Ital Oscillazioni – Dramma Giocoso / Vaudeville [EDA001]

During this difficult situation where we are forced to see beautiful theaters empty and quiet, the eclectic Ital Oscillazioni (Elvio Seta), offers us a couple of unpublished tracks “obscure-italo” on vinyl, in which he clearly expresses his New Romantic nature. These blend the raw and pure sound of his vintage synths, with the surprising theatricality of the Opera represented here by Gioacchino Rossini’s “L’Equivoco Stravagante”. A retrofuturistic concept italo-disco that, while we are sweaty and busy dancing it in a dirty nightclub, will transport us for a few moments to an elegant Italian theater of 1982, surrounded by heavy red velvet curtains.

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Ital Oscillazioni – Dramma Giocoso / Vaudeville [EDA001]

VA – AVI 001 [AVI001]

A STRANGE WEDDING/DATASAL/84PC/IRO AKA - AVI 001 (feat Khidja remix)

The first Avidya release. Starting with The Proposal by A Strange Wedding, this Lyon based producer, builds on their “modern style” slow trance to create a label anthem, a template. Stretched Arp, hypnotic bass and searing melody, underpinned by ocean wide kick. Datasal are next, as this Gothenburg’s trio’s debut arrives. Acoustics (Miyazawa flute / Fender bass) and electronics (Roland RS-09 / Korg Mono) collide; prog rock meets post punk meets dance; outside organised compositions to improvise to the beat. Side two leads back to the origin. 84PC, the dormant Tel Aviv collective (featuring Katzele, Naduve, Asaf and Yovav), return with a previously unreleased remix from Khidja. Their “Welcome To The Pleasuredome” moment is peak time perfection. To close Barcelona’s Iro Aka arrive with another debut. Their bubbling 303 is a tender dreamtime finale that points ahead.

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VA – AVI 001 [AVI001]

Tom Bolas – DB12 004 [DB12004]

BOLAS, Tom - DB12 004

Duca Bianco brings the disco goodness once more here with Tom Bolas serving up four fresh cuts. ‘Tanz Ohne Planeten’ is a go slow chugger with ling legend drums and glistening chords. ‘Guestlist Of Love’ soars on a slick electro beat with robotic vocals adding some cyborg funk. ‘Fick Mich’ steps it up with withering chords and libidinous vocal cries over stark and steely drums. Last of all, things get seductive and blissed out on ‘Shinjuku Strut,’ a retro future vocal disco gem designed for good times. This is a hugely varied EP that nails four very different but equally brilliant styles.

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Tom Bolas – DB12 004 [DB12004]

Byard Lancaster – My Pure Joy [STRUT240]

LANCASTER, Byard - My Pure Joy

Lancaster had initially cut his musical teeth with the avant-garde on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1960s and in Paris during the ‘70s but, throughout his career, his path was built around community engagement, positivity and “the Philly jazz sound, Germantown style.” He became an ambassador for the music of the City Of Brotherly Love, starting his own Dogtown label, helping launch the Philly Jazz imprint and campaigning tirelessly to improve the circumstances of the city’s street musicians. Lancaster’s sessions for Black Fire were planned following a gig at Caverns Jazz Club in Washington DC. “Jimmy Gray of Black Fire and I originally met during the ‘riotous blisters’ of the late Sixties there,” explained Lancaster. “We became the best of friends.” Backed by a band of Philly musicians including percussionist Keno Speller and Baba Robert Crowder (drummer for Olatunji and Art Blakey), the album also featured the Drummers From Ibadan led by Tunde Kuboye, another influential figure dedicated to community jazz with whom Lancaster had bonded while teaching in Lagos. The result was a free-flowing set of spirituality and positivity, built around full band groove workouts, solo pieces and heavy African roots. “We had big fun documenting this music,” remembered Lancaster. The message of the album remains as relevant today as ever, “I dedicate this album to all African Americans in the USA. To the youth, I ask ‘What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?’”

vinyl / CD

Byard Lancaster – My Pure Joy [STRUT240]

CV Vision – Tropical [SONLP005]

