BUREAU B - Forced Exposure

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/19/2023

"... Oui Bitte shows Station 17 as a band of experts in a kind of acoustic transcendence. Their music tenderly forces you to engage in all of this at the same time. Already in the field recordings of the Elbe shore with which '20.000 Meilen unter dem Mond' begins you are being offered a pact: Hand over all control to the music, swim out to the open sea and be thrown back to yourself -- just so you can indulge in the sonic waves. That prelude seems programmatic: In the following 40 minutes you are being carried along, you are being amused, catapulted, earthed, moved. Oui Bitte manages to douse the resonance body, to drift away, to wash ashore, to take off. The landing: always soft! The biggest continuity is the positive vibe, a reliable air host, pleasant, more shell than irritation. Station 17 do not produce cracks in the dam, they are smoothing out riverbeds. 'Bewegung' then appears as the highlight of the album, a manifestation of the idea Station 17. Move your mind and move your body, as Birgit Hohnen says here, a deceased companion of the group who is being projected into the present of the song through a sample. With your eyes closed this track allows you to take off meditatively. And then there's the latent melancholy which finds its way in. This futuristic music of the past stays warm, stays cordial, stays inviting: to the sonic utopia of a more beautiful world which has already been established by this album at this point and by this band in any case. In the end the record takes its time, a wide room is designed, meters are being covered. In the calmness of the last song a contradiction pops up: 'Das Rasen' ('The rushing'). But the contradiction dissolves: If you listen closely, you are gliding through the high grass ('Rasen') on which to lie down and listen to Oui Bitte invites. Yes, please: Repeat!" --Hendrik Otembra

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/19/2023

LP version. "... Oui Bitte shows Station 17 as a band of experts in a kind of acoustic transcendence. Their music tenderly forces you to engage in all of this at the same time. Already in the field recordings of the Elbe shore with which '20.000 Meilen unter dem Mond' begins you are being offered a pact: Hand over all control to the music, swim out to the open sea and be thrown back to yourself -- just so you can indulge in the sonic waves. That prelude seems programmatic: In the following 40 minutes you are being carried along, you are being amused, catapulted, earthed, moved. Oui Bitte manages to douse the resonance body, to drift away, to wash ashore, to take off. The landing: always soft! The biggest continuity is the positive vibe, a reliable air host, pleasant, more shell than irritation. Station 17 do not produce cracks in the dam, they are smoothing out riverbeds. 'Bewegung' then appears as the highlight of the album, a manifestation of the idea Station 17. Move your mind and move your body, as Birgit Hohnen says here, a deceased companion of the group who is being projected into the present of the song through a sample. With your eyes closed this track allows you to take off meditatively. And then there's the latent melancholy which finds its way in. This futuristic music of the past stays warm, stays cordial, stays inviting: to the sonic utopia of a more beautiful world which has already been established by this album at this point and by this band in any case. In the end the record takes its time, a wide room is designed, meters are being covered. In the calmness of the last song a contradiction pops up: 'Das Rasen' ('The rushing'). But the contradiction dissolves: If you listen closely, you are gliding through the high grass ('Rasen') on which to lie down and listen to Oui Bitte invites. Yes, please: Repeat!" --Hendrik Otembra

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/12/2023

LP version. As part of Bureau B's series Experimental Electronic Underground GDR, the label make a very special recording available again. The first contact between Conrad Schnitzler, who lived in West Berlin, and Jörg Thomasius, who was based in the east party of the city, came about in the late 1970s. In 1985, Schnitzler visited Thomasius in East Berlin for the first time. In the meantime, Thomasius had released cassettes in the GDR both as a soloist and with his group DFO (Das freie Orchester). The following year, the idea of a joint concert in East Berlin's Erlöserkirche was born. In the GDR, it was not possible to hold events in public without a so-called state "classification". DFO did not have this permit at that time and so public performances were only possible in the context of private or church institutions. In 1982, Schnitzler had already met the New York musician Ken Gen Montgomery, who then regularly performed Schnitzlers's compositions live at various venues worldwide. And so, Schnitzler also produced four cassettes especially for his concert in East Berlin, which were sent by courier from West to East Berlin. On the evening of 3.9.1986, the privately announced and illegal concert took place in the Erlöserkirche in East Berlin/GDR. Montgomery mixed Schnitzler's music live from the tapes. Jörg Thomasius recorded the performance and released the recording in 1987 on his own underground cassette label, Krötenkassetten. Elaborately restored, the original recording is now being released for the first time under the title CAS-CON II. In addition to photos and contemporary documents, it also includes Jörg Thomasius's and Ken Gen Montgomery's written memories of this very special evening.

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/12/2023

As part of Bureau B's series Experimental Electronic Underground GDR, the label make a very special recording available again. The first contact between Conrad Schnitzler, who lived in West Berlin, and Jörg Thomasius, who was based in the east party of the city, came about in the late 1970s. In 1985, Schnitzler visited Thomasius in East Berlin for the first time. In the meantime, Thomasius had released cassettes in the GDR both as a soloist and with his group DFO (Das freie Orchester). The following year, the idea of a joint concert in East Berlin's Erlöserkirche was born. In the GDR, it was not possible to hold events in public without a so-called state "classification". DFO did not have this permit at that time and so public performances were only possible in the context of private or church institutions. In 1982, Schnitzler had already met the New York musician Ken Gen Montgomery, who then regularly performed Schnitzlers's compositions live at various venues worldwide. And so, Schnitzler also produced four cassettes especially for his concert in East Berlin, which were sent by courier from West to East Berlin. On the evening of 3.9.1986, the privately announced and illegal concert took place in the Erlöserkirche in East Berlin/GDR. Montgomery mixed Schnitzler's music live from the tapes. Jörg Thomasius recorded the performance and released the recording in 1987 on his own underground cassette label, Krötenkassetten. Elaborately restored, the original recording is now being released for the first time under the title CAS-CON II. In addition to photos and contemporary documents, it also includes Jörg Thomasius's and Ken Gen Montgomery's written memories of this very special evening.

