Beats News

Repress!

Artificial Intelligence was born in 2005 with the AI Series events in Madrid as a deep and sincere tribute to the pioneers of the early Bleep, Braindance and Idm sound. Thanks to labels such as Warp, Planet Mu, Skam Records, Rephlex… and artists such as Richard D. James, Autechre, Jega, Boards of Canada…

Almost 20 years later we are back as a label with this first volume of 14 tracks by 14 different artists with the usual suspects along with some new faces where we want to express our love and respect for this sound.

Synth wizard, soundtrack composer, and Zombi member, Steve Moore expands further on his stark and drama filled cosmic sound with a new six track lp. These tracks call to mind to his early-L.I.E.S. releases, where Moore focused on cold arppegations and basic beat constructions to fuel his epic productions which center around pristine soaring synthscapes. A master of the genre, Moore gives us an equal mix of explosive, creepy home at the end of a dark street floor fodder as well as slower tempo cosmic headcrushers, all capable of getting your head or niteclub in a frenzy. Beyond epic!!!

DFR will start the new year with its second release, this time by Venezuelan artist Log_In.

An 80’s revival - connecting old and new school sounds with a vintage touch. From high energy hooks to deep evolving breaks, all four tracks focusing on emotional dance floor effect. TIP!

Well Curated is a series of releases and parties that - in its own words - "reflects the ethnomusicology of the last 50 years of music" - and aims to reach into all genres, merging classic styles and breaking down barriers. Steve Spacek occupies the A-side with the breezy broken beat and soul-in-space of 'Alone In Da Sun', while Lukid's 'Hair Of The Dog' is a more intense counterpart, with wobbling sub-bass and swirling, surging atmospherics hovering above.

The forever exploring electronical entity of a band, Gusgus, has opened yet a new era in their unique sonic multiverse. With their 12th album, the course is set to a strange mysterious place called DanceOrama. A Rave-Mall in a nostalgic future, DanceOrama is the place to be, where you can experience infinite freedom, genre and gender free. Moving from the pulsating new-wave influenced techno pop of the last album “Mobile Home” (2019), Gusgus emits the vibe of DanceOrama on their new album as an arousing, melody-rich hybrid of 80s/90s parties and raves. The 9- track album is slated for a November 10th release. The release is evenly split up in euphoric fusioned pop anthems and genre-free instrumental journeys.

Gusgus‘ last album “Mobile Home” was the later of twin albums that found the band exploring early 80’s new wave influences and reviving them in the iconic Gusgus soundscape. The highlight on the album was a pulsating techno reggae track called “Higher” that introduced a new member into the band, Margrét Rán, the lead singer of “VÖK”.

Whereas on “Mobile Home”, the concept was stationed in a rural environment of a dystopian side reality, Gusgus now moves to the city. In this city of strange discomforting future omens, DanceOrama stands out as the rave-mall of freedom. Leaving the new wave influences, this album is a strange hybrid of the 80’s and 90’s parties twisted into a genre-free blend of arousing experiences.

The album consists of 5 instrumental tracks and 4 vocal pop songs, ranging from 105-158 bpm and exploring various influences from the 80’s and 90’s and even the 70’s in a strange fusion of techno, trance, italo-disco, house and pop that emits the rawness and innocence of previous decades. The pop songs are quite strictly set as stories related to the mysteries and rumors of DanceOrama. One track in particular will be very exciting for our fans, as it has been a regular final track on our live show since the album “Arabian Horse” in 2011. This is the track “Breaking Down” that was recorded during the album “Mexico” in 2013 with “Earth” and “Högni” on vocals but, due to emotional turmoil, has never been released until now.

Portland pianist Mary Sutton second’s full-length for Kranky delves deeper into her roots as a Cherokee Nation citizen (Saloli, pronounced like “slowly,” is the Cherokee word for ‘squirrel’).
The album is intended to evoke “a day in the life of a bear in a canyon in the Smoky Mountains,” with each track channeling a different emotion or experience in its daily explorations.

