Pop & Rock Новости

But would you bat an eye, waiting for war machines to pass you by? But aren’t we going out tonight? Aren’t we going out?""

Special Interest have returned with their sophomore LP. A dual release from Night School (UK) and Thrilling Living (US), The Passion Of... combines elements of glam rock and no wave pushed through a mangled filter of contemporary electronic forms. Special Interest present a precise and deranged vision of punk, an apocalyptic celebration, a step forward into a perverse and uncertain landscape.

Recorded throughout 2019 with engineer James Whitten, The Passion Of finds the band with a fuller realization of their sound. While their debut, Quintron-produced, album Spiraling documented a band discovering their purpose, The Passion Of... is both more chaotic and melodic, daring to finally live up to their notorious wall-of-sound live performances. Massive, juddering beats from an old Electribe sampler and distorted bass provide much of the rhythmic backbone. The effect is purely physical, circumnavigating the brain and heading straight to the body’s core, sounding at times like an Industrial take on the most brutal Gabber 12”s from the Groningen hardcore underground. Crass, decolonized guitar work and haunting synth lines cut through the low end noise to serve the album’s layers of drama. It’s a cloying, intense dynamic that builds to almost unbearable fever pitch at points, threatening to overwhelm and overpower. Aided by mastering work by Rashad Becker, The Passion Of... is a true document of Special Interest as the intense and radical unit they are.

Alli Logout’s razor sharp lyrics drip with the collective lust for life in the midst of painful truths. Offering moments of clarity and hope in their signature bratty maladjusted manner, switching from high camp satire to insightful political imperatives often within the course of one song.

The Passion Of... takes you on an odyssey, from celebrating the highs and lows of hedonism (Disco III), to dystopian anthems (All Tomorrow’s Carry) and disillusioned love songs (Street Pulse Beat). Ending in a powerful final decree (With Love) offering visions and desires for futures to come.

The Passion Of... is a culmination of Special Interest’s long standing obsessions. Not just bearing witness but living and moving towards our innate desire for rapture in an urgent and raw testimony of the here and now.

"Beyond blood we fight towards liberation"

New York-based Synthwave/Italo disco duo, Bunny X, will release their highly anticipated first full-length album, ‘Young & In Love’, on October 5, 2021 through Aztec Records.

Taking inspiration directly from 1980s John Hughes classics such as The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, Bunny X (Abigail Gordon and Mary Hanley) created ‘Young & In Love’ as a concept record oozing with nostalgic and youthful themes such as young love, first crushes, teen angst and anxiety.

“We wanted to take our listeners back to a time when music connected with us in a passionate and relatable way,” says Abigail. “These tracks pay tribute to what made 80s music so special — the fact that it was delivered in an earnest and unironic way.”

The Retrowave 10-track list of “Young & In Love” brings Bunny X together with Synthwave stalwarts Sellorekt/LA Dreams and Don Dellpiero, NYC-based producer Gosteffects and GRAMMY Award-winning engineer, Tony Lake.

Bunny X has been electrifying stages with their live performances in NYC and beyond for nearly a decade. The duo have released Italo disco and 80s-inspired music throughout their career, including two EPs and numerous singles. This is their first LP-length collection.

2020 has been one rough ride for everyone, forcing us all to review what we thought was normal and maybe, one would argue, even our priorities.

Two years have passed since their previous Inflict LP and we don’t really know how what recently happened impacted on the band’s mastermind Michael but what’s sure is that Veil Of Light are now a fully grown-up band.

Landslide is their fifth full-length (and their third on Avant!) and it’s definitely their most elaborated album.

Ten new songs, rather than the usual eight, with a perfect balance of Coldwave-inspired intimate atmosphere and synthpop catchy melodies. Musically speaking it’s still clear where the Swiss duo draws their influences from, right in between New Order’s moodiness and The Klinik trying one softer, less brutal approach to their Electro. But a new sense of privacy is reflected all through these new tracks, enhanced by lyrics now more personal than ever.

The Prayer Wheel is a page torn out of a private diary, Love And Money is a mechanical mantra for a no-way-out situation; Suburban War is a confession of defeat whispered at night, No Return is the last dance before reaching the point of.

This is the kind of record that takes its time, and takes its toll, we just need to sit down and listen because there’s much to discover.

RIYL: Depeche Mode, New Order, Naked Eyes, Lust for Youth, Black Marble

Adana Twins melden sich mit der 4-Track-EP '1983' auf Diynamic zurück - eine Hommage an den Sound des ersten Jahres, das Benjamin und Friso auf der Erde verbrachten. Der Opener 'Clocks' ist ein unheimlicher Dark Wave-, fast Post-Punk-mäßiger Track mit Vocals der Hamburger Band Kraków Loves Adana, der einen direkt in die 80er katapultiert. Der Titeltrack knüpft an den EBM-Sound der Ära an, mit energiegeladenen Sequenzer-Basslines und Retro-Synthies, die ein authentisches Gefühl dieser Zeit vermitteln. 'Neonlicht', das zweite Kraków Loves Adana-Feature, baut auf einem langsam-hypnotischen Groove auf, komplett mit 808-Drums und Orchesterschlägen. Das abschliessende 'Mauro Picasso' feat. Phunkadelica läutet die Italo-Disco-Ära ein, wenn uns Robotergesang und verträumte Synthies direkt in die Strandclubs von Rimini versetzen. Alles in allem eine unglaublich vielseitige Platte, die die Talente der Adana Twins von ihrer besten Seite zeigt.

