first track, Mistral, starts off as strong as you would expect from its name, deriving from the cold northwesterly wind that blows from the south of France to the northern Mediterranean. The heavy bassline floats just above the surface as a cool breeze of atmospheric sounds make their way across.

Next up, on the B side, we have Get Some More, with a calmer approach but powerful nonetheless. An unexpected vocal greets us at the beginning only to make way for a steady flow of uninterrupted intertwined noises that go hand in hand with the firm bass line just underneath.

Mannequin's 100th - a comp looking forward featuring an international and serious cast... BIG TIP!
The modern synthwave scene would be significantly poorer without the keen ear and tireless efforts of the Mannequin label run by Alessandro Adriani. Geographically situated within the nerve centers of Rome and Berlin, yet with a musical spirit that easily transcends these boundary lines, Mannequin's back catalog has been an important component in the modular assemblage that makes up electronics-based independent music in the 21st century, and an important reference point for those who need to defend against the lazy accusations that this such is purely retro' in its form and content. Recent accolades and accomplishments - being named Resident Advisor's label of the month' for May of this year, starting the 'Death of the Machines' 12' series, and being given the 'green light' for bi-monthly parties at the Säule room in Berghain - have been earned through Mannequin's unflagging commitment to sonic diversity and Adriani's own realization that the anxious and sharp-edged sounds associated with, say, the Cold War of the 1980s can convey a completely different message today. Adriani says it best when claiming that there is no such thing as 'old' or 'new' music...only the music of now'. With this cogent statement of intent, Mannequin continues to go on exploratory missions to find the best and most relevant aspects of genres like acid, industrial, EBM, post-punk, coldwave and still more.

Which brings us to Mannequin's newest project and 100th release overall: the Waves of the Future double LP compilation, which itself is not a conventional retrospective collection. Case in point - none of the artists appearing on this collection have put out their own releases on Mannequin yet, despite acting as Mannequin's unofficial ambassadors (via DJ sets and other means). This makes the set even more compelling rather than less so, since it shows how Mannequin fits into a larger picture that includes other scene leaders and label owners including Beau Wanzer, Willie Burns (WT Records), Silent Servant (Jealous God) and Ron Morelli (L.I.E.S.). Of equal importance is how Waves of the Future projects a sense of aesthetic resilience and continuity, showcasing just how well the current artists allied with Mannequin employ and re-interpret the sonic lexicon that appears on that label's reissues of 'classic' acts such as Nocturnal Emissions, Bourbonese Qualk, Din A Testbild and Doris Norton.

However, none of this would matter as much if the music itself didn't have strong potential for lighting a blaze in the dark corners of the human imagination, and of course for forcing bodies into motion. Each track here pivots around a couple of key sound elements that seem to set the stage for the next track to come: see the sputtering / chopped ghost voices on Morelli's Charges Won't Stick,' which easily informs the slicing drone and authoritarian beat of Shawn O' Sullivan's Ill Fit,' which then lays down the emotional foundation for the sequencer-powered With You' from An-I & Adriani or the glassy landscape of Illum Sphere's Exhaustion'. Elsewhere, the wired mischief of Not Waving intersects easily with the spherical electro-funk and coded commands of Beau Wanzer. When all the disparate parts of Waves of the Future are soldered together, it perfectly illustrates Mannequin's non-linear philosophy and Adriani's suggestion that Mannequin listeners directly engage with the music rather than trying too hard to analyze or dissect it.

Multi Culti seasonal balance returns with Equinox III Kicking things off Guadalajara-based Bofo Dab (known for their blog 'Drops a Banger') does what their name suggests. This one has been getting caned by the Keinemusik crew, legions of phone-holders' shazam-prayers will only now be answered. It's a restrained big-room horn-loaded banger. Mehmet Aslan slides in to the proceedings with an awesome FM-sounding heads-down slice of clubby introspection. Long-time cult-hero Gilb'R of Versatile records fame spaces out the side with a deep, sparkly, live synth jam. On the flip, Mytron brings a fun stripped-back cover of a stone-cold classic with Higher (state of consciousness, that is). Brazillian hotboy Niev sounds right at home on the label with the aptly titled 'Professor Banjo.' Yuki Miyauchi lends an ethereal 90s bleep-inflected chunk of vibe with 'Donkey Conga.' Finally, fellow Japanese but London-based DJ Himitsu drops the deep, rollicking 'Waterfall.'

