Beats News

Electronic / acoustic wonder band KUF deliver a special surprise for their third album: eleven sizzling hot takes on tracks drawn from the Macro label's stellar catalog, as originally crafted by some of today's most respected artists in electronic music. KiNK, Patrick Cowley, Peter Kruder (of K&D), Stefan Goldmann, rRoxymore and more get the treatment. With a nod to the label's previous highly original compilations and mixes from the Macrospective and Vinylism series, Re:Re:Re captures more new ground.

KUF's previous albums presented an astonishing inversion of the typical extended electronic set up, in that they paired a plethora of disembodied, sampled voices with acoustic real time interaction on bass, drums and keys. Re:Re:Re shifts the focus of sampling altogether to scanning entire tracks and compositions which are then reimagined with the band's singular approach. Neither just remixes, nor faithful reproductions, KUF engage in careful sound archaeology. From re-programming key sounds to holistic granular deconstructions, the originals's sound palettes are reproduced to serve as a springboard towards entirely new instalments. The resulting tracks range from intimate ballads to full power dance floor movers, spanning a highly engaging arc of sheer listening pleasure.

The Transhumanism collective was born on the dance-floor at Dave Clarke's first Whip It party at the Melkweg in Amsterdam. This is the fourth vinyl release on Bass Agenda Recordings that features the four Dutch Electro artists w1b0, RXmode, Slaves of Sinus, and TFHats. The releases to date have had ongoing support from many key DJs who support the authentic Electro scene - Dave Clarke, UMEK, Helena Hauff, DJ Stingray, Maceo Plex, and Alienata to name but a few. Juan Atkins and Helena Hauff were still dropping w1b0's track from the first release this Summer (2019) at various festivals. It's no surprise that the first in the series has just been repressed, and now, the third in the series keeps the pressure up with 4 brand new tracks. As always, the brief here was simple - "be yourself and do your best to kill it". All four artists have risen to the occasion - maintaining the fundamentals of their individual sounds, evolving a little in some parts, and bringing a compilation with something for every discerning DJ with an ear for cutting edge Electro.

The artist from Utrecht, called Solotust, makes his debut on the Soil records label with a 6 song mini Lp. All of them are loaded with dark melodies that move between minimal synth, dark krautrock and synth pop. Harmonic voices linked with synth lines that will make you transport yourself to the space directly.

Reissue (originally released 1980 on SKY records)Music for the apocalyptic eighties Deutschland state of mind. When Serge Blenner left his native France for Hamburg, West Germany, neither he nor anyone else could have guessed that he would inadvertently compose a soundtrack for the Cold War. But his dark, monotone synthesizer album La Vogue (1980) turned out to be just that.

Minimal Wave is proud to present "The Sound of Indifference", a rare cassette released in 1981 by Aural Indifference. Aural Indifference was a post-punk studio collective from Sydney, Australia. The two principal members were Brian Spencer Hall (the M Squared in house producer) and Kevin Purdy. The cassette album, The Sound of Indifference, was released in 1981, featuring tracks such as "Theme", "Park, and "Man Am I Progressive". Their sound ranges from minimal synth, to post-punk to quirky guitar-driven electronic folk music, some of it resembling John Maus. "Theme" appeared as the closing track on The Minimal Wave Tapes: Volume Two compilation and "Park" appeared on The Bedroom Tapes compilation. Here for the first time, we are offering a reissue of the original cassette, remastered from the master tapes and complete with original artwork, limited to 300 copies.

For their next release Kontrapunkt goes deeper into the realm of experimentation. It reaches from neo
trance techno tracks to some spiritual influenced tribal tracks. There will be discoveries in the breaks
area as well. And in the end it is all about how rough techno can sound today

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.

The latest in the synth-heavy sludgedown from Public System Recordings, invites a new cast of characters into the dungeon dance. The common theme throughout this sampler of titans of industrial the world over, seems to be wide, slowed down melancholy. Some tracks take a floor-friendly jump, while others demand the attentive consumption of a more serene setting. These two discs are packed with dynamic, chugging, and forward thinking jams that make you mesh all things PSR is passionate for.

The next in ART’s classic Remaster series is another gem from the early Eevolute catalogue. Max404’s (Erwin van Moll) “Recycler” EP was originally released in 1992 during the heyday of European Techno meets Detroit influences.

The legendary Solid Bass DX100 preset sound dominates the opening track showing its Detroit influences from the off. Mamoulian brings the European EBM/synthwave sound to the fore whilst Hangover merges the Chicago/Detroit sounds in a funk bass led feast.

