Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield Vinyl 269 Items

Original old stock. Six-track single from 1987, by this free-form collective led by Joseph B. Raimond (treatments, drawings, guitar, dulcimer, synth). Limited edition of 50 copies, somehow still available.

Magazzini Criminali can be considered one of the most important experiences in Italian Post-Avant-garde theatre of the '70s and the '80s. Back in 1980 the group gave birth to one their widely acclaimed and most representative works. Crollo Nervoso was a real Post Modern Opera, a complex and multi layered work based on the transfer between different Art languages and aesthetics. A deep mixture of Avant Rock, Burroughs's Cut Up, science fiction, body art, glamour and a hint of porno. On stage actors move obsessively and creating some highly repetitive sequences that show a clear "Rock" approach. Musically we are in front of a great hybrid where electronics, tribal funk, ambient and Blues interact with actors excited voices and "stolen" fragments from the musical works of Eno, Fripp, Jon Hassell, Miles Davis and others. More than a Pre-Plunderphonics kind of work, Crollo Nervoso is a definitive re-invention of the soundtrack concept in relation with text and drama. Originally released in 1980 (on black or white vinyl) by Italian Records, Crollo Nervoso stands as a unique sound-art object that finally sees the light again in all its multi-sensory eclecticism.

The year is 1981. The Kiel-based PostPunk / Wave underground outfit NO More releases their second ever single „Suicide Commando“ and their world changes forever. Well, not only their world – THE world. What began as an independently published 7“ single became a cult classic, a genre defining – and defying – song, an all-time dancefloor favorite of many, a timeless signature piece that escaped its original realm of PostPunk x Wave x Indie x Alternative to also become engrained in the DNA of modern electronic dancefloor culture most prominently in the beloved late 90s permutation presented by DJ Hell which became a classic in its own right. Now the year is 2021. Four decades have passed and NO More's „Suicide Commando“ is back once again - well... the song actually never left! -, this time harking back to the very beginning, the original vibe and the original format. Remastered and re-released with the original tracklisting and paying homage to the original artwork „Suicide Commando“ will be available in 7“ format for the first time since 1981. And staying true to the underground blueprint this 40th anniversary re-release edition once again is put out on the circuit through a small independent label: the Intrauterin Recordings offspring El Caballo Semental which also released NO More's „123456789 *baze.djunkiii & Herr Brandt Dream A NuDream Remix“ as a limited to 200 copies one-sided, colored whitelabel 7“ edition in 2019. Initial pressing will be limited to 400 copies.

A compilation squeezed onto a 7” that brings together some of the finest artists active in the Japanese underground. Featuring the talents of Tenniscoats (featuring Undora), Tori Kudo, Yumbo, Kawate Naoto, & Otani Naoki. Each artist has personally chosen a song from the full length record Kumokokudo by LE TON Mité, and made it their own.

Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis have always juggled darkness and light in their various collaborations (Dome, Cupol, etc.); Gilbert’s pointillist melodicism counterbalanced by Lewis’s menacing bass and sardonic lyrics. While the duo explores cinematic soundscapes on their album 3R4, here they return to more song-based territory with icy vocals, detached guitar lines and even a faint industrial vibe. Ends With the Sea provides a vital glimpse into the creative forces that even a band as daring and inventive as Wire could not contain. This first-time vinyl reissue is recommended for fans of SPK, Chris Carter, and Einstürzende Neubauten.

