Pop & Rock Novedades

Dive into the exhilarating era of Japan’s electronic dance music scene from the mid ’80s to the mid ’90s with Japan Vibrations Vol. 1. The hand-picked collection by DJ and musical storyteller Alex from Tokyo pays homage to the trailblazers and innovators who shaped the landscape.

Set for release this autumn, the compilation serves as a time capsule recording a vibrant point in Japan’s modern music history. Likewise, a love letter from someone who lived it.

11 newly remastered tracks spanning ambient, downtempo, dub, world beats, deep house, new jazz, and techno. Together they showcase the creative ingenuity and energy of a paradisiac era marked by a symbiotic fusion of international sounds with distinctively Japanese influences. Experience the vibrations of pioneers Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yasuaki Shimizu. Culture-shaping forces Hiroshi Fujiwara, Kan Takagi, Susumu Yokota, Silent Poets, Mondo Grosso and Kyoto Jazz Massive. And new- generation artists Jun CMJK Kitagawa (C.T. Scan), Mind Design, Okihide, and Hiroshi Watanabe. The evolution of a scene, a moment, presented with the progression of a DJ set.

Hi-fidelity remastering by sound engineer Isao Kumano (PHONON). License coordination by Ken Hidaka, album artwork by Takehiko Kitahara.
Photography by Meisa Fujishiro and Beezer, and from Alex and friends’ personal collections.
Pressed by Mother Tongue Records. Distribution by Rush Hour.



Track info:

1. Haruomi Hosono — Ambient Meditation #3

The compilation opens with an invitation to tea in the dream layer. The tranquil track, dedicated to new age legend Laraaji and ambient great Brian Eno, features Hosono on the Prophet 5 synthesizer and the American multi-instrumentalist Laraaji plucking a glittering zither. Hosono released it in 1993 as the closing track of his Medicine Compilation From The Quiet Lodge. True to its title, the album charts the early ‘90s contemplative turn of one of Japan’s most influential musical artists. Recorded in the tea-room modelled RACOON studio in Yutenji, Tokyo, the album weaves together house, techno, and ambient elements with Hosono’s signature eclectic-exotica touch. The result is a divine elixir, and this track is especially captivating.

2. Silent Poets — Meaning In The Tone (’95 Space & Oriental)

The bubbling dub is impossibly vibey on this remix of “Meaning In The Tone” by Japanese electronic duo (turned solo) project Silent Poets. The original track by Michiharu Shimoda and Takehiro Haruno appeared on their 1993 sophomore album, Potential Meeting. This ethereal, downtempo reworking came out in 1995 for the compilation album New Chapter for DJ/artist Nobukazu Takemura’s newly launched label idyllic records. Silent Poets went on to garner international acclaim for its catching sound palette—spanning dub, trip hop, acid jazz, and downtempo like this track—and holistic approach to art fusing music, design, and culture. Shimoda’s original music and brand Poet Meets Dubwise continues to capture the meaning in the tones.

3. Mind Design — Sun

Soft and resonant with a cinematic build up, “Sun” by techno unit Mind Design (Tomonori Sawada and Koji Sakurai) feels like daybreak at Mount Fuji. Sawada and Sakurai made the track (and all their music at the time) using a sequencer to run synths and rhythm machines, and a DAT recorder to capture everything in a single shot. In 1993, Mind Design signed to Transonic (predecessor of Trigger Label), Kazunao Nagata’s underground electronic music label, after the muiltitalented DJ, musician, mastering engineer, and producer saw the duo perform live at a Tokyo techno party. Mind Design’s first and only album View From The Edge followed in 1994, paralleling Sakurai and Sawada’s rising careers as sound composers and designers in the video game industry, where they remain active today.

4. Quadra — Phantom

A rare downtempo gem by Hiroshi Watanabe under his Quadra alias featured on his debut album Sketch From A Moment. With its gently swaying synths and confident percussive stride, “Phantom” is a total vibe. Watanabe, a prolific and versatile artist, is a man of many aliases (Quadra, Kaito, Hiroshi W, Tread with Takehiko Kitahara, 32 project), label homes (Nite grooves, Kompakt, Third Ear Recordings, Ibadan, Transmat Records), and sound profiles (deep slow house, uptempo, melodic techno, to name a few). The mid ‘90s found Watanabe hard at it, studying composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston, spreading from New York the deep house gospel with EPs released on Japanese label Frogman, spinning hard house and techno at NYC clubs like the legendary “Save The Robots,” and more. “Phantom” captures the spaces between—a mid-album track with a subtle, unrushed flow. Nothing dramatic, everything chill and beautiful.

5. Yasuaki Shimizu — Tamare-Tamare

Few artists create a vibe as timeless, innovative, and totally fun as Yasuaki Shimizu. Singing and sax-ing (he does both on this track), connecting dots across the world, tinkering with scales and studio techniques—Yasuaki’s organic and highly experimental flickering about is an artform itself. Enter “Tamare Tamare,” an electro, world-fusion dance-floor killer featuring renowned Senegalese singer and musician Wasis Diop. Recorded in Paris’ ADS-Colour studio with Martin Meissonier, worldbeat and ethnic music producer extraordinaire (think Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Salif Keita, and Manu Dibango) and released on Shimizu’s 1987 Subliminal, the track shines like the sun. “Tamare Tamare,” as the maestro himself says, is a potent spell in sound form.

6. Ryuichi Sakamoto — Tibetan Dance (Version)

A groovy collage of deep slaps, snappy beats, feathery strums, ethereal windings, rolling keys, and plenty of experimental tweaks, the track feels like a joyful gathering of friends. And it should—Sakamoto invited his YMO colleagues and collaborators Haruomi Hosono (bass), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums), Kenji Omura (electric guitar) and string instrument master Ayuo Takahashi on the Japanese zither instrument the koto into the studio to make “Tibetan Dance”. The revolutionary Fairlight CMI synthesizer joined the party, too, providing the perfect foil for an epically funky, buoyant tune. This slightly stripped down, club-oriented version first saw the light of day in 2015 with the Japan-only re-issue of Sakamoto’s 1984 Ongaku Zukan, remastered in high-resolution format (DSD) by Seigen Ono. Our “professor" Ryuichi Sakamoto, prodigious (and pioneering) musician and beautiful human, passed away in March 2023. His astonishing body of work - some 25 solo albums, 41 albums with YMO, 14 live albums, 19 collaboration albums, and 40 EPs and singles - will enliven and inspire for generations to come!

7. T.P.O. — Hiroshi’s Dub (Tokyo Club Mix)

Thunderclaps and a driving downpour of beats—we’re deep in the club now, Japan vibrations at max amplitude. This atmospheric club classic tells a story of scenes and genres—whole worlds—merging at the close of the ‘80s in Japan. An early release by the powerhouse hip-hop label and posse Major Force, the track is a remix twice over. It started with the uptempo “Punk Inc.” by Tiny Panx Organization” (T.P.O.), brainchild of Hiroshi Fujiwara, Kan Takagi, and K.U.D.O. Next came the dub take by Hiroshi, supreme music and culture tastemaker. And here we have the Paradise Garage-inspired deep-house reworking by Sapporo-hailing DJ Heyta. Got that? Now imagine taking it in at the tiny basement club Aoyama MIX during one of DJ Heyta’s wildly popular Wednesday nights back in the day. Lights out!

8. Okihide — Biskatta

Cycling through sugar cane fields in Okinawa, intense sun overhead and a glistening ocean stretching out into infinity. That’s a sweet memory Okihide Sawaki was recalling when he made this track in his Kyoto “Sleepy Room” home studio. Okihide, a sound otaku since childhood (proud owner of a Korg Mono/Poly at age 12!), caught the attention of Fukuoka’s top DJ and producer Ken Inaoka in 1994 when he was playing live under the moniker Tanzmuzik at Shibuya On Air in Tokyo. Inaoka signed the young artist, now going just by Okihide, to his just-launched techno label “Syzygy Records,” and in 1996 A boy in picca season came out. This smooth, uplifting, Detroit-inspired jam from his eclectic, “intelligent” debut album is full of feeling.

