LIMITED BUSINESS... DON'T SLEEP. TIP!

L.F.T (Love, Fist, Tears), aka Johannes Haas, returns to Osàre! Editions for another scorching release. As ever, the German producer’s sonic palette is immediately recognisable as he manoeuvres through 1980s- inspired wave and raw, rugged electro. Equal parts dancefloor elixir and cerebral wonderment, Minecrawler showcases Haas’ flair for freewheeling, chemical artistry, and experimentation.

Divided into heavy, vocal numbers on one side and potent, club-orientated material on the other, the EP is unified overall by the frigid crackle of drum machines, primal synths, and goth aesthetics. ‘Halbverdient’ opens up – made in collaboration with fellow cold wave renegade Konstantin Unwohl, the song captures the duo’s shared love for all things dark and driving.

Structured around pummelling basslines, the titular track follows, an electro breed of The Hague’s West Coast variety, and a perfect example of L.F.T’s signature sound. This is vampire music at its finest – fanged, winged, and seductively menacing. Despite its impromptu origins, arising out of a spontaneous jam session, ‘Auf Meiner Haut’ is slick and steady. Cracking some beers with musicians Bella and Viva, L.F.T invited the duo to improvise lyrics, resulting in their detached, icily amorous exchange. Apocalyptic groover ‘Broken 101’ is next up, with ‘Fear and Machines’ preceding, a sparking stomper burning with cool, electric heat. Finally, don’t miss the digital bonus – ‘Planetary Intellect’ broods with penetrating, glacial energy that sends shivers down the spine. More

After a slew of stellar releases on Mannequin, Return to Disorder, and Mechatronica, L.F.T. lands on Pinkman with a 6-tracker aimed squarely at the dancefloor. Tough drums and raw basslines are the wire frames around which spectral vocals and percussive quirks breathe and coil. Bridging the gap between Dutch electro heritage and horror-movie soundtracks without sacrificing dancefloor functionality, Electric Vampire presents a synthetic super-highway in which the only thing more pervasive than the bright lights is the solid concrete underfoot. Daring excursions in dance music from an artist stepping out on his own, and relentlessly stalking the night. More

** 2023 repress

“I've made these tracks for dark days and dark nights” - L.F.T.

Blood in the Grass, an EP of electro tinged new wave from Hamburg-based producer Johannes Haas, aka L.F.T. (Love, Fist, Tears), the title of which takes inspiration from a 1966 tapestry work by the late Swedish-Norwegian textile artist Hannah Ryggen (1894-1970).

Prompted by Colombi and Haas meeting on the dancefloor of Golden Pudel, the eight tracks run the gamut of darkwave and punk sounds, with Haas utilising Korg MS20 and Roland SH101 synthesisers to meld mutant acid with slamming synth lines, ear-worm melodies and opaque lyrics that are left open to interpretation. The new wave aesthetic he draws inspiration from is most evident on tracks Die Geldsmachine, No Covenent and the glistening Chloe-Rose?,? and with its howling guitar riffs and driving energy geared for late nights, Manon is a rough and ready punk anthem and a tribute to Haas’ “gang” of favourite people in Hamburg. More

2022 repress

Hamburg and Berlin coalesce as L.F.T. debuts on Mechatronica with a blood-soaked, club-ready blend of punked out electro, industrial, acid, techno and EBM cuts. Watch your spine. More

Dame Area's highly anticipated fourth studio album, "Toda la verdad sobre Dame Area" ("The Whole Truth about Dame Area"), a collaboration with the renowned labels Mannequin Records and Humo Records.

Formed in 2017 within the vibrant underground scene of Barcelona's Màgia Roja club, Dame Area comprises the Italian-Catalan duo Silvia Konstance and Viktor Lux Crux. They fuse industrial-tribal polyrhythms with minimalist synth basslines, drawing profound inspiration from avant-garde masters such as Esplendor Geometrico, Throbbing Gristle, Suicide, Einstürzende Neubauten, Can, Coil, Swans, Big Black, and Wolf Eyes.

This record represents a new phase in Dame Area's discography. It's a big step up in terms of sound, composition and ideas. This record it's the perfect representation of what they have been playing live the last three years and what most people know them for. Also it serves as a companion piece to 2022’s Toda la mentira sobre Dame Area ("All The Lies About Dame Area"), which had a stronger focus on melody, while this latest record is more aggressive and industrial-influenced, with a greater emphasis on percussion.