Mit dem BIPPP Sampler bringt uns das in Frankreich ansässige Label Born Bad ein Stück französischer 80s Untergrundmusikgeschichte für das manche Leute töten würden wenn sie die Originalaufnahmen in die Hände bekommen würden!

Die Compilation ist vollgestopft mit extrem raren französischen Minimal-, Synth- & Coldwave. Der Großteil der Songs von u.a.: A Trois Dans Le Wc, Act, Les Visiteurs Du soir, Vox Dei, Comix, Tgv, Mary Moor, Ruth, Visible, Casino Music sind dabei wohl auch nur dem engeren Kreis der Minimalsammler bekannt, können hier aber dankenswerter Weise auch endlich einem (etwas) größerem Publikum präsentiert werden. Wer frühe Soft Cell, Silicon Teens, Grauzone, Nouvelle Vague die von Martin Hannett produzierten belgischen Names oder ähnliches mag kommt hier wirklich nicht dran vorbei. Großer Tip für alle die auf schrägen 80s Epop, Postpunk und Minimalelektronik stehen, inkl. tollen beiheft- leider nur auf französisch!

(Ranking) Barnabas ist einer der vielen unbesungenen Helden des jamaikanischen Dub. Er arbeitete in den legendären Channel One Studios, dem Hotspot der Studioszene Jamaikas in den 1970ern, u.a. an Eek-a-Mouse' Klassiker "Wah Do Dem". Nachts griff er zum Mikro und legte zu selbst aufgenommenen Riddims auf. Obwohl an unzähligen Dubplatten beteiligt, wurde nur "The Cold Crusher" unter seinem Namen veröffentlicht. Barnabas' einzige LP erschien in US-Miniauflage, wurde nie neu aufgelegt und entwickelte sich zur begehrten Rarität. Das italienische Reissue-Label JAMDUNG legt sie nun nach 50 Jahren neu auf. Von Dubplates & Mastering Berlin aufwendig restauriert, enthält sie neue detaillierte Linernotes der beiden renommierten Reggae-Autoren Helmut Philipps und David Katz (Lee Perry-Biograf), die hier erstmals zusammenarbeiten. Stanley "Barnabas" Bryan erlebte die Wiederveröffentlichung seines Albums nicht mehr. Er verstarb am 18. August 2025 im Alter von 65 Jahren während der Arbeiten zu dieser Neuauflage, die unerwartet zu seinem musikalischen Vermächtnis wurde.

Last Summer, Kelly Finnigan made you a mixtape. It was an eclectic mix of ideas. Now, Colemine Records is excited to share two of those tracks on vinyl for the first time. The A-side 'Leave You Alone,' is a stone-cold classic R&B soul cut, and a certified ear worm. It tells a love story from the female perspective, inspired by the soulful sounds of Bettye Swann. This track features the Ramey Brothers (of Monophonics, The Ironsides) and highlights Kelly on all other instruments. TheB-side, 'Thom's Hartbreak' is at hank you letter to Thom Bell & William Hart, two names that are synonymous with the 60s/70s "Philly Sound". This instrumental tune is an homage to a sound thats haped American music and left an indelible mark on the future of soul.

Two musicians, two different folk music traditions, two soundscapes hundreds of miles apart and one nightingale song. Nightingale melodies inspired this intoxicating folk album by Slovakian flautist Michaela Antalová and Norwegian double bassist Adrian Myhr. The Oslo-based duo’s album follows their meditative 2021 debut Zvony (Bells), which featured harmonium, field recordings of crickets and a Slovak male choir.

