Pop & Rock Vinyl New Releases - News

Cándido is the new artist upcoming at Soil Records.

Beatalicio is the new of the mini album that come up on vinyl at the end of September 2019. Includes 8 tracks influced for many styles from the New vawe, Synthcore, Ebm to the krishnacore from early 90´s.

Vinyl Only 2x12"

Minimood introduces a series of fusion releases between cold-wave, gothic, post-punk on the one hand and ambient, techno, house, electro on the other hand. We hope that the ensuing synthesis between categories disseminates novel as well as sustained types of inspiration. The first project in this series presents the song Wie Raben by the post-punk band Factice Factory with electronic interpretations by André Galluzzi, Christian Burkhardt, Iori, Reinhard Voigt, as well as ROD.

Originally released in 1978, Music By William Eaton is a private-press album from the accomplished experimental stringed instrument builder. The atmospheric recording techniques, mixed with a hint of Fahey/Takoma-lineage make for a listening experience akin to the mountainscape drawing represented on the album cover. The experience may seem simple at first, but like any great trip in nature, new details consistently reveal themselves upon each listen.

“When I started building instruments, playing guitar took on a whole new dimension. From the conception to the birth of each instrument, new layers of meaning unfolded. Cycles, connections and interdependencies became apparent as I contemplated the growth of trees from seed to old age, and the transformation from raw wood to the building of a musical instrument. I sought out quiet natural environments to play and listen to the “voice” of my 6 string, 12 string, 26 string (Elesion Harmonium) and double neck quadraphonic electric guitar. Deep canyons contained a beautiful resonant quality and echo. A starlit night with a full moon provided all the reflection and endless space by which to project music into the cosmos. The sound of a bubbling stream and singing birds added a natural symphonic tapestry to a melody or chord pattern. As I perceived it, everything was participating in a serendipitous dance. Everything was part of the music.

During this time, I decided to record an instrumental album of music. The idea was simple; it would be a series of tone poems with no titles or any information attached, only the words ‘Music by William Eaton.’ While some of the songs evolved out of composed chord progressions, most of the songs were played spontaneously, only on the occasion of the recording. These improvised songs haven’t been played since.” -- William Eaton

Recommended for fans of John Fahey, Harry Partch, Robbie Basho, Laraaji

Industrial/ EBM music from Dallas, Texas on black vinyl. Previously only distributed locally on cassette tape by the band in the year 1989-1990. Pressed and mastered by Stan Getz II at A+R Record Manufacturing Corporation (now Josey Records MFG). Label artwork by Stephen Watson of Sabstract Records.

(Record Store Day 2020)

Mannequin Records is proud to celebrate 40th years of Nocturnal Emissions with more reissues setup for 2020.

"Tissue of Lies" is the Nocturnal Emissions first album, released on the band's own Sterile Records label as EMISS001 in 1980. "Tissue Of Lies"
shows you Nocturnal Emissions Industrial roots, from noisy collages to classic power noise, reminding the early Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire, Faust ('Tapes' period) or Conrad Schitzler's 'Schwarz'.

The Nocturnal Emissions project, masterminded by Nigel Ayers, has been on the cutting edge of new music since the 1970s. Nigel Ayers has been described as a Guerrilla Sign Ontologist, cutting-up and pasting the contents of the human psyche. With a background in avant-garde art, his work has grown from audio visual installations through underground video works which changed the shape of British television.

In the early eighties Nocturnal Emissions hit London with a barrage of seminal funk; pioneering the use of sound samplers, multi-cultural
collage and electronic noise. They became a shape shifting chameleon lightening the darkness of post-industrial music, combining extremist performance art and video displays with apocalyptic beat music. Nocturnal Emissions have since been credited as a catalyst for a
generation or two of sound workers.

However, at the height of their success, the Emissions decided to shun the crass commercialism that had developed around them, and to develop their work as a secret alchemy. Nigel Ayers has continued to work with a strong underground of cult support, avoiding music industry fashions, and following his own creative path he concentrated on creating a strong sense of a wilderness identity through sound.

Limited edition of 600 copies, on solid white vinyl.