Tracks like the Suicide-influenced "Si no es hoy cuando es" and "Sempre Cambiare" are an onslaught of industrialism and experimentalism—formidable, volatile, and unpredictable avant-garde subversion. Silvia explains, "One of our biggest influences is doing what our influences wouldn't do. We're more into dynamics and structures atypical of electronic music, with changes in time signatures, starts and stops, and dynamics more typical of rock music. We use any musical idea from any genre. Some songs on the album are based on flamenco rhythms, others influenced by '60s experimental pop, heavy metal, or contemporary electronic music."

The confrontational "Vengo dall'aldilà" accelerates with heavy percussion, while "Tu me hiciste creer" builds into a rhythmic, transcendent noise of yelled vocals and hypnotic beats. Viktor adds, "This song took us more time to complete than any other we have recorded. It was a very organic process, evolving slowly from some instrumental percussive stuff we were doing live. Then we started using feedback as a rhythmic element (through a metallic sheet), and this was the first song where we incorporated this element, typical of noise-rock and experimental rock."

Elsewhere, "Esto Es Nuestro Ruido" represents a manic, eclectic form of contemporary industrial music, post-punk, and EBM. Silvia notes, "It's the first album we recorded outside a studio. Although we've been playing live with metallic percussion and floor tom from the very start, in the studio, with some exceptions, it was mostly sample-based until now. On Toda la verdad sobre Dame Area, all drums and almost all metallic percussion have been recorded live."

With a growing reputation as one of the best live bands around since their inception, Dame Area has toured extensively across Europe, performing at renowned festivals like Atonal, CTM, Nuits Sonores, Dour, and Fusion, as well as legendary clubs such as Berghain, Tresor, Apolo, and Spook Factory.

Recorded at Sol de Sants Studios and Estudio Hermetic between August and November 2023

Silvia Konstance: vocals, synths, percussions, electronics, production
Viktor L. Crux: synths, drums, percussions, electronics, production
Mixing and additional production by Guillermo Sánchez Rojo
Mastering by Paul Mac at Hardgroove Mastering
Designed by Leo Sousa
Photography by Fabio Calabretta
Photo concept by Dame Area More

*Clear vinyl **

Mannequin Records boss Alessandro Adriani returns on his own label with four tracks that were previously available exclusively as digital releases.

Known for his unique blend of electro and synth wave sounds, Adriani has made a significant impact on the underground music landscape. With this new vinyl release, Adriani brings his distinctive musical vision to a vinyl audience, offering a tangible experience that digital formats cannot replicate. Each track is a testament to his ability to merge pulsating electronic beats with atmospheric synth melodies, creating a soundscape that is both nostalgic and innovative. More

**2024 Repress** 10 years later, back in a shiny new jacket

Mannequin Records is proud to present a full length by the Philly minimal-synth princess Void Vision

Void Vision is a Philadelphia-based electronic project helmed by Shari Vari. It began around 2009 at a time when a wave of synth-revivalists were materializing, but the quality of the songwriting and intense vocals set the band apart from the pack. In a rare instance, Void Vision has managed to combine vintage dance elements with melodic structures, haunting melancholy, and lyrics that have a palpable soul. The songs themselves are dynamic, referencing a cross-section of the last 30 years of electronic music, while simultaneously retaining a uniqueness all their own.

Wierd Records weekly club night in New York, which showcased a variety of talented electronic and coldwave artists, served as an incubator for Void Vision in it’s early stages. After a standout debut performance at the club, they immediately caught the attention of Blind Prophet Records, who consequently released their first 7? single, ‘In 20 Years’, which received excellent reviews.

Vari has continued performing and recording steadily over the last few years, releasing songs on compilations for various labels, including Rough Trade, and in 2012 the song ‘Everything is Fine’ was selected for Artforum magazine’s ‘Best of 2012' issue. In 2013, Void Vision toured the West Coast and later that year released a split 12? with Portland-based band, Vice Device. The first official full-length album, entitled ‘Sub Rosa’ is set to debut on Berlin-based Mannequin Records, followed by a European tour in 2015.