Sing Nightingale is a translation of ‘Zaspievaj Slavicku’, a traditional Slovakian song. The duo experiments with this theme of the songbird; exploring instrumentation from around the world and its rich tonal textures. On ‘Night Singing’, Michaela plays a Slovakian fujara, a tall, upright wooden bass flute originally played by shepherds. The fujara’s smooth, deep tones are laid over a recording of a nightingale by musicologist Tomáš Šenkyřík, with Michaela’s flute mimicking the bird’s nocturnal chirps and warbles to attract a mate. Michaela is carefully imitating the bird, who is in turn improvising his melody. In ‘Worm Moon’, named after the springtime full moon in March, when nightingales return from Africa where they have spent the cold winter, Adrian’s slow and resonant double bass is brightened by the sweet trills of a real nightingale and Michaela’s fujara.

The Norwegian Hardanger fiddle or hardingfele, features on two specially written songs; ‘Lament’ and ‘Rosenhave’ (rose garden) which bring together the nightingale’s symbolic associations with undying love, sacrifice, deep sorrow and loss. Celebrated Hardanger fiddle player Helga Myhr plays alongside Adrian’s double bass and Michaela’s seljefløyte or willow flute. Helga also plays on ‘Flagre’ (Flutter) and ‘Dance Nightingale’. The seljefløyte is very similar to the Slovak overtone flute koncovka. By using this Norwegian instrument, Adrian and Michaela’s new compositions are reminiscent of both countries’ folk traditions. Folk music often comes from unknown sources; the original writer may not be known and the melodies are typically passed down orally. Michaela and Adrian’s project merges the different folk musics from their respective countries, finding common ground in the sonic qualities of instruments and evolving a new hybrid folk style, authentic in its own right.

For the stunning adaptation of the traditional Slovakian fujara song ‘Dolu Ovce Dolinami’ (‘Sheep down the valleys’), Adrian’s friend Javid Afsari Rad plays the Iranian santur, similar to the traditional Slovak string instrument cimbalom. By coincidence, Iran’s national bird is the nightingale, making another unexpected connection to the symbolic bird. These 11 tracks are a beguiling fusion of traditional folk styles, approached by musicians from an avant-garde, improv and jazz background. The album pays tribute to a hugely expressive bird and finds a strange, soothing universality in the folk sounds of different countries.

Transparent Purple vinyl. Sometime in 2005, a lone box of master tapes escaped an estate sale and made its way through a network of collectors, record dealers, and "junkers" into the hands of leading Ohio soul expert Dante Carfagna, who linked them to Columbus, Ohio's mysterious Prix label (See: Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label). A bit of research turned up Prix proprietor George Beter, who identified most of the unlabeled material. All it took was an endless series of phone calls and letters and two fields trips in Columbus. But one complete mystery wended its way onto our final Prix compilation. "You and Me," a simple but irrepressible demo credited only to Penny & the Quarters, was found tacked onto a mixed studio reel. Our survey of every willing lifer left on the Columbus soul scene, including retired DJs, producers, and important local artists, produced not so much as a glimmer of recognition at the name Penny & the Quarters. Though we loved the song from the first play, it may've ended up a bit buried on our original compilation, as #18 of 19 tracks.Four years later, Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label hadn't exactly become a huge seller, although listeners had repeatedly told us that the unfiltered studio demos that fill out the record's back half were true diamonds in the rough. But neither Penny nor her Quarters had appeared to claim credit for their efforts. Then, completely out of left field, we heard from respected screen actor and avowed Numero fan Ryan Gosling that Penny's piercing bit of stripped down doo-wop was being considered for inclusion in Derek Cianfrance's indie-weeper film Blue Valentine. What we didn't know was that "You and Me" had won a major role in what became an indie circuit hit, and that Penny & the Quarters would instantly assume the role of world's most famous unknown doo-wop group.Every week is a slow news week in Columbus, Ohio, and early January 2011 found the city recovering from the thrill of elevating Ted Williams_the formerly homeless guy with the awesome voice for radio_into a national news sensation. But both major daily newspapers in town, as well as the city's alternative weekly, also ran stories about how a lost and unknown Columbus soul group had become the musical centerpiece of a film already garnering Oscar buzz. That mainstream spotlight aimed at Blue Valentine and Penny & the Quarters did the trick: we finally made contact with the widow of Jay Robinson, lead Quarters' singer and songwriter. Robinson, it turned out, had also been the leader of Columbus doo-wop pioneers The Supremes (later known as "The Columbus Supremes," for reasons which should be obvious). Jay Robinson never did give up on the dream of writing a hit record; even so, the posthumous realization of his dream is cold comfort for his widow and daughter. With their blessings, we returned to those estate sale masters and pulled down another neglected track ("You Are Giving Me Some Other Love") from the still-unknown Penny and her now-partly-known Quarters. "You and Me" is a song that could not be suppressed: not when Prix failed to release it; not when Penny & the Quarters were forgotten; not when Numero stuck it at the bitter end of a much overlooked compilation. Its evolution from estate sale trash to silver-screen gold has finally returned it to big-hole 45, where it probably should have lived all along.