Exploring a beautiful grey area somewhere between P.I.L., Arthur Russell, and downtown New York grit of old, the storied Tom of England (Thomas Bullock) comes forth with his epic debut long player "Sex Monk Blues".

Mr. Bullock has been in the trenches for a long time now as a member of Tonka Hi-fi in England, Wicked Sound System in San Francsico, and lastly the back room viking disco duo Rub n Tug in New York City. Somewhere during this all he made a record for Rough Trade, produced records for Map of Africa (with DJ Harvey) and The Laughing Light of Plenty and wrote a definitive book about Mezcal all whilst touring the world.

As touring grew tiresome priorites refocused and Thomas slowly pieced together the parts of what he wanted to become his debut solo album. In partnership with singer Bobbie Marie and studio engineer Chebon Littlefield we now see this come to fruition with these six tracks, futuristic, classic, danceable, and yes, unclassifiable Sex Monk Blues is what's going on.

Sex Monk Blues Recorded in NYC by Thomas Bullock and Chebon Littlefield. All lyrics and vocals by Rene Love. All music and instruments by Thomas Bullock and Chebon Littlefield except electric bass by Ed Ruscha, saxophone by Gabe Druzzi, and kick drum on Be Me by Harvey Bassett. Mixed by Thomas Bullock and Chebon Littlefield at All Bright Electric NYC. Mastered by Josh Bonati

In 2012 Claus Fovea self released a cassette containing 10 tracks, he was at his Swedish beginnings. 9 years later Lux Rec re-discovered his tape and it still sounded so true and relevant to them that they decided to release it on vinyl. Claus then reworked some tracks, scrap some, and made few new. Florin Buchel mixed them down and Andrea Merlini mastered them. The result is a picture frozen in time, in between now and then, the struggle, and sadness, that fragile construction of hope shattered as time goes by, like nothing ever change. It is indeed, as he sings, just the same song playing all the time. Over and over.

The first official reissue of BeNe GeSSeRit's, Fashion Is A Dirty Word composed by Belgian legends Alain Neffe and Nadine Bal and originally released on Dave Henderson's Dead Man's Curve label in 1987. Now re-issued with fresh new artwork on Brooklyn's Domani Sounds.

Somewhere somebody is dancing in black and white silence, crying to a thumping beat. The sound that is creeping up behind them is BeNe GeSSeRiT. The project of Belgian innovators and couple, Alain Neffe (who has been running cult label Insane Music for decades) and Nadine Bal, BeNe GeSSeRiT land equally between dance music, sound collage and digital séance. Beyond the countless alias' of the Neffe empire, Alain is credited to putting out bands such as Algebra Suicide, Merzbow, and others like those in his compilations, "Insane Music for Insane People" on his Insane Music imprint.

Featuring some songs fueled by an 80s dance floor sensibility and others so far away and isolating they dare you to try to dance. Many of the tracks are so unrecognizable they don't register as songs, just flashes of sound accompanied by titles ripped right from the pages of a southern novel, and vocal performances just as haunting. The sounds on Fashion is a Dirty Word are still as foreign and captivating as they were when they were originally released in '87. Like a strange land slide into an indistinguishable future past, gathered here as one.

Historical and archive recordings of BeNe GeSSeRiT have been previously released on Minimal Wave, EE Tapes, Walhalla, Cherry Red, and Stroom. Now Domani Sounds proudly presents the classic Fashion is a Dirty Word as their debut release.

DIE NEUE ZEIT

Old time? New time!

And of course an exciting time - and thus time for DIE NEUE ZEIT and their eponymous high-speed statement "WIR SIND DIE NEUE ZEIT"!

But who is behind DIE NEUE ZEIT? We simply don't know! And we don't want to know. What we know is that these two daredevils race through their theme tune with sheer intensity - there simply is no stopping them - and you better don't - because when that cow bell gets loose … heaven forbid!

For extra extensive play of "WIR SIND DIE NEUE ZEIT" we strongly advise to make good use of the vocal AND the instrumental version playing both back and forth until all dancers surrender to the rhythms of DIE NEUE ZEIT.

Now tanz' die neue Zeit und geh' in die Knie und klatsch in die Hände, beweg' Deine Hüfte! The new time has come!

If ever talking about a „ghost“ of an Austrian record, both in terms of getting info about and getting your hands on, the only output of short-lived band „Mad Voice“ would be a prime example of such. It took a couple of years to track original band members and the master tape down, which in the end made for Wiener Brut being able to carry out an exclusive re-release of this 7 inch. Get ready for a perfect blend of minimalistic Pop, Synthwave and NDW!

Enzo Elia – one who knows how to conceive Italo driven audible passion with the machines that surround him. His releases on cult labels Compost, Free Range and Black Pearls Records have long spoken to us here at KOMPAKT.

We welcome this summer heater which is “Gilli 88 EP”. A tribute to the 80s phenomenon…THE PANINARO. Without any ideological basis or connection to a particular lifestyle THE PANINARO was based around fashion imagery and luxurious clothing. Enzo found this translatable to today’s social network dynamics and is prime for the retrofuturistic dancefloors of today that are inspired by the golden days of Italo-Disco.