Shari Vari formed Void Vision in 2009 originally as a duo, during the explosion of the new minimal synth and cold wave scene in United States. Sharing the same scene of the Wierd Records associates like Led Er Est, Martial Canterel, Xeno & Oaklander, Automelodi, in 2010 VV released ‘In Twenty Years’ on Blind Prophet (Sean Ragon’s Cult Of Youth record label), receiving also the attention of the Rough Trade dudes, who asked to put out a track for one of their synth wave compilations.

After other split vinyls, tapes and compilations, Mannequin approached Shari with the intention to continue what Wierd Records started, giving a proper shape to her beautiful and youthful dark electronic sound. The result is 10 hypnotic cold analog tracks dominated by the warm and fragile Shari’s voice, some more “pop orientated” some others belonging to the original “cold wave” atmosphere. More

The collaborative bi-coastal project between Andi (NYC) and Machino (LA) is dark, spiraling music that conflates the tension of running EBM basslines with the monstrosity of electro-saturated, industrialized beats. In 2021, Andi and Machino began sending music back and forth to each other virtually—thousands of miles apart—as they built upon their passion for creating off-the-cuff, dangerously degenerate dance tracks.

Parafernales, their first release out this summer on Mannequin, is a conceptual EP that deals with power struggles: love and lust, strength and destruction, dominating and domination. Andi's vocals are spoken, whispered, and yelled simultaneously, as if to mirror the mania of having control and losing it at the same time. The EP title, Parafernales, is a nod to Machino's first language of Spanish and stems from the idea of miscellany: it is parafernalia for drugs, or, simply, accessories for unsavory activities. With inspirations from turn-of-the-90s erotic thrillers to the Chilean post-punk band, Los Prisoneros, the duo collide in a manner that is unadulterated and, at times, completely unhinged.

Machino is an electronic performer and music producer from Mexico based in Los Angeles who started out making moody ambient, techno and has now pivoted towards industrial music. He has released several EPs on different labels such as Tresor and X-IMG. Andi is a DJ, producer and music journalist based in NYC. She runs the nine year strong label/party SYNTHICIDE in NYC. More

A dream collaboration with Dario Argento for the soundtrack of his new film "Occhiali Neri", Maestro Arnaud Rebotini is back on Mannequin Records with a brand new 4-tracks ep "I Drive East". For this new ep, Arnaud started working more on a song form, deeply inspired by his rock'n'roll roots. Having heroes like Suicide or Alien Sex Fiend in mind, he was able to create the perfect link between EBM and Industrial Rock. The final production was orchestrated diving deep into percussive drums and digital synthesizers, a mega hybrid of analog and digital, recalling back our favourite mid-80's productions. More

An expanded double-LP of 'Exploded View' from minimal synth Dutch pioneers The Actor. A must have for the dusty/rusty analog synthesizers lovers. Mega TIP!!!

Originally released in 1982 by Trumpett Tapes, the album was repressed for the first time by Mannequin Records in 2014, and now is coming back to life again in 2022, enriched by an extra full-lenght of demos from a 1981-1984 period.

Singing both in English and German, The Actor songs are often related to modernism, fashion and dancing, like a sort of early incarnation of Depeche Mode but totally devoted to home taping and diy recordings, where Trumpett was definitely the perfect home for it, having releasing such amazing cassettes from Doxa Sinistra, Ende Shneafliet, Dr C.Stein, and many more. More

Bourbonese Qualk's third album "The Spike" was recorded during the period 1984-1985 and published by the Berlin based Dossier/Atonal label while Bourbonese Qualk were involved in organising the Berlin Atonal festival. Parts of Side 2 of the album is a recording of pieces made for a dance and film performance at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London in 1985.

Bourbonese Qualk were an experimental music group from England, active from 1979 through 2003. They were always obsessively and uncompromisingly focused on controlling their work: they ran their own record label, recording studio, tour organization, and music venue (the notorious Ambulance Station). They refused to integrate into the commercial music racket and turned down publishing deals from major labels, stubbornly opting for total independence.

They're also known for their political activism, formed in the crucible of 1980s Britain amid such influences as the UK miners' strike, The Falklands War, Thatcherism, monetarism, local government corruption, squatting, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, and anarchism. Their work was often ambiguous and directly critical of cynical power-politics of any color, often irritating members of the traditional organized left. In 1984 Bourbonese Qualk occupied a large empty building - The Ambulance Station - on the Old Kent Road in South London, which they turned into a base for their activities, a cooperative space for artists, musicians, and writers, and a center for radical political activism -- specifically as a coordinating center for the Stop the City anti-capitalist riots of 1984.

