Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield Vinyl 276 Items

Gyatso is the 1994 album by legendary “industrial noise jazz” outfit 16-17 produced by Kevin Martin (Techno Animal, The Bug) and first released on CD on his Pathological label, re-released on Savage Land in 2008. Gyatso is the only pure studio album recorded by the original 16-17 line-up of Alex Buess, Markus Kneubühler and Knut Remond and besides Martin also features G.Green from Godflesh as a guest musician. Praxis is teaming up with Skin & Speech, Alex Buess’s label, to bring forth the first ever vinyl release of this crucial album and releases a 6-track LP edition with all the other tracks (there are 13 in total) available as a download. 16-17 started in 1983 in Basel, Switzerland. They released a number of cassettes, before debuting with their self titled and self released album in 1987. Two years later this was followed up by When All Else Fails, an LP of treated live record- ings on Vision, the precursor label to Praxis. By this time 16-17 had already garnered a cult following with their incredibly forceful live performances. Gyatso is a crucial release where the raw power of 16-17’s live appearances clashes with a studio-as-instrument approach, as Kevin Martin and Alex Buess add effects and dub techniques to the band’s recordings. Further collaborations between Martin and Buess include the ICE project which also included Justin Broadrick aka J.K.Flesh of Godflesh, the other half of Techno Animal, as well as Human Distortion, released on Digital Hardcore Record- ings in 1998. Buess also took part of the Sprawl project with Peter Brötzmann, William Parker, Michael Wertmüller and Stephan Wittwer which appeared on Trost Records in 1997. This vinyl release of Gyatso comes hot on the heels of two important records that came out in 2020: The album Phantom Limb on Trost, based on band recordings from 1995 and finished in the studio in 2019 by Alex Buess, and most recently Praxis is very happy to present this release in collaboration with Skin & Speech, for the first time on vinyl and download! Available now through all the usual outlets and directly from Praxis! pre-Praxis days of the Vision label, continuing with the 1999 release of Mechanophobia on Praxis as well as the more re- cent Vacuum Theory by Cortex and “Skin Craft” by Alex Buess and Daniel Buess.

UK National Album Day Limited Release. Originally released in 1991, ex:el was the third studio album by 808 State, and the last to feature founding member Martin Price. The album contains guest vocals from Bernard Sumner of New Order in the single ‘Spanish Heart’, and Björk with ‘Qmart’ and ‘Ooops’, paving the way for early concepts of modern electronic music. The release comes as a limited-edition 140-gram blue vinyl.

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.

180g Vinyl including download code.

Just when you thought it was safe to buy another mash up ep, Aldo Vanucci is back and this time hes keeping it biff baff … Already airplayed by Rob Da Bank and Ali B!

Originally released in 2005, 'Insen' is the second collaboration album between Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto and the second installment of V.I.R.U.S.'s five albums series.

Remastered in 2021 in collaboration with Calyx Studio, the album's recordings are accompanied by an unreleased composition titled 'Barco.' Initially composed for Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto's 2005 'Insen' tour, the audio material used in this piece is based on the subtle sounds of Barco projectors, whose tonalities served as a ground for the artists' live improvisation. ? In 'Insen', Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto explore the potential for interaction and tension between electronic and acoustic instrumentation. Across eight compositions, the echoes of the cascading piano combine, collide, and dissolve with the tapestry of digital breakages in sheer vibrancy. This relationship lies at the album's core. It subtly continues Vrioon's calm melancholia, becoming a vessel for all the emotions and memories nourished by the listener. As you hear the opening, lonesome notes of 'Aurora,' you realize that the pair have once again conceded an ambition to embed elaborate disciplines into an archetypal sound of soul-searching beauty.

