Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield Vinyl 224 Items

LP 180g, beautiful embossed Chess Board Artwork Print, inner sleeve with artist picture and text by David Elliott, Sounds June 16, 1984!

If you purchased a snake plant, asparagus fern, peace lily, or what have you from Mother Earth on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (or bought a Simmons mattress from Sears), you also took home Plantasia, an album recorded especially for plants. Subtitled “warm earth music for plants…and the people that love them,” it was full of bucolic, charming, stoner-friendly, decidedly unscientific tunes enacted on the new-fangled device called the Moog. Plants date back to the dawn of time, but apparently, they loved the Moog, never mind that the synthesizer had been on the market for just a few years. Most of all, the plants loved the ditties made by composer Mort Garson.
Few characters in early electronic music can be both fearless pioneers and cheesy trend-chasers, but Garson embraced both extremes, and has been unheralded as a result. When one writer rhetorically asked: “How was Garson’s music so ubiquitous while the man remained so under the radar?” the answer was simple. Well before Brian Eno did it, Garson was making discreet music, both the man and his music as inconspicuous as a Chlorophytum comosum. Julliard-educated and active as a session player in the post-war era, Garson wrote lounge hits, scored plush arrangements for Doris Day, and garlanded weeping countrypolitan strings around Glen Campbell’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” He could render the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel alike into easy listening and also dreamed up his own ditties. “An idear” as Garson himself would drawl it out. “I live with it, I walk it, I sing it.”
But as his daughter Day Darmet recalls: “When my dad found the synthesizer, he realized he didn’t want to do pop music anymore.” Garson encountered Robert Moog and his new device at the Audio Engineering Society’s West Coast convention in 1967 and immediately began tinkering with the device. With the Moog, those idears could be transformed.
“My mom had a lot of plants,” Darmet says. “She didn’t believe in organized religion, she believed the earth was the best thing in the whole world. Whatever created us was incredible.” And she also knew when her husband had a good song, shouting from another room when she heard him humming a good idear. Novel as it might seem, Plantasia is simply full of good tunes.
Hearing Plantasia in the 21st century, it seems less an ode to our photosynthesizing friends by Garson and more an homage to his wife, the one with the green thumb that made everything flower around him. “My dad would be totally pleased to know that people are really interested in this music that had no popularity at the time,” Darmet says of Plantasia's new renaissance. “He would be fascinated by the fact that people are finally understanding and appreciating this part of his musical career that he got no admiration for back then.” Garson seems to be everywhere again, even if he’s not really noticed, just like a houseplant.

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of Ryuichi Sakamoto"s classic LP "Coda", issued in Japan in 1983 as a solo piano version of the "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" soundtrack. The album, which was never been released outside of Japan until now, sees Sakamoto on acoustic piano reinterpreting fascinating versions of his famous soundtrack including the classic theme and "Germination," which was later used in the "Call Me By Your Name" soundtrack. This reissue has been remastered by Seigen Ono"s Saidera Mastering studio in Tokyo and boasts the original artwork plus a 4-page insert with new liner notes by Andy Beta.

An amazingly colorful album with songs that are based on solid substance rather than cheap pop structures. This is music for the bold listeners and music lovers and this awesome reissue should quickly find it’s way into the record collections of 80s synth and art pop aficionadoes. Yasuaki Shimizu did what he wanted with Mariah, pushed the borders of popular music further than anybody would have thought. Listen to a track like „Shonen“ with a repetitive rhythm pattern that hypnotizes you and somehow silky melodylines by saxophone and synth piano upon which a female voice sings in a very spiritual way. Praising pop or whatever this can be called, it is sheer magic put in music. I wonder if this would have made it into the charts back then, but you never know. It is a piece of musical art that shall be listened to. Grab your copy now!!!

“The idea of getting together Orquesta De Las Nubes with Glen Velez, Layne Redmond and Miguel Herrero in a recording studio arose when Glen and Layne visited Spain to hold a seminar on frame drums techniques. We had met Glen some years before during an event that took place in the amazing “Aula de Música de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid”. Glen came to Madrid playing with Charlie Morrow as part of an event about Fluxus with Alison Knowles and Philip Corner. On that time Glen played in Steve Reich Ensemble and our mutual love for repetitive music and ethnic music allowed us to build a very good friendship. When Glen visited Madrid we always get together in our rehearsal space and we played, talked and drink for hours. In 1985, during one of those sessions, Miguel Herrero joined us. On that time Miguel and meI used to play together in a club each week, where we made a bizarre fusion between pop and repetitive music. The sessions sounded so good, our ideas flowed so easily that after one session, I called Track Studios to ask if they have free rooms to make a recording during next days and as they told yes, I booked it immediately. The recording was made with an incredible fluency and about 12 hours after, we had recorded Música Esporádica. Fluency, spontaneity, close friendship was the fuel that fed us. After 34 years everything remains the same. Some of them are not with us any more but Música Esporádica keeps the unselfish spirit that encourages to share without objectives. Música Esporádica never step on stage and the 6 never met again altogether.” - Suso Saiz

Ryuichi Sakamoto's first world release, released in 1987 and reissued in analog format.

