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'Matita Emostatica' is the re-issue of a sought after compilation connecting the most underrated outsider artists of the Milan scene, in the early eighties. The amazing artwork is the creation of influential designer and photographer Roberto Masotti, a very well known figure in the avantgarde and jazz realm (he made astonishing portraits for the likes of Anthony Braxton, Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Carla Bley, etc.)

The compilation was produced in 1981 by Al Aprile and released by Materiali Sonori. Among the 10 artists you can find future journalists, unstoppable record collectors, renowned photographers and influential underground persona ... just scroll down the album and read the names of Monofonic Orchestra, Angelo Vaggi, Baker Street Band, Al Aprile, Roberto Masotti and many others. The result was quite unbelievable, ranging from small cosmic opus to avantgarde symphonies and asymmetrical etno-world jams. In the end ‘Matita Emostatica’ was quite in line with the efforts coming from the rest of Europe and the other side of the ocean, so to speak the compilation wouldn’t be out of place in the Ralph or Crammed Discs catalogue. A postcard from a country that is no more.

Aviador Dro are without a doubt the most avant-garde and influential techno-pop band from Spain. They started in 1979 and this year are celebrating their 40th anniversary playing shows, re-releasing some old works, publishing a book and also a new album.

“Acción Contra El Pasado” was recorded in Madrid in December of 1980 and is one of the oldest live performances of which there is a recording evidence. This concert is legendary not only for its age, but also for including some unreleased songs, a couple of early covers by Kraftwerk and Sex Pistols and vintage versions of classics tracks.

“Aviador Dro y su Maquinaria Humana” (exactly as it was announced on the original flyer) was formed at that time by Biovac N, Fox Cicloide, Placa Tumbler, Derflex Tipo IARR, CTA 102, X, Metalina 2 and Cyberjet. A priceless piece of history restored and remastered from the original cassette recorded directly from the mixing desk.

Limited edition of 400 copies with a A2 size colour poster.
Drawings created by the Polish artist Michał Arkusiński.

When it comes to underground New York Disco, Donna McGhee's highly sought-after 1978 LP, "Make It Last Forever," ranks among the best in the genre, thanks to Donna’s singing and the production skills of legendary producers Greg Carmichael and Patrick Adams.

Featuring five songs penned by the producing pair, it's got their quintessential Disco sound of the late 70s topped by Donna McGhee's superb vocals. These have also blessed recordings by The Fatback Band, Phreek, Bumblebee Unlimited and The Universal Robot Band around the same time.

The album has been an elusive affair since it first came out in 1978 and this is one the first times in decades it is widely available in its original form with newly remastered audio. Donna McGhee has been one of the key female singers of the New York disco scene, gracing several cult albums with her superb singing. The Brooklyn native began her career singing Gospel in her grandmother's choir from an early age, honing her skills and making a name for herself locally as a talented singer.
Her first break in the industry came when she was spotted by bass player Johnny Flippin, who invited her to join his band.
The group was none other than The Fatback Band led by drummer Bill Curtis. This was 1975 and the album was "Raising Hell."

McGhee's vocals can be heard throughout the album including the dancefloor classic "(Are You Ready) Do The Bus Stop" and after this initial collaboration, she stayed with the group for a another few years recording “Night Fever” in 1976 and touring with them all around the country. Following an encounter with producer Greg Carmichael, Donna McGhee jumped ship and started working with the prolific producer and his partner Patrick Adams.
A string of collaborations followed with singles and albums that have become the stuff of legend over the years: Donna can indeed be heard singing with Bumblebee Unlimited, Universal robot Band and on Phreek's classic self-titled album from 1978, singing on the track "May My Love Be With You."
In 1978, After Greg Carmichael set up his own label, Red Greg Records, he and Adams decided to get McGhee in the recording studio and produce her first solo album. With the pair playing most of the instruments, they got five tracks out of the session. The result, "Make It Last Forever" is an all-time Adams/Carmichael classic: funky disco arrangements with a touch of synths over a pulsating groove magnified by McGhee's superb sexy singing.

All five tracks have become classics in their own right.

Since forming in 2006 post-punk experimentalists Sebastian Melmoth have been on a thoughtful and adventurous musical journey. In a constant state of aural evolution, the London-based four-piece has a delivered a string of albums and EPs that variously touch on everything from garage-rock, grunge and lo-fi pop, to electro, new wave, dark ambient and music concrete, all the while drawing on a myriad of literary and artistic influences.