Initially released in 2006, ‘Revep’ is the third collaboration album between Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto and the third installment of V.I.R.U.S.’s five albums series. Remastered in 2021 in collaboration with Calyx Studio, the album’s recordings are accompanied by three new compositions titled ‘City Radieuse’, ‘Veru 1’, and ‘Veru 2’. ‘City Radieuse’ was composed for the 2012 short cinematic essay titled ‘Cité Radieuse’ and part of Carsten Nicolai’s ‘future past perfect’ series. The video shot at le Corbusier’s Unité D’Habitation in Nantes (called ‘cité radieuse’) takes the viewer through the modular system and design applied to the residential buildings. The film’s narrative unfolds through a sequence of images tracking the apartments’ indoor space and details, and points to the different benchmarks of standardized production as they correlate to their environment and its inhabitants.

The album’s original recordings resulted from musical exchanges that began with ‘Vrioon’ and revolved around a collaborative arrangement of Sakamoto’s classic ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,’ the theme music to the 1983 movie starring David Bowie, Takeshi Kitano, and Ryuichi Sakamoto himself. In ‘Revep,’ the piano takes the lead while the padded bass and pitched electronic frequencies mark sudden change. Deeply evocative and effortlessly colliding worlds of analog beauty and digital mastery, this album is considered another indispensable record from the duo’s ongoing collaboration.

Andreas Leifelt - Move (12") Re-mastered Re-issue From 1998 Highly Recommended!

5 tracks, recorded in Oxford, Missouri in early 2008

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.

Classic Aphex Twin 12" with four nice mixes!

“It’s just too easy to make a standard dance track,” Aphex Twin said of his mindset back in 1992. “You’ve got to put a bit of thought into it to get something a bit different.”

‘Digeridoo’ was released on the Belgian R&S Records label in 1992, and originally peaked at #55 in the UK singles chart in May of that year. Over the last 32 years the track has become one of the essential Aphex Twin tracks in a gargantuan catalogue that continues to amaze and inspire.

“I wanted to have some tracks to play to finish the raves I used to play in Cornwall, to really kill everybody off so they couldn’t dance,” Richard D James, AKA Aphex, told Select magazine back in the 90s. “Digeridoo came out of that.”

Released as a 4 track EP that also included early Aphex productions (now classics) including the industrial, acidic clang of ‘Flap Head’ and hyperbolic futurism of ‘Isopropanol’, the release cemented a relationship with the R&S label that went on to release the ‘Xylem Tube’ EP and the pivotal album ‘Selected Ambient Works 85-92’ in the same year. The label’s owner & A&R Renaat Vandepapeliere reflected “When I first heard Aphex Twin’s music I said, ‘This is it!’, and everybody else said, ‘You’re crazy!’ …a lot of the hardcore R&S fans dropped us. To them it wasn’t music.”

‘Didgeridoo’ (Expanded Edition) is the first time the EP has been re-issued with extra material. Whilst digging in his DAT archive (allegedly stored in an airtight military ammo box), Richard James revisited the recordings, encoding them through a Nakamichi CR7e cassette deck, using the customised deck with vari-speed to encode at speeds “felt right at the time”. Alongside these CR7e versions, the original mixes have been remastered by Beau Thomas at Ten Eight Seven Mastering, offering a dilated insight into one of electronic music’s most endearing releases.

‘Didgeridoo’ (Expanded Edition) by Aphex Twin is available on R&S Records from 31st May 2024.

Another Aphex Twinclassic back in print! Pressed 180 gram wax, download code included!

Another Aphex Twinclassic back in print! Pressed 180 gram wax, download code included!

Best coverartwork ever! And the track isn't too bad either.

