Pop & Rock News

Der Name des 10ten Erasure Albums ist Programm: Sie interpretieren die Songs anderer Künstler neu. 12 Coverversionen räumen nicht nur Andy Bell die Möglichkeit ein seine stimmlichen Fähigkeiten auszuspielen, sondern lassen auch Vince Clarke die Gelegenheit, die Titel nach seinen Vorstellungen gänzlich neu zu arrangieren. Die Neu-Edition auf Vinyl ist 180g schwer. Bei der Auswahl setzen Erasure auf Künstler die sie beeinflusst haben: Buddy Holly ("True Love Ways"), Peter Gabriel ("Solsbury Hill"), The Righteous Brothers ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'") und Buggles ("Video Killed The Radio Star"). Produziert wurde das Album von Gareth Jones. Mit einer Top-20-Postion in den deutschen Charts war das Album auch hierzulande entsprechend erfolgreich.

Mit dem 8ten, von Gareth Jones produzierten Album kehrten Erasure 1997 zu den klassischen 3-Minuten-Synthie-Pop-Stücken" zurück. Die brandneue Vinyl-Auflage von "Cowboy" ist 180g schwer. Der schlicht "Erasure" betitelte Vorgänger hatte einige Fans irritiert. Die Produktion von Thomas Fehlmann (The Orb) und der Einsatz von Gastsängerinnen wie Diamanda Galas überforderte ihr Publikum. Hier unter der Leitung von Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget) ist mit Hits wie "In My Arms" die Welt wieder in Ordnung. Erasure feierten mit der Albumveröffentlichung wieder den Einzug in die deutschen Top 40.

"Loveboat" ist das neunte Studio-Album von Erasure, welches ursprünglich im Jahr 2000 erschien. Die Neuveröffentlichung ist auf 180g schwerem Vinyl. Das Album wurde von Flood produziert, der u.a. Acts wie Depeche Mode, U2 und Nine Inch Nails mit seinem Sound in Szene setzt. Das Spagat zwischen hymnischen Melodien und experimentellen Synthie-Pop-Sounds gelingt der Band mit Songs wie der Single "Catch 22", "Moon & The Sky" und "Surreal". Machen Fans war dieses musikalische "Traumschiff" zu sehr auf Experiment ausgerichtet, dennoch war das Album in den deutschen Top 50 vertreten.

Das vierte Erasure Studio-Album unter der Produktion von Gareth Jones und Mark Saunders erschien 1989. Diese Vinyl-Neuauflage ist mit 180g schwerem Vinyl ausgestattet.
Die Hits des Werkes sind "Drama!", "Blue Savannah" und "Star". Das Album chartete in Deutschland in den Top 20. Mit diesem Album erreichten Andy Bell und Vince jenen Status ihre Konzert-Auftritte ausbauen zu können. So fanden die Shows fortan in großen Kulissen statt, getreu dem Motto "Drama!".

1994 veröffentlicht, ist das sechste Studio-Album von Erasure für seinen romantisch angehauchten Synthie-Pop bekannt. Produziert von Martin Ware (Heaven 17) schaffte es das Album auf Anhieb in die deutschen Top-10 und konnte mit Hits wie "Always" Radio und Fernsehen für sich gewinnen. Die neue LP-Edition erscheint auf 180-Gramm schwerem Vinyl.

Erasures fünftes Studio-Album wurde 1991 veröffentlicht und gilt bis heute als Synthie-Pop-Klassiker. Die LP-Neuauflage ist 180 g schwer.Mit diesem Album steigen Erasure in den Top-20 der deutschen Charts ein und erhielten in England den begehrten Mercury-Prize. Mit Titeln wie "Love To Hate You" und "Turns The Love To Anger" schlug das Duo Vince Clarke und Andy Bell inhaltlich gar neue Töne an. Hits wie das Titelstück "Chorus" und "Breath of Life" gehören zu den ewigen Favoriten der Fans.

Wiederveröffentlichung des dritten Erasure-Studio-Albums als 180g-Vinyl-Edition. Auf diesem Werk sind die Hit-Singles "A Little Respect", "Ship Of Fools" und "Chains Of Love" enthalten. Das Album wurde ursprünglich als Nachfolger zu "The Two Ring Circus" veröffentlicht und von Stephen Hague (New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Blur, Robbie Williams) produziert. Das Album chartete im Erscheinungsjahr in den Top 10 der deutschen Charts und gilt bis heute als Klassiker des Erasure-Kataloges.

