Pop & Rock Vinyl New Releases - News

On this third, consecutive 7" for Knekelhuis they showcase a slightly darker side, undoubtedly influenced by these current viral times. Still, shadows are always in need of light. These two anxious tunes are full of metal clanking, eerie synths and rolling basslines taking you straight into industrial territory, albeit with avant-pop leanings. De Ambassade will firmly hold their ground in the dead of night until the smoke clears and the agony of daylight returns.

Prequel Tapes is Marco Freivogel - a producer, DJ and live performer who’s been making electronic music since he was a teenager. What began with an accident and the rediscovery of some lost DAT tapes, has become the driving force for all his creative expression in the last years. Prequel Tapes previous albums ‘Inner Systems’ and ‘Everything is Quite Now’ received widespread critical praise for their originality, depth and composition. He has released two tape projects ‘The Pandora Star Sessions’ and ‘Dinge’ - a collaboration with the artists Mare Nero. Prequel Tapes live performances range from solo all hardware jams to a large-scale collaboration with butoh dancer Valentin Tzin and motion artist Ksenia Mozhayskaya aka nomoreless. His DJing is anything but straight techno with his recorded sets, podcasts and radio appearances chosen for mixes of the month by the likes of pitchfork, RA and dasfilter.

To many people the concept of Ruin is fearful, depressing, dark - conjuring notions of decay, fallen morality, or tragedy. But to others, the idea of Ruin is of hope for what may come after - opportunities to rebuild, rethink and challenge. Ruin may be the only chance to stop the passive march towards the destruction of the feral human spirit, the failure of our imagination to the homogenising power of capital. Both the music and the artwork reflect the artists long-held view that art should challenge, jarr and provoke. Offering the balance of what’s dark and disturbing to appreciate beauty and the light. Rejecting a world where the uncomfortable is covered up with plastic veneer and platitudes as a vital artistic expression.

Using a highly personalised setup of hardware collected over many years, Prequel Tapes wanders through concrete mazes and dark forests with infinite curiosity. In these cold empty spaces, Ruin oscillates freely between sunshine and shadows, where grit and gravel pay homage to the industrial anti-melodies of the 80s, appearing as earworms after the rain. The sonic DNA of teenage dreams are central to the aesthetic aspirations of Ruin, as are the sparse minimalist frameworks of composers like Arvo Pärt.

Drawing upon the stains of his musical history, Prequel Tapes merges each drop into an honest, singular sound, honing in on decades of love for abstract electronics with a profound emotional sensitivity. References may reveal themselves on close listen, but never command space, serving instead as subtle threads woven carefully into a tapestry of synthesis; aware of its past but firmly grounded in the present.

A special edition vinyl will be available through the Mannequin Records bandcamp, with photographs by Frankie Casillo whose work is also used for the cover art.

Mastered by Rude 66

Graphic design by AA.

Limited edition of 300 copies on solid orange vinyl.

"And the city opens up its streets to me again.Gloomy and damp, walled by wet surfaces, Which the pale glow Bouncing off a languishing moon. She shows me her reddish bars without any embarrassment, Where the sex yawns against the black decor."

Amsterdam based Spill Gold ( who previously released on Portland's Beacon Sound) with a jaunty 7 track mini album for Knekelhuis. sleeve art from Jacob Hoving.

The label say:
"The summer breeze has gradually turned into a cold wind and the trees showcase their typical variegated color palette; autumn has clearly arrived in all its golden glory, a transition exemplary for Spill Gold’s work. The Amsterdam duo’s music is every bit as colorful and moving as its seasonal counterpart, where one moment a cold and stormy wind swarms the air and other times calm and stillness prevail.

On Highway Hypnosis, their first album on vinyl, Spill Gold masterfully juxtaposes darkness and light, playfulness and control, enhancing the transcendental character of the material at hand. Based on strong pop structures, the songwriting here traverses a world of Krautrock and cosmic influences at once catchy and alienating, opening the possibility for catharsis.

They’re a wonderful addition to the versatile nature of Knekelhuis. And they’re crazy good live as well."

Tester Housing was the short-lived band consisting of mates Bill Tolson and Ken Olver. The duo met during the early 1980s in the burgeoning Southside of Melbourne, St Kilda. Pitched along the bayside, St Kilda at the time was full of artists, painters, writers, poets and musicians. The suburb was the type of place where dwellers wore their hearts on their sleeves; the sort to be found sharing a jug at the pub after a fist fight. The St Kilda music scene during the late ‘70s and ‘80s was infamous, breeding bands such as the Primitive Calculators and The Boys Next Door.