'Postlude' is the second release on Solitary Dancer's new imprint, Private Possessions. After having released on some of the world's most esteemed underground labels such as Dark Entries, Graded, and Optimo, Private Possessions was borne out of a desire to control all aspects of output pertaining to the development, creation, and dissemination of their music, video, and other media. Following their debut LP 'Rites Of Passage', 'Postlude' is a three-track affair which juxtaposes two of the album's floor-focussed cuts with an extended version of 'Test Dream'. The latter has been processed into a 15-minute "Devisualization" using degradation techniques that slowly destroys the piece over time, harkening the ever-changing lucidity and memories of our own dreams.

Ian Martin's Neo Modernist is an exercise in introspection, where things aren't always rosy. Confronting your anxieties and fears may not be pleasant but sometimes necessary to escape deterioration.
Ian Martin's music channels these feelings, and gives beauty to something that expressed in words can seem depressing.
One of Rotterdam's best kept secrets comes through with
maximum emotion and prowess - Take notice.

Pantayo explores what’s possible for contemporary kulintang music with the atonal blend of kulintang ensemble instruments with vocals and electronic production. The album features eight diverse songs speaking to Pantayo’s musical influences as queer diasporic Filipinas. Produced by Yamantaka // Sonic Titan’s alaska B, Pantayo was written and recorded from 2016-2019 in Toronto.

Pantayo is an audio diary of how the ensemble has grown together as writers and performers. The songwriting process started with members workshopping and performing traditional kulintang pieces from the Southern Philippines, often instrument-switching on the kulintang, agongs, sarunays, gandingan, bandir, and dabak. Adapting kick drums and synths to the modal tuning of the gongs further expanded Pantayo’s ability to incorporate modern musical expressions such as punk and R&B. “If you listen to the recordings of our rehearsals and songwriting sessions, you can hear us deconstructing the kulintang parts section-by-section and practicing our songs in different styles” says keyboardist and vocalist Eirene Cloma. “You can also hear how close we’ve gotten and how our creative workflow strengthened over the years.”

Grounded in the interpretation of kulintang music, Pantayo can be a vehicle for discussions around diasporic Filipino identity. All five members have different experiences of settling in Canada and with that comes their relationships with music. Kat Estacio, co-founder of Pantayo, says “One way that we can make this world feel like home for folks like us is to mix the kulintang music that we learned with different sounds and song structures that feel familiar to us."

SDH return with the Against Strong Thinking EP, which follows its 2018 self-titled album. Although six songs may be insufficient, their new tracks highlight the strengths of their debut. The beats are deeper, the atmospheres sadder.

The band continues to explore the musical language as a poetic form and trying to discover new questions that allow the great categories of thinking to be undone. Against Strong Thinking talks about the importance of facing all that categorical, dogmatic and conclusive thinking. There is a need for dialogue with everything that seems unquestionable. Again, the questions guide all the songs and, again, there is no single answer. Sometimes this doubt is fertile, sometimes it is painful and involves a total and profound loss.

The album begins with Suffer, a perfect song to cry in late night clubs, dancing with tears in your eyes. But SDH know how to make a crowd dance too. No Miracles is an instant banger and Your Next Story sounds cruelly sexy. Poem Against Strong Thinking and Four Arms have that melancholic trademark sound with interesting musical progressions that we discovered in their first album and there’s also a good surprise: the inclusion of a re-recorded version of You Pt. 12, the first song released by SDH in 2016, this time with a better production that makes it easily one of their best tracks.

The importance of the body, the senses, the dance and the dialectic is present in each theme as a form of struggle of a voice that dialogues with itself against the firmness of its own strong thoughts.

Mannequin Records is delighted to present their fourth full length of Polices des moeurs, the Canadian minimal synth duo formed by Francis Dugas and Manuelle Gauthier. With PÉRIL, Police des moeurs expands its sound and ventures into mysterious, bewitching and enigmatic landscapes. The foundation is still synthetic, minimal and punchy, relying on mechanical rhythm, powerful bass and catchy melodies, but it's now combined with more elaborate arrangements, punctuated by delicate textures and depthful laments with uncertain but sincere meanings.

Formed in 2010 in Montreal, Police des moeurs got noticed right from the start with its infectious and direct synth pop. The band has released several recordings, including Péril, their fourth full lenght album on Berlin's Mannequin Records. The Canadian group has performed in Mexico, the United States, as well as in ten European countries, and has share the stage with The Damned, ADULT., TR / ST, Xeno & Oaklander, Automelodi, Essaie Pas, Xarah Dion, Duchess Says, to name a few.

