Pop & Rock News

Part of the true spirit of Balearic/Ibiza has always been slightly left field pop and TFF

Tommy Mandel's Mello Magic' on Invisible City Editions is a compilation of personal synth-laden pop songs created between 1980-87 in NYC. BIG BIG TIP!
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His professional work as a keyboardist and vocalist found him on stage and in the studio with many of the 80s greats from the Clash, Todd Rundgren, B-52s, Violent Femmes, The Ramones, Tina Turner, Mark Ronson, Dire Straits and Bryan Adams. While offstage and out of the major studio sessions, Tommy wrote in little books, made animation films and hooked up a massive amount of synthesizers, sequencers,microphones and recorded songs like diary entries. He self released almost 20 CDs, cassettes and one Self Titled 12' Ep. Each song selected here is stunningly simple, lush, desperate, playful, and harmonic, touching on disparate trangents like Brian Wilson, Egyptian Lover, Michael Shrieve,Holger Czukay, Ariel Pink, YMO, AOR FM West Coast Rock, Arthur Russell, Martin Denny, Peter Gordon, Drexciya, Prince and Private Issued New Age Boogie. Tommy recently jokingly coined his music corporate ambient' and and it all shouldn't work, but somehow he manages to effortlessly make each song a Tommy Mandel song - DIY, homespun,personal, stunning, and not too serious. This is perfect pop, charming, sincere, infectious and the work of a humble, good hearted, romantic savant. Tommy Mandel's Mello Magic' will be out on limited LP Vinyl release and available Spring 2018. Be sure to check his ambient new age LP from his cassette Music For Insomniacs'also out soon on ICE/Intelligent Instruments. Designed by Marko Vuleta-Djukanov. - Sesto F

Niemoc is a young trio from Zielona Góra on western border of Poland. Their debut EP came out on a Polish boutique vinyl label Father And Son Records And Tapes in 2016. A two-tracker Mikrofale (eng. microwaves) blends influences from wave and shoegaze with dancefloor oriented disco-not-disco.

The material has been first released digitally in May 2017 via another Polish imprint - Brennnessel and now is available on vinyl as a collabo release with MOST Records. For the physical release, the EP gained two versions prepared by MOST associated artists Eltron & Hatti Vatti. Eltron's 'Dysko-Miks' of Trynidad, Tobago is a straight-to-the-dancefloor approach with strengthen drum break and funky arpeggio. For Wyspy Chlodne, Eltron worked together with Hatti Vatti which resulted with a dubby hybrid.

Since the release is an unusual cooperation of two Warsaw-based labels and multiple artists, it's scheduled to hit the stores around Record Store Day.

Mannequin Records presents a trilogy of reissues from the avantgarde Italian-born producer Doris Norton, "Nortoncomputerforpeace" (1983), "Personal Computer" (1984, originally released by Durium Records), "Artificial Intellingence" (1985).Apple's first music "endorsement" and Roland affiliate, Doris Norton is one of the most important women pioneer in the use of synths and in the early electro / computer music. Norton is the wife of Antonio Bartoccetti, progressive rock guitarist, and mother of the musician and techno producer Rexanthony. As a teenager, she was drawn to medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, not to mention quantum physics, differential equations, organic chemistry, the experimentalism of John Cage and animated movie soundtracks. Her love for modules and circuits found expression through the waves of an old harmonium, the frequencies of a Minimoog, a Roland System 100M, a Roland System 700 and the ARP 2500/2600.

In 1980, Norton began her solo career by recording at Fontana Studio 7, the Milan studio of the composer and musician Tito Fontana, resulting in the electronic opera "Under Ground". Norton became more prolific, continuing her adventures in experimental electronics and computer music with Parapsycho (1981), Raptus (1981), Nortoncomputerforpeace (1983), PC (1984) - whose album cover prominently features Apple's colored logo - and Artificial Intelligence (1985).

While the beat-oriented style of Norton's music aligns her with such global fellow-travelers as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk, her championing of the personal computer as a tool for self-sufficient musical creativity also connects her to more artsy musicians such as Pietro Grossi, Laurie Spiegel, and the League of Automatic Music Composers. Norton's predilection for the bright, glossy timbres of early digital instruments also recalls Hubert Bognermayr and Harald Zuschrader's bizarre 1982 one-off Erdenklang.

Later, her talent and expertise attracted the attention of IBM, who in 1986 named her as an official consultant. Already the reigning queen of the Italian electronic scene, she recorded two CDs for IBM: Automatic Feeling and The Double Side Of The Science. Influenced by her son, the musician and producer Rexanthony, Norton brought her fascination with the early days of techno into the 1990s, when she released three volumes of Techno Shock on Italian trance/hardcore label Sound Of The Bomb.

