Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield 166 Items

Berlin-based contemporary composer Nils Frahm has built a steady reputation for his intimate, poignant piano recordings, yet they only reveal a fragment of what to expect from a Frahm concert. The artist’s heart lies in improvisation, in the magic of a moment where, inspired by the space and the audience, his fingers create new compositions loosely based around his familiar melodies.

Spaces is an ode to the joy of live performance. It expresses Frahm’s love for experimentation and answers the call from his fans for a record that truly reflects what they witness during his concerts. Breaking the convention of a traditional live release, the album was recorded over the course of two years in different locations and on various media, including old portable reel-to-reel recorders and cassette decks. These moments were later pieced together in his Durton Studio for what Frahm refers to as a collage of field recordings rather than a live album.

Spaces includes surprises such as the sound of a toilet brush banging on piano strings to create a dub-sounding track. The decision to select takes that include the sounds of people coughing and cell phones ringing make clear that his audience is an integral part of every performance

Taking inspiration from the 1969 French adventure book of the same name, Papillon explores the sonic interzones between dream and nightmare. Through the use of augmented field recordings, Papillon uses the ‘exotic’ jungle as the starting point to develop a dense and evocative sound where ethnic recordings, impromptu synth jams, modular synthesis and foley art effects come together to create a quasi-mystical crackpot mix of esoteric visions, near death experiences, shamanism, fever deliriums and lucid dreaming.

Perhaps one of the most revolutionary and influential people in the cannon of disco music, Patrick Cowley created his own brand of Hi-NRG dance music coined "The San Francisco Sound." This very special LP features a compilation of restored Cowley productions unearthed in the garage of vintage gay porn company Fox Studio. Spanning nearly 90 minutes, the 11 tracks (originally recorded between 1973 and 1981), epitomize Cowley's forward thinking and his affinity for mixing elements of varying styles of music. Simply put, Cowley was a musical trailblazer ahead of his time. His credits as a producer include SYLVESTER's "Do You Wanna Funk,” PAUL PARKER’s "Right on Target" and collaborations with JORGE SOCCARAS of INDOOR LIFE—this is just the tip of the iceberg. An early victim of AIDS, Cowley passed away at the age of 32; these recordings shine a new light on the experimental side of a disco legend who was taken too soon from us. Featuring over 80 minutes of music, this compilation contains soundtrack music from two Fox Studio films, Muscle Up and School Daze, never before released on vinyl. The tapes were restored and transferred using the same speed and pitch settings, then remastered for vinyl by GEORGE HORN at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA. The vinyl comes housed in a glossy dual pocket gatefold featuring classic gay porn imagery from the Fox Studio vaults plus an essay from Indoor Life vocalist, JORGE SOCCARRAS. For Patrick's 63rd birthday, Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem present a glimpse into the instrumental world of a young genius. These recordings shine a new light on the experimental side of a disco legend who was taken too soon.

In celebration of the label's 15th year anniversary Sacred Bones is now repressing this legendary debut on Colored Vinyl for the very first time. The vinyl colour is a mix of black, white & orange! Margaret Chardiet was born and raised in New York City. As a founding member of the Red Light District collective in Far Rockaway, NY she has been a figurehead in the underground experimental scene since the age of seventeen. She describes her drive to make noise music as something akin to an exorcism where she is able to express, her "deep-seated need/drive/urge/possession to reach other people and make them Feel something [specifically] in uncomfortable/confrontational ways." Engineered by Sean Ragon of Cult of Youth, Abandon is Pharmakon's first proper studio album and also her first widely distributed release. The songs on this album were all written and recorded during a turbulent three month time period during which several fundamental life changes forced her to begin living in a completely new way and in a new space. She describes the lyrical themes of this album as being about "Loss. Losing everything. Relinquishing control. Complete psychic abandon. Blind leaps of faith into the fire, walking out unscathed. Crawling out of the pit."

Full length collaboration from Duane Pitre & ELEH. Pitreleh use high resolution analog and digital tools to create music utilizing natural vibrations and harmonics as rhythm and melody. Inspiration is drawn directly from vibrational waves (sound, gravity, water). The electronics, of which both pieces are constructed, are tuned using pure intonation which utilizes the prime numbers: 1-3-5-7.