9. Mondo Grosso — Vibe PM (Jazzy Mixed Roots) (Remixed by Yoshihiro Okino)

Peppy, elegant, and massively jazzy bops from 1994 that feel so familiar and fresh. The Kyoto-based acid-jazz collective Mondo Grosso roared to life in the early 90s, led by the multitalented Shinichi Osawa. “Vibe.P.M” (Jazzy Mixed Roots) appeared on the compilation Kyoto Jazz Massive (For Life Records), the brainchild and handiwork of Shuya Okino who, along with his brother Yoshihiro, formed the eponymous musical project (Shuya had been managing Mondo Grosso while working at the Kyoto club “Container”). Yoshihiro’s remix presented here is a slice of Japanese crossover jazz that “makes me feel so alive,” just like American vocalist Brenda Kay Pierce beautifully sings on the track. Thirty years on, Kyoto Jazz Massive and Mondo Grosso, together and as individual artists, continue to evangelize good vibes and heady crossover dance music.

10. Prism — Velvet Nymph

A masterful straight-up deep-house track by one of the masters of Japanese electronic music, the late Susumu Yokota. Working under the pseudonym Prism, and fittingly so, Susumu refracted and refined the Detroit techno sounds he loved into Metronome Melody, released in 1995 on the newly formed Japanese label Sublime Records ran by Yamazaki Manabu. The track and album came on the heels of several pioneering moments for Yokota and, by extension, the Japanese electronic music scene. First, he created a storm in December 1993 performing live at club Yellow as the opening act for Underground Resistance (their first appearance in Japan!). Then, in June 1994, Yokota rocked his unique acid-techno sound at Berlin’s Love Parade to huge fanfare (the first Japanese performer at the legendary technoparade!). The dearly missed Susumu Yokota left us with an amazing, eclectic body of work—some 70 albums and singles over 2 decades.

11. C.T. Scan — Cold Sleep (The Door Into Summer)

The compilation closes with an epic techno gem that spins the story of an era: Frogman Record’s 15-year history as a key incubator of Japanese techno music. Among those discovering techno music in the early ‘90s in Japan was a crew of club-going music writers and industry workers that included Kengo Watanabe, Tsutomu Noda, Dai Sato, and Masakazu Hiroishi who would all in different ways influence and innovate the whole scene. Watanabe and Noda launched the groundbreaking electronic music magazine ele-king. Moved by the Berlin techno scene and spurred on by German-Japanese techno ambassador DJ Toby Izui (aka Tobynation), Watanabe and Dai created the techno label Frogman. They tapped C.T. Scan (better known as synthpop artist and producer CMJK of J-pop fame) for the label’s first and final releases. This version of “Cold Sleep (The Door Into Summer)” appeared on Frogman’s 2008 entering-into-hibernation compilation, Fine – The Best of Frogman. Inspired by Robert A. Heinlein’s sci-fi tale about traveling back in time to find oneself, the track is reflective, floating, and gently futuristic. Looking back to create the future, the highest Japan Vibration.

In anticipation of Nouvelle Phénomène’s forthcoming album we’re proud to announce the reissue of their critically acclaimed debut LP ‘Glory Of Romance’ almost 10 years after its release.

2LP including insert with liner notes. Chapter 3 out of 3. Including 14 unreleased tracks! With music from The Hacker, Boy Harsher, Nuovo Testamento, Buzz Kull...'Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX' is a return to the dark romantic of the past, present and future. An undying passion for all things post-punk/wave/body music and beyond.

Andreas Dorau wird am 19. Januar 2024 zum ersten Mal sechzig. Anlässlich dessen legt er sein neues Album "Im Gebüsch" vor. Darin lauern 13 Stücke, auf denen Kaleidoskop-artig verschiedene Pop-Realitäten aufblitzen, erstmals auch auf Englisch: "Touristen-Englisch", wie es Dorau selbst bezeichnet, die Platte als eine Sightseeing-Tour des Pop. Dabei begibt sich Dorau auf einen Streifzug durch diverse Spielarten elektronischer Musik, wobei eine fröhliche Traurigkeit seine treue Begleitung ist. Außerdem wurden für dieses Album u. a. Gäste wie die Musikerinnen Güner Künier und JJ Weihl (Discovery Zone, Fenster) sowie Brezel Göring (Stereo Total) rekrutiert. "Im Gebüsch" ist modern, retro und postmodern gleichzeitig. Das kann nur einer, das kann nur Andreas Dorau!

KID FRANCESCOLI, leader of the French Riviera Touch is back with the stellar album SUNSET BLUE out Sept 22nd 2023.

After a first sold-out world tour (over 200 concerts in Europe, USA, Asia...), and successful hits such as Nopalitos, Blow Up or Moon (now certified diamond, with more than 200 millions streams), the Marseille-based producer, crooner and multi-instrumentalist, Mathieu Hocine, is eager to share his most accomplished LP ever. This fine collection of soulful songs honor his Mediterranean roots, with elegant and pop melodies. His most recent success and the creation of his first original soundtrack with AZURO, installed him as one of the best French songwriters of his generation, with a unique signature sound.

"I live in Marseille, I spent my childhood in Corsica, I have Algerian origins, my first vacations with friends were in Barcelona, vacations with my first girlfriend in Roma,... Then, I had the chance to perform in Morocco, Greece, Turkey and Egypt: each time I spent time in the Mediterranean region, the people I met there made me feel like I was part of the same country. This shared multiculturalism is really comforting, it has its own poetry and strength, bringing uniqueness and empathy to the people. It is essential for me. I love my city: it’s the perfect place to feel good with sun, sea, family, friendships, love... It gets me emotional, bringing tears with a smile".

With his new musical gem, Mathieu Hocine unveils 11 elegant tunes of his finest craft: sunbathed French Touch (Run Run, 1986), romantic chillwave (Corsica), uplifting synthpop (You Are Everywhere, Like Magic), electronic-soul (Casino Soul), cinematic disco (Solaris), cosmic R&B (Sweet and Sour, Take Time), … Everything is in this record.

For the first time ever, Kid Francescoli paid tribute to his mixed origins with his collaboration with world-renowned lute and mandolin player Hakim Hamadouche (Rachid Taha, Patti Smith, Brian Eno, Tricky...), whom added Algerian patterns to the introspectives songs Drift in Blue and The Morning After.

"My ambition is to create pictures in people's heads with music, to transport them instantly into a movie"

SUNSET BLUE is an instant-crush album: crystal-clear, strong, personal but universal at the same time.

It's an ecstatic soundtrack for this moment when time is suspended, the golden hour when everything seems possible. It feels like Love is in the air, you're living your best life and you're at the right place at the right time. This album embodies this magic moment where we would like to last forever… Like an epiphany, Kid Francescoli's new album is a moment of pure pleasure, a soothing way to escape reality.

"I see myself as a melodist.I would like my music to feel like velvet. There's something cinematic, classy about it, and yet comforting. It's very simple, popular and synonym of love and passion"

His friend French 79 co-produced the album, while the american rapper Bamby H2O brought his NYC swag (on Sweet & Sour), Stan Neff (Polo & Pan, Kungs, Christine and the Queens...) took care of the mix and Alex Gopher (Daft Punk, The Blaze, Bon Entendeur...) added a final touch of magic when mastering. Nicolas Despis (known for his work with Etienne Daho, Hoshi, Juliette Armanet... and many famous French rappers) later joined this dream-team to craft custom-made artworks. SUNSET BLUE is a deeply personal quest, a human adventure for Mathieu Hocine (whom explores his maghrebian origins, his feminine side, his subconscious space, ...). It's a male's work, but don't get it wrong, this LP would be nothing without women’s touch : Julietta (on Run Run and Take Time), Sarah Gaugler from Turbo Goth (on You Are Everywhere and Like Magic), and iOni (on Drift in Blue).

