After a long tradition of Italian Dance Wave compilations on Slow Motion, the time has come to let our darker (and most electronic) side shine. A new compilation, the first one on our international sister label Wrong Era: Sailor of Wrong Era, named after the infamous Berlin boat parties that became a true happening in Summer 2021. Eighteen tracks split into two volumes comprising the very own Wrong Era style, crafted by renowned veteran artists and upcoming international talents from all around the globe.
Dick Essilfie-Bondzie was all ready for his 90th birthday party when the Covid pandemic hit. The legendary producer, businessman and founder of Ghana’s mighty Essiebons label had invited all his family and friends to the event and it was the disappointment at having to postpone. That prompted Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb to propose a new compilation celebrating his contributions to the world of West African music. Essiebons Special features a selection of obscure workouts from some of the label’s heaviest hitters, including a 12-page booklet. But in the course of digitizing his vast archive of master tapes, Essilfie-Bondzie found a number of Afrobeat and Instrumental masterpieces tracks from the label’s mid-70s golden age that, for one reason or another, had never been released. Those songs are included here for the first time. Sadly Essilfie-Bondzie passed away before the compilation was finished. But his legacy lives on in the extraordinary music that he gave to the world in his lifetime.
Confused Machines presents the second instalment in the ongoing EnDM (electronic non-dance music) compilation series. On this collection of immersive recordings, created across multiple time zones and countries, by label members, friends and up-comers, we keep exploring the other side of Confused Machines. The side that is dedicated to different sonically aesthetics – from ambient passages to deep drone, manipulated radio transmissions, hypnotic soundscapes to obscured soundtracks, post-punk dub and kosmische. Tracks by Mise en Scene (chronica), Testkard 225 (Confused Machines), Rapha (Chateau Royal, Schrödinger’s Box), Max Schreiber (Confused Machines), Ian Martin (Bunker, Pinkman), Sacrestia Del Santissimo Sangue (charlios), Swiss arrow, OPTN (Confused Machines), Asaf Yahel, Nimrod Gershoni, Fabrikent (Confused Machines)
Always hot on the hard-as-steel plates and murky subterranean atmospheres, Public System turns in a haunted double package from the crypt. Spanning hi-octane indus bullets, half-baked mutant salvos and shadow-clad juicers from a host of reputed names and rabid underdogs, this new comp collates ruff’n’tuff joints from gritty techno don Container, genre-unbound explorer E-Saggila, Berlin’s electro arsonist Privacy, acid-spitting hydra DJ Loser x Penelopes Fiance, basement guerilla Yabboq Penuel alias Le Syndicat Electronique, neo-punk beat thrasher Crave, Yves Tumor collaborator and sine-wave crusher Anthem, expert circuit dissector Beau Wanzer, Liquid G as remixed by Mick Wills, Night Gaunt’s Lower Tar, occult machine funk preacher Maenad Veyl, DJ Chupacabras under new guise 110, soundwaves cross-pollinator DJ Richard, vibrant mood-scapist Gavilán Rayna Russom, as well as label boss Myn going ubiquitous with studio fellows Kluentah as Myntha, and NYC’s R Gamble under their Fade Accompli moniker. A much desirable feast of raw, unhinged, all-round spine-tingling jams for both inside and outside the club.
Following a definitive first volume jam-packed with forward-thinking musical talent working in the South African creative improvised music idiom, New Horizons returns with a fresh iteration of young artists who continue in the same tradition and tone. The compilation showcases recent recordings from 14 more leading lights in South Africa’s contemporary jazz scene: pianists Thembelihle Dunjana, Afrika Mkhize, Sibusiso ‘Mash’ Mashiloane, Blake Hellaby and Siphephelo Ndlovu’s The SN Project; saxophonists Sisonke Xonti, Muhammad Dawjee and Linda Sikhakhane; singer Spha Mdlalose; drummers Ayanda Sikade, Leagan Starchild and Tefo Mahola; and trumpeters Ndabo Zulu and Marcus Wyatt accompanied respectively by Umgidi Ensemble and The ZAR Jazz Orchestra. Together they form part of a vibrant, connected community charting new sonic territory that speaks to today’s troubled times while building on the country’s unique and proud jazz history.
