Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield Vinyl 307 Items

Limited All Analog Remastering Recording This is one my most beloved albums ... it always reminds me of the horror that occurred in my homeland, Ukraine, in 1933. And I am always thankful when I hear it. It is good to remember the suffering of other people ! Otherwise, life is not worth living..... This album came about in an interesting way .... there came to me a melody at some point that year ... I was not even at the piano .... a melody that I just began to sing ... When I played it on the piano for my friend, the artist Dmitri Farkavec, he right away loved it and suggested that it would be a great opening for a piece dedicated to the multi-millions of Ukrainians who suffered a terrible and deliberate extinction at the hands of the Russians who had invaded my country. As he said to me, "1983 is the 50 year commemoration of the Terror Famine --- it would be a good year to make this piece." And so it came to be ! "CONCERT-REQUIEM" is dedicated to the over seven million Ukrainians who were killed by the Forced Starvation of 1933 who watched in agony as Communist police destroyed grain as they and their children lay starving to death. This album also contains "ISLANDS" for solo piano --- a remarkable bass-oriented piece depicting enormous masses of mystical and murky islands moving through an imaginary sea.. It was inspired by and created for a dance performance by Windwitches of Stockholm. Original Release: 1984 Limited All Analog Remastering Recording

Melodic Energy Commission is a Canadian gem and an interesting branch of the Hawkwind family tree (featuring Del Delmar on electronics.) Hailing from British Columbia, their unique blend of space rock, progressive and hippie psychedelia began in 1977 as a recording-only project titled "The Melodic Energy Commission of Collected Artists."
In 1985 Ken Man showed up in the studio with this IBM AT computer. It had a 1/2 MB of RAM and some Voyetra software that could sequence music, becoming the duo’s backing band. Fist Of Facts contributors included Mark Cunningham from Mars, Felice Rosser, Genevieve De Monvel Boutet, Carlos Vivanco, Scott Hartley from the Liquids and a whole host of others. Fist of Facts expand the natural groove that Liquid Liquid established over their quick career, with a strong political message combined with abstract dub soundscapes.

First ever reissue of this fabulous DUTCH MINIMAL SYNTH / WAVE album from 1985. Minx / Zimmerman were a duo comprised of Don Minx (Marq van Broekhoven, now a well known comics artist) and Aldomir Zimmerman (Tonnie Eiting), two friends from the city of Eindhoven, who were into comics, avant-garde music and homemade cassette recordings. Influenced by diverse bands / artists such as John Foxx, Brian Eno, Fad Gadget, Sparks or Devo, (among many others), they decided to release an album. “Minx / Zimermman” was the result, self-released on their Freudian Backroom label, now very sought-after by minimal wave collectors.

Second album, released in 1979, by French keyboard wizard Benoit Widemann (ex-Magma). “Tsunami” is an incredible mix of electronics and jazz-fusion with prog / avant-garde /minimal elements. Treated Minimoog, Oberheim synths, Rhodes, early computer sequencing plus bass, drums, guitar, sax… Featuring Jean-Pierre Fouquey (ex-Magma), Jean-Pierre Grasset (Verto) and Jean-Paul Ceccarelli among others.
"Digital computer-based sound in 1979! We were the avant-garde!" - Benoit Widemann.

Baby Buddha is the experimental new wave duo of Charles Hornaday (vocals, guitar, electronics, drums) and David Javelosa (vocals, electronics, clarinet). Born from late night improvisations of San Francisco synth-punks Los Microwaves with a rotating cast of musicians. Live shows would include music, projections, dance and performance art in both clubs and gallery spaces. In 1980, Howie Klein's 415 Records released their first single of Tammy Wynette's “Stand By Your Man”. In 1981, ‘Music For Teenage Sex’ was their first full length album released via Poshboy Records. It featured Los Microwaves’ Meg Brazill, Poshboy boss Robbie Fields, and Kathy Peck as "Tammy Why-not", who later went on to found H.E.A.R (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers). In January 1983 Kathy, Charles and David went into the studio with a couple of Kathy's original “country” songs and began working on a sophomore album. They also incorporated songs from a live multi-track recording of a concert at the Graffiti Club on June 6th 1984. The album titled ’Everyone Is My Age’ sat unreleased until 1987 due to relocation to Los Angeles and eventually found a home on David’s Hyperspace Communications, the original label for the first Los Microwaves singles. For this first time reissue we’ve added a previously unreleased bonus song “What’s Going On,” a Kathy Peck original. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in the original jacket featuring a collage by David Javelosa and includes an insert with lyrics, photos and liner notes.

