Minimalist, swinging, fast paced DJ tool Techno exclusives from DVS1’s ‘Fabric Mix’.
compilation
VA – Trap Configurations [JUNE13]
June Records presents a new compilation with live electronics, featuring music from Svengalisghost, Manie Sans Délire, newcomer Bruce Roach, Trenton Chase, RR Hearse + Furnace Miskin and Zodiac Free Arts Club.
VA – Trame Due [MROME031]
“Eux sont de ceux qui trament en accordant desseins sur dessins.” MinimalRome is back with the second volume of Trame compilation. A full lenght 2xLP release gathering Legowelt (as Phalangius), Heinrich Dressel, Alessandro Adriani, Ian Martin, Teslasonic, Polysick, C-34, Iron Blue and David Kristian among others. Traveling through these eighteen ambient cosmic tracks from true heirs of library music, you’ll expand the surrounding space.
VA – The Midnight Manual [MNSX5Y]
5 years since Midnight Shift’s first release in 2012, the label assembles a collective of artists, most of them are in advance of their full EPs releasing later. Representing the sounds of the label is this manual of secret moves, up in the sleeves. The mystic motley crew also comprises the alternate sides of familiar faces — Amato (The Hacker), Terry Lamborgini (Marco Bernardi), INNYSTER (Seixlack), Hodge in a new formation with Gramrcy, and an electro moniker from an undisclosed artist: Thermocline. From abstract acrobatics to the abrasive and the ultimate gob smack to the floor — The Midnight Manual.
VA – Waves Of The Future [MNQ100]
Mannequin’s 100th – a compilation looking forward featuring an international and serious cast. The modern synthwave scene would be significantly poorer without the keen ear and tireless efforts of the Mannequin label run by Alessandro Adriani. Mannequin continues to go on exploratory missions to find the best and most relevant aspects of genres like acid, industrial, EBM, post-punk, coldwave and still more. Which brings us to Mannequin’s newest project and 100th release overall: the Waves of the Future double LP compilation, which itself is not a conventional retrospective collection. Case in point – none of the artists appearing on this collection have put out their own releases on Mannequin yet, despite acting as Mannequin’s unofficial ambassadors (via DJ sets and other means). This makes the set even more compelling rather than less so, since it shows how Mannequin fits into a larger picture that includes other scene leaders and label owners including Beau Wanzer, Willie Burns, Silent Servant and Ron Morelli.
VA – The Bedroom Tapes: A Compilation of Minimal Wave From Around The World 1980-1991 [MW066]
A Compilation of Minimal Wave From Around The World (1980-1991), The Bedroom Tapes features rare, unreleased, and licensed tracks all the way from Belgium to Australia to Japan. The Bedroom Tapes excitedly marks Minimal Wave’s 66th release and is a follow up in the series to The Lost Tapes, The Found Tapes, The Hidden Tapes and of course The Minimal Wave Tapes. The twelve artists on this compilation mostly recorded their music onto 4-track tape in their bedroom studios. The sounds on this record range from German new wave to experimental electronic, to early industrial body music from the Swedish countryside, to dreary melodic minimal synth. The theme is music recorded in the bedroom for listening in the bedroom. The Bedroom Tapes presents songs from Pink Elln, Karen Marks, Disque Omo, Vorgruppe, Iham/Echo, Perfect Mother, Arvid Tuba, Subject, Denial, Unovidual, Aural indifference, and Autumn all lovingly remastered.
VA – Let’s Dance Records – Mike Macharello & Duane Thamm Jr. Chicago 1983-1985 [STILLM4X12013]
Jerome Derradji + Still Music present Let’s Dance Records – Mike Macharello & Duane Thamm Jr. Chicago 1983-85. The origin of house music, at least in a commercial sense, is generally associated with young African American producers from Chicago’s South Side, but one of the first Chicago house music labels was started by a young, white, gay DJ from the far west suburbs. The Let’s Dance story will take you back to the beginnings of Mike Macherello and Duane Thamm Jr. when Chicago’s house music was in its infancy. Back then, after starting as young roller disco Dj in the late seventies, Mike Macherello gradually made its way to the best radio station in 1981 – WBMX – and started a movement that still ripples through the city today. Let’s Dance’s founder, Mike Macharello, was a DJ who bridged diverse music scenes, from rock clubs to discos. The Let’s Dance record label helped establish Chicago’s dance music industry between 1983 and 1985, before becoming Play House Records (which will be reissued by Still Music in an upcoming set). Macharello’s pal, DJ Duane Thamm Jr., also from the ‘burbs, became the label’s main producer and one of house music’s most important studio engineers and producers. Mike and Duane went on to release a few legendary singles for Let’s Dance that are still to this day considered to be the earliest House music records coming from Chicago.The 12’ pack includes faithful reissues of Selenia’s ‘Single Girl’, Duane Thamm Jr. ‘Jump Trax’, the insane Knight Action ‘R-Trax/D-Rail’ 12’s along with a 5 tracks 12′ compilation and an accompanying poster insert including rare pictures and artifacts with the story of the label.