Founded in Cologne, Germany in 1985, Pink Turns Blue's blend of atmospheric pop informed by European post-punk contemporaries and buzzing punk dissonance of Hüsker Dü (the band is named after the Zen Arcade song) immediately tapped into a new canon of sound that was foundational to the emergence of darkwave. Released in 1987 and now remastered by Josh Bonati for vinyl release through Dais, If Two Worlds Kiss is a seminal offering to the canon of dark wave's DNA - a liquid lesson in melody, mood, and pacing - each track continuously adding to the journey like a unique push pin on a map of melancholy. Defined by their dynamic song-writing, their debut added a new urgency and depth to guitar-driven gothic rock by allowing fast songs such as the lead single "Walking on Both Sides" to possess the same sullen punch and melancholy as slower anthems like "When the Hammer Comes Down", which derives its power on the downbeat. More rhythmic variety is added through beat-driven dancefloor tracks with triumphant singalong choruses like "That Was You", showing they could swing hard - as well as swirl_

GATEFOLD VINYL 2LP - TRANSPARENT BLUE + ORANGE, A2 Colour Poster, 5x Film Set Photos, Flexi Disc, Sticker Sheet

Blurring the lines between fiction and documentary, the seminal film Wild Style, directed by Charlie Ahearn and developed alongside Fred Braithwaite aka Fab Five Freddy, offered an iconic snapshot of the emerging New York hip hop scene in the early ‘80s. Considered one of the first hip hop films, it documents the styles, culture, attitudes, and most importantly, the music of this evolving era. The accompanying soundtrack remains one of the most influential in hip hop history, featuring a who’s who of artists who stood out during the movement’s nascent block party days.

“Making hip hop’s first and most beloved feature film, Wild Style, with Charlie Ahearn and creating the original music is one of my proudest accomplishments.” - Fab 5 Freddy

In celebration of Arrow Films restoring the original Wild Style film in 4K, Mr Bongo is proud to present this special-edition reissue package. The release comes as a double LP pressed on transparent blue and orange vinyl, offering a freshly curated tracklist that brings together the finest songs from previous editions, the full sought-after instrumental album, and Kenny Dope’s top edits. Also included are an A2 colour poster, five film set photos, a flexi disc containing Fantastic Freaks Live at the Dixie, and a Wild Style sticker sheet.

Originally released on Animal Records, founded by Chris Stein of Blondie fame, the soundtrack focuses on the hip hop scene as it evolved from the streets to the recording studio. Co-produced by Stein and Braithwaite, it features the Double Trouble pairing of Rodney Cee and KK Rockwell, The Chief Rocker himself Busy Bee, and the mighty line-ups of both The Cold Crush Brothers and The Fantastic Freaks, to name but a few. The music offers a transportive glimpse into the streets of the South Bronx, capturing the free-form, roaming nature of the film - it’s rough around the edges, but utterly absorbing.

Behind those foundational voices of hip hop’s first wave was a selection of backing beats that have underpinned and influenced the genre ever since. Easily mistaken for lifted breakbeats from old records, the songs on the Wild Style soundtrack are all unique creations. Overseen by Braithwaite and Stein, with Stein also on guitar and effects, they were intended as a homage to those early breakbeats. Drummer Lenny “Ferrari” Ferraro, who played for Aretha Franklin before emerging on the punk scene, and bassist David Harper laid down many of the iconic grooves, two somewhat forgotten participants in shaping a legendary sound.