This solo album, Sakamoto's seventh in total, was co-produced with Bill Laswell for worldwide release and features top musicians from different genres, including Sly Dunbar and Bootsy Collins. Based on an electronic sound, but fusing organic and ethnic musical elements such as Okinawan and Balinese traditional music, the album was recorded in Tokyo and New York, and released in more than 20 countries around the world, making it a milestone in his solo career.

fully remastered 180 gram vinyl reissue incl. 7 orginally unreleased tracks of this groundbreaking collaboration!

Ambient and environmental Japanese scene has flourished stronger than ever in the last years. The pioneers of this sound and the creators of an innovative way of making and understanding ambient music, such as Hiroshi Yoshimura, Yoshio Ojima, Toshifumi Hinata or Takashi Kokubo have been championed and their works have been successfully unearthed by reissue labels. Continuing in this endless path, Glossy Mistakes adds Takashi Kokubo’s brilliant “Volk Von Bauhaus” to its catalogue, with the Japanese masterpiece as the third official release of the Spanish label. As most of 80’s Japanese ambient and environmental music, “Volk Von Bauhaus” is an audio impression designed to give a multi-sensory experience to the listener. An effort to make things audible, an exercise of understanding and soundtracking objects or situations. The main objective of this sound is to create an iconic musical landscape to accompany a specific place. Though his name might be unfamiliar to many, Kokubo has crafted music that has impacted virtually all of Japan, from national mobile phone earthquake alerts to contactless card payment jingles. He was one of the first artists to create ambient music strictly through loops. As he mentioned when release this album, "this recording used no keyboard players, no multitrack tape recording techniques, no analog sounds”. A shift on the process of imagining sound. “Volk Von Haus” is and ode to this ambient, new age and environmental music created in Japan throughout the 80’s. Throughout 9 cuts, Kokubo handcrafts his own sound and immerses the listener in a peaceful yet challenging adventure. The record is the first piece of his Digital Soundology series, and arguably his most interesting work due to the groundbreaking techniques he used.

40th anniversary edition of this seminal work by the multi-talented musician and producer Carlos Perón. After the release of “Impersonator” and the score of the film “Die Schwarze Spinne”, “Nothing Is True; Everything Is Permitted” is his third album released in the beginning of 1984. While still being an active member of Yello, it was around the start of the recording of “You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess” that Carlos met the American musician Chris Lunch in Hamburg. He invited Chris to Zurich and together played with projects such as Romantic Rubber, Heavymetallen and recorded some sessions that become the basis of “Nothing Is True; Everything Is Permitted”. After the release of “You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess”, Carlos decided to leave Yello and focused to finish the recording and mixing of his new solo album.

“Nothing Is True; Everything Is Permitted” has gone down in music history as a dark soundtrack without a film, influenced many artists and helped to develop diverse genders of electronic experimental and dance music.

Limited edition of 300 copies including all original tracks and new artwork.

With the demise of the group Wire in 1980, founder members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis joined forces to create Dome. With the assistance of engineer Eric Radcliffe and his Blackwing Studio Dome took the ethic of »using the studio as a compositional tool« and recorded and released three Dome albums on their own label in the space of 12 months: »Dome« (July 1980), »Dome 2« (October 1980) and »Dome 3« (October 1981). A final fourth album, »Will You Speak this World: Dome 3« was released on the Norwegian Uniton label in May 1983.

These albums represent some of the most beautifuly stark and above all timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early 1980s alternative music scene.

Originally released in 1974 on Shandar, Dream House 78'17" is the second full-length album by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela. This first-time US edition reproduces the original gatefold sleeve with beautiful calligraphy by Zazeela and liner notes by Young and French musicologist Daniel Caux.

Side one was recorded at a private concert (on the date and time indicated by the title) and features Young and Zazeela's voices against a sine wave drone with Jon Hassell on trumpet and Garrett List on trombone. This work is a section of the longer composition Map of 49's Dream the Two Systems of Eleven Sets of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery (begun in 1966 as a sub-section of The Tortoise, His Dreams and Journeys, which was begun in 1964 with Young's group The Theatre of Eternal Music). The piece evolves with the oscillator changing pitch and dictating an ornate pattern over the course of the performance.

