Pop & Rock News

Berlin’s veteran mad scientist of discarded MIDI Hi-Tech, Novo Line’s Nat Fowler arrives on Protofuture for a special collaboration with Cocktail d’Amore resident DJs Dama (tracks selection) and Trent (mixing/mastering), combining their unique voices in electronic dance music for a choose-your-own-adventure of club transgressions.
“Racconti” – a concept album on cassette recounting those extended stays at our favorite overnight establishments in Berlin, Brescia, and beyond – takes Novo Line’s hauntingly disorienting yet danceable polyrhythms and three-dimensional harmonies through ‘Late Night’ (blue side) to ‘Early Morning’ (yellow side), echoing the sounds from within the dark cold walls of an industrial cellar to the outside garden terrace, as the morning’s blau stunde makes itself known. Birthed and bred between the three during the COVID-19 lockdown in their lingua franca of Italian, “Racconti” (translated best as “Stories” alluding to those brief life-excerpts compulsively shared on social media) recounts a prototypical night when we commit to entering that club full of friends, temptations, and an open schedule for the next day(s).

“When I was asked to put my hands on the original tracks of Blancmange I was instantly excited. They were one of my favourite Bands when I grew up as a teenager in the 80’s. Listening to their music walking around with my Walkman back then was adventurous. Mainly because I was already in love with the aesthetics of synthesisers and drum machines. But also because it was unusual pop music with an extraordinary energy that made it in the charts. Remixing a favorite Band is challenging but I’ve tried to keep the free spirits and playfulness in my mix that makes Blancmange still so special after all these years” – Roman Flügel

Roman Flügel remixes the cult 1980s classic that is ‘Living On The Ceiling’, and the result is a killer, off-kilter slice of club-focussed machine funk that contains the same wonderfully bizarre cocktail of traits, that Blancmange always boasted in spades. Eerie and schizophrenic but also both bright and triumphant. Also features the original and sought after extended mix.

The first in a new series of ‘London Records Remixed’ releases on 12” and digital. Now at its new home as part of the Because Music Group the London Records catalogue is being revisited by pioneering, contemporary electronic producers.

Maenad Veyl returns with his sophomore album, ‘Reassessment’, a collection of 13 tracks inspired by inner turmoil and change. Expanding on the sound palette established with last year’s critically-acclaimed ‘Body Count’, Feriero ventures into heavier, more abstract territories and collaborations with Years of Denial.
I wrote a new album as Maenad Veyl at the end of last year, in part inspired by events surrounding some personal health issues and a (minor) surgery. I wanted the music, title and artwork (shot over a year ago) to reflect what I experienced then, as I saw them as a metaphor to other changes I was going through at the time.?
Needless to say, as we geared up for release as we usually do, the world ground to a halt. All the images , words printed or spoken on the album have changed meaning since and, compared to what many people are going through now, my “inspiring changes” feel distant and unimportant.?
We’re not blind to the fact this could be seen as inappropriate or in bad taste, and we’ve contemplated every alternative, but in the end we’ve decided to keep things as “business as usual” as possible, so ‘Reassessment’ is now up for pre-order. - Maenad Veyl

The Imaginary Museum is the debut album by Dublin’s Autre Monde. Released through Strange Brew Records (Junior Brother, Squarehead, Daithi), the long-player follows a run of singles and an EP stretching back to 2017. Put together over several sessions with Girl Band's Daniel Fox as producer, the album's 9 songs mark a definitive statement from a band who have evolved their earlier interpretations of post-punk/art-pop to arrive at a richer, more expressive moment, often taking folk-ish melodies and structures as a launchpad.

Touchpoints include Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Roxy Music, Harmonia, Fairport Convention circa ‘Liege & Leaf’, Grace Jones, the Human League, Alex Cameron - and most especially the orgainsing principle to make a record “by a band who were playing esoteric post-punk in 1979 but who are now transplanted to 1986 where a hit is demanded”. It is a darkly tuneful record, dotted with moments of outright pop - see recent single On the Record with its exuberant sax break, for example (“a bright delight of a song” - Nialler 9), or the pulsating, mutating Fever in May. Elsewhere, the record stretches out confidently: luxuriating in baths of vintage synthesizers on The Operator, descending into something wild and uncertain in the final minutes of Brain Upon Your Pillow, mixing the pastoral with the robotic on Balls of Your Suit and Three Mandolins. Truly Glowing is a euphoric finale.

