2010s 179 Items

Limited edition for record Store Day 2017!

Limited to 500 copies on transparent blue vinyl.

This double A-sided 7" features two new cool, sophisticated and funky melodic pop songs from Bank. Tight bass lines, multi-hued percussion, snappily intertwining guitars, yearning melodies and clever production touches abound. These Tokyo veterans evince their love of all varieties of funky pop from recent decades in these two sweet sides.

It would be fair to say that Leng co-founder Paul “Mudd” Murphy is a born collaborator. Since first donning the Mudd alias at the dawn of the century, Murphy has released numerous collaborative albums and singles with regular collaborators Ben Smith (as Smith & Mudd) and Kevin Pollard (Mudd & Pollard), as well as playing a key role in “super-groups” Paqua and Bison. “Susta”, which marks his first single on Leng since 2009, sees Murphy add some new names to his growing list of collaborators. It was made in cahoots with singer/songwriter David Harks, a regular Satin Jackets collaborator who also appeared on Jack Cutter’s superb “Serpent Strut” cut on Murphy’s Claremont 56 label.

“Susta” is a bubbly, evocative and ear-pleasing chunk of mid-tempo nu-disco pop featuring lead vocals from Jaanika Leino AKA JaneLy – a former X-Factor Finland contestant whose sultry and evocative voice simply soars above Murphy and Harks’ sparkling, life-affirming instrumentation. Rich in twinkling synth solos, rich Clavinet lines, chugging arpeggio lines and eyes-closed piano, “Susta” is a strong song that will squat inside your head and stay there for days. Our advice is to welcome it in – it’s as joyous and life-affirming a track as Leng has ever released. It’s accompanied by a predictably strong remix by British electronic music veteran Andrew Meecham (Bizarre Inc, Chicken Lips etc.), who dons the now familiar Emperor Machine alias to deliver a dub for the ages. Combining his own analogue and modular electronics with snippets of Leino’s vocal and some of the warmest instrumentation from Murphy and Harks’ original mix (think Clavinet and Rhodes for starters), Meecham offers up an epic slice of electronic dub disco that bubbles away for ten mesmerizing minutes. It’s a superb interpretation of a high quality cut.

Dark Entries is proud to release the latest offering from Bézier, a 3-track EP titled ‘Primes’. Bézier is the moniker of San Francisco based musician Robert Yang, who is also part of the Honey Soundsystem crew. A multi-instrumentalist, Robert planted his roots in San Francisco in 2005. Over the years in SF he has built an impressive analog synth-based studio, which also serves as the creative hub for his riveting live performances.

‘Primes’ represents the theme of primordial origins and creation with three tracks that explore disparate, sonic environments in each song. The title track flows and ebbs like currents in an oil slick. Out of something messy (like primordial ooze) arises organized chaos. “Stranger” is a moody dark electro/wave track for a sweaty night cruising on the west coast of Holland. Set against an underwater sound canvas the song features seductive guest vocals and lyrics by Nicole Ginelli. Doc Sleep of Jacktone Records provides additional production duties. The final track, “Imperial Tranz Am”, is an airy, ethereal slow burner clocking in at over 13 minutes. It originally appeared as the soundtrack to an experimental queer fantasy film of the same name by SF film maker Aron Kantor.

All songs have been mixed by Mark Pistel (Meat Beat Manifesto, Consolidated) at Room 5, San Francisco and EQed for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The vinyl comes housed in a jacket featuring a Quadtone pastel earthtone of pixelated celluar ooze designed by Eloise Leigh. Each EP includes a postcard with an image still from the ‘Imperial Tranz-Am’ movie. “Do I hear what I see, is it real or just a feeling, a vibration of N-R-G.”

After the dark concept-album Good Morning Dystopia the new record goes in different directions. The accessible and song-oriented compositions merge a wide range of influences to form a musical journey on rivers and oceans, through green hills and dark nights to the fictitious Isle of Dogs. The album closes with a sixteen-minute opus about a writer with writer's block. The Isle of Dogs is the first Osta Love album to feature new band members Marcel Sollorz on keys and vocals
and Oliver Nickel on bass.

Sóley is back with her third solo album, Endless Summer. Written over the period of one year together with her long-time friend and collaborator Albert Finnbogason, the new full-length sees the acclaimed musician from Iceland explore the more optimistic, sun-drenched corners of her songwriting.

Cryosleep is the debut album from Null + Void, the alias of prolific New York producer Kurt Uenala. It's an album of contrasts and tension, where darkness is pierced by blinding light, and where moody new wave bleeds into stark electronics. In one moment, joyful memories give way to isolation and regret, and in the next, Cryosleep explores the catharsis of crowded dancefloors. Throughout the record, Uenala matches his dynamic production with incredible vocalists-from Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan and the inimitable Shannon Funchess, to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Big Pink. Null + Void's take on dark pop meshes with his love for Detroit electro, poignant synth melodies, and cold atmospheres. With the cinematic opener "Falling Down" and brooding instrumentals like "Come To Me", Cryosleep can feel like the soundtrack to a lost space epic. No doubt, the album evokes Blade Runner, dystopian landscapes, and the splendor of far-off galaxies. As Uenala puts it, Cryosleep is inspired by "classic sci-fi stuff," images of futuristic machines sustaining humans frozen in a dreamstate. The melancholy "Foreverness" explores what they might be thinking: "A collection of fragments, memories of a life lived-preserved, but incomplete and jumbled." Meanwhile, "Into The Void" paints a peaceful, otherworldly picture, "like soaring towards a white light."