The Flying Luttenbachers’ “Shattered Dimension” is the first offering by the seminal cult band since 2007. It is released on CD and download on March 1st, 2019 via ugEXPLODE Records and on gatefold double LP in April 2019 via the Austrian God Records label. The current New York City based version of the group on this recording features stalwart leader and primary composer Weasel Walter on drums, saxophonist Matt Nelson (GRID, Elder Ones), bass guitarist Tim Dahl (Child Abuse, Lydia Lunch) and guitarist Brandon Seabrook.

"When we played live, we would bring out lawnmowers, pots and pans and pipes we would smash rhythmically with a mallet. Anything that made noise. And then there was also the
kraut-influenced, more ambient Dark Arts. I loved percussion, I loved beautiful things, but then, I could also whip out a chainsaw, you know."

"MUSAR" is excited about the return of MANASYt - Bulgaria's electro-synth pioneer, for ’Inferior Subjects', a new album, bubbling with madness and loaded with darkwave sounds. The 2nd part of MANASYt's lost tracks series, recorded between 2000's to 2010's and found in his old PC.

For his second release on MUSAR, Petar Tassev collected some of his best unreleased works to date, inspired by metal and new-wave music then interpreting the moody, roughness to a raw, pure and dark adventure, like no one else does. 'Inferior Subjects' consists of 8 dark and psychotic tracks that will take you deep into a futuristic dystopian world adventure - Opener ''Screw The Routine'' is a dark-wave fetishistic killer, pushing the clubby electronic music borders to new limits.

''Terminal Medicine'' is a deep psychedelichorror soundtrack to a very bad day at your dentist while ''Daylight For 15 Seconds‘' (inspired by the Belgian film 'Nuit Noire') is a slow hazy burner that will send you straight to the mental clinic ''Positive Deception'' is the anthem of the aliens while attacking earth, ’'Secret Time'' will lock you in a room where time moves backwards and forwards at the same time and ''Insect Sect'' a mystic electro piece of music for
a deep nightmare.

Closing the album - ''Metacontol'' and ''God of Chance'' two evil energetic electro bombs, pure chaos and full of post-punk elements, perfect for fetish party/techno rave, fitting for an artist given to performing live in a rubber 'gimp' mask. 'Inferior Subjects' will mark the beginning of 'MUSAR's' new limited Cassette Tape series that will focus on producers edgy sides and the wonderful weird side of electronic music.

'This album was created over the course of 2017-2018 and is heavily influenced by descriptions of landscape and environment in the work of authors Shusaku Endo, J.G. Ballard and Cormac McCarthy. Fragments from a land that is a largely silent place. An ancient place. A non-place. A wilderness.'

Dauw welcomes back the California based r beny to the label for his new album “echo’s verse”. It forms the follow-up of his acclaimed “saudade” album (selected as one of the best ambient albums of 2018 by Fact Magazine).

“Echo’s verse” forms no exception on that regard and continues along the same melancholic lines of his previous work. However, whereas the initial albums were much more centred around feelings of loneliness, isolation and solitude, the new album clearly moves away from a sole focus on sad and distressing emotions. “echo’s verse” touches the other side of the spectrum as it is about emotional connections, bonds and not feeling alone in the universe.

23rd January 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of The Human League’s seventh studio album ‘Octopus’.

Featuring 7 previously unreleased tracks, the 2CD format includes the original album plus a second disc of demos, singles and edits. Also featured are two bonus tracks that the band made with Yellow Magic Orchestra - “Behind The Mask” and “Kimi Ni MuneKyun”.

There is also a 140gm Black vinyl released on the same day.

Originally released in 1995 by EastWest Records, it was the first new album from The Human League in five years after the termination of their long-term contract with Virgin Records. ‘Octopus’ was the first album that presented the band as a trio consisting of the singers Philip Oakey, Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley. It was produced by Tears For Fears Ian Stanley and former band members Jo Callis and keyboard player Neil Sutton also contributed to the writing of the album.

The album's sound is notable for the nearly exclusive use of analogue synthesizers, a marked change from the band's primarily digital sound in the mid-to-late 1980s. The album saw a return to the public eye for the band, who had been out of the top ten since their 1986 album ‘Crash’. ‘Octopus’ was a commercial success.

