2010s 323 Items

A living room somewhere in southern Germany. Embroidery graces the walls, a veneer side table with little chrome feet stands in front of a beige velour sofa, a minibar awaits. Pride of place goes to the electric organ which majestically occupies the centre of the room, flanked by two oversized loudspeakers. Welcome to the world of OTTO. the two-man band are set to release their long-awaited debut album in 2019 on Bureau B. The eight tracks contain familiar OTTO ingredients, from organ sounds and rhythm presets to disco strings and the monophonic waves of a 1970s synthesizer. Arpeggio and Hohner notes add extra sharpness to the proceedings. Classics from their live repertoire sit alongside brand new numbers, invariably strange synthesizer compositions.

Der Soundtrack von "Days of the Bagnold Summer" beinhaltet 11 brandneue Belle & Sebastian Songs, aber auch den neu aufgenommen Hit "Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying", der im Original vom 1996er Album "If You're Feeling Sinister" stammt. Mit "I Know Where The Summer Goes" befindet sich ein weiterer Klassiker auf dem Album."Days of the Bagnold Summer" erschien 2012 als preisgekrönteàGraphic-Novel von Jeff Winterheart. Nun wurde sieàvon Simon Bird (The Inbetweeners, Friday Night Dinner) als abendfüllender Kinofilm inszeniert. Mitgespielt habenàu.a. Monica Dolan (Eye in the Sky, The Falling, Pride), Earl Cave (The End of the F***ing World) sowie die Autorin undàRegisseurin Tasim Greig (Prevenge, Sightseers).à"Days of the Bagnold Summer" ist ein berührend komische Comimg Of Age-Geschichte über einen Metal-Fan, dessen ursprüngliche Pläne für die Sommerferien ins Wasser fallen. Stattdessen muss eràden Sommer mit der Person verbringen, die er am meisten nervt: seiner Mutter!

This is the regular LP version with 14 tracks. Please be aware of the limited double LP edition with 20 tracks that we offer.

An album title with not one, but two exclamation marks, meaning something akin to “what a palaver”as it primes the listener for songs like “Cinemascope”. Themes such as personal injuries (“Ich bin cool”), betrayal (“Mes copines”), personality deficiencies brought on by drug abuse (“Methedrine”), rage (“Hass-Satellit”), inflated opinions of oneself (“Brezel says”), suicide (“Le Spleen”), grief (“Dancing with a memory") and souls in torment ("Elektroschocktherapie") are presented in widescreen format in and often in the most entertaining fashion.

Françoise Cactus apparently once said of herself: "I am a linguistic artist who can live with the laughs". Which says it all really, although Stereo Total’s penchant for wordplay is not in evidence in all of the lyrics on this record. Many tracks here echo the rather more sombre, desperate songs she wrote for her first band "Les Lolitas". Nevertheless, the anarchic humour which we have come to associate with Stereo Total resurfaces on compositions like "Keine Musik" and "Einfach".

Musically, this Stereo Total disc, their twelfth, cannot be readily aligned with anything at all. If earlier albums resonated with influences from chanson, trash or disco to punk, rock’n’roll and NDW (German New Wave), Stereo Total have now arrived in their very own musical universe which pays no heed to stylistic devices, reminiscent of “rien de tout”. What we can say: Françoise Cactus excels in the art of 8-track cassette recording, thus creating an extraordinary sonic experience. Brezel Göring draws on his favoured array of instruments more likely to be found in the hands of children in households where a musical education is not on the agenda: plastic baby organ and dreadful mouse piano, accompanied by home-made guitars glued together by less than gifted artisans.

1. Stereo Total continue to make electronic music with flea market Casio sounds which fly in the face of what is generally accepted to be electronic music. Each musical instrument could probably be translated into social coordinates and in this sense, the tools of Stereo Total’s trade speak an unequivocal language.

2. Stereo Total continue to play LoFi garage rock music which makes a mockery of all the masculine clichés associated with guitars. When Françoise Cactus plays the drums, the rhythms of feminism, anti-professionalism and subversive dilettantism come to the fore.

Any attempts to pigeonhole Stereo Total are destined to fail. In the words of Flann O'Brien: "When shall we ever see their like again?"

A word to our younger readers: Stereo Total began making music before the internet existed, before the Euro, before Germany reunited and before there were even bands or music. They will probably still be playing when all that has been consigned to the dustbin of history. The group comprises Françoise Cactus, who spends her time as a radio presenter, author and artist between band sessions, and Brezel Göring, a man whose very choice of stage name was motivated by a desire not to be taken seriously by music and art scribes.

When they began making music together, they made it their mission to disrupt rules, to destabilize ideas. They may not have thrown European harmonic structure or 4/4 time out of the window, but they have certainly asked questions of every other aspect of musical and lyrical techniques. Lines like "you look good from the back", "love as a threesome", "I am naked", "I’m the young gigolo with a smoker’s lung " and "sex complex" are designed to repel serious music lovers whilst shocking them with sound engineering which falls well below the standards of mainstream listeners.

With their ten own song debut album Gedeeld Door Ons, Suzan & Freek make a striking artistic statement, with which they demonstrate that they cannot be caught in one piece musically. From high school on, the duo was already making progress, but from the moment their cover 'Don't Let Me Down' by The Chainsmokers went viral worldwide, the career of the duo went fast. After the release of debut single 'Als Het Avond Is', they are at the top of the Dutch music circuit in one go. In addition to the already released singles, the album contains only self-written songs in a variety of styles, from disco and funk to pop and hip-hop. The result is an extremely strong and varied album, with several hit-sensitive songs.

Previously only available on vinyl as a small run pressed by Jóhann himself on his NTOV label, this new pressing comes spread across two 180g pieces of black vinyl and is housed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve. This pressing has been mastered by Bo Kondren at Calyx and the artwork has been adapted from his original design by Chris Bigg.

Pixel Passion is the album I've been wanting to create ever since I began writing electronic music. It's my love letter to 80s synth music and early 90s video game culture. I wanted to imprint an original sound that would be my own and create nostalgic imagery in the listener without any pretense. It's been a long and very rewarding 8 months. I hope you enjoy! Extras: cut-out sleeve with printed inner-sleeve, flood print