Over time, the Wild Style soundtrack, with its Charlie Chase and Grand Wizard Theodore scratches, recurring sounds and motifs, and indelible lyrics, has become a hip hop touchstone: endlessly sampled and referenced, the bedrock of so much music to follow. It perfectly encapsulated the essence of the film, the scene, and hip hop’s emergence from the Bronx to the attention of the wider world. It was, and remains, the blueprint.

Concrete Noir is the latest project from multimedia artist and sound designer Piero Fragola, known for genre-defying ventures like We Love (BPitch Control) and ANGLE (Tiptop Audio Records). With this project, he explores a hybrid space where electronics, voice and image merge into an introspective and shadowy form. The debut album, Romance Ruins, is the first release on the newly founded Frequens Records.

Composed entirely using Tiptop Audio’s ART modular system, it unfolds as a series of layered, emotionally charged compositions. These are structured songs with a physical low-end impact.

Musically, Romance Ruins moves beyond genre boundaries to inhabit a space shaped by contrast and collision. The result is a form of modern hybridization—melancholic yet forceful, intimate yet expansive. The sonic identity is carefully constructed but deliberately raw, emphasizing emotion over precision.

The title itself captures the core of this paradox. Romanticism, in its intensity, may ultimately destroy. And yet, from that destruction, something vital emerges. The album embraces the figure of a decadent hero—a child of broken ideals who reclaims beauty from collapse. It’s a romantic vindication of decadence, a belief that clarity can rise from ruin, and meaning from fragmentation.

Moving through a broad range of tempos, the tracks explore murky, melancholic, tactile and cinematic moods. Synths intertwine with guitars (Fender and Gretsch Dobro). All vocals are performed by Piero Fragola, except on Faraway Places, where his voice is joined by that of Viktoria Lishkee—the album’s only guest appearance.Nearly every track is paired with a video, expanding the work’s audiovisual dimension. As a designer for Tiptop Audio and instructor at IED and LABA in Florence, Fragola brings a multi-sensory vision to Concrete Noir—one where medium and message, form and feeling, are inseparable. With Romance Ruins, he delivers an artistic statement. A body of work that resists categorization and embraces the beauty of decay.

Romance Ruins marks the beginning of Frequens Records. Available in a 180-gram vinyl edition.

