Pop & Rock News

ALTER presents a remastered edition of Cremation Lily’s second album, on vinyl for the first time. Recorded whilst living in Hastings and originally released as a double cassette on his Strange Rules label in 2017, The Processes… forms a trilogy of albums in the CL canon that were influenced by the life and atmospheres within British coastal towns. Composed using a rudimentary set-up of synth, drum machine and two modified walkmans, CL draws upon a broad range of influences from the underground electronic music spectrum. Noise, tape music and ambient techno are all referenced and align to form a cohesive collection of tracks, flowing fluidly in sequence. Melancholic synth pads and deep kick drums intersect with crude field recordings and occasional bursts of feedback, evoking a claustrophobic uncertainty that feels more like being pulled under than carried above.

Features additional piano and violin by Theodore Cale Schafer.
Remastered by John Hannon.

ALTER presents a remastered edition of Cremation Lily’s second album, on vinyl for the first time. Recorded whilst living in Hastings and originally released as a double cassette on his Strange Rules label in 2017, The Processes… forms a trilogy of albums in the CL canon that were influenced by the life and atmospheres within British coastal towns. Composed using a rudimentary set-up of synth, drum machine and two modified walkmans, CL draws upon a broad range of influences from the underground electronic music spectrum. Noise, tape music and ambient techno are all referenced and align to form a cohesive collection of tracks, flowing fluidly in sequence. Melancholic synth pads and deep kick drums intersect with crude field recordings and occasional bursts of feedback, evoking a claustrophobic uncertainty that feels more like being pulled under than carried above.

Features additional piano and violin by Theodore Cale Schafer.
Remastered by John Hannon.

Absorbing new album from this very special artist. Hand printed sleeves. Very limited edition.

Marta De Pascalis is an italian composer living and working in Berlin. Her solo works employ analog synthesis and tape loops, incorporating free playing into steady, repetitive patterns. She has produced two albums of Berlin School minimal synth excursions: the self-released Quitratue (2014) and Anzar (The Tapeworm, 2016). Her new piece ‘Her Core’ has been published on spring 2018 by The Wormhole. Marta creates densely layered collages of glowing melodic shards and growling bass lines, her hypnotic minimal synth figures warping and whirling around each other before dissolving into entropic oblivion. For her compositions she uses improvisation on a tape-loop system, in which patterns of repetition create a sense of a dense, dynamic and cathartic distance.

All music by Marta De Pascalis Recorded at WORM Sound Studios in Rotterdam, artist's studio and Big Snuff Studio in Berlin, between 2019 and 2020. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Artwork by Lorenzo Mazon Studio. All rights reserved to the respective owners. doser039LP - Morphine Records 2020

The music of Chel White is celebrated in Automaton, a collection of mostly unreleased recordings from 1985 to 1991, by this innovative animator, film maker and visual artist.

Having studied music theory in grade school, White taught himself drumming and played in a new wave band until, in 1981, together with Dan Gediman, they formed the minimal wave duo Process Blue (Alternative Funk, 1985 / Dark Entries, 2018). Here their experimentation went way beyond playing drums.

His interest in industrial music, fostered in the late '70s and early '80s while working in factories as a way to put himself through college, informed his use of electronic instruments, tape manipulation, noise and unconventional percussion.

By 1985, as a now solo artist buoyed by newly affordable audio sampling technology, White tapped into his earlier teenage fascination with the art and films of both the Surrealist and Dada movements - in particular their disparate and fragmented imagery and sound - as a means to create striking new sonic palettes.

Science & Industry - a track largely influenced by Balinese monkey chanting and the consumer excess of American in the 1980's - is a clear example of "music collage". Photocopy Cha Cha, made for the short animation film Choreography for Copy Machine (Berlin International Film Festival, 1992 / Sundance Film Festival, 2001) moved his music into the realm of early multi-media.

Experimenting further, tracks like Liquid Shadows and Pensive provide minimalist moments, before the drone-like Dream #630 and Forest Song point to a future that included music video works (David Lynch/Thom Yorke).

Gwendoline is the project from Micka (a.k.a. Mikoune) and Pierre (a.k.a. Daniel). Based in Rennes, musically influenced by the classic cold wave which originated in their country, precarious and aimless, they shape Gwendoline to their own image. Pure DIY ethics, quick recordings at their home studio. Dark lyrics, self- mockery, criticism, sarcasm derived from the world’s mediocrity.