Fractal View was the big hit from the EP. A techno-breaks hybrid perfect for the raves of today and yesterday. The EP ends with the dark, heavy breakbeat Quiddity - a haunting track that ensures ths classic eclectic EP stays in the mind forever.

Never previously reissued in its full vinyl format and only previously available as an in-demand original with prices to match - the remaster meticulously brings the sound up to modern standards.

Lyra Pramuk’s debut Fountain explores a post-human, non-binary understanding of life Lyra Pramuk fuses classical training, pop sensibilities, performance practices and contemporary club culture in what may best be described as futurist folk music. While the American operatically-trained vocalist and electronic musician is perhaps previously best known for her work with musical collaborators such as Holly Herndon and Colin Self, she is set to release her debut album, Fountain, via Iceland’s Bedroom Community label in March 2020.

Created entirely from her own voice, although often shaped and structured by electronics, Fountain is an emotional, sensual, and devotional journey. The title is derived from her family name, Pramuk, which translates from Czech as ‘well spring’ or ‘fountain.’ Often wordless, these songs evoke a new wholeness sustained by the ritual force of drowning, immersion, cleansing, and bathing – also referred to in the album artwork by acclaimed visual artist Donna Huanca. Fountain plays with the perception of music, rhythms, speech, body, and the relation between technology and humanity, exploring a post-human, non-binary understanding of life and the fragile ecosystems it depends on. The work documents a healing that is still in process, and a full circle-moment that reunited Lyra with her sound engineer twin brother, Ben, for the final mix, which they completed in tandem.

As a vocal activist and member of the queer community, Fountain’s creation also coincided with a personal rejuvenation for its author. Its completion culminated in the live premiere of the album material at Unsound Festival in Krakow in 2019, where she performed through a multi-channel array designed by Ben Frost, opening for Sunn O))) and Roly Porter. A closer collaboration with Frost on a soundtrack for a new film project will be announced later in 2020. Her performance at Berghain on 30 January for CTM Festival in her hometown of Berlin promises an even more confident and joyous realization of the album’s song cycle.

Lyra moved to Berlin in 2013 as a DAAD postgraduate study scholarship recipient, following her degree at the Eastman School of Music in New York. Since then, she has also been awarded residencies at Elektronmusikstudion EMS Stockholm, Open Port Club Residency in Tokyo and Sapporo, and Future Music Lab of the Atlantic Music Festival in Maine. Her interests also encompass writing, poetry, and fashion, where she is sometimes called upon as a model. As a performance artist, she has collaborated extensively with Donna Huanca and at events such as Glasgow International and the Rochester Fringe Festival.

Boogie Café continue their incredible form by offering up three tracks of deep house goodness from Aroop Roy.

The A side 'Good Times' sweeps in with a bumping house cut, laced with feverish vocal cutups whilst the B side hits first with a hazy, deep synth stab groover, and finishes on a blistering, afro-tinged slice of funk fuel.

Viktorias first EP on her imprint shows her approach to dancefloor oriented Techno.

The bass heavy beats of 'Black Jack' create a joyful, classic vibe. 'Winters Tale' drifting synths and distant vocals provide a hypnotic and haunting atmosphere.

Winters Tale Remix made by LA techno veteran Developer, clearly reveals his taste of pulsating groove.

'Delta' closes with Korg made synths, freaky melody and no nonsense percussion work.

Spencer Clark is back with a futuristic eco-friendly record. It’s life on earth as you never heard it.

The story goes like this: Spencer wanted to do a soundtrack for the yet to be made “Avatar 2”. And if you know Spencer’s work, you’ll know that he engaged on this mission reading material that influenced the rich and crazy imaginary world of “Avatar”. If you think about it a little bit, something like “Avatar” could have really come out from the mind of Spencer Clark.

But it didn’t. So, he dwelled around the idea of that soundtrack, working on what is now known as “Avatar Blue”. The record we now release is a selection he made from the 2CD released last year on his own Pacific City Sound Visions.*

Like many of Spencer’s other alias or incarnations, Star Searchers introduces the listener to a new world. Besides making sounds/soundtracks for alternative realities he cares about making a world for his music to live in. It’s never superficial or dedicated just to the act of imagination, Spencer creates sounds that sustain the reality he imagined. That’s why they’re so rich and consequential in the realization of music as a medium.