While her music remains largely out of print and inaccessible, Norton's early records have recently begun to receive the inevitable rediscovery treatment.

"In the late sixties I had already conceived computers as personal.' I have always trusted in the benefits of solitude, (being) alone means freedom... What's better than a personal' computer for materializing ideas, by oneself" (Doris Norton)

Dark Entries and Sacred Bones team up to release the early discography of UK synth-punk and Deathrock label Outer Himmalayan Records. Between 1979 and 1982, Nick Blinko and Martin Cooper's Outer Himmalayan Records released 7-inches by three short-lived bands - The Magits, Soft Drinks, and S-Haters - who would nonetheless cast a massive shadow on the UK's burgeoning post-punk/anarcho punk scene. Outer Himmalayan Presents collects all of the music found on those original records, along with rare and unreleased tracks by all three bands. It's a snapshot of a period of frenzied creativity by some of the UK's most thrilling experimental punks. Before Blinko went on to found the essential anarcho band Rudimentary Peni, whose storied body of work also appeared on Outer Himmalayan, he and label co-founder Cooper were The Magits. The lone release by the minimal synth-and-vocals duo, Fully Coherent, was the inaugural release on Outer Himmalayan — and, in fact, Blinko and Cooper's impetus for starting the label. The four tracks on Fully Coherent are short, sharp bursts, comprising a total of four minutes. Here, they're presented alongside the five-and-a-half minute 'A Pawn in the Game,' a song that sees Blinko and Cooper get truly weird with the extra space the longer runtime afforded them. The next release on Outer Himmalayan was S-Haters' Death of a Vampire 7", which the quartet quickly followed with Stories as Cold as the Irish Sea. The band was recognizably a deathrock act, their gothic punk in the same lineage as Joy Division and PIL's Metal Box, but it showed the same sonic adventurousness that characterized the rest of Outer Himalayan's output. '1980,' an oddity taken from the rare Another Bouquet on the Grave of Free Enterprise cassette comp, shows the most experimental flourish, with dueling male/female vocals and a prominent acoustic guitar. The final Outer Himmalayan release before it became strictly a Rudimentary Peni label was Soft Drinks' Popstars in Their Pyjamas 7". Popstars ended up being the tongue-in-cheek synth-punk trio's only release before their breakup, though they would also record 'Dangers of Drink,' for the Bouquet of Barbed Wire comp and included here, as well as the one-off track 'Misconception,' previously unreleased but now available exclusively on Outer Himmalayan Presents.

The new Alec Empire Album, now out on vinyl with Cargo ! An excellent product (sound is wide open large and strong) the new aspect of Alec Empire is his Lou reed/Iggy Popy & New Order way of singing. The result is a perfect fusion... Welcome to the Breakcore Croonerz !

No band captures the DIY punk ethos better than The Mekons. As one critic wrote of the group, "Those who couldn't play tried to learn and those who could tried to forget."Their debut EP first appeared on Fast Product in 1978, featuring the collective's original six-piece lineup and delivering three startlingly original songs - "Never Been In A Riot," "32 Weeks" and "Heart And Soul" - that never appeared on any of their albums. Like fellow Leeds misfits Gang of Four and Delta 5, The Mekons form a rowdy and illuminating piece of the UK post-punk puzzle, fusing everyday political concerns with a no-holds-barred approach to performance.This first-time vinyl reissue comes with the original sleeve design. Limited edition clear vinyl.