Over two years in the making, and it’s finally here. Amsterdam based, brand new old-school label “Betonska” kicks off with this highly diverse release for the selector, collector, radio host and club DJ. Crisp instrumentation, tight retro drum computer programming and propulsive danceable bass lines are what you will find here. The Amsterdam based label will be focusing on previously unreleased and tough-to-find material from the 80s and 90s – all re-mastered, officially licensed and in collaboration with the original artist. In addition to the original material an occasional modern twist will be given by contemporary artists who cherish that signature sound. The first release is an alternative issue of Flo Sullivan’s “Higher” release, originally recorded in 1984 in the world famous Amazon Studios in Liverpool and released in 1985. On the A-side both the 12” and the 7” version of the hard-to-get, firm synth-pop track “Higher” will be pressed on a loud 45rpm vinyl. The 12” version is the (bass-)heavier one, while the 7” version sounds more “organic” with an extended intro and an added horns part. The tracks on the A-side have been pressed before and are made available now again for the wider public, giving those tracks the recognition and attention they deserve. The B-side focuses on previously unreleased original downtempo material by the same artist but released under her real name: Gayna Rose Madder. This, accompanied by a refreshing club-ready remix of one of those tracks by Vienna’s top-notch selector, producer and Neubau label owner: Heap. Neither of the two original tracks “Over” and “Element” have ever been released on vinyl before, up until now. “Over” was written and recorded in 1983 in Splash Sound Studios in Liverpool. A beautiful melancholic synth-pop track, which was meant to be released, but unfortunately never saw the light of day. At the time it was recorded Gayna left her band “Shiny Two Shiny” and therefore needed a new deal from a different company for her solo releases. But by the time she found the right one, many newer songs needed release. Much later, in 2005, Gayna decided to self-release “Over” on a compilation CD to sell copies online. “Element” is a spoken-word poem accompanied by a fire-crackling tribal kind of rhythm. It was written for a musical play and recorded in Sparks Studio Liverpool in 2004 and has never officially been released before. (For a short period it was available on a self-released CD on Gayna’s website; a compilation of the songs written for one of her musicals). And last but not least, the icing on the cake is Heap’s remix of “Element”. He translated this spoken word poem into a refreshing 90s-style and danceable club-track to complete the diversity of Betonska’s first release. A chugging acid bass, breakbeat rhythms, crisp claps and sharp snares and a screeching lead synth to get you screaming on the dance floor.

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.

Codek is the brainchild of Jean-Marie Salaun who grew up in Paris influenced by the folklore of the inner city. In 1978 he joined art rock group SpionS alongside Gregory Davidow and recorded two singles. Diving into the Paris post punk scene he met Claude Arto and designed the artwork for Claude’s single on Celluloid “Kwai Systeme / Betty Boop.” Robin Scott (M “Pop Music”) had produced the SpionS first single and wanted to collaborate further. With Claude, Jean-Marie wrote “Me Me Me”, intended for a choir, for M. Then SpionS split and Robin was off to Switzerland to record an album to follow-up his hit single. That left Jean-Marie alone in London, where he began working as Codek, a play on the brand name Kodak The “Me Me Me” single was released by MCA Records in 1980. Back in Paris, now with some studio experience, Celluloid Records hired Jean-Marie to produce records for Artefact and Les Orphelins. Over the next 2 years he began working on ideas for the next Codek single “Closer / “Tam Tam”

“Closer” started its life as an electric baseline played by Jean-Marie. Claude Arto sequenced the floating synthesizers. Laurent Grangier and Frédéric Lapierre of reggae band Immigration Act played the horns. The lyrics “Hard to say. Easy to do. We don’t need to say what we do” were a statement on creation as narration expressed Jean-Marie’s ennui, “I’m tired with it.” “Tam Tam” was inspired by Burundi drummers playing on the plaza in front of Beaubourg where the song was recorded. Jean-Marie enlisted one of the drummers from the circle, Georges Atta Dikalo, to lay down percussion for the song. The female singers were from the French Caribbean and added falsetto tribal chants. JM was part of the the African night scene in Paris, remixing Xalam’s “Kanu” and Touré Kunda’s “Salaly Muhamed.” Claude achieved complex rhythmic patterns using a modular synthesizer and heavy processing. Jean-Marie recorded himself beating his chest for the thump noises. The recording of “Tam Tam” and “Closer” spanned over two years. They started on 16-track in Studio d’Auteuil, where JM blew the woofers, before resuming in Studio Centre Georges Pompidou with an added 8-track recorder. Jean-Marie was producing other bands, and a lot of this was recorded on “borrowed” studio time. The single was released in 1981 on West African Music, a tiny label from the Ivory Coast, and was re-released a year later by Island Records in the UK (where the B-side was re-named “Tim Toum”). Both tracks were staples in the DJ sets of Beppe Loda and Daniele Baldelli, finding a spiritual home in the Cosmic scene of Italy.

