Psyclones – Tape Music 1980 – 1984 [NB005]

PSYCLONES - Tape Music 1980-1984

Since the early 1980s the Eureka, California based duo Psyclones freak out in music. As one of the most long-standing DIY duos, Brian Ladd and Julie Frith created a body of work, that flirts with Ambient, experimental industrial sounds, New Wave, Post-Punk, Synth-Pop, and all that electric jazz. Besides a few hard-to-find vinyl releases, they published their music regularly via cassette tapes on labels like their own imprint Ladd-Frith or other famed 1980’s underground tape labels like Cause And Effect from Indianapolis, legendary San Francisco based Subterranean Records, Sound of Pig from New York, Insane Music from Belgium or the Spanish label Auxilio De Cientos to name but a few. Now, Notte Brigante is dropping “Tape Music 1980 – 1984”, a detailed compiled sampler on Psyclones early output, that was scattered over diverse tape releases. A nine tracks long trip into the work of a highly underrated band, that never lost their drive to explore new avenues in sound.

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Psyclones – Tape Music 1980 – 1984 [NB005]

Plugpoint Music – Last Chance [MW076]

Minimal Wave present the reissue of a rare self-released record by Plugpoint Music called ‘Last Chance’. Plugpoint Music was the minimal synth project of Reiner Ossmann, who recorded the 12 songs on this album in his home studio in Germany in 1987 and released them as an edition of 200 copies. This gem of a record was never properly distributed and so essentially disappeared until it began circulating amongst various collectors during the last 15 years. It’s a true minimal synth classic in all of its eccentricity and lack of self-consciousness.

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Plugpoint Music – Last Chance [MW076]

Quattro Valvole – Into The Night [FRZ002]

QUATTRO VALVOLE - Into The Night

Quattrovalvole is the future/past/disco/drive project designed by Joone and Miss Zagato. Four on the floor Italo-disco, glossy 80s new wave pick us up in this after dark lifestyle EP. These are three high class disco tunes with real song craft at their heart.

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Quattro Valvole – Into The Night [FRZ002]

Tatat – VHS [PHXS14]

The new Phormix Tapes release comes from a Greek artist based in Trikala, Tatat. With retro sensibilities, complementing it with some mid- to -late ’80s sonic influence. Everything is written live, with hardware synths, drum machines and pedals, out in one channel. The album consists of 10 inner emotional musical vignettes which meant to catalyze a wave in sense of nostalgic enchantment that synthwave die-hards will love.

Tatat – VHS [PHXS14]

Quattrovalvole – De School [OR89]

Quattrovalvole is the project of  Joone & Miss Zagato. Taking inspiration from Ferrari’s Vetroresina 308, sunset driving on a dark mission, the listener becomes an accomplice, so beware. You may be charged. Curb crawling, speeding, reaching for something that drives you wild and swerve off the road. The windscreen shatters, and your fingerprints are everywhere. Run. Four on the floor Italo-disco, glossy 80s new wave, Quattrovalvole is an afterdark lifestyle. Released by Oráculo Records.

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Quattrovalvole – De School [OR89]

Traxx – Passage 2021 (a Dance Tunnel Selection)

Traxx(Nation) created a 6-hour selection dedicated to Danny’s in Chicago where he held his monthly party Passage. Curated and programmed musically by Traxx, transporting us to a full night of music from 9-pm til 2am. Passage focuses on the new wave/new beat era with a personal collection of music fashioned to alleviate your senses discovering different outtakes and unknown songs. It’s a lengthy journey that hopefully people will enjoy…

Traxx – Passage 2021 (a Dance Tunnel Selection)

Karel – The Work [MAG153]

KAREL - The Work

Magnetron Music presents Karel’s second EP “The Work”. Karel is known for climbing up things, swinging in on a rope and other signature moves. He has a John Maus like, synth-pop/ wave/ 80s sound and creates a warm vibe wherever he is playing.