“Low Red” is a Italo-Pop gem conceived with Quique Aldebaran and Quique on vocals that takes inspiration from the legends that were – the mighty Suicide. An instrumental version dives deeper into the groove for DJ play persuasion. “Aj Squinza” takes a classic 80’s disco approach with sound-scaping synths that endlessly jam with an everchanging rhythm. “Volpinata” succumbs to a classic EBM groove that finds its way out of focus due to fat synth melodies that engorge this elevating track.

With their first LP in over three years, Californian psych-dub duo Peaking Lights offer an outlet from the mundane with a kaleidoscopic collection of lo-fi, escapist-electronic pop. Over their illustrious twelve-year-plus career, the husband and wife duo of Aaron Coyes and Indra Dunis have set themselves apart with their characteristic dreamy, and melancholic sound that blends together elements of dub, and delicate-but-quirky electronics. E S C A P E, Peaking Light’s sixth album, and first for Dekmantel, finds them at their finest, replete with atmospheric landscapes crafted out of homemade-percussive loops, that sit alongside wondrous electronic pop and krautrock-like hooks, all tied together by Indra Dunis’ composed and hypnotic vocal charm.

Now based out in Amsterdam, and having firmly established themselves on Dekmantel with their 2018 EP Sea of Sand, Coyes and Dunis’ unique brand of indie-synthwave yet further explores their ongoing delve into transcendental, psychedelic music. With E S C A P E, the production duo illustrate their pragmatic use of instrumentation and dubbing to create more heady and celestial avant-pop. From the very outset on opening track ‘Dharma’, the band’s iconic retro-dub aesthetic kicks in, before being accompanied by a litany of drum machines, sweeping compressed effects, and Dunis’ hypnotic serene vocals. Coyes, somewhat of a connoisseur and collector of varying studio gear adopts his steadfast dynamic approach to production, playing with new mixing techniques, tape loops, compression and effects throughout. It’s this freedom to indulge, and create new instruments, processes and sounds that have made Peaking Lights unique; an ever-present industriousness that characterises E S C A P E, whether it be on the deep textures of ‘Change Always Comes’, to the cathartic 80s pre-rave-wave of ‘The Damned’.

E S C A P E is a vibrant moment full of multi-spectral melodies crafted in an aesthetic the group have excelled in and made their own; a style exemplified by their breakout 2011 LP 936. And throughout E S C A P E, whether it’s on the esoteric ‘Eyes Alive’ to the mesmerising beach rhythms of ‘Dreams’, Peaking Lights’ rich and reverberated sonic palette shines through. For both dreamers and dancers alike, the latest offering to Peaking Lights’ illustrious catalogue is a true mind-expanding and fantastical listen full of passion and catharsis.

Emerging from Lower Franconia's hidden reverse, Johannes schebler, known as ambient-poltergeist "Baldruin" and surreal folklorists Christian Schoppik & Katie Rich of "Brannten Schnüre"-fame have puzzled and amazed outernational audiences from the stranger end of the avant/lo-fi spectrum in recent years. The trio is now collectively dreaming as "Freundliche Kreisel",reaching for terra incognita rather than common ground on their most bewildering and accessible outing to date. Arch-pontifices of the electro-acoustic and outsider-art realm, they fill in gaps and invent missing links on the go with somnambulistic ease, confusing the hypersensitive and hyaline timbres of contempo-electronic aesthetics with the naïve charm of Germany's obscure Kassettentäter and mutant-NDW.

Think Daniele Mana and Lorenzo Senni digitally rewiring the 4-track recordings of Gareth Williams' Flaming Tunes or sometimes, much scarier, it feels as if it's the other way round. There certainly is an air of whimsical yet post-ironic romanticism to the songs contained here, a madcap, tongue-in-cheek ghost story as filtered through the transcendental senses of a childhood perspective. This attitude is best personified in the disarming innocence of Katie's vocals whose intonation touches on nursery rhymes as much as on dirges and bizarre 'schlager' kitsch.

Heirs to the tradition of magic realism, examining fragments of an arcane sacred mundanity like a crack in the concrete of everyday life, Freundliche Kreisel dwell on this often neglected microcosmic topography, yielding an adventurous and visionary piece of a decidedly Franconian next-level post-modern folklore.

Limited re-press of sold out ”Tomorrow’s Heroine” on trans magenta vinyl. Deluxe edition with UV shiny print on the front cover art. Five dark electronic songs of desire and sheer electronic magic crafted by Berlin-based duo NNHMN. Expect an electro-synth wave with a hint of techno, sharp but poetic lyrics that will carry you into a parallel reality. If you like dark, dance electronic music with sultry female vocals, this position is for you.

The year is 1981. The Kiel-based PostPunk / Wave underground outfit NO MORE releases their second ever single „Suicide Commando“ and their world changes forever. Well, not only their world – THE world.
What began as an independently published 7“ single became a cult classic, a genre defining – and defying – song, an all-time dancefloor favorite of many, a timeless signature piece that escaped its original realm of PostPunk x Wave x Indie x Alternative to also become engrainedin the DNA of modern electronic dancefloor culture most prominently in the beloved late 90s permutation presented by DJ Hell which became a classic in its own right. Now the year is 2021. Four decades have passed and NO MORE's „Suicide Commando“ is
back once again - well... the song actually never left! -, this time harking back to the very beginning, the original vibe and the original format.Remastered and re-released with the original tracklisting and paying homage to the original artwork „Suicide Commando“ will be available in 7“ format for the first time since 1981. And staying true to the underground blueprint this 40th anniversary re-release edition once again is put out on the circuit through a small independent label: the Intrauterin Recordings offspring El Caballo Semental which also released NO MORE's „123456789 *baze.djunkiii & Herr Brandt Dream A NuDream Remix“ as a limited to 200 copies one-sided, colored whitelabel 7“ edition in 2019.