Both songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The jacket is an exact replica of the 1981 edition with artwork by Angela Boy, inspired by primitive electronics and African paintings. Each copy includes an doubles-sided insert with photos and liner notes by Jean-Marie Salaun.

Soundway presents Circus Underwater’s 1984 self-titled masterpiece. Remastered and extended to a double LP, this deluxe version includes six unreleased tracks unearthed from the original ¼” tapes, and presented with an insert, including never-before-seen photos and the fascinating story behind the music. Featuring artwork from Grateful Dead collaborator, David Lundquist, the album encapsulates a unique moment in time. Echoing the story of a generation that grew up in the 50s and 60s where music was everything, two friends embark on a journey of experimentation which begins in the beatnik suburbs of Washington DC and travels to the heart of hippie San Francisco. The result is an opus that fearlessly blurs the boundaries of genres and embraces diverse influences. Elements of prog, rock, ambient and wave music culminate in an odyssey that seamlessly bridges the gap between the spaced-out creativity of the 70s and electronic music of today.

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

From ("Xisle" member) Rath's private archive. Originally released in 1987 only on tape cassette format, remixed in Oct. 2019 by Mr. Rath and remastered in Jan. 2020 by himself with the collaboration of sound engineer Andreas Merlini.

Originally distributed by Demo City (a division of Oderso Rubini's Italian Records) in 1981 only on tape cassette format; the Confusional Quartet's guitarist here cooking a weird cover of Kraftwerk's "The Model", the cosmic "Lo Sport" and 26 more homemade delicacies.

Originally released in 1983 on Hessian.

Bryn Jones’ work was justly known for its excess—of tracks created, of rhetoric, of volume levels, of repetition, of length—and the sometimes indiscriminate way he produced material as Muslimgauze carried over into his approach to the part of the business that involved getting people to actually hear his music. Known for the deluge of DATs he’d share with the labels he worked with, Jones also didn’t necessarily restrict himself to just one outlet.

Very early in his career, in the same year the first two Muslimgauze LPs came out (1983), Jones released an obscure 7” single with completely blank black sleeve art on a label called Hessian. »Hammer & Sickle« is to date the only release on Hessian (which may have just been Jones himself?). Those two LPs, Kabul and Opaques, are fascinating in the context of the full swath of Jones’ work. They’re much spacier, more drifting, and notably less interested in using the kind of Middle Eastern percussion and other instrumentation that’s such a distinct element on many Muslimgauze releases. »Hammer & Sickle« operates in a similar territory, but if anything a little further out from the main body of Jones’ work.

The side-long title track and the three b-sides here are all cut from the same cloth, spacious productions that mainly play rounded synth percussion against echoing, ›bag of wire‹-style dub hits. After the lengthy examination of »Hammer & Sickle« itself, the other three cuts experiment with altering pitch, duration, tempo, and other elements as if testing the ways Jones could vary the effects of the title track without ever ditching its component parts. His sound was already quickly evolving (even the next year’s Buddhist on Fire is closer to what fans likely picture when they think of the »Muslimgauze sound«), leaving »Hammer & Sickle« an intriguing and valuable portrait of one of Jones’ early side investigations.

Originally released in the mid 80's on UK cassette label Bite Back!, this nearly lost gem finds new life 30 years later on Cocktail D'Amore Music. Steve has cobbled together a superbly melancholic electronic concept album. Wistful melodies often evoke sentiments of a lost childhood and hazy English mornings. Each song within remains untitled allowing full perceptive freedom as to what they all communicate, a language for the feelings that have no name. Untitled A1 - A6 leads one along intimate soundscapes of pattering drums and tinkering piano, a sense of closeness and trust develops with the introduction of each new idea much like the beginning of a bed time story. Untitled B1 - B3 then begin to breathe more openly awash in angelic colours before abruptly turning downward on B4, a wall of booming drums and atmospheres from the furthest reaches of the galaxy before the last trio of songs settles gently back on Earth.