“Après c’est gobelet!” is their first album. Melodic but dark, ironic but direct, sophisticated but absolutely minimalistic. A testimony of today’s world viewed under a grey prism of sarcasm and wrapped around beautiful melodies and rhythms.

We are really happy to present you this very special record on a limited, hand numbered edition of 140 copies, housed in a matt finish sleeve and including a download code. The digital download includes two bonus tracks.

Interstellar Funk & Robert Valera roll out a wealth of EBM, darkwave and acid leaning electronics in a new instalment for Olf van Elden’s (Interstellar Funk) label Artificial Dance. Devil’s Juice is a split twelve and the result of two analog recording sessions that took place in New York and Amsterdam in 2019.

Van Elden and Valera met each other through mutual friends, sharing a love for deep and twisted bassline explorations, visceral melodies and analog machine funk. Interstellar Funk has been releasing music through labels like Rush Hour, Dekmantel, L.I.E.S. and Berceuse Heroique, Devil’s Juice is a premiere for releasing his personal productions on his own imprint. Robert Valera is a seasoned live performer but this will be his first release. Devil’s Juice is a testament of Van Elden’s and Varela’s fascination for analog instruments and how they are able to communicate in spontaneous and unpredictable ways.

With its punchily sluggish bassline and churning synth-wave action, ‘Serge’ is straight up dance floor material boasting a contemporary take on early eighties darkwave esthetics. ‘Devil’s Juice’ taps in on an equally slow(ish) tempo, a highly infectious melody fluttering playfully over raw,
machine driven rhythmic patterns.

On the flip, the two producers switch it up a gear, going full throttle on ‘North Sea’, unleashing a torrent of virtuosic acid-esque synth tweaks and proper percussive fury, strapping arps and moody pads. ‘Klangin’ ignites the jack firing shrapnel snares and ruffed-up bass with rotor-jawed atmospheres, serving up a gloomy anthem inked with swirling arpeggios.

As a young woman Sacha Vingerhoeds was part of a vibrant creative community in Rotterdam that organized itself under the name of ARTS. There was a primitively created studio situated in the basement of the building where spontaneous recording sessions took place. Since the house functioned as a communal space, sometimes travelers and unexpected visitors (both from Holland and abroad) passed by and contributed for a shorter or longer period to the creative output of the community.

Within this context a highly intimate cassette was recorded by Sacha and friends that combined the elements of improvisation, a free creative spirit and inner spirituality. The title "Eeuwig Op Reis" is hard to translate perfectly but means something like "Endlessly In Transit" or "Perpetual Travel", in the sense of being on an endless journey or travel. No more than 10 copies of the cassette were made and given to loved ones and family in 1983.

New Fries has never been interested in being a band. What we mean is a spirit of abandoning ideas of what songs should be, how they should be performed, and by whom. We’ve never been interested in the tradition of songwriting—though we’re interested in musical elements like repetition, space, and dynamics. We have wanted our music to make people dance but have also wanted to produce the feeling of that being taken away from a room. We often work around these sorts of energy transfers (whether or not we name them this way). This space to make music in has felt wild and free. We have also contradicted ourselves. We are also always changing. In 2018 Ryan Carley (synthesizer) left the band and we found ourselves at our first juncture to restructure and re-evaluate New Fries. This is such a classic boring story, we know. But immediately we knew that as a three piece (the band’s original formation) we had to turn to something new and open—the way some describe “beginners mind”. Anni grabbed bass (which was new to her), Tim grabbed guitar and a sampler as a new juggling routine, and Jenny reduced her drum kit to three pieces. We wanted to create a structure that allowed us to be curious about being in transition.

Much of this record sounds and reflects on this in-between. It’s anxious in its repetitions and unsure of genre. It rejects a singular character or emotion and attempts to instead act as a container for many. Anni’s lyrics state this directly: “it lacks a mood, it lacks definition” / “curiosity beyond expectation”. Her lyrics describe the spaces, objects, people, and situations that embody an in-between—her grandfather who worked as medium, the ecology of the foreshore, Mount Tambora’s eruption in 1816 that produced the Year Without a Summer, and mesh (the fabric). The result is a collage of 6 songs and many otherwise quick ideas.