For its 10th release and 7th vinyl edition, Subject To Restrictions Discs presents another musical journey from Angelo Repetto. He has dived deep and resurfaced with these four heavy, emotional compositions. Together with wonder drummer Nicolas Stocker, Repetto turned his story into music. On the A-side, ‘Panther’ and ‘CP Verletzung’ let us drive through the night, perhaps with the last drop of the enthusiastic feeling of the last dance. Right on the other side, we experience the ‘Sundown Explosion’, hard-hitting all the emotions we have left. ‘No Access’ points the way to our next, as yet unknown, journey.

Repress

Following up on his contribution to the first Five Years Of Tears compilation, Randstad steps up to the bill and delivers his first solo release for Pinkman Records. 6 tracks ranging from twisted industrialized beat trax to brain melting weirdo dance. A great cross-over record for adventurous DJs and fans of the cold, minimal DIY sound of the 80s alike.

The title of guitarist Barry Cleveland’s 1986 album - Stones of Precious Water - conjures images of incandescent gems, harvested from hallowed streams and held aloft to glimmer and catch the light in their many facets. And perhaps this is the truest analogue for the music contained therein. Recorded between 1981 and 1983, in mostly improvised recording sessions, the disparate nature of Stones’ creation is alluded to only by the breadth and variety of sounds it encompasses. Stones of Precious Water is a revelatory collection that maps its way through textural fourthworld ambience, shimmering New Age, gently propulsive kosmiche, and jazzinflected prog. These sounds are sewn together with a deftness of performance and sonic character which reveals them as branches of the same tree, or perhaps more appropriately, a handful of glittering stones.

Six of the ten tracks contain contributions from Kat Epple and her late husband Bob Stohl (a.k.a the epoch-defining New Age duo, Emerald Web), adding flute, synthesizers, and bells. Between the years of 1981 and 1983, Cleveland worked with this duo and alone, allowing serendipity to play a significant creative role in their music. Many of the pieces began as improvisations, or simple structures that served as springboards for deeper exploration. Making his first forays into multi-track recording, Cleveland used a basic Teac 4-track cassette recorder, and this rudimentary piece of equipment proved to be a useful tool for compositional exploration. By flipping and reversing the tape, slowing the pitch, and altering and layering different performances, Cleveland stretched the sound of his guitar across the expanse of the tonal canvas.

Stones of Precious Water stands as a remarkable document of experimental selfrecording, improvisational collaboration, and restless creative expression. Morning Trip is exceedingly happy to release it on Vinyl LP for the first time.

"Feels like I'm made of glass," Carlyn Bezic sings over a tumbling, harmonic guitar riff on "Pummelled Into Sand," the closing song of Faster Than I Can Take. "Like I could cut you, or you could break me in half." It's a double-edged statement about the power that comes from inhabiting your vulnerability, a complicated truth expressed so beautifully it seems almost simple.

Making the impossible look easy has always been Bezic's musical M.O. Faster Than I Can Take is her sophomore album as Jane Inc., a solo project forged after years of building her bona fides in the Toronto music scene with groups like U.S. Girls, Darlene Shrugg and acclaimed dance-pop duo Ice Cream. Pitchfork called Jane Inc's first album, 2020's Number One, "dazzling... Bezic proves herself a musical Swiss Army knife, capable of anything and revelling in her multiplicity." On Faster Than I Can Take, she uses all the tools at her disposal - a Prince-like ability to shred harmonic guitar riffs over deep, danceable grooves, an eagerness to experiment with form, and lyricism that seamlessly links the personal and the political - to focus the multifaceted energy of Number One into something completely singular. A disco-inflected, danceable meditation on the permeable boundaries between our interior and exterior worlds, Faster Than I Can Take is an album that you can listen to at a party or alone in your apartment - but no matter where you listen, it will make you dance.

On lead single "Contortionists," Bezic's voice floats over a landscape of spare, warping synths and ethereal backing vocals from Dorothea Paas (U.S. Girls, Badge Epoque Ensemble), seeming at first to sketch out a familiar pandemic scene: "The laws of time have changed / months pass in minutes, hours feel like days." But as the melody begins to swirl and bend back over itself, a deeper theme creeps in. “At first I thought I was making a record about time," Bezic explains, "but I was actually making a record about how, in moments of intense anxiety, you're living in the past, present and future at the same time. A million moments existing at once, real and imagined." By the time the song drops into a ticking groove, you know exactly what she means.

Many of the songs on Faster Than I Can Take work this way - taking concepts that feel intimately interior and expanding them into something universal. Songs like the moody, bass-heavy title track, or the bright, searing "Pummelled Into Sand," where a Hendrix-like guitar solo runs under Bezic's voice like a third rail, deal with what Bezic calls "the pain of change and growth." "Human Being" and "Dancing With You" (whose bridge features the catchiest meditation break you've ever heard in a dance-pop song), explore the psychedelic melding of individual and collective worlds that can come from fantasizing about performance while alone in your house, or connecting to a group of strangers through your computer screen.

In "An Ordinary Thing," Bezic contemplates the complexities of wanting to create anything - art, or even a family - against the backdrop of the Anthropocene. "Someone please take this from me / this feeling, this need," she sings, the tension audible in her voice. But in the next track, the irresistibly danceable "2120," that anxiety turns into powerful resolve: "I'll pour my grief into this plastic crucible / Forge a new infinite fuel made of anger, and hope, and refusal," she sings against a driving, determined beat.

