Electronic & Dance 422 Items

Lost-in-time Kosmische / Kraut / Avant-Garde artefact, produced by Toby Robinson aka The Mad Twiddler circa 1975 for his private Pyramid label.
Tolkien inspired dark ambient soundscapes with spooky / ritualistic atmosphere, treated percussions, gongs & guitars, trippy Hammond & Mini-Moog, tape loops, weird noises, drones…
File under dark ambient, proto-industrial, kraut, experimental...

Raining Heart is a studio project originally created by the German musicians Peter Heckmann and Tobias Freund in 1986 in Frankfurt. Very much in the same vein as Art of Noise with its studio sound experimentalism, but with a Kraut edge to it. If there was one track that could be played for everyone at the G20 Summit whilst on LSD in hopes of achieving world peace, it might be “Raining Heart”, the first track on this EP, it’s just one of those tracks that makes you wonder what these people were eating for breakfast at the time. Nothing technically mind blowing, just crafted to perfection in terms of all the elements coming together in therapeutic beauty, (also clearly exposing Peter’s relationship with theatrical production). A downtempo chugger with the dreamiest of sounds, effortlessly transporting the listener to another dimension, the vocals are unthinkable, by Yucca Rose, an East Javanese Jazz singer, almost as if she was broadcasting from a radio station in a parallel universe. “Alien Beat” takes a more aggressive turn into some kind of neo rock direction generously decorated with a wide range of studio tricks that might have been ground breaking at the time. B-side offers two new remixes by Castro, a “K-hole Collage” version of “Raining Heart” taking the original theme to another dubbed out realm, and a “Bonus Beat” extension of “Alien Beat” that dissects the key elements of the original track in efforts to develop a more dancefloor oriented DJ tool. Remastered with original artwork.

For over half a century, Takehisa Kosugi was one of the most unique and enduring figures in the Japanese underground. With a penchant for long psychedelic jams (some lasting 12 hours or more) The Taj-Mahal Travelers lived up to their name. Touring in a Volkswagen van across Europe and Asia in the early '70s, they eventually reached the actual Taj Mahal in India. Upon their return to Japan, they held a concert to raise more touring funds and released their very first recordings. Their debut album, July 15, 1972, would extend the band's matter-of-fact titling: all the tracks were named precisely for the times they began and ended.

180g pressing!

Spaced out bleeps & bloops and wild ARP synth freakouts from 1976!
“Pieces For Kohn”, as the title suggests, included four electronic pieces composed by Tom Hamilton as musical responses to 3-D geometric paintings by artist Bill Kohn.
A renowned audio producer and electronic composer, among other many things, you’ve probably have seen Tom Hamilton’s name in the credits of many albums by Robert Ashley and on releases from labels like Lovely Music, Pogus Productions, New World Records, etc.
Tom was first introduced to electronic music in 1965, while he was an undergraduate in Milwaukee, thanks to a lecture by Vladimir Ussachevsky illustrated with examples of electronic composers of the day: Bülent Arel, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Henry, Milton Babbitt…Encouraged by his teacher, Thom David Mason, Tom started to build audio circuits and battery-operated boxes that produced or modified sounds.
In 1969, Tom moved to St. Louis. After graduating at Washington University, he was offered a job to design, purchase, and build an electronic music and recording studio there. He now had continuing access to commercially built synthesizers and by the mid 1970s Tom found that working with electronic music was more satisfying to him than other musical endeavors.
The idea for the “Pieces for Kohn” album came from a studio visit with St. Louis artist Bill Kohn. Tom was an admirer of his work, which combined vibrant color combinations to fulfill 3-D geometric and architectural compositions in paintings, prints, and watercolors.
Bill proposed that Tom composed music for his art exhibition opening at a famous St. Louis gallery and Tom decided to simultaneously release that work on LP. Tom picked four of the paintings that he liked the most and titled his four pieces correspondingly. The recording took place at the Washington University Electronic Music / Recording Studio – the studio that Tom designed and first built in 1971 and then moved and rebuilt in 1974 (where it resides to date).
The original tapes were performed at the opening of Bill Kohn's exhibit at the Terry Moore Gallery in St. Louis, in January, 1976 and then Tom did a limited pressing of the album on his own label, Somnath Records.

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.

An interesting insight into some of the diverse dancefloor oriented sounds going on in Canada during the 80s sitting somewhere between electro, italo disco and proto house. A-side starts off on a slow paced 80 bpm pop/rock italo-disco crossover track featuring lyrics in english with an unidentifiable accent, very much reminiscent of Italian local neighbourhood private press ventures featuring someone's sister on the vocal. 3 versions later, on the B side, things step up a notch coming in at 130 bpm with "Heat In Africa's" drum machine propelled rhythmic mayhem pulling out all the latest studio bells and whistles of the time. Big electric guitar solo build up on the "Dance Mix" and additional Bonus Beats mix by Castro. Remastered and officially re-released almost 4 decades later.

