Paperbound, 407 pages. "Edited by Lawrence Kumpf, Charles Curtis. Text by Éliane Radigue, Dagmar Schwerk, Daniel Sillman, Anthony Vine. A detailed look at the elusive work of a French pioneer of musique concrète and electroacoustic composition. This volume is an exploration of the early electronic work of French composer Éliane Radigue (born 1932), whose radical approach to feedback, analog synthesis and composition on tape has long evaded straightforward interpretation. Combining key texts, newly translated primary documents, in-depth interviews and commissioned essays, this compendium probes her idiosyncratic compositional practice, which both embraces and confounds the iterative nature of magnetic tape, the subtleties of amplification and the very experience of listenership. Chief among these entries is an in-depth overview by cellist Charles Curtis examining the composer's earliest experiments in feedback techniques and analog synthesis, her eventual turn to works for unamplified instruments and live performers, and her unique aesthetic of time and presence. Detailed conversations provide crucial windows into her working methods at different points in her career. Sketches for unrealized work, contemporary reviews, programs and ephemera are collected together for the first time. The anthology concludes with a roundtable discussion working out the knotty paradoxes of Radigue's continued 'ethos of resistance.'"

Volume 2 of the absolutely infamous (and highly sought after) Cult Sounds compilation, comprised of music done by fringe religious cults around the world. Oh, boy! Volume 2 of Cult Sounds is here, so it's time for another bad trip through the music produced by weird, extreme cults all over the world. From hypnotic Manson Family recordings to the catchy '80s pop manufactured by The Family, to jazz, psych jams, country music or plain out-there musical experimentation, this second volume gets as weird, dark and mesmerizing as its predecessor, amazing. Featuring Zendik Farm Orgaztra, Church Universal and Triumphant, Gabriel of Sedona's Bright & Morning Star Choir, Otto Muehl, The Lyman Family, Lisa Kindred, Aun Shinrykio, Joe Pass, Dr Malachi Z. York, Unification Church, and Unarius.

LP version. Black Truffle presents Spilla, the second album from Nantes-based Ensemble Nist-Nah, 48 minutes of music for Gamelan, drum kits, wood and metal percussion instruments, and plucked strings that will surely count as one of the most electrifying records you hear. Founded by the Australian drummer/percussionist Will Guthrie in 2019, continuing the explorations begun in solo form on Nist-Nah, the ensemble (eight or nine core members with occasional guests) has been consistently active in the half-decade since: composing, rehearsing, recording and touring Europe (with a mass of equipment in tow) to great acclaim. Spilla tracks the continuing evolution of the project since the recording of their first album, Elders (BT 086CD). The two sides of this record document two different iterations of the group, and the members' compositional input has increased: each side contains one piece by a member other than Guthrie. It has become clearer than ever that Ensemble Nist-Nah is not an attempt at a European Gamelan ensemble but rather a hybrid percussion ensemble that uses instruments from a Javanese Gamelan alongside other percussion to perform original music informed by a variety of South East Asian music but also by everything from free jazz to contemporary hip-hop: while Nist-Nah and Elders both featured traditional Javanese pieces, on Spilla the only tune not generated by a member of the group is by Guthrie's long-time musical hero and occasional collaborator Roscoe Mitchell. The epic closing track presents a take on Roscoe Mitchell's "Uncle," performed by the Art Ensemble of Chicago on their classic Urban Bushmen live album. Where the Art Ensemble used Mitchell's dirge-like melody as a jumping off point for virtuosic improvisational flights, Ensemble Nist-Nah rethink the piece as a near-static dialogue between the monumental, slow-moving sequence of unison tuned percussion notes and a textural cloud that grows in richness and intensity from whispering cymbal rolls into a mass of gong overtones and bowed metal. Beautifully recorded and mixed, Spilla arrives in a sleeve decorated with core member Charles Dubois' drawings of cymbals and gongs. Against the backdrop of a wider musical landscape dominated by over-produced electronic slop and bland harmonic wallpaper, Ensemble Nist-Nah stands out as a reminder, vital and unpretentious, of the joys and possibilities of human beings playing instruments together.

Archaic, infernal, radical, consistent, courageous. Following the release of his LP The Lovers And Destroyers with Caspar Brötzmann Bass Totem in autumn, 2024, renowned guitarist Caspar Brötzmann and his band Caspar Brötzmann Massaker present a collaborative release between Corbett vs. Dempsey and Exile On Mainstream (Berlin). The record features two different live versions of "All This Violence," recorded in Vienna and Dresden, with Saskia von Klitzing (drums) and Eduardo Delgado Lopez (bass). Founded in 1986, Caspar Brötzmann Massaker became a significant force in the 1990s alternative rock scene. The band's albums The Tribe (1987), Black Axis (1989), Der Abend Der Schwarzen Folklore (1991), Koksofen (1993), Home (1995) and Mute Massaker (1999) are heralded underground classics, having a profound influence on bands and artists like Sonic Youth, SUNN O))), Faith No More, Neurosis, Sumac, and Helmet, to name a few. The band's music is textural, visceral, arresting, and urgent, marked by repetitive, hypnotic intensity, and Brötzmann's signature guitar sound. The legacy lies in his fearless experimentation, dissolving boundaries between classical music structures and amplified instrumentation in rock music. Since the mid-1980s, Caspar Brötzmann has been shaping an unmistakable sound -- infernal, radical, uncompromising. He unwaveringly pursues his own path, beyond clear genre boundaries. As the son of a famous saxophonist, he found his artistic identity early on and developed a unique sound language that discharges in brute catharsis. His music is not an adaptation to trends, but a sensitive, passionate, almost obsessive approach to despair and anger -- and yet full of hope. With his virtuoso independence on the instrument, he is an exceptional phenomenon. An atonal Hendrix, made in Germany.

