Pop & Rock News

You have never heard of Janet Beat. She has been making beautiful electro acoustic work since the early 1960s. Loads of people tried to stop her making music, people like her parents and male musicians who probably felt threatened by a talented woman in their post war male dominated electronic field. Her music has not been issued before. It’s here now, you lucky people. And no, I have not made her up.

Janet Beat does not make beats. She makes sublime electro acoustic music, much of it sounds like the music from Forbidden Planet, or maybe music just beamed in from another planet. Her early 1960s tape work was all destroyed by her father when he used her tapes to hang up his tomato plants. What a bastard. Anyway, her late 1970s and 1980s work has survived, and here it is for the very first time. And before you start asking questions about the title of this LP, I asked Janet Beat if it was OK. I spent ages trying to think of a good title, but then looked at the superb photo of her in her front room (the one on the LP front) and my mind was made up.

Produced by Oscillian, Richard X and Sunglasses Kid, 'Sleepwalking' creates the illusion of timelessness over eleven tracks as it rejuvenates an 80’s synthwave musical aesthetic while simultaneously presenting a modern pop vibe. NINA’s lyrical depth paired with instrumentals that are both dynamic and delicate create a quality sonic experience.

Das Debütalbum des australischen Synthwave-Künstlers Gryff erscheint auf dem Londoner Label Aztec Records, das sich auf 80er Retrowave, Synthwave und Synthpop spezialisiert hat. "Calypso Drip FM" klingt wie eine Greatest Hits-Kollektion aus diversen Styles und Einflüssen ihres Erschaffers. Gryff selbst sieht aus wie ein 90s Kid aus "GTA: Vice City" und hat sämtliches Material im Alleingang kreiert, mit Ausnahme der Produktionsunterstützung von Andrew Threlfo bei "Do You Feel Like This?" und dem Feature der New Yorker Sängerin und Co-Autorin Primo The Alien bei "Reverse". Neuauflage auf hellblauem 180g Vinyl.

Jon Savage's eclectic voyage through Post-Punk era electronic music, Disco & proto-techno 1978-1982
Very special limited edition double 12" vinyl package with colour inner-sleeves + digital down-load code (WAV/FLAC/MP3)
Inners and extensive liner-notes by Jon Savage/Original artwork by celebrated UK artist & illustrator Matt Sewell. Features previously unpublished photos, artwork and memorabilia from the era.
Includes Tracks By : Suicide/Sea Of Wires/Sylvia Love/Cabaret Voltaire/Transvolta/A Num-ber Of Names/Slick & More..
Following on from 2012’s acclaimed “Fame” Post-Punk & 2015's "Perfect Motion" Psychedel-ic-Baggy 1988-93 compilations on CTR, Jon Savage decided to focus upon Electronic music from the Post-Punk era 1978-82. He suggests in his liner-notes for the album:
“Disco was a grid you could pour anything into. Its robotic imperatives thread their way through this collection” & Jon describing the album as:
“Spanning Euro Disco to very early Electro and the classic period of High Energy, taking in mainstream Disco, the strange, minimal and avant garde on the way, these fifteen tracks celebrate the fertility and the futurism of synthesiser electronics in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s”
This compilation is selected and curated by renowned cultural commentator, writer and film-maker Jon Savage. Amongst many highly revered projects Jon has produced the definitive work on Punk Rock in “England's Dreaming” and the documentary & book “Teenage” The Creation of Youth, 1875 - 1945. He is also the biographer of Joy Division & author of the top 10 Sunday Times best seller "This Searing Light, The Sun & Everything Else" The Oral History Of Joy Division in 2019.

Heavyweight vinyl, gatefold sleeve, colour, download card etc.
After captivating the scene with different singles and EPs released on labels such as Crosstown Rebels, Clown & Sunset and All Day I Dream, Be Svendsen presents his first full-length album entitled 'Between a Smile and Tear'

Be Svendsen - Dancefloor heavy hitter and pioneer of the desert-tech sound, releases his first full length album on Copenhagen's Music For Dreams label. Here he reaches beyond the dusty dance floors that brought him recognition, and connects with nostalgic roots of music from his childhood. After a series of very well received singles and ep's on labels like Crosstown Rebels and All Day I Dream, we now get a deeper peep into what it's like Be'ing Svendsen.

Between A Smile a Tear is a wide spanning album in terms of mood, instrumentation, tempi and style, with clear references that reach back to a time where experimental innocence met the futuristic and forward thinking. Be Svendsens describes his music as 'Tarantino Techno'. He brings in emotional guitar melodies and dry strings, and adds it to his club universe where moods can change in an instant. With many talented musicians featured on the album, Be Svendsen shows us his diversity that spans from innovative deep new-disco cuts, galactic journey melodies, analogue ambient atmosphere to classic song writing, soundtrack'esque epicness, and a deep-tech organic collaboration with Henri Texier. We even get a taste of Be Svendsens own vocals.

“Premières Données” (meaning ‘first data’) was the 1987 cassette-only release by Décades, the by then solo project of Laurent Bergot from Rouen, France. Both the band and the album turned out to become the most important cornerstones of the original French ‘cold wave’ genre, the term that began being used in the mid- late 80s to tag this music genre, characteristic for mostly beautiful melodies, romantic, heartfelt lyrics and heavy presence of bass guitar, synthesizers and drum machines. Not a single song by Décades has been ever released on vinyl before so, for starters, we have created “Premières Données +” as an improved, roundup version of this fantastic album, including the previously 100% unheard 1987 studio version of the song ‘Le Jour Se Lève’ that Laurent left out of the cassette release in favour of his own, rougher demo version. We also included the intro that Laurent wanted to use back in the day, but was also left out for technical reasons.