“Avatar Blue” is music but also literature. And cinema. Star Searchers’ sound creates an absorbent sound about what’s happening in aquatic life. It goes beyond the perception of what we’ve seen or what we’ve known, it’s a neo-future aquatic life, with a world building structure and sounds and narratives that go along with it.

All done with a sound-aesthetics that could be described as slowed-down-trance, that fits 1980s synth nostalgia and dreams of sci-fi to come.
*Note: The 2CD version is available as a digital download with a purchase of the album on selected stores.

Here is the highly anticipated sixth volume of the well received electronic compilation series from the relaunched 1980's color tapes label. As with the other volumes you can find great examples of cold wave, minimal wave and synth electronics and pro to EDM made by obscure British bands in the 1980's such as: Berserk In A Hayfield, Lives of Angels, Silicon Valley, Modern Art, Disintegrators, Echophase, The Lord and Mystery Plane

"Up there with V-O-D selections, the Color Tapes series so far has provided invaluable insight to hidden or much lesser-known currents of the ‘80s cassette subculture which gave birth to myriad artists, styles and industry conventions whose influence can still be felt over 30 years later. " - Boomkat

“Electronic work that’s way different from mainstream pop of the period - often forgedout of the same instrumentation as the hits - but in a stripped down way - with lots of dark and moody corners!” Dusty Groove

“Evil Synths and evil beats” - Norman Records

“Gary Ramon’s re-born Color Tapes imprint is every bit as essential as it’s Minimal Wave and electro-focused predecessors” - Juno

Limited edition of 500 copies comes with poster insert

Acclaimed electronic producer Matthew Hodson presents his exciting new project, MATTHS, with ‘Velocet’ released on FatCat Records’ sub label FCR on 17 May 2019.

With his debut MATTHS release, the Brighton-based artist presents two stunning, atmospheric soundscapes ‘Velocet’ and ‘Loop’ which both immediately captivate the listener with their masterful, brooding beats. Using a bespoke modular synthesiser setup, MATTHS has designed and compiled a unique musical instrument that enables the creation of textures and tones specific to personal creative concepts.

Title track ‘Velocet’ is a dynamically charged sonic excursion which keeps on building throughout to a powerful crescendo, providing a clever balance of familiarity and disconnection.

‘Loop’ complements the title track perfectly, an ambient yet powerful cut that develops with layers of rhythm and melody, drenched in arrhythmic delays and swashes of reverb.

Recent MATTHS performances include opening for Wire; supporting Alex Banks (Monkeytown Records), Ulrich Schnauss and Rival Consoles (Erased Tapes). MATTHS has worked with the original BBC Radiophonic Workshop on their new material at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. In May, MATTHS will play the Superbooth Festival in Berlin.

Comprising producer-engineer Joel Krozer ((Clark (Warp), Smerz (XL Recordings), When Saints Go Machine (Escho)) and Brian Della Valle (singer-songwriter of Of The Valley) the Copenhagen based duo got together when Joel heard Brian recording in the studio below his. Their encounter led to a series of late-night recording sessions, together with collaborator Søren Holme, that quickly became the cornerstone of their partnership and the formation of Fluqx. Monolith is the exceptional debut album of Fluqx and offers state of the art production and highly creative Electronica tracks with that special something. The sound of Fluqx is distinct - a merging of deeply warped synthesizers, swirling textures and Brian’s affecting vocals. There is a versatile range of sounds and atmospheres across these twelve tracks - from the delicate arpeggios of ‘Carvings’ and ‘Ephemeral Objects’, to the massive drum sounds and cutting synth leads of ‘Monolith’ and ‘Hanami’. Della Valle’s warm falsetto navigates through this dynamic landscape with ease and hooks the listener in on tracks like ‘Feather’ and ‘Staring At The Sun’, whilst providing space to breathe on tracks like ‘Here‘ and ‘Golden Hour‘. Elsewhere, ambient, droney textures are at the forefront on ‘Mojave Booth’ and ‘Diamond Dust’, maintaining the dreamy, otherworldly nature of the Fluqx sound

Part six of Hivern Discs' Fragments compilation. While compilations tend to look backwards, 'Fragments' is far from being a retrospective. Since its launch in 2008, Hivern Discs has favoured a documentary approach, capturing the most vital and exciting sounds within its orbit at each particular moment. In keeping with the ethos of the label, this extensive compilation, comprising 29 new tracks across six 12?s, offers a panoramic glimpse of Hivern's present and gives indications as to its near future. The artists featured comprise both fresh and familiar faces; some of them have been a foundational presence since the beginning (John Talabot, Pional, Marc Pinol), others are recent acquaintances (Epsilove, Fantastic Man, Inga Mauer, Samo DJ). Together the compilation makes for a snapshot of Hivern's current identity, with a wide array of names and projects connecting the dots between the sounds, moods and ideas that continue to inspire and move the label today. Hivern was born a decade ago as a platform to celebrate a shared sensibility beyond any semblance of categorization. And that's what this collection of music is all about.

