Official reissue of dreamy Italian early house project, originally released in 1990, a total balearic house anthem this EP comes with 3 mixes, remastered.
Pais Tropical – Melodya [THANKYOU013]
re-release
Koto – Chinese Revenge [MAXI107512]
This legendary Italo Disco song was first released exactly 40 years ago. On this occasion, ZYX releases a strictly limited edition colored vinyl with an exclusive remix by Flemming Dalum.
A Split Second – Flesh [DR013]
Official 2022 Reissue. A Split Second’s cult coldwave EP Flesh was dropped back in 1986 on Antler Records. The band of Marc Heyndrickx, and Peter Bonne (aka Chrismar Chayell) only formed a year earlier but his debut single made a huge impact and has become a real classic of the EBM and wave world ever since. Numerous albums followed well into the 90s but rarely did the pair ever top this – the jerking rhythms, ravey electronics and retro-future chords all resonating as much with audiences now as they did back then.
Mr. Fingers – Amnesia [ML9002LP]
Re-issue of seminal Mr. Fingers album ‘Amnesia’, available officially for the first time in 32 years on Larry Heard’s own Alleviated Records. This remastered collection of early Mr. Fingers works is an absolute must have.
Jellybean – Modern Tribe EP [DG17]
Plus Instruments – Februari-April ’81 [DOM02]
What is Plus instruments? The title implies the secondary nature of the tools used to produce the sounds, maybe even of the sounds themselves. The means of making sound are not important, but the sounds themselve, but even beyond them there is a force, a grumbling. Maybe best represented by the first sound heard on Plus Instruments “Februauri- April 81”, a sound that is more felt than heard. The grumbling persists throughout the album, not in the same sonic way but things gyrate and repeat until they are mineral and not purely auditory. Using toys, drum machines, and other homemade electronics designed by front person Truus de Groot, the band manages to obscure every song into a hard to maintain mix of No Wave drive, New Wave sheen, and dance music groove. Originally established in The Netherlands in 1979 by Truus de Groot in various line-ups, she hooked up with Lee Ranaldo and David Linton in 1981 when she first ventured to NYC. A trio that smashes the sound of early 80s New York with the equally as progressive European experimentation of the time. Completely without total contemporaries, Plus instruments make music free of bounds from time, labels, and place. Originally released by Kremlin records in 1981 run by Sonic Youth’s future manager Carlos van Hijfte, Domani Sounds proudly presents Februari-April 81′ featuring brand new liner notes by van Hijfte himself.
E&S Brothers – Taduma [AFS053]
E&S Brothers’ 1985 album Taduma holds a unique yet overlooked place in the history of South African dance music. When Shadrack Ndlovu and Ernest Segeel teamed up with Dane Stevenson, owner of Blue Tree Studio in downtown Johannesburg, and journeyman producer Taso Stephanou, South Africa’s bubblegum era had just begun, spurred on by the success of Shangaan disco. The relative success of their debut 12” ‘Don’t Bang The Taxi Door’, marketed aggressively at taxi ranks throughout the country, helped put the Blue Tree label on the map and E&S were invited back to record a full album: Taduma, featuring on keyboards Dr Buke, an in-demand session player from Soweto. Rooted in Africa, yet purely electronic, Taduma was a moderate hit, spurred by tracks like ‘Taxi Door’ and ‘Mhane’, its hypnotic refrain ‘Mhane, famba na wena’ meaning ‘Mother, I am going to you’. Other tracks like ‘Mapantsula’ and ‘Be Careful’ place Taduma within the street-savvy ‘pantsula’ style and dance synonymous with consecutive waves of music from disco to kwaito, house and beyond, while ‘Sikele Masike’ repurposes a traditional Shangaan work song. Vocally E & S are closer to rapping than singing, in a combination of English and vernacular – predating other credited pioneers of kwaito in SA like Senyaka and Spokes H. Driving the music instead of vocals are waves of searing synths over rudimentary but explosive drum machine sounds – the word ‘Taduma’ meaning the sound of the drum.
The Hasbeens – Make The World Go Away [CWCS019]
Long-awaited Re-issue of The Hasbeens’ ”Make The World Go Away” Clone release. 3 timeless energetic mechanical Disco tracks with a dark new-wave/synth atmosphere merged with some artifical hyper Italo happiness for some bipolar dancefloor energy. Remastered versions of the already heavy 2006 release by Alden Tyrell and DJ Overdose, now on the Clone West Coast Series.