Despite Tester Housing producing a modest handful of recordings, both were actively present in the St Kilda chaos. Bill established Prahran’s Greville Records in 1978 and later founded the prolific Rampant Releases in 1982, pressing the likes of Not Drowning, Waving and David Chesworth. The duo also played together in the new-wave group Gilded Youth, before joining forces and forming Tester Housing.

When asked about their reasoning for the bands short stint, they wink and answer “just say something interesting such as drugs and ego got in the way and after we both had a knife fight on St Kilda pier one night and we both decided to go into rehab for the next twenty years. Or alternatively, we just knew that if we continued to play music together we would become too rich and boring.”

To commemorate Testing Housing’s imprint Left Ear Records present Over You, a 12” of the bands two 1983 singles, The Clock Ticks Over and Into You with their counterparts, a dub version and a stripped back almost acapella. Their sound channels both that of the gritty Southside and the experimental Northside scenes to create youthful and enchanting synth-pop. Both arrangements are laced with themes of love, redemption and acceptance in a unique and compelling way.

Maroma was there long before the Moors. The Moors were there long before man landed on the moon half a century ago. Drum machines meant you didn’t have to take Ginger Baker our for a drink. Life takes on sublime logic. In retrospect, everything takes on a new meaning from a different perspective. The past is the future. From Glasgow to Edinburgh to Andalucia. This music is about a small journey, an aural triptych of sounds

"Tucked away in the Dutch underground of the early 80’s a young Hessel Veldman created his own music world in the small industrial sea town of IJmuiden. It was a world recorded on tapes and reels. A world where things happened according to personal logic based on sonic exploration, electronic sounds and improvisation. The approach was intimate, at times light-hearted, but often following deep inner contemplation and total immersion in the creative process. Above all, music was made according to the Do-It-Yourself principle of the home-taping culture."

For his first release with Artificial Dance, Black Merlin aka George Thompson takes a departure from the hard-wearing techno and intricate field recording work that he has come to be known for. Scape One is a fifteen-minute psychedelic diversion recorded in one continuous live session. While the track’s sonic characteristics may echo dance music from the turn of the millennium, its pulsating rhythm is more suggestive of the slowly evolving landscapes seen outside of a train window as opposed to raves from the late ‘90s.

Appearing on the B-side is Gordon Pohl’s remix of Scape One. Like its source material, this track is long and subtle in the way it develops over time, but Pohl dissects the most salient elements of the original to construct a new rhythmic urgency. The high frequency accent that guides the remix does so at a speed that recalls the rotations of Brion Gysin’s stroboscopic Dream Machine, which taps into your brain’s alpha waves, aiding drug-free hallucinations.

Pohl and Thompson are frequent collaborators and release music together as Karamika. While Scape One is not a collaboration in the strict sense, there is plenty of crossover in the working methodology of the two musicians, especially when it comes to constructing uncomplicated arrangements.

The repetitive nature of their respective tracks locks the listener into a contradictory sensation of travelling whilst staying seemingly motionless. This sensation is not altogether uncommon, but in this instance it’s not quotidian either. The result is a record that unravels slowly, leaving space for the listener to home in on all the available information and, in the process, discover elements that can be just as unnerving as they are satisfying.

If ever talking about a 'ghost' of an Austrian record, both in terms of getting info about and getting your hands on, the only output of short-lived band „Mad Voice“ would be a prime example of such. It took a couple of years to track original band members and the master tape down, which in the end made for Wiener Brut being able to carry out an exclusive re-release of this 7 inch. Perfect blend of minimalistic Pop, Synthwave and NDW!

The wave is back!. On this fourth edition you will find precious american synthwave, exquisite neue deutsche welle and british post-punk, representing all of them perfectly the actual palette of dark romantics sound. RIDE THE WAVE IV Ltd. Edition 12″ EP presented in a ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality SOLID GREEN vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios.

Neuauflage auf frostklarem-magenta-neon-farbenem 180g Vinyl.

Die Queen of Synthwave, NINA, meldet sich mit einem superben zweiten Album voller 80er inspirierter Synthpop-Hits zurück. "Synthian" entstand zusammen mit LAU, Oscillian, Richard X, Ricky Wilde und Till Wild und erscheint auf dem Retro-Label Aztec Records. Die in London lebende Berlinerin wird von der einschlägigen Presse gefeiert: "An artist at the peak of her form and going from strength to strength, pushing the boundaries and pre-conceptions of the synthwave genre." - Teases & Dares. "Utterly timeless chorus." - The Playground.

Produced by Oscillian, Richard X and Sunglasses Kid, 'Sleepwalking' creates the illusion of timelessness over eleven tracks as it rejuvenates an 80’s synthwave musical aesthetic while simultaneously presenting a modern pop vibe. NINA’s lyrical depth paired with instrumentals that are both dynamic and delicate create a quality sonic experience.