Autre Monde emerged from the ashes of the Popical Island collective as its headquarters fell victim to the city’s relentless purge of cultural spaces in 2017. Indeed, the first Autre Monde rehearsal was on the last day of the Pop Inn’s existence as a venue/rehearsal/recording space on Little Britain Street. They quickly gained attention for their early singles and stirring live performances, with The Thin Air insisting they were “one of the very best bands in the country”. The Irish Times noted that Autre Monde were “mining Television, ESG, Suicide and the The Slits”, and that’s about right. A murky, exploratory self-title EP followed (with 8-minute Can via Pentangle-channelling highlight Your Name still a favourite in live sets) before the band set out to make The Imaginary Museum in summer 2018. The signed to Strange Brew in 2019 in time to release the first fruits of those sessions.

The album title is taken from a line in Fredric Jameson’s ‘Postmodernism: The Cultural Logic of Late Captialism’ where he writes: “in a world in which stylistic innovation is no longer possible, all that is left is to imitate dead styles, to speak through the masks and with the voices of the styles in the imaginary museum”.

Autre Monde are Paddy Hanna (vocals), Padraig Cooney (bass, synth, vocals), Mark Chester (guitar) and Eoghan O’Brien (drums, synth, backing vocals). Three of them are from Dublin and Mark is from Cumbria. They met through their involvement together in a network of bands that at one stage or another were central to the Popical Island collective (Skelocrats, Grand Pocket Orchestra, Ginnels, No Monster Club).

IN THIS MORBID ECSTASY A RELEASE IS NEEDED is the never commercially released 1987 album by THIS ETERNAL WAITING. A mixed bag of minimal synth, experimental, industrial and electronic body music. The project reached the vinyl test pressing status only, 50 white label copies were pressed and used for promotion amongst djs and distributors. Full artwork was prepared for the album but it remained unused and unseen as the commercial release on the band’s own ‘I Live In Hell Records’ label was cancelled.

For more than 30 years the album has slept a giant’s sleep, highly sought after by collectors looking for a copy of the white label 12” but being absolutely impossible to find. Luckily, the 1⁄4” master tapes and original photoliths for the artwork were salvaged so we were able to work with them and offer you the fully finished, carefully remastered album for the first time ever. An additional track called “Don’t Stop” has been included, a 1988 live session that Frank O’Neill did with Ronan Harris (yes the guy behind VNV Nation). An incredibly powerful EBM killer to round up this awesome album.

We are extremely excited to FINALLY bring you this highly sought after record on a limited, hand numbered

Edition of 120 copies on standard black, housed in a heavyweight matt finish sleeve with black inner sleeve, including a double sided insert with pics and credits and a download code.

In just a few years and with a handful of releases, the Canadian producer better known as Yves Malone has earned himself a reputation. In The Beginning of Nothing he continues working with many layers of analog synths and a keen sense of drum machines to create atmospheres and textures extracted from late twentieth-century collective fears of a dystopian future. Created as a sort of score to an internal elegy, Yves Malone creates soundtracks of the daily fear, regret, and resignation that is his waking life, an effort to isolate and negate this anxiety, which is a constant and unwanted companion. Sequenced on mostly working vintage gear, The Beginning of Nothing tries to extricate a bit of beauty from a rapidly darkening landscape.

Mike Crabbé (Weird Dust) and Ernesto Gonzales (Bear Bones Lay Low, Silvester Anfang II) unite in this fairly new project, diving into a zone where dirty techno is flirting with psychedelia and broken-hearts keep on smiling. Lexi is finally reaching the dancefloor - stumbling in the red light.