Strada – It’s The Monkey! [BST-X084 ]
“”It’s the Monkey!” is one of the most striking and unique reissues of Best Record to date, rises like a flame from the history of the Italo-Disco. Very well arranged and enriched by a creative use of many different sounds. There is nothing else quite like it! Strada was born in a studio where the extraordinary arrangers Ennio Tricomi, Enzo Vallicelli and Romano Trevisani work with Enza Kucic’s superb vocal skills, their favorite backing singer of Crusin’ Records. “It’s the Monkey”, considered to be one of the Top Five Italo-Disco tracks of all time, is a electro monster with all kinds of weird sounds and effects, wicked synth stabs, very original use of drum kits and arpeggios. “Street Dance” on the flip is an underrated electronic track with a deep dance potential, rhythmically slightly slower, with very catchy synth strings.
Kenny Larkin – Keys, Strings, Tambourines LP [ART20221]
From 2008 comes ‘Keys, Strings, Tambourines’ – Kenny Larkin’s fourth full length LP. Yet another advanced, singular and funked out techno milestone that bears all of Larkin’s idiosyncratic stylings and melodic touches. Once more he shows us how it’s done, sounding like nothing you’ve heard from him previously, ‘Keys, Strings, Tambourines’ is a truly adventurous record that defies categorisation today. Quietly influencing producers and DJs since its release, it points to where techno can go and what it can be and is a truly and criminally overlooked modern Detroit techno classic.
Vumani – Isiqedakoma [CASALP02]
Not much is known about the mysterious pop sensation Vumani or his short musical career. Originally from KwaZulu Natal he made his way to Johannesburg in the mid 80’s to follow his dream of becoming a recording artist. He was able to make that dream come true when talent scouts from Decibel Music came across the charismatic youngster. At the time Decibel was still a small fish trying to make waves and the label believed in Vumani they had found the star they were looking for. Being a label with mostly groups signed to the catalog they needed a Front Man to push into the growing demand for Solo Artists that were dominating the airwaves and catching the hearts of youngsters. In 1896, they released two singles by Vumani, Black Mampatile and Guy Fawkes. Both singles were received well and a few more tracks were later recorded to create the full album Isiqedakoma.
Cordial – Their First EP [PASTDUE022]
Past Due Records and Jerome Derradji are at it again! This time with the reissue of the superb and ultra rare EP by San Francisco’s Cordial: “Their First”. This record was produced by Bill Withers in 1979 and is a cult favorite amongst disco lovers worldwide. “Their First” includes the legendary disco cover of Antonio Carlos Jobim “Wave”.
Mauro Micheloni & F.M. Band – Looking For Love [MAXI106912]
An Italo Disco rarity from 1983 now available again as a 12” maxi single: Mauro Micheloni & F.M. Band – Looking For Love. On side A there are the rare original versions and as a highlight on side B two remixes by Flemming Dalum and Vanzetti & Sacco.
Time Modem – The Time Of The Gathering [BOY8818-12-22]
Joachim Wilhelm and Ulrich Wilhelm recorded as a variety of aliases in the early 90s, from Deep Thought and Intact through to Time Modem. Their sound was typical of the Central European vibe, with a pronounced Belgian new beat slant to the music in those dark but playful synth lines and arch film samples. Originally released on BOY in 1990, The Time Of The Gathering is everything you want from a release in this era, teasing a kind of proto trance vibe without any of the fluff, just trippy synth lines and an unrelenting, throbbing pulse. It’s all about the Highlander-sampling title track, but every tune on this much-needed reissue is gold, sounding beautifully buffed up for 21st Century mixing. This is the first re-issue after 32 years!
Oneness Of Juju – Bush Brothers & Space Rangers LP [STRUTLP255]
Strut continue their deep dive into the archives of Black Fire Records with a new reissue of Oneness Of Juju’s Bush Brothers & Space Rangers, showcasing the band at the peak of their powers in 1977. Primarily recorded at Arrest Studios in Washington DC, the album ispacked with landmark Oneness tracks including ‘Be About TheFuture’ (“possibly the first ecology-themed song that I know of”) the George Clinton-influenced ‘Plastic’, an acoustic alternative version of ‘African Rhythms’ and strong covers of Caiphus Semenya’s ‘West Wind’ and Bobby Womack’s ‘Breezin”. Plunky continues, “The album is composed of several different sessions featuring different personnel and only first came out as an album in its own right when Black Fire MD Jimmy Gray started working with P-Vine Records in Japan during the ’90s. For me, it’s one of the hottest periods for the band.”