Futureboogie Recordings is calling time after ten years with a 20-track compilation that sums up the sound of the lovingly curated Bristol label. From throbbing arps and noirish guitar twangs to errant analogue blips and ceaseless, rolling grooves, it’s a different sound to what you might have heard five years back on the Summer Riot IV compilation, and certainly a long way from the early days. Consider Futureboogie 10² an ode to evolution as much as a toast to all the great tracks and the family of artists that have passed through the wide-reaching Futureboogie sphere since before the label was even a sparkle in the disco ball.
Private Records presents „Let’s Go Into Space 6“. The collector series continues with another collection of scarce and unreleased 1980’s Italo Disco, Electro, Cosmic Disco songs.
Ten years ago, Acid Test began with a simple concept – each track the label released would make use of the Roland TB-303. Like a producer purposefully paring down their studio setup, or the continuous imperative within underground electronic music to reduce, this concept engendered creativity with the introduction of what seemed to be an aesthetic limit. However, the decade that followed, which now culminates in the triple-LP compilation Ten Years Of Acid Test, proves acid is limitless. That the Berlin-via-LA label would expand upon the classical conception of acid house and techno is no surprise considering the cast of characters that have come in fold over the past decade. Ten Years Of Acid Test gathers key material from the label’s extended family of acid acolytes. There’s that Vienna-via-LA maestro of sad, elegant acid Tin Man (Johannes Auvinen), whose “Afters Acid” is both a highlight within his prolific catalogue and a distillation of his symphonic approach to the 303. Detroit giants Erika and Marcellus Pittman, both of whom have released remixes on Acid Test, present their respective and singular Bass Line visions. Erika, the Interdimensional Transmissions lynchpin, crafts a dark, delicate take on broken techno on “Violet Fungus” while Pittman continues his cubist house explorations on “Unknown Species,” both tracks straying from typical acid lines in favor of the intricate textures achievable on the 303. This variation in approach applies to tempo as well. Irish-based master Lerosa, as well as Delsin affiliate VC-118A, delve into downtempo atmospherics. Meanwhile, Japanese deep techno virtuoso Wata Igarashi, SUED co-founder SW. (a regular on Acid Test’s leftfield sub-label Avenue 66) and Patricia (one-half of Acid Test act Ociya) use acid as a creative jumping-off point for complex melodic concepts. Wata layers an orchestra of synth-bliss drone overtop a squelchy bassline on “Ephemeral.” SW.’s “ChaIAnJAzzz” cycles through an array of dusted chords eventually landing in skewed, fuzzy rave nostalgia, anthemic chords held aloft by a wicked UK-flavour bass line. Patricia’s “Higher Still” explores dreamy, IDM-flavoured acid, cinematic synthlines counterbalanced by propulsive, squelching acid. Acid Test devotees will be thrilled at the return of various luminaries from the catalogue, including Achterbahn D’Amour, Skudge, AAAA, John Tejada and Donato Dozzy, whose memorable remix of Tin Man’s “Nonneo” from Acid Test 01 served as a kind of proof of concept for the label. There’s new blood too. San Francisco up-and-comer Sepehr makes his label debut with the excellent “Persian Acid Prince,” as does Andreas Tilliander’s beloved hardware techno project, TM404. Ten Years Of Acid Test is a valuable portrait of a group of artists linked by a dedication to innovation within acid, in line with the genre’s storied roots. Over ten years, Acid Test has gracefully made a case for the 303’s past, present and future, the story of acid continuing to unfurl in unpredictable, addictive patterns.
“Dead Beats 1” brings together new and returning artists to Death Decay Magic, featuring tracks by Daniel Holt, Happy707, Heidi Sabertooth, Hissarlik, Man 2.0, Stockholm Syndrome AU and label boss Black Light Smoke.
