Strapazen und Genesung
Geier aus Stahl is one of the many artistic guises of Leonard Prochazka. No superfluous elements take away from the core experience of his sound. Somewhere a statement from David Byrne crossed our path, able to highlight something of the essence of Leonard's art: “No matter how alienated the subject or the singer might appear, the groove and its connection to the body would provide solace and grounding. But the edgy, uncomfortable stuff was still on the foreground”. The debut album 'Strapazen un…
Ache
The Ache album was originally released in 1982 on JG Thirlwell’s Self Immolation label, whilst he was resident in London. It was recorded at Lavender Sound Studio in South London and engineered by Harlan Cockburn. On its release it was acclaimed by the music press, John Peel and even cited by Leonard Cohen on more than one occasion. Over the years the album has become a highly sought-after collectors item.
Rituals
*2022 stock* 1986's Rituals is one of the best-kept secrets of the Belgian synth-pop/coldwave movement -- sinister, dark, with touching melodies. Peter Bonne and Geert Coppens had already been playing for a few years in other projects such as Autumn and Linear Movement, and in 1985 they managed to create this stunning album. Highlights on the album include "I Never Called You a Dream," "Rooms," "Amorphous Materials," "Closed Circuit," and every other track. When the LP was originally released, b…
Informations Of Death + Oscillator (Live At Banana Moon Club On Winter 1979)
*In process of stocking* »Informations of Death« is a key single from the proto-ebm Florence band Neon, their 1980 official debut with an early duo line-up comprised of Marcello Michelotti and Stefano Gasparinetti. The single is now released on double vinyl, accompanied by a 1979 Oscillator live performance, recorded at the legendary Bananamoon Club in Florence. These two legendary New Wave recordings are bundled together for the first time, the first vinyl press of 'Oscillator' and the first pr…
Kiren
The unreleased 1984 follow-up to the groundbreaking albums Kakashi and Mariah's Utakata No Hibi, Kiren is Yasuaki Shimizu's work for experimental dance music. Employing cutting edge production to create lush new wave soundscapes, it bridges the gap between his early 80s recordings and his later work with the Saxophonettes, filling a key lost chapter in his discography. Full liner notes in English and Japanese by Chee Shimizu.
C’est Disco
** 2022 limited reissue ** C'est disco is the first studio album by the Italian band Rats. It was released in 1981 by Italian Records and is a record strongly inspired by the wave and dark scene of that period. In 2014 the record was reissued in a vinyl version with the addition of a bonus CD featuring the complete album plus the song Tattoo, initially discarded from the album's tracklist and included in a compilation. The band's line-up featured vocalist Claudia Lloyd on vocals, and on guitar t…
Wir Bauen Eine Stadt
*2022 stock* In 1930 the German composer Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) wrote a series of small pieces for school orchestras. It was described as a “play for children” depicting the construction and survey of a modern city. The unusual thing about it is the age of its inhabitants:“In our city the grown ups have no say (…) Our mayor is seven years old, and all uncles and aunties are children. Even the traffic warden is a child.” We Build A Town comes across as strange in more than one way. Firstly, …
Batang Frisco
Founded by Eric Jensen & the late Bill DiMichele (RIP), the lifespan of San Francisco based project Batang Frisco (‘San Francisco Kids’ in the Filipino dialect Tagalog) is inimitably distilled on this solitary self-titled record, an outlandish private press pearl of homespun minimal synth music.Recorded over the course of 1985/6 and self-released in 1986, the one and only Batang Frisco LP was the product of an inconspicuous DIY existence spent in the margins of the Bay Area scene in the 1980s. C…
Issue 68: Devo - The Birth of American Synthpop (Magazine)
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the release of Devo’s ‘Freedom Of Choice’, the album that sparked the American synthpop revolution, in this edition of Electronic Sound.
Issue 53: Berlin After Bowie - From Lodger to the Fall of The Wall (Magazine + 7")
When is a Berlin album not a Berlin album? When it’s ‘Lodger’ by David Bowie. When we talk about Bowie’s Berlin trilogy, what we really mean is ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes’ and, erm, the other one… ‘Lodger’ was the afterthought, the wobbly third wheel, a series of “planned accidents” stitched together into an album.