As with her 2018 debut, The Deep End, the entirety of Canyon was composed and performed live on a Sequential Circuits MultiTrak synthesizer – but this time routed through a delay pedal. This refraction adds a lyrical spatial quality, as though “echoing off canyon walls.” It's music both gentle and adventurous, curiously rooting through soils and streams, in a sustained state of discovery.

In Cherokee teachings, humans and animals are considered to have no essential difference – originally, all the creatures of the earth lived together in harmony. Canyon captures shades of this Edenic notion across eight elegant pieces, alternately meandering, pensive, playful, and pure. Sutton’s playing, as always, is dexterous and dimensional, mirroring the dazzled senses of its muse.
Her father, the Cherokee painter and flute-maker Jerry Sutton, created the artwork. Its yellow lettering is from the Cherokee Syllabary and spells “Yona", meaning ‘bear.’

Wolfgang Tillmans’ latest album, Build from Here, is driven by a desire to explore and to expose. It navigates joy and heartbreak amid ruin and rebuilding, embodying hopeful defiance in uncertain futures. The songs vary in style, from propulsive and catchy to contemplative, featuring lush instrumentals transitioning into danceable beats. Tillmans’ voice, whether growling and confrontational or tender and stripped down, maintains its prominence throughout, serving as the album's core.

Obliques and Atmospheric are very happy to present their new album “Golden Apples of the Sun”. It is the result of a close cooperation between Suzanne Ciani and Jonathan Fitoussi. The American electronic music pioneer (5 time Grammy award-nominated) has joined the French composer to sign a four-hand album around mythical synthesizers like Buchla, Moog and Ems...

Mainly recorded in California, facing the Pacific Ocean, the white sound of synthesizers mixes constantly with the sound of the waves and wind.The music generated is directly blended with the surrounding elements of nature.It is both organic and live, hypnotic and rhythmical, powerful and dreamlike.

Suzanne is a five-time Grammy award-nominated composer, electronic music pioneer, and neo-classical recording artist who has released over 20 solo albums. Her work has been featured in films, games, and countless commercials as well. She was inducted into the first class of Keyboard Magazine's Hall of Fame alongside other synthluminaries. Most recently, she is the recipient of the Independent Icon Award from A2IM. Suzanne has provided the voice and sounds for Bally's groundbreaking "Xenon" pinball machine, created Coca-Cola’s pop-and-pour sound, designed logos for Fortune 500 companies, and carved out a niche as one of the most creatively successful female composers in the world.

An official re-issue of the 1996 album, Beyond the Circle, from Dr. Osamu Kitajima presented by Forest Jams on vinyl for the first time.

As the title suggests, Japanese music explorer Osamu Kitajima takes the listener beyond the known on a musical voyage into new territory where his compositions are a synthesis of Western electronics and ambient dance rhythms, tempered by the wisdom of ancient Japanese traditions. "Beyond the Circle" is music that is as energizing as it is spiritual and melodic.

Dali Muru & the Polyphonic Swarm (formerly known as FITH) sit in a venn diagram of troubadour poetics, cinema soundtrack, and primordial electronics.

"We drew a map of the road trip together. A green line from Bambi across the Danube to the Carpathians. A fairy tale animated in technicolour, unfolding in slow motion. All protagonists hovered slightly off the ground. The soundtrack of Transcarpathia and a whirling unresolved hum. A disembodied camera flies thru a bartak forest; it sinks down on a nest of wild mugwort..."

Archeo Recordings is a record label. Old, lost, obscure and forgotten gems and a boundless focus on the new Balearic scene for a wider audience of collectors, DJs and music lovers. All releases are limited edition.


This release is 350 copies limited edition: 12"" with 4 new special Remixes by Hear & Now, Manu Archeo, Mushrooms Project and Ocean Moon + CD with 6 previously unreleased Original songs + Insert.