The band’s first release for Artificial Dance digs deep into their admirable and eye-opening catalogue and draws together some of the Amsterdam-based label’s favourites from the more electronic end of the band’s output. Entitled “The Dynamics of Vanity” – a comment on Western culture’s obsession with rehashing the past and the band’s own in-built distrust of artistic naval-gazing – the set is not a ‘best of’ retrospective but rather a ‘sort of’ selection of stylistically interconnected cuts that gives a very specific snapshot of the band’s work.

Check for example “Icarus”, a drowsy, hypnotic and sample-laden soundscape that effortlessly joins the dots between post-rock, pitched-down electronica and early morning ambient, or the slowly unfurling throb of thought-provoking opener “The Engineering of Consent”, a swelling, melancholic post-jazz meditation on propaganda and governmental mind control featuring spoken word samples from William S Burroughs in conversation with Brion Gysin, Timothy Leary, Les Levine and Robert Anton Wilson.

The showcased songs are typically hard-to-pin-down, too, with the re-imagined gothic horror break-up cut “Prosopagnosia’ and slow-burn audio addition of “Waiting For Godot” being joined by the wide-eyed morning dream-pop hallucinations of “Seeds (Descent Into Decadence)”. It all adds up to a collection that expertly showcases one engaging thread – of many – running through Sebastian Melmoth’s esoteric body of work.

Double cyan blue vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. Two printed inner sleeves and a six panel oversized booklet. Download card enclosed. The vinyl includes the Deluxe track listing - 17 tracks in total.

U2 return with their hotly anticipated new studio album 'Songs of Experience'. The Island Records priority release completes a stellar year for the Dublin band, following their return to stadiums with the critically acclaimed, sold out 'The Joshua Tree Tour 2017' playing to 2.4 million fans in just 51 shows across Europe and North and South America, as well as the successful 30th Anniversary re-issue of 'The Joshua Tree'.

Recorded in Dublin, New York and Los Angeles, Songs of Experience was completed earlier this year with its subject matter influenced by Brendan Kennelly's* advice to Bono, to ...write as if you're dead'. The result is a collection of songs in the form of intimate letters to places and people close to the singer's heart: family, friends, fans and indeed himself.

Songs Of Experience is the companion release to 2014's 'Songs Of Innocence', the two titles drawing inspiration from a collection of poems, Songs of Innocence and Experience, by the 18th century English mystic and poet William Blake.
Produced by Jacknife Lee and Ryan Tedder, with Steve Lillywhite, Andy Barlow and Jolyon Thomas, the album features a cover image by Anton Corbijn of band-members' teenage children Eli Hewson and Sian Evans.

'The Blackout' and 'You're The Best Thing About Me' were the first songs to be made available from the album. 'You're The Best Thing About Me' is the band's first UK Top 20 airplay record in a decade and has also been remixed by Norwegian superstar DJ and producer Kygo.

*Brendan Kennelly - Irish poet, novelist and Professor Emeritus at Trinity College, Dublin.

From the people who brought you Disques Sinthomme and Ghost Town comes a new imprint LESDK.

Bringing back that NYC Lower East Side grime, LESDK will feature edits as well as new work from Dennis Kane and his circle of proper low-lifes...

Ghost Town and Disques Sinthomme featured contributions from Brennan Green, Richard Sen, The Beat Broker, Bicep, Jose Manuel, and Cosmic Metal Mother, as well as edit monsters like Jeff 'The Drunk' Overton and Cazbee. Kane will be helming this label, curating work and providing his own productions and remixes.

LESDK

Starts off side A with 'Real' - A soulful disco romp that has a gospel force as well as a powerful vocal performance. The song grooves from its first beat, and pushes the energy as it builds. "Now it's time to be real..." Edit as manifesto - Pure heat! The edit work here comes from one of the OG's of serious digging, Senior Reyes aka Jersey Pete.

Side B brings 'Action' as its first track, complementing the A Side, this is some dirty late night Philadelphia bar nastiness, mentholated disco with a humid female vocal, "I like to party, I like to flirt..."

Side B closes out with 'Motion', a slice of cosmic funkiness that laments a love that is not happening while a thick bassline moves the proceedings along.
This song has heartbreak and the haze of an early morning on the dancefloor.

