recommendations 
Thursday, 23 May
Another special 12" from the enigmatic electronic operator, June. Doing it right with scant background info and a genuinely gorgeous feel for analogue production, 'Golden Era' is June's tribute to a classic period of European electronic music, 1977-84, taking in five pieces enriched with emotional and futuristic melodic sequencer arrangements and powered by proper Rolls Royce basslines. This is the debonaire sound, the kind which captured the imaginations of early Detroit and Chicago stars and ruled the classiest 'floors of Europe from Antwerp to Aberdeen. Each cuts is A+ prime, from the romantic swi… Read more
Following last year's one-off hook-up with Blackest Ever Black, which showcased storming versions from Regis and Monoton, Desire Records go it alone on their second volume of Ike Yard remixes. Tropic of Cancer get top billing with their take on the NY post-punk minimalists' 'Half A God': they offer up a cold-to-the-touch, marbled slab of sepulchral, introspective dub, Camella Lobo's phantasmal vocal presence and reverbed guitar beckoning you into a colour-bled zwischenwelt; deadly sparse and unforgiving, at times it sounds like it could be a lost instrumental sketch from Hannett… Read more
**Includes digital download code redeemable from the label** "Majical Cloudz is the voice of Montreal songwriter Devon Welsh, exploring the negative space within electronic music, using his powerful vocals to say “no” to the infinite possibilities digital instruments provide and instead choosing to focus his attention inwardly. Joined by Matthew Otto to collaboratively produce and perform his songs, the 2012 debut album ‘II’ and the ‘Turns Turns Turns’ EP released on Arbutus / Merok in December gained praise for their simplicity and honestly. Now, ‘Impersonator’ brings Welsh’s songs int… Read more
'Secret Diary' is the debut album by David Grellier's College, who're best known for penning Drive OST's pivotal anthem, 'A Real Hero'. Originally issued in 2008, it's a deeply nostalgic reverie synthesizing the music he grew up with - from '80s movie scores and soap themes to American pop culture, Daft Punk and DJ Falcon - in a perfectly retro-futurist cycle of 14 emotional electro-pop paeans. There are three vocal tracks, 'The Energy Story' starring Futur Records boss Minitel Rose, his soaring 'She Never Came Back' featuring Electric Youth, and the beautifully cinematic 'Fantasy Park' with Ano… Read more
'Teenage Color' is the debut EP by David Grellier's College, who is best known as the guy behind Drive OST's mighty anthem, 'A Real Hero'. It was first issued back in 2007/8 and should now find a very receptive new audience to its perfect synthesis of '80s American movie themes and pop culture. All five tracks are entirely instrumental and packed with the kind of nerve-tweaking melodies and adrenalising drum machines that gave you brainfreeze as a kid watching French/Japanese cartoons and John Hughes movies. It's only 17 minutes long, but we can clearly hear those classic hooks in germination, primed for canny DJs and lovers of the most romantic electro-pop.
**Hand-stamped and individually numbered edition of 500 copies. No digital release** 2013 updates of John Foxx's 1980 classic. Dave Clarke & Mr. Jones present a killer _Unsubscribe_ remix with a thoroughly authentic analogue snap and bite, resteering the track for maximum dancefloor potential. John Tatlock and John Doran give a more brooding, New York punk-funky mix on the flip focussing on more emotional, proggy arrangement sure to seduce the right 'floors.
Thursday, 16 May
"Metro Detroit frisky/risky dreamer DJ Coyote Clean Up serves up a heart n’ hardbody emotional saga with 2 Hot 2 Wait, his deep-debut full-length on 100% Silk. Hot-under-the-collar horniness (a woman simply counts to three on “Zebra Go Seek” and you start to undress), headphone-house grain (the fuzzy gut-bump on “The Least U Could Feel” is like warm breath whispering in your ear), skrewed RnB Freestyle strip-hop (stuttery layers give hopeful, life-affirming energy to the lover-lost “Awesome Luv”) and out-of-time mash-ups (“Double Dip” is a memory overlapping, with a classic ’95 dial-ton… Read more
**First CD issue of this obscure 1981 post-punk obscurity with wicked elements of minimal wave, raucous punk and worldly influence. Includes bonus tracks not heard on the original LP** "An errant project of suburban Los Angeles art collective World Imitation Productions, Monitor was the sonic outlet of four young artists grappling with their terror and amazement in the convergence of the late 1970s punk scene and Southern California's consumerist decadence. As with the collective's visual artwork and events, Monitor blends archaic influences with modern technology into one of the era's most curious a… Read more
**Edition of 250 copies with insert** Acutely contrasting split from two noisy and gothic coldwave sirens. Vancouver, Canada's //Zoo gives four cuts of her self-described "Fu*k Music", a brace of black metal guitar atmospheres, emaciated drums and gothic croon at times recalling Zola Jesus and at her best in the HTRK-like 'Softcore'. Flipside is Petra Schelm's turn. The solo project of Funerals' Mollie Wells from Columbus, Ohio, who takes inspiration from the Baader-Meinhof Group in four slightly cheesy crooners...