Originally released in 2013, this full length collaboration from Duane Pitre and Eleh is now available on cassette. Pitreleh use high resolution analog and digital tools to create music utilizing natural vibrations and harmonics as rhythm and melody. Inspiration is drawn directly from vibrational waves (sound, gravity, water). The electronics, of which both pieces are constructed, are tuned using pure intonation which utilizes the prime numbers: 1-3-5-7. The debut live performance of Pitreleh was recently presented at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn as well as the Museum Of Contemporary Art in Cleveland.

Superb album revisiting the traditional and early psychedelic Arabic music, all through distorted paths and instruments, remashed and deconstructed sounds, recreating patterns with diverse instruments to give a different perspective of the sound itself.

Die limitierte Auflage kommt als "rauchig schwarzes" Vinyl mit Download-Karte, die digitale Bonustracks enthält. Nach Ausflügen in Deep House, Acid und Techno, die ihn laut Resident Advisor zu "einem der fesselndsten Künstler Berlins" gemacht hatten, brachte Lorenz Brunner 2013 sein Projekt Recondite mit dem Album „Hinterland“ bei Ghostly International unter.

Der Produzent schaute auf die Heimat seiner Kindheit, Niederbayern, und nutzte Field Recordings, um die Musik mit den Emotionen der Jahreszeiten in der Region zu verbinden. „Hinterland“ präsentierte eine besondere Atmosphäre - eisige, unheimliche, melancholische Musik, die intime Melodien mit knackigen Perkussion-Sounds kreuzte -, die zum Markenzeichen von Recondite werden sollte. "Das ist das Album, das irgendwann aus Recondite herauskommen musste", sagte er damals. "Es ist Recondite." Ein Jahrzehnt später ist der Sound immer noch ganz und gar sein eigener.

Kraut & Electronica Pioneer from Romania!

High energy instrumental showcase of Rustie's signature sound at new found heights.

‘Block Boundaries’ is the new album from minimalist composer Ryan Teague building on his previous releases for Type, Sonic Pieces and current label Village Green. Inspired by the theme of Psychogeography, the record fuses acoustic instrumentation with electronic and processed material, taking the listener on a hallucinogenic Ballardian journey through from the thrumming urban activity of New York, Amsterdam and London.

With his new album "What's Fruit", Schlammpeitziger touches the dancefloor more than ever before in his 22-year long career. Yet his dancefloor is a playful one. The Cologne based composer's sounds electrify with their multi-layered melodic structures. He weaves countless details in perfection, to a high density of musical activity, always focusing on the slow, driving beats which hold everything together. Each of the eight tracks represents shades of the unique humour we love about Schlammpeitziger.

Schlammpeitziger's album yields even more fruit. Six weeks after the release of his longplayer "What's Fruit" Pingipung releases this 12inch EP with remixes from Candie Hank (Patric Catani), Andreas Dorau, Springintgut, Mouse On Mars, Thomas Mahmoud Zahl and Dub-Master hey (one half of Hey-Ø-Hansen).

Limited to 750 copies.

The EP reimagines four songs from Lanterns, and includes a collaboration with Lorde. These exquisite reinventions traverse unfamiliar terrain within remembered landscapes. Their world is both alien and familiar.

Soul Jazz Records Deutsche Elektronische Music Volume 2 is now available as two separate double LPs for the first time in over 10 years! Soul Jazz Records' 'Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2' is their second voyage into the world of Krautrock and German electronic music from the 1970s and early 1980s. Features a stunning line-up of seminal German groups, including Can, Faust, Popul Vuh, Neu!, Cluster, Amon Düül II, La Düsseldorf, as well as a host of lesser known and more obscure groups and artists such as Agitation Free, Bröselmaschine, Niagara and many more.

Soul Jazz Records Deutsche Elektronische Music Volume 2 is now available as two separate double LPs for the first time in over 10 years! Soul Jazz Records' 'Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2' is their second voyage into the world of Krautrock and German electronic music from the 1970s and early 1980s. Features a stunning line-up of seminal German groups, including Can, Faust, Popul Vuh, Neu!, Cluster, Amon Düül II, La Düsseldorf, as well as a host of lesser known and more obscure groups and artists such as Agitation Free, Bröselmaschine, Niagara and many more.