This is music as much for then and today, a radical, revolutionary cultural force that acts as a positive social charge. More

The self named LP marked the fifth album and end of the first incarnation of Bourbonese Qualk. Julian Gilbert left the group after ‘The Spike'(1986) to concentrate on writing and theatre, leaving Steven Tanza and Simon Crab who parted ways after touring in Europe in early 1986 and recording this album. Steven Tanza went on to found the group ‘The State’ and while Crab continued as Bourbonese Qualk (with the new line-up of Miles Miles,Crab and Owen If), dissolved the Recloose Organisation label and founded ‘New International’ as the outlet for future Bourbonese Qualk and Recloose Org releases.

"If we were awarding prizes for making people rush out of the room in blind panic Bourbonese Qualk would have a trophy cabinet to match Bayern Munich’s. Strange, because whilst some of their music is damned uncomfortable listening, an equal part is pleasantly ambient. Pretty, even. Their 5th album is no exception with different types of track side by side throughout, so that the listener can neither drift along in a state of slumber nor masochistically subject themselves to the audio equivalent of the chinese water torture. This makes it all a very stop-start thing but all the more rewarding as a result."

Can't be Beat magazine - London 1986

Bourbonese Qualk were an experimental music group from England, active from 1979 through 2003. They were always obsessively and uncompromisingly focused on controlling their work: they ran their own record label, recording studio, tour organization, and music venue (the notorious Ambulance Station). They refused to integrate into the commercial music racket and turned down publishing deals from major labels, stubbornly opting for total independence.

They're also known for their political activism, formed in the crucible of 1980s Britain amid such influences as the UK miners' strike, The Falklands War, Thatcherism, monetarism, local government corruption, squatting, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, and anarchism. Their work was often ambiguous and directly critical of cynical power-politics of any color, often irritating members of the traditional organized left. In 1984 Bourbonese Qualk occupied a large empty building - The Ambulance Station - on the Old Kent Road in South London, which they turned into a base for their activities, a cooperative space for artists, musicians, and writers, and a center for radical political activism -- specifically as a coordinating center for the Stop the City anti-capitalist riots of 1984.

This is music as much for then and today, a radical, revolutionary cultural force that acts as a positive social charge. More

2xLP 400 copies..Limited Edition.

Alessandro Adriani marks his comeback on his own Mannequin Records with an impressive body of work on this 2xLP 'Program & Rhythm', inspired by the Italian library music and soundtrack composers.

Italian composers from the 60s to the 80s seemed limitless in their experiments and endlessly colorful, despite being a hidden part in the history of music. Library music takes weird and fantastic detours, between garish drum machines, seedy guitars, synthesizers gone haywire, and fractious brass sections. The scene’s big names included Ennio Morricone, Piero Umiliani, Alessandro Alessandroni, Giampiero Boneschi, Egisto Macchi, A.R. Luciani and Bruno Nicolai, just to name a few.

After spending weeks on end in an improvised-by-covid home studio recording hours and hours of music every day, Alessandro was turning and shaping his analog machines into an experimental synth pop, psychedelic funky jazz and weird ambient fusion, making up six different releases called simply 'Program & Rhythm' from the Roland CR-78 programming buttons.

The final selection of 42 tracks out of the six releases - originally intended to be put out as tapes - would finally compose the tracklist of the double vinyl presented here, with the catalog number PR and roman numerals used for the track titles.

An exceptional document of music in Alessandro's discography, 'Program & Rhythm' enters into an ultimate unknown journey, creating music for films that do not yet exist, putting his steps deeper into a faceless obscure music. More

Mannequin Records is elated to present for the first time on vinyl the reissue of Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici’s first video soundtrack, originally released in 1984 as an audiotape in less than one hundred copies. Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici (literally Mundane Mechanical Youth) or GMM was one of the most unclassifiable audiovisual experiences to emerge from Italy in the 1980s. Maurizio Dami a.k.a. Alexander Robotnick, a pivotal member of GMM, was responsible for the group’s music output.

