Beats News

Factory Benelux presents a new deluxe 2xCD edition of Sparks In A Dark Room, the second studio album by Dutch electronic group Minny Pops, originally
released by Factory Benelux in May 1982.
Formed in Amsterdam in 1978 by vocalist Wally Van Middendorp, Minny Pops took their name from the primitive Korg drum machine which propelled their austere, post-punk rhythms and provocative live performances. An early association with Factory Records in Manchester saw the band work with producer Martin Hannett, share stages with Joy Division and New Order, and become the first Dutch band to record a BBC radio session for John Peel.
Sparks In A Dark Room is their second studio album, originally issued on Factory Benelux in May 1982. Self-produced by the group, the album was recorded without a guitarist and as a result sounded unusually polished and layered, its smooth sequencers and motorik rhythms often redolent of Moroder, Kraftwerk and Cabaret Voltaire. Bonus tracks include the non-album singles Time and Een Kus, as well as demo tracks and an EP by instrumental splinter project Smalts.
This new edition on FBN also adds a bonus disc featuring an entire live performance (13 tracks), recorded at Amsterdam Melkweg on 7 April 2012 on their 30th anniversary tour, with original members Wally Van Middendorp, Wim Dekker and Pieter Mulder joined by new guitarist Mark Ritsema.
Tracklist:

1. Mountain
2. A Feeling
3. Tracking
4. Crack
5. Vital
6. Blue Roses
7. Wong
8. Experience
9. Dream
10. Night Visit
11. Trance
12. Time
13. Lights
14. Een Kus
15. Son
16. Secret Story (demo)
17. Schitterende Ogen (demo)
18. Time (demo)
20. Werktitel #7
21. Werktitel #5
22. Werktitel #1
23. Werktitel #8

1. Kogel
2. Blue Roses
3. Tracking
4. Vital
5. Goddess
6. Dolphins Spurt
7. Wong
8. Night Visit
9. Secret Story
10. Time
11. Trance
12. Mental
13. Son

Versalife aka Boris Bunnik is one of the most respected producers in electro, recording for many of the truly great Dutch labels including Delsin, Clone, Rush Hour and Frustrated Funk as well as cutting edge imprints like Brokntoys, Shipwreck and Transcendent. Bunnik has toured Versalife live extensively across the world, as recently featured on Boiler Room. Bunnik now presents his debut release for 20/20 Vision as the label continues it's path into the world of pure electronic music. 'Machine Life' immediately stood out as one of those rare killer club cuts that works it's way into a wide range of DJ boxes, simple but massively effective. 'M05' returns to more classic sounding Versalife electro with complex layers of synths, strings and analogue squelch all held together by a solid bass hook. On the flip side Bunnik shows off his pedigree in producing Detroit influenced string laden beautiful music with the EP rounded off by 'Axion', a heavier trip to the dark side.

ARTIFICIAL MONUMENTS was an all-stars dark minimal / synthpop project from Copenhagen, originally formed by PATRICK RINGSBORG (MOTH, CHAINSAW EATERS, LITTLE BOY LOST, ECHO PEOPLE ET AL.) JOHANNAH JØRGENSEN (METRO CULT) AND KIM WOLF ANDERSEN (MOTH, CHAINSAW EATERS ET AL.). They were inspired by bands like Iron Curtain, Yazoo, Neon Judgement, Eleven Pond and Turquoise Days. Active between 2013 and 2015 only, the group disbanded due to Johanna’s health problems, leaving their debut album ‘Illusions of Identity’ on the cutting board. But it was posthumously finished over the next four years with the help of an incredible array of fellow artists from the new wave of post punk, who contributed their talents to the completion of the album: SALLY DIGE, ZOSIA HOŁUBOWSKA (MALA HERBA, PRISON, HÄNDE), INA NOIRE & LISA LØEBEKKEN (TECHNE), SOFIE JACOBI, CECILIA WÖRLÉN (PRISON) AND CHRISTOFFER BAGGE (METRO CULT, TOTEM).