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.

om Hooker is one of the world’s leading artists of the Italo Disco genre that marked the 1980s.

A talented singer and songwriter, he has performed on television programs and music festivals around the world, and his many productions have topped the charts in the United States and England.

FullTime Production is honored to present the remastered 1986 debut album “Only One” and in addition to the original tracks “Talk With Your Body”, “Come Back Home”, “Love Attack”, “Only One”, “Indian Girl” and it will also contain remixe of “Falling Into Love” by artist Jago already featured other releases on FullTime Production.

Track “Talk With Your Body” is among the most special and important productions of 1982.

The title is the best explanation of the track.

Talking with your body, listening to the vibrations of every muscle that can feel these slow and romantic but with a disco rhythm sounds that we can imagine in a hot summer of 1982 among those lights, colors and fashions.

The song still continues to communicate with the body to all generations today and to make us dance.

Chicago House legend Tyree Cooper reissues this incredibly storied stone cold classic. Though the origin story has been greatly disputed, one thing is certain.. this record bangs. Includes the original, the "acid Crash RX", and a very special rework from fellow Chicago legend Traxman.

Futurismo have the privilege to be the first label to ever reissue one of the most sort out and revered electronic albums of the early 1980’s: Digital Stimulation by Units.

Inspired by punk in ideology, though not necessarily in sound, San Francisco’s Units were a young breed of dystopic visionaries art space prodigies and trash culture futurists set on reshaping sound for a new age. Leading the charge, along with only a couple of others such as Screamers and Chrome, they lit the touch-paper for a new sound, a new scene. A new approach. Equally as influenced by experimental cinema, performance art and Brechtian street theatre as they were the music of Suicide and Devo, Units offered a glorious glimpse into how and what pop music could be. Their influence has stretching all the way through synth punk and new wave pop into the most contemporary electro musicians.

Originally released in 1980, Digital Stimulation was Units true calling card and masterpiece. Containing the now famous opener ‘High Pressure Days’, this is a time capsule brought up from the dawn of the digi-age; all metronomical rhythms, wry lines and ice-cold delivery…part of a lineage that includes Neu!, Tubeway Army, ‘Being Boiled’-era Human League and Cabaret Voltaire, making this a vital recording for anyone interested in electronic music at all – past or present, with original copies selling at extortionate prices this is a release long overdue.

The remastered version of this out of print 1980 LP is presented here in a choice of ltd edition Colored Vinyl, alongside a CD of the album completely remixed in 2020 by Scott Ryser. This deluxe release also contains a 12pg art booklet containing rare imagery and new liner notes.

Original Pressing found in drummer Richard Driskell's archives. Come housed in original unstamped paper sleeve. Units were a synth punk band formed in San Francisco in 1978. This was a private release from 1979. "Synthesizer bands don't normally thrill. Rather, they tend to lull the listener, falsifying and distorting the images and ideas at hand. San Francisco's Units are not that kind of synthesizer band. All four songs on this EP (even the instrumental!) are straightforward, exciting, lyrical experiments in understanding the beast and making it rock. Two machines and a drummer. Not pastoral visions but urban ones. Not peaceful, still angry. Not satisfied, still probing and asking questions. New life brought to old techniques. How surprising. How wonderful." New York Rocker, November 1979

Original Pressing found in drummer Richard Driskell's archives Units were a synth punk band formed in San Francisco in 1978. This was a private release from 1980. "I hate synthesizers but both sides of this make me eat my words. Listen to "I-Night" and re-evaluate the bloated crap that comes out of most electronic groups. Once the singing starts, though, on "Warm Moving Bodies" I throw in the towel. It's some of the lamest vocal arranging ever to be found anywhere and the words are the standard science-art jokes that've gotten as sickly cute as leopard skin on Saturday Night Live. "I-Night" doesn't fall victim to this syndrome, instead letting loose with one of the wildest riffs this side of Metal Urbain. The words are shuddery and bleak, and the vocals tolerable." Slash Magazine, Vol 3 #3

Reissue of early Japanese house outing by Junichi Soma, Shuji Wada and Katsuya Sayo. Comes with insert with liner notes.

All musical movements require a spark to set them alight; in the case of Japanese house music, that spark was provided by the forward-thinking resident DJs of The Bank in Roppongi, Tokyo. In 1989, to celebrate the ground-breaking club’s first birthday, the venue released a 12” EP featuring first-time productions from three of its DJs, Junichi Soma, Shuji Wada and Strong Katsuya AKS Katsuya Sayo.

