Beats News

First vinyl release for Shingo, DJ and producer from Japan currently based in Berlin.
A three tracks EP characterized by deep and engaging bass lines, acid and hypnotic sounds with house synths.

With her second album SODA, Belia Winnewisser continues on the path she has been following for quite some time. Few share the Swiss artist’s knack for combining a sensibility to the enthusiastic potential of pop with an interest in niche references of experimental sound design. In recent years, her feel for this fusion brought Winnewisser to the attention of the electronic club music scene. This world and the various genres related to it leave their mark on SODA: sing-along anthems like “So Real” and the densely layered drone of “They Cry of the Sirens” stand alongside the feverish dance track that gives the album its name and rave bombs like “Solen.” A year without club nights allowed Winnewisser to fully embrace her flair for pop and experimentalism, which resulted in more than a mere series of nods to different genres and acts. SODA—both as a resonant title and as a collection of music—is a direct call without hidden meanings or implicit references. It’s simply the path she’s on and the way she’s going.

Enter a world of post-IDM, ambient and reggaeton, with a progression of deep synths, reverb, and percussion whose rhythms are born from the southern hemisphere. This is the world of DJ Python, a.k.a. New York based producer Brian Piñeyro, who also sometimes goes by Dj Wey, Deejay Xanax, and Luis. Making his Dekmantel debut with an extended EP of contemporary electronica, fashioned in his cult unique style, Python brings his deep-reggaeton style to the Dutch imprint.

With his first LP Dulce Compañia released in 2017, Python extended his cult status in the electronic music sphere with motives of ambient, and tropicale, all the time keeping his music deeply rooted in classic underground dance music. Along with a Breaking Through feature on Resident Advisor, an almost legendary appearance on Boiler Room — in which he ignited the room in Santiago with bellowing reverbs —, extensive touring, and a residency at New York’s Nowadays (healthy programmed by the team behind Mister Saturday Night), Python has dutifully snaked his way in today’s cult artist category. Making his next step with this six-tracker on Dekmantel, Python aggrandises his prestigious drum sequencing, merging the world’s of drone-driven electronica, cerebral synths, and steely out-of-this-dimension-dancehall.

The EP’s pening track 'Lampara' snakes and twists, like a rugged 90s London broken-beat, electronic exploration, evoking nostalgic feelings a la Boards of Canada. The retro aesthetic flows through with second track 'Tímbrame', where the tropical reggaeton percussion floats through wafty, deep synth melodies and chimes, like a vibey, emotive, come-down, get-down, post-party dancefloor filler. 'Cuando' steps up a gear, as the digital percussive rhythms go into overdrive, while 'Espero' goes all Gaussian, by offering a transportive, meditative expression. 'Be Si To' pulses into full Phython territory, chops-and-cuts-and-slices across a sleuth of Warping, proto-drones. The record’s final track 'pq cq' is a singular question mark about darkness, feeling, and trans-dimensional thinking, as the track shifts in-between kicks that feel one and the same between past, present, and the dub.

Leoparden dive into the summer with the warm, lovely space anthem "hoyt oppe" and the dancing synth-disco groove "Lopebass" on the B side.

Cinematic Vintage Synth and live drums project by Lance Ferguson (The Bamboos, Menagerie, Rare Groove Spectrum, Lanu). Turquoise coloured double LP incl. download card, limited to 300 copies worldwide.Imagine drummer Bernard Purdie playing with Ryuichi Sakamoto, or perhaps Clyde Stubblefield joining Cocteau Twins. An immersive album that recalls Boards Of Canada, Four Tet, Air, and Tycho.

BlackMix mini album is the result of one year of work at Pit Spector’s studio where ten musicians brought their touch to sublime the songs of Seyba Sissoko. Guitar, trombone, goni, n’tama or djembe were recorded in the studio, where they mix with drum machines and other synthesizers, in a great jubilant mix.

Six tracks with a specific subject with texts in Bambara, French and English.

Songs description:

Immigration, with a very happy instrumental, this song gives advices to lift the mask of illusions and tell the whole reality of immigration:

Maloyako (The Shame): A punchy call to action and work, for emancipation and sharing. Shame is here inspired by the inequalities that are tearing apart Africa.

Saraka (Sacrifice) Evokes a visit to the marabout and rituals of sacrifice, like life and difficulties that mark it.

Identité: One country: music. One pride: to bring joy around you. One rule: live with passion the present moment.

Diarabi (Forbidden Love) Denounces the weight of tradition that, locked by the caste system, still prevents today to love freely.

Fanga (the force) Evokes strength from common values, which unite the people in all their diversity. This title is a direct reference to the civil war that has been tearing Mali apart since 2012.

DJ Dem’s new 12”, called I Videre, translates into I See in English. Continuing the sonic explorations of timbre and rhythm, the three tracks that comprise the new EP are an envisioning mix of the artificial and the natural acoustic environment. Streets, ambulances, laughter, air; hints of Berlin techno intertwined with the cymbals of an acoustic drums set and Berlin itself; synthetic and human voices creating mazy soundscapes. A blend of house tempos, techno’s futuristic take on sound synthesis, ambientesque stillness/movement and musique concrète’s intertemporal idea of montage music. Rather than going for the usual tropes of dance music’s canon, the music on the EP folds and unfolds on an axis of her own, giving DJs a multi-purpose sonic twister.