Das Debütalbum des australischen Synthwave-Künstlers Gryff erscheint auf dem Londoner Label Aztec Records, das sich auf 80er Retrowave, Synthwave und Synthpop spezialisiert hat. "Calypso Drip FM" klingt wie eine Greatest Hits-Kollektion aus diversen Styles und Einflüssen ihres Erschaffers. Gryff selbst sieht aus wie ein 90s Kid aus "GTA: Vice City" und hat sämtliches Material im Alleingang kreiert, mit Ausnahme der Produktionsunterstützung von Andrew Threlfo bei "Do You Feel Like This?" und dem Feature der New Yorker Sängerin und Co-Autorin Primo The Alien bei "Reverse". Neuauflage auf hellblauem 180g Vinyl.

A recording of Samuel Beckett’s “Text for Nothing #8” read by Jack McGowan 1958 (used without permission) is burned to a CDR with 99 index points. A Sony Discman in shuffle mode attempts struggles to play the disc. Electromagnetic signals of struggling CD player mechanics are recorded, edited and collaged into two pieces.

“Premières Données” (meaning ‘first data’) was the 1987 cassette-only release by Décades, the by then solo project of Laurent Bergot from Rouen, France. Both the band and the album turned out to become the most important cornerstones of the original French ‘cold wave’ genre, the term that began being used in the mid- late 80s to tag this music genre, characteristic for mostly beautiful melodies, romantic, heartfelt lyrics and heavy presence of bass guitar, synthesizers and drum machines. Not a single song by Décades has been ever released on vinyl before so, for starters, we have created “Premières Données +” as an improved, roundup version of this fantastic album, including the previously 100% unheard 1987 studio version of the song ‘Le Jour Se Lève’ that Laurent left out of the cassette release in favour of his own, rougher demo version. We also included the intro that Laurent wanted to use back in the day, but was also left out for technical reasons.

We are extremely happy to bring you this cold wave masterpiece in the form of a limited, hand numbered LP edition of 120 copies, housed in a matt finish sleeve with double sided lyric insert and including a download code.

One of the bright talent emerging from the current Netherlands‘ electronic underground scene is the German and Amsterdam-based, ‘fetish-inclined’, vocalist and performer Sophie du Palais ((Pinkman, Dekmantel Recordings)) also known as “Vrouwe Fataal”. She presents debut solo LP ‘Endurance of Pain is the Power of Being’

Sinister industrial wave music exploring themes of lust, hedonism, technological obsession & millennial alienation

Across six tracks, Du Palais unravels a potent signature, driven by fierce, imperious Anglo-Germanic vocals and eclectic, dissonant sounds. Connecting techno, EBM, acid and electro with vestiges of dub and experimental electronics, on ‘Endurance of Pain…’ Du Palais conjures an abrasive, intoxicating depiction of lust, hedonism, technological obsession and millennial alienation.

With the cruising techno pop menace of ‘Slow Steady Cum’, Du Palais introduces a nocturnal underworld. The descent is intensified by the mania and murk of ‘Glazed Disco Ball’ – a suspenseful dose of guttural low end, scowling spoken words, and crude drum machine clatter; if Gudrun Gut fronted Suicide. Then ‘Boys Tears’ elaborates on the dread and the sleaze with a horror show of gurgling synthesis, drubbing percussion and dissolute enunciations, halfway between John Carpenter and Unit Moebius.

From there ‘Up To No Good’ brings proceedings into a severe form of heat and frenzy, outlaying an exchange of raw jackhammer rhythms and vociferous punk chants that recalls Liaisons Dangereuses’ timeless underground classic ‘Los Niños del Parque’ if remade for 2021. ‘Smash The Mirror’ then finds room for scintillating dub recurrence and freakish machine funk before Sophie concludes the set with the sardonic electro-clash anthemics of ‘2001’, a provocative exploration of self, communication, and compulsion in the digital era. Miss Kitten meets Dopplereffekt for a technoid bonfire of the vanities.

‘Endurance of Pain…’ finds Sophie Du Palais seizing an uncompromising sense of style and intensity, an emergent new artist navigating a merciless, pleasure-seeking existence, from club to bedroom to screen, facing it all down with a cold glare, ready to light the fuse.

RIYL Miss Kitten, Toresch, Liaisons Dangereuses. Mastered by Rude 66. Artwork by Sander Molenaar.