The first single, ‘Tell Me When’ became the band's first top-ten hit in nine years, peaking at number six in the UK singles chart, with the second single ‘One Man in My Heart’ also breaking into the top 20. The album also saw similar chart success peaking at number six in the UK, becoming the band’s sixth top-ten album.

repress

Los Angeles based Principleasure releases his debut LP 'I (One)' on 30th April to critical acclaim. 'An enthralling debut album' according to Mixmag who promptly made it their Album of the Month, 'A brilliantly crafted debut album' proclaim Future Music Magazine and 'Brooding with icy contempt' say Electronic Sound in their full page review. With festival support from DJs as diverse as Dixon and AME to A-Trak, 'I' comes hot off the back of 3 EPs released in 2018, with videos from Hirad Sab (Sevdaliza) and Yoshi Sodeoka (Digitalism), support from BBC Radio 1 (Annie Mac) and KCRW (Mario Cotto).

After Où poser des yeux in 2009 and La paroi de ton ventre in 2013, Les Hommes-Boites are back with La copie d'un autre which will soon be released on Brussels' young and sparkling label Gnignignignigni. Composed of Carl Roosens, Emmanuel Coenen and Pascal Matthey, the band Les Hommes-Boites tells and sings funny stories of animals, look-alikes and dark rooms on happily haunting electronic, not to say pop-music. "On est toujours la copie d'un autre" ("We are always the copy of someone else").

Fred A. was a two-faced act. His musical grasp to the new wave-movement was countered by his lyrical love for Flemish and Dutch ‘kleinkunst’, and his progressiveness as a composer was in stark contrast with his restraint as a performer. ‘De Angst Voorbij’ is an anthology of those remnants, with eight songs derived from the most fertile period in the musical career of Fred A. The record translates how Gerry opened up again to his late musical endeavours, recalling the 30-years younger version of himself. “The music on this record is a testimony of my life back then. It is delimited in time, that’s why this whole feels coherent to me. It shows who I was back then and what I stood for. And that’s worth cherishing

Fourth vinyl of Diffuse Reality Records.

'Benjamin Lew was an enlightened amateur, in the noble and almost Renaissance-like sense of the word: he dabbled with equal grace in photography, writing, visual arts ... and worked part-time as a cocktail mixer in a tropical bar which was one of the favourite watering holes of Brussels' thriving artistic community of the early '80s. Tuxedomoon had just moved to Brussels, and Steven Brown was among the many musicians, designers & artists who patronized the bar. Benjamin had a secret passion: he wasn't a musician, but had acquired a small analog computer, with which he had started creating these strange mysterious little pieces. Benjamin played them to Steven and asked him if he'd agree to record with him. Steven was taken with them and accepted. The Douzième Journée was largely created in the studio by both protagonists, with the help of Gilles Martin and myself, in the spring of '82. Listening to his albums (he went on to record four more with Crammed) is like embarking on a dream journey to the Sahara or the Far East. You'd think that some of the pieces feature non-European musicians or samples but: no... this is just Benjamin's imagination, his synths, and his friends...'

Marc Hollander, Feb. 2019

Ivan Smagghe & Rupert Cross collaborate again.. and it's another beauty! TIP!

"This second LP on Offen is an ajar window overlooking the phantasmagoric world of Smagghe & Cross, a remembrance of days that never were. The music is sparse, the past is forever : ghosts of industries are conjured through the English countryside, fading memories play static with an idea of romance, the sun breaks through the iron clouds. A record free of uncouth nostalgia but laced with ethereal melancholia. "

When Elena Colombi launched the Osàre! Editions label in the autumn of 2019, she explained that the label would become home to bold, daring, future-facing music rooted in experimentation and free-spirited musical abandon. These are all descriptions that could apply to the label’s latest release, a retrospective album of little-known works by Greek musician and producer Thanasis Zlatanos.

Many will not have heard of Zlatanos, or Nekropolis, the band he fronted alongside dear friend and regular collaborator Trygve Mathiesen, yet the music he made during the 1980s was otherworldly, intergalactic and undoubtedly alluring. These songs and instrumentals made extensive use of analogue synthesizers and lo-fi drum machines, as well as Zlatanos’s trusted Gibson Les Paul guitar and his own distinctive voice.