* From the pumping heart of The Magnetic System comes the 'dirtiest' Da-Da-dancefloor anti-jams with this lost 1979 blueprint of Italian conceptual cosmic disco played by the cream of the Goblin studio band. Ultra-rare and unscrubbed,Finders Keepers finally snip the trip from the cash machine to the trash machine.
* Carving its own grubby niche as an early prototype of cosmic disco cum Italo space funk whilst simultaneously harbouring Dada hat stand satire with a junkshop glam aesthetic, this ecological illogical poplitical crab cabaret clearly broke the mould before way before the jelly had set.
* Fans of 'other' obtuse outernational agit-camp might find a fantasy fusion between France's JP Massiera and Sweden's enviroMENTAL marvel Kaptain Zoom while trying to unravel the Madfilth tangle - but rest assured there were method men behind this madness and a portal to Italian funk royalty still festers
at the bottom of the psych rap scrapheap.
* Originally drip-fed out of Cesare Andrea Bixio's Cinevox stable as one of a tight grip of non-soundtrack LPs, made to test the label's commercial potential, Madfilth would follow the band Goblin (and their non-cinematic Roller) as well as the hens' teeth eponymous long player by the group The Motowns in what was perhaps the last-ditch attempt at custom built popsploitation - combining the skills of overqualified composers with undercooked conceptual mind belches. Naturally, after almost 40 years in the barrel, this micro-brewed oddity finally quenches the acquired taste of a new breed of shambolic psychotropic guzzlers proving that 1979 was obviously good year for fool's gold. The Madfilth medicine has finally come to cure your psychic ills so open wide and don't bite the spoon.
* It is beneath the flamboyant rhythm rants and vari-speed osric slop of alt-comedic sarcy-satirist Alberto Macaro (a genetic beneficiary of a vaudevillian comic bloodline) that we find The Magnetic System maestros Franco Bixio and Vince Tempera as the sonic driving force behind this unmarked treasure trove of
B-musical diamanté discoids. It will also come as little surprise that
Cinevox/Dario Argento favourites Goblin were not too distant from the whiff of this curate's egg with the men who many consider to be the group's greatest assets - bass player Fabio Pignatelli alongside sports rock drummer Agostino Marangolo. It was this unison that remained consistent throughout Goblin's career, weathering the temporary departure of Claudio Simonetti and
maintaining the stylistic heartbeat of the group. Madfilth's inclusion of Goblin synth Maverick Maurizio Guarini and the band's mid-period guitarist Carlo Penessi (founder of the band Etna) pinpoints the jobbing Goblin session group during the time they recorded the soundtracks for the films 'Buio Amiga' and 'Squadra Antigagsters'. This lesser-celebrated late 70s era also witnessed the mutating Goblin rhythm section providing discoid backbeats for records such as Giorgio Farina's 'Discocross' album, Simonetti's own Capricorn alter-ego and the homoerotic nightclub spin-off Easy Going - all of which, alongside Madfilth,
provide a strong mutual stylistic support system for their claim to cosmic disco's deep red bloodline.

Packaged in a 7' format showing the talents of these fresh young artists.
FALA is a new label from Amsterdam, a Knekelhuis sister label that will present you with some very delicate surprises in the near future. The kickoff will be a Dollkraut rework of the truly beautiful song 'Scheef' by Eefje de Visser. Dollkraut captures the magical energy of Eefje de Visser's creation, turning it into a drum driven dancefloor-ready track. The B-side will contain the original version of 'Scheef', released before on her highly acclaimed album Nachtlicht. FALA!

Fantasy Life was a one-off Italo disco studio project that consisted of various producers, songwriters, and vocalists from Turin, Italy. The line-up included Lorenzo Avico, Maurizio Camoletto and Sergio Bergamin. They recorded their only single Over and Over' at Minirec Studio in 1985 with mixing engineer Gigi Guerrieri. It was released that same year by Thick Record a sublabel of Il Discotto Productions and became one of the most coveted Italo Disco 12's. Over and Over' is a parable that describes the story of a girl growing up, comparing her life to the changes of the moon. Signature Linn drum and Simmons drums create the driving rhythm track that hauntingly sways back and forth. The vocal version has a nearly two minute extended instrumental break in the middle of the song heightening the dramatic pace. On the B-side is a Dub Version with extended instrumental breaks, bass lines and occasional vocals. Both songs are remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl is housed in the original jacket featuring a painting by Andrea Franzoso and includes a double sided postcard with lyrics and notes

Dark Entries Editions is proud to reissue "Perfect High" the 1983 debut 12' by Peppermint Lounge from Germany. The group consisted of Matthias Elvers (synthesizers, bass), Regina Petersen (vocals) and Jorg Burckhardt (drums, strings). They took their name from a popular 1960s discotheque in New York City. Treading the lines between Italo Disco, Electro, and New Wave, the trio crafted a unique sound difficult to classify. Regina's powerful vocals command attention as they tell the sad tale of a boy searching for the perfect high. The lyrics are based on the poem The Perfect High' by Shel Silverstein. Melancholic arpeggiators, a throbbing baseline, stuttering samples, vocoder and the classic Roland TR-808 drum machine run throughout the track, which builds to a majestic crescendo, ala Klaus Schulze or Jean-Michel Jarre. This reissue includes the original vocal version, backed with a shorter instrumental version.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The 12' is housed in an exact replica of the original sleeve with black and white Dali-esque drawing. Each copy also includes a 2-sided postcard lyrics and notes.

The first full length LP on KSE comes from the Belgium electronica mastermind Luc van Acker. Taking Snapshots is his first full-length album recorded in the early 80's in his own home. Witness Luc van Ackers enlightened musical spirit at the start of his career with this far-out experimental electronic release.

Dark Entries present the debut album from Bézier titled 'Parler Musique'. Bézier is Taiwanese-American musician Robert Yang who is also part of the Honey Soundsystem crew. A multi-instrumentalist, Robert grew up in Southern California then planted his roots in San Francisco in 2005. Over the years in SF he has built an impressive analog synth-based studio, which also serves as the creative hub for his riveting live performances.