For the latest essential offering from Archeo Recordings, Infradisco harness the power of the Po, serving a six-part suite inspired by the life giving power and natural beauty of water. An immersive journey through balmy downbeat, Balearic melancholy, smooth jazz and subtle house, the ‘Aqua Cheta’ CD comes accompanied by a diverse 12" of remixes from Hear & Now, label head Manu Archeo, Mushrooms Project and Ocean Moon. Album opener “Caduca” evokes the energy of an Umbrian waterfall, its spheric bassline growing ever more acidic before falling away as focus shifts onto the misty pads and plangent guitar.

The gentle bossa rhythm of “Dulcis” transports us to the confluence of the Rio Negro and the Amazon, where a snaking bassline underpins beguiling horns and subtle Sade-sque chords progressions. On “Fluminea”, the trio return to the heart of Reggio Emilia, following the fluctuation of the river Po, which runs past their studio, in an exquisite example of tension and release. Awash with emotion, both via the piano and redolent woodwind, this heady track intersects melodic house and Balearic trance, prompting horizontal dancing and skyward gazes. The tone shifts through the pensive and propulsive “Marina”, a sax led masterpiece accented with gorgeous acoustic guitar, before the tabla beat and emotive sitar of “Pluvia” add intensity to a slow-flowing piece of progressive house.

The CD closes with the cinematic splendour of “Surgiva”, an expansive ambient composition which sees delay-drenched fretwork tug at our heartstrings.

Let's lower our heads in gratitude and move our feet in elation, it's the resurgence of Jennifer Touch on Riotvan. We've witnessed her dropping a substantial cycle named "Feeling C" on the label a couple of years ago and just praised her contribution to the second "Familiar Faces" Compilation. Now it's time for her second artist EP on the label, and what a display of evolution and further refinement of her unique style it is!

Schicksal is the alias of Rudi Huybrechts from Belgium. Heavily inspired by Front 242 first album “Geography”, DAF’s elektronische körpermusik “Alles Ist Gut” and of course Kraftwerk’s “Man Machine” and “Computer World”, Rudi bought his first Roland SH-101 synthesizer and started in 1982 with Schicksal to experiment with synths and drum computers. He spent lot of hours programming and composing on his bedroom and recording everything on a tape recorder. A selection of these old tracks are included on “Perpetuum Cycle I”. You can definitely feel the vibe of this period and the place where the songs were created: the old industrial town of Hoboken, the culmination of the cold war and the aim of a young musician to combine melody and harmony into minimal electronic music. Recommended for fans of Absolute Body Control, The Klinik, minimal-synth and early EBM

Antibody presents this new opus by Berlin based Japanese artist Tot Onyx (Tommi Tokyo, formerly of group A).» Satire Of Desire« is her second solo album to date. Here, performance and sound art meet post-industrial deconstructivism. It’s radical, ferocious, wonderfully free and powerful.

Written under the covid-19 pandemic, "Satire Of Desire" is her radical criticism on the man-made catastrophe and sonic response to the cacotopic world that seemed less realistic than the surreal dreams of flying turtles. »My dreams started to become more realistic than the empty streets of Berlin. That's when I began wondering the difference between dream and reality, conscious and subconscious, how we distinguish them and what that even means. That was the beginning of creating this album. The beginning of the future i was unwillingly stepping into.«

"Parrish Smith is never one to let you breathe easy. As a globally renowned DJ, he’s become synonymous with high-velocity sets that cut and collide through his distinct array of obscure sounds. Meanwhile, however, the artist has been carefully constructing his own musical idiom. Manoeuvring his most delicate and most defiant feelings, Light Cruel & Vain (Dekmantel Records, 2022) is the first fruit of that painstaking process. A compilation of ‘imperfect music’, the record is shrouded in the artist’s characteristic veil of mystery. As always, his sound cuts and chokes – sometimes cruelly, sometimes soothingly – yet this record offers a new, longer, lighter gulp of air. Here, Parrish Smith bares his most private process so far: one of personal transformation and becoming a better version of oneself.