Stylistically, the musician and producer refused to settle on a specific sound, preferring instead to create inspired, often mind-altering pieces that join the dots between wave music, skewed leftfield pop, ambient, prototype electronic and Madedonian folk music. Operating for much of the period from a crumbling house earmarked for demolition, Zlatanos kept up a daily music-making vigil that resulted in a vast vault of music, most of which has remained unissued since the 1980s.

The breadth of and width of Zlatanos’s distinctive approach is laid bare on Retrospective, a compilation album prepared by Colombi and the artist himself that draws on tracks from his numerous albums, those by Nekropolis – whose sophomore set “The New Europeans” was banned in Norway – and his epic archive of previously unheard material.

The artist’s singular but wide-ranging musical vision is free for all to see across the 13 tracks stretched across the vinyl version of the album (digital buyers also get a further four superb cuts). It veers attractively from the ghostly, traditional-meets-futuristic new age electronica of “The Crystal Sight (Excerpt)” and the doom-laden coldwave throb of “Master Chameleon”, to the undulating, soft-touch creepiness of “Surreal Moment”, the Vocoder-laden operatic poignancy of “The New Barbarians” and the squally guitar solos and effects-laden electronics of “The Light”.

Words from the artist___:
"I live in the Internet. Visits from outer space make me compose. I breathe here. I am the master chameleon, the psychedelic clown. I am not here anymore, neither in the picture, nor the reflection. Our bed is a boat that takes us tomorrow without us.

Here is an album of dreams and digital emotions. Analogue recordings made with a Prophet, a Moog Rogue, a tape recorder and a Gibson Les Paul guitar.

As far as I can remember I have always been in a recording studio. I listen to, understand and live my life through songs and music. I have worked alone and with friends such as Trygve Mathiesen. Although I am a guitarist, I continue to work with synthesizers on music that blends elements of Macedonian folk music, recordings from the streets and embryonic electronic sounds.

Some of my albums have been critically acclaimed, others banned by radio stations. For years I worked on endless recording sessions in a crumbling house that should have been torn down. The music on this retrospective compilation was recorded at various points between 1982 and the present day. Some of the compositions first appeared on previous albums, while others have never been released before. They were sat on tapes waiting for a saviour. Now that saviour has arrived and they can be free.

For further proof of Zlatanos’s unique sonic approach, check the startling contrast between the bass-laden slacker pop headiness of “No Expectations” and the spacey ambience of “The Dead Don’t Remember”. Considered together, the selected pieces and those elsewhere on Retrospective forms a snapshot of a genuinely unique and visionary musician, composer and producer. It’s a celebration of someone whose work has previously been overlooked."

First repress of this beautiful electro-chillwave LP from the Parisian producer In Love With a Ghost.

In the midst of fluffy and minimalist orchestrations or 8-bit intrusions, melodies are unveiled. The atmospheres are mixed and will transport you to another dimension : the carefully crafted IN LOVE WITH A GHOST universe.

Poetic, rich and complex “Healing” tells us a history of encounter, witch, magic and friendship. Stories that everyone can appropriate by taking inspiration from the titles, the illustrations and of course the haunting melodies that make up this original soundtrack of an imaginary video game devised by the young french composer.“

We welcome to the mighty Moustache records family: Kendal a french producer based in Toulouse. His 4 tracker hits Manifesto Ep bring us a dystopian italo vibe from the past, present and the Nofuture where the flesh merging with the machine. The A1 track called: Ultimo It's a tale about a world where jesus turns the water into proseco and the preacher jams on his 707 to bring new believers into italo disco church. A2: Profondo rosso: Humanity as gone. One spaceship drifts into space seeking the new promised land. Maybe this big red planet with its lush jungle. B1 Giallo Inferno: She put on her favourite blue velvet dress and her red lipstick. She's alone in the mansion. Black leather gloves is hidding in the dark B2 Corpo Meccanico: When Deckard chasing some fuckin renegade replicant over Los Angeles 2019 that what it turn up loud on his radio. Perfect OST for cyborg's killing spree. This in a great full colour sleeve and an even greater 12inch Artwork. Watch out for this cult italo disco dance classic. Gone is Gone!