ILLUSIONS OF IDENTITY is an awesome minimal synth pop album, as simple as that. Being crafted with the help of so many skillful people who spilled their talents into the melting pot, nothing but a masterpiece could come out of this project. We are proud to finally bring it to you on a limited, hand numbered, TRANSLUCENT BLUE VINYL EDITION OF 275 COPIES, housed in a matt finish sleeve with printed inner sleeve (lyrics and credits) and including a download code. The download features two additional demo versions not on the vinyl.

Exactly two years after their latest Front Teeth LP, the Zürich-based duo VEIL OF LIGHT is back with a new album called Inflict which will be out May 10 on Avant! Records. This is their fourth full-length and their industrial-tinged synth-based post-punk keeps on getting better, making Inflict their strongest release to date. In these eight new cuts you'll hear how their sound has gotten heavier, bulkier, even more beat-driven. Tracks like So Hard and Holy Wars display drums pounding like noises from a rusty machinery, synths on You Done Me Wrong and Fact2019 they’re so sharp they can slice through your skin, Europe and Animal Instinct feature melodies from the abandoned industrial district of your ghost town. We could go on but you are probably aware of what these two Swiss are all about, and if you don’t you'll know the Veil Of Light when you face it. Artwork by Basel-based visual artist and photographer Samuel Trümpy. Limited edition LP on orange vinyl!

Italian electronic music mastermind ABYSSY and the Marseille underground hero DONARRA, share for the ALLEY VERSION's 4th release the split E.P. "CLOSE".

ABYSSY aka Mayo Soulomon has, over the years, released records of great interest for Mathematics, New Interplanetary Melodies and many other labels, marked by Detroit and Chicago influences reworked in his personal complex cut.
DONARRA comes to ALLEY VERSION after two beautiful E.P. for Skylax Records and La Chinerie, and recently spotted with its synth-dark-industrial-punk moniker Cardinal & Nun, on L.I.E.S.

The opening ABYSSY's "Close To Me", an obscure rough track totally jacked with the legendary rhythm sampler E-MU SP1200, is an instant cult.
In the following "Lower Michigan Ave", a hypnotic dark plot of analog synthesizers runs on a leftfield rhythm cut, while a whiny female voice condenses the air.

First track of DONARRA's side, "Nostalgie Futuriste", is a surreal sound voyage where are merged Chicago House and Zen atmospheres.
In the culminating Detroit style banger "Rivières Lumineuses", the trippy movements of percussions and synthetic melodies are pure magic.

Exclusively on limited 12" vinyl.

Robotiko Rejekto was created in Frankfurt am Main in 1987 by RaHen and Talla 2XLC. Both musicians already worked together in the early 80's on projects like Axodry, Moskwa TV and other incarnations as part of the "Sound of Frankfurt" scene.

With the mega success of the first single “Rejekto” (1987) released by Techno Drome International / ZYX Records, RaHen and Talla 2XLC were seamlessly able to live up to the earlier success with Axodry. They used on this track some lyrics in Romanian telling a fictional short story about two Romanian musicians: Dumitru Constantin and Andrei Vasile. This was followed by other two top chart singles: "Umsturz Jetzt!" (1988) and “Confusion" (1989). Shortly after, Talla 2XLC quit to concentrate on other projects, however some also in cooperation with RaHen.

For a short period of time, Kurt Ader joined the project and with RaHen produced the album "Cyper Space" (1990) including some new songs together with the previous singles. The misspelling of the album title is attributed to a mistake of the label ZYX Records. “Injection” (1990) and "Hangar 18” (1991) were the chosen singles published to support this album. A couple of other singles, “Density / Pure Control" and “Technology” (1992) came next but unfortunately with not a major success following by a hiatus of the band.

After a long pause, Robotiko Rejekto made a comeback in 2012 to release a new album. Currently formed by Ralf Henrich (aka RaHen) and Ivo Draganac (aka Marco Drago), they continue to work and touring intensely.

