Pop & Rock Vinyl New Releases - News

Montreal electronic duo Essaie Pas are back with their fifth album (their second on DFA Records).

Essaie pas always seek out fresh challenges. After all, there's a whole universe of sounds, sights, and new ideas to explore. Emerging from Montreal's sprawling electronic scene, the duo - Marie Davidson and Pierre Guerineau- feel completely free to express themselves, to sketch out hitherto unmapped musical regions.
Forthcoming album New Path takes this one step further. The duo's fifth album to date - and second on powerhouse label DFA Records -is loosely based on Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly', a classic of dystopian science fiction.
I read the book a long time ago, maybe 15 years ago, and it had a strong impression on me,' explains Pierre. In our previous work we always looked to music as inspiration in our lives, but this time we felt the desire to try something different, that's not based on ourselves but on someone else's universe. It was going to be more conceptual, more political.'
New Path touches on personal ground, on addiction, loss, and the lingering strength of identity within late capitalism's mass media paranoia. It pins down the central character's destructive addiction, using this as a metaphor to explore the dichotomous rupture between our inner lives and our social environment, one that is often fed and soothed by drug abuse, social media, or any kind of dependence.
I think it touches us on many levels,' Pierre continues. We can talk about drug addiction issues, we can talk about the mass surveillance world we live in, but there's also the experience of loss, of grief. I was surprised by how the book felt so modern and accurate to the time we live in right now. Dick's visions of surveillance are the reality of social control today.'
It's a record that continually ties itself in knots, a puzzle that is outwardly beguiling while the solutions remain inherently allusive. As Pierre points out, it's even present in the title. I like the fact that it sounds optimistic, but in the book it's actually an illusion,' he explains.
But it's a challenge met with humour, picking up on the wry elements of Philip K. Dick's own writing - witness the subtle wit of songs such as 'Complet Brouillé', 'Les Agents Des Stups' or as in 'Futur Parlé's tripped-out lyrics, offsetting intense themes with something a little more playful.
The conceptual nature of New Path belies the subtle personal shifts within the band. A husband and wife duo, Essaie pas thrive on freedom, on parting to focus on outside projects in Montreal and Berlin before returning renewed, flushed with fresh inspiration.
Both personally and for Essaie pas it's good that both of us have separate projects,' he explains. Marie has been constantly touring solo for the last year. On my side I've been producing other people's music (Bernardino Femminielli, Pelada or Sleazy to name a few). Collaborating in the studio with talented people with unique aesthetics and different creative processes is really refreshing as an artist.'
The complexity of the project mirrors the complexities within Essaie pas' career to date - forever unpredictable, their wiry, individual sound offers a tangled vision of tomorrow's aesthetics. I think this was the main challenge,' muses Pierre. To adapt what we've been doing live, which before was always changing, and corner it, make it cohesive'.
Ultimately, what the duo want is a challenge, to be forced to raise their expectations again and again, to look continually to the future. This is cold music for cold times, yet beneath this lies a continual search for the humane.

Limited to 250 numbered transparent red 180g vinyl in beautiful high gloss sleeve

Includes unlimited streaming of Nil By Mouth: The Singles via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

For the 23rd release on Pinkman, Rotterdam based Mitchell Goor delivers a 4 tracker of slow, raw and warped Techno. The contrast between unpolished percussive instruments and ethereal melodies reoccurs throughout the release and gets polished and refined by haunting vocal samples and pungent acid bass lines. This gives the record an ability to take audiences on rollercoaster rides through tension and anger as well as hope and promise, powered by permanent, adrenaline stimulating, raw energy.

Paper Dollhouse is the production alias of Astrud Steehouder and Nina Bosnic. Having previously recorded albums for Jane Weaver and Finders Keepers' Bird imprint, plus the Folklore Tapes and Night School labels. The Sky Looks Different Here arrives via the group's independently ran MoonDome imprint. Paper Dollhouse have collaborated and performed with artists including Old Apparatus, The Wolfhounds, Daniel O'Sullivan, Killing Sound, DB1, Joe Cocherell and Pye Corner Audio, and their music has been featured in mixes by Skee Mask, Mark Pritchard, Blackest Ever Black, Lobster Theremin, Lanark Artefax and Ancient Methods.