Much of this collage was testament to the work of engineer/musician Carl Didur. Carl (Zacht Automaat, formerly US Girls) is a long-standing pillar of Toronto’s experimental music community. He is also a tape expert, which we knew these songs needed entering the recording process as mostly bare grooves. The result was less that of hiring an engineer than it was working with a collaborator. His musical ideas are all over this record. ‘Is the Idea of Us’ is the situation of musicians/non-musicians making music together perhaps completely illegible in the music on this record and to the random listener who doesn’t know our story in South Bend, Indiana (how did you find us?!) But with this title we name this absurd gesture, through our changing relationship to making music both as a unit and as individuals. There are enough bands out there; we insist on do it differently.

In 1981, Nick Robson wrote Stars. The song can pretty much be described as a slow, cosmic disco song. It has an unusual feel, and it comes as Oslo-based Neppås third release. This 12" holds the 12" mix, the 7" mix, and the original B-side Eye To Eye. The original 12" is as rare as they come, and here you get the original material, fully licenced, and remastered. The process of recording the material back in 1981 was not an easy one, as Nick Robson recalls:

"Fame by David Bowie is one of my favourite songs, period. I was 18 when i wrote Stars and i wanted to write something that was my version of Fame and quite honestly, as a tribute to the song. If you listen to the bass lines, there is a hint of similarity in the two. Even the lyric of Stars has a passing reference to Fame.
Stars was one of four songs recorded at Gary's Rock City studio to supply the first two singles and form the basis of the first album. The other three tracks were Eye To Eye, Boys and She'a Like Ice. Although all four tracks were finished, for one reason or another, Boys never made it to pressing and i walked away from the business to pursue a career in film.
Stars itself, was the most ardous and problematic track that i've ever recorded. It took around 14 days to finally get an agreed mix when the budget probably only ran to three days. Part of the reason for this is the enormous quantity of music tracks recorded in the song. In those days, we only had 24 recordable tracks available on the Otari, so once you had recorded 23 or less actually, you had to bounce down sub-mixes to a single track to free up another batch of tracks. I think that there are around 46 tracks of instruments alone on Stars so although that kind of track usage is not uncommon now, back then it was rare. It remains the single most expensive song i ever recorded. The B-side Eye To Eye, on the other hand, was written, recorded and mixed in one day."

"lineal" inward dance music. small pressing. first of a few more to come"