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/28/2023

LP version. Renowned acid cosmologist Johannes Auvinen, best known by his alias Tin Man, leaves the club floor behind for a full-length kosmische excursion on Bureau B. Since his first Tin Man records nearly 20 years ago, Auvinen has impelled acid -- in the grand tradition of Phuture and co. -- into shapes and forms heretofore uncharted. He does it again on his latest, Arles, exploring a new realm of impressionistic beauty where pristine, heartfelt melodies dance delicately atop austere motorik rhythms. It's a trip you'll want to take again and again.

"'Cosmic,' as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means 'of or relating to the cosmos, the extraterrestrial vastness,' or 'relating to abstract spiritual or metaphysical ideas.' In that light, the first record by Tin Man, aka Johannes Auvinen, on Bureau B is cosmic indeed -- kosmische, if you will. Auvinen is best known for his manifold expressions of acid, in the house and techno sense, that pull your heartstrings as they move your feet. But on Arles, he leaves his dance floor bonafides behind for an album-length journey through inner and outer space. Although Arles isn't built for the club, it's unmistakably a Tin Man record, through and through. (Fret not: adventurous DJs will find much to work with here, naturally.) Auvinen's tender melodies, coaxed from an array of gear including his signature Roland TB-303, dance delicately atop minimal, propulsive rhythms. The form is different, but the fundament remains the same. In the manner of its namesake city, Arles is a portrait of impressionistic beauty. One might call it a turning point for Auvinen, a new direction, but like Auvinen's best work elsewhere, Arles is disarming in its unveiled simplicity. There is no artifice here; this album has nothing to prove, no need to convince the listener of anything. Its elegance is accessible immediately, its grace given freely. And after the record's done, chances are you'll find yourself dropping the needle right back at the beginning. Each listen reveals a new tenor -- each track becomes a new favorite. It's a trip you'll want to take again and again." --Chris Zaldua

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/28/2023

Renowned acid cosmologist Johannes Auvinen, best known by his alias Tin Man, leaves the club floor behind for a full-length kosmische excursion on Bureau B. Since his first Tin Man records nearly 20 years ago, Auvinen has impelled acid -- in the grand tradition of Phuture and co. -- into shapes and forms heretofore uncharted. He does it again on his latest, Arles, exploring a new realm of impressionistic beauty where pristine, heartfelt melodies dance delicately atop austere motorik rhythms. It's a trip you'll want to take again and again.

"'Cosmic,' as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means 'of or relating to the cosmos, the extraterrestrial vastness,' or 'relating to abstract spiritual or metaphysical ideas.' In that light, the first record by Tin Man, aka Johannes Auvinen, on Bureau B is cosmic indeed -- kosmische, if you will. Auvinen is best known for his manifold expressions of acid, in the house and techno sense, that pull your heartstrings as they move your feet. But on Arles, he leaves his dance floor bonafides behind for an album-length journey through inner and outer space. Although Arles isn't built for the club, it's unmistakably a Tin Man record, through and through. (Fret not: adventurous DJs will find much to work with here, naturally.) Auvinen's tender melodies, coaxed from an array of gear including his signature Roland TB-303, dance delicately atop minimal, propulsive rhythms. The form is different, but the fundament remains the same. In the manner of its namesake city, Arles is a portrait of impressionistic beauty. One might call it a turning point for Auvinen, a new direction, but like Auvinen's best work elsewhere, Arles is disarming in its unveiled simplicity. There is no artifice here; this album has nothing to prove, no need to convince the listener of anything. Its elegance is accessible immediately, its grace given freely. And after the record's done, chances are you'll find yourself dropping the needle right back at the beginning. Each listen reveals a new tenor -- each track becomes a new favorite. It's a trip you'll want to take again and again." --Chris Zaldua

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/21/2023

LP version. "Gegenwelt (Parallel World) is the second LP by CEL, a duo Kubin and Zemler formed. More melodically-evolved than their eponymous 2020 debut (BB 334CD/LP), it is an even more explicit example of the syncretic impulse that impelled these guys to form the band. Their basic notion was to explore the juncture between two streams of German underground sounds -- the motorik 4/4 rhythms first posited by Can's Jaki Liebezeit and Kraftwerk's Klaus Dinger, and the sequencer-driven brain loops of early, experimental pioneers of the NDW, such as Der Plan. The opening track, "Tokamak", begins like the sequenced soundtrack to a brightly-colored animated nightmare before transmuting into a marimba fusillade that unspools like Steve Reich on steroids. The last track is 'Transformator Matki Polki', which sounds like a radical Viennese remix of random snippets from Wolfgang Dauner's Output. In between these poles are an array of wild and varied rides through cartoon landscapes, with side trips to the spy movie vibe of 'Gegenwelt', the thug/art rock hybrid of 'Eiweißangriff' and beyond. Gegenwelt is also a showcase for Kubin's latest invented instrument, the Mechatronikon. Built for him by engineer Lars Vaupel, the Mechatronikon receives CV or MIDI signals and translates them into commands for electromagnetic mini motors. In Felix's words, this allows 'sequencers to trigger kitchen gear or whatever we'd like to resonate. With this machine we can also create rhythms that a human drummer would hardly be able to reproduce in this precision.' The mechanical sound effect of this device can be heard, for example, in the piece 'Trippeltanz'. But the precision of the pure motorik impulse is not something Zemler is afraid to ignore at times. His grounding in free jazz emerges regularly (if subtly), displaying lateral moves that add another layer of complexity to music that's often moving in several directions at once. Even when the surface of CEL's melodies sound simple, a closer listening often reveals a wealth of subterranean activity. Mixed and coproduced by Hamburg's post-punk luminary Mense Reents, the music on Gegenwelt is a fine example of CEL's ability to compose pieces with a multivalent architecture listeners can appreciate in a variety of ways. Their music is partially shaped by whatever preconceptions you bring to it. So think good thoughts about Gegenwelt and your rewards will be bountiful." --Byron Coley