Side two is an example of one of the sets of frequencies sustained in the Dream House, the composite sound environments conceived by Young and Zazeela. The composer suggests listening while seated – to experience how the sound interacts with the room and other perceptions of its arrangement – as well as while walking. As Young states, "The frequency ratios are monitored continuously as lissajous patterns on the oscilloscopes and, in spite of the great stability of the oscillators, the phase relationships of the sine waves gradually drift which causes their amplitudes to add and subtract algebraically. Not only does the sound become a bit louder and softer, but at very loud levels, one actually begins to have a sensation that parts of the body are somehow locked in sync with the sine waves and slowly drifting with them in space and time."

Merzbild Schwet, the second album opus released in 1980, is considered one of Nurse With Wound's major releases, and is part of the famous "Silver Edition" on Rotorelief Records, with a luxurious chrome-plated cover in double Gatefold sleeves, and sumptuous 200g vinyl discs issued in 300 copies on silver and black vinyl, and 700 copies on black vinyl.

The first track, Futurismo, begins with clanking rhythms, record skip clicks, and horn riffs before veering off into a crazed quilt of women singing, laughing, and talking in French. About halfway through, wild screeches of distortion disrupt the piece, and then more bizarre sounds take over before the piece ends with a collage of over modulated electronic hum and rambling piano. The other cut, Dada X, goes further into weirdness with lots of silences, creepy creaking noises, tones that build up and collapse, and scattered spoken word in French and English from Eve Libertine from the political punk band Crass, and the piece certainly lives up to the Dada of its title.

Packaged in an old school, tip-on sleeve. Includes hi-res digital download.

Legendary debut album by Junko Tange (mystery woman who showed up on the NWW list), originally issued by Osaka’s Vanity Records in 1979. Dadaesque recitations and sparse guitar, piano and electronic meanderings combine for a beguiling, hypnotic dreamworld. Officially licensed from the custodians of Yuzuru Agi's Vanity Records archives, this edition has been fully remastered from new transfers of the original analog tapes by Stephan Mathieu.

Expanded reissue of mega rare 1979 unknown vanity pressing LP that blends ethnological field recordings, musique concrète principles, and introspective synthesizer music from this cult European studio maverick and historic collaborator of COS, Philippe Druilet, Marc Moulin, and John Surman. Alain Pierre's Mondo movie soundtrack to the controversial Des Morts shares very few stylistic rivals, but fans of Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain soundtrack and some of the more eldritch early sampling experiments of Jean-Pierre Massiera will certainly draw fragmented comparisons herein. Other listeners might file this album at the weirder end of your Smithsonian Folkways shelf, just before the Video Nasty soundtracks. Presented in remastered form comprising extra vintage studio outtakes (in accordance with the films morbid narrative), Des Morts serves as a would-be sequel to Finders Keepers' previous Ô Sidarta release witnessing Pierre balance his allegiance to the Belgian bandes dessinée scene and Thierry Zéno's shock cinema oeuvre from the heart of his uber-legendary Brussels based experimental recording studio through the 1970s. Presented in remastered form comprising extra previously unreleased vintage studio outtakes. Edition of 750.

Composed by Ennio Morricone alongside friend and frequent collaborator Bruno Nicolai, "Controfase" is one of the most overlooked and lesser known chapters in the maestro's extensive catalog. Various experimental elements perfectly intertwine in these skilful compositions, Vcs3 blend with hair-raising violin notes on a pattern of ominous percussions by Egisto Macchi. With the precious help of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza as well as Edda Dell'Orso angelic voice, the two masterminds have crafted a true hidden gem.

Be ready for a spaced out trip through French medieval times. Ancient instruments, musique concrete, spoken word, old Occitan dialect minstrel songs, drone, from dark ambient and minimal percussive tracks to Middle Ages fuzz delirium. File under : medieval folk / ambient / experimental.