Celebrating 40 years since the release of their debut album ‘New
Clear Days’ and their massive hit, “Turning Japanese”, which
reached Number 3 in the UK singles chart in 1980, Number 36 in
the US Billboard Hot 100 and Number 1 in Australia, Fenton formed
the first version of The Vapors in 1978. Now, the British New Wave
band return with a brand new album – ‘Together’. Produced by
Grammy/BRITS Award winner Steve Levine (Culture Club/The
Clash), ‘Together’ is the band’s first studio work since ‘Magnets’
back in 1981 and features 12 tracks on CD and vinyl.
Lead vocalist/guitarist Dave Fenton: “Our first album in 39 years!
Recorded at Steve Levine’s studio and including more Pop songs
about war, famine, suicide, mental health, dementia and having fun.
We are so grateful to our fans all over the world who have made
this dream come true.”
Steve Levine, Producer: “I’m thrilled that The Vapors new LP has
finally hit the world stage. It was such an enjoyable project to be
involved with. I’m enormously proud of this album. The band really
upped their game musically and sonically during the sessions and
were a pleasure to work with. For the fans who have waited eagerly
for this record I hope they will enjoy listening to it as much as I
enjoyed producing it.”
The band have a devoted live audience and will be celebrating the
40th anniversary of their debut album ‘New Clear Days’ with a full
UK tour later in 2020 in conjunction with AGMP where they will be
playing the New Clear Days album in full and also songs from their
much anticipated new album.

Mothball Record in association with Bordello A Parigi is proud to present one of the strangest and most mysterious recordings from the whole Italo-Disco era. Sitting somewhere between goth, italo and new wave, “Space Melody” is a dedication to ancient Egypt and outer space.
The original EP was almost totally lost to the sands of time, until recently the original mastertape was unearthed by the artist and later painstakingly transferred by Rude 66.

The record is completed by new instrumental versions from the Danish Italo king Flemming Dalum and the Spanish italo duo Futuro.

Cult Japanese new wave duo Mikan Mukku, comprised of multi-instrumentalist Kotobuki Hikaru and vocalist Mikako Mihashi. The band's previous material has been limited to compilations until the arrival of this 7”.

While the band existed from 1982 until 1987, their sole recorded output consists of only two songs: the minimal, haunting Kan and the more playful yet still ominous Chin Dan. Recorded in a private studio in Minami-Magome, Tokyo in 1986, both tracks were first released on two separate 7" flexi disc compilations on Glass Records. Shortly after Mikan Mukku's dissolution, Kotobuki Hikaru became a member of the legendary P-Model throughout late 80s and into the early 90s.

Sold or given away primarily at gigs, it is unclear how many of these ultra-rare flexis were distributed or even pressed, but it seems only a handful ever made their way into the world or seem to even exist in the modern day. Still, the recent emergence from total obscurity of these two atmospheric and uniquely Japanese new wave gems has all but guaranteed their place as some of the best and most enigmatic minimal synth to emerge from the islands.

Comes in black paper inner, housed in card sleeve artwork, with lovely hand tinted mini postcard photo of the band.

'... Matt Hill presents his sophomore Umberto album. It follows on from the Giallo soundtrack style he brilliantly aped on 'From The Grave...' deeper into the bowels of the early '80s sound, leering creepily at John Carpenter and the more bewitching ends of Italo disco and new wavey bits. Many have tried this sound - step forward Zombi, Gatekeeper, Francesco Clemente, Anton Maiovvi - but far fewer have achieved it with as much grain and VHS-warped eeriness as this. It feels more like James Ferraro has locked onto a killer Giallo collection in his dream dungeon and authentically immersed himself in their soundtracks, recreating their mood, tension and gothic mise-en-scene with scary accuracy, from the witch disco of 'The Psychic' and 'Night Stalking' to the Eurozone emotions of 'Red Dawn' and the Goblin-esque 'Widow Of The Web', all the while keeping a sly sliver of knowing cheekiness tucked in the top pocket. By the time you reach the ascending end-title arpeggiations of 'Everything Is Going To Be Okay' it's time for another oversized pizza and 10 gallon bottle of cola. Sick record ... Highly Recommended!'