Birdsong and bright mornings announce the arrival of spring, and Growing Bin celebrate the season of rebirth with the return of a hardy perennial. In the three years since he introduced the world to his Baltic Beat, Bartos Kruczynski has traded dub techno, Berlin electronics and jazzy Balearic on a string of highly regarded labels. Now the Polish musician is back in the Growing Bin, ready to take us on another audio adventure through the meadows and forests of his native land.

Vivid LP opener ‘Pastoral Sequences’ leads us down the garden path, around the lakeside and across the train tracks, striking a cinematic tone as gentle piano and subdued synth tones drift around natural field recordings. Dip a toe in the stream and feel the breeze between your fingers as you stroll towards the Balearic brilliance of ‘In the Garden’, a carefree cooler built on a subtle bossa rhythm, serene chords and chiming mallets. Bartosz reprises the aquatic grandeur of his first Baltic Beat on the immersive ‘Petals’, a selected ambient work where Tangerine pads underpin interlocking electronics and stately keys. Guitars ring out, Reich’s mallets ripple and well tempered piano drift over a thick sequence as ‘Voices’ propels us to the halfway point with soft power.

The B-side opens with the delicate hypnotism of ‘If You Go Down In The Woods Today’,
a modern minimalist masterpiece alive with circular mallets and sultry woodwind, before ‘The Orchard’ paints an impressionistic vignette from the same palette. Shifting focus but not feeling Kruczynski takes us home ‘Along The Sun Drenched Road’ in two stages; the first a gorgeous combination of the acoustic and electronic where hints of dub techno sit beneath languid piano notes, the second an eastern tinged reprise of the album’s opening and a welcome return home before the storm breaks.

Tamburi Neri, a duo from Milan, joins Worst Records' strange catalogue with their debut LP. Soberly named « Ombre », it's an organic entity filled with worry. If we discover again with pleasure their signature scarce and elegant style which drew the tension of their first releases, everything here is sewn as a delicate echo chamber. Hiroko's voice responds to a relentless male spoken word, with invocations sometimes vaporous and sometimes lyrical. It's a poetic canvas suspended over the void and balanced by hypnotic rythms on one side and synthetic avant-garde minimalism on the other.

This eighth pannel of Worst's catalogue sets itself as a contemporanean piece far away from genre identifications and beautifully possessed in equal freshness and enlightening maturity.

The first release on Calax Records is a re-release of the tape "Energy Is Eternal Delight", co-released by Siegmar Fricke and A Thunder Orchestra. Although the original material was released exclusively on cassette in 1991 we re-release this album on double-vinyl with two unreleased tracks by Siegmar Fricke. SIegmar Fricke is based in Germany and he has been working on music since the early 80s. At that time, he recorded sounds from the radio which were then sampled, transformed and recombined to rhythmic disco-collages of very unique nature and incomparable style. A Thunder Orchestra is cult-artist from the 80s, who specialized in ambient, electronic wave and industrial music and who released them under several names: Danton's Voice, White House White, A Thunder Orchestra and Ratbau.

In the beginning, there was just a box of tapes and “Fate’s Gentle Hand.”

It was the autumn of 2010, and an anonymous figure known only as the Head Technician, an employee of Pye Corner Audio Transcription Services (“Magnetically aligning ferrous particles since 1970”), found himself at an auction in the village of Coldred, pop. 110. He was on the hunt for tobacco pipes when he chanced across a trio of boxes listed in the auction catalog, which described their contents only as “archived magnetic recordings.” The sole bidder, he won the lot, and upon receipt of his purchase took possession of an unspecified number of mouldering cassettes and ¼" reel-to-reel tapes. The collection contained no identifying information save for a single phrase scrawled on each box: “Black Mill Sessions.” And so, armed with razors, eyedroppers, and a bevy of solid-state circuitry, the Head Technician sat down at his machines and got to work.

Whether anyone believed it or not, this was the framing device surrounding Pye Corner Audio’s Black Mill Tapes Volume I: Avant Shards, which took the mysterious tactics of artists like Boards of Canada and Burial and raised them exponentially. Much like the narrator of a 19th century novel, the anonymous Head Technician purported merely to be the messenger of secondhand sounds. These were not compositions, we were told; they were tape transfers—“transcriptions” of an unknown author, slathered with hiss and thick with ambiguity. “Some of the tapes displayed an unusual amount of degradation and …an unsettling amount of background noise, whether electrical in nature, or otherwise,” wrote the Head Technician. “I chose to edit around the worst of the unusual break-ups, but some still remain.”

It was a good yarn, and the music was better still. Like his contemporaries Demdike Stare and Ghost Box, Pye Corner Audio seemed to be tapping into some hidden energy current, channeling spirits via electrical means. The pioneering transmissions of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop could be detected lurking within the music’s staticky swirl; so could the ominous throb of John Carpenter’s film soundtracks. Drones and flutes commingled with chugging machine beats; miasmic clouds of haunted tone alternated with death disco. It all sounded eerie, otherworldly, possibly occult—yet also, in tracks like the glimmering “We Have Visitors,” accented with a hint of mischief.