Ähnlich wie die nachtblühende Flora, nach der das Album benannt ist, ist Constant Smiles' Felte-Debüt ,Moonflowers" das Ergebnis langsamer, weitgehend unsichtbarer Wachstumsmuster. Die in New York ansässige Band hat sich ihren eigenen Weg hierher gebahnt und sich nach und nach von einer amorphen Sammlung hochkonzeptioneller Ideen zu etwas Greifbarerem entwickelt, wobei jeder Schritt ihres ungewöhnlichen Weges zu ,Moonflowers" führte, einem subtilen Meisterwerk des intern entstandenen Ambient-Pop. Constant Smiles wurde 2009 von Ben Jones gegründet. Er wurde von verschiedenen Mitwirkenden in verschiedenen Versionen der Band unterstützt, die sich in Form von lauten Soundscapes, szenischem Chamber Pop oder eisigem Coldwave-ähnlichem Synth-Pop manifestierten und oft auf undurchsichtig gestalteten, ultra-limitierten Alben veröffentlicht wurden, die nach Lieblingsfilmregisseuren benannt waren. Durch den Umzug nach New York und einige Platten bei Sacred Bones wurde die Band einem größeren Publikum bekannt, aber Jones und seine Freunde blieben in ständigem Wandel. Die große Entschlüsselung des Constant Smiles-Rätsels erfolgte, als sich die Band zu einer festen Kernbesetzung formierte, als Schlagzeugerin/Sängerin Nora Knight Ende 2022 zu Jones und dem langjährigen Bassist Spike Currier stieß. Nach Jahren, die von tiefgreifenden Veränderungen und Unbeständigkeit geprägt waren, veränderte diese stabilisierte Besetzung den Sound, die emotionale Färbung und die Wirkung der Band. Mit Knight und Currier, die einen Kontrapunkt und Struktur zu Jones' stets sprudelnder Kreativität bildeten, wurden die Songs stromlinienförmiger und direkter. Nach wie vor luftig und traumhaft, hat die Trio-Version von Constant Smiles, die Moonflowers produzierte, die Wolken der Unbestimmtheit und Unsicherheit beseitigt, die es schwieriger machten, sich mit früheren Versionen der Band zu identifizieren. Wie die besten Momente der grundlegenden Alben von Talk Talk oder Nick Drake, die gelebte Erhabenheit von Adrianne Lenkers Songs/Instrumentals oder Jim O'Rourkes Ausflüge in den Kammerpop erreicht Moonflowers seine dynamischen Schwünge auf natürliche, fast unterschwellige Weise. Es ist ein Sound, den frühere Veröffentlichungen von Constant Smiles andeuteten, aber nie ganz erreichten. Moonflowers ist die klarste Sicht auf etwas, dessen Entstehung Jahre gedauert hat, das sich aber dennoch ganz natürlich wie eine Einführung anfühlt. Die Musik ist sorgfältig, aber nicht überladen, und das passt perfekt zu Songs über Gefühle, die entstehen, bevor man Zeit hat, nachzudenken. In dieser vollendeten Form erschließt Constant Smiles etwas Instinktives, eine Atmosphäre der Stille mit mikroskopisch kleinen Teilen, die nie aufhören, sich zu bewegen, und Songs, die fast transparent sind, aber dennoch irgendwie schwerer als ein Berg.

OOOOH! by Alex Bad Baby Lukashevsky with Cocoa Corner (2025)

Celebrated veteran of Toronto’s music scene, known for his boundary-pushing approach to folk and avant-garde music, twists rock music into strange and brilliant new shapes with the help of young jazz players, U.S. Girls, and his own immensely talented son.



OOOOH! is hard on the outside and soft on the inside. Made in the spirit of unity,
humanity, and poetry — disobediently renouncing the glory of personal triumph for the
generosity of an honest experiment. On the last track of the album you’ll hear “Or do you only ever never want to make a single enemy? / That’s not freedom or humility / It’s nothing, honestly.” Oooh, that's a bad baby!

A celebrated Toronto songwriter and performer, Alex Lukashevsky has always been disobedient. Which simply means, nothing is off the table when he’s looking for his
poetic voice; when trying to find the realest I of the teller. As he sings on the lead track “that musician that’s dead” The musician is radical/ it’s the world that’s demented/ listening with their eyes, the music looks dented/ they’re over-represented.
OOOOH! was recorded in January 2024 at Sound Department in Toronto, engineered by Patrick Lefler (ROY), mixed by Grammy-nominated producer Matt Smith. All the songs were tracked live off the floor in two days, with one extra day for recording vocals, to keep the recording fully alive and breathing. As leader of Deep Dark United, as a solo performer, and a sideman in Brodie Wests’ Eucalyptus and Luka Kuplowsky’s Ryokan Band, Alex has been an outsized influence on the Toronto music scene that spawned acts like Broken Social Scene and Owen Pallett. (Pallett, who has toured with Lukashevsky, went so far as to record an entire album’s worth of Alex’s songs, backed
by a full orchestra.)

Lukashevsky has approached each of his albums and projects as something completely new, using only the musical boundaries he creates with each song. Even when he
has recorded songs with nothing but his voice and his own acoustic guitar accompaniment, the results are never “stripped down” or “back to basics,”
Gong! How do you get to heaven / have fun! have fun!
It’s cool to approach music as a game of “spot the influence”; Burt Bacharach-meets-Black Flag; Lana Del Rey-meets-LCD Soundsystem etc. Glorified mash-ups are promising because of their conversational nature. But they can turn us into hyperboreans; blowing cold air beyond ourselves while doing what we can to remain warm. To devise a game or a narrative is to have a winner and a loser, but we all know that just as you win/ so you lose. And does anything really change? Alex Lukashevsky and Cocoa Corner are more at ease drawing blind contours or playing an old game like consequences. They let things add up without knowing particularly how. Cognition is recognition.