You could think of the collection of tracks here as a library record of sorts, and each track inhabits its own universe. Tropical fits various moods and situations, and it could soundtrack any number of activities at home or on a dancefloor – whether real, imaginary, or hallucinated. Strangely enough, it sounds like it could have been constructed from obscure Italian library breaks, when instead every instrument has been played and panned, several times over, across magnetic tape. The genesis of many of these tracks began when CV Vision moved to Berlin in 2014. His flat had a small chamber where he could fit a drum set, so he treated the walls with foam, and in true DIY style, dived headfirst into recording these tracks. It was the natural next step on an audio adventure that first began when CV Vision picked up the guitar in his teens, and a couple years later started recording with friends in his home town of Bayreuth. Fast forward ten years and here is his debut – a culmination of practising chops and learning instruments, mastering recording techniques and fine-tuning the CV Vision sound. It’s a sound that condenses elements of acid rock, psych soul, library funk and new wave oddities into a movie soundtrack for your mind. It’s a journey from ‘60s west coast LSD-drenched excursions to ‘80s synth and post-punk mutations. Tropical is a plunge into another time, another music you can simply swim around in and explore.

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CV Vision – Tropical [SONLP005]

The Paradox – Counter Active [AX096]

When a spark ignites between two musicians, the state of flow can be achieved. Usually, a fleeting sensation, but when captured, it is an unstoppable force. The coming together of Jeff Mills and Jean-Philippe Dary came from a collaborative project with the late great Tony Allen and created chemistry instantly. Both being cognizant of the skilled innate improvisation that was happening in small jam sessions, they conceived the concept for their collaborative project: The Paradox. They believed that this uncompromising freedom and the manifestation of new ideas allowed them to reach a higher level of spiritual consciousness within their work. Recorded in real-time; these compositions reflect captured spontaneous actions which concede honesty and truth.

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The Paradox – Counter Active [AX096]

Move D – House Grooves Vol. 1 [ATJ008]

Move D has seen a massive career over the years, starting with his early days as a German pioneer of House Music. In 1993 this was one of his first 12“ records on Time Unlimited which was mostly known for Trance and Hard Trance. This surely is a cult record and has become highly sought after over the last ten years. Its unique style of sampling comined with an uplifting, basement style production is still mindbending and timeless. This reissue was remastered by David’s long-term friend Lopazz for a full range sound experience.

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Move D – House Grooves Vol. 1 [ATJ008]

VA – Same Bitches [SMBX01]

HANDMADE/VCO/RON WILSON/DEREK PLASLAIKO - SMBX 01

The raves at Same Bitches have not changed much since back in March 2014 at OHM, Berlin. Every second month on the first Saturday at noon sharp the residents Handmade, Ron Wilson, Derek Plaslaiko, VCO and Manuela Mayoral play each a three hour set and after everyone is through the Dj who warmed up goes into the next round continuing the running order with the usual ending in a full on back-to-back orgy. The occasional special guest never gets announced, it is mainly the same bitches in charge. After seven years it has come to the point of expanding the realm and the crew decided on releasing a record. The tracks of the first Same Bitches record featuring Handmade, VCO, Ron Wilson and Derek Plaslaiko represent their diverse yet homogenous sound of the parties and arrive just on time for their anniversary in March. Hopefully soon the party can continue and we can all enjoy the music and dance together again…

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VA – Same Bitches [SMBX01]

Foreign Policy – Watching Existence [X-IMG20]

FOREIGN POLICY - Watching Existence

Foreign Policy is the electronic music project of Berlin based artist Thomas Ricard, co-founder of the Area Z collective. ”Watching Existence” marks his debut release as well as his first 12”, a six track journey of scorched electro industrial & techno body music operating as a conduit for his social observations on the modern condition, human rights and civil liberties.  The 12″ EP also includes a remix by SARIN.