Over the next few years, Martin Jenkins—for that, after all, was the Head Technician’s name—would go on to release three more volumes of Black Mills Tapes. Among the dozens of releases he has put out since 2010, they remain among the most beloved in his catalog. Those original, digital-only releases—a rarity when they came out—reappeared on cassette, courtesy Seattle’s Further Records, in 2012; in 2012 and 2014, the now-defunct Type label would anthologize all four volumes. Now, 10 years after Avant Shards first appeared, Lapsus collects all four volumes —now remastered— along with a fifth disc of unreleased material and a limited booklet. The musical landscape has changed considerably in the past decade, but what is remarkable about the Black Mills Tapes material is that it hasn’t aged a day; its retro-futurist transmissions sound just as mysteriously compelling as they did the first time around. While they purport to faithfully transcribe the sound of yesterday’s technology, they end up being something more: a record of what we wish the past sounded like—a rickety tape transfer of desire itself, spooled and boxed, just awaiting discovery.

Venerable avant-gardist John Duncan supplies quietly jaw-dropping new fruits from his fertile relationship with iDEAL Recordings, rendering a concept album for the times split between thoughts on social energy/ failure, and intimacy, in his singular style In quizzical pursuit of the haunted muse that’s informed Duncan’s boundary-pushing work since the late ‘70s, and which has lit up the iDEAL catalogue over the past half decade, ’Soft Eyes’ renders Duncan’s oblique reading of the psychic zeitgeist in subtly contrasting sides of furtively rhythm-driven and richly atmospheric songcraft. In keeping with Duncan’s reputation as a sort of avant garde shaman or psychopomp, there’s something unfathomably timeless and ineffably eternal about his work on ’Soft Eyes’, which follows the course of his modern classics such as the songbook of wizened covers ‘Bitter Earth’ (2016), and last year’s ‘Red Sky’ 2CD, without feeling like he’s re-treading old ground, and still sounding vitally unusual.
The record’s first half revolves around Duncan’s thoughts on social energy and failure, from crowds to tribal gatherings, in a low-key but extraordinary style. Chamber wind meets a metallic pulse somewhere between dembow and Yemeni folk to underline his achingly hoarse vocals on ‘The Rabid Position’, while the lurking vox of ’Say No’ smartly reaffirms his counter-cultural cache, and the queered ambience of ‘Homecoming’ sees him slip into a sort of curdled tribal reverie.
On the other hand, the B-side dwells in a starker, intimate half light, with songs stripped to a spectral quintessence between the petal-fall keys and prickly sax of ‘Foreplay’, a face freezing, ASMR-triggering
beauty titled ‘Frenzy’, and an unmissable, abyss-hovering vision ‘Resolve’, and pooling into the miasmic folk strings and stygian glyde of ‘The Beautiful Attempt.

You Know What It's Like is an album for inbetween days, and occupies inbetween states: plain-speaking pop, disorientated by dub. Psychedelic folk delivered with (post-)punk economy. Drifting in space while still tethered to the ground. Astral tones blurred with earth sounds: wood, bone, breath, skin, dirt. Ending and beginning, dying and becoming. Longing for adventure and an unquiet life. Struggling to get out of bed.

This is Carla dal Forno's debut solo album, following time in cult Melbourne group Mole House and an earlier association with Blackest Ever Black as a member of F ingers and Tarcar. Her voice is an extraordinary instrument: both disarmingly conversational and glacially detached. It has something of the bedsit urbanity of Anna Domino, Marine Girls, Antena, or Helen Johnstone - stoned and deadpan - but it can also summon a gothic intensity that Nico or Kendra Smith would approve of. This voice is the perfect embodiment of dal Forno's emotionally ambiguous songs: their lyrics rooted in the everyday, observing and exposing a series of uncomfortable truths. This voice asks difficult questions of singer, subject, and sung-to.

And of course there are no simple answers. Singles 'Fast Moving Cars' and 'What You Gonna Do Now' weigh up claustrophobia against loneliness, inertia against acceleration, doubling down versus taking off, the title track acknowledges the provisional nature of love and real' intimacy, then decides to brave it anyway. By the time we arrive at the startlingly sparse 'The Same Reply', the impermanence of all things is something that can no longer be tolerated, and the sense of dejection is absolute.

The vocal-led pieces are interspersed with richly evocative instrumentals, like Eno's Another Green World reimagined in shades of brown and blue. Smothered in tape-hiss and reverb, the seasick synthesizer miniatures 'Italian Cinema' and 'Dragon Breath' channel the twilit DIY whimsy of Flaming Tunes and Call Back The Giants. 'DB Rip''s drum machine and bassline are pure Chicago house, but then its dark choral drones nod to Dalis Car's dreams of blood-spattered Cornwall stone. 'Dry The Rain' drinks from a stream of eldritch, home-brewed moon musick that runs through Coil, In Gowan Ring, Third Ear Band, even the Raincoats' Odyshape, and into the woods.

Wondering and wandering. Wounding and consoling. Looking forward, looking back. Saying it like it is, making it up as we go along. It can't last forever. You can't have it all. You know what it's like

Sed Blava is the Barcelona-based solo project of Daniel Boix, well known as Dj.Simplexia or also Ciutat Solitud, his ambient-industrial project. “Nit Sublim” is his first album as producer and without a doubt, this release is a mind-blowing and genuine composition which at first listen, may evoke the dark sounds from Valencia in the 80’s. But if you dive deeper, you will uncover a trove of intricate details elaborated with Sed’s touch. Ranging from catchy tunes and emotive passages to powerful dance-floor tracks, his vast music background and his long-time membership to the underground music scene should be highlighted. Both of these elements give rise to a broad spectrum of genres and influences in his music, bringing together a timeless mixture of old-school Electronic Body Music, New-Beat, Electro, Synth-Wave and even Ambient.