Widely considered to be one of the first ever EP of house music produced in Japan, 1st Unit was never officially released. Instead, 500 of the 1000 copies pressed were given away at The Bank’s first birthday party, with the rest initially being sold not in local record stores, but rather the venue’s own in-house shop. Three decades on, the 12” is finally set to get its first worldwide release via Rush Hour’s Store JPN Series.

The record has its roots in The Bank’s willingness to give its ever-changing roster of DJs a free hand to play what they liked – at the time a rarity in Tokyo nightclubs, whose musical offerings usually revolved around strictly defined playlists. At The Bank in 1989, it was not only common to hear European body music and the kind of post-disco New York productions associated with Larry Levan’s sets at the Paradise Garage, but also acid house – something not offered at the time by other clubs in the city.

This cutting-edge blend of sounds, combined with the venue’s unique decor (it was modeled on the inside of a London bank, complete with a cashier’s window to take entrance fees), made The Bank a go-to spot for young party-goers, celebrities and forward-thinking Japanese musicians (Ryuichi Sakamoto was reportedly a weekly visitor).

When it came to celebrating the club’s birthday by cutting a unique record, it made sense for The Bank’s owners to turn to three of their most exciting resident DJs, who were assisted by Heigo Tani and Jun Ebi. The collective name, 1st Unit, was chosen to reflect the fact that all three resident DJs were debutants with no previous studio experience.

As this reissue proves, the music remains timeless, magical, and authentic to the sound of American house productions of the period – albeit with occasional twists,. Katsuya Sano’s EP opener, ‘I Need Love’, sounds like a twist on Larry Heard productions of the period – all jacking Tr-909 drums, undulating analogue bass, dreamy Juno synthesizer chords and evocative vocal samples.

The influence of Chicago acid house is also evident on Junichi Souma’s ‘Ubnormal Life’, whose unusual title contains what he says was an intentional misspelling. Driven forwards by restless drum machine handclaps, sweet chords and rising and falling melodic motifs, the track is an energetic and uplifting treat.

Perhaps the most influential of the three tracks at the time – within Japan at least – was Shuji Wada’s similarly misspelled ‘Endless Load’. Deeper and more melodic with a more expansive arrangement, the track’s combination of marimba-style lead lines, tribal drum patterns, dreamy chords and jazz-funk influenced bass offered a loose blueprint for the more successful and better-known Japanese deep house tracks that followed.

Los Angeles Free Music Society (lafms) formed in the mid-1970s as a loose-knit experimental music collective and multimedia publishing vehicle. Founded by teenage Le Forte Four members Chip Chapman, Joe Potts and Rick Potts and soon joined by Tom Recchion of Doo-Dooettes, Lafms incorporated free improvisation, modular synthesizers, tape music, sampling, musique concrète, homemade instruments, noise, mail art and avant-rock in permissive and anarchic sessions at the Raymond Building and Poo-Bah Record Shop in old Pasadena. Inspired by The Residents, Lafms self-released records and periodicals, organized performances and connected with fellow outsiders via post in the years before punk. Their uninhibited, egalitarian ideal of music-making and DIY distribution would influence generations of underground musicians. Lafms primarily reached outside Los Angeles via word-of-mouth and the United States Postal Service, foreshadowing the self-publishing and cassette trading networks of post-punk and industrial subcultures. In 1976, Joe Potts solicited recordings from Lafms affiliates and admirers to edit and compile I.D. Art #2, utilizing correspondence art's technique of "assemblings." (The first installment in this series was a magazine, and the third was a coloring book.) Potts received dozens of pieces by members of Le Forte Four, Doo-Dooettes, Smegma and Ace & Duce as well as painters, filmmakers and non-artists with few recording credits to their name, creating a delirious, winking sound-art collage of field recordings, voicemails and improvisations. Participants purchased time on the record and received one copy each of the finished LP, realizing the philosophy contained in Lafms' motto: "The music is free, but you have to pay for the plastic, paper, ink, glue and stamps." This first-time vinyl reissue is limited to 500 numbered copies. Comes with insert.

Welcome to library breaks *chopped 'n screwed*! Slow (Motion And Movement), originally released on Sonoton in 1980, is super-sought-after and full of crazy dubby, super SLLLLLOOOOWWWWW and super HEAVVVVVY library breaks. It's also home to blinding new age/synthy tracks that are equally great. It's really varied throughout, but all absolutely fantastic.

Slow features KPM/Bruton/Sonoton-legend John Fiddy, the mighty Sonoton founder and composer, arranger and conductor Gerhard Narholz in 2 of his best-loved guises - Sammy Burdson and Norman Candler (get it?) - as well as a couple of fine offerings from Antonio Campo.

