mannequin records
Bourbonese Qualk – Lies [MNQ059]
“Lies,” a track from the now-defunct UK experimental group Bourbonese Qualk, get new life by way of a vinyl release on Mannequin Records with Ancient Methods on edit and remix duties. “Lies”, a terse, TR 808 driven electro-tinged cut just under two minutes long, originally came out in 1986 on the Preparing For Power LP by way of the group’s own label Recloose Organization.
VA – Der Zeltweg – Italian Tapes Industrial Music 1982-84 [MNQ060]
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.
2+2=5 – Into The Future [MNQ058]
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.
Casino Shanghai – L’action Minimal [MNQ056]
Mannequin Records present a 12 EP with two unreleased 1986 tracks of the mexican New Wave band Casino Shanghai, with a killer analog modular remix by In Aeternam Vale on the B Side. Casino Shanghai were the pulse of Mexico City underground scene of the 80s. Former members of the post punk band Size and the more experimental Decibel, Carlos Robledo and Walter Schmidt met the leader singer of Denseundergrowth Ulalume to record their first album ”Film” for the Comrock/ WEA label that was released in December of 1985. The history of Casino Shanghai is double locked with the great cultural change in Mexico and the connected music scene.
The Actor – Exploded View [MNQ057]
Mannequin Records announce the reissue of one of the most important Dutch Wave bands The Actor, with their seminal 1982 tape “Exploded View”. “In the beginning of the eighties, a new phenomenon emerged: home taping. This way of recording resulted in a lot of noise. But that was less important then getting one’s music out to the public. A well known label for cassette bands in those days was the dutch Trumpett Tapes. They were the first to publish the music of The Actor, who became their top selling cassette band in 1982 and 1983. The Actor’s first release was Exploded View in 1982. The songs – sung both in English and German – often related to fashion, modernism, dancing and appearence. This made The Actor “quite fashionable.”
Void Vision – Sub Rosa [MNQ054]
Void Vision is a Philadelphia-based electronic project helmed by Shari Wallin. It began around 2009 at a time when a wave of synth-revivalists were materializing, but the quality of the songwriting and intense vocals set the band apart from the pack. In a rare instance, Void Vision has managed to combine vintage dance elements with melodic structures, haunting melancholy, and lyrics that have a palpable soul. The songs themselves are dynamic, referencing a cross-section of the last 30 years of electronic music, while simultaneously retaining a uniqueness all their own.
Dust – C U In Hell [MNQ666]
Mannequin Records celebrated Halloween with a free download of the classic electro-dark ‘See You In Hell’ from Suicide Commando covered by the NYC based combat techno collective DUST.
Void Vision – Sour EP [MNQ049]
Void Vision is a Philadelphia based solo female Minimal Synth / Cold Wave project from Shari Wallin. Already included by Rough Trade in their seminal Synth Wave compilations, the single is anticipating her full lenght ‘Sub Rosa’, out for Mannequin Records later in 2014. Remix by Vanzetti & Sacco aka Jos Van Galen with Otto Kraanen, the boss of the acclaimed Bordello A Parigi from Rotterdam.
Information Society – Insoc EP [MNQ053]
The ”Insoc EP” contains the first official recordings from the legendary Minneapolis music collective Information Society led by founder/producer Paul Robb. Originally released on vinyl in 1983 the EP became extremely difficult to find. Now, for the first time since 1983, Mannequin Records is giving it a new birth on wax, this time including a bonus track ”Charentiesm” never appeared before in any format, which is the first track ever recorded by Information Society in 1982.
Dust – Feel It [MNQ051]
Two brand new mutant acid house tracks on Mannequin Records. DUST is a contemporary ouroboros of acid house, combat techno, and late italo, headquartered at infamous psychedelic/art/techno mansion Trip House in the jungles of Deep Bushwick.
Musumeci – Untitled (Traxx edit) [MNQ050]
Musumeci tapes reissue, with their brutal body music plus, similar to DAF, CHBB and Liaisons Dangereuses, was one of the most acclaimed in the Mannequin Records 2013 productions. Traxx, the Chicago-based head of Nation Records, redesigned a raw live version of ‘Tag Fur Tag’ with what he described as a ‘hugly-tape Kode’
Deathday – No Future [MNQ046]
Deathday (formerly Deathday Party) is a Los Angeles based Experimental Post-punk band, formed in Santa Ana, California in 2008 by brothers Alex Guilln and Giovanni Guilln. While the title-track is an unreleased one, instead ”Dropped Into Obscurity” was already included in the Downwards compilation ”Click Heels” alongside with Tropic Of Cancer, Silent Servant, The KVB. On the B side Mannequin asked to the synth-master Legowelt to remix “After Dark”. Seldom has the post-punk revival seemed as urgent as with Deathday, who match their guitar driven dirges with esoteric industrial soundscapes and tape manipulation. Their music is often as bleak as it is violent, with low end cacophony bludgeoning the listener into submission. Lyrically, Deathday often invoke the violent culture hidden beneath the media, as well as explore the crippling aftershocks of isolation and the mysticism of the occult.