VA – Quare Groove Vol. 1 [ACQG12X1X2]
All City spent years putting together this superb compilation, which shines a light on Ireland’s previously unheralded underground and alternative music scenes of the ’70s and ’80s. It’s packed with obscure and lesser-known gems covering a myriad of related styles, from the jazz-funk inspired soul smoothness of Pumphouse Gang’s “Welcome Back Into My Life” and dub-fuelled, post-punk synth-pop brilliance of Natural Wild’s 1985 cut “Hot & Sexable (Mega Mix)”, to the slow and intoxicating, delay-laden throb of Stano’s “White Fields (In Isis)” and the Stiff Records-ish cacophony of Micro-Disney’s “Leper”. In other words, it’s a great example of a compilation that not only tells a previously untold story, but also includes some genuinely must-have tracks.
VA – Electrified Bodies [BVV03]
Bodyvolt celebrate 10 years with a longplayer and 9 tracks by various artists: Bruta Non Calculant (formerly known through Invasion Planete Records and his project Le Syndicat Electronique), Eleven Pond (legendary 80s New Wave Band), Flying Bodies (Kommando 6), Swesor Bhrater (also coming from the Ex-Invasion Planete circle) Nina Belief (No Emb Blanc Records) TecRoc (Kommando 6), Naive (formerly known as :Codes, Autonom or as Code on Kommando 6), Black Pond (collaboration between Eleven Pond/Jeff Gallea + Beta Evers) and Radikale Analog Fraktion (Kommando 6).
La Contra Ola – Synth Wave & Post Punk From Spain 1980-86 [BJR015]
A compilation dedicated to the early 80’s Spanish Synth Wave and Post Punk scene. First to be published outside Spain, this anthology explores the electronic music side of the independent music produced in the days in the Iberian Peninsula: Synthetic pop music with industrial sounds including futurist Art Rock, dance-floor productions and low-fi experiments on cassettes. Classics or true hidden treasures, this selection of nineteen songs is symbolic of the musical dawn that Spain experienced during the decade marked by the return of democracy and by the creative freedom initiated by Punk music. “La Contra Ola” covers the years 1980-1986, and the most striking thing about this LP is the diversity of sounds that these artists were using. Unlike the stale synth wave that swept across the UK in that Neo-romantic sway, the likes of Esplendor Geometrico, Derribos Arias, Linea Vienesa, or Tres, to whom this comp is dedicated to, used their own native influences to express their vision of electronic punk music, and the results can be heard all over this magnificent anthology. It’s a piece of history that we finally have more knowledge of, and we thank the ever-reliable Bongo Joe for it.
VA – Italo Disco Legacy (Soundtrack) [369.047]
A journey into the past and the future of Italo Disco music through the stories of the original 80’s heroes and cult DJs and the voice of the new generation of artists, radio broadcasters and fans ready to carry on the Italo Disco Legacy.
VA – NDFT002 [NDFT002]
One year after its first release, Nagual Drift is back on the radar, exploring a panel of emotions and a wide range of sounds and feelings. This Various Artists compilation features contrasting atmospheric shades of the dance floor. From acidic house tools to blooming ethereal soundscapes, bright and buoyant breakbeat to melancholic cuts from the left field of house to deep, dark and sorrowful techno. NDFT002 is a drifting, shifting landscape of collected emotional music from a pool of talented producers.
VA – Snow Robots Volume 4 [SUNCTION043]
Formed in 1997, and inaugurated that year with a split 12” from newcomers and label founders, Solvent and Lowfish, this year Suction Records celebrates it’s 20th anniversary with the reintroduction of their famed Snow Robots series of compilations. While originally started as a North American answer to UK electronix labels like Rephlex, Skam and Warp Records, a sound that is still a staple of the current Suction Records catalog, Suction’s sound has also swerved into new territories, reflecting our love of dark ‘80s electronic music synthpop, EBM, and beyond…. Snow Robots Volume 4 features an international array of artists, from Suction Records mainstays like Digital Poodle, June, Celldöd, and Ceramic Hello (with their much sought after 1982 vocoder anthem), to label favourites appearing on Suction Records for the first time: Beau Wanzer, Morah, and one of Skanfrom/Sleeparchive’s lesser known aliases, Civil Defence Programme.
