Portray Heads
While remaining predominantly unknown except amongst die-hard collectors, Portray Heads has proven to be one of the best kept secrets of the Japanese electronic underground. Tohru Tomita (冨田徹) formed Portray Heads in 1984 in Matsuyama City, the capital of Shikoku Island, with fellow band members Ayumi Tokunaga (徳永あゆみ) and Mikiharu Doi (土居幹治), just after dissolving his solo bedroom project Onanie Bazooka. The trio entered the studio in August that same year and recorded several songs. Two songs f…
Hidari Ude No Yume
Ryuichi Sakamoto's third solo album "Hidari Ude No Yume" (Left Handed Dream) was originally released in 1981 on the Alfa label. Save for a small-scale Dutch vinyl release in 1981, it is the first time the album's original Japanese edition is released outside of Japan (the European release on Epic Records included significantly different tracks and mixes). Newly remastered from the original tapes by renowned engineer Bernie Grundman, this LP edition comes with original artwork featuring a striki…
November
Concept City was a low-key release in 1985 that surfaced on Cordelia Records, an underground favourite for lovers of esoteric ruminations from bedroom producers tinkering with technology. That makes it no surprise this reissue of work from Mr Concept appears on Platform 23, the perfect home for such charming collages of sound recorded on lo-fi four track. The mood veers from track to track on "November" but there's a generous nod to The Durutti Column in the lingering guitar refrains that appear…
Different Voices For You. Different Colours For Me.
Robert Rental was a British pioneer of the post-punk DIY industrial electronic music scene in the United Kingdom. Originally from Port Glasgow, Scotland, he moved to the south of England with Thomas Leer in the late 1970s, and became involved with the local music scene. Robert Rental however released very little of his solo music, preferring to collaborate with Thomas Leer, as well as with Daniel Miller.
The only solo recording from The 1970s is the 7" single "Paralysis" first released on the ho…
Kleine Krieg
The Legendary Pink Dots are an Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in August 1980. In 1984 the band moved to Amsterdam, playing with rotating musicians and having, as core members, singer/songwriter/keyboardist Edward Ka-Spel and keyboardist Phil Knight aka The Silverman. The band was originally called "One Day..." but subsequently changed the name to The Legendary Pink Dots, apparently inspired by pink dots on certain keys of the band's main recording studio piano. In the 1980s …
Khamu (She Sleep Walks)
Second installment in a reissue programme for this excellent UK band. C Cat Trance were formed by multi instrumentalist John Rees Lewis after his departure from Medium Medium, taking the band's drummer Nigel Kingston Stone with him. The band are seen as members of the post-punk movement, but that's not all that is to say about their sound.
C Cat Trance incorporated ethnic music into their compositions before world music became a popular genre. Their influences come mainly from Northern Africa an…
Sowas Von Egal 2: German Synth Wave Underground 1981-1984
LP version. Two years have passed since Bureau B released the first Sowas Von Egal compilation (BB 310CD/LP, 2018). With the musical movement or genre known as NDW celebrating its 40th anniversary, what better time than now to launch an ambitious successor to the first sampler. The beating heart of this endeavor is once again invigorated by the synchronous passions of bespoke Hamburg label Bureau B and the label's Damaged Goods nights where they present rare, obscure synth and wave discs from th…
Towers of Silence
Stroom hold a light to the delicious Belgy dirge “pop” of Adult Fantasies, sifting Nico-meets-Coil and Jonnine-esque gems from their run of late ‘80s/early ‘90s LPs for Antler and Sub Rosa. This label is all nostalgia for shit we never knew existed but which we feel like we’ve known intimately before - same thing we always say - a kind of unheimlich fuckry that's pretty much a genre all of its own by this point. If that’s too vague, give this a listen if you’ve ever found yourself bawling to Mar…
Vanity Records CD Box-sets bundle
This bundle gathers together the four recently issued Vanity Records Box Sets, and includes 27 CDs in total:Various - Vanity Records 'Music, Tapes & Demos' (11CD Box)Various - Vanity Records 'Demos' (6CD Box)Various - The Vanity Box Vol. 1 (5CD Box)Tolerance - Vanity (5CD Box)Here's details about the contents of each box-set:Various - Vanity Records 'Music, Tapes & Demos' (11CD Box)CD-1 & CD-2 Various - Music 1 & 2Music (or Musik) was a compilation originally released in 1981 as a double vinyl b…
The Vanity Box Vol.1
The Vanity Box Vol. 1 present an anthology of releases by legendary Japanese DIY label Vanity, active in the late '70s and early '80s. The box includes 5 CDs which offer the following contents:CD-1 R.N.A. Organism - R.N.A. Organism Meets P.O.P.O.(Vanity 0006, originally released in 1980)This is the only album by the anonymous unit, R.N.A. Organism. The album is based on a cassette tape which was airmailed from London. It also happens to be the first group produced by Kaoru Sato of EP-4. R.N.A. O…