Mexico (Mufti and Colossio), France (Cornelius Doctor), and Germany (Sebastian Voigt) unite on the 10th Ombra International release.

Hammer hits glass. Glass goes smash. Thunder and lightning, return to the future.

“It’s not easy to transform a jam into a proper tune that haunts forever. The two Glaswegian friends MR TC and Lo Kindre are in possession of that special skill that can transform spontaneous tuned-in music into something significant without losing the gut feeling along the way.

As solo artists they have released on labels like Optimo Music, 12th Isle and Against Fascism Trax, and together released 'The Storm EP' in late 2018 on Vienna's Neubau. Now they continue their collaborative work on PHASE001 – an EP that also marks the launch of their own label that listens to the same name. The start-up brings four analogue tracks that courageously link cold waving synth-shocks, neon-light nonchalance and haunted spoken words; deep hypnotic musical witchcraft that peels itself out of the history of dark electronic music with a pulsating and haunting atmosphere.”

- Words by ML

Birmingham based Velum Break lumbers on to Analogical Force with his debut EP; his glistening Cloaca. Dripping with infectious warpings, rhythmic engorgements and low end turgidities, this record beckons the dandy inside of you and guarantees excitement of the greatest depths. Auralities and pleasurements not to be missed. Make haste and godspeed.

Oliver Torr is about to release his first full length solo album. The album features many moods and colours, with Oliver exploring the use of his voice and lyrics as a new form of his expression. Successfully mixing electronic avant-garde/experimental forms with pop-like harmonic structures is the main theme of the record.

The idea of recontextualisation and themes of observation are mainly inspired by the philosophical literature and ideas of John Berger, Marshall McLuhan, and many others was a driving force during the creation of the album. The lyrical and sound design content is mainly inspired by panic attacks and depression, and serves as a therapeutic tool to aid in personal psychological healing.

Tracks make use of creative sound design by utilising field recordings and various experimental instruments and sources of sound, such as the Radical Chip, designed by John Richards (one of Oliver's mentors) and Max Wainwright. Tracks like 'Deià' which create a chaotic sonic palette are the author's representation of his mind under the siege of an intense panic attack, experienced in the seaside town of the same name that is located on the island of Mallorca.

Oliver feels like the album has been writing itself for the past 5 years, and in the past few months it has decided to finally show its form. With the help of Aid Kid, who is mixing the album and providing additional production, Oliver has put together a 14-track rollercoaster record, with the help of some special guests. Guests on vocals include Chrysalism, BCAA's Bilej Kluk, and sci fi RnB newcomer LVCIFER. Other sonic collaborators include Sunnbrella (guitars on two tracks), Bastl Instruments' David Strobach (distorted samples in intro), Peter Kutin, and Radio Laude's DeSteffan and R.A. (distorted samples/vocal on one track).

The record's sonics are a combination of Oliver's conscious influences, including experimental music, classical avant-garde, shoegaze, IDM, EBM, electronica, hints of modern club music, as well as PC music influences.

Oliver Torr is known as a composer, music producer, performer and installation artist. Outside of his solo projects, he has worked with many prominent musicians and creative companies/film makers worldwide. He is the founder of XYZ project, a music label concentrating on electronic music and audiovisual art (xyzproject.bandcamp), and a member of the noise.kitchen crew (a music and synth shop run by Bastl Instruments in Prague). Oliver is also a part of the 2020 SHAPE Platform roster (shapeplatform.eu), and the 2021 Gravity Network roster (gravitynetwork).

Oliver releases the album prior to the release of his 'Trans Europe Postal Express' project (supported and arranged in collaboration with SHAPE Platform) and gallery exhibition at MeetFactory art space Prague, that will take place in March, and will further the sonic palette of the album.

The album's artwork is directed and designed by Kristyna Kulikova and photographed by Lukas Havlena (VICE, National Gallery of Prague).

The album's pre-release sees a teaser trailer shot and directed by Tereza Halamova and Filip Kettner that will be released 1st of February. A short movie music video with the same crew is scheduled a month after the album's digital release.

A remixed version with reworks from established European electronic musicians (including Peter Kutin, Fausto Mercier, Wim Dehaen, Natalie Plevakova, Evil Medved, NobodyListen, David Herzig, Ancestral Vision and Trauma), will be coming in the next few months after the release.

Doktor Normal, the latest addition to Estonia's small yet buzzing funk scene backs its nerd hop/novelty rap with MPC beats and synths. The first compositions date back to 2008, original inspiration lies in the TV series Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Without any prior knowledge of producing hip-hop, the starting point was humor. After a 10-year hiatus, Doktor Normal got around the record an album.

"World of Ham" is Doktor Normal's début LP released on vinyl (250 copies) and digitally. The 10-track album serves as a fine example of contemporary retro-hop and electro funk with an unusual additude. Child-like creativity, pure and unfiltered flow is further exemplified by the LP cover image, and texts filled purposely with grammatic errors. The essential mantra of Doktor Normal is: make your own rules!