"a mutating web of feedback, choral echoes and lo-fi loops of various
squeaking, rattling found sounds, settling gently into certain texture
combinations before teasing the stasis through jolts of pitch bend or slow
fades into somewhere else. It's a real nightmare collage: one minute it's a
blast of screaming electronics, like someone tampering with the cockpit
controls, and the next it's tornado of factory noise and alien sex. Musique
concrete for the mind's darker, more paranoid recesses, with a gorgeously
sparse latter half of noise squeals fed through some sort of astronaut
intercom." - Jack Chuter, ATTN magazine

Six years have passed since the last album by Andi Otto alias Springintgut, (“Park and Ride”, City Centre Offices, 2007). In this period, Otto has done nothing less than inventing a new instru- ment: His “Fello” is a cello with movement sensors attached to the bow and a corresponding software. The development has been kicked off at STEIM in Amsterdam already in 2007. Since then, Otto has achieved vital refinements of the system, cooperated with artists of various fields as diverse as choreographers in Macedonia, theatre in Nigeria and Techno DJs in the Berghain Kantine in Berlin or the Fusion Festival. He even played solo with his instrument on different continents. For this third album, “Where We Need No Map” Otto takes the “Fello” to his studio in Hamburg for the first time. He records his instrument which has until today only been presented live on stage. In these Fello Sessions, the bow gestures immediate- ly modulate and process the amplified cello sound. In the subsequent editings he selects and cuts these sessions and merges them with other styles, such as Skweee, House and Jazz. Springintgut's trademark sound, this unique playfulness, is pre- sent throughout, while the live-processed cello adds an unrivaled deepness. The artist's expeditions even add more colour. Two tracks have been recorded in India. The lead voi- ce in “Bangalore Kids” is a field recording of a schoolboy in Cubbon Park, Bangalore. Andi Otto spends three months in Japan as artist- in-residence in the Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto. Du- ring this concentrated period he produces the more contemplative tracks of the album, like “Ka- mogawa Cycling” and “Western Kyoto”. In Sri Lan- ka, finally, he meets Sasha Perera, the voice of Berlin's Dub Techno band Jahcoozi. They record two songs together. Especially in “Bullet” one can sense the lazy, muggy, peaceful heat of the after- noons in which this beautiful track has been com- posed. These stories may help to locate the music's orig- ins but still the sound of “Where We Need No Map” points us to unknown territories. The journey itself is the reward, let's listen!

Stareaway is Markus Guentner (Kompakt, A Strangely Isolated Place) and Heiko Badje (La Grande Illusion) carefully combining ambient soundscapes, shoegazy guitars, melancholic Pop melodies and these amazing bodiless vocals to form a deep, subtle and somehow hard to define kind of enchanted music. Their 2013 album No Life In This Ghost Town (mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri) is now re-released (via Couldn’t Care More); seven wonderful tracks, caressing and thoughtful, yet touched by a certain darkness that makes you shiver. Brilliant works that need to be rediscovered. The album-rerelease is accompanied by a spectacular EP with remixes by Rafael Anton Iris-arri, Simon Scott (Slowdive), Thomas Fehlmann und David Westlake (ex-Sneaker Pimps).

Slow Waves is a collection of multi-layered memories, stacked like grainy polaroids in an old box in the closet or under the bed while the colours fade. A young Rob at the beach or on his first day of grammar school. Images of travels across Europe and Japan, moments slipping in trains or planes while landscapes pass by. Memories so unique to his life, yet so similar to the fading memories of youth and adolescence we all have...

After a series of well acclaimed EP’s, each of them created at very specific moments in the artists life, submerse took the time and sat down to reflect and convert all these memories into his first full length album on Project: Mooncircle.

'Slow Waves' comes out worldwide on limited double vinyl, limited handmade and handpainted cassette edition (both including download code) as well as a limited edition CD including a bonus track via flau records in Japan.

Received a 7.3 rating from Pitchfork.