Emotional Rescue celebrates a decade of reissues by again pulling deep from the well with the first of several French avant albums over the coming year. The self-styled "Ethno-Industrial" Vox Populi! present their 1989 Aither album, remastered and repackaged with love nearly 30 years later. Initiated by artist Axel Kyrou in 1982, Vox Populi! was soon joined by long term collaborator Pacific 231 on a series of coldwave/industrial cassette only recordings. Things changed considerably, however, with the meeting of the siblings, Mitra and Arach in 1984. The consequential use of "traditional" instruments and, especially, his wife Mitra's Persian folklore vocals gave a specific tonality, incorporating the band's expanding passion for oriental sounds, electronics and psychedelic music. Involving numerous musicians and friends in often-spontaneous studio sessions, the melting pot of varied cultural backgrounds added ethnic, electronic, concrete music, funk, dub and experimental flavours. This feeling of the subjective absence of the artist was achieved via a communal way for making music, but still with an aim to entertain while leading the listener to experience something unique - mind elevating, non-egotistical, ethereal music - all pushing the intellect towards a more artistic transparency. Welcome to Aither.

WRWTFWW Records is too happy to announce the much anticipated official reissue of Japanese duo Inoyamaland’s quintessential ambient/environmental/electronic album Danzindan-Pojidon, produced by Haruomi Hosono and originally released in 1983 on his Yen Records label. Available outside of Japan for the first time, the new age classic comes as a limited LP with liner notes by band member Makoto Inoue. With Danzindan-Pojidon, Yasushi Yamashita and Makoto Inoue created what they describe as “a special place where the kingdom of summer vacation never ended". Playful and magical, it’s a sonic landscape defined by tinkling synths, floating minimalist melodies, pastoral excursions, and mythical overtones.

Libreville Records is proud to present a focus on legendary electronic swiss project Mega Wave Orchestra in the form of a compilation LP including unreleased material.
Originally released privately in Geneva in 1988 as a box set containing five LPs by The Mega Wave Orchestra and five prints by the artist H. Richard Reimann.
The Mega Wave Orchestra, the brain-child of musician, mathematician and composer Christian Oestreicher, was conceived as an multi-media electronic music big-band. It was comprised of seven multi-instrumentalists Christine Schaller, Vincent Barras, Jacques Demierre, Olivier Rogg, Rainer Boesch, Roger Baudet, and Benoit Corboz, with Oestreicher as arranger and producer.
The Mega Wave Orchestra created a new hybrid music. It was a music with roots in the jazz and classical traditions, but one which also drew on the sonic freedom of musique concrete and the kind of total experience offered by psychedelia. The diverse backgrounds and specialisms of each of the band leaders/writers resulted in a wide variety of music across the five discs: from austere drones and granular aural detail to warm oddball fusion and gorgeous but cracked vocal jazz.
There are useful contemporary comparisons to be made: zoned synth jazz like the Azimuth LP on ECM or Karin Krog’s Freestyle; Larry Heard’s sequencer dreamtime; the Valium minimalism of Pep Llopis or Jun Fukamaki; Dexter Wansel’s shimmering arrangements for Loose Ends, or even the FM sheen meets cold war threat of Donald Fagen’s Night Fly. Here, too, is the sound of music technology about to snowball and define its own aesthetic, unknowingly prefiguring auteurish bedroom producers like Black Dog or The Detroit Escalator Company.
Lovely crafted tip-on sleeve. Remastered from Master tapes. 500 copies.

Remastered reissue of Francesco Messina's seminal LP from 1983 produced by electronic Italian pioneer Franco Battiato.
Messina and Battiato are considered central figures within the Italian avant-garde. Part of a generation of artists who contributed to a radical rethinking of musical practices and composition, they reveal Minimalism as it's rarely known: delicate melodies, subtle harmonic interplay, incorporating diverse creative traditions and slowly giving way to an ever-expanding open space. This album was recorded at the legendary Polygram Studios in Milan and using the most powerful electronic music synthesizers for that times like the CMI Fairlight and the EMU Emulator.

Joan Bibiloni's Born is widely considered as one of the highlights of modern ambient music. Ever since it was first released in 1989 on Bibiloni's 'Blau' imprint, Born has been a sought after record by collectors of different backgrounds.The eight compositions that Bibiloni wrote, and then recorded with several gifted musicians, share the same vivid ethereal quality. From the emotive latin of El Sur, to the heart wrenching tones of 'Ballad for an Empty Street', Born is one of the pinnacles of the balearic guitarists' discography. This is the first time since the original release back in 1989 that the full album gets a re-release. This edition comes as a slice of heavyweight vinyl (180Gr) and the tracks are remastered with the greatest care to meet today's listening standards.

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.

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

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

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

Standard 33rpm edition without gatefold cover.

