After their collaboration in Panzerkreuz Records with Black Sites (F#x & Helena Hauff), the guys from Ghetto GEM did a series of small live performances in the The Hague squat scene. Places like Dystopia, Maakhaven and Syndicaat. Performances that took place during the Schilderswijk riots which delivered some slow and menacing tracks. Some of the recordings where found and six of these tracks can be found on this mini tape album.
Minimal Wave is releasing a newly mastered compilation of 6 tracks made by Scene de la Bohème (aka Anthony Waites), entitled ‘Standing in the Rain’. Scenes de la Bohème was formed by Anthony Waites in London, in 1981 with an innate desire to create poetic, subversive pop music. Without any intention of ever signing to a record label, he self-released one untitled 7” single in 1982, an edition of 150 copies, with money funded to him by his parents for his 21st birthday. He often used borrowed synthesizers to record his music in various bedroom studios and friends’ houses supplemented by his beloved cherry red Hagstrom guitar. This release includes 2 tracks that come off his sought-after untitled 7″ from 1982 and 4 are previously unreleased.
The Misz formed in Gent in 1983 by Jan Van den Broeke and Dries Dekocker at a time when they had both just relocated from the country. They lived on the same street and collaborated freely with the limited equipment they had, which always centered around the Fostex 250 4-track tape recorder. They used an unknown monophonic synthesizer, casio synths, roland drum machines, hand drums and guitars through effects pedals, improvising with their voices and often and included friends for additional voices and sounds. They captured these sonic experiments and sometimes released them on cassette in editions of 100-200. They described themselves as young, immature and bit strange yet totally bold and fearless. They sang about what surrounded them from world politics and environmental catastrophes to love and lust.
Pinkman delivers another sturdy record for the connoisseurs of discomforting electronics. The second 5 Years Of Tears release unifies 6 artists, each with their own interpretation of the labels ill-famed sound, embodied in vibrating basslines, metallic beats, and corrosive acid. Gear yourself up for yet more nerve-racking music and get accustomed to the obscurity of this series of releases, because the madness is all but finished.
The Hacker pulls out his Amato moniker to deliver an abyssal, floor-ready EP, drawing on influence from the funkier side of early electronic body music. Though dark, the illustrious Frenchman seasons the A-side tracks with a healthy dose of groove for peak-time frenzy. Meanwhile the rather dejected flip side will do the trick for the murkier of dance-floors.
Identified Patient and his notorious femme fatale are back with another record of deranged darkroom anthems for Pinkman. This 12″ is where crunchy drums and heavy bass are laced with aggressively seductive vocals by Sophie Du Palais. While the theme of the songs, compared with their previous record, goes in a rather kinky direction, the raw ferocity that never fails to grip a dance floor remains.
Identified Patient drops another calamitous record on Pinkman. Four dungenous slowbeat cuts, brimming with energy, emotion and attitude. The EP kicks off with Geen Syndroom where jaded, murky melodies go in tandem with sexy bass lines and an obliterating broken drum beat. Thereafter, Nog Steeds High Van De Lak progressively evokes feelings of desolation and melancholia, while carrying an aggressive punch and irresistible groove. Do the flip to find two more ferocious productions in Ver Verwijderd Van Vermoeid and Haar Glans Altijd Strak. The former grips you firmly with bubbling acid and machine gun snares on the backdrop of violent kicks. The latter ends the voyage entrancingly with hypnotic synth lines, whiplash-snares and rattlesnake-hats.
Cititrax presents ‘Dream Bleeds’, a new vinyl release by Brighton, UK based producer L/F/D/M aka Richard Smith. ‘Dream Bleeds’ overflows with body jerking industrial, raw acid/techno, and hints of the warehouse sound of the late ‘90s and the caustic spirit of EBM. Richard Smith says about ‘Dream Bleeds’, “attaching meaning to songs is often arbitrary but when the visceral feeling of music, particularly instrumental body music, is laid bare, the interaction is immediate and physical. These tracks thread together; each starting point completely open, each new step informed by the last. I find it interesting that the process is the same but the outcome somewhat unexpected; shaped by emotion, inspiration or even constraints of time, they evolve as they do in that time. They reach a different end point due to that evolution of circumstance.”