We are extremely happy to bring you this cold wave masterpiece in the form of a limited, hand numbered LP edition of 120 copies, housed in a matt finish sleeve with double sided lyric insert and including a download code.

A living room somewhere in southern Germany. Embroidery graces the walls, a veneer side table with little chrome feet stands in front of a beige velour sofa, a minibar awaits. Pride of place goes to the electric organ which majestically occupies the centre of the room, flanked by two oversized loudspeakers. Welcome to the world of OTTO. the two-man band are set to release their long-awaited debut album in 2019 on Bureau B. The eight tracks contain familiar OTTO ingredients, from organ sounds and rhythm presets to disco strings and the monophonic waves of a 1970s synthesizer. Arpeggio and Hohner notes add extra sharpness to the proceedings. Classics from their live repertoire sit alongside brand new numbers, invariably strange synthesizer compositions.

A new sublabel of the longstanding Canadian electro imprint Suction Records, Ice Machine — focusing on old-school wave/post-punk sounds — launches on Valentines Day 2020 with two fresh Canadian synth-pop LPs on vinyl. Along side a reissue of Ceramic Hello’s cult 1981 minimal synth classic “The Absence Of A Canary,” comes this, the self-titled debut LP from a new Toronto-based duo, Analytica.

Analytica is comprised of David Lush, who’s released several killer solo tapes under the name Memorex, and Gabe Knox, who made a big splash last year with his awesome instrumental synth/kraut solo LP “ABC” on acclaimed UK label Polytechnic Youth.

Analytica make synth-pop the old-fashioned way: driving, verse/chorus pop songs utilizing hardware synthesizers and drum machines, vocals and bass guitar, and recorded to tape. The comparisons to early-Depeche Mode (there’s even a cover of “Reason Man” — an unreleased, Vince Clarke-penned, Depeche song that was part of their earliest live sets), and prime-era New Order (right down to the Oberheim DMX percussion and Peter Hook-style bass guitar) are inevitable, but rarely are these sounds executed with such style and conviction. According to the band, lyrically Analytica “explore facets of the dark age ahead — the propaganda, the nationalism, the environmental disaster in front of our faces - while attempting to offer something of a defence against a nihilistic response to these fears. It's at once a call to arms and a recognition that we're entirely fucked.”

The LP contains 11 songs, and is housed in a stunning reverse-board jacket, and is limited to 500 copies.

Straight in the wake of their eponymous debut LP released on the label back in 2016, Weval return to Kompakt this year with their sophomore album, 'The Weight', breaking their pop-mellow, nostalgia-friendly facet further out in the open as they arrive "at this place again were everything felt spontaneous, new and exciting, like we had in the beginning". Orbiting around that ever luminous yet wistful melodic halo that surrounds their music, this second full-length effort sweeps an extra-wide and languidly woven palette of emotions and moods, making for a uniquely ambitious and generously coloured mosaic of sound. If the recording sessions "often started grumpy and emotionless" by Harm and Merijn's own admission, the pair was "surprised by the joy it gave us, which can be compared to the emotions we felt back in the first days of making music together"; subsequently reconnecting with that fresh, naïve feeling of "absolute creative freedom" they were after. The album is also the fruit of a whole new working process for them - more playful and unpredictable - which saw them switch from "guitars lying around to piano, onto our own synths and the most cheap quirky toys synths you can imagine", and involved "recording all of our own samples, voice and almost every instrument out of the box - which for us was a totally new way of working". "We've always wanted a narrative for the album, and finding the right order perhaps took the most effort" they explain; "we felt anxious, felt insanely positive, felt heartbroken again, felt in love again, and there was death, and even suicide around us. It was quite chaotic. As a whole, 'The Weight' breathes with that transformative richness, free of limits and rules, except perhaps to "do quick and not think too much". Amidst this collection of songs and instrumentals that live by Weval's singularly positive take on music - one that can "lift you up, and make you feel hopeful without being necessarily straight out 'happy'" as they define it, the title-track and lead single stays true to the duo's dynamic approach, putting on a fine balance of floor and dream inducing adaptability that sound engineer David Wrench (Frank Ocean, The XX, FKA Twigs, Caribou… etc.) subtly made palpable. There's heavy showers of funk drops pouring from endless bars of thunderstorm clouds and laid-back riffs beating a restrained poolside-party kind of pulse, but also sensual vocals rising from beneath the sheets and rueful polaroid-filtered ambiences to soundtrack all possible moments in life - from the most euphoric to those when music seems the only viable healing potion. More on the post-KLF, BoC-inflected electronica side of things, 'Are You Even Real' takes its listener for a round-trip across the star-studded dome and beyond, before songs like 'Someday' and 'Same Little Thing' head back down to a state of pulsating, earthly organicity, tense and mercurial as get. An arpeggiated slice of piano-strewn kosmische, 'Heaven' is another invitation to an epic-scale odyssey from the inner-spheres into the distant fringes of the outer-world. Weightless and airy, yet texturally dense and widely magnetic overall, Weval second LP is a synthesis of the duo's multi-angle take on electronics: blissed-out, heartening and infinitely free.
Nur zweieinhalb Jahre nach der Veröffentlichung ihres selbstbetitelten Debutalbums finden sich WEVAL zurück "an jenem Ort, an dem sich alles spontan, neu und aufregend anfühlt - so wie als wir anfingen zusammen Musik zu schreiben". An diesem Ort entstand "The Weight", ihr zweiter Longplayer, auf dem Weval sich ganz den Pop-verliebten, Nostalgie-freundlichen Facetten ihres Sounds öffnen. Stetig um den sehnsuchtsvollen Strahlenkranz ihrer Melodien tanzend, legt diese Platte noch vielschichtigere, mit feinster Präzision gewobene Gefühlswelten frei.