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/21/2023

"Gegenwelt (Parallel World) is the second LP by CEL, a duo Kubin and Zemler formed. More melodically-evolved than their eponymous 2020 debut (BB 334CD/LP), it is an even more explicit example of the syncretic impulse that impelled these guys to form the band. Their basic notion was to explore the juncture between two streams of German underground sounds -- the motorik 4/4 rhythms first posited by Can's Jaki Liebezeit and Kraftwerk's Klaus Dinger, and the sequencer-driven brain loops of early, experimental pioneers of the NDW, such as Der Plan. The opening track, "Tokamak", begins like the sequenced soundtrack to a brightly-colored animated nightmare before transmuting into a marimba fusillade that unspools like Steve Reich on steroids. The last track is 'Transformator Matki Polki', which sounds like a radical Viennese remix of random snippets from Wolfgang Dauner's Output. In between these poles are an array of wild and varied rides through cartoon landscapes, with side trips to the spy movie vibe of 'Gegenwelt', the thug/art rock hybrid of 'Eiweißangriff' and beyond. Gegenwelt is also a showcase for Kubin's latest invented instrument, the Mechatronikon. Built for him by engineer Lars Vaupel, the Mechatronikon receives CV or MIDI signals and translates them into commands for electromagnetic mini motors. In Felix's words, this allows 'sequencers to trigger kitchen gear or whatever we'd like to resonate. With this machine we can also create rhythms that a human drummer would hardly be able to reproduce in this precision.' The mechanical sound effect of this device can be heard, for example, in the piece 'Trippeltanz'. But the precision of the pure motorik impulse is not something Zemler is afraid to ignore at times. His grounding in free jazz emerges regularly (if subtly), displaying lateral moves that add another layer of complexity to music that's often moving in several directions at once. Even when the surface of CEL's melodies sound simple, a closer listening often reveals a wealth of subterranean activity. Mixed and coproduced by Hamburg's post-punk luminary Mense Reents, the music on Gegenwelt is a fine example of CEL's ability to compose pieces with a multivalent architecture listeners can appreciate in a variety of ways. Their music is partially shaped by whatever preconceptions you bring to it. So think good thoughts about Gegenwelt and your rewards will be bountiful." --Byron Coley

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/14/2023

LP version. Morphing Polaroids is the debut album by Japanese born Saeko Okuchi, alias Saeko Killy, for Hamburg-based Bureau B. After moving to Berlin in 2018, Saeko Killy found herself in the orb of Club Sameheads, where she made herself known as a DJ and live performer. After releasing her first EP 嘘みたいな世界で踊れ - Dancing Pikapika with the label Chill Mountain from Osaka in 2021, followed a fruitful Jam session during the pandemic lockdown, resulting in the eleven titles collected together here for the album Morphing Polaroids, produced by Brussels DJ and selector sofa elsewhere. The LP is a contemporary leftfield club sound, effortlessly combining elements of dub, post-punk, and kraut with electronic beats. Back in Japan, Saeko Okuchi started to learn the piano as early as four years old and at sixteen she started to play the guitar. Through her parents influences, Saeko discovered jazz and Brazilian music. Visiting techno parties in Tokyo awoke her interest in the spheres of electronic dance music. Through those DJs, Saeko discovered artists such as Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle, who greatly inspired her with their industrial sounds. During her time traveling in Brazil, she played at underground parties, organized by the artist collective VOODOOHOP in São Paulo. Alongside DJing, different band projects in Tokyo and Berlin became her way of experimenting vocally. A lo-fi-improv-snapshot of her krautrock-post-punk-esque voice is found on the Vax! EP (2021) by des Sameheads on the track "Die in Seconds" by the group Automattenfall. To produce music herself, for her either English or Japanese lyrics, she began to experiment with Synthesizers. After the release of the first Saeko Killy EP (2021), the Belgian scene DJ and producer soFa elsewhere asked her to contribute vocals on his song "The Dream" (2022). The musical collaboration worked out so well that he invited Saeko for an improv Session at his home studio in Brussels. Saeko Killy identified a meandering during the production process which is reflected in the album title as well as in the lyrics and sound of the entire record especially the lyrics to "Sun Shower" and "Intimate Flame". The two found out that they complement each other delightfully and had much fun recording many tunes, from which this album came into being. This interplay virtually challenges the intuitively emerging lyrics. Morphing Polaroids casts a spell as psychedelic dance music, which unfolds its magic through a certain form of opposing disturbance, similar to the Japanese avant-garde.