Thursday, 09 May
**Haunting chamber pop and witchy drone somewhere between Tropic of Cancer and Haxan Cloak. White vinyl edition of 500 copies housed in printed inner sleeves and glossy gatefold jacket** "Launched in 2006 by Nicolas Devos and Penelope Michel, along with their project Cercueil (responsible for three albums particularly noteworthy), Puce Moment has so far existed mainly on stage, diluted over time (with only a handful of concerts) and imagery (projections, performances or contemporary dance pieces). Ice, dust and blinding flashes of white light: Puce Moment had the scene, only the soul and back… Read more
Detroit's ADULT. have - just about - survived several cycles of fashion, their love of electro and kohl-eyed techno-pop pure, unwavering and indefatigable. Good on 'em. That's not to say we're bowled over by The Way Things Fall, their fifth studio album to date; it's mostly business as usual, spiky electroclash with little to distinguish it from what was being played in Nag Nag Nag circa 2001-2 but delivered with a confidence and authority appropriate to its makers' experience. Sparse disco-punk torch songs like 'Love Lies' and 'Tonight, We Fall' remind you how much the likes of Glass Candy… Read more
Thursday, 02 May
**Edition of 300 copies** Mannequin deliver their best release since those Mushy aces with four tracks of mediterranean kraut-disco darkness by Phantom Love. As far as debuts go this one is super impressive, and even makes us think it might be the work of someone incognito, who knows? So, dusk falls with gorgeous opener, 'Lotus', a nightflight vision of monotone bass pulse and star-stream synths streaks referencing classic Carpenter or Grosskopf but with more NRG, and 'Odeon Columns' cuts away to slower grooves and furtive atmosphere, distant cowbells and iced-out bleeps glinting from the a… Read more
Led Er Est's Samuel De La Rosa and Karen Sharkey debut a eerily psychedelic, almost pop-wise new project, The Coombe, on the brilliant Mannequin Records. It's not what you might expect from Mannequin Records and far better for it, skirting the peripheries of that cold, wavey sound with graceful elan. Striking opener 'Inbetween Doors', with its zither like melody and urgent, itchy post-punk zeal is a real red herring as the beats dissipate and we're left with five more tracks orbiting Flaming Tunes-liek guitar strum and synth drone on 'Tierra Amarilla' and a solo piano and drone piece titled 'Un… Read more
Thursday, 25 April
**Intra-galactic synth spectacular spiralling between Italo wormholes, celestial devotionals and psychedelic electro** "Vintage synthesizer music has ballooned from a fringe interest into something approaching an outright renaissance across the past half-decade, but few wield as much radical mastery in the realm as Jonas Reinhardt. After a couple years experimenting with group arrangements, Jesse Reiner (Reinhardt's mastermind / alter ego) returned the project in 2011 to its solitary roots, birthing the distant moon terrarium Music for the Tactile Dome, the Klaus Schulze-spawn The P… Read more
Thursday, 18 April
12" // £14.99**Edition of 500 copies with double-sided insert. Includes download code redeemable from the label** LA's Bestial Mouths follow up an excellent debut LP for Dais on this satisfying split with recent Downwards and Mannequin contributors, Deathday. The Mouths' ride Boudica-like with Sioux hollers over scorched gothic EBM rhythms and synth noise on 'White Eyes' and continue to spill blood with a battery of martial toms and explosive snares against a bellicose backdrop in 'Hollowed' - big tip for fans of Lydia Lunch, Light Asylum, or Diamanda Galas. Deathday follow an aforemention… Read more