5LP box version. Includes art book. Over the decades, the image of Kompakt as a pirate ship has taken root in our minds, braving the dangers of the seven seas of the music market. Sometimes it glides with a tailwind through calm waters, sometimes it has to survive violent storms. In the label's fast-paced business, the 500 mark is rarely reached, so Kompakt wants to celebrate it. In a democratic process, the label has selected 50 pearls from the thousands of tracks released over the last 33 1/3 years. Alongside many Kompakt evergreens, there are also some real rarities from the early Kompakt Sound of Cologne, which have been lovingly remastered here to shine in new splendor. The 5LP box set version (KOM 500LP) also contains a 144-page book that tells the story of Kompakt from 1993 to today with detailed texts and images. In addition to the manifold musical and graphic achievements of Kompakt, the multidisciplinary links to the visual arts are also highlighted here. The magic of groovy loop minimalism and the "art of omission" are once again brought to the proverbial point. Featuring Tocotronic, Kaito, Terranova, Justus Köhncke, Heiko Voss, Leandro Fresco/Thore Pfeiffer, The Bionaut, Ada, Raz Ohara, Superpitcher, Rex The Dog, Dettinger, The Field, Robag Wruhme, Saschienne, Max Würden, Gas, Triola AG, Thomas Fehlmann, Scsi-9, Jürgen Paape, The Modernist, Aril Brikha, T.Raumschmiere, Reinhard Voigt, Schaeben & Voss, DJ Koze, The Orb, Michael Mayer, Laurent Garnier, Anna & Kittin, Mike Ink, Reinhard Voigt, Forever Sweet, Wassermann, Sven Väth, Blank Gloss, Michael Mayer / Matias Aguayo, Wighnomy Bros., John Tejada, Sam Taylor-Wood, Pet Shop Boys, Gui Boratto, Jürgen Paape, Matias Aguayo, Voigt & Voigt, Gui Boratto, Kölsch, GusGus, Closer, Wassermann, Jürgen Paape, Superpitcher, and Markus Guentner.

Limited repress. Recorded at the Philharmonie de Paris and one and a half a year after releasing his magnum opus Music For Animals -- described by PopMatters as "a musical waterfall of monumental proportions" -- Nils Frahm shares a new live album on his Leiter label. In what's becoming a tradition, it follows 2013's Spaces, a Pitchfork Album of the Year taped at shows over the preceding 18 months, and 2020's Tripping With Nils Frahm, also released as a film. Paris is Frahm's first live album from a single night, March 21, 2024, and contains ten tracks over a running time of 84 minutes. Frahm's performances have always been known for expanding upon his studio recordings, and Paris is no exception. Drawing on his substantial catalogue, the German composer and producer reworks tracks from Music For Animals ("Right Right Right" and "Briefly") before less recent material from 2009's The Bells ("Some"), and 2012's Screws ("Re," originally recorded with just nine fingers after Frahm broke a thumb). There's also "Spells" from All Encores and "You Name It" from Day, while the brand new, luxurious and strangely gripping "Opera" sets the stage for "On The Roof" from his heart-rending, award-winning score for 2015's widely acclaimed, one-camera, one-take German thriller, Victoria. Frahm's instrumental range has expanded to include a mountain of vintage synths and keyboard instruments. These include a custom-made organ as well as the final glass harmonica constructed by Gerhard Finkenbeiner, a master glassblower who, in the 1980s, resurrected the instrument -- first invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761 -- and then died in 1999 in mysterious, still unresolved circumstances. Frahm's grasp of dynamics and tension has likewise expanded, and not only does he reinvigorate his work during concerts for this wider range of possibilities, but he also keeps developing it as he tours. If he leaves the stage to the same uproarious jubilation with which he was initially greeted, Paris makes it clear why he's been so in demand. Paris is a vital document of this ingenious, gifted musician's endless pursuit of fresh perspectives.

Originally published by Tomlab in 2001, Seleya is the second full- length issued by Kristian Peters' Novisad project. Twenty-four years after its initial release, the album's thirteen loop-based arrangements continue to resonate with striking clarity. Keplar presents Seleya with a previously unreleased bonus track from 2004 and a fresh vinyl cut by LUPO. These evocative miniatures feel haunted with the passage of time, bearing traces of the exploratory studio workflows, tactile imperfections, and emerging technologies that would have given birth to them: plain DAW manipulations, aliasing digitalia, the tones and timbres of the "misused" equipment ambient musicians utilized before Ableton, Eurorack, and the rise of the boutique electronics that have streamlined electronic music production. In our present epoch, these compositions feel almost eerily nostalgic, documenting the sort of trembling, wide-eyed spirit and enviable naivety that characterizes cultural production as it ventures into new waters, unfettered by the sediments of established methodology and trend. This tendency to avoid aesthetic orthodoxy results in music that refuses to settle into predictability. Subtle frequencies drift and collide, counterpoint loops run in quiet opposition, and elegant dissonance gives rise to unexpected harmony. The album's emotional power lies in these tensions, in the way it balances melancholy with beauty and familiarity with complexity.

"Julius Smack engages in a dialogue with a fictional AI assistant to create an album using the prompt, 'Make an album that tells the story about the origins of Julius Smack.' Starlight emerges as the imagined response, envisioning a world where beauty and violence intertwine, and memories and dreams are excavated to craft stories. In a near-future Earth, where artists are among the planet's last inhabitants, a symbiotic relationship has formed between humans and AI -- each relying on the other for nourishment and healing. At the sight of a shooting star, artists mine their memories and dreams with generative AI to produce art, which sustains them but generates toxins that must be expelled upon the next shooting star by creating more art. To compose Starlight, Julius Smack drew inspiration from all facets of life, with the album's 'dataset' serving as a kind of diary. It weaves together old demos, bookmarked TikTok clips of AI-generated content (such as a deepfake of Biden and Trump singing in Mandarin alongside Kamala Harris' laughter), 2000s dance music, and '90s cyberpunk anime, including Ghost in the Shell and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Everyday experiences also became part of the dataset: learning Yaqui in online classes with fellow diasporic Yaquis, riding the train, walking the dog, and dreaming. These disparate threads coalesce to question AI's role in creative and labor economies, forming a counterfactual narrative where everything -- and nothing -- is art."