Three essential edits for the DJ to bless the party people with.

Dennis Kane is a DJ and producer based in NYC, he has run the Disques Sinthomme and Ghost Town labels and is also a partner in the recording group SIREN, (with Darshan Jesrani) on Compost records.
Kane has produced numerous tracks and done remix work for Cantoma, Liz Torres, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, and Hokis Pokis among others.
He has been a DJ in NYC since the mid 90's holding down numerous residencies and touring worldwide.

THE WRAITH's Gloom Ballet delivers twelve infectious tracks drenched in the band's '80s UK post-punk (Death Cult, Killing Joke, Sisters Of Mercy) and SoCal deathrock (T.S.O.L., Samhain) influences.

THE WRAITH was founded by imposing frontman Davey Bales, formerly of Virginia peace-punks Lost Tribe, and Kaz Alvis shortly after they separately washed up in Los Angeles. Their irresistibly distinctive sound - skeletal basslines and tribal beats propelling Alvis' textured swathes beneath Bales' poetic, anguished bark - immediately gained a following, with homemade demo Comatic Romance racking-up thousands of YouTube views.
 
Convulsive, chaotic West Coast shows honed the songs that became THE WRAITH's lauded 2017 EP, Shadow Flag. A couple of videos and line-up changes later - the band is now completed by Belgian drummer Jef Pauly and Brit bassist Paul Rogers - their evocative songwriting and pure-punk authenticity earned the ear of Mat Mitchell, who has worked with Love And Rockets, The Flaming Lips, Meat Puppets, King Crimson, and more. Mitchell recorded the band's debut LP, Gloom Ballet, and earlier this year, the band signed to Southern Lord Recordings for the worldwide release of the album.

Recorded by Pucifer guitarist/producer Mat Mitchell, Gloom Ballet was mastered at Audiosiege by Brad Boatright (From Ashes Rise, Tragedy, Alaric) and the artwork was handled by Rebecca Sauve.

The music of Chel White is celebrated in Automaton, a collection of mostly unreleased recordings from 1985 to 1991, by this innovative animator, film maker and visual artist.

Having studied music theory in grade school, White taught himself drumming and played in a new wave band until, in 1981, together with Dan Gediman, they formed the minimal wave duo Process Blue (Alternative Funk, 1985 / Dark Entries, 2018). Here their experimentation went way beyond playing drums.

His interest in industrial music, fostered in the late '70s and early '80s while working in factories as a way to put himself through college, informed his use of electronic instruments, tape manipulation, noise and unconventional percussion.

By 1985, as a now solo artist buoyed by newly affordable audio sampling technology, White tapped into his earlier teenage fascination with the art and films of both the Surrealist and Dada movements - in particular their disparate and fragmented imagery and sound - as a means to create striking new sonic palettes.

Science & Industry - a track largely influenced by Balinese monkey chanting and the consumer excess of American in the 1980's - is a clear example of "music collage". Photocopy Cha Cha, made for the short animation film Choreography for Copy Machine (Berlin International Film Festival, 1992 / Sundance Film Festival, 2001) moved his music into the realm of early multi-media.

Experimenting further, tracks like Liquid Shadows and Pensive provide minimalist moments, before the drone-like Dream #630 and Forest Song point to a future that included music video works (David Lynch/Thom Yorke).

Skyf Connection (pronounced skAyf) was a short lived project by long time friends Anthony Mthembu and Enoch Nondala. At the time they were working for Annic Music, an independent label run by married couple Anne and Nic Blignaut. Although the label was known mostly for Zulu, Sotho, Tsonga and other traditional styles, they had a few Disco releases on the label including groups like Keith Hutchinson’s Focus and Enoch’s discovery Lena, who went on to have huge success under the name Ebony a few years later.

In 1984, when an artist didn’t show up for a booked session they decided to make use of the studio time and began working on a demo. At the time Anthony and Enoch had been playing for a year at a new club called Gamsho, located on a farm on the outskirts of Kliptown Soweto. Along with Blackie Sibisi, Sepate Mokoena and Elijah “chippa” Khumalo they made up the resident house band. Due to cultural boycotts and American artists refusing to perform in the country, locals took it upon themselves to fill the market with the American sound the crowds demanded. The demo they recorded at Blue Tree Studios was going to be their product they could use to promote their brand of the American sound. They then took the demo to Universal Studios where their friend and trusted engineer Jan “fast fingers” Smit was working. It would be here that they would polish their demo into something they could take to their bosses and have pressed. Equipped with a DX 7, Linn Drum and some Juno synthesizers they were on their way. Jan lived up to his name and programmed the drums, it is rumoured he could program in almost real time, a skill that translated to the local arcade where he held high scores on many machines. Enoch would be singing and playing guitar while Anthony would do all the Bass and Keyboards. The result was 4 funky party anthems with synth work like no other recording at the time. Their take on what they believed the crowd would want to hear at the beloved club they called home.