**LP FORMAT IS VERY LIMITED - PLEASE BE AWARE THAT UNFORTUNATELY THERE MAY BE CUTS TO ORDERS**

For Los Angeles' The Black Queen, the depths of isolation and loss have always functioned as a gateway to being born anew. Much has transpired since the band released their cold, cutting debut album Fever Daydream (a record that Revolver described as 'a haunting exploration of the darker side of pop music'). But throughout it all, the trio of Greg Puciato (former frontman of the now-defunct The Dillinger Escape Plan), Joshua Eustis (of Telefon Tel Aviv, Puscifer, and Nine Inch Nails), and Steven Alexander (a tech member for Nine Inch Nails, Ke$ha, and A Perfect Circle) have emerged as triumphant and intense as ever, documenting their journey via the synth-streaked industrial anthems of their sophomore release, Infinite Games.Formed in 2011 after a chance meeting between Puciato and Eustis backstage at a Dillinger show in which they both realized they were huge fansof each other's work, The Black Queen became a labor of love for its members to explore sounds and emotions that they couldn't quite fit into their full-time projects. Injecting a pained, twilit edge into slick new-wave tracks as fit for the dance floor as they are for some imagined dystopian skyline, the trio have managed to channel their scattered, eclectic influences into a surprisingly cohesive vision. 'We've got a pretty weird cross section,' Puciato says of the band's musical chemistry. 'We can go out for food and listen to Power Trip on the way there, then Baltimore club music on the way back, and then talk about how killer Maxwell's Embrya album was, and then get sidetracked and talk about the Celeste video game soundtrack, then all have to be quiet so that we can grab a voice recording of some weird sounding radio interference. It's all over the place and unusually far reaching,and there's a lot of passion for discovery.'After releasing their 2016 debut album Fever Daydream to critical acclaim however, the trio underwent several major upheavals that cast the project in a completely new light. Puciato's main project The Dillinger Escape Plan disbanded. Chris Cornell of Soundgarden killed himself while Puciato was on tour with him. Eustis put out music under his beloved Telefon Tel Aviv monikerfor the first time since his former bandmate Charles Cooper died in 2009. Thetrio's storage space was robbed. Puciato suffered a relapse into crippling anxiety and paranoia. Once again, in the face of tragedy, The Black Queen had to rebuild everything from the ground up.The first step was acquiring a new studio space, which immensely helped the band get back into the rhythm of freely collaborating with one another, and experimenting with sounds for as long (and as loud) as they wanted. The resulting album, Infinite Games, marks a massive leap forward for The Black Queen. Not only are the band's icy R&B instincts more sharply pronounced; they've also rendered their morbid electronics in more lush detail than ever before, filling out the corners of their songs with chilling ambient passages
that create a wide-screen backdrop for Puciato's eerie, tortured vocals. 'I think this album is actually hookier, but more insidious in that it reveals itself over time,' Puciato says about Infinite Games. His choice of words says something about the album's creeping, pitch-black approach to pop music.With this release, the group have also announced a new undertaking in the form of their new label, Federal Prisoner. Resisting the more marketing-centricapproach that feels standard at this point for the record label game, the goal of Federal Prisoner is to provide an outlet for projects that emerge naturally from The Black Queen's own creative endeavors and collaborations with otherartists. In a way, Federal Prisoner solidifies TBQ's commitment to creating music on their own terms, following the same organic sense of inspiration that led them to forming in the first place. As Puciato puts it, 'It's just an expression of passion and individualism in a way that opens more doors for us to create and to own what we create with minimal compromise. It's as much an act of refusal as it is a statement of intent.'Infinite Games, the second album from experimental Los Angeles synth-pop trio The Black Queen, comes out on September 28th

Not to be sold before May 1st
Lord of the Isles and Scottish poet Ellen Renton join forces for a reflective record that touches on themes related to climate change, both in the present and future.
“Ellen’s poem ’Passing' blew me away and I felt compelled to provide it with a musical accompaniment. I liked how Ellen's vocal recording sounded lo-fi, so I created an environment around it to make it feel cinematic.” ‘Inheritance’ the closing track, picks up where ‘Passing’ leaves off, completing a journey it feels like many of us will experience.

After 1/2 GOTT comes GOTT. Once again, Sneaker from Dresden/Berlin and Scannoir from Zurich have locked themselves up in the studio to translate their love for EBM and dark synth pop into striking dance floor material. The successor to their debut EP on Uncanny Valley, which introduced open-minded dancers to the self-proclaimed New Swiss Wave last year opens up with TOTAL KOMMANDER, a hard rocking drum workout that makes you want to march ahead of a demonstration after you'll leave the club. EN BLICK UFS MATTERHORN is a tribute to playful Minimal Synth and a declaration of love to the fun that two like-minded people have when producing music. And then we have PASSION, a 15-minute monster of a track, that carries all the qualities of GOTT to the extreme: unique arrangements with a surprising build-up, whipping drum work and an atmosphere that can be both intimidating and soothing.

Dutch studio wizard Billy Ray de la Haye drops a timeless and spaced out Mini-LP on eudemonia with six tracks made between the 90’s and 2019.

LSW is the product of musical collaborations between Leonard Horres, Sebastian Welicki and Gregor Darman. Also featuring contributions from various members Düsseldorf's candomblé tribe, the LP is an ensemble of eclectic rhythms and self-loathing nihilism. Recorded in Düsseldorf 2018.

‘’Ruff drum computer- and bubbling ambient excursions from Bonn, Germany, making their first appearance on vinyl for the new decennium’’.

Newly established label Raakvlak plucks a lush synth gem from the depths of 80’s D.I.Y.- cassette culture for their inaugural release. Heil Eris / Enjoy sees the first-time reissue of the work of German synth-wizards Overflow. The group, conceived as the session band of cult tape label Brainstorm-Studio, merely released two cassettes within the timespan of one year, of which Raakvlak now has culled some of the finest moments.