The score for a film by Oscar winning director Dusan Vukotic ‘Visitors From The Galaxy’ from 1981 (FOX001LP) was remixed by 11 artists from 9 countries. All original tracks from Visitors From The Galaxy (alternative titles: Gosti Iz Galaksije; Monstrum Z Galaxie Arkana; Gaeste Aus Der Galaxis; I Visitatori Della Galassia Arcana; Goscie Z Galaktyki Arkana; Los Visitantes De La Galaxia) are arranged, composed, conducted and produced by Tomislav Simovic. This compilation includes additional screen sounds from the unpublished tapes of composer Tomislav Simovic also featured in Dusan Vukotic film. With courtesy of Tomislav Simovic estate artists were given complete creative freedom to remix, reinvent and re-imagine the futuristic soundscape of first science-fiction film in Yugoslavia that was scored in analog, abstract, electronic and synthesised music. Alen & Nenad Sinkauz, Ali Renault, Anatolian Weapons, Credit 00, Drvg Cvltvre, Goran Vejvoda, Heinrich Dressel, Repeated Viewing, Security DJ, Tapan and Timothy Fife got the sounds from Tomislav Simovic score and embarked on a musical journey that had no rule or predetermined direction or genre; it was only their creativity inspired by Visitors From The Galaxy sound that led them to a new pieces, more or less experimental, abstract or dance floor friendly. The diversity of music goes wide and deep, it is modern and made by the stars of today paying homage to a composer who always retreated in being a star.
For its sixth release, the Madrid-based label N2MU presents an eight-track Various Artists compilation featuring Ivna Ji, Teslasonic, and Larionov among others. A gathering of renowned artists able to convey a homogeneous music message without losing sight of their creative individual characters. As in the latest N2MU release, Xergio Córdoba (Eternal Midnight Mastering Studio) has been in charge of mastering duties, while the Galician visual artist, Plástica, has created the artwork for the project.
The vinyl compilation “The Dark Side Of Italo Disco” is a contrast to the numerous happy and danceable Italo Disco titles, because this sampler contains deep, mystical and melancholic songs. Flemming Dalum has selected very special titles distinguished by hard and dark beats. Masterpieces like “Body Heat” by Fokewulf 190, “Eagles In The Night” by Dario Dell’Aere, “Blue Room” by Kirlian Camera show an interesting facet of Italo Disco music.
For this third chapter of the Wamono series, Yoshizawa and Chintam unheart some of the best and rarest light mellow funk tunes and disco boogie bangers produced in Japan between 1978 and 1988. Put the needle on the record, turn up the volume and dig right now into the Wamono sound – the cream of the Japanese jazz, funk, soul, rare groove and disco music developed throughout the years since the end of the sixties in Japan.
The sea breeze, the smell of sunscreen, the first kiss of summer, the sunrises of an island, meals with friends in the sun, fruit in your hands, sky of stars, reflection of the sun in the sea, the nights of summer. Closing the summer with the new compilation of Italo Moderni ”Mellow Bangers” as the name says, italo bangers but with a very club touch, a touch of eternal summer.
Since 1991, Tresor has provided a home for artists to germinate their ideas for advanced new sounds and broadcast them to the world. The pioneers that first traversed the Detroit-Berlin connection and were at the forefront of a new cultural movement gave to Tresor its original and continuing mission: community, resistance and reshaping the world to come. The Tresor 30 compilation represents a major land- mark in this continuing history of electronic music. This unique collection of music profiles some of the artists that gave the previous three decades of Tresor its sound and foundation, but it also casts its gaze forward. Writing new postcards from the future, this collection brings new artists who main- tain a connection to that original mission to the fore, charting ways in which this ethos can contin- ue to build bridges and break walls in the next 30 years. Bringing together 52 essential tracks – both clas- sics and exclusive commissions – each of the 12 records in this box-set charts a unique line of flight from those artists that helped define the shape of this new music to those who continue to pattern its landscape further.