Obwohl die Aufnahmesessions nach eigenem Bekunden oftmals "miesepetrig und emotionsarm" begannen, so war das Duo überrascht darüber, wie schnell sich bei der Arbeit jene Freude einstellte, die sie aus ihren künstlerischen Anfangstagen kannten, eine Woge des frischen, naiven Gefühls der "absoluten kreativen Freiheit". Dieses Album ist die Frucht eines verspielteren und unvorhersehbareren Arbeitsprozesses innerhalb der Band, in welchem alles zum Einsatz kam, was ihnen in die Finger kam - von der ollen Gitarre, die in der Studioecke stand, über ein Piano und den bandeigenen Sythesizern und den sonderbarsten Spielzeuginstrumenten, die man sich vorstellen kann. All dies sowie zahlreiche Vocalaufnahmen dienten als alleinige Samplequelle - "was für uns eine völlig neue Arbeitsweise war". "Es war uns wichtig für das Album den perfekten Erzählbogen zu spannen. Die richtige Reihenfolge zu finden war ein extrem aufwendiger Vorgang", erklären Harm und Merjin. "Uns war bange, wir fühlten uns total selbstsicher, uns zerbrach das Herz und wir verliebten uns erneut. Wir waren sogar von Tod und Selbstmord umgeben. Alles war Chaos. Insgesamt atmet "The Weight" die Reichhaltigkeit dieser sich ständig verändernden Gefühlslagen, frei von Einschränkungen und Regeln - außer vielleicht "mach es schnell und zerdenke die Dinge nicht." Inmitten dieser Ansammlung von Songs und Instrumentals, die aus Wevals einzigartiger, von Zuversicht geprägter Herangehensweise entstanden sind - "Musik, die dich hochzieht und Hoffnung spendet, ohne dich notwendigerweise happy zu machen. Der Titeltrack "The Weight" steht exemplarisch für Wevals ambivalenten Ansatz, die feine Balance zwischen Dancefloor und Traumzuständen, perfekt in Szene gesetzt von Soundengineer David Wrench (Frank Ocean, The XX, FKA Twigs, Caribou… etc.).

Der schwer aus gewaltigen Gewitterwolken tropfende Funk, die eine verhaltene Poolparty suggerierenden Riffs, die sinnlichen, geisterhaften Vocals und ein verwaschenes Ambiente, das wie ein Album alter Polaroidaufnahmen alle erdenklichen Momente des Lebens festhält - von den euphorischsten bis hin zu jenen, in denen Musik der einzige Trank ist, der Linderung verheißt. Das post-KLF und Boards of Canada evozierende "Are You Even Real" führt den Hörer auf einen imaginären Flug ins Sternenzelt, während organisch-klingende Songs wie "Someday" oder "Same Little Thing" wie Quecksilber am Boden haften. "Heaven" ist eines jener "kosmische" Stücke mit wilden Arpeggios und Pianosprengseln, die Weval in den vergangenen zwei Jahren zu einer Live-Sensation werden liessen. Wevals Musik ist schwerelos und luftig, aber gleichermassen von dichter Struktur und von einer magnetischen Anziehungskraft. Ihr zweites Album "The Weight" ist eine Synthese aus dem multi-perspektivischem, kaleidoskopischen Verständnis von elektronischer Musik: Herzerwärmend, alles umschmeichelnd und unendlich frei.

Stahlschrank sind Sun Ray (Fred und Luna) und Brain Emo (Ufo Hawaii).

Nach ihrer Erfolgssingle „Egal ist sehr gut“ peitschen Stahlschrank mit ihrer zweiten Veröffenlichung „Karin / Inge“ ihr Konzept des Elektrodadakraut weiter nach vorne. Ein Musikstil, der noch nicht vollständig erforscht und entwickelt ist.

„Karin“ ist eine Reflexion über die Vergänglichkeit des Daseins und eine moderne Parabel über Kontrolle und Unterwerfung.

Die Single-B-Seite „Inge“ ist die zweite Exkursion in das Stahlschrank-Konzept des „Electronic Irritainment“.

„Inge“ ist eine Reflexion über das Ringen des Individuums vor dem Hintergrund zeitgenössischer Clubkultur, die sowohl die Grenzen der Studioumgebung als auch die Geduld der Nachbarn ausreizt.

Stahlschrank arbeiten derzeit an ihrem ersten Longplayer, möglicherweise ein Vierfach-Album.

“Vax!” – Reminiscent of all the slippery vinyl that glitched under so many sweaty wet fingers in a steamy basement before time – a picture that seems highly illegal in our current antiseptic climate of hopefully germ free adolescents. Vax-inate! Give them the needle! It’s time.

Deti Vechnosti – Pered Rassvetom opens the gates to plug into the socket of our collective deranged consciousness, generating frisky and flamboyant specks to brightening darkness that confines our lives. Offering glimpses of the great unknown we also carry within. The Track introduces Chikiss & Mustelide’s new group “Deti Vechnosti”.

Alexander Arpeggio & OhLandy’s “Der Anruf”, wich originally appeared as a French language version on a previous Sameheads / Diapason tape release tells those tales of hot and hotter heat. Karmic payback for the sweaty and long nights enveloped in the halo of resonating frequencies of silly and high-spirited mischief.

Rouge Mécanique – Down the Line – follows suite in the odyssey that is a demented night out, sitting in front of a club, realising that the leatherjacket you picked up a few streets ago from the ground doesn’t smell like adventure but like spew.

The B-Side opens with Automatenfall – a hardware electronic 3 piece, previously appearing live at Sameheads during a “My Friend calls it K-Jazz” event. A yearning that eventually gets us on a spiritual path and headed toward enlightenment through the meandering melange of chimes, that little sounds that usually overcome us in the weirdest of times.