2x12"

Karl O’Connor (Regis) rallies the Downwards troops for the odd family portrait of ‘Let Love Decide’, including the first new Concrete Fence collab between Regis and Haswell since that killer PAN hookup, plus all new and exclusive tracks by label staples Mick Harris, Nick Dunton, Simon Shreeve, DVA Damas and Karl Meier, plus Rachel Aiello’s Layne, and Khrone/Mjolsness (Male) and various appearances by Regis himself in different formations.
Cutting across the face of the label, ‘Let Love Decide Pt.1’ is the first part of Downwards’ contemporary portrait series aligning veteran hands with the new class of mutant industrial disciples. The nine tracks include a strong clutch of exclusive projects such as the EBM supergroup You Hung - a quartet of Nick Dunton (vocals), Jim Siegel (drums), Simon Shreeve (Live mix and Studio), and Karl O’Connor (synth) - and Karl & Ken Meier’s “ambient” alias Obelus, cued up beside previously unheard Fret gear by Mick Harris and a Cub collab between Karl O’Connor and Simon Shreeve, to highlight the label’s strength in diversity and shared purpose.
Naturally, the label kingpin Karl O’Connor is a constant throughout the compilation, a connective ligature that ties the slurred slow techno of Cub’s ‘Teenage Fists’ to the live band EBM praxis of You Hung, where O’Connor’s synth underlines Krishna Goineau-styled vox by Nick Dunton (65D Mavericks) and the gnashing drums of Jim Siegel (Raspberry Bulbs), as well as the welcome reappearance of his Concrete Fence duo with Russell Haswell in a sharp cut of pranging industrial funk that sounds like vintage Autechre, chopped and skewed.
Following his turn in Cub, Simon Shreeve also weighs in his powerful studio pressure on the soggy, gothic lurch of ‘The Space Between Cultures’, while Mick Harris ramps the distortion on a ravenous Fret cut ‘Helicopter Rig’. The rest is essentially a showcase of the label’s American ambassadors,
taking in the scuffed modular dub brawl of ’Scale Reference’ by Karl & Ken Meier’s Obelus beside Layne’s blank-eyed swagger, and a stark shot in the ambient unknown by Jonathan Khrone & Benjamin Mjolsness (aka Male), while L.A.’s DVA Damas stretch out across the D-side on a stripe of sexy darkwave-techno rolige.

Newest full LP by Yobkiss who has been active for over a decade now with stunning releases on a multitude of modern labels. Never a dull moment on this well-crafted album. Best described as an emotive journey, YobKiss explores the regions where techno, electro, acid house, and that hard-to-define Dutch sound; all melt into pure analog synth magic. Standout dancefloor burners include "Silence Arriving" (with Yuko Araki on vocals) and "Full Moon Party". Mastered by the legendary Alden Tyrell. Limited Edition.

Berlin-based Mechatronica founder Daribone presents a potent blend of EBM, new beat and electro on "Body Realism", the fourth record in the label's limited edition White series of hand stamped vinyl-only releases.

A wild ride into the Chilean producer's vivid take on reality, spirituality and fantasy, the EP moves from slow-burning mantras and religious mania on "Shamanic Tendencies" and "Yolavi Bahar" through the hazardous alien landscapes of "Upper Norfair" and a final encounter with the Mechanoid beings, gatekeepers between our consciousness and the universe.

Must we keep believing reality is something real, or is it time to embrace the tickling blood that keeps us intrigued and rising into eternal heights of surreal magnificence We always were born confident, that you would be more than a splatter of dust on our mother earth.

The collective returns with their 6th release, welcoming new music in the post-disco-punk-wave spectrum from Parma Italy's Csk, Berlin newcomer Dame Bonnet, Bogota's live duo The postmodernism forms and a giant collaboration between Damon Jee and Alvaro Cabana: Holographic Planes (Spain/France).

Contagious is a solid blending of avant-garde experimentation and electronic music. Formed by two innovative voices from the Improvisation scene of Berlin (Andrea Neumann and Sabine Ercklentz) and Mieko Suzuki, a well-crafted and creative DJ and musician who’s operating in Berlin venues and festivals since a long time.