Parler Musique clocks in at over 52 minutes with 8 tracks are spread across four sides for maximum loudness. The album title is a French transliteration on the phrase Parlor Music' and is evening music for a meeting of minds in a drawing room or a literary salon. To 'talk about music', the actual translation of the title, the album is a hotbed of ideas. Different genres are crisscrossed: punk, synthpop, jungle, new romantic, industrial and new wave. Airy melodies, surging arpeggios and symphonic breakdowns counterpoint cold digital drum sounds to convey beauty within inescapable and impending daily processes. The track titles for 'Parler Musique' zoom in on Romantic preoccupations with mystery, unknowns, depths--where themes combine to form an occult revelatory experience.

All songs have been mixed by Mark Pistel (Meat Beat Manifesto, Consolidated) at Room 5, San Francisco and EQed for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The vinyl comes housed in a jacket featuring a surreal circuit board pattern with pink bubbles flickering on an abstract horizon of water designed by Eloise Leigh. Each copy includes a postcard risograph-printed in fluorescent pink and dark blue with Dadaist text by Justin Aulis Long.

Is the drum the successor of human sacrifice or does it still sound the command to kill' Adorno, Motifs (1951)

Ricochet Screen is the first proper LP from New York based TINT (aka Zane Morris). Encompassed as an overview of his solo recordings dating as far back as 2007, Ricochet Screen unfolds as a storied arc on the obsessiveness of composition, conception and mechanism. Culled from ad hoc recordings in vacant industrial buildings, lunchroom cafeterias and bedroom studios, the record functions as a meditative associative collage regarding a rebounding from omnipresent glass monitors, intrusive security measures and indeterminate barriers.

NEON is undoubtedly one of the most influential and enduring bands of the Italian New Wave. From the beginning, the band's music was perfectly aligned with continental trends—integrating the attitude of early post-punk with certain types of electronic music that had timidly begun popping up on the club circuit, and an aesthetic that was a cross between late romanticism and decadentism. Inimitable bands like NEON breathed new life into even the most disagreeable and angular rock 'n' roll, flirting with war-like dance music, and creating musical scenarios that were unheard of up until that point, placing them in harmony with some of the most talked-about British and German bands of the time, in fact anticipating the advent of EBM.

This 4 piece vinyl boxed set contains the following releases: My Blues is You (1983), Dark Age (1984), Rituals (1985) and Red Light (1986). These are the finest examples of work from one of the 80s Italian scene's finest groups.

Austin based pop artist Lou Rebecca makes a captivating debut with her stellar self-titled 12' ep. Born and raised in Paris, Lou's music is delicately delivered in both English and her native French with a natural grace and unmistakable charm. Lou's approach to songwriting and performance is riveting from start to finish and has been a huge presence in the dense local synth scene for several years. Now her unique brand of electronic pop has officially arrived, polished and teeming with personality.

Lou Rebecca has mastered the art of sophistication in pop music. With a background in piano and guitar, Lou not only writes her own songs and performs many of the instruments on her record, she also takes full control of every aspect of her persona including choreography and directing her own music videos. As her ep ranges from dance anthems to tender ballads, Lou continues to maintain a sense of genuine aesthetic. Rebecca is well versed in the complex history of pop music and thus has a timeless quality to her work. With her soft and charismatic voice, Lou's songs are instantly endearing and go beyond the basic tropes of the archetypical pop crooner.

If You Can' is an intoxicatingly catchy song, revealing Lou's flirtatious side while flaunting her smooth analog synth work. Lou occupies the point of harmony between accessibility and technique, meticulously designing each piece with a unique emotional and conceptual palate. The first single Fantôme' is wistful and cinematic, emphasizing dreamy melodies that subconsciously linger and echo long after the initial listen. Rebecca's self-titled ep insists on multiple revisits, making it a remarkably immersive and compelling introduction to Lou as an artist.

Elegantly announcing her arrival, Lou Rebecca truly explodes onto the radar of the music world. Lou's ep foreshadows a brilliant future of inspiring music from this budding talent.