XXX starts 2020 fresh with catalog number XXX008. A diverse EP with four original tracks by Stijn Sadée, who had a killer release on Kitjen in 2018. It’s not the first time we see Stijn Sadée releasing on XXX, but this time he delivered a proper EP. Manfredas is on remix duty on the b-side. When Stijn was playing his live set on a festival in Amsterdam Manfredas saw him play. They clicked soundwise and a remix idea was born. Artwork was made by artist Thomas Sadée in collaboration with Stijn himself. Already played and supported by massimiliano pagliara, il est vilaine, nuno dos santos, dave harvey, curses and many others.

Drawn from the tape archives of Kuniyuki, this is the first part in two volumes that will shine a light on some of the Japanese producers early work.

Declassified militarist ambience from Vatican Shadow, finding Dominik Fernow (Prurient) donning his desert fatigues for a mesmerising follow-up to his technoid outings with Ostgut Tonand Ancient Methods. It’s also the last in a series of first-time vinyl editions of previously tapeonly releases.
‘Opium Crop’ makes a return to what we’d term a vintage Vatican Shadow sound, steeped in nods to Muslimgauze and modern geopolitics and fringed with an aura of clammy, atmospheric terror, just how we like it.
The title piece pushes off across the front with a sort of stately, waltzing rhythm and druggy synth pads recalling John Foxx and DJ Screw as much as Bryn Jones. ‘Hellfire Hidden Tribes’ sinks into the B-side with lagging Dabke rhythm embedded in oily black backdrops, occasionally lit up with
vaporous synth stabs mirroring the arc and flash of distant artillery, and leading to an exquisite ambient devotional, ‘Loyal To The Deceased’.
Unmissable.

10"

Do you know the moment when you catch the plague? Right. He also didn't know. Until it got to him. Out of nowhere, it took over his mind, his body, his soul. Nobody saw it coming. Make sure to have some garlic when you are around him. This plague is highly contagious.

You don't know what you don't know.

Following the recent critical success of his 101 Beats Per Minute collective project, Le Doux Nord LPs and Ribbon Works EPs, Ireland’s most prolific electronic composer and one of an exclusive coterie of producers who truly understands the occult language of the synthesiser, Dunk Murphy returns this spring with the release of his 7th album as Sunken Foal. Reflecting a lifelong infatuation with confectionery and a passion for synthesisers, Murphy’s latest suite, ‘Hexose’, features layers of thick harmony, flickering nano-sound design and extensive use of self generating melodies to conjure up a rich bio-mechanical soundscape. The end product is reminiscent of contemporaries like Lee Gamble and William Fields and the softer aspects of the 90’s WARP sound, blended with the work of visionary synth artists such as Laurie Spiegel, Suzanne Doucet, Enno Velthuys, and Vangelis. Whether you enjoy the cloying sweetness of the Caramac, the saccharine pleasures of the Instant Whip or the seductive charms of the Dark Bounty, you’ll find something in this mellifluous selection box to satisfy your audial cravings.

For its second installment Subject To Restrictions Discs presents a split EP by two of Switzerland’s most underrated producers. First there is CCO. A modular wizard known from his involvement in groups such as Wavetest and Savage Grounds. He presents two Techno cuts that are bound in organic sounds and filled with driving energy. The three mellow cosmic wave tracks on the back are coming from Narco Marco. He’s active in Bern’s music and nightlife scene for almost 30 years. His music knowledge is legendary and shows itselfs in his productions which are filled with sparkling details.