“Music has this magical power to broaden your vision of the world. It's fascinating because, like dreams, it's the kind of irrational things science can't explain and that makes life exciting."

Planets aligned perfectly on this project and thanks to this five-star cast of collaborators, Kid Francescoli achieved his personal holy grail : he orchestrated a great 21st century pop-music album.SUNSET BLUE is a new turning point between organic and electronic, both a mediterranean travel and a Californian dream, a bridge between Ennio Morriconne and modern electronic music.

Also, while it might be called SUNSET BLUE in honor of the sea and the Portuguese / Brazilian concept called “saudade”, but it is a really optimistic album, whose true colors would rather be "yellow-orange-red" in nod to the sun.

Created in the midst of the world tour, SUNSET BLUE is a direct result of the lives’ energy and fans’ joyful vibes: going back in the studio after smiling, singing and dancing with people all around the world inevitably gave Kid Francescoli the desire to retranscribe this ecstatic feeling in music. This album is a sensitive experience, from sunrise to sunset, from first track to last one. It’s an exploration of an everlasting summer, reaching its climax in the very final seconds of the track Corsica, making us want to press play and dive into this jewel all over again.

A beautiful cosmic trip, whether you like to stay in bed cocooning, to travel far, far away or to dance ‘till dawn, to catch the first rays of light.

Make sure to catch Kid Francescoli on his next world tour to have a good time.

In 1976 Michael Hoenig had a brief collaboration with Ash Ra Tempel's
Manuel Gottsching in Berlin; A 48-minute recording of one of the
sessions, which was released in 1995 under the title "Early Water" on
Bernd Kistenmacher's Musique Intemporelle label.The album was deletedand unavailable for a long time
Now, finally, a re-issue of "Early Water" will be available again.
Michael Hoenig still remembers: "While I had been working on the "Departure From The Northern Wasteland" album, Manuel Gottsching had asked me if I would team up with him for some concerts in France, since his group had just gone through one of its hibernation
periods. We rehearsed in my place for three or four weeks. One evening we got a call regarding some missing guarantee, which ultimately led to the decision to cancel the tour. Just for fun, we played one of the planned sets for a last time.
Even though I do not recall pressing a record button, somebody recently dug up a Revox tape of that very set. After performing some digital sonic archaeology on it, it was just released under the very appropriate title Early Water."
And Manuel Gottsching adds: "Unfortunately, some of the concert dates were not confirmed in time and we had to cancel the complete tour just on the day before we wanted to leave for France.
On that evening, nevertheless, we recorded our last rehearsal "just in case". It turned out as a flowing harmonic piece, reflecting much of the optimistic air of 1976. Michael made his 'departure' to Los Angeles in the early 1980ies. When we met again in November 1994 I proposed to release this old track of ours. Michael took the original tape to Los Angeles, lovingly restored it and - well, here is it again!"

Als Debütalbum im Sommer 1999 erscheinen, etablierte sich ”Zeitgeist” als wegweisend in Schillers beeindruckender Karriere. Erfüllt von atmosphärischen Kompositionen, die Ambient, Trance und Chill-OutElemente nahtlos miteinander verbinden, nimmt das Album die Zuhörer mit auf eine außergewöhnliche Sound Exkursion.

Back in stock!

Ill Communication and Hello Nasty are the fourth and fifth studio
albums by the Beastie Boys, released in 1994 and 1998
respectively. Available again on double 180g heavyweight vinyl.

Fakear needed to reinvent himself. To return to the essence of his project, with spontaneity and above all, honesty. Ten years after his first steps in the industry, Fakear now returns to his roots, without looking to the past with nostalgia or contempt; but rather by contemplating his past self with kindness.And this new wave got expressed in one word : Talisman, his last album that came out in February 2023. Alongside a sold out French and European tour, a show at Le Trianon in Paris also sold out, and soon one in salle Pleyel (in February 2024).But such a comeback doesn’t just completely stop after only one album – even though it was particularly noteworthy to the media and the audience. And neither does the inspiration for Fakear.This is how Hypertalisman was born. Like the following of this rebirth and this new inspiration for Théo. Like an extension of Talisman: a new dimension, a parallel universe.“Talisman was me returning to my roots. Hypertalisman is a window to the future.”

At the essence of this album is Ark & Pit's supreme happiness, and freedom, from adhering to the rules of arrangements and musical clichés. The delicacy in which these ten tracks are made seems at first listen to be almost breakable, like a painting on a spiderweb. Each track flows into each other like a downward bound slinky - intentionally scattered and unpredictable. The only musical rules adhered to here are those which are pure and good, all others have been discarded… This is punk by day and house by night. This is summersaults, 90s hip-hop, skateboarding in L.A and hands in the air. This is truly how a duo, or brothers (which they are), work. Text by Bruno Pronsato

It’s a family affair. One formed almost thirty years ago, back in the mid-nineties, when the pair joined seminal French jazz combo Olympic Grammofon. For twenty-four years they have worked together as Bumcello, each complementing the other, echoing polar opposites. The Boom in Bumcello is none other than Cyril Atef, incisive drummer, relentlessly pushing beats towards new horizons. The Cello is Vincent Ségal, cellist without blinkers and extraordinary musical alchemist. Since 1999, these two die-hard music fans, coming together for mercurial results, have released one record after the other whilst conquering the hearts of their live audiences, old regulars as well as new recruits. We have all been seduced by the way their music leapfrogs categories - these two experts are much more interested in kindred spirits than pigeonholing, and this very spirit is celebrated on more than one track of this ninth record, whose concept is original to say the least.

Everything began with an idea by Cyril Atef - a soundtrack based upon drawings penned by Marin, Vincent’s son, architect and visual artist. The musicians involved then coached their reaction to these images on a score, and the pair were charged with collating and adjusting the results. These thirteen ink drawings, in a heroic fantasy vein, constituted a matrix which was then to serve as a guide, like a roadmap through a singular and multi-faceted labyrinth. The key to this sonic fresco is in Bumcello’s image – an eclectic aesthetic twinned with a great sense of contrast. Herein lies the trademark of this entity animated by the gift of musical ubiquity, gorged on scales and rhythms, capable of a slap as much as a gentle caress. From classical music to electronics, from improvised music to sophisti-pop, everything is allowed with no preconceived ideas. They can even reclaim the traditions of others, all the better to propel them towards new horizons - this is how the very history of music has always panned out.

If you listen between the lines and look at the details, more than one piece bears witness to the moments and individuals that have impacted the criss-crossing lives of Vincent and Cyril. The track Crash is the perfect excuse to create a Jamaican-style jam with New York inflections, and we can see, in capital letters, the name Hilaire Penda, playing alongside Bumcello at the Apollo Theater in the associated drawing. This bass player from Cameroon, who died on 5th November 2018, was more than just a friend for the two Frenchmen. He was one of the family. Similarly, they give a nod to another Cameroonian, and another departed friend - singer of rock band les Têtes brûlées, Zanzibar, through the vocals of fellow countryman Zanzi. The ghost of Rémi Kolpa Kopul, emblematic voice of Radio Nova, haunts the margins of Spark Av, in a vocal sample with a smattering of effects. As for I Remember Tim, it directly honours the memory of Timothy Jerome Parker, aka The Gift Of Gab, another friend who left us in 2021. Tim is depicted in a drawing with the docks of Oakland in the background, and it’s his alter ego within Blackalicious, Chief Xcel, who remotely added his signature to the track, notably by adding the words of Lateef The Truthspeaker to brass and woodwind sounds.