Arovane's acclaimed 2004 album »Lilies« has been out of print on vinyl for nearly 2 decades now. It finally gets a well-deserved reissue through the Berlin based Keplar label. The new version has been remastered by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering and comes with a brand new cover artwork. »Lilies« was a follow-up to »Tides« in every sense, exploring a trip to Japan and drawing on shimmering textures and the sort of melodies that you might need some time to recover from. There's a hugely evocative sense to these tracks, emotionally driven, free of complexity or conceit, piano melodies providing the central focus for a twilight cascade of light that seems perfect for the Tokyo skyline - just as the sun sets. It's an album that radiates warmth and vulnerability, fusing the technological might at the heart of each track (and at the heart of the city) with an age-old understanding that certain echoes of sound, small melodic changes and cushioned lullabies can imprint sounds on your mind like childhood memories - remembered forever. Like a dreamlike score, or maybe even an alternate soundtrack to »Lost in Translation« - the sort of music that intertwines with images and stays in your mind indefinately. After coming back from Tokyo and completing the production of »Lilies«, Uwe Zahn disassembled his studio in the big flat in an old building in Berlin's Prenzlauerberg district and stored it away in boxes. He needed a break from making music. »Lilies« was the last album prior to a nine-year hiatus for Arovane, ending in 2013 with the release of »Ve Palor«.

»Tides« marked a radical change in direction for Arovane. After Uwe Zahn had made a name for himself with cutting-edge IDM rhythms and slick ambient textures on a slew of releases, his sophomore album saw the prolific producer opt for a sample-based approach that resulted in a more organic sound and laid-back downbeat grooves. Having reissued Arovane’s seminal »Atol-Scrap« as a double LP in 2021, the Berlin-based Keplar label now makes »Tides« available on vinyl for the first time since its original release in 2000 through the legendary City Centre Offices. The new version has been remastered by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering and comes with a brand new cover artwork. It shines a new light on a release for which Zahn quite literally ventured into previously unknown territory — »Tides« is an album that emits a timeless, quiet calm and nonetheless stays constantly in motion.

»The idea for the album came to me after a vacation in France«, says Zahn. Inspired by the landscape, especially the coastline and the sea, he made field recordings throughout his trip that were also used on the record, giving it its sensual feel. The foundation of the album however, the loose yet gripping grooves at the heart of every track, result from Zahn working extensively with samples. »I wanted to make use of drum sounds and small excerpts from old jazz vinyl records«, he explains. He maintained the unique sound signatures and rhythmic flutter of the source material while building intricate beats with them. Most of the material was culled from the record collection of Christian Kleine, whose spontaneous guitar improvisations over the first musical sketches were recorded and edited by Zahn and can be heard on four tracks. Also employing the occasional cembalo or spinet sound, he worked with a hardware sequencer and a delay to integrate the different, discrete elements into nine tracks that feel both dense and light at once.

What’s astonishing still 22 years later is how spacious »Tides« sounds. This is due to the fact that Zahn not only paid close attention to the sonic idiosyncrasies of his source material, but also to what happened in between those sounds. »Mark Hollis’s solo album was a huge inspiration at that time«, says Zahn. »What I find fascinating about it until this day is how silence and the subtle hiss of the mixing boards were being used on that record.« Silence was also an important stylistic element on »Tides« and adds greatly to the overall atmosphere of an album that with the appropriately named »Theme« immediately sets the mood with intricate spinet melodies: Zahn opens a door for his listeners and invites them to follow him to see a specific part of the world through his very own lens.

As a whole, the album mirrors Zahn’s trip that took him along the steep cliffs on a foggy day (»Seaside«), to an abandoned house in which he found old maps (»A Secret«), along the coastline during a long car ride (»Deauville«), to a sleepy village and the slowly moving sea (»Tides«) and finally back home to his native Germany where he started reflecting upon his experiences, ultimately deciding to translate them into music (»Epilogue«). »Whenever I listen to this album now, the images and memories it evokes are incredibly vivid and vibrant«, he says. It’s not hard to see — or rather hear — why. »Tides« may have been a deeply personal project, but it effortlessly evokes universal feelings by (re-)building an entire world in the course of only a few pieces of music.

by Lawrence, Alexander Polzin and James Din A4

Re-issue of Arpanet's second album from 2005. After the criticly acclaimed 'Wireless Internet' album Arpanet goes on a starker and more experimental ambient trip. As with his other pseudonyms Gerald Donald pushes the envelop further on every album with sonic explorations of scientific, technological and social themes. Originally released on Rephlex, now remastered for Clone Aqualung Series with a new exclusive track from the same sessions 'Superposition-Many Worlds'.