Founded in 1984 by Antonio Glessi and Andrea Zingoni in Florence, GMM was an art collective whose production represents the quintessential expression of postmodern transmedia hybridity. GMM pioneered the genre of computer comics, created video installations, developed “multiple identity” performances, and was involved in fashion, media, and music productions, and later on produced cyberdelic environments, artificial reality projects, and proto-memes.

Alexander Robotnick’s first contribution to GMM was this soundtrack for the group’s eponymous first video, the animated version of a computer comics they coincidentally published on legendary Frigidaire magazine. Restored by Dami and reissued here for the first time by Mannequin Records, the composition was also split into two “suites” and released as an audiotape distributed by Materiali Sonori, also responsible for other releases by both Robotnick and GMM.

Determining in this work is Dami’s adoption of the alphaSyntauri, also known as the first affordable digital synth (priced less than $2000 when it was released in 1980), which was playable through its own software, “alphaPlus,” on the Apple II computer. The same computer was used by Glessi to “draw” the 3-bit strips scripted by Zingoni recounting the joyrides of the Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici, three merciless cyborgs in black suit and sunglasses dividing their time between nightclubs, rapes and murders.

As Robotnick, Dami developed an innovative formula of Italo disco that was attractive to the dance floor yet at the same time highlighted the expressive properties of the instruments he used, notably Roland drum machines and Korg synthesizers. For the soundtrack of GMM’s videos and installations, he left aside the danceable synth rhythmics in favor of ambient sounds that produced rarefied atmospheres, psychological tensions, and enhanced states of consciousness.

Dami’s scores for GMM’s artworks could be associated with Italian avant-garde music of the 1970s and 1980s, ranging from composers who adopted electronics flirting with pop and songwriting to minimalist musicians exploring seriality and drones, including Franco Battiato, Roberto Cacciapaglia, Francesco Messina, and Riccardo Sinigaglia. Analogies could also be traced with the playful and humanizing approach to personal computers that characterizes the music output of Marcello Giombini and Doris Norton.

The futuristic escapism of minimal synth and ambient music’s psychological nature is infiltrated by drifting harmonics typical of new age, as if in search of a spiritual dimension of technology. Characteristic of the postmodern ethos of GMM Suite, in line with the humanizing approach to technology that is at the base of GMM’s computer comics, is the melancholic take at speculative dystopias in which human beings would find themselves increasingly trapped into identity crises: a true cyborg’s melodrama.

Limited edition of 500 copies, (orange vinyl)

Restored by Maurizio Dami, Florence, 2021.
Remastered by Rude 66, Amsterdam, 2021.
Research by Francesco Spampinato.
Artwork by Antonio Glessi. More

Forever lost single track from Caroline K real name Caroline Kaye Walters - founder member of Nocturnal Emissions, one of the best UK experimental/industrial music groups in the 1980s. Conceived at her Brixton studio in 1983 during the same sessions of "Don't Believe It's Over, "Mirrorball" sounds heavily inspired by "Blue Monday" from New Order, unveiling an unexpected pop side from the British experimental artist, here with the help of Beverley Ireland at the voice.

Caroline Kaye Walters formed Nocturnal Emissions in 1980 with Nigel Ayers, contributing voice, synthesizer, bass and drum programming to the group’s early releases. She and Ayers also co-founded Sterile Records (1979-1986), one of the key underground imprints of its time, home to music from the likes of SPK, Lustmord and Maurizio Bianchi. In later life Walters retreated from the public eye, and in 2001 married Daniel Ayers (Nigel’s brother, also of Nocturnal Emissions, and her collaborator in The Pump), moving to Garfagnana, Italy, where she resided until her death from leukaemia on July 12, 2008.

Mannequin Records head Alessandro Adriani goes once again at the remix duties with a nearly 7 minute minimal-electro-balearic remix, overheating his Roland Tr-808/909/707 with delays reverbs and flangers and updating the original track for the dance - floor.

RSD 2021 Exclusive Only, No digital. Mega TIP!

Audio Mastering by Rude 66, Amsterdam, 2020.
Graphic Design by Alessandro Adriani, Berlin, 2020. More

Hailing from Barcelona, Silvia Konstance and Viktor L.Crux (a collaborator of Nurse With Wound and J.Arbeit from Einstürzende Neubauten) developed during the last years a unique music style recognized as "Tribal Wave".

Mixing synth bassline arpeggios and live percussions, noises and congas, industrialism and tribalism, Italian and Spanish, Dame Area are running across the same path and breathing the same air of the EBM/Industrial driven Diseño Corbusier or the drum compositions of Roberto De Simone.