The fifth and final studio album by the Police, Synchronicity was released in June 1983, and was the band’s most successful release. Despite its pop-oriented and experimental than either Ghost in the Machine or Zenyatta Mondatta, Synchronicity made the Police global superstars, generating no less than five classic hit singles. – Every Breath You Take (featuring a seductive, rolling beat masking its malice) King of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger, and Synchronicity II. The album’s title and much of the material for the songs were inspired by Arthur Koestler’s The Roots of Coincidence. At the 1984 Grammy Awards the album was nominated for a total of five awards including Album of the Year releasing on black heavyweight vinyl with original LP packaging.

Originally released in October 1981, the fourth studio album by The Police was no. 1 in the UK album chart and a multi-platinum best seller. It features three hit singles – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Invisible Sun and Spirits in the Material World. Their jazz influences became more pronounced, but the album had a very strong, sophisticated pop appeal, in the song-writing talents of Sting. Highlights also include the vicious jazz-rocker Demolition Man (later covered by Grace Jones) the frantic Rehumanize Yourself, and a pair of album-closing ballads – Secret Journey and Darkness, releasing on black heavyweight vinyl with original LP packaging.

The third Police album, from 1980, again reaching no. 1 UK album chart and featuring two classic hit singles – the moving (and controversial) Don’t Stand So Close to Me (about of an older teacher’s relationship with one of his students) and De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da. Also features their second Grammy-winning instrumental Behind My Camel, and other fan favourites – Shadows in the Rain, Canary in a Coalmine and Man in a Suitcase. Regarded as one of the finest rock albums of all time releasing on black heavyweight vinyl with original LP packaging.

The third album on Black Focus continues the South London tradition but this time in the form of one of the originators: a triple OG, Steve Spacek. Spacek recently released a solo record through Alexander Nut’s imprint Eglo, dBridge’s Exit Records as Blackpocket, following on from his work with Ninja Tune under the Beat Spacek moniker and collaboration with Mark Pritchard as Africa HiTech on Warp.

He’s also made formative work with legendary artists J Dilla, Raphael Saddiq, Q Tip and Common and made early drum & bass tunes with his brother dBridge. It’s an incredible career resume and an honour to be releasing this new work. ‘Houses’ sees Spacek return to his Detroit influences, with house music at the heart of this record as it's foundation but as with all Spacek’s releases, it transcends genre and focuses more on swing, melody and feeling.

There are elements of soul, jazz and R&B interlaced within the DNA of his electronic music, alongside his signature falsetto vocals. The entire project was produced using iPhone and iPad apps, an approach Steve champions and feels liberated by using technology to join the past with the present. Describing the project his own words: “It’s been well overdue for me to be releasing some 4/4 House vibes!

This music has been a big part of my musical journey from dot. Mainly from two angles. The first is, of course, the early rave scene in London and the UK in general, with all its early iterations. Techno from the D, acid, (happy) hardcore, what we use to call dub house (pre jungle), coming into Garage and Balearic to name a few. The other angle is the music production angle: I’ve always used the basic 4/4 template as a means of being able to learn a new piece of recording equipment.

Whenever I get any new beat making hardware or software, I’d always make a house beat. I find it the easiest music to make and have always joked about how I can knock up a house beat in 10 minutes! Well now I have an LP’s worth to share! Taken a tad longer than 10min but hey ;) Enjoy.”

Music made from Automatic Vocals AI reradings textes... A concept ambum. Very special humor and bloody electro cheap tunesChnasons résieuses. Tirtes tres cnonus. C'est n'imrpote quoi. Vive Blind Sport quoi.