Das Kinn – the new project from Toben Piel, who’s part of Frankfurt’s MMODEM family, and one half of Les Trucs evokes memories of better days, black leatherpants – think Falco meets DAF – Überpop for the Untergrund.

Stopping for a final coup d’œil is Alessandro Adriani’s – Preserved Data Space. A persuasive case of brutally but lovingly worked machines serenading sawtooth waves of an infinite Weiter, a dissolving timeframe – the longest after hour I’ve been to, it lasts more than a year now already and counting.

Written by Michael Aniser.

Russian no wave / synth duo The Bleak Engineers seem a neat fit with the first 12" release from Rotation Mecanique. "Unconscious" is the song that resonated in many souls and it's finally appearing in a vinyl format.

It's the new statement of the band, whose members are worth of attention: the grey eminence of the Russian electronic scene Alexander Moralez (Brokntoys/Gigolo/MSQ) and the horror and surf rock goddess Svetlana Zombierella (Messer Chups).

The main track is accompanied by 5 more new musical revelations: the fresh compositions, which will be the new hits and the mysterious instrumentals in their trademark gloomy electronic no wave sound.

The isolation is not the reason to be silent. Hearing the bleak, sometimes hopeless and sometimes hopeful vertigo of synths, vintage drum machines, floating bass lines, frank and mild vocals without any rush and without any attachment to time and place. And that is the incomplete list of adjectives related to this release.

Reissued as an LP for the very first time, “Catch As Catch Can” is pressed on limited edition blue vinyl, remastered from fresh transfers of the original analogue tapes. The original artwork has been faithfully recreated, with the inner sleeve featuring a stunning portrait shot of Kim plus full lyrics.

Minimal Synthwave/Darkwave recordings with a dash of Electropunk.

Off The Meds is a Swedish-South African crew based in Stockholm, consisting of producers Adrian Lux, Carli Lo¨f and Ma°ns Glaeser with vocalist Kamohelo Khoaripe.
The band first appeared on Studio Barnhus with the Ethio-jazz sampling hip-house gem Currency Low, one of the standouts on the Stockholm label's 2018 compilation Studio Barnhus Volym 1. This was followed by 2019's ravey smash single Belter, which came paired with a much-lauded remix by London top selector Joy Orbison.
Their self-titled debut album arrives on Studio Barnhus in late 2020. First album single Karlaplan was recently played by Four Tet on Benji B's show on BBC Radio 1, while second single Wena got included in hotly tipped UK garage reformist Conducta's recent Resident Advisor podcast.

‘Expressions of Interest’ is the debut album from Melbourne/Naarm post-punk group screensaver.

Sonically, the 10 track album is rich and detailed, and pays homage to its era of inspiration (late 70s-mid 80s post-punk and new wave) with gripping vocals, dissonant guitar, melodic basslines, washes of synths and motorik drumming. Engineered by Julian Cue alongside band member Chris Stephenson and recorded over multiple studio sessions between 2020-2021

The album opens with the ominously titled ‘Body Parts’, an immediately arresting song that showcases the bands penchant for blending classic post-punk elements, leaning into a sound somewhere between the Banshees and Protomartyr.

Maynard doubles down on these themes in the frenetic second track, ‘No Movement’. Guttural organ tones swim under overdriven guitar, jagged and intense. Additional textures and sound effects are used percussively to embellish the dynamics, creating a feverish atmosphere with some Martin Hannett like flourishes.

The album takes a surprising turn into electronic driven krautrock on track three with 'Buy, Sell, Trade' - a rollicking piece of danceable ephemera, dominated by swirling synth sounds and punctuated with electronics reminiscent of Sparks/Moroder collaborations. Chris Stephenson's masterful guitar work begins with Greg Sage-esque determination before a crescendo into a lush Frippertronics outro.

'MEDS' transports us back to the foundation established on 'Body Parts', a gothy piece, full of tribal toms and dirge-y synths. Industrial punk rock nearly swallowed whole by the keys in the middle and slowly building back to complimentary guitar and vocal hooks.

It's from this point in the album that the band let's their other influences rise to the surface, as they explore touches of EDM on 'Static State' - a brutal, death-disco style track, Krystal Maynard's lead synth and gloomy vocal complimenting the pounding drums and dub-esque bass line culminating in a track worthy of the dancefloor.


Opening side two we have 'Skin', beginning with a solid and simple backbeat, James Beck’s post-punk percussion provides a steady and minimal framework for the rest of the band to colour in with great depth and detail. Giles Fielke’s bass guitar wobbles brilliantly leading the verse melody, whilst Chris Stephenson’s guitar drives the chorus that folds neatly in on itself.

In ‘Attention Economy’, Krystal Maynard is flexible with her lyrical style, and knows how and when to lend her voice to the greater backdrop of the composition. ‘Attention Economy’ has an almost Kraftwerkian structure - repetitious, but engaging with its constant tom driven beat, lush synth lines and minimal bass tones.

Just when you thought things had slowed down, screensaver ramp things right back up again with ‘Overnight Low’ - a no holds barred thumper. Giles Fielke underpins the hard-edged sound with his bassline, keeping things smooth and tight. It brings to mind a hybrid of PiL’s ‘Annalisa’ and Wire’s ‘Two People In a Room.’

Before you can catch your breath, we have ‘Regular Hours’ - another industrial track, and perhaps the sister song to ‘Static State’ heard earlier on side one. Seething electronic drum samples cut through an abyss of growling synths, Giles Fielke hanging up the bass temporarily to accompany Krystal Maynard on synth duties.

The album closes with the fittingly titled ‘Soft Landing’, literally bringing the listener back down...softly. The song is heavy on atmos, and resembles the aesthetics previously encountered on ‘Attention Economy’ a few tracks earlier.