The Sky Looks Different Here features twelve tracks that draw parallels between the project's past roots in spidery post-punk electronica and a neon-lit, radioactive ambient pop sensibility. This has lead to the creation of what is sure to be the most concise and realised Paper Dollhouse record yet. One that mixes the group's signature brand of darkwave influenced left-field pop, urban field recordings and electronic composition.

Kris Baha turns to Pinkman with a standout 5 tracker blending influences and ranging from EBM, darkwave and experimental electronics. What makes them work together is a shared industrial edge, spine-chilling atmospheres and minimalistic vocals. By finding excellence in diversity this record is equally suited for boiling dance floors and home listening purposes.

A lot of bands are trying what The Exorcist are doing, to make timeless, mind bending, dance music but they often fail in reaching all the way. The Exorcist is the band that seem to exist in a dimension, much like ours but that lacks time as we know it; time is stretchable backwards and forward, and being in this dimension allows you to travel while, still staying in one place. Call it time travel if you will or moving outside of time rather. The Exorcist does this. Also they reach our dimension.

The members who also can be found in Uran, Tentakel, and Sork among others, formed The Exorcist in 2012 and started by playing illegal techno clubs for the true undercurrent citizens of Gothenburg, Sweden. The reputation of this dangerous psychedelic band, who plays funk the way funk should be played soon reached Stockholm where they got a cult following just by word of mouth. Over the past four years their following has grown exponentially!

The recording of 'II' was a trip into the abyss and back, with a lot of time and money spent, outrage from the members and record label executives biting their nails down to the bone. But that is how The Exorcist works - tension is a vital part of this bands nature, hence it's sound. The tracks' aggressive approach and the feeling of being possessed by something evil lurking inside of you mirrors the process of making this album. But listening to the album back to back and hearing how the songs intertwine, lets the true face of The Exorcist shine brightly over you.

'II', released on Hoga Nord Rekords is dimension expanding and time dissolving music.

Pinkman welcomes Maenad Veyl to its roster of artists for his debut release in the form of the labels second tape. 'Make Them Remember' sets the gloomy mood with clattering percussion and ghostly synth lines. The messy drum patterns of Taiko Death Rhythm' are breaking up the cold mist. The A-side of the cassette is completed by the melodic slow burning energy of 'D.M.M.R.M'. On the other side 'State ov Apprehension' and 'Sotto Gli Occhi Tutti' further darken the character, to then pave way for 'In Ruins' to finish the damage with it's ethereal, yet soul ripping guitar riffs. *** Digital download code included ***

Sam de la Rosa, best known under the alias Samuel Kklovenhoof of the band Led Er Est and with Karen Sharkey of The Coombe, is back on Mannequin Records for a stunning 4-tracks electro-wave-experimental release.Texas born but strongly connected with the New York cold wave and disco scene from mid 2000, and the Wierd Records family, Sam's music is a clever mix of post punk, electronic hybrids, experimental pop and catchy melodies.Additional mix by Michael Stein from S U R V I V E, already debuting on Mannequin Records back in 2011, before to get worldwide known for the Netflix's 'Stranger Things' soundtrack.

After issuing some 200 or so tapes in the last five years, artist collective Ascetic House have finally deployed their first salvo of vinyl editions, now available in Europe for the first time.

Din: Featuring members of DVA Damas and the Jealous God crew with an honest nod to the minimal/dark-wave originators...

Mastered by Joshua Eustis and Giuseppe Ielasi, with artwork design by JS Aurelius, these LP's are housed in reverse board full color jackets lined with high gloss black flood printing.

French artist Ta-Ra (previously known as Ta-Ha) has built up quite a following since arriving on the scene with her hit track Lil Bit. Now clocking up over 1 million views on YouTube the track set her apart from the crowd and laid the foundation for her self-released TuaregShawty EP in 2014. After a string of shows across Europe and the Far East Ta-Ra (real name Tania) is ready to drop her first vinyl, in the form of mini LP 'SunrayZ'. Collaborating with fellow French producers like NxxxxxS & Myth Syzer (among others) she's delivered 8 tracks of dreamscape R&B for the heads. Whether it's the Blade Runner esque 'Kawaskai Ninja' evoking luminous, noir like imagery or the hazy, chill-wave transitions of 'Death Ray' - Ta-Ra constantly reminds us why so many are hooked on her ethereal sound.