Heavy opener "Slow Business 1" is veeeerrrrrrryyyyyy slooooooooow with the phased drums so beloved of Narholz but this time delivered by Campo, with a proud, deliberate piano melody and great bassline adorning the creeping rhythm. "Slow Business 2" is equally as slooooooow but without any melodic decoration. Just pure phased drums, folks! Get sampling. "Moody You" is Narholz's first track on the record and what a beauty it is. A languorous, insouciant, slo-mo guitar soul track with warm synths, electric piano and heavy drums. It sounds a wee bit like an erotic film score, and all the better for it. "Slow Groovement" is Campo's final contribution and it's definitely his best. It's an ace, moody-yet-melodic crime/blaxploitation track with gorgeous percussive elements, mellifluous Rhodes and twinkling piano over a fantastic bassline and drums with some great electric guitar soloing halfway through.

"Slow Reactor 1" is Narholz again, under his Burdson pseudonym, and it's him all the way, now, joined by John Fiddy for half the tracks. This one is a tense, phased, slo-mo thriller with mysterious percussive elements and ominous strings. "Threat To Research" contains mysterious, dramatic sounds and heaps of string-assisted tension whilst "Ion Exchanger" is replete with repetitive, strange accents and sounds; all half-tumbling drums and dead tense, again. Truly, a taut experience and ideal for adventurous sample-based beat-heads. "Wave Motions" is a real highlight and the first to feature John Fiddy. It's a beatless ambient banger with slowly changing sound waves. It sounds like Angelo Badalamenti would if he were crafting strung-out teutonic library madness in 1980. The A-Side closes with "Slow Motion Link" which is over waaaay too soon but just simply needs looping. Trust us. Phenomenally dope!

Flip over for "Scenic Vision 1" for here, ladies and gentlemen, we go sublime. It's an absolutely stunning ambient wonder, with slowly changing textures and colours that create a peaceful, gliding, tranquil atmosphere of sheer bliss. You will not want it to end. Whilst "Scenic Vision 2" adds a bass melody, "Scenic Vision 3" uses the same melody but renders it isolated and lonely in the background. Haunting, hypnotic and hyper-beautiful. "Study In Brown" is s a lengthier number, with room to stretch out, and features Fiddy back in the game. Again, a slow, isolated melody gradually segues - by way of Fiddy's mournful electric guitar solo - into a slow heavy rhythm with rumbling, groovy bass and stratospheric drums.

"Deja Vu 1" weaves swirling, disorientating magic. It's described on the original sleeve simply as "indefinite arpeggios inexplicable vision" and we can't put it any better ourselves. "Deja Vu 2" sounds like you've heard it before, it's "as above with melodic line" and really is fun. "Glistening Surface" sounds exactly as you'd expect, all frisson-inducing movements, slow waves and generally peaceful scenic sounds. This remarkable library record closes with "Laser Fight", blasting "utopian percussive sounds" that totally get under your skin like fireworks through your veins. A neat trick!

Established in Munich in 1965 by Gerard and Rotheide Narholz, Sonoton introduced library music to Germany. Initially intended to cater to the country's new TV market, the library also provided an avenue for Gerhard Narholz's astonishing musical prolificacy, and soon became a haven for a wide range of European composers and musicians. In 1969, Sonoton struck a deal with the British label Berry Music for international publishing rights, exposing its catalog to a worldwide audience; when Berry was bought out by EMI in 1973, Sonoton transitioned into a full-fledged international label, with successes in the library and commercial fields and many innovations to its credit. Now a worldwide operation with hundreds of producers and composers under its employ, Sonoton nonetheless remains an independently run business still helmed by its founders - a remarkable achievement in an era when nearly every other major library has been absorbed by a multinational conglomerate.

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

Technical innovations in musical instruments and the development of tonal language have been continual subjects for deliberation from the 19th century onwards at the latest. Additional brain power is necessary to conciliate the two elements with the endless possibilities of electronic sound. In the end, the two factions cannot resolve on a conclusive opinion and the question remains as to whether art always results from skill.
Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, or Vangelis for short, always worked with the newest synthesizer equipment and pushed his cascades of sound to the very edge, right up to the point of electronic overkill. In contrast to many other electronics experimentalists of his time, Vangelis likes to »create important melodies and to develop them further, without going under in the technical equipment« (Stereo Review). Distant human voices, siren-like lost calls lead into oriental dance. A song – far removed from its era – somewhere between Gregorian music and antiphony – a will-o‘-the-wisp, shimmering sound. Polyphonic playing on the Bösendorfer reminds one that every form of musical expression from over the sands of time is welcome. Each listener must discover for himself what sounds heavenly or hellish. But let it be said: musically speaking, the one cannot be imagined without the other.

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. More information under www.pure-analogue.com.
All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Recording: September 1975 at Nemo Studios, London, by Alan Lucas
Production: Vangelis

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