Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield Vinyl 238 Items

Mannequin Records is proud to present the official reissue of Caroline K's outstanding 1985 album, "Now Wait For Last Year."

This haunting, wistful work of post-industrial synthesizer music sees the late Nocturnal Emissions co-founder only solo record, which has accrued a fervent cult following over the past 40 years, and copies of the original pressing are today extremely rare and sought-after. The music on "Now Wait For Last Year" seems to exist firmly outside of it. Tags like industrial, minimal synth or proto-techno can't really do justice to the richly cinematic sound-world that Caroline K describes: from the sustained ambient tension of sidelong opener "The Happening World" to the future-primitive rhythms and stately piano flourishes "Animal Lattice", and the melancholic, deep-frozen synth sequences of "Cheart".

For fans of Throbbing Gristle, Chris Carter, Nocturnal Emissions and even early Detroit techno lovers should pay special attention to it.

All selections composed, arranged and played by Caroline K Recorded and produced by Caroline K

Photograph by Jake Kirkwood Original design by Nigel Ayers

The first five tracks of Now Wait For Last Year were originally released as a vinyl LP by Earthly Delights in 1987.

Conrad Schnitzler (1937-2011), composer and concept artist, is one of the most important representatives of Germany"s electronic music avant-garde. A student of Beuys, he founded Berlin"s legendary Zodiak Free Arts Lab, a subculture club, in 1967/68, was a member of Tangerine Dream (together with Klaus Schulze and Edgar Froese) and Kluster (with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius) and also released countless solo albums. The red album ("Rot") from 1973 was Schnitzler"s first solo LP.

Minimal Wave presents a reissue of Sympathy Nervous’ pioneering debut album originally released in 1980 on Vanity Records out of Japan. Sympathy Nervous was Yosihumi Niinuma’s lifelong project which he started in his Tokyo living room in 1979. Through Sympathy Nervous, Niinuma was able to channel his energy into what he loved – building his own synthesizers and speakers from scratch.

Reissue of this italo disco rarity from 1987 with Flemming Dalum & Rey David Diaz remixes.

Edgar Froese is the Founder of TANGERINE DREAM. This release Ages from 1978 is known as his greatest solo album from his most desirable time period. It has been out of print & unavailable. This double LP set features the rare extended music version, has deluxe packaging that will include an OBI strip, gatefold album jacket with two pockets, printed inner sleeves, original record labels and specialty color vinyl. Lava lamp effect clear White/Light Blue Color Vinyl

Limited to 3500 copies.

Epsilon in Malaysian Pale... which could be described as part of the "Phaedra Rubycon Epsilon" trilogy, shows Froese's impressions after the Australian Tangerine Dream concert tour, in relation to the flora and fauna there. Froese creates here a lush sonic atmosphere, the music matches the cover artwork perfectly. The music is harmonic and melodic. A sun-drenched musical landscape that is in no way inferior to the most famous Tangerine Dream albums.

It was not without reason that both David Bowie and Björk named Epsilon in Malaysian Pale as one of their inspirations.

"jataka" is an ambient to experimental synthesizer masterpiece album released in 1978 by Osamu Shoji, known as a composer, arranger, and synthesizer player. Contains a total of 8 songs, including "pyramid Ion" where cosmic synth shines. I think many people have been looking for this title, as the used market price has soared and there are many WANTs from overseas!

On 1984's Chomolhari, new age pioneer Karma Moffett eschews the arsenal of Tibetan bells and resonant singing bowls, which he usually uses to conjure his healing ambient works. Instead, he opts for the shimmering arpeggiation and gentle glissando of the Moog synthesizer. With this aural palette, he soundtracks a rich inner voyage of peace and reflection. Bookended by the calming drone of the Tibetan longhorn, the trip to Chomolhari and back is one worth taking again and again.

Karma Moffett reminisces: “Chomolhari. Bhutan’s deeply venerated guardian peak. While living in San Francisco, I wandered into the first Tibet Shop in the city. I met Dorje Lama, the creator.He became my good friend and guide, and introduced me to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, the venerable Kalu Rinpoche, and Tai Situ Rinpoche. He opened the door to the path of an inspired and enlightened journey for me. After reading ‘Seven Years in Tibet’, I created ‘Chomolhari’ as a mystical journey to the higher planes of the majestic mountains. Dorje would say: ‘The wildest dreams of the Americas are the facts of Tibet.

