Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield Vinyl 306 Items

Having honed his craft across a set of EPs and albums (all remarkably released within 1996), DJ and producer Matthew Herbert solidified his reputation as one of electronic music’s greatest conceptual artists with 1998’s Around The House. Largely made from tones you’re likely to hear in the home; the clinking of glasses, the scraping of cutlery, the spray of an aerosol can. The humbleness of its musical raw materials belies the fact that it’s Herbert’s first great masterpiece.

A domestic scene is set from the off, as the listener is beckoned into the record by an apartment door buzzer and the sultry vocal of Dani Siciliano, who imbues the remainder of Around The House with a jazz sophistication. As it happens, the loft analogy is appropriate, given the funk and disco reference points in the liquid bass groove of ‘So Now?’ and ‘Close To Me’. Microhouse scrapes and scratches field the classy dance mood with a Detroit-style buoyancy, as the subtle rhythmic elements mingle and flirt with one another on charming cuts like ‘We Still Have (The Music)’ and ‘Going Around’.

Around The House is a cordial invitation to a house party, where Herbert is both esteemed host and house band.

Record Store Day Japan 2021 Drop 2 release. Released in 2007, the 10th single is converted to analog 7". A song that represents Fujifabric, with a lyrical depiction of the scene of the end of summer.

Record Store Day 2021 release. Bertrand Burgalat's first album 'The Sssound of Mmmusic', also known as TSOM, is released in an expanded reissue, twenty-one years after its first publication, on June 12th 2021 for the Record Store Day. Bertrand Burgalat combines lush arrangements, dreamy atmospheres and pop culture with class and humor.

In 2000, Bertrand Burgalat decided to evolve openly by releasing his first solo album 'The Sssound of Mmmusic' which had been in the works since the creation of the label 5 years earlier. This album, a true melancholic and sensual sonorama, reveals the very essence of Burgalat's art, fragile, nuanced, with a rare humility. Dotted with banjos and club bass, cascades of synthetic strings and soprano saxophone, geisha choirs and unblocked beats, 'The Sssound of Mmmusic' appears as a contrasting work where opposites unite in perfect alchemy.

Accompanied by previously unreleased tracks for the first time on vinyl, the album features songs like 'Gris métal' with a text by Michel Houellebecq, 'Vision of Love' his cover of Mariah Carey, or 'Kim' five minutes of intoxicating music.

Originally released in 2006, Eingya by Helios aka Keith Kenniff returns in a new 2021 edition vinyl re-release, remastered by Taylor Deupree.

Beginning the album on a high with the pastoral beauty of "Bless This Morning Year," Kenniff showcases of what he does best: heartbreaking guitar and piano melodies punctuated by crumbling beats and backed by the most atmospheric synthesizer sounds this side of Eno's Apollo. The appetizing "Halving the Compass" blends subtle field recording with the kind of piano melodies so beautiful they could be compared to Virginia Astley or Harold Budd. This is followed by the album's clear highlight, "Dragonfly Across an Ancient Sky." It's an unsurpassable folk guitar piece with a decomposing percussive background and the sort of melodies that would turn evil tyrants into weeping babies. An album that could appeal as easily to fans of Nick Drake as to fans of Boards of Canada or even early AIR, this truly has something for everyone.

Raised in rural Pennsylvania, Kenniff put out Helios's 2004 debut album, Unomia, while studying percussion at Boston's Berklee College of Music. Since then, he's released six more albums as Helios, in addition to collaborating with his wife Hollie Kenniff in the shoegaze-inspired pop duo Mint Julep and composing music for films and archival use.