From start to finish the 4 tracks portray what would have been a standard night at the Gamshu. Although the club would open earlier and the standard hours of most clubs was 6 to 6 , the band would start playing at 10pm. With their standard set time and Anthony and Enoch unique view on what a Disco should be, they chose the motto Ten to Ten as the album title because those were the hours when they were the stars and Disco ruled the dance floor. To get to the club was a bit difficult, you needed to drive along an empty road where thieves waited for any patrons trying their luck walking after dark. Since there was no transport during the night, the safest way to get home was to wait till the next morning to walk home. Even though in the summer months of Johannesburg light begins to peek in just after 4am, crowds refused to leave and stayed enjoying good music and company until 10am. The lead off track “Let’s Freak Together” has powerful lyrics encouraging people to let go of their worries, put aside any differences and let the music bring everyone to freak and dance together. The whole album is about the joy we can all feel when we share the same moments and how music can bring people together in a unique way, a philosophy shared with the original nightclubs of 70s New York. This approach to music is where the name Skyf Connection comes from, translating from slang to mean the connection we create through sharing, in this case Music and good times.

Skyf Connection would go on to play at Gamsho till the club’s closure in 1986. In those years their popularity lead to being booked for private events like weddings and birthday parties, as well as gigs in some other venues like Mofolo Hall. They would share the stage with many artists through the years learning artist’s songs and providing support as a backing band. After the club closed Anthony would go on to join the house band at The Pelican, another famous club located in Orlando East, as well as dabbling with songwriting for artists like Phumi Maduna and helping Enoch on many projects through the years. Enoch would ditch live music altogether and immerse himself in studio work, starting full time as a house producer and A&R for the recently formed Ream Music. He would go on to produce hit albums for pop artists like Percy Kay and Makwerhu but made his mark discovering countless artists that would become stars in the traditional market. They would remain friends until Anthony’s passing in 2016 and although Anthony is no longer with us his spirit lives in the grooves he left on this one of a kind record. His wife Vinolia will be accepting his portion of the profits on his behalf.

All Music Written & Recorded by David Drucker at The Skinny Apartment in Ridgewood, Queens, 2017
Featuring Mike Green (Mezzanine Swimmers) on guitars on "I Took Too Much Acid in 7th Grade," Cop Funeral on
electronics on "Seafood Special," Chris “Mr Transylvania” Shields on background vocals on "Massachusetts Is a Magical
Place," Eva “Nighttime” Goodman on violin & backing vocals on "The Ridgewood Ripper"
Painted Faces is the long (strange/trip) running voyage of weirdo David Drucker, began in Florida in 2009 and decamped
to NYC in 2011. It has sometimes been a loose band in the past with a revolving lineup of outsiders and interlopers
(known as The Freak Band), but is usually a solo endeavor, and the bulk of the recordings have been done as such. PF
has always been a home recording solo project, one-man-band style heavy on psychOdelic/outsider
folk/noise/experimental vibes. He started self releasing CD-Rs in the early days and quickly jumped to tapes on a variety
of labels including Already Dead, Lava Church, J&C, Null Zone, Tall Tapes. A "legendary" CD compilation on Gulcher
Records and an LP from Already Dead and Almost Halloween Time in Italy brings us to the here and now. Tales from the
Skinny Apartment is somewhere around the 20th or so Painted Faces release...he has long lost count.
Drucker runs/curates gigs (and records at) the Skinny Apartment, his dwelling place in Ridgewood Queens,
which some folks have called the "realest DIY zone in NYC." He also rips in Dead River Company, Big Hiatus, Shecky,
Canyon River Blues and countless other unknown subterranean improv zoner outfits. "Ripping" involves keeping it
freaky and weird and ripping sets wherever/whenever, i.e. always being down to perform whether in a kitchen or a
packed ballroom....no diva bullshit, just plugging in (or going sans electricity) and playing...always giving it your
all...Ridgewood Rippers are the crew of artists that populate Ridgewood and the loose "scene" around the Skinny
Apartment...much of it is in jest, a self-inflated mythology of nonsense which is pervasive in all rock and roll "scene"
histories. As a student of rock/pop history, Drucker is fascinated by the loose associations that connect folks from
various zones together...i.e. Miles Davis and The Grateful Dead...it's all the same though, the labels and genre
distinctions are completely arbitrary. We're all in this together, now more than ever...to be a "ripper" is simply to
"rip"...no nonsense!
Painted Faces has toured all over the USA and Canada numerous times, spreading the ripper gospels, and is
gearing up for their second European tour. He is known for falling apart on "stage," with performances heavy on humor,
horror, stoned digressions, and cathartic bouts of therapy, part performance art/part standup comedy, eradicating the
lines between performer, performance, and audience one show at a time