"Communication 87-92” is a special selection of classic tracks and remixes from those golden years. Limited edition of 500 copies on double vinyl, gatefold sleeve and exclusive sticker.

In support of their forthcoming Bob Moog documentary Electronic Voyager, Waveshaper Media have produced a compilation LP of Moog recordings from the 1960s. The first compilation of its kind, Electronic Voyages: Early Moog recordings 1964-1969 contains tracks by Robert Arthur Moog, Herbert Deutsch, Joel Chadabe, Lothar and the Hand People, Intersystems, Ruth White, Max Brand, and Paul Earls. All of these tracks, released here on vinyl in an edition of 1000 copies, have been scarcely heard and difficult to track down, with all but three of them previously unreleased on vinyl.

Bypassing the Moog synthesizer’s backseat appearance on key pop recordings by the likes of the Beatles, the Doors, and the Beach Boys, Electronic Voyages aims to highlight the diverse approach of 1960s musicians and composers who adopted the Moog as their primary instrument; these recordings all feature the Moog synthesizer front and centre. Beginning with an “audio letter” (The Abominatron) from Bob Moog to his musician-muse Herbert Deutsch, demonstrating some of the first Moog synthesizer prototype’s capabilities, Electronic Voyages veers from avant-garde and electronic soundscapes, to psychedelic madness and summer-of-love pop. In the 1960s, the Moog synthesizer was a new, groundbreaking instrument, and its use was completely uncharted territory. The pioneering use of the Moog on all of these recordings sounds fresh today - you can sense the wide-eyed exploratory delight unfolding, and the disparate results range from endearingly naive (Lothar and the Hand People, Paul Earls) to downright eerie (Ruth White, Intersystems).

The musicians and composers behind these Electronic Voyages may have been among the first to adopt Moog synthesizers, but the fact that they so readily found within them expressivity, heart, and a means to translate their wondrous sense of discovery, speaks far more to Bob Moog’s visionary invention and enduring legacy.

Synth based ambient creations from the mid 80s by Liquid Liquid's Dennis Young - 1-sided, 3 track 12" EP on James Duncan's Innermoods imprint


"PORTASTUDIO AMBIENT TAPES" is a 1-sided, 3 track 12" EP. When seminal NYC band LIQUID LIQUID wound down in the mid 80s, the band’s marimba player and multi instrumentalist DENNIS YOUNG set up shop in his home studio, based around a Tascam Portastudio multitrack tape recorder and created a sublime array of synth based ambient creations. Now many years later JAMES DUNCAN’s INNERMOODS imprint releases 3 of these compositions on vinyl for the first (and ONLY!) time

This third release on City Volts Records from the international producer and DJ collective sees West Loop Chicago channelling their inner Herbie Hancock and The Headhunters for this heavily jazz-fusion influenced record. The A-Side features 'The Serpent', a frantic analogue synth dance floor gem with its Mini Moog and Oberheim OB-6 parts leading the charge, a track very much inspired by Herbie's 'Chameleon' and Barry Miles' 'Magic Theater' from 1975, a Gilles Peterson/Dingwalls standard. The B-side includes 'Divinity', a more soulful affair with its delicious Fender Rhodes chords and atmospheric piano solos, which furthermore highlights the high level of musicianship contained within the 12". Both tracks also feature their respective bonus beats versions with 'Serpentine Bonus Beats' and 'Divine Bonus Beats' providing the rhythm tracks for both.

Analogue Attic continues to draw from the fresh stream of talent running out of Australia, this time with Jack Burton, a composition student from the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts.
His debut LP 'Lake Monger' was composed across two cities over a period of a year, and features contemplative synths, techno and experimental influences.

The record climaxes in the three-part, 12 minute title track that swells in energy and intensity, drawing influence from ambient masterpieces of the 90's with modern day production, demonstrating impressive compositional maturity.

No stranger to records that side-step club conventions, Banlieue’s latest release truly stands out from the rest of its catalogue.