Hydrous, Mellifluous, Sub/Conscious

IOKOI's debut album «Liquefy» unfolds into the waving territories of #HYPERCYBEREALISM, where physical and virtual spaces interweave. The dancing «self» modulates trough reflections, creating floating and drifting instances of identity. IOKOI is a blur. She plays with the barriers of reality and unconsciousness, creating a surreal performance in which she negotiates her identity, and enters a dialogue with the audience. She confronts the usual with capricious textures, oblique sounds and a subliminal voice.

Written by IOKOI Co-produced and mixed by Bit-Tuner Final Mix & pre-master by Vaghe Stelle Mastered by Adi Flu¨ck @ Centraldubs Cover art by Mathieu Missiaen / Le Creative Sweatshop Graphic Design by Mathias Forbach / Fichtrei

Super limited 10' (400 only worldwide) of selected tracks taken from the recent Moby compilation Music From Porcelain', released in conjunction with Moby's new book Porcelain'.

The limited vinyl features 4 of Moby's biggest tracks from the Rave anthems Go' and Feeling So real' through to the Chilled beats of Porcelain' and Natural Blues' from his multi million selling album Play'.

'Redefine' is the second single taken from Trentemøller's new album 'Fixion' and features Marie Fisker on vocals. Marie Fisker, a mainstay of the Trentemøller live constellation, has also been a long-time studio collaborator of Anders and her four songs on 'Fixion' mark their third musical partnership. Marie has such a powerful and unique voice that fits my music quite naturally. I had her in mind as soon as I started writing. She ended up singing on four of the songs so she's definitely the voice that kind of leads you through the album. Having toured so extensively with Marie, we've come to understand each other's capacities and that really pushes us to challenge and inspire each other. I reckon that's the driving force behind our songwriting.

Over the past several years, Moon Hooch has successfully transitioned their heart-pounding, impromptu subway platform raves from New York City''s underground to the main stages of music festivals and rock clubs worldwide. Having performed for tens of thousands of sweaty, raucous fans and seeing their first 2 albums regularly sit atop the Billboard Heatseekers Chart, Moon Hooch is ready to share their third album, Red Sky, with the world.

Calling their sound 'Cave Music' like house music, but more primal," Moon Hooch is a riveting combination of EDM, indie rock, hip-hop and modern jazz. Originally using just two tenor saxophones and a drummer, the Brooklyn-based band, all in their mid-20s, have expanded to include a vast array of instruments, such as contrabass clarinet, bass sax, tubax (Google "Moon Hooch" + "Tubax"!), EWI (Google this too!), baritone sax, soprano sax, flute, a Moog Sub 37, tablas, and even vocals.

Now imagine all of these sounds fed through a system of programmed Ableton effects and blasted back through a PA turned up to 11. That''s Cave Music!

Göteborgselektronikerna (The Electronic Engineers of Gothenburg) is the quartet that takes the tram ride through the line 11 to celebrate the city in true Kraftwerk spirit. The quartet plays catchy beats and beautiful melodies, played and tweaked up with analog synths and vocoder.

Fresh off the energy from last summer's "Key Change", described by The Fader as "a blissfully maniacal pastiche of sun-drop jazz", Mocky has opened the vaults to bring us the third installment of his "Moxtape" series.

Die eritreisch-schwedische Singer/Songwriterin Adiam verbindet intelligente Pop-Songs mit roher
Post-Punk- und Hip Hop-Attitüde, fiebriger Elektronik und R&B Vocals voller Soul. Das Ergebnis ist ein
kompromisslos eigener Sound, gleichermaßen subversiv und einnehmend. Adiams charismatische,
zart-raue Stimme, ihr Gespür für Harmonien sowie ihre persönlichen und düsteren Texte werden
perfekt in Szene gesetzt von Dave Siteks (TV On The Radio, Kelis, Little Dragon uvm.) experimenteller
Produktion und meisterhaften Arrangements. Gemeinsam erschaffen sie eine Klangwelt, die zu
gleichen Teilen selbstbestimmt und fragil erscheint und in jedem Moment unvorhersehbar bleibt.

