2020s 204 Items

Begin guitarist Masaru Shimabukuro is releasing his first solo album on analog vinyl in his 55th year of life, featuring a splendid lineup of guest artists! Guest artists include Mongol800, Orange Range, Kariyushi58, kiroro, Ken Yokoyama (crazy KEN Band), Sami-t (Mighty Crown), and more! Begin debuted in 1990 and was inclined toward blues-rock, but later began playing Okinawa folk music as a guiding light. Since then, they have released songs with rich and varied musicality. The cover art is drawn by Masaru Shimabukuro himself.

Lossapardo's new album "If I Were To Paint It" releases on May 17th. Known for blending art and music, Lossapardo has caught the eye of big names like The New York Times Magazine or Netflix and building a strong artist community around him (FKJ, Luidji, Bas, Joseph Solomon, Montell Fish, Olivia Dean…).
His music, filled with feelings of wonder and a bit of sadness, tells stories that connect with people everywhere. From painting to composing music, every piece of his work is a journey into emotions. His album invites listeners into a world where every note and color creates a vivid picture of life's ups and downs. Lossapardo crafts experiences that speak to the soul, promising an album that continues to share his unique vision with the world.

Synthwave. Darkwave. Silhouettes is a strong debut album that captures the shifting perspectives of its five-year writing period, and the emergence of Yama Uba’s uniquely crafted sound. With Akiko Sampson's charismatic vocals and rumbling bass combined with Winter Zora's sweeping guitar and saxophone soaring over velvet synthesizers and synthpop beats, Yama Uba makes several nods to their post-punk and darkwave predecessors while creating a sound entirely their own. Throughout each track, Yama Uba emerges as a songwriting unit able to capture the complexities of the human spirit, as fragile as it is powerful, as it experiences its own evolution. States Sampson, ‘‘As a whole, Silhouettes is about personal transformation and self-discovery, and is a reckoning with the power of time.”

"Yama Uba’s modern-yet-nostalgic sound plays beautifully into the emotional cadences of Silhouettes, reflecting on personal growth and transformation with the cutting insight of the hard-won wisdom that can only come with age. The band’s nods to earlier darkwave movements evoke past eras and distant memories, but Sampson’s powerful lyrics and no-holds-barred delivery remind us that some wounds don’t heal with time, even as they make us stronger."

Ten albums in three years. That's still the cosmic mission of the Berlin post-kraut trio Yelka with Daniel Meteo, Christian Obermaier, and the namesake Yelka Wehmeier. The team is definitely well-rehearsed. Instead of recording the planned tracks, the band decided to improvise the session, and all tracks, except for the krauty Doors cover »The Crystal Ship,« were created in 5 days in the studio, mostly on the first or second take, but with significantly more overdubs - keyboards, backing vocals, second and third guitars, percussion, and piano. The sound of has become warmer and much more exuberant.

After a relative rest for the two Liège heads, it is time to get back to business. And this business requires four hands to play, very fastly, and two ears, to be listened to very loudly.

Trapped in a frantic chase on a Belgian highway, finally on a slope, this time, we are missing the brakes... and avoiding the famous ruts is imperative for survival.

So here we are, grazing the slide in a shower of magnificent sparks, while being hit by these ten punchy pieces releasing a crazy energy.

Even if the forays towards EBM become more and more pop (if we can use that word here), Punk becomes always more synthetic, Kraut is percussive and martial, but with Prince Harry, it's a long time that the Indus has been moving very fast: at 140bpm on the emergency lane. “A Long Way Down” is the fourth LP from the Belgian duo to find asylum on the Parisian label. After 5 years of discretion - almost absence - this curious pink album propels us to the unthinkable frontiers of electronic punk, lo-fi EBM and garage new-beat.

Scottish trio Lylo emerge from a six year hiatus today with news of a new album, Thoughts of Never, a pristine body of work built on foundations of vulnerability and cinematic pop sensibilities, set for release May 10th, 2024 via El Rancho Records. The announcement comes paired with a first look into the album through a fusion of downbeat pop-club, Balearic beats and soul grooves in the form of ‘Hush’, featuring Esmé Dee (The Orielles), along with a string of UK live dates.

Thoughts of Never, engineered and co-produced with friend Joel Patchett (Billy Ocean, King Krule), was written with the members residing in both Berlin and Glasgow, directly affecting the album's motifs.