It's testament to how fertile England's mid-80's musical landscape was that the splintering of short-lived post-punk pioneers The Southern Death Cult seeded so many memorable but divergent groups – from widescreen rock legends The Cult to romantic pop duo Into A Circle to “the Asian Public Enemy,” Fun-Da-Mental. But the band's most potent subsequent cross-pollination was undoubtedly Getting The Fear, formed by The Southern Death Cult rhythm section of Barry Jepson, David 'Buzz' Burrows, and Aki Haq Nawaz Qureshi, joined by Temple Ov Psychic Youth associate Paul ‘Bee’ Hampshire on vocals.

MAT is proud to announce the forthcoming release of ‘The Side I Never See’, by Hugh Small & Brian Allen Simon. Hugh forms half of Scottish post-punk duo Vazz, whose work was the subject of a recent retrospective by Belgian label Stroom. Brian is known best for his solo project Anenon, under which name he has released four full length albums and multiple remixes for artists including Ryuichi Sakamoto.

An improvised recording of Brian playing over the Vazz piece ‘Kazimierz’ catalysed this long-distance collaboration; 2000 feet up a mountain in Andalucia, Hugh heard the recording on a broadcast of Brian’s dublab LA radio show. Immediately taken in by Brian’s playing, the pair soon established contact and began discussing the possibility of working to create something new together.

The rest, as they say, is history: the results are fully realised in ‘The Side I Never See’, a shimmering suite of ten compositions for piano, soprano saxophone, synthesizer and guitar. In Hughs words… ‘so, what is it? It’s Ambient-Punk, Abstract-Jazz, Disaffected-Classical, it’s whatever the fuck you want it to be!’ :-)

‘The Side I Never See’ will be released on Melody As Truth in early August 2021, as always on vinyl and digital. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu, Artwork by Michael Willis.

VIOLENCE is a brand new Metal, Industrial, Bass-music project produced by Niveau Zero. After “In_Sect” (2010) and “Jasmine” his last album released in 2012, It was time for him to produce a
new Lp. Composed of 3 members : Fabio Meschini (Guitar / L’Esprit du Clan, Ex: As They Burn), Morgan Sansous (Drums / Henker) and Niveau Zero ( Production & Vocal). VIOLENCE is an ode to a rising insurrection. It results in a raw, metallic and powerful sound.
Chronicle of the brutality of our era, OPUS 1 is a concept album composed with guests of choice such as Billy Graziadei (Biohazard, Powerflo), Code: Pan- dorum , Julien Lebon (Atlantis Chronicles), Bastien Hennaut (HORSKH)...

“Vax!” – Reminiscent of all the slippery vinyl that glitched under so many sweaty wet fingers in a steamy basement before time – a picture that seems highly illegal in our current antiseptic climate of hopefully germ free adolescents. Vax-inate! Give them the needle! It’s time.

Deti Vechnosti – Pered Rassvetom opens the gates to plug into the socket of our collective deranged consciousness, generating frisky and flamboyant specks to brightening darkness that confines our lives. Offering glimpses of the great unknown we also carry within. The Track introduces Chikiss & Mustelide’s new group “Deti Vechnosti”.

Alexander Arpeggio & OhLandy’s “Der Anruf”, wich originally appeared as a French language version on a previous Sameheads / Diapason tape release tells those tales of hot and hotter heat. Karmic payback for the sweaty and long nights enveloped in the halo of resonating frequencies of silly and high-spirited mischief.

Rouge Mécanique – Down the Line – follows suite in the odyssey that is a demented night out, sitting in front of a club, realising that the leatherjacket you picked up a few streets ago from the ground doesn’t smell like adventure but like spew.

The B-Side opens with Automatenfall – a hardware electronic 3 piece, previously appearing live at Sameheads during a “My Friend calls it K-Jazz” event. A yearning that eventually gets us on a spiritual path and headed toward enlightenment through the meandering melange of chimes, that little sounds that usually overcome us in the weirdest of times.

Das Kinn – the new project from Toben Piel, who’s part of Frankfurt’s MMODEM family, and one half of Les Trucs evokes memories of better days, black leatherpants – think Falco meets DAF – Überpop for the Untergrund.

Stopping for a final coup d’œil is Alessandro Adriani’s – Preserved Data Space. A persuasive case of brutally but lovingly worked machines serenading sawtooth waves of an infinite Weiter, a dissolving timeframe – the longest after hour I’ve been to, it lasts more than a year now already and counting.

Written by Michael Aniser.

Russian no wave / synth duo The Bleak Engineers seem a neat fit with the first 12" release from Rotation Mecanique. "Unconscious" is the song that resonated in many souls and it's finally appearing in a vinyl format.

It's the new statement of the band, whose members are worth of attention: the grey eminence of the Russian electronic scene Alexander Moralez (Brokntoys/Gigolo/MSQ) and the horror and surf rock goddess Svetlana Zombierella (Messer Chups).