"Oakland, CA's No Babies return with their second LP, another furiously ecstatic exploration of the overlapping margins of punk, hardcore, and no wave. The pieces we've come to expect are all here: Jasmine Watson's invectives against capitalism, binaries, police; Ricky Martyr's inimitable and always surprising stop-start guitar; horns of all stripes breaking through the noise (Misha Poleschuck on tenor sax, clarinet); a nimble and powerful jazz-influenced rhythm section (Laura DeVeber on bass, Sean Nieves on drums).
Their particular brand of composed/improvised noise/music has never been chaos at all (they've always known exactly what they're doing), and this time around the band seems more at one than ever, aided by the crispness and brightness of Jack Shirley's able production. These are walls of sound, something like a runaway train, or a writhing sea serpent, and we are along for the ride. This is music that feels necessary. These are songs that sound vital to survival. We must play them or we will explode. We must play them in order to explode. California in 2018 is a place that feels difficult to survive in. Our friends and neighbours are murdered by the state and its negligence; our homes could crumble or be stolen from us at a moment's notice; capital is bearing down in new and even more unimaginably cruel ways. The land itself is telling us that we shouldn't be here: fire, mudslides, earthquakes. 
'Someone to Watch Over Me' is a reminder of the twin powers of sorrow and strength, noise and melody, anger and joy. 'Joy / Joy / Joy / Joy / Joy / Joy / Joy / Joy' Watson screams at the end of the album-closing titular song. Joy may be the only way out of this fresh hell—No Babies make joyful noise and for that we should all be grateful." - Grace Ambrose 

Nach zwei ausverkauften 7inch Singles, Festivalauftritten auf so ziemlich jedem namhaften deutschen Musikfestival und Opener-Slots für Bands wie Balthazar, Future Islands oder Battles veröffentlicht das Kölner Quartet Xul Zolar mit - Fear Talk am 19.01.2018 seine Debut LP

auf dem von der Band mit-gegründeten Label Asmara Records. Um diese Vision in die Realität umzusetzen hat sich die Band sowohl mit dem Kölner Produzenten Marvin Horsch (Woman, Keshavara) zusammengetan, als auch die Besetzung mit Dennis Enyan zum Quartett erweitert.

Vielleicht ist es kein Zufall, dass die Musik auf Fear Talk, dem Debütalbum der Kölner Band Xul Zolar eine gewisse malerische Qualität aufweist. Immerhin hat sich die Band nach einem Maler aus dem 20. Jahrhundert benannt, dem Argentinier Xul Solar (mit bürgerlichem Namen Oscar Agustín Alexander Schulz Solari).
Genau wie die Bilder der Impressionisten vermittelt ihre Musik ein Gefühl der Nostalgie und Unmittelbarkeit und versprüht eine Aura, die man romantisch nennen könnte. Trotz der deutlich hörbaren Einflüsse von Künstlern wie The Smiths, Talking Heads oder sogar Phil Collins, ist Fear Talk - das vom visionären Kölner Produzenten Marvin Horsch aufgenommen wurde - ein Album auf der Höhe der Zeit, wie der Einsatz stark prozessierter Vocals, an frühen Dubstep erinnernde Sub-Kick Samples und von Electronica beeinflussten Clicks-and-Cuts belegt. Das Alte wird verbogen, verformt und in etwas völlig Neues verwandelt.
Textlich kreist das Album um persönliche Themen wie Liebe und Verlust, wenngleich auf höchst abstrakte und metaphorische Weise. Doch das Persönliche ist immer schon politisch und findet niemals in Isolation des Individuums von seiner Umgebung statt. Dies spiegelt sich auch im Titel des Albums, Fear Talk, wieder, der sowohl als Anspielung auf die wachsende Unsicherheit einer Generation verstanden werden kann, als auch als Kommentar zu der weltweit um sich greifenden Panikmache durch Populisten und Demagogen, die der Zeit, in der Fear Talk entstanden ist, ihren düsteren Stempel aufgedrückt hat.
Fear Talk wurde im Sommer und Herbst 2016 von Marvin Horsch (Woman, Keshavara) im Gottesweg, Köln aufgenommen und produziert. Gemischt wurde das Album von Marius Bubat (Coma) und Jan-Philipp Janzen (Von Spar, Cologne Tape), gemastered von Robin Schmidt. Die Album PR übernimmt Nordic By Nature, Berlin. Das erste Video wird premiert von Intro.de.

"Happy Freedom Tour 2017
präsentiert von INTRO, DIFFUS Magazin & Musikbox
24.11.17 Köln, Arthefter
01.12.17 Essen, Hotel Shanghai
05.12.17 Hamburg, Über & gefährlich
06.12.17 Berlin, Kantine am Berghain
07.12.17 Leipzig, Kulturzentrum So&So
08.12.17 Stuttgart, Kellerclub
09.12.17 Frankfurt am Main, Lotte Lindenberg
Tour 2018 TBA