$16.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/14/2023

Morphing Polaroids is the debut album by Japanese born Saeko Okuchi, alias Saeko Killy, for Hamburg-based Bureau B. After moving to Berlin in 2018, Saeko Killy found herself in the orb of Club Sameheads, where she made herself known as a DJ and live performer. After releasing her first EP 嘘みたいな世界で踊れ - Dancing Pikapika with the label Chill Mountain from Osaka in 2021, followed a fruitful Jam session during the pandemic lockdown, resulting in the eleven titles collected together here for the album Morphing Polaroids, produced by Brussels DJ and selector sofa elsewhere. The LP is a contemporary leftfield club sound, effortlessly combining elements of dub, post-punk, and kraut with electronic beats. Back in Japan, Saeko Okuchi started to learn the piano as early as four years old and at sixteen she started to play the guitar. Through her parents influences, Saeko discovered jazz and Brazilian music. Visiting techno parties in Tokyo awoke her interest in the spheres of electronic dance music. Through those DJs, Saeko discovered artists such as Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle, who greatly inspired her with their industrial sounds. During her time traveling in Brazil, she played at underground parties, organized by the artist collective VOODOOHOP in São Paulo. Alongside DJing, different band projects in Tokyo and Berlin became her way of experimenting vocally. A lo-fi-improv-snapshot of her krautrock-post-punk-esque voice is found on the Vax! EP (2021) by des Sameheads on the track "Die in Seconds" by the group Automattenfall. To produce music herself, for her either English or Japanese lyrics, she began to experiment with Synthesizers. After the release of the first Saeko Killy EP (2021), the Belgian scene DJ and producer soFa elsewhere asked her to contribute vocals on his song "The Dream" (2022). The musical collaboration worked out so well that he invited Saeko for an improv Session at his home studio in Brussels. Saeko Killy identified a meandering during the production process which is reflected in the album title as well as in the lyrics and sound of the entire record especially the lyrics to "Sun Shower" and "Intimate Flame". The two found out that they complement each other delightfully and had much fun recording many tunes, from which this album came into being. This interplay virtually challenges the intuitively emerging lyrics. Morphing Polaroids casts a spell as psychedelic dance music, which unfolds its magic through a certain form of opposing disturbance, similar to the Japanese avant-garde.

$35.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/7/2023

Double LP version. "In 1984, four years after the release of my first solo album Synthesist on Sky Records, I wanted to produce a new solo album. At the time I was operating on the fifth floor of a former backyard factory on Graefe-Str. in Berlin Kreuzberg with my Neue Deutsche Welle Band Lilli Berlin. We'd turned the space into a small music and rehearsal studio where we set up a Tascam 8-track tape recorder, a 12- channel MM mixer that roared like hell, a Mini-Moog and a Roland Jupiter-6 synthesizer. This is where the basic recordings for Oceanheart were made. Essentially sequences and chords, which I then added piano, drums, Indian tablas and solo voices to in Christoph Franke's (Tangerine Dream) studio in Berlin Spandau. It was then mastered on a Betamax video recorder -- at that time the non-plus-ultra of modern stereo recording technique. Oceanheart was released on Sky Records in 1985. At the beginning of 2022 Gunther Buskies, owner of Bureau B label, had the inspired idea to expand the planned re-release of Oceanheart with a remix album and to call it Oceanheart Revisited. Around the same time, I met Tobias Stock through my friend Chris Mick. Tobias, a qualified electronics engineer and musician, had put together a complex, top-class analog studio over 20 years of meticulous and passionate collecting -- bringing each of the numerous component parts back into the best technical state with his own hands. There are only few studios of this kind and quality in the world and it was here, in his 'On TAPE' Studio, we created the analogue mixes of Oceanheart Revisited on a NAGRA 2-channel tape machine. I really enjoyed working on Oceanheart Revisited and I'd like to share this experiment with you." --Harald Grosskopf, January 2023

$20.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 4/7/2023

"In 1984, four years after the release of my first solo album Synthesist on Sky Records, I wanted to produce a new solo album. At the time I was operating on the fifth floor of a former backyard factory on Graefe-Str. in Berlin Kreuzberg with my Neue Deutsche Welle Band Lilli Berlin. We'd turned the space into a small music and rehearsal studio where we set up a Tascam 8-track tape recorder, a 12- channel MM mixer that roared like hell, a Mini-Moog and a Roland Jupiter-6 synthesizer. This is where the basic recordings for Oceanheart were made. Essentially sequences and chords, which I then added piano, drums, Indian tablas and solo voices to in Christoph Franke's (Tangerine Dream) studio in Berlin Spandau. It was then mastered on a Betamax video recorder -- at that time the non-plus-ultra of modern stereo recording technique. Oceanheart was released on Sky Records in 1985. At the beginning of 2022 Gunther Buskies, owner of Bureau B label, had the inspired idea to expand the planned re-release of Oceanheart with a remix album and to call it Oceanheart Revisited. Around the same time, I met Tobias Stock through my friend Chris Mick. Tobias, a qualified electronics engineer and musician, had put together a complex, top-class analog studio over 20 years of meticulous and passionate collecting -- bringing each of the numerous component parts back into the best technical state with his own hands. There are only few studios of this kind and quality in the world and it was here, in his 'On TAPE' Studio, we created the analogue mixes of Oceanheart Revisited on a NAGRA 2-channel tape machine. I really enjoyed working on Oceanheart Revisited and I'd like to share this experiment with you." --Harald Grosskopf, January 2023

$16.50 IN STOCK

Christoph Dallach, Andreas Dorau, and Daniel Jahn present Echo Neuklang, a compilation which explores the question of how krautrock has influenced generation after generation of musicians since its inception. A contentious genre at the best of times, the music within its spectrum is essentially intangible. The common thread running through it is a compulsion to seek out the new. Beginning in the year 1981 and extending as far as 2023, the music in this collection demonstrates how the idea of what passed for krautrock in the 1970s has been interpreted or reinterpreted by a diverse array of artists with distinct approaches in the decades which followed, without recourse to any generic conventions. Features Stefan Thelen & Olek Gelba, Burnt Friedman, Haindling, Conny Frischauf, Moebius & Renziehausen, Deutsche Wertarbeit, Kreidler, Workshop, Love-Songs, To Rococo Rot, Härte 10, Schlammpeitziger, and Rheingold.