Soul Jazz Records presents Cold Wave #1
This one feels as if it's been a long time coming - Soul Jazz collect tracks from the new wave of cold wave: bands and artists influenced by chilly '70s and '80s synth music, from early electronics and new wave to post punk and beyond. Featuring Kriedler, FIT Siegel, Céline Gillain, Krikor Kouchian and more. There's an enduring thrill of early DIY synth music that's seen records that, at the time, were barely heard beyond a few heads hit cult status in recent years. This has caused a surge of i…
Unfinished Business
300 copies Available now is the much belated debut album of SnoOks, a selection of No Wave Synth Beat with spoken word and vocals, by Eric Svensson and the late Jim Shepard. In the early 80's, when Jim was composing for his bands Vertical Slit and Skullbank, he got in touch with Eric (aka Doktor Liborius) who inspired him with his fresh experimental music and Jim suggested it could be a vehicle for his lyrics. They started exchanging recordings via mail, between Sweden and the US. Jim was ambit…
The Great Complotto - Pordenone
** 2021 Stock ** Finally reissued on vinyl by Spittle, the seminal compilation of the post-punk undercurrents of northern Italy. Great Complotto is been an amazing story, one you would like to live yourself, even more than 30 years later. A typical story of suburban Italy, based in Pordenone, when creativity was on top and the shortage of technical resources didn’t keep the dream from coming true. That was the driving force of the often underestimated Italian punk scene.
Red Light / Sister Shadow
Neon was one of the most active bands in the 80s Italian new wave scene. The band was born first as a duo at the end of the 70's, a part of Florence's underground culture, they soon stood out for their Kraftwerk inspired synth sound, which made their style a unique 80s specimen, together with a new-romantic and post-punk thought similar to bands like Joy Division, Ultravox and Human League.In 1980, the band got off to an electronic start with the single "Information of death", and later, through…
Dark Age / Last Chance
** Edition of 500 ** Neon was one of the most active bands in the 80s Italian new wave scene. The band was born first as a duo at the end of the 70's, a part of Florence's underground culture, they soon stood out for their Kraftwerk inspired synth sound, which made their style a unique 80s specimen, together with a new-romantic and post-punk thought similar to bands like Joy Division, Ultravox and Human League.In 1980, the band got off to an electronic start with the single "Information of death…
Rituals
A cult band from the Florentine darkwave scene of the 80s is back on the scene, thanks to the re-release of one of the key records of the Italian alternative scene of some decades ago: "Rituals". Neon were the creators of a melodic synth-rock, which borrowed a lot from the new romantic thought put on the staff by the pioneers Ultravox and Human League. Born as a duo at the end of the 70s, Neon gradually became a quartet, accentuating the dance-pop component at first, and then the more rock compo…
Eros
Nadja were born in the eighties in Sarzana (Liguria). Towards the end of '82 the two founding members Fabio Giannini (guitar) and Osvaldo Lanata (vocals) were joined by Michele Militello on bass and Roberto Andreotti on drums. The first tape -- La Joie - was recorded in the new AR Studios in San Terenzo. Clearly influenced by the British goth movement Nadja soon introduced more than a reference to the French culture and the Mediterranean music. The surrealist matrix was evident in the lyrics, ev…
Deaf
Originally released in 1981. First vinyl reissue ever, Remastered and pressed on red vinyl with poster and download card. Foetus is the brainchild of acclaimed Brooklyn-based composer JG Thirlwell, also known in the past as Clint Ruin, recording under the name Wiseblood, etc. JG is also mastermind behind the Manorexia, Xordox and Steroid Maximus projects and composes for the TV shows Archer and Venture Bros. Thirlwell is known for his solo sets with electronics, sound installations, composing st…
Chinese Restaurant
Spittle Records presents a reissue of Chinese Restaurant by Italian new wave duo Chrisma, originally released in 1977. The album was recorded between London and Milano during the second half of 1977, and the results were something like post-punk. More in the direction of bands such as Ultravox, The Stranglers, and Suicide than the Sex Pistols and the Ramones, due to the use of electronic keyboards, obsessive rhythms, tense harmonies, and scratching vocals emerging from generally dark sound …