The scottish musician, born in 1953 in Port Glasgow, is one of the most eclectic artist of the so-called minimal wave scene. Alongside german singer Claudia Brücken (vocalist of the hit-makers Propaganda) he formed Act a short-lived synthpop group signed to ZTT Records in the late eighties. Licensed by Cherry Red in 1982, the double album ‘Contradictions’ is the third effort in Leer high and rising career. After the seminal debut on Industrial Records with Robert Rental – The Bridge (1979) – Leer ventured on a solo career with the brave synth wave of ‘Letter From America’ and his personal masterpiece ‘Contradictions’. The latter is such an enigmatic piece of work, with alien melodies as in the case of the ‘Soul Gypsy’ infectious white funk. The whole album was recorded in his living room at home onto 4-track using borrowed equipment ( Korg synth, Ult-sound drum computer & guitars ) from his friend Morgan Fisher. Featuring Leer’s haunting, uncertain vocal – recorded quietly, so as not to wake his girlfriend in their bedsit! – crooning over a minimal bass pulse and discreet whines and washes of primitive Wasp synthesiser, it retains its peculiar lo-fi magic four decades on.

A download code is included. First-ever official re-issue of the Ecuadorian composer’s stunning electroacoustic composition “Oeldorf 8” on vinyl and CD. Remastered by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin. Mesías Maiguashca (b. December 24th, 1938 in Quito / Ecuador) is a composer of Neue Musik, especially electroacoustic music, who studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Quito, at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY (1958–65), with Alberto Ginastera at the Instituto di Tella in Buenos Aires, at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne and, after a short return to Ecuador, attended the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt and the Fourth Cologne Courses for New Music in 1966–67 where he studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen. From 1968 to 1972, Maiguashca worked closely with Stockhausen in the Electronic Music Studio of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne and joined Stockhausen's ensemble for performances at the German Pavilion at the Expo '70 in Osaka. In 1971 he became a founding member of the Oeldorf Group of composers and performers, and began work at the Centre Européen pour la Recherche Musicale in Metz, at Ircam in Paris, and at the ZKM in Karlsruhe. From 1990 – 2004 Maiguashca was Professor of Electronic Music at the Musikhochschule of Freiburg im Breisgau where he still lives today.

The eclectic sensitivity of the composer Roberto Laneri (Prima Materia) looks unparalleled in the Italian avant-garde context. Anadyomene, published for the first time in 1987, shows the myth of Venus in a dystopian and dreamlike world. Laneri conceives a sound poem that opens up to the archetypal dimension of the water creation, through the symbol of bivalve conch, the myth of the feminine power is narrated thanks to the verses of the renaissance poet Angelo Poliziano. Creating a daring connection between western and eastern music, travelling on the Mediterranean sea, the contemporary technologies and techniques revive and re-read ancient musical practices: contrapuntal structures and minimal electronic procedures venture into exotic analogies, strange Renaissance allusions, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean repertoires. Among otherworldly fairy voices, symphonic wandering pathos, aquatic disturbances, Indian Hindustani echoes or psychedelic radiances. A special relationship between space and time, architecture and music, the manipulation of sounds conceived as the art of memory in its various meanings of preservation, transformation and distortion.