A conversation between Dallach, Dorau, and Jahn: A: Goodness, I'm freezing, it is wintertime in 2019. Here we sit, smoking in a railway station bar to discuss our compilation and the irksome topic of krautrock. Such a stupid word, krautrock. The three of us all agree on that, do we not? D: Indeed we do. There's no rock in krautrock. A: Rock's just as stupid, we can agree on that as well! C: Not one of the interesting, so-called krautrock bands has anything to do with rock. A: The million-dollar question has to be: what is krautrock anyway? I would say that krautrock is a genre which defies description. Think about the rhythms, the music, the instrumentation, there are no recurring elements at all. It must be the freest genre of all time. D: The only common denominator is that it's free music, different music, neither experimental in the classic sense, nor is it pop or rock. C: There has never been a "krautrock sound" as such, it's more of a unifying attitude, a drive to search for something genuinely new. That's how it was back in the early 1970s. A: It was an attempt to find "other" music! But has it crossed into this millennium, is that same spirit in evidence in newer music? C: Absolutely, like the music on this compilation, because it is so hard to classify. A: So what do we call it? D: Neo-kraut? A: I like it, you've left out the rock. D: And so the story continues.

$35.00 IN STOCK

Double LP version. Christoph Dallach, Andreas Dorau, and Daniel Jahn present Echo Neuklang, a compilation which explores the question of how krautrock has influenced generation after generation of musicians since its inception. A contentious genre at the best of times, the music within its spectrum is essentially intangible. The common thread running through it is a compulsion to seek out the new. Beginning in the year 1981 and extending as far as 2023, the music in this collection demonstrates how the idea of what passed for krautrock in the 1970s has been interpreted or reinterpreted by a diverse array of artists with distinct approaches in the decades which followed, without recourse to any generic conventions. Features Stefan Thelen & Olek Gelba, Burnt Friedman, Haindling, Conny Frischauf, Moebius & Renziehausen, Deutsche Wertarbeit, Kreidler, Workshop, Love-Songs, To Rococo Rot, Härte 10, Schlammpeitziger, and Rheingold.

A conversation between Dallach, Dorau, and Jahn: A: Goodness, I'm freezing, it is wintertime in 2019. Here we sit, smoking in a railway station bar to discuss our compilation and the irksome topic of krautrock. Such a stupid word, krautrock. The three of us all agree on that, do we not? D: Indeed we do. There's no rock in krautrock. A: Rock's just as stupid, we can agree on that as well! C: Not one of the interesting, so-called krautrock bands has anything to do with rock. A: The million-dollar question has to be: what is krautrock anyway? I would say that krautrock is a genre which defies description. Think about the rhythms, the music, the instrumentation, there are no recurring elements at all. It must be the freest genre of all time. D: The only common denominator is that it's free music, different music, neither experimental in the classic sense, nor is it pop or rock. C: There has never been a "krautrock sound" as such, it's more of a unifying attitude, a drive to search for something genuinely new. That's how it was back in the early 1970s. A: It was an attempt to find "other" music! But has it crossed into this millennium, is that same spirit in evidence in newer music? C: Absolutely, like the music on this compilation, because it is so hard to classify. A: So what do we call it? D: Neo-kraut? A: I like it, you've left out the rock. D: And so the story continues.

$16.50 IN STOCK

Originally part of 2021's Faust Box Set release commemorating the bands 50th anniversary Momentaufnahme I and II are now set for their own standalone release by popular demand. This is for all those that missed out on the limited-edition box set release. They collect together music recorded at the band's studio -- a converted schoolhouse in rural Wümme between 1971 and 1974 in a similar vein to the way in which The Faust Tapes (released in 1973) was assembled. These two albums range from minimal electronic pulses, ambient dreamscapes, vocal collages to heavy drone, ritualistic percussion and psychedelic grooves. Highlights include the hypnotic space jams of "Vorsatz" and "Rückwärts Durch Die Drehtür", the delicate acoustics of "I Am... An Artist" and the radiophonic workshop-esq "Weird Sounds Sound Bizarre".

Let's let founding member Jean-Hervé Peron explain more: "Faust? were originally a group of musicians, each following our own inspirations, desires, illusions: many facets, many directions, different styles, different languages. We often had to struggle with the clash of our egos but there was also a natural tacit understanding of each other's role. We had the privilege to work with a great producer and an extraordinary recording engineer. From spring 1971 to spring 1974 we existed as a group. Then Faust became a Gestalt with various incarnations. Momentaufnahme? Don't panic here, it is only German for 'Snapshot'. Momentaufnahme I and II present a collection of unreleased snapshots which offer a wonderful insight into the world of Faust. Some tracks are extremely raw and experimental, others are fully rounded productions. So far we have MA I and MA II but we plan to do more of these when we come up with more material or new ideas."

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Originally part of 2021's Faust Box Set release commemorating the bands 50th anniversary Momentaufnahme I and II are now set for their own standalone release by popular demand. This is for all those that missed out on the limited-edition box set release. They collect together music recorded at the band's studio -- a converted schoolhouse in rural Wümme between 1971 and 1974 in a similar vein to the way in which The Faust Tapes (released in 1973) was assembled. These two albums range from minimal electronic pulses, ambient dreamscapes, vocal collages to heavy drone, ritualistic percussion and psychedelic grooves. Highlights include the hypnotic space jams of "Vorsatz" and "Rückwärts Durch Die Drehtür", the delicate acoustics of "I Am... An Artist" and the radiophonic workshop-esq "Weird Sounds Sound Bizarre".

Let's let founding member Jean-Hervé Peron explain more: "Faust? were originally a group of musicians, each following our own inspirations, desires, illusions: many facets, many directions, different styles, different languages. We often had to struggle with the clash of our egos but there was also a natural tacit understanding of each other's role. We had the privilege to work with a great producer and an extraordinary recording engineer. From spring 1971 to spring 1974 we existed as a group. Then Faust became a Gestalt with various incarnations. Momentaufnahme? Don't panic here, it is only German for 'Snapshot'. Momentaufnahme I and II present a collection of unreleased snapshots which offer a wonderful insight into the world of Faust. Some tracks are extremely raw and experimental, others are fully rounded productions. So far we have MA I and MA II but we plan to do more of these when we come up with more material or new ideas."