CC DUST is a new duo from Olympia, Washington featuring Maryjane Dunphe and David Jaques. Channeling an elemental life-force hewn straight from the heart, Dunphe's voice bursts into every melodic line, a cracked, soulful instrument powered by conviction, duetting, duelling and dancing with Jaques' crisp production. A light that casts shadow, CC Dust is doomed, romantic music anchored by Jaques' live bass and the powerful performance values Dunphe has honed both in her punk group VEXX and in various film and performance projects. Musically, CC Dust's precedents might be considered the European synth pop originators of the early 80s, there's also an abundance of low-end hooks played on baritone and bass guitars that teases the ear like early New Order productions, but in Dunphe's passionate vocal performances there's a close-to-the-bone reality that bypasses cool detachment. Their self-titled debut explodes with Never Going To Die, an anthem for the seizing of the day, the rush of standing on the edge looking outwards, invincible. Tonopah slithers into view, Jaques baritone guitar weaving patterns around Dunphes voice before the emotion swells in the chorus. Baby Boy is decidedly more ominous, a slow burner that climaxes in an incredible falsetto performance. Abra is another high point, a sweeping waltz that spins the listener around into a tumult, a bittersweet accompaniment to the opening track. Mutiny feels like the end of a phase in your life "let's be rid of our obsessions, don't you agree" begs Dunphe, sounding as obsessed and passionate as ever. It's an ode to desire, the euphoria it grants and the consequences. CC Dust play and write real songs lived. A desire for desire. What is it How does it manifest Is it all worth the tumult CC Dust offer no answers as there are none, but they ask the right questions in a life-affirming way. Doomed, romantic, unanswerable and vital.


300 Copies on Vinyl only.

With Far Islands And Near Places Parisian pianist, composer and multi-instrumentist Quentin Sirjacq releases his solo debut on Karoake Kalk. While he has collaborated with Dakota Suite on the 2014 release There Is A Calm To Be Done for instance, this is the first release under his own name for the Berlin label.

Meteor Musik was founded on 15 February 2013. The time that the Chelyabinsk meteor entered Earthís atmosphere over Russia. That day Joeri Wijnants, Micha Volders and Tim Geelen were composing electronic music in an old synthesizer studio from yesteryear, and the impact of the meteor made them decide to found Meteor Musik.

While jamming and improvising, their way of working invented itself: programming and playing everything live while recording directly to 5 minute audio tapes. The whole post process of mixing and editing is cut out and the results are vivid snapshots of improvised live tracks organised into little stories. Combining these stories results in an electronic trip through a galaxy of sound, experienced from the front seat of an old Russian spaceship with a view to kill.

Kasset records are very proud to release Meteor Musik's debut album, Asteriu!

United over a love of Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey, Richard Fearless partners with artist and writer Sasha Grey on 'Consequences of Love', the second single from Death in Vegas' critically lauded sixth studio album, Transmission. In the spirit of this collaboration, we are thrilled to announce the release of 'Consequences of Love' with a remix by iconic electronica pioneers Chris & Cosey.

'After listening to the stems we could sense a kind of 'October Love Song' vibe in there so - so that's kind of what we aimed for. We really enjoyed doing it, there was lots of dancing around the studio while we worked on it.' Chris Carter

Leaving the rooted flora of his previous album(s) behind, Sin Fang glides into uncharted territory with his fourth full-length entitled "Spaceland" - a collection of electrified tunes that pack a soft punch and some invisible bling. It's his idiosyncratic take on future r&b, one that doesn't mince matters and features various guests including Jónsi, Sóley, Pascal Pinon's Jófríður Ákadóttir and Farao.

A deeply personal and 100% contemporary take on electronic pop, "Spaceland" is more Southern Fried than Tropic of Cancer: Recorded between L.A. and Reykjavík, it's an album that feels like diary entries spelled out like Billboard news headlines.

But it's also a self-therapy made strangely infectious thanks to entirely new production means: Dark lyrics over electrified euphoria, personal confessions set to sizzling hi-hats and heavy bass action. "I wrote most of the lyrics after I started having panic attacks," he explains, adding that the album title actually refers to the headspace he was in during that period when he felt like he "was dying all the time".