Artificial Dance is a new record label from Amsterdam. This is the imprint's debut release. It is the first ever release from young Dutch DJ/producer Job Sifre, previously best known for his fortnightly Antikunst show on esteemed Amsterdam institution Red Light Radio.
Worries offers an extended glimpse at Sifre's unique musical vision. It is one that draws heavily on vintage electronic music for inspiration, but also feels fresh and futurist in tone. In turns dark, industrial, hypnotic and mind-altering, the six-track EP bristles with impactful moments of magic.

Check, for example, the gnarled, Mascara-clad intoxication of Element', where fuzz-laden, end-of-days guitars, snaking Middle Eastern style melodies and gruff vocals wrap themselves around cranky drum machine beats. It's like classic European industrial music re-imagined for the 21st century. Then there's Flotter', whose throbbing arpeggio bassline, lo-fi machine drums and foreboding synthesizer melodies combine to create a chilling but muscular mood.

Sifre's love of electronic body music can be heard within the bustling, all-action bassline, fizzing electronics, razor-sharp guitar riffs and matter-or-fact vocals of Worries'. Our young hero continues in a similar vein on pulsating dancefloor bubbler Intex Excursions', which sounds a little like forgotten heroes of 1980s industrial funk dancing all night with modern Dutch electro maestros.

The twisted, distorted nature of Sifre's far-sighted approach is given further weight via A Dime 4ur Decline', an apocalyptic stroll through skittish machine drums, panicked electronics, modular style bleeps and haunting strings.

A sterling debut outing is completed by the EP's mind-altering moment: Planet Stoner'. As clattering percussion hits and clandestine bass whisk us towards an unknown destination, undulating electronic motifs, spiraling synthesizer lines and drifting Arabic flute samples join forces to ratchet up the intensity. By the time the track reaches its breathless conclusion, you'll be in no doubt about Sifre's production credentials.

This LP + bonus CD features the entire track listing, plus 5 bonus tracks from the Italia New Wave LP. This album represents the musical mutation that occurred after the post-punk hangover gave way to more frigid emotional shores, in-line with the synth-wave moment that was sweeping Europe and the white cliffs of Albion. This scene flourished in Italy between 1981-1985, and the musicians that came out of it are still revered today (particularly in the US). Robotic rhythms and intuitions that, besides sharing common ground with the electronic movements that had come before, also knew how to fill up the dancefloor! Featuring four previously unreleased tracks by Der Blaue Reiter, along with tracks by Modo, Actor's Studio and La Maison, as well as the still fresh sounding contributions by true pioneers of the genre Neon and Naif Orchestra.

hysterical little punk electro souind ! Extreme and powerfull ! Undeground NYC band !

Limited to 222, handnumbered, insert, artowrk in 5 different colors

The Green Child is the long distance musical collaboration of Mikey Young and Raven Mahon, who met in 2013 in when their bands, Total Control and Grass Widow played a show in Oakland, California. They started writing songs together in Australia in 2014 and the project has been on a slow burn since. Their self-titled debut album is the culmination of few years of putting ideas together internationally and periodically recording in Mikey's home studio. Some of the lyrical content and the band's name was inspired by Herbert Read's 1935 utopian, communist, sci-fi novel called The Green Child. 
 
With such a choice name, it's no surprise that The Green Child draw their sound from an illusory past as much as they stalk into pastures new. Broadly retro-futuristic in scope, verdant acres of lushly evocative synthesizers and blippy drum machines underpin most of their upbeat yet decidedly uncanny songs. Raven's calmly scenic and measured vocal flits like a will-o'-the-wisp throughout the tracks, proffering a guiding hand as she walks us through the often eerie, electronic concoctions.
 