Art Kinder Industrie was a band from Tarbes, south of France. Formed in 1988 by Xavier Vincent (R.I.
P.) and David Carretta it was the first EBM act in France to have distilled the legacy of DAF, Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb. Active between the end of the eighties and beginning of the nineties their output consisted of a few self released tapes and various live performances. Lux Rec selected 6 tracks produced between 1988 and 1990 to be released on vinyl. In collaboration with Unknown Pleasures Records.
Belgium based composer, poet and multi-instrumentalist Denis Mpunga formed Eko Kuango in the early ’80s. A unique fusion of African rhythms, jazz, subtle synth arrangements with an eastern flavour; they managed to introduce a strong sense of poetry – both musically and lyrically. The band garnered a reasonable following from numerous concerts played during their career, but remained little known except by a few music aficionados around the globe. Eko Kuango only released 4 tracks in the form of an EP in 1986, the band recorded one year later a studio album with the help of renowned sound engineer Arnould Massart which until now remained totally unreleased. Now with a newfound interest in their work, Libreville Records offers in this edition both the 4 tracks from the original EP and the tracks from the session of the ‘lost’ album.
Since childhood Serge Fabriano bathed in music, between his native Guadeloupe and Paris where he grew up. He attended the music conservatory, learnt how to play bass, played with many musicians and was ultimately angling for a career as a music teacher. During the mid-70’s, he alternated between teaching classes and live gigs, and performed in Germany with a funk band comprised of ex-GIs from the US Army. From 1978 onwards, Serge Fabriano devoted more time to music. He became a musician’s musician, doing studio recordings with rock bands and he also played with members of the Caribbean diaspora. Later the group Fabriano Fuzion was born. The band brought together some of the Caribbean’s most inspired musicians: Martinican-born Mario Canonge on the piano, Alain-Jean Marie on the synth, Labor brothers on saxophones, Claude Vamur on the drums, singer/percussionists Marie-Reine Lamoureux and Marie-Céline Lafontaine, Roger Raspail, Sully Cally and Hector Ficadière on Ka percussions. It is precisely the Gwo Ka – this ancestral “root” music deeply embedded in the heart of the Guadeloupe musician – which constitutes the rhythmic backbone of this first opus. The Gwo Ka, the jazz, the poetry and the spiritual vibe are gathered here to form a splendid album; one of the true masterpieces to emerge from the French West Indies.
From the opening drum pick up of ”Soul Fanfare #3” it is clear that The Mandatory Eight are here to make you move. With proud horn lines reminiscent of something that you might find in the Stax vaults, Soul Fanfare definitely takes it’s lead from backing bands such as the Barkays and the funkier side of Booker T and the MGs. One can imagine that this was definitely a set opener for the group, guaranteed to put foot to floor. Guitar and bass have a care free movement and feel, conjuring up tones of late 60’s summer soul hits. The B-side ”Turn It Out” has a darker, moodier feel to the previous side. Still a dance floor filling groove, the band take a direction more similar to below the radar funk outfits such as Amnesty or LA carnival. Biting minor horn lines set the tone backed by a bubbling bed of congas, rhythm guitar, unruly bass and drums which don’t dip below boiling for the duration. ”Turn It Out” features a manzarek-esque farfisa organ solo which sets the sonic tone of a band without funds but with plenty of soul in the bank. Both sides will reflect well for different moods on the same dance floor.
With the ”Revised Recordings EP”, Sleeparchive continues to research and master the dense constructed rhythmic textures that have become his signature sound. The three titles are magistral demonstration of Roger Semsroth’s high-hand at designing such labyrinthine structures, ever so strongly rooted in an exalted past, yet always thrusting forward. Ongoing with his Sleep Cycle series, he includes six tightly locked grooves cut on the A-side, only available on vinyl format.