From the moment of its release, Iñigo Vontier’s El Hijo del Maiz has become one of the most gripping albums of the moment. With South American and Middle Eastern sounds and his conception of music as ritual, the Mexican DJ keeps electronica in check as a valid mix of influences. The EP El Hijo Del Maiz (Remixes) marks the end of an episode which started, in good company, last autumn on the Lumière Noire label. The second track of his album, Bo Ni Ke, is distinguished by its original - almost implausible - universe, with a Japanese-inflected vocal filter and oriental flutes taking the beats into a crazy trance. Leaning on the 4/4 rhythm, Simple Symmetry’s remix of the track is also very playful (Iñigo Vontier recently remixed Nar for Simple Symmetry). The Moscow duo, noted in particular for the brilliant EP Plane Goes East released on Disco Halal (the Moscoman label which makes the link between east and west), pulls the track over to another - less terrestrial more psychedelic - universe, in their well identified ethno-underground style.

The remix of Bo Ni Ke by Nicola Cruz, French-born Ecuadorian producer, enlivens the track by playing on the sounds of voices and South American percussion. Also present in his fascinating album Siku released a year ago on the ZZK Records label, they overlap with the demonological whims of Iñigo Vontier but also those of Nicolas Jaar, who was revealed to him as he was starting out.

The inaugural track of the album Xu Xu (subject of the previous EP, only released as a digital version) has been remixed by Roman Flügel, allowing a vinyl release of this incredible track. You could pick out the science of this headliner in a million. Flügel has been on the electronic scene since the early days, learning the ropes under the aegis of prestigious labels Playhouse, Dial and Klang.
He has recently enhanced some emblematic tracks signed Daniel Avery, Koze, Âme, Radio Slave and C.A.R. and here once again the pioneer of techno is working miracles to create a more cerebral version of this track.

Concluding the EP with Thomass Jackson, his co-founder of the label Calypso Records, who we will soon be able to find on the compilation / family portrait of the label Lumière Noire From Above Vol. 2, Iñigo Vontier offers up a genre-busting version of the title Marijuana, like an ataxic play time, deliberately smoky for an explicitly licentious title.

Melbourne’s Left Ear Records return with an EP release extracted from a lost ’93 CD only album by famed Nigerian artist ‘Jay U Xperience’. Here, modern technology meshes with timeless African Rhythms and the heartfelt influences of New York City.

Jay U Xperience is the pseudonym of acclaimed Nigerian musician Justus Nkwane.
His first release ‘Enough Is Enough’ was a heavy blend of psychedelic rock and funk epitomising 1977 and yet foreshadows Justus’ experimental and genre-spanning inquisitiveness. Justus wouldn’t record another album until 1993 while living in New York City. Here he emerged with ‘Ancestral Call’, an album that he describes as a “once in a lifetime event”, something from his “inner spiritual guts”. Equipped with a Roland R-5 drum machine and a Roland U-20 synthesizer to extract melodies he was able to create tunes that encapsulated contemporary technology with timeless traditional African rhythms, creating a work that sounds just as relevant Today as it did then. Tracks like ‘Back To Motherland’ & ‘Ancestral Call’ personify this sound, while ‘Okokobioko’, is an onomatopoeic excursion in losing yourself to the rhythm, the EP is then rounded off with the title track ‘Abuja’, a ghostly striped back piece.

Berlin studio nut CV Vision washes ashore, surfing on sine waves with his second offering of 2021 and the fifth Patience release, Elemente. Following on from his recently released debut LP Tropical (South Of North), CV Vision takes his library chops, psych rock skills and analogue artillery and spreads them over two quarter hour sides, to brain melting effect.

Elemente soars from cosmic to kosmiche. A dizzying homage to the natural world, the two pieces pay tribute to those animals that glide (Gleiten) and those that float (Treiben). The A side Gleiten tears off on a gnarly, loping odyssey, embarking from the sand to faraway lands, stopping in at Beppe Loda’s Typhoon, Conny Plank’s studio, Bob Chance’s garage via the Transfer Station Blue. The B side Treiben is a more sublime animal, steadily cruising at 20,000 leagues, traversing a mostly calm sea of bubbling arpeggiated synthesis before beaching somewhere on the Med in the late 70s.

Elemente was written, played and recorded by Dennis Schulze, with drums by Uno Bruniusson and Rhodes by Boyd Alves. It was mastered by Wouter Brandenburg at Brandenburg Mastering. Artwork is by Luca Schenardi.

CV Vision is Dennis Schulze, a DIY boffin originally from Bayreuth who enjoys tinkering with electronics and cold water plunges. He has several more projects on the way in 2021.

Patience is an outlet for exploring further beyond the break than usual. Inspired by the music perpetually on rotation at HQ – with E2-E4 representing the format’s high tide mark – each release will be one artist’s deep dive down one inspirational wormhole spread across two sides of vinyl, or two side-long sojourns making full use of a round 12” piece of plastic. Set and forget, zone out to tune in.

Influenced from bands as Suicide, D.A.F and the early UK electronic scene, Absolute Body Control was formed in Belgium back in 1980, influencing and inventing genresever since and achieving an underground cilut following that strongly resists nowadays. In 2020, 16 artists from around the globe pays this deserved tribute to one of the most influential minimal synth bands of all time. ABSOLUTE BODY CONTROL "1980/2020" Ltd. Edition 3x12" Vinyl + POSTER comes presented in ultradeluxe triple jacket in a ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 400 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid BLACK vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young & Cold Studios.