"A protracted sunset of an album guaranteed to see you through the longest days of summer and into the twilight of the autumn." - The Wire "A soundtrack of molasses-sweet, midsummer sunset melancholy and pastoral mellifluence." - Tinymixtapes

Originally released on January 26, 2009 via Magic Bullet Records, this excellent split release between This Will Destroy YOU and Lymbyc Systym (featuring all songs exclusive to this release) now sees formal reissue via Dark Operative. All tracks were recorded in succession in late 2008 at Elmwood Studios in Dallas, Texas with Grammywinning engineer and mixer John Congleton at the helm. This Will Destroy YOU recorded their songs first with Lymbyc Systym arriving in town toward the latter part of those sessions to carry right into the tracking of their material immediately following. Mixing of the entire album was done all at once at the conclusion of tracking to ensure sonic consistency across both sides. Since its initial release, “Field Studies” stands tall in the discography of both bands, with This Will Destroy YOU’s “Freedom Blade” having garnered numerous syncs over the years and the entirety of Lymbyc Systym’s material being regarded by fans and critics alike as among the best they ever wrote and recorded. Marketing /

If Succour was Seefeel’s departure from the cul de sac of shoegaze music to wander through the desert of abstract electronics, 1996’s (Ch-Vox) which has been out of print since its original release is the sound of a group building a civilisation in the remotest spot, revelling in their sound far away from the rest of the world, their tones arriving to us like strange signals through the air. Singular as each of Seefeel’s LPs are, (Ch-Vox) could well be their definitive statement, a compelling album fuelled by deepest mystery.

Chief among its mystique is that it’s often hard to tell what we’re hearing most of the time. The humid drones of ‘E-hix²’ could have been created using samples, guitar feedback or a string quartet. The clipped ambience of ‘Utreat (Complete)’ ambiguously suggests either a piano or a bass guitar, a grainy twang-thump which revisits the closing motif of Succour, signposting the maturation of the Seefeel project. Although, ‘maturation’ isn’t quite the right word; (Ch-Vox) is amniotic in nature, each of its tracks boiled down to elemental values, co-mingling with plentiful breathing space. ‘Hive’ gives us the first hint of a clangorous beat, rendered alien by its ambient backdrop of what sounds like the howling of wolves.

This expanded edition of (Ch-Vox) comes loaded with unreleased material on the second LP that’s just as thought-provoking, delivering an even more rounded experience for this immersive album.

Just as paradigm-shifting ideas are met with some cautious scepticism when they first occur, the history of Seefeel’s second LP Succour is a little chequered. Coming in hot from the success of their 1993 debut Quique — regarded as a prophetic example of shoegaze’s eventual transformation into post-rock — a newly minted contract with Warp would prove symbolic of where the group would steer his project next. The few “rock” elements of its full-length predecessor had evaporated, and vast spaces of dub and ambient would come to inform 1995’s Succour. Skeletal rhythmic elements amalgamating into their brooding, elemental and completely singular sound.

Bookending tracks ‘Meol’ and ‘Tempean’ open up like two gaping mouths on a mottled, heavy beast of droning synthesis, laying the groundwork for the world-enveloping tones Stars of the Lid would later produce. The delicate balance of weights teeters throughout the LP, crushing up sheet metal percussion on the techno-minded ‘Fracture’ and ‘Rupt’, which both simultaneously recall Aphex Twin’s rhythmic experiments and large-scale dub textures. The latter style is heavily hinted in the third LP of mostly unreleased tracks in this expanded (Redux) edition, all delay-drenched and booming with bass.

Seefeel proselytised the limitless potential of the post-rock genre with Succour — and produced one of the 1990s’ greatest albums in the process.

Another timeless release by Redeye from 1994 to be back in stock on After 6 AM in January. Highly recommended! Don't support the Discogs sharks. Support the original label and the artist!

Half speed mastering Amazing and legendary 1994 album on the equally amazing and legendary Irdial Disc label, remastered at Emil Berliner Studios in half speed mastering.

Kenny Dope and Louie Vega's Nu-Yorican Soul project was responsible for some of the biggest underground club hits to come out of NYC throughout the 1990's, their collective vast musical knowledge, impeccable taste and legendary status as DJ's in the city only helped elevate them to the highest level. "The Nervous Track" is a fine example of the duo's deep musical heritage, originally released on Nervous Records in 1993 it's deep pads, bassline and solid as a rock breakbeats captured the ears and minds of any self respecting DJ or dancer who came within a hundred miles of it, the very definition of a classic! Fusing the worlds of Jazz, Latin, HipHop and House MAW set the blueprint for generations of DJ's and producers to come with records like this. Here, re-mastered and re-issued from the original DAT's in conjunction with Nervous Records NYC is a piece of dance music history, "The Nervous Track" is available again and still sounding as vital and groundbreaking as it did on it's original release.