Tracklist:
01. Beverly Hills 808303 – Acid Planet 7 – a1
02. Gladkazuka – Ramdomlee (string)
03. X-Ray Connection – Replay (M.W. Cut)
04. DJ Ungel – Transpirits
05. Opposing Currents – Eyes Down
06. Dark Star – Hello Cleveland!!
07. Jay Fields & Bill Converse – Bodily Tension
08. Muziekkamer II – The Sun was the Stronger
09. Ruins – Elegant Shout
10. Anne Clark – Wallies
11. International Music System – An English ’93
12. Zov Zov – Hands Held Up
13. Zaliva D – Faraway
14. Gladkazuka – Naturalia
15. Nick Mackrory – Uneven Keel
16. Plein Soleil – Telegramme (Kaumwald Edit)
17. Jamal Moss – Black Herman
18. Bardar – Love Story Written In Blood
19. Clip – Applegate Mechanism (Cora Novoa Remix)
20. Plazmot – Orot Levanim
21. Electric Universe – Electric Pulsation
22. Kuniyuki Takahashi – Signifie
23. Persona Non Grata – God of snakes
24. Dunkeltier – Arcade (Dunkeltier Edit)
25. Mordd Imbet – No Orange Juice, No Love
26. Matias Rivera – Reflejo (Demo)
27. Decadance – On and On (Fears Keep On)
28. Identified Patient – Geen Syndroom
29. Terence Fixmer – Warm Leatherette
30. Andrea Paz & Oddy – Trucks
31. Chris Carter – Lab Test
32. Credit 00 – Weg von diesem Ort (Georgie D Tribute)
33. Lucrecia Dalt – Analogue Mountains
34. Dominion – Voodoo Visions
Long time kept in the pipelines, we are proud to welcome the discreet, although agitated newcomer Legion 808 conveying his debut vinyl release on the label. Composed while stuck in some kind of hallucinated trance, his mind and body cemented behind the four walls of his Parisian apartment, the Frenchman ultimately unleashes a scathing first entry into his discography. Taking the shape of a vicious six track mini-album, long brewed with ruthless humor, oozing fever and nervous breakdowns, ‘Tombouctou Crisis’ feels as vigorous as a slap in the face. Making up for some of the best industrial bedroom music we’ve heard as of late, he always manages to find his way back to the surface throughout the many layers of bizarre grooves and caustic humor, zealous snare attacks and strange nursery rhymes. Only to uncover a depressurized atmosphere of sorts; from which a strong smell of burned asphalt never gets off your clothes.
What once started as an anonymous underground project with stamped white labels and a clever take on sampling, has since then unfolded to be one of the longest-running and most successful teams in current dance music. Nurtured by the sounds of the past and blessed with the techniques of today, the music of Tiger & Woods always kept evolving in and around the tropes of disco, house and boogie. Celebrating the 10th anniversary this year, Marco Passarani and Valerio Delphi managed to arrive at album number three. A.O.D. (adult oriented dance) is inspired by the faded buildings and images of discotheques on the Italian countryside, the romantic start and bittersweet endings of summer, beach life and the excitement of travelling through the landscape to get to aforementioned temples of dance and subsequently the morning after. Except for the 100% sample-free 1:00 am, everything on A.O.D. is based on a quiver of cleared samples from the Roman institution that is Claudio Donato and his Full Time and Goodymusic emporium. In Tiger & Woods hometown Rome, the often very electronic and futuristic sound of Italo Disco had a different twist. Much more boogie-based and influenced by the song-writing styles of New York City’s dance scene, it played in a league of its own. Tiger & Woods use these materials to take them apart, out of context and into contrasting areas. Molding something completely new, one gets fooled to recognize Sade songs that aren’t, pop music instrumentals and a reprise of memories that never existed. A ride through ones brain in a convertible with an Italian FM radio station playing in the background. Or to use less stiff poetry: a chill out album you can dance to or a dance album you can chill out to.
The Hipodrome Of Music 