Lukashevsky, in addition to writing all the songs, plays guitar and sings on OOOOH!, doing both in ways that are soulful and spikey at the same time. Joining him on guitar and vocals is his oldest child, Charlie Lukashevsky, who, at 23, is already a talented performer and songwriter in his own right. Cocoa Corner also includes Aidan McConnell, an in-demand drummer and composer, Jack Johnston, a jazz bassist and Barry Harris acolyte, and percussionist Evan Cartwright (The Weather Station, U.S. Girls, Cola, Tasseomancy), who plays steel pan and marching drum.

Working with his son and with other younger musicians is central to the album’s
unpredictable aesthetic. It reinvigorated the sound in unexpected ways. Lukashevsky says, “I had to reconsider my own instincts. I had to deal with being 99 years old.”
In addition to these performers, the album includes a tasty contribution from Meg
Remy, the visionary musician and producer who is the leader of the critically acclaimed
project U.S. Girls. Remy duets with Lukashevsky on the imagistic and sprawling album
closer “things keep happening.”
About that album title: OOOOH! is taken straight from “that musician that’s dead” an
arch and unhinged comment on the exertion required to navigate a lifetime of music making.
Lukashevsky’s delivery of that one emotive word is a kind of cultural posture, but also a
hundred percent primitive expression. The impact is never less than visceral. His vocal
delivery ranges through rich baritone blues to keening falsettos to a kind of sprechstimme that periodically steps out from the music to grab the listener’s shirt. He
doesn’t sound too nice, but he is sincere. When life gives you lemons lament.
For OOOOH! his first official full-length album since 2012’s Too Late Blues, (a collection of knotty-yet-effervescent tunes built upon the enchantingly serpentine harmonies of Lukashevsky and his vocal collaborators, Felicity Williams (Bahamas, Bernice) and Daniela Gesundheit (Snowblink, HYDRA)), Alex has once again broken apart and rebuilt his own approach to music. Or rather (because that sounds too over-determined), he
has allowed his music to build itself into strange new shapes that only fleetingly and
coincidentally, but happily, resemble anything that might be called rock and roll. There is some editorializing within the song’s lyrics— Lukashevsky even cheekily contributes to the “spot the influence” game with the line “Muddy Waters, Rite of Spring!” a funny preemptive strike against anyone already reaching for some variation of avant-blues to describe what the song is up to here. In fact there are many names checked on this record (literally and in spirit); they are the lily pads that trace the path of this expression! Palestrina, Peter Pears and Benjamin Brittain, Andrés Segovia, Stravinsky, Lotte Lenya, Alice Coltrane, Skip James, Chuck Berry, D’Gary, Betty Carter, Mukhtiyar Ali, Chuck D, Yoko Ono, Hailu Mergia, David Bowie, Jane Siberry. rhythm is a skeleton mansion / haunted by melody / feckless prodigy / the world is under a spell / cast by some demon angel / Practice day and night / Try as hard as hell / no one can sing that well Musicians are often worried by the way in which they are prepared to fail rather
than how they would like to succeed; it’s such a deep concern that it tempers their creativity and shackles their process. Current cultural proclivities, tend to comfort a certain kind of artistic failure and abnegate another kind. How many testimonials, full of heartfelt care and investment, have you heard for Taylor Swift, and yet a craftsman like Chris Weisman is often dismissed easily as though he’s doing something anti-social. what’s throwing itself in my ears and my eyes / arrogant devil ad hominem christ.
The music you will hear on this recording veers off in multiple directions at once,
and features a rock and roll spirit with a divergent heart. This is no sclerotic clomp of the Average Rock Song, but in fact a flood of humanity in all its darkness and moodiness and unpredictability. If most performers make songs that are like sports cars or pickup trucks to drive around, Lukashevsky has built something more akin to a rowboat in a tree: it’s weird and beautiful.