Out of a matrix of drum computers, synths, voices, tape FX and a flute come these five live-takes (no overdubbing used!), dedicated to the trio’s mascot Apumé, which was present at all sessions.

Ranging from the aquatic ambient excursion on ‘’Pressure Wave’’ and the existential cold-wave pop of ‘’Take A Chance’’ to the blissed-out downer ‘’Voiceless’’, Overflow shies away from musical expectations and thereby sounds as up to date as ever.
Restored, remastered and available on wax for the first time! Comes with download card plus three digital bonus tracks.

Music From Memory are happy to finally announce MFM045 - VA ‘Music For Theatre And Dance’ (EP).

This will be the first in a small series of EPs which will focus on music which was initially created for or inspired by dance and performance. Created as a dialogue with the avant-garde and highly experimental work in dance, theatre and art evolving at the time, the music was in turn at times greatly innovative.

That it was created for a dance or performance though means that such music was also often highly rhythmic and a number of pieces from this time stand out and seem greatly deserving of a new context.

Whether it’s more ambient or atmospheric works or whether it’s in the more rhythmic or percussive pieces, Music From Memory brings together a selection of tracks which aim to highlight this highly innovative direction in music.

The fourth part of the Wave Earplug series trying to support the underground wave scene across Europe. Released on vinyl LP limited to 500 copies. This time artists come from Albania, Canada, Germany, France, Colombia, Slovakia, Sweden, Belgium and Hungary.

Ghettoplanet Classics From Hellboii's Vault. As Heard At The Legendary Dystopia Parties And On The Hague's Pirate Radio. Some Of His Best And Most Personal Recordings Of The Past 15 Years.

Last year Into The Light delved deep into the unreleased archives of Free Level, a collaborative project between Greek composers George Theodorakis and the late Petros Skoutaris. Now the label presents a blissfully sunny and gorgeously life-affirming EP of rare solo tracks from Skoutaris that were recently discovered on a forgotten CD-R.

Petros Skoutaris first rose to prominence in 1981 when the band he formed, new wave and ska fusionists Sharp Ties, sold 50,000 copies of their debut album "Get That Beat" on the back of the title track becoming a hit single all over Europe. A year later he quit the band, re-emerging in 1984 as the co-owner of now legendary Athens nightclub "Graffiti''. Up until his unexpected death in 2004, Skoutaris appeared as a guest guitarist on a wide range of records – Pavlos Sidiropoulos' classic album "Zorba The Freak" included, while also pursuing collaborative projects such as 667, Dubient and Free Level.

The tracks featured on this posthumous solo release were recorded in 2000 and were originally intended to appear on an album that never materialized. They offer a neat snapshot of Skoutaris' chameleon-like musical nature and the layered melodic intricacy of his trademark guitar playing. This latter feature is particularly evident on "Tropika", a dreamy but up-tempo affair that sits somewhere between Pat Metheny's breeziest moments and mid-1980s alternative synth-pop, and the becalmed, Flamenco-influenced sunset bliss of "Attica".

Skoutaris' life-long love affair with reggae culture comes to the fore on the two-part "Yusurum", an epic journey through off-kilter, low-slung NYC dub-funk heavily influenced by the work of Bill Laswell. Like the latter's work as Material, both versions of "Yusurum" incorporate extensive use of Indian style percussion and instrumentation, as well as hallucinatory effects and some of the warmest, weightiest bass known to humankind. It's a mind-altering trip from an overlooked, little-known Greek master!

'... 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!'