The first release on Calax Records is a re-release of the tape "Energy Is Eternal Delight", co-released by Siegmar Fricke and A Thunder Orchestra. Although the original material was released exclusively on cassette in 1991 we re-release this album on double-vinyl with two unreleased tracks by Siegmar Fricke. SIegmar Fricke is based in Germany and he has been working on music since the early 80s. At that time, he recorded sounds from the radio which were then sampled, transformed and recombined to rhythmic disco-collages of very unique nature and incomparable style. A Thunder Orchestra is cult-artist from the 80s, who specialized in ambient, electronic wave and industrial music and who released them under several names: Danton's Voice, White House White, A Thunder Orchestra and Ratbau.

Limited edition remastered, originally released on F Communications 1996. For a long time, Jay Alansky has always had within him the complete music culture, from decadent folk to pre-punk. His Balearic House project 'A Reminiscent Drive' was electro reinvented without samples or computers, by hijacking Burt Bacharach and/or The Residents. For a long time, Jay Alansky has always had within him the complete music culture, from decadent folk to pre-punk. His Balearic House project 'A Reminiscent Drive' was electro reinvented without samples or computers, by hijacking Burt Bacharach and/or The Residents. Enriched with modal mutations, down-sampled drums and creeping tempos, created prophetic electronics by tapping into a giant jukebox, which served as its brain. Otherwise, simply caught up in the emotion, oblivious to references and obsessions.

25th Anniversary Edition. Originally released on F Communications 1997. Opack premier EP on F Communications had already stood out for its unique programming and production. It had traced a furrow for French electronica "and established Readymade as an essential composer / producer / arranger, developing a falsely crazy and deeply melancholy universe fed by hip-hop, pop, electronica, dub, house and techno.

A download code is included. Re-release of the album which Marc Weiser (rechenzentrum, zeitkratzer) and Jürgen Hendlmeier (producer for The Flaming Sideburns, Thee Ultra Bimboos) created as Arurmukha. With the use of soundbites, field recordings, and stylistically diverse tracks, they reprocess the clearing of 13 squats on Mainzer Straße in Berlin-Friedrichshain in November 1990, forming it into an acoustic scenography in the style of the “Maifestspiele” by Einstürzende Neubauten. 14.11.2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the clearing of 13 squats on Mainzer Straße in Berlin-Friedrichshain. The violent confrontation between the police and about 500 squatters, involving armored vehicles, helicopters, and 10 water cannons, was the biggest police operation in Berlin’s post-war history, with 4000 officers deployed, and is deemed to be the last big “battle” of left-wing squatters in Germany. The insert for the LP provides a detailed chronicle of the events (taken from the book “Berlin Mainzer Straße: Wohnen ist wichtiger als das Gesetz [Berlin Mainzer Straße: Housing is more important than the law]”, published in 1992 by Basis-Druck).

Electronic are proud to present the release of their self-titled album. Pressed on 180g black vinyl, this reissue features the black cover on vinyl for the very first time, which was first used on the CD version released in 1994.

Electronic were the coming together of Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr in 1987. This was the year of the sudden and wholly unexpected demise of The Smiths, who imploded in July after Marr left the group. Two months later, midway through a North American tour, Bernard Sumner shocked his bandmates by announcing that he planned to take time out from New Order.

Marr and Sumner had met in 1984 when Marr added guitar to Atom Rock by Quando Quango, an electro-dance track co-produced by Sumner. Marr sums up their coming together for Electronic; ‘We were two musicians who wanted to get away from the suffocating politics of the band. At the same time, it was OK for duos and DJs and non-groups to make records, and that really appealed to Bernard and me.”