Technical innovations in musical instruments and the development of tonal language have been continual subjects for deliberation from the 19th century onwards at the latest. Additional brain power is necessary to conciliate the two elements with the endless possibilities of electronic sound. In the end, the two factions cannot resolve on a conclusive opinion and the question remains as to whether art always results from skill.
Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, or Vangelis for short, always worked with the newest synthesizer equipment and pushed his cascades of sound to the very edge, right up to the point of electronic overkill. In contrast to many other electronics experimentalists of his time, Vangelis likes to »create important melodies and to develop them further, without going under in the technical equipment« (Stereo Review). Distant human voices, siren-like lost calls lead into oriental dance. A song – far removed from its era – somewhere between Gregorian music and antiphony – a will-o‘-the-wisp, shimmering sound. Polyphonic playing on the Bösendorfer reminds one that every form of musical expression from over the sands of time is welcome. Each listener must discover for himself what sounds heavenly or hellish. But let it be said: musically speaking, the one cannot be imagined without the other.

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. More information under www.pure-analogue.com.
All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Recording: September 1975 at Nemo Studios, London, by Alan Lucas
Production: Vangelis

Private Press Spiritual Jazz from D.C's Jeff Majors. Featuring harp, drum machines and synths. Jeff was one of Alice Coltrane's students at the ashram. He also played in Brother Ah's band. Each song on this album is an inspired vision of the personal and the devotional via the harps universal gilstening range and Linn drums. Comes with info booklet. TIP!

Former member of Dublin punk band The Threat, Stano released his debut LP on Scoff Records in 1983. Recorded in Alto Studios, the Irish artist eschewed live performances in favour of fusing collaborative, improvised, experimental music with spoken word-poetry. The LP featured contributions from fellow Irish musicians and artists such as Michael O'Shea, Roger Doyle, Donald Teskey, Vinnie Murphy, Detroit born Jerome Rimson and is a seminal document of Irish postpunk

Dark minimal synth electronics & experimental sounds by LOS INICIADOS, a mysterious project - highly influenced by The Residents - related to legendary Spanish synth-pop band AVIADOR DRO.
This is their rare and sought-after second album, originally released in 1983 on the DRO label as the soundtrack to a puppet stage play, based on ALFRED JARRY’S “UBU ROI”.

Originally released in 1982 on the DRO label, "La Marca De Anubis" was the debut album by LOS INICIADOS, an obscure project related to legendary Spanish synth-pop band AVIADOR DRO. Always shrouded in mystery, Los Iniciados decided to hide their identities behind masks. The only visible and confirmed member was Arco Iris (aka Marta Cervera, also on Aviador Dro) and according to rumours, behind the other nicknames we find Biovac N (Servando Carballar, founder of Aviador Dro and the DRO label) plus members of Alphaville (the Spanish post-punk band).
On "La Marca De Anubis" we also find Jesús Arias (of punk band T.N.T.) on electric guitar. The album was produced by Servando Carballar (Aviador Dro). Dark & eerie MINIMAL SYNTH / DARK WAVE sounds with a POST-PUNK edge, highly influenced by THE RESIDENTS, Dadaism, performance art and ancient Egyptian cults. Including cult classics like “Peter Pan”, “Soy el vacío” and more!

Still sealed. With OBI. Limited edition. 2017 reissue.