INTEMPORARY AND INDETRONABLE FRENCH COLD WAVE CLASSIC in a SPECIAL EDITION to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this mythical album.



This edition includes a 45T with 2 previously unreleased tracks, available nowhere else.



Thierry Müller, who initiated the RUTH project, is not at his first try when the album POLAROÏD/ROMAN/PHOTO including the eponymous track is released in 1985. His older brother Patrick along with one of their cousins make his musical education and he quickly becomes familiar with contemporary and experimental music. He starts quite early to tinker sounds on old tape recorders by himself but it is in 1977 that Thierry launches with some friends his first group, ARCANE, while studying at the School of Applied Arts. Their sound is weird, a mixture of saturated scratches and feedback tapes: there is no discographic or scenic testimony of this experience.



Alongside ARCANE, Thierry is already working solo on his ILITCH project / concept, an experimental and innovative work, whose first album Periodmindtrouble is released in 1978 on the Oxigène label. Despite insubstantial sales, this album brings Thierry recognition and success in the very elitist circles of experimental and underground music.



ILITCH’s musical bias was too narrow for Thierry’s ceaseless experimental curiosity, parallel to these activities, he therefore develops a Punk project called RUTH ELLYERI with the author, actress and photographer Murielle Huster. The title is an anagram of Thierry Müller (the complete name is Ruth M. Ellyeri). The character is meant to impersonate one of his schizophrenic facets and allows him to extend his field of expressions to musical styles differing from those in ILITCH.

From this work, the very cult punk piece Mescalito emerges, song that can be found on the mythical but unfortunately very rare compilation 125g de 33 1/3 tours (1979) of the Oxigène label (first “french punk” sampler). At the end of 1978, he meets Philippe Doray at the Oxigene office. Doray is another big name of French experimental music. Thierry moves to his home near Rouen, a remote farmhouse with a music studio made of odds and ends.



They work on their respective creations but meet from time to time on experimentations in common, including CRASH (a tribute to JG Ballard) As early as 1982, a first version of the track Polaroïd/Roman/Photo is out under the name of the project RUTH. “I wanted to write a piece to make the girls dance and make fun of the boys. I plugged a small handmade clock on my Farfisa organ as a sequencer. I had a small Roland synth-guitar, I put the organ in it and that’s how it started.” Philippe is quite amused by the idea of working on a more Pop project and offers to write the text. Thierry works on other tracks for the future LP and asks some friends to write other texts : Edouard Nono, visual artist, writes the lyrics of Mots, Frédérique Lapierre those of Misty Mouse and Tu m’ennuies . It is her voice you hear on these 2 tracks and on the first version of Polaroïd/Roman/Photo. Later, Thierry settles down in the Anagramme recording studio to carry out acoustic sound recordings. But when the sessions are over, the 2 musicians are not too happy with the results of Polaroïd/Roman/Photo: according to them, they lack “flamboyance”. They decide then to record a new female voice with a professional singer and the sound engeneer Patrick Chevalot offers to mix the track in the Synthesis studio “so that it blows out”.



With his tape ready and the help of Jacques Pasquier (S.C.O.P.A. / Invisible records where Ilitch’s second album, 10 Suicides, is released) he starts to contact record companies. “I visited almost all the major record companies and was thrown out every time. Only at RCA’s I found someone interested in my music. It was Francis Fottorino who had signed Kas Product but when it reached the the big boss, no way! Philippe Constantin from Virgin records raised some hope but in vain.



The album was finally released in 1985 with Paris Album, a small independant label.” The album barely sells 50 copies in 1985, despite the eponymous title as a potential success. « In 2004, 2 DJs Marc Colin and Ivan Smagghe discover the track Polaroïd/Roman/Photo and decide to exhume it from oblvion. They release it on a compilation called So Young but so cold (Tigersushi) and then with Born Bad records on the BIPPP compilation in 2008. Thanks to them, the track and the album start a new life.



Alongside his activity as graphic designer, Thierry Müller carries on producing music under his name, those of ILITCH and RUTH for his own creations and various collaborations.