Private Eyes – Mirror Image / Anasazi [ST002]

Private Eyes, a duo made up of Interstellar Funk and Jeroen, two storied members of Amsterdam’s underground electronic music community. Two analogue-heavy electronic workouts that tend towards the atmospheric. A-side “Mirror Image” is spacey and melodious, with an Italo-disco inspired arpeggio bassline underpinning galactic chords and memorable piano lines. It’s a collection of complimentary analogue elements tweaked for maximum late night enjoyment. On the flip you’ll find Interstellar Funk going solo with “Anasazi”, an altogether deeper, more hypnotic affair. Its’ distinctive rhythm comes not from bold drum machine beats, but rather the rising and falling of intricate, micro-house style melodies and looped electronics. It feels like it was influenced by the aural textures of dub techno, the phase-based minimalism of Steve Reich, and the deep space ethos of early ’90s European ambient music.

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Private Eyes – Mirror Image / Anasazi [ST002]

The Neon Judgement – Cockerill-Sombre EP [DE148]

The Neon Judgement hail from the small town of Leuven near Brussels, Belgium and gave birth to the New Beat and EBM scenes worldwide with the release of their first two cassettes ‘Suffering’ (1981) and ‘TV Treated’ (1982). Always a consistent duo of Dirk Da Davo (synthesizers, vocals) and TB Frank (guitar, drum machine, vocals) The Neon Judgment worked in a parallel world alongside Suicide, Cabaret Voltaire, and the Deutsche Neue Welle. In 1983 they released the infamous 4-song ‘Cockerill-Sombre’ EP containing the dance-floor smash “The Fashion Party” on Anything But Records. Dirk Da Davo says, “First we recorded and mixed the drum parts and effects on 4-track, then we bounced this mix to 2 tracks again what left us with 2 more channels to use for vocals and additional instruments.” Veering between minimalistic industrial drones, odd new wave-ish synth pop and dance music, underlain by cold, mechanical rhythms. The band combine brash and seedy lyrics, with raw synthesizer stabs and repetitive drum machine beats both aggressive and danceable. ‘Cockerill-Sombre’ was recorded in a small basement room under the watchful eyes of Ludo Camerberlin from A Blaze Colour.

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The Neon Judgement – Cockerill-Sombre EP [DE148]

East Wall – Silence [DE145]

East Wall was an Italian electronic dark wave band started by Fabrizio Chiari (ex keyboardist of Kirlian Camera) and Wilma Notari in 1982. After a series of demos and live performances, the duo recruited Angelo Bergamini of Kirlian Camera to help with arrangement and synthesizers. They released their debut single ‘Eyes Of Glass’ in 1985 which had huge success in Germany, leading to a deal with ZYX. By 1991 the band consisted of Fabrizio Chiari (Synthesizer, Electronics, Keyboards), Tiziana Wells (Vocals, Synthesizer) and Angelo Bergamini (Synthesizer, Piano, Arrangement). At the beginning of the year, they recorded their next batch of songs at Prominence Studio in Cremona and A Love Sound Studio in Piacenza. “Silence” was self released by the band in 1991. The lead track ‘Silence’ was a left-over song by Kirlian Camera recorded in 1985 with vocals by Simona Buja under the alias Lorenza Larini. It was recorded largely using a variety of now-classic Roland, Yamaha, and Oberheim synthesizers. The album displays East Wall’s maturity and unique aesthetics, with instrumental pieces reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti’ Twin Peaks score. Tiziana Wells sings with pure emotion, hypnotic at times, upbeat and carefree at others. Frankie Teardrop (of the Wierd party and the Systems of Romance blog) describes this album as “possibly the closest thing to darkwave freestyle that exists.’ We decided to expand the album, releasing it as a deluxe double LP cut louder at 45 RPM. We have also included an unreleased extended version of ‘Ice Of Fire’ and the bonus track ‘Intro’, found on the DAT tapes Fabrizio Chiari sent us.

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East Wall – Silence [DE145]

East Wall – Eyes Of Glas [DE144]

To accompany their re-release of East Wall’s superb 1991 debut album, Silence, Dark Entries has decided to put out the Italian band’s forgotten debut release, 1985 single “Eye of Glass”. Tending towards the darker end of the Italo-disco spectrum, but blessed with typically cheery synthesizer melodies and skewed female vocals, it’s a record that seems far more inspired by the earlier British new wave synth-pop movement than pleasing the clubs of Rome or Rimini. The vocal version is accompanied by a subtly different instrumental, which includes waves of warm synths and offers more prominence to the band’s bubbly electronics, throbbing arpeggio bassline, and delay-laden drum machine hits.