The main track is accompanied by 5 more new musical revelations: the fresh compositions, which will be the new hits and the mysterious instrumentals in their trademark gloomy electronic no wave sound.

The isolation is not the reason to be silent. Hearing the bleak, sometimes hopeless and sometimes hopeful vertigo of synths, vintage drum machines, floating bass lines, frank and mild vocals without any rush and without any attachment to time and place. And that is the incomplete list of adjectives related to this release.

"Amsterdam, 1982. Smoke fills the streets, squatters clash violently with the police, uprising is in the air. In this disorderly mess, the worlds of activism, art, fashion, and nightlife converged into an explosion of creativity. Amidst all of this Electric Party, the brainchild of René van Rijn, released the ‘Work’ tape on Amsterdam label Fetisj, now a cult cassette for the few who remember.

Forty years ago they created this unique blend of no wave, mutant disco, funk, and experimental music. It was around the time of the rise of the members-only club Mazzo, with all its prominent figures, the anarchy of the squatting movement, and the art academy connection. Everything took place in this inebriated twilight zone of blissful joy.

This record consists of 3 of the best tracks from the ‘Work’ tape and 6 unreleased tracks from forgotten cassette tapes, all remastered and restored where necessary. Among them the unreleased anthem ‘Caribe’, which was recorded in Spain as the opening track for a Spanish discotheque in 1987.

"Oscillation associations

This album is titled Os. When I look at the shape of these two letters, O and S, I realize that they are a rotation and an oscillation.

Os is Dutch for Ox. An ox is a castrated male bull. The primary benefit of castrating bull calves is to temper their tempers, making it easier and cheaper for people to handle them. Os is also an abbreviation of oscillation, -cillation being castrated off. Oscillation means a movement back and forth in a regular rhythm, like breathing, push-ups, tides, swinging or sound. For this album Lyckle was not dealing with oxes or bulls, but with oscillations, guiding them through synths, handling their tempers. If I look at the etymology of oscillation, I learn that it stems from the term Oscilla, which were ancient disks depicting a face or animal on each side. Oscilla is a diminutive of os and means ‘little face’. They were hung in trees during religious feasts honoring various deities, as well as being thought of as purifying the air as they swung in the wind.

The wind chime with its little sunny face, smiling on the cover of this record was hanging in the windowsill of Lyckle’s studio, behind his back, where the wind would make it jingle, averting the Evil Eye according to apotropaic magic. In ancient Rome, wind chimes named Tintinnabulum were decorated with a phallus, which was also seen as a good luck charm. Phallic charm also appeared as objects of jewelry such as pendants and finger rings. It has been suggested that some types of phallic pendants were designed to point outwards in the direction of travel in order to face any potential danger or bad luck, nullifying it before it could affect the wearer.

When I take the record itself out of the sleeve, I see that there are two phalluses carved into the surface of the vinyl, like little ornaments. When you start playing the record, they start chasing each other, going round and round. They point in all directions of the room, but are never able to point at each other. Finally, I am told that it is recommended to listen to this record with the window open, allowing sounds from outside to blend in with the music. "

- Bernice Nauta

Nigel Rolfe’s “Island Stories” is a unique record for 80’s Ireland. An unusually experimental electronic and abstract record for the time, it was originally released to little fanfare on Reekus records in 1986. Based around the DX7 synth and key collaborations with studio engineers and vocalists it was created as a soundtrack to a performance work of the same name.

Born and raised in the Isle of Wight performance artist Nigel Rolfe has made Ireland his home since he arrived at Dublin Port in 1974. An art school graduate who witnessed the British rock explosion of the late 60s in person and as participant, he had been an organ player in a number of British rock bands of the time and a roadie for a number of the early 60’s UK tours by legendary US blues musicians. As the music world freaked out in the later part of the decade he moved with it, and after completing a fine art degree in the West Coast of England in the early 70s he moved to Ireland despite having no connections with the country – “ Drawn by the archeology” – settling straight into the experimental arts scene which was based around the Project Arts Centre where he worked. Organising exhibitions and teaching, his interest in music was rekindled by the explosion of punk.

The key to his music making and this LP here was access to a studio – in this case Windmill Lane. A busy place in the early to mid 80s it had a production and video arm and acted as the centre for U2’s recording operations. Rolfe worked there doing carpentry and building jobs in exchange for off peak studio recording time. Coming in contact with the bands passing through and working closely with the engineers and tape operatives employed by the studio he was also able to take advantage of Brian Eno’s presence (he was there working with U2) and figure out the DX7 which forms the backbone of the LP and which – like most else - on the LP is played by Rolfe. Released by Reekus records in 1986 a year after it was completed, there was little expectation placed on the record and Rolfe had no careerist ambitions. We’ve remastered it and added a bonus track that was featured on the African Flower 12” off the LP “PW Botha’s Funeral March”.