First opus of the new series is La Batterie, by the UK's Richard Podolor and Sandy Nelson in 1983 in the hypnotic shimmering disco of 'Let There Be Drums.' The music of Polodor and Nelson is being given new life by Kalahari Oyster Cult. Alongside the entrancing original are two remixes. First up is Australia via Amsterdam's very own Max Abysmal with his 'Spooky Remix.' Adopting and adapting the raw energy of the '83 version, Abysmal layers ghostly notes and spectral snares into his mechanical remake. The flip takes on a different slant with 'Shotgun' taken from the EP of twenty fives years ago. A super slick work of understated funk shot through with bold keys and powerful chants to show another side of the UK pair. The fiercely talented Benedikt Frey closes, turning his daringly able hand to 'Let There Be Drums.' He keeps the vocal line, the rest of his rework is dipped in a thick heart of darkness threat. Pulsing thumps, menacing notes and danger lurk in this jungle of Frey's own making.

Vinyl Only 2x12"

Minimood introduces a series of fusion releases between cold-wave, gothic, post-punk on the one hand and ambient, techno, house, electro on the other hand. We hope that the ensuing synthesis between categories disseminates novel as well as sustained types of inspiration. The first project in this series presents the song Wie Raben by the post-punk band Factice Factory with electronic interpretations by André Galluzzi, Christian Burkhardt, Iori, Reinhard Voigt, as well as ROD.

Reworked portuguese tunes limited in number and laidback in style.
These are some gems we've played for good measure and always felt like they could
breed into new life through bespoke edits, ours and from friends we invite.

4th album by this minimal wave band from Düsseldorf. Perfect Retro-NDW!

Industrial/ EBM music from Dallas, Texas on black vinyl. Previously only distributed locally on cassette tape by the band in the year 1989-1990. Pressed and mastered by Stan Getz II at A+R Record Manufacturing Corporation (now Josey Records MFG). Label artwork by Stephen Watson of Sabstract Records.

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

2nd album by this Greek outfit (ex-Human Puppets). Pure analogue 80's style new wave.

After a successful independent trajectory since their beginning in 1981, BURNING SKIES OF ELYSIUM’s drummer Graham Mitchell sadly passed away in April 1988. His brother Chris and their closest friend Matt Venn returned to The Slaughterhouse studios in December and recorded three songs with the help of a drum machine; ‘One Afternoon’, ‘It’s All Over’ and ‘Dutch Villa’. For us at Dead Wax Records these three songs are the best that BSOE ever did. We think they’re so magical that we had to put them on a proper vinyl release.

This is our humble, heartfelt homage to a band that was struck by fatality not just once when Graham died, but again when Matt also lost his life in a car accident in October 2001, five years after BURNING SKIES OF ELYSIUM had morphed into the indie band LOLATWIST. Graham and Matt, may you rest in peace and happiness forever. Your music will always live with us. We present IT’S ALL OVER as an extremely limited, hand numbered edition of 120 black vinyl copies, housed in a matt finish sleeve with a double sided insert and including a download code.

Second Album of Gaznevada originnally released in 1980...Disordine re-issue , 2019 official license from Italian Records.

Second Album of Gaznevada originnally released in 1980...Disordine re-issue , 2019 official license from Italian Records.

Featuring a wide range of artists (Das Ding, Plus Instruments, De Fabriek for a start!) from the Amsterdam Fetisj scene and cities such as Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, and Zwolle. It gives "a glimpse into the artistic DIY music movement that was growing extensively outside of mainstream circles."
. " The beautifully printed record sleeve was designed by Steele Bonus. It includes liner notes (in English and Dutch) that paint a great picture of the context where these bands and artists lived and breathed. It is compiled by Mark van de Maat and mastered by Rude 66."

M!R!M is the solo project of Jack Milwaukee, italian multi-instrumentalist based in London since 2011. Inspired by early 80's synth pop, cold and dark wave, M!R!M has been releasing on labels as Fabrika and Manic Depression. Since his debut album, he’s been touring and playing shows all around Europe building an important following and a significant name within the scene.

On January 31st, 2020, Avant! Records will release his third full-length, The Visionary. Still featuring Milwaukee at the helm along with selected collaborators as supplementation, The Visionary is a further evolution in M!R!M sound, which showcases how the musician’s vision has evolved throughout the years.