White Vinyl 10"

A new release this winter marks a landmark moment in an important musical story. Way back in little 2009, the label hfn music was born in Hamburg, and made its introduction to the world with the release of the Trentemøller compilation Harbour Boat Trips: 01 Copenhagen.
Founder Tobias Lampe wanted to start a label that was more broad in scope than his previous, more electronic-focused projects, and the compilation provided the perfect opportunity to launch one. In the 10 years since then, the label has survived the whirlpool waters of the early 21st century’s constantly changing music industry, and released everything from pop to art-punk, with artists ranging from New York to the Faroe Islands.
Now, they’re about to put out their 100th release. Fittingly, given the label’s focus on new and innovative music, and the historic aspect of the release, hfn100 sees one of hfn’s best songs of 2019 put into the hands of the man it all started with, Anders Trentemøller. His Danish compatriots Blaue Blume’s new album Bell Of Wool is one of hfn’s standout releases this year, and so hfn100 sees Trentemøller remix one of that record’s standout tracks, the fragile, but soaring “Lovable”.
In Blaue Blume’s original, “Lovable” is an airy, tormented song, a gossamer-delicate composition that carefully stitches together layers and layers of shining synths that gradually build up and up into a peak, before crashing into a subtle beat, a musical journey that mirrors vocalist Jonas Smith’s trip from anguish to numbness. Whereas the original’s music sounds woven together from light, Trentemøller takes it into darker territory. He hooks the song to a harsh, sparse beat leaving Smith’s vocals bare and isolated in the burnt-out, dystopic musical landscape he creates.
Trentemøller mirrors the original’s careful building up, adding new elements to fill in the song’s sound, before it collapses into a tough, noir disco groove. It’s a perfectly realised remix – Trentemøller keeps the original song’s skeleton and soul, but fills in the space with sonic touches that could be no one else’s but his.Ultimately, it’s a fitting song for hfn’s hundredth release. For a label that’s always been a platform for its boundary-pushing artists, a collaboration between two of them, that sees an already innovative song pushed into a bold new shape is the perfect way for hfn to step into the next 100 releases..

ISAN’s Robin Saville reveals an ambient album, which merges the Electronica aesthetics of his main project with field recordings, drones and acoustic instrumentation.

A lot of things have been written about what happens to the mind when the body starts moving. Instead of reciting poems of the inevitable self-help books, let’s get straight to the point: For many, taking walks on a regular basis is both liberating and empowering. It is not necessarily so much about the exercise, but rather finding one’s own rhythm in life. Robin Saville – of ISAN fame – is such an ambler His walks inspired him to base his third solo album – his first one for Morr Music – on the out of the way places he came to see and experience while being out and about.

Clocking in at just under 40 minutes in total, "Build A Diorama" is both a subtle culmination and a poignant antipode to what Saville has achieved together with Antony Ryan as ISAN. While the aesthetics might seem similar in places, Saville opts for a decisively different pace when it comes to writing and producing. Progress is steady, and change, however, is slow – like looking at a diorama for a long period of time in the ever so slightly changing light or as a flaneur focussing on one particular spot, a found object so-to-speak, waiting for the mind to orchestrate it appropriately, giving it sense and meaning.

Built around quiet field recordings, Saville’s six compositions transform this highly personal and, therefore, difficult-to-convey experience into a comprehensible exploration of beauty. Where ISAN almost exclusively uses electronics, Saville deliberately expands this well-established palette with acoustic instruments like bass guitar, chimes and glockenspiel, aiming for an even more suitable musical manifestation of what the walker sees and feels once he fully engages in his passion. Ranging from blissfully pulsing pads allowing for complete associative freedom ("The Deepdale Halophyte Economy") to the playful minimalism of an orchestra dominated by busy bells ("Bosky"), Saville’s "Build A Diorama" is not just a valuable addition to his musical output, but an essential audio guide for those striving to explore, learn and understand.

Official remastered limited edition of Cellophane project from 1984 produced by Alessandro Novaga, one of THE major influences on Chicago House Music with his trio of releases -Drums-, -Electronic Drums- and -Faces Drums-, all essentially EPs of tough electronic bonus beats, creating the blueprint for many early Windy City productions. He was also behind other such hugely influential cuts as Stopps -Im Hungry- and -Ali Shuffle- by Camaros Gang. Here on his Cellophane album, which came after the huge -Gimme Love- single, we get what I guess you could describe as his magnum opus. The album consists of just two long tracks (or suites perhaps?) that take the listener of on an epic psychedelic italo /space disco trip like no other. Heavy use of synths and drum machines expecially on the part 3 !

After a digital single on Optimo Music Digital Danceforce, Optimo Music welcomes Bergsonist to the main label with a full album. Ridiculously talented and prolific, Bergsonist is one of thee most interesting, thoughtful and important artists of our times.