Musique Plastique (Visible Cloaks, Pedro) rescue a nearly lost soundtrack to a Belgian avant-theatrical work from the 80s. For fans of Nuno Canavarro, Roberto Musci and Vito Ricci.
Like the wings Daedalus crafted for his son Icarus, John Gilbert Colman’s score for sampler, voice and chamber orchestra almost melted away completely, disappearing into the tides of time.
The album originally served as the score to an avant-garde production of the Greek myth that toured the Belgian theatre circuit in 1986. Director Guy Cassiers cast the play with 45 developmentally disabled actors enrolled at the Krauwelenhof school in Antwerp, working for six months with the young actors (aged 12-17) to discover and develop their talents, creating (by all accounts) a deeply moving piece of visual theatre. Rather than using dialogue, Cassier used movement, costumes and music tell the fable, words were only present as text fragments within the score, spoken by members of the chorus or sung by Rolande van Der Paal. Colman's compositions elevate the experimental narrative with broad shifts in mood, utilizing a pop-concrète style by incorporating sampled squeaking balloons, environmental recordings, tuned percussion, drum computer, and voice to accompany the traditional small chamber instrumentation. The music is reminiscent of other avant-theatrical pieces from that era by Nuno Canavarro, Milesi & Bacalov, Todd Barton, Vito Ricci and Roberto Musci, while standing on its own as a unique and moving piece of minimal music. Remastered DMM pressing.

Currently the rediscovery of long forgotten japanese electronic, jazz and new age music is at a peak like never before. But although many re-issues already flood the record stores around the world: the large, diverse musical culture of Japan still got some gems in store that are really missing. For example, it is still quiet around the the work of japanese bass player, new-age and ambient musician Motohiko Hamase. When the today 66-years old artist started to be a professional musician in the 1970’s, he quickly gained success as a versed studio instrumentalist and started to be part of the great modern jazz Isao Suzuki sextett, where he played with legends like pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto or fusion guitar one-off-a-kind Kazumi Watanabe.

Computer World (German: Computerwelt) is the eighth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk, originally released on 10 May 1981. The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. In keeping with the album's concept, Kraftwerk showcased their music on an ambitious world tour and issued several different versions of the single "Pocket Calculator" in different languages: namely, German ("Taschenrechner"), French ("Mini Calculateur") and Japanese ("Dentaku", or 電卓). A fifth version, in Italian ("Mini Calcolatore"), was lip-synched to on Italian television in 1981. The compositions are credited to Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, and Karl Bartos. As was the case with the two previous albums, Computer World was released in both German- and English-language editions. The title of the final track, "It's More Fun to Compute", is in English in all releases, as it is based on the slogan "It's more fun to compete!", which could be seen on old pinball machines.

Nik's last album, Zero Gravity (Narco NR123) came under the Nik Pascal name and had a fantastic side long piece on the title track which reminisces of the works of Cluster. B side features four tracks that also bear some Conrad Schnitzler reminiscences. This was to be Nik's last LP before he would sell all his synths to ex car racer and future electronic/ambient music star Steve Roach.

Besides his musical explorations, Nik was also an interesting painter. His paintings are auctioned from time to time, and are consciousness expanding works influenced by abstract cubism and surrealism, some kind of Salvador Dalí on drugs exploring the outter and inner space. All the artwork on the sleeves of his LPs is done by himself. Spacey landscapes and psychedelic colours that fit perfectly to the music they contain.

Never reissued before on vinyl format, the Wah Wah reissue features original sleeve artwork made of paintings and drawings by Nik himself, and reproduction of the famous ironic "Do not listen if you are stoned" sticker. Limited edition, 500 copies only.