Hungarian “minimalist” instrumentalist/composer Tibor Szemző is considered a genius by many, although his accomplishments as an artist are sometimes overshadowed by the likes of superstars, Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Snapshot From The Island was originally released by Leo Records in 1987 and now 33 years later the album gets the proper reissue on his own label. Snapshot From The Island is a wonderful excursion into ambient-electronic-acoustic dreamscapes which could also be considered an offshoot of what many call the “minimalist movement” The title track, “Snapshot From The Island” is a 24-minute tone poem featuring Szemző performing on computer drums and flutes of various pitch. Here, Szemző provides a soft rhythmic undercurrent to balance the somewhat ethereal and delightfully hypnotic motif as he also electronically emulates bird and animal sounds which magnifies the mood or imagery of a far away “Island” paradise.

A remastered and revised artwork edition of the extraordinary World Of Echo album from New York avant-garde cellist, songwriter, composer, and disco visionary Arthur Russell. Originally released in 1986, the album is a deeply meditative and seductive work of awe-inspiring beauty, grace, and passion, performed with just cello, voice, and echoes. Eighteen tracks remastered from Russell’s original 1/4-inch sequenced masters, including drumless versions of his disco classics “Let’s Go Swimming,” “Tree House,” and “Wax The Van,” along with four previously unreleased songs from Sketches From World Of Echo. Edition of 1,000 copies.

Growing Bin switches back into reissue mode with an off-kilter obscurity from Austrian eccentrics Molto Brutto. Equal parts amateur funk, indie jangle, art rock and idiot pop, “2″ is a real weird bastard with a whole lot of charm. As the Bin continues to grow in all directions, there’s plenty of space for new sounds to take root. Alongside patches of Ambient, Balearic, Kosmische and Jazz, Hamburg’s audio allotment now stretches to accommodate the strange waves of Molto Brutto. Basso dug their first LP a decade back in Stuttgart’s Second Hand Records, embracing their abrasive style of sandpaper sonics and experimental urges. Interest piqued, he made the journey through their DIY catalogue, capturing excellent collaborations under the Ganslinger alias before bumping into the second of their two LPs. Originally released on their Golfdish imprint in 1988, “2″ walks into the pub with an air of accessibility, but quickly unravels into glorious chaos - pissing in the corner and passing out on the bar. Pop structures are suggested then subverted. Pints of Paisley slosh out of a broken Glass, tape loops spool onto shabby Material, and indie janglers are just a couple of stamps short of a Postcard. Turning you tipsy, this loveable rogue starts to tell you his life story, but you’re going to have to fill in some blanks. They miss ‘Blackie’, but who is he - a dog? What happened on the ‘Deadly Vacation’? Is that song really about a ‘Goldfish’, or did they find out the name of America’s horse? Words repeat until they lose all meaning, awkward poetry masks a lost laureate and a drunken Wurlitzer sends the room into a spin. The pubs are shut, so get happy drunk with Molto Brutto.

Remastered from the original tapes, 180g vinyl!

"Pulso de la Madera" comes as the definitive official reissue of the first album by the legendary band, along with previously unreleased remastered material, on a double LP with extensive liner notes and previously unseen pictures of the band. Essential to revisit the work of a band that inspired fourth world and organic ambient as we know it today; these tunes sound immersive and still contemporary.

On their short but influential career, Finis Africae proposed an informal and decentralized model of creativity that was decades ahead of current practices linked to technological advances; they explored unknown worlds and imagined landscapes of the “fourth world” apart from their present; they neither affirmed nor denied any of the labels they were to assign to them (“New Age”, “ethnic music”, “world music”, etc.); they recreated, used, and nourished foreign cultures without fear.

And most importantly - they shaped a sound “finis”. Your own space. Where there were no rules. A dimension in which the collective was submerged in long sessions of improvisation; where they could be goblins and magical entities; a place where they could imagine scales and structures unreal; where they could play any instrument in the known world; where they could tour the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Middle East in a blink of an eye; where they could be themselves without caring about anything that happened outside.

The unreleased tracks come as a careful selection of a deep-dive over hundred tracks and demos, compiled by Urba and Glossy Mario. The license comes from Juan Alberto Arteche's family.

"The Loa of Music" is the debut recording project of Milanese composer and musician Roberto Musci inspired by Voodoo Religion; Vever (the magical voodoo paintings) and Loas, the dark and magic spirits. The deep charm of non-Western music has led him to travel for many years across Africa, India and Asia, studying rhythms, scales, performance and interpretation of the most varied traditional and indigenous music, as well he make many field recordings and collected ethnic instruments that would then be combined with synthesizers and electronics in The Loa of Music.