Bergsonist aka Selwa Abd is a New York–based artist and musician originally from Morocco. She is the founder of Bizaarbazaar, a music platform and publication that publishes podcasts and interviews by DJs and producers from around the world.

Under the guise Bergsonist (derived from Deleuze’s Bergsonism),
she uses a variety of media to investigate social resonance through divergent conceptual aesthetics (minimalism, techno, and music concrete, to name a few). Through her work, she explores notions of identity, memory, and social politics.

In 2017, she started Pick Up The Flow, a resource to promote congregation and exchange between peers. Currently, co-run with Stephen Decker. In 2019, she co-founded 3afak with DJ Sanna, a collective that aims to empower Arab women’s creative vision in
New York.


Words about the album:

Middle Ouest is an ode to my history, present and future self. Like a sonic autobiography, It’s the first body of work that realistically depicts my identity. It’s a statement towards all the people who tried to put me into a box. I’m not a box but a genre-less ocean. I don’t make genres, I just make music I feel making in the moment.

It’s all about capturing the moment in a given time. If the aesthetic happens to be house or techno then it is. But I’m not a techno artist... I’m just a free sonic ‘voyageur’. I make music as i feel the world; it can be dark, jovial, weird… I mirror the feelings into sonic compositions. However, the only variables that never change in this equation are the message and intention.

"In 2015, it remains a rare and enchanting thing to hear a piece of convergence culture this effortless; which, after all (...) may be one reason Utakata still sounds so otherworldly." by Pitchfork 8.5 -
"best new reissue" - 25 September 2015.

The 1983 cult classic 'Mariah - Utakata No Hibi' sees it's re-release
for the first time. The long sought after final record on the legendary Better Days label, Utakata No Hibi is the culmination of composer and bandleader Yasuaki Shimizu's early 80's work, often compared to his contemporaries Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono, as well as experimental new wavers Flying Lizards/David Cunningham, all of whom Shimizu has worked with.

Recognized in Japan for the hit, 'Shinzo No Tobira,' the entire record is a masterful studio production of Japanese folk and pop idioms filtered through a chamber disco, new wave, synth production, sounding more relevant today than upon it's release over 30 years ago.

The packaging features additional artwork from Ira Okudaira, who created the original stunning jacket drawings. It retains the original double 12" 45 rpm play format, and includes a full English translation of the Japanese and Armenian lyrics on the printed inner sleeves.

RIYL: Blood Orange, YMO, Arthur Russell, Julee Cruise.
'PFRLP003' Repressed & Reissued; Limited numbers.

Minimal wave from Greece 1983. Remastered version of a lost & found demo-tape by the band.

Deriving from the acclaimed performance and exhibition — staged by Anne Imhof at the 57th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia and awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation— the album Faust is part documentation and part elaboration, the sonic capture and extrapolation of the gestures, intensities, and durations of the live event.

Serving as the dramatic backbone of a several-hour long performance seen by thousands over the course of the Biennial, the soundtrack was a product of the collective and its individuals, animating and organising the performers while immersing the audience in the potent images of power and paradise.

The music for Faust was written in a band-like process by Imhof and her close collaborators Billy Bultheel, Eliza Douglas, and Franziska Aigner during the months leading up to it's premiere at the opening of the German Pavilion in Venice. From the chaos of the performative, the album is constructed out of live recordings and original arrangements, teasing out the most potent strands and weaving them into a new composition of brutal feeling and baroque intricacy,
each track a testament to the energy that brought it into being.

Faust is anchored around three pieces — Medusa’s Song, O.W.E.N., and Queen Song — written and sung by performers Eliza Douglas and Franziska Aigner, whosesonorous and elegiac voices imbue the work as a whole with their crushing depths and dolorous moods. Between these urgent vocal interventions march and twist the winding fugues and electronic abstractions of Billy Bultheel, who has dismantled and reassembled the sonic landscapes of the pavilion, crafting new
arrangements that couple the forcefulness of the physical encounter with the artifice of the studio.

Throughout the album and culminating in its closing act — the brutal chorus of Douglas’ Faust’s Last Song, a pulsing canon of looped and layered voice pierced by black metal screams.Faust is the record of a lost event and the promise of a new creation. The release of Faust illustrates the centrality of music to Imhof’s artistic practice. Her musical collaborations with Bultheel began in 2013, and this generative constellation expanded to include the contributions of Douglas and Aigner, together scoring Imhof’s Angst (2016) and recently her performance trilogy Sex (2019).