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

From the pumping heart of The Magnetic System comes the “dirtiest” Da-Da-dancefloor
anti-jams with this lost 1979 blueprint of Italian conceptual cosmic disco played by the
cream of the Goblin studio band. Ultra rare and unscrubbed, Finders Keepers finally snip the
trip from the cash machine to the trash machine. Pay dirt just got dirtier.
Carving its own grubby niche as an early prototype of cosmic disco cum Italo space funk
whilst simultaneously harbouring Dada hat stand satire with a junkshop glam aesthetic this
ecological illogical poplitical crab cabaret clearly broke the mould before way before the jelly
had set.
Fans of “other” obtuse outernational agit-camp might find a fantasy fusion between France’s
J. P. Massiera and Sweden’s enviroMENTAL marvel Kaptain Zoom while trying to unravel the
Madfilth tangle - but rest assured there were method men behind this madness and a portal
to Italian funk royalty still festers at the bottom of the psych rap scrapheap.
Originally drip fed out of Cesare Andrea Bixio’s Cinevox stable as one of a tight grip of nonsoundtrack
LPs, made to test the label’s commercial potential, Madfilth would follow the
band Goblin (and their non-cinematic Roller) as well as the hens’ teeth eponymous long
player by the group The Motowns in what was perhaps the last-ditch attempt at custom
built popsploitation - combining the skills of overqualified composers with undercooked
conceptual mind farts! Naturally, after almost 40 years in the barrel, this micro-brewed
oddity finally quenches the acquired taste of a new breed of shambolic psychotropic guzzlers
proving that 1979 was obviously good year for fool’s gold. The Madfilth medicine has finally
come to cure your psychic ills so open wide and don’t bite the spoon.
As both doctors and diggers will agree, always read the label. It is beneath the flamboyant
rhythm rants and vari-speed osric slop of alt-comedic sarcy-satirist Alberto Macaro (a genetic
beneficiary of a vaudevillian comic bloodline) that we find The Magnetic System maestros
Franco Bixio and Vince Tempera as the sonic driving force behind this unmarked treasure
trove of B-musical diamanté discoids. It will also come as little surprise that Cinevox/Dario
Argento favourites Goblin were not too distant from the whiff of this curates egg with the
men who many consider to be the group’s greatest assets in bass player Fabio Pignatelli
alongside sports rock drummer Agostino Marangolo. It was this unison that remained
consistent throughout Goblin’s career, weathering the temporary departure of Claudio
Simonetti and maintaining the stylistic heartbeat of the group. Madfilth’s inclusion of Goblin
synth Maverick Maurizio Guarini and the band’s mid-period guitarist Carlo Penessi (founder
of the band Etna) pinpoints the jobbing Goblin session group during the time they recorded
the soundtracks for the films Buio Amiga and Squadra Antigagsters. This lesser celebrated
late 70’s era also witnessed the mutating Goblin rhythm section providing discoid backbeats
for records such as Giorgio Farinas Discocross LP, Simonetti’s own Capricorn alter-ego and
the homoerotic nightclub spin-off Easy Going - all of which, alongside Madfilth, provide a
strong mutual stylistic support system for their claim to cosmic discos deep red bloodline.

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

In the early eighties Exart label owner Hessel Veldman regularly went to the city of Rotterdam to visit the creative minds behind local act Rotterdans. Their base was a house that both served as a home studio to record sessions of improvised music and a dealing spot for marihuana, which means customers were ringing the doorbell all day and all night long. During a late-night session one of the Rotterdans members told Veldman about a certain coworker, a ship welder working in the harbor, who was in his mid-twenties, lived with his parents in a typical workers' home and was totally obsessed by analog synthesizers. Collecting all the different types and playing them every night.

A meeting was arranged and Veldman met Aart Zwaans for the first time. They went to his room upstairs where he spent his evenings experimenting and writing his own tracks, that turned out to be a mixture of melancholic ambient pieces in the vein of synth wizards like Enno Velthuys and the early electronic music of Klaus Schulze and the Berlin School. Zwaans was a real outsider, not interested in the underground tape trading scene and preferred to be left alone. He did however promise Veldman to record some tracks and draw a cover for a cassette on Exart which was releases in 1982. Although plans were made to release more of his music, the Sémi Hóra cassette turned out to be the only remaining proof of his mysterious existence.

Sémi Hóra stayed an obscure must-have for collectors of underground music only, until some of the tracks were uploaded to the internet, where it reached a modest new audience. Overlooked by the various reissue labels, some of these hidden gems from the golden age of home taping are now finally presented on vinyl for the first time. In association with Veldman and archivist Bence Meijer, we selected 4 tracks from the original tape to be remastered for a convincing sample of one man’s imperturbable vision. Hopefully it prevents this idiosyncratic and talented musician from fading into total oblivion.