Mike & The Mechanics are Mike Rutherford, Andrew Roachford, Tim Howar, Gary Wallis, Luke Juby and Anthony Drennan. 'Let Me Fly' is the 8th studio album from the band and returns to the early Mechanics sound.

sir Was’ debut full length, “Digging A Tunnel”, is an album that constantly bucks trends and confounds expectations. Boasting a continually evolving sound that remains nonetheless unified, it comes as close as any record can to defying description. It boasts, an effortless flow, reflected in Wästberg’s vocal delivery, which shifts from falsetto to a groove-like spoken word which circles round the beat rather than landing on it. It is, in short, brilliantly restless and boldly alive.

“After 7 years of touring & recording, I found myself becoming self conscious about my position in life as a “famous” person, or at least my version of whatever that is. My dreams had become my reality, yet I was somehow unable to accept this new environment. I couldn’t help but fall into what might be described as an identity crisis. During this time of personal turmoil, I turned to music as a form of therapy. I’d listen to the same ambient song over & over again, trying to insulate myself from reality. I fell in love with space again."

“What Now” is the second studio album by by American electropop group Sylvan Esso.
The band consists of singer Amelia Meath (of Mountain Man) and producer Nick Sanborn (of Megafaun). They made their debut with the single "Hey Mami" and released their eponymous debut album on Partisan Records May 2014, which reached No. 39 on the Billboard 200. Since then they have released three further singles and toured internationally.

"Melodrama" is the second studio album by New Zealand singer Lorde.

Ethereal Icelandic goddess Björk new album, Utopia.
It features artwork by Jesse Kanda, who has previously designed cover art for FKA Twigs and fellow Björk collaborator Arca.

In 2014 Dan Snaith aka Caribou released Our Love to overwhelming critical acclaim and massive fan support. Now Caribou returns with his seventh studio album Suddenly, an album about family and the changes we go though as those relationships evolve.
Suddenly is the most surprising and unpredictable Caribou album to date. Though it retains the trademark Caribou warmth and technicolour, this album is littered with swerves and left turns, and amazes with it’s yet unheard nuances, samples and hooks.
As Snaith puts it, “these albums are like photo albums for me – when I look back at the old ones, they’re a snapshot of my life at that time, full of people who are close to you”. This is the drive to continue to make Caribou albums. Full bodies of work where Snaith is able to evaluate things, look at those around him and celebrate them. As his passion and joy in music making remains as fresh as ever, Suddenly is the purest example of this yet.

It was winter break at university in Madison, Wisconsin. There was a snowstorm that covered the city with a still white haze. Not a single person in the streets. I was sitting on my bed with a cheap keyboard and a computer, screaming into the void. I barely remember writing the songs. It was a chaotic point in my life. I had no time to think about process or intent. It was a purge. I do remember taking a break from recording, bundling up, and walking through the barren streets while listening to the demos I'd made. The world, at once, felt clear. These songs were a huge leap of faith back then. It was my first time singing without layers of distortion, echo, and reverb. It was the first time I peeled back the layers to find out what was at the core. I'm still on that path today, seeing how far I can push myself into unknown places, whether through clarification or destruction. It's like Stridulum's still here with me, underneath it all." -Nika Roza Danilova

Since Nika Roza Danilova has been recording music as Zola Jesus she's been on Sacred Bones Records for most of that time, and Okovi marked her reunion with the label. Fittingly, the 11 electronics-driven songs on Okovi share musical DNA with her early work on Sacred Bones. The music was written in pure catharsis, and as a result, the sonics are heavy, dark, and exploratory. With Okovi, Zola Jesus has crafted a profound meditation on loss and reconciliation that stands tall alongside the major works of its genre. The album peaks of tragedy with great wisdom and clarity. Its songs plumb dark depths, but they reflect light as well.

Their 5th album titled, "The Fifth State Of Consciousness", is a double LP produced in Peaking Lights Dreamfuzz studio over the last two years. It's both a departure from the new and a return to the old with a whole new twist on the psychedelic dub-pop they've become know for. Self released...from the heart! Gatefold Sleeve. BIG TIP!
Sonically the double album shifts through many states from beginning to end, resonating deep, like a drive thru foreign landscapes where you're glued to the window as everything slowly changes around you. The flow and pacing of songs has a sense of
wonderment and each time you play it there's a whole new batch of lovely sounds and eccentricities within each of the players. While bringing together their love of Psychedelic music, House, Electronic and Reggae each song manages to live it's own life and yet still there is some magical thread that binds them together