Brilliant energetic techno tracks with 90’s aesthetics. Last one in the Head Front Panel series according the label. Head Front Panel has demonstrated the sheer diversity one can achieve within techno if you are as talented as Merseysider John Heckle.
Medical Records presents the debut full-length release of Le Cliche, entitled ‘Consumer Behaviour’. The album consists of 11 songs influenced largely by European synth pop of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. The music might be best described as minimal synth, synth pop, postmodernist, cold assembly line with neo consumerist themes, based on the use of synth sequences and virtual voices. Le Cliche is the synth project of Gerard Ryan, native of Limerick (Ireland). All of the tracks on the album are from the 2012-2014 period except for ‘I woke up this morning (like I always do)’, which is a reimagining of a 1984 demo of the track entitled ‘I dreamt I was dead’. ‘Production Line’, is the mostly instrumental opening track to the album which clearly displays its Kraftwerkian influences. The Le Cliche sound is attained by combining a mix of old and new technologies.
Medical Records in partnership with Crispy Nuggets Blog present the unreleased recordings of England’s Mixed Feelings. Mixed Feelings grew up in Basildon which was also the home of Depeche Mode. In 1981, Sean Cooper met Martin Gore on holiday (around the time of “New Life”), and they instantly hit it off discussing synthesizers, school, teachers, etc. Martin was inspirational for Sean to follow his dream of making music. They played shows at school and various locations until 1982 when they first entered a studio and recorded “Final Demand”, “Because Of You”, and “Ice Machine”. These tracks received some local airplay, and they continued to play more gigs. A year later, they entered the studio again to record a few more tracks. This LP is a collection of known recordings by Mixed Feelings. It is a brilliant snapshot into the minds and talent of a group of young musicians on a mission. The opening track “Another Place (Like Home)” sets the mood with melodic synth lines and punchy electronic accents. Excellent songwriting and moody atmospheres prevail on this record. 11 tracks in total (including one cover and homage to their inspiration early on…). Other notable tracks include “Because Of You”, “They Told You So”, and “The Captain”.
Medical Records presents a hand-picked selection of the early recordings of Germany’s Bal Pare. Members were Kirsten Klemm (vocals), Jan T. Krahn (Synthesizer), Matthias Schuster (Synthesizer, Beatbox). and drummer Jurgen Weiss. The first Bal Pare LP “Hamburg-Paris-Catania” was released in 1982 on Konkurrenz Records. Since they had a large fanbase in Sweden, the second release (“Metamorphose”) came out in Stockholm on the Krautrock label. Around this time, a new member, Manfred Asmus , joined on keyboards and programming and Jan T. Krahn and Jergen Weiss had left the band. Much of the material from this selection of tracks were culled from unreleased sessions from the 80s with Manfred Asmus. The opening track “Rien” is a perfect display of what synth pop is modeled after. Rich lead synth textures, male/female interplayed vocals, and electronic percussion. Though the entire record flows with ease and captivates the listener from beginning to end, other standout tracks include “Palais d’Amour”, “Die Idioten”, and “Meilleur Du Monde”.
The mysterious, no-holds-barred combo Paranoid London has decided to put out a double album containing much of their previously released material, alongside a smattering of previously unheard cuts (including a collaboration with Detroit legend DJ Genesis). The hard-to-find classics still sparkle – check the brilliantly sparse-but-heavy “Paris Dub 1” (with regular vocalist Paris Brightledge) and ragged “Transmission 5” (featuring a killer spoken vocal from Mutado Pintado) – while the new cuts are thankfully up to similarly high standard. Here is some more repetitive, machine bass music for DJs to play loud & dancers to freak to.
Frigio label founder Juanpablo is back, this time with a full five track mini-LP. Darkness gathers above the needle’s edge as the Colombian artist delivers the shadow strewn The Hideout. Abstraction is balanced against dancefloor clout across this quintet of underworld electronics. Rhythms curve and bend, scattering into the blackened chasms of “Chrome Light” and “Shadow’s Color,” before resurfacing into the light of “Indumorg.” The title piece burns with a slow intensity. Sinister coils of Acid drip, skies bruise and ash rains before “They Watching You” closes.