'Traveler' opens the album all redolent, beat-minded and labyrinthine. Twisting melody lines swirl and envelop like a sandstorm, whilst Raven coolly projects on a solitary man' lost to green oblivion'. Similarly, 'Her Majesty II' glistens with its playful yet plaintive vocal and iridescent arpeggios, whilst 'Bertha' slows things down with tumbling chimes and stately use of space.
 
The Green Child are adept at atmosphere, their songs are refined from gently unfolding ideas that never fail to realise and build to their potential. Tracks like 'Walking Distance' (featuring Al Montfort on saxophone) and 'New Years Eve' are exercises in evolved composition with ideas budding off and blossoming into truly resonant dimensions. The band's cover of 'Marie Elene' (by Keith Pearson) and closing track 'Destroyer' are further crowning achievements, both pieces subtly handled with poise and ample melancholic grandeur. The Green Child fix their sights on the heights they want to reach within their songs and much like the project itself don't want to rush to the finish line. When it becomes more about the unfurling journey, why not take the time to enjoy the trip and burn slower

Essential recordings by this minimal synth master of our age. Deluxe re-issue edition of Martial Canterel's third album from 2006. Originally released on cassette only, now on vinyl for the first time.

With the staccato surge and somber vocalizing of DAF, the distorted synthetic soundscapes of Dirk Ivens' eeriest work, and the industrial strength of The Young Gods, Martial Canterel's earliest outings are a bleak intellectual exercise in the dark and danceable. His music creates a cold atmosphere, and has an ominous melancholy feel to it. The emotional, and sometimes dark feel of the album is everything electronic new wave music should be. it's futuristic, robotic, and at the same time, nostalgic.

In 2002 Sean McBride began performing at bars, clubs and private parties in Brooklyn, NY, functioning singlehandedly as the pioneer and instigator of what would become a new movement of minimal electronic bands in the United States. Inspired both by the first wave of relatively unknown minimal electronic bands in Northern Europe (a musical genre also often referred to as 'minimal synth') and the seminal industrial noise bands such as Throbbing Gristle, SPK, and Cabaret Voltaire.

Since then, McBride's bleak intellectual exercises in the dark and danceable have flooded North America and Europe through the frosty fairwaves paved by Pieter Schoolwerth's Wierd Records. With an inimitable minimal style merging bright, urgent melodies ornamented and punctuated by the noises of industry and McBride's sonorous, stern vocals, Martial Canterel's earlier releases (You Today, Austerton) have garnered both critical acclaim and a rapidly growing rabid fan base. Sean is also one half of the duo Xeno & Oaklander together with Miss Liz Wendelbo.

Essential recordings by this minimal synth master of our age. Deluxe re-issue edition of Martial Canterel's debut album from 2004. Originally released on cassette only, now on vinyl for the first time.

With the staccato surge and somber vocalizing of DAF, the distorted synthetic soundscapes of Dirk Ivens' eeriest work, and the industrial strength of The Young Gods, Martial Canterel's earliest outings are a bleak intellectual exercise in the dark and danceable. His music creates a cold atmosphere, and has an ominous melancholy feel to it. The emotional, and sometimes dark feel of the album is everything electronic new wave music should be. it's futuristic, robotic, and at the same time, nostalgic.

In 2002 Sean McBride began performing at bars, clubs and private parties in Brooklyn, NY, functioning singlehandedly as the pioneer and instigator of what would become a new movement of minimal electronic bands in the United States. Inspired both by the first wave of relatively unknown minimal electronic bands in Northern Europe (a musical genre also often referred to as 'minimal synth') and the seminal industrial noise bands such as Throbbing Gristle, SPK, and Cabaret Voltaire.

Since then, McBride's bleak intellectual exercises in the dark and danceable have flooded North America and Europe through the frosty fairwaves paved by Pieter Schoolwerth's Wierd Records. With an inimitable minimal style merging bright, urgent melodies ornamented and punctuated by the noises of industry and McBride's sonorous, stern vocals, Martial Canterel's earlier releases (You Today, Austerton) have garnered both critical acclaim and a rapidly growing rabid fan base. Sean is also one half of the duo Xeno & Oaklander together with Miss Liz Wendelbo.