Holding firmly to the vibes that recall the most dreaming 80’s, Jack Milwaukee this time blends together that typical FM synth timbre, which has always characterized the artist, with deeper and sumptuous sounds found within the notes of Mellotron and sax; overcoming previous Lo-Fi approaches to undertake a solid, prominent and more mature path.

The Visionary is a collection of songs pieced together in a meaningful and harmonious way where the storytelling is very vivid and fundamental. Trapped between hope and melancholy each track evolves smoothly into another one until it gets to a mystical end, a point of no return. From syncopated punchy bass lines drove by solid drum beats to elegant violin quartets accompanied by almost religious choirs, The Visionary is an engaging work that doesn’t remain only inside the robes of shimmering synth-pop tunes but also explores more intimate and private territories as an ode to the most deep feelings.

Pulling from the ‘pop’ approach of mid 80’s synth-pop pioneers like New Order, The Wake, Tears For Fears to most iconic figures of the Italian 80’s era, M!R!M dialed in on a clear understanding of it's own specific sound, which has since evolved. The Visionary is the ultimate unified vision of M!R!M’s work, it’s the sweetest transition of the most nostalgic daydream.

Fourth vinyl of Diffuse Reality Records.

Cititrax presents a full length LP by a new duo called Tornische. Julio Tornero and Hanna Chamiarytskaya (aka Anneq) got together in Madrid after having met through mutual friends. Immediately, they bonded and found a musical chemistry between them. They went into the studio and began revisiting Julio's unreleased archives, incorporating what he had already recorded years ago with fresh sounds and Neu Deutsche Welle style duets. The result is a modern, chaotic, take on 80s European new wave, 90s detroit electro, and contemporary indie pop. The energy level is always high, the melodies are catchy and the vocal delivery and lyrics futuristic, subversive, italo-disco / punk, and surreal. A special album, this one is line with Medio Mutante's classic debut EP, 'Inestable' (2008) and not unlike the pioneering sound of Liaisons Dangereuses.

The vinyl will be pressed on 160 gram ultra clear and limited to 500 copies. The record is housed in a PVC printed sleeve, with a neon graphic designed by Peter Miles. The back features an image by Nastya Porukevich along with the track titles and album info.

Early Days maps out Nine Circles interpretation of Cold Wave and Minimal Synth. Unbelievably the tracks are mostly from a brief time period, ’80—’82. Alienation and uncertainty course through the 2LP with heavy Yamaha chords, metallic machine beats and brittle vocals.

Nine circles was formed in the early 80s by Peter Van Garderen and Lidia Fiala. In 1980 there was a band called Genetic Factor. This band split up when their three members got girlfriends and they started to make music together with their girls. So at that time there were 3 bands living together in one house.

One of the couples were Peter van Garderen and Lidia Fiala. Lidia had been writing lyrics since she was 15 years old. Nine Circles was born. Within 2 years they wrote about 60 songs.

Also living in the house was Richard Zeilstra, who had a job at the VPRO radio, hosting a show called „Spleen“ where he gave New Wave bands a chance to play. He asked bands to send tapes to him and the best bands had the opportunity to play live at the radio and also got the chance to be on the „Radio Nome“ compilation. Peter and Lidia sent their tape to him and were the only ones from this house to be on the show. Richard knew their music was special. Nine Circles never played a live show on stage, only one concert live at the radio which is also featured on this LP.

Two years later Peter and Lidia split up and Nine Circles disappeared. In 2009 Lidia’s son googled her name just for fun and found a lot about the band Nine Circles. Lidia was surprised, she never knew how popular Nine Circles have been over the years. She got herself on Facebook and since then she got in touch with many people and decided Nine Circles should come back! Peter was not able to join the band these days, he had a different life but he was supporting Lidia and liked that she enjoyed doing music again. Peter still had all the old recordings and sent Lidia a lot of the music they made together back in the days. The best tracks are collected on this 2LP.