Mannequin Records is elated to present for the first time on vinyl the reissue of Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici’s first video soundtrack, originally released in 1984 as an audiotape in less than one hundred copies. Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici (literally Mundane Mechanical Youth) or GMM was one of the most unclassifiable audiovisual experiences to emerge from Italy in the 1980s. Maurizio Dami a.k.a. Alexander Robotnick, a pivotal member of GMM, was responsible for the group’s music output. Founded in 1984 by Antonio Glessi and Andrea Zingoni in Florence, GMM was an art collective whose production represents the quintessential expression of postmodern transmedia hybridity. GMM pioneered the genre of computer comics, created video installations, developed “multiple identity” performances, and was involved in fashion, media, and music productions, and later on produced cyberdelic environments, artificial reality projects, and proto-memes. Alexander Robotnick’s first contribution to GMM was this soundtrack for the group’s eponymous first video, the animated version of a computer comics they coincidentally published on legendary Frigidaire magazine. Restored by Dami and reissued here for the first time by Mannequin Records, the composition was also split into two “suites” and released as an audiotape distributed by Materiali Sonori, also responsible for other releases by both Robotnick and GMM. Determining in this work is Dami’s adoption of the alphaSyntauri, also known as the first affordable digital synth (priced less than $2000 when it was released in 1980), which was playable through its own software, “alphaPlus,” on the Apple II computer. The same computer was used by Glessi to “draw” the 3-bit strips scripted by Zingoni recounting the joyrides of the Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici, three merciless cyborgs in black suit and sunglasses dividing their time between nightclubs, rapes and murders. As Robotnick, Dami developed an innovative formula of Italo disco that was attractive to the dance floor yet at the same time highlighted the expressive properties of the instruments he used, notably Roland drum machines and Korg synthesizers. For the soundtrack of GMM’s videos and installations, he left aside the danceable synth rhythmics in favor of ambient sounds that produced rarefied atmospheres, psychological tensions, and enhanced states of consciousness. Dami’s scores for GMM’s artworks could be associated with Italian avant-garde music of the 1970s and 1980s, ranging from composers who adopted electronics flirting with pop and songwriting to minimalist musicians exploring seriality and drones, including Franco Battiato, Roberto Cacciapaglia, Francesco Messina, and Riccardo Sinigaglia. Analogies could also be traced with the playful and humanizing approach to personal computers that characterizes the music output of Marcello Giombini and Doris Norton. The futuristic escapism of minimal synth and ambient music’s psychological nature is infiltrated by drifting harmonics typical of new age, as if in search of a spiritual dimension of technology. Characteristic of the postmodern ethos of GMM Suite, in line with the humanizing approach to technology that is at the base of GMM’s computer comics, is the melancholic take at speculative dystopias in which human beings would find themselves increasingly trapped into identity crises: a true cyborg’s melodrama. Limited edition of 500 copies, (orange vinyl)

There are constellations within the grooves of Cymbalom Solos. Innumerable points of light, rendered audible in glowing, radiant sound. There are entire worlds too - undiscovered, yet familiar - both terrestrial and celestial. There are moments of quiet comfort and exultant discovery. And all of it conjured by one man with a handful of ancient and invented instruments, recorded mostly-live, with precious few overdubs. Michael Masley has been a fixture of Berkley, California, since he arrived from Michigan in 1982. Even today, he remains a common sight, working as a street performer - catching the attention of passers-by as he summons otherworldly overtones from a coterie of arcane instruments. This is how he met fellow east-coast transplant and musical voyager, Barry Cleveland, in 1983. Cleveland was enraptured by the sound of Masley’s wildly innovative bowhammer cymbalom. The cymbalom is an ancient instrument, similar to a zither or hammered-dulcimer - originating in Eastern Europe in 1874, but with primitive early examples dating back as early as 3500 BC. Yet Masley’s approach to the instrument was wholly original. Masley replaced the two traditional cymbalom hammers, with bowhammers - an invention wherein he fitted each of his fingers with it’s own combination hammer/bow device, which allowed him to both strike the strings, and bow them like a violin. Outfitted with his bowhammers, Masley was able to wrest startlingly new sounds from a centuries-old instrument. In 1985, after performing together for a couple years, Cleveland produced Masley’s first solo endeavour, Cymbalom Solos. With the help of Cleveland’s timely production, Masley’s technique reached its zenith. His complex and beautiful compositions combined elements of Eastern-European classical, new minimalism, and celtic/folk music, yet the end result falls squarely within the world of new age kosmiche. Music of the spheres, conjured by earthbound strings. Masley estimates that he sold tens-of-thousands of cassette copies of Cymbalom Solos over his years of performing. And now, Morning Trip is distinctly proud to offer it on vinyl for the first time ever - an album of startling, imaginative beauty, by a brilliant American folk artist.