2LP Gatefold Sleeve.

Lost Ethnography of the Miscanthus Ocean” contains six of their earlier works from 2013 to early 2014. The original release was on cassette from Guruguru Brain which was sold out less than a month. There is a new added D2. Miscanthus Ocean only for the LP version. The album is dedicated to Grass Mountain and the incredibly hot, humid summertime in Taipei. This is also the echo of their instrumental trio period before they moved on to digital composing.

Band Info:
Formed in Taipei, Taiwan in 2013, comprised of member Lu Li-‑Yang and Lu Jiachi, Scattered Purgatory is a name
derived from a Taoist ritual which expiates the souls of the innocent from a state in between life and death and then at last, release.
Growing up in Taipei, where two wheeled transportations are popular, the basin city of such population density and humidity had
inspired their sound distinctively differentiates from the US west coast desert drone. If we use Taiwan new cinema wave in 80s as
the analogy, the massive use of longshots of those films expressed a different halo from the Western Spaghetti; Scattered
Purgatoryʼ’s sound expresses soundscape to the world by using a familiar approach ‒– but with an oriental narration geographically
and spiritually.

Thousand Knives Of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Landmark First Solo Album From 1978 Issued On The Better Days Label And Featuring The Synth Classics "plastic Bamboo," "end Of Asia" & "thousand Knives" Is Reissued Outside Of Japan For The First Time In Decades.

Wewantsounds is proud to announce the release of Ryuichi Sakamoto's first solo album originally released in 1978 on the soughtafter Better Days label. Sakamoto was a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra at the time but the group hadn't released their first album yet. Featuring Sakamoto on a wide range of synthesizers and keyboards programmed by Hideki Matsutake, and accompanied by a few musicians including Haruomi Hosono and Pecker, "Thousand Knives" was a blueprint for the YMO sound and includes cult classics that were to become live favourites. Save for a small-scale release in 1982, this is the first time the album is being released on vinyl outside of Japan. Remastered from the original tapes by renowned producer and engineer Seigen Ono, the LP edition comes with original artwork including OBI and 4p insert with new introduction by Paul Bowler. 1978 was a key year for Japanese music. Haruomi Hosono, one of the country's most innovative musicians had just formed Yellow Magic Orchestra pursuing the sonic experimentation he had started with his solo album "Paraiso." The album, credited to "Harry Hosono and The Yellow Magic Band," had been recorded between December 77 and January 78 and featured both Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. Hosono quickly invited both musicians to form YMO but before the group could release their first album, Sakamoto entered the Nippon Columbia studios in April 1978 with a plan. Sakamoto had become an in-demand session musician after studying composition at the Tokyo University of Art and had played in many key albums of the time: Taeko Ohnuki's "Sunshower" and Tatsuro Yamashita "Spacy" to name just two famous albums. This led to an invitation by Hosono to feature on "Paraiso". A penchant for avant-garde and improvisation had gotten Sakamoto interested in Electronic Music early on and with “Thousand Knives”, he decided to get Hideki Matsutake on board as he had mastered the art of synth programming following a stint with Electronic Music pioneer Isao Tomita. “Thousand Knives” took several months to record as Sakamoto would be busy during the day with his session work and would only record at night. Named after Belgian-born poet Henri Michaux’s description of a mescaline experience, the album is a reflection on how synthesizer technology might come to change the face of music. The first side conceived as a long suite opens with the title track and a recitation of the Mao Zedong poem "Jinggang Mountain" filtered through a vocoder, before morphing into a mid-tempo synthpop instrumental. It is followed by "Island Of Woods", a ten minute track buzzing with insect-like synth sounds reminiscent of the tropical exotica of "Femme Fatale" on “Paraiso” (also featuring Sakamoto). Side one ends with "Grasshoppers," a beautiful acoustic piano melody underlined by a subtle synthesizer soundscape. Side two opens with "Das Neue Japanische Elektronische Volkslied," acknowledging the influence of the German sound spearheaded by Kraftwerk. The track features a mid-tempo metronomic beat skilfully intertwined with a Japanese folk sounding melody. The album ends with two catchy uptempo synthpop tunes in the form of "Plastic Bamboo" and "The End Of Asia," which both became staples of YMO’s and Sakamoto's live shows. Although "Thousand Knives" sold modestly upon release, it was hugely influential in setting the agenda for what was to follow. YMO's sound included various influences from its three members but there is no denying “Thousand Knives” paved the way for the group's Computer Music sound. Thousand Knives remains a fascinating insight into the making of a music revolution.