Mekanik Kommando was a post punk / New Wave band from Nijmegen, the Netherlands founded in 1979 by Peter van Vliet and Laszlo Panyigay. The duo became a quartet with the addition of Simon van Vliet and Mirjam van Hout. The name Mekanik Kommando comes from the album ?Mekan?k Destrukt?w Kommand?h? by the French progressive rock band Magma. Inspired by a DIY ethos, Kraftwerk and Magma, the band began recording songs at home using two tape recorders. Their demo cassette was discovered by Wally van Middendorp of Minny Pops and owner of Plurex Records, who booked them for a gig at Paradiso in Amsterdam. In 1981 they were asked to contribute music on a flexidisc for the first issue of newly established magazine Vinyl. In the summer of that year the band recorded their debut album ?It Would Be Quiet In The Woods If Only A Few Birds Sing? released on Torso. In February 1982 the band secured five days of studio time at Salisbury Sound in Dordrecht. The end result was the mini-album ?Dancing Elephants? released on Torso later that year. Musically, the five songs are a mix between cold wave, experimental electronic and industrial pop. The band utilized two bass guitars plus a Korg 770, KR-55 drum machine, violin, effects, metals and plastics. Lyrics explore themes of decay and morality, hypnotically spoken on top of playfully metallic sounds. All songs have been mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Each EP is housed in a replica of the original jacket, which features artwork by the group members, and includes a 4-page booklet with lyrics and notes designed by Eloise Leigh.

It’s a great joy to host our long time friend and collaborator, Theo Delaunay aka Panoptique aka Constance Chlore, to release his first solo album on Macadam Mambo. Head of the Simple Music Experience label (dedicated to release punk experiment on tape), member of Violent Quand On Aime, Succhiamo, Simplists, Ono Omen and United Assholes, he had previously been part of the “Danzas Electricas” volumes 1 and 3, released a little single in 2019 and curated the “Simple Music Experience Vol.2” compilation in the house. Panoptique stick to what he knows to do the best, to present his stories, singing spoken words, gogolitos deliriums, whispers and rough voices on Minimal Synth Wave ballads or Drexciyan’s Electro bangers, it’s brut, mental, sometimes brutal and so so groovy in the meanwhile. Special mention to his guest Fiesta En El Vacio for her ‘caliente’ featuring on “Menta Y Regaliz”.
Now you know how you find him

The Panda Men were an ancient warrior cult, fabled to roam the deep African forests in search of the elixer Bonfirma which would grant them super human strength, allowing them to transform into Pandas and thus continue their bloody reign. This classic early Legowelt is finally back in print for the first time in 13 years, celebrating Creme's 20th birthday!

In March 2018, Danny Berman aka Red Rack'em left behind the grey insanity of Berlin and headed off to the idyllic Devon Analogue Studio for the first of several productive musical retreats, giving him unprecedented access to high end synths plus the time and space to create without distraction.

After a solid 18 months of activity post album, which combined some serious air miles, relocation back to the UK (after nearly a decade living in East Berlin) some pretty magical moments, he's back with a heavy EP of genre crossing magic which ushers forth a more edgy, psychedelic sound.

Like its disco leaning predecessor, Wonky Techno Banger is just simply a track that you have to have in your life. Combining a demented fairground melody, flappy off beat bassline and manic peak time flavour, it's an absolute thumper which has the potential to radically transform your night/life.

Devon Analogue 4.2 comes from the same session and sees the Bergerac boss man go into euphoric electro funk mode with distorted claps, an 'ecstasy' synth and live slap bass.

Meanwhile back in Berlin, Rack'em was also working in Iron Curtis studio while he was on tour in the US so final track Nave Gazing was written using just the Waldorf Nave for a thoughtful ambient number to close off the EP. WIBES.

Swedish producer and electronic enthusiast Rivet (Mika Hallbäck Vuorenpää, Malmö) joins the Editions Mego fold with a dynamic and diverse album that pivots between the punctuated pop of Ivan Pavlov's COH project, the chromatic slink of Chris and Cosey whilst also bearing a degree of fruit birthed from Hallbäck's home country Sweden in skewered pop such as The Knife.

This is electronic music born from the worship of machines and the spirit of punk, mood music brooding with sophistication and subversive twists all underscored with a deep industrial pulse. Are these songs? Are these lyrics? Words melt as beat perpetually takes us deeper into flight.

Interpretation is flung open as the audience are invited to gauge what on earth is going on here. Are Sooty Wing Flecks a minuscule species of half keyboard half vocoder chatter? Is Gleitende Liebe to be trusted or simply laying out a guide for disorientation? Pearling Woes is a queasy ballad sung by a robot on a very special comedown. Keloid knows exactly where the party can be now whereas Sodden Healer is an uber ride sans mask to destinations dark and unknown. Throughout this trip sharp snares punctuate ghost melodies as vocals rise and vaporise. Shadows hover the walls leaving holographic traces of the duality between fun and fear, the unexpected drifts diagonally across the audio plane teasing and taunting the listener in a unique blend of industrial, techno, pop and experimental forms.