Starting to play live and releasing their music in 2018 for their own label and venue Maja Roja (with the support of fans like Julian Cope and Yamatsuka Eye), their incessant touring schedule has already seen them play all over Europe in the past couple of years. Since 2019 they also play live as a trio with Jesse Webb from Gnod/Anthroprophh at the drums/percussion.

For fans of: Diseño Corbusier, Esplendor Geometrico, group A, Kris Baha

Limited edition of 400 copies on red vinyl.

Mastered by Rude 66, Amsterdam, 2021.
Graphic Design by Cassandra Dada, Barcelona, 2020. More

Repress!
Mannequin Records is elated to welcome a brand new killer release from the legendary French producer Arnaud Rebotini.

Whether as one half of Black Strobe or in his own material or just busy receiving a César prize 2018 for best film music, Arnaud Rebotini devotes his career to mindblowing electronic productions. Passionate about analog synthesizers, and with a strong taste for electronic music of a dark and brutal hue, the new EP 'Shiny Black Leather' pushes to the limit his EBM-influenced electro-goth side, making the most doomy goth clubber happy. More

Sam de la Rosa of the band Led Er Est, and with Karen Sharkey of The Coombe, is back on Mannequin Records with his third release with 4 stunning tracks blending the finest TR-606 driven electro cold wave with expressive spoken wordy minimal synth instrumentals.

Mixed by Marcos Cabral
Mastered by Rude 66 More

Mannequin Records is elated to present a double-LP compilation of the Dutch industrial-experimental heroes Doxa Sinistra.

Preciously selected by the expert ears of Frank Brinkhuis, head of Trumpett, "Universo" is spanning from 1982 to 1988 through their entire discography.

Doxa Sinistra was formed in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, early 1982. On the strength of live performances at Paradiso and Ultra venue Oktopus, the two piece band was invited by Trumpett to record an album in the Freakowitz & Einstein Studio in Den Burg on Texel. Armed with their Korg MS-10 and Korg MS-20 synths they took the ferry to the West Frisian island, and spent a week recording in the legendary Trumpett HQ. The result, the debut cassette Via Del Latte, was released in June 1982. Just months later band member R. K. kidnapped the band name, formed a new duo and played one live date. After that the project fizzled out.

Until early 1984, when Trumpett and Doxa Sinistra received an invitation from Italian cassette label ADN to record a new album. The invitation was accepted and Doxa Sinistra Mark II was born. Conveyer Belt, recorded between June 1984 and February 1985, appeared as an ADN/Trumpett co-release in August 1985.

After the move of the Trumpett Studios to Amsterdam late 1986, Doxa Sinistra started demoing a new album in the Summer of 1987. California based Undergroud cassette label Ladd-Frith were keen to release the ultimate results. Recorded early 1988, Newsflashes, the group's third and final album, was released as a Ladd-Frith/Trumpett co-release in the Summer of 1988.
Limited edition of 300 copies. More

Dona Aka Dj Plant Texture’s debut on Mannequin is the result of an effective true love for the early Chicago Acid and Jackbeat, mixed with textures of EBM and Cold Wave.
“Mindscapes”, featuring the haunted vocals of Aloth, represents a trip into states of consciousness and psychiatric diseases. Ispired by some reports describing America’s Mental health System during the latest 70’s, the EP is a blend of analog machines, forced to create the perfect jam session.

Mastered by Q3000
Graphic design by Silent Servant and AA.

Limited edition of 300 copies on 140gr black vinyl. More

Prequel Tapes is Marco Freivogel - a producer, DJ and live performer who’s been making electronic music since he was a teenager. What began with an accident and the rediscovery of some lost DAT tapes, has become the driving force for all his creative expression in the last years. Prequel Tapes previous albums ‘Inner Systems’ and ‘Everything is Quite Now’ received widespread critical praise for their originality, depth and composition. He has released two tape projects ‘The Pandora Star Sessions’ and ‘Dinge’ - a collaboration with the artists Mare Nero. Prequel Tapes live performances range from solo all hardware jams to a large-scale collaboration with butoh dancer Valentin Tzin and motion artist Ksenia Mozhayskaya aka nomoreless. His DJing is anything but straight techno with his recorded sets, podcasts and radio appearances chosen for mixes of the month by the likes of pitchfork, RA and dasfilter.