The project was a joyous Venn Diagram of Sumner and Marr’s influences. Although ostensibly coming from different disciplines, the experimental dance-pop of New Order and the fullbodied jangle of The Smiths, their common interests were many: dance music, a good tune and pushing musical boundaries. At the time of release (May 1991), ‘Electronic’ was met with huge acclaim and stands up as one of the most important electronica albums of all time.

after6am presents redeye - guinea pigs agree. after 26 years this masterpiece of trance/ ambient will be back on black gold - remastered!
highly recommended!

Originally self-released as a tape under the artist name Pest(e), this 1996 collection of IDM and analog electronics is in fact the debut Lowfish album. Intended as a demo, it caught the attention of infamous UK label Skam —but after months of fruitless phone tag with the label, it was time for Gregory De Rocher to strike out on his own. Dropping his Pest(e) moniker in favour of Lowfish, in 1997 De Rocher co-founded Suction Records with like-minded producer Jason Amm, aka Solvent. While that Test(e) tape wasn’t technically a Suction Records release, it served as the impetus for starting the label, and we’ve always referred to it as catalog # suction000.
Fans of mid/late-90s Artificial Intelligence classics from Autechre, Locust, Aphex Twin, u-Ziq, and Bola will recognize those hallmark sounds here, alongside traces of formative influence from Skinny Puppy, OMD, and Tangerine Dream. Recorded live to DAT with a bedroom full of analog classics (Roland Jupiter 6, TR-808, TR-606, Arp Odyssey, Korg MS-20), a sampler, and an arsenal of cheap FX units, the melodies here are lush and addictive, with layers of warm, lo-fi-ish (get it?) grit - often intentional, sometimes just a product of the process. Although largely on the armchair techno tip, the dense drum programming also nods to the burgeoning drum and bass movement, which De Rocher was firmly (but only briefly) obsessed with.
For the first time on vinyl and rightfully re-branded as a Lowfish release, we’re thrilled to have Test(e) officially join the Suction Records catalog

Limited edition of 400 copies including Marnie Weber sticker. Hidden gem from the L.A. performative art rock scene. Discos Transgénero is proud to announce the re-issue of the Marnie Weber classic first solo LP, “Songs Hurt Me” originally from 1990. This seminal record was an important part of the Los Angeles post-punk performative art rock scene. Brooding synthesizers, heavy bass, strange melodies, and poetic lyrics lead you through an industrial journey. These songs were born from Weber’s earliest performance art characters: a deer, an old woman, a manic courtesan, and a butterfly. Songs Hurt Me was originally co-produced by Phillip Drucker AKA Jackson Del Ray of Savage Republic and 17 Pygmies fame.

Techno, Disco, Italo, Electronics, House, Library, Cosmic and Ambient frequencies - These are the bedrocks of the Midnight Drive ethos and sound. A label shining a light on overlooked or unheralded creations and respectfully reissuing them for the contemporary audience. A label that respects and understands the connection between these disparate and sometimes forgotten forms of musical expression and celebrates them. Midnight Drive are extremely proud to reintroduce the world to the sublime after-hours, cult downtempo sounds of Belgian duo Pieter Kuyl and Jan Van Den Bergh aka Mappa Mundi.

For those who shine darkly ... During the transitional period in which Coil's primary leadership, Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson and John Balance, reorganized their creative direction by taking on new membership in the group through their inclusion of Drew McDowall, Coil took a drastic turn towards the metaphysical unknown.

The release comes on 180g vinyl. The vinyl LP has been discontinued and second-hand copies of the original pressing are changing hands on Ebay and Discogs for upwards of £100! This vinyl only Simple Things re-issue will mirror the original release, cut over 4 sides and using the original artwork but now pressed on heavyweight 180g vinyl. Simple Things is a timelessly classic album and the essential soundtrack to any laidback summer chilling.