Present in the album are topics of emotional communication, melancholy in metropolis and the willingness to (re)connect, which are all explored through a wonky Japanese inspired pop soundscape, with new and obvious nods to R&B soul intertwined with ambient pads. The album is littered with an abundance of influences from musicians and movies alike, stretching from names such as Sade, The Blue Nile, The Pet Shop Boys, Eddie Chacon to The Great Beauty (2013) and Hana-Bi (1997), the latter in which the band would mute and play their songs over each day, “treating the album mixes as a soundtrack”, which in turn, heavily influenced the tracklisting composition.

The album includes several features and collaborations from artist friends, with the likes of Cassandra Jenkins (Lylo were Cassandra’s backing band on her last Uk/eu album tour), Gerard Black (Babe), Esmé Dee Hand-Halford (The Orielles) and spoken word poet alore,, all making an appearance on the captivating new record.

" Pressed on 7"" black vinyl
Two incredible hits from 1980s Japan!
NOTE: artwork to be announced Two major duets by Yoshinori Monta and Junko Ohashi are released simultaneously on analog 7inch single vinyl! In April 1983, ""Natsu Onna Sonia"" became a big hit under the name ""Yoshinori Monta with Junko Ohashi,"" and the following June 1984, ""Koi wa Magic"" was released simultaneously, this time under the name ""Junko Ohashi with Yoshinori Monta! The couplings include Yoshinori Monta's solo song ""Harbor Light"" and Junko Ohashi's solo song ""A LOVE AFFAIR,"" respectively."

Zoo Min Sha is the solo project of Ryo Konishi, who also performs with the jazz-pop band Crck/lcks. 2 songs released in 2023, featuring Aaamyyyy, Ema, and Sara Yoshida (Mononkvl), and themed on parting with people, are now available in analog!
In addition to presiding over Crck/lcks, Ryo Konishi has participated in works by Chara and millennium parade, produced music for Amazon Prime Video's "More Than Words", produced music for the opening ceremony of the 2020 Paralympics, and has a growing presence in a wide range of other areas. This is his third analog work. Side A is "Glittering," which features Aaamyyyy as a guest performer and has a magnificent and beautiful sound centered on her clear voice and string quartet. Side B is "I Hear That Song", which features the beautiful ensemble of winds and strings and the gentle, enveloping harmonies of Mononkvl member Sara Yoshida and musical actor/jazz singer Ema. This is a piece as beautiful as a clear sky and a gem of pieces by the splendid members.

Swedish synth-pop phenomenon Kite's second 7 inch since signing with Dais in 2023 finds the duo of Nicklas Stenemo and Christian Hutchinson Berg swinging for new heights of romantic desolation and baroque grandeur. They describe the A Side, "Losing," as a "six-minute empty call for emotional response." Stately piano and anguished voice reverberate in a vaulted hall, before gradually building into a widescreen anthem of synths, drums, and soaring vocals decrying the steady deadening of life and love: "It's deadly quiet in your old heart / Are you there? / I see dark skies on the rise / And daylight shows no remorse / And I realize it is my life / But It's losing all meaning." Swedish dark music icons Anna von Hausswolff and Henric de la Cour join the chorus as the song cascades towards an ominous horizon. The B Side, "Glassy Eyes," showcases Kite's mastery of somber, sweeping balladry. Hushed church organ elevates and anchors Stenemo's devastated confessional, swaying between resilience and defeat. The band describes the song as a reckoning with "the privileged and existential anxiety of drifting through life dispassionately," contrasted with "the yearning to connect profoundly with others and a desire for experiences that stir the soul before facing one's final moments." Like a hymn, the emotion thickens as it deepens, approaching both darkness and divinity: "Deep as I go, nothing to find / Oh catatonia, I won't cry / Nothing can grow, everything dies / Behind my glassy eyes."

A coveted treasure item for Ningen Isu fans! It is very popular not only among fans, but also among analog collectors and overseas users. In response to everyone's requests, the fourth in the series of analog LPs of the original albums of Ningen Isu is now available!

Singer-songwriter Hiro Takahashi, known for "Unbalance na Kiss wo Shite" and "Taiyo ga Mata Kagayaku Toki," the ending theme for the anime series "Yu Yu Hakusho," took his first professional steps in 1987 when he joined Tulip. After the breakup of the group (which later reunited), Takahashi made his solo debut on November 19, 1993, with the simultaneous release of the single "Itsumo Jokigen" and the album "Kimi ja nakerya imi nai ne". "Taiyo Ga Mata Kagayaku Toki" became a big hit, reaching the top 10 of the hit charts. The song is still loved today and has been covered by popular voice actors and young artists. Hiro Takahashi (real name: Hiroyuki Takahashi) passed away on November 4, 2005. He was 41 years old. His untimely death has been regretted by many, who feel that his great talent has been lost.