When Arthur Russell died in 1992 he left an overwhelming archive of over a 1000 tapes that reveal the sublime genius of one of the most important musicians of the last 25 years. As a cellist, songwriter, composer, and disco visionary Arthur Russell consistently blurred the lines of our expectations of what pop music could be. Originally from Iowa, Arthur travelled west in 1970 to study Indian classical composition with Ali Akbar Khan, befriended Allen Ginsberg, performed with Alice Coltrane, and then moved to New York in 1973 to study at the Manhattan School of Music. Quickly gravitating to the then burgeoning downtown scene, Arthur wrote and performed his minimal compositions (captured on Instrumentals and Tower Of Meaning. Both to be re-issued by Audika) and collaborated with a who’s who of some of New York’s most influential artists including Rhy’s Chatham, Ernie Brooks, David Byrne, Phillip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Jon Gibson, Robert Wilson, Christian Wolff, John Cage, Arnold Dreyblatt, and Phill Niblock.

It then changed by a mere accident. Simply, he went to a disco. Inspired by the sonic repetition and sense of community, Arthur wrote and recorded some of the most important records of the disco era including ‘Kiss Me Again’, ‘Is It All Over My Face’, and co-founded Sleeping Bag Records with partner Will Socolov releasing ‘Go Bang’ and the album 24-24 Music. In 2002 Audika Records entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with the estate of Arthur Russell to issue previously unreleased and out of print material from Arthur’s vast archive. The first album Calling Out Of Context , features 12 previously unreleased tracks recorded during Arthur’s prime years 1985-90. The material is drawn from Corn, an album that was completed in 1985 but never released, and an abandoned album recorded for Rough Trade as Arthur had become ill. Many of these tracks show hidden sides of Arthur’s talent and underline the loss of his great potential. Contrary by nature, Arthur’s spontaneous reaction and altered perception to his environment produced music that remains challenging and contemporary. Arthur’s open hearted attitude to music was far ahead of it’s time, and now that time is ours.”

Hot on the heels of 001, Tonal Oceans proudly presents 6 carefully selected tracks from Nicole Skeltys' rather extensive catalog. Compiling tracks from her Artificial alias, Tnl-ocs002 consists of material which draws from her self-released 12"s, a long lost 7" lathe cut, as well as some CD-only material. Being active since the 90's, Nicole has paved her way through many genres and moods, which together represent all things "Antipodean Electronica" excellently. Also features a track from close friends Dark Network. Presented in a printed sleeve with psychedelic sticker. Artwork by Soft Turbo.

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).

The Autechre sound reached even deeper levels of intricate programming and layered, subtle detail on this their fifth record for Warp.

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.

The first in a complete series of Ghost Box re-issues, starts with the 2004 EP Farmer’s Angle by Belbury Poly. The very first release for label co-founder Jim Jupp was joyfully naïve yet oddly sinister electronica. It very much set out Ghost Box’s stall with its strong roots in library music, TV soundtracks, folk and psychedelia.

Farmer’s Angle is issued on 7inch vinyl, CD and all digital channels. Packaged in the original sleeve art by Julian House that was to establish the label’s strong visual identity. Drawing influences from library music albums and Penguin books of the 60s and 70s with a classic British modernist aesthetic, House’s work for Ghost Box predated the eventually ubiquitous use of paperback book visuals in popular commercial graphic design. Farmer’s Angle was included in an Electronic Sound magazine feature, A History of Electronic Music in 75 Records.

Belbury Poly Jim Jupp has released EPs, singles and seven albums on Ghost Box under the name of Belbury Poly. He is also a member of The Belbury Circle along with Cate Brooks (of The Advisory Circle) and occasional collaborator, John Foxx. In 2019 he co-wrote and produced the music and spoken word album Chanctonbury Rings with Justin Hopper and Sharron Kraus. He has recorded library tracks for KPM, BMG and Lo-Editions. He has remixed tracks for several artists including John Foxx and Bill Ryder-Jones (The Coral) and co-written a song with Paul Weller for his 2020 album On Sunset.

