Electronic & Dance Vinyl 361 Items

How a boy from the Sri Lankan jungle formed the greatest post-punk band you’ve never heard. Fronted by an intense singer with an oblique songbook and a mysterious past Glorious Din were unlike any other group to emerge from San Francisco’s ‘80s underground. With singer Eric Cope, the chosen persona of a Joy Division-obsessed Sri Lankan boy who travelled halfway around the world to follow his punk dream.

Alésia Cosmos was a collective of musicians led by Bruno de Chénerilles formed in the early 1980s in Strasbourg, France. The group consisted of Pascal Holtzer (guitar, synthesizer, tapes, drum machine, vocals), Pierre Clavreux (vocals, gong), Marie-Berthe Servier (vocals), Bruno (guitar, tapes, synthesizer, drum machine, vocals) and Tunisian percussionist Lotfi Ben Ayed (darbukas, bendir). In 1981 Bruno composed and wrote some sci-fi radio plays for French state radio channel France Culture. Under the influences of William Burroughs, John Cage, Pierre Henry and others, he developed tape music studio work. By 1982 he appeared for the first time under the name Alésia Cosmos Furi Show. It was a solo performance on guitar, voice, analog synth and tapes. This experimental show lead to a music project based on Bruno and Pascal's compositions to be performed and recorded with other musicians in the beginning of 1983.


Exclusivo! was the group’s debut album recorded and self-released in 1983 on Planetarium. Pascal and Bruno would compose tunes in their personal home studios. Then they would bring the tapes, electronics, guitar lines and lyrics to experiment and rehearse with the other members of the group. Improvisations and adaptations brought more ideas and the album was recorded in a few days. The result was a musical mixing of electronic music, field recordings, North African and Asian percussion, electric guitars and voices, compositions and free improvisations. All four musicians take turns singing onomatopoeic phrases and backing vocals, even sometimes in an unknown language, a sort of mixed bag between Breton and Japanese. All songs have been remastered cut by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Each LP is housed in a replica of the 1983 cover and includes a 6-page insert with photos, lyrics, reviews and liner notes by Bruno de Chénerilles.

Music From Memory’s final 12" for 2017 is a reissue of Dub Oven's self released, and sadly one-off, 1983 EP 'Skin N Bones’.
Pioneers in the Post Punk Industrial and New Wave scene in 1980’s San Francisco, Gary Miles (Voice Farm) and Blaise Smith (Minimal Man), met at San Francisco’s notorious 181 Club in December of 1982. This straight/same sex/swing-both-ways late night dive bar was tucked away in one of the city's most risky, drug riddled neighbourhoods. Stationed near the SF Museum of modern Art it attracted a wild audience of local patrons, aspiring young artists and music heads. In the thick of all this the duo felt impartial to a lot what was going on musically and set out to produce electronic music that could break through the "somewhat exhausted post disco sound that was then competing in the local San Francisco clubs". Enlisting soul vocalist Celeste Miller, the duo were also inspired by Lee Perry / Upsetters dub tracks being produced in Jamaica and created a unique breed of avant guard hybrid New Wave/Electronic Funk.
With it's influences seemingly as much rooted in the past and the present as it was focused on the future; Dub Oven formed a distinct, mystical approach to music intended for the dance floor. All three tracks on this 12" embody a signature groove and an inventive synthesized abstraction to express a languishing urban unsettledness and spiritual awareness. Recorded at L7 Studios in San Francisco with the assistance of the the studio’s in house producer Marco Perry (who currently now works with Bjork) the record was unfortunately overlooked by A&R at several major and even local labels and was finally self-released in very limited quantities. Utilising analog electronics and instrumentation, the record draws on elements of dub, new wave, soul and funk to create a sound that is uncategorizable and one that was perhaps simply too forward thinking for it’s time.

/ dub version

Ultra-rare D.I.Y minimal / synth-pop / industrial / darkwave album from 1986!