That determination is what makes Faster Than I Can Take unlike anything else you've heard this year - a work of art that refuses to either wallow in the difficulties of contemporary life or ignore them in favour of escapist fantasy. As Jane Inc., Bezic takes on the complexities of living in the world - alone, and with others - with playfulness, honesty, openness and love, and turns all that complication into something that will move you.

*CASSETTE RELEASE**
TRJJ, TRJJ & TRJJ again - we can't get enough of this artist's stuff here. TIP!

300 ONLY... new band sounding like they could be from 200 yrs ago! way beyond shoe gaze .. this goes into areas that fans of OM / Sunn O))) are going to love...TIP!

"Naive overlooked New Beat / New Age project from 1989"

Sometimes in life, a certain incentive is needed to convert talent into productivity. As for the case of MKS, the enigmatic and musical disguise of Nicolas Aubard, it was a merely coincidental encounter at the end of the 80s that set the stone rolling. For Nico, it all began in his hometown of Saint-Quentin in Northern France. At a young age, he got obsessed with Japanese and American cartoon culture. Being a devoted collector of cartoon-related toys and widgets, he spent hours watching anime series on TV and creating scale models of science fiction and horror-related sceneries. Growing up in a musical household, young Nico took on stringent training in classical and jazz piano. But, frustrated with the fact of not being the technical virtuoso he wanted to be, he turned away from his training at the age of 16. “I had no choice, as I felt as if my creativity got limited by my piano. That’s when I got drawn into the world of synthesizers.” Not long after, Nico put together a home studio and started to experiment with ambience and sound-inserts. Despite years of experimentation and music making, all Nico’s productions stayed between the 4 walls of his modest home studio. Something that would change in 1988, when Nico bumped into Emmanuel “Manu” Prevost.

“We met on a night out in Lille”, Nico recalls. “I usually just stood by the dj booth, as I wasn’t a good dancer. So instead of throwing shapes at the dancefloor, I started a conversation with the dj, who happened to be Manu. By the end of the night, I handed him a demo tape of the album I was wanting to do.” Propelled by good fate, a fruitful collab happened between Nico and this dj. For Manu, everything also fell in place: “At the time, I was looking for a composer to work on producing a new beat record. As a dj, I often crossed the Belgian border for gigs and this new style was in full explosion over there. I heard Nico’s songs and naively told him: “Let’s make an album”, without knowing how.” Despite the high hopes for the new alliance, the project turned out to be a shot in the dark. “I assumed Manu already had some experience, as he proposed to do the mastering himself. But funnily he only told me after the release of the record that it was his first time too. But you know, we managed.” Not willing to release under his own name, Nico came up with Musical Keyboard System, abbreviated as MKS. The alias was born and the journey ready to take off.

The album finally released in September 1989. After the release, Nico went on a low-key promo tour together with Manu in Northern France. “We aired a video clip on FR3 for two songs, together with a short interview. In their studio, we created a scrimpy décor with some green plants to resemble the Vietnam jungle (as for the track Nam Revelation) and we shot the clip. Manu even lay down behind a screen operating the fog machine.” As a live act, MKS’ career was rather short-lived, with a first and final gig in the Theatre of Saint-Quentin a few months after the release. “In France, we would remain illustrious strangers. Yet in the meantime, our music got played on new age radios in the USA.” After the end of MKS, Nico moved to Paris and Manu took on his military duty. In the army, Manu met movie animator Jacques Rouxel (the man behind French cult series Les Shadoks) and got him in touch with Nico. The duo collaborated with Rouxel on some compositions, before they went their separate ways at last. Nico went on to pursue his childhood dream, as a pioneer in France for integrating 3D animations into classical cartoons. Manu in turn became a producer for feature films.

Interest in Music was made by TRii Group, which stems from TRjj, which stems from TRIIMusic

After releasing the singles ‘Vraag je af’ and ‘Runner van de zaak’, Ricky Cherim and Victor De Roo teamed up again to create their first collaborative EP. A six tracker produced by VDR, with text and voice by Meetsysteem, telling stories about paranoia, societal anxiety, depression, regret and love. A vast amount of lyrical themes, carried by an equal amount of musical variance. The only thread through the EP is the 909: a drum machine usually used for techno music, demoted to a rhythm box used in a shady backroom in Brussels. If only it weren’t such a party.

One of the bright talent emerging from the current Netherlands‘ electronic underground scene is the German and Amsterdam-based, ‘fetish-inclined’, vocalist and performer Sophie du Palais ((Pinkman, Dekmantel Recordings)) also known as “Vrouwe Fataal”. She presents debut solo LP ‘Endurance of Pain is the Power of Being’

Sinister industrial wave music exploring themes of lust, hedonism, technological obsession & millennial alienation

Across six tracks, Du Palais unravels a potent signature, driven by fierce, imperious Anglo-Germanic vocals and eclectic, dissonant sounds. Connecting techno, EBM, acid and electro with vestiges of dub and experimental electronics, on ‘Endurance of Pain…’ Du Palais conjures an abrasive, intoxicating depiction of lust, hedonism, technological obsession and millennial alienation.