On Back Up: Mexican Tecno Pop, Dark Entries brings us 10 divergent tracks of Mexican electronics from 1980-1989, full of skittering analog drum boxes and saucy synthesizer hooks. 8 of these songs were culled from the 2005 CD-only compilation Backup: Expediente Tecno Pop on AT-AT records. Also included are two previously unreleased cuts. This release marks the first time many of these songs will have appeared on vinyl; it is also the first ever vinyl compilation of Mexican New Wave and post-punk. While synth pop and obscure electronics from Europe and the United States have been extensively documented, much less attention has been paid to such offerings from the periphery. Back Up serves as a vital document of Mexico’s flourishing DIY scene in the 1980s, surveying a wide range of styles and moods. By using home recording techniques, the bands featured here were able to circumvent relying on the expensive studios of the era. Tracks by Avant Garde, Vandana, and Silueta Palida mine the kind of dreary-but-infectious wave that long-time Dark Entries fans will celebrate. Meanwhile, Volti and Artefacto offer a floor-ready pop sound that has echoes of NY freestyle, with Latin percussion and boxy beats. But darker turns are present as well, with Decada 2s New Beat-inflections and electro experiments of Syntoma and their side project Escuadrón Del Ritmo.
Summer 2021 sees the fourth in the Frigio All Stars series hitting all respectable shelves. Jack Carel opens the 12” with the acid burning grunge of “Fuck This Shit” followed by Sons of Traders with the chugging 4/4 nastiness of “A for All.” A trippy, dark industrial streak runs in the snares and swagger of Rambal Cochet’s “Doomsday Scenario Interface” and in the powerful introspection of Daniel Holt’s “The Recluse.” Neud Photo arrives on Frigio with a menacing debut, “The Split” which pierces a haze of smoke in this late-night floor-filler. Honored Matres who appeared on the first volume of these series, returns with the blackest of the compilation. Machine gun percussion close the 12” with Chris Mitchell offering the chopped and gnawed “Alsina”.
Analog Africa presents their 32nd compilation, “Cameroon Garage Funk”, highlighting Yaounde’s 1970’s underground music scene. The quest to assemble the puzzle-pieces of what seemed to be a long lost underground scene took us to Camroon, Benin and further on to Togo and it was in the cities of Cotonou, Lome and Sotouboua that we managed to lay our hands on most of the songs presented in this compilation. Since there were no local labels, no producers, and almost nothing in way of infrastructure in Cameroon at that time, the artists had to be everything: musician, producer, executive producer, arranger, financier, promoter and sometimes even distributor. The sixteen tracks on Cameroon Garage Funk pulse with raw inspiration and sweat DYI mood uniting the featured diverse musicians around their willingness to do everything themselves in order to take a chance in the music scene.
Toy Tonics presents 8 reworks of rare and unexpected Italian disco and funky pop music from the 1970ies. Not the usual electronic Italodisco classics, but here come some more organic sounding band-disco music from the time of 1976 – 82. Positive vibrations and high quality dance pop reworked for today’s advanced dancefloors by Toy Tonics head honcho Kapote and his Italian friends BPlan and Paul Older. Some of these edits already have been released as bandcamp only, but because of extreme demand for vinyl Toy Tonics did this limited edition double vinyl release.
The Romanian music scene in the early 60s was pretty grim if you were young and restless. Traditional music and soppy folk was the norm, but when in December 1961 kids in Bucharest got to see the film “The Young Ones” starring Cliff Richard and The Shadows, their eyes, ears and minds exploded with the seed of rock n roll. This gateway into the wild ways created a wave of bands who were eager to sink their teeth into any morsel of 60s culture from the West. ‘Hai Noroc!’ is the first collection of Beat, Garage and Pop artefacts from Communist Romania. 16 hard to find cuts and previously unreleased tracks offer a glimpse of a youth gone wild in an oppressive Communist state.
The Hipodrome Of Music 