To many people the concept of Ruin is fearful, depressing, dark - conjuring notions of decay, fallen morality, or tragedy. But to others, the idea of Ruin is of hope for what may come after - opportunities to rebuild, rethink and challenge. Ruin may be the only chance to stop the passive march towards the destruction of the feral human spirit, the failure of our imagination to the homogenising power of capital. Both the music and the artwork reflect the artists long-held view that art should challenge, jarr and provoke. Offering the balance of what’s dark and disturbing to appreciate beauty and the light. Rejecting a world where the uncomfortable is covered up with plastic veneer and platitudes as a vital artistic expression.

Using a highly personalised setup of hardware collected over many years, Prequel Tapes wanders through concrete mazes and dark forests with infinite curiosity. In these cold empty spaces, Ruin oscillates freely between sunshine and shadows, where grit and gravel pay homage to the industrial anti-melodies of the 80s, appearing as earworms after the rain. The sonic DNA of teenage dreams are central to the aesthetic aspirations of Ruin, as are the sparse minimalist frameworks of composers like Arvo Pärt.

Drawing upon the stains of his musical history, Prequel Tapes merges each drop into an honest, singular sound, honing in on decades of love for abstract electronics with a profound emotional sensitivity. References may reveal themselves on close listen, but never command space, serving instead as subtle threads woven carefully into a tapestry of synthesis; aware of its past but firmly grounded in the present.

A special edition vinyl will be available through the Mannequin Records bandcamp, with photographs by Frankie Casillo whose work is also used for the cover art.

Mastered by Rude 66 More

Greek artist June makes his debut on Mannequin Records with the 'Silver Demon' LP. The album explores a futuristic dystopian world where transcendence and oppression coexist, where claustrophobia and infinite openness coincide. A world of contrasts that is the product of the artist‘s active imagination and conscious effort to confront the subconscious.

The album was recorded using original techniques from the golden era of electronic music (late 70s to mid 80s) with an arsenal of vintage analog synthesizers, drum machines and effect processors (originating) from the same time period. While the aesthetics of the classic precursors emerge through the minimal, deep, dark architecture of June's music, Silver Demon prevails with the artist's characteristic originality. More

Twenty-three years on from its original release, the debut album of American artist Mike Parker stands proud as a blueprint for deep, hypnotic techno in the new millennium. Originally published as a CD-only edition on Parker’s own Geophone label, Field Records are now giving Dispatches the full vinyl release it so richly deserves - spread across six sides and reproducing Parker’s distinctive artwork at scale.

Charting the course of Parker’s career reads like the evolution of deep techno itself - moving from early collaborations with Donato Dozzy to appearances on seminal labels such as Prologue, Semantica and Spazio Disponibile. The essence of his approach was forged early on, honing techno’s propulsion into a raw essence without losing any of the weight. It’s an exercise in minimalism, but the sound is still monolithic and engulfing, crystal clear in its intention and devoted to the power of subtle pressure. When the decay on a reverb opens up a fraction, Parker’s music leaves enough space for you to notice. Incremental shifts become monumental in his hands and his commitment to subliminal layering reveals hidden depths the further you submit to his hypnotic sound.

This definitive edition of Dispatches looks at the vinyl singles which accompanied the album’s original release and creates a more complete picture of the area that Parker was exploring at the time. It’s the first time that the alternate take of icy depth charge ‘Copper Variations: CV1’ appears on wax, as goes for the pneumatic tension of ‘Reduction’ and evocative miniature sound sculpture ‘Blue Equals Black’. Expanding the album beyond its original CD form, epic rarity ‘Dissolution 99’ presides over the final side, while the standout Voiceprint release is now represented in full with the inclusion of heavyweight stepped techno workout ‘Voiceprint: Voice Two’.

Able to sustain his own creative vision without cowing to the trends or expectations of any scene or clique, Parker’s music has progressed on its own terms. What this reissue demonstrates is how fully formed his vision was - even at a relatively early stage. In an era where the deep techno scene is thriving, Dispatches feels all the more relevant, undiluted by time and still unmatched in its immersive perfection. More

4 curly time wasters

Written & produced by Arthur Cayzer & Jamie Roberts Mastered by Rashad Becker

Artwork and design by Atact More