Editions Mego reissue the 2001 release Asuma by Finnish artist Ilpo Väisänen. Originally released on CD this is the first ever vinyl issue, remastered by Rashad Becker. 2001 is a landmark year for the artist following a wave of success from the notable outfit Väisänen formed alongside Mika Vanio, Pan Sonic (as they were now known then). Following a string of highly acclaimed and influential releases such as Vakio, Kulma, A, and Aaltopiiri, Pan Sonic had toured the globe extensively leaving a trail of blown expectations and rumors of all manner of objects in venues cracking or falling apart due to the immense sound the duo concocted with their unique instruments. Taking a break from the ecstatic cacophony of Pan Sonic, Väisänen retreated to work on a solo release which conjured the spirits of the former outfit whilst simultaneously carving out a more personal take on these new electronic forms. Asuma is a precise study of drones, rhythms, clicks, ambience and gentle confusion. Whilst inhabiting a zone of abstraction the results also move in a natural field as Väisänen's native Finland permeates these recordings as much as the idea of experimentation itself. "Autioitu 1" opens the album as delicate pinball rhythms bounce across the spectrum as a hairy drone hovers underneath. The mood is both intriguing and unsettling. "Tukahduttaja" is a delightfully disorientating sound sculpture that is hard to pinpoint what it actually is. "Klikki" is comparable to a microscopic version of Pink Floyd's "Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict." "Asumaton" is a foreboding miniature acting like a segway to "Vallitseva" which embraces the icy clicks that punctuates much of the Pan Sonic output. "Arvioimaton Ongelma" is an audio riddle whilst "Jaettu" jitters around a dancefloor crawl. "Autioitu" closes proceedings as a gentle ambient thumper. Asuma is awash with contradiction and mystery. This is time wrapped in twisted turns and rewards a neat payoff for those interested in the absolute fringes of electronic 'dance' music.

New Environments & Rhythm Studies finds Andrew Pekler returning to the humid zones he explored on previous albums such as Sounds From Phantom Islands and Tristes Tropiques. Split between longer immersive compositions and shorter glimpse-like sketches, these 12 tracks feature new juxtapositions of Pekler's familiar palette of synthetic field recordings, warm, undulating electronic textures, shifting percussion patterns and serene melodies. As with much of his recent work, Pekler's compositions here are structured around the beguiling effect of synthetic and non-synthetic sounds mirroring, mimicking and modulating one another. The teeming atmospheres within tracks such as "Globestructures," "Cymbals In The Mist," or "Globestructures: Option II" are, despite their seemingly anthropogenic nature, entirely synthetic. Elsewhere, the lopsided grooves of "Cumbia Para Los Grillos" or "Fabulation For K" are derived from recordings of crickets and other insects which Pekler loops and uses to trigger electronic percussion -- producing a pleasantly skewed rhythmic base for the fragments of melody which are layered on top. The six "Rhythm Studies" also follow the same principle -- a playful interweaving of the organic and synthetic. New Environments & Rhythm Studies is a further attempt to re-describe past tropes which laid claims to authentically represent music and sound from beyond the Western world (exotica, ethnomusicology, field recording) as undertakings of the imaginary. Written and produced by Andrew Pekler, mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, artwork by Morgan Cuinet, graphic design by Dmytro Nikolaienko.

2025 restock. Manic fuzzed out instrumentals, mind blowing high-energy rock´n`roll, mysterious exotica, and more in this wild compilation of ass-kicking biker movie soundtracks. 14 gems taken from 14 greasy biker movies filmed between 1966 and 1971. An eye-opening collection of mostly forgotten treasures. Get ready for a wild ride with this compilation gathering a bunch of amazing '60s/early '70s biker movie soundtracks. Starting with the classic that defined the whole genre (Davie Allan & the Arrow´s "Blues Theme") this record is, of course, drenched in delicious fuzz madness, but it doesn´t stop there: from the mind-blowing high-energy bust that is "Changes" by the East-West Pipeline, to none other than the king of exotica, Les Baxter, this is a fascinating and roaring trip filled to the top with gasoline fueled hits! Featuring Mike Curb, The Man-Eaters, The Sidewalk Sounds, Simon Stokes And The Nighthawks, Jeff Simmons, Eddie And The Stompers, Lenny Stack, Harley Hatcher, The Sunrays, The Other Side, and Stu Phillips.

With Time, We Learned To Ask Less is the first duo album by Giuseppe Ielasi and Riccardo D. Wanke after decades of friendship and the occasional artistic collaboration. Working with only electric guitar and electric piano as well as a gentle dose of reverb, these improvisation-based recordings showcase the rapprochement of two artists whose interests are perfectly aligned. Their carefulness, attention to detail, and shared desire to sculpt space through music instead of just occupying it create a unique harmony between these two exceptional musicians who consistently stay mindful of the old adage that music is the space between the notes. Following up on solo albums sees them seamlessly combining the sparse but lush aesthetics of those experiments throughout these 44 minutes. Having lived close to each other in Northern Italy, where the prolific mastering engineer Ielasi still resides to this day, he and Wanke were members of the group Medves together with Andrea Belfi, Renato Rinaldi, and Stefano Pilia before Wanke relocated to Lisbon. When Ielasi, who had mastered Wanke's recent solo albums including 2023's i for electric pianos, was invited to play a concert in the Portuguese capital in the summer of that year, the two took the opportunity to go on stage together. Infatuated by the results of this fully improvised set, they organized a two-day session in Ielasi's Monza studio shortly thereafter and edited the recordings over the course of the following months. The resulting album shows them moving slowly through sonic space and time, complementing and counterpointing each other's playing. They leave each other room in which to unfold and let short moments of silence speak for themselves. With Time, We Learned To Ask Less is the closest you will get to hearing the air sing.

Nils Frahm presents the follow up to Day, the collection of solo piano music he released in 2024. Night, which contains five new tracks, will be released on vinyl as well as via all digital platforms. A CD version, Night & Day (LTR 050CD), including all eleven tracks from both Day and Night, will also be made available. These follow Frahm's latest live album, Paris. Frahm recorded the pieces on Night on the Klavins M450 piano, installed in his studio at the renowned Funkhaus complex in Berlin. It was built by German-Latvian piano maker David Klavins for the first Piano Day in 2015, a celebration that will mark its 10th anniversary. At 4.5 meters tall and weighing over a ton, the model was the largest upright piano in the world at the time. The record is a reminder that, though he's since become celebrated for the complex, intricately arranged approach of his most commercially successful, multi-instrumental albums, Frahm first made his name with similarly meditative piano compositions on albums like 2009's The Bells, 2011's Felt, and 2012's Screws. Night, like Day, confirms that Frahm remains a prolific master of affecting simplicity, tenderness and romance, and as capable as ever of unforgettable, epigrammatic succinctness.