On Feather and Wire album is a deep absorbing trip through multiple moods, genres and guises, as mysterious as it is engaging and one to ingest in a single sitting, lying back, sitting up, standing up and yes, even dancing. Let the angels and angles, the voices and distorted faces take shape before your mind. Who is Ordine Kadmia? What are they saying to me, here we go, on and on...

With it's haunted vocals, coded linguistics and dark sensual propulsive atmosphere On Feather and Wire is a sublime contemporary techno pop trip both psychedelic and subversive.

Written and produced by Mika Hallbäck Vuorenpää

Post-production by Mika Hallbäck Vuorenpää and Benny Liberg at Inkonst Studio Malmö
Mixed by Oscar Mulero at Dead Souls Studio Gijón
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu
Images by Dimitrios Bizios
Artwork by Nik Void

Clear Vinyl

Minimal Synthwave recordings from 2006-2007 by this Berlin based side-project of AmyLeave und Second Planet.

Zaumne's new album titled Élévation is a multifaceted yet subtle work, an abstract collage that is equally entrancing and immersive. Quoting passages from Baudelaire’s “Flowers of Evil”, the Polish musician promises to elevate the soul and consciousness “Beyond the sun / Beyond the ether”. Yet simultaneously, the artist wants us to stay where we are and focus on the immediate surroundings in search of our personal attachment to the world.

Initially recorded for the WET (Weird Erotic Tension) online community the four pieces are an exploration of erotic aspects of the environment and uncanny intimacy with other beings and objects that dwell in our nearest proximity. Just like on previous releases for labels like Czaszka Rec. or Perfect Aesthetics, on Élévation Zaumne maintains his interest in emotional aspects of sound and internet culture – he builds his compositions from fragments of ASMR-whispered poetry, samples of natural phenomena and field recordings from his family home and its environ.

What starts as an escapist exercise driven by uneasiness and ennui becomes an individual healing process, in which the subject rediscovers the strangely intimate relationship with the world and opens up to almost magical methods of communicating with other beings. ASMR samples and sounds of the artist touching, playing with and exciting different objects are an experiment in establishing contact with the non-human realm and a method of attuning the body and the mind to the reality in which everything is interconnected.

Zaumne tests Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance” through radical, sensual intimacy with what’s near, finding a glimpse of the absolute in his own room, again quoting Baudelaire: “To a child who is fond of maps and engravings / The universe is the size of his immense hunger”.

Zaumne is the moniker of Polish musician Mateusz Olszewski. In the past few years, he has released music on labels like Magia, Perfect Aesthetics, BAS or Czaszka Rec. Élévation, released by Mondoj and initially commissioned by WET, is his first vinyl release. Blending elements of genres like ambient, dub, minimalism and tape music with ASMR samples, field recordings and spoken word, he creates work with deep emotional focus and impact.

“…In The City Of Lights Where Nothing Is Grey…" In the City Of Angels by way of Prague, Pink Gloves channels classic Italo Disco on their Italians Do It Better debut. Petr Pliska weaves a tale of introspection on the neon soaked streets of Los Angeles.

Act 1 – Downtown. The title track is a hypnotic journey to the city center over a symphony of synthesis. He laments that he “Never Wanted To Come… Never Wanted To Stay… In The City Of Lights Where Nothing Is Grey”. It’s a place where nothing ever changes
& fantasy greets us in every direction. Beneath the sedated vocals, the synthesizers strike deep & dissolve quickly into a haze blanketing the strut of the heavy backbeat. The stage is set.

Act 2 – The Dancefloor. “Dancing on My Own” infuses Robyn’s four on the floor classic with it’s own cocktail of ethereal melodies & a rhythm section ala Ultravox. In the face of the Narrator’s lament, a mirror ball shimmers reflections of resilience.

Act 3 – The Highway. The downtempo “Wilderness” haunts us, bursting with silken synthesizers & spectral electronics reverberating like the ghosts of last night’s party. The tempered cinematic landscape blends with a mesmerizing sorcery as we drive into the unknown.

Act 4 – End Credits. Suddenly, the film is over. We hear the sunrise straight out of an ‘80s John Hughes film & the beautiful grit of Power, Corruption & Lies.

Produced By Johnny Jewel. Mixed By Lukáš Turza & Johnny Jewel. Mastered By Mike Bozzi At Bernie Grundman Mastering. Vinyl Cut By Bernie Grundman, Hollywood.

Florence based party collective Tropical Animals have been heating up the Tuscany nightlife for the last 9 years. By introducing exciting artists like Avalon Emerson, Ross From Friends or Interstellar Funk to the Florence crowds, the Italian crew have been honing their tastes and the jump to starting up a label was a natural step. In 2018 Tropical Animals released three EPs from Whitesquare, The Cyclist and DJ Octopus.

Whirlwinds of synths push back against basslines dipped in tubs of drowsy funk, as universes of psychedelia unfold. The four tracks from 'Surrounding Areas' capture a distinctively Italian spirit, one that was born to soundtrack the warm summer nights of Tuscany but that will very certainly do an excellent job elsewhere too.

After a seven year hiatus since the release of their debut LP on ESP Institute, Kyle Martin and Jonny Nash’s Land Of Light return with their sophomore album for Melody As Truth. Written and composed over the course of two years, “The World Lies Breathing” reflects the pair’s shared development towards spacious, abstract composition crafted from a wide range of contrasting sound sources. Utilising a combination of acoustic instruments, contact microphones and Martin’s self-built modular synthesiser “The World Lies Breathing” focuses on the space between sounds, conjuring up an organic yet alien landscape that exists on the edge of an unknowable void.