Software Recording Co, the label in part run by Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never, present a solo release from American producer Suicideyear. The Remembrance EP follows on where the well-received Japan mixtape left off; constructing hard, trap-inspired percussion over gentle, minimalistic ambient soundscapes. The celestial ‘Hope Building A’ fits the EPs title with its nostalgia-tinged, awe-inspiring organ riff complimented by tinkering percussion, widescreen pads and sparse snare fills.

2020 repress.

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be." A modern-day revenge tragedy in four parts. Symmetrical, finespun, almost courtly; but quick-tempered with it, and far from blood-shy. A picture emerges: domestic disturbance, pissing on the compost heap, noise complaints from hateful neighbours. Sulking, pouting, goading. Cold leaves and Christmas. Body-clocks betrayed, seasonal adjustment disorders. Collecting bottles to smash in the carpark across the road. Marijuana and make-believe. A flaming bower of unbliss.

Side A written and performed by Ludwig Plath. Side A written and performed by Fee Kuerten. Recorded, mixed and mastered by René Huthwelker at Niedervolthoudini Studio, Hamburg 2012. Artwork by Ludwig Plath.

Concept: On this new album for Ghost Box Records, The Advisory Circle (aka Jon Brooks) explores darker territory than on 2012’s more pastoral As The Crow Flies. This time Brooks hints at a Wyndham-esque science fiction story, where bucolic English scenery is being manipulated and maybe even artificially generated by bizarre multi-dimensional computer technology.

Sound: Brooks’ strong sense of melody and composition is still evident as are his renowned sound design and production skills. Consequently the album is a rich and rewarding experience that subtly showcases a wealth of musical experience. The usual analogue synth sound palette is augmented with found-sound from antique tape reels and Brooks’ ever growing tangle of home built electronics.

Ltd edition 300, vinyl only release.

The Duke of Juke returns with a smashing 10", his first release on dutch imprint ANUS Records. Here he shows his variety of musical knowledge fitting our philosophy - be odd, be future, be not too serious. Get to know!

The Exaltics make their debut on Clone Westcoast Series. This the first volume in a triptych of their stark, futuristic sound yet showing a more melancholic and introspective side this time. You can almost hear the longing for other places.

The Quasi Dub Development (QDD) has been founded as a collective four years ago by Luca Fadda and F.S. Blumm. After “Limousine To The Guillotine” (2011) comes now their new album. The QDD love Dub, obviously, but they play it by hand with their many instruments and effects, instead of working in the studio along the classic post production methods of the genre. Their friendly, handmade „Quasi Dub“ is at the same time experimental and accessible. This sound has convinced nobody else than of the pioneers of the Dub genre, Lee Perry, to make an appearance in “Let's Communicate”.

Established in 2013 by Valentina Magaletti and Tom Relleen, the duo operated until 2020 as a creative laboratory for the London-based musicians to explore beyond their traditional musical endeavours. They sought to deconstruct their usual sonic frameworks, venturing into a novel and unfamiliar auditory landscape. Their work seamlessly integrated various forms of multi-instrumentalism, traversing the realms of industrial, jazz, psychedelia and minimalism.

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Tomaga's debut album, 'Futura Grotesk', Hands in the Dark are re-releasing the long sold out record in a limited edition of 500 copies. The reissue will be accompanied by the first-ever vinyl pressing of the band's inaugural EP, 'Sleepy Jazz for Tired Cats', featuring new artwork and 300 units available.

Established in 2013 by Valentina Magaletti and Tom Relleen, the duo operated until 2020 as a creative laboratory for the London-based musicians to explore beyond their traditional musical endeavours. They sought to deconstruct their usual sonic frameworks, venturing into a novel and unfamiliar auditory landscape. Their work seamlessly integrated various forms of multi-instrumentalism, traversing the realms of industrial, jazz, psychedelia and minimalism.

'The band's self-released cassette debut, 'Sleepy Jazz for Tired Cats' presents an unconstrained, complex and abstract introduction to their distinctive and darkly thought-provoking sound. In contrast, Tomaga’s seminal album, 'Futura Grotesk', further elevates their sonic explorations, leading to compositions that are more elusive and profoundly evocative, resembling the surreal and unsettling language of dreams and other subconscious wanderings transposed into a unique musical expression.