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.

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

Brilliant comet of the Italian New Wave scene. Real deal. TIP!

Atelier du Mal were formed in Florence in 1983 by Lapo Pistelli (synths, electronic drums), Iacopo Ficai Veltroni (bass, synth) and Ignazio Matteini
(drum programming, percussions). Recorded in 1984, 'Noblesse Oblige' was the first and subsequently the only demo tape by the group, self-released using classic gear like Korg Ms-20, Roland Tr-606, Roland Tr-808, Roland Juno 60, Roland TB-303.

Following the RVNG reissues of A Period of Review (ranked the No. 7 reissue of 2014 by WIRE) and Artificial Dance (ranked the No. 2 reissue of 2015 by WIRE) Closed System Potentials, recorded in 1979 and originally released in 1980, finds its way back to vinyl in a completely remastered + expanded edition. The LP includes two previously unreleased tracks plus the included digital version includes an additional two unreleased tracks, all taken from the original CSP sessions. Also included is a four-page insert featuring an essay by Paul Dickow. Remastered by Taylor Deupree at 12K.


K. Leimer founded Palace of Lights in 1979. In addition to his own work, PoL has released albums by Ang Mo Faux, Marc Barreca, Roy Finch, Michael William Gilbert, Steve Peters, Savant and Gregory Taylor. 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 16 still in print albums plus 2 collaborative albums with Marc Barreca.


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

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.

Brainticket was an obscure Krautrock band born out of a 60's jazz group featuring Belgian born keyboardist Joel Vandroogenbroeck, based in Switzerland. The leader went for a fortunate solo career after the former group disbanded, reaching a cult status especially in Italy with a series of sought after libraries. Released in 1978 on Cenacolo, Images Of Flute In Nature is pure magic translated in music. Conceived by Joel with a little help from vocalist Carole Muriel (an American performer already involved in Brainticket and Drum Circus), the album is literally a deep connection between kosmische music, ambient and ethno-global rhythms.

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!

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.

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.

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.

1972 saw the release of The Sixth Ear (Narco NR666), this time credited to Nik Pascal. A more complex work than Beyond The End..., it adds consistent rhythmic patterns to the mix with the addition of bongoes and also explores some interesting chord progressions.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Edition of 500 copies, screen printed cover. Includes two inserts: a replica of the original insert and the english translation.

Henry Krutzen is a relatively shadowy figure in the history of experimental sound. Between the early 80s and the 2010s, there are only a handful of albums that bear his name, and very little information about them. A multi-instrumentalist and composer who studied percussion, saxophone, and harmony in various schools and jazz clinics across Belgium, over the years he played in a diverse range of musical projects across the idioms of jazz, new wave, heavy metal, experimental, chanson française, world music and progressive rock, before relocating to Brazil during the early 2000s.

“Silances”, originally released by Igloo Records - the Belgian imprint founded in 1978 by Daniel Sotiaux - sitting alongside astounding and remarkably unique albums by Leo Küpper, Jacques Bekaert, Henri Chopin, Arthur Pétronio, André Stordeur, and numerous others, is an entirely singular gesture at the borders of sound poetry, musique concrète, and radical electroacoustic practice that draws upon disparate elements of drone, jazz, minimalism, ecstatic tribalism, and various traditions of music from across the globe. Decades on from its original release it remains as striking, unique, and compelling as it did upon its release.