Still rooted in these early influences and with a consistent and strong visual identity, the label has developed over the years and now has a more international roster with a broader range of musical styles. But each new release continues to be a unique fit into the label’s distinctive parallel universe.

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.

/ harmonic study 1.3

One of the all-time classic ambient albums finally available on strictly limited edition 180gr vinyl. 

Edition on 180g.

Repress von 2020

limited edition

Grau-marmoriertes Doppelvinyl (180g) Reissue des Blockhead Klassikers ’Downtown Science’ (2005) inklusive Downloadcode.

Türkises Standardvinyl (180g) des Blockhead Klassikers ’The Music Scene’ (2009) inklusive Downloadcode.

Responding to popular demand, Warp Records is repressing its seminal Boards of Canada catalogue on vinyl for the first time in over five years. Each Warp reissue comes with a download code and an original BOC sticker design from the era.

Responding to popular demand, Warp Records is repressing its seminal Boards of Canada catalogue on vinyl for the first time in over five years. Each Warp reissue comes with a download code and an original BOC sticker design from the era.

Responding to popular demand, Warp Records is repressing its seminal Boards of Canada catalogue on vinyl for the first time in over five years. Each Warp reissue comes with a download code and an original BOC sticker design from the era.

Responding to popular demand, Warp Records is repressing its seminal Boards of Canada catalogue on vinyl for the first time in over five years. Each Warp reissue comes with a download code and an original BOC sticker design from the era.

Responding to popular demand, Warp Records is repressing its seminal Boards of Canada catalogue on vinyl for the first time in over five years. Each Warp reissue comes with a download code and an original BOC sticker design from the era.

Bonobo's epic "Days To Come" finally gets the reissue treatment, great!

Limited to 1000 copies on clear vinyl in occasion of HHV's 20th birthday.

20 years HHV: our team has selected an album from each of these years that is particularly relevant and precious to us. On a monthly basis, we release exclusive and limited pressings of these records in collaboration with some of our favorite labels.

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.

Following on from the warm reception to Hell Yeah and Music Conception reissuing Calm's cult Before album, the labels have come together once more to offer up a reissue of the Japanese master's highly sought-after long player Moonage Electric Ensemble. The hard-to-find original has been given an all-new mixdown from original stem files and then re-mastered by Calm himself, and the double LP will also come with a bonus 12" featuring his very own Daydream Dubs plus an obi-strip and original artwork by FJD. The blissful yet soul-stirring Moonage Electric Ensemble, which landed first in 1999, was Kiyotaka Fukagawa's stunning sophomore album and the one that kept the bar high following his debut Shadow of the Earth. It investigated all new worlds of future jazz, ambient and downtempo and has since become a cult classic that often fetches three figures on secondhand markets. He has released over 18 albums since including Before which was reissued in 2022, though Moonage Electric Ensemble remains a favourite with those who enjoy the most accomplished and innovative sounds from the first wave of chillout. This escapist charmer opens with the suspensory synths and piano keys of 'Unseen Small Steps' featuring spoken words from Dan Gamble, then 'Light Year' has gently tumbling rhythms and shimming synth moving about the soothing mix. 'Noon At The Moon' brings gorgeously fizzing future jazz drums and mellifluous piano playing full of subtle joy, and 'The Other Side Of The Moon' then layers up melancholic chords and chunkier rhythms that are detailed with gorgeous persuasive details and mystic flutes. 'Tsukiyo' is a new age charmer with paddy hand drums and romantic interplay between sax and trumpet, 'Between Worlds' is an ambient interlude with distant winds blowing and intimate whispers from Gamble before closer 'Authentic Love Song' rides on dusty trip hop breaks as lazy piano chords melt the heart and Gamble serves up another aloof monologue. This is another welcome reissue of a sublime album that is not only one of Calm's finest but also a true gem in the wider world of downtempo music.