These are the only additions to Bumcello’s original nucleus, all the better to create a genuine musical concoction where Vincent Taurelle is in charge of production and mixing sessions recorded live and direct. He is also invited for a twinkle on the keys (piano, synths, Wurlitzer, organ), on a handful of tracks. Already at the commands of previous opus Monster Talk, always taking care over the slightest detail, the one that makes all the difference, this pianist is now also part of the family. “Everything he brings is perfect, whether added though slight touches or through very important choices”, say the two members of a combo which today, appears to us under the guise of a trio, adding an extra dimension to a far-reaching mix, in the image of the veiled or more explicit tributes making up the cornerstones of this release.

Booker, a drawing where we see the musicians enter a club, honours James Booker, great pianist from New Orleans who has always fascinated Vincent, in a genre that is off-beat and gender defying. Her Story was created by Cyril in support of the Iranian women’s movement. Aysyen Kampe evokes, even in the original drawing, a tradition that remains impactful for Bumcello – Haitian mysticism, and Ouï Khouïette Ouï conjures up the beats of the Allaoui, a war dance from Western Algeria, one they have taken part in in the past with the help of Cheikha Rabia. They deliver a metal version, original and surprising, especially as Marin Ségal’s drawing features the Nicholas Brothers, those iconic dancers of the 30s jazz scene!

Resolutely hard to pin down, Bumcello’s beats can initially take on the structure of disjointed house, though Sangre begins like a film soundtrack, “in a Mexican style” adds Vincent, who was at the origin of this track. A delicate alap on the cello can open up onto afrobeat rhythms, a well-pitched voice can enchant, like on the amazing The City Has Eyes which has everything of a hummable pop hit. Emblematic of this manner of encompassing all music without being exclusive, Le Grand Sommeil, a direct reference to the Howard Hawks movie inspired by Raymond Chandler, a precursor of David Lynch, begins nice and smooth but ends on a wild tempo, on a drum’n’bass tip, as in the good old days of Cithéa, when this Party story began in the other century.

The story of Lucia Rango, an Apulian singer who was active for a short period during the Sixties, rightfully belongs to that category and meets all requirements for becoming a legend. In 1967, when she was almost unknown, she recorded Lucia Rango Show, an entire album made of songs taken from the repertoire of her friend Piero Ciampi, who worked closely with her on their selection and arrangements. Being one of the most maudit and personal authors of national songwriting, Ciampi had always been a perfect outsider: blunt, shy, extremely talented, and unable to adapt to the rules of the music business. But above all, the Leghorn-born singer was a superb songwriter. The match between his songs and Rango's classical voice and ethereal beauty looked like a very promising one, but never brought any success.
Arranged and orchestrated by Maestro Elvio Monti, and embellished by the participation of Alessandro Alessandroni's I Cantori Moderni, the record is a perfect child of the Sixties, featuring beat tunes and “yè-yès”, Italian canzone, intense ballads, Brigitte Fontaine-like atmospheres and a rediscovered duet of Lucia with her friend Piero, Non chiedermi più, whose recording was known among insiders at the time but sadly appeared to be lost forever. Ciampi's voice lives again in a song that has remained unreleased for more than 50 years within this new expanded version of Lucia Rango Show, thanks to the long research of journalist Lucilla Chiodi (Musica Jazz). Needless to say, the album is an enormously valuable historical document for all fans of Ciampi's output and Italian music in general: along with classics such as Fino all'ultimo minuto, Quando il giorno tornerà and Hai lasciato a casa il tuo sorriso – all originally included in Ciampi's first LP released under the alias Piero Litaliano in 1963 – Lucia Rango's voice consigns to history as many as six songs conceived and written specifically for her recording debut by Ciampi along with Elvio Monti. To date, Rango's invaluable interpretations are the only versions ever recorded of Samba per un amore, Il tuo volto, Stasera resta qui, Primavera a Roma, Ti ho sognato and Sono stanca.

An Italo disco rarity from 1985 is now finally available again as a '12' maxi single! With Flemming Dalum and Hysteric remixes.

1976 hatte Michael Hoenig eine kurze Zusammenarbeit mit Manuel Göttsching von Ash Ra Tempel in Berlin; eine 48-minütige Aufnahme einer der Sessions, die 1995 unter dem Titel "Early Water" auf Bernd Kistenmachers Label Musique Intemporelle veröffentlicht wurde. Das Album wurde gestrichen und war lange Zeit nicht erhältlich. Nun wird es endlich eine Wiederveröffentlichung von "Early Water" geben. Michael Hoenig erinnert sich noch: "Während ich an dem Album "Departure From The Northern Wasteland" arbeitete, hatte mich Manuel Göttsching gefragt, ob ich mit ihm für einige Konzerte in Frankreich zusammenarbeiten würde, da seine Gruppe gerade eine Winterpause eingelegt hatte. Wir probten drei oder vier Wochen bei mir zu Hause. Eines Abends bekamen wir einen Anruf wegen einer fehlenden Garantie, woraufhin wir beschlossen, die Tournee abzusagen. Nur zum Spaß spielten wir ein letztes Mal eines der geplanten Sets. Obwohl ich mich nicht daran erinnern kann, eine Aufnahmetaste gedrückt zu haben, hat jemand kürzlich ein Revox-Band mit eben diesem Set ausgegraben. Nach einer digitalen Klangarchäologie wurde es soeben unter dem sehr passenden Titel "Early Water" veröffentlicht." Und Manuel Göttsching fügt hinzu: "Leider wurden einige Konzerttermine nicht rechtzeitig bestätigt und wir mussten die komplette Tournee erst am Tag vor der Abreise nach Frankreich absagen. Dennoch haben wir an diesem Abend unsere letzte Probe "für alle Fälle" aufgenommen. Es ist ein fließendes, harmonisches Stück geworden, das viel von der optimistischen Stimmung des Jahres 1976 widerspiegelt. In den frühen 1980er Jahren zog Michael nach Los Angeles. Als wir uns im November 1994 wiedertrafen, schlug ich vor, dieses alte Stück von uns zu veröffentlichen. Michael nahm das Originalband mit nach Los Angeles, restaurierte es liebevoll und nun, hier ist es wieder!"

Emerging from the cold echoes of Reykjavík's underground music scene, ex.girls, previously known as Russian Girls, chart an inspiring journey from inception to international recognition. Founded in 2017 as a personal venture by Guðlaugur Einarsson, the act soon evolved into a vibrant, collaborative platform for kindred spirits bonded by an unyielding passion for music.

The project consists of three: frontman Tatjana Dís on vocals, alongside Guðlaugur Einarsson and Gylfi Sigurðsson. Their kinship took root at their erstwhile studio on Skúlagata in Reykjavík, where this creative sanctum became a melting pot of musical exploration, learning, and leisurely hangouts. Guðlaugur and Tantjana also ride the waves as members of the rock band Skrattar, whose album 'Hellraiser IV' saw Bjarki's experimental bbbbbb recors imprint venture outside strictly electronic music for the first time in 2021.

Despite their penchant for maintaining an enigmatic aura, ex.girls won the ‘Best Icelandic Electronic Music Song’ in 2022 with their anthem, 'Halda Áfram', released during the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic on bbbbbb recors, which translates to “keep on going”, became a beacon of hope during tough times in the Icelandic music scene. Their distinctive sound palette paints with broad strokes of lush arrangements cemented with a lo-fi disposition. It's a soundscape where the rumble of a crunchy bass meets a quirky sprinkle of Nordic humour, a signature style they fondly dub as 'SauerLounge'.