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Karel – The Work [MAG153]

Kindest Cuts – Keeping Distance [OR82SE]

KINDEST CUTS - Keeping Distance

Montreal’s based Kindest Cuts is without any kind of doubt one of the actual world’s leading synthwave/synthpop acts. Perfect pop structures and outstandingly captive musical progressions in perfect combination with classical genre male deep lead voice, following the trace of early Depeche Mode or Camouflage.

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Kindest Cuts – Keeping Distance [OR82SE]

Sexual Harrassment – I Need A Freak [DE-264]

SEXUAL HARRASSMENT - I Need A Freak (reissue)

Dark Entries announces a deluxe reissue of Sexual Harrassment’s 1983 opus “I Need A Freak”. Lynn Tolliver, DJ/Program Director at Cleveland’s WZAK, adopted the pseudonym David Payton in order to keep his musical endeavors separate from his public persona. Sexual Harrassment (misspelled deliberately) was formed as a concept band, with members selected based on appearance and choreographic skill rather than musical ability. Tolliver’s explicit lyrics focused on the central themes of desire and sexual relations. Working at a studio in Akron, he recorded an album of quirky-yet-lurid electro funk, which was released on Heat Records. I Need A Freak is presented here for the first time on double LP, pressed at 45 rpm for maximum DJ-friendliness.

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Sexual Harrassment – I Need A Freak [DE-264]

Danger Boys – Danger Zone [PRD1019]

DANGER BOYS - Danger Zone

Periodica Records dives into the heart of the Napoli underground with a scorching single from Danger Boys called ‘Danger Zone’, which sees Milord and Whodamanny paying tribute to the their cult party of the same name hosted at the Boudoir Club. Across two tracks, perilous premonitions of tribal disco intertwine with shadowy strains of post-punk, as basslines cut the difference between frenetic funk and cosmic rock while propulsive beats pound beneath heady fuzz licks, galactic synth sparkles, computronic sequences, and a psychedelic panorama of scrapes and slides. And above it all, a high priest chants in ecstasy, with his mystical musings and messages of defiance pulling the body deeper into the dance.

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Danger Boys – Danger Zone [PRD1019]

NNHMN – Deception Island [OR79/OR85]

NNHMN - Deception Island Part 2

Berlin duo NNHMN – Lee and Michal Laudarg  – creates moody and evocative music infected with dark synth sounds, eerie ambiances and mysterious female volcals. They return to Oráculo Records with “Deception Island” where fresh cold beats meets hypnotic techno and avant-garde of a ferociously experimental nature. We find Lee’s sultry vocals over synthwave classical bass and rhythm structures, from dark Italo Disco with touches of light EBM to classic post punk.

part1part2

NNHMN – Deception Island [OR79/OR85]

Tester Housing – Over You [LER026]

TESTER HOUSING - Over You

Tester Housing was the short-lived band consisting of mates Bill Tolson and Ken Olver. The duo met during the early 1980s in the burgeoning Southside of Melbourne, St Kilda. Pitched along the bayside, St Kilda at the time was full of artists, painters, writers, poets and musicians. The suburb was the type of place where dwellers wore their hearts on their sleeves; the sort to be found sharing a jug at the pub after a fist fight. The St Kilda music scene during the late ‘70s and ‘80s was infamous, breeding bands such as the Primitive Calculators and The Boys Next Door.

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Tester Housing – Over You [LER026]

Rudiment – L​.​I​.​N​.​E​.​S [PHXS012]

PHXS012 release is coming from Rudiment based in St Petrsburg, Russia. This is the 3rd solo release of the artist called L.I.N.E.S. 6 extraordinary tracks ready to touch your psychosynthesis holding them each in symmetrical regard of 80/90’s synth-pop EBM and Electro.