Light Cruel & Vain was developed over the course of nearly three years, following nearly a decade of individual experimentation. Where on the one hand, LC&V reflects an inward pilgrimage (aka Parrish Smith facing the world and Parrish Smith facing Parrish Smith), the project simultaneously reflects the birth and growth of a band. Each track on the record is originally based on a solo idea, moulded and fine-tuned in conversation with contributing musicians Sofiane Brahmi and Javier Vivancos, then finalized by the producer. The collaborative process brought together niches that wouldn’t typically share territory or sound, allowing music to emerge that transcends each of their boundaries. In the making of LC&V no conventional studio sessions occurred; due to covid-19, the full collaboration process was a remote affair of sharing snippets, (re)working recordings and, most of all, exchanging thoughts and feelings.

Those who know Parrish Smith a little, know his long-standing mantra: ‘No elitism, no prejudices, no genre. Hypnotic, tense, comprehensible – a state of mind.’ It’s this dictum that best describes the LC&V sound(s). Tapping into all irreverent niches close to his heart – noise, punk, industrial, electronic, and even pop – Parrish Smith refuses to foreground one influence over another, instead layering and warping his personal interpretations of each. To categorize his seeking sound would be to limit the artist who, more than anything, thrives in limbo. ‘You could call it a concept album because the sounds are so far apart. But perhaps that’s not a concept, perhaps that’s just me…’

Parallel to his extensive musical experimentation, the past years have allowed Parrish Smith to zoom in on his writing. The resulting fragments form the foundation of LC&V’s collage-like, soul-searching lyrics. Never, however, does the artist take his words to the front of stage; instead treating his voice as a malleable instrument, just one of many shifting layers in a bigger picture. The distorted lyrics, as such, are an statement: ‘It’s alright to be insecure about some of your qualities. In fact, the key is to embrace just that, to take matters into your own hands.’"

The duo formed by Andrea P. Latorre and Sergi Algiz is a specialist in shedding skin and gladly combines new heteronyms in Fake is Real, their sophomore album after their self titled debut in 2018 and subsequent EPs Against Strong Thinking and Maybe a Body, which have been full of reinterpretations and remixes.

Another sign is that they trust their modus operandi to mutation and the idea that nothing is ever quite said. It’s been three years of work, growth and numerous performances in venues and festivals throughout Europe.

In Fake is Real, SDH go out once again in search of nightclubs that are familiar, but never obvious.

The occasion is tremendous and the list of honorees is select: beginning with the producer Kris Baha, who has provided forcefulness to the rhythmic base and prominence to the voices. The dress code transcends the categories of dark wave, to dress as mischievous EBM, with accessories from new dance, acid house and disrupted but melodic techno, with structured twists that come to caress the electronic psychedelia.

Ready to play? Let’s play. Let’s change our epidermis, let’s confuse our coats in the dark. Knowing that only in the dark is where everything unpronounceable can have a place, SDH go all-in. Their darkwave résumé allows the duo to blend diverse electronica and leftfield sounds such as big beat, eurodance, synthwave, hard trance and body music in a very personal and emotional way.

You may hear influences drawn from Da Blitz to the Prodigy, Yves Deruyter to Faithless, yet everything is so SDH you just can’t mistake them with any other band out there.

Not unlike early 90’s-era Coil, the music here is as important as the idea behind the band, a unit conceived to explore and operate on the margins of the music genres it supposedly belongs to, making it hard and therefore so damn interesting to define what’s been done.

A work open to so many influences, that it gives a pleasant vertigo to be involved in it. If you’ve ever been afraid of the night, Fake is Real offers you a reconciliation with all its rhythms that invites you to move together in the club.

Many people consider the Tbilisi scene (thanks to the artists that turns around Khidi club) as one of the most advanced and influential in the entire world. Giorgi Kolbaia (aka Downwell) & Giorgi Kharanauli are a good example of those talented georgian artists. They have made partnership as Initial Light to present a more relaxed work in relation to their solo acts stuff, “40 Degrees In The Air” is a blend of Italo, breaks, synthwave and modern ebm / new beat keeping a common pleasant industrial taste in the 6 tracks included in their vinyl debut.

ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid BLUE vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios (Germany)

Hammershøi is a French Synth duo born out of confinement and human-machine communication. Their musical style is based on music from the 80’s (Minimal Synth, EBM, French Wave, Synth Wave) and some artistic influences such as german expressionism, word art, and painting.

Die drei energiegeladenen Synth-Disco Tracks von Clavis‘ Rocket Dial EP entstanden aus mehr oder weniger spontanen Studio-Live-Jams mit Vintage Hardware-Kisten, wie Roland TR-808 und SH-09, aufpoliert mit modernen Drums und Gitarren-Overdubs. Miami Vice is calling…

Clavis ist das beeindruckende Production Duo bestehend aus Manuel Tur und Adrian Hoffmann (a.k.a. Urban Absolutes). Nach ihrem Abschluss dauerte es eine weitere Dekade, bis die beiden langjährigen Schulfreunde 2015 ihre erste gemeinsame EP auf Freerange Records veröffentlichten.
Seitdem bauten sie ihre Diskographie nach dem „eine EP pro Jahr“ – Prinzip stetig aus, gespickt mit Remixes für Künstler wie Ane Brun oder Andhim. Neben Clavis sind sie auch bei der Produktion diverser anderer Projekte involviert, wie Amberoom, welcher just Aufsehen erregte mit Remixen von Dixon und Isolée. Clavis leben und arbeiten in Essen.

Nach ausverkaufter Welttour und Festivalauftritten bringen Mount Kimbie ihr von den Kritikern gefeiertes Album "The Sunset Violent" in neuer limitierter Jahresendausgabe auf Petrol Blue Transparent-Vinyl heraus. Das Album zeigt das Duo in ihrer gewagtesten und aufregendsten Form und featuret ihren langjährigen Kollaborateur King Krule auf mehreren Tracks.

- "Auch weil sie endlich wieder zueinander gefunden haben, schaffen es Mount Kimbie mit "The Sunset Violent" jetzt schon auf die Jahresbestenliste." - Kulturnews 14/24

WE ARE BEYOND EXCITED TO BE CELEBRATING OUR 5TH ANNIVERSARY.

THE PAST TWO YEARS HAVE KEPT US FROM FULLY EXPRESSING WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO AS A COLLECTIVE. THANKFULLY, WE HAVEN’T LOST OUR PASSIONS AND INTERESTS.
SO, THERE SHOULD BE NOTHING STOPPING US FROM HAVING THIS CELEBRATION - A FIRST STEP YET A VERY IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENT!

5-TO-HYPERSPACE IS A SPECIAL PROJECT EMBODYING AN 8
TRACK COMPILATION AND A COLLABORATION WITH OUR DEAR FRIEND AND GRAPHIC DESIGNER YURI KABAN, WHO HAS FRAMED OUR INFAMOUS CATHODE-RAY TUBE AESTHETIC IN A T-SHIRT DESIGN.
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• 8-TRACK COMPILATION
• 12” VINYL 300 LIMITED COPIES

WE’VE GATHERED A CREW OF NEW AND GOOD OLD FRIENDS WHO EMBODY WHAT WE’VE ACCOMPLISHED DURING OUR JOURNEY SO FAR, POWERED OFC BY OUR SOUND DIVISION FUNCLAB RECORDS.
THIS PROJECT COMES TO LIFE THROUGH THE EVER GROWING AND EVOLVING SOUND-VISION AND VISUAL RESEARCH OF OUR COLLECTIVE.
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• TRACKLIST A/B

1. FUNKYCAN - ILLUSION OF LOVE
Berlin based producer and DJ, aka Am Kinem. He’s Max Graef’s live-set associate and sonic ambassador of Tax Free Records. — DREAMY AND HYPNOTIC HOUSE