With the cruising techno pop menace of ‘Slow Steady Cum’, Du Palais introduces a nocturnal underworld. The descent is intensified by the mania and murk of ‘Glazed Disco Ball’ – a suspenseful dose of guttural low end, scowling spoken words, and crude drum machine clatter; if Gudrun Gut fronted Suicide. Then ‘Boys Tears’ elaborates on the dread and the sleaze with a horror show of gurgling synthesis, drubbing percussion and dissolute enunciations, halfway between John Carpenter and Unit Moebius.

From there ‘Up To No Good’ brings proceedings into a severe form of heat and frenzy, outlaying an exchange of raw jackhammer rhythms and vociferous punk chants that recalls Liaisons Dangereuses’ timeless underground classic ‘Los Niños del Parque’ if remade for 2021. ‘Smash The Mirror’ then finds room for scintillating dub recurrence and freakish machine funk before Sophie concludes the set with the sardonic electro-clash anthemics of ‘2001’, a provocative exploration of self, communication, and compulsion in the digital era. Miss Kitten meets Dopplereffekt for a technoid bonfire of the vanities.

‘Endurance of Pain…’ finds Sophie Du Palais seizing an uncompromising sense of style and intensity, an emergent new artist navigating a merciless, pleasure-seeking existence, from club to bedroom to screen, facing it all down with a cold glare, ready to light the fuse.

RIYL Miss Kitten, Toresch, Liaisons Dangereuses. Mastered by Rude 66. Artwork by Sander Molenaar.

Carlos Nino follows up his endeavours on International Anthem with this set of blissfull ambient sounds, again touching base with his friend Jesse Peterson whom he made an album with for the japanese label Disques Corde and also collaborated with for the 'High with a little help from' album on Kindred Spirits. Much recommended!

Textural sound reflections, communicating our enthusiastic, diverse relationship with nature, The Earth, woven from improvised patterns, forming the fabric of composition . . . Among each others closest friends, Jesse Peterson and Carlos Niño sonically painted land, sea and skyscapes, for Pablo Calogero to tell impressionist stories a top, full of questions and answers about the many experiences and adventures in life. Drives To The Beach is an eager companion for you, on your own unique journey.

12" inch white label sampler of tracks from Richard Zijlstra's 1980s Genetic Factor project.

A multidisciplinary voyage through exploratory listening: Oddysee offers experiences through carefully-curated events, podcasts, radio and Buy Music Club playlists. Established in 2020 and operating with a heartfelt passion for electronic music culture, the Amsterdam-based platform connects the dots between like-minded music aficionados in their hometown and beyond.

Their inaugural release is a compilation that features musical works from artists that they had the pleasure of collaborating with over the first 12 months. A carefully curated assembly of a rather talented bunch of creatives. This special first edition vinyl featuring high-grade dance floor excursions from Eva Geist & Steve Pepe, Budino, Massimilano Pagliara and Christian S. Accompanied with exclusive artwork from Vancouver-based (CA) contemporary artist Amy Stewart.

100% of profits from the vinyl will be directly donated to NATV - a close-to-heart platform that amplifies indigenous voices and perspectives to a global audience. At a time when indigenous peoples' identities and their right to traditional lands continue to be violated, we hope to support these communities, many of whom protecting vital ecosystems to insure biodiversity for generations to come.

Minimalist post punk band from two ex-members of Antiguo Régimen completed with the recruitment of one member from the deep and lisergic pop band Tercer Sol.

Nunca Nada has a strange, profound but austere sound. As a trio the band permits itself to emphasize both the void and the intense with disarmingly simple lyrics that are vacant of decoration.

Make-up and style become inauthentic when looked at in the mirror of frustration, a confrontation where silence is not an option. The day to day truth, unavoidable by its own nature, is spit out and proclaimed: everything is lost, there is no possibility for a positive outcome.

Reminiscent of post-punk/new wave bands like Glorious Din, Chameleons, Wire or Wipers.

Recorded by Pablo Peiró at Sountess Studio. Released by Flexidiscos and BFE Records

How do you self-stabilize amidst ongoing crisis? Or, more crucially, what does it mean to question how much control we have over our collective well-being? On Ballad of a Tryhard, the third album by Scott Hardware, the moniker of Toronto-based musician and composer Scott Harwood, he attempts a response by honouring the splendor of “living between emotions.” It’s an album where a rich inner monologue, and the undefined space between reflection and realization can offer an invaluable reprieve. Over luminous keys and sky-sweeping melodies, Harwood reverse engineers his capabilities as a composer skilled in the art of complexity to deliver his boldest album to date — unselfconsciously ambitious Y2K rock; a reimagination of experimental adult contemporary that tweaks the limits of soft rock with curiosity and appreciation.

On Ballad of a Tryhard Hardware conducts a painstaking character evaluation to better understand the world by looking inward. Suspended and exalting, the album bursts with cinematic flourishes that ring with a courageous form of earnestness. Because once you examine the internal toll of people-pleasing, and question if charisma has been overvalued, is there space to imagine a new reality that seeks to uplift rather than wallow — observing sparse moments of beauty and light amidst a world in constant mourning?

Crafted in Spain and co-produced with Matt Smith (Prince Nifty, Owen Pallett), Ballad of a Tryhard is a snapshot of weeks spent in Elche, a sleepy Mediterranean city on the southeast coast, wandering through emptied-out streets, becoming acquainted with the interiors of a historic apartment block, and living for the first time with a familiar love. With unlimited time on his hands, Harwood would write slowly, playing piano until dawn. The result is an album with ornate and bucolic orchestral arrangements that nod to a background in techno and house with a tangled web of synths and strings. On tracks like “Summer” (featuring members of Phedre, Lee Paradise, WHIMM, Vallens, Blunt Chunks, and Jaunt) and “Love Through the Trees,” Harwood tries his hand on bouncy, heartstring ballads built for the open road, while “Watersnake” is an unstoppable earworm that makes an anthemic proposition for her own self-surety.