Mecanica Popular is back 9 years after their LP “Neguentropia” and 4 years after Dead Cert reissued their first LP “”Que Sucede Con El Tiempo”

Mecánica Popular is ’s an experimental and industrial band formed in the late 70s by Luis Delgado (Finis Africae, Ishinohana...) and Eugenio Muñoz (Randomize), who rapidly gained cult status between the genre fans. The band experienced a renovated international success after their record "Que Sucede Con El Tiempo" (1984) was repressed in 2015 in Andy Votel and Demdike Stare's Dead Cert imprint.

Arriving 9 years after “Neguentropia”, “Estridentismo” is the group’s fourth record and the product of new material that was developed over the last 3 years.

“Estridentismo” is based on the avant-garde movement of the same name that was born in Mexico during the early 1920s (known as Stridentism in English). Each track uses this lens to explore a different thematic concept, from “Jouer Avec Schaeffer,” based on musical pioneer Pierre Schaefer, to “Mikado,” which draws inspiration from the sounds of Mikado steam locomotives.

Following the sound of their previous releases while also introducing elements that reflect their continued evolution, “Estridentismo” is a record that owes as much to the Industrial movement as it does to the work of early electronic pioneers.

Mecánica’s inventive style, and their blending of older techniques like tape manipulation with newer digital technology, allows the record to incorporate Industrial and experimental aesthetics to create a sound that plays with categories and ultimately creates its own.

The record has received praise from the press and artist alike, and it has been played by the likes of JASSS, Demdike Stare, Cera Khin and Ossia.

“Estridentismo” comes in a luxury vinyl edition with a printed inner sleeve full of text and pictures.

Editions Mego is proud to present the latest addition to the compelling discography of Thomas Brinkmann. Throughout his career Brinkmann has focussed on the human operating amongst industry alongside rhythms that manifest as a result of technological advancement. With this new release Brinkmann makes a u-turn, looking back to the early industrial age. Comprised of recordings of various looms, Raupenbahn investigates the sonic properties and consequences of the first automatic loom as constructed by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1745. Thomas Brinkmann once again adheres to his tendency for clarity and simplicity whilst further investigating not only the sound and rhythms of the machines (looms) but also what role they serve in society and what consequences they have on the environment. Raupenbahn presents 21 tracks in total, 11 feature on the vinyl, the remaining 10 as digital bonus tracks. The majority of recordings were undertaken by Brinkmann in 2017 with a Neumann KM 184 stereo set. Additional recordings were sourced with permission from Monika W. recs. from 2014 Central Museum of Textiles Łódź, Poland. Each piece presents a diversity of material which borders on the breathtaking and beautiful in richness and complexity. The various looms unravel rhythms and patterns unexpected from machines of the early industrial age.

The loom holds a significant role in shaping our world being the catalyst for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine which, alongside the subsequent work of Byron's daughter Ada Lovelace, paved the way for modern computing. There is a linage of the loom that fits succinctly in Brinkmann's overall argument. Here we encounter a parallel between machine driven economies and the music that rose from such places, consider the Sheffield steel industries, the Manchester weaving industry or the Rhineland / Düsseldorf loom and machine industry. Is it a coincidence that the practice of such machines in the environment gave rise to today's predilection for electronic dance music, in pop, soundtracks, etc.