2. MINIMONO - INVISIBLE DAY
Fabio della Torre & Ennio Colaci (Bosconi Records) Minimono was born in Florence in 1997 as a multimedia project involving experimentation through music installations, graphic design and theater performances. — HARD-DRIVEN MOODY BREAKBEAT

3. UFFE - U-DOLLAR
Blending dusty-sounding samples and live instrumentation into jazz and downtempo-inflected house music, Amsterdam-based Danish producer Uffe Christensen began making music when he was ten years old. He resisted going to his piano lessons but loved experimenting with samples and music- making apps on his father’s computer. — JANGLING DUB TECHNO

4. KID SUBLIME - THE MUSIC
Growing up in Amsterdam, Jacob Otten, aka Kid Sublime, started to play drums and piano at the early age of five. As a teenager he founded his first band with schoolmates, dedicated to hardcore punk, and short after was heavily attracted to skateboarding and hip hop. — MELLOW LOUNGING DEEP HOUSE

5. RADIUS - BUILDING A STAR
Radius aspires to inspire, heal and bridge community by any means necessary Many influences with nature in the forefront Improvisational Aesthetics South Chicago B-boy Live PA/electronics Founder of Etc Records, with releases on
D81, Mathemathics Recordings, The Secret Life of Sound, Beyond Luck Music. — SOULFUL BROKEN BEAT

6. OHBLIV - FLOWING WITH TIME
Oddly hypnotic, mesmeric visions of a musical utopia where hip hop flirts with RnB, makes love to Jazz, and travels with ambient. Timeless, ethereal. Traditional but not purist. Sometimes experimental, these healing tones are cosmic sound therapy for generations. — DUSTY AND SYNCOPATED SWEET BEAT

7. PSYCHEDELIC ENSEMBLE. - BOOM!!!
Psychedelic ensemble is a London based beat wizard! See also Psyche Nah! — KNOCKING DRUMS AND DEEP SYNTHS

8. DELPHI - CAT PARADE
Valerio Del Prete aka Delphi - his Hip Hop moniker - is a DJ and producer from Rome. Also member of the eclectic House duo Tiger & Woods, together with Marco Passarani, a veteran in the Italian Dance scene. — CHILLED OUT LO-FI HIP HOP

Public Possession turns 10. What holds it all together?
Comedy & Rhythm. Find us in between the sun and the moon. Onward, forward, don’t step backward.
The source is everywhere.
• Where (Who) Am I? An angel with an UFO.
• Toot, Toot, Beep, Beep....
• Maintain a child’s mind
• Listen, talk, see
• Archeaology (dig it)
• WOW (curiosity)
• Easy & Diffifficult
• Mix It Up
• Soft Education
• Love Unlimited
We are not doing this alone.
The biggest thank you goes to the P.P. Team & all label artists.
To many more years!!

Third release from Mahres sister, with a second apparence of ghost Sektor, U-Died Mare's new alias, 22Recordings boss C.ru.z and new Corsican talent Human_Aventura !
Limited 200 copies

Limited Edition Picture Disc. Including Silver/Chrome Obi Sticker and Silver Postcard with album titles and info in English and Bengali. Housed in PVC sleeve.

ICCHĀ is an international collaboration project that originated in 2023 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The work "Chant For Hope" was realized by Miet Warlop and created on site with local performers while Micha Volders composed the musical context. The performance acts as a monumental living sculpture, in which the physical process of casting hundreds of Bengali words in plaster becomes the driving force to create a playing field between performers, public space, and participation. Woven through this performative context are more complex relationships that explore the tension between humans and language. As the words become so visible and tangible, an image of their inner bearing and our dealings with them emerges.

The recordings of this performance have been adapted and enhanced to create an album that reflects the energy and expands upon the sound created in Dhaka. ICCHĀ is the Bengali wording of "desire," and reflects the eagerness and urgency felt within the process of this collaboration. In conjunction with the seven performers, a sonic adventure emerges that thrives on the energetic rendering of the Bangla language through transient patterns and snappy melodic figures. The album will be released on 24.05.24 as vinyl picture disc and digital, and will be available as a pre-order online and in local selected record shops.