Máscaras is anchored by Valdivia's deft and atmospheric production style that folds together intricate spiraling synths, balmy environments, and crisp drum programming, variously drawing from trap, footwork, early Warp-label gestures, and the digital end of dancehall reggae. Yet it's his love of organic instrumentation that truly cements his commitment to an eclectic, unclassifiable aesthetic. Although he's well-respected as a drummer—particularly in wayward rock and improvised music circles—Mas Aya often serves to showcase Valdivia's prowess as a wind player. His iterative but expressive playing on tin whistle, bansuri, quena (as well as other instruments such as the llamador, and thumb pianos) imbues these compositions with a warm, tactile quality. Lido Pimienta's vocal appearance on “Tiempo Ahora” builds upon this human presence, steering things temporarily into abstract R&B territory. Meanwhile, the sampled voices that Valdivia threads throughout the first side underscore his connection to hip hop production tactics, while referencing key figures within current and historical popular movements in Nicaragua.

Although the record is steeped in both rhythmic electronica and a wide assortment Latin American sounds both contemporary and ancient, according to Valdivia, aspects of it also reflect his training with with noted composer Linda Catlin Smith, whose lyrical quasi-stasis can be heard lurking in its mesmeric, recursive structures.

Minimal Synthwave/Darkwave recordings with a dash of Electropunk.

Red VINYL

This was Belgium. 1989. First wave EBM duo, but also so much more.

Optimo Music Archiv is a new offshoot label for revisiting music JD Twitch has been a big fan of for a very long time. This first release takes 5 Force Dimension favourites and reconfigures them as an extended EP / mini album.

The songs are untouched but have been remastered for 21st Century ears.

“Tension” comes in two versions, one from each version of their debut album. Oddly they put out an original version (Blue), they decided they didn’t like it and re-recorded it. Both versions of Tension rule.

200 FA is an end of the night anthem. A perfect piece of E Music that crossed over into the early 90s Rave era and still much sough after to this day.

Aqua 2000 and All Systems Out are too Belgian bombs that still slay dancefloors today.

Released in full picture sleeve on marbled vinyl.

FEEL THE TENSION!

Founded in 2006 by Vincent Bertholet (Hyperculte), the Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp is a large-scale project. Designed as a real orchestra, the size of the ensemble has varied over time. Now with 12 members, 14 in the past or 6 at the beginning, the ensemble has scoured the stages of Europe todemonstrate that the formula "the more the merrier" has never been more true than on stage.

Whether in prestigious festivals (Paléo Festival de Nyon, Fusion Festival, Incubate, Womad, Bad Bonn Kilbi, Jazz à la Vilette) or on the four albums released since its launch, the group shows an incredible fluidity. The Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp (a mischievous title in homage to traditional African groups -Orchestre Tout Puissant Konono n°1, Orchestre Tout Puissant Polyrytmo etc... -and to one of the greatest dynamizers of 20th century art) embraces the forms of its musicians while pushing them to their limits. The result is a powerful, experimental, unstable and terribly alive, organic sound.

These characteristics can be found on We're OK. But We're Lost Anyway, fifth opus of the band. Built around twelve musicians, extirpated from their respective biotope, it develops a repetitive musicality which, deployed in successive waves, creates a feeling of trance. Mixing free jazz, post punk, high life, brass band, symphonic mixtures and kraut rock, their sound only goes beyond the limits of genre. Transcendental, almost ritualistic, the music is coupled with powerful lyrics, declaimed in rage against a world that is falling apart.Adorcist, hypnotic and post-syncratic, the Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, far from Tzara's manifesto, is somewhere between Hugo Ball's phonetic psalms, a Sufi procession that turns into a brawl and a voodoo ritual, but always with a precision proper to the monomania of an asperger.

New 2x12" on Ear Clip Series.

E.N.M. steht fur Endlich Normale Menschen (E.N.M. stands for finally normal people, editor's note). This double opus, compiled by Low Bat, can be considered as a collection of friendships and encounters, where phlegmatism and melomania are intertwined. It includes tracks by F. Æmbient or Vamilienfa†er, two sheet metal artists from the Berlin experimental scene with their respective labels, Kashual Plastik and Bohemian Drips, as well as a track by Dame Area, a Barcelona duo that Low Bat booked during their 4 years of Berlin penitence.

The nine tracks oscillate between two main lines. The first record offers to discover a palette of more introspective feelings, where twilight layers cross broken rhythms and almost acidic progressions. The second, on the other hand, allows one to step by step to break away from this approach and look at introspection in a different way, alternating between unbridled joy (4K - Schabernak) and consistent melancholy (3H by Blume Attempt).