Criminal' is a confessional work. Through the stark lens of shame and guilt that has followed Luis Vasquez since a violent childhood growing up within the humming ambient sprawl of 80s Mojave Desert, here he documents the gut-wrenching sound of going to war with himself. Battling with his own sanity, self-hatred, insecurity, self-entitlement and grappling with the risk of these things transforming him into a person he despises, Vasquez has laid his feelings bare with this: his confession and most self-reflective work to date.    Guilt is my biggest demon and has been following me since childhood. Everything I do strengthens the narrative that I am guilty' Vasquez reflects. The concept of 'Criminal' is a desperate attempt to find relief by both confessing to my wrongdoings and by blaming others for their wrongdoings that have affected me.' 'Criminal' marks a striking and important chapter in his self-exploration, both artistically and emotionally. As a young musician living in Oakland, Vasquez began to try and process the narrative of his difficult upbringing veiled through musical exploration. Taking krautrock's motorik beats and Post-Punk deconstructions and honing them into a hushed percussive incantation, The Soft Moon's self-titled debut album took shape. The album was released in late 2010 by Captured Tracks and was praised by critics and emulated by contemporaries. In 2012 the apocalyptic conceptual work of 'Zeros' emerged, shortly followed by Vasquez moving to Venice, Italy in 2013, acting as a catalyst for 2014's release, 'Deeper'. While previous albums were primarily instrumental records, where Vasquez's voice was diffused amidst the music as another instrument, 'Deeper' marked the beginning of a new musical direction where vocals and lyrics became something more than a mere presence. 'Deeper' was a descent into the womb of childhood trauma, anxiety and fear, and although Vasquez survived this dark exploration of himself, he did not return alone. Working once more with Maurizio Baggio, who produced 'Deeper', at La Distilleria in Bassano Del Grappa, Italy, 'Criminal' sees Vasquez further explore putting his lyrics at the forefront and letting his raw emotions flow. The album is Vasquez's way of holding himself accountable and seeking redemption for the abuse he inflicts on himself and others, and acknowledges roots in the abuse which, inflicted upon him as a child, broke him.

Criminal' is a confessional work. Through the stark lens of shame and guilt that has followed Luis Vasquez since a violent childhood growing up within the humming ambient sprawl of 80s Mojave Desert, here he documents the gut-wrenching sound of going to war with himself. Battling with his own sanity, self-hatred, insecurity, self-entitlement and grappling with the risk of these things transforming him into a person he despises, Vasquez has laid his feelings bare with this: his confession and most self-reflective work to date.    Guilt is my biggest demon and has been following me since childhood. Everything I do strengthens the narrative that I am guilty' Vasquez reflects. The concept of 'Criminal' is a desperate attempt to find relief by both confessing to my wrongdoings and by blaming others for their wrongdoings that have affected me.' 'Criminal' marks a striking and important chapter in his self-exploration, both artistically and emotionally. As a young musician living in Oakland, Vasquez began to try and process the narrative of his difficult upbringing veiled through musical exploration. Taking krautrock's motorik beats and Post-Punk deconstructions and honing them into a hushed percussive incantation, The Soft Moon's self-titled debut album took shape. The album was released in late 2010 by Captured Tracks and was praised by critics and emulated by contemporaries. In 2012 the apocalyptic conceptual work of 'Zeros' emerged, shortly followed by Vasquez moving to Venice, Italy in 2013, acting as a catalyst for 2014's release, 'Deeper'. While previous albums were primarily instrumental records, where Vasquez's voice was diffused amidst the music as another instrument, 'Deeper' marked the beginning of a new musical direction where vocals and lyrics became something more than a mere presence. 'Deeper' was a descent into the womb of childhood trauma, anxiety and fear, and although Vasquez survived this dark exploration of himself, he did not return alone. Working once more with Maurizio Baggio, who produced 'Deeper', at La Distilleria in Bassano Del Grappa, Italy, 'Criminal' sees Vasquez further explore putting his lyrics at the forefront and letting his raw emotions flow. The album is Vasquez's way of holding himself accountable and seeking redemption for the abuse he inflicts on himself and others, and acknowledges roots in the abuse which, inflicted upon him as a child, broke him.

Limited Edition 5 x Vinyl Box Set containing the first 4 albums by Trisomie 21 in a gold foil stamped black lined heavy board box with a die cut enamel pin and sticker. Limited to 1,000 copies.Dark Entries reissue the first four full-lengths from seminal French coldwave group, Trisomie 21. Originally released by Stechak/PIAS between 1983-1987, these releases see their first vinyl appearance in over 30 years in a deluxe edition limited boxed set. Remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Trisomie 21 is a post punk band formed in 1981 by Phillipe Lomprez (vocals, drums) and Hervé Lomprez (guitar, electronics), two brothers from Abscon, in the North of France. They began composing songs at the age of 16 while studying at school. The brothers were influenced by Kraftwerk, The Residents, Yello, P.I.L as well as the films of George A. Romero. Their music consists of lush soundscapes that do not easily fit into any one category. Lyrics are sung in English because in the north of France the duo sought to contradict the trend at the time for everything to be sung in French. Musically their mood is melancholic and one can hear traces of Joy Division, Durutti Column and The Cure. Since 1983 they've recorded 15 albums and appeared on numerous compilations and remain active to this day.