‘Expressions of Interest” was recorded at various locations across Melbourne, with a handful of songs being captured before the start of the Covid pandemic in January 2020. With the recording timeline being drastically altered, the band shifted focus to work on what would become their first single ‘Strange Anxiety’, throughout the first months of the Melbourne 2020 lockdown.

"This deliberate blurring of high and low culture is part of the appeal, their songs juxtaposing simplicity with free-ranging experimentation. But even more key is their ability to seamlessly meld genres – krautrock, post-punk and synthpop, most prominently – to create songs that are fresh and exciting yet familiar-sounding and accessible." The Observer

“We were raring to go,” says W. H. Lung’s Tom Sharkett of the band’s desire to keep the momentum going after the huge success of their debut album.
However, it quickly became apparent that a repeat performance was of no interest to the band. “At the beginning it felt like every new idea could’ve just been on Incidental Music,” remembers Tom. “They weren’t bad ideas, but they didn’t feel new. I don’t think we knew where we wanted to go but we were 100% sure on it not being Incidental Music part 2.”
Things soon burst to life however and a period of profound creativity, musical intuition, bold innovation and near total musical rebirth came forth. “I was in the best place of my life,” says Joe Evans. “I was like a slot machine putting in wellbeing currency and jackpotting this album. Words and melodies were coming so quick and easy. Tom was sending tunes across and I was having a lot of fun playing around with a new way of singing which was freer, more expressive, more instant and more melodic.”
The result is a record that is direct, punchy and potent. Merging silky vocals, strutting grooves, enveloping textures, and a sparkling blend of electronic and pop music. “We thought: okay we’ve done the long sprawling introductions and instrumentals,” says Tom. “So let’s see if we can get the same intensity, energy and layers whilst getting straight to the point.” Joe echoes this. “We wanted to move away from easing people in and grab them by the heart straight away. I reflected on how we played live shows and romanticised about launching onto the stage in a bundle of energy and starting the party, no messing. The directness comes from making music more intuitively, and more from a place of fun. We were writing music that affirmed how much we missed dancing in sweaty rooms, enjoying the company of a collection of beautiful friendly strangers.”
The album documents a period of change for the group. They lost a member in Tom Derbyshire, moved from Manchester to Todmorden and fell in love more with dance music and the shifting sense of community and inclusivity that came with these changes. “We have moved forward from the change with a new energy,” says Joe of Tom Derbyshire’s amicable exit to focus on filmmaking. “It was a challenge shifting the dynamic but we truly found our stride and Tom Sharkett and I have an absolutely beautiful working relationship.”
Tom also feels this forced sense of change has brought about something fresh. “We didn’t have many spare ideas let alone spare tunes for the first album,” he recalls. “Whereas for Vanities we had loads that we binned. That needed to happen for us to get somewhere new and I think before the change in line-up we were in limbo a bit.” The album was written with a process of passing ideas back and forth, in a spirit of playfulness and exploration. The songs were then further refined in the studio of band member Chris Mulligan (guitar, bass, keys), a producer in his own right, who helped to further refine the arrangement and directness of the songs. ‘We are blessed to have brilliant musicians in W. H. Lung. It is very comforting, creatively, to know that initial ideas will always be further developed and expanded when played by Alex (drums), Chris and Hannah (keys, vocals.)’ says Joe. ‘And we got loads of magic out of (producer) Matt (Peel) for this record. He infuses all the tracks with such an infectious, wonky energy.’
This positivity, and incandescent dance floor giddiness that the pair espouses can be felt all over the record too. Despite being written in isolation and remoteness the album is rooted in very real physical spaces. “Manchester is a very important part of this record,” says Tom Sharkett, “The White Hotel, nights like Wet Play, seeing Gerd Janson DJ at the End of Year Riot (Electric Chair) and then discovering all the amazing stuff on his label Running Back. Then when we moved to Todmorden it was the same. Seeing Andrew Weatherall down the road from our flat at The Golden Lion - it just felt like an exciting time for us and I wanted to consume as much new music as possible.” Joe shares his bandmates’ enthusiasm for their dance floor experiences that have fed into this record. “Vanities is a musical representation of what Tom and I crave the most now that it’s been taken away from us,” he says. “In simple terms, we love to dance and have both fallen deeper in love with the music that facilitates that. Because of this voracious appetite for new music and the experiences that come with that hunger, influences on the album are vast: the aforementioned Weatherall, Robyn, Todd Terje, Grauzone, Kelly Lee Owens, Helena Hauff and countless others. But the end result is something distinctly the band’s own.”
‘Pearl in the Palm’ was the track that kicked it all off. “A transition from the old W. H. Lung to new,” says Tom. It marries pulsing synths, galloping drums and a vocal take that is both caramel smooth but also fervently intense. ‘Show Stopper’ allows the drums and bass to carry a subtle funk strut and is one of the album’s moments that highlight the band’s deft touch for layering and texture. ‘Somebody Like’ is an absolute stomper, marrying filthy electronics with a pop hook that is as irresistible as it is anthemic. ‘Gd Tym’ nicely captures the transition from a more archetypal band sound to dance floor fodder, as spiralling guitar lines intersperse with heavy lashings of electronics and deep hooks.
Despite the album’s exploration of the dizziness of dance floors and their maximalist appeal, it’s also one that plunges deep lyrically and comes from a place of profound introspection. Taking influence from the searching at the heart of the plays of Anton Chekov, as well as the novels of Shusaku Endo and Iris Murdoch, Joe also went deep into self-observation books like Red Hawk and The Fourth Way by Pyotr Ouspenskii. “It talks about stepping back from your mind and waking up to the patterns and conditionings of your thoughts,” he says. “This is like a constant meditation and so when I sat down to write lyrics, the different behaviours that I recognised in myself were really clear and poured out.” This meditative state also extended to another physical connection, this time out in the open rather than under the strobes. “A source of inspiration was getting out into nature,” he says. “We would often go out onto the tops of Todmorden and walk and swim. Sitting with and walking in the abundance of the natural world has fed into some of the playfulness and light spirit of the album.”
Perhaps most remarkable thing about the album - aside from the unflinching new sonic leaps it takes - is that the band have taken a dormant year void of live experiences, sweaty clubs, or anything resembling fun times, and have made an album that makes that world feel palpable – that you can crawl inside it. “Lockdown gave me the time to pour work into myself and out came this wonderful album,” reflects Joe. “It was strange at first and I missed seeing my mates and having a laugh and dancing but this album is a direct reflection of creative flow brought on by the space given by lockdown.”
Vanities is a very rare beast of a record: a lockdown album that feels bursting with vitality and the love, promise and transcendence of shared dance floor experiences. Just in time for when we crave those the most.