If you check the credits of The Rolling Stones' Goats Head Soup LP from 1973 you'll find a certain "Pascal" listed on the percussion section. That is none other than Los Angeles based artist Nicolas Pascal Raicevik (1933-1994), aka 107-34-8933, aka Head, aka Nik Pascal, aka Nik Raicevic. Besides his hitting the bongoes on the Stones album, Nik was a great artist on his own, both as a painter and as a musician. As a musician, he was a pioneer in the use of synthesizers, preceeding the Berlin school by some years when his Head LP was released on on Buddah in 1970. Buddah probably saw in Head the opportunity to cash in some money from the remains of the psychedelic scene - the three tracks on the LP are named after drugs used in the late sixties. The sounds, however, are accomplished works that show Raicevic as one of the most interesting pioneers in the use of synths. The album probably didn't do too well, since Buddah didn't renew the contract with Raicevic, who instead took his own way releasing his works on his very own Narco Records and Tapes label. Between 1968 and 1975 Narco would issue 4 LPs credited either to Nik Raicevic (Beyond The End... Eternity) or Nik Pascal (The Sixth Ear, Magnetic Web and Zero Gravity) plus one credited to 107-34-8933 (Numbers, which is in fact the same LP as Buddah's Head, albeit with different cover art). Copies of these LPs came with an ironic sticker over the shrinkwrap that read "Do not listen to this LP if you are stoned".

If you check the credits of The Rolling Stones' Goats Head Soup LP from 1973 you'll find a certain "Pascal" listed on the percussion section. That is none other than Los Angeles based artist Nicolas Pascal Raicevik (1933-1994), aka 107-34-8933, aka Head, aka Nik Pascal, aka Nik Raicevic. Besides his hitting the bongoes on the Stones album, Nik was a great artist on his own, both as a painter and as a musician. As a musician, he was a pioneer in the use of synthesizers, preceeding the Berlin school by some years when his Head LP was released on on Buddah in 1970. Buddah probably saw in Head the opportunity to cash in some money from the remains of the psychedelic scene - the three tracks on the LP are named after drugs used in the late sixties. The sounds, however, are accomplished works that show Raicevic as one of the most interesting pioneers in the use of synths. The album probably didn't do too well, since Buddah didn't renew the contract with Raicevic, who instead took his own way releasing his works on his very own Narco Records and Tapes label. Between 1968 and 1975 Narco would issue 4 LPs credited either to Nik Raicevic (Beyond The End... Eternity) or Nik Pascal (The Sixth Ear, Magnetic Web and Zero Gravity) plus one credited to 107-34-8933 (Numbers, which is in fact the same LP as Buddah's Head, albeit with different cover art). Copies of these LPs came with an ironic sticker over the shrinkwrap that read "Do not listen to this LP if you are stoned".

Numbers was the first reference in the Narco catalogue (NR101), each of the three tracks it contains is named after a drug: Cannabis Sativa, Methedrine and Lysergic Acid Diethylamide. The album was credited to 107-34-8933, there is no date of release on the disc, some sources take it as back as 1968 - in any case, this is the same record that was issued on Buddah in 1970 credited to Head and eponymously-titled. The Wah Wah reissue features the original cover artwork from the Narco edition.

New Lp-edition of an obscure un-released library of the early ‘70s.
Together with Florian Fricke, Peter Michael Hamel and Stephan Micus, Deuter is certainly the main responsible of a fruitful encounter between European sensibility and Eastern aesthetics in the German music of the 1970s. Soundtrack was originally produced by Kuckuck in 1973 not for an official and public release, but as a “library” to be used for films, TV and radio. As a library it respects the canonical and typological structure of the genre with 26 short sonic fragments, sequences imagined and conceived like fulminating illuminations. There's still a solid electronic vocation that, however, has put aside the most disruptive effluvia of D (1971) of pure “kraut” ancestry. In fact, the album is more like an ideal passing bridge between some ritual instances of the previous Aum (1972) and the following successful phase of Deuter during the period when he stays in the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's ashram in Poona realizing, in parallel to a renewed inner life, masterpieces like Celebration, Haleakala, Ecstasy and Silence is the Answer. Musically speaking, Soundtrack presents itself as a heterogeneous work with nocturnal, cinematic, galactic and atmospheric-environmental implications. Electronics remains the predominant factor but can vary from mantra drones of more ceremonial and meditative “space-relax” tones of some tracks (Triad, Deep Sea, Gothic Velvet or Evening) to the most amused formulations of pulsating analog synths that in the hands of Deuter become “toy-equipement” to modulate and explore (Desert Rock, Synth Effect, Flea Dance or Laser). There is no lack of acoustic moments more ethnically inspired with Arabian and Indian (Reed, Arabia) or devotionally solar themes (Tom Bombaddils Dance), so evoking an air of diffuse peace then completely conquered in the beloved India.