Mostly written on the piano, entirely self-recorded and self-produced (with support from Jónsi & Alex), Sin Fang thus ventures further into the direction he took with his new project Gangly and unleashes something both banging and feather-light - a combination he already presents in dreamlike album opener "Candyland". The same kind of push-and-pull, the same r&b-paced phrasings, a similar kind of juxtaposition is at work in "Not Ready For Your Love", a line Sindri repeats over and over, all sweet-voiced surrender set to uplifting arrangements and synthetic fields of bliss.

A tale of non-belonging, "Lost Girl" oscillates between minimalism and experimentalism, magma-paced introspection and sonic sunlight that belies the darkness, when Sindri jumps to the dance-floor. As for the vocal harmonies of "I Want You To Know": That's classic Sin Fang meets goose bumps like "Cry Me A River". Former Seabear band-mate Sóley is at his side for another slice of epic (anti migraine) pop ("Never Let Me Go"), while Norwegian singer Farao is another female sidekick in the land of loops and swathes: Drawing a face in the melting snow for "Please Don't", he picks up the pace with a hubbub of voices over a glacier-like arrangement. Towards the end, there's more playful beats ("Branches"), more open space ("Snowblind"), and finally, a homecoming of sorts: Slow moving album closer "Down" feat JFDR (that's Jófríður Ákadóttir) sounds like rays of hope rediscovered.

Drifting too far away from the sun, it can get mighty cold out (and in) there, gloomy and cold, and yet that free-floating state of zero gravity can also lead to entirely new places. Sin Fang was there - and now he's back with "Spaceland".

Formed roughly 5 years ago in the wasted sands of Tempe, Arizona, electronic dance faction Body of Light have proven to be a teeming creative force within the present-day electronic landscape. From the archaic drones and abstract measurements of their earliest collections, to their prodigious cinematic pop ballads and darkwave compositions, the two brothers, Alex and Andrew Jarson, are no strangers when it comes to blurring the compositional lines that confine underground music

Venus II is the dream-team pairing of Jarrad Brown (Eagle & The Worm / Dorsal Fins) and Ryan Grieve (Canyons).

The band's first offering, their debut single Inside Your Sun, is an acid-soaked raveup that takes cues from baggy-era Manchester and weaves it through string-tinged psychedelic-techno. The rush of Inside Your Sun vividly marries Brown's innate talent for songcraft with Grieve's deft production flourishes. The track was mixed by Chris Colonna from Bumblebeez, who has worked on albums for The Vines, Alison Wonderland and Jagwar Ma. Inside Your Sun is also accompanied by a psychedelic new music video.

The duo's debut album, also titled Inside Your Sun, heralds Venus II as the birth of an entirely new journey for Brown and Grieve. I think Jarrad is one of the truest artists I've worked or been involved with,' says Grieve. If something's feeling good then it doesn't need to be questioned. We're good like that.' For Brown the partnership marks an entire personal and creative transformation. I feel like a different artist,' says Brown. It's a whole new world for me. It's really exciting.' Jarrad Brown had an epiphany. As writer and frontman of freewheeling eight-piece collective The Eagle & The Worm, Brown was accustomed to delivering smart pop songwriting with lashings of ragged rock n roll. But when completing a new batch of demos, he found himself seeking a new landscape, synthesised energy and electronic sound in his head.

A chance meeting led Brown to Sydney-based producer Ryan Grieve, who runs Hole in the Sky records, a label known for discovering Tame Impala. With over ten years' experience in the Australian dance scene, working at the intersection of
dance music, indie-pop and immersive audio-visuals as one half of band Canyons and with recent project Heart People, Grieve saw Brown as a kindred spirit. Jarrad's got a really good sense of melody and is quite sincere in his songwriting,' says Grieve. That was the drawcard for me. I don't feel like there's a lot of sincere music around at the moment so it was a big attraction.'

Working collaboratively, the unlikely pair chanced upon the eclectic sound Brown had been searching for - a widescreen exploration of cosmic dance music, from fresh a pop perspective. So pleased with the results were Brown and Grieve, they anointed the partnership with a new name - Venus II. Ryan was able to break down what I was about and present these new ideas in the way in the way I wanted,' says Brown of the collaborative discovery.

Venus II is the dream-team pairing of Jarrad Brown (Eagle & The Worm / Dorsal Fins) and Ryan Grieve (Canyons).