While the group has traditionally embraced a leisurely cadence in unveiling new music, anticipation bubbles as they gear up to their debut album, ‘Verk’. A twelve-track exploration of experimental, conceptual and unorthodox textures and sonics, with sounds and influences spanning rock and nu-wave through to electro, drone and ambient. The result? An absorbing and hypnotic trip, with twists and turns across every track, presenting a debut album that keeps you guessing minute by minute.

To be released in both vinyl and digital formats, the album will also welcome engaging remixes from artists native to Iceland and the broader global stage. In a world of ever-evolving music, ex.girls stand out as a testament to authentic collaboration, raw talent, and the art of electronic storytelling.

ex.girls ‘Verk’ LP drops via bbbbbb recors on 24th November 2023, with remixes to follow in the months ahead.

Hot off a string of records released on Coloring Lessons, Bliss Point, People Of Earth, and Off Track Recordings, Malik Hendricks returns to Darker Than Wax with Tessera - a fresh twelve of dancefloor cuts tinged with broken rhythms and funk-infused melodies.

Far Out Recordings proudly presents laid back Brazilian groove maestro Joao Donato’s synth-heavy collaboration with his son Donatinho. Sintetizamor sees the father-son duo jovially hurtle through space and time across ten tracks of sparkling pop, Brazilian boogie and club friendly disco-funk.

Joao Donato has been a hugely influential figure in the development of Brazilian music since the mid-1950’s. He’s played and recorded with virtually every one of his fellow Brazilian masters. Many of his own albums (of which he’s recorded over three-dozen) are regarded with such adulation that ‘cult-favourites’ doesn’t quite cut it.

Aged 82 at the time, Donato’s collaboration with his prodigious, synth obsessed son Donatinho - whose keyboard talents have been called on by the likes of the late Gal Costa, Djavan and Donatinho’s contemporaries such as Diogo Strausz - was originally released back in 2017, as a limited Brazil-only release.

For Record Store Day 2023, Sintetizamor will be available on vinyl (for the first time outside of Brazil) from participating stores.

The Jolisa EP marks a significant shift in Luca dell’Orso’s sound. Although the electric hooks and rolling rhythms that characterise the dutchman’s signature style are still present, new avenues are explored. One notable change is the addition of vocals, care of the EP’s namesake: Jolisa. The opening, “Sixteen”, smoulders with a palpable intensity. Steady beats and textured pads support synth stabs as impassioned vocals recant a tale of past lessons. “Reach Out”, on the flip, is a different animal. Big and daring, chords chug next slicing snares while lyrics brim with hope. Two instrumental works balance the four tracker. “Nighttime” is perfectly sculpted with a soulful melody and clean percussion, vocoder lyrics giving a sorrowful slant to track. A true epic closes: “Tomorrow’s Already Here.” Bold keys and racing rhythms collide in this 80s steeped extravaganza, electro-disco and car chases in this incredible end. A defining EP from Luca dell’Orso.

After almost 6 years of silence since “Akelarre”, Synths Versus Me, the personal musical project of Nico Cabañas, co- founder of Oráculo Records alongside the young Italian promise India Nardone. Recorded analogically in just 2 months, fluctuates in a futuristic way between different kinds of unusual dark sub styles such as industrial noise, proto- tribal, synthpunk or krautwork, and, of course, among other dance-oriented such as EBM, new beat, synthwave, electro/breakbeat or trance. Presented in ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid BLACK vinyl. All tracks have been specially mastered for vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios (Germany).

First studio album from the eccentric and acclaimed french electronic/pop producer!

After three years spent in Morocco, Jacques starts a new phase of extroversion with the release of his first studio album "LIMPORTANCEDUVIDE" of which we have already heard two first extracts with "La vie de tous les jours" and "Ça se voit". A collection of 13 surprisingly pop tracks with a curiously efficient production on which Jacques sings without any manner of mannerisms of texts full of witty games and strong images.

“Elemental 7 has cast a looming shadow of influence over almost all electronic music since it was made” - Boomkat. Chris & Cosey’s Elemental 7 – available here for the first time in 40 years - is the soundtrack to the film of the same name (on Cabaret Voltaire’s Doublevision video imprint) that saw the duo working once more with John Lacey – Lacey had previously worked with Cosey in COUM Transmissions and introduced Chris Carter to the collective. The album’s highlight and one of their best loved songs, ‘Dancing Ghosts’, sounds as fresh and relevant today as it must have on its original release.

LTD 500 units 7 Inch of this seminal Hip Hop/Electro jam from 1984.

Mint 'Styrene' copies are changing hands for £100+, but this remastered reissue version is now available on 100% virgin vinyl at a snip of that price. A slice of Hip Hop history.

‘This Is Telex’ is a brand-new compilation collecting 14
tracks from the innovative Belgium trio, covering their
career from formation in 1978 up to the final album in
2006.

This compilation includes the hit single ‘Moskow
Diskow’ as well as their Eurovision Song Contest
entry, aptly called ‘Euro-vision’.
There are also two wonderful and previously
unreleased tracks unearthed from the Telex archive, a
cover of The Beatles’ ‘Dear Prudence’ and a
reinterpretation of a Sonny & Cher track called ‘The
Beat Goes On/Off’.

All the tracks were newly mixed and remastered from
the original tapes by band members Dan Lacksman
and Michel Moers, keeping all the tracks in the spirit of
the originals but adding a freshness to them.
This compilation sets the way for a comprehensive
reissue campaign of the entire Telex catalogue.
CD in card pack with 12-page booklet.

Coloured vinyl 2LP (side A/B is shrimp pink vinyl, side
C/D fern green vinyl) housed in a gatefold cover with
printed inner sleeves with notes by David Stubbs, plus
digital download code.

Tape packaged in pink case with a green shell, plus
digital download code.

Few artists find a unique path and even fewer remain committed to it, but with insatiable ambition, Berlin's BOYS NOIZE turned principled dedication into an outsize presence among 21st century DJs and electronic musicians. A career punctuated by audacious cross-genre exploration has earned him an enviable fluidity of practice across borders and scenes, yet his definitive fingerprints are present on every creation. An underground hero with mainstream appeal and acid-dripped, techno-punk sensibilities, he jumpstarts crowds from Berghain to Coachella. In 2021, BOYS NOIZE’s fascination with traversing dualities hits a new apex on his fifth studio album +/- (pronounced Polarity)

“The album dives into the polar tension between the musical styles and worlds I find myself in,” says BOYS NOIZE. “When you combine opposites, something transcendent can take place, something greater than the two parts.And with music, it becomes a magic that can create new worlds.”

The German-Iraqi producer and DJ (born Alex Ridha) never thought much of rules or restraints. His 2007 debut album Oi Oi Oikicked down the door to the music industry, brashly refracting a record collector’s deep knowledge of industrial, house, and techno through a prism of raucous energy and raw production in defiance of the aging dance music establishment’s genre conventions. Self-releasing the LP on his own label, Ridha and Boysnoize Records (BNR) became a gravitational force for an international subculture of new sounds and attitudes sparking fires across clubland. BOYS NOIZE ´s reputation had grown among the fashionable favorites of the indie revival, who sought to bolster their bands’ singles with his rapturous re-edits that fused guitars and synthesizers. With deft mixing, singular taste, and a prowess for connecting rockers and ravers on the dancefloor, the prodigious DJ began playing hundreds of shows spanning a multitude of countries near and far. A tipping point was reached, however, after BOYS NOIZE dropped his intoxicating, anthemic remix of FEIST’s “My Moon My Man,” which buzzed with the start of festival season before soaring to new heights as an inescapable viral hit. The field was now wide open for Berlin’s iconoclastic originator, with every head turning to see what he’d bring next.