Recorded in 1983, the project originally had 80 minutes of music but only half was released on original LP. SOAVE has pressed for the first time the Complete Recording Session from original tapes of this phenomenally ambitious masterpiece that entirely refuses the well trod path - distilling a remarkable range of sonic reference and reality. A work of field recording, musique concrète, electronics, synthesis, and instrumentation, pulling from countless musics from across the globe, the result is nothing short of brilliant and stunningly beautiful. A near perfect work - an egoless gesture, which rather than attempting to find consensus, offers every voice equity and cohabitation - harnessing the history music, with all of its cultural diversity, as a vision for a more ideal future. Geographies and their sounds intertwine, while Musci’s interventions and instrumentation thread a path. Ambiences ripple, sounds and voices converse in a vision of unity that may only exist within sonic realms. Unquestionably seminal, and one of the most important works to emerge from Italy in the last 50 years. Never before issued on vinyl since it’s original release, and surely not to be around for long, this is one not to miss.

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.

Dizonord is very happy to bring you the reissue of this French 1988 underground self released gem, re-mastered from master tapes!
Dubby, punky, politically engaged new wave with a sense of humour, we've always been touched by the voice of Agnès (bass) and the phlegmatic Michel (machines and graphics). We could have thought the language barrier would have stopped the pleasure of this record but obviously not, as Mobutu song is already an international digger classic!
We really hope you'll enjoy this collection of tracks and collages as we do so, once upon a time...

Remastered and pressed on 180g virgin vinyl!

(Japanese pressing, Official reissue) Brilliant synth prog weirdness from the late 1970s Tokyo. Recorded by the guitarist Akio Niitsu who was compared, not without reason, to Manuel Göttsching. Niitsu has a fairly small discography of only three full-length albums, but his second one - “Pet Step” - was on Tomita’s label and supposedly with the involvement of Haruomi Hosono (this is according to Chee Shimizu who lists it in his “Obscure Music”).

Akio Niitsu's first album, "i/o(i･o)" released in 1978, was produced in a homemade studio that had been converted from a storeroom in his home, and he spent three years doing everything from composition to engineering by himself, using overdubbed guitar recordings. 's first analog re-release has been decided.As a guitar multi-recording album, the idea was realized six years earlier than the album "e2-e4" released in 1984 by Manuel Göttsching, the central figure of "Ash La Tempel", but it was too early. A hidden experimental/ambient gem!The paradoxical sound that makes you feel as if you are lost deep in a labyrinthine forest, combined with Tadanori Yokoo's artwork, is a piece that allows you to enjoy Akio Niitsu's worldview with your ears and eyes.

Remastered from the original tapes, 180g vinyl!

Ike Yard remain a legendary band of early '80s New York City – at once immensely influential, yet obscured by a far-too-brief initial phase. Their debut EP, the dark and absorbing Night After Night, sounds almost like a different group, so rapidly would Ike Yard evolve towards the calmly menacing electro throb of their self-titled LP. Originally released on Factory in 1982, the album put Ike Yard's indelible mark on the synth-driven experimental rock scene then emerging all over the planet. While historical analogues would be Cabaret Voltaire's Red Mecca or Front 242's Geography, opening track "M. Kurtz" makes starkly clear that Ike Yard is a far heavier proposition. With a thick porridge of bass, ringing guitar and strangled/stunted layers of voice, these six pieces are densely packed and perversely danceable. "Loss" sounds like a minimal techno track that could have been made last week, while "Kino" combines Soviet-era imagery with sparse soundscapes à la African Head Charge's Environmental Studies. Ike Yard somehow pull off the toughest trick in modern music: making repetition hypnotically compelling through subtle variation. The effect of Ike Yard's first LP can be heard in many genres – from industrial dance labels like Wax Trax to electro-punk bands and innumerable European groups (Lucrate Milk, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, etc.). The fact that the cover artwork does not include any photos of the band, but rather features the original catalogue number (fact A Second) only further illustrates the release's importance and Ike Yard's timeless mystique.

Across two 7”s, Death Or Glory (1982) and Death Rocks (1983) and one 12”, Anguish (1982) Jimmy Smack carved his own bleak chasm amidst the LA Death Rock scene that he inhabited. After decades dormant in the crypt, Knekelhuis compiles Smack’s full recorded output, providing it a lavish place to rest on the Death Is Certain LP.

While his local punk contemporaries pursued aggressive hardcore and political punk, Jimmy Smack donned corpse paint (before it would later become synonymous with the European black metal movement) and found a home performing in venues like the Anti-Club, amongst other subterranean dwellers Christian Death, Dead Hippie and 45 Grave.

Even within this lurid milieu, Jimmy Smack stood alone. Hating Life (from Death Rocks) easily locates Jimmy within the negative-punk and KBD lexicon. However his recordings, consisting of voice, rhythm box and electrified bagpipe drones, otherwise veer closer to other-worldly avant-garde rituals. Jimmy’s background in theatre and performance art helping inform not only his menacing stage presence, but also spawning the singularity of his sound.