Seit einiger Zeit arbeitet die deutsch-brasilianische Künstlerin Gloria Endres de Oliveira, die auch als Filmemacherin (Musikvideos, Kurzfilme) und Schauspielerin (u.a."Babylon Berlin", "Die Pfeiler Der Macht", "Counterpart" und aktuell in Christian Petzolds "Undine" (Berlinale 2020)) aktiv ist, an der Verwirklichung ihrer musikalischen Vision. Zuerst gemeinsam mit spampoets im Duo Lovespells, seit letztem Jahr als Solo-Artist GLORIA DE OLIVEIRA. Nach Auftritten beim Further Festival und der c/o pop veröffentlichte sie in der zweiten Jahreshälfte 2019 die beiden EPs "La Rose De Fer" und "Lèvres De Sang" auf ihrem eigenen Label La Double Vie. Abgemischt im Hamburger Studio Cloud Hills Recordings, definieren sie Gloria de Oliveiras betörendes Soundspektrum zwischen Dreamwave, Ethereal und Goth Pop. Nun veröffentlicht das Kölner Label REPTILE MUSIC die Compilation der beiden EPs als "Fascination" (sprich Französich fa·si·na·syon) erstmals auf Vinyl und CD. Die LP beinhaltet die 10 original Songs der beiden EPs remastered und in neuer Reihenfolge, die 17-Track-CD-Version sowie das Digitale Album kommen mit zusätzlichen sieben Remixen von u.a.Gudrun Gut (u.a. Malaria, Monika Enterprises, Greie Gut Fraktion) Box And The Twins, Fragrance., Tellavision und The Wide Eye. Unterstützt wird die intime Atmosphäre ihrer Songs dabei durch eine entsprechende Visualisierung in bisher größtenteils selbstproduzierten Videos. Zur Vorabsingle "The Only Witness" erlaubt ab Anfang März der von der Hamburger Regisseurin Julia Ritschel aufwändig produzierte Videoclip einen weiteren faszinierenden Einblick in Gloria de Oliveiras universelles Kunst- und Klanguniversum. Parallel dazu wird GLORIA DE OLIVEIRA Ende März das US-Duo TEMPERS (DAIS/Secretly) bei fünf Konzerten ihrer anstehenden Deutschlandtour begleiten. Für Liebhaber von Cocteau Twins, Lebanon Hanover, Stina Nordenstam, Hilary Woods, introvertierter Marie Davidson Genres: Independent | Dreamwave | Synthwave | Ethereal | Electronica

Minimal Wave is proud to present "The Sound of Indifference", a rare cassette released in 1981 by Aural Indifference. Aural Indifference was a post-punk studio collective from Sydney, Australia. The two principal members were Brian Spencer Hall (the M Squared in house producer) and Kevin Purdy. The cassette album, The Sound of Indifference, was released in 1981, featuring tracks such as "Theme", "Park, and "Man Am I Progressive". Their sound ranges from minimal synth, to post-punk to quirky guitar-driven electronic folk music, some of it resembling John Maus. "Theme" appeared as the closing track on The Minimal Wave Tapes: Volume Two compilation and "Park" appeared on The Bedroom Tapes compilation. Here for the first time, we are offering a reissue of the original cassette, remastered from the master tapes and complete with original artwork, limited to 300 copies.

Cándido is the new artist upcoming at Soil Records.

Beatalicio is the new of the mini album that come up on vinyl at the end of September 2019. Includes 8 tracks influced for many styles from the New vawe, Synthcore, Ebm to the krishnacore from early 90´s.

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.

Originally released in 1978, Music By William Eaton is a private-press album from the accomplished experimental stringed instrument builder. The atmospheric recording techniques, mixed with a hint of Fahey/Takoma-lineage make for a listening experience akin to the mountainscape drawing represented on the album cover. The experience may seem simple at first, but like any great trip in nature, new details consistently reveal themselves upon each listen.

“When I started building instruments, playing guitar took on a whole new dimension. From the conception to the birth of each instrument, new layers of meaning unfolded. Cycles, connections and interdependencies became apparent as I contemplated the growth of trees from seed to old age, and the transformation from raw wood to the building of a musical instrument. I sought out quiet natural environments to play and listen to the “voice” of my 6 string, 12 string, 26 string (Elesion Harmonium) and double neck quadraphonic electric guitar. Deep canyons contained a beautiful resonant quality and echo. A starlit night with a full moon provided all the reflection and endless space by which to project music into the cosmos. The sound of a bubbling stream and singing birds added a natural symphonic tapestry to a melody or chord pattern. As I perceived it, everything was participating in a serendipitous dance. Everything was part of the music.

During this time, I decided to record an instrumental album of music. The idea was simple; it would be a series of tone poems with no titles or any information attached, only the words ‘Music by William Eaton.’ While some of the songs evolved out of composed chord progressions, most of the songs were played spontaneously, only on the occasion of the recording. These improvised songs haven’t been played since.” -- William Eaton

Recommended for fans of John Fahey, Harry Partch, Robbie Basho, Laraaji

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.