Vanity Records 'Demos'
This box-set collects a series of recordings recently discovered in Agi Yuzuru's archives and never released before. It offers further insights about legendary Japanese cult DIY label Vanity Records and some of their groups. The box-set includes the following contents:CD-1 Densei Kwan - P' (unpublished)An unpublished album from the cassette tapes owned by Aki Joe. The Densei Kwan's crashing style of Pocket Planetaria (CD-5) recurs in a more intense form with increased compositional power. An alb…
Vanity Records 'Music, Tapes & Demos'
As per title, The Vanity Records 'Music, Tapes & Demos' box-set features a selection of releases culled from the catalogue of legendary Japanese cult DIY label Vanity Records, along with never before released demos recently discovered in Agi Yuzuru's archives. The box includes 11 CDs which offer the following contents:CD-1 & CD-2 Various - Music 1 & 2Music (or Musik) was a compilation originally released in 1981 as a double vinyl box. It is a selection of thirteen artists’ tracks that were chose…
Clima-X
Fantastic debut LP from France's pioneer avant-electronic unit, Art & Technique. Clima-X was originally released in 1981 by Hi-Tech Records. Haunting obscure minimal electronic sounds, ambient and atmospheric ventures, minimal wave with some ethnic elements. And excellent use of rhythm boxes, sound generators and strange vocals, reminiscent of 23 Skidoo's "7 Songs", early Muslimgauze or O Yuki Conjugate's sound.
To Eeyore
**Edition of 200** Nika Breithaupt aka Nika Son aka Nikae is one of the most active and sensitive artists in Hamburg. Her versatile and multi-layered work bears witness to her ability first to allow things time to develop their full impact and then to listen and look very carefully before modifying and assimilating them creatively into her own work. Nika’s most recent release is “To Eeyore”, a very special cartography of moments and feelings. - Thomas Venker
Allon (Kaye) from Entr’acte had asked…
JYL
**Limited 180 gram vinyl LP + booklet** Minimal Wave is honored to present a reissue of Jyl's self-titled full-length album from 1984, originally released on Klaus Schulze's Inteam label. Born and raised in California, Jyl travelled to Europe in her twenties to dance and met several talented and like-minded collaborators along the way. She ended up in Germany, and worked with Ingo Werner, Angela Werner, and Klaus Schulze, on what would become one of the most important and forward thinking electr…
Disillusioned!
1980s music from former Yugoslavia has always been a special affair. Even pop was not the same as pop, if you understand. Rex Ilusivii is the brainchild of composer Mitar Subotic and will go well with fans of dark synthie pop and atmospheric gothic stuff. There are four shorter tunes to be found on the A side of this record and this is as pop as pop could go if you wish to play it in a gloomy and more experimental style. Bowie would have been proud of this music if it was his. It is dark and min…
Corona Care
**Edition of 200** Set incl. the 5 new releases for special discount price Set incl. the following 5 new releases for special discount price (ltd. 200) (All releases also available as separate 300 Stand Alone Releases) VOD 158: JERRY KRANITZ / VARIOUS: Cassette Culture - Homemade Music.. Book w. 2CD VOD 158.INSANE Insane 80’s Tracks from the Insane Label 2x7inch as supplement to VOD158 VOD 159: CLOCK DVA Retrospective 1976-1981 320 page Book with 2x7inch VOD 163: MEIN GLASFABRIK "Exotic Pe…
Insane 80s Tracks from the Insane Label
Insane Music, run by Alain Neffe, has been one of the greatest and biggest Tape-Labels promoting the international cassette-culture of the 80's. Full of raw analogue electronics, and plenty blood-curdling screaming, thise selection feature BeNe GeSSeRiT, Pseudo Code, Human Flesh and I Scream
Exotic Percussion / Death TV
In the heart of Sheffield's electronic / industrial music scene of 1979, Peter Bargh and Mark Holmes created the experimental project Mein Glas Fabrik. This VOD release is a combination of their two cassette albums, recorded on simple equipment using tape loops, home made synths, samples, random radio frequencies and a legendary Shergold guitar. Death TV was favourably reviewed in local fanzine "Tigers on the Moor", Exotic Percussion followed soon after. While influenced by a wide spectrum of mu…
Cute
Melbourne based Toy Division (Dick Sallows with help from friends Phillip McKellar (Informatics) and Martin Fripp (sound engineer)) with their fantastic electronic album "Cute” from 1983. The Lp includes a Bonus 7 inch sampler with 4 more tracks previously released on other Temporary Art Tapes between 1981 and 1983.” "Toy Division's music style ranges from ‘Nulabor’ an Aussie ‘Autoban’, to an ambient 'Autumn Trees', to post punk political commentary on 'Beurit' and 'John Wayne once told me’ whi…