VA – Displaced Soundtracks [LAD030]
Seven years into its celebrated journey, Life and Death assembles its third and most adventurous compilation to date – Displaced Soundtracks. For the first instalment in a new series, DJ Tennis has given free rein to some of his most trusted contemporaries, enabling many of today’s most respected dance music producers to display their hidden talents as composers. Gathering music from a long-aborted film, the collection stands as another bastion of Life and Death’s perpetual evolution. Duncan Gray embraces dissonance, Black Merlin, Appleblim and Artefakt go interstellar and Fango channels post-punk squat music. Hades Rocket showcases the expertly-sequenced synth work that has graced Simian Mobile Disco’s illustrious career, while Redshape revisits all the right sides of 80’s Wave and Library music. Danny Daze and synth-savant KINK embrace non-standard tempi with great success, while Axel Boman delivers sitar-laced gospelhouse without a bass drum. Elsewhere, your favourite producer’s favourite producer, Stimming, team’s up with pianist Lambert and the pair learn to fly. Inspired and challenging, Life and Death ventures into their eighth year confidently, constantly evolving without compromise.
VA – 10 Years Of Jaunt [JR007]
Jaunt celebrates a decade in the game this year, with the British clubbing institution marking the milestone in typically esteemed fashion. 10 Years of Jaunt – Sea, Land, Air is a 12 track V/A compilation spread across three distinct vinyl discs, each of which is based around some of the world’s core elements; themselves a mode of transport or a manner to embark on a ‘jaunt’. Each featured artist is somebody who the label has forged a connection with at some stage during their ten year journey – and each track has been titled to the artist’s own interpretation of a ‘jaunt’. The tracklisting itself has been tailor made to build and develop like their a Jaunt event, with deep, hypnotic, up tempo strands included alongside numerous surprises along the way.
VA – Momentum: 10 Years Of Token [TOKEN78LP]
Over the last 10 years Token Records has grown steadily, both in size and stylistic breadth. The aptly-titled Momentum comes as a celebration of the close-knit family of artists amassed throughout the label’s running. The record is a fitting collaborative project, with every track on the album produced by two longstanding and well-respected artists from the label’s roster and especially commissioned for the release. This type of collaboration is intended to showcase the specific sound of the label, developed through 10 years of careful curation, as well as bringing out the individual identities of the artists involved.
VA – V.A. I [INPL003]
Five different moods from five different minds. The first various artist compilation features five gems that will provide pleasure infinitely.
VA – Africa Airways Four: Disco Funk Touchdown 1976-1983 [ASVN040]
To date, each volume in Africa Seven’s thrilling Africa Airways compilation series has been little less than essential. It goes without saying that this fourth installment is also exceptionally good. Whereas previous volumes have focused on Afro-funk and “Afro-psych” (think Sly Stone, Nigerian style), this set drills down into African disco-funk released between 1976 and ’83. Highlights come thick and fast throughout, from the solo-laden, slap bass-boasting bounce of Tala AM’s “Get Up Tchamassi” and Charly Kingson’s squelchy, synth-laden Blaxploitation number “Nimele Bolo”, to the righteous, piano-driven thrills of Kemayo and K-System’s brilliant “Biram” and the superior boogie business of Jake Sollo’s “Tinini Yasana”.
VA – Sangron: Volume 1 [EE019RTM]
Electronic Emergencies is thrilled to work together with brand new New York label Sangron Records on the 10-track compilation album ‘Sangron Volume 1’. Compiled by Skeleton Head’s Leo Torres, the compilation draws from the U.S. underground with songs from minimal synth pioneers Crash Course in Science and Mark Lane, alongside contributions from Skeleton Head, Revival Times, M/A/N/O/S, Ortrotasce, Minima Moralia, Silent Em, Horoscope and Paper Music. Moody, dancefloor-friendly and rebellious, this is “music for dissidents”.
VA – Pantsula! The Rise Of Electronic Dance Music In South Africa, 1988-90 [RHMC003]
Late 80s South African dance floor winners only. Selected by DJ Okapi and Antal, the compilation holds tracks by Jivaro, The Hard Workers, Ayobayo Band, S.Y.B. & many more. This is the sharp electronic music that fuelled the local Pantsula dances during the 80s and 90s . A must have for fans of Bubblegum and Kwaito music. The 12 tracks selected for Pantsula! come from a very unique, very different time and place. They represent the birth of electronic dance music in South Africa, through the songs of one particular independent label from the time: Music Team. The sound represents the culmination of the bubblegum era, when South Africa’s disco artists outgrew their American influences and forged an increasingly electronic and ‘local’ pop sound. Evolving over time since long before the 80s, the distinctly South African subculture of Pantsula is more closely associated with an attitude, a style and a signature dance, rather than any specific sound. In the late 1980s and early 90s, Pantsula was also the name given to a new type of dance music taking over the streets of South Africa, influenced by earlier bubblegum and the rise of Shangaan Disco, but with a far broader appeal and a harder, purely electronic sound.
The Hipodrome Of Music 