Aéroproducts
**450 copies** Rotorelief presents a reissue of Alésia Cosmos' Aéroproducts, originally released in 1985, with bonus material. In the '80s, Alésia Cosmos was one of those pioneering groups that invented a handful of things: uprooted electro, pop-shifted funk. With some synths, rhythm boxes, magnetic tapes, crazy guitars and hallucinated voices, they rocked the underground for four years, with two albums, playing live in France and Europe. The dazzling epic of the magic combo has become legendary…
Iroha Ni Konpeitou
Wewantsounds continues its Akiko Yano reissue programme with the release of Iroha Ni Konpeitou, her second superb album and one of her funkiest, highlighting her unmissable singing and songwriting talents. Recorded in Tokyo and New York City in 1977, the album features a superb line up of the best musicians from both cities and sees Yano mixing Japanese pop with funk and a touch of electronics, playing a wide array of keyboards programmed by YMO synth wizard Hideki Matsutake. Iroha Ni Konpeitou …
Tadaima.
Following the success of Hiroshi Sato’s reissue, Wewantsounds is proud to announce an ambitious programme to release Akiko Yano's albums outside of Japan starting with her 1981 synth-pop masterpiece Tadaima., co-produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto and featuring YMO. The reissue includes original artwork by cult illustrator King Terry, a 2 page insert and OBI Strip plus a new introduction by renowned Electro DJ Joakim. Japan's best kept secret, Akiko Yano is one of the most ground-breaking artists to co…
Vorwärts
Chris Imler returns here on a 7″ with a straightforward appellation to his new one-man bang-gang. This new waxing on the Meeuw Muzak label brings us a spirited pair of ear-jingling primeval drumtasms, the first is his own 'sci-fi romanticist socialist anthem' 'Vorwärts', then we have a jerry-rigged version of the Chris Montez classic 'Let’s Dance' on the flipside. There’s a lot of kinetic energy here, everything being recorded live with a rhythmatist’s ear for a chugging beat and waves of delaye…
Plastik Lieb
Mark Boombastik is apparently the world’s #1 experimental human beatbox. I wouldn’t have guessed that from the sound of these two tracks, but I believe it. 'Plastik Lieb' sounds a lot like Sex Unter Wasser-era DAF and I mean that as a compliment. The B side is a very odd, but also funny piece of music. Excellent Meeuw release. Mesmerizing cover. The legend lives on. Fantastik, Boombastik! (The extra ‘k’ is an extra kiss.) (Scott Foust, Swill Radio)
Fog Frog
A collaborative 7” featuring the talents of author, musician and columnist Max Goldt reconstituted by self confessed dadaist Felix Kubin and beat-box master Mark Boombastik. Side-A sees Kubin and Boombastic applying a new skin to Goldt's hotel room reading of 'Fog Frog'. In this case, a break-beat techno/mid '90s drum 'n' bass skin that most definitely features the sound of radiators being hit with sticks. Flip it and we are taken back to 1983 for a re-run of Goldt's 'post-feminist pre-ejaculati…
Goshen
The Pitchshifters is a project by Hideto Aso from Japan. This is his second release on Meeuw Muzak and as usual his contributions were culled from old and scarce self-released CD-R editions. Wonderful naive and outstanding synth music on the first side with some more dreamy electroacoustic experiments on the flip. Immerse yourself in the delicate sound of The Pitchshifters and yours is the reward.
