krautrock
Five Times Of Dust – Smile With The Eyes [MW048]
Minimal Wave present Smile With The Eyes: a double LP of selections of unreleased material from the prolific outsider duo Five Times Of Dust. Formed in 1980 in Bristol, Mark Phillips (MAP) and Robert Lawrence came together with a shared passion for Krautrock, Industrial Electronics and the burgeoning DIY tape scene, as well as being influence by the Dadaist movement and the works of Burroughs and Ballard. Unconventional, quirky and at times melancholic and romantic, their music acted as the perfect escape from the urban decay of early 80s Bristol and Cardiff, the two cities they travelled between on weekends to record. Although unashamedly electronic, the sound of Five Time Of Dust is far harder to pin down, perhaps in part due to their location. Both Phillips and Lawrence produced music that owed little to any scene happening in London, Manchester or Sheffield at the time. As a result, the majority of their output are perfectly formed electronic curiosities. The material on Smile With The Eyes spans recordings Lawrence and Phillips made between 1982-1986. As a follow up to The Dadacomputer, their debut cassette release as a duo which we reissued earlier this year, Smile With The Eyes remains lo-fi but is musically more complex. The recordings are catchy, curious and emotionally rich. Whereas The Dadacomputer could be compared with the early output of Robert Rental, Smile With The Eyes is a collection of works that stands all on its own.
DJ soFa – Postwave & Krautpunk for Radio raasHHour Jerusalem
Rodion G.A. – The Lost Tapes [STRUT111CD]
Strut, in conjunction with Ambassadors Reception and Future Nuggets, presents the first ever retrospective of fabled band Rodion G.A., one of Romania’s best kept musical secrets of the last 30 years. As a band, Rodion G.A. were a unique phenomenon in their homeland at the time, operating in their own universe during a prolific period of recording from 1978 to 1984 at a time of significant political repression under the Ceausescu regime. Bandleader, Rodion Ladislau Rosca, was an enigma. As half-Hungarian, half-Romanian, he lived near the border in Cluj, a city with a healthy music culture which had spawned important prog rock bands incuding Cromatic, Experimental Quintet and Semnal M. Despite the political conditions, a music scene existed in Romania, mainly within a network of festivals around the country and in seaside towns at restaurants and clubs.
From the start, Rodion was concerned with his own style of composition and set himself apart from the predominant rock sounds that dominated Romanian music during the late 60s. Technically and in his compositions, he was obsessed with every detail. His first sessions were recorded during 1969-1972 – simple, sparse and haunting pieces using reel to reel recorders, based around vocals, guitars and improvised drums. In 1975-6, Rosca formed Rodion G.A., the G.A. comprising band members Gicu Frca. and Adrian Cpraru. Rosca had amassed equipment and became a DIY tech wizard, improvising his own techniques of composing using reel to reels. Surrounded by three or four Tesla tape machines, he would record beats and guitar on one channel of the tape, then stop and add other instruments on the other a raw means of multi-tracking. He would use the other machines to add effects and delays on both instruments and vocals. Other tools in his armoury included an East German Vermona drum machine, a toy Casio VL Tone and a small Russian organ to which he added phaser, flanger and delay pedals. From the start, the band’s sound was incomparable to other contemporaries – dense electronic sounds, raw programmed rhythms, intricate arrangements, prog and classical touches.
Fast forward to 2012 when the myth of Rodion G.A. came to the attention of excellent Romanian production and DJ crew, Future Nuggets, a collective as dedicated to unearthing Romania’s musical past as they are forging new sounds steeped in the country’s traditions.
ADN’ Ckrystall – Jazz’Mad LP [DE030]
Dark Entries is excited to release the 30th anniversary edition of ADN’ Ckrystall’s debut album “Jazz’Mad.” ADN’ Ckrystall is the moniker of synthesizer wizard Érick Moncollin from Tarbes, France. In 1977 Moncollin spent time in Paris experimenting with synthesizers, jamming alongside composers Vangelis and Tim Blake. It was here that he obtained a prototype of the Korg MS-20, a legendary synthesizer. The entire album was recorded over a 4 day period in 1980. The sound of “Jazz’Mad” revolves around the synthesizer, utilizing the instrument to all its capacities. ADN was Influenced by New Wave bands that incorporated keyboards into their songs like Gary Numan/Tubeway Army, and Simple Minds, as well as Prog Rock and Krautrock bands such as Hawkwind, Heldon, Gong, and Neu!. The result is an unconventional and discordant conglomeration of synthesizers, drum machines, and vocals that cradle the edge of the brain. Most of the songs are long instrumental pieces but when Érick sings his lyrics favor love, drugs, and science fiction themes.
Dominik von Senger – Only Love Can Take Us Home [CHANNEL023]
Spicy krautrock-like melodramatics by DVS, introcately refining the genre. Especially the beatless version on the flip illustrates some special beauty and nuance. Ably assisted by Thomas Bullock, this compellingly motorik, spaced out song punctuated by heavily effected blasts of guitar, sounds like a lost classic. The B side features Mix 2, a beatless version that lays the vocal and guitar elements bar.
Intergalatic Gary – Dark Entries Mix (HNY122)
Brain Machine – Alpha Beta Gamma [THR003]
Epic kosmiche/Italo expedition from Guido Zen and Juan Trippe’s Brain Machine, co-piloted with remixes with Von Spar and Johan Agebjörn! The ten minute vastness of ‘Alpha Beta Gamma’ nods to both Schulze and Moroder and should command any dancefloor it’s sent to, while Von Spar give a neater, pop-sized version still with the triplet rhythm propulsion. Johan Agebjörn’s productions is kinda like viewing the northern lights from a shuttle above Detroit.
The Soft Moon – The Soft Moon [CT085]
From the Bauhaus-influenced record cover, to the dead thuds that pound every corner of “The Soft Moon”, there is something imposing and stark about Luis Vasquez’s debut record. It casts a bleak shadow, like a graying tower block. The record heavily recalls the industrial and goth 1980s, eras of music bathed in blackness, yet beneath the squall and the otherwise monolithic sound poke out some impressive moments of clarity.
The Hipodrome Of Music 