The alchemist Bebo Baldan, accompanied by Steve James on violin and sarod (as well as on instruments of various geographical extractions) mixes, in a personal way, sounds from a bevy of different cultures – from Mediterranean and Indian, to South American – with synths, samples, and loops. The result is a boundless music that carries us, riding soft waves and bobbing between Balearic ambient, jazz and electronic, on islands that have been quietly, yet carefully cultivated; peaceful, fascinating, and reflective – places where time appears to dissolve. Vapor frames 86/91 was originally released for Venetian Divergo – a non-profit label, which after the Baldan album, also released "The Wind Collector" by Gigi Masin and Alessandro Monti a few months later.
This reissue includes two added bonus tracks from the same sessions, both at the end of each side.
The result is a stunning auditory atmosphere that relaxes the spirit in the same vein as a reiki treatment.

DsorDNE (pronounced Disordine) is a project from Torino, Italy that evolved as group out of the electronic experimental post punk project Novostj in 1987. At the core of DsorDNE is Marco Milanesio, musical engineer and co-founder of the HAX record label, joined by a revolving cast of musicians. Their spectrum ranged from experimental to structured electro-poetry and Soundtrack like instrumental electronic music. In 1987 they released their first track on a split-single with The Legendary Pink Dots. Between 1987 and 1994 they released 6 full length albums, 3 split-EPs and appeared on various cassette compilations.


È Un Sole (It’s a Sun) was the group’s only vinyl full length originally released in 1990 on HAX. It’s 8 tracks of electro-beat poetry and experimentation recorded between July 1989 and January 1990 by Marco Milanesio (music) and Roberta Ongaro (vocals) with guests Claudio Burdese (guitar), Danilo Beltrame (guitar) and Cristiana Bauducco (vocals). The album is broken up into two distinct halves. Side A contains four chunks of hard hitting, percussive patterns and rushing bass sequences. Dark, moody female vocals force their monologues through the machinery in their native Italian tongue. The traditional song structure is carefully avoided by giving lyrics equal opportunities be they recited, half-sung, whispered or spoken. Side B displays moodier moments, less savage attacks and subtler sensuality, veering towards the more melodic and existential. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The record is housed in an exact replica of the original jacket featuring a black and white drawing with silver metallic spot color housed in a clear PVC plastic cover with a three color screen-printed design. Each copy includes a 11x11” double-sided lyrics sheet with English translations as well an 8x11” sheet with original press notes from 1990 by Marco Pustianaz. Limited to 800 copies.

Radical Connector was originally released in 2004 and is now fnally back on vinyl. This re-issue is pressed on mixed splatter color vinyl and presented in a high gloss jacket with free download card.

“Though reference points like Daft Punk and Prince have rightly been thrown around, Radical Connector is in fact a strange album that doesn’t sound like much else.” - Pitchfork

Mouse on Mars is recognised as one of Germany’s most defning and versatile electronic music projects. With their
anarchic mixture of sound that oscillates between uncontrollable chaos and meticulously arranged structures,
Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma have forged a unique musical language, which is readily decomposed by the
unpredictability of its myriad mutations. Free from schools of thought, genre conventions, and from the constraints
of the music establishment, they have worked under the Mouse on Mars alias for 24 years, mapping their own
idiosyncratic trajectory through a no man’s land between pop, art, club music, and the avant-garde. - Jan Rohlf

“Sexy robot vocals slip and slide all over juicy squeals, raindrop plops, and jungle-thick beats.”
- Entertainment Weekly
“Stirring songs drift out of its frantic aural mishmashes, fnding a controlled center amid all the dizzy spin.”
- AV Club
“Mouse on Mars have a gift for making electronic bleeps and buzzes sound like tangible objects that bounce,
bend and collide in physical space.” - Rolling Stone

11 years since it´s inception, the surreal and darkly romantic Knive still sounds like a mystery and something that´s hard to pin down. Svarte Greiner´s debut album feels like a trip into the forest at midnight, with all the sounds and impressions that comes with it. Spiritual, horrific and fragile in essence, it´s melancholic core is hard to shake off, and feels as present today as it did back then.