The third studio album from the Ghent-based Club Mayz is set for vinyl release in late February 2019 on Wool-E Discs.
The Gift of Surrender is a synth-wave record that's rooted firmly in the 80s yet glowers with its own moody, melancholic character. A dreamy trace of hope lends the LP the depth of character of a film soundtrack.

Up to kick off 2021 in the most adequately frenzied, thoroughly corrosive fashion, DDS04 serves up a quintet of chrome-tanned, hi-velocity beats courtesy of Italian hardware fetishist Anna Funk Damage (previously heard on the likes of Mind Records, Lux Rec, Lazy Tapes and more) and Austrian-Hungarian outfit Dutch Courage - alias Superskin & Új Bála - each of whom step up to the plate to deliver an exquisitely ear-wormy slice of their deranged industrial gospel.

A-side starts off to the sound of AFD's hard bouncin' "48 Hours Death" - a raw-cooked deluge of head-reducing EBM grit, flaring binary signals and Giallo-infused arpeggios out a blood-stained Suspirian tale. Fear for the deadly scalp hunters lurking in the club's darkest nooks, they've just sniffed out your trail.

Brutal churner "Youssef" picks up the torch and pulls out the quake-inducing breaks without further ado, dressed out with languorous Orientalistic melodies and steely distortions tailored to bend mind by the dozens. Forged in the furnace, the full-out punk-minded "I Come From Fire" rounds off the side on a drum and bass-heavy note, drawing as much from 60s psych-garage as it does from 80s deconstructionist tape music.

Flip sides and here's Budapest unit Dutch Courage taking the reins with the off-kilter treat "Hand Of The Sword" - navigating a weird zone of its own, floating astride post-apocalyptic Bristol bass, sliced-and-diced abstraction and overly textured yet equally bone-bruising riddims.

Wrapping up the journey with both force and serenity, "Neo-Soulmates" follows a similar path with its warped synth flexions and raucous machine cries making the rounds from one end of the spectrum to the other effortlessly, merging to give birth to something genetically contrasting from any contemporary. A most fitting finale to an EP that celebrates and encourages sonic bizarro in all its forms and manifestations.

‘ACR:EPC’ is the second of a trilogy of EPs by A
Certain Ratio.
‘ACR:EPC’ is dedicated to Andrew Weatherall.
All four tracks on ‘ACR:EPC’ are collaborations.
‘Emperor Machine’ is a collaboration with Andy
Meecham, also known as Emperor Machine.
‘YOYOGRIP’ is a collaboration with Maria Uzor
from Sink Ya Teeth and Jacknife Lee and ‘Music
Control’ is a collaboration with Chris Massey who
remixed ‘Dirty Boy’ in 2019. The track ‘The
Guv’nor’ is inspired by longtime ACR friend
Andrew Weatherall and is a collaboration in spirit.
The EP follows the band’s highly acclaimed album
‘ACR Loco’ and ahead of a nationwide tour.
12” pressed on cornflour blue vinyl with digital
download code.

Group Rhoda, the solo project of Mara Barenbaum, returns to Dark Entries with ‘Passing Shades’. An integral member of the Oakland electronic music scene, Barenbaum has been writing, performing, and plunging into oneiric depths as Group Rhoda since 2009. This is the project’s fourth LP, and the third time Barenbaum has collaborated with Dark Entries; previously on the Max & Mara LP ‘Less Ness’ in 2013 and the Group Rhoda LP ‘Wilderless’ in 2017.
Passing Shades is an investigation of the metaphysics of loss and the transitory nature of the material world. But it is not a grim collection; over 8 songs, Group Rhoda diverges through synthesizer-laden symphonics, four-to-the-floor inflections, and cosmic musings. Barenbaum’s striking voice and singular songcraft guide us through this labyrinth. Arpeggiated waltz “Flow” channels wisdom sought through martial arts; “Earthly Ark” sets a Margaret Atwood poem from the God Gardener’s Hymn Book to somber electronics. The vocoded canticle “Nevermore” is dedicated to the memory of a beloved cat. ‘Passing Shades’ is both mystifying and revelatory. Folk forms are echoed only to detour into the alien. Each song functions as both a fragment of a larger puzzle and a koan unto itself.
‘Passing Shades’ was mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The sleeve was designed by Eloise Leigh, and features a hazy, clouded sky. The back cover uses a photograph by Harry Crofton. A postcard featuring a poem by Barenbaum is included, as well as a digital download.