Electronic Emergencies is thrilled to work together with brand new New York label Sangron Records on the 10-track compilation album 'Sangron Volume 1'. Compiled by Skeleton Head's Leo Torres, the compilation draws from the U.S. underground with songs from minimal synth pioneers Crash Course in Science and Mark Lane, alongside contributions from Skeleton Head, Revival Times, M/A/N/O/S, Ortrotasce, Minima Moralia, Silent Em, Horoscope and Paper Music. Moody, dancefloor-friendly and rebellious, this is "music for dissidents".

Debut release from Dust Witch. A 5-piece synth outfit that recall the heyday of 70's prog rock. Their sound is tight, complex and densely layered - recalling Goblin at their most fluid, and Yes during their most wigged out moments. What sets them apart from their current synth wave contemporaries is not only their exceptional song writing skills but the addition of live drums & guitar which gives their dense sound an extra kick, and a very human element missing from most current synth acts operating today. This 7-Inch single, pressed on 140g vinyl features artwork by Daniel Danger.

Konstruktivists is nevertheless than Codex Empire ... this Industrial band is his originas...and the one from a bunch of other surprising things... like mebers of Whitehouse, Founders of Third Eye Foundation or publishers of Impulse... 80's Indsutrial mafia baby ! But still active. Record comes in a printed sleeve and poster and inserts etc... BIG UP !

mitra mitra was formed in Vienna in late 2014 by Violet Candide and Mahk Rumbae.

Originally from New Zealand, Violet Candide is a founding member of the Crazy Hospital DJ collective, and one of the organisers of the legendary Future Echo club night in Vienna, and is one half of Anesthetic Hairpins.

British musician Mahk Rumbae is known for his work as a member of the industrial/experimental project Konstruktivists, Oppenheimer MkII (with Andy Oppenheimer of Oppenheimer Analysis) and his solo techno project Codex Empire.

After working together on one of Violet's solo songs, Heat, the pair decided to continue working together as mitra mitra, with the aim of writing electronic songs not tied to any particular influence or style.

mitra mitra have so far released a limited 7" single on Polytechnic Youth and a self-titled debut album on their own label Micromort Music - both of which sold out almost immediately.

For their new EP, released in conjunction with Peripheral Minimal, they present four new songs, including live favourites The Flood and One Universe, as well as Snakes and Phantom Flats. Rounding off the 6 track EP are two special remixes from LowSea, who remix Snakes, and IV/AN who remixes Blender (from the debut LP).

Espectrostatic's 3rd LP, Silhouette, comes to vinyl for the first time as a hand-numbered limited edition of 500 on transparent Spectre Blue wax with download card. Including re-imagined artwork and insert by Hauntlove.Silhouette, the follow-up LP to 2014's Escape from Witchtropolis, is a seductive and enthralling mix of creepy horror and melodic beauty.Alex Cuervo's Espectrostatic moniker once again manages to create its own world and effortlessly draws you into his dark creation. As soon as the opening track 'The Corridor' begins you know immediately whose dystopian world you have entered.The melancholic beauty of 'The Day We Were Captured' will melt you without remorse, building synth upon synth atmosphere. There is also a fun and teasing side as highlighted on 'Dead End City' with its post punk drums and guitar flare.

Recorded in 1981, this classic album took the band further down the road of despair, initiated with Seventeen Seconds, with an album full of mournful atmospheric tracks, including their hit single, 'Primary.' Includes 6 bonus tracks in a deluxe gatefold 180 gram 2LP version.

Mannequin Records is proud to celebrate their 9 year anniversary with the release of this masterpiece of 80s Italian new wave, and a cornerstone of Italian rock.
.
It was the end of the 70s, when Federico Fiumani, together with two classmates, gave life to the embryonic line up known as CFS. The acronym is formed by the initials of the members. Cicchi (Gianni, drummer), Fiumani (guitar and voice) and
Susini (Salvatore, bass). Later, Susini was replaced by the brother of Cicchi, Leandro. The new incarnation of 'Diaframma' was born, with the singer now replaced with Nicola Vannini. From their earliest momenets they were sharing the same stages cathching the a simialr fanbase as their friends Neon, Pankow and Litfiba - whom all contributed transforming the Tuscan capital into the epicenter of Post-punk in Italy.