Together with Per-Anders Kurenbach Lidia revived Nine Circles. They recorded new material (released on the album „Alice“) and played live until Lidia had to stop playing live for health reasons in 2016. Nevertheless they‘re working on a follow-up album called „Emerge“ which is planned to be released in 2020 and hopefully Lidia will be able to go on stage again soon.

We are honored to release the debut album from Violet, the alias of Inês Borges Coutinho, Lisbon born and raised DJ, producer boss of Naive records, co-founder of Rádio Quântica, and mina resident. Violet began producing music in 2012 and has released music on One Eyed Jacks, Love on the Rocks, Paraíso and Naive. Inês uses her seemingly boundless energy to amplify other artists all the while progressing her own creative practice.

‘Bed of Roses’ contains 10 songs made as a sort of childhood-teenage memories diary, a return to things Inês liked then and also the difficult things she’s been through. The feeling behind the album is self forgiveness in an optimistic way but also in an adult way, aware of the bruises (thorns) but also of the invaluable love and life experiences (roses). The title comes from the Bon Jovi song that Inês loved as a 9-year old and doubles as an intent of positivity paired with the inescapable darkness of life. Inês says, “I wrote this music as a healing device that I hope can somehow help heal others too.” All songs have been mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The jacket features an original design by Eloise Leigh that incorporates themes of self-inspection and hope mixing a teen bedroom girly vintage scrapbook aesthetic with contemporary 3D mapping techniques. Each LP contains a postcard featuring a childhood photo of Inês with notes.

180G PINK VINYL

Australia's U-Bahn came stomping into 2019 with a collage of glam-pop and new wave. Describing their music as 'nostalgia for futures that never came to pass; suburban boredom and sexual dystopias', the Melbourne 5-piece will thrill and baffle audiences alike with their debut LP, teeming with futurist art-punk.

Originating from singer Lachlan Kenny's bedroom recordings, a chance meeting between him and Zoe Monk over the purchase of a vintage drum machine, followed by the recruitment of Leland Buckle, Jordan Oakley and Mitch Campleman, the band quickly honed their live show before taking their ideas to the stages of the Melbourne DIY circuit. Kenny was eager to set down their ideas on vinyl; crafting a suite of self-recorded and mixed songs that's charm lies in their lo-fi production values, as Kenny relates: 'I think that that naive, ill-informed recording process ultimately aided in giving the record its character.'

There's a distinct agenda that the band identify with, something clearly audible in their music. From Beta Boyz' satirical jabs at toxic masculine culture, to the tale of cat-calling told in Scantly Clad, the band lyrics deftly weave between surreal flights of fancy and serious social critique. In their own words, Right Swipe's Tinder tale “pens a tongue in cheek narrative detailing the deceptive exploits of your everyday ‘f**k boy”, while Damp Sheets “encourages sexual exploration - but for god sakes, rubber up and protect yourself from the dreaded ‘southern lice'”, as Kenny characterises the track. Bubblegum centrepiece Right Swipe is draped in reverb, analogue synths and off-beats - while their clear penchant for melody and memorable hooks shines through the bizarro aesthetics. Its addictive chorus shows the band can leave you humming despite their abstract thinking; the synths and bass swirl around Kenny’s ironic/serious lyrics, 'baby you can't resist the manipulation'.

From their heavily aestheticized stage-show, to the joyously unsettling homages to Kubrick evident in the Beta Boyz music video - U-Bahn want you to know. “We take things very seriously, inside music and in the world at large. However, we don’t want surrealism, or Marxism, to get in the way of the audience’s experience. We won’t limit our creative outpourings by labelling ourselves as anything other than neurotic music-nerds. Let the audience come to their own conclusions.”

The band approaches song writing like children at play; open to anything, delighted with results that seem weird or amusing. Kenny explains, 'The intention has always been to make music with no categories or creative barriers, drawing from the concept of 'Organised Sound' rather than any Rock & Roll ethos.' This methodology, along with their clear love for outsider art, Devo and R. Stevie Moore – the aristocratic glamour of Brain Eno combined with the icy robotics of Kraftwerk; the wild ride of genres and ideas that define U-Bahn’s style is steeped in a heritage of music’s strange and unforgettable mavericks.