Stellar full-length album selection of archival material from Tim Jackiw ranging from timeless late night techno and deep space soundtracks through to electronic jazz and ambient atmospheres. All music sequenced and recorded in Tim's Adelaide-based bedroom studio between 1995 to 1997 using an Amiga 500 interfaced to various analog synthesizers, drum machines and samplers. Limited colour vinyl double pack - big tip!

Chasing up Good Morning Tapes’ standout EPs by HTRK’s Jonnine Standish and UK synthesist, XVARR, the ’All Welcome’ 12” pairs three previously tape-only tracks with a trio of exclusives on a killer compilation from the promising French labelSupplying a varied and engaging experience ranging from Tapes’ classical Indian invocations to Eszaid’s gutted D&B and Kiki Kudo’s fizzy electro-dub, ‘All Welcome’ renders the label’s aesthetic wide open with a wonderfully shine-eyed appeal to mutual, empathetic ambient souls and lovers
of electronic magick.

Tapes, aka South London enigma Jackson Bailey, coaxes the EP into action with the woozy title tune of his 2018 tape ’Silence Please’, meshing electronic tanpura drone with mysterious winds and sloshing tabla drums in a respectful tradition of English artists including Robert Wyatt and Shackleton, before Eddie Ruscha’s Only Thingz spies Eno via The Orb and Vangelis in the glyding
synth pads and smeared brass tone of ‘All Eyes Open’, and Berlin-based Brazilian artist INNSYTER follows a deliciously groggy ambient hunch in ‘Morning Blend’.

The label then play it closer to home with an eviscerated D&B dub by Eszaid, co-owner of the Paris-based Collapsing Market label, with ‘The Most Sacred Syllable’ primed for fans of Andy Stott or Demdike Stare, and Anthony Naples takes it to NYC with an extended mix of his scudding piano house workout ‘Goodness’ off the ‘Take Me With You’ tape (not found on the LP released by ANS!), and Kiki Kudo keeps it stateside with the palpitating electro-dub fizz of ‘Hala Dub’ in a style relatable to E.M.M.A. or Jay Glass Dubs.

Edit Service is proud to present its 6th release, this time featuring Youkounkoun, a duo comprising of Jeff Lasson of Get A Room and Gaëtan Rossi.

After releasing on Multi Culti edits and Edits du Plaisir, the duo delivers a mini-LP with a diverse range of tempos and moods, from dancefloor-friendly cuts to weirder tracks with Gallic oddities, Dutch new wave, Spanish minimal wave and experimental Iranian music used as the source material. The unsettling post-punk, industrial and mutant kraut energy in those tracks could not be further removed from lazy run-of-the-mill disco edits. In true digger spirit, Youkounkoun picks tracks never edited before and painstakingly re-arranges them by adding a lot of additional production to completely transform these tracks for the dancefloor. The digital files for this LP will be officially released 6 months after the vinyl record is out.

A1 Qu’est-ce que je fais ici The LP opens with this plodding downtempo edit, where a cold but funky groove provides the backdrop for French lyrics about modern alienation, with a chilling result, like standing under pasty neon lights for too long.

A2 Novotel cocktail Slightly faster but still resolutely downtempo, this track features a dance-inducing rhythmic section with spot-on sequencing, understated but unsettling melodic elements and last but not least a range of vocal elements that give the tune an embodied but wholly dehumanized feel.

A3 Musique du texte More than just an edit, in this track the duo blends the French and Japanese spoken words and oriental-leaning melodies from a largely beatless track with a totally new and different rhythmic section featuring a funky post-punk bass guitar and a four to the floor groove. The result is dizzying and irresistible.

B1 Mouvement perpetuel On this particularly mutant cut, bass guitar licks, tight drum programming and dreamy 70’s synths are used with dramatic effect by the duo to highlight the weirdness of French spoken word about perpetual movement: nothing is lost and everything is transformed.

B2 Metallic waves With a much more synthetic feel than the rest of the record’s hybrid offerings, this tune immediately stands out with its heavy and compelling groove, where eerie voices and a flurry of uncanny sounds create a strange and disorienting effect to which the most appropriate response seems to start dancing.

B3 Je veux pas danser In this dissonant and neurotic track, it is highly likely that a relentless synth bassline, an uptempo groove, morbid sound effects will set bodies in motion, even when unsettling Flemmish vocals about not wanting to dance try to convince listeners otherwise.