Altkat is a Turkish-Armenian musician born in the late 40s and active since the 60s when he first started experimenting with an Anatolian saz, a two track tape recorder, and a fluegelhorn. Today, the saz is still there, the bugle is gone and the tape recorder has turned into a computer. Altkat, who spends most of his time working as a percussionist for sephardic and balkanic bands, is above all interested in the transformation of noise into music and does not shy away from using synthesizers and drum machines, along with his saz, to create his music.

Six composers compiled on one EP. Everyone with its own approach stepping into the long history of New Wave, EBM and Synth-Pop from Switzerland. For the first release of the newborn label ‘Subject To Restriction Discs’ focus on analogue production with all its variations.

It all began when gearheads from all over Switzerland came together to indulge their love for analogue synthesizers and drum machines. This led to a project at which end a tape compilation resulted. Only 70 tapes were made and almost got forgotten. Now is the time some of these tracks find their way to a new medium and a bigger audience.

"A manner or style, a frame of mind, thought or existence" (Mode).
"Intelligence quotient, the use of perception or awareness." (IQ).

Mode I/Q, the self-proclaimed unknown band, was a richly textured, bold project starting life in 1979 out the embers of punk and new wave resulting in a hypnotic convergence of love, the future, life and art.

Lucian and Nicolas, two creative spirits who viewed the world through their own prism, augmented by a moving cast of friends and acolytes, were together compelled to make great music. This was a concept from the heart, with transformativelive performances, channelling spaces into art "Mode" events orchestrated to bring about a full integration of site and sound.

Psychedelic, punk overtones. A funky electronic hybrid, mixing Kraftwerk with black music. Guitars delayed and twisted through echo boxes and micro synths. Casio and Commodores delivering the machine funk. CBGBs, Max's Kansas City and Danceteria - Mode I/Q played and much, much more.

Just 3 releases deep, 1984's mini LP Mind/Soul captures the band at their best. 6 songs to immerse, dance and shake the mind.

Berlin based trio Keller Crackers collective likes to shape haunting esoteric sounds, in which self-built instruments dance with ritualistic synthesised rhythms, field recordings, psychoacoustic drones and poetical spoken silhouettes.

After a self-released MC and a mesmerising tune called “Anem” out in February 2019 on the custom-made Kashual Plastik 007 double-vinyl compilation, now they give birth to their own debut record “KC”, a four track EP resulting from various improvisational studio sessions, a bag full of spontaneous visionary DIY sound fashion that melts meandering serialism, foggy ‘Chris & Cosey’-ness, exoticism and freely expressed emotions. Some pieces are given time to evolve, being dragged through long arrangements and slow transitions, while others are playful and short. To close up the magic circle, the release includes a tripping Tolouse Low Trax signature remix.

The opening tune “Specialised” swings on a trance-like hypnotic bass line, while a self-made kalimba played through a tape delay and overtones from a DIY circuit bended device inject dynamics and colour to the composition. Out of the sonic depth, the spoken words of Sylvana Wickman emerge enchanting and unreal, naming a series of technical terms, assembling a deep notion on the specialised society we live in.

“Cow Tongue” follows, a fleeting composition of crackling electronic clicks jumping off a micro-modular device. They got overdubbed again by Sylvana’s voice, delightfully reciting phrases from a recipe of regional delicacies.

The A side of KC`s first strike finishes with a spaced-out synth bass and the lo-fi beats of a Yamaha RX15 drum machine. They are the gripping foundation of “Aithouses Anamonis“, which means “Waiting Rooms”. It describes the scene of a man sitting in a waiting room observing the consumerist behaviour by the folks around him.

The B-side opens with a Tolouse Low Trax remix of “Specialised”, elevating the original with the bass line of “Aithouses Anamonis“, while melting the all into a dark nebulous Tolouse Low Trax signature stripped down funk for endless nights in neon lights.

For their final track “Colours”, Keller Crackers invited a steady free member of their live shows to record with them: free jazz musician Robert Würz. He tuned his flute enthralling over a suspenseful bass line formed in a whirlwind of synth-sounds. The whole frenzy gets divine through sliding chords that rise from a self-built guitar.