With the creation of their follow-up album already under way, festival appearances and tours on the horizon, as well as an audience buzzing with anticipation for what will come next from the band, U-Bahn are poised on the brink of taking their tales of the eccentric and the marvellous to the stages of the world.

LIMITED COKE BOTTLE GREEN VINYL.

The debut album from Erin Anne, Tough Love is an unruly yet elegant collage of all the elements that make up her musical vocabulary: wildly shredded riffs and lo-fi acoustic ramblings, punk-rock energy and folky austerity, new-wave whimsy and high-flown pop theatrics. With a narrative voice at turns thoughtful and rebellious, confrontational and shy, the L.A.-based singer/songwriter presents a body of work that bravely documents the slow and strange process of becoming yourself.

Co-produced with Alex Rogers (Family Hahas, Tambourines), Tough Love offers a potent introduction to Erin’s kaleidoscopic musicality and infinitely unpredictable guitar work. In bringing the album to life, the two collaborators drew from an earlier version of Tough Love self-released by Erin in early 2019, re-recording each song with live drums and Rogers’s lavish collection of analog synths. With Erin playing every instrument except drums, Tough Love bears an expansive sonic palette wholly suited to its emotional thrust—a state of mind she encapsulates as “standing in the doorway between presents you’ve grown out of and futures you’re afraid you’re too small for, and using music as the catalyst to take those steps into the unknown.”
 
An album charged with restless intensity, Tough Love reaches a glorious peak on its title track, a song initially informed by Erin’s experience in earning her Ph.D. in musicology at UCLA. “Being a woman in academia can be exhausting,” says Erin. “‘Tough Love’ started when I came from a day at seminar when I was trying to make a very simple point and couldn’t get a word out—I was incredibly frustrated, and tried to write a vaguely ’80s, “9 to 5”-style song that would feel good to Jazzercise to.” But as the track took shape, “Tough Love” eventually morphed into a massive anthem, a thrillingly cathartic refusal to let her voice go unheard.

On the track “Bedroom Track (Carrie),” Erin transforms sentences lifted from Carrie Brownstein’s 2015 memoir Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl to deliver a “personal manifesto about wanting things—a very specifically female/queer kind of wanting.” The album’s hypnotic centerpiece, “Gaslighter,” which explores the confusion of abuse, is simultaneously jarring, mesmerizing, and oddly transcendent.

During her undergrad studies at Bowdoin College, Erin experienced a life-changing revelation upon viewing the Kathleen Hanna documentary The Punk Singer for a course on gender, sexuality, and popular music. “I grew up in New Jersey where everybody played lacrosse and I had very limited access to anything remotely queer, which meant I’d never heard of riot grrrl before,” she says. Not long afterward, Erin formed a riot grrrl band named the Navel Gazers, and began performing her own material for the first time. After graduating from Bowdoin, Erin moved to Portland, Maine, where she started a solo project called REGI RKT (a nod to a zine-making, feminist, street-hockey-playing character from the Nickelodeon cartoon “Rocket Power”), then put out an EP titled Vulnrubble in 2017. Her first release under her own name, the original version of Tough Love arrived in June 2019, and soon landed her a deal with Carpark Records.

In releasing her newly reimagined take on Tough Love, in all its frenetic grandeur, Erin hopes that the album might leave her audience with a sense of wholeness similar to what she found in its creation—an adventure she describes as “a journey to becoming a more comfortable self.”

ROSEGARDEN FUNERAL PARTY (Texas/USA) Is one of the most pure, notable and fresh goth/post-punk projects coming from the states, not in vain was recently interviewed at post-punk and they have been compared to genre totems such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, Rubella Ballet or Skeletal Family.

This ultradeluxe vinyl debut (including printed inner sleeve and giant postcard) put together the best stuff that they have self- released in 2017 and 2018. A fundamental vinyl record for any post punk and goth/new wave sonic and aesthetics lover. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem at Prodam Berlin.