Rudiment – L​.​I​.​N​.​E​.​S [PHXS012]

Coldreams – Crazy Night LP [CAM019]

COLDREAMS - Crazy Night

After the repress of their single “Eyes / Morning Rain”, Camisole Records announces the reissue of Coldreams tape “Crazy Night”. Recorded in 1984-1985 by a gang of young students passionate about Post-Punk this record represents the culmination of the band first period. Haunted lyrics and melancholia were already the basics of their sound and from “Don’t Cry” to “Crazy Night / Burning Passion” it’s difficult to imagine that they were only 18 to 19 years old at that time. “Bulbs and Bubbles” and “Turn the Button” show their pop appeal which definitely takes them apart from their contemporaries and all-around gloomy feelings infuse these six tracks which unveils another part of Coldreams history.

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Coldreams – Crazy Night LP [CAM019]

Il Quadro Di Troisi – Il Quadro Di Troisi [R-M190-2]

IL QUADRO DI TROISI - Il Quadro Di Troisi

Raster presents Il Quadro di Trois, a project by Andrea Noce (Eva Geist) and Donato Scaramuzzi (Donato Dozzy). The record is a colorful ode of an Italian scented vision, overflowing of details and profound intensity. The contemporary world condition, the pandemic in Italy and around the world define ‘Il Quadro di Trois’ as a unique and right-on-time release. This record is a enigmatic collaboration between the two Italian natives Andrea Noce and Donato Scaramuzzi. Andrea Noce takes lead on the vocals, with Donato Scaramuzzi carving the dreamlike soundscapes of the record. The record was born with a correspondence between the two artists about the late actor and director Massimo Troisi, and this exchange soon became an inspirational source of identification. Andrea Noce’s lyrics are sensitive and multi-faceted, they perfectly cling to the musical phrases and flow like a filmic monologue from the oeuvre of that very Troisi. In a highly creative and confident manner, entire decades of national music history are comprehended and transformed into the here and now. The record takes its cue from the italo-disco, synth pop tradition corroborated by the contribution of artists such as the legendary Twilight Music co-founder, Paolo Micioni, as well as Stefano Di Trapani who wrote ‘L’ipotes’. With’Il Quadro di Trois’, Noce and Scaramuzzi prove their eclecticism, and passion for their home country.

vinyl / CD

Il Quadro Di Troisi – Il Quadro Di Troisi [R-M190-2]

Pop Negatif Wastad – S/T [MP008]

POP NEGATIF WASTAD - Pop Negatif Wastad (reissue)

Musique Plastique presents Pop Negatif Wastad’s eponymous EP from 1989 as a 45rpm four tracker, including all of their self penned songs. This is the first release in a series of reissues from the height of the 80’s & 90’s Welsh music scene. Hailing from mid Wales, Pop Negatif Wastad emerged in the late 80’s as the sole collaboration between Esyllt Anwyl and Gareth Potter.

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Pop Negatif Wastad – S/T [MP008]

Group Rhoda – Passing Shades [DE279]

GROUP RHODA - Passing Shades

Group Rhoda, the solo project of Mara Barenbaum, returns to Dark Entries with ‘Passing Shades’. An integral member of the Oakland electronic music scene, Barenbaum has been writing, performing, and plunging into oneiric depths as Group Rhoda since 2009. This is the project’s fourth LP, and the third time Barenbaum has collaborated with Dark Entries. Passing Shades is an investigation of the metaphysics of loss and the transitory nature of the material world. But it is not a grim collection; over 8 songs, Group Rhoda diverges through synthesizer-laden symphonics, four-to-the-floor inflections, and cosmic musings. Barenbaum’s striking voice and singular songcraft guide us through this labyrinth. Arpeggiated waltz “Flow” channels wisdom sought through martial arts; “Earthly Ark” sets a Margaret Atwood poem from the God Gardener’s Hymn Book to somber electronics. The vocoded canticle “Nevermore” is dedicated to the memory of a beloved cat. ‘Passing Shades’ is both mystifying and revelatory. Folk forms are echoed only to detour into the alien. Each song functions as both a fragment of a larger puzzle and a koan unto itself.

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Group Rhoda – Passing Shades [DE279]