To The Other Side is an electronic journey that express the inner visions of sound. Is the first album of The ReLOUD in a limited double vinyl.

All analogue synths + samples from Japan, Ireland, Sicily and the Mars wind from NASA.
It feature singers from Australia, South Africa, America, Europe including the world renown Deva Premal.

Colored Vinyl. 180gr. Triple Gatefold. Hand illustrated by the leading Berlin designer Maddalena Bireau.

Includes the exclusive Lenta Bellezza Vinyl version of 22 Minutes.

Mixed by the legendary Luca Pretolesi, Gianni Bini, Alex Trecarichi, Luigi de Filippo. Mastered for Vinyl by Guiliano Radiciotti.

From the mists of 1981 comes the most contemporary and ground breaking of the criminally underrated London group New Musik, helmed by prodigious writer, producer, mixer and engineer Tony Mansfield (Nick Straker Band, B-52's, Captain Sensible & more).

'The Planet Doesn't Mind' is a flawless piece of shimmering electro disco, uptempo, synthetic, futuristic - almost a perfect fusion of pop and 'proper' electro. A truly exceptional track that stands out through its originality and its sonic aesthetic, the mixing, the lyrics.... everything. An early 80's electronic masterpiece. On the B-side we have the very different, but equally as exciting and forward looking '24 Hours From Culture - Part II', a heavy and moody slice of instrumental dub. A record that, over the years, found favour with contemporary DJ's and producers who sought inspiration from the left-field fringes of popular music, counting Ame and Todd Terje among its fans it is a true left-field nugget, deep and soaked in atmosphere.

This is pretty much a flawless 12" all around, and the fact that it is 37 years old and sounds like it could have been made next week makes it an essential record for any music lovers collection. Sublime.

This is a fully licensed and 100% legit reissue, remastered and repressed in conjunction with Above Board distribution and all relevant license holders.

Just like the drops of a summer rain turn the sunlight into an arched display of colours, the tracks on the new Mollono.Bass album give expression to the three primary colors of his soul. When we hear the voices of I Am Halo and Kuoko, the instruments of jPattersson, Marc Vogler and other musicians, and deep down even a late night conversation – we are listening to the frequencies of friendship. When we dance through the cavernous convolutions and sunlit glades of his soundscapes – we encounter a passionate love for the woods turned into groove. When we immerse in the percussive rhythms and flowing melodies – we feel ourselves as characters in epic tales. Woods, Tales & Friends is a collection of anecdotes from these last years, and it reminds us vividly how versatile the musical talent of Mollono.Bass is. That's why it sounds just as beautiful on headphones or on the balcony as it does on a big sound system.

So wie die Tropfen eines Sommerregens die Sonne in bunter Bogenform erstrahlen lassen, so bringen die Titel des neuen Mollono.Bass Albums drei Grundfarben seiner Seele zum Vorschein. Wenn wir die Stimmen von I Am Halo oder Kuoko hören, die Instrumente von jPattersson, Marc Vogler und anderen Musikern, und ganz weit hinten sogar ein Gespräch aus den Tiefen der Nacht - dann hören wir die Frequenzen von Freundschaft. Wenn wir durchs höhlenartige Dickicht und über die hellen Lichtungen seiner Klanglandschaft tänzeln – dann entdecken wir eine zu Groove gewordene Liebe für die Wälder. Wenn wir dem Verlauf der perkussiven Rhythmen und verschlungenen Melodien folgen – dann werden wir zum aktiven Teil einer lebendigen Geschichte. Als Anekdotensammlung der letzten Jahre zeigt uns Woods, Tales & Friends einmal mehr, wie vielseitig das musikalische Talent von Mollono.Bass ist. Deshalb klingt seine Musik auf dem Balkon oder dem Kopfhörer genauso schön wie auf der großen Anlage.

Marvin & Guy return to Permanent Vacation with the "Migration" EP, which marks their third ep for the label and a new evolution in the M&G sound.

Migration means moving, understand when a territory is no longer hospitable and find new livelihoods. In this specific case means new inspirations, new ideas, exploring new sounds.
Marvin & Guy take birth from a synergy between two eclectic minds, more into sounds than technique that after several years into a specifically Dance scenario they’ve decided to start a transition towards a purer form of sound, more ancestral. To do this they’ve just benched all dogmas from the beloved Dance Music and they focused more on just playing and having fun with Synthesizers and Drum Machines to create a fully analog session like it was made 40 years ago. Migration was born out of jam sessions recorded in real time and then make them work it out with an intense postproduction and scrupulous editing.

Migration is the transition, their prelude of the very first M&G Album which will comes out in 2022.