Death Is Certain comes housed in a printed inner sleeve featuring rarely seen archival photos, liner notes by Cooper Bowman and excerpts from an interview with Jimmy Smack conducted by Juan Mendez (Silent Servant)

Reed Whistle & Sticks was released in 1972 in a decade of transition for experimental composer Anthony Moore. Two years after the the album, his bands Henry Cow and Slapp Happy would merge briefly for a run of cult-favourite avant-garde records and swiftly detangle. A year after that, in 1976, he released his fourth solo record Out - its pop sensibilities, albeit avant-inclined, a chasm apart from the raw experimentation of Reed Whistle & Sticks. P-vine is proud to be reissuing Moore’s experiment in texture and looping for the first time on vinyl format, and bring new accessibility to an album that has been almost impossible to source on vinyl for 50 years.

An official re-issue of the 1996 album, Beyond the Circle, from Dr. Osamu Kitajima presented by Forest Jams on vinyl for the first time.

As the title suggests, Japanese music explorer Osamu Kitajima takes the listener beyond the known on a musical voyage into new territory where his compositions are a synthesis of Western electronics and ambient dance rhythms, tempered by the wisdom of ancient Japanese traditions. "Beyond the Circle" is music that is as energizing as it is spiritual and melodic.

First ever reissue of this groundbreaking ambient work
Produced in full cooperation with Yoshimura’s estate
Remastered for vinyl and pressed at RTI
Unseen original handwritten track notes by Yoshimura. Barely known outside of his home country during his lifetime, the late Japanese ambient music pioneer Hiroshi Yoshimura has seen his global stature rise steadily in the past few years. The 2017 reissue of his lauded debut, Music For Nine Post Cards, along with a slow building cult internet following has helped ignite a renaissance in his acclaimed body of work, much of which has never been released outside of Japan. Known for his sound design and environmental music, Yoshimura worked on a number of commissions following the 1982 release of Music For Nine Post Cards, including works for museums, galleries, public spaces, TV shows, video art, fashion shows, and even a cosmetics company.

Originally released in 1986, GREEN is one of Hiroshi Yoshimura’s most well-loved recordings and a favorite of the artist himself. Recorded over the winter of 1985-86 at Yoshimura’s home studio, the compositions unfold at an unhurried pace, a stark contrast to the busy city life of Tokyo. As Yoshimura explained in the original liner notes, the album title in the context of this body of work is not meant to be seen as a color, but is rather used to convey “the comfortable scenery of the natural cycle known as GREEN”—which perfectly encapsulates the soothing and warm sounds contained on the album, although it was created utilizing Yamaha FM synthesizers, known for their crisp digital tones.

This edition marks the first reissue of the highly sought-after and impossible to find album. It features the original mix preferred by Yoshimura himself, previously available only on the initial Japanese vinyl release (a limited edition remixed version of the album, with added sound effects, was released on CD in the US). Additionally, this release is the first in our ongoing series, WATER COPY, focusing on the works of Hiroshi Yoshimura.

180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
FEATURES THE INTERNATIONAL ORIGINAL HIT VERSION OF “A REAL MOTHER FOR YA”,
“NOTHING LEFT TO BE DESIRED”, AND “TARZAN” A.O.

INCLUDES THE BONUS TRACK “A REAL MOTHER FOR YA (BEN LIEBRAND OLDSKOOL MIX)”,
NOT AVAILABLE ON THE ORIGINAL ALBUM

LIMITED EDITION OF 750 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON WHITE COLOURED VINYL

Albert Alan Owen was born in Wales in 1948 to parents of Welsh and Latvian heritage. His family later moved to Zimbabwe, where his father took up a teaching position. There, Owen was deeply influenced by local music and culture, while also exploring American RnB and jazz. It was during this period that he became acutely aware of the harsh inequalities under British colonial rule, which instilled in him a lifelong aversion to discrimination and racism.

In 1967, Owen returned to Europe to pursue his studies and enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He went on to spend time in Paris, studying composition with the eminent Nadia Boulanger and piano under Jacques Février, a favorite pianist of Ravel’s and Poulenc’s. Owen's focus shifted almost entirely to composition, and the acquisition of a Fender Rhodes electric piano marked the beginning of a divorce from his classical Western training. This transition allowed him to merge his passion for African and African-American music with the impressionistic styles of Ravel and Debussy while exploring the innovative realm of electroacoustic composition. These formative experiences framed Owen’s career as a composer and educator at the Royal Academy of Music and London’s Working Men’s College. He eventually returned to Wales, where he continues to reside. In 1979, 29-year-old Albert Alan Owen released “Keyboards & Strings”, a light magical chamber music masterpiece. Transcending the formal conventions of its era, “Keyboard & Strings” is an acoustic and electric piano piece, where the violin is met by synths and electronics.