WRWTFWW & Palto Flats Records are ecstatic to announce the highly-anticipated reissue of Japanese percussionist Midori Takada's sought after and timeless ambient / minimal album “Through The Looking Glass", originally released in 1983 by RCA Japan. Considered a Holy Grail of Japanese music by many, “Through The Looking Glass” is Midori Takada's first solo endeavor, a captivating four-song suite capturing her deep quests into traditional African and Asian percussive language and exploring contemplative ambient sounds with an admirably precise use of marimba. The result is alternatively ethereal and vibrant, always precise and mesmerizing, and makes for an atmospheric masterpiece and an unparalleled sonic and spiritual experience. The fully licensed reissue is available as a single 33rpm LP and a limited 45rpm DLP, both cut directly from the original studio reels (AAA), at Emil Berliner (formerly the in-house recording department of renowned classical record label Deutsche Grammophon) for the 45rpm DLP, and at the equally famous Frankfurter SST Studio for the LP. It is also available in CD format for the first time. All versions come with extensive liner notes. Bio Midori Takada is a composer, multi percussionist, and theater artist renowned in Japanese vanguard circles. She will tour Europe this year. Midori released two solo albums: “Through The Looking Glass” and “Tree Of Life” and wrote music for Tadashi Suzuki's theater plays. Her hypnotic, minimalist music is based in the concept of coherence between sound and the human body.

Remastered by Manuel Göttsching and released on his own label MG ART. Inventions for Electric Guitar is Manuel Göttsching´s first solo album, recorded: July-August 1974.
The album was written and performed entirely by Göttsching on electric guitar, hence the title. Manuel played his guitar and used a 4 track TEAC A3340, Revox A77 for echoes, WahWah pedal, volume pedal, Schaller Rotosound and Hawaiian steel bar.

Remastered from the original tapes, 180g vinyl!

Remastered from the original tapes, 180g vinyl!

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...

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.

Guitar Solos is the debut solo album of British guitarist, composer, and improviser Fred Frith. It was recorded while Frith was still a member of the English experimental rock group Henry Cow and was released originally in October 1974. Voted one of the best albums of 1974 by NME critics it also attracted the attention of Brian Eno, resulting in Frith playing guitar on two of Eno‘s albums. Frith‘s never tiring spirit in creating and performing music has made him one of the most notable and creative guitar players and musicians in the scene of improvised and composed music. For the anniversary of this release we have encouraged Frith to arrange a set up similar to what he used 50 years ago to record an album of new compositions which will accompany the original record.

Wrwtfww Records is thrilled to announce the official reissue of Daisaku Kume's original soundtrack for the highly acclaimed 1989 Japanese crime/drama movie Violent Cop. Available for the first time outside of Japan, the album comes in a limited edition of 500 copies worldwide with a 45 rpm cut providing full audio pleasure and an iconic record sleeve featuring the movie director and star: the one and only "Beat" Takeshi Kitano!

Violent Cop marks Kitano's directorial debut - a gritty neo-noir in which he stars as a rogue detective fighting a sadistic crime syndicate, only to discover widespread internal corruption in the police force. Poetic, minimalistic, with a superb balance between small soothing moments of beauty and vertiginous sudden violence, the film spearheaded a superb international career for the multi-talented filmmaker, actor, and comedian, which includes works such as Sonatine, Hana-Bi, and Battle Royale. The release of the soundtrack on vinyl presents an excellent opportunity for fans to explore the musical underpinnings of one of Kitano's earliest creations. Daisaku Kume, known for his work as the keyboardist for late 70s fusion bands T-Square and Prism, showcases versatile musical prowess on the soundtrack, taking listeners on a sonic journey through a blend of genres including magnificent Erik Satie re-interpretations, melancholic smooth jazz sometimes reminiscent of Taxi Driver, ambient-classical, and modern Western atmospherics. It's the perfect setting for Kitano's stoic but tormented lonesome urban cowboy character. Raw power mixed with timeless elegance.

Violent Cop (Original Soundtrack) by Daisaku Kume follows the recent release of the soundtrack from another groundbreaking Japanese movie, Shin'ya Tsukamoto's Tokyo Fist (1995), with music by industrial visionaries Chu Ishikawa & Der Eisenrost, also currently available on Wrwtfww Records.