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East Wall – Eyes Of Glas [DE144]

Le Cliché – Consumer Manoeuvres LP [CBR011]

“Consumer Manoeuvres” by Le Cliché is the latest release on Cold Beats Records. Le Cliché is the electronic music project of Gerard Ryan, professor of marketing at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili. The music takes a critical view of the malaise of marketing and its effect on our postmodern consumer society. It deals with serious issues as diverse as consumer privacy, identity, fad diets, fast fashion and the hyper-reality of contemporary advertising. Yet it does so always with an optimistic sarcasm and playfulness. This new collection of songs on Cold Beats Records, entitled Consumer Manoeuvres, started out as a remix project but very quickly turned into an all-together different record, a series of collaboration, covers and reimagining’s of the original music. Cold Beats Records presents some of the most influential electronic artists from the underground, minimal synth and coldwave scene from the last 35 years in an all-together darker record Le Cliché’s other records. Collaborators include Mark Lane, Mick Milk, Kline Coma Xero and Spatial Relation (USA), ADN’ Ckrystall (France), Red Fetish, John Costello, This is the Bridge and Jonteknik (UK), KuBO (Ireland) Moss Garten (Sweden) JJ Ibañex of Kremlyn, and Wladyslaw Triejo (Spain) Delayscape (Denmark), Gay Cat Park and Effetto Joule (Italy).These artists have appeared on many of the most influential darkwave, coldwave, italo and minimal synth music on a host of leading labels including Minimal Wave, Mannequin, Medical Records, Peripheral Minimal, Anna Logue, Domestica, Obscure Identities 1980, Vinyl on Demand, La Forme Lente and Kernkrach.

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Le Cliché – Consumer Manoeuvres LP [CBR011]

Collector – Life After Olympic Gold [CDRTP047]

Newcastle, Australia’s Collector brings us a varied album for his Clan Destine debut. After a rad LP for Melbourne’s Drawing Heat and a tape for Night People. Icy synth lines and noisy textures, pounding beats and lots ov bass. Industrial techno at its finest.

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Collector – Life After Olympic Gold [CDRTP047]

VA – Murray CY Edits Part 1 EP [SBZ003]

After heating up with Sign Bit Zero’s second release with Wosto and label boss Kilian Krings, Sign Bit Zero is now continuing with some edits by Murray CY, the label honcho of Contort Yourself. The next release contains strictly rough tape material of old and forgotten cassettes from the eighties with a wide range from weird obscurites to strongly distorted material.

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VA – Murray CY Edits Part 1 EP [SBZ003]

Intergalactic Gary b2b Interstellar Funk @ Boiler Room (ADE) 21.10.2016

Inter the Dragon: two of Holland’s absolute finest rumbled through 90m of burners for a very rare tag-team at ADE.

boiler room

Intergalactic Gary b2b Interstellar Funk @ Boiler Room (ADE) 21.10.2016

Manie Sans Delire – Untitled [JUNE011]

The return of Manie Sans Delire with seven new tracks on a double vinyl edition (12inch & 7inch) recorded in studio between June 2015 and July 2016. Manie Sans Delire is the project of June and Trenton Chase focusing on electronics, played and recorded live.

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Manie Sans Delire – Untitled [JUNE011]

Black Pond – Deepest Chasms [EE013RTM]

Killer electro/wave tracks by Black Pond. Black Pond is a collaboration of underground star Beta Evers and Jeff Galea from the legendary Eleven Pond. Known for her solo work as well as various collaborative projects, Beta Evers can be considered the godmother of German electro wave. Her beats are strict while her voice is cool and deep. Jeff Galea, who founded Eleven Pond in the mid-80s, is the master of energizing bass lines and emotional synth melodies. Deepest Chasms reflects their shared darkness in four melodic and atmospheric synthwave tracks that won’t let go of you.

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Black Pond – Deepest Chasms [EE013RTM]

VA – Eine Welt Vol 1 EP [EW001]

Eine Welt is a vinyl-only sublabel of Mond Musik, found by spAceLex (Alexander Arpeggio). While Mond Musik focuses on obscure electronic made in Germany in the 80s, Eine Welt concentrates on the contemporaneous submerged electronic scene in Europe. The first release, scheduled on the 28th of November, features undisclosed talents, reunited in a short club-oriented compilation and introduced one by one on the inlay. One of the aim of this project is to build up a community of producers with a different view on dance music.

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VA – Eine Welt Vol 1 EP [EW001]

Le Chocolat Noir – Models Unrepresentative [CHAR010]

LE CHOCOLAT NOIR - Models Unrepresentative

Croatia’s Le Chocolat Noir debuts on Charlois with four cuts of embittered, EBM inspired, electronics. An EP of contrasts. Wrenching vocals are scored by brash synthlines. slicing snares, countered by a cold and bright hope. Frigid warmth from the heart of Zagreb.

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Le Chocolat Noir – Models Unrepresentative [CHAR010]

TWINS – Rather Not [ENFANT027]

TWINS is Matt Weiner who is also known for his Featureless Ghost project and of course as the head of the DKA Records label. His project TWINS is not limited to one specific style but the dominant characteristic is the synth driven sound… other influences in the mix are various styles of dance music and a healthy dose of arty post-punk. This new mini album “Rather Not” is the perfect blending of all of this, due to this it is on the one hand a classic minimal elektro record but at the same time a rather modern piece of electronic music, catchy tunes and surprising twists go hand in hand and make up for an authentic and original record.

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TWINS – Rather Not [ENFANT027]