Minoru Fushimi – Thanatos Of Funk LP [180GRELP02]
Thanatos Of Funk is a milestone in Japan’s underground music and electro funk/early hip hop history. Entirely self-produced, designed and distributed in 1985 by Fushimi, a high-school teacher by day and music experimenter by night, Thanatos Of Funk is a love-letter to counter-culture, DIY, drum machines and synthesizers blent with some killer shamisen and guitar playing. Comes with a 4 pages insert including the original hand-written insert/comic by Minoru Fushimi, with English translations. Minoru “Hoodoo” Fushimi’s most wanted and impossible to find first album Thanatos Of Funk is finally reissued for the first time ever, in collaboration with Fushimi himself.
Transparent Sound – Freaks Frequency EP [TRANS009]
Orson Bramley and Martin Brown’s Transparent Sound project reaches way back to the mid 90s, and they’re still going strong rolling out the most on-point electro in the business. There’s a reason they’ve been picked up in the minimal scene as much as in purist machine funk circles, but their co-signs go back to the legendary Colin Dale, who signed Freaks Frequency to his Abstrakt Dance label back in 1998. The title track has been remixed plenty over the years, and it sounds as alien and nasty as it did when it first landed. ‘What Goes On’ is another mind-melter of dexterous synth lines and freaked out vocoder which quite frankly lays waste to the competition in the overstuffed electro scene. Diverting from the original EP, we also get a remix of ‘Freaks Frequency’ from the mighty Ectomorph and a previously unreleased cut called ‘Mistakes Happen’
Hassan Ideddir – Atfalouna EP [DE287]
Hassan Ideddir’s 1989 single “Atfalouna” sees an expanded repress courtesy of Dark Entries. Born to Berber parents in Morocco, Ideddir began making music at the age of 10 after being discovered singing in the stairwell by his school’s headmaster. Encouraged by his peers, he began playing concerts, and his status grew. In 1987, he played a string of sold-out concerts in Casablanca, Rabat, and Marrakesh, in support of a children’s charity. The success of these concerts secured him a record deal, and he went to Paris to record his debut single “Atfalouna” in 1988. Released in 1989 on WEA, “Atfalouna” is a dense slab of multi-genre pop. An opening wash of digital synths and reverberant vocals quickly falls away to a cascade of orchestra hits and pulsing electronic drums; the monotone chant-rap of a female chorus collides with Ideddir’s soaring melismatic vocals, pleading against the injustice and hunger in the world. While Hip-Hop and New Beat borrowed tropes from Arabic music, “Atfalouna” inverts the gesture, resituating orchestra hits and sampling techniques within a Moroccan music framework. A shorter instrumental version follows, which preserves the female vocals. Also included are two tracks not on the original 12”. “Ibina” is a moody, downtempo instrumental that sounds like a cult Italo B-side. The record closes with “Ydouchababe”, an electro number driven by funky guitars, electronic claps, huge horn riff. Here, Ideddir sings of a youth festival honoring Hassan II, former king of Morocco.
G. Race – On Fire [BAP100]
Re-issue of this amazing italo banger, originally released in 1984 on Merak Music Italy. ‘I’m burning, I don’t know what to do. My love is like a furnace I know you feel it too. On fire, my heart’s in ecstasy I know we’ll stay together, the flames in you and me. I’m on fire, with desire for you. Can’t you feel it too. I’m on fire, want to be with you. Know you want me too. Being with you is uplifting me. Higher and higher so lovingly. Being with you is uptaking me. Farther and farther so dreamily. I’m on fire, I want you. Now I know you want me too. I’m on fire, I want you. Now I know you want me too.’
DJ Stingray 313 – F.T.N.W.O. [MCR00004LP]
DJ Stingray 313’s highly-praised F.T.N.W.O. LP returns to heed its sonic warnings and powerful messages on his own label, Micron Audio. Originally released on WeMe Records in 2012, F.T.N.W.O. displays the high-tempo, ever forward production DJ Stingray 313 is known world around for. DJ Stingray 313 says “FTNWO was conceptually centered on conspiracy theory, science, prepper doomsday preparation / survivalism and social commentary,” and the foreboding introduction of “Evil Agenda” sonically explains just what lies ahead for the listener. The stark warning leads into DJ Stingray 313’s stomping “Dark Arts”, beginning the FTNWO experience. “Room Clearance” gets straight to business with raw, gritty and true-to-the-art Detroit electro sounds, along with a heavy, quivering lead to piece the track together.
The Hipodrome Of Music 