Amyl and the Sniffers are a punk band possessed by the spirit of seventies Australian rock. Amy Taylor (vocals), Bryce Wilson (drums), Dec Martens (guitar) and Gus Romer (bass) are former housemates who formed the band, wrote a handful of tunes and released their debut EP, Giddy Up, all in a span of 12 hours. Taking their cues from a diverse bunch of legends including AC/DC, Cosmic Psychos, Dolly Parton and Die Antwoord, they set out to have as much fun as possible.Amyl and the Sniffers' second EP, Big Attraction, was released in February 2017, kicking off a stellar year for these young punks. Growing buzz around their blistering live show made the band a hot tip at Bigsound in Brisbane, while the band was added to festival line-ups including Meredith and CherryRock17. The band sold out their first headline show at the Bendigo Hotel in September, and were invited to join the Cosmic Psychos on their November/December '17 tour. A stadium show awaits in January '18 with some unknown band, Foo-something or other.With a ton of heat behind them, a debut album due mid-2018, Amyl and the Sniffers are barely off the leash.

Ltd. White Label

Limitierte White-Label-Auflage mit exzellenten Remixes von Gerd Janson und Abel Ray zu "What Do We Care" aus Moscomans brandneuem Album "Time Slips Away", das dieser Tage parallel erscheint. Insbesondere Gerd Janson transformiert den Track in einen ansteckend-catchy Synth-Pop-Ohrwurm mit hohem Suchtfaktor.

A sonic clash of Tropical, On-U and Eastern proportions, t-woc drops 6 tracks of dope sound system bashment for Strangelove. Informed by Mick's musical wanderlust and prolific digging, Pentangle deftly blends a mélange of influences where Caribbean steel drum, Anatolian melodies and the sounds of the Maghreb all float through the mix.

Like his work for Macadam Mambo/ Emotional Response- its a sound hard to pin down and all woven into a heady brew percolating somewhere in the dance-floor twilight zone. With early works created pre-lockdown at an artist residency in The Dock in County Leitrim, the heads down groove of 'Crazy Bronco' & 'Goddy' don't sound out of place with an early 90's Uk bass culture. Elsewhere the deeper cuts rub against a little sunshine as the late night swing of Midnight Magic riffs off Junior Delgado's roots classic.

With killer artwork c/o Marius Houschyar Strangelove is super stoked to release this collection of outernational rhythms from the Irish vinyl wallah, mix engineer and producer

Vital Sales Points:
Follow up to the labels previous exotic waves of Scribble & Sjunne Ferger,

Coloray's Real Life Cinema infuses powerful, unpolished sound aesthetics with relentless energy. After cutting his teeth on both the Dutch and international DJ circuit, and nurturing his production skills as member of the Tunnelvisions duo, Raynor de Groot his solo project Coloray translates an inwards desire to create and explore off the beaten path, and does so with a compelling ‘80s attitude.

This strong backbone in musical undertaking, together with his background in songwriting and vocal work, transmits a unique sound that drifts somewhere between the hazy lines of contemporary electronics and early EBM.

Stiletti-Ana debut on Public Possession.
Intergalactic transmission.
Haista II Studio Finland.
Motor Scooter Piaggio
Drums, Drums, Drums. Ecstasy!

Cardinal & Nun returns to L.I.E.S. now with his debut lp, 8 songs of full on rotten stripped back, fuzzed out, synth punk mayhem. Straight to the head beautifully thrashing anthems, Cardinal & Nun goes in with catchy basslines, dissonant guitar chop ups, and vocals that creep from the shadows throughout the affair. Don't gas out though, there are some somber cuts on the b-side's "Whats Goin On Tonite?", "Pandemonium" and "Day After Day". A true gem in the French scene, now get in the pit and slamjack! Recommended.

Nach einer Dekade in der ersten Reihe von Bassmusik/Dubstep geht der britische Produzent Flux Pavilion nun neue Wege. Sein neues Album ".wav" ist ein Meisterwerk aus 16 EDM-Tracks mit Pop-Appeal, auf denen Synths, E-Gitarren und Pop-Melodien dominieren, die nun auch sein Liveprogramm prägen. Dabei verzichtet er nicht auf die bewährten Features, die seine Releases schon immer auszeichneten. Mit dabei sind diesmal die UK Produzenten Feed Me und Chime, das Folk-Pop-Duo Turin Brakes, die kalifornische Shoegaze-Band Drowsy, die New Yorker Sängerin Meesh sowie US-Indietroniker The Chaingang Of 1974. ".wav" ist erhältlich als Gatefold 2LP und Tape.

Vancouver post-punk quartet third LP shows some tremendous growth in terms of songwriting and delivery. Hooking the listener from the very beginning, it’s danceable, it’s dark and it’s rock. FALLACY OF FAIRNESS Ltd. Edition 12” + 7” Album comes presented in a ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 200 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality SOLID BLACK vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios.

Hot electro and neo-high energy synth-disco on the DISCO DISCO debut album of anarcho-electro-punk duo Fivequestionmarks & Produkkt from Rome. Fivequestionmarks is a DJ and singer with a dark and heavy style who effortlessly assembles industrial, acid, and EBM into wild raves. Together with Produkkt they literally rock the disco with their sharp productions, reminiscent of the synthwave and electro-pop of the eighties with a raw punk edge. On DISCO DISCO, Fivequestionmarks renders the surrealistic, political, and profound lyrics in her distorted voice with a dramatic Italian touch. Very much in the vein of Miss Kittin & The Hacker and Adult. Recommended!

Ja, das vierzehnte Studioa lbum von Northern Lite ist erstmals in 23 Jahren Bandgeschichte auf Deutsch. Ja, es klingt durch die unverwechselbare Stimmfarbe von Andreas Kubat auf magische Weise vertraut, aber auch hier und da nach Deichkind , Frittenbude , oder 2 Raumwohnung. Ja, auch ein wenig nach Rammstein und The Weeknd . Ja, worauf sollten sie auch noch warten, was gibt’s in dieser Welt für eine B and die seit einem Vierteljah rhundert durch die internationale Musik landschaft geistert zu verlieren? Ja, die Welt hat sich für uns alle geändert, ja, auch für Northern Lite.