2023 Repress.

Music From Memory are excited to present the debut LP of Kaifeng born, Vancouver based artist Yu Su in collaboration with Chinese label bié Records. Titled 'Yellow River Blue' it is our first release of 2021 and the second collaboration between label and artist, following up on the strongly received EP 'Roll With The Punches' from 2019 on Second Circle.

Named after the world’s most heavily silted river, 'Yellow River Blue' is Yu Su's personal musical autobiography, constructed around stories of chasing something inconceivable. Written and recorded in different continents in between August 2019 and March 2020, all songs seek to musically translate years of moving and touring, temporarily settling, and the feelings of both being turned away and accepted. In her own words, “The world is my home and it isn’t, but as long as there is generosity of water and mud...” It is an homage to her home beside the Yellow River.

Yu Su's debut album consists of eight songs that are versatile in both writing and aesthetics. Versatile individually, consistent as a whole. Yu Su is in a class of her own, dodging the obvious while combining sounds and inspirations of various origins into a new destination that sounds like her home in the here and now. It's a release that is constantly in motion and moves fluently between contemporary pop, ethereal sound compositions and dance-floor experiments.

'Yellow River Blue' comes as part of a collaboration with Yu Su's co-founded new label bié Records and will be released as MFM052 in vinyl format by Music From Memory on January 25th 2021, after seeing a full digital album release via bié on January 22nd in the new Year of the Ox, according to the Chinese zodiac. Both formats come in different exclusively designed artworks.

Experimental music aficionado Baba Stiltz brings his songwriting to the fore on this new release entitled Rodeo. Baba explores Balearic dance/art-rock with melodic guitar hooks with live instrumentation. A super limited run of 150 copies only.

Recorded over the course of March 2020 in Bandung and Amsterdam, ‘Poe’ is a collaboration between Jonny Nash and Teguh Permana. Permana is a renowned player of the Tarawangsa, a two-stringed instrument used in the sacred Tarawangsa music of Sunda, Indonesia. Poe’, meaning ‘Days’ in Sundanese, is a meditation on death and rebirth as reflected in the passing of time and the changing of the seasons. Permana is also active in the group Tarawangsawelas who released their debut album on Morphine records in 2017.

With a string of sought after releases since launching last year, London label 'OPIA' are set to debut their sub label, Euphoric State. The London based label have built a solid reputation in a short space of time with 6 releases since 2018, releasing many respected names that position themselves firmly in the underground.

'EuphoricState001' is a certain nod to sounds of the past as they call on A² and Stopouts for the inaugural release, known best for their adventures on Alien Recordings in the late 90’s. The ‘Go With the Flo’ EP is the outcome of several studio sessions between 1998 and 2002 at Penthouse Studios (positioned at the top of their parents house).

Opener ‘You Gotta’ picks up the pace from the off, swooshing pads create a dream like state, opposed to the slick drum work involved. Keeping it driving on the A side is ‘Bliss’ pushing tribal drums but elements from the title exist through out. On the B side ‘Techfest’ comes in more sub heavy, with trance like keys progressing the track, more broken and building compared to the other tracks. Rounding off the Euphoric State launch is ’Suits You’ killer highs, and wavy elastic synths are the flavour here.

The debut from OPIA Records sub label, Euphoric State.

Cardinal & Nun returns to L.I.E.S. now with his debut lp, 8 songs of full on rotten stripped back, fuzzed out, synth punk mayhem. Straight to the head beautifully thrashing anthems, Cardinal & Nun goes in with catchy basslines, dissonant guitar chop ups, and vocals that creep from the shadows throughout the affair. Don't gas out though, there are some somber cuts on the b-side's "Whats Goin On Tonite?", "Pandemonium" and "Day After Day". A true gem in the French scene, now get in the pit and slamjack! Recommended.

After the first EP release on visible spectrum a year ago, we are happy to announce the second EP on this label. It was a crazy year of radical change, that has also affected the label and its curator for the choice of this release. For the second EP label founder Yuri Boselie, aka Cinnaman, dives into deep listening territories with the five track “Kingfisher” EP. With two guest contributions by Oko Ebombo and Tom Trago, he completed a refined and well-rounded dreamy ambient narrative.

The first track ‘Verité' is the exciting collaboration with the Parisian street jazz artist Oko Ebombo. It originated two years ago as Oko came to Amsterdam for a friendly visit, resulting in a weekend long musical session that produced this blissful slow house trip. The track ‘Lima' is inspired by a trip Yuri made to this wonderful city, where he made field recordings of sea pelicans flying over the sea while walking on the beach. The collaboration ‘Changes' with Tom Trago came together early 2020, in which emotional and painful events were captured in a deeper ambient piece.

Artwork is by Marilyn Sonneveld. 150 copies with post card insert.