Laetitia Sonami was born in France, where she studied with Eliane Radigue. She moved to the United States to study electronic music, first with Joel Chadabe at SUNY Albany, then at Mills College where she was mentored by Robert Ashley and David Behrman. Laetitia Sonami is not only a gifted composer/designer of electronic music, but a compelling presence on stage. This collection of early works covers a period when Sonami transitioned from live mixing with cassettes, homemade analog synths and objects in the early eighties, to working with MIDI, MAX software and "off the shelf" synths and samplers. At the same time, she begins a long collaboration with Melody Sumner Carnahan, using her dramatic texts to evoke characters and behaviors to inhabit musically and visually. All but two of the works on this release utilize Sumner Carnahan's stories, and all but one use Sonami's famous invention, the lady's glove, an arm-length tailored glove fitted with movement sensors allowing the perform to fluidly control digital sound parameters and processing, as well as motors, lights and video playback. Sonami has since moved on to works for another of her inventions, the Spring Spyre, which applies Machine Learning to real time audio synthesis.

Pancrace is an ensemble comprising French, British and Austrian performers. The members being Prune Bécheau, Arden Day, Julien Desailly, Léo Maurel, and Jan Vysocky. Pancrace has "a unique, fully formed vision that combines improvisation, composition, eclectic instrumentation and a church's massive pipe organ." Pancrace's latest double LP Papotier is the third panel of a tryptic after Pancrace (2017) and Fluid Hammer (2019). The ensemble knew at some point from their previous LP they would have to go back to church and repent confronting a Silbermann 18th century baroque organ with their custom-made modular midi pipe organ: the "Organous". After nearly 18 months of lockdown the quintet finally met in Bouxwiller Alsace a few miles away from Dangolsheim where Pancrace first formed in 2015. During a residency Pancrace had full access to the Protestant church with its humongous Silbermann pipe organ famous for its "human voice" stop. Ironically the album title Papotier came up before the covid era. Ironic because a "papotier" is a mask or to be very specific a grotesque face carved in wood, initially rigged to the lower part of the organ casing. There are only very few of these fancy oddities left in France and around the world. After months of feeling gagged during lockdown having a "papotier" as an amulet was somewhat liberating and greatly contributed to opening up the Pancrace sessions to the exploration of human voice. Relearning how to breathe, listening to the human membrane, questioning the nature of air all within the confined space of a 14th century church were the essential acts that compose the pieces. One can consider this album as a phenomenological investigation into voice articulation trying to emulate the birth of a vocable like von Kempelen's speaking machine who also used rudimentary organ modules to mimic human babbling. Essentially understanding what a mouth is to us to the point where, when all the pipes are blowing, they make a hell of a noise.

Dan Melchior has a wild history, brain and catalogue. Penultimate Press adds to it. This is Melchior's first piano recording. The reverb is natural, as the piano sits in a large, mostly empty room. Hill Country Piano is the result of a human music box mind brimming with many a corner somehow aligning with chambers still being told. Melchior does not play the piano in any formal way, as you can probably tell. He played and recorded the piano, with simple repetitive parts, whilst listening to previous recordings on headphones. Then the magic happens. The gentle introduction of a banjo on " "Sparrow Song" paints the reality of an America now lost. The percussion on the self-titled track unravels a psychedelic gamelan piano duo residing in the now. It didn't start out that way, it never does, but this slow burning trip around a mind/world happened to come into formulation just as an interest in Pascal Comelade was coming into play. All original piano was recorded in Austin. Dan Melchior is from London, England. He has lived in various cities in the USA for the last 24 years. Melchior's resume is as unique as it is exciting and diverse. Having cut his teeth in the land of garage rock as a collaborator with Billy Childish and Holly Golightly his vision takes sharp twists landing on Graham Lambkin's strange and beautiful experimental label Kye with two records which broke not only the mold of himself but that of the song itself. Melchoir is a musician with a voluminous discography which embraces many different forms of expression, from song-based rock to pure textural explorations. His music has evolved significantly, to become a distant entity from some of his earlier blues-based work, showing a definite influence of more experimental bands such as The Homosexuals and The Fall, and some absurdist elements which have led to comparisons to compatriot exponents of that genre, Vivian Stanshall and Syd Barrett. Always experimenting with form in an original manner avoiding any inherent genre anchor. Blues is referenced and extended, musique concrete is found embedded in the song.

Karma Sutra had already been a band for five years when they released their elusive one and only album, released on their own Paradoxical Records label in 1987. The Daydreams of a Production Line Worker came towards the end of the bands life span and all they had to show prior was a few demos and some tracks on compilations on Mortarhate. By the time the band entered the studio Karma Sutra was spreading their musical wings, moving from a straight ahead anarcho sound to a more-dense and thoughtful place, adding flourishes of post punk and moody atmospheres to their agit-prop political stance thus creating one of the most idiosyncratic concept albums of their time, where situationist politics meet the most ambitious anarcho punk sound. The album was recorded in Sheffield at Vibrasound Studio and co-produced by Spon of UK DECAY, which added yet another layer to the already complex album. When released The Daydreams Of A Production Line Worker had little fanfare due to the rigid approach to punk of the time. But as time passed, so did this album's importance. The Daydreams Of A Production Line Worker reissue comes with a reproduction of the originally included 28-page booklet, which the band viewed as an inseparable part of the album to understand the concept. Dense at times and intended to be thought provoking it covers class oppression, gender, culture brainwashing, prison struggle et all the capitalism society illnesses written from an anarchist perspective and aligned with the situationism theory of revolution of every day life.