* First-ever official reissue of the pioneering 1986 ambient work * Produced in full cooperation with Hiroshi Yoshimura’s estate * New liner notes by original album producer Hiroyoshi Shiokawa * Includes Yoshimura’s original notes in Japanese & English * Remastering and lacquer cutting by John Baldwin * Vinyl pressed at Gotta Groove Records "If Surround can be listened to as music that’s asclose to air itself, allowing us to enter each listener’s sound scenery, or assomething that exists within a new perspective, expanding the middle groundbetween sound and music, and transforming it into a comfortable space, it wouldbe much appreciated.— Hiroshi YoshimuraTemporal Drift proudly presents the long-awaited, first-everreissue of Surround, Hiroshi Yoshimura’s sought-after ambient classic. Originally released as an album in January 1986, Surroundwas recorded by Yoshimura as a commission from home builder Misawa Homes,intended to function as an “amenity” designed to enhance the company’s newlybuilt living spaces. A pioneer in the field of environmental music, Yoshimura’sprevious works included Music For Nine Post Cards (1982), originally producedto be played back inside a museum space, and designing sound environments forpublic spaces and subway systems. Surround was recorded almost concurrentlywith the acclaimed and popular Green (1986); the two albums are described byHiroyoshi Shiokawa in his liner notes as being Yoshimura’s yin and yang. In his original notes for the album, Yoshimura recommendsthat Surround be placed in the same family of sounds “as the vibration offootsteps, the hum of an air conditioner, or the clanging of a spoon inside acoffee cup.” And, as he suggests, “with the addition of city noise from outsidethe window,” you may hear Surround in a completely new way."

* First-ever official reissue of the pioneering 1986 ambient work * Produced in full cooperation with Hiroshi Yoshimura’s estate * New liner notes by original album producer Hiroyoshi Shiokawa * Includes Yoshimura’s original notes in Japanese & English * Remastering and lacquer cutting by John Baldwin * Vinyl pressed at Gotta Groove Records "If Surround can be listened to as music that’s asclose to air itself, allowing us to enter each listener’s sound scenery, or assomething that exists within a new perspective, expanding the middle groundbetween sound and music, and transforming it into a comfortable space, it wouldbe much appreciated.— Hiroshi YoshimuraTemporal Drift proudly presents the long-awaited, first-everreissue of Surround, Hiroshi Yoshimura’s sought-after ambient classic. Originally released as an album in January 1986, Surroundwas recorded by Yoshimura as a commission from home builder Misawa Homes,intended to function as an “amenity” designed to enhance the company’s newlybuilt living spaces. A pioneer in the field of environmental music, Yoshimura’sprevious works included Music For Nine Post Cards (1982), originally producedto be played back inside a museum space, and designing sound environments forpublic spaces and subway systems. Surround was recorded almost concurrentlywith the acclaimed and popular Green (1986); the two albums are described byHiroyoshi Shiokawa in his liner notes as being Yoshimura’s yin and yang. In his original notes for the album, Yoshimura recommendsthat Surround be placed in the same family of sounds “as the vibration offootsteps, the hum of an air conditioner, or the clanging of a spoon inside acoffee cup.” And, as he suggests, “with the addition of city noise from outsidethe window,” you may hear Surround in a completely new way."

European funk fusion of the highest order, Michel Gonet's Phasing News Volume 1 is the essential companion piece to the venerated Volume 2. It's truly a library treasure that every home must own. As Tele Music themselves said, it contains "tense and mysterious underscores in a range of styles"; whilst we don't disagree, we'd add swaggering, orchestral drama-funk-jazz-breaks. Vital.

Opener "Moon To Light (Number II) - A" is a total wonder. It's incredible, and what a way to begin a record. The percussion is electrifying, complimenting the dark, heavy piano, eerie organ work, electric guitar soling and rhythm section brilliance. Part B is virtually identical but without the electric guitar. The slow "Soul Cathedral (Number II) - A" is an ambient spacey synth gem which is both beatless and drenched in phased organ. Pretty captivating. Part B plays it rather straighter, a church organ continuing the same melody and tempo but with less of the swirling synthy effects.

"Light In The Rains (Number II) - A" sounds like something Diamond D would've sampled in the mid-to-late 90s, conjuring as it does that peculiar, creeping Axelrod-funk, all eerie electric guitar and organ, bass and spacey effects. Part B loses the electric guitar and adds brass.

The swirling, dramatic "Mondial Scoop (Number II)" has that urgent News At Ten feel with its prominent timpani drums whilst "Mecanic Bird Song" is a frenetic, abstract track with disorientating keyboard interplay.

*Total highlight* "Mephisto Jet (Number II) - A" rides a slick, proto-hip-hop beat with melodic, warm Rhodes yet, thrillingly, casually ups the drama with strings and timpanis. It then returns to its more mellow state. Ace. Part B adds acidy, phased percussion to create a more hypnotic, tripped out feel to proceedings. Part C is half as long but, pared back to just drums and Rhodes, it's arguably twice-as-nice.

To close, the shuffling, bell-laced urgent jazz of "Phasing News - A" is another highlight, riding a great bassline and augmented by ace drums, organ and electric guitar. Part B is also great, removing the guitar and doubling down on the head-nod funk.