While some would temper their edge after finding crossover success, BOYS NOIZEleaned harder into his unorthodox blending of rave and punk, indie and industrial. Reflecting this eclecticism, his next LP, Power, earned him even greater global attention and energized a growing fanbase. Out of the Blackbroadened the scope of his potential, proving, with “Got It,” that even SNOOP DOGGhas a place in BOYS NOIZE ´selectric universe. Both technically masterful and enthrallingly anarchic, 2016’s Maydaydelivered a cinematic soundtrack of synergistic songcraft, rushing forth on a dark wave of industrial rave. Even with his relentless experimentation, BOYS NOIZEremains devoted to Berlin’s electronic music foundations, and Strictly Raw Volumes 1 and2serve as a “no talk, all action” flex of techno-essentialist finesse.He also remains resolutely independent, releasing all of his albums—including +/-—on his own BNRimprint, which celebrates its 16th year in 2021.

One outlet is not enough, however, for BOYS NOIZE ´s perpetual flood of ideas and unstoppable productivity, and so numerous collaborative, pseudonymous, and anonymous side projects have offered new territories for creative freedom. As OCTAVE MINDS, he exchanges timbre and melody with maestro pianist CHILLY GONZALES. Handbraekes’ unhinged, avant-garde disco is the brainchild of BOYS NOIZE and surrealist polymath MR. OIZO. And reaching out across the Atlantic, a friendship with SKRILLEX brings DOG BLOOD, an overpowered meeting of minds propelling their respective talents forward in unexpected directions.

The collective volume and diversity of these projects has put BOYS NOIZE in high demand among artists seeking his proprietary sonic techniques and peerless production. Berlin’s world-renowned subterranean culture acts as a beacon for international stars who are willing to probe the margins for the innovative and unusual, and it is BOYS NOIZE ´s studio where their fresh inspirations are transmuted into even fresher music with his expertise. Over the years, working relationships have flourished and production credits multiplied, including with such luminaries as LADY GAGA, FRANK OCEAN, A$AP ROCKY, BON IVER, MARK RONSON and FRANCIS & THE LIGHTS. And as an unrivaled remixer, BOYS NOIZEhas been enlisted by DEPECHE MODE, RAMMSTEIN, DAFT PUNK and DAVID LYNCH, adding his signature to the work of artistic royalty. Even while personally embracing an outsider role, BOYS NOIZE finds his influence penetrating the center:2020 was marked by a GRAMMYnomination for his collaboration with SKRILLEX and TY DOLLA $IGN“Midnight Hour”—an unlikely blend of late-night R&B, oldskool rave and hard house—while 2021brought a GRAMMY win for LADY GAGA ´s “Rain on Me,” feat. ARIANA GRANDE.

“I've always been inspired by trying to integrate opposing, polar forces,” says Ridha. “There's something really thrilling in it, and it's always a secret motivation for me; building and exploring the combination of contrasts. Techno’s earliest inspiration was the idea of combining man and machine. And you can continue from there—aggression and beauty, past and future...”

BOYS NOIZEs +/-encapsulates a distillation of his career-to-date in waveform shape, where valleys of subterranean techno, industrial and jacking house transition into peaks of star-driven collaborations. Backed by the club adept’s battering beats and cloaked in deep, immersive textures, the songs, while rich, possess a mean bite—even +/-’s most melodic moments bare the sharpened teeth of Ridha ´s modular synthesis and processing; a new breakthrough for the gear lover.

“When I first entered the modular synth world, there was this moment of, 'What the fuck? I’ve never heard that sound before,'” Ridha explains. “To me that was huge, because I always try to make harder sounds than those that previously exist. With modular synths, it's not like having different guitars or a keyboard with different patches. It's going one step further—you must build the guitar, then decide what it will sound like,how it will be played, in what ways it will react. This process is incredibly inspiring to me. It's this mystery of, 'What am I gonna patch together next, and what is it going to do?'”


The +/-album exhibits BOYS NOIZE ́s evolutionary blueprint for bridging diametrical musical positions, while testing the limits through self-discovered modular workflows. A sense of otherworldliness and a suspension of time is shared on “Affection,” an ethereal, trance-gated Atlanta Bass singalong featuring alt-R&B singer ABRA. One also finds this feeling in the monumental, metallic atmosphere of “Act 9,” a brooding ballad featuring VINSON. “Ride or Die” with KELSEY LU and CHILLY GONZALES has BOYS NOIZE juxtaposing the beautiful with the delirious. A tapestry of blissfully affective moods is woven through a pummeling tribal backbone, as if LU’s lush melancholy arrives to heal all the synapses seared by 140 bpm excess. The essence of +/-is found in such paradoxical worldbuilding and the undeniable attraction it elicits through the unfamiliar, a rare accomplishment in an era of algorithmic refinement

“Polarization was a word that arose constantly during the writing and recording of thisalbum, whether in the news or in my own understanding of the different aspects of my music,” says BOYS NOIZE. “But ‘polarization’ assumes that everything must be black and white—the truth and the music deserve to be far more complex.”


Collaboration, however, does not come at the cost of having to compromise. BOYS NOIZE ́slifelong commitment to the throbbing, dark energy of the underground makes its presence known throughout +/-. Each single, whether “Girl Crush” with RICO NASTYor “Nude” with TOMMY CASH, comes paired with a b-side that would challenge any of the aforementioned performers’s fans but revs the engines of the die-hard ravers awaiting their next hit of BOYS NOIZEat his hardest. Visual artist Eric Timothy Carlson, designer of BON IVER’s acclaimed 22 a Million, joined BOYS NOIZEin developing expansive illustrations and iconography for the album and all of its individual works.The artwork offers an esoteric key of glyphs and symbols, mapping the contradictory influences and emotions which served as the elements for an audio alchemy. Through both image and sound, +/-surveys the anything-is-possible output of a distinguished techno producer exploring a newly opened world of distinct collaborations, freed from all confines, in a state of evolution of both genre and self. From the time BOYS NOIZE held his first vinyl record to the release of +/-today, there is still one thing this DJ from Berlin knows will never change: it’s all in the mix.

Limited Repress !

New teachers join The Bass Academy:

UK droids Gods Of Technology (Phil Klein & Simon Brown) featuring Egyptian Lover, and legendary US producer Jamie Jupitor. Must have "Freak Seeker (L.A. Freax)" feat. The Unknown Lover (you'll probably know who's behind) and "Future Computer" sign two authentic Electro Funk pieces in the great tradition of the West Coast sound.

Phat Bass, vocoderized lyrics, sharp 808 drums, and irresistible synth melodies characterize these instant classics guarantee to put you in a circle. Come and take a lesson of music directly from the masters!

Heart held hope. We-us is a homage.

It is the when, it is the where.

It is not a dream, even if we conjured it.

It is not a dream, even if it bonds us.

If it was happiness, hell-bent we’d hear it.

So go higher, you helper, you healer.

Right the fallen ladder off its side.

Harness my climb. Your straight lines contour the roundest thing in the world.

Accidents that pass the test of time, passions for beauty that mystifies. Imprints to emulate. This album’s of the night, but we didn’t say it, some things just rise from where they’re created. And then last we checked, morning had broken. With light. And awe. And grace.

So here’s my humble homely. The happiness of others is best when we believe.

Gold Vinyl

Die größten Hits von Alphaville aus 40 Jahren Band-Geschichte, komplett neu arrangiert und aufgenommen mit dem Deutschen Filmorchester Babelsberg Alphaville, der größte deutsche SynthPop-Export und Schöpfer der legendären 80s-Hymnen „Big in Japan“, „Sounds like a Melody“ und „Forever Young“, wagt den Schritt ins Symphonische. Die Band greift zum ganz großen Besteck und katapultiert die größten Hits aus 40 Jahren BandGeschichte vom Sound der Synthesizer und Rhythmus-maschine in die Welt der menschlichen Klangmaschine Symphonieorchester.