Sixth June – Pleasure [MNQ045]
Serbian duo Sixth June – Laszlo Antal and Lidija Andonov – come with a fresh new 5 tracks 12inch EP ”Pleasure”. They play minimal, industrial synthesized music digging into the colder corners of the synthetic 80’s. Sixth June started their musical adventure back in 2007 and they are considered one of the purest talents in the minimal synth new scene. Rising from the obscure music scene in Belgrade, they re-based some years ago in the analog synthesizers paradise called Berlin. Their debut album, Everytime, released back in March 2010 by the German label Genetic Music and the previous EP on Mannequin, ”Back For A Day”, was bringing the band to play to most of Europe. The duo represents perfectly the two sides of the same coin, in fact while Laszlo is producing obscure but expressive, powerful and danceable textures, on the back side the voice of Lidija is living the shape to a wobbling atmosphere you wont escape from. Lidija, apart singing in Sixth June, is a professional actress. Laszlo, composer of all the tracks, instead is an illustrator and music video director.
Musumeci – Schwarze Morgen / Zusammen [MNQ042]
Mannequin Records presents one of the most rare and unknown Italian Minimal Synth bands from the 80’s. Musumeci were formed in Turin at the beginning of 1985, from an idea of Mauro M. (synthesizers – ex guitar player of Rude Pravo) and Franco G. (programming – ex noise maker of Errata-S-Corrige). The group was founded as a link and expression of various experiences, aimed, at least initially, to highlight the individual personalities of the members. The formation settles after six months of testing with the final entry of Laura G. (ex-keyboardist of Rude Pravo) and Paul C. (voice of K Position). Musumeci were playing several shows, preceded by long monologues in which find space rumorism, electrical scans, voices, screams, etc. Presented here are the two super rare demo tapes that Musumeci recorded in 1985 (“Schwarz Morgen”) and in 1986 (“Zusammen”), on their own label Zeltweg.
Tommy De Chirico – Close Your Eyes [MNQ041]
Mannequin Records is proud to present a true pearl of the Italian Minimal Synth from the 80’s. Tommy De Chirico founded the post-punk band Politburo in Turin during 1981 togheter with Maurizio Rubinetti (Sick Rose) and Massimo Aluffi (Ivan Siberia). On his own, he released the 7″ “Close Your Eyes / Flower Into The Factory”, produced and recorded at TKS Studio by the Monuments’ Mauro Tavella between 1982 and 1983 and subsequently released by Turin’s Shirak Records in 1984. Presented here are also 3 bonus demo tracks: a rare version of “Close Your Eyes”, and 2 out-takes from 1983, “Vuh-Ya” and “Tuxedo Dance”.
Monuments – Age [MNQ040]
Mannequin are pleased to present a crown jewel from the early 80s Italian Minimal Synth scene. The Monuments came into being in January 1981 in Turin when Mauro Tavella (keyboards, programming) and Andrea Costa (keyboards, voice) pooled their artistic experiences. From the outset they produced exclusively synthesised music, following the natural evolution in electronic music from the early days with monophonic synthesisers to the latest virtual sounds generated with the aid of computers.
Dust – Onset Of Decimation [MNQ039]
Widely regarded for their efforts to promote the minimal synth scene in home town Rome, the Mannequin label have always proved themselves capable of looking much farther afield with equally good results. Mannequin return to the States here, but swap coasts landing in NYC to present this excellent release from Brooklyn troupe Dust. Described by the label as “a contemporary ouroboros of acid house, combat techno, and late italo”, Dust are a Bushwick-based music collective whose numbers include avant garde Korean noise goddess Green Jellyfish, psych musician/model Angela Chambers, dungeon wizard/tech genius audio engineer Michael Sherburn and DIY nightlife entrepreneur /DJ John Barclay. So far so Brooklyn you might say, but there’s evidently something special about Dust on the basis of all four tracks on the Onset of Decimation 12?, with final track “I’m Melting” particularly memorable; it feels like the work of Legowelt and Xosar shaken free of any tape dust by the sheer force of the reverberating acid lines that propel matters forward.
The Cult Of Dom Keller – The Cult Of Dom Keller [MNQ037]
Mannequin label is releasing the long awaited debut LP by Nottingham’s finest purveyors of psychedelic noise, The Cult Of Dom Keller. Partially compiled from re-mastered and reworked versions of tracks previously included in the band’s self-released series of EPs, this new incarnation of The Cult Of Dom Keller’s sounds also features three unreleased recordings. This is the absolute first time that these recordings become available on vinyl, a format that perfectly complements the band’s meticulously textured and carnal sound. A collection of fuzzily enrapturing and lysergically tinged compositions with an electronically infused backbone, the band’s debut might appear as a slight deviation from Mannequin’s traditional aesthetics. We have no doubt though that our connoisseur audience will appreciate the novelty and will instantly fall for these stupefying songs.
Phantom Love – Phantom Love [MNQ036]
Mannequin Records is simply elated to present the debut 12” EP from Phantom Love, a mysterious Kosmische act from Southern Europe. Emerging from the majestic and fiercely sun-trapped lands of the Old Continent, Phantom Love takes you along a dazing journey through a spectral yet dreamy haze of spacey psychedelia. Drawing inspiration and guidance from the ever-revered mitt European and Mediterranean tradition of Kraut and Cosmic rock, Phantom Lovemanages to encapsulate and transcend the formulas normally associated with these genres. A retro-futuristic feast for the ears, a production that is equally analogue and digital, haunting and exotic, Phantom Love’s debut is a sonic sculpture of obsessive arpeggios and reverb-drenched strings. Against this arcane melodic canvas, tribal and shape-shifting drums structures fight and discipline the liquid interplay and superimposition of cymbals and cowbells delays.
The Hipodrome Of Music 