Originally released in 1986 under Luis Delgado’s cult imprint “El Cometa de Madrid”
Produced by Luis Delgado (Finnis Africae, Mecánica Popular) and performed by Patricia Escudero, this beautiful record dives into Erik Satie’s compositional work thru an experimental optic.
Entirely recorded on Synthesizers, and making heavy use of FX and timbral manipulation, this recording brings out a Satie that’s never heard before.

Under the alias of Zanov we find the works of French electronic pioneer Pierre Salkazanov, who had started playing guitar in the 1960s in a Shadows styled band, Les Ambassadors. Instrumental rock was not enough for Salkazanov, he was always looking for evolution, so when a meeting with French synth player Serge Ramses (of "Secret" fame) got him into the world of synthesizers he just dived deep into the bourgeoning world of electronic music. He got himself a VCS3 and started producing works into a 4-track Teac tape machine. French music was at its best, it was the time of Jean Michel Jarre, Didier Bocquet, Richard Pinhas and Heldon, Alain Meunier... Even Gong's Tim Blake was living in France at that time. And so Zanov soon caught the attention of Polydor, who released his first two LPs Green Ray in 1976 and Moebius 256 301 in 1977. In Course Of Time, his third LP was originally issued in Canada in 1982 and in France in 1983, although it contains works that he had began working in 1979. The material was originally shelved due to legal matters, although he continued to add some changes even after that. The Canadian edition came out in Les Disques Solaris, a recently created label that wanted to specialise in "cosmic" music. Zanov used the same equipment he had used on Moebius 256 301, albeit this time he gave more use to the RMI Harmonic Synthesizer.

Zanov's three albums met with unanimous critical acclaim for the sound quality as well as for the originality of this very personal universe.

Zanov's third LP was released in 1982 in Canada on Les disques Solaris and in 1983 in France on Ondes.

This is not a reissue, it is the original 1983 French edition on Ondes. Please note that these are mint unplayed vinyl copies, but they have been laying around in warehouses for long time so sleeves show the pass of time (some yellowing mainly, not bigger problems).

Lost-in-time Kosmische / Kraut / Avant-Garde artefact, produced by Toby Robinson aka The Mad Twiddler circa 1975 for his private Pyramid label.
Tolkien inspired dark ambient soundscapes with spooky / ritualistic atmosphere, treated percussions, gongs & guitars, trippy Hammond & Mini-Moog, tape loops, weird noises, drones…
File under dark ambient, proto-industrial, kraut, experimental...

Alésia Cosmos was a collective of musicians led by Bruno de Chénerilles formed in the early 1980s in Strasbourg, France. The group consisted of Pascal Holtzer (guitar, synthesizer, tapes, drum machine, vocals), Pierre Clavreux (vocals, gong), Marie-Berthe Servier (vocals), Bruno (guitar, tapes, synthesizer, drum machine, vocals) and Tunisian percussionist Lotfi Ben Ayed (darbukas, bendir). In 1981 Bruno composed and wrote some sci-fi radio plays for French state radio channel France Culture. Under the influences of William Burroughs, John Cage, Pierre Henry and others, he developed tape music studio work. By 1982 he appeared for the first time under the name Alésia Cosmos Furi Show. It was a solo performance on guitar, voice, analog synth and tapes. This experimental show lead to a music project based on Bruno and Pascal's compositions to be performed and recorded with other musicians in the beginning of 1983.