Kozmonaut was the personal project of a young & talented Canadian musician called Michael Gutierrez, who moved to San Francisco in the early 80s. Influenced by Kraftwerk and German culture / electronic music, Michael recorded the “Flieg” album all by himself at his garage studio, using the pseudonym of “Hans Schiller”.

1000 copies were pressed on his own label, Vier Productions Inc, but they were never distributed or sold at the time, with virtually the entire pressing being discarded, as Michael, a perfectionist, was not satisfied with the spelling mistakes on the cover, among other things. In 1989, Michael, along with Pieter Ziegelmeier, formed the famous industrial / electronic band Kode IV.

Sadly, Michael contracted AIDS and passed away in 1994. All the contents of his garage (tapes, albums, synths and recording equipment) were sold for cheap or ended up in the street.

Fast forward to 2010: An adventurous record hunter (Christian Peintner) finds a copy of the “Flieg” album at a thrift shop in San Francisco. At first, he thinks it’s a German album but after some investigation, he discovers the name of Michael Gutierrez which leads him to Kode IV and then to Peter Ziegelmeier. He visits Peter who tells him the real story of Michael Gutierrez aka Hans Schiller and Kozmonaut.

“Flieg” is an excellent album, a crossover of a wide range of styles from early Industrial (paving the way for Michael’s later sounds with Kode IV), to Synth-Pop, Experimental Electronics, ambient and Dark Wave. Michael uses the vocoder very effectively and in one of the songs, “Tidal Meditation”, he recorded the Golden Gate Bridge fog horn to use it as a sample.

After studying with composers John Cage and Earle Brown, Joe Jones became a prominent figure in Fluxus, contributing to the movement’s first “yearbox” alongside La Monte Young, György Ligeti and Nam June Paik. Beginning in late 1961, Jones began constructing his own music machines – drawing inspiration from the calliopes, automata and orchestrions of the 19th and early 20th century to create self-playing ensembles of stringed instruments, percussion and woodwinds – “played” through an elaborate (yet decidedly lo-tech) system of rubber bands, balls and tin foil.

Christened the Tone Deaf Music Company, this battery of automated musical instruments generates the sounds on In Performance (originally released in 1977 on the Harlequin Art imprint). With exacting conceptual precision and varied subtleties of natural motion – not unlike Harry Bertoia’s sounding sculptures – Jones’ machines produce richly-textured strata of sound and serve as engines of paradox. While bringing the figure of the artist-composer to the foreground, the machines ultimately dispense with the need for the performer entirely – a cunning subversion of the fetish for virtuosity and individual genius.

Limited edition of 500 numbered copies on clear vinyl.

Following up on the long awaited “Melody” / “Stop Fantasy” reissue from 2016, Mothball Record returns with a lesser known, but no less brilliant, double-sided disco bomb from Plustwo. Lighthearted and infectious melodies on both sides are matched with superb production and unmistakably beautiful vocals: this is no fast food but elegant music to enjoy for years to come. For many years a favorite in the Mothball Record offices, yet strangely unknown by many, “Mad Radio” and “New Sensation” will put some unexpected spark in your next disco set.

Plaster Falling was recorded at the same time as John Bender’s first album, I Don’t Remember Now / I Don’t Want To Talk About It. Released in 1981 on the artist’s own Record Sluts label, copies of Plaster Falling’s initial pressing came hermetically sealed in plaster (and later latex). Thus, listeners had to literally break open the record to find what’s hidden inside. Produced in relative isolation, Plaster Falling is a beacon of brilliance in the nascent minimal-wave sphere. Veering towards skeletal urgency, these recordings set bright analogue melodies against half-whispered vocals and expand Bender’s electronic cryptography thru a series of lone signifiers: “Station,” “Plaster,” “Women,” etc. As Bender explains in the liner notes, “I began to distance myself from the present and describe scenes as if in a movie – seeking concrete, terse, juxtaposed imagery.” This first-time standalone reissue is recommended for fans of Gareth Williams & Mary Currie’s Flaming Tunes, Minimal Man and Grouper. Pressed on translucent blue vinyl in a limited / numbered edition of 1,000 copies.

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.