$16.50 IN STOCK

Originally part of 2021's Faust Box Set release commemorating the bands 50th anniversary Momentaufnahme I and II are now set for their own standalone release by popular demand. This is for all those that missed out on the limited-edition box set release. They collect together music recorded at the band's studio -- a converted schoolhouse in rural Wümme between 1971 and 1974 in a similar vein to the way in which The Faust Tapes (released in 1973) was assembled. These two albums range from minimal electronic pulses, ambient dreamscapes, vocal collages to heavy drone, ritualistic percussion and psychedelic grooves. Highlights include the hypnotic space jams of "Vorsatz" and "Rückwärts Durch Die Drehtür", the delicate acoustics of "I Am... An Artist" and the radiophonic workshop-esq "Weird Sounds Sound Bizarre".

Let's let founding member Jean-Hervé Peron explain more: "Faust? were originally a group of musicians, each following our own inspirations, desires, illusions: many facets, many directions, different styles, different languages. We often had to struggle with the clash of our egos but there was also a natural tacit understanding of each other's role. We had the privilege to work with a great producer and an extraordinary recording engineer. From spring 1971 to spring 1974 we existed as a group. Then Faust became a Gestalt with various incarnations. Momentaufnahme? Don't panic here, it is only German for 'Snapshot'. Momentaufnahme I and II present a collection of unreleased snapshots which offer a wonderful insight into the world of Faust. Some tracks are extremely raw and experimental, others are fully rounded productions. So far we have MA I and MA II but we plan to do more of these when we come up with more material or new ideas."

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Originally part of 2021's Faust Box Set release commemorating the bands 50th anniversary Momentaufnahme I and II are now set for their own standalone release by popular demand. This is for all those that missed out on the limited-edition box set release. They collect together music recorded at the band's studio -- a converted schoolhouse in rural Wümme between 1971 and 1974 in a similar vein to the way in which The Faust Tapes (released in 1973) was assembled. These two albums range from minimal electronic pulses, ambient dreamscapes, vocal collages to heavy drone, ritualistic percussion and psychedelic grooves. Highlights include the hypnotic space jams of "Vorsatz" and "Rückwärts Durch Die Drehtür", the delicate acoustics of "I Am... An Artist" and the radiophonic workshop-esq "Weird Sounds Sound Bizarre".

Let's let founding member Jean-Hervé Peron explain more: "Faust? were originally a group of musicians, each following our own inspirations, desires, illusions: many facets, many directions, different styles, different languages. We often had to struggle with the clash of our egos but there was also a natural tacit understanding of each other's role. We had the privilege to work with a great producer and an extraordinary recording engineer. From spring 1971 to spring 1974 we existed as a group. Then Faust became a Gestalt with various incarnations. Momentaufnahme? Don't panic here, it is only German for 'Snapshot'. Momentaufnahme I and II present a collection of unreleased snapshots which offer a wonderful insight into the world of Faust. Some tracks are extremely raw and experimental, others are fully rounded productions. So far we have MA I and MA II but we plan to do more of these when we come up with more material or new ideas."

$16.50 IN STOCK

For eight years now, songwriter, and producer Sebastian Lee Philipp has been steering his project Die Wilde Jagd through the field of tension between contemporary electronic music and avant-pop. Between 2015 and 2020, three studio albums were produced as documents of Philipp's rigorous musical creativity. "Atem", a composition for Roadburn Festival, was released in 2022 (BB 402LP), documenting yet another, more experimental side of the project. On the fourth album, all these multi-faceted worlds are brought together in an impressive way. "'Ophio, Ophio' you say. Lies in the end of you Still the best ahead of me?" With these lines from the title track, Sebastian Lee Philipp poses the question that spans over the entire album like a parenthesis. The work entitled "Ophio" tells of constant transformation, the blurring of beginning, end, and the various dimensions in between. "It's about the constant unfolding of the self, about the seductive forces of life, an ode to existence and the transformation to happiness." Says Philipp himself about his conceptual direction of the album. The meandering between leaving behind and starting anew is not only found in the lyrics, but also in the music itself. The production seems more consistent than ever before, stripping away all frills and trinkets, like a skin that has become too tight. The compositions form a concentrate in which every single sound finds its space. In a certain sense, it's like listening to an introspection in which the bundled voices become a single, demanding murmur that is both drone and whisper in equal measure. As on the previous album Haut (BB 343CD/LP, 2020), the drums were played by long-time stage partner Ran Levari. The new album also features cellist and singer Lih Qun Wong (Lihla), who first joined Die Wilde Jagd for the live performance of "Atem". This collaboration sounds particularly impressive on "The Hearth", the band's first English-language song. A beguiling track as if of shiny, heavy tar, carried by Philipp's dense composition, Levari's pulsating beats and lyricist Wong's voice. Other production partners were Philipp Otterbach ("Kelch") and Vactrol Park ("In Wonnenhieben"). Nina Siegler, who could already be heard as a duet partner in the song "Himmelfahrten", also lends her voice again to the tracks "Ouroboros" and "In Wonnenhieben".

