Electronic & Dance 486 Items

"Naive overlooked New Beat / New Age project from 1989"

Sometimes in life, a certain incentive is needed to convert talent into productivity. As for the case of MKS, the enigmatic and musical disguise of Nicolas Aubard, it was a merely coincidental encounter at the end of the 80s that set the stone rolling. For Nico, it all began in his hometown of Saint-Quentin in Northern France. At a young age, he got obsessed with Japanese and American cartoon culture. Being a devoted collector of cartoon-related toys and widgets, he spent hours watching anime series on TV and creating scale models of science fiction and horror-related sceneries. Growing up in a musical household, young Nico took on stringent training in classical and jazz piano. But, frustrated with the fact of not being the technical virtuoso he wanted to be, he turned away from his training at the age of 16. “I had no choice, as I felt as if my creativity got limited by my piano. That’s when I got drawn into the world of synthesizers.” Not long after, Nico put together a home studio and started to experiment with ambience and sound-inserts. Despite years of experimentation and music making, all Nico’s productions stayed between the 4 walls of his modest home studio. Something that would change in 1988, when Nico bumped into Emmanuel “Manu” Prevost.

“We met on a night out in Lille”, Nico recalls. “I usually just stood by the dj booth, as I wasn’t a good dancer. So instead of throwing shapes at the dancefloor, I started a conversation with the dj, who happened to be Manu. By the end of the night, I handed him a demo tape of the album I was wanting to do.” Propelled by good fate, a fruitful collab happened between Nico and this dj. For Manu, everything also fell in place: “At the time, I was looking for a composer to work on producing a new beat record. As a dj, I often crossed the Belgian border for gigs and this new style was in full explosion over there. I heard Nico’s songs and naively told him: “Let’s make an album”, without knowing how.” Despite the high hopes for the new alliance, the project turned out to be a shot in the dark. “I assumed Manu already had some experience, as he proposed to do the mastering himself. But funnily he only told me after the release of the record that it was his first time too. But you know, we managed.” Not willing to release under his own name, Nico came up with Musical Keyboard System, abbreviated as MKS. The alias was born and the journey ready to take off.

The album finally released in September 1989. After the release, Nico went on a low-key promo tour together with Manu in Northern France. “We aired a video clip on FR3 for two songs, together with a short interview. In their studio, we created a scrimpy décor with some green plants to resemble the Vietnam jungle (as for the track Nam Revelation) and we shot the clip. Manu even lay down behind a screen operating the fog machine.” As a live act, Mks’ career was rather short-lived, with a first and final gig in the Theatre of Saint-Quentin a few months after the release. “In France, we would remain illustrious strangers. Yet in the meantime, our music got played on new age radios in the USA.” After the end of MKS, Nico moved to Paris and Manu took on his military duty. In the army, Manu met movie animator Jacques Rouxel (the man behind French cult series Les Shadoks) and got him in touch with Nico. The duo collaborated with Rouxel on some compositions, before they went their separate ways at last. Nico went on to pursue his childhood dream, as a pioneer in France for integrating 3D animations into classical cartoons. Manu in turn became a producer for feature films.

This obscure 80s left field disco joint was brought to the table by David Haffner, the tapes were transferred by John Morales & forwarded to friends of the label, Tom Noble & Fredfades, to re-envision the works of 'Cosmo with Chuy', as showcased on this limited 12" release

A few words from Tommy aka 'Cosmo'..

"Cosmo was my nickname. I used to play John Coltrane style on slow ballads etc. Chuy was the singers nickname. Jesus Gomez was his real name I think. I was playing Las Vegas at the time, early 80's, with an Elvis impersonator, Morris Bates, for nearly 4 years. Since Elvis passed in the late 70's the impersonation show was a big success. I played Sax, Flute and sang back up harmonies. We played the Silver Slipper casino, then the Landmark Hotel and casino, 14 shows a week. We toured South Africa and played Morris' home town in Vancouver Canada a lot. The late nite band of Chuy's played at a smaller venue on the strip in Vegas from 12pm to 5am. I sat in and jammed one night, and said I'd like to record a couple tunes with his band. So I coughed up some money and we recorded a few songs"

Record Store Day Japan 2021 Drop 2 release. Released in 1978, Masaki Ueda sang the reggae lovers’ masterpiece “Harder They Come” in Japanese, a soulful cover single.

Out of any classification of musical genre, “Confusional Quartet” is a distillation of the creativity and freedom of expression that in 1977 put Bologna at the center of the international cultural scene. This record places the Confusional Quartet in the history of Italian alternative music.

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.

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.

Rawax proudly welcomes Kim Nazel, one of the founders of N.W.A. aka The Arabian Prince to the Family! We are happy to present you in future some classic releases and new productions, including a brand new album on the Rawax West Coast Edition. Starting with "The Arabian Prince And The Sheiks - Take You Home Girl/ Innovator" from 1985, originally released on Rapsur Records. Our release contains for the first time the unreleased extended version of "Take You Home, Girl"!!! Another highlight is " Innovative Life" this track was done by Kim Nazel together with another legend who is Dr. Dre!!! Highly recommended!

Introduction From "Schelomo"

CD Jewel Case With 8 pages Booklet, Pictures , Notes In anticipation of the 35th anniversary next year one of electronic music´s most influential recordings, the legendary E2-E4, from 12.12.1981 does get an official rerelease by Manuel Göttsching on his own Label MG.ART. Carefully overseen by the Master himself

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