The band's first offering, their debut single Inside Your Sun, is an acid-soaked raveup that takes cues from baggy-era Manchester and weaves it through string-tinged psychedelic-techno. The rush of Inside Your Sun vividly marries Brown's innate talent for songcraft with Grieve's deft production flourishes. The track was mixed by Chris Colonna from Bumblebeez, who has worked on albums for The Vines, Alison Wonderland and Jagwar Ma. Inside Your Sun is also accompanied by a psychedelic new music video.

The duo's debut album, also titled Inside Your Sun, heralds Venus II as the birth of an entirely new journey for Brown and Grieve. I think Jarrad is one of the truest artists I've worked or been involved with,' says Grieve. If something's feeling good then it doesn't need to be questioned. We're good like that.' For Brown the partnership marks an entire personal and creative transformation. I feel like a different artist,' says Brown. It's a whole new world for me. It's really exciting.' Jarrad Brown had an epiphany. As writer and frontman of freewheeling eight-piece collective The Eagle & The Worm, Brown was accustomed to delivering smart pop songwriting with lashings of ragged rock n roll. But when completing a new batch of demos, he found himself seeking a new landscape, synthesised energy and electronic sound in his head.

A chance meeting led Brown to Sydney-based producer Ryan Grieve, who runs Hole in the Sky records, a label known for discovering Tame Impala. With over ten years' experience in the Australian dance scene, working at the intersection of
dance music, indie-pop and immersive audio-visuals as one half of band Canyons and with recent project Heart People, Grieve saw Brown as a kindred spirit. Jarrad's got a really good sense of melody and is quite sincere in his songwriting,' says Grieve. That was the drawcard for me. I don't feel like there's a lot of sincere music around at the moment so it was a big attraction.'

Working collaboratively, the unlikely pair chanced upon the eclectic sound Brown had been searching for - a widescreen exploration of cosmic dance music, from fresh a pop perspective. So pleased with the results were Brown and Grieve, they anointed the partnership with a new name - Venus II. Ryan was able to break down what I was about and present these new ideas in the way in the way I wanted,' says Brown of the collaborative discovery.

Ascendant Melbourne duo Kllo will release their second EP 'Well Worn' on Friday 5th August on PIAS Different Recordings. Kllo's latest is a pleasant and fluid pop tune - Pitchfork.

Ascendant Melbourne duo Kllo will release their second EP 'Well Worn' on Friday 5th August on PIAS Different Recordings/Ghostly International. Things happen so fast these days that Kllo barely had a Facebook page or a proper song before a wave of interest began to build around their breakthrough EP 'Cusp'. What a telling record title; in the year since its release, cousins Simon Lam and Chloe Kaul have played sold-out shows and festival slots throughout Australia, racked up millions of plays on Spotify, and landed on several Artists to Watch lists. The first glimpse of the new EP was 'Bolide,' a track which hit no 2 on the Hype Machine and notched up over 2 million streams in its first month.

New Synth-Pop, Industrial label from Barcelona.

Next up on Polytechnic Youth is the beautiful debut full length from Brooklyn-based Faten Kanaan.

Following a hugely acclaimed cassette release ('EP'), Faten's music was pointed the direction of PY by Listening Center's David Mason (a PY label mate, who also mixed this record) and like many people, we loved it instantly.



Faten uses vintage synthesizers to slowly build songs inspired by cinematic forms: from sweeping landscapes and quiet love stories, to the patterned tension of 1970s horror film soundtracks. Focusing on bringing a human touch to electronic music that highlights the relationship between man, nature, and machine: the drifting of time, the dystopic grittiness, and the bittersweet (but hopeful) sense of nostalgia.



Here is what others have said about Faten's music:



'Noisey' (Vice), (written by Zachary Lipez)



It's a subtle sound that could easily fade into the background in less capable hands, but Kanaan is working ably within a tradition that encompasses both early synth visionaries and Stereolab or Broadcast, so the hits, as it were, keep coming.



'When I was a teen I didn't know what sequencers and arpeggiators were, so I thought industrial/no wave music synth parts were all played manually,' she says. 'I liked that music and taught myself to play like that, relying on classical techniques. I don't use any sequencers nor arpeggiators, I play all the parts by hand and loop them live'.