We are glad to announce the official repress in Limited Edition in Colored Vinyl + free CD and insert of Scorie, Tiziano Popoli and Marco Dalpane's minimal wonder from 1985. Long coveted and hunted by collectors, Scorie falls among the strange and definition resistant artifacts of Italy's remarkable avant-garde music scene of the 70's and 80's. An emblem of sonic diversity rendered through electronic sound, distilling a daunting number of traditions and ideas, while sculpting its own world of creative singularity, standing apart from the rest.

While a great many of Italy's avant-garde and experimental music practitioners began within the spectrums of popular music, slowly pushing into more explicitly ambitious and challenging realms as the years wore on, Tiziano Popoli and Marco Dalpane represent a change in the directional tide. Scorie is a part of movement toward, and the incorporation of, popular forms, within avant-garde music which swept across the globe during the 1980's. As challenging and uncomfortable as it is seductive and inviting, Scorie weaves a world without boundary, of collision and harmony. A vision of possible futures, rendered in its present day. A melodic realm, almost entirely constructed through the use of synthesizers, with subtle interventions of electronic rhythm generators, bridging the metronomic territories explored by Terry Riley and Steve Reich and the drifting harmonics of New Age, with the moodiness of New Wave and the adventurous spirit of the avant-garde.

Legs 11 was formed when members of various underground bands in Oslo, Norway, met during a karaoke-fuelled haze in the seedy parts of Oslo, and discovered a shared love of synth pop, post-punk, new wave and house music. Drawing on these influences, the band has created a diverse musical universe, ranging from dark repetitive guitar driven tracks, via infectious pop gems, to deep yet melodic dancefloor-orientated grooves.

The 'Another Wave' album is hand-picked tracks from their latest works, focusing on a more dancier approach. The house and nu-dance influences of today are mixed with heavy influences from 90's UK indie-dance acts like The Shamen and the Madchester scene, and hints of new wave from the 80's.

Trisomie 21 is a post punk band formed in 1981 by Phillipe Lomprez (vocals, drums) and Hervé Lomprez (guitar, electronics), two brothers from Abscon, in the North of France. They began composing songs at the age of 16 while studying at school. The brothers were influenced by Kraftwerk, The Residents, Yello, P.I.L as well as the films of George A. Romero. Their music consists of lush soundscapes that do not easily fit into any one category. Lyrics are sung in English because in the north of France the duo sought to contradict the trend at the time for everything to be sung in French. Musically their mood is melancholic and one can hear traces of Joy Division, Durutti Column and The Cure. Since 1983 they've recorded 15 albums and appeared on numerous compilations and remain active to this day.

For their fourth album the Lomprez brothers spent September and October of 1985 recording nine new compositions. In January 1986 'Chapter IV, Le Je-ne-sais quoi et le presque-rien' was released by PIAS sub-label Scarface. The title came from a 1957 book by French philosopher and musicologist Vladimir Jankélévitch. The songs on the album, including the emblematic The Last Song', were captivating, original and without concession. This record further opened the door to new opportunities, and the band's music spread further internationally. Sadly some of the songs had phase related problems and caused partial cancelation playing back monophonically, so the band remixed and re-recorded the songs and reissued them on CD only in 1987. We have added the nine remixes/re-recordings as bonus tracks here as a double LP. All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The LP is housed in a replica of the original jacket featuring artwork by Stephan Barbery from a Goya painting and includes a double sided insert with lyrics, notes and photos. This record is dedicated to nobody'.

Brass Hearse will be available on limited edition single sided black vinyl, with screen printed image on the B side. Download card is included with 2 extra bonus tracks. Limited to only 250 worldwide.

The goth soaked electronic rock of Brass Hearse's debut album is here to take over your dark souls and have a ball!
They are black chrome'

BRASS HEARSE is made up of WOLFMEN OF MARS (L Liberty, J Clapp, N Merryweather) and the vocalist from ICE DRAGON

Local Action is proud to present the debut album by Erskine Lynas, Lease of Youth. Although Erskine - aka Thomas Emslie - is a new name, he's a long-time ally of Local Action who was known for his acclaimed electronic work as T_A_M. Written and recorded in Aberdeen throughout Summer '16, Lease of Youth is heavily inspired by the naive melodic synth-pop of bands like Tears for Fears, The Blue Nile, OMD and Magnetic Fields, smeared against the grey skies and coastline of Emslie's hometown with an approach to after-effects and sampling that betrays his relationship with modern electronic music. Although the album's lyrics are downcast, they're paired against bright sounds in a bittersweet way. All vocals, production and instrumentation is handled by Emslie himself, with a knack for hooks and ear-worms far beyond his years.