As is often the case in Albert Alan Owen’s most intimate works, there is a sense of ethereal beauty that emerges from the music, akin to the emotional state one might experience while contemplating a Félix Vallotton landscape or the unfathomable mystery of dawn’s first light. Quiet, profound, and immersive, “Keyboard & Strings” stands out as an electronic-age tone poem, a rare gem that transcends time and place.

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!

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.

Cascades of electronic noise, a psychedelic touch and vocal belching mixed together constitute the ingredients of Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé, the double-barreled name for Masonna. Maso Yamazaki founded his project in 1987, with a charismatic and glamorous personality who become a cult figure in “Japanoise” scene. Masonna’s abundant productions on his own legendary and astonishing label Coquette were presented in very limited edition, sometime totally confidential (one sole copy), and reflect his predilection for 60’s psychedelic music revisited in its own very peculiar way. He transforms his voice into noise, feeding the microphone back through a process of extreme distortion. His shouts become clipped bursts of overloaded sound, doubled and extended by a delay that displace the sounds into stuttered blasts of static.

David Cunningham was born in Ireland in 1954. His work ranges from pop music to gallery installations including several collaborations with visual artists. His first significant commercial success came with The Flying Lizards' single "Money," an international hit in 1979. Originally released in 1976, Cunningham's first solo album Grey Scale has become a landmark statement of DIY minimalist composition – continuing in the vein of the wild explosion of arthouse experimentation from the early '70s. Cunningham, then a student at the Maidstone College of Art in Kent, drafted fellow student non-musicians and (using whatever instruments available) crafted an endlessly shifting sonic palette with an improvisor's keen sensitivity to space, texture and tone. As Cunningham states in the liner notes, his approach was to "pursue something (which may appear trivial or meaningless) so rigorously or relentlessly to the point that it reveals something new." Cunningham was influenced by live performances he was attending at the time by English composers Cornelius Cardew, Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman as well as free improvisors Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, David Toop and Paul Burwell. The inaugural release on Cunningham's own Piano label, Grey Scale was indeed "something new" in 1976. The artist quickly integrated his experimental sensibilities to produce art-rock pioneers This Heat, whose debut appeared on Piano in 1979. His popular success performing as The Flying Lizards (with two electro-punk albums on Virgin during the New Wave era) was presaged by this seminal work of fascinating sound collage and tonal freedom. First-time reissue.

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

Alex Bradley's new reissue division at Utopia Records recovers the early works of Gianni Gebbia, a saxophonist and composer from Palermo, Sicily whose highly sought-after debut LP from 1987 is remastered with added unreleased material and updated art work by Gebbia himself. A minimal and contemporary jazz album of the highest order, its beautiful sound, sentimental electronics and use of synthesisers - that were a precursor to the house and dance music scene of the early 90's - has made the album endure the years that have passed. It will be sure to be a valuable addition to your home listening collection with stand out tracks like Cud evoking visions of a Sicilian beach stroll and the intense and brooding 'Vedersi Passare le Cose Attorno' with its Juno chords transports you to a Detroit night club in 1992 counterbalanced by Gebbia's soft saxophonic embrace. The self taught Gebbia's works touches on the avant-garde whilst maintaining a musicality and fluidity with his technique of circular breathing adding an extra element to his playing, the ability to create Reichian like minimalism with a single breath whilst maintaining melodic structure. The multi solo album artist is noted recently for working on the music score of Heiner Goebbels' music performance piece 'Everything that happened and would happen' at the Manchester international festival and for his curating of the "Anassimandro Festival of Music and Philosophy" in his home city of Palermo of which Bradley hosted last years after party.

Les Disques du Crepuscule present a new, remastered vinyl edition of East & West, the bittersweet debut album by American singer-songwriter Anna Domino, originally released by the label in 1984.

East & West was recorded in Brussels in 1983 with guest contributions from Virginia Astley, Blaine L. Reininger (of Tuxedomoon) and alt-pop polymath Luc Van Acker. The five tracks on the original mini-album format include her first single Trust, In Love (an NME single of the week), and an exquisite cover of Land Of My Dreams, originally a hit for Aretha Franklin in 1965. Rare b-side track Repeating (from the same sessions) is also now added to the album.

Other bonus tracks include the popular singles Zanna, a 1984 collaboration with Luc Van Acker, and radio hit ‘Rythm’, produced a year later by legendary Telex founder and jazzmeister Marc Moulin. The expanded remaster closes with a previously unreleased demo song called Dream Back, recorded in New York City with her friend Stanton Miranda of Thick Pigeon in 1984.

The album retains the original cover art by Joel Van Audenhaege, and adds new liner notes written by Anna herself.