Don’t shoot me, I’m only the piano player. The Scene: The Welsh mountains, remote and harsh, a special place. A good place to produce a special album. The characters: Volker Bertelmann in his friend Adam Fuests’ studio, equipped with only a piano and a laptop.

Tosca's second album 'Suzuki' (Studio K7) takes a lighter, airier approach to the trip-hop terrain that Opera explored. The spare, shimmering title track's delicate synth textures, minimal beats, mellow rhythms, and breathy vocal samples set the tone for more moody musical fairytales from Richard Dorfmeister, this time with Rupert Huber under the guise of Tosca. Suzuki is--like his releases with Kruder and Dorfmeister--a sublime work that manipulates emotions through sound. Soft and sweet, subtle and supple, Tosca's tracks drift, sifting from one dream to the next. Though they patch hip-hop, jazz, ambient, and techno together, you can't hear where one begins and the other ends. "Annanas" pairs sneaky, squeaky scratching with a lusty female vocal and bossa-nova-inspired hip-hop breaks, while "Orozco" loops a playful riff, running it through reverbs and filters, creating something like pure bliss for the ears.

Faitiche presents a long-lost vinyl album: for the last 14 years, Jan Jelinek's Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records, originally released in 2001 on ~scape, existed only as a download. Now the landmark album is available again on vinyl, as a double LP with two bonus tracks (B-sides from the Tendency EP, 2000).

Only 1 per customer!

Fifteen years since its original release, The Other People Place's Lifestyles Of The Laptop Café is finally made available again on vinyl. A long-standing favourite among the many legions of Warp fans and rightly considered to be one of the very best electronic albums of all time.

It's hard to sum up in words just how important Lifestyles Of The Laptop Café truly is. Originally released back in 2001 as part of the Drexciyan off-shoot Storm Series, Lifestyles was one of the various projects of one-half of deep sea electro pioneers Drexciya, James Stinson. Shrouded in mystery, the two members of Drexciya took the blueprint laid out by the pioneers of the hypnotic groove, Kraftwerk and gave it a truly electro feel - cold, yet funky. Where Drexciya's sound was focused in the deepest corners of the ocean, James's work as The Other People Place was a solo project that turned its gaze elsewhere, most notably in the direction of love.

Playing out like the first meeting through the early days of a relationship, the themes of closeness and affection carry a strong theme throughout with tracks like 'Eye Contact' describing those very first seconds of connection, before the story unfolds with the twilight romance of 'Moonlight Rendezvous', and the almost doubt creeps in on the bittersweet 'You Said You Want Me' and the anthemic 'Let Me Be Me'. A track of legendary status amongst the wide-ranging spectrum of electronic music lovers, producers and DJs the world over.

With the original vinyl being incredibly hard to find (for a second-hand copy, you are looking upwards of one hundred and fifty quid easily!) this freshly repressed edition is something many of us have been dreaming of, and for those looking to take their first trip to the Place, you are in for a life-affirming experience.

Like all of the very best techno and electro, The Other People Place yields some of the most beautiful sounds to emerge from the D with a limited sound pallette, stripping everything back to the essentials to compose an incredibly important yet delicate album that still to this day continues to fascinate and seduce with its strikingly subtle flow and elegant mystery.

Finally, this Portishead classic is back in print!!

Finally, this Portishead classic is back in print!!

Kranky re-release Bowery Electric's second long-player, their 1996 album, Beat. Its horizontal, morphine-drip trip hop and drone-gazing really don't sound like something that could have come from the mid-nineties. But for the very Bristolian title track the tone of the album is actually far more in-keeping with either Spacemen 3-style eighties indie or modern day dream-pop. In addition to soaring effects-laden epics like 'Empty Words' and 'Fear Of Flying' there's some sensitive minimalism afoot on the self-explanatory ambience of 'Looped' and the sixteen-minute 'Postscript', all of which helps make Beat a worthy and seasonable reissue. A secret Downbeat gem from the middle of the 90s.

This classic Massive Attack album finally gets an official reissue.