(Record Store Day 2020)

Mannequin Records is proud to celebrate 40th years of Nocturnal Emissions with more reissues setup for 2020.

"Tissue of Lies" is the Nocturnal Emissions first album, released on the band's own Sterile Records label as EMISS001 in 1980. "Tissue Of Lies"
shows you Nocturnal Emissions Industrial roots, from noisy collages to classic power noise, reminding the early Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire, Faust ('Tapes' period) or Conrad Schitzler's 'Schwarz'.

The Nocturnal Emissions project, masterminded by Nigel Ayers, has been on the cutting edge of new music since the 1970s. Nigel Ayers has been described as a Guerrilla Sign Ontologist, cutting-up and pasting the contents of the human psyche. With a background in avant-garde art, his work has grown from audio visual installations through underground video works which changed the shape of British television.

In the early eighties Nocturnal Emissions hit London with a barrage of seminal funk; pioneering the use of sound samplers, multi-cultural
collage and electronic noise. They became a shape shifting chameleon lightening the darkness of post-industrial music, combining extremist performance art and video displays with apocalyptic beat music. Nocturnal Emissions have since been credited as a catalyst for a
generation or two of sound workers.

However, at the height of their success, the Emissions decided to shun the crass commercialism that had developed around them, and to develop their work as a secret alchemy. Nigel Ayers has continued to work with a strong underground of cult support, avoiding music industry fashions, and following his own creative path he concentrated on creating a strong sense of a wilderness identity through sound.

Limited edition of 600 copies, on solid white vinyl.

'Postlude' is the second release on Solitary Dancer's new imprint, Private Possessions. After having released on some of the world's most esteemed underground labels such as Dark Entries, Graded, and Optimo, Private Possessions was borne out of a desire to control all aspects of output pertaining to the development, creation, and dissemination of their music, video, and other media. Following their debut LP 'Rites Of Passage', 'Postlude' is a three-track affair which juxtaposes two of the album's floor-focussed cuts with an extended version of 'Test Dream'. The latter has been processed into a 15-minute "Devisualization" using degradation techniques that slowly destroys the piece over time, harkening the ever-changing lucidity and memories of our own dreams.

Ian Martin's Neo Modernist is an exercise in introspection, where things aren't always rosy. Confronting your anxieties and fears may not be pleasant but sometimes necessary to escape deterioration.
Ian Martin's music channels these feelings, and gives beauty to something that expressed in words can seem depressing.
One of Rotterdam's best kept secrets comes through with
maximum emotion and prowess - Take notice.

Pantayo explores what’s possible for contemporary kulintang music with the atonal blend of kulintang ensemble instruments with vocals and electronic production. The album features eight diverse songs speaking to Pantayo’s musical influences as queer diasporic Filipinas. Produced by Yamantaka // Sonic Titan’s alaska B, Pantayo was written and recorded from 2016-2019 in Toronto.

Pantayo is an audio diary of how the ensemble has grown together as writers and performers. The songwriting process started with members workshopping and performing traditional kulintang pieces from the Southern Philippines, often instrument-switching on the kulintang, agongs, sarunays, gandingan, bandir, and dabak. Adapting kick drums and synths to the modal tuning of the gongs further expanded Pantayo’s ability to incorporate modern musical expressions such as punk and R&B. “If you listen to the recordings of our rehearsals and songwriting sessions, you can hear us deconstructing the kulintang parts section-by-section and practicing our songs in different styles” says keyboardist and vocalist Eirene Cloma. “You can also hear how close we’ve gotten and how our creative workflow strengthened over the years.”

Grounded in the interpretation of kulintang music, Pantayo can be a vehicle for discussions around diasporic Filipino identity. All five members have different experiences of settling in Canada and with that comes their relationships with music. Kat Estacio, co-founder of Pantayo, says “One way that we can make this world feel like home for folks like us is to mix the kulintang music that we learned with different sounds and song structures that feel familiar to us."

SDH return with the Against Strong Thinking EP, which follows its 2018 self-titled album. Although six songs may be insufficient, their new tracks highlight the strengths of their debut. The beats are deeper, the atmospheres sadder.