**Edition of 500 copies on marbled grey wax. Includes download code redeemable from the label** Deathday serve a chilling debut album of coldwave synth-pop for Desire and LA's Sweating Tapes. Ripe for cyber-punks and bedroom-bound misanthropes, 'Deathday' features seven cuts powered by marching drums, sour, detuned synths and some of the most miserable off key vocals, trudging from the miserable thump of 'Sister' to the jagged, monotone synth stabs and sci-fi intrigue of 'Cold Room' and the phetish, uptempo paranoia of 'Charles Joseph Whitman' to the squally blasts and gothic traits of 'Blood On A … Read more
**First pressing - limited edition of 300 copies - purple vinyl** Desire and New York's Mishka corporation key into your darkest cybernetic fantasies with this ace from NNF and 100% Silk's Xander Harris. 'Snow Crash' is an imagined soundtrack to Neil Stevenson's classic and prescient cyberpunk novel of the same title - a dystopian prediction of "high functioning internet, avatar representation, global connectivity… anarchism, widespread violent gangs, and language viruses." Harris executes the task with robust production and poignant effect. And while his palette is perhaps a little too roo… Read more
Thursday, 11 April
The brilliantly enigmatic selectors at Light Sounds Dark are back with another stonking collection of prototypical wave obscurities. Yet again they've gone below and beyond the reach of even the most ardent compilers to pick out those bits you never knew existed, alongside some you knew but could never afford. We can barely contain our excitement at some of the pieces they've included here, among them the incredible early appearance of DAF's Chrislo Haas and Einstürzende Neubauten's Beate Bartel aka 2/3rds of Liasons Dangereuses, here as CHBB with the industrial funk sleaze of 'Go Go Go!' fr… Read more
UN-KOMMUNITI
Black Dwarf Wreckordings 83-85
Vinyl On Demand
Deluxe 4LP Box Set // £64.99
Cat. Number: VOD114
**4LP collection housed in rigid boxset with 2 x 12x12" inserts and individually numbered certificate of ownership. Edition of 500** V-O-D collects the rudimentary early-mid '80s recordings of Tim Gane, who would later front Stereolab, alongside Joe Manning, Vince "Van Hire" Adams, Dave "Smut" Smit and Pete Levy. It's an exploratory sound combining elements of power electronics, noise and psychedelia in degraded/degrading soundscapes rangong from out-and-out noise murk to rattling, rhythm-driven trips and concrète oddness. "The group was interested in musical alchemy and t… Read more
Baltic diva, Ms Maria Minerva, returns to her roots on 100% Silk with four tracks of inimitable "dunce-dance" backed by Lady Blacktronika's New York-tempered remix. Without losing any of the rudimentary charm that endeared her to us all in the first place, she casts the wavey box-pop swing of 'Black Magick' next to the swirling R&B echo-tizzy of 'Space 4 U'. With 'Symbol Of My Pleasure (Form Of My Pain)' she cannily simulates a fusion of 'Walk This Way' riffage and impressionist Afro-Latin beat pop, all dreamy and floaty, whilst 'Soul Searchin' sleazes up close with a downslow grind and a brillia… Read more
LA's Danny and Tiffany Preston aka Rainbow Arabia reach out with a canny 2nd album of colourful synth-pop following their well received debut LP for Kompakt. At once perky and melancholic, 'F.M. Sushi' has a more defined '80s synth sensibility than its predecessor, replacing the ethno-touristic elements with songs full of clean, crisp and bubbly synths and drum machines referencing classic Italo, UK synth pop and minimal wave.