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Foreign Policy – Watching Existence [X-IMG20]

Psyclones – Tape Music 1980 – 1984 [NB005]

PSYCLONES - Tape Music 1980-1984

Since the early 1980s the Eureka, California based duo Psyclones freak out in music. As one of the most long-standing DIY duos, Brian Ladd and Julie Frith created a body of work, that flirts with Ambient, experimental industrial sounds, New Wave, Post-Punk, Synth-Pop, and all that electric jazz. Besides a few hard-to-find vinyl releases, they published their music regularly via cassette tapes on labels like their own imprint Ladd-Frith or other famed 1980’s underground tape labels like Cause And Effect from Indianapolis, legendary San Francisco based Subterranean Records, Sound of Pig from New York, Insane Music from Belgium or the Spanish label Auxilio De Cientos to name but a few. Now, Notte Brigante is dropping “Tape Music 1980 – 1984”, a detailed compiled sampler on Psyclones early output, that was scattered over diverse tape releases. A nine tracks long trip into the work of a highly underrated band, that never lost their drive to explore new avenues in sound.

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Psyclones – Tape Music 1980 – 1984 [NB005]

Plugpoint Music – Last Chance [MW076]

Minimal Wave present the reissue of a rare self-released record by Plugpoint Music called ‘Last Chance’. Plugpoint Music was the minimal synth project of Reiner Ossmann, who recorded the 12 songs on this album in his home studio in Germany in 1987 and released them as an edition of 200 copies. This gem of a record was never properly distributed and so essentially disappeared until it began circulating amongst various collectors during the last 15 years. It’s a true minimal synth classic in all of its eccentricity and lack of self-consciousness.

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Plugpoint Music – Last Chance [MW076]

Borusiade – Purge [TRPLM007]

Romanian producer and DJ Miruna Boruzescu aka Borusiade knows how to create ethereal tracks, somewhere between post-wave, techno and industrial vibes. “Purge”, the new EP for Tripalium Corp, is about heart-break in forced isolation, when the only way to stay sane is purging through music and lyrics. From the 80s synth of “Let Go” to the experimental ten-minutes-trip “Haunted Evolution”, these five tracks are talking about of one’s coping systems in extreme emotional situations, hope and power to move on and last but not least, learned lessons and empowerment.

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Borusiade – Purge [TRPLM007]

N-Gynn – Another Planet EP [PCLUB008]

N-Gynn returns to Pleasure Club for his third outing on the label, this time with four electronic compositions designed for interplanetary exploration. Expect mind-warping house, psychonautic techno and otherworldly electro sounds, referencing the past whilst offering a new vision of the future.

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N-Gynn – Another Planet EP [PCLUB008]

Innershades / Do or Die – Function EP [EYA012]

Innershades and Do or Die are joining forces together blending their powerful and distinctive styles to deliver a genre-bending record which ranges between Techno, Rave, Acid and Trance.

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Innershades / Do or Die – Function EP [EYA012]

Benedek – Mr. Goods LP [LIES162]

LA’s Benedek delivers a killer old school house LP influenced by 78th Street era Beltram, Latin freestyle dubs and WBMX drum tracks. This is street beat at it’s finest and Benedek executes with precision. Classy and catchy, with a knack for melody yet still grimey as hell and full of beats you can mix. Primetime ”86 mix show material brought to life in the present tense, carrying on with tradition while flipping it upside down.

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Benedek – Mr. Goods LP [LIES162]

VA – Tales From Chicago [TALES01]

New vinyl piece from Italian label named Tales. Featuring four Chicago producers that span 3 generation. This release represent a taste of the many sounds of Chicago: blending house with acid, moving along with the sublte, and making sounds full with less. Chicago is the promised land, four stories from where it all began featuring Gene Hunt, Ed Nine, G Marcell and Hakim Murphy.

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VA – Tales From Chicago [TALES01]

backtotheparty – Acid Life [BTTP001]

backtotheparty, focused on restructuring and representing, without compromising the original spirit. Three cuts as versatile as they are captivating, from a crunching acid-laden powerhouse to a jazz funk bomb, rounded off with a hip house flecked, percussive groover.

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backtotheparty – Acid Life [BTTP001]

VA – Boots & Legs Vol.3 [BOOT003]

It’s the start of a new era for the cobbers, as they present their first compilation of 100% original music. Cementing the label’s New Age Italo manifesto, these four tracks straddle neon-tinted nostalgia and sleek futurism. Sounds from yesteryear, for the dancefloors of tomorrow.

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VA – Boots & Legs Vol.3 [BOOT003]