The comparable Piero Umiliani (under his mysterious Moggi moniker) weighs in with another AWOL library gem of 1979. Maestro goes resolutely left field and off track with an intra-personal exploration of the disturbed inner psyche within the human condition. Distressed electro beacons are unleashed as de-tuned predatory Carpenter-esque synth patterns come to the fore (check Clavinet Suspence for primal audio blastings to a lost unnamed 80’s slasher movie). With the electric eighties buzzing on the horizon, Umiliani was quick to capitalise on this cultural shift utilising his Moog synthesisers to tap in to changing musical zeitgeists via cost cutting experimentations for TV, adverts and documentaries. Followers of the esoteric and strange can finally dig in here, lavishly created reissue featuring original artwork, master tape Laquer cutting and Umiliani’s autograph notes on the project. Viva l’uomo!

It was 1977, the year when punk rock exploded in the face of disco-music, but some thinking heads in Italy managed to escape the set trends of the year and walk a totally different path. Pioneers like Franco Battiato had already been experimenting with a crash of rock and electroacoustic music since the beginning of the decade, and others like Roberto Cacciapaglia or Riccardo Zappa would explore farther in those lands, mixing acoustic instruments with the bourgeoning synth technology. Among all these artists, an obscure little gem missed the attention it deserved: Integrati… Disintegrati, by Francesco Leprino, is undoubtedly one of the best albums of the genre. More freely unchained from the prog rock links that albums like Battiato's celebrated Fetus and Pollution LPs or Zappa's Celestion still retain, Leprino merges a very pure classical instrumentation of Spanish guitar, piano and flute with more modern electric guitar sounds, 12 string guitar and -of course- a V.C.S. 3 and Moog synths background that creates highly avantgarde atmospheres. Binson tape echoes, Hammond and Thomas organs, oboes, vibraphone and other additional instruments add texture richness to the final mix.

An outstanding opus split through both sides of an LP in two 20 minutes long pieces that has become a much sought after album among collectors. It will appeal those interested in the development of synth music, beautiful athmosferic landscapes and electronic-acoustic orchestrated sounds.

Reissued under license from Francesco Leprino in a 500 copies limited edition that respects the original artwork, comes with remastered sound and includes an insert with liner notes and photos.

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.

Adonis' comically named "Endless Pokers" project is no joke, in fact, this is some serious Chicago ACID House! Originally released in 1987 and featuring Adonis' trademark staccato drum machine rhythms, creeping acid lines and cowbells "The Poke" is a classic (Watch out for those vocal stabs too!). All 3 mixes featured on this 12" bring something new to the table, twisting and turning that acid line into a frenzied buzz. This is pure old school business, Chicago style! Raw, simple box jams of the highest order! A definite essential, a record like this in the right hands can produce some devastating effects and still sounds incredibly fresh today. Re-mastered, re-pressed and brought to you in conjunction with DJ International Records.

Remembrance is the Software Recording Co. debut from Baton Rouge's Suicideyears (borN James Prudhomme). Prudhomme wrote Remembrance while reflecting on themes of love and loss against the backdrop of the deep American south he calls home. His experiences of reflection and resolution led to the vivid, emotionally charged production that makes up Remembrance. Alive with an idiosyncratic sense of melodic space, his repertoire eschews a topical palette for a personal aesthetic that offers a visceral love letter to abstraction. Prudhomme references both forms we know to exist ("Caroline," "U S" and "When You Sleep") and speculates on how they can be newly realized ("I Don't Care About Death Because I Smoke" and "Hope Building A").

Another gem from the DJ International vaults... This time label owner Rocky Jones steps to the plate with 4 fresh acid house cuts from 1987. Re mastered from DAT and re released for 2014. One of the rarest releases from DJ International with releases going for silly money on Discogs.

Remastered from the original tapes, 180g vinyl!

Remastered from the original tapes, 180g vinyl!

Remastered from the original tapes, 180g vinyl!

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

180g vinyl!

This single LP reissue of the 1978 double album is a limited edition of 400!

on 180g vinyl!