For a brief moment Turin was Italy’s Sheffield, producing an astonishing number of DIY electronic groups. In the context of a wider Europe, Italy has never been thought of as a hotbed of minimal electronic music, but Mannequin Records compilations Danza Meccanica: Italian Synth Wave 1982-1987 have shone a light on a scene little heard, even within Italy’s borders. But the history was still incomplete.. some new horizons now must be unveiled, showing that between the years of 1982 and 1984, the city of Turin in northwest Italy was home to a quiet underground renaissance of experimental electronic music.
Anniversary Edition of this Italian Cold Wave masterpiece from 1984. On a cold autumn evening in Milan in 1981, Nino La Loggia met Giacomo Spazio for the first time. The two had the same passion for music: Kraftwerk, Joy Division, DAF and the whole new scene of proto-electronic wave headed by Cabaret Voltaire. Together they decided to start the musical project called 2 + 2 = 5, a tribute to Orwellian dystopia. Shortly after, Cha Cha Hagiwara joined the band. Already a keyboard player in Jeunesse d’Ivoire, she enriched the band’s raw sound with sonority and resonance which we can now define as analog. In 1983 the trio entered the studio to record their first LP titled ‘Into The Future’, now reissued by Mannequin Records for the 30th Anniversary.
The Doomsday Initiative is a musical concept that the end of the world was here and doom was plunging to terrible sadness. Selected artists 2AMFM ( D’Marc Cantu & Tadd Mullinix) produced and created ideas of this planet we live on in an ideal landscape of doomsday.
The Doomsday Initiative is a musical concept that the end of the world was here and doom was plunging to terrible sadness. Selected artists 2 Dogs In A House (aka Steve Summers and Ron Morelli) produced and created ideas of this planet we live on in an ideal landscape of doomsday.
From the vaults of Ron Hardy… Nightmoves Transdance (nyc mix), Phuture Phuture Jacks, Sensation (Unreleased mix 1).
‘Digital Solutions’ is a culmination of a 35 year relationship with music production for the mastermind behind Model 500, techno pioneer Juan Atkins. Marking the 30th Anniversary for the first label in a genre that has taken over on a global scale, Digital Solutions is only the second full length album ever to be released on the seminal cornerstone of dance music, Metroplex Records. Definitive Detroit is what the world has come to expect from Atkins, and this selection of tracks delivers just that. Exploring both electro and straight four on the floor, Digital Solutions gives a glimpse into what will be deemed a blueprint for the next 30 years. Model 500 and Metroplex welcome you to the future with Digital Solutions.
Design a Wave aka Tom Hirst has been making music since the late 90s, via bedroom synth, dictaphone collages and coldwave guitar textures. Since then, he has developing his distinctive blend of experimental synth-wave. This latest EP, International Journey of Synthetic Emotion, comprises of three tracks, introduced by experimental synths and drum patterns of track I. The EP delves into electro dance territory with track II, moving towards off-kilter house on the B-side.
“The new Tanz Ohne Musik seems to be a small step back to the synthpop / minimal wave sound of earlier releases and away from the Galakhorrö angstpop. A small step though. Like on “Between Our Body Shapes” there are still heavy Galakthorrö influences, but Tanz Ohne Musik seems to be working more towards their own sound; an interesting sound! Most tracks have a slow, analogue sound with typical vocals. Some tracks tend more towards minimal wave, other more towards angstpop, but most are somewhere in between.” gangleri
Black People is a moniker of Brigthon techno legend Tobias Schmidt (Disko B, Tresor, Scandinavia +++). He has previously appeared on FlexiWave by releasing 7 Brain Wash (Flexi003) and on the much acclaimed cassette 290.625 (Flexi005). Here he strikes again with a 6 tracker of dark melancholic synth/punk wave.
Portland based Futility returns to FlexiWave with a new 7″. This time with the very much sought after synth-pop-wave banger track Zero Sum as the title tune and the instrumental up-beat track Gaz and spike for the b-side.