Exclusivo! was the group’s debut album recorded and self-released in 1983 on Planetarium. Pascal and Bruno would compose tunes in their personal home studios. Then they would bring the tapes, electronics, guitar lines and lyrics to experiment and rehearse with the other members of the group. Improvisations and adaptations brought more ideas and the album was recorded in a few days. The result was a musical mixing of electronic music, field recordings, North African and Asian percussion, electric guitars and voices, compositions and free improvisations. All four musicians take turns singing onomatopoeic phrases and backing vocals, even sometimes in an unknown language, a sort of mixed bag between Breton and Japanese. All songs have been remastered cut by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Each LP is housed in a replica of the 1983 cover and includes a 6-page insert with photos, lyrics, reviews and liner notes by Bruno de Chénerilles.

Double LP: first one includes tracks remastered from "Kondens" original master tapes (originally released in 1982); second one includes unreleased tracks taken and remastered from 1983-1984 original master tapes (produced and composed for Scandinavian "theatre" performances)

Originally released in 1982, including tracks written for Crosstalk (a science fiction thriller film made in Australia) and other electronic themes, it was written, performed and recorded by Chris Neal in his home studio, using Roland System 700 and Roland MC8.
In 1982 there were only a few System 700s ever produced and Roland was more interested in promoting their more commercial System 100M (that's why it was credited on the 1982 original cover to give them a plug). The System 700 was developed by Taro Kakahashi and his team in Japan as a direct challenger to the Moog modular system.
The ORBEATIZE remastered reissue also includes a special bonus track remixed and produced in 2017 by Jolly Mare.

Ultra-rare D.I.Y minimal / synth-pop / industrial / darkwave album from 1986!

Kozmonaut was the personal project of a young & talented Canadian musician called Michael Gutierrez, who moved to San Francisco in the early 80s. Influenced by Kraftwerk and German culture / electronic music, Michael recorded the “Flieg” album all by himself at his garage studio, using the pseudonym of “Hans Schiller”.

1000 copies were pressed on his own label, Vier Productions Inc, but they were never distributed or sold at the time, with virtually the entire pressing being discarded, as Michael, a perfectionist, was not satisfied with the spelling mistakes on the cover, among other things. In 1989, Michael, along with Pieter Ziegelmeier, formed the famous industrial / electronic band Kode IV.

Sadly, Michael contracted AIDS and passed away in 1994. All the contents of his garage (tapes, albums, synths and recording equipment) were sold for cheap or ended up in the street.

Fast forward to 2010: An adventurous record hunter (Christian Peintner) finds a copy of the “Flieg” album at a thrift shop in San Francisco. At first, he thinks it’s a German album but after some investigation, he discovers the name of Michael Gutierrez which leads him to Kode IV and then to Peter Ziegelmeier. He visits Peter who tells him the real story of Michael Gutierrez aka Hans Schiller and Kozmonaut.

“Flieg” is an excellent album, a crossover of a wide range of styles from early Industrial (paving the way for Michael’s later sounds with Kode IV), to Synth-Pop, Experimental Electronics, ambient and Dark Wave. Michael uses the vocoder very effectively and in one of the songs, “Tidal Meditation”, he recorded the Golden Gate Bridge fog horn to use it as a sample.

After studying with composers John Cage and Earle Brown, Joe Jones became a prominent figure in Fluxus, contributing to the movement’s first “yearbox” alongside La Monte Young, György Ligeti and Nam June Paik. Beginning in late 1961, Jones began constructing his own music machines – drawing inspiration from the calliopes, automata and orchestrions of the 19th and early 20th century to create self-playing ensembles of stringed instruments, percussion and woodwinds – “played” through an elaborate (yet decidedly lo-tech) system of rubber bands, balls and tin foil.

Christened the Tone Deaf Music Company, this battery of automated musical instruments generates the sounds on In Performance (originally released in 1977 on the Harlequin Art imprint). With exacting conceptual precision and varied subtleties of natural motion – not unlike Harry Bertoia’s sounding sculptures – Jones’ machines produce richly-textured strata of sound and serve as engines of paradox. While bringing the figure of the artist-composer to the foreground, the machines ultimately dispense with the need for the performer entirely – a cunning subversion of the fetish for virtuosity and individual genius.

Limited edition of 500 numbered copies on clear vinyl.