Friction is one of the first Japanese punk bands and formed by Reck, Chiko Hige and Lapis in Tokyo in March 1978, and now the band is still keeping active. Reck and Chiko Hige had previously been on the NY no wave scene as founding members of James Chance and the Contortions, and brought back the experience and influence to the Japanese music scene. It's no exaggeration to say that the band laid the foundation for alternative music in Japan. P-vine is proud of reissuing all of their albums on vinyl.

79 Live" captures Friction's live performance at a venue in Kyoto, called TakuTaku in December 1979, four months before the release of their debut album "Friction" which is known as a masterpiece of the history of Japanese punk. This live performance has widely been regarded as the best performance in their career and Reck himself referred to it as "it was like a miracle,".

Ayumi Suzuki's original song, composed to show the Japanese landscape to the world with a Japanese-style melody on a Latin rhythm. It is the first song on her 1st Album "Oukagekka," but in this new arrangement, the melody and horn section with vibraphone and shinobue, a traditional Japanese instrument, are added to express cherry blossoms dancing in the wind with Cuban songo and guaracha rhythms.

After appearing on some of the labels key releases, dub maestro Andre Kronert is back on Berg Audio doing what he does best : dubby, reduced, and highly efficient dancefloor breaking tunes - Incl. a highly awaited repress of >Triton<.

how do we live in times when nothing seems safe, how do we listen to music when rockets and bullets make the air scream, how do we produce music when the building with our studio is simply no longer there? over the last 2 years, Amas and Konstantin Kost have been trying to produce a techno EP across the borders of the war in ukraine. Konstantin Kost was never able to leave ukraine for this, while we were able to move freely through europe. this ambivalence is part of this album, it is part of every note and every line of the poems that can be heard here. we all associate techno with bass-heavy and dancing through the night, but Odessa is more, it is a journey without being able to travel, an experience without being able to experience, an escape without being able to escape and a life without really being able to live ... neither Amas was able to travel to odessa during this time, nor Konstantin Kost to europe, neither was able to experience the other personally. however, the exchange of music and lyrics has built up a relationship to a country at war, as well as to its people, musicians, women and children. while we were dealing with our everyday problems in germany, the situation in Odessa became increasingly confusing. the constant fear of being drafted and producing videos and images for the album at the same time were extremely ambivalent moments. how do you deal with your counterpart in such moments and what do you say to someone in a situation that we can hardly imagine? we often talked about friends simply disappearing and corrupt officials and soldiers embezzling money and in the next sentence it was straight back to the vinyl production. these conversations were very rational and at the same time extremely surreal. this EP is not meant to be a political EP, it is meant to be a human album and to take away the feeling of powerlessness from the people who were and are involved. this production and its music is a triumph over the destructive and dark side of war, it is meant to show that art is boundless and that people are connected all over the world even in the darkest times. in the first track RED Glow our guest Tanya (musician and djane from Odessa) stoically repeats the words Love and Fear, followed by the words: ?i meet you with red glow, in your eyes i quickly dissolve!? the track is part of everyday life, everywhere you meet this red glow and yet everything has to flow on and yet people still live and dance ... in Nightcall we walk through the streets and follow the call of darkness. the words ?through the night? are used here repetitively like a percussion. but the highs and lows also give us hope and the belief that we will wake up again tomorrow and start a new day. in the dark there is always light, which must be preserved and found. OLD Kings is also the title of the poem we have written, based on the poem Ozymandias by percy bysshe shelley. OLD Kings determine our times and our political systems, seemingly unteachable old men hold the world in a stranglehold and it seems as if there are an infinite number of them. yet we continue to fight against these people, we cannot and do not want to do otherwise ... in Talk TO GOD, Konstantin Kost reads from the well-known ukrainian poem ?a cloud floating behind the sun? by Taras Shevchenko, a famous ukrainian poet and writer. he is considered the founder of modern ukrainian literature and, in part, of the ukrainian language. it is about red fields, the fog and its darkness, as well as the sea and the calmness of the heart in nature, the longing for peace and peace with god. in addition to poetry and music, all photographs and videos are original recordings by Konstantin Kost of his city Odessa. although we cannot visit each other, we still share strong visual impressions of a city that, in all its beauty and resilience, will hopefully soon be open to the world again. the cover is therefore also a picture of the port of odessa, a place where people and goods from all parts oft he world will soon be able to sail in and out again.

Trans-Active Nightzone was formed in 2005 by Keen K (Divider), Dirk-Torben Klein (Echo West, Silent Signals, Flashbacks) and Niclas Brückner. They are heavily influenced by Killing Joke, Joy Division and They Might Be Giants and early 80's minimal wave synth pop which reflects in their own musical universe.