Paul Wallfisch has played in bands like Firewater and Little Annie, while Dana Schechter has logged time with American Music Club, Angels of Light, and her own Insect Ark, among others; both spent time touring and recording with SWANS. They've been friends since meeting in New York in the 1990s. Years later they forged a stronger connection as bandmates in Botanica. They renewed their artistic partnership in 2021, when Paul invited Dana to Vienna to develop the music for a theatrical spectacle called Die Politiker written by Kleist prize winner Wolfram Lotz. The music from the production provides the foundation for the duo's first album, The Heart of A Whale. Across its six intense tracks one can detect a subtle homage to storied Berlin musical traditions, as the pair puts a raw, often brutal veneer on songs steeped in Weimar cabaret (a la Tom Waits) but updated with a visceral mixture of noise, post-punk, and industrial elements. Performed on a panoply of instruments from bass, organ and lap steel to SOMA Synths, Guitaret, a variety of electronics and a grand piano hammered with a shoe, the music reflects the New York/Berlin nexus they've both been part of for decades. Echoes of Swans, Einstürzende Neubauten, and The Birthday Party, but also hints of Throbbing Gristle, Eno and even William Basinski and Michael Gordon. The music can't be contained by any single tradition, with a decidedly experimental bent that ruptures the fixed rhythm of rock for something more theatrical and emotionally harrowing. Lap steel guitar, bass, electronics: Dana Schechter. Piano, organ, soma pipe, guitaret: Paul Wallfisch. Performed live in the spring 2022.

2025 repress; LP version. Agree to disagree: A selected Krautrock discography. Krautrock, what is it anyway? A genre, a derogative term, a song by Faust, or: a welcome (and recurring) opportunity to talk about all of this. The music associated with the term in question has eagerly been canonized. From the enthusiastic and idiosyncratic ramblings of Julian Cope's "Krautrocksampler" to encyclopedic approaches like Alan and Stephen Freeman's "Crack in the Cosmic Egg", there are plenty of books to read and lists to discuss: Who's in, who isn't? The quarrels and disputes surrounding the terms "Krautrock" and "Kosmische Musik" are a testament to their enduring relevance and fascination. The book Krautrock Eruption by Wolfgang Seidel addresses some of those questions. In this book, you will find an annotated discography of fifty albums. Out of these fifty, Bureau B are presenting an even narrower selection of tracks from twelve albums on this compilation. Lists and compilation track listings inevitably see tracks missing and being left out. The list is meant to inspire repeated or further listening, to spark discussions and -- potentially -- to provoke new lists, perhaps your own! It's all part of the fun. Music is made for enjoyment in the first and for friendly debate in the second place, after all. Featuring Conrad Schnitzler, Eno Moebius Roedelius, Harald Grosskopf, Cluster, Moebius & Plank, Roedelius, Pyrolator, Riechmann, Kluster, Günter Schickert, and Asmus Tietchens.

Under the influence of The Beatles, the Group Sound Movement swept Japan in the mid '60s. This compilation collects some of the finest cuts made by several of the leading band of the time. Featuring The Mops, The Golden Cups, The Spiders, The Beavers, The Carnabeats, D'Swooners, and The Jaguars.

Hypnotic polyrhythms play a central role on Fera, creating the pulse for a sound that's rich in acoustic tonality and lively energy. Louca uses custom-made, microtonal guitars to explore nuanced phrasings, and his languid interplay with violin, synthesizer, and other instruments lead to moments of vivid beauty. This wild and adventurous album that Egyptian artist Maurice Louca wrote over a four-year period takes its title from the Latin root for the word feral, and has its origins in a solo set that Louca first developed in 2019; the compositions eventually took their final shape when he recorded them in a Cairo studio in 2024 with a group of longtime collaborators and guests. The violinist Ayman Asfour, percussionist and drummer Khaled Yassine, double bassist Rosa Brunello and co-producer Adham Zidan all play critical roles on the album, and they're joined on two tracks by multi-instrumentalist Nancy Mounir (who plays violin and theremin on "El Taalab") and oud virtuoso Hazem Shaheen (on "Sahar"). Fera is some of the most composed and thoughtfully-crafted music Louca has ever made, but of course it's guided by the dynamic experimentation and collaborative spark that have become central to his work. Fera's artwork was created by another long-time collaborator, visual artist Maha Maamoun, using the Decalcomania ink transfer technique, to create dream- like natural forms that emerge through both deliberate manipulation and chance. Residue elements photographed from 6,000-year-old rock art paintings found at the Cave of Swimmers in Gilf Kebir (an area on the Egypt-Libya border) can be seen in the Fera "painting", which was digitally manipulated for color and other effects along with original typography and graphic design in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist and designer Hussein Nassereddine.

Beat Records Company presents the expanded version of the original motion picture soundtrack of the movies L'Anticristo (Alberto De Martino 1973), featuring the music by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai, and Sepolta Viva (Aldo Lado, 1974) by Ennio Morricone. This album, very popular among the two composers' fans, offers two OSTs realized for excellent movies. The first, on the Excorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) trail, revisits the theme of demonic possession through the Italian cultural filter while the second, based on the homonymous novel by Marie Eugénie Saffray, is a nice historical drama, much in fashion in the early '70s. The CD is now available again in the classic CR series as a jewel case release featuring a 12-page booklet filled with Fabio Babini's liner notes and Daniele De Gemini's artwork, with mastering by Enrico De Gemini. On the cover is the original artwork, realized by Sandro Symeoni, commissioned by Franco De Gemini.

Fully licensed and remastered, limited to 500 copies. Friends was the fifth album by the psych folk joint venture H&F Recordings. Also known by the title Fragile, the album was released in 1974 as a private press with a more than precarious cover. Reminiscent of Simon & Garfunkel and Buffalo Springfield vocal harmonies the record was -- in Howell & Ferdinando words -- a pure joy of creation. Finally listeners have the chance to unleash this psych pop folk masterpiece with a proper artwork and in a remastered version. Peter Howell, known for his work in Doctor Who-themed series and as a part of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and John Ferdinando were also behind the intriguing musical projects known as Ithaca and Agincourt. Liner notes by Peter Howell.