Raupenbahn features no treatment or processing and explicitly displays varying tempo and timbres which ascertain a wide range of acoustic structures. The artwork features Ingrid Wiener, Rosemarie Trockel and Alexandra Bircken, three different generations who would with ideas of fabric weaving, loming and the like. This exceptional release works on a number of levels alongside it's striking sonic palette.


i 9 Günne (Irmscher) BO Möhnesee / D

Having returned from a 4-year break in August with its latest release from GW & Henry, A&R Edits follows up with a debut for Moplen.
With a recent remix of Frankie Knuckles ft. Jamie Principle and a Salsoul Reworks EP, Luca Moplen has been gaining new traction of late, so it felt fitting to release two of his evergreen edits on vinyl for the first time. Moplen’s edit of Tavares’ classic disco stomper ‘It Only Takes A Minute’ coupled with Greg Wilson’s edit of Moplen’s edit of Larry Levan’s mix of David Joseph’s ‘You Can’t Hide (Your Love From Me)’, if you can follow all that!

An all brother group hailing from Providence, Rhode Island, Tavares were a band that evolved with the disco sound, hitting their peak in 1976 when both ‘Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel’ and ‘Don’t Take Away The Music’ became huge club favourites. They scored their first R&B #1 in ‘1974 with a cover of Hall & Oates ‘She’s Gone’ and in 1975 they returned to the top of the R&B chart whilst going top 10 pop and scoring a #2 Disco hit with ‘It Only Takes A Minute’.

In 1992 a cover by boy band Take That would gift them their first top 10 entry, many people unaware that this track had first been recorded 17 years earlier. Rising to prominence in Brit-funk band Hi-Tension, David Joseph soon found his footing as a solo artist after they’d split, with his first release being ‘You Can’t Hide (Your Love From Me)’ in February 1983.

That same month, Greg Wilson appeared on The Tube, mixing between two copies of this very record – the first time mixing had been demonstrated on British TV. It would subsequently enter the UK chart, climbing into the top 20. The track would then be remixed by legendary Paradise Garage DJ Larry Levan, resulting in a #2 placing on the Billboard Dance chart.

Upon hearing Moplen’s extended dub edit, Greg worked further into it reintroducing the song – given his history with the track it was unthinkable that he’d play it without the vocal. The result is a unique version where Moplen’s dub sets the vibe during the first half of the edit before the song is finally introduced.

Blaue Blume are a Danish alternative art pop band with a deep connection to the romanticism of the early 80s UK scene. Referencing artists such as Talk Talk, The Smiths and Cocteau Twins, it's clear their influences are with the more sensitive, magical aspects of music - and the eternal questions of love, life and death. Following two singles (Lovable and Vanilla) the album Bell of Wool is finally with us. It’s suitably enchanting from start to finish. Two themes dominate Blaue Blume’s new album Bell Of Wool, darkness and adventure. With the record mostly made before singer Jonas Smith slipped into a depressive episode, the album’s lyrics and moods draw pictures of the darkness, anxiety and tension that would mark Smith’s depression. Sonically, the album sounds a distance away from anything they’ve done before. Indie and electro pop and rock are out, and instead the album is crafted from soft, glowing synthscapes, dawns and skies transformed into sounds. Even on hints of their older work, like on the acoustics of “Rain Rain”, the synthwork comes into the picture and swells the song into something bigger and more majestic. Opener “Swimmer” introduces the listener to the softness and subtlety of the new sound, whereas songs like “Morgensol” and “Bombard” show it at its biggest and more grand.

UMC are proud to present the first ever vinyl release of ‘The Very Very Best Of Crowded House‘! An institution in their homeland, a two-album wonder in the U.S., and, during the last half of their ten-year career, bona fide stars in the U.K. and most of Europe, Crowded House recorded some of the best pop music of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Leader Neil Finn’s carefully crafted songs, meticulous eye for lyrical detail, and gift for melody are matched by few other songwriters. The songs of Crowded House & Neil’s songwriting acclaim have been championed by the likes of Ariana Grande & Miley Cyrus, Chris Martin & Eddie Vedder & most recently Fleetwood Mac, for which Neil is currently the touring guitarist/vocalist. The 2010 chart-topping compilation features all the band’s major hits including ‘Fall At Your Feet’, ‘Weather With You‘ & ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ plus many (many) more. The 19-track collection is cut across 2 x 180-gram black vinyl LPs featuring printed inners & essay. DL codes included.