'The Active Listener', (written by Nathan Ford)



It's refreshing to hear a female voice in a genre almost exclusively populated by men since the loss of Trish Keenan and with Faten Kanaan we may have found a worthy successor. Like the best Broadcast works, the pieces found here are much more than the mood-pieces proffered by most Hauntologists. Kanaan understands that the medium is a suitable springboard for much more than moodsetting and Radiophonic nostalgia, although both of those boxes are ticked here too.



All in all, 'The Botanist & The Archaeologist' fits the proverbial 'stunning debut album' billing. A beautiful record, containing an evolving array of styles and textures. It is equally pleasing on the eye, gorgeous sleeve art with a -unique to each copy- hand crafted (by Faten herself) Cyanotype print. Lovely stuff in special packaging....

Looking On is the third album by The Move, released in
December 1970 and is their first LP to feature Jeff Lynne.

With Wood's use of cello and woodwinds and Lynne's piano in addition to their usual guitars and vocals, anticipating the work they would later pursue in The Electric Light Orchestra, whose debut album they were starting to record at around the same time.

The Move was effectively a dead band walking when Lynne joined in February 1970 after fronting (and producing) The Idle Race. Wood had wanted to launch a new group with Lynne that would feature rock and strings, to pick up, in theory, where the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" had left off.

"Brontosaurus" was eventually covered by Cheap Trick and "Feel Too Good" was later featured on the soundtrack of the movie Boogie Nights as well as in the pilot episode of the UK series "Life on Mars".

'Say It To Me' will be available digitally and on CD single and 12" vinyl.
It includes two brand new bonus tracks, "A Cloud In A Box" and "The Dead Can Dance", and remixes by Stuart Price, Real Lies, Tom Demac and Offer Nissim.

Plaint of Lapwing is the fruit of a two year collaboration and burgeoning friendship. Green drew on a variety of instruments to build on Roberts' beautiful songwriting, perhaps most notably the harmoniflute, somewhere between a harmonium and an accordion. The result is an album of intimate and entrancing folk.
The LPs are hand numbered with gorgeous packaging by Frances Castle.
'Roberts is one of our most talented, important and relevant songwriters and song-adapters, and this album does nothing to change that view. It is typically bold, distinctive and refreshing.' - Folk Radio

While in Japan, and inspired by childhood memories of the Herefordshire landscape, Mars pieced together string and Mellotron soundscapes using archaic tracker software. Finished on his return to the UK, the album is full of ambitious and beautifully realised neo-classical chamber music.

These second, Hollyhock editions are hand numbered, with a reverse board matte cover and printed inner sleeve.

'...a collection of sonic essays that drink from rich musical fountains such as...Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten...(to) the earlier ground-breaking work of Dvorak and Mahler.' - Active Listener

Dirk Timmermans (a.k.a Dirk Da Davo), very known for The Neon Judgement, have
find on Glenn Keteleer the perfect partner for his alter ego project Neon Electronics / Ne. Their tracks count with the likes of The Hacker, David Carretta and Millimetric, and made applauded appearances on Dave Clarke's 'White Noise Radio' playlists. Pounding beat bonanzas next to brooding krautrock, marshy soundscapes and twisted EBM. So yes, it's dark and loud but it's a darkness with a loudly beating heart. Sounds to punish your body!

New Zealand's Kim Pflaum will introduce the world to her pop project MADEIRA with her transcendent debut MLP Bad Humors, out September 23 on Carpark Records. The MLP contains the buzz single 'Let Me Down' which was previously released on Ryan Hemsworth's Secret Songs label to praise from Pitchfork, Stereogum, The Fader, Gorilla vs. Bear, and more.

MADEIRA is Kim Pflaum, a multi-hyphenate if there ever was one. Aside from songwriting, singing, and playing a variety of instruments, Pflaum is a graphic designer, music video director, writer, illustrator, and animal activist. Music became a major part of her life growing up in Christchurch, New Zealand. "As an introverted kid, music helped me express my emotions and frustrations when I didn't know how else to cope," Pflaum says.
In 2013, she co-founded Yumi Zouma as lead singer and co-songwriter. Before leaving the band at the end of 2014, the group would tour the world and play concerts with artists including Lorde, Chet Faker, and TOPS. Now as a solo act with full creative control over her art, Pflaum has taken the opportunity to grow in new directions and experiment.MADEIRA began before Yumi Zouma as an outlet for escapist songs about fantastical vacations and holidays. After years of globe-trotting and starting over again with a move to Auckland in 2014, returning to MADEIRA was restorative. "I saw music as an escape," Pflaum says, "a way to take a break from my hectic life and just relax, to let music soothe and heal me."Bad Humors, her debut EP with Carpark Records, is her first new music since collaborations with Boycrush, Brett, and Cyril Hahn. With grace and melody, these five songs tackle heartbreak and betrayal, and offer a critique of performance artifice. These are songs of elevated synth-pop, of growth and change, of letting go and not holding back.