Volume 3. The Heads unleash Reverberations: A five-LP explosion of basement-born, acid-fried sonic fury. Forged in the fogged-out depths of their Bristol basement, Reverberations captures The Heads at their heaviest and most unhinged -- sprawling, free-form jams that pulse, pummel, and phase into infinity. No edits, no overdubs, no apologies. Just pure, pulverizing cosmic communion. Spanning over four hours of fuzz-drenched excursions, hypnotic riff spiral, motorik freakouts and tape-saturated noise walls, this is The Heads as they were never meant to be heard -- unless you were in the room, and out of your mind. You ever hear a Hawkwind bootleg on the wrong speed and think "yeah but what if this was heavier and more lost?" That's Reverberations. It's acid-fried, it's righteous, it's like crawling through the fuzz-soaked lungs of the universe with only a blown speaker and a half-drunk pint for company. Five LPs. No polish. No polishers. The guitars don't play -- they detonate. The drums don't keep time -- they pull it apart, beat by bloody beat. And the bass? That's not bass. That's the sound of tectonic plates grinding their teeth in orgasmic terror. Each LP in the series is its own trip, housed in matte laminated outer sleeves and pressed on mixed color vinyl, for the full synapse-sizzling experience. Issued via Cardinal Fuzz (Europe) and Feeding Tube Records (USA), in strictly limited quantities, Reverberations is a vital document from the outer reaches of Britain's psych underground. Get ready to have your face melted, your brain scrambled, and your whole concept of "music" pulverized into psychedelic dust. Strictly limited. Psychos only. No posers.

War Games 95-99 is the definitive and extended collection of the ultimate teenage midwestern three-piece noise band notorious for live shows using a full desktop computer on stage. While there were predecessors to the stage, Flutter was the first mostly computer-generated noise to emerge from the harsh noise subculture dominated by pedals in the '90s tape scene. Unapologetically domestic, Flutter blended seemingly wholesome Midwest extracurricular activities with a soundtrack of suburban angst and placed all of this in a psycho-melancholic explosion of blinded circuitry, twisted band-room freak out and full-on bedroom ultra-creativity that only invention as necessity could birth. Flutter have remained a project for those in-the-know and are the phoenix who rose on the elegant and sinister Elsie And Jack And Chair CD compilations, splits on Xerxes and Bob Marinelli's distorted vision record and who were poised for graduation on the Groundfault album that should have been, here they rise from smoke of the '90s and now firmly rest the trophy of history on the mantel of today's noise-americana. Brutal and fun -- this 6CD box is a collection based around their proper full-length cassette -- War Games -- and extends into obscurities such material from splits with Âmes Sanglantes, Napalm Jesus, material for Joe Lombardo and essentially unheard relics of live recordings, the mysterious Self Abuse tape for Patrick O'Neil's distribution and the fabled and notorious unreleased Groundfault recordings full length CD! Includes unseen time capsule live and recording photos, liner notes/mini poster, and download code, packaged in clamshell box. Painstaking cassette restoration and detective work by Kris Lapke.

Facta returns to Wisdom Teeth with Gulp: a zippy, hi-def mini-album full of scrambled vocals, blown-out basslines, dripping synths and spring-loaded grooves that together map out his playfully psychedelic corner of contemporary club music. Written in a quick creative burst in late 2024, the record brings together a range of the producer's distinct creative strands into a sharp, cohesive whole. Sitting snugly within the stylistic niche carved out by his A&Ring and DJ sets (alongside label co-founder K-LONE), listeners hear the influence of '00s minimal, tech house, UK soundsystem music, ambient electronica, dub and more rubbing shoulders in a way that feels effortless and personal. The Londoner's characteristic approach to sound design and genre interplay are on full display here. Generative vocal hooks melt and warp into strange fluid forms, while synths stretch, detune, bend and dissolve into space before snapping back into shape again. Keyboards mirror human vocal formants, forming melodies that feel at once organic and alien. Basslines warp and distort, as if being re-molded out of different synthetic properties. Across the record there's a commitment to expressing simple or familiar ideas in new and unexpected ways, whilst experimentations and innovations are presented clearly and intuitively. Cherished genre references are lovingly deployed as personal touchstones across the record -- bleeping minimal- and tech- house; breakbeat dubstep and funky; Chicago house; dub techno -- yet sounds and influences are combined and meshed in unexpected ways. Each track is tightly engineered and reduced down to its key elements, which are then manipulated, flipped, warped and pushed to breaking point. As is typical of Facta's music, uncanny contrasts are worked throughout the music in unexpected ways. Warm, balmy moods come laced with seams of tension or uncertainty, whilst the record's darker moments are handled with a light, playful touch. The album's artwork features photography by award-winning Boston-based photographer, Pelle Cass, whose complex time-lapse composites present hyperreal yet impossible tableaus of seemingly simple everyday scenes -- an approach that parallels the record's blurring of the familiar and the unfamiliar.

2025 restock; LP version. 180 gram vinyl; half-speed-mastered. WRWTFWW Records present the worldwide reissue of Midori Takada's solo album from 1999, Tree of Life. Originally recorded in September 1998 at legendary Ginza (Tokyo) studio Onkio Haus (founded in 1974 and where Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" and many more were recorded) and released on CD only for the Japan market in 1999, Tree of Life is Midori Takada's best kept secret, a lost gem of minimalism and percussive ambient. The album is separated in two parts, the first one finds Takada exploring her trademark environmental soundscapes with precise mastery of marimba, drums, and bells, notably on the magnificent fan-favorite "Love Song Of Urfa". The second half is a collaboration with Chinese virtuoso Erhu player Jiang Jian Hua, allowing Midori Takada to unveil new layers of her artistic mind with a slightly more theatrical approach and a beautiful crystallization of complex simplicity. The entire album was given a fresh new audiophile mix by Midori Takada herself and was mastered at Emil Berliner Studios. This Tree of Life reissue follows two newly recorded Midori Takada albums, Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter (WRWTFWW 060CD/LP) and You Who Are Leaving To Nirvana (WRWTFWW 061CD/LP), both available on WRWTFWW Records, along with her 1983 masterpiece, Through The Looking Glass (WRWTFWW 018LP). Design by Kohei Sugiura.