„Eternally Yours“ ist dabei mehr als eine bloße Übersetzung der Songs in das Klangspektrum eines großen Orchesters. Es ist vielmehr eine Symbiose zwischen Marian Golds einzigartigen stimmlichen
Fähigkeiten, dem originären Alphaville-Sound und dem majestätisch kraftvollem Facettenreichtum des großbesetzten Deutschen Filmorchester Babelsber

Camel Power Club is a french Indie act active since 2015, touring from Mexico where he played one of the biggest South American festivals (Tecate Pal’Norte, Monterrey) to Eastern Europe (Zorlu PSM, Istanbul). Reminiscent of LCD Soundsystem, it's a blend between late 60's British music and electronic textures.

His synthetic sounds feel like a dream world above the clouds, in which the symbiosis of indie-electronic combines with the timbres of escapist narratives. This Spring, on May 20th, he'll release a new album "Narukanaga", supported by a European tour in 2022.

Narukanaga, quite a mysterious name. Before the album release, Narukanaga did not give any results on Google. It's pretty rare nowadays to find a series of letters on which google has nothing to say about. Léonard found the word in an antique spellbook...

This double LP with 19 tracks is a subtle blend between late 60's British music and electronic textures. His synthetic sounds feel like a dream world above the clouds, in which the symbiosis of indie-electronic combines with the timbres of escapist narratives. Pop without being naïve, its indie vibe echoes to Vampire Weekend, LCD Sound System and the Beatles.

Two years after his previous Bodies LP, French synth solo project Hørd is back with a new full-length. Started in 2014, producer Sebastien Carl has proven himself to be able to gather a cult fan-base around his creation, collaborating with artists as Hante, Winter Severity Index and Radical G, remixing goth legends Clan Of Xymox and performing live in most European countries.Debuted by Giallo Disco in 2016, two records on Avant! have followed until this upcoming fourth album.

While the music keeps on flirting with darkwave aesthetic in a forward- thinking way, the sound is now clearer than ever. Elements of EBM, shoegaze and techno are reflected through arctic synth pads, ghostly reverbs and urban spleen-filled lyrics to create haunting soundscapes, but Sciences also features beat-driven lead singles that twirl space synths and rounded kicks all over the place like never before.

Enhanced by the great mixing and mastering job done by scene-guiding light producer Maurizio Baggio, you’ll find balearic arpeggios and clangorous trance crescendo on Arrows, italo suggestions over groovy acid house beats on Ice, while mid-tempo synthwave marches menacingly on Turn and vibrates deeply on Fires.

Typical nebulous atmospheres are now less blurry and more on point without losing a single bit of enchantingness, marking a major step-up in Hørd discography.

Berlin-based dark electronic music duo NNHMN – creates moody, dark electronic dance music infected with haunted synth sounds, eerie ambiences and mysterious female vocals. NNHMN have built up a local following and has been appreciated by numerous alternative festival organizers. The night-infused, arps-driven production is undeniably entrancing.

The newest 8-track album titled – Circle Of Doom – mirrors the state of the world we are living in. The album encapsulates eight existential tracks for the modern body music lover – body music – for the contemporary listener that is not necessarily drowned in the faraway past only, who is aware of electronic music genres that are flourishing in the world right now.

Live expect smokey electro-pop, a gloomy but sexy atmosphere, trancey techno, the fever of dance peaks and vocals that might put you into happy hypnosis or nostalgic ecstasy.

New World is the fourth album from Nipaluna (Tasmania) via Meanjin (Brisbane) based artist Scraps. Over the past ten years, Scraps has proven to be one of the biggest unsung heroes in the Australian music underground. Her sound draws links between 80s and 90s synth pop and club music whilst remaining firmly set in the contemporary Australian underground. Her first album since 2016’s highly regarded “TTNIK” - New World takes us deeper into her infectious universe of abstracted wave classics, free form humour and contagious songwriting. These are charming pop songs with a certain indistinguishable glow floating around them. This album sees Scraps distilling what we love about her sound even further to produce one of her most realized albums to date.

Cult South Asian New Wave! Naya Beat is proud to announce its second release, Tere Liye, the highly sought after and impossible to find New Wave album by the unsung pioneers of the British Asian music scene, Pinky Ann Rihal. Remastered for vinyl by multi Grammy-nominated Frank Merritt at The Carvery and available for the first time since its limited 1985 release, the album is as fresh and relevant today as it was 37 years ago.

South Asian New Wave. Four words that you will rarely see together. Pinky Ann Rihal were the brainchild of two London-based Punjabi immigrants and progressive rock musicians – Harry Rihal and Jati Sodhi – at a time in the U.K. when progressive rock musicians were almost exclusively white and Punjabi musicians were almost exclusively making Bhangra. Encouraged by their friend and disco pioneer Biddu (yes, that Biddu!), they cut ‘Tere Liye’ – a one-off Hindi-language New Wave album with producer John Hamilton and vocalists Pinky Rihal (married to Harry) and Anne Barrett (married to John). It is an album that exemplifies the cultural collaboration and musical synthesis of the time. Complementing the rich, cosmic and layered synths and drum programming of Hamilton and the distorted guitars of Rihal and Sodhi are the Hindi lyrics of vocalists Pinky and Anne. The result is an amazing one-of-a-kind South Asian New Wave album. Nothing like it has come out before or since.

Stymied on its original release by bungled distribution, poor marketing and plenty of bad luck, this incredible album seemed destined to be lost to history. With Asian electronic music in the U.K. seeing a rebirth and capturing imaginations around the world,‘Tere Liye’ can finally take its rightful place as one of the pioneering albums of the Asian underground.

This is Naya Beat’s second release in a series of reissues, reworks and remixes, and compilations dedicated to uncovering electronic and dance music from the overlooked ‘80s and ‘90s South Asian music scene. Their first release Naya Beat Volume 1: South Asian Dance and Electronic Music 1983-1992 was named by the Vinyl Factory as the Number 1 reissue of 2021.

I see lucid blue flames moving before my eyes.
I hear voices melting. Voices somewhere from within.
Speaking words I do not know but feel connected to, almost as if I have known the meaning once..
Noises that obscures the multiple pictures hidden in these digital compositions.
Iku Sakan have created a set of five tracks that takes the listener on a
trip deep into the human psyché. Emotional flickering movements that twists and turns. The albums have a darker, much more intense feel than some of Ikus earlier magical and often hypnotic music. A myriad of different voices creates pulsing patterns and constantly morphing pictures for my inner eye. It's an album that might work as a hack to our lingual structures, pushing limits, pushing possibilities of meaning.

A pool of over-saturated information boils and out of the vapor new contours take form.
The magical and hypnotic is not gone, I still recognise the softer aspects of Ikus highly detailed hybrid sound design. But I no longer see where it takes me. It excites me. It feels like the world is expanding again, breathing. The sounds on the album asks us questions and points in several directions at once. In the shadows, weeds of lucid dreams grow deeper roots, reaching for my inner ear.

The faint sounds on the track Nature Morte reminds me of expeditions to the local witch house ruins as a child. Something almost not there, something felt. History, Memories and the connection between the two seems to have played a part in these compositions. Emotional reactions that plant reactions in other people, all around creating soft movements on the face of our planet.

Whether our collective psyché is an open field or an impenetrable dark forest, is of less concern with a key like Omnitopoeia, that works like an enhanced mirror, reflecting the dreams of the words we speak everyday, reflecting the emotional charges of significant places. Unrecognisable but still remembered.