The audio for Phasing News Volume 1 has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original, iconic Tele Music house sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Japanese composer Hiroko Matsuzaki began her classic music career as a flutist, and from 1985 to 1987 she worked as a studio musician as a flute/synthesiser player based in London, gaining an excellent reputation abroad without passing through the Japanese music scene. Simon Jeffs of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra heard this work and decided to participate in German electronic musician Rhodelius' Pink, Blue and Amber. This is the first time reissuing the lost work she produced only 100 copies before she left for the UK in 1985 , entitled Mother-Of-Pearl Box. This world-standard masterpiece was born in Japan during the rise of ambient music in the late 1980s, when house and techno were expanding globally with the rise of house and techno.

Merzbild Schwet, the second album opus released in 1980, is considered one of Nurse With Wound's major releases, and is part of the famous "Silver Edition" on Rotorelief Records, with a luxurious chrome-plated cover in double Gatefold sleeves, and sumptuous 200g vinyl discs issued in 300 copies on silver and black vinyl, and 700 copies on black vinyl.

The first track, Futurismo, begins with clanking rhythms, record skip clicks, and horn riffs before veering off into a crazed quilt of women singing, laughing, and talking in French. About halfway through, wild screeches of distortion disrupt the piece, and then more bizarre sounds take over before the piece ends with a collage of over modulated electronic hum and rambling piano. The other cut, Dada X, goes further into weirdness with lots of silences, creepy creaking noises, tones that build up and collapse, and scattered spoken word in French and English from Eve Libertine from the political punk band Crass, and the piece certainly lives up to the Dada of its title.

Originally released as a picture disc in 1986, this is D-Day’s first LP, presenting a beautiful mix of Minimal Synth, New Wave, and Bossa Nova. The band was formed in October 1982 and became well-known in the Japanese indie scene. They spent over 200 hours in the studio for recording. At that time, even for major label bands, it didn't take that much time to record an album. However, as D-day was not a major label band, they were free to craft their own narrative. Thus, they had a lot of time to experiment with their dreamy melodies, whisper-like vocals, programmed beats, swirling guitars. First-ever vinyl reissue of this Japanese masterpiece. Remastered from the original tapes, it includes a replica of the original insert, and a poster with a beautiful photo and in the other side translated lyrics and an extensive text by Chihiro Yoshikawa.

After the experience of Camizole, Dominique Grimaud began a new adventure in 1979 with Monique Alba. Alongside Gilbert Artman (Urban Sax), Guigou Chenevier (Etron Fou Leloublan), Jean-Pierre Grasset (Verto) and Cyril Lefebvre (Maajun), Vthis LP is composed of instrumentals capable of reconciliating Captain Beefheart, Henry Cow, Suicide and John Barry.

In 1980, Genesis P-Orridgeand Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson of(then-)Throbbing Gristle travelled to New York City to meet up at thefortified apartment, known as The Bunker, of famed beat writer andcultural pioneerWilliam S. Burroughsand his executor JamesGrauerholz. Genesisand Sleazy started the daunting task of compilingthe experimental sound works of Burroughs, which, up until that point,had never been widely heard.During those visits, Burroughs would play back his tape recorderexperiments featuring his spoken word "cut-ups", collaged fieldrecordings from his travels and his flirtations with EVP recordingtechniques, pioneered by Latvian intellectual Konstantins Raudive. Overthe following year, P-Orridge, Christopherson and Grauerholz spentcountless hours compilingvarious edits, each collection showcasingBurroughs sensitive ear and experimental prowess for audio anomalywithin technical limitations. In early 1981, Burroughs had relocated toLawrence, KS to escape the violence and manias of New York City life.There, P-Orridge and Christopherson put the finishing touches on therecord that would be known asNothing Here Now but the Recordings.Released in Spring 1981, the album would end up as the final release onIndustrial Records, brought about by the dissolution of Throbbing Gristle.It was quietly out of print until 1998, when John Giorno and the GiornoPoetry Systems included the album on a retrospective CD box set, whichcompiled the majority of Burroughs's seminal recordings. In 2015, DaisRecords worked closely with the Estate of William S. Burroughs to finallyre-release, for the first time in 36 years, a proper vinyl reissue of WilliamS. BurroughsNothing Here Now but the Recordingsto celebrate thecentennial anniversary of William S. Burroughs. For the2023 edition, Daishas remastered the audio with renowned engineer Josh Bonati, andrestored the original artwork with a new dedication to Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson.