Kënnlisch, one of the rarest haunting psychedelic acid folk LPs from France, was the work of brothers Philippe and Jean-François Macherey.

Originally released in 1976 on the mega collectable label Le Kiosque d'Orphée, it contains some of the most beautiful sounds to come out of the 1970s alternative music scene.

An instrumental album, it opens with a burst of sunshine vibes and takes them into the experimental scene of French alternative folk avantgarde with a strong Cosmische influence. Beauty is the word, grown over acoustic guitar parts harmonised with the most elegant Moog Satellite lines you'll ever hear to create atmospheres of sound that make this is the perfect record for your mind to float away on a peaceful Sunday morning under a clear blue sky - it does have that therapeutic quality that we miss so much in modern music.

Wah Wah presents the very first official reissue of this mega rare LP, housed in it's original minimalist hand made artwork with the little upgrade twist of silk-screen printing and including a 4-page colour booklet with photos and text provided by the Macherey brothers themselves.

500 copies only!

The only album by Austrian trio Cultural Noise is a an electronic marvel. Band members were Gerhard Lisy, Walter Heinisch and Karl Kronfeld, and instruments used included an ARP Sequencer, an ARP 2600, a VCS 3, an EMS Digital Sequencer, a Mellotron M400, a Micro Moog, a Roland Studiosystem 700, a Roland Analogue Sequenzer and an electric guitar. With these weapons and a strong influence from the Berlin school Cultural Noise created a rich electronic tapestry which expanded through the two pieces of this record, one per side, being compared by reviewers to works by Zanov or Anna Själv Tredge. Mentions of Tangerine Dream are also present on reviews, although Cultural Noise have a pretty unique personality on their own and besides sharing the use of Mellotron, sequencers and analog synths we have a totally personal concept here which sets them aside from all TD impersonators of the era.

The album was originally released in 1980 on CBS and later repressed in 1981 which came in a B&W version of the sleeve that some sources list as a self release private pressing done by the band themselves - this has been denied by members of Cultural Noise.

We are proud to offer a 500 copies only reissue, housed in its original full colour version artwork.

Issued on le Kiosque d'Orphée in 1979, Voyage aux fonds de la Mer is the only LP by Alain Meunier (not to be confused with French classical music cellist of the same name), and is one of the most elusive collector pieces of the 1970s electronic experimental French scene.

This rare sought after album starts with an instrumental guitar introduction but from the second track onwards it becomes a totally electronic experimental psychedelic trip that can be aligned with the most kosmische side of kraut rock, and of course also with other works by French experimentalists of the era like Pascal Comelade's Fluence or Richard Pinhas' production (including Heldon). Guitar comes in now and then showing also a certain Robert Fripp influence.

Instruments used according to the insert sheet that came with the LP are a Korg 800 DV synthesizer, a K.O. Welson Clavinet, effects like a Fender Echo or a Electroharmonix Small Stone phaser and a fuzz pedal, plus Meunier also used a Gibson Les Paul Custom Guitar, a 12 string acoustic Eko guitar and a 6 string Morris guitar.

First ever vinyl reissue. Limited edition to 500 copies only. Remastered sound.

Much appreciated reissue of R.N.A. Organism’s ‘R.N.A.O Meets P.O.P.O’ (first released by legendary Osaka label Vanity Records in 1980). A key document of the late ’70s experimental music scene in Kansai, Japan, R.N.A.O Meets P.O.P.O is a hallucinatory trip of dubby bass, churning guitars, sputtering rhythm boxes, twisted vocals and unidentifiable sound effects.

Carefully remastered by Stephan Mathieu from the original tapes, cut by Josh Bonati, pressed by RTI, and housed in a hefty Stoughton tip-on sleeve. This oedition also includes an expanded insert with an illuminating essay by R.N.A. Organism producer Kaoru Sato.

German project founded in 1984 by Peter Mergener and Michael Weisser. This release features two cheery picked exemplary moments in downtempo contemplative cosmic travels. A side sends the listener well out of orbit with a 10 min long gradient of Krauty arpeggiated showers that grows elegantly, a concerto to the astros of the mind. Flip it and it gets better as your space capsule gets sucked into some distant planet's gravitational pull, feelings of other-worldly sounds, slowed down beautifully almost eerie nuances one won't forget so easily. Sunrise on a Balearic island from another solar system. Berlin-School by trade but also heard on mixes by Jose Padilla. Heftily remastered.

Black Vinyl, Sticker, 50th Anniversary RE-Edition, first-ever official reissue on vinyl since 1975,
Re-Cut carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching.