Trisomie 21 is a post punk band formed in 1981 by Phillipe Lomprez (vocals, drums) and Hervé Lomprez (guitar, electronics), two brothers from Abscon, in the North of France. They began composing songs at the age of 16 while studying at school. The brothers were influenced by Kraftwerk, The Residents, Yello, P.I.L as well as the films of George A. Romero. Their music consists of lush soundscapes that do not easily fit into any one category. Lyrics are sung in English because in the north of France the duo sought to contradict the trend at the time for everything to be sung in French. Musically their mood is melancholic and one can hear traces of Joy Division, Durutti Column and The Cure. Since 1983 they've recorded 15 albums and appeared on numerous compilations and remain active to this day.

After the success of the debut mini-LP the band returned to the studio and spent October 1983 to March 1984 recording their sophomore album. 'Passions divisées' was released by Stechak Products in October 1984. Pascal Tison was replaced by Laurent Dagnicourt on bass guitar. Featuring eight cold wave compositions including the instrumental funeral waltz La fête triste'. Songs cross genres, moving from post-punk to synthetic electronics. All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The LP is housed in a replica of the original jacket featuring a artwork by Sourdeval and includes a photo postcard featuring lyrics and notes.

Trisomie 21 is a post punk band formed in 1981 by Phillipe Lomprez (vocals, drums) and Hervé Lomprez (guitar, electronics), two brothers from Abscon, in the North of France. They began composing songs at the age of 16 while studying at school. The brothers were influenced by Kraftwerk, The Residents, Yello, P.I.L as well as the films of George A. Romero. Their music consists of lush soundscapes that do not easily fit into any one category. Lyrics are sung in English because in the north of France the duo sought to contradict the trend at the time for everything to be sung in French. Musically their mood is melancholic and one can hear traces of Joy Division, Durutti Column and The Cure. Since 1983 they've recorded 15 albums and appeared on numerous compilations and remain active to this day.In Spring 1985 the group went back into the studio to record a new batch of songs. Trisomie 21's notoriety had increased following two concerts in Belgium and the Brussels recording label Play It Again Sam decided to sign them. In September 1985 the 5-song mini-LP 'Wait & Dance' was released by PIAS sub-label Scarface. It contained the band's first female guest vocals on two of the tracks. Sadly some of the songs had phase related problems and caused partial cancelation playing back monophonically, so the band remixed the songs and reissued them on CD only in 1987. We have added the 5 remixes as bonus tracks here presented for the first time ever on vinyl. All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The LP is housed in a replica of the original jacker featuring a artwork by Sourdeval and includes a photo postcard featuring lyrics and notes.

Special hand-stamped release available in limited quantities during the Amsterdam Dance Event at Rush Hour Store.
3 tracks previously available only on cassette compilations, now re-mastered by Rude66, expect a load of dark electro / wave / acid madness.

This is a comp of Peter's work from the 80s and 90s with some material never released on vinyl.. More info soooon!

Limited to 222, handnumbered, insert, artowrk in 5 different colors

Essential recordings by this minimal synth master of our age. Deluxe re-issue edition of Martial Canterel's third album from 2006. Originally released on cassette only, now on vinyl for the first time.

With the staccato surge and somber vocalizing of DAF, the distorted synthetic soundscapes of Dirk Ivens' eeriest work, and the industrial strength of The Young Gods, Martial Canterel's earliest outings are a bleak intellectual exercise in the dark and danceable. His music creates a cold atmosphere, and has an ominous melancholy feel to it. The emotional, and sometimes dark feel of the album is everything electronic new wave music should be. it's futuristic, robotic, and at the same time, nostalgic.

In 2002 Sean McBride began performing at bars, clubs and private parties in Brooklyn, NY, functioning singlehandedly as the pioneer and instigator of what would become a new movement of minimal electronic bands in the United States. Inspired both by the first wave of relatively unknown minimal electronic bands in Northern Europe (a musical genre also often referred to as 'minimal synth') and the seminal industrial noise bands such as Throbbing Gristle, SPK, and Cabaret Voltaire.

Since then, McBride's bleak intellectual exercises in the dark and danceable have flooded North America and Europe through the frosty fairwaves paved by Pieter Schoolwerth's Wierd Records. With an inimitable minimal style merging bright, urgent melodies ornamented and punctuated by the noises of industry and McBride's sonorous, stern vocals, Martial Canterel's earlier releases (You Today, Austerton) have garnered both critical acclaim and a rapidly growing rabid fan base. Sean is also one half of the duo Xeno & Oaklander together with Miss Liz Wendelbo.