A musical bouquet for open spirits, that value charming minimal wave zones, undefinable post-industrial psychedelics and hallucinogenic poetry reflections on the current state of our mechanical times.

Legs 11 collaborate with the infamous drag DJ duo Lisa & Lisa for a special, limited 10" vinyl release. They first met at a festival in a community garden, where they both performed, instantly bonding over a shared love for underground pop music and clubbing. While dancing the night away in a tiny, steamy community garden play house, the idea for a collaboration was conceived.

Lisa & Lisa joined Legs 11 for their concert at Oslo Pride in 2018, adding vocals, dancing and fabulousness. The combination of the Lisas' irresistible, rough glamour and Legs 11's catchy, club tinged synth pop brought so much joy, that the obvious next step was a studio collaboration along the lines of Eight Wonder/Pet Shop Boys. The choice of covering Bertine Zetlitz' Girl Like You was similarly obvious, being the only true Norwegian electro pop diva. Adding Edwyn Collins' similarly titled song, proved a perfect choice for a double A-side single.

„Pitcher“ is Nadia D’Alò’s very first solo appearance on vinyl. Playful forwarding drums running hand in hand with a laid back wuthering synth line, carrying her melting voice right in it´s fountain. „Benzin“ on the flip side is a much slower, charming impish early morning jam by INIT (D’Alò & Benedikt Frey), based on a simple 808 infrastructure that leaves space for weird guitar riffs, wavy vocals and a bassy undercoat.

Spread out over two 12"vinyls - this is the result from a two day recording session in Brussels by the duo of Beau Wanzer & Maoupa Mazzocchetti. 25 minutes of dance floor perversions that tackle an array of rhythmic forms. Sludgy synths, serrated percussion and viscous distortion goops over leviathan rhythms

Beau says, “We hooked everything up and just pushed play. We didn’t really discuss much about the process….it was very ‘spur of the moment’.” The equipment set up included a Roland TR-808, TR-606, SH-101, CR-78, CR-8000, two Syncussions and effects. Each EP contains 25 minutes of dance floor perversions that tackle an array of rhythmic forms. Sludgy synths, serrated percussion and viscous distortion goops over leviathan rhythms

Original library synth funk sci-fi soundtracks. This promo EP from the vaults of Warner Chappell's production music archive offers four more tracks from Eleven76's mystique Space Voyage recordings. Originally intended for film synchronisation usage as part of Warner's music library, their unique mélange of analog synthesizers, breakheavy drumming, trippy fx and euphoric-melancholic instrumental fantasies has gained them a cult following among witty beatmakers, DJs, cratediggers, tape recording freaks and space age afficionados.

Produced by Paul Elliott, director of The Library Music Film, this promotional vinyl 45 was made to support the library album SPACE VOYAGE and to make the music available outside of film usage. Limited quantities available as most of the pressing is used as giveaway for clients in film, TV and advertising.

Japanese maverick ALTZ teams up with relative newcomer IGAXX for a wonderful debut on the new LADYBUG imprint...

Having released the superb 'Permanent Vacation' on ALTZMUZICA a few years back, the two made a musical connection that has come to fruition with their celebrated Star Child parties & this collection of mesmerising cuts.

Osaka born ALTZ has forged a genre-defying career both behind the decks and in the studio, always unconventional, he combines a wealth of influences into something genuinely fresh.

He capably takes the A side here, with 'Ottie' a loose, musical and low-end heavy Theo style jam, while 'Sly' is a gurgling synth-out.

Tokyo's IGAXX steps up for the flip, with the atmospheric and intricately realised 'Sonorama' leading the charge. 'Minotaur's Dish' presents us with another exquisitely layered number, with aquatic undertones and a hypnotic appeal. Finally 'Unnn' leaves us with another beatless synth exchange, ending what has to be one of the strongest debut 12's we've heard in a while !

Bybo Funk's interstellar and futuristic sound returns in the form of a brand new LP entitled "Black Eye Galaxy".