TRACKLIST:

A. "Amboss" 19:40
B. "Traummaschine" 25:24

Ash Ra Tempel is the eponymous debut studio album by the Krautrock band Ash Ra Tempel.
It features guitarist Manuel Göttsching with drummer Klaus Schulze and bassist Hartmut Enke.
Engineered by Conny Plank it was recorded in March 1971 and released in June 1971 on Ohr Records.
This 50Th Anniversary Album will be Released in Memoriam of all the Musical Contributors to this Release and on Manuel Göttsching´s MG.ART label.
It´s the fourth and headlining edition in this series and was finalised, carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching himself in the late Autumn of 2022.

Much has been written about the record and band.

Having finished a first musical chapter with their Steeple Chase Bluesband and still at very young age of only 17 and 18 years old Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke met Klaus Schulze. Together they started to write and and compose what, to many,
became one the holy grails of Psychedelic Rock and early Electronic Music -
the German variant which was later also named "Krautrock":

Ash Ra Tempel´s self-titled first album "Ash Ra Tempel".

"The trio of Klaus Schulze, Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke decided to abandon conventional composition and song writing, in favour of free-form improvising and developing a new musical language. As such, they became notorious for jams that could exceed 30 minutes." Says Discogs. "Some of these recordings can be found on Manuel Göttsching´s "The Private Tapes" releases", which will be re-released on MG.ART as well, following this edition.

"Krautrocksampler" author Julian Cope mentioned it to be "… one of the greatest rock 'n' roll LPs ever made." (Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage | Unsung | Reviews | Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel". 15 March 2000.)

AllMusic called the album "both astonishingly prescient and just flat out good, a logical extension of the space-jam-freakout ethos into rarified realms."

Here we would like the Band to be heard, for what can easily be said as the first time in 50+ years, with the exception of some early Journalists for whom the young Manuel Göttsching wrote a statement of intent (the original text can be found inside this edition) as following:

"Our musical concept is based on a combination of blues rock and delicate collages of electronic sound. These two elements should remain inseparable. And in their complex unity, the different musical philosophies of each musician find a common sweet spot. Our music is a permanently impulsive experience left to develop as it will, starting from a common fixed point of departure. This is where the difficulty of the music begins: No standardized formulation of our music can and should be possible. Only the constant reaction within the band can determine the musical result. And this requires constant listening with full concentration on the part of the creators. The idea of a particular musician will be - if flexible enough - absorbed by the others, transposed to their own instrument, and reflected back into the music as an individual contribution. This reciprocity within the band is then transferred over to the audience. And this process means that their reaction is not only a contribution to the end result; it actually makes them jointly responsible for the creation of the final musical product.
…
On our album, the track "Amboss" represents the first layer. Conventional instruments communicate familiar music which is in part expanded through electronic means. In the second track of the album - "Traummaschine" - the actual basic sound approach is dissolved into an electronic Nirvana which no longer allows the concrete identification of actual instruments. Innocent, virgin listening, free from any and every association, can finally begin - and the music can be absorbed and processed free from the limitations of categorization. That is the purpose of our music: To convey freedom without any predetermined criteria or traditions.

Thank you for your attention."
(Taken from the original A-R-T Bio 1970)

Hartmut Enke, Manuel Göttsching and Klaus Schulze aka. Ash Ra Tempel travelled to Hamburg in March 1971 to record their debut, with assistance of another Icon, legendary engineer Conny Plank.
The rest is history.

Sunstroke were Ben Bollaert and Etienne Delaruye, both were obsessed with the burgeoning possibilities of electronic music it made sense that they collaborate in the studio. The resulting experiments culminated in the 1985 release of Nothing's Wrong in Paradise. The record was conceived as a soundtrack to a film that doesn’t exist - a sophisticated meeting of post-Berlin-school dreaming, Yen-records hi-tech calm and Impressionist Café music ennui. What makes it most compelling though, is that even while it conjures a seemingly perfect world, something around the edges lets you know that all might not be as it seems. Maybe there is nothing wrong in paradise. Or maybe that’s just wallpapering over the cracks. The rough edges and regret of everyday life cannot help but intrude. Once you have spent some time with it, the whole record starts to seem bathed in a dim half-light, suggesting utopia glimpsed through a smudged lens. Just like the ethereal space in their music Sunstroke only existed for a moment, a second LP was planned but never materialised, briefly they created a paradise and pointed out its temporary nature, all at the same time. Remastered from the Master tapes. Tip-on sleeve. 600 copies.