In a note that Krutzen penned in 2022 when he was contacted for the reissue of “Silances”, Krutzen recalls: “Since I was 16, I had been experimenting with concrete music with a technician friend and we used all a teenager’s room could offer to make sounds into music: faucets, glasses of water, metal springs on ladders, objects of any kind… I had hours of recordings I pitched to Daniel [Sotiaux], to see if he was interested in making an album. I also had other ideas I wanted to be able to develop. What a joy when he accepted to work on the project! So I got to work. First, I set up a vocal improvisation quartet, and we spent long afternoons rehearsing using input I provided… We went into the studio and recorded almost two hours of improvisation, from which I then chose the best moments for the final product”.

Ángel Rada is one of the most interesting music experimantalists of Venezuela. He started his career in the late 1960s as a member of The Gas Light, one of the big names on Venezuela's live circuit in the era, sharing the stages with other artists such as Apocalipsis, Un Dos Tres y Fuera, Vytas Brenner, Daniel Grau, Pablo Schneider, Miguel Ángel Fuster... Rada is one of the three basic artists who set an electronic music scene in Venezuela, along with Miguel Ángel Noya and Vinicio Adames.

Rada had attended the Escuela Superior de Música José Ángel Lamas and then continued his studies in Germany, where he was impressed by krautrock music, especially by its more electronic side. He met Kraftwerk when they were recording at Kling Klang Studio, and also knew Klaus Schulze–who would become an example for him to to follow. This contact with the Kraut scene would be the biggest influence on his works from the 1970s, which would end synthesizing in Rada's first record: 1983's Upadesa, originally released on his own independent label Uranium Records. Since then he has released more than 20 albums up to date, making him one of the most prolific experimental musicians not only in his country but also in the whole world.

Rada's aproach to electronic music is based in what he calls ethnosonic music. He is interested in the mixture of various styles which he filters through the use of technology, so in his electronic compositions one can hear echoes of ethnic sounds from all over the globe as well as some jazz influenced improvisation, ambient and synthesized sounds.

The Wah Wah edition is the first ever vinyl reissue of this landmark LP and has been remastered for vinyl by Roger Prades @ Prades Mastering. Includes an insert with liner notes by Salvatore Maldera.

It is a strictly limited edition of 500 copies only.

Transvitaexpress Psycho-phonic tale of the afterlife One of the weirdest italian album ever released 'Transvitaexpress is the sonorous realization of an idea that had been developing in me for some time and to which the encounter with the poet Barbarino gave the decisive push. I used the "tape-sound" technique, that is the organization and integration of sounds, noises, speech, song and rhythm, of which the resulting sound, being the result of electronic manipulation of the sound events themselves, is audible, therefore repeatable, only by means of magnetic tape. The sound material is, in part, reportage, so the work often takes on the character of a “disc-truth”, in part it is a faithful reconstruction of parapsychological events. We have defined this work "Psycho-phonic tale" in fact it is a sound experience, that is, a journey into the world of sounds of an "afterlife", rooted in us due to childhood, ancestral reminiscences, superstitions, legends, anxieties, utopias and above all fear. Fear of the mystery, fear of the unknown. Transvitaexpress is therefore the sound representation of these cultural and existential limits, and is therefore a critical, liberating, provocative work. I certainly do not expect, and perhaps I do not want someone after having listened to tell me that it is "beautiful". Transvitaexpress is the name of a train full of ... that travels in an afterlife so "beyond" that it coincides with the most central point of my ego. Perhaps the most logical "end-continuation" of life, the least imaginative, the least corrupt. The distortions, things that are too, or too little, defined, realistic situations, clichés, monotheisms and captions are embedded in the most traditional dream fabric, the most suitable in my opinion to promote approaches with the mysterious, with the esoteric, with the magical.' M. Giombini

Like his previous "Starburst" release, "Protosyn" was privately released in 1983 only on tape cassette format. Restored and remastered from the original tapes by Davide Bassi (Press Rewind Studios, Milan); Mr. Ricky having fun with Prophet 5, Pro 1, Korg Vc-10 Vocoder and Roland Tr-606 Drumatix.