Black Truffle presents a new edition of Kassel Jaeger's Fernweh, returning François J. Bonnet's electroacoustic project to the label five years after the acclaimed Meith. Originally released on Giuseppe Ielasi and Jennifer Veillerobe's impeccably curated Senufo Editions in 2012, Fernweh stands near the beginning of the gradual expansion of Bonnet's approach after the austere acoustic textures of Aerae and Algae (both released on Senufo), leading to the lush, layered environments of recent solo works on Shelter Press and the epic electronic expeditions undertaken in duo projects with Stephen O'Malley and Jim O'Rourke. A major work in the Kassel Jaeger oeuvre, stretching over two LP sides, Fernweh draws together synthesized and musique concrète materials into a drifting assemblage. Its title's meaning is close to the concept of "Wanderlust," fitting for this music that moves freely and unexpectedly between what Bonnet calls "climates." Beginning with fizzing electronics whose rhythm of gradual approach suggests breaking waves, the clinical atmosphere is soon haunted by intangible traces of lived reality. Drawing from the rigorous formal language and conceptual apparatus of the French musique concrète tradition -- with which Bonnet, as director of the GRM and researcher into its deepest archival recesses, is intimately familiar -- the music of Kassel Jaeger is equally informed by how underground experimental music has rethought electroacoustic techniques, with Fernweh at times calling up the grit and grime of para-industrial eccentrics like Maurizio Bianchi or the Toniutti brothers, and at other moments suggesting the slow-moving grandeur of early Olivia Block. Subtle features of dynamics and rhythm act as connective tissue between the numerous "scenes," with wave-like envelopes, rapid pulsations, and short, tape-loop patterns all recurring throughout the piece, shared ambiguously between electronic and concrete sounds. Amid these shifting, often inharmonic textures, the electronic elements sometimes cohere into melodic shapes and chordal patterns, cutting through the fog in distorted arcs or underpinning the layered surface with slow-moving harmonies. Like his friend and collaborator Jim O'Rourke, Bonnet displays a radical openness at odds with academic tradition, allowing unabashed emotion to coexist with rigorous experimentation. As Fernweh dies away with mysterious shudders, listeners are left at once moved and unsure of exactly what they just heard.

2025 restock; LP version. The fourth full-length album by legendary German electronic music duo Cluster, originally released on Sky Records in 1976. Sowiesoso follows on from their most highly-acclaimed album, Zuckerzeit (1974). Michael Rother's influence was clearly audible on the latter, Cluster already having recorded two albums with him under the name of Harmonia. 1976 saw the duo looking for new musical forms. More than any other Cluster album, Sowiesoso represents the utopian vision of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Mobius, its mellow transparency evoking the landscape of the Weser Uplands where the two musicians lived at the time. Sowiesoso is not the work of fanatic dreamers who have fled the metropolis, but the reward for their tenacious search for a new musical language. The LP's seven cuts were recorded in their own studio with modest equipment -- a four-track tape machine, two Revox A77 stereo tape-decks and a simple 8-channel mixer. Cluster were thus completely independent, able to work where and when they wanted, at their own pace. With no guest musicians, sound engineers or producers to accommodate, Cluster thrived on their new-found autonomous freedom. Sowiesoso captures them at the peak of their creative development, with the limited range of recording equipment enhancing the clarity of their vision, allowing them to concentrate on the music without drifting into narcissistic muso territory. Minimalist, yet neither formulaic nor automated, the album is a rhythmic tapestry of otherworldly electronic and acoustic elements -- relaxed, organic and gentle ambience. This could only be Cluster music; its harmonies reaffirm the quality of song, in spite of eluding song structure as such.

LP version. Cluster can be counted among the most important international protagonists of the electronic avant-garde. Some credit them with having invented ambient music, others as pioneers of synthesizer pop, whilst to some they are firmly embedded in the krautrock universe. There is some truth in all of these notions. Cluster (or Kluster as they were in the beginning) were founded in 1970 in Berlin by Conrad Schnitzler, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, and Dieter Moebius. A change in direction and musical differences moved Moebius and Roedelius to split from Schnitzler after which the duo recorded ten regular studio albums between 1971 and 2009. Their debut album (Cluster 71) was in Wire Magazine's "One Hundred Records That Set The World On Fire" list. Cluster II is influenced by Berlin and Hamburg; situated somewhere in the middle of artistic happenings, musical outrageousness and drug abuse: an urban mixture.

"The question as to whether Cluster II has to be considered part of serious music or rather of popular music seems as obsolete today as it was back in 1972. Interestingly enough, however, the album was among the first ones to leave people in confusion when trying to tell what musical category it belonged to. As opposed to now where there is a large transitional area situated somewhere in between the two poles and made up by all sorts of electro-acoustic music, serious and popular music were still categories strictly set apart at the beginning of the seventies. Moebius and Roedelius, however, simply did not care about categorizing their music, thus contributing to the trend towards abandoning the categories altogether. When listening to Cluster II today, fifty years after it was recorded, the album's historic significance becomes as clear as never before. A lot has already been written about Cluster's historic impact. Let me just underline in this context that it was not least this album that opened up doors through which generations of electro-acoustic musicians were yet to step." --Asmus Tietchens

LP version. After more than 40 years, Silberstreif's EP Ich suche dein Gesicht, first released on Sky Records in 1983, is available again. Rather unusual for Sky's catalogue, the duo played flawless synth-pop with German-language lyrics. This EP sank into obscurity in the 1980s flood of hyper-commercial German New Wave releases. The band later became an insider tip and the EP a sought-after collector's item. The re-issue is accompanied by four previously unreleased bonus tracks.

"Overdue, a re-issue of this great, rare EP from 1983. While that year, the major labels were finally exploiting everything commercially that even rudimentarily fitted the NDW (Neue Deutsche Welle -- German New Wave) buzzword, we can now look back and realize that there were still countless creative bands, projects and artists in the musical underground. The release by Silberstreif shows like no other that the focus of the German 1980s underground was not only on odd and experimental sounds, but also on poppy and melodic ones. Listening to these hopeful, almost innocent synth melodies paired with dark lyrics circling around obsessive male protagonists, one can't help but imagine how this band re-asserted its artistic freedom by leaning into the musical tropes of sell-out and commercialization -- with a subtle subversive middle finger. The duo play fantastic and timeless synth-pop which is still relevant today and still gets crowds dancing in trendy clubs between songs by Human League and Grauzone. Like I said, this re-issue is long overdue!" --Marco Floess