Vision Songs Vol. 1 (1984) is the LARAAJI album like noother, located at the intersection of new age and gospel. It isboth his outlier and magnum opus, the feel-good DIY tapeof the century.Discovered busking in Washington Square Park by Brian Eno inthe late 70s, engagement with the eternal flow has led Laraajito, seemingly by magic, emerge as the most beloved avatar of theunstoppable new age music revival of recent years.Now Vision Songs rewrites Laraaji's musical history. Unlikethe many instrumental, free form albums upon which hisreputation was built, this is an album of songs, with lyrics,verses, choruses. Vision Songs is literally a revelation-- of a master songwriter whose unbelievably catchy bestcompositions such as "We Shall Be Lifted", "All Of ASudden", and "Is This Clear?" belong in any great Americansongbook.Casio synth jams recorded at spiritual retreat guest roomsand a tiny bedroom on the Upper West Side, lysergicallyspectacular anthems for a continually arriving new moment,"channeled," as Laraaji states in the album's eloquent linernotes, "from the sky," previously available in an edition of100 cassettes sold at yoga retreats and on the streets of NewYork City, Vision Songs is humbly offered on vinyl, CD, andstreaming for the very first time.This is where this is going on, this is where this is takingplace, this is how this is going on. Is this very clear?

After the 2021 Re-Release of “Schwingungen” (MG.ART612) we proudly announce “Seven Up” as Part 2 of the authorised 50th Anniversary “A.R.T.” Re-Edition Series. “Seven Up” is the third studio album by Ash Ra Tempel and their only album recorded in collaboration with American Ph.D. in psychology, Dr. Timothy Leary. The Coverart for “Seven Up” was designed by famous Swiss Artist Walter Wegmüller. Recorded in August 1972 at Sinus Studio in Berne, Switzerland, remixed September 1972 at Dierks Studios in Stommeln, Germany.

First release in spring 1973 by OHR Musik - the first release on the new sub-label "Kosmische Kuriere", Kat-Nr. KK 58001. We release “Seven Up” in a Re-Cut carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching himself, on September 9th 2022, also being Manuel Göttsching´s 70th Birthday. Our Edition features the full original text for the “7 levels of consciousness” by Timothy Leary in English, i.e. “Instruction Manual for Pleasure Panel” plus a previously unreleased glimpse view of the original scripts incl. notes and mark ups as well as partly unreleased photos from the recording session.

As for the music itself we again refer to Julian Cope´s review and remarks from his book “Krautrocksampler” (published by Head Heritage, 1st ed. 1995): “When the Leary Mob met the Kaiser Gang, the sparks flew ever Up-wards. 7up is a stone classic in every way. Yes, it is unlikely to find Timothy Leary singing lead vocal in a cosmic group, but even weirder that he chose to sing a wild yelping freaked out blues ! Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke had begun their careers in The Steeple Chase Blues Band back in the mid-'60ies, and they quickly felt their way through what Barritt and Leary were aiming for. They reconciled it all as a kind of West Coast chordless psychedelia, where blues riffs sparkle out of nowhere and the sheer weight of synthesizers renders everything with an unreal Pere Ubu/early Roxy Music quality. The greatness of Ash Ra Tempel burned so brightly on 7Up that there is really nothing else like it.

Hartmut Enke and Manuel Gottsching here returned to their riffy roots. It can hardly be called a retro act, though, as the context of music is everything. And with Dierks at the controls, even the New Kids on the Block would have sounded psychedelic. 7Up is like a late night radio show glimpsed through a shattered tuner where all but the most truly dangerous sounds have been allowed to stay, to drift and to dance around the performers. The result is an extreme gem, a flash of hysterical white lightning, and a pre-punk Technicolour yawn in the grandest of traditions. In typical Ash Ra Tempel style, the record is divided into two pieces, “Space” and "Time”. Within this, though, Timothy Leary’s ideas are allowed to free-flow and the two sides are therefore divided into mini-songs all segued together. The highlight of Side 1 is “Power Drive”, a West Coast burn-up that transcends any W. Coast music I ever did hear. Leary and Barritt present the greatest twin-vocal of all time, coming on like Jagger and Morrison but too caught up in their own maelstrom to be anything less than Heralds of the Punkfuture still five years away. In chaos it was conceived and in chaos it was recorded. Yet Dieter Dierks, the great Aural Architect of the Cosmic Couriers, turned 7Up into a personal triumph and a Kosmische dream.”

Ash Ra Tempel – “Seven Up”
TIMOTHY LEARY - voice
BRIAN BARRITT - voice
MICKY DUWE - voice & flute
LIZ ELLIOTT - voice
BETTINA HOHLS - voice
PORTIA NKOMO - voice
HARTMUT "HAWK" ENKE - bass, guitar & electronics
MANUEL GÖTTSCHING - guitar & electronics
STEVE A. - organ & electronics
DIETMAR BURMEISTER - drums
TOMMY ENGEL - drums
DIETER DIERKS - synthesizer & Radio Downtown