For over half a century, Takehisa Kosugi was one of the most unique and enduring figures in the Japanese underground. As an art student in Tokyo in the early 1960s, he joined the Fluxus-styled performance unit Hi Re Centre and then founded the improvisational ensemble Group Ongaku, but his most legendary project was The Taj-Mahal Travelers – a multicellular organism that included Kosugi, Ryo Koike, Yukio Tsuchiya, Seiji Nagai, Michihiro Kimura, Tokio Hasegawa and sound engineer Kinji Hayashi.

With a penchant for long psychedelic jams (some lasting 12 hours or more) The Taj-Mahal Travelers lived up to their name. Touring in a Volkswagen van across Europe and Asia in the early '70s, they eventually reached the actual Taj Mahal in India. Upon their return to Japan, they held a concert to raise more touring funds and released their very first recordings. Their debut album, July 15, 1972, would extend the band's matter-of-fact titling: all the tracks were named precisely for the times they began and ended.

With a grab bag of instrumentation (electric violin, double bass, santoor, vibraphone, harmonica, radio oscillators, sheet iron, etc.), The Taj-Mahal Travelers weave together mesmerizing waves of sonic texture. Featuring longtone concepts that Kosugi discovered while working with sound generators in New York in the mid-'60s, July 15, 1972 remains just as much a collective tone poem as psych workout. These leader-less sounds coalesce into a unified whole that feels both subconscious and sublime, as if the waveforms bypass the listener's ears and land directly inside one's synapses.

Emotional Rescue again delves in the world of private pressings, with a reissue of British electronic pop meets proto-House duo 4AM. With copies of their self titled album now highly sought after, this timely reissue presents two of their songs as a stand alone 7".

Consisting of multi-instrumentalist Steve Kirby - piano, guitar, bass, programming - and vocalist Kevin Finch, 4AM came together after youths filled with a love of music. Following a string of band attempts, Steve dived in to the world of midi, allowing him to build a studio set up and play solo. A meeting with new work colleague Kevin quickly developed to joining forces to expand on his early demos.

Their melodic, dance-influenced pop draws on a love of Japan, OMD and The The, but also ECM jazz and a touch of "white boy soul". The TR-808 drum and hi-hats, string stabs and random acid squelches - although no TR-303 was used - highlights the influence the nascent House sounds emanating from the "second summer of love" of 1988 / 89 had in their music melting pot.

Over this, personal lyrics flow, full of honest emotions and a touch of youthful naivety thrown in - of relationships, love, sex and passions. Intended as a personal artifact, the original album was released in 1990 with no promotion or live shows and has taken until now, some 30 years, to find a cult audience. I want you with a Passion.

ondon Records are to release Happy Mondays ‘The Early EPs’ on October 25, available digitally and as a 4 x 12” coloured vinyl box set. The release brings together the seminal Manchester band’s first four EPs – ‘Forty Five EP’ (1985), ‘Freaky Dancin/The Egg EP’ (1986), ‘Tart Tart EP’ (1987), and ‘24 Hour Party People’ (1987).

‘The Early EPs’, which have never before been available digitally, have been re-mastered from the original two-inch tapes held in the Factory/London Records archive. The artwork has been redrawn and digitised by original designers Central Station Design. The original Happy Mondays line-up will embark on a UK headline tour in late October, including London’s Roundhouse on October 31.

London Records will follow this release later this year with vinyl reissues of Happy Mondays first four albums - ‘Squirrel and G-man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)’, ‘Bummed’, ‘Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches’ & ‘Yes Please!’ - later this year. None of these albums has been available on vinyl for over a decade.
‘The Early EPs’, which have never before been available digitally, have been re-mastered from the original two-inch tapes held in the Factory/London Records archive. The artwork has been redrawn and digitised by original designers Central Station Design. The original Happy Mondays line-up will embark on a UK headline tour later this month, including London’s Roundhouse on October 31.

London Records will follow this release later this year with vinyl reissues of Happy Mondays first four albums - ‘Squirrel and G-man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)’, ‘Bummed’, ‘Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches’ & ‘Yes Please!’ - later this year. None of these albums has been available on vinyl for several years.