Ivy Chalice unveils their spellbinding album 'Nachtmahr'. Drawing inspiration from the duality of dreams and nightmares, Ivy Chalice crafts an auditory journey that beckons listeners to embrace the allure of the unknown.

The album's title itself is a nod to the intricate interplay of darkness and fascination that resides within our deepest thoughts. Just as there are dreams we yearn to awaken from, there are those we secretly long to fall back into, and 'Nachtmahr' embodies the latter, seamlessly blending retrodelic musical affinities with contemporary soundscapes, resulting in an experience that feels both nostalgic and cutting-edge.

Chase Smith aka the W.T. Records and Apartment associate and documentary filmmaker Christa Majoras are back as brainwave research center with their second full length, Mosaic. Once again the sonically inquisitive pair mix up analogue synths with electro-acoustic experiments, epic and adventurous soundscapes and plenty of raw texture, hooky pop melodies and innocent rhythms. Along the way the duo take influence from their heroes including Ennio Morricone, John Carpenter and Kraftwerk on a record that was laid down in the back of Smith's synthesizer repair shop. It's an absorbing listen once more from this increasingly vital pair.

Luca Venezia aka CURSES is a magician that turns everything into gold. His influences are deeply rooted in the original Valencia sound and that could be perfectly noticed not only in his past discography but also in his Dj sets, that always include some classics of that cultural movement. In “No Mercy EP” he present his unique vision of that amazing scene with brutal arpeggios, punchy and poppy drums and his usual darky and profound vocals.

Presented in a one-off truly limited edition of 300 copies, lacquered pressed on 180gr. high quality solid GREEN vinyl. All tracks have been specially restored and remastered for long cut vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios.

Nervous Gender’s legendary synthpunk LP Music From Hell burbles up from infernal depths to resurface on Dark Entries. Confrontational, unhinged, and unabashedly queer, Music from Hell is an unholy grail for fans of the strangest underbellies of post-punk, minimal synth, and early industrial music, and is presented here newly remastered and on expanded double LP.

Nervous Gender (de)formed in LA in 1978 at the hands of Phranc, Gerardo Velaquez, Edward Stapleton, and Michael Ochoa. Phranc, the androgynous embodiment of the band’s name, left in 1980. Following her departure, a wide cast of LA freaks would find themselves drawn into the band’s orbit, including Alice Bag of the Bags, Paul Roessler of the Screamers, the Germs’ Don Bolles, and an 8-year old drummer named Sven Pfeiffer. In 1980, Nervous Gender appeared on the seminal Live at Target compilation alongside Factrix, uns, and Flipper. With the band’s notoriety cemented, Music from Hell followed in 1981 on Subterranean Records (as no LA label would touch this material).

Side A, dubbed “Martyr Complex”, presents a more punk-forward sound with live drum salvos and slabs of aggressive synth. These twitchy, unsettling shockers ooze with the kind of snotty misanthropy that will endear them to fans of the Screamers or Crass.

Side B, known as “Beelzebub Youth”, is a live performance the band labeled "an electronic bruto-canto dissertation on the banality of spiritual transcendence." Mutant melodies cede way to synthesized clangs, whirs, bleeps, manipulated tapes, and howls of despair.

In addition to all the material from the original LP, we’re treated to a full disc of the band’s demos, the material from the Live at Target compilation, and early live recordings. Included are unrecognizable covers of Carly Simon and Lou Reed, and the Sex Pistols that are so despairingly skewed they fall into the void. This reissue of Music From Hell includes a 36 page lyric booklet, foldout poster, and gatefold sleeve with photos, flyers, and news-clippings designed by Eloise Leigh. Tackling taboo issues like sexual kinks, mental illness, drug use, and childhood molestation, Music From Hell is still surprising – even shocking - over 40 years after the album’s release. Nervous Gender stand as one of the most genuinely anti-establishment outfits in underground music, a colossal fuck you to social norms from religious strictures to gender essentialism.