Foundation music are proud to present our second project with the formidable talent that is Crooked Man aka Parrot, known to his mother as Richard Barratt.

The DJ turned producer from Sheffield, founder and resident at the seminal Jive Turkey night, member of Warp’s Sweet Exorcist, musical partner with the late great Richard H Kirk (Cabaret Voltaire), producer to such maverick talents as Roisin Murphy and Add N to X, longtime Jarvis Cocker collaborator and remixer to a myriad of artists over several decades.

More recently, Parrot's project with internationally renowned Jazz singer Lady Blackbird, Athletes Of God, released two singles on Foundation Music ‘Don’t Want To Be Normal’ and the clubland hit ‘Fontella’ that were both playlisted by 6Music.

Lady Blackbird now flies the nest, with the divine Earth Angel swooping into her place. A seminal, reclusive, heavenly voiced singer, also from Yorkshire and with deep roots in the soul and dub scenes… And no, it's not Lisa Stansfield!

A project that has its roots way back in the Sheffield’s Blues parties and Jive Turkey itself. The club being a home to all forms of exciting new Black music, from ’85 through to the early days of the UK’s dance explosion. It sees Parrot take all that he has achieved, written and learnt over the years at the cutting edge of electronic, dance-inflected, production and DJing returning to those heady days of down tempo, body moving, speaker shaking music that would move the British underground soul/funk scene in the mid to late 80’s.

Call it 'street soul', '80’s soul', 'electro soul'… Earth Angel is all of those things but it is also very firmly rooted in the NOW! Not some retro pastiche, it incorporates so much more. With elements of techno, bleep, dub and any other studio trickery that Parrot cares to employ in order to suck you into Earth Angels’ druggy, hypnotic, sexy, “Mogadon Soul”. A four songed, eight tracked vinyl EP, featuring some classic songwriting from the glory days of soul and Crooked Man’s bass heavy electronic rhythms.

Welcome to the heavenly world of Earth Angel, the journey starts here.


DJ Support:

Luke Una, Ross Allen, Sean Johnson (ALFOS) & Kebal.

This new 2LP version of the album has been newly remastered in 2023 by Barry Grint and comes supplemented with the single A and B sides from the 1981 / 1982 era, including ‘Memorabilia’, ‘A Man Can Get Lost’, ’Torch’ and ‘What!’. Deluxe gatefold version of the album includes full song lyrics plus essay by Adrian Thrills based on new interviews with Marc Almond and Dave Ball.

Following the release of a number of EPs on Swiss, German, British and Australian labels, Trinidad will release their debut album ‘Palm Trees & Thirty Degrees’ on October 16th 2020.

The album draws on the Swiss-based trio’s experience of sustaining the energy of festival and club shows, while also providing the perfect background to a relaxed summer evening with friends.


The project provides an opportunity for the trio to indulge in a range of musical influences, blending together a mix of synthesizers with the haunting tones of a church organ, the warmth of a string quartet and regality of an opera singer. The album grew organically, with inspiration taking hold beyond the confines of the studio: the bonus track recorded with a Jamaican reggae singer in the back of a VW bus in Greece. Soundscapes from Colombia to India were captured and embedded.

With "Palm Trees & Thirty Degrees" Trinidad guide listeners on a journey to a tropical paradise; to a wonderful, perhaps peculiar place of confidence, created and shaped by the mental theatre of the moment.

The soft kiss of a warm breeze hits you as you adjust to your new surroundings ("Desembarco"); leaving the static chatter of your thoughts behind in the "Lobby" (feat. MonoAbe) of your mind; you allow yourself to imagine what the evening holds in store (“Kopfkino”); But first, there’s a drink in the “Sunset Bar”, a refreshing cocktail "Luciola" that serves as a gateway for you to plunge into the night. A night of unlimited possibilities, the first instances a blur ("Sagrada"), as time starts to lose its meaning ("Tempus Fugit"); everything spins, everything is possible, everything is ("Elevate"). Suddenly, hours (or is it days?) have passed – it doesn’t matter; what matters is the first sign of dawn, the unmistakable warmth dissolving the darkness (“Alma”); the beat slows, and you feel the "Libération" of the new day; looking around you see the moments you’ve shared etched on the faces of your friends ("Fleeting" feat. Julia Portmann); It is not goodbye, it is only "Au Revoir".

The album was produced by Trinidad in their own studios in Bern and Zurich. It features collaborations with a number of artists: Cornelia Aeschbacher Firmin (Hang), MonoAbe (Mallets & Percussion), Jack Williams (text of "Fleeting"), Julia Portmann (vocals), Zenyth (vocals) and Michael Meier (electric bass). The songs were mixed by Marcel Schneider, mastered by Benjamin Fay. Raïssa Lara Lütolf was responsible for the graphic design.

Neues elektronisches Soloalbum des Produzenten Gifted & Blessed alias Gabriel Reyes-Whittaker - sein erstes Album unter diesem Pseudonym seit 2016.

'Heard and Unheard' wurde mit einem semi-modularen Synthesizer, mehreren Effektprozessoren und zwei analogen Drumcomputern erstellt.
Das Album besteht aus zehn nachdenklichen und hypnotischen Tracks mit Schwerpunkt auf Textur und Atmosphäre.

Gifted & Blessed war ein Gründungsmitglied der Beat-Szene von Los Angeles, er trat bei den allerersten Low End Theory-Events in L.A. auf und produzierte und arbeitete mit Künstlern wie Kelela, Ras G und Steve Arrington zusammen.
Seitdem hat er sich in der Underground-Elektronik- und Tanzmusikszene einen Namen gemacht und unter anderem Musik auf Eglo und All City veröffentlicht.
Die Musik von Gifted & Blessed ist auf vielen Compilations enthalten, unter anderem auf Sassy J für Rush Hour und Prosumer für Fabric.

„ The dissonance, the discord, is the tongue in the cheek of Ralf Schauff's music. Be it that the transverse flute, always underestimated as an instrument of torture, is used or slow synthesizer automations shift the tonality in an agonizingly and unnecessarily cruel way. Without this intention to challenge the listener, the music would have been there before. There are the soundscapes of NEU!, Harmonia or Cluster, the modality of Can, Afrobeat and all kinds of electronics, but also the impression of „Weltmusik" associated with folkloric instruments like the didgeridoo or the recorder. But it's none of these things. It only reminds us of them. And it reminds us listeners that music is also produced. The meta level comes into play and gets in the way of consumption. This is much more amusing, surprising and enriching than the mere description suggests. This is a must hear. It's just insanely fun. " Frank Spilker (Die Sterne)
„ Die Dissonanz, der Missklang, ist die Zunge in der Backe der Musik von Ralf Schauff. Sei es, dass die als Folterinstrument immer wieder unterschätzte Querflöte zum Einsatz kommt oder langsame Synthesizer Automationen die Tonalität qualvoll und unnötig grausam verschieben. Ohne diese Absicht den Hörer herauszufordern wäre die Musik schon mal da gewesen. Da wären die Klanglandschaften von NEU!, Harmonia oder Cluster, die Modalität von Can, Afrobeat und aller möglichen Spielarten von Elektronik, aber auch die mit folkloristischen Instrumenten wie dem Didgeridoo oder eben der Flöte verknüpfte Anmutung von „Weltmusik.“ Das alles ist es aber nicht. Es erinnert nur daran. Außerdem erinnert es uns Hörer daran, dass Musik ja auch hergestellt wird. Die Meta Ebene kommt ins Spiel und stellt sich dem Konsum in den Weg. Das alles ist viel Amüsanter, Überraschender und Bereichernder, als die bloße Beschreibung vermuten lässt. Das muss man gehört haben. Es macht einfach wahnsinnig viel Spass. " Frank Spilker (Die Sterne)
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