**45 tracks of early '80s EBM, most reissued on vinyl for the first time. Triple LP and bonus 7" with screen-printed sleeve. Edition of 500 includes individually numbered certificate of ownership** "Data Bank A is most likely the best-known, highly prolific and protagonistic EBM/Dark-Wave/Synth project of Andrew Szava-Kovats, who is also known for his 80/90’s works as and with Dominion, Compound, Parade of Sinners on labels like New Rose/Lively Art (France), Subway (aka Subtronic) Records (Germany), Tragic Figures (Portugal) and KK Records (Belgium). As many artists back in ea… Read more
Sweet balearic dance boppers in signature 100% fashion, featuring cameo from the label's #1 lady, Maria Minerva. With multiple pairs of hands at the machines, Pharoahs brew a richly colourful and finely layered sound, sorta like a cruder, downgraded LCD Soundsystem with a thing for sci-fi novels. The title track stakes their territory in vintage future-disco lands with lush choral synth pads and supple basswork in breezy form; 'Miraculous Feet' pairs Maria M with louche dub-disco recalling ESG; 'Everything' takes it to late '80s Manchester with a mix of Belgian beat grunt and frothy acid sou… Read more
**Triple LP and DVD housed in rigid, glossy-coated boxset. 36 tracks restored and remastered by Anders Peterson: total playing time 165 mins. Edition of 500 with individually-numbered certificate of ownership** Welcome to the darkly enchanting minimal synth-pop and psych-tinged world of The Modern Art. As an introduction to the world of Coil and Current 93 collaborator Gary Ramon and his orbiting bandmates, you can't do better than 'Sonic Dimensions 1982-1985', featuring stacks of previously tape-only releases for the Color Disc label now pressed to vinyl for the first time, alo… Read more
**3LPs in foil-blocked rigid boxset with 12x12" insert and certificate of ownership. Individually numbered edition of 500** Ian Boddy's earliest kosmiche flights of fancy inspired by Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream are brought to vinyl for the first time by V-O-D. 'Spectroscopic 1979-1982' compiles three tapes originally issued by the Mirage label and written on various vintage synths and tape machines in the Spectro Arts Workshop of his home city, Newcastle. Includes 'Images' (1979/80), 'Elements Of Chance' (1981), and 'Options' (1982).
'Still Browsing', Bobby Browser drops four smooth and glamorous grooves inspired by deep house and Balearic disco. Swinging out with the plush New Jersey garage of 'As Far As I Know', he keeps the groove tucked tight in-the-pocket with 'Airplane Mode' and lets go with the chizzled euphoria strings of 'Theme From Tony's Party'. Sleaziest of all is the early '90s chill out wheeze 'Baby Dre'.
Xander Harris swaps hackneyed Giallo references for sexy cyber visions on his follow-up to 'Urban Gothic' for Not Not Fun. It's OST techno, or dancefloor cinema, depending on your disposition, foregrounding a feel for noirish romance and subterfuge moods scripted with the skill and ambition of a jobbing synthesist breaking into the late '80s sci-fi industry. With one cyborg eye on John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, and another on Brad Fiedel, Austin, TX's Justin Sweatt navigates the aerial highways of 'Tristitia' to the dark synth power of 'Legacies', passing thru the Drexciyan e… Read more
TWICE A MAN / LARS FALK / COSMIC OVERDOSE
Xenophone International 1979-1985
Vinyl On Demand
Deluxe 3LP Box // £49.99
Cat. Number: VOD113
**Triple LP housed in rigid, glossy printed boxset with insert notes by the band. 31 tracks total. Edition of 500 includes individually numbered certificate of ownership** "This Box-Set compiles the early stage (1979-85) of the swedish Label Xenophone International founded by Dan Söderqvist and Karl Gasleben in late 70’s which is well known for their own projects and tape-releases by Cosmic Overdose (Final Koka, 1980) & Twice a Man (A Goat in a Room, 1983“) as well as the 1983-release „Through“ by the previous Twice a Man-member Lars Falk. Now, … Read more
Thursday, 04 April
CLAIR OBSCUR
C.O.I.T 1981-1988: NOIR (Vinyl Edition)
Vinyl On Demand
2LP + 2CD + 7" // £32.99
Cat. Number: VOD41
**Double white vinyl (edition of 200) housed in debossed gatefold jacket with bonus 7" plus expanded CD, selection of art inserts and liner notes** This amazing archival collection from Vinyl on Demand brings together 28 tracks of kinetic, dark and unusual French wave and industrial aces by Clair Obscur. Many of them formerly appeared on the 'A Collection Of Isolated Tracks' CD, but this compilation adds 13 previously unpublished gems bundled with the first ever vinyl issue of their 1982 tape, 'La Cassette Noir', and a double CD not included in V-O-D's first, 2007 ed… Read more
Thursday, 07 March
**Finders Keepers Say: "Micro-kosmic domestic-synth-pop, pocket punk, French funk ultra rarity. Originally released in 1985 as a limited edition of 100 black cassette tapes"** Finders Keepers' Cache Cache sister label come up trumps again with this cute Gallic rarity by the prolific X-Ray Pop pair. Specially dug out by Andy Votel, 'Pirate' ranks as one of their freakiest episodes, 15 tidy, jerky, jabbin' synth-pop nuggets kissed with Zouka Dzaza's ever-endearing vocals over short, sharp shocks of cheap synth and tinny, rapid-fire drum machine patter bound for budget kicks in your bedsit/squat.