A seminal figure in the history of 20th century avant-garde, yet sinfully overlooked, Wolf Vostell unleashed ideas - those running wild through his debut LP "Dé-coll/age Musik", which remain a slap to the face, more than half a century after they were set into play. A founding member of Fluxus, an early instigator of Happenings, an innovator of video art, Vostell was equally one of the most radical and irreverent practitioners in sound that the world has ever known.

First released in 1982, "Dé-coll/age Musik" draws from material dating between the late 1950’s and early 80’s - the results of Vostell’s application of décollage, the near perfect inversion of collage. Rather than gathered and assembled sounds - as with Musique Concrète, these are the result of subtractions from a former whole - the death of one, giving life to the next.

Swelling from the past, Vostell’s efforts pull the rug from beneath the common history of structured sound. A singular body with no loyalty, producing shocking results. A grinding confrontation - an intoxicating immersion in sound - as brutal as it is ecstatic - an exercise in joy. "Dé-coll/age Musik" assembles the essence of a creative spirit which is rarely known. Each work as radical and fresh today as the moment it was made.

The Land of Look Behind soundtrack returns to vinyl in a remastered and expanded edition that includes a download of three previously unheard and unreleased tracks from the original sessions. Alan Greenberg, who wrote and directed this film documenting the funeral of Bob Marley, provided K. Leimer with location tapes which were used to originate many of the rhythmic patterns for Land of Look Behind. Loops of the monologues and phrases that exhibited more distinctive cadences and pacing, the words, glottal stops, clicks and coughs of witnesses were used as cues for the percussion instruments. In effect, speech became the organizing principle of the musical score. By eliminating the accuracy of click tracks, musicians were prompted to rove through the inconsistent intervals of the voice-derived patterns. Also included is a four-page insert featuring an essay by Paul Dickow.

K. Leimer founded Palace of Lights in 1979. Leimer’s early work has recently been reissued by Autumn and RVNG, and his early cassette work is in the critically acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s — his current catalog includes seventeen albums plus two collaborative albums with Marc Barreca.

Leimer’s work is included in the collection of The British Library.

Plaster Falling was recorded at the same time as John Bender’s first album, I Don’t Remember Now / I Don’t Want To Talk About It. Released in 1981 on the artist’s own Record Sluts label, copies of Plaster Falling’s initial pressing came hermetically sealed in plaster (and later latex). Thus, listeners had to literally break open the record to find what’s hidden inside. Produced in relative isolation, Plaster Falling is a beacon of brilliance in the nascent minimal-wave sphere. Veering towards skeletal urgency, these recordings set bright analogue melodies against half-whispered vocals and expand Bender’s electronic cryptography thru a series of lone signifiers: “Station,” “Plaster,” “Women,” etc. As Bender explains in the liner notes, “I began to distance myself from the present and describe scenes as if in a movie – seeking concrete, terse, juxtaposed imagery.” This first-time standalone reissue is recommended for fans of Gareth Williams & Mary Currie’s Flaming Tunes, Minimal Man and Grouper. Pressed on translucent blue vinyl in a limited / numbered edition of 1,000 copies.

The comparable Piero Umiliani (under his mysterious Moggi moniker) weighs in with another AWOL library gem of 1979. Maestro goes resolutely left field and off track with an intra-personal exploration of the disturbed inner psyche within the human condition. Distressed electro beacons are unleashed as de-tuned predatory Carpenter-esque synth patterns come to the fore (check Clavinet Suspence for primal audio blastings to a lost unnamed 80’s slasher movie). With the electric eighties buzzing on the horizon, Umiliani was quick to capitalise on this cultural shift utilising his Moog synthesisers to tap in to changing musical zeitgeists via cost cutting experimentations for TV, adverts and documentaries. Followers of the esoteric and strange can finally dig in here, lavishly created reissue featuring original artwork, master tape Laquer cutting and Umiliani’s autograph notes on the project. Viva l’uomo!

A vinyl reissue of the third album (originally from 1982) by the kraut/electronic musician who was inspired by a.o. late '70s Tangerine Dream. This title is relevant for anyone into the sounds of the Berlin School.