HHV and Too Good are happy to present this exclusive color run of 1000 red copies of Tommy Guerreros 2014 album "No Mans Land". Back in print for the first time. Only at HHV. As a special treat you can pick up the poster with the artwork of this album in our bonus section.

Tosca is Richard Dorfmeister (of Kruder & Dorfmeister fame) and Rupert Huber, who have been crafting trip-hop and downtempo together for nearly two decades. Odeon, their sixth proper full-length album, should be darker and more subdued than previous material. Dorfmeister explains: "We"ve always had a darker, ambient side, but we really wanted to emphasize that aspect of music with this record. That"s where our hearts are at the moment, just keeping the whole vibe low and understated." The album promises to be an intimate listen as well, due in part to Tosca"s face-to-face work with a "creative inner circle" of guest vocalists.

Richard Dorfmeister & Rupert Huber with another batch of finest Vienna Downbeat with a touch of Ambient. Tip!

An essential collection of represses from Tricky"s catalogue available in colour. "Calling it Adrian Thaws is saying you don"t really know me," says Tricky, explaining the title of his 11th album. "So many times people have tried to put a finger on me and every album I go to a different place."

Tricky"s first album on his brand new False Idols imprint, launched almost a decade ago in 2013. "I was lost for ages" he says, after a 3 year hiatus since his previous album.

For nearly a decade, Tycho has been known as the musical alias of Scott Hansen, but with the release of Awake - his second LP for Ghostly International - the solo project has evolved into a three-piece band. Relating closer to post-rock than ambient soundscapes, the record is situated in the present, sounding more like Hansen than drawing from his in?uences. "This is, in many ways, the first true Tycho record." Following 2011's "Dive" LP, the San Francisco-based designer toured extensively, and with a full band on stage, his sound coalesced into a percussive, organic whole. Zac Brown (guitars, bass) rejoined Scott on the road for this tour, but it was the particular addition of Rory O'Connor's live drumming that ultimately sent Hansen back to the studio with a more precise vision. "After the tour, I decided that I wanted to capture the more energetic, driven sound of the live show on the next album," Hansen recalls. Bringing musicians into Tycho's creative process was a step towards expanding his own songwriting and advancing the project beyond its current sound. In a cabin near Tahoe last winter, Zac and Scott began ?eshing out the structure of the new record, but it wasn't until they set up shop in the hills of Santa Cruz with Rory that it all fell into place. "It crystallized the vision of how the drums would come to the forefront on this record," says Hansen. The sound was much more stripped-down and concise with more organic instruments in the fold. Songs like "Montana" and "Awake" are a departure from Tycho's previous material - unique to the group e!ort poured into the songs on the new record - while "See" and "Dye" echo ideas from previous works, bridging a middle ground between the old and new. Working with Count Eldridge, who also engineered Dive, the team could ?xate on the pulses that Tycho might previously layer under synthesizers and exhume them with distinct bass and guitar patterns. Also known for his design work as Iso50, Hansen's visual and sonic e!orts have dovetailed throughout the course of his career. "This is the ?rst time in my life I've dropped everything to focus on one artistic pursuit," notes Hansen. Previous Tycho releases came to fruition when an amalgam of songs were nearing completion, but "Awake" is where music becomes the focus and true expression becomes the result.

The Roughness!

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2014

Stip plays a piano interpretation of his debut album Sigh released last February on Other People. One-sided 10"

VentureX is an American electronic music producer based out of Chicago, Illinois who creates music that can be described as french house & nudisco. Experimenting with Hip-hop and other genres as times.

VentureX is an American electronic music producer based out of Chicago, Illinois who creates music that can be described as french house & nudisco. Experimenting with Hip-hop and other genres as times.