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. For eight years now, songwriter, and producer Sebastian Lee Philipp has been steering his project Die Wilde Jagd through the field of tension between contemporary electronic music and avant-pop. Between 2015 and 2020, three studio albums were produced as documents of Philipp's rigorous musical creativity. "Atem", a composition for Roadburn Festival, was released in 2022 (BB 402LP), documenting yet another, more experimental side of the project. On the fourth album, all these multi-faceted worlds are brought together in an impressive way. "'Ophio, Ophio' you say. Lies in the end of you Still the best ahead of me?" With these lines from the title track, Sebastian Lee Philipp poses the question that spans over the entire album like a parenthesis. The work entitled "Ophio" tells of constant transformation, the blurring of beginning, end, and the various dimensions in between. "It's about the constant unfolding of the self, about the seductive forces of life, an ode to existence and the transformation to happiness." Says Philipp himself about his conceptual direction of the album. The meandering between leaving behind and starting anew is not only found in the lyrics, but also in the music itself. The production seems more consistent than ever before, stripping away all frills and trinkets, like a skin that has become too tight. The compositions form a concentrate in which every single sound finds its space. In a certain sense, it's like listening to an introspection in which the bundled voices become a single, demanding murmur that is both drone and whisper in equal measure. As on the previous album Haut (BB 343CD/LP, 2020), the drums were played by long-time stage partner Ran Levari. The new album also features cellist and singer Lih Qun Wong (Lihla), who first joined Die Wilde Jagd for the live performance of "Atem". This collaboration sounds particularly impressive on "The Hearth", the band's first English-language song. A beguiling track as if of shiny, heavy tar, carried by Philipp's dense composition, Levari's pulsating beats and lyricist Wong's voice. Other production partners were Philipp Otterbach ("Kelch") and Vactrol Park ("In Wonnenhieben"). Nina Siegler, who could already be heard as a duet partner in the song "Himmelfahrten", also lends her voice again to the tracks "Ouroboros" and "In Wonnenhieben".

$16.50 IN STOCK

With Leave Me Alone, Detlef Weinrich presents his fifth album under the moniker Tolouse Low Trax. Weinrich, who has meanwhile turned his back on Düsseldorf and lives in Paris, has long since ceased to be an insider tip and is a guest in renowned clubs and festivals all over Europe. With his new album, he succeeds in an exciting, unforeseen new direction. The velvety heaviness and rawness of earlier records seems to have given way to a new playfulness. A playfulness perhaps in the sense of an electronica reminiscent of the late 1990s, which in its idea of deconstruction and reduction is currently enjoying a new appreciation in the clubs. But also, in the sense of an urban vibe of hip-hop and dub references, which are woven into a very unique mix in Weinrich's tracks.

"Nervous mechanical murmurs, drifting comic-like through razor-sharp rhythm cliffs: welcome to Leave Me Alone, a loop meta-level dreamland of styles and mental meteorology. A repetitive notion on the overwhelming speechlessness towards the world, its clocking, and all the despairs that come along with it. Wholly veiled in a sharp sonorous language, that brings a complete agreement of the expression with the idea, a sense of harmony, of a secret beauty, that often escapes the judgment of the crowd. It marks the latest long player by Tolouse Low Trax. After his stunning collaboration with French singer and hurdy gurdy player Emmanuelle Parrenin and myriad remixes for artists like Aksak Maboul, Ex Ponto, or Sebastian Tellier, he sharpened his artistic skills for a fresh musical treasure hunt. Leave Me Alone is a renunciation from the industrial slow drone zones, waving into spectacular deconstructed style collages. 13 veiled drum machine experiments, featuring dubby jazz districts, hip-hop flair, haunting little melodies, and the TLT signature funk . . . For a wonder, this time almost no pocketed vocal samples in the TLT creations. Instead, freshly recorded spoken words and singing by Brooklyn based producer Chris Hontos aka Beat Detectives, poet and multidisciplinary artist Fran from Paris, and Italian synthesist and singer Andrea Noce aka Eva Geist, chanting introspective verses and Pier Paolo Pasolini poems over rugged grooves and suggestive sounds, opening his creative universe into a crisp manic eroticism. A cluster of genres, dancing in a rebellious, blistering swing, whirling styles upside down with an overall atmosphere that is flourishing on a positive spirit..." --Michael Leuffen

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. With Leave Me Alone, Detlef Weinrich presents his fifth album under the moniker Tolouse Low Trax. Weinrich, who has meanwhile turned his back on Düsseldorf and lives in Paris, has long since ceased to be an insider tip and is a guest in renowned clubs and festivals all over Europe. With his new album, he succeeds in an exciting, unforeseen new direction. The velvety heaviness and rawness of earlier records seems to have given way to a new playfulness. A playfulness perhaps in the sense of an electronica reminiscent of the late 1990s, which in its idea of deconstruction and reduction is currently enjoying a new appreciation in the clubs. But also, in the sense of an urban vibe of hip-hop and dub references, which are woven into a very unique mix in Weinrich's tracks.

"Nervous mechanical murmurs, drifting comic-like through razor-sharp rhythm cliffs: welcome to Leave Me Alone, a loop meta-level dreamland of styles and mental meteorology. A repetitive notion on the overwhelming speechlessness towards the world, its clocking, and all the despairs that come along with it. Wholly veiled in a sharp sonorous language, that brings a complete agreement of the expression with the idea, a sense of harmony, of a secret beauty, that often escapes the judgment of the crowd. It marks the latest long player by Tolouse Low Trax. After his stunning collaboration with French singer and hurdy gurdy player Emmanuelle Parrenin and myriad remixes for artists like Aksak Maboul, Ex Ponto, or Sebastian Tellier, he sharpened his artistic skills for a fresh musical treasure hunt. Leave Me Alone is a renunciation from the industrial slow drone zones, waving into spectacular deconstructed style collages. 13 veiled drum machine experiments, featuring dubby jazz districts, hip-hop flair, haunting little melodies, and the TLT signature funk . . . For a wonder, this time almost no pocketed vocal samples in the TLT creations. Instead, freshly recorded spoken words and singing by Brooklyn based producer Chris Hontos aka Beat Detectives, poet and multidisciplinary artist Fran from Paris, and Italian synthesist and singer Andrea Noce aka Eva Geist, chanting introspective verses and Pier Paolo Pasolini poems over rugged grooves and suggestive sounds, opening his creative universe into a crisp manic eroticism. A cluster of genres, dancing in a rebellious, blistering swing, whirling styles upside down with an overall atmosphere that is flourishing on a positive spirit..." --Michael Leuffen