Prior to his solo work as Scott Hardware, Harwood played with indie rock stalwart Toronto groups like Ostrich Tuning and released ambient pop as Ken Park. A move to Berlin influenced his 2016 debut, Mutate Repeat Infinity, which centered the dancefloor as a site of queer resilience. 2020’s Engel pulled direct inspiration from Wim Wender’s 1987 haunting masterpiece Wings of Desire. In 2021 Harwood was accepted into the Slaight Family Music Lab.

Limited pressing.

As PB headmaster Ajukaja before them for the first chapter of “Sunda School”, Tapes & Nikolaienko get comfortable behind an organ. These two manage to sneak along some shit of their own though – a bag of sharp rocks to cut perfect tape loops & round ones to play the keys with.

The four vignettes on this 7” paint a picture both blissful & threatening. Take “Countryside Emergency” with its loosely galloping rhythm-loop & alarming arpeggiated keys. All this might end with someone getting thrown into a fire. If it wasn't for “Jaaksoni Tamm” to smooth the situation with an inviting dreamy atmosphere. Bright & fluttery. Might be a trap though.

Dub informed free flowing goods, as you'd expect from sonic explorer Jackson Bailey & the boss of beautiful Muscut label Dmytro Nikolaienko.

“Sunda School” is a series now. Part three sooner than later!

Mastered by The Bastard.

Where does the memory of a melody reside? Lucid phrases and half-remembered intonations buried somewhere, folded into times and places. 9 Airs took shape during an unconscious reconnection with music long since forgotten; an instinctive recall for melodies played out on guitar, low whistle and voice. Recordings of these revived melodies became the starting point for new pieces, the audio manipulated, processed and folded back into the fabric.

Imagine Andrew Weatherall producing Pere Ubu. The 7” Taki Chrome / Strummer Maxxx single by Pink Skull released on Höga Nord Rekords give a hint of how such a collaboration would sound. Mid seventies kraut rock á la “Neu 75” meet leftfield and sophisticated punk. The record has an organic warmth to it yet the excessive use of electronics: most instruments on the tracks are synthesizers and drum machines – all Moog, Korg and whatnot.

In the warmth of the Pink Skull-sound you suddenly get a wash of cold, hard rain from all directions. These elements of surprise create edges in the round soundscape and brings chaos to the mix. This is of course all part of Julian Grefes (founder of Pink Skull) plan.

Pink Skull propels you out of the quarantine like a shiny metal free bird released from its rusty cage.

Pink Colored vinyl.

The experimental Japanese ambient classic Prologue For Post-Modern Music for the first time on vinyl since its original release in 1984!

Unavailable since its debut 37 years ago, Masashi Kitamura + Phonogenix’s LP can almost be seen as the natural progression from the experimental recordings put out by Brian Eno in the 1970s to the releases The Orb and The Future Sound Of London were famous for in the 90s.

Prologue For Post Modern-Music is a mixture of ambient and electronic sounds that is both beautifully classical Japanese and New Age. An album to get lost in.

Dark Entries reunites with longtime idols Xymox, also known as Clan of Xymox, to reissue their Peel Sessions. Xymox was founded in Nijmegen, Netherlands in 1983 by Ronny Moorings and Anka Wolbert, who were joined shortly by Frank Weyzig and Pieter Nooten. Melding the synthesizer-driven experiments of post-punk and New Wave with the doom-laden atmospherics of the burgeoning goth rock scene, Xymox were one of the key progenitors of dark wave. The success of their 1983 debut EP, Subsequent Pleasures (reissued by Dark Entries in 2014) paved the way for a string of epochal releases on 4AD, where they honed their lush, despairing sound. Following their 1985 debut LP, Clan of Xymox, DJ and tastemaker John Peel invited them to BBC studios to record for his Radio 1 show. These recordings were released in 2001 via the Strange Fruit label on CD and are now available here for the first time on vinyl and digital formats.

Side A of Peel Sessions was recorded on June 4, 1985 at Maida Vale 5. Ronny and Anka recount facing anxiety and technical difficulties that day, with their complicated MIDI routing and a necessary plug conversion eating into their scant studio time. But their craft shines on these recordings, unmarred by the stressful circumstances. A reverb-drenched rendition of “Stranger”, the brooding hit single from Clan of Xymox, opens the record. “Muscoviet Mosquito”, a cult number from Subsequent Pleasure, follows. It is reworked here in a more robust fashion, similar to the version that would appear on the 1987 Lonely is an Eyesore compilation. Anka’s vocals take center stage on side closer “Seventh Time”, allegedly the song that charmed John Peel. Side B was recorded during a second Peel session on November 3, 1985, and illustrates the band’s continued development with three tracks that would appear on their 1986 album Medusa. “After the Call” was written and sung by Pieter Nooten, and has subtle echoes of Morricone amidst its proto-shoegaze drone. “Agonised by Love” and “Mesmerize”, which would later be retitled “Medusa”, both point towards the smoother, softer anguish that would characterize their sophomore LP.