LP version. Limited edition (400) vinyl with artwork by Ian Anderson and double CD. CD contains the tracks from Plan For A Miracle. Pioneering British electronic musician Mark Van Hoen presents his latest solo album, The Eternal Present, a remarkable collection of tracks spanning nearly three decades of recordings from 1998 to 2024. The Eternal Present embodies its philosophical title, inspired by Joseph Campbell's concept that "Eternity is that dimension of here and now that all thinking in temporal terms cuts off." The album explores music as the ultimate expression of existing in the present moment, transcending time and creating a sonic experience that is simultaneously "spectral, ghostly, melodic, harmonic, and decayed." An influential contemporary of Aphex Twin, Autechre, LFO and Boards of Canada, Van Hoen is best known for his solo work as Locust in the mid-'90s, which helped push post-rave electronic music into newly challenging realms. The Eternal Present continues the lineage of Van Hoen's most significant works, with artwork by Ian Anderson (Designers Republic) reflecting the album's "eternal present" concept with a mysterious visual approach, allowing listeners to form their own imaginary landscapes. The mastering by Stefan Betke (Pole) enhances this document of the evolution of the artist over the years as he continues to hone his signature sound. Using a host of instruments including analogue synthesizers and employing various recording approaches, Van Hoen's equipment changed dramatically over the years, contributing to the album's rich sonic diversity. Throughout The Eternal Present, ideas are woven together through spoken word quotations and abstract vocals featuring notable collaborations from Rachel Goswell on the Slowdive cover "Shine" (from 1998), Megan Mitchell (Cruel Diagonals) on "Somewhere", and session vocalists Clare Dove and Dorothy Takev on "No-One Leave" and "It's Not You (In A Way)" respectively. The album was recorded across multiple locations including Somerset, London, Los Angeles, and New York, reflecting Van Hoen's changing personal circumstances, environments, and situations throughout the years.

LP version. "We always knew we would return to this project because Brutalism remains a profound part of our lives, something we cherish deeply. Inspired by the photographs we have been capturing for a new book, the music emerged effortlessly. Documenting these buildings feels instinctive; this is where we belong. Our unwavering fixation on symmetry, synchronization, and repetition endures, but this time we believe the music reveals a more emotional depth. That is the direction we have been moving towards. Some things simply take time, yet this album seemed to take shape of its own accord. Join us as we walk through these modern-day cathedrals, monuments to the people." --The Black Dog

LP version. Far Out Recordings continues its reissue campaign of the late Argentinian guitarist Agustin Pereyra Lucena's work with the first-ever vinyl reissue of his singular 1988 private press album, Puertos De Alternativa, now his most sought-after LP. The album features some of Agustin's most uniquely beautiful compositions, including "Luces de Valeria" and "Preparativos Maritimos," alongside Baden Powell's "Pequeño Vals" and "O Cego Aderaldo (Nordeste)," and "Tema Barroco" by his longtime collaborator, Guilhermo Reuter. By 1988, Agustín had established himself as one of Argentina's foremost interpreters of Brazilian music. The seventies saw success with his group Candeias, and he gained recognition in Brazil, forming friendships and collaborations with luminaries such as Vinicius de Moraes, Baden Powell, Dorival Caymmi, Toquinho, and Maria Bethania. Following the era of dictatorship in South America, Agustín spent the late seventies and early eighties, living and touring in Norway as part of his European travels with his group Agustín Pereyra Lucena Quartet. Recorded after returning to his native Buenos Aires, Agustin Peyera Lucena's Puertos de Alternativa emerged from this confluence of diverse experiences and influences, revealing an artist deeply connected to his environment. The album's title, meaning "Alternative Harbours," reflects Agustín's particular affinity for water. He observed that much of his favorite music originated from places with rivers and seas nearby, noting, "There is a flow near water that influences guitar playing for sure." With a profound connection to both instrument and environment, Agustín's music is often difficult to place. The album begins rooted deeply in South American soil, drawing clear inspiration from Brazilian guitar masters like Heitor Villa Lobos, Garoto, and Baden Powell. But, as it progresses, a sense of journey unfolds, evoking new landscapes and horizons -- from the crystalline beauty of glacial Norway to the gentle currents of the Rio de la Plata. The ensemble on Puertos de Alternativa features notable Argentinian musicians, including drummer Osvaldo Avena, flautist Rubén Izarrualde, and saxophonist Bernardo Baraj. Mastered by Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis Studios from the original master tapes which had been lovingly kept by Agustin's nephew José Lucena Perreyra.

LP version. "While they have collaborated a good many times, Next is the first recorded evidence of Danish guitarist (or more properly Bastardist) Jørgen Teller playing with American ex-pat multi-instrumentalist Mark Cunningham. The pair both have long histories on the fringes of known sounds. I first heard Teller as a member of the dizzily freakoid Tzarina Q Cut and Cunningham's decades of musical adventurism with Mars, Don King, Bestia Ferida, Blood Quartet, etc. have been well documented, not least by us. This is Mark's tenth FTR release! The four pieces here are improvised instrumental duets. The material was recorded in October 2023, as part of an ongoing residency Mark has at the Fabra I Coats creation center in Barcelona. Throughout, Teller plays Le Bastard (a Hofner 137 electric guitar with two bass strings and three guitar strings). Cunningham plays mostly trumpet and delays, but also whips out his old Dan Electro for one of the tracks. Overall, the sonic results are droney, druggy, lightly-noisesome slabs of brilliant buzz. In a general way, Jørgen's amped strings set up a humbucking sound-sheet against which he and Mark can each toss spontaneous squibs of creation and destruction, When Mark is playing trumpet and pedals, the music sometimes manifests a strange sort of charm that almost has the feel of a noise rock approach to the Canterbury Sound. By which, I mean the stuff is rackety, but there are built-in glissandos that make me think of nothing less Camel's brilliant live work on the Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dancehall. Of course, these moments resolve themselves in weirder ways than any Pete Bardens has ever dreamed up, but it demonstrates the duo's avant-prog game is strong! The doubled guitar track (called 'Next 3' to contrast it with 'Next 1,' 'Next 2,' and 'Next 4') is a superb piece of string work with rockist overtones that put fellow in mind of some of the best moments by classic two-man string units like the Smashchords or early Half Japanese. But with a more overtly hypnagogic overlay that forces your brain's receptors to stretch themselves in new ways. It's all amazing stuff. Sounding so fully evolved you'll be tempted to swear it weren't improvised! But you'd be wrong, friend. Some people just have the gift. To paraphrase that old softy, Lou Reed, their week beats your year. Get up with it!" --Byron Coley, 2025