The band continues to explore the musical language as a poetic form and trying to discover new questions that allow the great categories of thinking to be undone. Against Strong Thinking talks about the importance of facing all that categorical, dogmatic and conclusive thinking. There is a need for dialogue with everything that seems unquestionable. Again, the questions guide all the songs and, again, there is no single answer. Sometimes this doubt is fertile, sometimes it is painful and involves a total and profound loss.

The album begins with Suffer, a perfect song to cry in late night clubs, dancing with tears in your eyes. But SDH know how to make a crowd dance too. No Miracles is an instant banger and Your Next Story sounds cruelly sexy. Poem Against Strong Thinking and Four Arms have that melancholic trademark sound with interesting musical progressions that we discovered in their first album and there’s also a good surprise: the inclusion of a re-recorded version of You Pt. 12, the first song released by SDH in 2016, this time with a better production that makes it easily one of their best tracks.

The importance of the body, the senses, the dance and the dialectic is present in each theme as a form of struggle of a voice that dialogues with itself against the firmness of its own strong thoughts.

Mannequin Records is delighted to present their fourth full length of Polices des moeurs, the Canadian minimal synth duo formed by Francis Dugas and Manuelle Gauthier. With PÉRIL, Police des moeurs expands its sound and ventures into mysterious, bewitching and enigmatic landscapes. The foundation is still synthetic, minimal and punchy, relying on mechanical rhythm, powerful bass and catchy melodies, but it's now combined with more elaborate arrangements, punctuated by delicate textures and depthful laments with uncertain but sincere meanings.

Formed in 2010 in Montreal, Police des moeurs got noticed right from the start with its infectious and direct synth pop. The band has released several recordings, including Péril, their fourth full lenght album on Berlin's Mannequin Records. The Canadian group has performed in Mexico, the United States, as well as in ten European countries, and has share the stage with The Damned, ADULT., TR / ST, Xeno & Oaklander, Automelodi, Essaie Pas, Xarah Dion, Duchess Says, to name a few.

The Flying Luttenbachers’ “Shattered Dimension” is the first offering by the seminal cult band since 2007. It is released on CD and download on March 1st, 2019 via ugEXPLODE Records and on gatefold double LP in April 2019 via the Austrian God Records label. The current New York City based version of the group on this recording features stalwart leader and primary composer Weasel Walter on drums, saxophonist Matt Nelson (GRID, Elder Ones), bass guitarist Tim Dahl (Child Abuse, Lydia Lunch) and guitarist Brandon Seabrook.

"When we played live, we would bring out lawnmowers, pots and pans and pipes we would smash rhythmically with a mallet. Anything that made noise. And then there was also the
kraut-influenced, more ambient Dark Arts. I loved percussion, I loved beautiful things, but then, I could also whip out a chainsaw, you know."

"MUSAR" is excited about the return of MANASYt - Bulgaria's electro-synth pioneer, for ’Inferior Subjects', a new album, bubbling with madness and loaded with darkwave sounds. The 2nd part of MANASYt's lost tracks series, recorded between 2000's to 2010's and found in his old PC.

For his second release on MUSAR, Petar Tassev collected some of his best unreleased works to date, inspired by metal and new-wave music then interpreting the moody, roughness to a raw, pure and dark adventure, like no one else does. 'Inferior Subjects' consists of 8 dark and psychotic tracks that will take you deep into a futuristic dystopian world adventure - Opener ''Screw The Routine'' is a dark-wave fetishistic killer, pushing the clubby electronic music borders to new limits.

''Terminal Medicine'' is a deep psychedelichorror soundtrack to a very bad day at your dentist while ''Daylight For 15 Seconds‘' (inspired by the Belgian film 'Nuit Noire') is a slow hazy burner that will send you straight to the mental clinic ''Positive Deception'' is the anthem of the aliens while attacking earth, ’'Secret Time'' will lock you in a room where time moves backwards and forwards at the same time and ''Insect Sect'' a mystic electro piece of music for
a deep nightmare.

Closing the album - ''Metacontol'' and ''God of Chance'' two evil energetic electro bombs, pure chaos and full of post-punk elements, perfect for fetish party/techno rave, fitting for an artist given to performing live in a rubber 'gimp' mask. 'Inferior Subjects' will mark the beginning of 'MUSAR's' new limited Cassette Tape series that will focus on producers edgy sides and the wonderful weird side of electronic music.