All songs were remastered by George Horn at Fantasy studios. The sleeve, by Eloise Leigh, evokes classic Vaughn Oliver designs for 4AD, and features a photograph of the band mid-performance. Also included is a 2-sided insert with archival photos and notes from both Ronny and Anka on their experiences recording at the BBC studio.

Repress

Veteran producer Thomas Feriero graces us with his first album in years and his debut LP as Maenad Veyl. Hosted inside a sleeve designed with Tomaso Lisca are twelve tracks made of the same contained abrasion we fell for on his EPs for Death & Leisure, Veyl and Pinkman. A full-on workout devoid of fillers, ambient interludes and other mindless garbage, 'Body Count' is as relentless as the name suggests.

Repress

Introducing the second edition of our ceremonial covenant, 'Previously Undisclosed Rituals II'. This year we've been blissfully cursed by an all-star cast which includes December (Blackest Ever Black/Pinkman), Vaal (Pale Blue Dot), TV.OUT (L.I.E.S.), Instruments of Discipline overlords Operant, Lost Highway, human bulldozer Ayarcana and our very own Greek tragedy: DJ Loser. Adorned with abhorrent artwork by Tomaso Lisca and a hexed

LTD. COLORED VINYL

Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan 1980–1988 hovers vibe–wise between two distinct poles within Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Japan Archival Series—Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–1990 and Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976–1986. All three albums showcase recordings produced during Japan’s soaring bubble economy of the 1980s, an era in which aesthetic visions and consumerism merged. Music echoed the nation’s prosperity and with financial abundance came the luxury to dream.

Sonically, Somewhere Between mines the midpoint between Kankyō Ongaku’s sparkling atmospherics and Pacific Breeze’s metropolitan boogie. The compilation encompasses ambient pop, underground electronics, liminal minimalism and shadow sounds—all descriptors emphasizing the hazy nature of the nebula. Out–of–focus rhythms wear ethereal accoutrements, ballads are shrouded in static, and angular drums snake skyward on transcendent tones. From the Avant–minimalism of Mkwaju Ensemble and Yoshio Ojima, to the leftfield techno-pop of Mishio Ogawa and Noriko Miyamoto (featuring members of YMO), and highlights from the groundbreaking Osaka underground label Vanity Records, these are blurry constellations defying collective categorization.

These tracks also exist in a space of transition when the major label grip on the Japanese recording market began to give way to the escalation of independents. Thanks to the idyllic economic climate and innovations in domestically–manufactured music gear, creators on the edges were empowered to focus on satisfying their artistic visions in the open headspace of home studios. While labels like Warner Music and Nippon Columbia explored new sounds through traditional channels, it was possible for Vanity, Balcony and other indie labels, not to mention self–released artists like Ojima and Naoki Asai, to publish their work via affordable media such as cassettes, 7" vinyl, and flexi–discs.

Expertly curated by Yosuke Kitazawa and Mark “Frosty” McNeill (dublab), Somewhere Between is a collection of music, much of it released for the first time outside Japan, that is bound more by energetic vibration than shared history, genre or scene. They are the sounds of transition and searching—a celebration of the freedom found in floating.

Note: The track “Days Man” by Yoshio Ojima is only available on the LP and Cassette versions.

Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan 1980–1988 hovers vibe–wise between two distinct poles within Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Japan Archival Series—Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–1990 and Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976–1986. All three albums showcase recordings produced during Japan’s soaring bubble economy of the 1980s, an era in which aesthetic visions and consumerism merged. Music echoed the nation’s prosperity and with financial abundance came the luxury to dream.

Sonically, Somewhere Between mines the midpoint between Kankyō Ongaku’s sparkling atmospherics and Pacific Breeze’s metropolitan boogie. The compilation encompasses ambient pop, underground electronics, liminal minimalism and shadow sounds—all descriptors emphasizing the hazy nature of the nebula. Out–of–focus rhythms wear ethereal accoutrements, ballads are shrouded in static, and angular drums snake skyward on transcendent tones. From the Avant–minimalism of Mkwaju Ensemble and Yoshio Ojima, to the leftfield techno-pop of Mishio Ogawa and Noriko Miyamoto (featuring members of YMO), and highlights from the groundbreaking Osaka underground label Vanity Records, these are blurry constellations defying collective categorization.

These tracks also exist in a space of transition when the major label grip on the Japanese recording market began to give way to the escalation of independents. Thanks to the idyllic economic climate and innovations in domestically–manufactured music gear, creators on the edges were empowered to focus on satisfying their artistic visions in the open headspace of home studios. While labels like Warner Music and Nippon Columbia explored new sounds through traditional channels, it was possible for Vanity, Balcony and other indie labels, not to mention self–released artists like Ojima and Naoki Asai, to publish their work via affordable media such as cassettes, 7" vinyl, and flexi–discs.

Expertly curated by Yosuke Kitazawa and Mark “Frosty” McNeill (dublab), Somewhere Between is a collection of music, much of it released for the first time outside Japan, that is bound more by energetic vibration than shared history, genre or scene. They are the sounds of transition and searching—a celebration of the freedom found in floating.

Note: The track “Days Man” by Yoshio Ojima is only available on the LP and Cassette versions.

"Yūtai-ridatsu ±", an album from Osaka-based electronic music producer Futoshi Moriyama. Initially released in 2015 as a cassette on the Birdfriend label run by Koshiro Hino (aka YPY), augmented by four unreleased/new tracks which replace other tracks. Beautifully weird home-recorded orchestral music!