Redeemer is the brutally seductive debut album by Phase Fatale, a key player in the recent charge of EBM and post punk-informed industrial techno infecting 'floors from his home city, NYC to his DJ residency at Berghain, Berlin. In Dominick Fernow's Hospital Productions, Phase Fatale finds a fitting home for his personalised brand of clinical, rictus rhythm programming and searing synth and guitar lines, adding a vital streak of black and blue electric energy to the legendary label in its 20th year of cultish operation.
In seven parts (and a trio of extended Silent Servant mixes due to come), Redeemer follows the direct, jagged lines of his 12's for Jealous God and Unterton to a deeply personal realisation of weaponised sonics, upholding a strong tradition of techno as a prophetic exercise or ritual to gird dancers and listeners for the onset of future war. It presents Phase Fatale as an ultimate emissary of electronic violence and domination in the process, steeling the limbic system and muscle memory thru a fine-tuned disciplinarian approach to pharmacokinetics and biomechanics.
Picking from the leather-bound cadaver of industrial dance music past, Phase Fatale reanimates his influences with pointillist precision and unapologetic force. Alloying muscular bass and metallic percussion with wire-combed 16th note synthlines and a barbed perimeter of guitar distortion, his sound can be heard as a metaphorical representation of holding your line against the attrition of a degenerated present.
Each track dances concisely around the 5 minute mark, unfolding a series of densely packed and subtly rendered minimalist/maximalist structures. The shuddering tension of Spoken Ashes opens with banks of rotted chorales against a coalface of hacking stabs, establishing a pent vibe that vacillates precariously thru the adrenalised battery of Operate Within, to the clenched funk of Human Shield and the bombed-out,
Alberich-alike Interference, seeming to resolve slightly with the supple roll of Order of Severity, before Beast bottoms out into immolating synth distortion, and Redeemer brings up the rear with a coolly-tempered, stoic form of industrial ecstasy.

Abstract Reality presents you an album by French artist Leonard Lampion. It gathers a one hour selection of cuts that explores several different musical landscapes. Harsh industrial tracks share the tape alongside dark drone ambient, tribal sounds and downtempo emo feelings. Side A is the more dancefloor oriented side, while side B explores more experimental paths.

35 years later, the band formed from the ashes of the Sex Pistols by Paul Cook and Steve Jones is back. Revitalised, re-energised and reinvigorated. What In The World bristles with conviction and finds The Professionals on electrifying form, delivering some of the most ballsy, honest and downright brilliant songs of their career. We're not breaking any musical boundaries - we're doing what we do best. From the heart with energy and integrity.' Paul Cook and Paul Myers were reunited on stage touring with Vic Goddard's Subway Sect. There the idea sprang to revisit The Professionals. New frontman and guitar player Tom Spencer was invited to come to rehearsals, to sing and play guitar while Steve Jones was being lured back to the UK to join. As it became obvious Steve wouldn't be heading over, and with rehearsals feeling better and better - the new line up was born. The Professionals are also joined by a stellar cast of guest guitar players including original member Steve Jones (who plays on three tracks). Duff McKagen, Mick Jones , Phil Collen , Marco Pirroni , Chris McCormack (3 Colours Red) and Billy Duffy also join the party. In the studio we put the songs down as a three piece but what was needed was a second guitarist's mind, to come from another angle. Cookie dusted off his punk rock address book and made a few calls. All the guests added their own unique magic.' This energetic album features 10 finely crafted songs, full of rock'n'roll attitude - including a tribute to Lemmy and Bowie, 'Going, Going, Gone'. Before closing with the Darwinian pop at world leaders 'Monkeys'. All the basic tracks were put down at Zak Starkeys studio, just outside London and were finished at Tower Studios in Pershore. While the guests recorded in various studios, both here and in the US. What In The World was produced by Dave Draper with Paul Cook and Tom Spencer there to co-produce. The album is an aural treat, with no calculated image or reliance on nostalgia. To celebrate the release of What In The World The Professionals play a special headline show at London's Garage on October 28th. The Professionals have created a truly honest album and it is the sound of a band at the top of their game, which is an all too rare commodity in today's world, so put it on loud!