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. A pivotal figure in Düsseldorf's Salon Des Amateurs, Stefan Schwander has already amassed a remarkably rich musical repertoire. Through his Harmonious Thelonious project, he has spent the past dozen years exploring the worlds of Pan-African, South American, and Middle Eastern rhythms in combination with a minimalistic electronic sound, distilling his very own groove from the point at which they converge. His new album -- challengingly entitled Cheapo Sounds -- sees Schwander move away from tried and trusted recipes.

"This musical reorientation starts with the fundamental approach to production: the entire record was created using a single instrument -- the Monomachine -- which lends a very physical sound to the ten tracks featured here. The polyrhythms of earlier works are no longer in the foreground, replaced by melodies and chords interwoven on a base frame of brittle, simplified beat constructs and rugged bass pulses. On closer inspection, this is, at times, a new vision of an old technique. There are still the old amps in Schwander's rehearsal room, along with a primitive rhythm box, a programmable drum machine and various synthesizers, including an MS-20. None of these made it onto Cheapo Sounds and yet the idea with which these instruments are associated is written into the DNA of the album. When new wave superseded punk and the last throes of rockism, a new and particular spirit emerged, one which Stefan Schwander sought to capture on his new works. A new wave record informed by techno. His success in this venture brings us back to the elemental idea of the Harmonious Thelonious project: a form of dance music which, like a good club night, does not succumb to formulaic rigidity or generic expectations, but challenges the crowd, trading with jazz, krautrock, industrial, punk, dub, and disco. Stefan Schwander has never shown any interest in trends, but Cheapo Sounds and the ten pithy pieces contained therein, few of them exceeding the four-minute mark, can arguably be considered an exceedingly modern record -- in the best sense of the word. And even when the closing track 'Afterhour' has played out, Schwander's mesmeric variations on minimalism still hang in the air, like quiet clouds of smoke." --Daniel Jahn

$16.50 IN STOCK

A pivotal figure in Düsseldorf's Salon Des Amateurs, Stefan Schwander has already amassed a remarkably rich musical repertoire. Through his Harmonious Thelonious project, he has spent the past dozen years exploring the worlds of Pan-African, South American, and Middle Eastern rhythms in combination with a minimalistic electronic sound, distilling his very own groove from the point at which they converge. His new album -- challengingly entitled Cheapo Sounds -- sees Schwander move away from tried and trusted recipes.

"This musical reorientation starts with the fundamental approach to production: the entire record was created using a single instrument -- the Monomachine -- which lends a very physical sound to the ten tracks featured here. The polyrhythms of earlier works are no longer in the foreground, replaced by melodies and chords interwoven on a base frame of brittle, simplified beat constructs and rugged bass pulses. On closer inspection, this is, at times, a new vision of an old technique. There are still the old amps in Schwander's rehearsal room, along with a primitive rhythm box, a programmable drum machine and various synthesizers, including an MS-20. None of these made it onto Cheapo Sounds and yet the idea with which these instruments are associated is written into the DNA of the album. When new wave superseded punk and the last throes of rockism, a new and particular spirit emerged, one which Stefan Schwander sought to capture on his new works. A new wave record informed by techno. His success in this venture brings us back to the elemental idea of the Harmonious Thelonious project: a form of dance music which, like a good club night, does not succumb to formulaic rigidity or generic expectations, but challenges the crowd, trading with jazz, krautrock, industrial, punk, dub, and disco. Stefan Schwander has never shown any interest in trends, but Cheapo Sounds and the ten pithy pieces contained therein, few of them exceeding the four-minute mark, can arguably be considered an exceedingly modern record -- in the best sense of the word. And even when the closing track 'Afterhour' has played out, Schwander's mesmeric variations on minimalism still hang in the air, like quiet clouds of smoke." --Daniel Jahn

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Without a doubt, To Rococo Rot are an exception within the German music landscape. From 1995 until they broke up in 2014, the group around Robert Lippok, Ronald Lippok, and Stefan Schneider researched a unique sound between electronic music, ambient, post-melancholy, and the further development of a new, free music like krautrock. The trio was invited three times by John Peel to record radio sessions in the BBC studios. Bureau B make the recordings from these three sessions from the years 1997 and 1999 available on record for the first time, which, in addition to the live versions of selected album tracks, also contains exclusive, unreleased songs.

"... Kreidler originated in the west, Ornament & Verbrechen in the east. Robert Lippok describes the moment when things did a 180: 'When we first started releasing records it was almost a shock to hear our own music on the radio.' You walk through an invisible wall. You cause a membrane to pulsate. And finally in 1995, To Rococo Rot was the band whose music, in a kind of aesthetic feedback loop, also made a certain John Peel at the BBC and Daniel Miller at Mute Records sit up and take notice: 'It was something new, something that sounded like it could only be done in Germany; and, as I discovered later, could only be done by guys who were born in the east of Germany in the days before the wall came down.' And so, the three To Rococo Rot sessions united here with their to some extent exclusive Peel tracks ('Glück', 'Esther', 'Glass'), some recorded under intense time pressure, are testimonies to the intimate connection of three German musicians with the whole world, with pop, with the happiness that one possesses and that one shares. Pop without its means of production is inconceivable. And even in times when digital is king, we should consider ourselves lucky that this analog reality of sound, like radio waves, continues to pulsate through us." --Karl Bruckmaier