New Zealand's Kim Pflaum will introduce the world to her pop project MADEIRA with her transcendent debut MLP Bad Humors, out September 23 on Carpark Records. The MLP contains the buzz single 'Let Me Down' which was previously released on Ryan Hemsworth's Secret Songs label to praise from Pitchfork, Stereogum, The Fader, Gorilla vs. Bear, and more.

MADEIRA is Kim Pflaum, a multi-hyphenate if there ever was one. Aside from songwriting, singing, and playing a variety of instruments, Pflaum is a graphic designer, music video director, writer, illustrator, and animal activist. Music became a major part of her life growing up in Christchurch, New Zealand. "As an introverted kid, music helped me express my emotions and frustrations when I didn't know how else to cope," Pflaum says.
In 2013, she co-founded Yumi Zouma as lead singer and co-songwriter. Before leaving the band at the end of 2014, the group would tour the world and play concerts with artists including Lorde, Chet Faker, and TOPS. Now as a solo act with full creative control over her art, Pflaum has taken the opportunity to grow in new directions and experiment.MADEIRA began before Yumi Zouma as an outlet for escapist songs about fantastical vacations and holidays. After years of globe-trotting and starting over again with a move to Auckland in 2014, returning to MADEIRA was restorative. "I saw music as an escape," Pflaum says, "a way to take a break from my hectic life and just relax, to let music soothe and heal me."Bad Humors, her debut EP with Carpark Records, is her first new music since collaborations with Boycrush, Brett, and Cyril Hahn. With grace and melody, these five songs tackle heartbreak and betrayal, and offer a critique of performance artifice. These are songs of elevated synth-pop, of growth and change, of letting go and not holding back.

Released first week of July is a long anticipated collection of long sold out 45s on the tiny North London minimal synth imprint, Polytechnic Youth.

The label began it's life in 2014 when an old friend went to Germany and bought a cutting lathe, enabling us to release hand cut 45s in micro editions of varying quantities. First fruits were an EP of DIY / experimental electronics from Volume Groop, dressed in a poster sleeve with obi (and now a £100 45!)

From there, a dizzying array of collectors' dream releases flowed, clear 5' singles, 8' singles, 45s that played from the inside label out and releases that came with personalized 'glow in the dark' centre adapters, to name a few. All sought after now.

The LP features a selection of tracks from these releases, which, while allowing newcomers to the label a more affordable foot in the door, also gels and works well as a free flowing full length in it's own right.

The label has a deep love for both the look and sound of key period '78 to '83 minimal synth, experimental and primitive, DIY electronic music. Often released as private press style vinyl or low key cassette only releases. If forced to throw names at you as reference points, think Fad Gadget, early Cabs, early Mute, John Bender, Neural Circus and Transparent Illusion etc- all key releases at PY HQ....

Previous releases have included the likes of Listening Center (Ghost Box and Deep Distance), Colin Potter (NWW), Justin Wright (Expo 70) and have been given assuring thumbs up from the likes of Tim Gane, Sonic Boom and Pye Corner Audio's Martin Jenkins.

The LP concentrates on some of the debut 45s by lesser known artists however, these all reaching collectors' prices online since release.

The label openly encourages something of a co-operative nature whereby artists or fans of the releases are asked to submit and even create hand made sleeve art, or film clips, inserts and stickers. Trouble in Minds' Bill Roe designed the label's logo (soon to adorn a label T shirt for it's 27th release').

A previous release caught the eye of Stewart at Emotional Response records in the US and he is releasing the album there on CD quickly following the LP.

As ever the LP is dressed beautifully, with printed inside and out artwork on reverse board sleeves. A wonderful record released as a pressing of 300 copies.