Marking the start of an exciting new collaborative project, Wolf + Lamb proudly share the debut release of The Waves & Us. Formed out of a creative meeting of minds between Maayan Nidam, Markus Nikolaus and Louis McGuire, theirs is a sound that strengthens the storied approach of a live band with the experimental thrust of analogue electronics. Pop and rock fundamentals lend an earthly hook to the tracks, but these are anything but straight-forward songs. Maayan has already forged a formidable career in electronic music, both under her own name and as part of Mara Trax, scoring releases on such celebrated labels as Perlon. Markus performs his own solo project Cunt Cunt Chanel, while Louis is part of Ballet School, a band releasing on noted indie label Bella Union. The whirlwind of creativity that has whipped up around the trio has yielded an album which will follow this single, made up of one-take recordings that capture the energy and adventure that powers The Waves & Us. Maayan's electronics provide the atmospheric backdrop to the songs, running modular synthesisers and drum machines through detailed chains of processing and effects with an emphasis on a warm, charmingly rough finish. Markus' guitar undergoes a similar fuzzy treatment while his voice calls out introspective, abstract lyrics to set the mind racing. Louis' bass underpins the music with a dubby sensibility, bringing a necessary balance to the frequency range. Making the most of their in-the-room recording approach, the singles will feature alternative takes of the songs that will appear on the album, providing a little insight into the flutters and fluctuations that shape the development of this project. With their eyes fixed on live performances and an arresting sound already formed, this is a vital time for all three artists and the people that listen to them.

- Limited Edition of 2,000 copies- First time ever on vinyl- Remastered from original recordingsOriginally released a year after the increasingly iconic The Disintegration Loops, a decade later Melancholia still stands as William Basinski's second most beloved album. To commemorate its 10-year anniversary, we are honored to present the first-ever vinyl edition of this otherworldly piece of music. Remastered from the original recordings and pressed onto audiophile-quality 100% pure virgin vinyl, this limited-edition vinyl reissue is packaged in a stunning gatefold jacket featuring all-new artwork. It is truly a sight and sound to behold. Like many of Basinski's most soul-stirring works, Melancholia began as a series of short tape loops captured in the early 1980s. Basinski then stored them away for decades, revisiting them at a different time in his life, at which point they took on a stunning new sound all their own - one that many consider to be among the finest of the past decade. "Melancholia is probably the best of Basinski's records until now, even if this is hard for me to say given my love for each one of his releases. This music is so beautifully delicate and sad in its auto-reflective moods, it stands right there with everything ranging from the usual suspects in the 'ambient' field, to a distorted damp ghost of Claude Debussy or Maurice Ravel put into a time machine." - Touching Extremes

Wendelbo's whispery vocals are sung in both French & English, calling to mind Jane Birkin & Francoise Hardy. The alluring, tropical warmth of Wendelbo's vocals is juxtaposed against the duo's signature icy cold, ultra-modern synth sounds.

Ya Tosiba is a Berlin-based duo producing bass-heavy riddims with energetic female vocals. On the mic we have Zuzu Zakaria, the versatile singer who uses mainly found, historical lyrics in her mother tongue Azeri. On synths and drum machines we have Mesak.

Limited 10 year anniversary repress with black/white artwork. In May 2014, Icelandic producer Yagya released his fifth album, Sleepygirls, across three slabs of vinyl on Dutch label Delsin. It's a deep, spacious and dubbed out affair that stays locked at a pleasingly sedentary tempo throughout. Since 2002 Yagya has been crafting lush electronic albums and always manages to find pure bliss and beauty and his simple, nature inspired soundscapes. "I wanted to create an album that's atmospheric, repetitive, and easy to listen to over and over again," says the man himself. "Something that works well in the background (e.g. when concentrating on work), as well as up close in a big sound system. I also wanted to learn how to make my music sound better than before, since I'm a huge sound-nerd, so that was a part of the goal for me personally." The album is a fine fusion of tropes from Yagya's earlier albums, features jazz instrumentalists that improvise beautiful melodies over monotonic, almost drone-like, techno beats and also uses live recordings of Japanese vocals, saxophone and guitar to counter the repetitiveness of the rhythms. Right from the rolling bliss of the opener, you're suspended in a womb like pillow of sound that is soft, warm and serenely beautiful. As tracks roll on, the pace stays the same but themes vary from upright and summery to more elongated and insular. This is natural, organic dub that is a delight and a pleasure to listen to. The vinyl versions of each track have been specially mixed with random LFOs, sonic quirks and unique fingerprints making them the subtly different to the CD version, but overall this is a brain soothing and mind melting album that can soundtrack lazy days, long summer afternoons and warm winter evenings in equal style.

A 33 track monument, based on the rich history of recent dance music. Rave, Jungle, House, Techno & Grime are melted into a wild mixture!