Andi Otto’s Bangalore Whispers gets finally repressed. The psychedelic track which he recorded together with the Indian singer MD Pallavi in 2016 has become a hit in the downtempo scene around the globe (“Saaaa - resa nisa”). Pingipung press a new edition of the much sought after single on the occasion of their 20th label anniversary. In this 2022 edition the original track is paired with the Peter Power remix which has not seen the light of day on vinyl before.The Brazil-based producer slows the track down a notch and adds even more space. A perfect tune both for the dancefloor or meditation.

Ambassade’s 2019 ‘Duistre Kamers’ album was a huge favourite here at Optimo Music towers so we jumped at the chance to release the follow up; ‘The Fool’.

Following hot in the heels of the acclaimed ‘Young Birds / Palette’ 12” on Optimo Music, ‘The Fool’ is destined to be another Cold Wave, Synth, New Industrial, Experimental …whatever you want to call it …classic. We asked Ambassade to tell us a bit about the album – Born from several years of research and contemplation on the human mind ‘The Fool’ can be understood as a reflection to the dark energies – natural, political, human and otherwise – that are released when it comes to religion, greed and power.

Historically, some rulers have used religion to legitimise their power. We were also inspired by wanting to examine what negative impact religion can have from the fact that it’s always dominated by men.

This was pursued by exploring a wide range of diverse and unusual types of instruments that took on a new approach of tonal expression, with the use of detuned choral and voice samples, droned tape loops and DIY metal and found percussion. It’s from these diverse sources that the process of creativity keeps persistently mutating. This process was focused through the enigmatic electronic and percussion composition from the band which alternates between foreground and background for the haunting vocal performances.

An edit-reissue of this gargantuan double cassette released back in 2014 under the Typhonian Highlife moniker, 'H.R. Giger's Studiolo' finds netherworld voyagerSpencer Clark at a particularlybeguiling conjunction of his labyrinthine-esque soundworld. With complete disregard for linear timelines and trajectories, 'H.R. Giger's Studiolo' finds both inspiration in the swiss master's vision and the Cenobite iconographypreviously exploredby Clark on Fourth World Magazine's 'Pinhead in Fantasia'. The CD Head Cenobite picture adorning the cover makes the connection more than apparent.

A sprawling, two and half hour excursion on the tape version, here properly edited down to the wax container, the first two volumes of 'H.R. Giger's Studiolo' are some of Clark's most mystifying recordings. A baroque odyssey through an hermetic maze of alien voices, warping sound effects, oneiric keyboards and a quasi-orchestral sense of space and dynamics, 'H.R. Giger's Studiolo' feels like an hallucinatory fever dream still unlike everything else, either from before or after. Time doesn't apply here, anyway.

Mastered by Rashad Becker
Artwork by Spencer Clark

Following up on last year’s first EP by Chris Mitchell, Feral Colony continues to bring grimey cuts. 5 tracks of gutter realness for adventurous DJs only.

A1 Sons of Traders-Anybody Sons of Traders have concocted a distorted jackin banger to leadoff the record. Distorted acid lines, samples and chaotic drums create a frenzy in the tradition of the Sons of Traders Sound .

A2-Chupacabras- Pattern 3/1 Chupacabras delivers a high tempo techno banger complete with blown out 808s that run through an array of patterns over a thick baseline, brutal.

B1- Chris Mitchell-GAF Here label boss Chris Mitchell delivers a slow banger with a tweaked out bit crushed sound over drums that sound like they have been run through sandpaper.

B2- Blackmoon77- Thrash Dance In My Head As the title suggests, this one is a mental trip of samples, percussion and heavy samples float over a booming sub. A very personal melancholic mindfuck.

B3- Benni DF - Freundlich Veteran DJ, Berlin’s Benji DF concocts a wild synth experiment. Rescued from an old cassette, this is a sometimes stuttering flurry of synths over a bouncy bass sequence. Perfect to close this unconventional record.