Second Installment of the Sameheads’ bi-annual vinyl compilation highlighting the Berlin based bar, club, playground, space, collective, cult, - whatever’s musical mavericks. An-i, Franz Scala, Alexander Arpeggio & Marlene Stark, Epsilove & Ohlandy, Anklepants and Umlaut are all featured at the top of their game. A unique-clutch of oddball bangers. Essential!

In pandemic times of telepresences and social distancing, Live At Robert Johnson and Leipzig’s own Riotvan team up for a magical musical mission. Encompassed by the graphic design of Michael Satter & Panthera Krause, each of the five tracks has been created by teams representing both label crews and their environs, rendering a truly synergetic effort. A1 is Roman Flügel & Rebolledo producing deep and wide Star Stuff with arpeggiated bass riffs, haunting vocals and melody. A2 sees Jennifer Touch & Chinaski setting off on an electroid Synth-Pop trip, with crafty 1980s synths, drums and vocals. A3 is New Hook and Perel teaming up for a Cosmic Disco tinged track, featuring unique spanish-english vocals. The flipside kicks off with Fort Romeau & Panthera Krause on B1, heavily into a stereophonic and proper Italo soundscape. Horkheimer & Peter Invasion & Gregor Habicht conclude the EP on B2 with a wicked technoid Breakbeat along a modulating bass line and, yeah, a looney laugh befitting these crazy times.

Over two years in the making, and it’s finally here. Amsterdam based, brand new old-school label “Betonska” kicks off with this highly diverse release for the selector, collector, radio host and club DJ.

Crisp instrumentation, tight retro drum computer programming and propulsive danceable bass lines are what you will find here. The Amsterdam based label will be focusing on previously unreleased and tough-to-find material from the 80s and 90s – all re-mastered, officially licensed and in collaboration with the original artist. In addition to the original material an occasional modern twist will be given by contemporary artists who cherish that signature sound.

The first release is an alternative issue of Flo Sullivan’s “Higher” release, originally recorded in 1984 in the world famous Amazon Studios in Liverpool and released in 1985. On the A-side both the 12” and the 7” version of the hard-to-get, firm synth-pop track “Higher” will be pressed on a loud 45rpm vinyl. The 12” version is the (bass-)heavier one, while the 7” version sounds more “organic” with an extended intro and an added horns part. The tracks on the A-side have been pressed before and are made available now again for the wider public, giving those tracks the recognition and attention they deserve.

The B-side focuses on previously unreleased original downtempo material by the same artist but released under her real name: Gayna Rose Madder. This, accompanied by a refreshing club-ready remix of one of those tracks by Vienna’s top-notch selector, producer and Neubau label owner: Heap.

Neither of the two original tracks “Over” and “Element” have ever been released on vinyl before, up until now. “Over” was written and recorded in 1983 in Splash Sound Studios in Liverpool. A beautiful melancholic synth-pop track, which was meant to be released, but unfortunately never saw the light of day. At the time it was recorded Gayna left her band “Shiny Two Shiny” and therefore needed a new deal from a different company for her solo releases. But by the time she found the right one, many newer songs needed release. Much later, in 2005, Gayna decided to self-release “Over” on a compilation CD to sell copies online.

“Element” is a spoken-word poem accompanied by a fire-crackling tribal kind of rhythm. It was written for a musical play and recorded in Sparks Studio Liverpool in 2004 and has never officially been released before. (For a short period it was available on a self-released CD on Gayna’s website; a compilation of the songs written for one of her musicals).

And last but not least, the icing on the cake is Heap’s remix of “Element”. He translated this spoken word poem into a refreshing 90s-style and danceable club-track to complete the diversity of Betonska’s first release. A chugging acid bass, breakbeat rhythms, crisp claps and sharp snares and a screeching lead synth to get you screaming on the dance floor.

limited edition 12” Azure Blue vinyl (which includes an art print)

Quattrovalvole is the future/past/disco/drive project designed by Joone and Miss Zagato. Four on the floor Italo-disco, glossy 80s new wave pick us up in this afterdark lifestyle EP. The title track ‘Into the Night’ is a curb crawler’s seduction. Dedicated to the leather hand-notated black book, our dial up lover calls with arpeggiators demanding, then teasing like feathers over the phone. Big chords push us to drive fast, ready for what we long for.

B-side ‘Too Many Lights’ squeezes us, just what we need when broken glass is swept up from the disco floor. Tame drums and retro claps dictate, as the chords are stargazing with Miss Zagato’s vocals. They preside over the party, with potions of bliss and intoxication, we are invited intimately into this dream life.

Joone’s ‘Into The Night’ remix takes us into the future, driving at the wheel of an alcantara suede upgraded Ferrari 308 Vetroresina. The layers of well-informed 80s synth wave sends us into another dimension.

These are three high class disco tunes with real song craft at their heart.

320 is the first release of a series of various artists which has deliberately put together Dead Husband, WLDV, Mynationshit and Cold Colors. In fact, just like in future compilations, this will always be a substantial premise for the label considering that these artists will always be esteemed and sometimes part of the Waste Editions family.

A reissue that needs almost no introduction: Al Onzo's 'Tango Japan', a sleazy, dark and funky tale of a late night sake-fueled love affair.

'Tango Japan' is a rare outing into dance music from the prolific Jean Pierre Alonzo (otherwise best known for his work in the irreverent group Les Frères Brosse).

Officially licensed from JP Alonzo himself and painstakingly remastered by the Mothball team, 'Tango Japan' has never sounded better.

Also included as a bonus track is the never before heard 'Camel Soup in China Town', recorded around the same time as 'Tango Japan'.