Contagious is one of the most forward thinking, mind-melting projects to hit the electronic music scene. Intense and powerful, yet rooted in a tradition of crafting and sculpturing of in the most creative ways, all this building up within a solid structure of instant composition and improvisation. The trio plunder each other’s musical spheres, appropriate them and switch roles. Andrea Neumann on her infamous Inside Piano, an instrument she pioneered and crafted, is applying the most creative feedback processing to simple piano strings and sending them occasionally to Mieko Suzuki’s processing rig, who also uses her own pre-recorded sounds and her skills on turntables, while Sabine Ercklentz’s trumpet sounds blast through her processing system and altogether the three musicians communicate into logics of composition and futuristic structures, where fragile sound textures and pulses become monumental.

Contagious is also the debut album recorded and produced by Rabih Beaini. The Trio wanders in new aesthetic areas, sound is a texture where the processing rigs are constantly developing new forms and evolutions. Structures and grooves implode in noisy fragments, growing into a deep trance state.

Left Ear have put together a collection of recordings taken from the elusive Berlin band I.A.O., spanning their third phase from 1988 to 1995. Phase III commemorates the bands final line-up of three members; Achim Kohlberger, Ralf Östereich and Carsten Zielske. The sounds on this retrospective vary widely, however, link with threads of melancholic sequences, angular jamming and a focus on electronic soundscapes.

The tracks are pinned against a backdrop of political and social unrest in Berlin at the time. Two different cities had become one with the fall of the wall, driving a bubbling subculture attempting to reunite the capital. Seemingly irrelevant to what I.A.O. was producing, these territories dance parallel to one another. In the late 1980’s, Achim Kohlberger of the band and partner Dimitri Hegemann, were orchestrating ‘Atonal Festival’, these days known as Berlin Atonal. Soon after, they set-up of one of the first techno clubs in the world - UFO, today known as Tresor.

I.A.O. cites the cast of personalities they would come across in the clubs and pubs as influential in their songwriting, artists, outsiders or the ‘general dropouts.’ However, the works of IAO far resemble techno music. Phase III’s opening track Gospel IV introduces the band with their patience and restraint, synthesizers work to reveal folding melodies. The downtempo voyage continues with Marshmallow Girls, an insight into the band’s sensitive observations and hazy imagery. All Is Bliss presents a vocal mantra cooperating with nagging bass lines and euphonic percussion. Meanwhile, two instrumentals Love and Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Little Star both typify and defy timeless dancefloor paradigms. The compilation signs off with Ferns, binding the icy yet bright tones found throughout.

Nuovo Testamento is a new half-American half-Italian trio featuring members from Horror Vacui, Sheer Mag, Tørsö, Terremoto and Crimson Scarlet. With such references you wouldn’t expect this to be any less good than it actually is. Exposure is their very first recording and its six songs perfectly blend colwave bass lines, minimal electro beats, synthpop melodies, ethereal female vocals. That’s why we decided to give this its well-deserved vinyl run after the first band-released tape limited edition. Expect more from this cult in the future but for now we only have a couple hundred copies here so don’t snooze on this.

Figuring out who'd do the remixes wasn't an easy task. After a long wait we can now announce that a new 12 inch will be out on Rotten City Records with a newer version of the original (previously released in Born bad Records), plus 2 brand new remixes from the infamous Marvin & Guy and the Franco-Spanish duo Holographic Planes, formed by no others than Damon Jee and label owner Alvaro Cabana.

We are adding to this release a remix of Vox Low of "Black Lake" from My Broken Frame, a track that came out only on digital on Gimme Shelter. This is a unique chance to get your copy of this amazing limited release. 200 x 12" in solid white (numbered), and 100 x 12" in black, so you better be quick!

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

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

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

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

Repress

1/2 GOTT is the new project of Sneaker from Dresden/Berlin and Scannoir from Zurich, who share their love for EBM and Synth Pop not only when DJing but also when producing. In several nights and with the help of a decent group of instruments, they have evoked a series of tracks that can certainly be subsumed as New Swiss wave. The first record is entitled 1/2 GOTT and will be followed by GOTT in the foreseeable future. The result is music that sounds as if the Iron Curtain had never fallen. Although Sneaker likes to step to the microphone, he leaves the vocals to Scannoir, who gives the perfect counterpart for the menacing beats with his deep laments. The tracks are little masterpieces in the matter of repetition with whipping drums and off-beat percussions. However, they cannot disguise their hymn-like gesture. This must be the sound of a sunrise over the industrial area.

Following on from the excellent 'Le personnage principal est un peuple isolée' compilation - a four track EP of deeply psychedelic jams from the early 80's. TIP!