B4 In my castle In this hallucinated edit where sounds reminiscent of oldschool Chicago house and dub music are used for completely different purposes. Dance-inducing and hypnotic, it plays on the repetition of melodic and rhythmic elements. Delightfully off-kilter, it closes the LP in style.

Italo-disco inspired house music, IN MY DREAMS is the latest single from New York/Moscow duo IPF aka INTERNETPOWERLIFTINGFEDERATION. A warm, galloping bass line fuses with razor-sharp synth stabs, creamy pads and late-80’s house drums. A dual-vocal exchange explores self-delusion, obsession and a single-sided relationship between girl and the boy who lives in her head. Melancholic yet pop-y, IN MY DREAMS wouldn’t be out of place in club run by Erasure, Depeche Mode or Human League at their most soulful and dancefloor-ready. In the spirit of classic 80’s dance music traditions, the original mix gets three additional reworks: a classic Electro version, a “big room” friendly HI-NRG version and stripped down version. This is the first release from New York city based label Daddy Issues, limited pressing 150 copies only.

Fresh collab from Multi Culti’s Thomas Von Party and Calypso’s Iñigo Vontier — SALSA FINGERS debut on Pigmalião’s ‘I Lost My Poncho In Istanbul’ with two downtempo chuggers. Coco Fantasma takes it's name from the forthcoming coconut and ghost pepper salsa that the Canadian-Mexican duo have cooked up. ... For real.

Mouth harp, tribal drumming, and a haunted flute hook make for a low-key floor-filler for the slow-mo house DJ's and global neo-shamanic cult builders alike.
Amor Modular takes the familiar Cumbia groove into new territory with a modular synth riff, tight Latina voices take the heat up to 11 and once again, the Salsito’s trademark flute hook brings a perfectly dosed hit of folklorica.

Japanese 3 piece electronic band “D.A.N.”’s world wide debut single on mule musiq’s sister label “studio mule”. D.A.N. is a probably most successful japanese band in a electronic music scene at the mo-ment, they’ve performed with james blake, the xx, bonobo and name a few in japan. “Sundance” is a first single cut from their 2nd album (it’s released in only japan). It’s a electric boogie track which some people bring “the xx” to mind.

Any historians keen on the subject of "French youth in the 1980s" are holding a treasure in their hands. As a true archaeologist of this decade dedicated to disposable culture, digger-in-chief Vidal Benjamin with his newest compilation, 'Pop Sympathie', offers them a unique journey in the heart of the cyclone of emotions that struck all teenagers during the first seven years of François Mitterrand's mandate. Fifteen musical nuggets, exhumed from the dungeons of history, each and every one of them teaching us about what really obsessed the youngsters at that exact moment, i.e. what happens when the city lights come on at dusk, when irrepressible urges that stir them to get lost even more appear until the end of the night.

The artists gathered here did not have the honour of breaking into the local charts, but they all individually reached for the sky. Each song of 'Pop Sympathie' tells more or less the same story: that of a girl who throws herself into the night like one immerses one's self into the void, who rushes into a one-night adventure to become a star. And too bad if in the early morning she finds herself back at square one. In all these miniature odysseys there is neon lights, lasers, smoke machines, broken glass on checkered tiles, strangers on leather benches, celebrities in the bathrooms, stolen kisses, alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, Polaroids, venetian blinds and radioactive tubes.

If the first opus of Vidal Benjamin, 'Disco Sympathie', focused on the funky mood of songs that could have been played at Le Palace, then 'Pop Sympathie' develops itself as the imaginary soundtrack of another nightclub, Les Bains-Douches, the capital’s epicenter of nocturnal drifts. So what do we listen to, blasé, at Bains-Douches? Mainly synthesizers. The child of punk and post punk, French New Wave celebrates the matrimony of machines and lolitas under the auspices of a retro trend that revisits the atomic age. Trying to surf on that wave and hit the charts, a bunch of producers (Stéphane Berlow, Laurent Stopnicki, Bernard "Black Devil" Fèvre, Johny Rech, Jean-Yves Joanny ...) will spot their talents amongst friends, in a travel agency or at the local bar. These virtual stars are called Cecilia, Laurent, Sonia, Janou, Fabienne, Anne, Arielle or Ronan, not even 20 years old, and often leaving just an overexposed photo and their first name on a single as the only memories of their swift passage in this particular musical story. It took all the love and sweet madness of Vidal Benjamin to bring them back in the light of day.

Clovis Goux