In 1980, Genesis P-Orridgeand Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson of(then-)Throbbing Gristle travelled to New York City to meet up at thefortified apartment, known as The Bunker, of famed beat writer andcultural pioneerWilliam S. Burroughsand his executor JamesGrauerholz. Genesisand Sleazy started the daunting task of compilingthe experimental sound works of Burroughs, which, up until that point,had never been widely heard.During those visits, Burroughs would play back his tape recorderexperiments featuring his spoken word "cut-ups", collaged fieldrecordings from his travels and his flirtations with EVP recordingtechniques, pioneered by Latvian intellectual Konstantins Raudive. Overthe following year, P-Orridge, Christopherson and Grauerholz spentcountless hours compilingvarious edits, each collection showcasingBurroughs sensitive ear and experimental prowess for audio anomalywithin technical limitations. In early 1981, Burroughs had relocated toLawrence, KS to escape the violence and manias of New York City life.There, P-Orridge and Christopherson put the finishing touches on therecord that would be known asNothing Here Now but the Recordings.Released in Spring 1981, the album would end up as the final release onIndustrial Records, brought about by the dissolution of Throbbing Gristle.It was quietly out of print until 1998, when John Giorno and the GiornoPoetry Systems included the album on a retrospective CD box set, whichcompiled the majority of Burroughs's seminal recordings. In 2015, DaisRecords worked closely with the Estate of William S. Burroughs to finallyre-release, for the first time in 36 years, a proper vinyl reissue of WilliamS. BurroughsNothing Here Now but the Recordingsto celebrate thecentennial anniversary of William S. Burroughs. For the2023 edition, Daishas remastered the audio with renowned engineer Josh Bonati, andrestored the original artwork with a new dedication to Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson.

Inspired by the original Industrial Records release of William S. Burroughs's Nothing Here Now but the Recordings Belgian record label Sub Rosa worked with Burroughs to release another album: Break Through In Grey Room. Originally compiled in 1986 by producer Bill Rich, the album features Burroughs's experimental recordings from 1961 to 1976, featuring field recordings by Burroughs of the Master Musicians of Jajouka, experimental collaborations with mathematician Ian Sommerville and painter/cut-up originator Brion Gysin. Break Through In Grey Room documents William S. Burroughs during his time in Europe and England, working with Ian Sommerville on recording with the 'cut -up' technique. Sommerville's technical background enabled him to contribute to the early development of sound - and - light shows in London, leading to work with gear provided by Paul McCartney in an apartment owned by Ringo Starr. Experimental in nature, the record is as much an exhibition of studio and composition technique as it is a document of underground culture at that time. For the 2023 reissue, Dais Records has collaborated with the Estate of William S. Burroughs on reissuing the album on vinyl and compact disc, fully remastered by mastering engineer Josh Bonati.

Inspired by the original Industrial Records release of William S. Burroughs's Nothing Here Now but the Recordings Belgian record label Sub Rosa worked with Burroughs to release another album: Break Through In Grey Room. Originally compiled in 1986 by producer Bill Rich, the album features Burroughs's experimental recordings from 1961 to 1976, featuring field recordings by Burroughs of the Master Musicians of Jajouka, experimental collaborations with mathematician Ian Sommerville and painter/cut-up originator Brion Gysin. Break Through In Grey Room documents William S. Burroughs during his time in Europe and England, working with Ian Sommerville on recording with the 'cut -up' technique. Sommerville's technical background enabled him to contribute to the early development of sound - and - light shows in London, leading to work with gear provided by Paul McCartney in an apartment owned by Ringo Starr. Experimental in nature, the record is as much an exhibition of studio and composition technique as it is a document of underground culture at that time. For the 2023 reissue, Dais Records has collaborated with the Estate of William S. Burroughs on reissuing the album on vinyl and compact disc, fully remastered by mastering engineer Josh Bonati.

Thrilled to announce the reissue of Nikolaus Utermöhlen’s ‘Karlsbad’ album, originally released in 1989. Utermöhlen was a founding member of Die Tödliche Doris and this is his sole solo release. A collection of 23 witty oddball compositions for clarinet, accordion, percussion, recorder, violin, guitar, organ. It definitely has a Doris dose but even more so it shines for its totally singular mélange of tribal dada chamber folk, dilettante dissonant poetry, hard to compare with anything else. A slice of flamboyant wellness.

The recordings of this album were made for the ‘Georgette Meunier’ film by Tania Stöcklin and Cyrille Rey-Coquais. Issued from the original master tapes and includes the 8 page booklet with engravings from the Karlsbad spa era.

Thank you Wolfgang Müller, Radek Krolczyk, Jeffrey Babcock and… Nikolaus…