The long awaited new LP from Hunter Complex features 10 tracks of supreme synth goodness that are at the same time retro and yet totally futuristic. It's musically rich in ideas; melodies intertwine with soaring synths and '80s style drum machines, but it never once feels like pastiche or a carbon copy of a bygone era. The hooks on this record are incredible; it's mix of warm analog and bright digital synths feature a layer of complexity that most records in this genre can't hope to achieve.

Gloosy and sexy 80’s synthwave designed by Joone and Miss Zagato in UK. Their past / future italo-disco will be a fundamental masterpiece for any passionate vinyl collection. DE SCHOOL Ltd. Edition EP comes presented in a ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 200 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality SOLID WHITE vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios.

Hailing from Los Angeles, Jimmy Tamborello has been a key figure in refining what today is considered electronica for over 20 years. "The Seas Trees See" is the first of two Dntel albums to be released in 2021 by Morr Music in collaboration with Les Albums Claus: a free-floating and rather loose stroke of musical genius, giving ambience a whole new meaningful context. It combines crackles and hiss with deep, yet modest, synths and poignant, yet elegant, vocals and lyrics. "Away", its counterpart album, will follow later in 2021. It will showcase Dntel’s unapologetic love for pop music from a long-gone era, presenting yet another aspect of his multi-faceted personality. Dntel has always covered many musical grounds – from the pop-infused hits on "Life Is Full Of Possibilities" (Plug Research, 2001) to his much more abstract works on "Aimlessness" (Pampa Records, 2012), "Human Voice” (Leaving Records, 2014), and his electronics for The Postal Service (Sub Pop). Whatever his style – Tamborello has retained his very own musical voice.

When it comes to producing music, it can be a good idea to get away from the studio and find a more relaxed environment. Inspiration does not necessarily require huge bass bins. Fewer pieces of gear make it easier to really focus on ideas first and let them be. After recording "Hate In My Heart" – his most recent album, released in 2018 – this way, Tamborello continued working in that fashion, mainly jamming and getting ideas together for upcoming live shows. One of the first results of this creative process was the opening track of "The Seas Trees See" – a cover version of "The Lilac and the Apple", originally recorded by Californian folk singer Kate Wolf in 1977. Tamborello turns the acapella song into a vocoder-like extravaganza. Working with the original recording, the track perfectly sets the tone for what "The Seas Trees See" turns out to be – a quiet yet mesmerizing journey through sound and emotion, bringing together his very own sound design, disguised samples and an incredible feel for moods and atmospheres.

"I thought a lot about making an album that you would find in a thrift store", Tamborello remembers. Something "like a mysterious collection of sketches that leaves a lot unanswered. It doesn’t beg for attention or have any big moments." Despite its perfect and gentle flow, it is worth digging deeper, to surrender oneself to all the painstakingly placed details. Whether the beautiful and haunting piano work on "Movie Tears" or the almost sidechained-sounding "Yoga App" – every aspect of this album has been beautifully crafted, often bringing one of life’s biggest questions to the table: What if? What would have happened if Tamborello would have done this on that track or that on this track? It is good that he did not. Small things add up to something great, diverse and riveting.

The subtlety of his latest endeavor is fascinating. It opens up a new world, in which small musical sketches mean at least as much as perfectly produced pop anthems – if not more.

*Repress*

New school kosmiche style guitar and synth studies by Baltimore native and veteran underground music figure Tarotplane (PJ Dorsey). Across four cold, motorik movements Dorsey builds upon previous outings for Aguirre, Lullabies For Insomniacs and VG+ on the discs A side, combining trademark lysergic keyboard swirls with a heavier rhythmic approach than usual. On the B, he delivers an extended swan song for 12th Isle's single figure catalog and aims his guitar towards the heart of the sun, kick-starting the labels busiest year to date.

Baby Buddha is the experimental new wave duo of Charles Hornaday (vocals, guitar, electronics, drums) and David Javelosa (vocals, electronics, clarinet). Born from late night improvisations of San Francisco synth-punks Los Microwaves with a rotating cast of musicians. Live shows would include music, projections, dance and performance art in both clubs and gallery spaces. In 1980, Howie Klein's 415 Records released their first single of Tammy Wynette's 'Stand By Your Man'. In 1981, 'Music For Teenage Sex' was their first full length album released via Poshboy Records. It featured Los Microwaves' Meg Brazill, Poshboy boss Robbie Fields, and Kathy Peck as "Tammy Why-not", who later went on to found H.E.A.R (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers). In January 1983 Kathy, Charles and David went into the studio with a couple of Kathy's original 'country' songs and began working on a sophomore album. They also incorporated songs from a live multi-track recording of a concert at the Graffiti Club on June 6th 1984. The album titled 'Everyone Is My Age' sat unreleased until 1987 due to relocation to Los Angeles and eventually found a home on David's Hyperspace Communications, the original label for the first Los Microwaves singles. For this first time reissue we've added a previously unreleased bonus song 'What's Going On,' a Kathy Peck original. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in the original jacket featuring a collage by David Javelosa and includes an insert with lyrics, photos and liner notes. Alternative.