Ata Tak - The Collection, Box 5: The Single Collection
** 400 copies** The fifth and final installment in the "Ata Tak - The Collection" series focuses on the early singles released by the label. Once again, this box set was designed by Moritz R. and it includes three 7" records in replica sleeves and 1 CD with many tracks finally entering the digital domain for the first time and two completely unreleased numbers. What is nowadays classified as modern electronic music (Elektro, Techno..) has enjoyed a long tradition at Ata Tak (the label exsist sin…
Ata Tak - The Collection, Box 4: Ripening
** 300 copies** The fourth set in the glorious "Ata Tak - The Collection" series is another impressing 5CD box designed by Moritz R. that also includes a 16 pages full colour Ata Tak photo book which is exclusive to this release. What is nowadays classified as modern electronic music (Elektro, Techno..) has enjoyed a long tradition at Ata Tak (the label exsist since 1979) Those who have made their debut on the Ata Tak/Das Büro label include DAF, Der Plan, Pyrolator, Wirtschaftswunder, Holger Hil…
Ata Tak - The Collection, Box 3: Pop/Lovely
** 400 copies** The third installment in the "Ata Tak - The Collection" series is another stunning 5CD box set designed by Moritz R. that also includes a bonus MiniCD with exclusive live tracks by Die Doraus & Die Marinas. What is nowadays classified as modern electronic music (Elektro, Techno..) has enjoyed a long tradition at Ata Tak (the label exsist since 1979) Those who have made their debut on the Ata Tak/Das Büro label include DAF, Der Plan, Pyrolator, Wirtschaftswunder, Holger Hiller, An…
Ata Tak - The Collection, Box 2: Experimental
** 400 copies** The second installment in the "Ata Tak - The Collection" series is a lavish 5CD box set designed by Moritz R. that also includes a bonus 7" in replica sleeve. What is nowadays classified as modern electronic music (Elektro, Techno..) has enjoyed a long tradition at Ata Tak (the label exsist since 1979) Those who have made their debut on the Ata Tak/Das Büro label include DAF, Der Plan, Pyrolator, Wirtschaftswunder, Holger Hiller, Andreas Dorau, Element Of Crime, Lost Gringos, Pic…
Viral Shedding
Originally released on Illuminated Records in 1983, "Viral Shedding" is surely one of the most important references for the industrial/funk dance music. Between pure noise and electronic beats, 'Viral Shedding' creates a twisted and percussive rhythmic urge, a funky disco sound permeated by digital industrial beats. Nigel Ayers and Caroline K take their inaccessible best and thrown it into the melting pot with a set of pumping rhythms. The result is the frustrated son of mutant disco, swimming i…
Songs of Love and Revolution
"Songs of Love and Revolution" was a big step forward for Nocturnal Emissions, having a full colour cover and turning their sound further towards electronic pop music. Classics such as "No Sacrifice" and "Never Give Up" have made this an essential album for every fan of electronic music. As Nigel Ayers reminds, they were buying lots of equipment at the time and seemed to have naturally acquired some skill over the years so they thought, ‘Let’s make some pop music.' He continues: "The Miners’ Str…
Different voices for you. Different Colours for me. Demos 1980
"On an unassuming cassette, just labelled Robert Rental in green Dymo tape, these demos have lain unheard for years amongst his family’s treasured possessions, cared-for artefacts of a life cut short far too soon. These songs, which Robert Rental recorded in his council flat in Battersea in 1980, provide an enticing glimpse into his all-too-infrequent solo work. On most occasions, Robert worked with Thomas Leer, Daniel Miller or other collaborators. These are rough recordings, tape hiss still in…
Dutch Wave: A History of Minimal Synth & Wave in The Netherlands
The first chapter of Onderstroom digging into the history of Dutch
minimal synth and wave. Who needs a big, expensive recording studio with
all those fancy high-tech machines that only make your weary head spin
when you can do it all by yourself at home in your (teenage) bedroom?
Way back in the early eighties all you really needed was an idea, quite a
bit of guts and some rudimentary equipment. You could basically do
whatever you wanted. The means were limited, yet the sky was unbounded. …
Freq
“Freq” is a 1985 album by from the Hawkwind member, famed poet, author and lyricist Robert Calvert. Recorded in 1984 at the Computer Music Studio in London during the UK miners’ strike, “Freq” is a concept album which puts as its point of departure the social and political issues faced by the country at the time. From the opening piece “Ned Lud,” dedicated to the proletarian heroes of the 19th century, to the “Talks” tracks recorded directly on the striking site, the rising of the machine-orient…
Ektakröm Killer
In celebration of Record Store Day (Black Friday), Medical Records returns to France for the reissue of the very rare and sought-after Video Liszt LP. Ektakröm Killer was released in 1981 and had never had never been reissued or repressed.
The artist behind Video Liszt was Xol, a French journalist and musician. Commanding a multitude of analog synthesizers, Moog modulars, an EMS vocoder, and an Apple Two computer, Xol crafted a very diverse album with styles ranging from sci-fi synth soundtracks…
Spat-Europa
"German experimental electronic composer Asmus Tietchens isn't exactly the first person most people think of when they discuss synth pop. In fact, even among hardcore electronic music fans, he's more known for his longstanding dedication to academic electronic music in the spirit of Stockhausen and Pierre Henry, and in fact holds a position at the University of Hamburg. However, having also worked with Tangerine Dream's Peter Baumann, Conny Plank, Cluster, and Thomas Köner, he's had more than a …
I Don't Remember Now / I Don't Want To Talk About It
Very necessary reissue of the minimal wave holy grail: John Bender’s self-released debut.
New Mexico
"Minimal Wave proudly presents a newly remastered deluxe double album of archival material by pioneering '80s minimal electronic duo Oppenheimer Analysis. Oppenheimer Analysis was formed in London, England, in 1982 by Andy Oppenheimer and Martin Lloyd. Their first meeting though was at the 1979 World Science Fiction Convention in Brighton. They quickly became good friends, sharing an interest in the work of David Bowie, electronic music, and early synthesizer bands such as the Human League and S…